Best driver configuration for overclocking 6650M?

[breakingspell]

What's up, everyone? I recently came into possession of a wonderful laptop (eBay for $299), the Acer Aspire 5552G-7632. It had a faulty processor that was a quick (not to mention relatively cheap) fix/upgrade, as i replaced the stock Phenom II N660 with an X640 Black edition (3.2ghz over 3.0 from stock, and unlocked). I can stably overclock the CPU to 3.4ghz using AMD Overdrive, but i rarely do so because of temperature concerns.

The real magic of this computer is the graphics card, being an AMD Radeon 6650M (not 6550), that performs incredibly well on every game i've been able to throw at it thus far on near-maximum settings, aside from really demanding titles, i have to turn down settings to play those.

Now, i've seen and heard that this certain video card can be overclocked, so i tried using Sapphire Trixx and MSI Afterburner to bump the stock 600mhz up to 700, and the memory clock up to about 1005mhz. The settings will stick, but almost right away, the screen begins to flicker, with random horizontal bars appearing randomly around the display. Resetting the clocks to stock using said utilities doesn't make the bars go away, but a reboot does. It's certainly usable, but i haven't tested the performance with these settings because i'm pretty sure i'm not doing it right. It's not per-game, as i see the flickering the minute i hit "apply"

My drivers are the AMD Catalyst official 12.8 WHQL drivers, installed cleanly and all, and it performs great, i just want that extra oomph in certain games, like Saints Row the Third and Prototype 2, which both lag a bit on low settings (at a native res of 1366x768)

TL;DR, what is the best, tried and true, up to date driver configuration i can let this machine have? I've read that a certain DLL needs to be replaced to allow unofficial overclocking since 12.2, but those posts are months old.

[Johnny3D]

From what others have told me, 8.981.2.0 12.7 BETA June 26 allows overclocking without the flickering on M GPUs.

Those dlls you mention are atipdlxx.dll and atipld64.dll, those are for support with 3rd party tools OC and other various functions.

atipdlxx.dll goes in Windows\SysWOW64 and atipdl64.dll is in Windows\System32

[bouuman]

i get also flickering and bad performance if i dont disable the "EnebleULPS" option in my registry or directly in my driver package. Set "EnableULPS" always to "0". (have also a notebook with 6650m gpu)

Edit: you can also replace "EnableUlps, %REG_DWORD%, 1" to "EnableUlps, %REG_DWORD%, 0" in your driverpackage folder with your windows editor or notepad++ or something like that, but this way just works before installing the driver, if you already installed it then you have to check your registry.

also maybe is to setting up the memory clock from 900 to 1000 already to much for your mobile gpu, i have set gpu clock from 700 to 780 and memory clock from 900 to 970 and its working fine.

[breakingspell]

Originally Posted by bouuman

i get also flickering and bad performance if i dont disable the "EnebleULPS" option in my registry or directly in my driver package. Set "EnableULPS" always to "0". (have also a notebook with 6650m gpu)

Edit: you can also replace "EnableUlps, %REG_DWORD%, 1" to "EnableUlps, %REG_DWORD%, 0" in your driverpackage folder with your windows editor or notepad++ or something like that, but this way just works before installing the driver, if you already installed it then you have to check your registry.

also maybe is to setting up the memory clock from 900 to 1000 already to much for your mobile gpu, i have set gpu clock from 700 to 780 and memory clock from 900 to 970 and its working fine.

I tried going at a lower clock increase, only 50mhz, but still, the artifacts started right away. I might just have to shelve this, it seems a tad too dangerous, heh

[bouuman]

Originally Posted by breakingspell

I tried going at a lower clock increase, only 50mhz, but still, the artifacts started right away. I might just have to shelve this, it seems a tad too dangerous, heh

try this driver, it working best for me, getting around 10-15 fps more with this one: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=367954
but if you do it, completely uninstall the old driver and clean the system with driver fusion or driver sweeper

[breakingspell]

Originally Posted by bouuman

try this driver, it working best for me, getting around 10-15 fps more with this one: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=367954
but if you do it, completely uninstall the old driver and clean the system with driver fusion or driver sweeper

Thanks, i'll give it a whirl! I've got a nifty driver cleaner from the Hiren BootCD that i'll use, i'm pretty sure it's thorough

Edit: Still getting the flickering while bumping each value up 50mhz. I made sure to re-disable ULPS, (leaving the NA value alone), but I'll fire up a game real quick while I've got those custom drivers installed, see if I've got a performance boost without overclocking.

[bouuman]

Originally Posted by breakingspell

Thanks, i'll give it a whirl! I've got a nifty driver cleaner from the Hiren BootCD that i'll use, i'm pretty sure it's thorough

Edit: Still getting the flickering while bumping each value up 50mhz. I made sure to re-disable ULPS, (leaving the NA value alone), but I'll fire up a game real quick while I've got those custom drivers installed, see if I've got a performance boost without overclocking.

