MSI GT628 with Q9200

Forget about it. At least, you have to boot into OS. And in my case the CPU is running@2 GHz all the time (independent on EIST on/off). And if you won't boot in OS, you can't fix the freq. on lowest multiplier...

No. Pinmod and SW VID are different problems.
In fact, the pinmod ( = increase/decrease of real CPU voltage) is working only in some ranges set by SW VID... Ufff, sorry, I can't explain it in English very well...
Try to look on posts, which I linked here few posts ago. Maybe it will help you.

 

Singular1ty: whats the problem whit throttlestop? It works perfectly on my Q9200. Set the power scheme to max power, and then enable TS.

 

Yes, I'm happy to report editing the power scheme fixed the problem and now CPU-Z works as intended as well. So I got to work on modding the cooling and this was the result:



I then felt like getting crazy with it and upgraded the solution with a 5400rm Scythe Gentle Typhoon, desktop 5,25" fancontroller and PSU unit:



I bumped the voltage back to 1,3V and kicked the multiplier to x13 so now I'm running a comfy 3,45GHz while temps are 20 degrees lower than undervolted stock speeds

CPU-Z Validator 3.1

This is, of course, only really practical as long as I use my laptop as a desktop replacement. I will have to modify the cover somehow so it will still close with the mods installed, or downgrade to a dual core. I tried running GTA IV yesterday undervolted and everything but 20 minutes of playing resulted in a heat-related shutdown, so bottom line stock cooling just isn't adequate to support my quad core.

Since I now have some seriously beefy cooling I wanted to do some benchmarks and see how much more can be cranked out of this system when heat is not a limiting factor. I downloaded modded Nvidia drivers so I can edit my GPU clocks with Afterburner. Did experience a weird issue with Windows being unable to boot (BSOD at load) during the restart cycle that comes with reinstalling GPU drivers. Cutting the power and trying again fixed it

 

Don't forget to take care of your power brick.

 

Crazy Sh!t modding

btw: How do you turn on the laptop in this position?

 

@ Meaker
The power brick keeps my feet warm

@ Kirr

Basically, I need to move everything out the way and reach under the lid. The trick is to simply not turn the laptop off

By the way I managed to overclock the GTS160M from 600/1500/850 (core/shaders/mem) to a solid 730/1825/1000. On stock cooling, everything above 650MHz core gave me artifacts in-game, but now its easily crunching Vantage, GTA IV and MW2 and it really does give me a couple extra FPS and less framedrops. In Vantage, the CPU score is about 3 times as high as the GPU score, with ppu off. I really need a GPU upgrade. So what's available for this laptop? 4870 and GTX260m seem to be sizable upgrades right? Could this laptop run any of the newer GPU's like GTX460 or 5870?

 

This laptop has an MXM 2.1 slot. The Newer GPUs like the 460m and 5870 are MXM 3.0 so they wont fit.

The best possible are a 280m or 4870 as you've said.

 

With my [email protected] and with the 260m I can max out GTA on native resolution. But at night it get a bit choppy because of the dinamic shadows so I turned it to 0. Without that it runs perfectly.

With my OC'ed gts I can not play it on this resolution, only on 720p. So the upgrade is worth that 100$.

 

Thanks.

I've been checking eBay but so far suitable upgrades seem wicked expensive. Any idea how much the GTS160m will be worth if I sell it? And which is faster, the GTX280M or 4870M?

Edit: ah never mind about the performance, the GTX280 is marginally faster based on the notebookcheck review. I should research before I post

 

I'm thinking of an upgrade, does battlefield3 beta runs well with q9200+gtx260m?

 

1280x800 ultra/high no aa and aniso, no ssao, runs well. Some slowdowns in the park when there are grenades popping around me, but its well playable.

 

The 4870 I will soon be selling in larger quantities all seem to have 1ghz ddr3, while I've never seen an Nvidia MXM 2.1 card with anything over 900mhz (and BTW they will all come with it clocked at 800mhz in the vBIOS because its part of the MXM 2.1 spec).

 

@Niffcreature
Please PM me about the price and whether you'll be willing to ship one to the Netherlands... I'm working on a deal for a GTX260m but a 4870 would be even better, provided the price is right

Edit: I'd rather a GDDR5-equipped model of course. And although the Nvidia GPU's are at 800MHz max, I had no trouble running mine at 1GHz. Suitable drivers for software overclocking also seem readily available. I'd recommend anyone to try and bump their memory speeds a bit, cause with a 256-bit memory bus the cores on these cards can surely use some extra room to stretch their legs...

