Overclocking 7660G and 7670M, and 6620G

chad2625

Honorable
Jul 28, 2012
76
0
10,590
Im posting this I hope in the right thread, its overclocking a laptop so I guess its a coin flip. Also this information might be a repost but I searched for a guide or how to on stuff like this and never found it.


Changing Clock Frequencies and Voltages at your own risk! Doing so will most likely void your warranty. Replacement parts for laptops are insanely expensive. You run the risk of ruining your laptop by overclocking and over volting your laptop.
This is a multi-part guide thing, one is how to overclock new AMD Trinity based GPU’s, with dedicated cards in dual graphic setups. Part two is to overclock llano based GPU’s. Then I will cover how to maximize performance of these two processors, and I hint at overclocking Llano based CPU’s but I’m sure there are guides on how to do this. I overclocked the Hell out of the 7670M using MSI after Burner and The 7660G. I will explain how to overclock Llano Based Video cards like the 6620G. Then I will explain how to optimize the performance of the CPU.
Here is what I did for new Trinity Setup
1) Install Catalyst 12.9 Beta Drivers. (this works because trinity drivers as far as I can tell are vendor specific unless you download the complete package. Google search catalyst 12.9 beta drivers as the AutoDetect through Amd’s web site won’t work!)
2) Install AMD overDrive
3) Install AMD PS Check newest version 3.4.1.277
4) Install MSI Afterburner
5) Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI Afterburner\ then open MSIafterburner.cfg in note pad then look for UnofficialOverclockingMode = 0 under [ATIADLHAL]. Change the 0 to 1, save and close.
6) Open MSI Afterburner and now you should be able to overclock the discrete video card
7) Now open AMD Overdrive, go to the clock and voltage tabs. You will now notice there is a GPU clock tab and it allows you to change the IGP (in my case the 7660G). I don’t think that it was anything we changed, it’s now available to overclock
8) I noticed that I get more better video performance when I crank the NBVID up until it turns red for me 1.114) Apply and ok.
9) The last step is to use AMD PS Check to set the voltage and remove all but the P0 setting. To do this go to file->settings when the windows opens go to the CPU settings tab and select all. Next go to the PState Configuration.
10) Uncheck Enable for all but PState P0, PState Pb1 and PState Pb0.
11) Change CPUVid to one or two settings at a time. Or you can cheat and look at what AMD over Drive and see what CPUvoltage goes to until it turns red, and use that setting. The first method is preferred, I’m sure that you could go higher than what Overdrive says is say, but I wouldn't, I also did not notice any performance increase in doing so.
12) You can make different profiles by saving, your Pstate Configuration, so you can change between high performance and regular modes easily.
As far as I can tell it, is impossible to overclock the Trinity CPU but increasing the CPU voltage increases CPU performance, and increasing the NB VID increases video performance. Do not try to use PS Check to do this as it makes my laptop unstable. If you feel bold and find different results please post them
As far as overclocking the IGP through AMD Over drive you might be able to overclock it stably very high (1.3 GHZ in my case), but I only see a performance increase from 685 MHZ to 720 MHZ.
Over clocking the 7670M though MSI Afterburner, you should be able to overclock the Processor and Memory I was able to over Clock mine from 600 MHZ to 780 MHZ (max). But the Memory I went from 900 MHZ to 1075 MHZ, whereas max is 1175 MHZ, still a good increase.
Llano
1) Install Catalyst 12.9 Beta Drivers
2) Install MSI afterburner
3) Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI Afterburner\ then open MSIafterburner.cfg in note pad then look for UnofficialOverclockingMode = 0 under [ATIADLHAL] and change the 0 to 1 save and close
4) Open MSI afterburner and now you should be able to over clock the IGP in your llano based APU. ( I personally thought this was impossible)
5) Install K10 Stat and/or AMD overdrive.