Mine notebook have also a integrated 6620G GPU and Radeon HD 6650M GPU is dedicated. The 6620G GPU is for "Energy Saving"-mode and the 6650m is for "High Performance"-mode. So when i run a game i have to set the game to "High Performance" in my CCC, if i dont do it my games are running in "Energy Saving"-mode and dont using the better 6650m gpu. Maybe you have to do it too? Please check also the Power Play settings, they must be activated.

[breakingspell]

Originally Posted by bouuman

Mine notebook have also a integrated 6620G GPU and Radeon HD 6650M GPU is dedicated. So when i run a game i have to set the game to "High Performance" in my CCC, if i dont do it my games are running in "Energy Saving"-mode and dont using the better 6650m gpu. Maybe you have to do it too?

Yeah, i noticed that the CCC uses the Windows power plans, but i have it set so on High Performance while plugged in, it maxes the CPU out at 3.2ghz and sets the GPU to "maximize performance". Unfortunately, i don't have an APU processor, mine is simply a dual-core AMD Phenom II (fastest clock speed for an S1 socket), and a dedicated 6650M GPU, so i don't have the integrated GPU along with my processor.

After playing Borderlands 2, i don't see any performance increase from the drivers alone. I'm pretty sure i'm doing something wrong with this overclocking business. Like i mentioned, i can easily overclock the CPU without much issue (the temperatures soar, though), but the GPU (which is usually 10C below the CPU unless it dips below 60, at that point it stays about 5C behind) has to have properly configured drivers and settings, sigh

[bouuman]

Originally Posted by breakingspell

Yeah, i noticed that the CCC uses the Windows power plans, but i have it set so on High Performance while plugged in, it maxes the CPU out at 3.2ghz. Unfortunately, i don't have an APU processor, mine is simply a dual-core AMD Phenom II (fastest clock speed for an S1 socket), and a dedicated 6650M GPU, so i don't have the integrated GPU along with my processor.

After playing Borderlands 2, i don't see any performance increase from the drivers alone. I'm pretty sure i'm doing something wrong with this overclocking business. Like i mentioned, i can easily overclock the CPU without much issue (the temperatures soar, though), but the GPU (which is usually 10C below the CPU unless it dips below 60, at that point it stays about 5C behind) has to have properly configured drivers and settings, sigh

I'm using also MSI Afterburner without any problems :/. Just included this bouth files atipdlxx.dll / atipld64.dll.

[breakingspell]

Originally Posted by bouuman

I'm using also MSI Afterburner without any problems :/. Just included this bouth files atipdlxx.dll / atipld64.dll.

I'll hunt around for those two files, i know they might be necessary. Is there a specific version i should use?

[bouuman]

Originally Posted by breakingspell

I'll hunt around for those two files, i know they might be necessary. Is there a specific version i should use?

no just google for them, you will find them really quick and insert them to your system32 and syswow64 folder.

[breakingspell]

I threw the dlls in their proper folders, and in the MSI afterburner installation directory like one thread mentioned, but still, the artifacts persist.

I noticed, though, as i tried (and failed) to take a picture of the flickering, it only happens when i move something on the screen. So it might be tied to the refresh rate, i'm thinking. The bars come up only if i make something drastic move across the screen, usually simply moving the mouse won't summon them, but when a tooltip pops up, or if i drag a window, bam, bunch of bars.

CCC says my refresh rate is 60hz, and i'm sure that's normal, but i dunno

[bouuman]

Originally Posted by breakingspell

I threw the dlls in their proper folders, and in the MSI afterburner installation directory like one thread mentioned, but still, the artifacts persist.

I noticed, though, as i tried (and failed) to take a picture of the flickering, it only happens when i move something on the screen. So it might be tied to the refresh rate, i'm thinking. The bars come up only if i make something drastic move across the screen, usually simply moving the mouse won't summon them, but when a tooltip pops up, or if i drag a window, bam, bunch of bars.

CCC says my refresh rate is 60hz, and i'm sure that's normal, but i dunno

you using the notebook screen or a screen which is pluged in into your notebook? Maybe something wrong with your screen settings or windows aero settings? I always disable windows aero, it gives me little bit more performance.

[breakingspell]

Originally Posted by bouuman

you using the notebook screen or a screen which is pluged in into your notebook? Maybe something wrong with your screen settings or windows aero settings? I always disable windows aero, it gives me little bit more performance.

