MSI 1651/GX620 3dMark 7000+!

That's odd... I've only ran 3dmark at my current setting once so I havent bumped into that problem yet. It might be caused by overheating... have you tried logging the temp readings while you're running 3dmark?

 

Temp is'nt over 73°...
I ran 3dMark vantage- everything went OK... I get 2120 points. 700/1700/950

 

Well, I meant since this is booting to DOS, to just write a DOS batch file. It's been a LONG time since I've touched/seen a DOS batch file, but IIRC just for the basic scripts to using two separate setups, you could make one autoexec.bat file that contains the ENTIRE flash command to RESTORE the ORIGINAL BIOS, e.g. nvflash <options> <ORIGINAL BIOS filename> This command should be automatically executed when DOS starts up, although I would recomend using the ENTIRE pathname to the executable AND the BIOS image, e.g. A:\nvflash <OPTIONS> A:\<ORIGINAL BIOS filename> now that I'm thinking about it as IIRC DOS defaults to looking elsewhere for executeable by default. I would store this backup stick/disk somewhere just in case something ever goes wrong. (Oh, and the drive letter will have to match the drive letter of the boot disk/stick, the disk should be A: or B:, not sure what bootable USB sticks get assigned to as I've never used one before... Also if you wanted to "waste" a CD-R you could just make a DOS bootable CD to do the same thing, but I'd test it running off of a floppy or USB stick BEFORE wasting a CD-R... also might want to slap some other useful utilities on such a CD although AFAIK there's no way to access SATA drives from DOS as no dirvers exist.)

I think that, that would work for restoring the original BIOS. If I have time I'll see if I can play around with batch files in DOSBox to verify that the above should actually work.

As to doing menus: I think that later versions of DOS allowed you to make them, but I can't recall how, so the second stick/disk it would probably be best to setup it up to just dump you to the DOS shell then run the nvflash/tweaking manually from the CLI.

 

heh ok cutter... I think I understood 10% of what you just said...

btw, tommy, I tried OC'ing it further and I finally ran into your problem. I made a mistake, my previous post clock setting was actually 715/1760/950... when I OC'd to 720/1780/950 and ran 3dmark, my screen went black during the firefly bench.

All the meanwhile I had gpu-z running and logging the temp. When 3dmark is running, my temp seems to read at 52c! So I guess temp is definitely not the problem... probably just that I OC'd too far

BTW, you should try installing xfastest 177.85 drivers. I googled around and came across these drivers and it improved about 50 points in 3dmark06 compared to my previous 176.60... current score is at 6953

I really wanted to squeeze by 7k, but i guess that'll have to wait till I get some arctic mx-2 compounds...

 

OK, here's the deal. The make bootable, USB stick/floppy/CD-R apparently are REALLY making an MSDOS bootable system.

Now, MSDOS when it starts up looked in config.sys for loading drivers and setting other OS option, then it would execute whatever was in the autoexec.bat file BEFORE dropping to the CLI, unless whatever was in autoexec started some other program, so all I'm suggesting is putting the CLI commands, e.g. nvflash into the autoexec.bat file such that they run automatically at bootup which means even if you can't see your screen that the card will be re-flashed and should be ok next book as long as there is nothing PHYSICALLY or ELECTRICALLY wrong with the card. (Think of the commands in autoexec.bat like the startup programs that you can set for windows, although MSDOS was NOT natively multitasking... )

At this point you can start your tweaking process all over again and hopefully avoid whatever messed it up the last time.

I really need to look into USB making bootable USB sticks, but I need to buy another uSD (*cough* DS lite *cough*) card for my reader first, at which point I can try it out on my desktop until the MS-1651 arrives. Might even try overclocking my old 7600GT KO although it's already overclocked a bit by eVGA...

Another option now that I think of it would be to make a small linux bootable system as IIRC there is a utility to flash nVidia card in linux as well, in which case you'd again use a startup script file to automatically run the flash command to restore the original BIOS and hopefully "fix" the card, but as I've said I've never tried any of these options yet and REALLY need to look into them, but it would seem that having an emergency automatic re-flash original BIOS disk SHOULD be a requirement for messign around with notebook GPUs, as it's pretty easy to FUBAR the entire thing.

