[Guide] Installing AMD Radeon Mobility 6970 / 6990 in your M17x R2 (Single GPU and CrossfireX)

Special thanks to Marco R., Brian K. and the rest of the Tech|Inferno community for their support. Also special thanks to NBR.com member Pkhetan for selling me these cards at a great price.

So you have an M17x R2, but may secretly want the new M18x with dual AMD Radeon 6970Ms in CrossfireX, yet you’re bummed with the relative reduction of screen quality in the M18x and you’re also not a fan of the big move to 16:9. You really don’t want a bigger chassis and you don’t feel like going through the whole process of throwing down $2500+ on a M18x and selling your beloved M17x-R2 to cover the cost. What do you do? A. Break your piggy bank and buy/lease an M18x or B. Watch in silence as M18x owners have all the fun with those dual 6970Ms?

Answer: C. Install two 6970Ms in your All-Powerful M17x-R2.


UPDATE [8/22/2011]: Now you can upgrade your R2 to the Radeon 6990M both single and in CrossfireX, as done by a couple of members already. Thus, all the information in this guide can also apply to the 6990Ms as well. Keep in mind though that the 6990M will consume more power than the 6970M and thus heavy overclocking on the GPUs is not recommended for gaming until a power supply upgrade/mod is finalized.

UPDATE [8/13/2012]: Now you can upgrade your R2 to the Radeon 7970M both single and in CrossfireX IF PURCHASED FROM EUROCOM, as done by a couple of members already. All the information of this tutorial EXCEPT PART 3 is relevant to installing the 7970M; just be sure to install Catalyst 12.5 or higher for best compatibility. However, although the Eurocom 7970Ms are pretty much plug and play, Audio AND Video over HDMI do NOT work at this time. Hopefully, there will be a fix for this soon. Also, keep in mind though that the 6990M will consume more power than the 6970M and thus heavy overclocking on the GPUs is not recommended for gaming until a power supply upgrade/mod is finalized.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION; Please read the following before continuing with this guide:

The Radeon 6970m being installed in the Alienware All-Powerful M17x-R2 is not officially supported by Dell/Alienware and will most likely void the warranty on your system. The 6970m is a powerful card in single and in CrossfireX configurations; it will draw more power and produce more heat than the Mobility 5870 in the respective setups (or any other similar setups). Although the long term effects of the Radeon 6970M single and CrossfireX in the M17x-R2 are currently unknown, these cards will perform significantly better than any equivalent setups offered by Dell/Alienware for this particular system.

Although the Alienware All-Powerful M17x-R2 and M17x-R1 are similar by design, their chipsets and BIOS firmware are different. Although I encourage anyone to try this on the M17x-R1 due to the similarities in chassis design with the R2, keep in mind the possibility that results may differ from those when tested in the newer R2.




Different types of Radeon 6970M/VBIOSes and their effects on the M17x-R2:

• 6970m Engineering Sample from MXM-upgrade.com (Please note that MXM-upgrade.com is currently selling OEM 6970Ms): Originally had display issues with the original VBIOS. This was rectified by reflashing the card to the VBIOS used in the M17x-R3 6970M. Also found out that this specific ES chip had 1120 shaders vs. the 960 shaders the original 6970M is supposed to have. Nonetheless, functionality was no different than the 960 shader (except for increased performance). While flashed, the system fans did NOT respond to temperature and was stuck on one speed. Also, the system would crash when shutting down, in sleep mode, in hibernation mode, or when unplugged from the PSU.

• The card Dell uses in the M17x R3/M18x-R1: Originally tested by Brian K. Same issues I experienced with the 1120 shader 6970M ES sample when reflashed to Dell VBIOS. Reflashing it to a newer Dell VBIOS will not help.

• Clevo (and resellers) 6970m (This is the recommended version and will be used in this guide): There are two versions of these type of cards; the cards meant for single GPU setups (Clevo P150hm, P151hm, P170hm) and the ones meant for Crossfire setups (Clevo X7200, X8100). Both cards look physically the same with the difference being the type of VBIOS they use. Thus, the Clevo cards meant for single GPU setups does NOT support CrossfireX and would need to be reflashed in order to gain that ability. However, both versions allow the system fans to respond to temperature and also allows the system to shut down, sleep, hibernate and go on battery mode without crashing. Both of these also give you access to ATi Overdrive in the Catalyst Control Center. This means that you don’t have to disable ULPS when overclocking in Crossfire mode. Unfortunately, these cards/VBIOSses do NOT support audio over HDMI/DisplayPort (but hopefully this could be fixed with a VBIOS update/mod).

