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

Hey Ghost, when you ordered the cable did you specify a certain one? Or did you simply ask for a crossfire cable to connect two 6970's together? I'd be curious to order another cable assuming I get the longer one (the one you received), and not the shorter clevo cable (the one I have).

 

No didn't specify. Just asked for a CF cable. I assumed it was Clevo since I asked for Clevo cards. Maybe it wasn't. I'll ask Mythlogic when they get the other one I ordered in.

Now to my CF setup. Have installed the replacement card. Performance is really bad. Looks like the card is being used, but slightly. CF is enabled in CCC. Reinstalled drivers already. Maybe I need to flash the vbios again? Don't know. Going to do some more testing and see.

 

What a drag. Was able to get both cards working after vbios flash. Then tried some COD: BO and got good performance for all of about 15 seconds before it locked up. Couldn't boot up after that. Kept hanging on Windows splash screen. Will only boot now if I completely remove CCC and AMD drivers and use Windows driver.

Anyone have any suggestions? Going to try a previous driver to see if that changes anything.

 

I don't want to say it, but it sounds to me like it's a fried card. I hope that's not the case.

 

Seriously? Well I removed it and the system booted up normal again. Can it be a vbios issue? I have a question about vbios flashing on first page.

If you have CF setup do you run both of these commands:

atiflash -f -p 0 6970CX0.bin

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

Or just the 2nd one? If I wanted to test the faulty card only, do I need to reflash the vbios in order to run it in single card config?

Man I really don't want to return this card again.

 

Bought them in the Marketplace section of the forum, from Orijin.

I also bought his R2 RGB LED screen!

Can wait to put all those goodies in my R2.... but it will have to wait for Christmas...

 

Ghost, do you have a spare laptop drive that you can throw a fresh install of windows on (and driver install), and see if that corrects the problem. Since it may not, I wouldn't recommend wiping your current drive, but it's something to consider. Sorry to hear about the problems you are having.

 

I thought about doing that. I will definitely give that a shot. The replacement card I received was used as there was thermal paste residue on it and even some on a secondary chip that I couldn't identify. Can excess thermal paste cause a card to fry?

Also, anyone have any insight on flashing the vbios questions I asked previously?

 

Not necessarily, it's supposed to work by plugin it in with the primary card's heatsink.

 

If it’s the (very) conductive silver paste it sure can. It will short together whatever it’s in contact with.

It’s best to either use non conductive paste or protect sensitive areas. I made a Kapton shield to protect the smaller components surrounding the die, much like the one I found under the heat sink on the 5870s.

If you appear to have paste where it shouldn’t be, I would buy some tim remover and clean it off. There is a good chance that (if it’s not blown up) it will then start to behave.


IMO, there are two real easy ways to mess up the installation of the 6970/90 in the R2.

1) Get thermal paste where it shouldn’t be.
2) Inadvertently apply too much force on the X-fire connector of the slave card as its inserted. Very easy to do, as the connector lines up with a pillar.

I guess there’s a third, and that’s to buy the cards from someone who’s already done one of the above.


I would say to anyone who’s having issues to pull the cards and have a good look with an eyeglass at the crossfire connections for damage. Also have a look around the die to see if you have thermal compound on the surrounding components.

Shorting one of the decoupling capacitors around the die could produce all sorts of symptoms. However, and somewhat confusingly, you can also create a similar set of symptoms by running the wrong BIOS or drivers.

P.

 

I 've ordered mine from upgradeyourlaptop (EUROCOM), gone down $40 each as well..... should be fun when they arrive

 

Ha ha, you just couldn't help it, Jus71N
I hope everything will go flawlessly for you.

Cheers

 

Yeah just couldn't shake the upgrade itch, hopefully they will be here next week, just got to order some thermal pads

 

Gone down? I guess I just missed that one.

Enjoy your cards, be sure to let us know how it goes.

P.

 

Spoiler

Thanks. Can the TIM remover be applied to the area around the die itself?
There was thermal paste all around the little capacitors surrounding the die when I received the card. I could try and clean that area, but getting around the little capacitors will be hell. The Kapton shield is a good idea. I wish the cards would have come with it. Dell must have put those on the 5870s I guess. I will also check the crossfire connector. But I would assume that if the CF port was damaged, the card would still function in single card configuration. I will try it and see. +1.

