Undervolting the GT 540m?

Hi folks.

I have the Clevo on my sign. It has a Sandy Bridge i7 and the GT 540m, both sharing the same heatsink.
When gaming, it can get really hot in there, specially if Turbo Boost is enabled (maybe 90+ C).

I was thinking on undervolting as a solution to ease some of the temps on the higher GPU usage... is it a good idea? How could I do that?
I never did anything like that with a GPU, just with a Core 2 Duo, on my older notebook.

I'm not looking for changing voltages for idle or lower usage because most of the time I'm using Intel HD Graphics 3000 through Optimus.
Btw, I would like to undervolt the processor as well, for the fan to be quiet more often, but I know its not really feasible at the time. And I'm actually more concerned on lowering the higher temps.

What do you say?
Thanks!

 

For GPU undervolting I think Bios flashing is required & as for a new GPU like urs I would wait for a while till people start missing around with it & provide feedback

but thats just me

 

I see... thanks for your thoughts!
I'm new to all this and I'm just wondering... Undervolting seems to be the most effective way to reduce temperatures, but I really don't know how GPUs behave and if undervolting would be as simple and reliable as with those Core 2 processors...

 

I would simply repaste the whole thing

 

Do you have the system BIOS and the recovery method if it fails? We can play around with the GPU voltage.

 

I think I can extract the current BIOS and using the right software... But, given your experiences, would you say they those procedures are safe?
I mean, isn't there a risk that the recovery method fails? (not hypothetical risks, but have you really seen that it can fail in practice...)
I know that undervoltig old processors is quite easy, but doing so on the GPU may be a little different I wonder...

Anyone had the experience on the very same GPU?

 

The recovery method worked all the time on the failed BIOSes my testers tested for the M11x GPU BIOS voltage mods. That doesn't mean it's completely failsafe but it's safe enough to rely upon.

Try using nVidia Inspector to undervolt first.

 

That's what I was looking for! Thanks.

I'll try it. I think tonight I could take some hours to play around for starters. I found the 1.9.5.5 version, it was the latest I could find. I also want to read a little more on the whole thing before diving into it.


Any chance that things got different from the GPUs you tested to mine?

 

The version I have is 1.9.5.4 so that seems right. Not sure how well it works as I'm not interested in undervolting my 335M and can't test it as the modded BIOS greys out the VID field.

I've finished the 540M BIOS mod for the M11x R3. Default voltage was .98v and it had options for .92v and 1v directly below or above the default setting. It's just waiting for users willing to test it. Finding the recovery method will be a good confidence booster in getting this mod out. Too bad I can't find that out without an R3.

 

I just opened Nvidia Inspector here. (See the attached image)

It seems that for the highest clock it has two options for voltages - 0.98 V and 0.83 V, being the higher enabled. That seems a steep difference to me.

If I just sweep that to the lower value and apply will it undervolt it instantaneously? Then I may test it with Furmark or some game...

 

Try applying it and testing it. GPUZ should tell you the VID of the GPU.

 

I will! (not just now, but I'll get back here with the results later...)

And what about those voltages, there isn't possible to set some other between 0.83 and 0.98 V? Or then just by flashing it?
Well, I should try it first anyhow hehehe

Thanks a lot for the help, DavyGT!

 

It doesn't appear to have any setting between .83v and .98v. Looks like a BIOS flash is needed for that.

 

i tried slipping the voltage thing to the lower end but it simply ignores it when I click "Apply Clocks & Voltage". That's odd, as it is grayed out on the other 2 performance levels, on the higher performance it seems that is changeable but it's not.
The clocks can be changed, I tested here with both over and under-clock.


Btw I was browsing around and found two tutorials:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/269020-grooves-guide-volt-moding-your-gpu-lower-temps.html
Very nice, but quite dated. I wonder if it would apply for my case...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...ga-bios-modification-flash-restore-guide.html
They point it fits only MXM GPUs... mine is soldered to the mobo, so I think it's not the case...