Nvidia has removed the ability of users to overclock their GeForce GTX 900M series GPU equipped laptops in a recent driver update. The driver in question is the GeForce R347 driver (version 347.29). Before the update users of the laptops in question had no problems overclocking or even underclocking their GPUs.
Is it desktop class if you can't tweak the clocks?
After noticing the change there have been some irritated responses to the removal of overclocking features on the official GeForce forums, among other places. Making overclocking enthusiasts even more irate is the fact that while their overclocks were wiped and set back to reference with the new driver it hasn't been possible to dodge Nvidia's new restrictions with third party overclocking tools, writes TechPowerUp.
Following pleas for some kind of official response from Nvidia concerning the 'overclocker blocker bug' - many have been surprised by the answer they got. In a nutshell, Nvidia says that the previous driver had a bug that enabled overclocking of these mobile GPUs and the new driver has fixed that. You can read the full response from Nvidia's official customer care rep ManuelG below:
"Unfortunately GeForce notebooks were not designed to support overclocking. Overclocking is by no means a trivial feature, and depends on thoughtful design of thermal, electrical, and other considerations. By overclocking a notebook, a user risks serious damage to the system that could result in non-functional systems, reduced notebook life, or many other effects.
There was a bug introduced into our drivers which enabled some systems to overclock. This was fixed in a recent update. Our intent was not to remove features from GeForce notebooks, but rather to safeguard systems from operating outside design limits."
At the time of writing that is the only official Nvidia response in the forum thread (page 3) concerning GTX 900M overclocking issue with the new driver.
Some systems makers advertised the fact the 900M series could be overclocked.
Let us know if you own a laptop with one of Nvidia's latest in GTX 900M series GPUs. Do you overclock your laptop GPU? What do readers think of the removal of the GPU overclocking facility for these laptops?
