Clevo D900F dead gtx280m, time for upgrade ?

Hi All,
Been reading a lot on the forum the last few days after my 280m gave up.
I managed to breath some live into it with baking it in the oven so at least i might have a little time before it dies completely. Now i am stuck with the decision... Either to just forget the d900f or replace the card.
As far as i can read there might be several problems regarding compatibility or power usage.
I did see that several managed to get a gtx670m running in there (with great help of Prema) without changing the cooling of the (75W) 280m
The (100W) 680m might need a bigger powersupply (mine is the 220W female model) + different coolplate that will be hard to get in EU.
Being in Greece makes getting a card from the US, customs charge much $$$, they even charge for shipping it to you after they intercept it.

So what would you guys do ?
a) forget about the laptop completely
b) just replace the card with a gtx280m
c) take the jump and go for a 670m ?
d) go for the 50W of the HD 5870m
e) ???

I simply love this laptop, the screen is very nice, my cpu is a i7-975 extreme, 12Gb, 256ssd +2*1TB disks
Bios is 1.00.09, EC is 1.00.04

Thanks in advance!
Steve
ps after the baking i noticed something extra on the POST that i do not recall seeing before
Kernel Library version: 05.01.01.01
StrongROM version 03.90
Build:_P
Might have been there before and i simply overlooked it. It seems to be related to expansion rom ?

 

The notebook is stll quite powerful, so if you like it's design and you were happy with the 280ms performance then honestly going for something like a 660M or so would be just fine for you.

If you feel like taking the next step, then i'd say go for the 680M, OC its core clock to ~1ghz and you're done. Your 230W PSU should be enough unless you plan on some high OC on the CPU.

 

Wouldn't 975 bottleneck 680m?

 

Nah, u'd beed around 965M levels of performance to start having a bottleneck.

 

680m will run in there with the current bios and EC you're running. It gets a little toasty in the mid 80c range though. I had mine running with the i7 990x with no recognizable bottleneck.

Danishblunt helped me out a lot with the Vbios for it. I was scoring 5200-5500 on firestrike @940mhz on core, cant remember the memory clock though. The Eurocom vbios that it shipped with wasn't the greatest.

I just used the original heatsink that the 280m was on. CPU would never get hot at all. Matter of fact, I'm thinking that it never seen 70c even running benchmarks but could be wrong, I really cant remember but I do know that it was of no concern.

Also, I used an older Clevo 330 watt adapter. I too had the female plug on my motherboard. I had to buy an adapter (Eurocom...Get the checkbook out!) but in the end, it did work and like Danishblunt said, it will run fine on the 230 watt ac adapter unless doing heavy benchmarking. Actually when I went to the 330 watt adapter, my firestrike score went up like 300-500 points iirc.

@FlameHaze was able to modify a vbios to keep the temps under control. Maybe she can help you out if you go the 680m route?

 

@KY_BULLET @Danishblunt
Thanks guys, you took away my worries about the poweradapter, heatsink and bios issues.
My 280m was always a hothead. Often it would pass the 70'c during long times of COD.
It had troubles from day one, but before i could return the laptop the reseller went bankrupt
Being in a hot, dusty country does not help, but i clean out the fans about every month.

Will start to look around for a 670 or a 680, hopefully find something in EU.
(i do not even dare to look at china with all the rebranded chips from there)
If it runs to hot, i can underclock it and still have a big performance gain over the 280

Thanks again!
ps The laptop is now running on the standard vga driver.. am actually typing this message on it.

 

Hi guys,
So far i found:
gtx660m 140e
gtx675m 160e
gtx680m 250e
(all in eu)

When i returned to the 680m to order, not even 20 minutes later, the listing had ended... Just my luck
Will the 675m work as well ? Because in that case, I will look around for some days and if i can not find a 680m i will go for the 675m

Will keep you posted

 

The 675m uses a Fermi core which is being EOL by Nvidia just so you are aware.

 

I recommend a 680m, currently I have it clocked conservative because I've been playing overwatch on high/ultra and it keeps the GPU at 90% usage constantly. I had it stable at 915mhz but it was overheating so I clocked it to 745mhz and it stays around 80c with decent performance, if I ever get a better heatsink I'll try 900mhz again.

I'm currently against providing vbios openly but I could consider providing my vbios to people who aren't gonna put my stuff behind a tech inferno paywall...

 

Update, just found a gtx 680m and even for a good price (129e)
Now waiting on it to be shipped from .DE to .GR
It was used in a MAC computer so i hope i will not have issues with it. (no idea about the vbios though)
@FlameHaze Would you consider sharing your vbios with me in case it gives problems ?

Also found the "updated" cooling blocks but the price of those are even higher then the gtx...
So i will first try it with the original cooling to see how it goes.

Greets from Greece
Steve

 

Hi, first you need to get the card and verify it every will work

4GB or 2GB version?

Also do you know how to do info mods to drivers?(Aka the dumbest thing ever because Nvidia is flipping silly)

Your heatsink won't fit perfectly, and will get VERY hot if you try to clock it up or play hardcore games, keep it in mind

 

A 680m from an Apple concerns me. Older Clevo systems were very particular about the card's vBIOS. If I remember right the old systems could run the 4 GB Clevo or MSI cards, but it had to be an older vBIOS without UEFI support, or else the system could freeze on POST. Do not count on being able to run the vBIOS you need on an Apple.

