Modified vbios for GTX580M at widezu69's request

This modified GTX580M vbios is based on the newly released 70.24.2B.00.06

I matched the clocks of P1 and P0, both are set [email protected].

Update:
Oct 13th,2011

Replace the original modified vbios with two new zip files that contain all the vbios I have modified and tested so far.
No password.
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AW_GTX580M_06_Stock_Stock_092.ROM

clocks no changed while both P0 and P1 voltages are raise to 0.92v
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AW_GTX580M_06_P1_P0_matched_087.ROM

P0 stock clocks and voltage
P1 clocks are set to 620MHz as P0,0.87v
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AW_GTX580M_06_P1_P0_matched_092.ROM

P1 clocks are matched to P0 while both voltages are raised to 0.92v
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The rest ten vbios come in such naming format:

AW_GTX580M_06_XXX_YYY_ZZZ.ROM

06: These vbios are based on the version 70.24.2B.00.06
XXX: P0 and P1 core clock (x2=shader clock. They are linked.)
YYY: P0 and P1 real GD5 memory clock (x2=GD3_equivalent clock)
ZZZ: voltage

Update:
Oct 14th,2011

Add AW_GTX580M_06_850_1000_092.ROM and AW_GTX580M_06_850_950_092.ROM to vbios_2.zip for extremely overclocking.

Add AW_GTX580M_06_840_1000_092.ROM and AW_GTX580M_06_840_950_092.ROM to vbios_1.zip
------------
*Standard Warning*
BIOS Modifications, VBIOS Modifications and other system level tweaks can potentially cause damage to your system. Be aware of this before blindly flashing. If you brick your system or cause damage, chances are very high that your warranty will be useless. Know what you are doing, you are responsible for your actions.
------------

 

And what does this accomplish? Is this the one that indeed eliminates throttling?

 

Yes this vbios has the same clocks for the throttle profile as well so when the GPU throttles, it will throttles to the same clocks thus no difference

 

If everything works as said, this seems like a good temporary solution. Nevertheless, we will push for an official proper fix, possibly redefining the conditions according to which the throttle is engaged.

This also means we could use a pre-overclocked bios there as well. Saltius, is this your doing, that is, modifying the bios? edit: How about making permanent P0 and P1, say, 710/1420, 1600 memory? This can be pushed even further, e.g. my making permanent values even higher w/ 0.92v voltage level risen.

 

Yes, I did the mod using HEX editor (What I exactly use is xvi32).

 

Do you know what you are doing? I assume you do. If you do indeed, we could push this way further, as I mentioned above.

 

Of course I do.

Here is the matched vbios while overvolted to 0.92v. Stock clocks.

------------
*Standard Warning*
BIOS Modifications, VBIOS Modifications and other system level tweaks can potentially cause damage to your system. Be aware of this before blindly flashing. If you brick your system or cause damage, chances are very high that your warranty will be useless. Know what you are doing, you are responsible for your actions.
------------

 

Yea Saltius and me worked this together, I had the idea he did all the hard work . Saltius I am samappz on the mvk forums.

 

Good. Stock @ 0.92v isn't exactly useful, but how about: 750/1500/1650 (core/shader/mem) @ 0.92v?

What would be a sound value for mem, btw? Anyone?

 

Greetings.

I can do that. But I'd better wait for you guys' test.

With this new 4 clock-lv vbios, is it safe to set both P0 and P1 at that clock? That's my concern.

 

It should be safe. The only concern could be temperature levels, so with such a modded bios good thermal paste with possibly most efficient pads is a must. Clevo 580m was pushed way above 800Mhz at the core. However, I understand your concern. "should" doesn't exactly mean "will surely be".

Important! This is why we are going to talk to Dell about the throttle and ask why there is throttle in the first place. The point is to know if the reason is sound and reasonable, or just they don't want people to overclock.

Saltius, to act sanely here: it's excellent to have you around, thanks for your help - we know high clock/voltage mod can be done. Let's wait to hearing the reasons for the throttle before pushing this project any further, so the risk is as low as possible.