@ Kirrr
Does the GTX260 somehow generate less heat than the GT160m? Cause I'm surprised you can run GTA IV with your quad at 2,8GHz in conjunction with the GTX260m, while in my setup I get heat related crashes after about 20 minutes of gameplay with the quad undervolted to 1,1V at 2,66GHz... How come your cooling is doing so much better?

And does anyone know if I can use Nibitor to flash a custom bios to my card? It hasn't worked for me so far. Using afterburner to overclock I sometimes get an issue where the card remains stuck at high 2D mode (400MHz core) both ingame and on the desktop. The only thing I can do to resolve it is reboot.

 

Notebook is on the table without the bottom panel, on this:

Temps maxed 80*C after 6-8hours of gaming (GTAIV, Battlefield3 beta and Modern Warfare 2) Usually between 70-77*C as for the cpu but the gtx never goes above 72*C. As I turn off the cooler cpu jumps to 92-95*C and gpu to 82*C. If I'm using it on the go I use Throttlestop to force it to 2.26GHz max at 1.05v (the minimum of the quad). I really hate this quad nowadays. Meaker has a better one so I'm trying to sell this one to a 17incher and get that cool baby.

As for the heat difference between the gts and the gtx. The gts is somehow works more hotter. For example on stock cooling it gets up to 85*C and the gtx simply doesn't. I don't know why.

But the biggest heat source is the RAM for me, right under the right side of the palmrest. If I don't use a cooler its burning my wrist after some heavy multitasking sessions.

I really hope that I can move to another league with the M6400. And minimize the time that I spend on gaming. ( And the money that I spend on upgrades for this nb.)

 

Seems I just have a hot chip then. I use a Zalman notebook pad but it's a piece of crap. The fans are ridiculously loud for the amount of air they move and hardly impact my temperatures, I should perhaps opt for a better alternative. Maybe something with exchangeable 120mm fans, since I have a bunch of 2200rpm Yate Loons lying around that should do the trick.

Playing games with the bottom panel on makes the entire system perpetually hover around the 95 degree throttling limit, with peaks to 105 degrees causing shutdowns. I either need to get a cooler quad core or downgrade to a dual core again, but 'downgrade' is such a dirty word... 1,1V is the bottom limit for my quad at 2,66GHz, anything lower gets me random BSODs

For mobile use I lock the CPU at 1,6GHz at 1,05V and it still manages to get to 65 degrees then. I can browse the web via wireless for 2 hours on a single battery charge though.

 

This Spire cooler is loud as hell. And my quad crashes at 1.1V on 2.53GHz. So I run it 24/7 on 1.1625V and 2.53GHz rock solid, and if I need more power, goes up to 2.8GHz. But 2.53 is also enough for everything that I play.

For Downgrade: T9900 is not a bad cpu. And it much cooler.

 

Yeah I'm after the X9000 of some 17-incher, been poking him to see if he's interested in a trade. If he's willing to pay for the difference in performance my GPU upgrade won't be as expensive either. And cause it has an unlocked multi I'll be able to tweak it to shreds


I do wonder if I'll notice the difference between a dual- and quadcore in-game. I'm probably going to be able to run it at higher clockkspeeds than the quad. So far I've only noticed a slowdown between those two on my desktop running Unreal Engine games, they seem to have proper multithreading support.

 

My main project is to trade my system to a Dell, and put the quad in it. I think it will be cooler and don't need any external cooling solution. To run at qx9300 clocks on default voltage. If it can't keep it cool, I'll change it to a T9900.

@Niffcreature: I see that you have a q9200 in an Acer. What's the clocks and the voltage? Thank you.

One more question: If I want to sell this little beast, how much can I ask for it?

 

Hey there, the 7738G was actually what I ran my Q9200 in (As in that exact machine, I sold it to him):

Up to 2.66Ghz = 1.05v, 2.80Ghz = 1.075v, 2.93ghz = 1.11, 3.06ghz = 1.1375v.

IIRC.

 

Is it possible that the voltage problem is not in the cpu but in the notebook itself? I can't get it to run over 2.8GHz. Everytime I get BSOD if I change something.

