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

I think im only ones that knows how to add id's here i wish i could teach you but i am a horrible at that. I can add the ID's to any driver you want and if that driver has app's i can add it to them to so everything gets installed.

to find your ID just to to device manager click on properties of graphic card>details on the drop option look for hardware ID's give me the longest ID you see there and a copy of driver you want them on. IF you have more then one card just give me ID for second card also.

try reconnecting the screen plugs. I didnt connect it back properly once when repasting cpu and i kept getting red lines on boot alien face and bunch of other things.

 

Ricard, have you been getting artifacting on the boot screen the entire time you've had the new cards in your system? What are your system specs?

 

I had major artifacts earlier last night and that was a driver issue. I had colours bleeding all over the screen and it was simply disgusting. I rebooted to safe mode, uninstalled and deleted the driver from the devices in device manager, and rebooted into windows, express uninstalled all ATI software, restarted into safe mode, ran driver S, rebooted into windows and ran cccleaner.
I then installed a different driver and it worked fine.
If that doesn't work, try to use only one card at any one time in the system.
Make sure you flash them back to 1.1V first.
That will narrow down the problems.

 

so unvervolting cards can cause those issues or is it just a drivers issue?

 

In my case, I haven't yet found a stable undervolt. I have tried 0.96, 1 and 1.05. I use Metro 2033 as a benchmark.
In all instances my screen either freezes in the first few seconds of launching the game or it crashes (BSOD) when I exit the game. I am currently running 12.1 drivers and ATI application profiles 11.12 cap 1.
I will try to switch the cards around tonight and I hope that makes a difference but I doubt it a lot.
The reason why I really want to switch my cards over is because one runs 10degrees Celcius hotter than the other when in game and sometimes reaches 90 degrees (with 1.1V). I never went above 72 degrees when undervolted to 0.96V but it is so unstable...

So I still have problems with this setup that I need to resolve and tonight I will get one step closer to hardware nirvana!

 

I agree with this...flash them back to the original vbios, and run each one individually...that way you can also eliminate the crossfire cable as contributing to this. If one card works fine, and the other artifacts...then I'd say it's possible there is a problem with that card...again.

The artifacting at boot is the most concerning. Flashing back to the original vbios will at least eliminate a potential vbios issue. I had a problem with one of my original cards that if I flashed any vbios to it, it would buzz and not work, but flashing back to the original fixed the issue.

Good luck!

 

I had stable gameplay with .96 but if I ran a game, exited, and then ran another game or benchmark my screen would freeze in place then go black forcing me to hard reset. I recreated the issue with certainty by running the full 3dmark experience twice. With .96 the second run through always froze up. 1.1V worked fine but temps went from 75 max to 86 max. I then undervolted to 1.0V and my max temps never exceede 76C during stress testing. (sc2 runs pretty much at 70C on all clocks). 1V is very stable for me. According to DR56SE, .96 is the lowest stable voltage. Obviously that won't work for some people as there are so many different factors. I feel like 1V should work great for most people since it isn't the absolute lowest possible and the temp difference between .96 and 1.0 should only be 1 or 2 degrees C max (In actual gaming I haven't noticed any more than a 1 degree C increase).

Farmer I have no clue why you can't get any undervolts working. I forget: are you using 6990 eurocom cards? Also the master seems to always run hotter than the slave by about 10 C.

 

IntenseIGFX, Good advice on the 1.0v I had changed mine from .96v to 1.0v thinking it would help my BF3 Crashing, but I think that was game or driver related as going to 1.0v didn't make much differance. But temps really didn't change much when I increased. I don't remember what my GPUs are at now. I flashed my cards to M8900s for folding, and I think they are running at .96v. I may increase that to 1.0v just for more stability, even though I havn't had stability issues on folding.

 

Yeah no problems with .96v for me. Just ran a couple of 3dmark 11's with no hangs or any other problems.

So it definitely seems to depend on each individual card.

