Friday, February 20th 2015

NVIDIA to Restore Overclocking on Mobile GPUs

Under pressure from users angry with NVIDIA for disabling overclocking on mobile-GPUs in the GTX 900M series, with its most recent driver update, the company decided to restore overclocking with its next driver update scheduled for March. To those who want overclocking right now (to make certain games at certain settings playable again), NVIDIA suggests reverting to the older GeForce 344.75 drivers. With the most recent driver update, NVIDIA controversially disabled overclocking on its GeForce GTX 900M mobile GPUs, causing angry comments on its GeForce user forums.
Source: GeForce Forums
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43 Comments on NVIDIA to Restore Overclocking on Mobile GPUs

#26
csendesmark
Good cop Bad cop?
But they need to know those two should be two different persons :D
Posted on Reply
#27
Recus
Xzibit:peace:

ManuelG@Nvidia - "It's a bug, Chips were not designed for overclocking"
PeterS@Nvidia - "I know you didn't buy our BS statement and called us out on it so we are sorry and will re-enable it next driver update."

All we need now is for PeterS@Nvidia to redact this statement like he did his 970 one for the drama to continue. I can picture it now in a few days.

PeterS@Nvidia - "Just like I spoke out of turn on the 970 and said there was a driver fix coming to enable full use of the 4GB, The driver does fix a bug and is working as intended"
Why you don't quote JF-AMD, Roy Taylor, Richard Huddy BS?
Posted on Reply
#28
Digital Dreams
FluffmeisterI'm sure they are halfway through filming another shitty fixer video...
ZoneDymosooo this now puts Nvidia in a positive light?

Well shit, this business model should work for all: take away something consumers have, then give it back.
Minimal effort for positive results it seems....

come on people, this is some bs
Yep, sadly some companies can do no wrong in some peoples eyes.
Posted on Reply
#29
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
Bet nv wont cover any burnt gpus neither will the laptop makers when people oc them.
Posted on Reply
#30
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
eidairaman1Bet nv wont cover any burnt gpus neither will the laptop makers when people oc them.
Which isn't really a problem since just raising clock speeds won't fry the GPU.

AFAIK, you can't add voltage to the mobile GPUs, so temps don't go up that much. Plus, with maxwell's temp sensors, the GPU will throttle before any damage is done.
Posted on Reply
#31
AsRock
TPU addict
eidairaman1Bet nv wont cover any burnt gpus neither will the laptop makers when people oc them.
Why should they ?, that's your dumb ass fault if you fry it.
newtekie1Which isn't really a problem since just raising clock speeds won't fry the GPU.

AFAIK, you can't add voltage to the mobile GPUs, so temps don't go up that much. Plus, with maxwell's temp sensors, the GPU will throttle before any damage is done.
Might not stop some thing else popping though.
Posted on Reply
#32
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
AsRockWhy should they ?, that's your dumb ass fault if you fry it.



Might not stop some thing else popping though.
These people who gripe that they can't overclock think nvidia will cover damage from customer/end user abuse.
Posted on Reply
#33
qubit
Overclocked quantum bit
newtekie1Enabling it in the first place was pretty stupid if it really wasn't intended. Someone on the driver team probably got a talking to...
Indeed, I bet someone got a very stern talking to. :laugh:

Question is, why disable it in the first place? NVIDIA bowing to public pressure to re-enable it suggests to me that there was no good reason to block it in the first place. The graphics card belongs to the user after all not NVIDIA, so what right does NVIDIA have to block someone using their stuff how they see fit?

The fact you could overclock your laptop's graphics to good effect just emphasizes that point.
Posted on Reply
#34
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
qubitIndeed, I bet someone got a very stern talking to. :laugh:

Question is, why disable it in the first place? NVIDIA bowing to public pressure to re-enable it suggests to me that there was no good reason to block it in the first place. The graphics card belongs to the user after all not NVIDIA, so what right does NVIDIA have to block someone using their stuff how they see fit?

The fact you could overclock your laptop's graphics to good effect just emphasizes that point.
Warranty problems
Posted on Reply
#35
HumanSmoke
qubitIndeed, I bet someone got a very stern talking to. :laugh:

Question is, why disable it in the first place? NVIDIA bowing to public pressure to re-enable it suggests to me that there was no good reason to block it in the first place. The graphics card belongs to the user after all not NVIDIA, so what right does NVIDIA have to block someone using their stuff how they see fit?

The fact you could overclock your laptop's graphics to good effect just emphasizes that point.
One thing is certain, there must have been some serious communication breakdown between the company divisions.
Either the non-OC driver was a bug in itself, and some company mouthpiece decided that it could be spun as a deliberate act, or the driver team screwed up at the 800M/900M launch and didn't disable OC by default. I could see some OEMs dealing with low end/mainstream parts suggesting an end to overclocking to save on warranty claims and enable them to cheap out on power supply/battery/cooling, but for those OEMs pushing overclocking as a feature it puts the pressure squarely upon them....so, somewhere along the line, someone made an autonomous decision that ought to have been pushed up the line to strategy and OEM relations.
Posted on Reply
#36
qubit
Overclocked quantum bit
eidairaman1Warranty problems
Sure and they could put a disclaimer to void the warranty if overclocked and then detection of overclocking would be very difficult which is why they blocked it. However, I don't think it changes the point that the customer has a fundamental right in law of most civilized countries to do what they want with their hardware, especially when it comes to breaking it, which trumps NVIDIA's problems in this area.