• Eurocom 6970M: Issues similar with the Dell 6970M; fans work but still has the sleep/hibernate/battery/shutdown issue. Also, the VBIOS limits you to a 1600x1200 resolution.

Please note: You can flash any of Clevo/Eurocom/Reseller 6970Ms to the VBIOS that is recommended for this guide. You can also reflash the Dell/AMD 6970Ms with the Clevo VBIOS. However, flashing the Dell/AMD versions will NOT fix the fan issue and will require a motherboard BIOS hack to fix this since it seems to be a slight hardware difference that is not recognized by the M17x-R2 EC. In the meantime, you can use HWinfo to control fan speed, automatically or manually, through Windows.




Things to do before proceeding with this tutorial:

• Download the drivers. For this tutorial, I would recommend installing Catalyst 11.5 Mobility (or newer), readily available at AMD’s website. For those looking towards a CrossfireX setup, I would also recommend installing the latest Catalyst Application Profiles (CAP), also available at AMD’s website.

• Download GPU-Z and or HWinfo32, both of which allow you to monitor some important information about the cards such as temperature, clock frequencies, voltage, etc.

• Prepare a Bootable USB stick. You can refer to Zfactor’s guide on how to do this posted here.

• Buy the proper thermal gear. This includes thermal paste and thermal pads. I personally use Tuniq TX-4 for thermal paste, but there are other good alternatives out there. As for thermal pads, anything other than the stock pads or thinner than the stock pads (I recommend using pads that are .5mm thick) are recommended. Be sure to use the stock pads to outline how you want to cut the new thermal pads. You can buy both thermal paste and thermal pads at FrozenCPU.com

• Buy electrical tape (for CrossfireX setups only). This is going to be important because we are going to alter the Crossfire cable so that it accommodates the new pair of GPUs in the chassis.

• Know what you’re doing. This is probably the most important thing to do because not knowing what you’re doing could change this experience from a great one to a not so great one if your system is rendered useless. So take precautions and please read/know how to disassemble your system before proceeding.




Part I: Preparing your system for the upgrade

Download and unzip my 6970m VBIOS pack in your Bootable USB stick. You can download the files here.

Uninstall your current GPU drivers.

Turn off and powerdrain your system by removing the power cord and the battery. Then press and hold down the power button for about 10-20 seconds.

Disassemble your system until you remove all discrete GPUs from the board (1 GPU for single card setup, 2 GPUs for Crossfire setup).

Remove the GPU heatsink(s) from the GPU.

Locate the C-clips surrounding the screws that hold the heatsink(s) to the GPU (there should be 4 screws and consequently 4 C-Clips per heatsink).

In order to remove the C-clips from the heatsink's retention clip, stick a fine pointed object (i.e. tip of a pointed knife, sharp screwdriver or scissors) between the gaps between the inner ring and the screw the C-clip is mounted on (this area is boxed in red) and try to pop them away from the opening of the C-clip):




Legend (looking directly down at the tip of screw with C-Clip): Light Grey = Screw / Dark Grey = C-Clip

Remove the screws from the retention bracket

Afterwards, your heatsink's retention bracket(s) should look something like this:


This is what we want because now you can use any set of screws to hold down the heatsink to the GPU as long as the screw is compatible with the GPU's retention bracket (if this card comes from Clevo, it should come with its own set of screws; we will use these screws to hold the R2 heatsinks to the 6970m(s)).




Part II: CF Cable Modification and Card Installation

Below is a diagram is how the 6970Ms in Crossfire would look like when installed in the M17x-R2 without modifying the Crossfire (CF) cable. Notice how certain parts of the cable bend out of the system. This will interfere with keyboard replacement, heatsink replacement on the 2nd GPU and it could also distort the Crossfire connectors on the cards. We want to prevent that.



First, cut the cable wrapping outlined in red. This will address the cable interfering with the heatsink installation on the 2nd GPU:

Before


After


On the other end of the cable, peel off the clear taping (boxed in red) until the blue mini-cables are exposed.






Using a 1-2 inch piece of electrical tape, wrap the tape around the meeting point of the cable head and the mini-cables:



While holding the mini-cables at a 90 degree angle (shown in the previous picture), wrap the rest of the bundle using about 4-6 inches of electrical tape (not shown)

Connect both GPUs with your new CF cable BEFORE placing the heatsinks. You will not be able to effectively reconnect the CF cable to the cards once the heatsinks are placed on them.