I'm using the laptop's monitor, i don't have a spare to try out, unfortunately, but i did turn Aero off and it had an odd effect. The bars didn't come up like normal, but i maximize chrome to chant hurrah, and bam, as i'm typing, there's a storm of them. So persistent that i was able to grab a picture, https://www.dropbox.com/s/wydnz3oinn...2002.42.25.jpg

[bouuman]

Originally Posted by breakingspell

I'm using the laptop's monitor, i don't have a spare to try out, unfortunately, but i did turn Aero off and it had an odd effect. The bars didn't come up like normal, but i maximize chrome to chant hurrah, and bam, as i'm typing, there's a storm of them. So persistent that i was able to grab a picture, https://www.dropbox.com/s/wydnz3oinn...2002.42.25.jpg

hmm i never saw this before, i only remember i got many colored stripes (like rainbow) when i didnt disabled ulps...

[breakingspell]

Originally Posted by bouuman

hmm i never saw this before, i only remember i got many colored stripes (like rainbow) when i didnt disabled ulps...

Nah, these are horizontal bars, stretch from one side of the screen to other in straight lines, and flicker several times a second (enough to where my camera only picks up one or two bars per shot)
Another picture: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dhpeyobhkd...2002.57.45.jpg

Thing is, even if i reset the clocks and close MSI Afterburner, the bars persist until i reboot.

[bouuman]

Originally Posted by breakingspell

Nah, these are horizontal bars, stretch from one side of the screen to other in straight lines, and flicker several times a second (enough to where my camera only picks up one or two bars per shot)
Another picture: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dhpeyobhkd...2002.57.45.jpg

Thing is, even if i reset the clocks and close MSI Afterburner, the bars persist until i reboot.

i saw in some other forums that people got horizontal stripes because the monitor connection was loose, you have a another monitor which you can plug in into your notebook and check if that monitor also get stripes?

[breakingspell]

Originally Posted by bouuman

i saw in some other forums that people got horizontal stripes because the monitor connection was loose, you have a another monitor which you can plug in into your notebook and check if that monitor also get stripes?

I'll bring it to work tomorrow and hook it up with VGA, my grandparents have an HDTV, so I'll try that as well. It might even be a program I have that might be conflicting with something, because after I issued a shutdown and all of my programs closed, the flickering stopped, especially during the fade out/in to the shutdown screen.

But it's 3 AM, and my eyes hurt from sniping bandits, so I'll have to pick this up tomorrow. Thanks for the help so far!

[breakingspell]

Well, plugging into a VGA monitor and turning off the laptop display didn't fix the problem, the bars were on the larger monitor (at a higher resolution). In addition, closing every program in my system tray didn't make the bars go away, but hitting Restart makes them go away right away.

[bouuman]

Originally Posted by breakingspell

Well, plugging into a VGA monitor and turning off the laptop display didn't fix the problem, the bars were on the larger monitor (at a higher resolution). In addition, closing every program in my system tray didn't make the bars go away, but hitting Restart makes them go away right away.

funny thing happend yesterday. I installed Afterburner on a friends notebook and he got also horizontal stripes sometimes after that. But when the game started they was away.

[breakingspell]

Originally Posted by bouuman

funny thing happend yesterday. I installed Afterburner on a friends notebook and he got also horizontal stripes sometimes after that. But when the game started they was away.

Hadn't tried fully loading a game, but i just did, still had bars in Portal 2 and Borderlands 2

[JeffJ]

Originally Posted by breakingspell

Hadn't tried fully loading a game, but i just did, still had bars in Portal 2 and Borderlands 2

Registered just to tell you what i have found overclocking my 6470M

If you change the resolution in windows and then instead of keeping the settings choose revert. it will solve the horizontal line issue. They only seem to appear when you first set a clock that's higher then the factory max and go away permanently until reboot and resetting oc by a simple resolution toggle.

[breakingspell]

Originally Posted by JeffJ

Registered just to tell you what i have found overclocking my 6470M

If you change the resolution in windows and then instead of keeping the settings choose revert. it will solve the horizontal line issue. They only seem to appear when you first set a clock that's higher then the factory max and go away permanently until reboot and resetting oc by a simple resolution toggle.

I had never thought about changing the resolution, let me get right on that

EDIT: Ho shiiit, it worked! Now to test some games!

[JeffJ]

Originally Posted by breakingspell

I had never thought about changing the resolution, let me get right on that

EDIT: Ho shiiit, it worked! Now to test some games!

Not sure why it causes tearing when the oc is enabled but switching resolutions and then back to your desired one seems to resolve the issues with out any detrimental effects. Gave me a nice bump in BL2 so i'm happy its working lol

[breakingspell]

Originally Posted by JeffJ

Not sure why it causes tearing when the oc is enabled but switching resolutions and then back to your desired one seems to resolve the issues with out any detrimental effects. Gave me a nice bump in BL2 so i'm happy its working lol

I haven't noticed much of a performance increase just yet, but i've been working all weekend, so i haven't had a chance to really sit down and have a control and variable test