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    Underclocked 3670?

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by Lapton, Dec 3, 2009.

  1. Lapton

    Lapton Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hello everyone!,

    I recently installed ATI Tray Tools on my SXPS 1640, and found out that the clock speed of my GPU is set to 400Mhz. This seems sort of low, because on AMD's website it says that the Mobility Radeon 3670 has a core clock speed of 680Mhz.

    1.) Would it be safe (or possible) to raise the clock speed back up to 680Mhz?

    2.) Did Dell do this on purpose to prevent overheating?

    Oh, and I'm currently using the Catalyst 9.11 driver (modded with MobilityModder).
     
    Lapton, Dec 3, 2009
    #1
  2. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Are you on battery? Normally, when the GPU isn't stressed, it can downclock automatically.
     
    sgogeta4, Dec 3, 2009
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  3. Heiji1412

    Heiji1412 Notebook Geek

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    Could be PowerPlay at work, I wouldn't worry about it unless the graphics card refuses to go full speed when playing a game.
     
    Heiji1412, Dec 3, 2009
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  4. Lapton

    Lapton Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well, I have powerplay turned off, and I'm not on battery power. I think that the core speed might be locked at 400mhz by the BIOS. This makes me think that Dell doesn't want it any higher than this. It's really annoying though, because if the GPU was a little faster I think I might be able to get higher FPS in some of my games.

    Thanks for the help, though!
     
    Lapton, Dec 3, 2009
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  5. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Download ATITool and check the speeds. It might be running on 2D more or low power mode. 3D speeds should be the same as AMD's site.
     
    sgogeta4, Dec 3, 2009
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  6. funky monk

    funky monk Notebook Deity

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    If dell locked it at 400mhz then I don't see how they can call it a 3670, it would be false advertising
     
    funky monk, Dec 4, 2009
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  7. Lapton

    Lapton Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well, I downloaded ATI Tool, and this is what it shows me-

    [​IMG]

    Any idea what I'm supposed to do now?

    I tried raising the Core bar up to 680Mhz, but when I click the "Set Clock" button, it just resets to 199.00Mhz. (I'm assuming that it's currently at 199Mhz because the GPU is in 2D mode)
     
    Lapton, Dec 4, 2009
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  8. ikjadoon

    ikjadoon Notebook Deity

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    200Mhz is definitely a 2D clock issue.

    AFAIK, 2D/3D clocks are actually different than PowerPlay. PowerPlay, I think, is like a diluted version of this. Get GPU-Z and set it to log on the sensor tab. Run a game and then look at the log. Did it "overclock" back to stock?

    ~Ibrahim~
     
    ikjadoon, Dec 4, 2009
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  9. Lapton

    Lapton Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ok, I ran GPU-Z, and had it make a log file while I played Oblivion (One of the more graphically demanding games I own). The core clock speed did go up, but only to 398Mhz. This leads me to suspect even more that the BIOS is locking the GPU speed. Anyone else with a 3670 notice this?
     
    Lapton, Dec 4, 2009
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  10. ikjadoon

    ikjadoon Notebook Deity

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    That's stupid...

    Does turning PowerPlay fix it? I hate to say, but maybe it's the mobility modded drivers? Tried Dell's?
     
    ikjadoon, Dec 4, 2009
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  11. Lapton

    Lapton Notebook Enthusiast

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    Wow, when I turned powerplay back on the clock speed went up to 675Mhz! I'm also getting like 10-15 more fps in Oblivion. Thanks for the help! What it is exactly that powerplay is doing to raise my clock speed?
     
    Lapton, Dec 4, 2009
    #11
  12. ikjadoon

    ikjadoon Notebook Deity

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    Huh...lucky guess. It controls the GPU speed based on load/use, so maybe with it off it defaults to 400MHz maximum?

    Wonder if that's true with the 4670/Dell driver's.

    ~Ibrahim~
     
    ikjadoon, Dec 5, 2009
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  13. Lapton

    Lapton Notebook Enthusiast

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    Any idea of how to set the default at 680Mhz? Maybe with ATI Tray Tools?
     
    Lapton, Dec 5, 2009
    #13