If you have thermal pads (presumably already cut out and ready to place), place them accordingly on the heatsinks. For these cards, I recommend using .5mm thick thermal pads; anything thicker would compromise contact between the heatsink and the GPU die.

Apply your thermal compound on the respective GPU die.

Place AND hold the heatsink with the GPU and fasten the heatsink to the GPU with the provided heatsink screws. For a good lock, rotate each heatsink screw 4 to 5 times, or until the heatsink mount starts to bend slightly. Do this for both GPUs while the CF cable is connected.

Once the CF cable and heatsinks are installed, replace both cards accordingly in the system chassis. Be careful when replacing the second/slave GPU because the CF connector will fit tightly at the space where it is supposed to be. Be sure to press on the CF connection firmly so that the CF cable is tucked between that junction. The CF cable will bend a little bit at that junction, which is fine.

After lining up the middle part of the CF cable with the chassis, your configuration should look something like this:


Note: I used some tape to hold down certain parts of the CF cable that lost some of its original adhesive material. This is optional.

Towards the slave end, tuck the taped part of the CF cable (boxed in red) under the small opening next to where the GPU meets the MXM mount:



In the other end, contour the newly taped part of the CF cable so that it goes around the small plateau where the CF cable would go under originally:


Optional: You can tape that end with additional electrical tape so that it doesn't pop out. However, the keyboard should keep it at bay once placed.

At this point, you should be ready to reassemble your system.




Part III: VBIOS and Driver Installation

Depending on what setup and cards you have, you may need additional modifications to get the 6970Ms to work properly in your system. If you have a single Clevo 6970M (from the P150hm or the X7200) or dual Clevo 6970Ms (from the X7200 only) and you are satisfied with the stock Clevo ATi Overdrive limits (730mhz core, 1000mhz memory), then you just need to install the latest drivers or CAPs from AMD's website. If you do not fall under the aforementioned categories, read on.

Before reflashing your VBIOS (if necessary), it is recommended that you save a copy of the original VBIOS of the 6970M you have. You can do this by opening GPU-Z and clicking on the extract VBIOS button (on the extreme right of the "BIOS Version" box in GPU-Z). Save this VBIOS under the 6970m folder we created in your bootable USB drive (save it as something easy to remember and something preferably other than "6970CX0.bin" or "6970CX1.bin"). Afterwards, shut down your computer.

Plug in your bootable USB stick containing the ATiFlash utility and the required VBIOS files.

Turn on your computer and log on to your boot menu by holding F12. Choose USB/Removable Media when presented the list.

Once you are in DOS mode, type in the following command in italics:

cd 6970m

Afterwards, type in the following commands in italics (wait for confirmation of successful flashing after typing each line):

atiflash -f -p 0 6970CX0.bin

atiflash -f -p 1 6970CX1.bin (for CF users only)

Restart your machine and install the latest AMD Catalyst drivers.

If all goes well, you should be able to log on to GPU-Z and/or HWinfo32 to verify that the card(s) are installed properly. For CrossfireX users, make sure that CrossfireX is enabled under GPU-Z.




Tips and Precautions:

This upgrade is a relatively new upgrade, even though there have been successful upgrades to 6970Ms in other systems such as the Alienware M15x and the MSi GT660R. However, the added power consumption of these cards may require a higher rated power supply than the one provided for the original configuration. In our case, there exists the 330w PSU used in the Alienware M18x. Unfortunately, the M17x-R2 does not recognize the M18x PSU, even though the connector is compatible. Thus, it is not recommended to overclock your 6970Ms in CrossfireX to high levels when paired with a Core i7 Extreme processor with turbo mode on, throttle-stop active or the base clock overclocked using SetFSB. Hopefully, the guys at bios-mods.com can release a BIOS that removes this PSU check so that R2 owners would be able to use this 330w PSU.

Because we used the Clevo x7200 VBIOS for the 6970M, we have access to ATi Overdrive, ATi's factory overclocking program. This is great for Crossfire users because you don't have to edit the registry or disable ULPS in order to overclock your cards. This utility can be accessed in the Catalyst Control Center under the Performance tab. You have to click on the key button in order to activate it. Keep in mind that you'll have to overclock both cards individually and although it gives you the option to control fan speed, it doesn't work.




