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    970M overclocking?

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by T2050, Apr 16, 2015.

  1. T2050

    T2050 Notebook Deity

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    I have tried to overclock the 970M, but the slider moves but can never apply. Is the 970M locked at the BIOS level?

    The core will not move at all. Moving the slider does nothing. Zero overclocking where it needs it the most.

    However the memory will overclock +500 which bring up from 1250MHz stock to about a max of 1500MHz. OK boost there.

    The fan/heatsink are the same as big brother 980M and the power brick, therefore should have a bit of give in the hardware setup for extra overclock without stressing it to much, considering the core clock speed is much lower than a 980M

    I tried updating to Nvidia new 350.12 drivers, but still cannot overclock it.
     
  2. Game7a1

    Game7a1 ?

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    Have you tried driver 347.88/347.90?
     
  3. T2050

    T2050 Notebook Deity

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    Not yet, put the machine back in the box due to other issues, although if it not picked up today, then I have all weekend, could open it again and try it out till Monday with older drivers.

    Wanted to run 350.12 for GTA V optimizations, not really wanting to downgrade. Should there be any reason that newer versions should be blocking newer drivers from overclocking?
     
  4. Game7a1

    Game7a1 ?

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    You'll have to ask Nvidia as to why overclock is being disabled (well, more limited than before) with the new driver.
    There's a whole thread in this here. Would be good to follow up what has happened.
     
  5. T2050

    T2050 Notebook Deity

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    I thought this had been reversed and re-enabled in the newer drivers, is that not the case, ok I see has been disabled once again in 350.12, will read though the thread more later on.

    Are the 970M and 980M any different from each other, as in one will overclock and the other will not.
     
  6. Game7a1

    Game7a1 ?

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    Aside from the specs, both are overclock-able.
     
  7. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    Seems like it was blocked again on the new driver. Did you try with one of the unlocked ones?
     
  8. Eldaren513

    Eldaren513 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I can confirm the Core overclock is locked with the new GTA 5 driver. We should see another driver this month though. Fingers crossed that it unlocks it again.
     
  9. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Prema has found it depends on the vbios as to how it reacts to the new drivers.
     
  10. Game7a1

    Game7a1 ?

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    The new driver's overclock settings are pretty much the same as the pre-347.xx driver overclock settings. That much, I know.
    The only driver I haven't tested is 350.05.
     
  11. T2050

    T2050 Notebook Deity

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    All I can see with GPU-Z is the release date for the 970M (I presume this is when the model came out), and a BIOS version number which is 84.04.29.00.17 and if I google that number I don't find anything meaningful?

    How can I tell the vBIOS release date?
     
  12. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Someone like prema or svl7 would have to look at it I believe. You could try extracting it and reading it with a hex program, it's likely in the header information.
     
  13. T2050

    T2050 Notebook Deity

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    Overclocking the 970M works on 347.88 no doubt about that. Shame though as optimized drivers 350.12 from GTA V do not allow overclocking. One would think seeing as Nvidia have halted core overclocking that they could be aiming to do this moving forwards. Looking at the out of box driver which was lower than both of these, I wasn't able to overclock either the core and memory.

    GTA V everything maxed 1080p:

    With overclocking using 347.88 plays at about 4 fps

    Without overclocking (cause it cannot) using 350.12 benchmark runs a even 60 fps (v-sync on) other with v-sync off shows even 47 fps. Doesn't make sense the counter, but in any case super smooth.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2015
  14. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    With earlier vbios versions overclocking works in all the latest drivers. If your vbios has an overclock disable bit set then the latest won't let you clock it.
     
  15. T2050

    T2050 Notebook Deity

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    I was able to save the vBIOS with GPUZ, strangely only after updating to driver version 347.88 as the older locked (out of box) driver would not let me save my vBIOS.

    Not sure how to mod that the vBIOS or how to re-flash it. This part too complex for most people. Looks like stuck with the way it is right now.
     
  16. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    You could see if SVL7 or Prema are interested to do it for some beer money.