EDIT
HumanSmokeOne thing is certain, there must have been some serious communication breakdown between the company divisions.
Either the non-OC driver was a bug in itself, and some company mouthpiece decided that it could be spun as a deliberate act, or the driver team screwed up at the 800M/900M launch and didn't disable OC by default. I could see some OEMs dealing with low end/mainstream parts suggesting an end to overclocking to save on warranty claims and enable them to cheap out on power supply/battery/cooling, but for those OEMs pushing overclocking as a feature it puts the pressure squarely upon them....so, somewhere along the line, someone made an autonomous decision that ought to have been pushed up the line to strategy and OEM relations.
Ya know what? I reckon the simplest answer is the most likely: overclocking can likely be enabled or disabled by setting a simple flag. The final release of the driver got signed off with the flag enabled due to quality control issues - someone missed it - and nothing more. Then all the PR cockups start as NVIDIA tries to save face.
Posted on Reply
#37
Xzibit
Its funny how the same people who claim overclocking is the death of a mobile chip have no issues with GPU Boost. If Nvidia was so concerned about it. Why not just disable GPU Boost on those chips. After all its just a regulated form of overclocking.

You kind of have no faith in GPU Boost if your saying overclocking is a no-no. GPU Boost has temp fail safe and the chip itself is hard lock never to hit thermal limit. Nvidia makes you jump threw hoops now to get the most out of overclocking. By the time you get a decent one your already voiding your warranty.
Posted on Reply
#38
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
AsRockMight not stop some thing else popping though.
Like what? Without voltage control there really is no danger of anything going wrong. Heat only goes up a few degrees, power consumption barely goes up any measurable amount. There is pretty much no risk.
qubitQuestion is, why disable it in the first place? NVIDIA bowing to public pressure to re-enable it suggests to me that there was no good reason to block it in the first place.
I'd be interested to know when overclocking actually became enabled. Maybe it was enabled since the first driver release for Maxwell, IDK.

But I fully believe they didn't intend to enable overclocking from the beginning. They just copied the desktop driver and forgot to disable overclocking. I'm sure it is some simple flag that is either on or off, and they forgot to turn it off when they copied the desktop driver.
Posted on Reply
#39
Irish_PXzyan
I'm thankful that they will allow overclocking again as it made no sense why they changed it in the first place.. PR as yee lads say makes perfect sense to me.

GPU overclocking is not DEATH to mobile GPUs either?! why do some of yee lads say this?

My GTX 860m overclocks VERY well! 325mhz on the core and 225mhz memory clock... others with Hynix memory get up to 800mhz memory overclock...
My temps only go as high as 71-74c on MAX load.
Posted on Reply
#40
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
XzibitIts funny how the same people who claim overclocking is the death of a mobile chip have no issues with GPU Boost. If Nvidia was so concerned about it. Why not just disable GPU Boost on those chips. After all its just a regulated form of overclocking.

You kind of have no faith in GPU Boost if your saying overclocking is a no-no. GPU Boost has temp fail safe and the chip itself is hard lock never to hit thermal limit. Nvidia makes you jump threw hoops now to get the most out of overclocking. By the time you get a decent one your already voiding your warranty.
Gpu boost is something done by the card maker, which is within their safe temp and voltage limits. Laptops cooling today suck.
Posted on Reply
#41
Jurassic1024
newtekie1But I fully believe they didn't intend to enable overclocking from the beginning. They just copied the desktop driver and forgot to disable overclocking. I'm sure it is some simple flag that is either on or off, and they forgot to turn it off when they copied the desktop driver.
Then why call it a bug? And why start disabling now on your most power efficient chip ever? Maybe nVIDIA found out AMD won't have a competitive mobile GPU for a year or more, so they thought they could rebrand the 900 series with better clock bumps in the future. *shrugs*

There is more to this and the GTX 970 story, and I just hope it comes out soon.
Posted on Reply
#42
Yorgos
lZKoce
Ha ha,
:facepalm:
nvidia has been disabling a shitload of staff from their linux driver but since the people who know and care to yell them for those feature are not that many, nvidia keeps them of the driver.
Now..... now it's different, they know that they cannot win, so they submit to their angry customers.

An nVidia customer : I love nVidia, I hate nVidia, I love nVidia, I hate nVidia...

....and these mood swings leads to psychological problems
Posted on Reply
#43
haswrong
qubitYup, disabling it was pretty stupid.
switch off, switch on.. and everybodys talking bout nvidiaaaa. heh :)
Posted on Reply
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