I cant overclock 9500M GS

hi,
I have the dell xps13 laptop which has nvidia 9500M GS 256mb and i've been trying since many days to overclock my card just to have a look at how it performs with slight frequency raise but totally unable to do so. Just to give you in brief of what all i done to enable overclocking for my card:

1) Installed the latest rivatuner 2.24. When i click on 'enable driver level overclocking', it opens a new window telling me 'reboot needed'. I reboot, open tuner again click on enable overclocking, click on 'detect now' and nothing happens. The sliders remain greyed out.

2) Installed ntune, opened nv control panel. Tried raising clock freq, when i click on apply, it says invalid values and hence not applicable.

3) Installed ATItool, when i run it, gives error that a kernel driver module is missing needed to communicate with my hardware. So again, the sliders remain greyed out. I reinstalled ATItool by completely removing the folders and files left behind but still wont work

4) Installed powerstrip, the sliders remain greyed out.

5) Tried Evga precision tool, i move the sliders, click on apply and then without any error the sliders bounce back to default values.

6) Lastly, tried flashing the vga bios but i cant find the .rom file for my card. Cant even google it.

I dont see any other solution left, so pls help me out

Edit: I'm using customized 181.22 drivers and i even tried on 179.48 drivers but those sliders just wont sit on custom values

 

I don't Known much about overclocking but ATI won't help overclocking NVidia cards

 

Try nvidia system tools. Should be available from nvidia website. Its the newer version of ntune and allows much more extensive overclocking options.

 

I already did that, i have the latest ntune. But I already mentioned that when I move a slider and hit on apply it gives error that the value is invalid and then it bounces back to default value

 

Try with rivatuner.

And solomaster, ATItool does work with nvidia cards

 

...He already did... As he stated in the beginning of the thread.

Are you running 64-bit perhaps?

 

I'm having a similar (but not same) problem with my 9300M GS.

I also get that nasty little error in nTune (aka NVIDIA System Tools) when I adjust the core speed and the memory, but with the shaders I'm not given the prompt, though I can't see that it changes anything.

With RivaTuner I can change values, but they also just bounce back.

<s>What drivers are you using now?</s>

EDIT: Yup I see the drivers. Currently I'm using 185.20 DOX drivers, but they don't overclock either.

 

None of the programs work for me
Rivatuner has greyed out sliders, so no chance.
I'm counting on ntune to work, but it seems that theres something wrong with my VGA bios. I remember one of the dell representatives said in the forums that they do not allow users to overclock their GPUs. So i think they done something in the VGA bios to disable dynamic overclocking...And i cant find the vga bios for my card, i cant use nvflash coz it gives error that vista x64 is not supported and i have vista x64.

EDIT: I'm using Dox's 181.22 drivers.

 

Try to reformat your laptop and then give it a try again.

 

Well, TehSuigi suggested here something about cleaning out the pre-installed drivers through a full system reinstall, although I'm currently waiting for him to reply if it is possible to do just that without having to reinstall the OS.

I was also thinking of the VGA BIOS, I mean, how does it work? Is it like if you install a driver a certain BIOS comes with it, or is it a first-time-forever install? If it's something that can be done, perhaps we could look for people who have the same OS/GPU that we have and are able to OC, and then ask them to give us a copy of their BIOS? Is that possible?

 

The VGA bios doesnt come with the driver i think, its a first time forever installed thing. But the VGA bios can allow users to set clock settings to the card so that everytime it boots it boots with the user specified clock settings as if those were the default settings. But i'm not able to find the VGA bios for my card, there are BIOS for Acer but nowhere is Dell's BIOS.
If someone can just borrow, would be helpful. I'm sure Dell has disabled dynamic overclocking in the BIOS

EDIT: The only weird behaviour I can see in ntune is that it never gives error when i lower clock values, only when i try to raise the values it gives error. Yesterday, i downclocked the memory clock and when i hit on apply it never gave any error. Then when i manually tried to raise settings to the default it gave the error of invalid values. Thank goodness i had to restart to bring back the values

 

I wonder how other 9500M users been able to overclock.
Anybody here who successfully overclocked 9500M, which drivers are you using?