If you use K10stat you can lock your CPU into one power state, which could be the highest one. AMD overdrive is easier going to Auto clock click start and AMD over drive will find the best over clock. Please note that it will lock this in so your processor always uses this frequency (bad for battery life). K10 stat you can tell it what frequency it uses, so you can go from high to low performance modes easily.
Using afterburner I took a 6620G to 580 MHZ from 444 MHZ. I noticed that from 444 MHZ to 500 MHZ I saw a huge performance increase. Unlike Trinity I still saw a performance increase from 500 MHZ to 585 MHZ but not nearly as much as from 444 MHZ to 500 MHZ. Also note that you can’t change the memory clock as it is your system ram.
Other Thoughts
All APU’s Benefit if you are using dual channel setups meaning 2 x 4GB sticks is better than 1 x 8 GB. Also you want to get the fastest ram with the lowest latency’s your laptop will support. This is because the APU based GPU uses system ram, faster system ram, and means faster video ram.
This is not overclocking but, both Trinity and Llano based CPUs can be undervolted. From my general experience both a crap ton, in my Trinity it can go stably as low as .981 without too notable performance decreases. Using a simple program like Intel burn in test to get a simple GFLOP output from my processor. It was less powerful, but I would say you would notice it in your battery life, say for students who are most likely to own this class of laptop. Most likely a tradeoff students would find interesting as you can go from super low voltages and high voltage setups easily.
Final thoughts
If you’re going to does this do it at your own risk. Also consider that overclocking generates more heat, normally this is not an issue in desktops, as you can upgrade your cooling (Which you can’t do in laptops).Llano and Trinity have thermal cutoffs of 100 C, so they will shut down your computer at 100C. I like to try to keep my full load temps below 90 C on my overclocks for safety. I always find the maximum stable clock settings and lower it by 10-20 MHZ, as a safety buffer.


Trinity, A10-4600M, Overclock 7670M,
 

Real_GM

Honorable
Sep 18, 2012
10
0
10,570
Hi,

Thanks for the post, I've been trying to figure out a way to overclock the 7660G. Overclocking 7670M yield no increase in a DUAL graphics setup. The limiting factor is the 7660G.

You can actually go pass 780Mhz with msi afterburner on msi afterburner. Simply apply the clock speed, quit afterburner, and reopen it. Then you will start the clock with 780 mhz with empty room on the slider. *Don't go at 850. it blue screens.

As for memory overclock. I don't see a significant change all the way to 1000+ mhz. infact, I start to see artifacts if I sustan at 1075 mhz.

On average, i found that you can get a 30% performance increase at 780Mhz core and 950 mhz memory if only using 7670M.

Again, if you are playing with DUAL graphics, don't bother with overclocking the 7670M. It has no performance increase.



I'm going to some test after I install overdrive to assess whether overclocking 7660G increases DUAL graphics performance.



As for the CPU,

I can vouch that clocking pstate to 2.7Ghz improves gaming performance for games that use more CPU. But my laptop overheats afterward to 91. Once it hit 92, everything slows down until the CPU temp is back at 75. The cycle continues.

I don't know how you do it, but I can't overvolt my 4600M with pscheck; but undervolting works fine.

K10stat only works for Llano, but not trinity. I hope a similar program exists for trinity. PScheck crashes on me at times.


Overall, I'm really satisfied with the price and performance of the A10-4600M + 7670M trinity dual graphics setup.

Wish AMD and other OEM are more aggressive in their marketing.
 

chad2625

Honorable
Jul 28, 2012
76
0
10,590
Yea, I really get annoyed with People who state that APU's are underpowered CPU's with a integrated video card. I read so many post you can't get a sub $1000 gaming laptop. You can, it just depeneds on what you want. Im going to post some screen shots, of my software and what not. Also I have an HP g7z-2100 maybe your motherboard is playing a role? I also find that different hardware espically video cards, can vary what they can be overclocked. Sometimes Better cards that failed to meet their standards so they get downclocked, stream processors get turned off, and sold as cheaper cards. I suspect that might be the case as my 7670M only added $50 to my build, also it is the DDR3 version. Im also Kinda curious I actually see a performance increase when I O.C just my 7670M.
 

