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

I'm a bit up-in-the-air about this as well. I'm very happy with my 6970's and like Intense mentioned, I really don't see a need to upgrade in the near future.

That being said, it'll depend on the price point to me and also what the new Alienware's look like techincally (specifically an M18x-r2).

I figure in another year or two I'll be ready for a complete upgrade anyway so would probably go that route.

But if I could get them relatively inexpensively by selling my 6970's I would consider it.

Of course, sometimes the upgrade bug bites and you just do it because upgrading is always an "adventure"

 

Bios A10 is the latest official bios from Dell. It's very, very hard to mod a bios with the intent to add features like gpu support versus simply unlocking menus which was done with the modded A10 bios. I'm not sure what's going on with the crew whose working on that project. I haven't heard/seen an update from them in ages. There was supposed to be a revision to the modded A10 bios released months ago, but as far as I can tell it never happened.

And again, everything I said about the bios was speculation. I don't know if it's true or not - that's only what it sorta seems to be to me. What we do know for a fact is that SLI has to be enabled in the bios. This is why ONLY GTX 285m and GTX 260m SLI will work in the R2. CFX doesn't need bios recognition to work thankfully. I don't think it's really known for sure whether or not gpu's have to be defined in the bios for them to be accepted by the computer. That's the common assumption (at least for the MXM interface), but tests here and elsewhere seem to go against that.

Speaking of all of this, I wonder when the next incompatible MXM revision will be made. MXM is the equivalent to PCI-e 2.0 8x I believe. If the 7970m turns out to be a beast, it might use close to all of that bandwidth. 7000m series so far is definitely MXM 3.0b/a so no worries there, but I wonder if the 8000 series will prompt a revision to the interface.

 

Can you explain this? I'm assuming the MXM interface is the port that our video cards plug into.

Also, on a side note - If all hell broke lose and I had to ship my machine back to dell, would I be able to put my 5870s back in without those damn c clamps? Or would I have to reattach them (some are broken)? Could I just use the screws that were on it before and screw in the heatsink normally? If so, what was the point of those clamps to begin with!

Also, DR65SE, you're, right. That woman is, well, SMOKING. You need to change the picture of yourself in your profile. You look mean, like you're going to poop out a samurai sword and cut someone's legs off. You seem like such a nice guy, but when I look at that picture I get scurrrred

EDIT: As far as getting another Alienware, when the new consoles come out and the need for better technology is present, I think this one may be my last. Now that they're making nice 13 inch laptops, I think I'll get one of those (hopefully something similar to the LG P330) to do gaming on decent settings when I travel, and just build a really hot desktop. I've yet to see a single Alienware machine release without some inherent issues. The m15x had severe throttling, the m17x had all those power issues when it came out, the m18x is having all sorts of fan issues, and I'm sure there are plenty others that don't even include the individual issues everyone seems to have. I've never gotten a single Alienware computer (this one is my 4th) that didn't have some sort of problem out of the box. I had a desktop that came with faulty cards, faulty fans and some bios issues, I then ordered a m9750 that I had to send in for repairs 4 times after I had 3 different techs come to my house and do nothing but make it worse, I then received an Area 51 m15x as a replacement for my m9750 and I had to replace the keyboard the day I received it because of faulty keys, as well as the video card. That doesn't even come close to how bad the hinge issues were on that machine. When I got my m17xr2 I had to replace the keyboard and the HDD's. Less than 6 months after I got my m17x I was having severe throttling due to high temps. I had to repaste it and found that the stock paste was completely dried and crusted. My story isn't even close to as bad as several other's I've heard. I don't understand how they continue to build and sell machine after machine that have so many apparent issues. Its like they send them out without testing them. They make GAMING machines. Every time I got back my m9750 and turned on a game, the damn stuttering was so horrendous I wanted to throw it out the window. Its like they sent it back to me without even testing it. I just don't understand how they can ship gaming machines that can't game properly. They do the same thing with the new machines that they produce.

Now that I'm out of college and getting married and staying put, I have much less need for a powerful gaming machine to travel with. If we decide to go out of town to visit friends / family for a few days, I could be fine with a 13 inch laptop to game on. When we go on real vacation, I don't have time / desire to game anyway. We're going to Costa Rica in a few weeks and I can promise you that I'm not bringing my Alienware. Anyway, sorry for ranting. I wish more than anything that this company could give more of a damn, but I will say that with all the crap I've had to endure (before even attempting to upgrade) I'd be out of luck if I wasn't (moderately compared to some of you guys) technically competent.

