Nvida Geforce Gtx 680m

I just got my Alienware m17x R4 like maybe a week ago now. And i have like 2 questions about it. 1) Whats a safe operating temp for the Nvida 680m and whats a good safe/stable overclock for it. (I need numbers so i can replicate them using msi afterburner) currently ive overclocked the gpu clock from 720mhz to 854mhz and clocked the memory from 1800mhz to 2300mhz (the boost on the gpu went from 758mhz to 893mhz) When running furmark for 1 hour the hottest temp i got was 71 degrees Celsius and i idle at like 52-55 degrees. so im wondering is that too hot of a temp?
2) i currently have a i7-3820qm in my m17x is it worth overclocking? Like what are the benefits if i do overclock it and what would be a safe overclock for it

*These temps where taken using Furmark, GPU-Z, and Msi Afterburner. I wanted to make sure i had more then one temp source readings

 

71 during furmark is quite cool.

 

ok thank you im really new when it comes to overclocking so i get overly cautious. my main concern is: isent increasing a coreclock by 135 mhz alittle insane? like msi wont let me go higher so im thinking maybe this gpu has a lock on it which i am glad it does. also wth does memory clock do. like 1800mhz to 2300mhz seems like a big jump to me :/ . anyone know what temp i should stay away from? cause i like anything above 71 seems scary to me.

 

Many people have clocked the 680m upwards of 1000 core and 2500 memory, you are not hurting anything.

Just FYI though, Keplar cards automatically throttle on Furmark to protect the card from damage, so it really is not a good test. The best thing is just to game.

The main issue you can have is clock bouncing, where the card automatically lowers the speed over and over for a few seconds before putting it back to normal. If you don't have that then you are good to go.

 

You are basically fine until you're getting above 90C - in fact safe operating temps often go up to 95-100C, but 90C is a sensible upper limit so I think you will be fine with your reported temps!

I have an old Dell XPS m1530 with an 8600m GT which is overclocked and it has been running at 90-95C for almost 4 years (and it's still going). My 680m gets to a max of 89C when overclocked to 854/2300 but only in certain games (Crysis 2 is one).

In most games this card doesn't even break 80C for me

 

Ok thanks cause the game im playing right now is the witcher 2 and when overclocked i get 65-75 fps withough v-sync in avg areas and like 58-62ish in like areas with alot of people. my max temp with that is 66 degrees after 4 hours. I thought this game was sapposed to be hard to play on laptops and pcs but i guess i was wrong

 

It is, it's just that the GTX 680m is a powerful card, especially when overclocked. Alienware computers have great cooling as well.

 

This is what i got when i did the 3dmark vantage thingy have no idea if its good or bad or wth the P is for.... if someone could tell me what numbers i should be getting that would be great *PS if someone could tell me how to resize pictures that would be nice because having this big image is annoying and i think it might lag people if they have a bad connection so sorry :/

 

That vantage score (P means you ran the "performance" benchmark) looks about right for your CPU/GPU with the overclock - IIRC I get around 24000 but I have a lower spec CPU.

In response to your question about overclocking the CPU - I really wouldn't bother, most games are far more dependent on your GPU so I doubt you would see any significant framerate differences by oc'ing the CPU.

 

That's a nice 3dmarkVantage score rmutua!

Would you mind running a 3dmark11 benchmark with MSI AB monitoring GPU utilization, temps etc. Most of Dell 680m users got throttle issues when they overclocked their GPU but you don't seem to have any !

 

I'm curious as to how the AW models are getting WEI scores like 7.9 compared to Clevo owners getting 7.1/7.2 for theirs with Clevo cards.

I know that WEI scores are useless for real comparison, but I'm curious nonetheless.

 

that vantage is even a little better than what you should get with your clocks, looks like your 680m was from a nice batch try 3dmark11! enjoy the beast btw

 

I'm guessing it's because AW users can disable Optimus and run exclusively on the dedicated GPU

 

Can anyone show me a link on how to overclock their 680m? I am little confused because I am reading that you have to flash your BIOS?

