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NVIDIA Disables GeForce GTX 900M Mobile GPU Overclocking with Driver Update

Rroff said:
Not everyone's lives are the same - I spent a year moving about for work reasons (and money wasn't an issue so didn't really care I was paying more than an equivalent desktop) it was far simpler to have a desktop replacement laptop that I could unpack/pack up with minimum fuss when moving between accommodation.
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Ok :) I'm sorry.

But still, you can't expect a laptop to be capable of being overclocked. All those components packed in such a tight space.

Even if I just watch Netflix for a few hours on mine, it gets pretty damn hot. If I start to game, the thing makes an awful lot of noise.

Back on topic, I don't blame Nvidia for doing it. People are annoyed sure. But you can't expect chip manufacturers to allow you to do anything you want with their chip. Honestly, I'm kind of suprised that Nvidia haven't already made "Overclocking" capable GPUs for laptops, and charge a premium for them. Intel does it, do you see people moaning?
 
To be fair if i had overclocking in mind and wanted a high end system to play games on i would not be buying a laptop at all! Unless my every day life circumstances where i was on the move all the time then maybe might invest in one but thats a very small chance as most my games i play require a internet connection. So light gaming on a laptop is all ill ever consider on one. So overclocking pfft no...

Ill stick to a desktop for high end gaming with overclocking in mind.
But im not defending nVidia as they made their cards with the advertised systems with overclocking in mind now removing this IMO has took some value from the system as its a removed feature.
They are not doing very well lately nVidia, they need to book their ideas up pronto!
 
madindehead said:
I don't understand why people buy "gaming laptops" anyway.
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I bought mine (Clevo, with 980M) as I stay in hotels a fair bit. Being able to play games smoothly away from home is nice. I have a desktop PC for gaming at home, FWIW, the laptop only gets used when I'm out and about.

And who the hell wants to overclock a laptop?
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Me. My laptop has a 3K screen and although the framerate is fine in the games I play, overclocking it by 125MHz means it hits 60fps more consistently - aside from Diablo 3, that is, which runs at 60fps happily at stock speed.

It's irritating that something which has been okay for a while suddenly becomes a bug. You naysayers do realise, don't you, that these Maxwell chips overclock well and run cool? That the desktop and laptop parts are the same silicon, just with a few bits disabled for laptops? That should the temperature rise too much the chip will automatically throttle back anyway?

It's a cynical move by Nvidia, just so they can sell the same chip again at a slightly faster stock speed later this year and call it something "new".

EDIT: Stock 3DMark score for my laptop (980M, 4710HQ):

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3620818

Overclocked scores:

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3679105

(That's running at 1,228 MHz (core), 1,373 MHz (RAM) instead of 1,038 MHz (core), 1,253 MHz (RAM) on the GPU.

Or, in other words, an 8.5% performance boost for free. Worth having, IMO.)
 
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madindehead said:
Intel does it, do you see people moaning?
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Intel allows you to overclock any of their mobile i7 range without paying extra. The only thing you *do* pay extra for is to unlock the multiplier completely - and that comes with a 10W TDP boost.

(For the unaware, i7-47xx chips can be overclocked by 200MHz, i7-48xx chips by 400MHz and i7-49xx chips by 600MHz. This differs from earlier ranges, such as the i7-2xxx chips, which all had a 400MHz overclocking ability. The X chips are fully unlocked and have a 10W higher TDP, so you have a higher chance of hitting those high clock speeds.)
 
Retron said:
Intel allows you to overclock any of their mobile i7 range without paying extra. The only thing you *do* pay extra for is to unlock the multiplier completely - and that comes with a 10W TDP boost.

(For the unaware, i7-47xx chips can be overclocked by 200MHz, i7-48xx chips by 400MHz and i7-49xx chips by 600MHz. This differs from earlier ranges, such as the i7-2xxx chips, which all had a 400MHz overclocking ability. The X chips are fully unlocked and have a 10W higher TDP, so you have a higher chance of hitting those high clock speeds.)
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I was referring more to the premium you pay for an unlocked multipler on Intel desktop CPUs.
 
madindehead said:
I was referring more to the premium you pay for an unlocked multipler on Intel desktop CPUs.
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Ok and what if intel initially sold an I7 4770 that could overclock with no mention of a locked multiplier along with no K edition and motherboard vendors even advertised overclocking it on their boards.

