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

Well I guess that answers my question. I forgot you pm'd me the post already. I was looking through the thread for it. Thanks

On his phone while popping a wheely on his bike no doubt.

I was searching through the thread but wasn't finding it. Should have looked through my PM history because it was there. I guess when you have posted an answer to this question as many times as DR, you know where to find it.

 

I just go to the User CP, My attachments. With pics I use imageshack to link, but the vbios I'll attach. Makes it easy for me to find.

 

It seems like some people here are getting cards that are bad. Can someone please direct me to a link where I can purchase 2 6990's that you know are good? Correct cards with hardware bios and all that good stuff on there so I won't have any issues? Thanks.

 

Hi Intense,

I've had great luck with upgradeyourlaptop on ebay (this is Eurocom's ebay account).

The thing I like about them is that if you buy both cards, they include the crossfire cable for free, and based on an e-mail I got from them, they test the cards WITH the cable prior to sending it out.

I was a little hesitant based on the problems I had previously, but felt comfortable when I heard they test before shipping. Sure enough they installed no problem.

I purchased 6970's from them, but they recently posted 6990's on e-bay as well, so I'd recommend going with them.

One thing to note, make sure you ask them to include screws with the cards since the Dell screws are larger then the Eurocom/Clevo screws.

Hope this helps.

 

If they include a xfire cable does that mean I don't need to mod the current one as per the initial post? Also, they don't include heatsyncs. Will the heatsyncs on my 5870s work?

AARPCARD told me in a PM to make sure I tell them to flash both cards with the X7200 VBIOS. I assume that's correct?

 

That sounds right, but yea, your 5870 heatsinks will work. But make sure to ask for 8 heatsink screws, because the 5870 heatsink screws won't work. And the 5870s screws are attached to the heatsink with a "C" clip on them which will need to be pried of each screw to get them off the heatsink. Then just use the Eurocom screws to secure the heatsink to the GPU.

 

I wonder if this could be a contributor to my 106.5C shader issue. I'm using the Dell screws which are shorter than the Eurocom ones apparently. I wonder if I'm not getting adequate pressure on the die as a result. I tried shaving down the magnesium around the copper heatsink and it seems to have helped a bit, but not fixed the problem completely. Next step it to look for Clevo screws I guess.

 

8 heatsink screws total or for each card?

I sent the guy on ebay a message asking if he would include the heatsink screws, crossfire cable, as well as flash BOTH cards to the X7200 Vbios. That's correct, right?

 

Yea thats right, but you only need four screws per card. Never hurts to have extra though

@aarpcard that could be the case. The shorter screws could result in extra pressure, causeing the heatsink to warp the tiniest bit, and as a result you don't get optimal surface area on the GPU at all places.

 

If I don't plan on overclocking them at the moment, should I just go with the Clevo vbios that you linked me in that other thread DR?

 

It's probably the same vbios. I've only uploaded one set of vbios files.

 

Is that the vbios that you use?

 

Yup. Came with my cards as my cards came straight from Clevo.

 

No one ever told me if I'll need to modify the new xfire cable that comes with the new cards. Will I need to?

 

From what I understand it's the perfect length so it doesn't need to be modified. Simple plug and play.

 

yep, no need to modify, it's a perfect fit

@aarpcard If it helps the screw size that clevo uses is 1.6M X 3.5mm

I ordered an extra set from these guys on e-bay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/390248889672?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

They didn't have 3.5mm only 3mm and 4mm...so I ordered both just to be safe.

Turns out I didn't end up using them, but I did verify that they at least fit.

Probably can find that size somewhere locally as well I'd assume.

 

Are you all in agreement that I should put .5 thermal pads in the same spots that the 5870's had them on, for the 6990's?

 

Do I apply the thermal paste to only the silver square in the middle of the die, or to the surrounding black background as well?

 

Apply paste just to the die (not the black background). Some folks put it in the middle...I myself used a plastic bag to spread a coat of thermal paste over the entire die.

@Intense...I think it's a matter of preference, some folks get better results with the .5mm (which I have), some have gotten better results with the 1mm. I ended up purchasing a sheet of both and tried it both out (albeit that can be a bit expensive).

However some folks have also suggested stacking the .5mm if the .5mm isn't making good enough contact.

Hope it helps.

 

Just the shiney part of the die. The mirror finished part.

 

Yea, I have both.

I'm having the tech install my new cards next week. I have a sheet of .5mm and 1mm thermal pads. He used some of the .5mm pads when he repasted my machine 6 months ago. I may have him do a fresh paste on the cpu anyway, just since it'll all be open.

