680m SLI Upgrade - Strangeness...

So I just upgraded my M18xR1 to some brand new 680ms, couldn't pass up the deal Dell was giving me for two cards.

Anyway, to the problems...

First thing I noticed right away, was that no driver from Dell OR the verde drivers were working. Each installation stated that no compatible hardware could be found.

I dug deeper on the interweb to find some info regarding this "PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_11A0&SUBSYS_048F1028&REV_A1" my hardware tag. I then proceeded to change the .inf files with the proper hardware ID.

Voila, installation successful, or so I thought.

First off, GPU-Z crashes (computer hangs completely), I can't get it to open. Nor does nVidia Inspector work (doesnt display everything and constantly get a .NET Framework Unhandled exception error. The only program that seems to be working, to some degree more or less, is HwINFO64.

Now for the kicker, my computer (HwINFO) is detecting that my graphic cards... that I recieved from Dell, are 4GB?

I'm tottally confused, not sure why no GPU specific detection tool works.

Anyway, if anyone gots any idea as to what just happened. I'm at a loss of words.

Cheers.

 

Mmmh I suppose it's related to having windows 8; I wanted to see what the program was and I had the same error as you : an unhandled exception. My computer is secretly wanting to divide by zero ! Although I would NOT recommend it, somebody said reinstalling the OS fixed his problem on guru3d. But I'm sure there is an easier solution.
Edit : I have a SLI 680m as well, and funnily enough, if I keep spamming continue I can see the program in the background, and it's detecting my Eurocom gpus as Schenkers.

 

Brother Fox installed/upgraded his R1 from 7970m to 680m, and he's using windows 8. I would shoot him a private message, or wait until he posts here. Either way, surely he can assist you.

 

Thanks for all the replies, though... I'm using Windows 7

I just find it weird that the DELL cards came in a 4GB configuration.

After much tinkering, I manged to pass the unhandeled exception error... I switched from GPU 0 to 1... and alas, everything was readable and all the info on my card could be seen. Though, if I'd switch back to GPU 0, the dreaded error returned.

 

Oh my bad, I read the post from the person above who has 8, haha.

 

Then may I hijack your thread to get an answer to my question, mikldav ?
PS : I don't see why the Ninspector would only work with one of your cards. :s

 

M18x R1 with 680M SLI works totally awesome with Window 7 or Windows 8. Other than needing to mod the INF file, it has been a near flawless experience. Your cards should not be 4GB if they came from Dell. If they were refurbished in the true sense of the word (system pulls and not new parts in different packaging) then maybe the person that had them before you did something improper to them. You may want to re-flash with the correct vBIOS.

Hopefully, they are 2GB GPUs instead of 4GB. I think that a pair of the 4GB cards might draw more power from the system board than necessary without providing a significant performance benefit. They probably are 2GB because there are some monitoring apps that erroneously combine the memory of both GPUs and display that value instead of the memory per card. (I say erroneous because the maximum usable memory with CF or SLI is the memory available on one GPU.)

Load up GPU-Z and check things out. Other than the core clock, you should be seeing this...

 

It would be nice if you could share how you get your deal through pm

 

See, that's the thing... I cant start up GPU-Z without it causing a full system hang

I'll show you the trick I did with nVidia Inspector. Switching to GPU 1 really quickly allows me to see the specs from at least one of the cards.


Also, I did a few benchmarks and can tell that it's not working right.

3DMark 2006 gave me around 24k... I got more on my 580m sli...
3DMark 2011 gave me around 9000 points.

I got a deal from tech support since I know someone there. Got both cards for 7 bills Canadian.

 

I think you may have the wrong vBIOS flashed on the cards. Compare your firmware version to mine. If you really have Dell GPUs, someone may have flashed them with a Clevo or MSI vBIOS. If they did, they are going to not work properly. It shouldn't hurt them... just cause malfunction. That may also explain why they are showing 4GB of memory if they really have only 2GB. And, it may also explain GPU-Z causing a lock-up.

I have attached my original Dell GTX 680M vBIOS if you want to try applying it to see if the GPUs work correctly. Do you at your own risk, of course, but what you have now definitely is not working properly.

[Download: View attachment OE680M1.zip ]

Discussion to be continued here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...hread-m18x-r2-m18x-r1-upgrade-discussion.html

 

mikldav - did you find the right 680M vBIOS for your Clevo cards? Glad you sent me PMs last night with more details so we could identify them. It's so funny and strange that you received Clevo 680M video cards from Dell with the incorrect (Dell) vBIOS flashed to them.

 

Just like the title says, thank you in advance!:thumbsup:

 

NVIDIA Kepler VBIOS mods - Overclocking Editions, modified clocks, voltage tweaks
go make 5 real post over there and you will have what your looking for.

 

Glad you got things sorted with the correct vBIOS. It certainly is odd that you received 4GB Clevo 680M cards from Dell.

 

I have ordered 680ms from eurocom the 4gb ones. I posted the ebay in some other post. Im confused a bit since im new to gaming laptops which BIOS software will I need to use? Dell or Clevo?

 

Clevo for the Clevo card, and Dell for the Dell card. The reason that mikldav was having problems with his 680M cards is because they are Clevo GPUs. They came from Dell with a Dell vBIOS and would not work correctly until he flashed the Clevo vBIOS. It is still a mystery that Dell sent him a pair of 4GB Clevo cards. My guess is that they were in a system that was returned for an exchange and the folks at the Depot did not recognize what they were not a Dell part, even though the PCB is a different color. I guess the other option would be is that they have started buying Clevo cards (not likely) and haven't tested to find out the Dell vBIOS does not work on them (also not likely).