Then intel release a driver update that locks the firmware in those motherboards to disable overclocking and say it was a bug.

How are people supposed to be ok with that?
 
So many people not getting the point, as Meaker said, which I also said, it's about removing a feature that WAS there originally when you bought it. It was an advertised feature on several gaming laptops.

THe whole "I don't want to game on a laptop thus, why should you want to" mentality and the "I don't want to overclock so you can't expect to be able to" is just ridiculous.

Again that advertisement image shown in this thread had a laptop who actively said overclock the gpu by 5%, it was a specific feature of that laptop. If someone chose to buy that laptop over another one because they had a certain 5% more gpu clock speeds and then it was removed at a later date he has both every right to expect to overclock and every right to be angry something sold to him is now not as advertised.

The fact that it is a laptop gpu is irrelevant, it's a gpu, it's a feature, it was there when sold and not there now. Plenty of people overclock on desktop gpus, many others don't and also don't see the point in overclocking even if you have a silent computer and no temp issues. Would it be therefore fine for Nvidia to remove overclocking it's cards as a feature from desktop cards?
 
Does this update stop any already purchased laptops from meeting whatever speeds the manufacturer listed?

Does that Asus laptop posted earlier still allow for the overclocking window described in the literature when using the Asus supplied overclocking utility?
 
Meaker said:
Nvidia finally caved:

https://forums.geforce.com/default/.../gtx-900m-overclocking-with-347-09-347-25/17/

This is very good news :)
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PeterS@NVIDIA said:
As you know, we are constantly tuning and optimizing the performance of your GeForce PC.

We obsess over every possible optimization so that you can enjoy a perfectly stable machine that balances game, thermal, power, and acoustic performance.

Still, many of you enjoy pushing the system even further with overclocking.

Our recent driver update disabled overclocking on some GTX notebooks. 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.
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I hope it is true my only concern would be i think thats the Peter that said the 970 .5 vram would be sorted in a driver then was retracted
 
PeterS@NVIDIA said:
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Great stuff for owners that want to do what they want with their purchase again.
 
Excellent news, while NVidia shouldnt have removed it on some notebooks from the start, its nice to see the listened and are quickly fixing this. Big thumbs up.
 
LoadsaMoney said:
or not :p

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/nvidia-now-limits-overclocking-of-geforce-gtx-900m-with-vbios/
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Round 2

MSI: We will not block overclocking capabilities of our notebooks

“MSI is not planning any changes to the overclocking capabilities of MSI’s gaming notebooks,” a statement from MSI published by PC Games Hardware reads. “The latest statements from Nvidia on the subject have no effect on our product design. However, we point out that warranty and services will be voided if defects occur as a result of components operating outside of their specifications.”
Earlier this month Nvidia blocked overclocking functionality for mobile GeForce GTX 900M family of graphics processors in its latest drivers. The firm said that the GPUs were not designed to support overclocking. After the move caused massive outrage among enthusiasts, who use their high-end notebooks to play the latest PC games, the chip developer promised to return the capability in its next drivers. However, it then transpired that the company started to block overclocking support in vBIOS on its MXM cards carrying the GeForce GTX 900M chips.
Notebook makers have rights to modify vBIOS of graphics adapters they get from Nvidia. Therefore, it should not be a problem for MSI to re-enable overclocking capabilities of the GeForce GTX 965M, 970M and 980M graphics solutions.
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http://www.kitguru.net/components/g...k-overclocking-capabilities-of-our-notebooks/

Sounds like the 680 Lightning unlocked voltage all over again, Nvidia won out that time, I reckon they will again.

How long before discrete gets completely locked down?:p
 
It might end up like Intel CPU's you can buy the entire range of cards but the overclockable ones will be the K series
 
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