 

Yep agreed thanks Saltus all at stock no throttle +rep


Edited!
Just to clarify a little further, dell released
06 vbios which had 4 entries as follows: (new entry in bold)
---------------
core:50.5MHz
shader:101MHz(bumped shader:270MHz)
memory:67.5MHz
---------------
core:73.5MHz
shader:147MHz(bumped shader:270MHz)
memory:162MHz
---------------
core:475MHz
shader:950MHz(bumped shader:950MHz)
memory:750MHz
---------------
core:620MHz
shader:1240MHz(bumped shader:1289MHz)
memory:750MHz

Modded bios here by Saltius is exactly the same except entry 3 in bold matches entry 4 so no throttle is experienced at stock clocks volts and everything is the same. (tested and working perfect)

Please note idle temps and clocks still revert to the 50mhz entry 1 as normal as in the original.
modded 06 vbios has 4 entries as follows:
---------------
core:50.5MHz
shader:101MHz(bumped shader:270MHz)
memory:67.5MHz
---------------
core:73.5MHz
shader:147MHz(bumped shader:270MHz)
memory:162MHz
---------------
core:620MHz
shader:1240MHz(bumped shader:1240MHz)
memory:750MHz
---------------
core:620MHz
shader:1240MHz(bumped shader:1289MHz)
memory:750MHz

 

If you guys want to overclock. You can use Nvidia inspector. It allows you to overclock both P0 and P1.

 

Yes, but still slows down to the po p1 state at 620mhz now not 475mhz with this new vbios. I tested this yesterday in vantage.

 

Yes but if you OC both p-states, then the throttle will have the same clocks. Thus there will be no throttling.

 

I thought that too, but apparently not.
Something is still reverting it back to the registered clocks.

I did a 3d vantage test with the stock dell vbios 4 entries (3) at 475mhz mild overclock at 740mhz no throttle all fine i get a gpu score of 27342,

then i used the mod vbios 4 entries (3) at 475mhz 0.92v running 800mhz and my score was 27252 in 3d vantage it still was slowing down to the 475mhz state even tho i set both po and p1 in nv inspector.

Please run a full finished vantage score yourself and tell me what you get on normal vbios with slight oc 724mhz should be ok no throttle, then use the 0.92v one for the 800mhz oc and you will see your score will not improve.

I'll confirm this 100% in the coming days with full results, cant say too much now.

 

Oh sorry I misunderstood. That's weird that it's happening.

I don't have the M18x so I can't say. Plus I'm using the other throttle fix in my R3, the blind A08 method so my vbios is different with only 3 entries. Sorry I can't help any more

 

lol, if your using the blind a08 method then you should be fine and your in a different kettle of fish, no throttle anywhere for you, you can go as high as you want until the nvidia protection kicks in.

Like i said stand by!

 

Ok good morning everyone I'm willing to give this a try, which one is the final version I should be testing?

 

Morning Xeneize, the first one is fine you will never drop below 620mhz everything stock as (this is what dell should have released in the first place), but to achieve higher then 750mhz over clock you need the second one to give you that extra volts 0.92v required, but again it will slow you down to stock clocks at some point of 620mhz which isnt a bad thing.

 

Ok so the first one will allow to OC like we do today with stock BIOS (740ish/1700ish) correct?


And lastly... how do you flash this version? I noticed it isn't the same method as Dell.

 

Yes the first one has normal voltage and you can get to around 740ish with it no problem. Remember to use nvidia inspector and OC both P1 and P0.

 

That's exactly right. This is why this option isn't exactly useful. During the critical 'high load' moments the cards will downclock to stock -> a hit to the performance.

Any sound usage of this would be to hardcode high clocks into the bios both for P0 and P1 as I wrote above.

Anyhow, the mod P0=P1 at stock does stop the throttle. Good enough for now.

 

Windows 7 x64 bit only

nvflash 5.100.0.1 only works within windows itself will not work in msdos bootup
download link
Download NVFlash 5.95.0.1 for Windows | techPowerUp


(1) download nvflash v5.10
boot in win 7 and just before you load the windows logo press F8 to get into the startup screen.

In there you must select disable driver signature and then it should boot in windows

(2) load command prompt by start / all programs / accessories / command prompt

(3) extract the nvflash file into the c drive folder name nvflash - you should have nvflash.exe nvflash32.sys and nvflash64.sys
(3a) also in that folder nvflash on the c drive you should have your modified bios (that you wish to flash) for eg called **.rom

(4) back in command prompt direct yourself to that nvflash folder by cd.. cd.. then cd nvflash
When you do a dir listing you should see all your files there ready to go.