 

You just use AB... you dont have to do a vbios flash unless you are using AW

 

what is considered a good 3dmark11 score? cause mine is in the 6k

 

Could you post a link perhaps with your MSI AB curves?

 

The GTX 680M is a damn strong card. However. . .what are you settings exactly? Sounds to me like you're underestimating The Witcher 2, the main part about it being hard to play/demanding is with Ultra settings and Ubersampling enabled. If you max out everything, I think even the GTX 680M will stutter. . .don't take my word for it though, I'm basing it off reviews I've read.

 

Ultra settings it runs mid 20's, with stock OC (+135 GPU / +500 RAM) it runs upper 20's even lower 30's.

 

I currently have everything maxed out only thing i turn off was ubersampling and of course v-sync because that's ment to restrict the frame to the refresh rate of the screen. Ill post a vid if i remember after Im off work

 

Like how i did with my vantage score? Or do you mean the url link for the score?

 

If you turn off ubersampling the TW2 its very easy to get 55-70 FPS. Only the unoptimized tutorial at the very begin stutters, but that stutters no matter what because they never fixed it

 

K well this is my 3dmark11 score : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3820QM Processor,Alienware M17xR4 score: P6513 3DMarks

And this is my 3dmark Vantage score : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3820QM Processor,Alienware M17xR4 score: P26109 3DMarks

My question is: is my 3dmark11 score low? cause at stock without any oc i get a score like this for 3dmark11 : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3820QM Processor,Alienware M17xR4 score: P5988 3DMarks

 

This is exactly what I meant. Without Uber Sampling, it'll run just fine. Turn Uber Sampling on and watch the FPS drop like crazy.

 

Uber sampling is designed for dual gpu setups. It rarely runs well on single card setups. Not even a gtx670 can run it that smooth

 

So for the Alienware M17x R4 680M, what is the best OC so far?

What gains does this yield gaming/fps wise?

 

look at the picture i posted at the front page. thats a safe stable and good oc

 

Don't recommend another user a "safe stable and good OC" as every single card is going to yield different results.

I have to "shake my head" when I see people taking high end equipment and asking about overclocking and if scores are good yet have no idea what they are doing besides moving a slider a little bit higher on a tool like MSI.

People should only overclock if they really know what they are doing and can wrench their own computers, have solid understanding of what the different clocks do, undervolting, flashing bios etc. But that is just my opinion as everyone is entitled to do whatever they want with the system that they spent their money on.

however recommending "safe overclocks" is an asinine concept that is not only impossible to say, but can destroy another person's GPU within seconds if the advice is taken.

 

Your ideas are overrated dude. Just sliding a bar or not, a person buying a high end system is definitely going to use & experiment with it. It is foolish to say "oh I bought a 2k bucks new computer but I don't understand as much, so let's not OC"

 

Strong. Your reading comprehension is strong. My point is that you don't "recommend clocks" to other members as a general point; especially if the person recommending the clocks is also asking the question: "Are these scores good?"

Some cards overclock well and some don't overclock at all. So you can't recommend "safe overclocks." Period. Is this "idea" overrated still?

I also don't agree that people "definitely" will experiment with a 2k+ computer if they have limited knowledge. I don't think it's silly to NOT mess with it. It's important to protect your investment. How many times do we see on the forums some noob completely fry not only the GPU but also the MB and completely brick the computer from sliding the bar in some benchmark e-peen competition? Advanced users should be overclocking. New users should be reading about it.

 

Id have to disagree with the whole belief that there's no such thing as a safe overclock -.- if you read up on a card and countless others find a clock which is safe then recommending it wont do harm. Plus i dont remember saying the clock on that picture was the max or near the max of that card. secondly clocking the 680m to those specs make the max temp under load after 4 hours 71 degrees C on furmark. when playing games i only get 66 degrees C and that's on the witcher 2. Lastly its better to advise someone that's concern about Oc then having them guess -.- plus if you havent noticed yet hes asking about the lame laptop im using (m17x r4...)