 

Could be either.

 

@Kirrr:
What is FSB and DRAM frequency? - Maybe the CPU is not the reason of this problem...

 

I think it's time to move on and pass this notebook to it's new owner. I said it so many times before, but these temps bothering me. Hope my sig. will change within a few days.

Edit: Fsb is the stock 1066MHz and the ram is also 1066MHz. Link to the rest: Screenshot (the correct one)

 

any gt 628 users with gts 160m tried rage and shogun 2 on their laptops? hows the performance? TIA!

 

Rage runs fluently at native res. with GTX. With gts it runs great at 1280x800.

 

Update: Just ordered an E0 QS X9100 on eBay, as I found someone willing to trade his Clevo GTX260M for my QX9200. That's a good step forward toward a more balanced and cooler system

Looking forward to see if two cores fewer makes any noticeable performance difference, especially with the X9100's higher clock speed in mind.

Since it's a final revision sample, I'm also wondering what it overclocks/undervolts like. Anyone with experience here who knows if the E0 is any good compared to the C0 retail revision?

Will be posting my findings here.

 

E0 on average runs cooler, but a good C0 sample will beat a poor E0.

 

Still don't have the Dell so I've played a little with this cpu. Can set to 3.3GHz run CS:Source for 2 hours and Team Fortress 2 for another 2 hours. Then try prime and got BSOD. Restart and got an infinite BSOD loop. Fck yeah. Need to make the powerdraw trick and then it boots normally with 2.4GHz and 1.3V! Another fck yeah. Then set everything back to "normal" (QX9300 settings). I think this CPU is unstable in my machine. Try to trade for a X9100 if I keep this machine because the owner of the Dell was disappeared.

 

Why an X9100?
You could overclock any cpu in that notebook with setpll:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...clocking-methods-examples-87.html#post7170384

 

The main goal is to get the M6400 and get rid of my big monitor and the cable jungle on my desk. And of course the crappy and loud cooler. I want all of my stuff in one machine: my 2 HDD, a FullHD screen, my quad (if its possible) and a backlit keyboard.

As for the OC in the MSI. I don't have enough money to buy another cpu yet. So what is a reasonable price for my quad?

 

@ Kirrr
Shame to hear about your Dell. You might consider the fact that your GT628 ain't half bad for what you're proposing, mine's got a 1920x1200 screen, somewhat bigger HDD, external hard drive isn't something I'd really have issues with, and if the noise is so annoying, you might wanna downgrade to a dualcore as well. I'll be sure to let you know how much of a temperature difference it makes, since we've been running comparable setups.

@ moral hazard
I want an unlocked multiplier cause tweaking the fsb on a laptop just is too much of a hassle for me. The 3,06GHz is going to be sufficient fresh out of the box, and any overclock/undervolt I can manage will be bonus. Reliability has the priority here cause I need my laptop pretty often, what's with my main rig being down about 80% of the time

@ Meaker
Thanks! E0 seems to be the way to go

 

If nothing happens about the new machine I will downgrade to a Core2Duo. And maybe buy a better cooler from the price difference.

 

NEWS: Broke two barriers:

1. Managed to overclock it to 3.2GHz without issues. Need to turn off the speedstep in the bios and use Throttlestop 3.00. It works well, but no power management in windows so I need to use TS instead.

2. Broke 12K in 3DMark06

Now I'm completely Battlefield3-ready.

 

Just got a picture of the Clevo GTX260 I'm about to buy. Seems legit, right?

 

Mine's got some silver trim around the core. Ask for a picture when the core is clean.

My core is like this:

 

I had a Clevo 280m and it had the same black edge around the core, seems legit!

 

Is it for sale or trade?

 

Trade, I'm swapping out the QX9200 for this card. Seems like a good deal to me. X9100 should be due today or on monday

 

So the new parts came in to day and I immediately installed them. Getting the retention bracket of the back of the GT160M required a somewhat unsubtle approach but the rest of the installation was a piece of cake.