(5) As i was running DELL SLI 580M in my m18x they are maked as number 0 and number 1

(6) BACKUP YOUR ORIGINAL BIOS FIRST

i did it like this for both in command prompt type
nvflash -b backup0.rom (for the first card)
nvflash -b backup1.rom (for the second card)

(7) to flash just type the following

for the first card
nvflash -i0 -5 -6 ***.rom (*** means your file name you want to flash.rom)

A few messeges will come up are you sure etc type y and y all done

for the second card type
nvflash -i1 -5 -6 ***.rom

A few messeges will come up are you sure etc type y and y all done

reboot

ediited

 

This is exactly why the option IS useful!
Hmmm stock is stock this is how it should be, the cards are doing what its designed to do run at stock speeds with no slowdowns! why is this a hit to performance! (please explain) If i remember correctly from my tests and other users posts, you should be able to hit 724mhz on stock everything no problems without suffering any hit to performance.
So in actual fact your making the cards go above their original state anyway.

lol! be patient my friend! stock throttle is gone, now for us overclockers this is another story stay tuned! pm

 

Oh I am patient. I'd like to see hardcoded 750 or even higher. See what I typed in the beginning. We need to know what they throttled the thing first, I'd say.

Let me test the stock 'no throttle' bios now.

 

I confirm there is no throttle at stock clock with the modded VBIOS (the OP).

EVGA OC Scanner, heavy load mode - time 10min
GPU0: stable 99% load, temp 78-80*C
GPU1: stable 94% load, temp 74-75*C

Fans forced full speed on using HWiNFO64 (that's 3900 RPM according to the app) so the temp reading is stable (e.g. that I didn't have to wait for the 'high gear' speeds to kick in).

Note that 'heavy load mode' is something like Furmark's burn test. Full load for 10 min and temps ~80*C isn't bad at all!

This looks very promising! I guess the only limitation to come are temperature levels. Ordered 7W/mk pads. They will come next week exactly on time for serious testing (talking hardcoded high clocks vbios).

note: re-pasted with IC Diamond, stock pads (for now)

 

And please report back your test results.

editted my oh my your fast i didnt even manage to go to the can and you finished your tests flashes etc. impressive

Well this is where the Dell engineers should be paying more attention too making the gpu cooling better.

 

Note that was just a simple quick test.

We would have to conduct proper tests re temps levels. I need to blow the dust off my air intakes and replace pads with phobya 7W/mk. Also today I had quite high ambient temp in here, some 26+*C.

This week should be colder in here, so I guess I will have 18-25*C ambient room temp in here (so a normal avg temp). Plus clean air intakes. Plus new pads. There will be some decent conclusion there.

If this will look good, we surely can go higher with hardcoded OC clocks.

 

I am rushing with everything today. BTW, I don't think it is necessary to re-install drivers after reflashing. I just rebooted.

 

Yep, a reboot is sufficient. Anyways 2 580m's in SLi @stock is more than enough for today's games

 

(edit) *** Firstly, I am talking here about the moddified bios: P0 = can be overclocked, P1 = hardcoded to be "stock" 620Mhz, voltage is higher = 0.92v -> so high P0 clocks can be set ***

Think logically. let's assume there is a stress up or a very demanding game and the cards are forced to run at very high load levels, let's say 95-100%, right? At stock clocks the cards will show 'default' performance, so let's assume in this very demanding game of ours all you get is say 20-25 FPS on stock clocks. Now, if you overclock by, say, +200Mhz or more, you will be to score much higher performance if the cards can run on OC clocks stably, so that would be a couple of FPS more there. 20-25 FPS vs stable 30 FPS makes a difference.

Where does the throttle kick in? When load levels are stably 100% for a moment. When is the load stable at 100%? During graphically very demanding moments in games. If you run OC clocks and there is a 'throttle moment', you are downclocked back to stock clocks, so you won't be able to achieve top performance anyway because

demanding moments = throttle => back to stock clocks

What would be, say: 750 Mhz core during regular play, 620 Mhz during the most demanding moments. In such a setting OCing becomes silly. It is the demanding moments that define the top performance under stable high load, isn't it?

Edit: Same applies to high load benching. You need the able to have the cards stably running at top performance, don't you? otherwise why OC at all?

 

Continuing, that's why a vbios with hardcoded high OC would be a solution there: top performance all the time. Temperature will be a problem though, so before going there temp tests are needed at 100% load stock for, say, 30min, so we can clearly see what the default cooling (yet repasted + better pads/paste on mem) can achieve.

