NVIDIA Back to Dirty Tricks with GTX 900M Series Overclocking

btarunr · May 21, 2015

NVIDIA's driver team is at it again. The company drew outrage from the PC enthusiast community, for developing drivers that prevent GPU overclocking on its GeForce GTX 900M series notebook GPUs, in February 2015, with the introduction of its GeForce 347.29 WHQL drivers, blaming it on a "bug" that allowed overclocking on previous drivers. When called-out and under pressure from the community, it re-enabled overclocking on these chips, with the following GeForce 347.88 drivers, with an equally lame quasi-apology.

Hoping that nobody would notice, the company seems to have reinstated the overclocking block, or "clock-block" as the community is calling it; with its R350 and R352 drivers, such as the GeForce 352.86. Enthusiasts in notebook-centric communities such as NotebookReview, discovered that the latest GeForce drivers prevent overclocking if it reads a "lock-bit" in the video BIOS. Below are the two excuses the company exhausted by means of mutual-contradiction.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

Selene · May 21, 2015

The last two game ready drivers seam to have degraded the performance of my 780 Classifieds and have caused me to revert back to 347.88, get driver has stopped responding all the time, I think it has to do with my G-sync monitor.

erocker · May 21, 2015

Back to dirty tricks? Pretty sure they never left from doing dirty tricks.

Hood · May 21, 2015

I demand the God-given right to melt down my own laptop, and if the building burns down, so be it...(but let me check with my lawyer first, to make sure I can still blame nVidia)

GhostRyder · May 21, 2015

Were back to this again???

Fluffmeister · May 21, 2015

Presumably there is nothing stopping laptop users installing drivers I dunno... 160+ days old?

Dippyskoodlez · May 21, 2015

Fluffmeister said:
Presumably there is nothing stopping laptop users installing drivers I dunno... 160+ days old?

Games that wont work on the old drivers.

64K · May 21, 2015

GhostRyder said:
Were back to this again???

Looks like it. Maybe Nvidia thinks they didn't try hard enough to make it stick last go 'round. :rolleyes:

Hood · May 21, 2015

erocker said:
Back to dirty tricks? Pretty sure they never left from doing dirty tricks.

Yes, they've expanded their Dirty Tricks department by 38% this year alone...my GPU company keeps up with the competition! Those red team bastards were getting ahead of us with their latest dirty tricks, now we're in the lead again! Good going nVidia, never wuss out and become "honest", that would be like giving up the fight!

Fluffmeister · May 21, 2015

Dippyskoodlez said:
Games that wont work on the old drivers.

True regular driver updates are nice, but I can't imagine there is any game breakers out there.

Interestingly I noticed 344.75 were released 183 days ago.

john_ · May 21, 2015

I see Nvidia owners going full overclock, helping with damage control.

rtwjunkie · May 21, 2015

Selene said:
The last two game ready drivers seam to have degraded the performance of my 780 Classifieds and have caused me to revert back to 347.88, get driver has stopped responding all the time, I think it has to do with my G-sync monitor.

347.88 is where I am at now, and running great. I plan to stay there until I find an inability to play a game. Even Witcher 3 plays wonderfully on that "old" driver.

Fluffmeister · May 21, 2015

john_ said:
I see Nvidia owners going full overclock, helping with damage control.

Lighten up fella, that poke was an easy one to make.

Besides I personally think gaming laptops are stupid and often massively overpriced, but if they want to overclock them then they should be allowed to do so.

Beyond that this really doesn't affect me at all so. /shrug

the54thvoid · May 21, 2015

May I also point out this article is from Bta who is apparently an Nvidia stooge. Can we reroute the AMD driver posts to here please so?

rtwjunkie · May 21, 2015

the54thvoid said:
May I also point out this article is from Bta who is apparently an Nvidia stooge. Can we reroute the AMD driver posts to here please so?