 

yes went down $40 today, What did you upgrade from Paul? have you seen a great improvement in gaming?

 

I am impressed by the 6990s, I just played some BF3 beta and with ultra settings, except shadows to high and blur off I was getting 60 fps the whole time. Graphics are amazing and performance is superb. Dice did a great job with optimization.

 

Thats what I like to hear. So its a gorgeous game huh? I'm going to have to get it when it comes out.

I love the 6990s. These cards are really amazing. And their power output is just so much more gorgeous when it's showcased on an R G BLED screen.

Viva la R2!

 

Yes the TIM remover is fine to use on the little caps. A small brush will get the paste out. If that paste is conductive then this will undoubtedly had caused problems. Let’s hope the card is ok.

Re:connector, I agree the card should be ok as a single, unless things are shorted I guess.

I first had the 4870s then I upgraded to the 5870s and now the 6970s it just gets better and better. This upgrade shows by far the biggest improvement.

There seems to be no additional heating and the performance is awesome. Everything just seems to render better, especially dx11. In games, you can up the settings to enjoy a little more of the eye candy without spoiling the FPS.

An example for you to check before and after would be the water right at the start of the Vantage benchmark. Watch that before you pull the 5870s then when you’ve got the new kit in and running watch it again.

P.

 

I thought that AS5 had a tiny bit of capacitance. So little, in fact, that it was completely negligible. I was not aware that it was electrically conductive.

And those 6970s did go down to $365. I just bought one from them on Friday. LAME.

 

I checked, and they say this :-

LINK

So as you say, AS5 not conductive, just don't get it on anything.
Make of it what you will.

Yeah, sucks when the price drops just after a purchase (me too). Thats computer kit for you tho.
P.

 

Hi guys, been trying to read through this whole topic as I'm also considering on upgrading.
So am I right in saying the 6970 in crossfire is much more stable with a single 240 psu as compared to the 6990m. I'm using it mostly for gaming and not much into benchmarks. So without all the hassle of modding the pus, is the 6970 the way to go? Are the 6990m significantly better than the 6970 for gaming and is there a bios mod out that let's us use the m18x psu?
Also has the audio over hdmi issue been fixed?
Thanks for any reply!

 

Hi T3Vince,

What processor are you running? If you are running a 840QM or a 720QM then the 6990s should work fine without overclocking. If you are running a 920 or a 940 you'll have less headroom, but as you can see on this board a few folks are running them and don't seem to be having too many issues.

Regarding performance I think I've heard about 15% over the 6970s, although I'm sure the folks here can correct me if I'm wrong.

As far as a mod for the 18x psu, not yet, and no the HDMI sound issue hasn't been fixed yet

 

From what I've read 6990's will run just fine, unless you have an "XM" CPU (either 920 or 940) overclocked. I've gone for the 6970's because I want the stable running with no PSU mods.

I'm also interested in weather the HDMI audio is still a problem?

 

So what is the HDMI sound issue, You get a picture on the tv but no sound? you get a picture on the tv but the sound still comes from the laptop?

 

My understanding is...you still get picture but no sound coming across. I assume you could still use headphones for sound and use HDMI for picture although I haven't tried.

 

I have the 920xm but I tend not to overclock. So would the you guys suggest I get the 6990 for gaming as it is slightly more powerful?
Do I have to mod the psu if I'm not thinking of over clocking, but just gaming in general? Thanks for the quick replies

 

Hey Ghost,

You purchased your card from Mythlogic? Quick question how have they been when returning cards for replacement etc? Also I don't recall, but do they offer a warranty on their cards as well?

Guess I'm really asking what their customer service is like and what sort of warranty they provide.

 

Mythlogic offers a 1 year warranty. I had been exchanging emails with them, but their prices were not on par with what I was looking to pay. The ebay 6970 seller offers no warranty at all. No returns. Nothing. That is probably why Mythlogic sells their cards for a bit more. Peace of mind.

 

Awesome Turbo, thanks for the information. Considering all I've been dealing with these past few months peace of mind is something worth paying a little extra for.

 

Mythlogic don't check their NBR PMs very often. Find their NBR user profile and use the link in their signature to contact them.

 

I'm running crossfire 4870's. What would be the best bang for my buck dual 6970's or 6990's? How much difference would either be compared to what I have now?

