m18x r2 works perfectly with gtx 1060

not sure if it has been done already or not. but today I have tested MSI gtx 1060 6gb GPU to work perfectly in m18x r2 with unlocked bios and switchable graphics(optimus) enabled.

 

Great. Thank you for sharing. Would you be so kind and share step by step instructions on how to do it and what's needed?

 

you need unlocked bios, then switch to SG mode in advanced video settings, save changes without exit and just shut down the machine after that.

tear the machine down, install the card( you will need to modify heatsink to fit the card, similar to 780m heatsink mod to fit 980m in AW18).

when modding drivers nvdmi.inf 680m id replacement did not work for me! maybe just coincidence! so I have re-modded with nvmii.inf by replacing the right part of the string from 680m with the string from device manager.

 

Nice. Does the heatsink mod require any drilling or just cutting the plastic cover?

Does this work with Windows 10 64 bit Creator's Update and the latest drivers as well?

And would this BIOS from @Raidriar work for this purpose?

 

Dizzzzam , M18x still kicking and screaming !!!!

Please do give us the full write up.

 

The old beauty still rocks..... Please make a detailed process report and quirks you found along the way!

 

you need to ground some of the metal that prevent the contact, sorry no pic atm.

 

I can't ATM, I am switching homes. did the try up on the request, already spent too much of time I don't have right now.

 

What about the 1080s?

 

And about performance? Is a 1060 GTX card most powerfull than a GTX 980M? Please add some 3Dmark scores if possible. Isn't need to flash bios card before installing on M18X-R2?

 

Take in mind that "SG mode" suck from 1,5% to 8,5% to graphics score:

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/12115784/3dm11/12131339/3dm11/12131400/3dm11/12146311

Tested in every configuration aviable from our m18xr2 unlocked bios:
SG muxless mode dynamic (optimus)
SG mode Fixed
SG mode Dynamic and Fixed

 

The 1060 isnt exactly superior to a 980m is it? I know of course a 1080 wont work due to power consumption being too high but what about the 1070? Still it would be interesting if we could get 1060/1070 sli in this....

 

Yes, the 1060 is superior to the 980M.
I think 1070 should also be possibile as some MXM 3.0b models do exist.
SLi is not an option, as we need to use SG to make the card work with LVDS screen that M18x R2 comes with.

All in all 1070 will still be a better option imo than 980M sli due to lower power consumption, lower cost and not having to worry about sli scaling... if you check game benchmarks you will see that single 1070 is handily beating the 980M sli in basically almost all games and being tied in others.

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

 

I ve tested it to give same Valley Benchmark score with 3940xm that my clevo p651hp6-g does with 7700hq. fhd ultra settings + 2x msaa

considering your issue:
could that be related to driver modification? I always suggest to use original card's optimus driver string to substitute in these cases. I have noticed that Nvidia has different profiles for each system set in the drivers.

another issue could be the CPU's package TDP that get's shortened when Igfx is used, which can be crucial with XM processor's performance.

as you can see the Physics score also went down.

also you have used different driver versions, which could also be the problem:

21.21.13.7849
21.21.13.7563
21.21.13.7563
22.21.13.8189

background tasks might also be running, I see you ve made test on different days too.

so I would suggest a bit more thorough tests to be made to identify the bottleneck

 

yes, it's more powerful, once I settle down with moving from house to house - I will post some benchmarks.

no, video bios does not require flashing, only the system bios needs to be unlocked.

 

So here the results with same driver version:

left PEG --- right SG mode

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/12148222/3dm11/12148654 SG mode Dynamic

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/12148222/3dm11/12148364 SG mode Fixed

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/12148222/3dm11/12146311 SG mode Fixed&Dynamic


https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5iWv44UjJ46b1B0X0tfN2ltNWM

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5iWv44UjJ46UGh0cDN2SzVOTFk

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5iWv44UjJ46QWxuVlZtNUV2TzA

 

what about CPU TDP? can you stock clock the cpu and leave the TDP same as it is now and run the tests again?

I am seeing physics scores also getting down, and that is suspicious

 

Physx score is in margin of error (very little % of difference), no issue here respect to other benchmark at same CPU speed



PEG mode CPU 38/37/36/36

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/12149186

 

5% hit isn't much considering a 1070 is much faster than 680m SLI (if coming from there).

Even over 980m sli, 1070 is a better choice for non-SLI games.

Maybe we'll get to use 1170 next gen in the m18x r2.

 

This is very exciting stuff!

Could you post some before and after 3DMark Firestrike an or Superposition benches? I haven't done 3DMark11 since, 2011, so I don't even know what I'm looking at here performance wise.

 

@tanzmeister

Please! Would you like to post some bench of m18x r2 + 1060m?