 

ok, i followed all sugestions, and definitely that card ALONE will always render aqrtifacts even at boot.. and windows will display incorrectly. The other card on its own seemed stable, but after one hour of use, the os started to crash on me while using Internet Explorer.
At this pont, i am beyond the help of mental health practioners. I jsut decided to isntall my old cards back. i also spoke with Eurocom, and i am hoping i can jsut send my machine in early january to them to get everything corrected. I might have to buiy anotehr card (i dunno), but i jsut dont want nto risk messing more cards (and i know its not necesarily my fault.. but I also cant completley deny it either).
Anyways, thanks everyoine foir helping me through this journey through hell
In january, ill let you all know nhow it goes. Besides xfire 5870s is still an acceptable rig

 

Thanks for the advice, I have just finished switching my cards over and am about to try undervolting these babies now. Temps are not concerning really but I spent around one hour applying the paste over and over and the thermal pads too to make sure all aspects of the cards are well cooled and in full contact with the heatsink.
Time of truth.

Ricard, troubleshooting is such a time consuming activity and I reckon you did wonderfully. It's a shame I can't help you more but hopefully the Eurocom guys will sort out your issue in the blink of an eye.
Cheers.

 

Hi Ricard,

Sorry to hear about your problems. Please keep us posted and I'm sure we'll all help out as much as possible.

Good luck to you.

 

thanks grey

 

Hey! Righty-o!
I have managed to run three different games in a row without crashing!
And I have for the first time fallen victim to throttling! How exciting
I have attached a screenshot that shows my temperatures after running metro 2033 on max settings for 20+ minutes.
The shader is 10degrees higher than the rest, which I think means it isn't getting cooled properly ( http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/221/tempsf.jpg).
Could someone please tell me which one is the shader block on the 6990M GPUs?
Thanks

 

The shader is not a separate chip. It's on the main die of the gpu. (i.e. the big silver thing in the middle)

The shaders, raster operators, texture units, etc are all on the die. Only the memory is off the die.

 

Hey aapcard, thanks. Then I don't know why only the shaders run hotter.
Maybe some sort of bug with the monitoring.

 

shaders on 6970m/6990m run hotter, depending on the load from 4 to 10 degrees.

 

Yes that's been my experience as well...I think it's expected.

 

Shaders will always run hotter than the other clocks.

 

i just wanted to let you know i am using 12.1 drivers and 11.12 cap 1 profiles with 0.96V downclock. everything work nicely to time.

 

howdy everyone.
got a funny issue i just noticed and not sure how long its been going on for

im running an m17x with 6990 xfire and when i close the lid and come back later my slave card (right side) is running hot

i check with gpuz and it getting %100 usuage for no reason

if i fire up a game or do something after opening lid, the temp will go back down.

i also did a clean install of 12.1 with 11.12 cap got no change.

i also found when i went to insatll the beta dell drivers that ccc was not installed along with it

should i install 11.10 then the dell drivers?

 

Hey Jedinorth,

Are you running with a second monitor attached? Or simply closing the lid on your laptop with no secondary monitor attached?

I never close mine, so I haven't noticed (plus I have 6970's if that matters), but I'm willing to give it a try.

 

no second monitor,
the only reason i noticed is that i could hear the fan running, was wondering why since it should be idle.
right side was warm, sitting at about 65c

 

I finally received my cards, and started the operation on the R2, Got two Clevo 6990's once, deleted old drivers and installed the 11.10 MObility drivers, Restarted, checked GPU-z temps are the same as my 4870's that I had in the R2. Then I went to CCC, and went on the gaming tab, and it says I cant enable crossfire. It says this, The AMD crossfireX internal Bridge interconnects linking your graphics cards together are not properly attached. Both bridge interconnects must be attached. For more infromation, see the users guide for your graphics card.

So, I went back into the R2, the cables all seem to be connected good, disconnected them and connected them again. After that I went back to the CCC and tryed to enable the crossfireX, But still no go, says the same thing again, could it be something is wrong with my CF cable or maybe its something driver related? Please help. Thanks

 

Hey, there
got a problem with my newly installed 6900M.
(CLEVO)

I recently installed the single ATI HD 6990M into my M17x R2. The problem seems to exist since this upgrade.
The failure (blue screen + restart) only comes up, when the external monitor is connected and I try to wake up the system then from standby or hibernate... with the internal screen only, standby, hibernate, wakeup,... work perfectly! What do you suggest?
Graphics driver maybe?

(I tried different driver versions in the meantime and the failure looks a bit different every time... but the main problem itself is always the same, just looks/behaves a bit different.)