Anyway, he used the teardown video to tear it down and do all that. Are there any tips or anything specific I should tell him about repasting? I'm assuming that he repasted 6 months ago everything that alienware had put paste / pads on, just put new stuff on it. Is there anything in addition to where / what alienware did that he should know? He doesn't have expertise in notebook stuff specifically, but he's a competent tech and he can follow directions well so hopefully everything will be fine. I just ordered my cards and DR650SE is providing me with the .96v modified VBIOS so I can just flash them when I get them. Hopefully everything will be fine and I'll get a really nice performance increase without inuring any extra heat.

 

So DR, I should definitely use the vbios that you linked here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...m-your-m17x-r2-single-gpu-crossfirex-185.html right?

 

Thanks for the link on the screws Greywolf! I'm gonna see if I can find them in a brick and mortar store before I go ebay though.

 

@weinstein888 Correct, those are the ones that Ghost AWP Used.

 

The oddities keep surfacing. Has anybody tried using audio over Display Port?

I turned on my computer today and was welcomed with a notification that said "AMD HDMI audio driver installed successfully." That left me confused. HDMI audio isn't supposed to work. In my audio control panel, the option for HDMI audio was there and looked functional.

So I just brought my laptop over to a friends place who has a TV capable of HDMI audio. Plugged in the HDMI cable and a message came up indicating that the computer detected that the cable was an HDMI to DVI connection and that I wouldn't be able to use audio over HDMI as a result.

He had a Display Port to HDMI converter laying around so for haha's I connected the HDMI cable to my display port using the adapter and the audio worked! The HDMI audio driver was working and processing audio in the playback devices control panel.

I haven't been around in a while. Did anyone know about or try audio over display port before this? Did it work for them as well? I'm gonna try HDMI audio with a different TV when I get the chance and see if things are replicated.

 

Please keep us posted on this, this is the one thing that is keeping me from getting the 6990m, we use my R2 a lot for watching video on a 55 inch LED TV, so HDMI sound is important for me. I thought I read somebody here that had audio over HDMI with the 6990 upgrade, was it Douse? not sure anymore.
So please, if anybody has the 6990m either single or Xfire on their R2 with good working sound over HDMI please let me know, and where you got the card from, thanks!

 

I should give it a try, it's simply a matter of pulling my laptop over to my TV...just been lazy since I never use the HDMI output myself.

Now the display port is an interesting idea...I didn't realize that the display port also processed sound. If that's the case then I suppose you could always do what aarpcard did and get an adapter for display port to HDMI and use it that way.

Not sure what the drawbacks to that would be, to be honest never used the display port on the laptop either.

 

Yeah I was kinda surprised it worked. And it's still a mystery as to why I just out of the blue got a notification telling me the AMD HDMI driver was installed.

I'm wondering if this has something to do with me having a Dell card as the primary . . . I'm gonna look for another TV and try it again with HDMI - but sound over display port definitely works for me - even with the adapter converting display port to HDMI

 

Hmm thats true. The dell card may be the key. I think when you run another monitor, it defaults to the primary GPU if I'm not mistaken.

 

Okay so I've removed the 5870s from the computer. The problem is I have yet to identify anything that looks like a c clip or anything that resembles the description in the guide. To remove the heatsinks from the 5870s I just unscrew the 4 obvious screws on each one? Also, what do I use the VGA screws the vendor game me on? Attaching the 6990 to the heatsink, or mounting it inside the computer?

 

just to post an update

i got the bios updates from dr650 (thank you sir)
but i never used them

got home today after work and took the lappy apart to put the second card back in and flash the cards.

turns out that there is a tiny little arrow on the xfire cables that indicates that it should be facing up. now after all the times ive yanked out and traded cable i never managed to put the cable in properly

xfire is now working in ccc on the 11.10 drivers (11.11 blue screens)

did a quick furmark burn in everything is sitting about 85c.


and for all the folks thinking about upgrading these cards i highly recommend buying them from eurocom. they have been in contact with me and trying to help me get these bad boys working. and where willing to do an rma for me if the card was dead so they could test it on their end.
absolutly the best customer service and tech support i have ever received.

and thanks to ghost_awp, dr650 and grewolf

 

@ weinstein

the screws supplied are to attach the heatsink

(if it came from eurocom)

 

Gah...I can see the INCREDIBLY tiny C clips but I can't see the indentation where I can get the leverage to push them off the screw. Is there a trick to this?