Benchmarks and Statistics:

System Configuration: Dual AMD Radeon HD 6970M CrossfireX - Core i7 920XM with Turbo mode enabled - 2x2GB Kingston HyperX Intel XMP DDR3 modules - 1920x1200 RGB LED - 250GB 7200rpm HD - Intel Ultimate N 6300

Battery life: 1 hour 3 minutes

Average power consumption during gaming: 220 watts

GPU idle temperatures: GPU 1 = 48 degrees C / GPU 2 = 44 degrees C

GPU web surf/video playback temperatures: GPU 1 = 64 degrees C / GPU 2 = 48 degrees C

Maximum stable GPU overclock so far for both GPU: 820mhz Core /1050mhz Memory

Stock 3Dmark Vantage run with temperatures:



Vantage with GPU clocks at 750/1000 with temperatures (Ambient temperature was 81 degrees F during this run):



Vantage with GPU clocks at 820/1050 with temperatures:



Stock 3Dmark11 run:



3Dmark11 run with GPU clocks @ 820/1050 (Kill-a-Watt max reading: 278 watts):



20 minute Furmark run with GPU @ stock clocks (Kill-a-Watt average reading: 260 watts):



5 minute Furmark fun with GPU 820/1050 (Kill-a-Watt max average reading: 272 watts):






List of Reputabe Sellers/Vendors:

Notebookreview.com forum member Aikimox

Kris Verbeeck of Mxm-upgrade.com (a.k.a Notebookreview.com forum member Ice-Tea)

Eurocom (you can visit their website for more info or visit their ebay store/nickname = Upgradeyourlaptop)

______________________________________________

Files:

6970M VBIOS (Master and Slave) with Atiflash included:
6970m.zip

 

Epic guide.
Almost makes me wish I owned an r2.
I would rep twice if possible

 

Wow... Just wow.... Great work!!! Couldn't have come at a better time for me since I just recently purchased an R2. Need to save up the money for these bad boys and then it'll be an epic time. +1 for the guide truely helpful and I very much appreciate it!!!

 

I'd rep you again but looks like I need to wait first. Thanks for this, should be coming in handy in a few weeks! Bench time here we go again

 

I will never own a r2, and I have no interest in this post really, but the fact you had the sac to do this is amazing. I wrote a guide in the Asus forum. Yours is very well layed out and organized. I wish mine looked this good! (maybe when I have 1000 posts LOL)

+Rep

 

Great work chime ..

You put a serious amount of effort into that guide .

+Rep

 

Awesome guide man!

In time...my R2 will be that much better. Got to start searching for the best price on the 6970m's out there.

+Rep

 

Congratulations , ichime, 5/5.
Now I really have the itch to test in the R1 too

 

Yes very good guide +1

 

you made my day man

++rep but I have to wait until allowed

 

+Rep

Once at home i'll start to have a look for a pair of 6970's

 

You are the Shizzz Ichime! So glad for this +rep for you a million times for breathing new life into the R2!(when I can)

 

+rep
awesome guide man.

 

+rep. Epic man. Beat me to it lol. I def will be using this in a month.

This should be stickied lol. 3 things:

Where can you buy Clevo 6970m's?
Are all the 6970m's from mxmupgrade.com 1120 shaders?
Would running two 240 watt M17x PSU's in parallel work to combat the power issue?

 

mxm-upgrade, ebay, eurocom parts site, rjtech, NBR marketplace, Dell...

Not a single one afaik. It's pretty impossible to get your hands on such a card.

Don't think this would work, and I don't think that's a good idea to try.

 

Epic, great work!

 

I was sure that the idea of having 6970's on the R2 was dead after Brian posted his results. You are the man ichime.

 

great guide mate! +rep

 

This is solid work. Well done!

 

wow, i didnt think it was possible, I just purchased a 2nd 5870! Shouldve waited.

 

5 days long, 5 days strong. Only other thing I'd advise against is installing the standalone AMD Overdrive tool (AMD overdrive 4.0). It'll crash your system and the only way to recover is through a system restore. Just use the one in CCC.

 

That is totally awesome! Rock solid stability is what I like to hear!

Any chance of any 3d Mark 06 scores?
I wanna see if we can get anywhere close to the avg 25k scores the M18x's are achieving.

Cheers.

 

I'm so glad I have an extra crossfire cable. +1 rep!! Can someone add links to a reputable seller of all the parts we need...pads...cards, etc......

 

If it is not too much trouble, I think this thread should be 'sticky'. I won't do anything to add the 6970m crosfireX into the m17xR2. I would probably sell the system and with the money I would have to buy the extra 2 X 6970m, I could purchase an m18x.

