The GTX 280M Overclocking and Benchmarking Results Thread

Not bad at all.

 

I'll give you the best benchmark ever. It's called D2's benchmark. I played Crysis Warhead with my card overclocked @ 650/1000/1650
Settings used = fullscreen @ 1920 x 1200, no AA, settings to "Gamer"
If you ain't in the ice map, gamer works playable. If you are in the ice map, change to mainstream. Or you get unplayable FPS.

End of benchmark tool.

Good enough for you? Hehe

 

Did this thread die or something?

 

Yah, well we'll get it up and running again!
For starters, I have been worried about some graphical gitches I have been getting in every game...they're very small, just little hair sized blips, but I can see them. In Fear I get black stretched walls sometimes, in other games I get the little half circled hair sized blips every once in a while. Ive always had artifacting with my cards for the first week, and they break in afterwards...but I'm thinking this is a driver issue due to the new card? I'm using the newest WHQL Nv driver. I was using Dox, but Fear was acting up ingame, and found out it was due to some stupid HID device. I dunno, should I be worried yet? I have a year warranty of course, and about 15 more days of return time with PcTorque.

 

What was the best score for a single GTX 280M?

With the D900F I was able to push it around 16,000 on 3DMark06 (default everything).

As for the Core i7.... I got it to a whopping 4.0GHz in the notebook.
... too bad it was not stable, so I brought it down to 3.8-3.9 GHz and it was fine.

 

Could I ask what settings did you have for the 280M to get that 3DMark score, ...driver, etc.

 

I assume his i7 965 contributed to that ridiculous laptop score.

 

Well, on stock settings, with my P9700 I score about 11,000 .... it's ridiculous how CPU dependent 3dmark06 is.

 

I was using the 185.85 drivers from laptopvideo2go

I did not right down all of the settings... but I reached 15k with 625/975/1650 (since I have a snap of that).

the i7-975 definitely inflated the score.

as I said in the review, 3DMark06's score is too affected by the CPU.

So compare the SM2.0 and HDR/SM3.0 scores:
SM2.0 = 6134
HDR/SM3.0 = 5860

 

Gophn, why don't you use Vantage, IMO it depicts performance differences much closer to real gaming performance.

 

I did use Vantage (default everything, stock GTX 280M)... in the review.

Here are the pictures with all tests (Entry, Performance, High, Extreme):





I just did not do Vantage after OC'ing... not sure why I didn't when I had the D900F... maybe because I had to return it the next day or something.

 

Yeah, I've just checked your review and I've seen you did Vantage as well. Good review by the way. Just the way they should be done.

 

Thanks.

A number of people that gave me feedback actually likes the lengthy style of review.

I might start a new type of reviews..... the "Ultra-Detailed Review".

 

i have an m17x with dual 280m, can any one give me the safest OC safe clocks, tanks

 

Start at 600/1500/950 and slowly work your way up in increments of 10MHz. Keep the core and shader clocks linked for now and make sure you do not exceed 1000MHz. You can skim through this thread to help you out a bit more. Each card is different in quality so you will need to find out the limit of your card on your own.

 

I've played around with the clocks of my video card today.

Conclusion:

Memories are stable at 940 Mhz
Core can go way up, I've got it to 650 and stopped with 1.05 V.

But I think I will stick with the 1V and do a 620/1550/910 -> runs much cooler with 1V.

And anyway, once you hit somwhere around 100C with 620/1550 clocks ... things go to hell, card becomes very unstable, although in real game performance it will rarely get close to 85C but given that I have to work with this notebook for a couple of years more from here on... I prefer to play on the safe side.

 

how did you get the right clocks @(600/1500/950), and what voltage are you using?

 

I don't OC the v-card anymore, but back then it was on stock voltages, using N-tune.

 

My new laptop should arrive soon (at least I hope so, the wait is killing me) and I was wondering how much of a performance boost that level of Overclocking was giving you? I'm basically getting a Clevo W870CU so our specs would be roughly comparable.

I too would like to play it safe as I don't plan on buying another laptop within the next 2 years (although I may upgrade to the 380m in time) but would also like the best performance I can safely get out of this card as I'm quite the enthusiast gamer.

Edit: Ah, just noticed you have MXM 2.1, would that make much of a difference then?

 

Argh - sorry for the double post, don't know why that happened.

 

Yeap, MXM 3.0 is much better for overclocking and stability. You should probably be able to run 620/1550/980 at 1.05V with no problem and fully stable. With the voltage at 1 I can only run 600/1500/900 fully stable, you might be able to run higher than that. You should get a boost of about 8-9% with clocks set at 620/1550/980 over stock.

 

Yeah, that's kinda the performance boost I was after. Doesn't seem too extreme either (I plan on taking good care of this laptop as it's my first gaming rig in years and would like it to last so don't intend to do anything too extreme) so I'll probably try that out. I'm guessing it's 1V normally and the 1.05V is also tweaked?