 

Bar-Code Thanks for this man!!!!

I can confirm THERE IS NO THROTTLING with this fix!!!

I will ID all of you guys and rep you once a week lol! thx!



Going to keep testing, if I can overcome the CPU throttling, I'm looking at 30k in Vantage!

Thank you guys rly! All Dell has to do now is implement this fix officially maybe even giving us 0.92 and we are all set! and setting the throttle back to default speeds should temperature reach say 90c...

My tems were awesome too with this OC (screenie)

 

Sorry i disagree to this, demanding moments = throttle => back to stock clocks.

How can stock be throttle. stock clocks is prescribed by the manufacturer of the unit as normal operating clocks, so demanding moments will go to stock clocks therefore running stable and top performance will run at stock.

overclocking is done by computer enthusiasts who want to bring their computer’s capacity up a notch.

Pushing a computer beyond its limit is bound to produce unwanted consequences.

No manufacturer will support overclocking, remember overclocking is a bonus and addictive.

Congrats and enjoy the way it should have been in the first place thats all im saying!




Anyway bed time for me! getting late here.

 

Oh c'mon bar-code. I obviously meant the moddified Vbios here provided by Saltius, where P1 is hardcoded to be 620Mhz (= "stock"), voltage is 0.92v, and P0 can be overclocked using e.g. Nvidia Inspector. "Stock" naturally meant "stock clocks". That's what we've been talking in here about, haven't we?

That is what I meant.

 

lol! i have always been talking about stock only (isnt this the issue all along with the dell 580m's throttling at stock clocks) not overclocked, but your point is vaild. but so is mine. Anyway looks like stock has been solved.
We will continue this at a later stage (the overclocked version).

 

THis is very promising!! this is my top GPU score. I'm going to push 750 later today along with a 45x on the CPU!

I love this community!

 

Jesus!! Dont be shy to overclock that memory well done!

Where is Johnksss!!!!!!! ^o^

 

Imagine what we will able to do with hardcoded 750/1500/1600 AND MORE. Imagine 800/1600/17xx. Sky (read: temperature) is the limit.

 

I'm with you! This GPU is amzing, so fast they need to have multiple levels of throttling! which I disagree to begin with... Temp driven throttles, yes, load a no no IMO.

 

Awesome Work Guys, and impressive scores Xen, Kinda wish i was home instead of the cottage so I could push this 2920 and my 6990s myself (just put the 2920 in yesterday afternoon) ... but then I look out over the lake ... and I remember its nice to be here

 

Lol ... Enjoy life!

 

A bit more to 0x29A point.... it looks like the throttling conditions actually are indeed holding this GPU back, 80% of the 3DMark 2011 test was done in stock speeds, it's starts at 740/1800 and around 76c/100% load it quickly downsacales to stock speeds.

I'd love to see:

* Higher temps thresholds.. (90's)
* smart Throttling, where it scales back a % of the OC instead of going directly back to stock.
* Lastly some voltage control to be able to hit 800's which should be completely doable


That would be awesome.


But this is a phenomenal start! who aside from widezu69, Bar-Code and 0x29A (these last two for all their work with throttling on M18x forums) should I rep? (please list all who deserve credit for this top notch work)

 

Rep Saltius for providing us with the vbios

 

Thx, rep fopr Saltius and you and my boys

 

So question, because I don't really know the engineering side of things ... does this make the 580 throttle group redundant ? Is it as simple as saying ... here Dell, do this ?

Or are there still concerns about the Thottle issue which need to be discussed ?

 

Not really redundant, this fix basically sets a minimun throttle point to 620Mgz, where as before it was 50Mhz (If I remember correctly). SO instead of us experiencing 1-2fps while throttling now we see stock clocks. We would like a hard OC and only throttle based on temps. In addtion some voltage controls.

 

gotcha gotcha ... cools

 

The current solution isn't exactly final. It's just temporary. Just run STALKER Clear Sky for a moment. During morning moments the game hicks up ever 5 seconds or so (it's like a freeze for 200ms). This is when P0 is switched down to P1, then back, than again, and so on. This is where clock levels are switched between 'no throttle' and 'throttle' states. Very annoying.

Naturally, STALKER CS is a sad exception. Any other game that used to cause throttling here and there should be almost fluently playable now. Better a single 200ms 'glitch' than silly throttle down to 50mhz.