Acer MXM BIOS Mods and discussion (was: x920G vs. 9600M GT)

[u6b36ef]

@ Mookill,

Thanks for replying. Yeah, I kept thinking about it. Going back some time, I looked at GPU-z readings for memory usage with Crysis (demo). It only used about 310MB of GPU ram at its maximum. That was only in low to medium settings with an 8600M GT 512MB DDR2, on a screen resolution of 1200x800.

A 9600M GT in either DDR2 or DDR3 I'm sure is going to make a difference (in GPU ram usage). I think that the turning the setting up to high/very high is going to utilise more GPU ram. The DDR3 512MB, that's probably right on, for a 5920 running in 1200x800. (Or a 6920 with it's original 1366x768 resolution.) Maybe higher resolution screens need more GPU ram which I 'think' is still right. Moving to 8920 screen resolution of 1920x1080 I wondered if 512MB might then limit performance. 1GB DDR2 might be just as good 'in game' performance.
I saw a 9600 DDR3 cheap so I bought it.

@ .NetRolller 3D

9600M GT DDR3 arrived today. I'm nervous about trying the 5920 flash until I have Pheonix Crisis flash ready. (I'm going to dump the files onto a USB and see what happens at boot.) I fairly confident your SBIOS will work ok though. An 8920 flash is possible now; this 8920 is 80% rebuilt and operational. (Stuff to fix.)

@ Dear Moderators,
Thankyou for deleting my part duplicated posting. Was an accident. I can't quite work out how I managed it, but thanks.

[gazzacbr]

same here for DDR3, i think thats the big difference in the performance over the 9500 that is standard. even though the 9500 is 512MB and my 9600 is 'only' 256MB.
(check my sig)
if there was a game (fps) that i really wanted to play in high res i would also be after a 9600GT. i assume that would be the fastest that we could get in our ageing lappies?
(seem to be some posts missing here, maybe just my imagination)

[.NetRolller 3D]

A 9600M GT in either DDR2 or DDR3 I'm sure is going to make a difference (in GPU ram usage). I think that the turning the setting up to high/very high is going to utilise more GPU ram. The DDR3 512MB, that's probably right on, for a 5920 running in 1200x800. (Or a 6920 with it's original 1366x768 resolution.) Maybe higher resolution screens need more GPU ram which I 'think' is still right. Moving to 8920 screen resolution of 1920x1080 I wondered if 512MB might then limit performance. 1GB DDR2 might be just as good 'in game' performance.
I saw a 9600 DDR3 cheap so I bought it.

Correction: a 9600M GT in either DDR2 or GDDR3.

Why? Because there are now MXM cards with actual PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM on the market (specifically, the Asus M90Gn GT240M and a few Toshiba HD4xxx cards, as well as some of the newer MXM-A/B ATIs). Since GDDR3 is actually a variant of DDR2, this "real" DDR3 is probably even faster than GDDR3.

[u6b36ef]

@ .NetRolller 3D

Yep correction. Thanks for the right info. (9600M GT has GDDR3, not DDR3).
How confident are you about the 5920 SBIOS flash? I'm mostly ready to give it a try.
(While I don't have a floppy at the moment I could most likely obtain one to use on USB.) You seemed 'mostly sure all OK' for a 5920 before. Have you had any further thoughts please.

@ gazzacbr,
- Yup, I barely thought. I imagine too there will be fewer games that might run in such a high res as 1920x1080.
- According to TechPowerUp Acer has a VBIOS for the GT240M so they may exist in MXM II. (Likely rare I suspect.) Toshiba and Asus issue them.

[u6b36ef]

@ .NetRolller 3D,

I flashed the 5920. I've run 3D '06 twice and it's not fallen over yet. The original 8600M GT is still inside, and seems OK.

I'll try the 9500M GS soon, and the 9600M GT.

To be honest I'm wondering now if I did manage to put the correct modded version into the flash. I was careful, and sure I did. (I thought I might have just reflashed the Acer support website ver 1.3813 back in.) Only I half expected the SBIOS version to show as 1.3813_MXM, but it still displays as 1.3813.) I thought the 'boot' Acer flash screen looked different, but that was probably my imagination.

Do you have a method I can check to see if I used the modded version SBIOS? (Rather than putting another GPU in/ or re-flashing.)

[.NetRolller 3D]

Neither the SBIOS version, nor the boot screen have been changed; however, you should see extra tweaking options in the BIOS setup (assuming you haven't installed the modded BIOS from the Phoenix mod thread, which already has these options).

If you did indeed flash the right BIOS, then we now know that it does not cause brickings or regressions. Now the real question is, does it help the 9600M GT?

[u6b36ef]

I'm sure I did the right flash, (from page one on this thread). I did look for extra's in the SBIOS, I thought there was some options, but only a few. I'll try the 9500 and the 9600 now-ish.

@ .NetRolller 3D, '"UPDATE"'

The 9500M GS now works in the Acer 5920. Before modded SBIOS flash it refused to even post (just like you said the 9600M GT did in the 5920). I think it's safe to say your 5920 modded SBIOS works, and will with the 9600M GT.
- Also I think there were a couple of extra options in the SBIOS under the 'MAIN' tab. I think there was keysound switch on/off, and other stuff that's new.

The 9600M GT I bought is faulty. It didn't work and it not the fault of the SBIOS. I only opened the package it arrived in, to do the test just now, and there was all sorts wrong with it. (Parts missing, no power, not a 9600.)

[triturbo]

That's more than great news Sorry, that I didn't have the time to test it, work duties took me away for 8 days

[.NetRolller 3D]

Now all we need is confirmation that my BIOS does indeed fix the 9600M GT issue too. So far, only 6920+9600M GT and 5920+9500M GS are confirmed.

[FragZero]

Flashed this bios on a broken 5920g i recieved, i booted with my FX 3700M inside (ducktaped heatsink and at a strange angle.

.NetRolller 3D, you are the man!

edit: Tried my 9600M GS which did not work before the flash, booted fine!