Unlocked Nvidia-Dell Video BIOS! Overclock your 17inch notebook Videocards! - Page 52

Absolutely. ine is overclocked and I'm still using 84.69.
I use ATITool to o/c. It's my personal preference.

ok for some reason i have tried all the 7900GTX bios's and new drivers, installed coolbits, atitool, and ntune, i have rev 0 7900Gs btw...
and i can't seem to change clock frequencies....
do the 7900GS one's still have the features of the GTX ones?
I try and change it in atitool and it just snaps back, have enabled OC in the control panel and everything i dont get it :S

Why, if you own a 7900GS, do you flash with the GTX Bios ?
Simply flash with the correct GS Bios. There shouldn't be problem setting clock frequencies in software mode then.
I used to have the GTX bios with the old GSX method. But with this unlocked Bios method, there is no need to.

OC Report

i've read through this whole thread and decided to try juanlu's overclocking method, as it is the first one, that sounds safe to me and he also seems to be a sensible guy with some profounded knowledge. thanks, juanlu. your work is really appreciated.
you can see my system specifications in my signature, and this is what i did and which results i got:

1. After checking my cards rev. (which was rev. 0) through the NVIDIA control panel, I flashed my bios with Juanlu's modified bios 790GSUON.ROM (1V). I didn't want to chose the 1,24 V option, as I was afraid, that the 7900 GS cooling system might be to weak (compared with the 7900 GTX's one) and due to this the lifetime of my card could be shortened.
Before this, my card used the stockclocks 375/507, the heat never went much higher than 82 and my results at 3dmark06 were around 3530.

2. I installed Coolbits and changed to the NVIDIA classic panel view (using the 84.69 Dell stock driver).

3. I set the clocks to 475/735. This was the maximum setting, that the NVIDIA panel allowed me to use. The optimum clockrates found by the NVIDIA panel were around 461/684.

4. I ran 3dmark06. The result was around 3800, which seemed a little low to me.

5. I reinstalled the driver. (btw: many people recommend this "drivercleaner" tool. but after using it i still found "nvidia" entries in the registry, which i deleted manually. so keep in mind, that these registry cleaning tools usually don't do 100% of the job. if you want to make sure, you have tocheck the registry yourself.)

6. After running 3dmark06 again the result was around 4342. This was a good result for me using 1V.

7. I ran 3dmark05. The result was 7918.

8. I installed ATITool.

9. I set the core clock to 500. After running the artefact check artefacts came up.

10. I set the clocks to a safe speed of 465/685.

11. My 3dmark06/05 results now are: 4240/7650.

12. Now my core temperature never exceeds 83. That is pretty much the same temperature I had before overclocking.

OC Report 2: Problems&Solutions

Here I would like to describe which problems ocurred while overclocking as well as some other observations I made.

1. Suddenly my card only reached only 3100 3dmark06 (stock clocks) and around 3800 (oc). I guess this had to do with the driver and/or the clock settings and I solved this problem by reinstalling the driver and playing with the clock speeds a little.

2. The 3dmark06 results are pretty high now when overclocked, but the stock clock (375/507) 3dmark06 performance got a little lower (from 3530 down to 3470). This might have to do with the optimized memory function in the 790GSUON.ROM BIOS, which, as someone described in this thread earlier, actually lowers the memory’s performance as long as the memory clock rate is lower than 600.

3. I was always a bit afraid about my temperature getting too high and looked for a way to monitor it and also to use the OC clocks only when needed. In the meantime I don’t use Coolbits anymore, I do everything via ATITool. I really appreciate this tool. In the following I’ll describe which settings I use:

a. I have it "load on startup", so I can always see the temperature in the task bar, and, by moving the mouse over this symbol, the current clock speeds can be monitored (by default: 375/507 with high 3d performance, 200/300 with low 3d performance (i.e. with low power battery) and 100/100 while in 2d mode).
b. I have “Write temperature to data logfile” enabled, so I can check the max temperatures after using 3d applications. I also recommend to set the number at “limit log file size to” higher, so you got a better insight after using 3d applications for longer time periods.
c. I have created a few profiles (default clock and different oc preferences), which I can switch manually or via the “3d detection” feature.
d. I found the “3d detection” feature to be very useful. I got my card running on “default mode” (stock settings) while in 2d mode and auto switch to “oc mode” as soon as a 3d application is launched.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.



I tried different software myself and ATITool is the one I prefer too.


I don't understand there. When runnning a 2D application, you wouldn't have to bother about 3D clocks and temperature, even though you 3D clocks are set very high.