First thing I thought when I saw his post was all the people in the other thread accusing him of getting handouts from Nvidia to be their PR guy. :roll:

TRWOV · May 21, 2015

john_ said:
I see Nvidia owners going full overclock, helping with damage control.

huh? They're the affected ones, I would think every laptop owner with an overclocked nVidia GPU would be up in arms over this :confused:

Frick · May 21, 2015

This article has the smell of qubit and it's not a good thing.

Tsukiyomi91 · May 21, 2015

in the 1st place, they disabled it to ensure no one melts their GPU & now they re-enable it? what?

that kind of apology isn't gonna make any GTX900M users happy... IMO, keeping it stock for reliability is best since I know the risks of shortening the lifespan of the chip for a very small impact in which it won't reach desktop levels.

manofthem · May 21, 2015

rtwjunkie said:
First thing I thought when I saw his post was all the people in the other thread accusing him of getting handouts from Nvidia to be their PR guy.

I thought the exact same thing. Oh it's funny how things go

GhostRyder · May 21, 2015

Fluffmeister said:
Lighten up fella, that poke was an easy one to make.

Besides I personally think gaming laptops are stupid and often massively overpriced, but if they want to overclock them then they should be allowed to do so.

Beyond that this really doesn't affect me at all so. /shrug

If you throw gas on the fire your going to get burned...

64K said:
Looks like it. Maybe Nvidia thinks they didn't try hard enough to make it stick last go 'round.

Right, I mean really this should have been resolved awhile back.

rtwjunkie said:
347.88 is where I am at now, and running great. I plan to stay there until I find an inability to play a game. Even Witcher 3 plays wonderfully on that "old" driver.

I agree, upgrading drivers really is more meant for the CFX/SLI profiles. I don't update my laptop driver to much unless I see something specifically saying words like "Fixed bug on (Insert Game)" or the likes.

rtwjunkie said:
First thing I thought when I saw his post was all the people in the other thread accusing him of getting handouts from Nvidia to be their PR guy.

Its a trick, he's trying to throw everyone off the scent.
/sarcasm

Meh, I think the same thing I thought before. Loosen restrictions on the top end GPU's and be tighter about the lower ones. I mean most if not all laptops with a GTX 970m+ have some decent enough cooling to handle it (I can only think of 1 or 2 exceptions).

Haytch · May 21, 2015

I don't know why, but I had a feeling this would reoccur.

Perhaps they are having some sort of issue with this series that they cannot resolve at the manufacturing level and are being cautious via the driver.

Hopefully we get more than an apology this time 'round and end up with an excuse.

Fluffmeister · May 21, 2015

GhostRyder said:
If you throw gas on the fire your going to get burned...

This is true.

But when I go fishing, I need to use bait...

Nosada · May 21, 2015

Well this should put the record straight about TPU's (and bta's) rumoured pro-nVidia bias :laugh:

Let me reiterate my point from the other thread:

AMD and nVidia are screwing us over in the support department, the market needs a third player.

Selene · May 21, 2015

Sorry I don't think my post was correct, the two new drivers for GTA5 and Witcher 3 causes problems with my 780 Classifieds(SLI) reverting back to 347.88 fixes the problems it causes for me. I did more reading today and discovered that after 347.88 Nvidia has only been optimizing Maxwell GPUs (960/970 980 and Titan X) with its new game ready drivers.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/833016/geforce-700-600-series/gtx-780-possible-fail-as-performance-in-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-/1/

tehehe · May 22, 2015

Selene said:
The last two game ready drivers seam to have degraded the performance of my 780 Classifieds and have caused me to revert back to 347.88, get driver has stopped responding all the time, I think it has to do with my G-sync monitor.

