Overclocking GeForce Go 6200

My laptop has this card and I've tried overclocking it using RivaTuner v2.02 but the changes I make don't seem to have any effect. I've run 3DMark03 for a comparison and get a score of 2503 before and after running RivaTuner.

I enable driver-level hardware overclocking to Performance 3D, which gives 300/600, and tick Apply Overclocking At Windows Startup. I also apply 100% fan settings on startup as well.

I've disabled NvCplDaemon from the startup sequence because this sets GPU core and memory speeds to default, and RivaTuner appears there as it should.

What am I doing wrong?

My laptop is a Sony VGN-FS115Z running XP Home.

 

I'm stumped! I've run Everest and it says:

Graphics Processor Properties
GPU Clock 301
RAMDAC Clock 400

Memory Bus Properties
Real Clock 299 (DDR)
Effective Clock 598

It's the same before and after I've run RivaTuner so I guess these are the default values.

Can't run nForce Install because it says my hardware isn't compatible with the drivers.

Can't run nTune because I don't have an nForce2 based system.

My driver is v70.82 which is the latest I got from the Sony Update site.

I thought overclocking was easy but I'm new to it and don't really understand what's going on. If it's already clocking at 301/400 should I bother? RivaTuner reported it at 100/332.

 

Alot of mobile graphics card has its clock speeds locked by the bios of the card.

Dell, for instance, locks the clock speeds of the go 7900 gs. All those people, me included, who overclock have to flash the card with a custom user-made bios which unlocks the clock speeds, or which sets different default speeds in the bios itself.

 

Well it is an nvidia geforce 6200 so overclocking really wouldn't give you a substantial performance upgrade.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I know it is an old card but I read on another forum somewhere that someone had clocked theirs to 395/666 but they didn't say anything about flashing the BIOS. In fact, it's supposed to have good overclocking potential so I just wondered why it was proving so difficult. I can't remember which forum it was now but the post was about 2 years old anyway!

 

I think you need to use a different video driver.
try http://www.laptopvideo2go.com
I'm pretty sure the stock driver from Sony won't allow you to overclock the videocard

 

Thanks Valkyrie, but unfortunately I can't install a new driver because the nVidia installer just says it can't find one for my hardware setup. I think my card must be too long in the tooth!

Ah well, it's a bit late now (where I am) so I'll sleep on it. Cheers all.

 

What are you doing overclocking the 6200? That's soon to be classified "ancient".

 

According to this post, the geforce go 6200 can be overclocked.
Did you also use the moded .inf?
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=7259

Here's the general step-by-step method to overclock the video card:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=33

 

if i'm not mistaken, geforce 6200 has the same chip as geforce 6600, the different only 6600 has 12 pipeline and higher clock compare to 6200 has 4 pipeline and lower clock.
for overclocking you can try to open all geforce 6200 pipeline using rivatuner, My friend had tried open all pipeline and it works on desktop graphic card and his graphic card almost became as fast as geforce 6600 but with lower clock.
for information not all brand works to do this, only some of the best brand which can do this thing.
but I don't recommended doing this thing on laptop.

 

Unfortunately, that's wrong. The Geforce Go 6200 and 6400 are based on the NV44 chip while the Geforce Go 6600 is based on the NV43 chip.

And overclocking will only give you a small performance boost. Probably by around 5-10%. I tried overclocking my GF Go 6600 from 375/600 to 410/670 and I only got an increase of 2-4 FPS in games.

 

Me too, I overclocked my VAIO and it improved the CSS "stress test" from 44.5 to 51, not much of a difference lol

 

Why on earth is there a thread about overclocking a historic card? I mean, by all means, I accept the fact that some people may want to overclock their 6200's, but even dangerously overclocked, it will still be a basically weak card. If you're notebook is loaded with that card, it might as well be an outdated notebook; probably single core. If you're interested in gaming, you really should consider a new, technologically up to date notebook; notebook technology has advanced substantially in the past 2 years.

 

Thanks everyone, even J-Bytes, but especially Valkyrie.

I followed Valkyrie's links and have managed to install the nVidia driver v84.25. I downloaded the driver and modded .INF file and used the Have Disk method and it worked a treat. I now get a mighty 3DMark03 score of 2581!

Problem is, I still can't overclock it. I make the changes (run at startup etc), click Apply and OK but they don't seem to take. When I look at them again they're back at default values, both on NVidia control panel and RivaTuner.

Is it something to do with VBIOS? Which F key do I tap to look at BIOS on bootup?

I know this might seem like a pointless exercise but I've never overclocked before and this knowledge will come in useful in the future.

Incidentally, Optimized Settings came up with 380/761. Is that a bit high?

 

Lol, check my sig lol, I have moved with the times....


Dan, don't worry about overclocking the 6200, if you have a game you can't play because the card is weak, overclocking won't make a game playable, it might add a few fps but thats it.
380/760 doesn't seem that high to me... I can safely OC the 6400 to 475/800 but it still doesn't do a lot lol

 

It's hard to say if an overclock is excessive or not from numbers alone, because even different examples of the same card have different tolerances. The 2 main things to look for when overclocking are heat and stability. Run ATI Tool's artifact scanning, games, benchmarks, etc. and look for artifacts and graphic corruption. Also, look at the heat the card is producing when running intensive programs.

 

I'm not sure why it's not working, but it could be driver version.
I'm using 81.98 for my GF 6400.
However, as everyone mentioned, overclocking won't give you a lot of performance boost

 

Thanks very much for the help.

I'll put this on the back burner now as having a better driver is the main thing and overclocking does seem pretty pointless. However, like I said, it would be interesting to know how to fix the problem in case I ever encounter a similar one in the future. I'll have a tinker from time to time.

Cheers all.

 

Actually, one last question:

I don't mind playing 2 year old games so with a game like HL2 how much difference would overclocking make? Would it be noticeable? I originally played it at 1280x800 and it ran very well, with very little 'choking' (is that the right expression?).

 

The difference will be very, very subtle to the point that it's neglible. And you're also killing your video card when you overclock. Don't bother.

 

Thanks SymphonyX, I thought for games that were around when my card was still (fairly) new it might make a difference but maybe not. It makes me wonder why so many bother overclocking if the difference is so small. Still, it's all a learning experience.

I hope I don't get these problems when I get my new 9800 GTX machine...

 

Another thing for using the video driver, check if the remaining functions work, such as brightness control using the fn keys, automatic brightness adjustment when switching from AC to battery power, etc.
One thing I noticed when using some version of the driver was that my video card did not go into the power-save mode when using the 84.63 driver. In other words, the video card should automatically switch to some lower clock/memory speed setting when running under battery, but the 84.63 did not do that.
I found the 81.98 is the best overall driver for me so far

 

Thanks again Valkyrie, I've checked the Fn keys and they work fine. I hardly ever use the battery so that doesn't really matter. Everything seems to be working fine (touch wood) but if something goes awry I'll report back.