PREMA BIOS MOD Review

battery conservation and heat are real purposes

 

sorry let me be clearer, when I mean undervolting does that mean it improves performance and benchmark numbers? With undervolt, can we still overclock the videocard and it would run cooler than stock?
Thanks in advance.

 

yes, you can oc, though most likely not so much as without the uv. but temps would be lower than w/ the same oc'd clocks w/o the uv. and perhaps even lower than everything @ stock.

 

Some is already mentioned by landsome.

But basically what happens is that you undervolt the gpu = make less energy go to it (in a way) and therefor the temperature drops, and thus giving it more reliability (if not also more battery life )
- one thing to note is that OC usually takes up more energy, so if you overclock too much when you've undervolted, the GPU might crash (or actually it will! depending on the magnitude of your OC)
-- I would recommend undervolting and slightly overclocking for the best performance/heat ratio achievable

 

so does the undervolt cause instability on stock speeds? also does performance suffer with the undervolt? (like does the card not use the turbo feature as much?) thanks

 

Turbo & Clocks are all same, none of the testers had any problems, but there may be chips that don't like it...that's why the regular mod is included as a backup in case you experience trouble while going into windows...

 

Any idea when the UV mod will be available for W150ER/W170ER ? Can't wait to try it

 

second sudden restart with UV bios

i reflashed it just to make sure everything flashed ok and if it happens again i'll revert to the non-UV version

which would be a shame, because I love the UV

LATER EDIT: yup, did it again. back to non-UV bios.

 

@Landsome

We had one chip that was able to cross 1300Mhz, but that was with an overvolt BIOS. 1200Mhz is far too much of an Overclock for an undervolted BIOS...

 

Yep, I can safely run 1050MHz on UV BIOS. But not much more or it will crash. You have to test your machine thoroughly.

 

@ prema & htwingnut

I get the uv-bios sudden restarts with everything stock

my other post about the 302.77 drivers referred to the fact that after the upgrade my CPU (not GPU) frequency stayed put at 1.2GHz no matter what

NEXT-DAY EDIT: btw, everything seems to work fine under stress conditions (furmark); it is only in idle that I get the occasional restarts; maybe in a future bios update...

 

W110ER/NP6110 Prema Mod v1.3 (UV) now available on the blog!

Changelog:

- Fixed bug in boot device selection menu

- Added Full Fan Speed Mode (Press FN+1)

 

Saweeeet! Can't wait for this + UV for w150/170er
Great work Prema

 

Thanks Prema, this works GREAT! Why full fan toggle isn't on every Sager and Clevo product is beyond me.

 

It should be a feature even on other notebooks' brands (Asus, Samsung,...).
While the auto-speed mode is usually good to diminish the noise, sometimes I don't mind to have the fan at full speed to enjoy a slightly cooler palm rest

 

W150ERX v1.2

- updated Clevo Base to BIOS 07 & EC 04

Can you tell us what changes have been mad to EC/Base?

I'm particularly interested in what this does for the fan table... will the changes be noticeable to a normal user/ will it have any affects on noise levels and acceleration?

 

From Clevo:

- Solve "can't update SLP data" issue.
- Modify fan table.

BTW: Flashing back to 06, after using 07 BIOS 04 EC, bricked one testers system. It should work in theory, but I would suggest to avoid doing so!

 

I read on one of your comment on wordpress that the fan is forced to run at 50% minimal on EC 04! Now that might not be too bad if they broaden the level range for the higher and... either way it would help with the constant acceleration(slow down/speed up) but I hope 50% is not too loud.

 

Prema Mod for W150ERx/NP6165 & W170ER/NP6175 updated to v1.2

Changelog:

- Fixed bug in boot device selection menu

- updated Clevo Base to BIOS 07 & EC 04

- unlocked GT650M Software Overclocking Limit (CREDIT: SVL7)

After updating to stock BIOS 07 EC 04 or Prema Mod v1.2 DO NOT FLASH AN OLDER BIOS. ONE TESTER REPORTED A BRICK WHEN DOING SO!

ENJOY!

 

Is it possible to release the same mods with the bios 06 & EC 03?
Not sure if people will like the new fan tables and then are unable to go back to the older version.
Still, great work Prema, finally the w150/170 users can enjoy unlocked OC

 

The new fan tables sounded worse on paper then they really are...it just keeps the system a bit cooler...

 

I don't hear it at all while idle still, so if it is changed I haven't noticed it so far.

 

I installed this bios disabled turbo and hyperthreading and I am still only getting 3.40 minutes with some light internet browsing with minimum brightness. The power draw was still greater than 15Watts an hour. How are other manufacturers using the same components getting such better battery life?

 

Proper disabling of the dGPU may be key.

 

It turns out that I get the same sudden restarts with the non-UV 1.2 bios mod (which I had never tried before the UV version). I went back to ver. 1.1 (from which I went directly to the UV), and no restarts for the last 2-3 days.

 

I definitely don't notice anything different about idle noise, in fact it seems like the annoying fan speed up was eliminated all together, as if they add a few more notches to the level range. GPU overclock is working nice as well .. so far I'm extremely happy with the update. Thanks Prema and tester team .

 

Sounds like a driver issue related to the unlocked GPU overclock?

 

With Fn+1 I notice the fan "pulses" about every 5 seconds, like it powers down for a split second then starts up again. Anyone else notice this?

 

I can confirm this as I also didn't notice any difference in idle noise or idle temps, but it definitely adds at least 1 new level of fan speed.

