GTX 680M tweaks

if you've updated to the A05 BIOS, it will let you overclock the 680m using software such as msi afterburner

I have and i have Downloaded NVIDIA software for over clocking currently it is sitting at Graphics clock - 324Mhz Memory clock - 1800 MHZ Cooling Geforce GPU - Nothing Questions - 1. Can anyone recommend a good setting to start with for overclocking the GTX 680M? Graphics clock can go between - 324Mhz and 648Mhz Memory Clock can go between - 800Mhz and 2160MHZ 2. What % should cooling sit at? 3. Should i tweak the voltages? thanks

I would leave it alone for now. I mean you can overclock it for fun if you like... But that card will hande every single game on highest details, there is no need for overclocking. OC will give you a boost eg from 55 to 60 fps which is... useless cuz you will never notice that:P

ok nice one, cheers

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 680m is a lower clocked version of the desktop Geforce GTX 670. Nvidia's spec says its core clock is 720 MHz. Alienware delivers it already overclocked to 758 MHz core clock speed and 1800 MHz memory clock speed, delivering 6130 points in 3DMark 11. Using EVGA's Precision X utility along with the Precision X Android app, allowing me to monitor clock speeds and temperature conveniently from my phone, I set out to see how much room there was left. This was mainly prompted by the game "The Secret World" not running with quite as many fps I would have liked with all settings on Ultra in 1080p resolution and Stereoscopic 3D Vision 2 enabled. Frame rate was hovering between 20 and 30 fps, and I would have preferred it between 30 and 40 fps without having to lower any settings. . Nvidia's rated clock speed: 720 MHz / 1800 MHz . . . . . . . 5924 Points 3DMark 11 Alienware's oc clock speed: 758 MHz / 1800 MHz . . . . . . . 6130 Points 3DMark 11 Overclocked a little further: 806 MHz / 1920 MHz . . . . . . . 6475 Points 3DMark 11 OC'ed as far as it would go: 864 MHz / 2066 MHz . . . . . . . 6813 Points 3DMark 11 Anything beyond 864 MHz ended up getting throttled, causing scores to drop ~100-200 points below the 864 MHz score. Keeping the memory at 2.5x core speed also ended up reducing the score - dropping to 2.4x gave me the best result. This cap on overclocking could be caused by the fact that adjusting the power target is disabled on the Alienware Laptop, and I believe the card gets starved for power beyond a certain point. Else, that might just be the top for my particular chip - they all turn out slightly different, some may do better, some worse. I presume all GTX 680m are made up of GTX 670 desktop chips that didn't run stable at the desktop card's intended speed, and went into a lower bin. Given the yield problems Nvidia had, they probably have a ton of those laying around. Besides, I was pretty happy about a 13% performance increase from stock. The M17xR4's cooling system has no issue whatever with the overclock, the temperture of the GPU never got higher than with the stock clock speed. (I underclocked it, to get the score at Nvidia's spec clock speed, and the result was almost exactly identical with the GTX 680M in the MSI G70. Sadly, this didn't change my in-game frame rate much and it looks like I'll have to back off from 'Ultra' settings in 3D Vision mode. This results in a recommendation: If you don't get the GTX 680, don't even bother with the expensive 3D option. The GTX 675 is so much worse at 3260 Points in 3DMark 11, it would be a complete waste of time to try any recent game in 3D Vision with that. And since the 675 is a re-branded Fermi chip, it runs hot too, having the same TDP as the GTX 680 that has more than double the performance. And sadly, there is no 3D option for the HD 7970, which is very close to the GTX 680M in performance at 5542 points in 3DMark 11 without any overclocking. The HD 7970 is really the killer deal when it comes to the selection of GPUs for the M17xR4.

thanks for this update, it explained a lot for me...i do feel i got slightly shafted as i went for the 680 over the 7970 and thought i might be able to have 3D but then once i placed the order i realised i got a 60Hz screen...even though there wasnt a bloody option to change the screen! I hear the 680 is better on coping with heat though, not sure how true this is. your clock speeds are correct as i have the tech powerup GPU-Z installed and it shows you are on the money. So am thinking is there any reason to overclock from what you are saying i would probably get about 10FPS extra....i have run the Furmark test and it came out that i was about 21FPS average. Will i really notice the difference on world of warcraft? (the other reason i love this machine is that it make my Adobe, DW and PH creat beautiful webs and images)