NVIDIA Restores Overclocking on GTX 900M, Again

[btarunr]

NVIDIA re-enabled overclocking on its GeForce GTX 900M series mobile GPUs, by releasing a new hotfix driver (GeForce 353.00 Hotfix). Launch drivers originally allowed overclocking on NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 900M series mobile GPUs. NVIDIA disabled overclocking with its R347 drivers, stating that overclocking was originally allowed due to a bug, drawing outrage from the PC enthusiast community. NVIDIA then re-enabled overclocking with its 347.88 drivers, with a quasi-apology. Then, without making much noise, the company disabled overclocking (or the "clock-block," as the enthusiasts are calling it), with its R350 drivers, which stayed on even as the drivers graduated to R352 series.

Following our May 21st report uncovering this, the company slipped out a driver hotfix, late last night. Version 353.00 Hotfix comes with a single item on its release notes, which reads "Fixes a regression that prevented overclocking the GPU on some GeForce Notebooks" (read: Whoops!). So gaming notebook owners have the freedom of overclocking their GPUs to tweak up eye-candy on the latest games, such as GTA V and The Witcher 3, which would have been buggy and unplayable, if users reverted to older R347 drivers, just to be able to overclock.

DOWNLOAD: GeForce 353.00 Hotfix for mobile GPUs

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Luka KLLP]

Sooo... Was it actually an honest mistake?

 

[spy]

so how long until they turn it off again?

 

[btarunr]

Notebook geeks will be testing every single driver release for clock-blocking. And we will keep posting on the subject.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

NVIDIA give up already, let people overclock, if they fudge up their systems, that's on them and their lack of knowledge.

 

[ZoneDymo]

Till the point that nobody catches on to it

 

[newtekie1]

NVIDIA give up already, let people overclock, if they fudge up their systems, that's on them and their lack of knowledge.

I posted this in the other thread, but I'll post it here too. I think nVidia is between a rock and a hard place with this situation.

They originally created the lock bit to allow the actual manufacturers of the cards/laptops to decide if they wanted to enable overclocking. We have to remember, nVidia isn't the one responsible for warranties here, the laptop manufacturers are. The lock bit was a feature of the GPU that the manufacturers knew about, and likely something nVidia even advertised to them as a way to help protect the laptops from damage from overclocking.

The problem is that nVidia's driver team screwed up when they copied the desktop driver and didn't lock out overclocking. When they discovered the bug, they fixed it. But the end users got pissed.

So nVidia re-enabled overclocking. The problem here is that likely didn't sit well with the laptop manufacturers. And nVidia probably has more legal obligations to the laptop manufacturers than they do to the end user. After all, the laptop manufacturers are nVidia's actual customers. They are the ones buying the GPUs from nVidia. The end user is then the customer of the laptop manufacturer, not nVidia. Really, nVidia has no legal obligation to the end user. And remember, the latest drivers don't totally lock out overclocking, they only lock out overclocking IF the laptop manufacturer decided to lock out overclocking.

So now they are stuck doing this juggling act to keep the laptop manufacturers from being mad, and to keep the end users happy.

The real question is how long until someone figures out how to remove the lock bit from the vBIOS. Then this won't be a problem. If you want to flash you card to enable overclocking, go ahead. It voids your warranty, so the laptop manufacturer is off the hook and happy, and you are free to overclock your laptop's GPU.

 

[the54thvoid]

Notebook geeks will be testing every single driver release for clock-blocking. And we will keep posting on the subject.

Stop saying 'clock blocking'. It sounds like when your best male buddy steals your potential party date - "You got cock blocked".

 

[CounterZeus]

Stop saying 'clock blocking'. It sounds like when your best male buddy steals your potential party date - "You got cock blocked".

I assume that's were it came from

 

[AsRock]

Stop saying 'clock blocking'. It sounds like when your best male buddy steals your potential party date - "You got cock blocked".

But it would be funny with the right typo .

 

[awesomesauce]

all that laptop overclocking history is bull**** , i would not event try or recommend doing it. maybe it's just useful for who try to break record

 

[15th Warlock]

Stop saying 'clock blocking'. It sounds like when your best male buddy steals your potential party date - "You got cock blocked".

Or when your five year old knocks at your door when dad wants to have some "adult time" with his female friend hahaha

Seriously, this whole saga is starting to look like "much to do about nothing" I wonder why this drama makes it to the front page news... Talk about first world problems

 

[Darksword]

"That's the joke." /McBain

 

[Steevo]

all that laptop overclocking history is bull**** , i would not event try or recommend doing it. maybe it's just useful for who try to break record

I overclocked my APU and it made a world of difference on that laptop, both overclocked and with voltage tweaks the battery lasted almost an hour longer and I gained about 25% more performance when plugged in.


The chips thermally throttle anyway, so overclocking is not going to harm them, only cause users instability if they go to far, it won't cause any damage to the silicon of the GPU, so your point is invalid.

 

[GhostRyder]

Glad they fixed it so fast!

 

[qubit]

I love it when manufacturers dictate what I can and can't do with my hardware that I've paid a lot of money for. Not.

Hopefully the clock block (sorry) won't return.

@newtekie1 That does sound like a rock and a hard place indeed.

I think one way out of it is if a flag can be set permanently in the GPU if it's ever overclocked (the digital equivalent of a paper seal over a screw) so that when a dead laptop is returned, it's checked and if set, warranty can be denied.

To make things transparent, a small utility can be made available to the end user so that they can check for this bit themselves, along with a prominent warning on the laptop on a removable sticker that overclocking will void the warranty.

Some fine details would have to be worked out to reduce the chance of false positives etc.

 

[Caring1]

I overclocked my APU and it made a world of difference on that laptop, both overclocked and with voltage tweaks the battery lasted almost an hour longer and I gained about 25% more performance when plugged in.
The chips thermally throttle anyway, so overclocking is not going to harm them, only cause users instability if they go to far, it won't cause any damage to the silicon of the GPU, so your point is invalid.

Was there specific software used?
I wouldn't mind trying it on my old H.P. lappy with a first gen APU, it's slower than an early Celeron, or at least feels like it.

 

[newtekie1]

I overclocked my APU and it made a world of difference on that laptop, both overclocked and with voltage tweaks the battery lasted almost an hour longer and I gained about 25% more performance when plugged in.


The chips thermally throttle anyway, so overclocking is not going to harm them, only cause users instability if they go to far, it won't cause any damage to the silicon of the GPU, so your point is invalid.

Agreed, the GT840M in my laptop gets quite the boost from overclocking. And since voltages are locked, temperature doesn't actually go up that much.

 

[yotano211]

I love overclock laptop graphics cards. I remember when I had a laptop with the 8800m GTS that overclocked like mad, about 35% on the core and 25% on the memory. The laptop before that had a 8600m GT that only overclocked about 3% tops on the core, the memory was a little better at 4%. Going from the 8600m to 8800m was huge increase. I kept the laptop with the 8800m for 1.5 years longer because of the high overclock, so I saved some money.

I still overclock my laptop's 780m sli to 135mhz on the core and 350mhz on the memory.

 

[xvi]

Agreed, the GT840M in my laptop gets quite the boost from overclocking. And since voltages are locked, temperature doesn't actually go up that much.

Yes, but now you don't want to buy the GT860M, which is nVidia's/laptop's problem.