Sony Vaio S Bios Mod For Gt640m Le

RAM size still won't be a serious bottleneck, DDR3 is still an issue, and there's only about 10% OC headroom in the RAM.

Also, if you do ship it back, please don't open it. That way Sony can sell it as new again and not take the hit on the return and have to sell it as a low/no margin refurb for something that wasn't their fault.

 

Not sure if this can help :


Playing Battlefield 3 at 1600 x 900 default Ultra Settings on Campaign Mode(heavier)

Just incase you were wondering :
The GPU and Memory Load got some white lines due to Alt-Tab while playing the game. Not Throttling or anything.

 

Amal - Are we making any progress on getting the updated links?

 

Amal, interesting that your GPUZ looks a lot different than mine. I'm assuming that you're using the 950MHz mod too. At rest, shouldn't those numbers on mine be a lot lower? And some of the other numbers like memory usage don't show up for me either compared to yours.

Here's mine:

 

So here's something I was thinking about that might be relevant to this mod...

The 640m LE is basically the same core as the 650m--384 shaders but stock core clocks are 500Mhz instead of 850Mhz on a stock 650m (with ddr3). So if I understand correctly, the 950Mhz is pushing this core beyond what even a stock 650m runs.

My W110er (with the 650M) scores 2200 graphics and P2400 in 3Dmark11...Very close to what is being reported here with the 950Mhz mod. Even though folks are saying temps are still safe, albeit somewhat increased, I'm more worried about power consumption with the stock 90 Watt PSU...

For comparison, my W110er with dual core Ivy Bridge + 650M when under full load gets very close to maxing out the Clevo 90 Watt PSU. Some retailers selling quad cores already include a 120 Watt PSU because of this.

Now the Vaio...has a bigger and brighter screen to power, backlit keyboard, etc...If everything else is the same hardware wise (with a higher clocked kepler core) what is to stop the vaio from maxing out its 90 watt psu too?

TL;DR -- Does this mod increase power consumption beyond what the PSU is capable of? Anyone test this yet? I would with my meter, but the bios got taken down.

 

If that was the case, users would've definitely reported some kinda throttling. However, till date no one has faced any such problems. And anyway, accoding to Notebookcheck.net, S13A consumes a maximum of 60W, therefore, the 90W psu provided should suffice.

 

Kepler uses memory in smart way up to 2GB of it. It always keeps few MB free and uses the rest of available memory as buffer. The more you have the better. However, even the 1000mhz GK107 is not powerful enough to run max AA and high resolutions in modern games. You should be OK with 1GB version but 2GB can probably offer smoother gaming experience in few situations.
If amount of available memory is getting low, then FPS can occasiolanly drop drastically, because card is needs to dump some buffed info in order to make room for new one. That usually results as splitsecond hickups, which can be very annoyng when playing FPS for example.
Personally i went for 2GB version, since the price difference was worth it imo.

 

Looking good I guess.
MODDER will share the link later.
Will put it up immediately after.

Patience my friend.

By right it should be like that, and yes I'm using the 950 MOD.
It should drop back to idle clock when doing nothing.
The Load numbers only show up when you use actually use it.

For example, if you open up 3DMark11 without running the benchmark yet, the clock will stays at the full clock, but the load will be 0%, and temp wont increase much.
Once you run the Benchmark, the usage/load will definitely goes up, and temp will start to increase.

Good point there.
Never thought about the limitation of the PSU.
Don't have the tools to test it out though.

Basically why you are seeing a similar scores to yours is because of the Boost features.
Currently the Boost features seems to be locked by something on the VAIO S GT640M LE.
Cores also won't budge above the basic clock, eventhough you OC it. GPU-Z might shows that it increased on the info, but sensors will show it as 950MHz max instead of the new OC clock.

As for your GT650M DDR3, your base clock is 835MHz, but your boost clock can go up to 950MHz.
Usually when you run benchmark, it will boost to 950MHz.
That is why we are seeing the same scores here.

 

I think that the answer of my question is evident, but did this mod modify the consumption of the 640M? Or is it the same? It seems that the modder don't touch the voltage, so I suppose that there is no difference?

 

No link beetween throttling and power consumption, the laptop will take the power on the battery.
This is the case with the MBP retina, the consumption is 92 watt and the power dapter is 85.... and nobody speak abot that problem which is a shame on a laptop at 2300€.
Old MBP 2011 with 6750M and 6770 was affected.

 

Yes. If power consumtion exceeds the PSU limit, then notebook will take additional power by draining the battery. This however is not a problem, since that would be very rare and its not dangerous to any part of the notebook.

vGPU is not modified. Only clock.

 

Even without voltage changes, running at a higher clock speed will draw more power and generate more heat. However this GPU was always designed to run at 950 mhz, it's actually technically within spec since GT 650M and GTX 660M both can Boost to that frequency already. So that's why it doesn't get much hotter or draw that much more power, you aren't really pushing it out of spec. The GT 640M LE is supposed to be the lowest bin of GK107 but I guess Nvidia's TSMC 28nm yields must be amazing or something because our GPUs can clock right up there with GT 650M and GTX 660M without even trying too hard.