I'm happy to report that the new CPU lives up to expectations by running impressively cool. CPU-Z reports that this X9100 E0 ES is not applying C-states so it constantly runs at its full 3,06GHz with a pretty high stock voltage of 1,238V. Even then, it manages to idle around 45 degrees, which is as cool as my crappy T6600 in low C-states, 1600MHz, 1,15V. Excellent! This goes a long way toward keeping the laptop comfortably quiet while browsing

I stressed the chip for 10 minutes with P95 small FFTs and saw it rocket to just under 80 degrees, but I'm sure a bit of undervoltage will make a huge difference here, as will activating the C-states using Throttlestop. I'll report my findings here.

The GTX260M is a different story. Physical installation went fine and I had no trouble booting it, but the laptop didn't seem to fully identify it so stuck to using Windows drivers, even after several reboots and despite the fact I had working Nvidia drivers installed. So I decided to mop up the old drivers using Driver Sweeper and try a fresh install, but the installer keeps failing for no apparent reason. Tried three different driver versions so far, and no luck. I'm at a loss, could the GPU bios be interfering somehow? Did anyone else have this problem upgrading their laptop and/or know how to fix it Thanks!

Edit: Apparently some fooling around in device manager with enabling and disabling the display adapter magically unbugged the driver installer, ergo I got it to work and now the card is running fine. Gonna test it after I figure out how to get C-states on the new CPU.

 

Is HDMI works? Whats the bios on the GTX?

I just pop it in boot into windows, install a newer driver and the card works at full speed.

 

I got it to work now. Can edit GPU clocks in Afterburner too. I did notice 2 things: the GPU seems to be stuck at 3D clocks most of the time, generating unnecessary heat while idle, and it runs quite hot. When I first got the drivers to work, I could see the card downclocking to 2D mode in Afterburner and GPU-Z, but it doesn't do that anymore. Also I stressed it with OCCT and temperatures flew to near 100 degrees within 90 seconds. I think I should check the GPU mountings.

I configured throttlestop to make my CPU run full speed at 1,1V, and idle in SLFM at 800MHz at 1V. Somehow the 'power saver'-option unlocked a voltage 0,05V below the minimum request voltage, but heh, I'm fine with that Too bad I can't tell you how cool this runs yet cause the GPU is interfering.

Just a question, is your laptop even usable for anything other than browsing with the bottom panel on and without external cooling? And at what temperature does your GTX260 operate cause mine isn't dropping below 52 degrees idle...

 

My clocks are ok, so it changes itself only when it needs. Temps with cover on is between 45-54*C on everyday usage. The fan level changes from one to two at 53*C and then it goes to the mid 40's and then the fan slows down so the temp goes to 53*C and so on. Maybe you have got an older bios on your card.

As for cooling. If I undervolt the Quad to 2.26GHz and 1.05V i can game with the bottom cover without my cooler. Maxed at mid 80's for the cpu and for the gpu as well (in gaming). But if I use it on QX9300 clocks I need to use the cooler(with bottom cover on) or if I overclock it to 3.2GHz I need fo take of the cover to prevent overheating.

Whats your cards bios? The clevo/kapok from the M860ETU or something else? I'm not shure but maybe the ending is .08. If not, I can give you that.

 

Use nVidia Inspector 1.9.5 and run it with parameter -multidisplaypowersaver.
You will get window like this:


You can also run nVidia Inspector without any parameter - with nVidia Inspector you can manage GPU/shader/VRAM freq for each P-state independent and tweak nVidia drivers' settings. Great application

 

@ Kirrr
Thanks, I'll check my BIOS version when I get home. I'm still surprised with your relatively lower temperatures compared to mine, even when running a quad. With the GT160M I'd get crashes gaming at 2,66GHz 1,1V without additional cooling. Didn't try anything lower tha that.

Right now the fan constantly whirrs up to level 2 because the GPU hovers around 53 degrees. I wish I could just edit the fan profile so it only spun up around the 60 degree mark... And btw, how hot does your GPU get running furmark or OCCT, for good measure?

I wonder how much advantage 4 cores at 2,26GHz offers over 2 at 3,06, cause I expect about the same temperatures ingame with the X9100 at full speed. I still have the quad lying around cause it didn't work with the GTX260M sellers' laptop, I might still give this a shot. On the other hand, being able to just pick up the laptop and game with it without alot of Tweaking (which I can basically do with the X9100 installed) has an advantage over raw performance too.

Something else, your USB adapter. Is it external or integrated?