I have the same problem but with sli 970. It's really annoying. I get driver has stopped responding all the time even when browsing in chrome :/

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
Motherboard	MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC
Cooling	AMD Wraith Prism
Memory	2x 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3000
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
Storage	Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s)	Samsung U28D590 28-inch 4K UHD
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D PCIe
Power Supply	Antec EarthWatts Pro Gold 750W
Mouse	Razer Abyssus
Keyboard	Microsoft Sidewinder X4
Software	Windows 10 Pro

System Name	PC2.1
Processor	Intel i7 3770k @4.6GHZ
Motherboard	MSI Z68A-GD80
Cooling	Corsair H100i
Memory	16GB Corsair XMS 1866MHz
Video Card(s)	SLI EVGA 780 Classifieds
Storage	Samsung 830 250gb /Samsung EVO 840 120GB
Display(s)	3x Dell 27" IPS screens
Case	Thermaltake T81 Urban
Power Supply	Cooler Master V1000
Software	Windows 8.1 64bit

Processor	i7 8700K
Motherboard	Asus Maximus Hero X WiFi
Cooling	Water
Memory	32GB G.Skill 3200Mhz CL14
Video Card(s)	GTX 1080
Storage	SSD's
Display(s)	Nixeus EDG27
Case	Thermaltake Core X5
Audio Device(s)	SoundBlaster Zx
Power Supply	Corsair H1000i
Mouse	Finalmouse Pro
Keyboard	Razer BlackWidow Tournament Ed.

System Name	DEVIL'S ABYSS
Processor	i7-4790K@4.6 GHz
Motherboard	Asus Z97-Deluxe
Cooling	Corsair H110 (2 x 140mm)(3 x 140mm case fans)
Memory	16GB Adata XPG V2 2400MHz
Video Card(s)	EVGA 780 Ti Classified
Storage	Intel 750 Series 400GB (AIC), Plextor M6e 256GB (M.2), 13 TB storage
Display(s)	Crossover 27QW (27"@ 2560x1440)
Case	Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC1150
Power Supply	Cooler Master V1000
Mouse	Ttsports Talon Blu
Keyboard	Logitech G510
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 version 1803
Benchmark Scores	Passmark CPU score = 13080

System Name	SnowFire / The Reinforcer / Portable?
Processor	i7 8700K 5.0ghz (24/7) / 2x Intel Xeon E52650v2 / Intel i7 7700HQ
Motherboard	Asus Z370 Prime-A / Dell Dual Socket (R720) / HP Omen Stock
Cooling	RX 360mm + 140mm Custom Loop in Push Pull Config. / Dell Stock / HP Stock
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RGB 16gb DDR4 3000 CL 16 / 1600mhz DDR3 128gb 16 x 8gb / 12gb DDR4 3 x 4gb
Video Card(s)	GTX Titan XP (2025mhz) / Asus GTX 950 (No Power Connector) / RX 580
Storage	Samsung 512gb SSD RAID 0 and 2tb HDD x4 RAID 5 / 300gb x8 RAID 5 / NVME 240gb SSD and 1tb HDD
Display(s)	Acer XG270HU 1440p 144hz Freesync, Acer B286HK 4K UHD Monitor / 1080p 60hz Freesync display
Case	Corsair Obsidian 800D / Dell Poweredge R720 Rack Mount Case / HP Omen 17
Audio Device(s)	Realtec ALC1150 (On board)
Power Supply	Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt
Mouse	Logitech G5
Keyboard	Logitech G19S
Software	Windows 10 Pro / Windows Server 2008 R2 / Windows 10 Home

NVIDIA Back to Dirty Tricks with GTX 900M Series Overclocking

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

Selene

erocker

*

Hood

GhostRyder

Fluffmeister

Dippyskoodlez

64K

Hood

Fluffmeister

john_

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast

Fluffmeister

the54thvoid

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast

TRWOV

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

Tsukiyomi91

manofthem

WCG-TPU Team All-Star!