I got an input in another thread, I should ask here and the guy mentioned it could also be a vbios issue?!
But remember, without external monitor it works great!
Vbios is original one, did not flash it!

 

Hi True Talk Snake,

I spent much time troubleshooting this exact same problem with the Clevo cards. Question for you, are you using the crossfire cable that came with your alienware (Dell one)?

If so, I'd highly recommend purchasing a crossfire cable from upgradeyourlaptop (from ebay you might want to write them directly if they don't list a cable) or mythlogic (mythlogiccorp.com). For some reason some folks have had trouble (myself included) with the dell crossfire cables.

If you do end up purchasing a crossfire cable, make sure you get the one that is for the Eurocom panther 2.0. The length is perfect and it's one route to consider.

Other then that, you might try flashing the vbios on the cards or installing the modded desktop driver.

Just some thoughts, I feel your pain as it took me months to get my crossfire going.

Good luck!!

 

Hey Truesolid
In line with what the Greywolf legend has said, ensure the cable is connected the right way - ie. flipped the right way around!
This happened to me and all I had to do was flip the connector upside down on one of the cards. It should slide right in without forcing That's if you are using a clevo xfire cable.

 

Sorry I tried to use search but it was not working for me.
Do the 6970 cards on ebay from upgradeyourlaptop work in the m17xr2?
If not where are you getting working card now?

Thanks

 

Yep they are perfect. I highly recommend purchasing the 6970's WITH posts. Makes installation easier..if you are buying the 6990s they include the x-bracket.

Make sure you ask them to include the crossfire cable (for a Eurocom Panther 2.0 or just mention you are doing it on an alienware system) and make sure you ask for them to include SCREWS.

I can't emphasize the screws part enough since the dell screws will NOT fit.

 

Thanks so much otacon

I checked the cable again and realized, one of the gold pins are a littel bent. Tried straighting it, but still no go. And I seem to have to force it a bit. Btw its merely impossible to straighten the cf cable little golden pin. Should I order another cable from foxhound, or use the clevo one I got even though it seems to short, I can take off the tape and make it go straight diagnal. ?

Oh and what's the nodded desktop driver (confusion) lol

 

Hi True Talk Snake,

Which cable do you have? If it's a standard Clevo cable then it will be too short unfortunately.

Sorry to hear about the bent pins on the crossfire cable, that could definitely cause a problem.

I think I'd recommend purchasing a cable if you can (doesn't hurt to have an extra anyway). Preferably a Eurocom cable, I think they run around $25 USD. I know a few folks had communication problems and the new crossfire cable fixed it.

At this point I wouldn't worry about the modded desktop driver. Since it sounds as though this maybe cable related. Plus the Eurocom cables tend to fit a bit better then the alienware cables anyway.

Just some thoughts.

Good luck!

 

I am running the 6990 right now. And have two external monitors. Closed the lid and all but my cf right slave card doesn't work right now, but no heat issues or blue screens i only got blue screen with different driver than the 11.10. on the left card. Ill further test this as soon as I get the crossfire to work buddy.

Wolf

I have both my original cable, and the clevo cable.
Ok ill buy a extra cable. And the cable name is eurocom cf cable. And who is the exact seller?

 

When I purchased my cards from upgradeyourlaptop on ebay, they sent the perfect sized crossfire cable as well as the screws (+spares).
These guys know their business. Shame you only have one working at the moment but man! does it perform on Skyrim ^^

 

I already played batman on it but I just messaged the guy from upgradeyourlaptop. Asking if I can buy his cable seperatley. Hopefully he'll sell it to me. But until then, I'm riding solo.

Btw farmer, I also live in wa

So the dudes at Upgradeyourlaptop want 65$ for their eurocom cable with shipping, Personally I think he is really overpricing, a little cable, he said, shipping is 20$ for a ounce wire. Does anyone else maybe have a eurocom or long enough alienware r2 crossfireX cable? Please pm me or let me know on here.

 

Hey True talk.

Ouch, that is very expensive.

Contact the guys at mythlogiccorp.com I know a few folks have bought from them.

They are here in the US (Michigan) and last I heard they charge $25 for the same cable + shipping (which shouldn't be much)

I've also heard the M18x cables are perfect as well...if you can find one.