 

Since you have a 920XM in your sig, go for 2x6970m.

- you should have no problems power-wise
- the 15% performance increase of the 6990m on the 6970m hardly justifies the price difference.
- You would probably see a 50% increase compared to your setup.

 

Hi all

Just a note, since i had a long conversation with Mythlogic.

They will no longer guarentee cards for 1 year. The clearly stated to me, that they would not guarentee cards, purchased for M17x r2 conversions.

So i decided not to purchase from them. So far, the best deal seems to be from ebay for 6970m.

Side note, for UK buyers, watch out for import tax +20% Ask sended to mark the item as lower value. Under £50 not taxed

 

That is a shame to hear, although I can understand where they are coming from as there appears to be a lot of issues to be had with 6970/6990 upgrades....

Has anyone had any luck finding a UK distributor? Clevo distributors that I email don't even bother getting back to me....

Has anyone tried BF3 with xfire 5870's?

 

Clevo distributors << i had the same issues.

Total waste of time.

 

This is a shame, in a way they are right but the warranty is for the cards not the whole system. They should at least bring it down to DOA or similar, it's not like it's getting hotter or stressed more than it would have been in a Clevo or models that officially support them.

How about the guys that already purchased them knowing they come with 1 year warranty? Not really fair to change conditions after purchase at least for them.

 

Well I'm about to find out as I was told one year warranty and am going for my second replacement. I will let you guys know what they say.

 

The warranty is for the cards, why even bother mentioning to them that it's for an M17x R2. Don't go down that route

Or you could just nickname your M17x R2 to X7200. Then you can tell them your systems nickname... My X7200...

 

Unfortunately not surprised by this, which does make the deal on ebay a bit more enticing. Although I agree that the warranty should be on the card and not on the system, so while I can understand their policy (as well as the policy of others I'm sure), it seems a bit ridiculous.

Oh well... Interested to see how things go on your end Ghost..they should at least honor it this one time if they told you it was covered by a warranty.

 

Idk if it's fair or not to single out one system. It's not the system that's breaking the cards. A lot of the problems people have had (with some definite exceptions) are most definitely user error. They should offer DOA, but not much more in my opinion.

 

I dont think its the system, but the cards need to be flashed, and i guess thats the issue.

Probaly people returning cards with corupt bios, etc.

I thinking about the ebay route. £500 for the per with postage.
Going to decide tonight.
Next upgrade is SSD and a cpu. possible 920xm.

Anyone tried raid on SSD ?

 

SSD raid not really necessary imo. SSD is fast enough

Plus you are going to want the second HDD for storage!

 

Agreed with Douse.

SSD RAID 0 is purty for numbers and benchmarking, but not much else. You won't really notice the differance between a single SSD and RAID 0. A single SSD is plenty fast. Plus, in RAID 0 you loose the ability to use TRIM which keeps the drives running fast.

I am going to be splitting my RAID 0 setup so I can have trim. SSD 1 will be for OS/Apps, and SSD 2 will be a dedicated gaming drive. I also removed the blu-ray burner and made it an external drive so I could put a 1TB HDD in it's place for media/document storage.

 

Say what!??!

Do explain!

 

not a bad idea!

Can you give me the Bluray burner part number? in case i choose to buy on ebay?

thanks

 

Model Number" Panasonic UJ235A. I was able to get it off my picture on the 1TB Internal HDD link in my sig Looks like you can get it for about $150 shipped on ebay.

Click the 1TB link in my sig

 

That is ub3r cool. I will add that to my upgrade list

EDIT:: Just bought the caddy

 

hi all, can i buy 6970m from canadian ebay seller and fans and everything else will work ok ?

he write that "This card is intended for the Eurocom Panther 2.0, Neptune and Racer Notebooks. Please specify which unit you require!"

So i should take one from panther 2.0 yes ?

cheers

 

Yes you can Flingin. I just bought one from them, and several others have too. I don't know about the fan situation though. My only complaint about them is their shipping prices. $40 to ship something the size of a post card that weighs nearly nothing. They made no effort to ship it the day I bought it, and they seem to have used the cheapest, slowest shipping possible. I am not familiar with the cost of shipping from Canada to the USA though, so I may be overreacting.