Overclocking the ATI in the Z2 PMD?

Anyone try this yet?

 

none of the utilities ive loaded seem to be able to even find it.

 

works with sapphire trixx, there's discussion on it in the owner thread

 

Painful finding anything in that thread.

 

Thanks, I'll check it out (+rep)

 

I've been using Trixx to overclock the PMD. WEI increase from 6.8 to 6.9 when overclocking.
There is an increase in framerate while gaming, but I am not sure if it scales as much as it should (maybe we reach a light peak related bandwith limit?)

Screenshots from GPU-Z and Trixx here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...011-series-owners-thread-127.html#post7874146

I was able to complete 3dmark06 at 910/1100, but it is not stable in games at that speed. It has mostly been stable at 865/1000, but froze once yesterday, I reduced the speed to 860/980 afterwards (I dont know whether it is memory or gpu clock that is the limiting factor, I have to do some more testing).

 

I've also tried some overclocking and it seems that the GPU just shuts off at around 75C, which prevents me from running Furmark for too long at 900/1100. I think that this card actually has lots of overclocking potential because its in the dock so there's no heat from other components of a laptop. Also, using Trixx, you can ramp up the fan speed of the dock (its actually a pretty powerful and loud fan) to keep temperatures down.

Unfortunately, I can't figure out a way around the temperature limit, even though I think that the 6650M could probably handle temperatures in the 90-100C range.

 

^I've noticed the same thing - and when the gpu shuts down the machine locks. Kind of infuriating.

 

kind of off-topic, but i would like to know what's the best GPU overclocking tool to use? Sapphire Trixx, MSI Afterburner, or EVGA Precision? i would like to OC the Radeon HD 6630M in my VAIO SA but am a bit reluctant to install and uninstall many applications just to test their compatibility. so i was wondering if anyone has used the above three and recommends which one? thanks

 

^
I just use Sapphire Trixx since the others don't work on the Z2.

 

Now for some benchmarks!

3Dmark06:
Core/Memory
885/1050 - 9481
900/1100 - 9743
920/1150 - 9769
930/1200 - 9781
930/1225 - 9855
930/1235 - 9862

I couldn't go higher than 930/1235 without the driver crashing. I would probably stick with around 885/1050 in real games, as I was able to run Furmark for about 30mins without any problems. Also, I kept the fan at 100% in Trixx while benchmarking, so be sure to do that if you plan on overclocking.

Crysis GPU benchmark 1024x768 - all settings high - AA off
avg. 27.24fps @ stock 725/900
avg. 29.99fps @ 885/1050
avg. 31.13fps @ 930/1235

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 1366x768 - all settings medium (first cutscene w/fraps)
avg. 27.6fps @ stock 725/900
avg. 29.9fps @ 885/1050
avg. 31.1fps @ 930/1235

*Keep in mind that because the BFBC2 benchmark was done with fraps, actual fps will probably be much higher*

Conclusions: Expect about a 10% increase in fps with overclocking. Because the dock is separately housed from the laptop, and because of the good fan, temperatures stay around 65C so heat isn't really an issue.

 

so its only about a 3 FPS gain?

 

^
Guess so :/. But that is ~10%, so not exactly insignificant. I'm going to do some more benchmarking on BFBC2 later.

 

As the GPU in the PMD is actually a Radeon 6730M rather than a Radeon 6650M I would assume there should be a bit of wiggle room.

According to notebook check:
6650M = Core:600MHz - Shader:600 MHz - Memory:900 MHz
6730M = Core:725MHz - Shader:725 MHz - Memory:800 MHz

Hardware ID:
PCI\VEN_1002& DEV_6740&SUBSYS_9084104D
Note: Device ID 6740 is for the 6700 Series

Engine Name:
WHISTLER XT
Note: Codename for 6730M or 6770M

In early reviews it was also labeled Radeon 6730M.

 

^
Would installing the driver for a 6730m increase performance?

 

Nope. All the same driver. AFAIK they just changed the name in the INF to reflect 6650M rather than 6730M. Probably to reflect on the bad performance of the PMD. So people would be comparing it to 6650M benchmarks rather than 6730M benchmarks.

 

I find it interesting that the PMD does better at some games than others. Why on earth would it play Cryisis 2 and BF BC2 better than Call of duty? Thats just plain silly.

 

It probably depends on the fact that games are simply different. Some game engines might benifit more from a higher GPU clock speed while other engines get better performance when a higher GPU bandwith is available.

 

should i OC it for super street fighter 4? Im only getting about 55FPS and B rating with high settings.

 

It doesnt help. The PMD also locks when running it overclocked most times. (Crysis 2, BF BC2 Ect)

 

Any way you could test SC2?