 

It's all making sense... well atleast the concept of it.

Sounds like it would be the ultimate safety net to have something like that under your belt! I'm willing to bet this is what manufacturers probably due to recover computers with tampered video bios... hehe

yeah cutter, if this can be done, it'd be revolutionary for not only the gx620, but notebook users everywhere (that OC of course...)

 

Well I was googling around (again) lol, and found what I think cutter was trying to explain... here is the copy/paste.

i guess basically if you screw up the video bios and your screen goes blank... you can just pop in this backup and have it auto-flash back to your stock bios. BTW, just wondering how you would select boot sequence if we do indeed need to boot up from usb from a black screen...

 

Better take the extra query for boot device and leave it to either USB or DVD-ROM as default then hdd. I do that with my desktops even though I rarely boot from DVD or floppy. (Actually set it to attempt DVD boot 1st then hdd as my current desktop only supports 2 possible boot devices while my old supported 3... in which case I did floppy - DVD - hdd as it wouldn't even check the floppy if there was no media...)

Some how I'm not at all surprised that someone else already did this this. Good job on digging it up.

Also as to boot device, you could also just set it to default to non-hdd when you are messing around overclocking your GPU then once it is up and GOOD/STABLE change it back to hdd default, but personally just to be safe I'd have it check as many other boot options as possible before the hdd. (I've no idea how many the 1651/GX620 supports as I don't have mine yet...)

 

yeah, think ill put usb to boot up first, delay prob isnt even noticeable.

heheh cutter, i think by the end of this month MSI is coming out with a new notebook... looks just like the GX620 cept has a 9800M GS! There's already a topic started in these forums in regards to the new laptop... you might want to look into that if its within your budget

 

It came up right after I ordered my 1651 from avadirect. I'm betting that it's going to be more than I wanted to spend as I suspect that the 9600 GS will not be all that cheap so they'll likely price it above the 720. I already guess $1500 - 1700 for the price, but we'll have to see...

OTOH IF it IS the same board, then it means that it'll be likely that we can swap in a 9800 GS at some later point giving a little extra GPU life to these notebooks as GPUs are always obsoleted fairly quickly in notebooks. (Which is why I favor better processors in notebooks as I know that I'll get more use out of a notebook for longer if it has a good CPU while there usually isn't much that can be done about the GPU...)

 

oic...

heh, I actually got a really good deal on my gx620. I got mine while I was in Korea... you may already know but there's a global financial crisis, and nearly every currency against the dollar is getting weaker. What used to be 1:1 ratio 2 months ago was about 1:1.5 at the time I bought it... and thats when I discovered the the GX620 with P9500 cpu. They were going for about $1700 USD equivalent in Korea, but after the crisis and plumetting of the exchange rates, I got it for about $1150 (shipping/tax included!).

So no regrets even if the GT627's come out... I got a good deal ;x I think equivalent spec comes out to about $1400.

Pretty happy with the purchase + performance so far. Only gripe is that the keyboard has foreign characters on it (I like it clean!)

 

I don't go anywhere where the price difference is like that. Mostly to places that when the dollar goes back to its higher value the foreign price will be equal to or slightly higher than the US price plus having to pay their taxes then get it back out of them later just isn't worth it.

Got P8600/320GB hdd sata2/4GB DDR2-800 Kingston value for c. $1100... ir about that same as you with shipping ($^&#$^T*$ UPS! probably cost about 1/2 or less via USPS, and be faster with Saturday delivery...)

EDIT
Oh yeah, WSXGA+ screen... 15.4" seems a waste on just 1200x800 or whatever the cheap option is...

 

nice the gx620 i got comes in matte..!! I wanted gloss (i never really take it out much so I don't have to worry about blinding my eyez). My previous dv9033cl from hp had much brighter colors if I remember correctly ;(

BTW, what gives?! Below is a copy/paste from 3dmark system specs...

NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT Driver 7.15.11.7785

Description NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
Manufacturer NVIDIA
Total Local Video Memory 504 MB
Total Local Texture Memory 504 MB
AGP Aperture Size 1.75 GB
Driver File nvd3dum.dll
Driver Version 7.15.11.7785
Driver Date 8-7-2008
Driver WHQL Certified true
Max Texture Width 8192 px
Max Texture Height 8192 px
Max User Clipping Planes 8

What's up with total video memory of 504mb? Where's my other 8 megs ;x

Any other GX620 owners seeing this?

