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NVIDIA To Re-Enable GeForce 900M Overclocking

Posted by Soulskill on from the it's-not-a-feature,-it's-a-bug dept.

jones_supa writes: One week after NVIDIA disabled overclocking on their GeForce 900M mobility lineup, a representative of the company has reported that NVIDIA will be bringing back the disabled feature for their overclocking enthusiasts on the mobility front. On the GeForce Forums, he writes, "We heard from many of you that you would like this feature enabled again. So, we will again be enabling overclocking in our upcoming driver release next month for those affected notebooks. If you are eager to regain this capability right away, you can also revert back to 344.75."

32 comments

  1. So how are they dealing with the overheating? by MetalliQaZ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This started with the (valid) concern to prevent overheating damage to laptop hardware. Are they just going to let someone fry their GPU and turn it in for warranty repairs now? That sounds unlikely. The new drivers will probably set a fuse to void warranty.

    --
    "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
    1. Re:So how are they dealing with the overheating? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      this. be prepared to see a lot more fried laptops. most laptops already run on the edge of thermal failure these days...

    2. Re:So how are they dealing with the overheating? by pla · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Are they just going to let someone fry their GPU and turn it in for warranty repairs now?

      Perhaps just more aggressive thermal throttling in newer driver versions? "Sure, overclock all you like, but at 80C core or 40C ambient, you may a well have an IGP".

      Though as I understood their original announcement, they hadn't so much seem a wave of outright DOA returns, as much as expressing concerns that prolonged pushing of the envelope would lead to reduced lifetimes. In that case, as long as the parts can outlast their warranty, NVidia may simply have come to the conclusion that earlier death means earlier replacement.

    3. Re:So how are they dealing with the overheating? by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

      Nvidia announces extended premium platinum exclusive colossal warranty with their laptops ( to be purchased extra .. conditions apply )

    4. Re:So how are they dealing with the overheating? by Terry95 · · Score: 2

      They'll probably try to build some move covert throttling into the driver. And if done properly it will probably all turn out OK. This was a VERY STUPID public relations move that they needed to get past as quickly as possible.

      They GROSSLY underestimated the shitstorm of complaints. OC is a small group but they're disproportionately loud. As a business NVIDIA has to balance the occasional fried hardware (an annoyance that has no measurable impact on revenue) with a mass migration to ATI that can reshape the industry (and most dramatically impacts revenue).

      They also don't want to have people posting to every corner of the internet that "ALL DRIVERS PAST 344.75 ARE DEFECTIVE AND IF YOU INSTALL IT YOUR MACHINE WILL BE RUINED" [sic emphasis in original].

    5. Re:So how are they dealing with the overheating? by Pausanias · · Score: 1

      True overclocking is now more complicated than it used to be. These days, the BIOS in many laptop will cap the overclock frequency to a maximum set by the manufacturer. So, there is an additional barrier there---to really have a chance at frying your system, you will need to go through installing a hacked BIOS, which requires MSDOS mode install and comes with all sorts of stern warnings that will scare off a lot of amateurs who have a higher change at frying their systems. And then you have to also increase the voltage inside of Intel XTU.

      I really don't think you can fry your system with AfterBurner alone anymore.

  2. FUCKING SYSTEMD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Typical!

  3. Smashing! by Retron · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hurrah!

    The lesson here is that people who own a cool, overclockable GPU in a gaming laptop may want to overclock it. Goodness knows what came over them when they removed it, but at least they've seen sense now.

    FWIW, the GM204 chip runs cool and is easy to overclock. I overclocked my 980M from 1,038 MHz (core), 1,253 MHz (RAM) to 1,228 MHz (core), 1,373 MHz (RAM) and received an 8% boost in my 3DMark scores. The GPU temperature didn't go above 70C either.

    It makes a noticeable difference playing games at 3K, which is the native resolution of the panel.

    For those who are unaware btw, if the chip gets too hot it'll simply downclock until it reaches a stable temperature. In some brands of laptop that happens at stock speeds, whereas others (such as the Clevo I have) have plenty of headroom. It's not the sort of thing that's going to lead to warranty repairs.

    1. Re:Smashing! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      For those who are unaware btw, if the chip gets too hot it'll simply downclock until it reaches a stable temperature.

      You hope. That's the idea, but components with thermal throttling still die the death of heat. The thermal throttling is controlled by software, and each card (or laptop) vendor has the opportunity to dick around with the maps.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Smashing! by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      For those who are unaware btw, if the chip gets too hot it'll simply downclock until it reaches a stable temperature. In some brands of laptop that happens at stock speeds, whereas others (such as the Clevo I have) have plenty of headroom. It's not the sort of thing that's going to lead to warranty repairs.

      Throttling will stop instant cooking of the GPU. It does nothing about decreasing life expectancy which is a function of heat. Also my last thermally throttling CPU was RMAed after the voltage regulators overheated. There are a lot more components in a typical video card these days which do NOT thermally throttle.

    3. Re:Smashing! by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You hope. That's the idea, but components with thermal throttling still die the death of heat. The thermal throttling is controlled by software, and each card (or laptop) vendor has the opportunity to dick around with the maps.

      No, software controlled thermals are never working alone. The software one allows a more gentle performance rampdown and fan control, but there's always a hardware override because software to control temps can go missing or simply not be present at certain stages.

      In this case, if it overheats so badly the hardware kicks in, they basically kick the fan into high speed and halt the GPU (usually by blocking the core clock). Usually that's enough to cool it down to a safe zone where it re-enables the clock, so what was once a nice super smooth gameplay turns into a horrendous slideshow.

      Or, sometimes if it gets really critical, it disables the clock until reset, which basically halts your PC as the busses lock up.

