GTX 980M NP9370 ( Clevo P370EM3)

Hello i just opened an account here because after many years having this laptop running fine my GPU just died (GTX 680M )

Now i saw that i could just replace it with an upgrade like GTX 980M which i found for around 300$ way cheaper than buying a new laptop for me at the moment.

Problem is i searched the forum and online alot to find the correct bios but all the post are outdated / link expired and i cannot find what i need. I am currently running on the bios 1.02.08LS1 so do i need to upgrade the bios or i am fine with this version. I am on windows 7 x64 ultimate SP1.

Thank you

NP9370 ( Clevo P370EM3 )

 

I use prema bios https://premamod.wordpress.com/

If it works, support him.

Sent from my J9210 using Tapatalk

 

You don't need any modified BIOS. The 980m will work fine as-is. You will need to do manual nvidia driver .inf updates though.

 

As above, don't forget to tune your CPU if you have not already.

 

can you explain further ? thank you

 

The CPU is old and will be a bottleneck. The laptop supports overclocking using Intel XTU, which lets it catch up an on a lot of lost ground to the newer CPUs.

 

A lot of models around that time would let you add +400Mhz on the core clock and lower the voltage.

 

i have a 3630qm are you sure its going to be bottleneck by gtx 980m

 

Ah you needed 37xx or above to really play with it, you might find them pretty cheap and it will give you a bump.

 

So i installed my GTX 980M that i bought as "NEW" from Amazon and i tested many drivers from most recent to old but when i start a game i get artefacts and the game crash.

This is on a fresh windows 7 x64 install but i also tried on windows 10 x64 as well.My old gpu was gtx 680M and never had an issue like that.

Did i get robbed with a defective GPU ?

PS: i installed quality thermal pads and kryonaut compound and the temps are so far good.

Example of what it is doing in a game.



https://youtube.com/shorts/fsfYEUBMBoo?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/U9LS-_Qzizw?feature=share

I contacted the seller and he told me this:

Dear Alexandre,

I understand you are dissatisfied with our product.
The GTX980M is brand new, tested before shipping, guarantee 100% working.
It should not been defective.
It's not a retail product, so there is no original retail package or accessories like software, user manual, driver disc, etc.
Besides, we have to test the graphics card before shipping, It's normal if you see some scratches or thermal compound on the chip.
Please provide more details for us to address this issue.

What's the model number of your laptop?
Wht's the old card's model number?
Please install back the original card to see what happens.
To experience, for some laptops, It may require to modify or upgrade the vBIOS so that the new card can be identified.

If it can boot into Windows, please upgrade its driver programs.
Please download a "Driver Genius" from the internet, which will check the new video card and find a suitable driver programs automatically.
If Driver Genius doesn't work, please try LuDaShi.

Do not worry, I promise to resolve the problem smoothly.
Please don't initiate A-to-Z claim or negative feedback before contacting us.
Looking forward to your fast reply.

Your sincerely,
Mandy

 

What's odd is that the artifacts clear out when you exit the game. Sometimes defective cards do this, but usually the artifacts stick around in both 2D and 3D. I'd say 90% chance you have a bad card, but it's possible you have some overclocking tool left over from the 680m that sets clock offsets that the 680m could handle, but the 980m cannot. Verify the clocks the card is running at. If it's not overclocked, I'm curious what would happen if you underclock it. Even if you got robbed, and underclocked 980m is still much faster than an overclocked 680m.

 

i have never OC'ed my gtx 680m but i will check the clock and report here tonight thanks

Also yes even in windows i can see glitches sometimes

see here : https://imgur.com/a/IBFxlOP

im sorry it is not the best pictures but still you can see lines in the images

 

https://imgur.com/kflvkwm
https://imgur.com/OyovKcE

this is the clock currently on it is this normal ?

 

Try lowering the 3d clocks 100mhz in afterburner. Could just be the full 3d clocks are now unstable.

 

do you think flashing the vbios would fix anything ?
the version i got is 84.04.85.00.0a

 

i tried everything even a massive underclock and still nothing changed

 

Try down clocking first, easier to test.

 

Ah just seen your update, yeah maybe on vbios. Just be sure you backup your current VBIOS.

 

do you know where i could find the most recent vbios for this ?

 

glitching in windows now

 

I think your card might be toast but techpowerup vbios collection have a clevo file you could try.

 

this one ? im going out of my way i am a big noob never done this before lol

 

Yes that's the one but make sure you take a full dump of your current vbios.

 

Your issues definitely look like a bad card. Drivers and bios issues don't cause artifacts like what you have.

 

It's maybe worth a try but yes it could mean the card is bad.

 

Just a quick update for anyone who cares
The seller sent me another GTX 980M and this one seems fine finally yay ! I just did a quick test in the game and no artifact or any weird stuff like the other one. I will test further but so far so good !!!

For the best performance should i run with Windows 7x64 since my computer is old and was optimized for this OS ( drivers etc ) or should i go with Windows 10 x64 and try to get some drivers for it ?

Specs:
NP9370 ( Clevo P370EM3)
i7 3630QM 2.40GHz
GTX 980M
16GB DDR3

 

You can strip down windows 10 if you like, if you could get a faster CPU that would help too.

 

Was looking at userbenchmark for upgrades and it was maybe 5% at max which i dont think will do anything

 

3.2Ghz to (3740QM) 3.9-4.0Ghz with some tweaking should be a nice boost.