G74SX-XT1 Overclocking questions.

[mjstrd]

I've been playing with OC'ing my g74 ever since I got it, I monitor temps religiously. I go back and forth on my oc's and always end up reverting back to "default" clocks. I know there is another subforum for this but I want specific G74sx oc numbers that you guys have found to be "safe" and what the temps have been in the situation you use your laptop in. The Air intake is a horrible place in my opinion but I'm in the process of rigging up an external cooling system to blow down from the back into the intakes.

I've noticed my temps don't vary too much if i slap my memory clock up to 1500 as I've primarily left the others alone.

TL;DR - I want your safe OC temps in controlled conditions.

GPU - Default
Core Clock (MHz) 775
Shader Clock (MHz) 1550
Memory Clock (Mhz) 1250

The picture below just shows idling down after a 30 minute game of BF3. Idle I usually sit @ 33c and at load 65 - 67c.

[JerJer123]

Hi mjstrd. I have the same model as you do (minus the SSD). I have 2 profiles set up with MSI Afterburner that automatically apply themselves depending on what you're doing: A 2d profile (for your regular computing, like surfing the web, chatting on instant messenger, etc), and a 3d profile (for games). Having it set up this way, the comp will automatically OC when you start gaming, and revert back to your default clocks when you're not. Personally, I think this is the best way to do it.

My 2d profile are the default clocks. Temps usually hover around 45c while doing internet browsing and other minute things. When idle, it drops down to around 39c - 42c

Here's my 3d profile:

Core Clock (MHz) 875
Shader Clock (MHz) 1750
Memory Clock (Mhz) 1500

When I'm gaming, temps usually hover between 58c and 65c. I play these games at highest settings (usually in windowed mode though - I'm not big on full screen):
Kingdoms Of Amalur Reckoning
SIMS 3
Driver Sanfrancisco
Mass Effect 3

When I'm playing a game like BF3 (on 2nd highest settings) though for a while, my temps seem to be slightly higher. Temps usually stay between 67c and 71c.

So as far as "safe" is concerned, I think those are pretty good temps in my opinion. The cooling system on this laptop is one of the best I've seen when it comes to laptop cooling.

[fostert]

I have tested the 560M on my G74 with the 2D and 3D benchmarks in PassMark (www.cpubenchmark.net) and notched it up with MSI afterburner. I have come to the conclusion that my card will simply cack and the driver will spit up and stop working before it reaches a critical temperature of ~85C. Seems to top out at about 875/1750/1600

[mjstrd]

Good to hear from you again jerjer. I'm Zehn from the nvidia boards. I never noticed you could apply the 2d/3d auto profiles, good to know.

Thanks for the replys you two. I went searching around for some numbers and decided to try out 900/1800/1625 and so far I've not exceeded temps of 65c under load with bf3 @ medium settings and ssao on, hbao is a little sketchy it seems. Mass effect 3 also topped out at 65c.

The only time this thing has seen anything higher was running Dungeon Defenders as I was playing it one morning and had set it on the bed next to my wife and she acc. threw the covers out it and was pushing 90c+, the fans we're rocking to keep it going and luckily we noticed it in time before it had any problems.

I'm testing these numbers out on the 301.24 nvidia beta driver at the moment, Have you tried anything higher than your 295.40 Fostert? I've yet to have a driver crash or any general faults.

EDIT- I had a crash last night with the 900 setup but I think it was due to a static build up, I had it in bed and scooted it down to the end and the screen went white and locked the pc up but everything restarted fine and ran BF3 today for about an hour with temps maxing @ 67c.

[tWiCeAsfLyOhMy]

Hello,

I have mine set to 900,1800,1600. My temps never rise above 62 C after a few hours of battlefield 3 on medium/high settings @ 1366 x 768 resolution. P11114 3DMarks is my 3dmark10 score.

[mjstrd]

Thanks for the reply twice!