Z1 - Overclock GT330M

Since I've never seen any threads on here regarding it, I wanted to let those (like me) know that it is possible to overclock the 330M. I was able to take my WEI from 6.3 for both Graphics categories, to 6.5.

Using MSI Afterburner, I was able to take everything up to max frequencies without any distortion on the graphics (used Furmark to benchmark).

Temps get crazy, so it's probably not practical to run...ever, but it is nice to know.

Before:



After:

 

How's the FPS difference? Notice any improvements?

I think my Z doesn't get very hot at all, not even with furmark, could do with a bit more performance.

 

The screenshot shows the default setting for the Z13. What are the actual numbers?

Some OC numbers here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...e-197-85-gt-330m-10de-0a2b-2.html#post6652063

 

What's a good program for checking for GPU artifacts when overclocking?

I checked MSI Kombustor and *cough* ATITool, but it seemed to be fine at 620MHz core and 910MHz memory.

http://3dmark.com/3dm06/16280973

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3706661

Afterburner reported a max 84C when overclocked. A lot better than my previous 14" notebook with a GeForce 9600M GT which went up to 97C stock.

 

Have you tried to play any games? My GPU can hit 96C, while my CPU can hit 100C when i attempted to play Battlefield 3 the other day (I believe my heatsink is to blame) I was at 610 core though and my CPU was turboing (and even with that Battlefield 3 was playing at 20FPS on lowest possible settings at 900p)

I like to use the Heaven Benchmark for looking for artifacts (use it on my desktop all the time). However, I personally believe just playing a game will give you the best indication. Mind you, play a game that stresses your GPU, I thought my GPU on my desktop was stable for the longest time because I was playing BFBC2 which was only using 70% of my GPU even at max... then i went to play some Crysis 2 and sure enough, CTD w/ Nvidia Driver restart.

 

I have OC'd mine to 630/830 but have never really noticed an increase in FPS.

One thing that has been troubling me lately is overheating. My GPU can go to around 98c while my CPU goes to around 80c. Games start slowing down (Dead Rising 2, Skyrim, MW3, Fallout3) after awhile because of the heat.

I've started trying to resolve this issue by using a cooling pad + turn on A/C + cleaning pc + lowering max CPU processing + resetting GPU clocks but that can only extend my playing time for roughly ~20 more min.

 

Just setting the CPU to max 99% (thereby turning off turboboosting because turboboost only comes in at 100%) gives me ~92C on the CPU. But yeah, this machine wasn't built to game. Although we do have a "lower" clocked version of the 330m, a "regular" one runs at 575 mhz core, maybe that's for a reason, but I actually do see a FPS boost of about 10 frames going from our stock to 575mhz on Bad Company 2 at least

 

Updated first post...per Furmark, went from 2 FPS to 3, though I haven't benchmarked it like others, in-game.

 

Street Fighter IV Arcade & Black Ops Overclocked shows a noticable 15+ fps increase. Other games like BFBC2 sufder when overclocked

 

Thanks for the tip about turbo boost. Didn't realize it only came on at 100%!

 

that's not bad! that's a 33% increase in fps! In all seriousness, you should probably run Furmark at like 1024x600 so at least you get > 30 fps then, OC and see your results.

No problem, I picked it up off someone here so yeah, always good to pass it forward

 

Crap, my notebook shut off twice even though the GPU was pretty much idle and at a max of 69C. I think it was due to Nvidia PowerMizer, but for now I give up on this overclocking business. :/

 

Sounds like a plan. Reminds me of a saying: "you can't get chicken soup out of chicken poop!" The GT330m, not gimped, is a strictly mid/low end gpu and the cooling system of the Z1 has very little head room.

Still, hats off to all who have been trying to goose the anemic gpu that came with the Z1.

 

I'm also looking to overclock my Z12. What is a stable number to overclock it to?

What numbers do you guys have your GPU fixed to?

 

I am pretty confident to tell you if you have the same spec as my sig for cpu, the machine will frequently shut right off when you are using alot of GPU. I used to have mine running at 600 mhz core clock for a while in gaming, but when I started using 3ds max, the machine shut off when navigating the viewport in 3d scenes (not even rendering)... so depending on the WORKLOAD, your machine WILL shut off with high overclocks

My stable clocks are 550 mhz core, 1200 mhz shader for the GPU itself. The memory can go much further though, as it's DDR-3... I have mine set at 1000 Mhz which gives me a bandwidth of 32 GB/s vs the stock 22 GB/s. It's alot of bandwidth, but the GPU can't really utalize that much bandwidth from my testing (GPU is not fast enough), so you don't reaaly have to set the mem that high. I did though, have been using that setting for about 1.5 years no problem.

You should really adhere to this advice, I have settled for these clocks through many testings. I'd always go for the rock solid stability than risk being rebooted/shutdown just like that in the middle of work/fun.

As also recommend above the 99% setting will give you a max CPU clock of the native clock speed without turbo boost, and that helps drop the temp alot. The GPU itself actually doesn't generate near as much heat as the CPU in the Z1. The fans will never even reach full speed with just the GPU running at 100%, but when the CPU is working, the fans will go full speed as that's where the true heat is coming from. So yes, you can definately limit your CPU clock and o/c the GPU more if that suits your needs. Both will generate heat, but the CPU is roughly 3x more potent at that. This could probably be due to the BIOS using the CPU temp to adjust fan speed rather than the GPU though. Somebody with such knowledge could shead some more light on that.

I recommend using Nvidia Inspector, as you can "unlock max" and raise settings much higher than other tools provide. Additionally, I create a clock shortcut and put that shortcut in my startup folder, so that it's always executed when I boot into windows with Speed mode (it will still execute if on Stamina mode but will have no effect due to nvidia card not being detected).



* Actual clocks are set in steps (eg 12 mhz apart). So for example you can see a discrepency from what I set and what the actual value is in the left side of the image. That's just the way modern nvidia chipsets work, You can simply set your clocks to what it turns out to be as well. I just used even numbers in my settings, but the actual clocks are obviously different.

I play any game/render with iray (very intensive) at these settings at a room temp of 24c. so for most people in the cold countries these clocks are should more than be solid.

 

Thank you very much for the advise. I will give these settings a try.