Real_GM

Honorable
Sep 18, 2012
10
0
10,570
Got Overdrive working by installing it in another directory.

4.2.3 has IGP control and I can overclock the 7660G to at least 1000Mhz. Will now do a thorough study to see if this improves performance

Thanks for the heads up
 

Aztec_209

Honorable
Sep 18, 2012
5
0
10,510



Does this work if you don't have dual graphics? I just have the HD 7660g
 

chad2625

Honorable
Jul 28, 2012
76
0
10,590
The First Benchmark I ran must have been flawed. /sigh The best performance inrease I saw is when I locked in the Processor into P0. Real, it sounds like you can lock your processor into PB0 witch is a turbo core setting if im not mistaken? My computer just Reboots or Hangs when I try to lock it into PB0. Given the fact that we see performance increases when we use one but not both. I have a couple of theories: the first is that dual graphics mode fills bandwidth somewhere, I suspect this to be in NB. If anybody could overclock their NB and let us know. The next being that Dual Graphics just doesn't get any performance increase by overclocking. I am far more inclined to belive the bandwidth issue, I have noticed a pattern the more I overclock the Video (more so on the Integrated, but also on the Discrete) the lower the CPU score in 3dmark vantage.

I also have noticed, When I open msi afterburner the maximum clock is 885 MHZ. If I close afterburner and reopen it the max clock freq. has increased.

Interesting results, At least my guide works for single setups and llano GPUS.
 

Real_GM

Honorable
Sep 18, 2012
10
0
10,570
Hi Chad,

I actually get a 5% increase in Dual Graphic Performance in 3dmark if I set my 7660G to 950Mhz and 7670M to 780Mhz/1000Mhz.

Also, if you bump up the 7660G clock speed, your CPU actually will also get a 5% bump in calculation power (from 3dmark physics score).

I also suspect that Dual graphics will benefit from NB/memory overclocking.

However, don't Overvolt your NB since that won't give you performance increase (Tested it 3 times with and without on 3dmark).

I would actually undervolt the NB and CPU so that it will run cooler. Overvolting only benefits when you need extra juice for overclocking. Since we can't overclock the 4600M, its not that important.

As for locking the P0 state (2.7 Ghz), I found that while CPU performance does increase 10%, graphic performance decreases at times. Either PScheck is doing funny things or there is a bottleneck somewhere between the CPU and 7660G. Don't bother with the Pb0 (3.2 ghz state), AMD screwed it up. It actually can't sustain 3.2 ghz more than a second.

Overall, I say your guide does help dual graphics, but its not much. However, every little thing helps ;)

This guide will help those with single graphic setup tremendously.
 

chad2625

Honorable
Jul 28, 2012
76
0
10,590
P0 is the Highest standard P state PB1 is 2.7 overclock which I cant set to, with out crashing. Overvolting can Increase performance in some situations, (different CPU family but my I7 was like that Stock clock but more voltage more performance) in my early benchmarks I was seeing promsing results, but decided it was a fluke /sigh. I can tell you that you will notice a difference in performane decrease if you undervolt the NB. I was getting median GFLOP's of 11.4xx, when I lowered NB Voltage it hit 10.5xx GFLOP's. I also was curios as what undervolting did for power cosumption so I hooked my charger up to a Wattmeter and pulled out the battery. Ran A CPU test, at stock it used about 60 Watts, CPU undervolted it ran 51 to 53 Watts. NB Voltage It ran at stock ran 49-51 watts. What version of 3dmark are you running?



 

Real_GM

Honorable
Sep 18, 2012
10
0
10,570
Hi Chad,

I'm using 3dmark11, which is mostly for graphics assessments.

Without overclock I get around ~2150. With overclock I get ~2250.