 

Yes, to get the 1.05V you need to flash the BIOS. But once you have settled for your permanent overclock you should flash the BIOS anyway as it will make you card more stable and allow you to enjoy years of good gaming .

 

How safe would that be? The only flashing I have ever heard of was related to my friend's PSP and that was always undergone with substantial risks on their part.

 

I've done it many times... and a lot of other people on this forum have done it as well.

Just know what you are doing before you start. Do some research, googleing... etc.

 

You'll be getting a GTX 285m if you ordered from Kobalt...at least that's what I think

 

Just checked the order receipt and it definitely comes with a 280m - why would you think that?

 

They've got the 285m's for the same price now, and I believe they are no longer offering the 280m's. Probably best to clarify with Neil/Andrew

 

It is likely you will get a GTX285M, they just haven't updated your receipt or order details that's all. You should email them to be sure. The GTX280M's are being phased out.

Regarding overclocking, I saw a big increase in performance in Saints Row 2 from a small GPU overclock on the GTX260M. Since the MXM 3.0B clocks are higher than the MXM 2.1 by default, I expect better performance when my laptop arrives from Kobalt. The GTX285M will give me about a 20% increase in performance over the GTX260M in gaming at its default clocks.

 

I just found out that my order has been delayed (until Tuesday - meant to arrive today but has not even been sent out yet) and they did mention 285m stock issues as a reason - I'm hoping that's the case but plan on calling them tomorrow morning to find out *crosses fingers*.

Worst case scenario, I just ask them to change my order as they've yet to send it out and likely won't have by tomorrow morning regardless. The price is identical (actually a bit cheaper as they upgraded the HDD for free but I don't care enough to argue that) and as I only upgraded my RAM (hardly taxing work), I'm hopeful that they'd agree.

 

The ETA for my order was supposed to be today but mine isn't ready yet either. Many take the ETA to be more definite than it ever is but in my last order I had several different ETA's for various reasons outside of their control.

If you decided to go with the standard GTX280M, I guess you could always use Nvidia Tools to up the clocks to the GTX285m's but stability isn't guaranteed since it varies from chip to chip.

 

Well judging by Neil's comments on the official 285m thread - it appears they've had the new chip since the end of January. As I ordered on the 28th, I feel pretty safe in assuming that I would be getting the new version - if not, I'll just ask REALLY nicely if they could switch the order as it hasn't been sent yet.

I wouldn't mind having to wait an extra few days if it meant getting a 10% performance boost in some games which Justin from Xoticpc showed the 285m was capable of over the 280m in Crysis on a different thread.

 

I was pretty sure that you would be getting the 285M as well but I wonder how many they got in their shipment Vs how many orders were being upgraded to it. The benchmarks also showed a 15% increase in performance in some game titles and I am sure many will push the clocks up further with no issues at all. Those MXM cards are also really straight forward to remove for future upgrades as well so you could quite easily sell your existing card and buy a new one if there was ever a significantly better performing one released assuming there was a compatible Bios.

 

Just called Kobalt Computers and they confirmed that I would indeed be getting the GTX 285m - that makes me VERY happy as I had orignally wanted the Asus G73JH-A1 as the new ATI card in that was around 20% faster than the 280m but didn't want to wait until March to receive it - looks like the difference between that and the 285m is very small though. Other than the Crysis benchmarks that xoticpc put up, did you manage to come across any other info on this card's performance?

Now to wait until the new ETA of Tuesday 16th - a little annoyed that it's taken 3 weeks instead of 2 but the added horsepower more than makes up for it As for the MXM, that was the final thing that clinched the deal in favour of this unit instead of the ASUS - if the 380m provides an extra 30% boost or more against the 285m, I'd probably take the plunge in a year or so.

 

Why has your order been delayed? Is it because they are waiting for more GTX 285M stock or have no GTX 280M stock to use instead?

The benchmarks for the GTX 285M I saw are probably the same ones you have seen here. If you take a look at the table chart at the bottom you can see a 15% performance increase in COD. Regarding ATI cards, many say they get better game stability due to more support for Nvidia as well as more frequent driver updates although that is changing.

I heard that the Asus G73JH-A1 has a proprietary card format which to me would mean I would never purchase that regardless.

Regarding the G860, you also have the possibility of unofficial upgrades. For example, your warranty may have run out so you decide to upgrade to an unsupported CPU/GPU to prolong the performance of the unit at your own risk.

Examples are the previous model called the Nexus / NP8662, many upgraded to the QX9300 and / or the GTX280M but the officially supported max were Q9000 and the GTX260M.

 

Stocking issues due to high demand of the new card meant they were running a few days behind schedule - at least that's what I was told.

Also, the driver support was another reason I chose Nvidia over AIT - I currently have an x1700 and that card isn't even recognised on ATI's driver page and apparently doesn't exist. Bad experience made me wary of going for them again.

And you're right, that was the chart I had been looking at - still, only 5 more days and I get to benchmark it myself, I can hardly wait *crosses fingers for no more delays/problems*

 

What benchmarks are you planning to do?