In addition, you clock way below what people usually clock with the 7900GS. The safe range has always been known to be 600/800. If you're gaming 100% of the time, I would assume that you could alter your card in the long run, but is it the case? Moreover, the 80 degrees barrier that you're trying to preserve is noble, but the hardware treshold is above 100 degrees. There's nothing wrong in getting 90s values every now and then, you card can support it.
And concerning Artifact test in ATI Tool, you'll get artifacts pretty soon if you don't toggle the "Use older method for testing" in the options. What I noticed is that with this option enabled, I get artifacts in hardcore gaming at about the same clocks as in ATI Tool; therefore I think this method is more accurate.
One last note : I reach the same clocks and performances at 1v or 1.24. It didn't make a difference for me.

actually you're right about that. however, i was glad that atitool gave me the chance to monitor my current clockspeeds via taskbar icon - before i used atitool i was never sure what controlls the card's clock speeds and if they switched between 2d/3d at all (except for battery mode). and i can set some profiles with lower clock rates for games not that demanding.


you might be right with that, too, but as long as no games that make this risk worth it are available (i can run all the games i like on max. settings already, except for max. resolution and sometimes AA) i want to save my card. i can even run the bioshock demo with 1280x800 and all settings on max with the fps not getting lower than ~30fps. furtheron, during this thread juanlu recommended this degree of oc as pretty safe regarding temperatures.


so why do people use the 1,24v thing at all? i thought you are supposed to use 1,24v when you want to clock your core higher than ~460


i'm not so sure about that for long term use, so i don't risk it until it's not worth the risk or i get enough money to buy a new laptop


even if yes, what about the other components inside?

I'm glad to hear that. I thought the max requirements were very steep.


I asked the same questions a couple times here in these forums, and the answer I got is it allows to reach even higher clock temperatures with more stability. That would make sense.


Yeah, I understand your point, you're being cautious and there's nothing wrong in that. It's just that I read these forums a lot and I have yet to see someone who burned his card report here. I'm not saying it didn't happen, just that I didn't witness it. The 7900GS is a very robust and energy efficient card. My word of wisdom for someone cautious would be a little lower than 600/800, just to make sure and satisfy one's paranoia
But see in my sig, my memory is stable at 740, not a Mhz more. No card are alike.


The card has its own fan, independent of the CPU's.

Happy gaming !

questions

i still have a few issues i could not solve, maybe someone here knows the answers:

1. at "notebookcheck.com" they state the go 7900 gs to have 20 Pixelpipelines and 7 Vertexpipelines. but when i check the settings in atitool it says:
Active Pixel Pipelines: 8, Active Vertex Pipelines: 6. why is that? does it have something to do with the bios flash? or does the card turn some pipelines off when not in use?

2. when running overclocked, my card occasionally makes some strange beeping/whistling sound. this sound appeared during the "S.T.A.L.K.E.R."-menu and during the loading screens of 3dmark05. it only appeared on these occasions and has nothing to do with heat, which is always on a good level. did anyone notice that, too?

3. by overclocking the core too high there is a risk of frying it. but what exactly is the risk when overclocking the memory? i mean, i read in this thread, that you can stay at 1v and only get the core up to ~460 but the memory up to 800. why do you have to limit the core but not the memory? is it also less risky to oc the memory so high?

Hey, that's my all time favorite game!
I get a hissing sound in Stalker menu too (and in other software too). I browsed Dell's forum and according to users there, this sound comes from the subwoofer. That would make sense since the source of the sound seems to be located around the subwoofer area.

Now if you suspect yours come from the graphic card, which is located at the upper right corner, it's different. Mine is more at the bottom left corner (left speaker)

the sound is gone in stalker, but i doubt it was the subwoofer.
still got some sound during the 3dmark05 loading screen, but i can live with that.

btw: i wonder how you managed to oc so high with 1V. i can't go any higher than 460/680 without getting artifacts in atitool (old AND new scanning method). which bios do you use?

and do you have the same amount of active pixel-/vertexpipelines if you check atitool (settings->overclocking->scroll down in the upper window)?

With the GTX BIOS, I was running at 600/740 at 1.01v.
Witht this new unlocked BIOS method, I didn't try 1v. I'm running at 1.24v.

I checked in ATITool, and I get the same amount of active pixel-/vertexpipelines as you. No worry.

thanks a lot for the answer!

i just wondered about the active pixel-/vertexpipelines thing,
but if you got the same amount it seems to be right.

maybe i'll try the 1,24V bios, too, but as i said i'll wait until i really need it (maybe crysis? or some pc version of gta4?).

however, beside the better benchmark results, did you notice a big performance difference when playing games with the card overclocked that much? if yes, do you have some examples?