 

Ive been following this thread for a while. Decided to get the 6990 xfire setup. It took a while longer for me to get them being I am deployed in Afghanistan, but I finally got everything over the past 2 weeks(been waiting weeks on and off waiting for more and more mail to get in when the weather is good) and was able to finish the install last night.

I was having problems trying to get crossfire to work but figured it out, the vbios on my cards were the non xfire ones. Took me a while to find where DR650 posted the clevo 6990m + 6990s vbios in this thread. But after I flashed to those vbios crossfire worked and everything is going great.

 

They do work?!?! I have the m18x cable btw. I'm going to try and switch it today. Btw. It was my first time using formula 6 on the 6990gpu. Keeps my temps really low. Just saying highly recommended.

 

Yea I tried 3 different crossfire cables before noticing in RBE when i loaded my vbios I pulled from gpuz that in Hardware specs string it had Clevo P150HM Blackcomb XT Samsung 2GB. So i reflashed with other vbios and when i started up and loaded gpuz it said ATI CrossFrie: Enabled (2 GPUs).

Now I just have to wait till I get home on r&r in a week or so and repaste my cards and reseat the heatsink on my master because my temps are a bit high. It is idling at around 50C+ and I ran SWTOR and it was at 89C. So I am buying supplies online and having them sent home so they are there when I get home.

Just to clarify I have done what TurbodTalon mentioned with filing around the heat sink, but am going to re-inspect that as well. Luckily I have an extra pair of heatsinks if needed.

 

Update. Got the Clevo 6990 today. Crossfired 6990+6970 combo is working brilliantly. No more fan problems! YAY

 

Woo hoo. Awesome man!!

 

Haha yeah! And I'm 90% sure the throttling and shut downs are gone too! Time to overclock and overvolt everything again.

 

Ok so I went back into the R2 took out the CrossfireX cable and changed it with the m18x Crossfire cable. I for sure connected the top video card, and for sure connected the left card all the way for sure, went in perfectly without a hassle, redone the thermal past on the top right video card, put it back together, still when I go to Catalyst control center, and try to enable it it says the same thing as it did before, so that brings me to plan B, it has to do with the vbios or some sort of programming, where do I go to check whats my Vbios?

Ok so my vbios, on both cards is, 013.011.000.017.040794. Which is the same one that DR650SE posted up, I reflashed them anyways, but still it doesnt want to enable crossfire, what should I try doing guys?

Wally what Vbios did you flash them to?

Hello wolf, I think i need the modded desktop driver, to get these, cards to work in crossfire, since I changed the cable, I dont think anythings wrong with the cable anymore, I beleive its something Vbios related or some sort of mod or something do you think?

 

Multi posting is against the forum rules so please, use the EDIT button instead of posting after yourselves.

 

Mine are the same: 013.011.000.017.040794

Use RBE(Radeon Bios Editor) and load your vbios that you can pull off your card from gpuz. In RBE it will show you more information about the vbios you load in there. Like I said above the problem I had was that mine was the Clevo P150HM and I needed the Clevo X7200 for crossfire to work.

Also note that in CCC I did not even have the crossfire option available till I had the correct vbios installed.

The vbios I used were from this post.

 

Hmm interesting, what could be my problem? I have no idea what other options I have left.

 

Nice, I can't believe this actually works!

 

Hey,
When you boot on your USB and type atiflash -i do both cards show?

Edit! Sorry I double posted!!!!!!! what a retard, so tired :/

 

Hey, I've been reading through this post and can't find any info on success/problems with Dell/Clevo/Eurocom 6990's. The original post explains what to expect from the various 6970's. Any feedback? Perhaps the original post can get updated to include info on the 6990's since the 6970's are becoming very difficult to find? Thanks.

 

Ill try atiflash -i right now.

Confirm, when I used atiflash -i both the cards showed.


Thenzfarmer, what CF cable u use? The stock one? The m18x? The eurocom?

 

6990's have been very successful and many folks are running them (Both clevo and Eurocom)

Would not recommend Dells due to fan issues and such but either Clevo or Eurocom should work well. They can also be underclocked to help compensate for some of the heat/power issues.

This is also included in the initial post just FYI...