 

I think it's not a drivers issue anymore, I think its more of the bios issue. Dunno.

WHere can I download acer's VGA bios?

I also have that stuff. Happens that when I underclock it accepts it, though when I step it up it doesn't want to. Although, for the shader clock it accepts raising the clocks. Hmm, I was thinking, who among you people are able to overclock with your cards? You could use GPU-Z to compile the vga bios, right?

 

WOW, i observed something so remarkable!!!

i saw a post in which people said not to install drivers other 179.48 or 179.28 drivers which are made for laptops.
I had 181.22 installed so i rolled back to 179.48, i can overclock now!!!!!
Still that peculiar behaviour remains, i have to raise the shader clock so that other clock too can be raised. But this was not possible using ntune. I had to install Evga Precision which made my day. Still, that core clock i was able to raise from 475 to 530, note more than that, bounces back. Still I was able to raise the memory clock which refused in 181.22
So i think its the driver problem.

So i set these settings
530 core - 1562 shader - 521 memory

 

Wow, really?! Good for you! Congrats!

I have yet to try that, though, but seeing as when I first tried to OC it was the 179.48's that I used, maybe it still won't work at all.

Perhaps I'm gonna try doing your method first later, see if it kicks in, and then if it doesn't, well, I'll just burst out. Hahaha kidding.

Anyway, I'm seeing right now that the chance for me to OC is to do BIOS-level OC, but then I'd have to flash the VGA bios an awful lot of times to achieve the right clocks, whoa!

But before that I'll still try some other remedies for this. Again, well done!

 

Try using 179.48 drivers with Evga Precision. it seems ntune doesnt properly support mobile graphics. If that doesnt work, use the 179.28 drivers.
Many people say that 169.04 drivers are universally overclockable, but i didnt download them. They are too old even to support openGL 2.0.

Their is vBIOS for acer lappy having 9500M. You can perhaps email and ask them for 9300M

GOOOOD luck

 

Yeah, well...I really think so too, that the 169.04 one is verry verry old (remembers momma-so-old jokes lol).

I also emailed Acer to ask whether they locked the overclocking functions or not, but I have yet to receive a reply.

Maybe I'll also download the 179.28 drivers then. Thanks, will update

 

O now it wont overclock
i restarted my pc just to check whether the clock values remain or not and it went default, now i cant even move the shader slider!!!

Damn it got even worse

 

Aw, really? Man, that's a bummer.

I knew there were things wrong. So I did try the 179.28's, and they didn't work! Of course they wouldn't. Tried 169.04, it won't even install, tried every OC program and it won't work too. That does it! BIOS is the problem!

 

I asked Dell if they have BIOS for 9500GS and they said they dont keep it

 

Do not flash the Acer 9500M GS vBIOS, it won't work!

As stated in other topics, and around the web, the Dell Studio XPS 13 does NOT have a GeForce 9500M GS, which is a core revision of the 8600M GT.
It has a GeForce 9500M GE, which is a Hybrid SLI combination of an on-board GeForce 9400M G and a dedicated 9200M GS or 9300M GS.
Thus, you have TWO GPUs on your system, running at different clock speeds. I don't recall that people have had much luck OC'ing Hybrid SLI systems, so I think that unless you can uncover something, you're SOL and JWF.
Be happy with what you have for now.

 

What about the 9300M GS? I can't find any VGA bios for the card, but I saw one from HP, and a 64-bit driver comes with it. Is that not good?

Also, would I have to get a vBIOS from Acer as well, or is it alright to ask for a vBIOS from someone with just a 9300M GS that's like mine?

 

Definitely not good - your Acer system probably won't work properly if it's got an HP vBIOS on its GPU.
If you wanted a vBIOS, you'd get one from another source; it just has to be made by Acer.

