980m vs 1060, What to go for?

So on ebay I have found that the 980m is similarly priced. About 320 USD or there abouts.

I heard that the 980m can perform above the 1060 with a modded vBIOS and OC. IS said vBIOS available for download? If so will that make it worth getting over the 1060?

I have the Alienware 17 Ranger, with aftermarket 5 pipe heatsink and 11.4cfm fan at max speed. It used to keep the 780m at 56c @ load.

The benefits of the 980m is it just seems like a more versatile card, I can use it with my 120hz panel or LVDS. I will keep the LVDS panel and get the adapter to make it a secondary screen so that if the eDP function for w/e reason stopped working (after a planned GPU upgrade in the future) I can default back either way.

The 1060 is newer, but with less vram, and also less power draw. Only works with eDP 120hz panel as well.

My funds are tight, and I am also the type to consider every angle to make sure every box is checked before I move on something these days. So I would really appreciate the experience and perspective I lack.

Thanks

@Mr. Fox @Papusan @Ashtrix @EepoSaurus @Nomad @Raidriar

 

no, you have to extract, modify, and reflash the vbios through a chip programmer.

 

The 980m?

 

oh, for the 980m you need to find prema's v2 vbios. that is hard to find.

the 1060 requires manual flashing.

 

I wouldnt bother with modding the 1060, too much effort, too little return. Would just tune for optimal performance and call it a day on that one.

So basically, without premas v2 vBIOS, I wouldnt be able to bypass the +135 core limit on OCing, but the memory is still unlimited iirc?

I just saw that johnksss / slv7 have a vBIOS out, has there been any feedback on that particular version?

 

1060, newer features and believe me, you want 120hz plus with a panel.

 

As you already mentioned, the 980M can run with 60Hz and 120Hz, MOSFET mods make it stable and more OCable, Maxwell BIOS tweaker if you learn how to do that, OCing it will make it run and surpass the stock MSI 1060. And the extra VRAM on the 980M, has an SLI port too. Add this all up it's expendable and re-sale perhaps, but now they are cheaper I guess.

Pascal runs cooler, maybe need to add more VRMs like 980M to get to run better. Also a full custom vBIOS with proper Falcon bypass hack needed to push it overvoltage and overclock (I might be wrong, didn't follow much on the Coolane's thread) And it carries that 13Mhz Pascal temp ridden cancer as well. The biggest disadvantage that I see is the reduced VRAM. But I think a bigger TDP headroom OCing it would get more performance vs a 980M which will consume ridiculous amounts of power (Not safe if it passes over 145+W for a long time on an Alienware 17 R1 IMO)

Based off those points and others if they chime in you can weigh them out. Also maybe some points on 1070 -> the 1070 Zotac is rare, P5000 is expensive and needs a full scale vBIOS mod but best bet I guess. 1070N MSI is another league of performance though along with the dremel mods. No idea where we can get the new Aetina 1070 GPUs with improved power delivery (On-paper).

 

I have both the 120hz eDP panel and 60hz LVDS panel. The 980m functions with both, the 1060 functions with eDP only.

Not sure if I care for w/e new features are on the 1060. I am looking only for pure FPS.

Yeah I wont be pushing the 980m that hard, 125w-135w would probably be my desired max as the Ranger does have issues delivering the power beyond that.

Pascal just seems like an overall PITA to overclock, seems more like its better to just tune it. I would have to get a programmer just to get started. Which for now isnt an option.

The planned GPU upgrade will be the 1080 (w/ supplement power) as that will likely be the only way to get it running correctly for this system.

Regarding the 980m, even with vanilla vBIOS, with a +135 core OC and w/e memory OC is considered standard, would it beat out the 1060 or nah?

 

If similarly priced go for the 1060. For the 980m to outperform it it needs to be power FET and power limit modded, and it will burn over 200W.

For practical power consumption the 1060 will perform better.

 

I think the 1060 + OC will be better suited. Probably won't need to do a TDP mod to increase the TDP because the power delivery of the motherboard might not be enough to handle the extra wattage.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Nvidia...rentrq:bb99cc791680abd98fcd0adcffd1bd9f|iid:1

This is what I am looking at. Given that OCing 3rd party cards doesnt have a good record I dont have plan to tdp mod it, just tune it for optimal performance.

 

That's fine. all you need to worry about is that the MXM card fits in the spot for the GPU and that the die and heatsink align correctly.

I don't use MSI afterburner since running it might cause some anti-cheat apps to think you're using hooks to cheat so what I do is use nvidia inspector to test the OC, create a shortcut, take the command line arguments from the shortcut and create a scheduled task to run nvidia inspector with the command line arguments at login. DONE!