 

I mean, we need to see if the performance, especially considering the 100W limit of the heat-sink, is any better than 980M before being compelled to upgrade. Could you please post some benches that are modern and relevant, i.e. 3DMark Firestrike, Superposition, etc.

At least it's not 3DMark Vantage, but yeah, I have no idea what kind of performance I'm looking at here.

 

@tanzmeister
and please could you provide the Device-ID from gpu-z or windows device manager?(for msi 1060, I wanna add its microcode to m18xR2's bios)

 

ok, I will try to do that today, just finished with moving my stuff.

 

If that can be added to the bios would that allow for legacy mode and sli with the 1060's?

 

Likely yes (i hope for PEG mode),
gpu is on the way and Tuesday will be at my home, Wednesday I'll update all worklog here.

 

nor very likely... the gpu still doesnt support LVDS, only eDP, which is the reason why we need to run with one card and optimus... i dont think the card is physically capable of runnig signal over lvds.

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

 

exactly this....there isn't even any LVDS code in the vBIOS, no way this is ever going to run dGPU only over LVDS. Also, 1060 doesn't support SLI at al...only select 1070 cards and 1080s

 

Hi All!

So my msi 1060 from Alezka.com @woodzstack was arrived yesterday, fast, very well packaged , and with a bit of icdiamond7.



Removed (not very well) the tiny metal square on heatsink, that touch ram on 1060.




put thermal pads everywhere to match heatsink space.





Absolutely do not tight or strengt too much the gpu because has on his backside a big squared capacitator that push on motherboard




Here 3dmark11 to start benching
msi1060 (stock clocks) + 3920xm(4.2Ghz) on m18xR2 .

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/12179694
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/12179815

Score 13334
GraphicScore 15076
Physics 10077
CombinedScore 9654

Max GPU temp 70° (at 24° t.amb).



And Here 3dMark

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/19968894

Score 9849
GraphicScore 11547
Physics 11182
CombinedScore 4318

Max GPU temp 71° (at 24° t.amb).



Superposition benchmark



Now I'm start to look if performance is aligned with other 1060's powered laptops.

All suggestion are very welcome!

Bye All!

 

Brave of you to test, glad you got it working! I assume this is under SG and not PEG mode right?

Also seems you have some power throttling...maybe a good idea to power cycle a few times.

 

Just look at that:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/122498233515?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&fromMakeTrack=true

GTX 1080 without power connection and almost proper MXM disign

 

Yes SG mode because PEG obviously doesn't works.

From notebookcheck gpus list, seems my 3dmark's graphic scores are ok. How much it must be?

How some power cycle can help? Like the old hybernation trick?

Thanks! ^_^

Argh! Too late.. maybe next year will be a 1180GTX for me ^_^

 

Very nice and right in line with what other mobile 1060's are doing.

Did you have the fans on the default fan algorithm or did you max them out and do you know / remember what ambient temperature was like? Was the unit elevated? Trying to get an idea of any thermal overhead, but 72C in Superposition is somewhat indicative of having some thermal overhead for a mild OC as Superposition tends to get the temps up to near max even though it's a brief benchmark, at least at 4K it does (I usually run 4k Optimized for reference) because of the power draw, it's just insane.

11.5k GPU out-of-the-box, that's about 10% faster than 980M with a mild overclock at 1.0v (see signature, 10.5k GPU).

It would be nice if your Hwinfo64 data indicated the peak TDP so we could get an idea as to what kind of thermal overhead you might have for overclocking.

What is sacrificed running the unit in Optimus?

How much was the 1060?

 

Thanks very much for osservations and reply! Very appreciate it!

The Fans are on default (no Bios TC/TP values mod, and no HWinfo controlled fans, only monitoring).

I think I dremelled too much the heatsink near the ram and mosfet because I measured wit thermal IR gun without keyboard and I saw 75,6°.

Ambient temp was 22°/24°.

The Alienware m18x R2 sit on a notebook cooler Thermaltake massive 23" (fan off) slightly up on rear.

The Uniengine Superposition benchmark stress really much the gpu and the 4k bench give me higher result than the 1080 extreme one.

I dont think there is a issue here because my old 970M maxed out its temp at 70° at stock clocks (full load 0,987v) and 76° when overclocked (1,000v) , seems aligned with thermal output of 1060 no?

stock clocks (0,987v)



Overclocked (1,000v)




1060




I don't know how to see TDP in HWinfo, tried many times to reset settings but it doesn't appear, neither changing driver seems to help
Can you Help me?


970M Running in Optimus lose 1,5% to 8,5% in graphic performance score, as observed trough 3dmark11 bench,

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...tly-with-gtx-1060.804052/page-2#post-10515719

so I think its near the same for this 1060, but with no LVDS support there is no way to run in PEG mode to see difference.
Already contacted Klem at T|I to insert my gpu id in bios microcode but selecting PEG result in 8 beeps with black screen.