The unlocked OC works like a charm (gpu stable at [email protected] volts). No longer need to mess with nvidiaInspector commands and shortcuts to force P state below the turbo state

 

Perhaps. I will test again with UV 1.3 and new drivers and report.

 

Ya, the pulsing is normal on all Clevos. It is when the EC receives readings from the temp sensors for readjustments...it is usually less when your system is under full load...

 

Prema, I noticed that there is a new bios 1.00.04 for W110ER from palkeo's Clevo ftp mirror. Have you tried it?
W110ER

 

Don't know if it is the new Clevo bios 1.07 and EC 1.04 or if Prema has placed some magic dust, but this new w150er bio decreased my cpu power consumption by ~1W:


Previously the gt cores would idle at around ~1.050W and now it idles at ~0.050W, and it doesn't seem to be bad reading because the total package power also decreased from ~6W to ~5W.
I haven't done any extensive tests, but on Linux the idle power consumption dropped from 14-14,5W to 13-13.5w.

 

YES the ME update failed and it introduced coil whine on my system when on battery...and according to Clevo no flashing back to 03...LOL :thumbsup:

 

@prema. Ouch! I was going to update the bios of my w110er tonight after work...guess not, I was so exited. I'm sure you find a way to fix it though.

 

Prema I have a related question, I have a W110ER with a 3610qm currently running 4gb 1333 memory, I have a Corsair Vengeance 8gb 1866 kit here, but whenever I install it the laptop fails to post while running prema mod, I've tried fiddling with settings, but I cannot seem to get it to boot. Shouldn't I in theory be able to utilize the faster memory? I know on desktops regardless of the limitations of the IMC with mild overclocking it is usually capable of faster memory than its designed limitations. (for example my Nehalem system is technically limited to ddr3-1600 but is currently happily chugging along with ddr3-2000)

By the way, these are the specific sticks:
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1866 Laptop Memory Model CMSX8GX3M2A1866C10

 

I also flashed this new 1.04 bios, but I donot undersand what do you mean by "introduced coil whine". Because I did not meet any problem. And I also noticed that the frequency of hd4000 has decreased to 350mhz when the system is idle. I still have a question about how to check whether the ME update is failed or not. Thanks!

 

Clevo reduced the systems power draw with the 04 BIOS (NEW OPTIMUS ROM), which is a good thing. Just one of the capacitors on my board is making a constant high pitch noise because of the changes and it drives me insane...LOL


EDIT: The problem with the ME was that THX to Mythlogic I already had the latest ME...
...also next W11 Prema Mod on 04 BIOS base, but give me some time...

 

Thanks for your reply. I also notice there is a high pitch noise when I stick my ear to the computer. But it not so terrible. It happens when I was playing music. I have met this problem in my last computer. But when I close the intel stepseed in my former computer. This problem was gone. Otherwise, I also want to ask how to flash back to the 1.03 bios. Because there is a tip saying this 1.04 bios can not be downgrade. If do this, the system will not boot up.

 

This is Clevos W11 04 BIOS changelog:

1. System BIOS 1.00.04.
2. Update AMI code base to 20.
3. Update ME firmware to 8.0.10.1464.
4. Please refer to the instruction of readme.txt to update BIOS + ME firmware.
5. To downgrade BIOS will cause system can't boot up if the BIOS of machine is 1.00.04 or later.

The same applies for downgrading from 07 BIOS to 06 on W150ERx/W170ER...one tester did it on W170ER and it bricked his machine...THX Clevo!

Also one more interesting thing is that the 04 BIOS was already made end of May...they only uploaded it recently...???

One last thing for the W11 04 BIOS: It simply doesn't care about a modded GT650M vBIOS at all and uses default values instead...guess they write it into a second location...looking into it now.

 

Where did you find this BIOS update? I just want to read the full changelog.

 

From Clevo and that is the full changelog. But they changed some unmentioned stuff like option roms for optimus and lan...

 

How much does it lower the power? Are we seeing idle currents at 10watts instead of 15?

 

yup just above 10, but only in software haven't checked real consumtion, yet.

 

Quick comments:

According to batterybar I'm already around 10W on idle, power saving mode.
This is with stock 03 Bios.
It's supposed to go even lower, around 6W if things were done correctly : maybe we'll get there with new bios and drivers iterations, although I doubt it.

This is really not a changelog.... well this may be called the package changelog if you wish
What would be relevant are the System BIOS, AMI code base, ME firmware changelogs !!

Anyway I wouldn't start working on this update if it's introducing coil noise, not something anyone would like to get !

 

They seem pretty secretive huh lol Well, I will not install any BIOS unless it comes from you first haha. The guy above me said this isn't really a change-log and I agree which is why I asked if they had anything else. hmm. How exactly do you find out what has been changed, Prema?

 

My battery bar says that too.. I doubt it's true cause BatteryBar says I get 2 hours and 15 minutes of battery life when I get 3 and a half.. haha I believe it's a VERY rough estimate.

Some people have said the coil whine doesn't exist on their machine, I think Prema said it his just his machine that could be doing it.

 

Ok but how do you know yours consume 15W on idle then, I don't get it ?

Who ? Only saw 2 users (prema & bing han) who flashed it and both reported it !

 

I use a WattMeter, it reports 17.9 watts so calculate loss.

I have to find where I saw them, someone reported not hearing it. Could be another model.. If it was, my mistake.

 

d i t t o; you've spoiled us, Prema