 

What do you mean by "furmark burn in"? Also, is 85C at like full blast? That seems a little higher than I'm expecting given the information from DR560SE. Are you undervolting your cards? I just ordered the cards and hopefully I'll have a tech put them in monday. DR560SE helped me make a bootable USB with the modded VBIOS for undervolted 6990 (.96v). I'm not going to overclock at all so I won't need the extra power.

I'm just trying to count my chickens and make sure I know as much as possible before I do this with my tech. I can't do it myself due to a bad right hand. The only benchmarking software I use is 3dmark 11, so I really don't know how to use much else.

 

furmark is a program that allows you to run your cards super hard to see how how they can get.

another follow up
just tried playing bf3 and got an "video driver has stopped working error"
so im doing another clean install

 

urgent. need help with c clips. any ideas? Are they really that hard to remove? I must be doing something wrong.

 

if you look at them carefully there is a space you can stick a very sharp flathead screwdrivers (or something similiar)
just pop is off by pulling it off from the gap

 

clean install with the new dell drivers working great

now i can play bf3 on ultra (except mssa)

ran furmark for a bit with a burn in 1650-1050 4x mssa
maxs out at 94c on gpu and 100.5 on gpu 3 according to gpuz
will switch to fujipoly and mx4 silver tommorow and test

 

looking for a little help
somewhere on the forum i have seen a picture labeling the individual chip on the video cards
does anyone have the link?

trying to find where my shader cores are etc so i can put my new fujipoly on properly

 

weinstein,

Sorry didn't see your posts last night. The C-clips are a big pain to remove. I struggled for an hour to get some of them off, until I found the perfect tool for the job (well at least for me anyway). I used a pair of those small scissors with the curved end (the type you can buy at walgreens or some place similar). Then you simply insert the tip of the scissors into the small opening and then open them up to "pry" it out.

Worked wonders. I'm guessing you are already done since you posted last night, but it's a good tip for those who haven't tried this yet.

 

Ok so I'm having to trouble getting this to work. I have the 6990m card properly installed but, I can't get the vbios to load.

On my formated flash drive there is a folder titled 6990m. Inside is the bios titled 6990M.ROM

At the boot up I go to boot from usb and it gives me the C:\> command. I type cd 6990m.

Fine so far.

Now I type atiflash -f -p 0 6990cx0.bin. I now get a Bad command or file name error.

I went back to the guide and notice I'm supposed to type in italics? How is this done? And is there anything else I might be doing wrong?

Thanks

 

You need to update your version of atiflash

ATIFlash 3.89

 

Well now this is a pickle. I'm trying to update my atiflash like you recommended but, now I'm getting a The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of the program, and then contact software publisher.

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. That's not a problem is it?

 

just drag it to the usb drive. Delete the old ATIflash.exe file. Theres no need to run it in windows.

 

The Shaders, ROPs, Texture Units, etc are all on the Barts XTX die. i.e the big silver thing in the middle. There aren't any separate chips - other than the memory which are the black chips surrounding the gpu die.

 

You said you have one vbios file in the 6990m folder called 6990M.ROM? If you're using only one card then that's fine. If all that is correct, then you are typing the wrong commands.

The command should be as follows:

cd 6990m

atiflash -f -p 0 6990M.ROM

If that does work, open RBE and save the vbios as a .bin file. I've run into a few issues where atiflash wouldn't flash a .rom vbios file, but it would flash a .bin vbios file.

 

You shouldn't be running it in windows. I hope you weren't doing that previously. You need to make a bootable USB drive per direction of the first page in this topic and use the DOS environment to run atiflash.

If you managed to run atiflash in windows there might be some serious consequences.

 

I'm pleased to announce that I've successfully replaced my 5870s with 6990s without a hitch. Thanks to DR, ichime, kaitlin_2003, and slickdude80 for their generous help!

 

Screenshots or it didn't happen!

How are your temps?
Easy peazy, wasn't it?

Run a some stock benchmarks and campare to your 5870 scores.

Also did you undervolt your vbios?

 

One thing I'm a tad curious about...it says CrossfireX enabled in CCC, and in HWinfo32 it says I have 2 6990ms. However, when I switch from GPU zero in Hwinfo to GPU 1 it no longer states the memory size or clocks or any of that...Is that bad?

Edit: It even says Crossfire is working in GPU-Z and it states the temps and everything so IDK.

Edit # 2: I understand that it was ULPS feature that made it so that the second card is disabled if there isn't a load sufficient enough to activate it. Thank god...