 

m00t

finally broke the 7k barrier... 710/1780/955

 

Nice!! Did you use any cooling enhancement at all?
And what was your temperature range?

 

I'm using the zalman notebook cooling pad underneath, i think that drops my temperature down ~5c. Under heavy load my temp seems to get around 75~79c and idle temp is around 46c

 

The REAL question is what kind of FPS improvement are you seeing in games? Just curious as in MANY GPU overclocks it seems that game performance doesn't increase as much as performance in the synthetic benchmarks do...

-> I usually don't bother because of that and the usually higher temp that the overclocked GPU will run at. That said my current deskto eVGA 7600GT KO came overclocked adn apparently does score a bit better (benchmarks & games) than a stock 7600GT. (Need to upgrade it, as it's beginning to show it's age in some games, but most still are playable at 1280x1024 and mostly high settings... NWN2, Morrowind + MGE, X3: Reunion, Fortress Forever, Two Worlds, Gothic 3, etc.)

 

alright, the only game I have is oblivion and assassin's creed. will give it a run with fraps sometime tonight.

 

Did you ever whoops it while tweaking? i.e. have to do an emergency orig BIOS replacement?

If those game FPS really seem to go up I may consider overclocking mine a bit, but I think that I'll be most concerned about added heat with implication on GPU life v. ingame performance increases.

(Hope that MXM 9800M GSes start showing up sometime next year... also wish that these guys, e.g. MSI would directly sell MXM cards to consumers or via retailers...)

 

If you're not crazy with the values, you cant really 'whoops' it because you're only changing 3d values (which dont usually need to be used while on the desktop). You can find out right away when u run ati tool artifact tool if ur clocks are set way too high because it will beep at you and show you dots like crazy. Thats when u turn off the program and lower ur clocks.

But its hard to mess up if ur careful (ie- make sure u type 700 for core clock and not 7000 or something ridiculous).

 

I also have gotten the gx620 and is pretty happy with it. However, I have a 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium OEM disk, and when I tried to enter the MSI product key when installing, it disk still says invalid product code Does this only work for retail version?

So far, my stable OC settings are 675core,1600shader,875memory for 6285 3dmark06 score.

 

Anyone for before/after ingame FPS? I'm curious since I see alot of GPU overclocks get MUCH better synthetic scores then very little in the way of actual performance boost at least in games...

(Just got my 1651, but am still setting it up/experimenting with it ATM.)

 

You can expect an average of anywhere from 5 to 10 fps increase by overclocking.

 

Out of curiousity, you guys are just changing the clock speeds, correct? No voltage increase or anything of that sort?

Compared to what you guys are getting, my 9600M GT is a total dud. I'm having problems with it losing display randomly about 20-30 minutes in any 3D application. No artifacts or overheating problem; I can play a game, and then *poof* my screen blacks out. The laptop runs normally for almost a minute, then restarts, which tells me that the video card stopped responding. After a month of stability testing, I ended up with a rather meager 580/1500/850.

 

yea, its the luck of the draw. When the screen goes black, it means it cant handle the current OC. And we aren't changing voltages or anything. I did the exact same process with a friend's 1651 and his 9600gt did not get close to mine in terms of stability/OC. His scores were similar to yours i think, and it got him about 6000 points in 3dmark. =(

 

did you use any notebook cooling while oc?

 

I don't. Ideally, I like to test overclocking stability in the worst case scenario -- about 80-85 degrees farenheit room temperature, and especially no cooling aid or open panels. This way, I make sure the overclock is as reliable as possible. I don't want to get some sky high overclock with it sitting on a cooling pad, then take it to a friend's house and have it crash because I didn't bring the cooling pad and now it's overheating.

 

yea, same here. I played Left 4 Dead for about 2-3 hours with no crashes without a cooler so I was happy. I was doing stress testing under warm conditions as well when I was OCing.

 

When I stressed test the overclocked settings for the 9600m I made sure that the Turbo button is on also(at 20%), have no cooling aid, and have the notebook on a desk flat (not raising the back).