I can lock on to 2.7Ghz without crashing with pscheck. 3.2 is always a no go.

Do you use overdrive to overvolt your NB? I tried to overvolt and realized that my NB is already at 1.375V. The slider goes to red at 1.100V. Did you go pass 1.375V?

By the way, do you know what that green button do in overdrive? I'm trying to figure out what was changed if I toggle it.

 

chad2625

Honorable
Jul 28, 2012
76
0
10,590
Ill start with the easy stuff, Im using PS check 3.4 way different way easier to use. According to "quick help" (question mark to the right of minimize) yellow or red means your computer is in a boost mode, ehh I think it is broken personally. I do use to overdrive to set NB voltage but when you mention it, my NB voltage runs higher than what the slider turns red, So i suppose I was undervolting. ill run a 3dmark 11 benchmark and post settings and results
 

Aztec_209

Honorable
Sep 18, 2012
5
0
10,510
As for locking the P0 state (2.7 Ghz), I found that while CPU performance does increase 10%, graphic performance decreases at times. Either PScheck is doing funny things or there is a bottleneck somewhere between the CPU and 7660G. Don't bother with the Pb0 (3.2 ghz state), AMD screwed it up. It actually can't sustain 3.2 ghz more than a second.

How exactly do you use PScheck? I downloaded (3.4.1) the program and wan't to give it a try, My cpu is able to sustain 3.2 ghz without a problem according to CPUid and Blackbox. Here is the thing, wile gaming the CPU won't go any higher than 2.6-2.7Ghz, but programs like Sketchup its constantly running at full 3.2Ghz, untill I close the program. How did you lock the P0 state? and how could I lock the 3.2Ghz? I used k10Stat on my previous fusion (Llano) but this one seems a bit different and don't wan't to screw anything up!

Also, I overclocked the IGP to 1.3Ghz and I only gained about 3-4 Fps a game(same with 720Mhz overclock) Right now I have a HUGE bottleneck since I'm currently running in a single channel 4GB 1600 (CL of 11 :( ) I added a slower 1333 2GB stick and the FPS literally doubled a game (GTA IV full settings 22Fps). Last Tuesday I ordered these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104257
with hopes that it will remove the bottleneck.

As a side note, have you guys tried adding 1866 ram? Yes I know that 1600 is the only supported speed for mobile platforms but I was curious and added a 4GB 1866 ram to it, amazingly it runs and it doesn't downclock to 1600!, It improved the GPU's Bandwidth from 25.6GB/s to 29.9GB/s and memory speed from 800Mhz to 933Mhz, making it same(or similar) to the desktop version, as well giving me a 6.9 on the WEI(7.0 sometimes), but unfortunately there's a huge problem, for some odd reason my battery dies in less than one hour.... Didn't record temperatures, but did notice the laptop a bit warmer.

71070884.jpg
 

chad2625

Honorable
Jul 28, 2012
76
0
10,590
Trinity at least CPU can't be overclocked (as far as I can tell, others to), PScheck Can only be used to Lock in one power state. There seems to be some Description as far as what can be done. For example I can Overvolt my CPU easily, some people Cant (while using older versions), some people can Lock into PB1 I can't. The Primary advantage of using Pscheck is to keep your processor from downclocking while gaming, since you want CPU Performance.

To lock in a P-state:
1) File Settings
2) CPU Settings
3) In the Save to (core) box select all
4) Go to Pstate Config
5) Uncheck enable for all but Desired P-state. Power state technology is ehh flawed it is more concerned with down clocking to save power than performance.


Pshcheckdefualt.png

Far left is Pscheck, Middle is PScheck settings tab see where the mouse pointer is? Click all then uncheck enable for all but P0, you can try to disable P0 and run in PB1 but that crashes my computer.