GhostRyder

Haytch

Fluffmeister

Nosada

Selene

tehehe

System Name	Zimmer Frame Rates
Processor	Intel i7 920 @ Stock speeds baby
Motherboard	EVGA X58 3X SLI
Cooling	True 120
Memory	Corsair Vengeance 12GB
Video Card(s)	Palit GTX 980 Ti Super JetStream
Storage	Of course
Display(s)	Crossover 27Q 27" 2560x1440
Case	Antec 1200
Audio Device(s)	Don't be silly
Power Supply	XFX 650W Core
Mouse	Razer Deathadder Chroma
Keyboard	Logitech UltraX
Software	Windows 10
Benchmark Scores	Epic

System Name	Dell XPS 15 9560
Processor	I7-7700HQ
Memory	32GB DDR4
Video Card(s)	GTX 1050/1080 Ti
Storage	1TB SSD
Display(s)	2x Dell P2715Q/4k Internal
Case	Razer Core
Audio Device(s)	Creative E5/Objective 2 Amp/Senn HD650
Mouse	Logitech Proteus Core
Keyboard	Logitech G910

Processor	i7 7700k
Motherboard	MSI Z270 SLI Plus
Cooling	CM Hyper 212 EVO
Memory	2 x 8 GB Corsair Vengeance
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX 980 Ti GAMING
Storage	Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB and WD Black 4TB
Display(s)	ASUS 27 inch 1440p PLS PB278Q
Case	Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNova 850 W Gold
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech G105
Software	Windows 10

System Name	3 systems: Gaming / Internet / HTPC
Processor	Intel i5 4460 / Thuban 1455T(Unlocked 645) @ 3.7GHz @ 1.30V / A6 7400K
Motherboard	ASRock Z97 Extreme6 / Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 / ASUS FM2+
Cooling	Modified AM2 Asetek MicroChill / Noctua U12S / CoolerMaster TX2
Memory	16GB Kingston KHX1866C10D3 / 16GB Adata 2133MHz / 8GB Kingston 2400MHz (DDR3)
Video Card(s)	GT 620 / ASUS HD7870 2GB + GT 710 (PhysX) / A6 7400K iGPU
Storage	Intel NVMe 500GB, Samsung NVMe 250GB + more / Kingston 240GB + more / Samsung SSD 120GB
Display(s)	Samsung LE32D550 32'' TV(2 systems connected) / LG 42''
Case	Sharkoon Rebel 12 / Sharkoon Rebel 9 / Xigmatek Midguard
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Chieftec 850W / Sharkoon 650W / Chieftec 560W
Mouse	CoolerMaster / Rapoo / Logitech
Keyboard	CoolerMaster / Microsoft / Logitech
Software	Windows

System Name	Bayou Devil
Processor	Core i7-4790k 4.4Ghz @ 1.18v
Motherboard	ASUS Z97 Deluxe
Cooling	All air: 2x140mm Fractal exhaust; 3x 140mm Cougar Intake; Enermax T40F CPU cooler
Memory	2x 8GB Mushkin Redline DDR-3 1866
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX 1080Ti Gaming X
Storage	1x 500 MX500 SSD; 1x 2TB WD Black; 2x 4TB WD Black;1x 2TB WD Green (eSATA)
Display(s)	HP 27q 27" IPS @ 2560 x 1440
Case	Fractal Design Define R4 Black w/Titanium front -windowed
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster Z
Power Supply	Seasonic X-850
Mouse	Coolermaster Sentinel III
Keyboard	Logitech G610 Orion mechanical (Cherry Brown switches)
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Start10 & Fences 3.0 installed)

System Name	Newer Ho'Ryzen
Processor	Ryzen 3700X
Motherboard	Asus Crosshair VI Hero
Cooling	TR Le Grand Macho
Memory	16Gb G.Skill 3200 RGB
Video Card(s)	RTX 2080ti MSI Duke @2Ghz ish
Storage	Samsumg 960 Pro m2. 512Gb
Display(s)	LG 32" 165Hz 1440p GSYNC
Case	Lian Li PC-V33WX
Audio Device(s)	On Board
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime TItanium 850
Software	W10
Benchmark Scores	Look, it's a Ryzen on air........ What's the point?