Depending on how Crysis will run on my rig, I might get a 7950GTX.



The only games I played before o/c are FEAR, BF2 and HL2. I could run them at full quality. STALKER is a diffrent story, it is harder to run at max settings.
What I could do if I find the time this weekend is bench Stalker with FRAPS at your clocks, and then at mines.

i didn't really benchmark, but this is what i experienced.
i played (before i oc'ed):
- fear: max. settings&aa&af but without soft shadows, high resolution (i think something like 1440) and could play it with very high fps (didn't benchmark, but something around 60).
- medieval 2: max settings, 1280 res, no aa and shadows off: around 30 fps;
i have to say that the performance went down when more than 4000 people were on the screen, but this was due to the lack of dualcore support and ony cpu limited
- hl2: everything to the max, 1920 res., very good fps (didn't benchmark but at least something around 60)
- dark messiah, everything max, 1440 resolution, very fluent fps
- tomb raider legend: everything max, no shadows, 1280 res.: around 30-40 fps
- riddick: 1440 res, everything max, this strange soft shader off, around 50 fps
- oblivion: this was the only game i couldn't achieve good fps with max settings and a res. of 1280 or higher; as i didn't like it so much anyway, i sold it; i wonder how it would run now (after oc)

after oc i played:

- nfs carbon: now around 30 fps, everything max, 4xaa, no af, motion blur on, 1024 res.
- tomb raider anniversary: everthing max incl. aa, 1920 res, around 60-90 fps
(this game performs really great anyway, however, after oc i was able to get from 1440 to 1920 and still getting great fps)
- bioshock: around 30 fps (no fps drops so far) with everything on max and 1280 res.; i only played the demo, so i don't know if i missed any settings from the final version;

as for stalker:
this is a game i had problems to play before oc. i can put everything on max&1920 if static lighting is on. but as i want to play with hdr and at least 1280 resolution, it is not easy to get fluent gameplay.
this is what i did to get pretty constant 30 fps and still keeping some good hdr features:
i picked the option "objects dynamic lighting", gras- and sunshadow disabled, shadow quality min. (looks the same to me but gives extra fps), aa&af off (they didn't work in this game anyway), vsync off; lighting sistance min (don't know what it is anyway); everything else on max, 1280 res.
oh, and i got the new patch 1.4 installed
this game is just not programmed very well and you need some really insane hardware to run it on max with constant fps.
btw: i experienced the worst fps drop in the bar, don't know why..

You'll have more and more difficulty in a near future running games at high resolutions because the GS is bottlenecked with its 256MB of ram.

About STALKER, I run it at 1440x900, EVERY slider set to max, with all features enabled except VSYNC (no AA of course). I also tweaked my user.ltx file a lot, and activated Global Illumination and Motion Blur, which drag performance on their own. I'm using the Float32 mod.

I get an average 35FPS indoor (trader shelter) and 25 outdoor (Cordon Village). This is my alltime favorite game and I want to run it at max at all cost. Anyway, low 25 in heavily crowded ares are still playable.
I'll let you know how it turns out at your clocks.

that's right, but i still doubt it's worth the extra money for the 7950. if i want to buy it here in germany it costs 500Euro and will be oldschool soon, too, as in the near future a mobile 8800 will be out. and i even doubt it's worth buying that, because the price will be ridiculous. and even if you buy it, the cpu will become the bottleneck. so i'll use my laptop for gaming as long as it works well, oc a bit, and then buy a new one. or simply a ps3. computergaming is fine, but it costs far too much time to make everything work the way you want it.

I agree 100%.

Still, when games run fine on our rigs at max, PC gaming is the ultimate experience. More hassle, more expensive, but you get what you pay for heh ?

yeah, pc gaming is fine and if you have the top hardware its the best you get.
tunig is some fun, too. still difficult about notebooks. i only bought it cause i live
between 2 countries and travelling with a desktop is too tiring. i'm still happy
with the performance and through the oc my card now is on an equal level
with a desktop 7900 gs.

i have now order a Xps m1710 (130 W) power supply.

DONT USE 1.24 VOLT FLASH WITH DELLS 9400/e1705 (90 W) POWER SUPPLY. I did that today when i run a 3dmark06 (with the clock on 600/800), suddenly the whole laptop got black (i thought, bye bye dear laptop, see you in heaven). but it was the power supply who turned OFF, (i also got some strange low scores directley after, but the laptop became good after i reinstalled the gpu-driver).

the m1710 supply wasnt so expensive like i thought it should be. (only 60 euro from Dells website).

then i going to Overclock with 130 W (instead of 90 W)......... NIIIICE...he he