However, most of people love their RGB screen (Which I never had and experienced) and this makes more interesting to keep the m17x R2.

Thank you all for the great work, as always...

 

Sure, I can do that. I'll post up results later.

I'll do that too, though I already named one of them.

 

I had the opportunity today to put my r2 beside an m18x when I went to my buddies place in Montreal for f1 grand prix. All I need to say is he is sending hi m18x back to Dell after looking at my screen LOL. He's going to buy an outlet r2 and save a buttload of cash.

6970s are awesome maybe one day when they're cheap

 

Just a question ichime, I'm wondering what is the thickness of the thermal pads you that you used

 

Originally went with .5mm, but realized that it wasn't making good contact with the memory chips. So i stacked the pads to make it 1mm thick. Thus, I'd recommend using 1mm pads given that since the change, my memory temps are lower than my core and shader temps. However, because of my laziness, I only did it for the 2nd GPU. When I open my system up again, I'll replace/stack the pads to 1mm on the primary GPU.

Edit: updated OP with list of reputable sellers of these cards (PM me if you know any others) and 3dmark06 is giving me from bad numbers though the other benchmarks are fine.

 

3dmark06 is pretty old and CPU bound, the more you OC your CPU the higher the numbers.

 

+1 rep to you sir.
Looks like you gave birth to a potentially perfect specimen.
RGBLED + 6970m crossfire.

 

Awesome work, thank you.
+1 Rep

 

do all 6970s sold from upgradeyourlaptop (sold on ebay) support crosfire?

i saw just some blue ones (as shown on pics) but those on first post are green. however those blue one also have crossfire input

 

Exactly what he said. Ocing your cpu will dramatically boost you bench score.

 

Those are the Eurocom cards. They should support Crossfire once you reflash them with the proper VBIOS or even with the current one that's on it.

 

I'm actually going to be doing this.

The biggest concern I have is the PSU. I'm confused; will the 240watt PSU be capable of supporting this upgrade? I'm not overclocking or benching, just gaming.

 

^As long as you don't overclocked the cpu too much, I would think you should be fine. 6970m usually ran at about ~75watts under load I remember reading, or 2x75+45 for 920xm, and that is well under the 240limit, even including the screen, ram, hdd, etc.

 

You can still undervolt the cards a bit, this will help to reduce the power draw. As long as you don't overclock the cards extremely it should work.
I'm testing it with my 6970m atm, haven't done a lot of intense GPU stuff yet, but so far everything seems to work.

 

I have emailed Pkhetan for a set and Xfire cable. He's not sure if the clevo x7200 Xfire cable is the correct length for the m17xR2 anyone know how long the m17xR2 one is compared to the x7200 or does anyone know where i get a 5870m Xfire cable. Also will my heat sinks be reusable from my 285m GTX's?

 

Ok, thanks a lot guys.

This is amazing. I can't believe they got these cards to work. Talk about having the perfect laptop once I finish this!

 

Nice guide, ichime. Good work!

 

Thank you for all the time, money, and research you no doubt have put into this project ichime. +rep. I probably won't be doing this until my R2 really starts to show its age, but now I'll know where to go for directions.

 

The Xfire cable from the X7200 is way too short for the M17x R2. You'll have to use a modded M17x CF cable.

Also, the heatsink from the 285M should work seeing as it's the same for the ATi cards too, just as long as you remove the C-clips and screws from them.

So far, it seems that a 240w PSU can handle this considering that my system uses a 920XM with turbo mode on. I've played hours of Dirt 2, 3, BC2, Team Fortress 2 and other games with no OC and the system ran fine. But I still want that 330w PSU compatibility for headroom and piece of mind. So you'd be fine with this upgrade if you don't overclock and even safer if your CPU is a 840QM or below.

 

How is it comparing to the 5870's?

 

Thank you. I will be doing this upgrade after I resolve the plugged in not charging issue.

 

ichime has benchmark results in his opening post. There is also something posted on this thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...benchmark-thread-part-4-a-63.html#post7574265

 

This seems to have gone alot better than the 5870s in my R1 haha, awesome mod!

 

One question are the heatsink´s from the 4870M/5870M the same?

 

Yes. Same things

 

That sounds great i asked dell a few days ago about the current price for two 5870M. They want 687€ here in germany.
The 6970M cards are cheaper and much better

Has anyone the partnumber from the CF-cable?

 

I meant in game is there a noticeable difference, you can score the same with a 920xm and 5870's in vantage.