 

This will be my last reply. What on Earth is so difficult to comprehend that just because your card achieves certain clocks with certain temperatures does not mean another card will do so. Yes there are generally considered mild/moderate/extreme overclocks. However that has nothing to do with my point. The point is that whenever you run an overclock there are many variables to factor. No one should, in my opinion use the clocks someone else has been successful with. IF you choose to overclock, first research it: the pros and cons. Then after you know what you are doing, start upping in small increments and then test for stability. Yes, this takes HOURS. However it is the safest way to achieve an overclock that is specific to YOUR card.

But hey, "do you brah." What do I know....

 

Dude what have you been smoking? I really don't understand the people bragging about themselves in this forum...

1. There must be guidelines to help the new people in overclocking, this is fundamental, don't even argue against it.
2. We all follow the guidelines of others (as long as you are not coding the software you are using).

I hope these are clear. The fact that you flashed the bios of a computer 10 times doesn't make you a software engineer. Oh btw for the record, no one ever told you all cards OC the same, that is what you started talking all of a sudden.

 

That's not even a remotely accurate statement. In fact I'd venture a guess that a lot of the users that spend 2k on a system tend to not "mess" with that amount of money.

 

Thank you graz zt thats exactly what i was try to say XD

 

My bad for being the catalyst for what appears to have become an argument - apologies.

I thought there was a general ballpark in which cards (in this case Dell 680M) could OC to safely, then, once past that threshold cards vary on how well they OC.

Everybody around here says "680M is a beast", "680M is a caged monster, you just have to OC/overvolt it" therefore I asked how I can get the most out of my equipment.

 

This shouldn't be an argument at all. Overclocking results do vary, and every card and machine are different. You are guaranteed to run at designed speeds, anything else is a bonus. With video cards, it's not uncommon to get at least 15% overclock on the GPU and vRAM. Manufacturers will allow some tolerance to ensure every card meets the advertised speed and there's always some wiggle room.

 

If i were you id just slowly go up each time. and only change one at thing at a time. Like when i oc mine i went on msi AB and increase the core by 50mhz then did a furmark for an hour or played the witcher 2 for an hour with everything maxed. if there were no artifacts or crashs and i like the temps id then go to the mem clock and add 50mhz and repeat. if that was stable id only increase the core buy 25mhz and the mem by 25mhz and i keep doing that till i reached a oc that i liked for the game i was playing. Remember your not oc for a world record here. I only overclock so i can play the game i like to play at a safe fast and stable level. if that only 100mhz or the core and meme for you well then thats fine. i Dont personal Oc for the highest 3dmark....

 

Furmark/Kombuster stress testing doesn't work with some GTX680M, they will Throttle down to 135MHz on core clock during furmark so instead you need to play games to carry out the stress testing.

 

This. Also I agree with the above on testing in small increments. It's best to find the optimum that you are comfortable with and seeing how the clocks affect temps of the individual card. Nothing worse than a bricked card on a brand new system with the cards likely on back order for 3 months. This happened with some people with the 580m's. They were backlogged for about a good 2-3 months and users were stuck...waiting. Take your time with overclocking these beasts!

 

^^ Good advice. All cards are different, my 7970m does 5.4k stock on pgpu score in 3dmark11, we have 5.8k's on the forum (you should incrementally OC to see how high the card can go while keeping stability, no artifacts). Also another advice, DON'T GAME OC'ed.. adding 2-3 fps to your game won't change any experience, but it will wear on the card a lot faster (not my experience as I don't game OC'ed but a lot of pc experts here on the forum says the same).

 

Yeah thats true some cards do throttle down. I got ride of that problem by pressing fn+f7 and only having the nvida card active. I also agree with having it tested on a game is the best thing to do. Because after all i dont know that many fuzzy doughnut games..

 

Are the 680m backordered? I can't customize my m17x to have one =(

 

they were till the 13th or 15th with sager... not anymore though, mines got built with one and is getting delivered this friday

 

You can game on a card OC'D just fine. Increasing voltage is the only way to damage your card. Any "expert" would tell you tge same thing. In addition overclocking the 680m gives about 7-10fps in a majority of ggames. So yes it does affect gameplay experience