The MSI 1060 was purchased (a bit more 600€) from Alezka.com of @woodzstack with many thanks to him for his professional service!

Best Regards guys

 

Just run auto fan ( 70° at 22° ambient) VS max fan ( 57° )

This Nvidia's turbo3.0 is really mad, look at my graphs in msi afterburner:

This with auto fan




and this one with fan maxed out


here 3dmark11 comparison between two runs,

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/12182719/3dm11/12182706#

1,6% to 2,3% better in all graphics score when temps are lower!!(this because of turbo that is new for me, all previous gen nor work in this way )

 

Just buy for 6$ a 3dmark key to run extreme and ultra test

extreme
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/12677737


Ultra 2668 points
GraphicsScore 2605
PhysicsScore 11249
CombinedScore 1360
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/12677635

Edit:

Just changed and reset Hwinfo64, now GPU power is visible and I think aligned with other 1060(laptop)

 

Today is a good day .

Near @Prema score that was on direct output edp VS my system on IGP conversion + 1060 mxm, but away from other @Mr. Fox @Papusan bests..

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/12702130/fs/11429442#

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/12702130
validated

 

Was it easy to get the 1060 to play nicely for the m18x r2? I still have my dell gtx 680m in sli lol works OK for oculus dk2 at 75hz but not the consumer headsets. Is the 1060 the desktop or mobile for the mxm slot? Keep up the great work

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

P150EM is an Optimus system (signal routed through Intel GPU) without a direct dGPU mode.

Either way good score there.

 

Now we're cooking with gasoline!

13k, that is VERY impressive, but it looks like youre at / near the capabilities of this card at 2.1GHz core. And only 53C load? How did you manage that? Under 1.0v which is also very impressive, but what is stability like in games?

Damn I'm kicking myself in the ass for hastily (well I DID wait nearly 2 years for the price to come down to a sane level) upgrading to a single 980M last year.

I see you've found the power entry in Hwinfo64, unfortunately it seems to not want to cooperate.

I hate when 3DMark refuses to validate online, I had a few best benches recently and I'm sitting there like "what do you mean you can't validate online?!".

So were looking at 30% faster than 980M (I was at 10k GPU default clocks). That's a nice bump! 13k GPU sits between an overclocked 780 Ti and GTX 980 I think. Very nice for 120W TDP. They've come a long way.

What do you sacrifice having to run Optimus again?

Do you have to do the IGFX to PEG switch all of us on 980M have to do or does it work correctly from a cold boot?

Intrigued, but yeah $700+ is a lot of money I don't have.

 

Hi @Prema and thanks for the clarification, would you please explain if the lack of LVDS support is a vBios or bios or hardware things?

because here https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/11018-gtx-1060-in-gt70-and-gt72/

someone afferming that works on MSI GT70/72 on dGPU (as on Optimus)



in the meantime I think I have modded in right way the Win10 x64 driver for my MSI 1060 mxm on m18xR2, so here my result from 3dMark Time Spy
http://www.3dmark.com/spy/1823644

 

6. Electrical Exceptions
6.1. VGA
When driving stereoscopic 3D displays AMD designs make use of the stereo-sync (generic
a/b) signal to differentiate between the left and right scene. This is implemented on OEM2
(MXM pin 40).
6.2. LVDS

LVDS Implementation in AMD Designs
The HD 7970M MXM differs from MXM 3.1 spec in the implementation of LVDS, specifically
on the pull-ups on the DDC lines and the MXM connector pin used for hot plug detect. AMD
recommends that the 4.7K PU to 3.3V on LVDS DDC lines be placed on the motherboard
side allowing the channel to be used for eDP/DP or LVDS. This adds flexibility and simplifies
display qualification.
To have more control over the display configuration, AMD designs make use of OEM3
(MXM pin 41) for DDCDATA_AUX7N (DPF) and OEM5 (MXM pin 43) for DDCCLK_AUX7P
(DPF).


Who translates it in pratical use please

 

Anyone tested this with Windows 10 Creators Update. Unfortunately I need Windows 10 for my work, so even that Win 7 have better performance I can't go back

 

Sorry to crash this thread but is it now safe to upgrade to windows 10?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

I guess that it will be hard to tell. I have been testing win 10 since the insider builds started to roll and downloaded the update the first day it became available. I never got any issue with my display or any other of the related issues that people got with win 10

 

Thanks, did you test with latest anniversary update?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

The newest driver that I have tested is 375.63 I'm running a 780m

 

Is 1070 possible?

 

I know I am off topic, but here is a result of my 980m SLI with the dual PSU mod and the throttle fix.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/20322094

seeing that graphics score is so close, I would say that the 1060 is the next best thing.