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

I'm gonna repaste my affected card and see if that'll bring temps down. If not, then I'm gonna undervolt it. Also gonna do the retention mod before I undervolt.

I know for certain, it was not that hot when I first got it.

 

Link to this retension mod pls

 

Here you go:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ll-internal-cooling-mod-huge-improvement.html

Or this one:

http://www.techinferno.com/2011/02/08/alienware-m17x-teardown-cooling-modification/

 

put the icd 7 syringe into the cup with hot water (90-100'C)and leave it for 5-7 min. then apply it like on the photo below.

GG

btw credit card method is the most noobish thing i can think of.

 

Wow I never though of putting the syringe in hot water to soften it up a bit so it spreads better! Thanks +rep

 

well how else are you going to get universal die coverage? putting the past on the die like you indicated in the picture, and then clamping on the heatsink will only result in spots here and there on the die without any paste covering them resulting in hotspots.

 

I keep it like this(with the light bulb on of course) while I take my system apart and by the time I get to the part of applying it It's perfect

Spoiler

 

I use the line method for rectangular dies and the pea/rice method for square dies. I let the heatsink do the spreading. I have repeated this many times on the same components and I get full coverage everytime.

With the credit card method, what happens if your surface isn't even? What happens if the middle sections is spread thinner than the outsides which would result in an air pocket in the middle of the die which would cause hot spots.

 

I used the flat edge of a "Silverhill 2pc Nylon Non Marking Pick or Spudger" to spread the IC Diamond out from the middle but don't go all the way to the edges. Then I let the heatsink do the rest. Seems to work pretty well. Using the credit card method is widely accepted and even referenced in A+ books. Is it noobish? Well maybe, but so is wearing a AS wrist strap. But it's also smart.

 

I always do the pea or line method but I also have not used anything as thick as ICD. I use OCZ Freeze or AS5

 

On a side note, if anyone is interested and doesn't already know, 1 6970 is not as good as 2 5870s. My 3DMark 11 score was 4100 with CF 5870s. Only 3100 with 1 6970.

 

Not 2 5870s, but a 6970/6990 will replace 2 4870s pretty well I found.

 

OK, modded my vbios. Performance 3D clocks run at 1.05v instead of 1.1v now. Shader temps on the affected card have dropped to ~92C. All remaining hints of throttling seem to be gone, but I have to test it. No word yet on how this will affect my overclock.

Have you tried this yet Malignant? I haven't read through all the posts yet detailing your issue.

 

I have a question, I am currently using the screws that came with the clevo cards on the gpu heatsinks and I am using 1mm thermal pads. I did the rice grain method and I am going over the retention clip mod but it seems I pretty much did all that already except the ducting mod. Am I suppose to screw the screws in as much as I can to get maximum safe pressure on the gpu die from the heatsink? The screws I use are just regular screws, no c-clips. If I pretty much did the same thing as the retention clip mod why are my temps so high?

 

I had a high temps when I used the clevo thermal pads (way to thick) as soon as I went to my old 5870 pads (1mm) temps dropped but i still had a hot shader, a repaste fixed it, you guys could try 0.5mm pads they should work even better

rice grain method or credit card method I don't think it really matters as long as you get full coverage and good contact (right thickness pads)

@Malignant I wouldn't tighten the screws all the way just until you get a bit of resistance from the retention clip hitting the screw hole thread thing on the card

 

Try the retention mod. Use paste on the memory and core. It seriously will not hurt anything.

 

It's odd Malignant, it sounds as though you are doing everything right so have no idea why your temps are going so high.

Wish I had more to add

I'm currently using OCZ freeze for the chip and fujiopoly 1mm thick thermal pads for the memory

 

Good to know scook..haven't given up on crossfire yet, but at least I know I can get a single card running.

 

I'm using .5mm pads. Temps never above 79c. That's just one 6970 right now.

 

well i also run vantage just because i was curious with my temps and wanted to compare with yours. Yes one of your gpus runs very hot. But mine reached 79 and 76 celcius for first and second accordingly (screenshot below) (room temperature at 27.5 celcius). So maybe one of your gpus is not used as much as it should so the other one works more? thus as i can see my fans reached much higher rpm.



By the way guys i just received the MX-4 thermal paste and thermal pads from frozencpu. Will i see any difference in temps? My temps now are with MX-3 and clevo thermal pads (came with 6970s). I mean i dont want to ruin my current temps

 

Ok, I've managed to get a reply from Clevo's UK service centre they wany £684 for a pair of 6970's (6 months warranty)......... temping

 

Man, thats like $1,067.84, for us yankees Gotta be a cheaper option. I had 6990s for less than that. I miss Phektan

 

Yeah Phektan was doing them, for $640, Mythlogic wants $1010 shipped to the UK.... But if customs get them its another 20% in import duty thats £775.20. I'm torn cos I want to do the upgrade? what will I get for my 5870's?

Don't want the 6990's because of the power issues with my overclocked 940xm

 

Any word on the price of 6990's?

 

Waresphere's offer wasn't so good after all.
Turns out the GPUs they were selling are FirePro M8900, the professional version of the HD6970m they say, which looks like isn't crossfire compatible.
If you look closer at the image you can even see there's no crossfire connector, so a bios flashing wouldn't change a thing.
Too bad.

 

This is what AI gathered from Mythlogic.

 

This sounds like a good option and no I haven't tried it yet. What vbios did you use?