I was on the same thought process about ram, Its good to know that 1866 MHZ ram posts. Its even more amazing that it runs at 1866, I just ordered the same stuff. I hope it works in my computer as 1600 mhz stuff does not it will post and show 800 mhz but fail a 3dmark test. I noticed though it failed to pass benchmarks It also reports as running at 933 MHZ at times which it should not hence the crash. So my thought was to get 1866 ram to run at 1600 speeds, . BTW you need to review the ram stating it worked in at AMD APU .


I hope this helps, Ram NB seems to be bottleneck for the A10.

 

palladin9479

Distinguished
Jul 26, 2008
193
0
18,640
Good guide, bravo. Recommend Mods stick this guide.

I have a HP DV6z with the A8-3550MX and 7690M dGPU and I absolutely love it. The only thing I don't like is that HP locked the BIOS to prevent it from being modded, their default BIOS only initializes memory at 666Mhz bus speed (DDR3-1333). From what I hear the older DV6z's didn't have this issue and many people were successful in getting DDR3-1600 to work in them.

Otherwise I was able to get my cpu to run 3.0Ghz on all four cores for some benchmarks, it ran super hot and I definitely wouldn't want to full time it that way, but it did finish the bench's. I nominally have it set to 2.7Ghz P0 and 3.0Ghz B0 state with 2.0P1 and everything else undervolted for better battery life. What I like to do is if I know it's a single threaded application I will set the affinity flag to force it on a core then lock that core at 3.0Ghz.

I think you should add a section referring to "turbo boost" and Window's psychotic scheduler. In theory boosting will increase the clock speed of a core when it's utilization is high and the utilization of other cores is low. In practice this rarely happens due to Windows NT constantly moving a thread around to different cores. NT Kernel will task switch frequently and when it goes to resume the thread it doesn't place it back on it's original core and instead put it's on whichever core is least utilized. This is why you have it go from a 2.7Ghz core to a 800Mhz core that then clocks up only to have the thread moved again to a different core. You end up with all cores operating at the same speed as the heavy thread is constantly moved around to keep all four at 25% utilization vs one at 100% utilization. If your manipulating and tweaking the P states for optimal performance then locking threads to prevent them from jumping around is a handy way to force boosting to happen.
 

Aztec_209

Honorable
Sep 18, 2012
5
0
10,510
I had an HP Pavilion DV6-6c48us with the A8-3520M (No Dual Graphics), I tried adding 1600 ram (came with 6GB 1333) and the laptop would not post... The most I was able to overclock using k10stat was 2.8Ghz (barely stable) but the laptop got super hot, not a joke!, that's the ONLY thing I don't like about HP, crappy motherboards...

I'm in the process of trying to unlock my Bios as well since I wan't to give more dedicated memory to my GPU, to see if it helps, you should add a request here:
http://www.bios-mods.com/forum/

How is the 7690M gaming wise?

Trinity at least CPU can't be overclocked (as far as I can tell, others to), PScheck Can only be used to Lock in one power state. There seems to be some Description as far as what can be done. For example I can Overvolt my CPU easily, some people Cant (while using older versions), some people can Lock into PB1 I can't. The Primary advantage of using Pscheck is to keep your processor from downclocking while gaming, since you want CPU Performance.

To lock in a P-state:
1) File Settings
2) CPU Settings
3) In the Save to (core) box select all
4) Go to Pstate Config
5) Uncheck enable for all but Desired P-state. Power state technology is ehh flawed it is more concerned with down clocking to save power than performance.


http://i1247.photobucket.com/album [...] efualt.png
Far left is Pscheck, Middle is PScheck settings tab see where the mouse pointer is? Click all then uncheck enable for all but P0, you can try to disable P0 and run in PB1 but that crashes my computer.

I was on the same thought process about ram, Its good to know that 1866 MHZ ram posts. Its even more amazing that it runs at 1866, I just ordered the same stuff. I hope it works in my computer as 1600 mhz stuff does not it will post and show 800 mhz but fail a 3dmark test. I noticed though it failed to pass benchmarks It also reports as running at 933 MHZ at times which it should not hence the crash. So my thought was to get 1866 ram to run at 1600 speeds, . BTW you need to review the ram stating it worked in at AMD APU .


