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

Just a thought, but if your adapter only connects the center pin of one of the two power supplies then there should be no chance of some weird conflict or the system getting confused. As far as the system would know it would only have a single power supply attached.

 

That's exactly my logic. . . . however, I think windows or the laptop itself constantly checks either the voltage coming into the computer or the PSU's Hardware ID. Either way, with 1 HP PSU and 1 M17x PSU combined, the voltage will decrease to ~19.25 volts - which is incorrect, and the Hardware ID's will get jumbled.

 

Hey Aarpcard, I am confident that two M17x PSUs will work fantastically. I have been talking about running two PSUs in parallel for quite awhile, as you'll be getting the same voltage, but have WAY more headroom than your cards+CPU will ever need. I'm just wondering where the new weakness will be found once you're pulling that much more wattage. If the M17x electronics just put up with the extra abuse without a hiccup, this machine will truly be one of the best purchases I've ever made regarding 'unplanned' upgrades.

 

Damn makes me wish my system wasn't at the depot. i wonder if my M11x adaptor would work. Its 19.5v output as well.

 

My understanding of the standards used in manufacturing electronics leads me to believe that the innards of the laptop should be able to handle up to 300 to 330 watts but probably no more. I seriously doubt people will be able to get even dual 6990's and a 940xm to pull that high though. If the full 480watts were to be pulled through the laptop (or even a fair bit less than 480 watts - anywhere much past 330 or so) then I do believe the internals - most likely the voltage regulators will fry in a hurry.

Also I do know that the X7200's had problems where the MXM slots actually melted when being used with the 480ms which were pulling over 100watts through the interface. 6990m's will definitely go over 100 watts and high clocked 6970 will push that - so it all depends on how well the MXM slots in the M17x are engineered.

 

Hey Aarpcard!

At least you know how to replace the motherboard if you need to

Just kidding man, this is some awesome work!

 

Anyone know where to get a dual PSU adapter? That could probably work for now till the PSU restriction is removed from the BIOS.

 

I think the only way to do it is make your own. Clevo makes one, but it only works with 4pin connectors.

 

Hey Aarpcard,

I know you don't have a camera currently, but how difficult was it to put everything together? Because I know if it works as we all expect it should, there will probably be a lot of folks looking to do the same thing.

Don't need specifics, just generalizations is fine

 

what are these diodes you speak of and were can i get one?

Were and what parts did you get? I found it very hard to find parts for this mod

 

The 2nd PSU should be here early to mid next week. By then I should have a better cell phone (that actually has a camera decent lol). Once I get the PSU, I'll take pics and upload them as soon as I get that. Here's a schematic though. I forgot to include a diode to have the LED's work independantly of each other and prevent backwash but that's basically it. Really simple stuff. I guesstimated on the amperages of the fuses though.

 

I don't think the diodes are necessary. Yeah you can put them in - and I'll experiment with them, but the forward voltage drop is too troubling. Here is one that would do the trick if you wanted to try it though.

15A Diode

Having a diode is not necessary, because the bridge rectifiers already in the PSU should prevent reverse current from flowing back into the secondary transformer coil.

Radio shack only had the PCB unfortunately lol. I had resisters and LED's lying around. For the connectors I had to go to a component shop in CHinatown, but I'm sure you can find them online.

 

There is someone in the MarketPlace selling a PSU if anyone interested :
http://forum.notebookreview.com/computer-components/602292-fs-m17xr1-r2-r3-240w-psu.html

 

Nice work Aarpcard!!! Very exciting times!!

 

Can you build me one and I pay you? I am a complete and utter mess with soldering.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Looks like aarpcard might be getting some business (that is if he wants to)

*edit* in fact if you end up doing some custom work, add me to the list

 

Hey Douse,

Any update on when your cards are expected to ship?

or for that matter, has anyone got an update on when their 6990's ship? Excited to see how they work.

 

Haven't got an exact eta yet, but shouldn't be too much longer. Maybe a week or two?

 

@aarpcard just a question, what is the purpose of the resistor and the led? is it just to show there is power? and the 16amp fuse is that there as a safeguard so we don't draw more then 312w?

 

Yeah the LED's are just to see where power is and the resister is needed to limit the current to the LED's. I forgot to include a diode to have them work independently of each other when I drew it up, but that doesn't change much. And yeah, the fuse is just a safeguard against drawing more than ~312 watts. Like I said, the fuse values are guestimated, but I really wouldn't let more than 330 watts be drawn into the laptop.

 

ok then i guess we all wait for you to try

 

Man you ARE a beast! I didn't expect to see something like that on the screen, I'm in the right place alright! Gonna be waiting for your mod to finish. Oh and rep to you as well

 

So AARP Card, Any chance you could build one for me and one for Greywolf?

 

I have found a 16amp Circuit breaker but its rated at 250v will this still work with the 19.5v from the PSU's?

Edit: never mind found my answer

 

I probably would be willing to build a few. But we shouldn't get to that step until we know if the solution will actually work. My 2nd PSU should be here today or tomorrow. Then we will know.

 

I hope it does work... I was playing Rift and noticed power consumption hovering around 220-230watts...

 

Awesome aarpcard, I'm looking forward to your results with the new power supply.