 

Can someone do a test with at wattmeter to measure the difference in consumption? I"m particulary interested by a test on a S15^^

 

I have an S15 with i7-3612QM and the 950mhz BIOS mod. Note that to do this test, I have to set Maximum CPU State to 99% because if I let the CPU Turbo above 2.1ghz it promptly throttles back even though the temperatures aren't very high at all. I don't know what is causing this behavior and I wish I could disable it.

So, with Prime95 Large FFTs and MSI Kombustor running at the same time, which isn't exactly a realistic load, my Kill-A-Watt says I'm pulling 83W from the wall. Simple physics dictates that the power brick isn't 100% efficient. If we assume 90% efficiency, which is itself a big assumption, the laptop needs ~74W when blasting the CPU and GPU at 100% load at the same time, which obviously never happens in real-world loads.

I think we're safe with our BIOS mod.

 

Thanks for the test.
For you throttling "problem" do you test to put the ventilation mode on priority to ventilation?

 

Yup, I always have Speed switch set to Priority to ventilation, otherwise it throttles the GPU after just a short time of use at 950mhz.

To test a more realistic load I ran around in Diablo III for awhile, the Kill-A-Watt showed I was pulling up to 55W from the wall.

 

Right, but GPUZ is reporting those numbers (950/1000) when in stamina mode, with nothing that should be causing the nvidia to kick on. What's interesting is that I did see GPUZ show the Nvidia clock going back down to 135MHz once and then it went back to 950/1000 again, and has stayed there ever since.

I just want to make sure that nothing harmful is going on.

 

hello all

amal 77 i'm a french SVS13P user and i'm interested by testing these 4 bios can you PM me because i can't !!!

this is my model code SVS13A1C5E

thanks

 

okay can someone clarify, with the bios mod will my battery life decrease when the dedicated graphics is idle? Ie browsing/netflix. And of course i assume it will decrease a bit while gaming/active.

 

Just got an svs13p (i7, 12gb ram, 1gig card) and have run about 30 game benchmarks. Would love to get the bios and rerun them for comparison (will post when done). Unfortunately, I don't have rights to send PMs here. Amal, can you pm *me* the 950 bios?

 

It cant decrease in idle, since idle clocks are default (not changed). vGPU is also not changed. That means, notebook will consume identical amount of watts when idleing.

 

This was posted a couple pages back, but I also had the same question..

Without the O/C, it was assumed that getting the 2GB upgrade wasn't worth it, due to the card really never being able to use the extra GB. Now that we have this fancy O/Cing, does getting the 2GB upgrade make more sense now?

 

Very interested to this bios mod! Amal please PM me link!

 

And it was answered a couple pages back as well.

No, you won't see much if any difference between a 2GB and 1GB version in reality. Even with the "insane overclocks" it's still not powerful enough to run high levels of AA at 1920x1080, let alone the 2k+/multi-monitor setups, which is where the extra VRAM is generally taken advantage of.

As for textures, most PC games these days are developed with 256 or 512MB VRAM in mind, so there's not much worry about textures being too large with a 1GB system, you're still well above min-spec for the next several years.

And frankly 2x or 4x AA is sufficient. With a 15" 1080p display you simply don't NEED high levels of AA unless you have microscopes for eyes.

If you drop resolution down to 1600x900 or lower, it's even less of an issue, because as resolution drops, AA VRAM requirements drop as well.

Folks, the overclock is great, and extends the capabilities of the S13/S15 quite a bit, but lets put this in perspective. In terms of absolute performance, the GT-650M/OC'd 640LE are not much better than a four-year-old 8800GT.

 

My apologies sir. I should probably just not post anything on the internet before 10am and a cup of coffee.

Thank you for the wonderful explanation though!

 

Amal - When the mods are finally posted again, do you think it best to roll back to original bios before moving up to the 950 or can I just go from the 835 to 950 without any worries...dont want to brick my lappy! Thx...

 

show me where 8800GT can play game like BF3 ultra and skyrim Ultra ^^

 

It can't play either one in DX10 or DX11 mode. That wasn't my point.

 

Have you tried the same measurement without the hack? I am curious as to the additional power drain

 

I sure as hell would rather play Metro 2033 on a GT 650M instead of an 8800GT. On older DX9 games, sure the GT 650M won't impress with it's DX9 performance where raw fillrate is the limiting factor. On anything designed for DX10/11, I'll take the massively improved compute performance of GT 650M over 8800GT hands down. The 8800GT might be able to look good in Diablo III. Anything more modern will crush it.

I thought about that too but I would have to flash back to stock BIOS just to test that.

 

Hi Guys,

Since the Modder is quite busy(a lot of people asking for his help).

So, I decided to MOD the BIOS myself.

So, here goes :


Haven't yet check for the stability.