System Name	STEAMBOX \| GAMECUBE \| EQC (Everyday Quad Core)
Processor	i5 4590@3.7Ghz \|i7 3770K@4Ghz -\|- Athlon 5350@2.52Ghz
Motherboard	GA-B85N PHOENIX \| Asrock Z77E-ITX \| Asus AM1I-A
Cooling	Stock \| Antec Kuhler 620 \| Reeven Vanxie
Memory	2x4GB ADATA XPG 1600Mhz \| 2x4GB Kingston 1866Mhz -\|- 2x4GB Crucial Ballistix@1920Mhz
Video Card(s)	RX 480 Nitro \| Sapphire RX 480 w/Accelero Mono Plus \| HD 8400 @ 720Mhz (IGP)
Storage	LiteON 128GB mSATA+3TB Seagate \| Seagate 1TBxSamung 64GB SSD (Intel RST) \| Kingston v300 240GB
Display(s)	Daewoo 49" 1080p \| ASUS PA248Q 1920x1200 IPS
Case	Corsair 250D \| CoolerMaster Elite 110 \| Acteck Fiji
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Seasonic SS-660XP2 \| Silverstone SFX-450 \| 200w mini FLEX PSU
Software	Windows 10 64bit

System Name	Black MC in Tokyo
Processor	Ryzen 3 1200
Motherboard	Asrock B450M-HDV
Cooling	AMD Wraith Stealth
Memory	2 x 8GB G-skill Aegis 3000 or somesuch
Video Card(s)	Asus GTX 760 DCU2OC 2GB
Storage	Kingston A400 240GB \| WD Blue 1TB x 2
Display(s)	BenQ GL2450HT
Case	Some old Antec
Audio Device(s)	Line6 UX1 + slightly modded Sony DR-ZX302
Power Supply	Fractal Design Effekt 400W
Mouse	Logitech G602
Keyboard	Cherry MX-Board 3.0
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	I once had +100 dorfs in DF, so yeah pretty great

System Name	Box
Processor	Ryzen 1600X @3.7
Motherboard	AsRock X370 Taichi
Cooling	Water
Memory	32GB G Skill Ripjaws V 2800
Video Card(s)	GTX 980 SC ACX2.0
Storage	ADATA SX700 512GB
Display(s)	LG 34UC88
Case	Fractal Design S
Power Supply	SeaSonic 660XP2
Mouse	Logitech G900
Keyboard	Division Zero
Software	Windows 10 Pro

System Name	_Speedforce_ (Successor to Strike-X, 4LI3NBR33D-H, Core-iH7 & Nemesis-H)
Processor	Intel Core i9 7980XE (Lapped) @ 5.2Ghz With XSPC Raystorm (Lapped)
Motherboard	Asus Rampage VI Extreme (XSPC Watercooled) - Custom Heatsinks (Lapped)
Cooling	XSPC Custom Water Cooling + Custom Air Cooling (From Delta 220's TFB1212GHE to Spal 30101504&5)
Memory	8x 8Gb G.Skill Trident Z RGB 4266MHz @ 4667Mhz (2x F4-4266C17Q-32GTZR)
Video Card(s)	3x Asus GTX1080 Ti (Lapped) With Customised EK Waterblock (Lapped) + Custom heatsinks (Lapped)
Storage	1x Samsung 970 EVO 2TB - 2280 (Hyper M.2 x16 Card), 7x Samsung 860 Pro 4Tb
Display(s)	6x Asus ROG Swift PG348Q
Case	Aerocool Strike X (Modified)
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 & Aurvana XFi Headphones
Power Supply	2x Corsair AX1500i With Custom Sheilding, Custom Switching Unit. Braided Cables.
Mouse	Razer Copperhead + R.A.T 9
Keyboard	Ideazon Zboard + Optimus Maximus. Logitech G13.
Software	w10 Pro x64.
Benchmark Scores	pppft, gotta see it to believe it. . .