 

I just disable the overlay for siege and dont really play much multiplayer games anymore. Single player campaigns are where its at for me.

 

That's why i recommend nvidia inspector because it just runs once to set the clocks and the app will close after it's set.

it's a "set and forget" type of thing.

 

Performance-wise no doubt go for GTX 1060, or GTX 1070 mxm (they are usually around $500, and believe me, the extra performance is worth the price)
However there is a reason why those GTX 1060 cards are being sold at the same price or lower than 980m, that is, compatibility.

 

To be honest I am just looking for the cheapest card to run PEG/eDP mode but in case I cant ill try to get a 1060

 

It just means you won't be able to use the integrated GPU... Boo hoo! It's preferred to use the dGPU anyway.

 

what is your budget?

you might look into something like this https://www.amazon.com/Customizable-Refresh-Eluktronics-Mech-17-i7-8750H/dp/B07FP9ZT77?th=1

 

Yeah only reason I am looking right now is because my 8950m wont boot peg even on the LVDS panel let alone PEG for eDP. But I found a cheap panel to upgrade from my Rangers default eDP panel, so if I can snag that on the cheap then I will feel better about the cost of the 1060.

Thanks, but I am not looking for a new laptop. The Ranger will very likely be my last laptop, as everything else doesnt measure up to what I want in a machine.

 

Go for the 1060. I've owned 2 980Ms, as has @Mr. Fox and they both died for us. They are not good for overclocking as @Khenglish mentioned. They need to be power modded.

You can flash the Clevo 88w TDP vBIOS if you want to try to extract extra performance, but a 1060 out of the box will work faster. Even in Afterburner, with some voltage tuning, it'll run well.

120Hz PEG is where it's at. I bet even RTX 2060 would work in the future if it were ever made to work in the form factor.

I don't think you need to worry about the 60hz panel since the 17 has eDP, which all new GPUs only support. 980M is more practical in a system like mine where you can SLI.

EDIT: I'd message that seller and see what vBIOS TDP limit it has.

MSI has 78W
Clevo has a 88W OC'd

Preferably it would be nice with a 100W TDP to really open up the card but here's what a few different vBIOSes can do with 1060:

78W Stock (Optimus): https://www.3dmark.com/fs/15564093

78W OC (Optimus): https://www.3dmark.com/fs/15551448

88W Stock (Optimus): https://www.3dmark.com/fs/16841964

88W OC (Optimus): https://www.3dmark.com/fs/16862393

Secret Sauce Stock (Optimus): https://www.3dmark.com/fs/16860572

Secret Sauce OC (Optimus): https://www.3dmark.com/fs/16862440

Keep in mind, yours will run PEG so should be 5-10% faster across the board.

 

Very true.
@TheReciever You need high ASIC %age for 980M to OC very well even with Prema vBIOS. I can OC only max of 150-200MHz and 200-300MHz on memory with little overvolt and still hits TDP of 120W and throttles itself because of 58% ASIC quality.

 

Oof, that has to be one of the worst examples I’ve ever seen. Fortunately all my cards are 71-78%

 

The real value is just worse, I just put the rounded off values, precisely 57.3x% and only 3% people have it.

 

Overclocking is never worth it for gaming performance, just for benching.
That being said, since you have one slot to use and also have the edp display, I would go 1060, and try your luck with MSI afterburner at overclocking + undervolting. Better still, I’d save for the Frankenstein 1070 using a Dell quadro Pxxxx board + 1070 core for 600$, that should do nicely for some time.

 

I plan to get the 1080 and experiment getting that working with external supplement power from the g65vr. Depends on if I can find the part I need or find someone that can fab it.

So this is more of a stepping stone card just so I can get a little current. Many mods are being researched at the moment.

That being said if I can't get the vortex 1080 working then yes I'll be using the 1070.

 

This is a precarious position to hold so confidently. There are many scenarios where it isn't going to hold true.

 

Increasing clocks on the 980M requires such a large increase in voltage, it turns it into a blast furnace. Even if you get +300mhz in the core, it might add 4-5 FPS TOPS, in ideal situations. Pascal doesn’t even overclock unless you have a custom unsigned bios and a programmer, otherwise all you can hope for is hitting higher clocks at lower voltages.

Desktops are a different story.

 

I think my 980M died @ +320Mhz on core lol needed 1.2V I think.

My 680M handles 1.2V fine. 980M was just crap.

 

Thanks to everyone for providing the details to give more context. I had only known that an OCed 980m could beat the 1060 but I didnt know that it required such voltage / modding to get there.

I purchased a 1060 for the Ranger to hold me over until I attempt another GPU upgrade in the future.