XPS 16 GPU overclocking

[@Prime]

Any ideas seeker why we have such different stock 3dmark scores? I have almost the exact same system as you except I have a 1080p screen. I tried bumping up to your 725/925 clock and had a score of 8077. Which is pretty similar to your stock clock and about 900 points less then your 725/925 clock. I am running a different BIOS, but could that really make such a difference?

[seeker_moc]

Any ideas seeker why we have such different stock 3dmark scores? I have almost the exact same system as you except I have a 1080p screen. I tried bumping up to your 725/925 clock and had a score of 8077. Which is pretty similar to your stock clock and about 900 points less then your 725/925 clock. I am running a different BIOS, but could that really make such a difference?

It might, as the BIOS updates may upgrade the vBIOS as well. Also, have you done any windows optimization? Install all the newest drivers, adjust your CCC settings, close or disable all unnecessary programs and services, remove start-up programs that eat up memory but perform no function, etc.

Edit: Remove old temp files, clean the registry, run a defrag, update DirectX, adjust control panel settings, set power setting to high performance...

[@Prime]

No I have not. I guess maybe I will try flashing the BIOS and then doing optimizations. Do you know any good threads for windows ops for the XPS? I removed most of the obvious dell bloat ware but maybe I missed some of the background stuff.

[seeker_moc]

No I have not. I guess maybe I will try flashing the BIOS and then doing optimizations. Do you know any good threads for windows ops for the XPS? I removed most of the obvious dell bloat ware but maybe I missed some of the background stuff.

This is super long, but a good place to start: TweakGuides.com - The TweakGuides Tweaking Companion

Some of the others may have shorter answers for you, but if you're serious the TGTC is worth reading. Plus, you can skip the first part if you already have a basic understanding of computers.

[Gloomy]

775/1100 is stable for me. Max GPU temp 76 (average 68 [started sampling data after OC]). Played the game for about three hours. It's solid.

My core refuses 800 :/. It chokes and throws off the OC randomly.

[HeadHunter]

I set everything up like you asked. I watched a 480p movie using VLC. At the same time the movie was running, I had Firefox open and running the "Peacekeeper" benchmark (from Futuremark, so it's like 3DMark for browsers) twice in a row to simulate web browsing, though the load was likely higher than the average surfing. The test took about 10 min total. As I'm sitting here typing this now, the movie is still playing, so it's like the testing continues, lol...

My CPU temps ranged from 49 to 54, and my GPU temps were rock solid at 46C (they hoped up to 50C, but it was really only like a split-second, then right back down for the rest of the test).

The entire time my fan was running steady, but at it's lowest speed, where you can barely feel the hot air exiting, and can't hear the fan at all over ambient noise. It never raised fan speed, not even once, the entire time. It also never stopped completely (though I don't know if I would have noticed it if it did).

I ran the tests with the laptop on a lapdesk (the logitech one, without any fans) on my lap.

The fan does kick on occasionally running the same type of tests on the 'balanced' power mode, without the CPU limited to 0%.

You might not believe me but I'm bothered even by the lowest fan RPM (well only at the night, since like you said, during day it's not audible due to ambient noise). That's why I wondered whether you can achieve a silent run while doing not so demanding tasks. With temperatures you mentioned earlier I thought it might be possible (especially GPU temps)...

[seeker_moc]

775/1100 is stable for me. Max GPU temp 76 (average 68 [started sampling data after OC]). Played the game for about three hours. It's solid.

My core refuses 800 :/. It chokes and throws off the OC randomly.

I was wondering about the shader to memory speed ratio. The 650/800 stock ratio is about 4:5. When I overclock I try to keep a similar ratio, trying to keep things in balance, assuming that the designers knew what they were doing when assigning the speeds.

I'd have no problems running 775/1100, as the memory doesn't produce much heat, so there's nothing much stopping one from higher memory clocks as long it's below the artifact threshold. However, that throws the ratio off a bit. I'm not really sure if that means anything though . Do you get a significant return from boosting the mem clocks so much, but the shader clocks so (relatively) little, or do you hit a point of diminishing returns on the memory speed?

[seeker_moc]

You might not believe me but I'm bothered even by the lowest fan RPM (well only at the night, since like you said, during day it's not audible due to ambient noise). That's why I wondered whether you can achieve a silent run while doing not so demanding tasks. With temperatures you mentioned earlier I thought it might be possible (especially GPU temps)...

With a BIOS mod it should be possible. The engineers may have designed the BIOS to run the fan at all times, even if it's not necessary.

If you wanted to get all high speed, you could either learn how to mod a BIOS , or even add a switch to the fan and run it to the hole for the useless kensington lock, where you could manually cut power to the fan when not needed . It should be safe enough as long as you were careful and monitored the temps.

[HeadHunter]

Wow I can imagine then someone coming to my laptop, doing something intensive, forgetting to switch on the fan, after a while just saying something like: "wow you a have a really quiet laptop..." right before it fries :-D

[Gloomy]

Do you get a significant return from boosting the mem clocks so much, but the shader clocks so (relatively) little, or do you hit a point of diminishing returns on the memory speed?

No returns. Or very little. I didn't notice any, at least.

EDIT: 10% (or so..) increase in FPS from 968 to 1100 mem clock. Hardly noticeable, but it is substantial.

775/1100 is stable for me. Max GPU temp 76 (average 68 [started sampling data after OC]). Played the game for about three hours. It's solid.

My core refuses 800 :/. It chokes and throws off the OC randomly.

I'm testing, trying to see what the exact max for my card is. It's kind of addicting, heh. So far, I've thoroughly tested the memory and sure enough, 1100 is the stable max for me. As for the core, I've gone up to 840 and slowly gone down to what's stable with Furmark and 810 seems to be the sweet spot. I would totally check with increments of 1MHz instead of 5MHz but man. That's a lot of work. Furmark in Xtreme Burn is... crippling. 100% GPU Load leaves no room for internet surfing on the side and that makes me a sad panda and somewhat bored.

I've also brought out my tower fan and managed to lock my temperature at 58C under 100% load. That's really good.

I guess I'll play Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It's the most CPU-intensive current-gen game I have (haven't hopped on the SC2 bandwagon yet...), and it should force throttling, if throttling is possible with 810/1100. If I recall, it keeps all cores turbo'd (x13 multi). So yeah. I'll play an hour or two and see what happens