@ JejKey
Thanks! I'll try that when I get home. I didn't know GPU P-states could be edited without tampering with the bios, although I do intend to flash a custom bios once I find stable overclock for the card. Is there any way to also edit the voltages on the card? This one ran max afterburner clocks (715 MHz core, 1755 MHz shader, 1040 MHz mem) at 1V without artifacts or heat issues (although the Clevo it came from had dedicated GPU cooling). So I'm sure it can idle at lower voltage and be undervolted at load if I run into a heatwall at lower clocks...

 

Mine can't run at 2.66GHz with only 1.1V it needs a minimum of 1.1750V for that. As far as I know you can't edit the fan settings on this machine. I didn't run any VGA stresstest, just 3Dmark06 and some games. I can stay below 70*C with undervolted cpu in most of the games I usually play (teamfortress2, minecraft, cod4-6, battlefield2). In GTAIV and in Battlefield3 I need all of my cooling power to keep the temps on an acceptable level.
Try run the Quad at 2.26GHz there must be stable at 1.05V. It's much cooler than when its at 1.3V for the highest OC.

As for the USB thing it is an Expresscard and it is internal except for 1-2mm that sticks out due the bad case design. It generates a little heat when its operating at full speed but not too much. (you can actually feel it on the palmrest)

 

I see. Where can I get one? With all my devices connected I'm always one USB connection short. I'm assuming it can be connected somewhere to front right of the laptop, as I noticed a panel there with nothing under it, am I right?

Regarding the CPU, GTA IV is indeed the hottest game I play, I don't have any trouble playing MW2 for example.

 

USB card for example here: LINK
But Ebay is full with them. The place is under the right palmrest in the middle of the Red (or Silver) trim.

GTA is hot as hell. But Brink can be hotter sometimes for me. (but I don't like it so just deleted it last week)

 

@ Kirrr
Thanks bro! Didn't know they were this cheap, ordered one right away! Btw I'm digging the new profile pic

@ JejKey
After I found what I was looking for, that program worked like a charm CPU now idles in the low 40's and the laptop is cool 'n quiet the way I like it. Awesome! By the way do you recommend overclocking with this program or should I stick to afterburner for that?

GPU won't drop under 50 degrees even at P12. I should definitely check the mount but am too tired to get up and grab a screwdriver. Gonna check that gaming performance now!

Edit: Okay so temps were no good, had a 100 degrees running modern warfare, that's just bad. Took the laptop apart again, cleaned out the cooling fins with a vacuum cleaner and remounted. I think I used too much cooling paste. We're all back in business. The GPU now hits 87 degrees in GTA IV while the CPU hovers around 70. Idle temps have also improved significantly with the CPU at 33 and GPU at 39 degrees

I found out this CPU definitely does not support C-states for some reason. Enabling the feature in Throttlestop caused all kinds of weird crashes in Chrome and when running games. With Power Saver and SLFM enabled, the CPU still downclocks to 800MHz at 1V. Fair enough.

Kirrr, what settings do you run GTA IV at? I can in fact run at 1920x1200 if I disable shadows. Need to sacrifice alot of resolution to get proper shadows with consistent framerates above 30, but they add so much to the experience. Gonna experiment with overclocking the card soon. The previous owner says he could run it at 700/1750/1000 (Afterburner max) with ease, but his notebook had dedicated cooling. I tried this setting resulted in a driver crash within moments of going in-game. Needs a more subtle approach, I'll check in about this later, should really get some sleep now, its 2:30AM ...

Edit: Fuuuu, one last thing. BIOS is the original Clevo/KAPOK version 1558. What's yours?

 

IMO it depends on your choice. I'm using nV Inspector - created shortcut with command line parameters, added to startup...

Afterburner just changes the P0-state, Inspector allows to change alll P-states. But some users had problem with voltage settings in Inspector (in Afterburner it was working without problems)...

Personally I like undervolt on default clocks - sufficient performance and better power consumption, temperatures and less noise.

 

Using Inspector makes sense then, cause it just has a better featureset.

For some reason I can't edit voltages with Inspector or Afterburner. Any ideas on how to unlock it? Or does this GPU simply not allow tampering with the VID?

I would like to undervolt the lower P-states as much as possible cause it would extend battery life during mobile use. But for gaming, the laptop's always plugged in and I'm using headphones anyway, so power consumption and noise are irrelevant, max performance is the only way to be.