Will do later.
Damn tired figuring out how to mod a VBIOS manually.

Will share with everyone if I think it is stable.

 

Well done! Im not too sure if every chip can handle that 1100mhz, but doesnt hurt to try it out for sure.

 

So is the download link available? I just recorded some BF3 gameplay on stock BIOS at 1600x900 Low, 1920x1080 low and 1920x1080 med. I was about to do a comparison but I don't see the link

 

I dont have the bios mod yet. My gt640 will only run at 500mhz and not the boost clock of 570mhz. Even with prefer maximum performance enabled it still only runs at 500mhz. Will this make a difference when i do install the bios mod, because it looks like the bios mod sets both the default clock and the boost clock to same value

 

Theres no boost clock. Theres only constant 3D clock on hacked bios.

 

Although not really contributing anything I thought this could be used for a comparison: My 512MB GTS 250, the Kepler 640m LE compares by having half the bandwidth and half the Bus Width, this is also the case with the 650m using DDR3 memory. I have no idea how the 660M performs as it uses GDDR5.



Quick question Does GPU-Z support Kepler yet? I am wondering as some of the boxes on your screenshot appear blank, also could that be optimus doing that or Sony bios wichcraft?

 

^ the new GPU-Z is out today and comes with some bug fixes and enhancements for Kepler cards.

 

fair enough, I'd like to see a little more info from them, plus it's already out, it told me to update after I took that screenshot.

 

hi all, anyone can send me this "Sony Vaio S Bios Mod For Gt640m Le"?

 

Please read the first post. Carefully, word by word, letter by letter.

 

i don't understand, and it seems i can't to send pm...why? no download link on the first page, how i can donwload this bios mod?

 

I have..

I see the download "R0142C5-KeplerMod_STOCK"

And it seems to contain the stock ROM for the BIOS, where would one download the modified ROM file? I'm looking for the 950MHz version.

 

If you have read carefully, word by word, letter by letter, you would have known the situation, basically the OP re-uploaded his mod without permission or giving him credit and thus the modder is now pissed, so for now we have to wait for the original modder to forgive the op, or alternatively we could wait until someone else can mod the bios/UEFI - hopefully sata III too. So for now no download links, and the people who have already downloaded the mod - consider yourselves the lucky early adopter/Guinea pigs.

Alternatively use google to find the mod.

Sorry for being harsh but it had to be done.

Try again the links are now back up

 

Voyanger beat me too it.

 

Worth a shot. When I can get the download files, I will test it out with my meter to check the power draw.

The only other concern I have with the increased thermals is the impact on any other chips nearby the GPU. While 7C does not impact the Tc for the GPU, it could impact other silicon. This would be difficult to determine unless someone wants to take apart their system and start categorizing each chip and the Tc.

Additionally, since I have not yet taken apart my system, where the GPU is in relation to the CD Bay? If I decide to change the CD to a HDD, I am curious if there are any thermal concerns. The momentus XT I am planning to use in the CD Caddy operates from 0-60C (standard for most laptop drives).

 

I would buy the S13p in a heartbeat if I could overclock the 640mle to 650m without a problem, this would give me quite the performance boost without paying extra.

Remember the GPU of the 640M LE, 640M, 650M and 660M are essentially the same GPU, same die, although the die could have come from different parts of the wafer with varying quality. Hence the good quality ones are used in the 660M whilst the not so good quality ones are used in the 640M le. This helps tmsc to gain higher yields and save cost. But ignoring that fact they are the same GPU with different model numbers on them.

A few degrees won't hurt the GPU so don't worry, you could try and lower the temperature slightly by removing Sony's cheap TIM and replacing it with something like Arctic Cooling MX-4 thermal paste.

 

Well I understand it's been removed, but I thought that was because somebody posted about not being able to boot and the author pulled it because it may have been bad code or something. Seeing as it was just a setting that needed to be adjusted can somebody else share the mod? I understand it comes with zero warranty.

But I suppose if it was never released with author's permission then I guess I'll wait until the author feels ready to begin distribution. I'm pretty confident that with this mod the VAIO S will be able to perform on the same level as a M14x in BF3.

 

Ok guys, link updated on the first page.

BUT, this is a MOD created by myself, not the MODDER.
So, I haven't fully tested its stability yet.

I already run 3DMark11, and it seems fine.
Temp also seems ok.

So, for those who want to give it a shot, please do so, and report to me if there's any issue.

BUT PLEASE BE CAREFUL, AND PLEASE TAKE OWN RESPONSIBILITY!

The rest of the MOD(625,735,835,950) will be up once I got the link from the Original MODDER.


Thanks.

Amal

 

Hi Voyanger,
I am not worried about the GPU temp as the temp measured is much lower than the Tc, my concern is over the other silicon on the M/B near the GPU. They will also be impacted by the thermal increase by the GPU.

 

Well the CPU is rated to 105C so that will be fine with the slight heat increase. I don't believe any other components will be affected by a few degree difference so i wouldn't worry about the heat.