    4. Re:Smashing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can't wait until your Clevo fails. Enjoy your 'gaming' laptop.

    5. Re:Smashing! by Retron · · Score: 1

      It's the third one I've had - and none of them have failed. They've all become outdated long before any failures had time to pop up.

    6. Re:Smashing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Another shit-smelling nerd who can't get over the fact that his beloved liquid-cooled, time-waster tower PC is outdated and outclassed. You lowlifer modders are done for, accept it. The future is here and just took a big, smelly dump on you. :)

    7. Re:Smashing! by mupuf · · Score: 5, Informative

      You seem knowledgeable and this indeed could be how it could be made to work but in this case, you are not entirely true. I would know because I reverse engineered thermal control for the Nouveau project (Open source Linux driver for NVIDIA GPUs) from the Geforce 8 to the Kepler. They may have changed it for Maxwell but I have not found the time to have a look. I also think it is unlikely they changed it since they basically never changed it since they introduced it in 2006.

      You hope. That's the idea, but components with thermal throttling still die the death of heat. The thermal throttling is controlled by software, and each card (or laptop) vendor has the opportunity to dick around with the maps.

      No, software controlled thermals are never working alone. The software one allows a more gentle performance rampdown and fan control, but there's always a hardware override because software to control temps can go missing or simply not be present at certain stages.

      Perfectly true! You must have worked on this before ;) However, in the case of NVIDIA, fan management is done by a "microcontrol" running inside the GPU.

      In this case, if it overheats so badly the hardware kicks in, they basically kick the fan into high speed and halt the GPU (usually by blocking the core clock).

      NVIDIA has a more graceful way of dealing with this. I explained it in my PhD thesis (page 128 of the pdf: http://phd.mupuf.org/files/the...). In short, at different thesholds, they change a clock divider's value. But you should have a look at the page since there are some pretty graphs :p

      Usually that's enough to cool it down to a safe zone where it re-enables the clock, so what was once a nice super smooth gameplay turns into a horrendous slideshow.

      That could indeed happen if there was a catastrophic failure in the cooling system.

      Or, sometimes if it gets really critical, it disables the clock until reset, which basically halts your PC as the busses lock up.

      NVIDIA does not rely on shutting down the clock. Well, it does so .... by shutting down the entire power of the board. There is a GPIO that controls the voltage regulator. Once set, the GPU needs a reset command from the PCIe port and needs to get POSTed again to become usable again.

    8. Re:Smashing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go take a much needed bubble bath, Princess Grumpy Pants. You couldn't even tell he was using a laptop and not a tower. DERP DERP

    9. Re:Smashing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The things they let euros write their thesis' on are laughable.

    10. Re: Smashing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Care to share your better thesis with us?

    11. Re: Smashing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought I was the only one who noticed...

    12. Re:Smashing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And people say Slashdot is dead...
      Posts like yours are exactly why I still come here. I don't have mod points, so please accept a sincere thank-you for making this site a slightly better place.

    13. Re:Smashing! by mupuf · · Score: 1

      Well, it wouldn't be legal in the US, and that is laughable :P

    14. Re:Smashing! by mupuf · · Score: 1

      You're welcome :)

  4. Overclock douchebag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    mouth breathing neck beard mom's basement dwellers

    1. Re:Overclock douchebag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't you be disrespecting Momma's neck beard!
      Stupid bikini waxier said she quit right after she passed the belly button!

  5. Weird issues with GTX970 as well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    The NV drivers are kind of odd for me too.

    Depending on the revision.....

    Triple monitors, with some revisions when the monitors sleep all the windows get moved to the primary display... in other revisions the programs stay where they were. The latest update they stay properly but last one they stayed on the left/primary.. and the right monitor programs moved to the primary

  6. Who really owns your graphics card? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2

    As long as they can enable/disable features in your graphics card, you are being controlled by them.

    Open source drivers are the only way to be free.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:Who really owns your graphics card? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Open source drivers are the only way to be free.

      The only way to be free if move to Sweden. You paid for the graphics card. For your argument, you actually need open source hardware. Build it yourself. Hope you've got a million dollar fabrication operation in your basement.

    2. Re:Who really owns your graphics card? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You do - you can stay on the version of the software that works for you, you don't have to switch to a new version. And they don't have to put new versions of the software out.

    3. Re:Who really owns your graphics card? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Open source drivers are the only way to be free.

      Not completely true. Closed source drivers make you free to get more performance and better power management out of the card.

    4. Re:Who really owns your graphics card? by Ravaldy · · Score: 1

      From the manufacturer's standpoint it's more important to keep customer satisfied by keeping them within the realm of what they consider safe for the hardware and avoiding warranty issues. Just like anything you can buy, it is engineered within certain specs and when those specs are exceeded nobody knows for sure what will happen.

      If I was NVidia I'd provide the option for enthusiast to overclock with their agreement that the warranty is void. Some companies (such as XFX) may charge more for a product and warranty modified cards but for the budget products there's no padding to cover for potential warranty issues.

      For some reason overclocking enthusiasts expect computer components from behind dealt with differently than any other product out there. If you pull the engine out of your car, modify it, and then blow a head gasket, guess who will pay for the repairs? You.

  7. Let's wreck it by AndyKron · · Score: 1, Funny

    Yea! We can wreck our stuff faster again!

  8. Drivers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Nvidia's last 4 revisions of their drivers have sucked. I have to go back to the Nov 2014 ones to get something that doesn't crash while playing DoW2. I've seen some stuff on other sites about voltage lagging performance increases and that it's dynamic loads that screw shit up, but dammit, this is supposed to fucking work.
    7500 Ti