 

overclocking 6970s actually get the power consumption to its limits resulting in power adapter turning off (need 1 minute out of power to get it back) and the M17X turns off. Overclocking 6970s even if not gaming consumes so much power that i cant use my usb 3.0 1TB hard drive (using usb 3.0 express card) as even connecting extra power to usb 2.0 port it just doesnt have enough power to give.

 

Granted I'm using a 820qm, (but i Have that OC'ed to 2.0ghz when gaming) but I haven't run into any of that and I have my cards clocked at 830mhz each. I'm running a usb powered mouse, an Expresscard powered SSD, a usb soundcard, and a usb tv tuner, and I don't have any draw problems. Maybe the extra 10watts on the cpu is a real back breaker.

 

Are you overclocking your 920xm as well?

If all else fails, I will just run a single 6990m until a solution is found.

 

I use to keep it undervolted at stock clocks or at 715/1000 (0.96V), 920xm at 75W tdp multi on 4 cores 20x133 (2660Mhz). I have a notepal U3 connected on usb ports (3 fans), on cascade on the same connector ext usb 2.0 1tb HDD, some time 2 xbox360 controllers (i like the split screen on dirt3 a lot xD), mouse of course, and never had a psu problem with this config.

Edit: i don't have the way to measure it, but i feel that as it is now, my 6970's are drawing the same or less W than my overclocked 5870's were.

 

I guess in a way I'm a bit lucky in that I don't plan to overclock at all, and I'm not running any extra devices aside from a mouse of my USB ports. Have a Cryo cooler but it's running on a direct power source. Although I wouldn't mind having the extra overhead of two power supplies just in case. Also considering I still don't know if I'm getting 6970's or whether I'll be sent 6990's (hey I can still hope right), it'll be good to see how aarpcard's setup works with the two identical dell power supplies. I feel pretty confident that it'll work, but I guess we'll all know soon enough

 

i have a m18x psu just in case >.> it cant be really impossible to bypass the block for it on the r2 just takes 1 determined smart guy to do it. Maybe with some motivation.. also as in CASH

 

They are already working on it in the Bios Mod Thread, The Wiz is just that a Wiz and he will figure it out.

 

I'm with you, I don't plan to keep them overclocked, that will just be for benchmarks. But I will keep the 940XM OCed probably. Makes running Antivirus and everything else much quicker. But the GPU's won't be OCed. Anyhow I just recieved word that my 6970's made it back to Clevo, and so I too am hoping they just ship 6990's in my direction Would be a nice suprise. But the extra PSU would be nice. I actually have a second PSU on the way. Should be at my apt today or tommorrow. Too bad I don't have the soldering skills or knowedge of aarpcard. Otherwise I'd be testing the compatability. Hoping to hear some good news from aarpcard soon.

 

guys with 6970s have you found any way to make less gpu usage when browsing? i use firefox 6 and temps go up to 61.5 celcius when loading pages then go down really fast. No matter the temps as its temporary but i hate the one 6970 and its fan working so fast without any important reason.

 

disable hardware acceleration in firefox's setting option and you will be done with that!

 

Got 2nd PSU! Will post results when I get home from work.

 

Awesome!! Looking forward to the results!

 

Nice! My second PSU arrived as well Wish I had your skills.

 

Anyone know the progress on getting the 330w working with the m17x?

 

I am happy to announce that I am in the possession of a working 480 Watt PSU for the M17x R2.



Haven't done any gaming tests yet, but I'll post back with those results along with pictures.

 

OH WOW ! Congratulations man! Awesome news.
Now all you need is the 920/940XM CPU!


Cheers.

 

We will see when the revision 2 of the bios mod come out, other then that you could try cutting the Id wire on the 330w psu just to see what happens? I wouldn't recommend it tho

Awesome, now I have confidence that it'll work for me to

 

Awesome aarpcard!!!!!

 

that's great news to hear. congrats : D. cant wait to see test results. hopefully everything ends up working and you decide to sell your custom adapters in future add me to waiting list

 

Great news! This is the news that I was waiting for!

 

Ok here's some pictures. I decided to remake the board to make it a bit simpler.







I've gamed for quite a bit now with some very demanding games (Metro, Crysis, Dirt3, etc) and everything seems fine so far. It is weird though. One power supply will get much warmer than the other. Then I switch to a different application, and the other power supply will get much warmer. They are almost never at equal levels of heat. It's hard to measure this without a killawatt though as I have no way of telling how much power is being drawn by each other than relative heat outputs.

So therefore I have to assume both are being used. Things do seem a bit more stable though. When I unplug/plug in 1 power supply while one is already connected to the laptop in windows, there is no change in what windows detects. Everything operates fine. So there are no conflicts. I'm going to keep doing some testing, and see if anything turns up.

I do wish I could tell though how much power each is using. Like I know for a fact that they are both on and drawing power from the wall because they are both warm, but one is usually much warmer than the other - and they keep swapping back and forth as to which one is warmer.

 

Aarpcard. You the man! You can have my first born son for one of those adaptors

 

I may have to get another kilowatt meter. I have one so id be able to tell total but not individual.

That actually is a lot more single than I thought. Any way to make it with two ports so there isn't a need to splice into a psu cord? Also where dis you get the board and ports? radioshack?

Oh I see why you spliced. So you have a psu plug onto the laptop. Im an idiot