 

I'm not too concerned unless the BOARD ID's are different

The Clevo system is only looking for hardware access to the card temp instead of the classic method of using SMbus(i2c) to read the temp so if it cannot read it via hardware it will default to card is overheating and is useless, which is the issue with dell cards.

As long as the board ID is normal it shouldn't be an issue to crossflash

 

HM and older Clevos freeze on POST with the wrong vbios. Even if the card can run the correct vbios, you can't crossflash without another system or a programmer. It was only EM series and later that just had temp sensor issues. Older systems had many more problems which is why they can't run anything newer than a 680m with a particular vbios.

 

What? Cross flashing only requires the flags -4 -5 -6 to override everything

HM's would freeze and D series would beep and all fans would go to full. it's a EC issue

Older systems can run newer stuff if you figured the EC out and got the vbios right

 

and the 900F is document with not running newer cards because of temp sensors

Someone posted a 780m in one, as did I

 

Interesting. I thought the HM issues went back to everything before them as well. I swear I heard the CU series also had similar problems.

 

Just because we got a 780m to post doesn't mean it actually worked, the EC freaked out with mine and started the overheating warning and shut off, temps were perfect.

It's a weird system, clevo is off about this stuff. The issue is seemingly issues with EDID and temperature sensing.

 

@FlameHaze
Its a 2GB card, and it seems it was not a original apple, but the seller used it in a apple.
Am comfortable with modding inf's although its +8 years ago when i did it last..

I do not play much hardcore games, the most recent game i did was cod mw
I know i must keep a good eye out on the temp, the old card often went to 80'c here (high local temperature of 30+ during summers)
Would not care if i need to underclock it a bit to keep cool, its replacing a 280m (that had a vbios of a 285m and a modded inf to accept it)
This laptop had problems with the 280m from the start but when i tried to get the dealer to handle it, they went tits up.. So nothing ever happened to it.

If i manage to get it run, i will try go get some better cooling, like new fans and new silicone pads etc
Good cooling paste might also help a bit
Is there a specific place where the heatsink does not fit very well ? (so i can pay attention to it)
Would you recommend to spend about 120euro for the heatsinks that belong with the d900f when they had a 480m ?


Attached is a picture of the card that (should be) underway. Perhaps it can tell anything about the ID of the card (i know not enough to even know what number it should be ;P )
Greets and many thanks!!!
steve

 

My Vbios won't be compatible with that card, that is indeed a Dell card based on the Dell PN at the top sticker. It's not gonna probably work in your laptop, the Dell cards are infamous for triggering the EC overheating warnings

In my laptop my 285m got upto 70C and my 680m gets upto 85c

Remember your "super hot running end of the world because the internet said so" 280m is actually a 75W card, the 680m is 100W

 

Thanks @FlameHaze ! The headsup will prevent me from running in circles trying to figure out why its not working/beeping about temp while the cooling looks oke.
Without the warning i would have blamed the cooling.
well, just my luck
One side of my brain knew it would be best to look for a ex clevo card, but the happiness about finally finding a card overshadowed it..

So if i understand correctly, the Vbios from Dell does not allow the EC to read the temp directly from the hardware ?
I guess there is no modded dell Vbios that will help out ?
Or is it different hardware on the card itself ?

It has not yet been shipped but its from Ebay so i doubt the seller would undo the sale..
So anyways, i am stuck with it and will give it a go in here. If it craps out on the EC not being able to read the temp, i guess its not my year for being lucky..
(well oke, i did not order the other cooling so on one point i could at least say i have a little luck)



Thanks everyone, especially Flamehaze !
Greets
Steve

 

you can use basically any of the Clevo/MSI 680m's

For whatever reason yeah, the EC cannot read the temp and I think is a i2c issue, I could maybe solve it but it's a long shot, not worth it imo. They have slightly different hardware layouts but the chip should be identical.

Ebay sellers sometimes will cancel orders if not shipped

 

Thanks @FlameHaze Have contacted the seller.
Will keep posting here regarding the outcome.

Steve

 

The seller did not want to cancel the sale so its now at a friend.
The seller did send it some hours after i asked him not to...
Have received some larger images, the card is still in Germany.
Is it 100% sure this card will not work in my Clevo ? Or is it worth to get it send over and test ??

GReets
Steve

 

You can tread over the same road from many years ago and find it does not work if you like.

 

the picture shows a Dell P/N

020HTK is a Dell/Alienware 680m 2GB card. It will boot and post, but your EC will immediately complain and shut off the laptop. Only someone who has reverse engineered the Hitachi EC could make it not do that

I could be very wrong But i'm pretty sure it will not work

 

It's a tricky spot because you contractually agreed to the sale and sent the money.

 

@Meaker@Sager Yes, i know, the seller had full rights not to cancel. I know that a ebay sale is final as soon as you press the order button. Some sellers will cancel the deal but its up to them so i do not blame the guy.
(not really sure about what you meant by "You can tread over the same road from many years ago and find it does not work if you like" ? )

@FlameHaze I will ask the friend to sell it from Germany again, not even going to try

If i ever find a MSI/Clevo/Sager card... I will be back

Thanks all!
Greets
steve

 

This is the one you need

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Clevo-NVID...519888&hash=item1ca8e0ac7e:g:FFsAAOSwV4Ba3EA0

Also the one your friend bought I have use for, if the price is good lol. My MSI F1 needs a GPU