Windows thinks i have a different GPU

[tobyr]

I have an Asus G50VT-X1, which has a rather interesting problem (as far as i can tell, all X1's have this).

Windows sincerely believes that it contains an NVidia 9800M GT, when it actually has a 9800M GS (CPU-Z can confirm this with clock speeds, referenced to www.notebookcheck.com, as well as the sticker on the front). This might not seem too bad, which is what i thought - what does it really matter - but it does mean that rivatuner thinks its a GT, meaning that overclocking is impossible (because an overclocked GT still has lower speeds than a normal GS, the GT just has more pixel pipelines).

Is there any way you know of of making windows realise what graphics card i am actually using?

thanks, Tobyr

 

[frozenlead]

Try changing your drivers. Let nvidia.com auto-detect your card. If that doesn't work, just download them manually.

 

[tobyr]

hrm, upon loading the "automatic driver finder" thing, on the nvidia site, it prompts me to run the system requirements lab software from www.srtest.com, which i already know thinks i have the GT.

Upon finishing the scan, nvidia also determines that i have the GT version. I am at a loss as to what to do!

 

[frozenlead]

Is your notebook in high performance mode? What do the clocks become then? Try running the nvidia scanner with that enabled.

 

[tobyr]

high performance mode only changes the limeters on performance, not the actual current values. However, with a fullscreen game running (forcing the video card to go to full clocks) , and then doing the scan in the background, it still tells me i have a 9800M GT.

NVidia then tells me to download the drivers from the Asus website, as due to model-specific driver changes, the best fitting ones will be found there. I have done this, and run the installer. It claims to have installed the "latest drivers for my coponents", and upon restarting i find that windows still thinks i have a GT.

Interestingly, the driver detective program i have downloaded along the way, to see if it can help, still thinks my drivers for the graphics card are out of date - but it think i have a GT, so i do not want to update them there, as that could be fatal!

is there anything else you can think of?

 

[frozenlead]

Downloading drivers for a card that isn't yours won't be fatal. It's not like you're changing the BIOS. If you run into trouble, boot in safe mode and remove them, or use system restore to get you back to square one.

The only other thing I can think of is you've a goof notebook with a GT in it, or the factory installed the wrong BIOS on the card.

Edit: Look up some benchmarks for your card and try to reproduce them. See what your notebook more closely resembles - the GT or the GS. It won't be exact, of course, but it might just show something. Here are some benchies for lots of notebook cards:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

 

[tobyr]

Im 75% confident that its a GS, because firstly the sticker on the front (from NVidia) says it is, as well as after running a full-screen 3D app CPU-Z tells me that the current GPU clocks are at (core) 530 (shaders) 1325 and (memory) 799. (Despite the fact that the "name" feild clearly says 9800M GT...). If we compare this with

Core Speed * 530 MHz
Shader Speed * 1325 MHz (The GS specs on notebookcheck)
Memory Speed * 800 MHz

Core Speed * 500 MHz
Shader Speed * 1250 MHz (The GT specs on notebookcheck)
Memory Speed * 800 MHz

And to be honest, im a little apprehensive about modifying drivers and such - i dont totally know what im doing there - so unless i was really sure, i dont know about that really.

Is there any software you know of that lets you just modify the clock speeds, rather than (like rivatuner) giving you a "safe" range to modify them within? Thats the problem with rivatuner, i can only push the clock speeds up to the safe GT limits, which are below the GS normal limits.

 

[frozenlead]

Don't be afraid of a driver. It's just a piece of software. If something goes wrong, you just remove it and go back to what you were doing before. No big deal.

You can use ATI tool to modify clockspeeds, but there is no software I know of that will let you just key in a clockspeed. The clock choices are limited by your GPU BIOS.

 

[tobyr]

Ok, thanks for the help

Ill have a look at ATITool, and get back to you.

and what would you reccomend doing about the drivers- would there be a specific GS driver that i could download and use somewhere?

 

[tobyr]

OK, ive tried ATITool, and it wont run: windows wont install the drivers, they are unsigned apparently, and accordingly, when ATITool runs, the kernel mode driver doesnt work. Ive found one person who says that running "bcdedit -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS" in command prompt should disable this, although it doesnt seem to have done anything. I'll keep trying to find a way round the driver signature forcing.

 

[frozenlead]

The drivers you're using being not signed is interesting. This means that the drivers do not contain code that verify their origin and what hardware they're supposed to be used with.

Nvidia should carry drivers for your card, but as an alternate, you can use laptopvideo2go.com

 

[tobyr]

i think im going to give up overclocking the GPU as being a bad job. thanks for all the help - you have inadvertantly solved several other of my problems, but i think its probably going to be too much hassle for very little gain. Thanks anyway

 

[frozenlead]

No problem mate.