The overclocked settings does increase the FPS of "Rainbow Six Vegas II", that came with the notebook, at max settings(w/o antialiasing) and at 1680x1050. At stock settings, the gameplay was playable but laggy, now it is running smooth .

I am also interested undervolting the notebook, so maybe I would keep the heat down, and perhaps getting battery life to increase a little. Is RMClock the only solution to this?

 

laggy? maybe it was the cpu?

 

rmclock is your best bet. he meant laggy as in frames were being skipped.

 

Hi there guys,

I have a few questions about this procedure. I have an MSI GX620 laptop, and I have followed the GPU BIOS flash instructions from Knivez.

However, I suspect that NiBiTor has not created the new BIOS correctly, as when I flash to it, Windows can't display properly (a screen full of artefacts). I was trying to alter the 2d clocks, since this laptop always defaults to them on battery.

Any ideas as to why this may have happened?

Also, does anyone have a solution to the battery power concern? What I want is for the system to be able to change up from the 2d clocks while on battery.

Thanks

 

hi guys,

my 3dmark06 score = 7330 @ default 3dmark settings.

Stable clocks @ 1.16v Nibitor:
- 780 core
- 1800 shaders
- 1050 memory

My Windows 7 Graphics score went from 5,6 to 6,7!
Shaders are having trouble near 1850 and memory is having trouble near 1100 (2200)..
I think i can push the core even more, but it already is pretty high!
Temps are not higher then 83 celcius max. average temps 74/75.

Still finetuning! so to be continued..

 

wow, very nice!

 

Thats high, impressive for a 9600m GT

 

SWEET!

What about in game what differences are you seeing?

 

When I had my 1722, The max I could get was 675 on the core if i went more it bsod'd everytime..

 

Very good results Keep it up!

 

Well, i can play any game i have on very high settings on 1680x1050.. including crysis (mix between high and very high settings).
Crysis has anti aliasing and motion blur off. Other games run even with anti aliasing on.
GTA IV on highest settings and 1680x1050 is very good playable!

Don't know how many frames, but i don't like if games stutter and they don't.
If games stutter i turn down the settings but with this clock i don't really have to.

If you guys want to know exact frames i can install fraps and make some screens. Just tell me wich games you're all curious about.

(i have a new 3dmark score.. 7357.) Still tuning my max clocks.
My aim is to get over graphics score "7" in windows 7. (just because i think it's funny)

 

Does anyone know how i can overclock the cpu to around 3GHz? Clockgen crashes all the time, and SetFSB doesn't seem to support this notebook. I have tried many settings but without luck.

Does anyone still have the 1.0s bios file? I've heard that it was possible to raise the FSB with this old bios. Can someone confirm that?

 

Hi guys, i already found out.
Check the screenshots

And this is just the beginning ..

UPDATE: New 3dmark score.. check the 3rd screenshot! 7459!
(BTW i am NOT using a coolingpad for notebooks. Just standing on the table in a normal environment. "livingroom")

 

Ok, just got over 3,2GHz!!
Check the screenshot. Going to run 3dmark again.

UPDATE: 3dmark 7488! Check the second screenshot!

 

Hehe all i can say dam, very well done to you sir

 

And one more screenshot. Over 3,2GHz Windows 7 score!

 

Are you increasing the voltage to the cpu? I am very impressed 1ghz OC.

 

maybe my quad can hit 3 ghz xD lol.

 

What are you using to oc the cpu and did you raise the voltage for the gpu??

 

he flashed to 1.0s bios which allows setfsb program to work. He increased the gpu voltage by editing the 9600m's bios and flashing it.

 

For the CPU i only use SetFSB with the "ICS9LPRS113AKLF" file. I did not raise the voltage. It seems that is raises voltage automaticly as far as i can see in CPUz.

I have been on 3,3GHz but that's not stable and way too hot. 3,25GHz is stable but a bit warm.. 86 degrees. 3,1GHz is around 82 degrees and 3,0GHz is 76 degrees.

For the GPU i did raise the voltage. I use NibiTor to create a new biosfile and i have chosen the 1.16v in voltage control.

 

No you're wrong. I am using the 1.0z bios. (newest)