 

So not at all even coming from Asus N10J's? Mr. TehSuigi, would you be kind enough to help me look for a compatible one? Since you know a lot of people from the Acer forums?

 

Well, why not post on NBR-Acer?
I personally don't know why you're even trying to overclock your 9300M GS. If you want more performance, see if you can trade that sucker in for a 5920G on the cheap.
OR...
Or...
Hang on, I got an idea. I'll PM you soon.

 

Well, I just got tha notebook and my dad'll kill me if I decide to trade this in (again, because I traded my Leno for this one just last month ) and I've also posted in the Acer threads..I'm just waiting for my former thread to be buried, seems like I post a lot this past few days

Really? Wow, thanks, will wait for it.

 

What do you mean? The 9500M GS is a Hybrid SLI thing which has both the cards you mentioned above running in a 'hybrid' SLI mode. Its the same thing as 9500M GS which for no reason might have been renamed.. My own device manager shows 9500M GS. So, i'm running a 9500M GS

And i have been able to overclock my card finally . The only thing which annoys me is that clocks dont remain the same when i restart, i have to again set it, and I can again move the shader slider

 

Really? how did you do it again?? Only the shader is the one moveable? Hmm I'm thinking of trading my 9300M GS with a 9500M GS if Acer doesn't reply with my new vBIOS. Hahaha

 

That is officially ridiculous. I know that Nvidia sometimes has difficulty keeping its model names the same, but to have TWO setups called the 9500M GS? (core revision of 8600M GT vs. 9400M G/9300M GS Hybrid SLI)

 

I dont know how the shader thing started working again. And i disabled UAC so that when i restart the clock values remain So i think i dont have any problem now...
And dont trade a 9500M. Better if you take 9600M or better.

Many people dont know why its like that. Perhaps Nvidia thought 2 cards working at the same time with same clocks would give better performance

no wait...I dont get it. Why did they make the same card again?

 

I have installed Dox's 185.66 drivers on my Dell Studio XPS 1340. I then installed nTune and have the ability to overclok the CPU FSB and 1/2 of the graphics. It won't let me overclock the 9200M GS (says my choice was invalid) but I am able to overclock the 9400M G with no problems. I have upped all selections on the 9400M G by 20% with no issues.

 

Wait. I'm confused. In yout XPS 1340 you have both 9200M GS and 9400M G? Product specs say the 1340 only has 9400M G..

Anyway, I haven't found DOX 185.66's, though I found some on LV2G. I'll try using them later and see if they'd OC my card.

 

I dont know how you did it. The only Dox drivers that installed on mine was 181.2 and 180.44. I'm using the official 179.48 drivers though, those custom drivers do not seem to overclock.
And dont use nTune, it still gives me the invalid values error when i try overclocking 9200M GS. Use the Evga precision, first raise the shader clock, than the memory clock and then the core clock. It really works.
And come back here and tell me if you were able to raise core clock more than 529

Thats what the 9500M GS is all about.

 

I still haven't found any documentation that calls the 9400M/9200M GS Hybrid SLi combination the 9500M GS. Dell calls it the 9500M, Notebookcheck the 9500M GE, and Nvidia doesn't even mention it.
Regardless of what your Device Manager says (it's possible that your driver set has misidentified your Hybrid SLi setup, since you're using Dox drivers), you are not running a 9500M GS.

EDIT: This thread should close the book on this debate.

 

Well, I installed the 185.20 DOX and so far it gives me the highest 3DMarks @ 1927 for my 9300M GS.. And I raised the shader clock (only, cause that's what I could only move -_-') by +30 (1480),

This is using 179.48 drivers? Shader, memory, core. Got it. Will try. Hahaha

 

Hi guys.
Quick question. whats the best software or and drivers to overclock Geforce 9400m G for studio xps1340 ???
and if u do know please can u provide links..... THANX!!!!!!!!

 

did any of you try zotac firestorm? http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=455&Itemid=506