 

@Aristotel

Are you using thermal pads and if so at what thickness and did you use the rice grain method or credit card?

 

Yes, i use thermal pads for the gpus (not the cores of course where i used the MX-3). i used thermal pads of clevo. i am sure they were thicker than the FROZENCPU ones for sure. I used Arctic MX-3 thermal paste for the gpu cores + cpu and the rise method , used my finger to spread it (used plastic gloves of course)

So will i see any temps difference with Arctic MX-4 and FROZENCPU thermal pads?

 

I tried the retention mod but the screws from the 5870 heatsink are too big for the 6990 so no go on that. I also tried the credit card method with ic7 but wow even after heating it up it was like trying to spread clay. I ended up using mx-2 which went on like butter on toast.

 

Oh and my last vantage run I forgot I had vsync and triple buffering on so my fps maxed out at 60 lol

 

I modded the latest version of the Clevo X7200 vbios's for the 6970m. I tried it again at 1.00v, and it was stable at stock clocks. Temps were even lower. I did try a 800mhz core clock on 1.05v and that proved to be unstable, whereas I could get up to 830mhz stable on 1.1v. 750mhz seemed stable, but I'd have to do some testing to see how much higher it can go.

 

See my post here, i did the same with ID7 for my 2600k and i had no problem spreading it.

 

by my experience the card are not 100% stable at 1.0V@750

but they are stable @0.96V @715/900 at least in my case.. Also for me 1.05V is not enaugh to make them stable @800Mhz but yet, they are stable @840Mhz 1.1V

 

I Need to undervolt my cards too. At some point I will. Maybe when I rebuild my OS/SSD how I want it. The cards are plenty good for any gaming I will do

 

It doesn't melt the plastic being that close? I put mine under a lamp and it felt really hot, I guess not hot enough.

 

So I need a modded vbios to get the option to change the voltage on the cards?

 

Don't hold it for hours lol, i keep it next to it while i disassemble

 

Temps better but the shader still gets way too hot. Where exactly is the shader? I'm topping out around 87c for the primary card now except the shader, which still hits 106c.

 

i guess i wont get any suggestion finally. it looks like my decision

 

You need to mod the vbios to change the voltage. Import the vbios into RBE, change the voltage on the Performance clocks. Export it, and flash using atiflash. At least that's how I did it.

 

Mx-3 to mx-4 won't be a huge difference if any at all but if the thermal pads you bought aren't as thick as the clevo one's then yes you will see temps go down. However I'd be pretty happy with the temps you have currently and wouldn't mess with it.

 

Ok thanks. +1

 

You guys think IC7 is thick enough to use on the memory instead of thermal pads?

 

Are the 6990m from mythlogic clevo cards?
When they from clevo it´s just plug´n´play?

When it is so i will order one.

Are there power issues with one 6990 an oc´ed 940xm??

thx for answers
edi

 

These were the prices that they quoted me.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The free shipping offer is within US region only.

You can add it to the basket and a shipping calculator will show up on the screen, and you can get the shipping cost from there.

The cross fire cable will be included if you order the dual card option.

Please understand that this card is for Clevo X7201 model only, if you want to use on other models, use it at your own risk, and it is not returnable.

Please let us know if you have any questions.
R&J Technology
[email protected]
R&J Technology, Clevo Barebone Notebook kits, Laptop and desktop system builder

So essentially if you can get your price over 1k in the US of course it will be free shipping. Mind you the shipping probably isn't that much anyway if you are local.

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For a pair of 6990M's (including CF cable) it would be $1068 USD. Shipping to Australia would be about $65 via USPS and take 5-10 business days. You would be responsible for any import taxes.
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So yeah the same prices as others have quoted so far.
Hmmmmmm decisions decisions!!! Oh Phektan!


Cheers.

 

Like Malignant said you will get the best temps with thinner pads less pad material for the heat to travel though and also better contact pressure on the gpu as long as both memory chips and heat sink have reason able contact go as thin as you can, I think 0.5mm works well

Because the thread on the 6970/6990 go all the way to the top you basically do the retention mod anyway

i think the shader is one (or a few) of the chips next to the memory chips I would guess its the biggest one try put some thermal paste on it (if you put the wrong thickness pad on it, it affects the rest of the card significantly

IC Diamond adverse that there paste has very good non-bleed properties (being 92% diamond) combined with its thickness its probably ok (some one on this forum used AS5 on the memory chips with seemingly no ill effects )

Yes I believe that they are just a Clevo card and therefore plug and play
No you will not have power issues with one 6990 and and overclocked 940xm

 

you're suppose to put thermal pads on more than the memory chips? I did put some on the dc/dc chips but that's it. I did notice the 6970s for the r3 had extra thermal pads on the heatsink. Did everyone else here put any thermal pads on the shader or chips near the memory? That's weird because the shader on the secondary card has normal temps (less than 80 max)

 

I haven't put thermal pads on any thing other then memory and dc/dc chips either but unless someone actually knows what the shader is physically I think its worth a shot.
I had a hot shader on the second card when i first installed the 6990s (maybe the second heatsink is slightly different then the first) if I remember correctly a repaste fixed the problem if it was a contact issue (a gap of less then 0.5mm would be enough to raise temperatures considerably) maybe repaste was enough to get good contact again?

 

No, the shader is on the die of the gpu. It's not a separate chip.