I hope this helps, Ram NB seems to be bottleneck for the A10.

Unfortunately it won't let me...... darn.., anyways I found out something else wile using the 1866 ram, it has happened twice now, and its strange since I don't know if the ram of GPU overclock is the cause, but when ever I open a new window, and I hover to the "X" to close it the button flickers? (glitches)
 

palladin9479

Distinguished
Jul 26, 2008
193
0
18,640
I posted about the a moded bios and that's how I found out that the DV6z-6c00 has a signed BIOS. If the firmware image isn't signed by HP's key then it won't POST and you'll have to do a recovery re-flash. The DV6z-6100 on the other hand doesn't have a signed BIOS and it's able to be modded.

You have to be careful what memory you put in, if it's DDR3L (low powered) then the laptop won't even boot if you put in 1600. Samsung is the only brand I've found that boots with DDR3L-1600 memory. Otherwise regular DDR3-1600 will work, just the BIOS only recognizes it as 533Mhz (DDR3-1333). From everything I've looked at it's because the original HP-DV6z was using the non-MX branded CPU's which only go to 1333 speeds. Only their later models have the MX chips and HP never got around to retesting / validating DDR3-1600 memory on their older sub $1000 USD models. The newer DV6's with Trinity support 1600 and above memory though so the issue is only with the last series of Sabine models.

The 7690M is just a rebranded 6750M and works the same. I find it to be quite fast for playing games, especially considering this was a $800 laptop (1080p screen and BD-ROM). I used to hate HP's driver support as I was stuck with catalyst 12.1a preview. None of the other releases would support dual view / switchable graphics until 12.8 when AMD explicitly wrote in support. Now it runs like a champ, seamlessly transitions from the 6620G to the Dual Mode and gives anywhere from 5 ~ 10% performance boost over just the dGPU by itself. I would get much more if I could my memory at 1600 speeds, the APU's are seriously limited by memory bandwidth. You get anywhere from 5~15% performance boost going from 1333 to 1600 speeds.
 

chad2625

Honorable
Jul 28, 2012
76
0
10,590
If your talking Video Performance then yes, for a fact. As the APU Pulls off of system ram, then yes it would make a huge difference. This is something that people who purchase low end middle of the line video cards do not understand. They're out shopping, come across two gt640's, only one is $50 cheaper. What they fail to understand is that the cheaper one has less ram, that is slower, and has lower bandwidth ect. By taking your computer from single channel to dual channel you are taking your GPU from 64 bit memory bus to 128 a doubling your bandwidth, increasing your ram speed is like, is like overclocking your ram. In lower end setups such details are very important.
 

chad2625

Honorable
Jul 28, 2012
76
0
10,590
Did your ram come with heat spreaders? Kingston tech support said it should, told me either I got the wrong stuff or someone removed it and my warranty is void. Also did yours come in a retail kit, or just a oem package? where did you purchase from?



 

Aztec_209

Honorable
Sep 18, 2012
5
0
10,510


I barely received my memory yesterday, and yes it did come with the heat spreaders, and it was a retail kit, here is were I got them:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104257

Now I'ts exactly the same as what I got, except the packaging was a little different, popped the memory in my laptop ran a WEI (without the 1866, and overclocked) and gave me a 6.8 on graphics and gaming graphics! Also performance on games almost tripled in FPS, giving me a 30.6Fps on GTA IV (all high) when I was getting 14.2Fps on GTA IV (all medium)

newspecs.jpg


Did you try to overclock the system memory?
Since the 7660G uses shared memory and we know it should have impact like in other GPUs (the 7670M vs 7690M).
?

Good point, overclocking the system memory might in fact improve the bandwidth on the GPU, making it even faster... I might try it when I get a chance