At some point, I might do similar ones to the benchmarks Core2Duo Vs Core2Quad.

 

just tested Bioshock 2 at 600/1500/950..
but fallout 3 is working fine.

Crashed during start-up..

just want to confirm, Sager 8690's is at 1.05 v? I don't to flash my bios for overclocking the gpu, right? I'm using the GTX 280m card.

Thanks...

 

No you don`t have to flash, but it is better than having nvidia system tools do it when you want to game. Also, its limited how far you can overclock before you have to increase the voltage.

 

The GTX 280M on the all Clevo models, new and old, use 1v as the default voltage for max level.

 

First forgive me if this has been discussed, but nbr search function does not pull
up any thing on how to overvolt the 280m.

Ok, so i have this ovolted280m.rom file I downloaded from this thread. It looks compressed. Do I just burn an image to a cd and then let my notebook boot from the cd? If that's what I do, then what?

 

Do not flash the ovolted280m.rom onto your notebook. I will say it again, do not flash the ovolted280m.rom onto your notebook. You have the new D900F, which bears the new MXM 3.0 GTX 280M. The BIOS you downloaded was from an MXM 2.1 GTX 280M from an M570TU. The D900F did not exist at the time that BIOS was put up for download. It is not compatible with your card. You need to extrapolate your own card's BIOS or the BIOS from another MXM 3.0 GTX 280M, preferably from another D900F, and modify it yourself as well as flash it.

 

got him before he did anything...he's in dons and scooks hands now...

and he is pushing up on 15k 3dmark now....go Q56!!

 

Probably just a few simple gaming ones with the 28(!) games I bought off of steam and ebay over the past 2 months in preparation for this (Crysis/Warhead, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, Borderlands, Batman, Cryostasis, Dirt 2, The Witcher and many, many others) - haven't gamed on the PC in over 3 years so that might take up a fair bit of my time and get in the way of me doing anything as comprehensive as what you posted there.

I will be posting the detail settings/res I finally settle on for each game once I'm done tweaking to get the best performance and the average FPS I get for that though.

Kobalt finally updated their order status page - laptop currently in the build phase and scheduled to arrive Tuesday (Although they'll probably get a call Monday morning just to check that's the case and that I did indeed get the 285m - they've already assured me once on the phone that I would but this all just seems to good to be true and, with the amount of stuff that's gone wrong over the past 2 months in attempting to order this from various other sellers, I've become a little paranoid...)

 

Just some new info regarding 280m availability: According to Neil from Kobalt Computers, "We ran out of 280M stock about 2 weeks ago so every G860 and G870 since then has shipped with a 285M "

Well, despite the fact that I didn't even know the 285m was coming out, looks like things worked out well for me in the end in having only decided on a laptop in late January after 2 months of searching - awesome.

 

Is 280 gtx and 285 gtx identical exept for the stock clock.?
I am running mine 280 gtx at 600/1020/1500 with no problem at all.

 

A few of us contributed to those benchmarks in that link I posted, it was very interesting to finally get a clear and comprehensive comparison of Dual vs Quad.

What will be interesting with the GTX 285M benchmarks are the performance in different resolutions. I would have done a direct comparison to your full HD screen but the problem is that I went with the Core i7-820QM as opposed to the base Core i7-720QM so it would make results unreliable to an extent even if most games are GPU dependent.

At least you can still switch resolutions and see the different results. I estimate a minimum difference of 9-10 fps or more in some cases. Either way, you will be able to max out Batman (apart from Physx settings), Mass Effect 2 will max out and all other games will either play on high, max or a combination. You won't have any problems enjoying any game that I can think of regardless of whether they are Dual, single, tri or Quad Core optimised. GTA IV should run pretty well too.

As long as the testing phase goes ok, there is no reason why you wouldn't get your laptop on Tuesday. My one is now scheduled to arrive Monday morning but it was delayed (original ETA was 10/02/10) because they decided to do extra testing with the new GTX 285M paired with the new drivers which are not yet WHQL certified by Nvidia.

Fine by me, they are very rigorous in their testing where some other resellers just wouldn't bother before shipping. I bet you are glad you ordered from them now, if I remember correctly you got an upgraded HDD and a better GPU at no extra cost. Some one should let Kobalt know about all of these unofficial sales reps on these forums :laugh:

I remember you were planning to buy overseas before.

 

I'm pretty happy having gone with Kobalt (although the laptop has yet to arrive so I shouldn't start singing their praises too much just yet) and finding out that I have a free upgraded GPU definitely made my day.

Ended up costing me £200 more to buy in the UK as opposed to overseas but the European warranty, larger screen (originally was going for the 15.3" model) and better GPU have all made it worth while - even if I've had to wait slightly longer than originally intended.

Can't wait to get my hands on this

Now to decide if I want to play Crysis at 1920x1080 with mainly high settings and shaders/shadows on medium or at 1600x900 with all on high (or CCC level 4)...

 

Thanks man, I never did it! Thank goodness.

 

What program to Overclock gtx 280m txs