Coolest GFX for D901C (TDP)

I recently got a D901C (thanks Kobalt) with a single 8800m installed. Now it is for use as a audio workstation and live gigging machine, no games and little graphics intensive work so I don't need a powerful graphics card. I was wondering what card would have the lowest TDP that would work in the machine to help reduce heat and increase stability when used in critical situations. As I'm running XP32 it wouldn't hurt to downgrade from a 1Gb card and give myself back another 512MB RAM as well.

Also does it matter my card states it's installed in the secondary slot, rather than the master, as there is only one card?

 

Underclock and undervolt your 8800M GTX's max level to 2D. That should keep the temperatures ice cold while retaining some performance.

 

that notebook can actually use a Nvidia 9600M (MXM-II) if you like.

 

How would I do that? Guess some configuration software I can download? Assume it will work in XP but what about Linux?

Is there anywhere that actually lists device TDP rather than power usage/consumption?

 

i dont know how to undervolt but to underclock just use ntune or rivatuner

 

Download GPU-Z, nvFlash, and NiBiTor and copy the 2D clocks and voltage for throttle, 3D, and max. It will be rock stable at 200/400/100 @ 0.7v. The same goes for 300/600/300 @ 0.7v.

 

dumb question, so would that mean it would support dual 9600's in sli?

 

possibly, but no one has tried that yet... no point really.

since a single 8800M/9800M will outperform dual 9600M GT.

 

So it can't be done with RMclock? Just been reading the undervolting guide and that is something I will be definitely looking at once I'm happy the system fully installed and glitch-free. I know what GPU-Z is but not the other two. Why would I need two other programs for setting the gfx settings?

 

Those instructions are only for the CPU.

PL

 

RMClock is not a GPU utility. The undervolting guide is for CPU's only.

Here's a summary of what would happen with these three applications. Using GPU-Z, you would extract a copy of the GPU BIOS. Using NiBiTor, you would tweak the clocks and voltage at each throttling level on the BIOS to however you desire. Then using nvFlash to copy the modified BIOS onto a bootable device and flash your card with it. I'd love to walk you through this with you but I need to be places today. There is an extensive guide around here somewhere. I forgot what it was called and I can't search for it with search abilities disabled. Ask Gophn for the links. He should have them bookmarked.

If all that is too much, then download Nvidia System Tools and undervolt and underclock that way.

 

Nah that makes perfect sense. Haven't actually used GPU-Z myself but have mainly seen it used for the monitoring side so didn't know you could extract a BIOS with it. Doubt I'll do anything more graphic intensive than viewing 1080P video and the CPU can easily handle that so shouldn't need a secondary profile, like I plan to have for undervolts. Will have a hunt in the section where the undervolting CPU guide is for info on restricting GPUs. Thanks for your pointers so far. As you may of guessed I'm not hugely rushed with this.

 

Also is it worth moving my GPU to the primary position as I noticed it said it was in the secondary/daughter (however they phrase it) when I had a look in BIOS the other day?

 

Okay, the lecture here in class is getting really boring so I might as well burn time here on the forum.

Starting with GPU-Z, there is a a small button at the end of the "BIOS Version" line. Click it and it will prompt you to save to file or submit to online database. Select save to file and save the BIOS.bin somewhere safe and name it G92 for example. This will be your backup just incase you f*ck up your card. You can name it whatever you want, but for safety, keep the filename to eight characters or less. Then select save to file again and save another copy of the BIOS.bin and name that G92X for example.

Now for NiBiTor. Open the utility and select open BIOS from the file menu. Because you saved the BIOS as a .bin container, you will need to change the file type that NiBiTor will look for from .rom to .bin. Open the BIOS that you have designated for tweaking, the G92X.bin. NiBiTor 5.0 should be able to read your BIOS just fine.

Once you load the BIOS, you should be able to see the values for each clock in the clockrates tab. I don't know what the sub max levels are for an 8800M GTX, so I will use the clocks on my GTX 280M as an example. My stock clocks for extra are 620/1550/930, core/shader/memory. I would change those values to match my 3D clocks of 400/800/300. You may set the values lower to the thrtl level if you wish.

After this is done, click on the voltages tab. You should see the exact mode tab that displays the operating voltages for each of your card's throttling levels. I also do not know the voltages on an 8800M GTX, so I will use mine as an example. Because I changed my extra clocks to 400/800/300, it does not need 1.05v as the additional voltage for low clocks is not needed. So I would change the extra voltage from 1.05v to match my 3D voltage of 0.75v. In your case, try a safe number such as 0.85v or 0.80v; you can test for stable voltages later. You may also lower the voltages for thrtl and 2D to 0.75v also as they should be guaranteed stable at that voltage. Now you're done. Save your BIOS in the file menu and overwrite itself as G92X.rom.

Next thing to do is find an empty USB stick lying around and make it bootable. zfactor has made a step by step guide here, ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=246530). Once you have made your USB stick bootable, copy nvFlash and cwsdpmi into your USB stick. Then copy G92.rom and G92X.rom into your USB stick. Reboot your D901C and when prompted, press F2 at the POST screen to go to your system BIOS setup. Move over to the boot order tab and set your bootable USB stick as the first device to boot, then exit and save changes.

When your computer reboots, the POST screen will show followed by the DOS prompt. You may skip reading the rest of this paragraph as it only assists you in verifying files. Type into the prompt "dir" without the quotes to check that you have nvFlash, cwsdpmi, and G92X.rom in the USB stick. Type "nvflash -c" to check if your EEPROM is compatible with your version of nvFlash, which it should be anyway. Type "nvflash -b backup.bin", or whatever you want to name it, to make a backup of the BIOS currently loaded on your card.

Now for the moment of truth. Type in the following command to force flash your card, "nvflash -4 -5 -6 -A -y G92X.rom". nvFlash will proceed to flash the modified BIOS onto your card. Do not turn off your computer during this process. Do not touch anything during this process. Do not breathe or blink during this process.

Once the prompt says something like save successful, you may turn off your computer and reboot with your newly undervolted and underclocked 8800M GTX.

 

Thank you very much SS. Hopefully I'll have a chance to do all this in the next couple of days. I take it you are one of the few people on here who's not a huge gamer and just wants the highest benchmark scores possible. Or do you usually tweak things the other way?

One question: What is cwsdpmi? Is that part of the zfactor program to make the bootable USB stick? Not seen it mentioned before...

And thanks for the link on making the bootable USB drive. Something I was going to want to look into shortly anyway to try installing a Linux distro which is too big for a CD.

 

Hell no! It's the other way around, my friend; all games, no benchmarks. I made a promise to myself never to release any benchmark of my laptop until I write my review, which I am happy to say will be published here on this forum in a few days.

cwsdpmi is part of nvFlash when you download the archive from Softpedia or whichever site you downloaded it from.

 

Sorry that should of been OR highest benchmarks... Was only saying as you're helping me downclock for stability but at the end of the day it's the exact same process as you would go through if you want to eek extra performance out by raising clocks and getting voltages to match so I shouldn't of found it at all surprising.

Please have a look at my last post in the Installing XP thread and see if you've any idea why things seem to have gone a little strange in places.

 

That's correct. It's pretty much the same thing for overclocking and overvolting.

Could you post the link to the thread, kazakore? Searching is still down.

 

Maybe this one: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=387424

 

Thank you. I was looking for the thread in the OS forum, haha.