Rant off

 

I've sent mine back without the screws. Never had a question asked, and play like I'm clueless when it comes to tech

Yea that pic was taken on the roof of a building in downtown Baghdad. Had the sun in my eyes, which explains the crazy eyes! lol. Oddley enough, speaking of swords, the pic was taken from where I worked that overlooked Saddams Victory Arch, which is made of huge hands/swords. Theres my history lesson for the day

 

yup, das me!

But I'm with you Intense, I may go for a Sager next to try it out. Always wanted one of those beasts. But I'd be better off with a desktop. I just like having the option of taking a powerful system with me.

 

The Sager choice I was looking at when I purchased my m17x was more powerful, but damn was it ugly. That was before the newer ones, but even the newer ones don't compare with the slickness of the Alienwares.

My next power machine will be a desktop, but my next laptop will either be an ultra light 13 inch powerhouse (like the Z1 was and the Z2 failed on) or maybe something like the m14x. Not sure.

 

Yep, that's correct.

To elaborate, unlike PCI-e, there are "extra" pins in the MXM interface with which manufacturers can do anything they like with them. From computer to computer it varies. Fan control, audio, etc, can and often are uniquely allocated to these pins by the individual computer companies. It's not standardized. Basically the only standardized things about MXM is the shape of the card and connector, the video data pins, and the PCI-e lanes.

I'm sure you can see how this is the main source of our issues.

One of the crazier examples is HP, who goes as far as not including a vbios on most of their gpu. Instead they have the vbios chip on the motherboard and use manufacturer specific pins to route the data to the video card. This is their effort in trying to prevent people from upgrading their gpu's and instead buying a new computer.

Asus while they use a physical MXM connector, in most cases doesn't even follow the MXM protocol for PCI-e and video pin layout and instead does their own thing. If you even come across an Asus MXM video card, the best thing to do is stay away unless your installing it in the exact machine it was built for.

Clevo and the Alienware section of dell are really the only two companies who support MXM as a usable standard.

 

Hi guys.
Question to DR650SE.
What command needs to be entered in DOS, that flash vbios 6990s?))))))
Only do not shout
From me, I in this business understand nothing!


Dell Alienware M17x r2
17.3 screen (1920 x 1200) LED, glossy/Intel Core i7-840QM (1.86 Ghz)/8 GB RAM/2 x 500 GB HDD/DVD RW/2 x ATI Radeon HD 5870, 1 GB/LAN/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/webcam/Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

 

Here is a guide for overclocking and vbios flashing. Basically create a bootable USB drive. A guide to creating a bootable USB drive is linked below.

Then place ATIFlash (linked below) on the USB drive. Then place the 6990m and 6990s vbios on the usb drive. Reboot and set your system to boot from the usb drive in the bios.

Boot off the USB drive,

Then pull a copy of your vbios. To do this type.
atiflash -s 0 svbios0.rom - This will backup your master GPU vbios svbios0 = stock video bios for the GPU in slot 0, you master

Then backup the slave vbios.
atiflash -s 1 svbios1.rom -This will backup your slave GPU vbios svbios0 = stock video bios for the GPU in slot 1, your slave.

Then you can flash the vbios I have provided (linked below)
First flash the master GPU
atiflash -p 0 6990m.rom

Then flash the slave GPU
atiflash -p 1 6990s.rom

If the flash commands do not work, use the following commands to force flash.
atiflash -f -p 0 6990m.rom
atiflash -f -p 1 6990s.rom


then reboot CTL+ALT+DEL and remove the USB drive so it won't boot on the USB drive. Now on the USB drive you'll notice that the backup vbios files are on it. svbios0.rom and svbios1.rom. Keep these if you ever need to flash them back.


6990 vbios link

The guide below is for overclocking, but the procedure remains the same. Once you understand the atiflash commands, it's fairly easy.

 

Well my new cable is at home ready for testing getting sound to my tv so I can watch HDMI movies.

However I've developed a new problem, since I had my TV plugged into it the other day, whenever I restart the laptop it thinks the HDMI is the default display (even when it's not plugged in?) I have to plug the tv in and then select the laptop monitor then unplug the cable. But having to do this everytime I restart/shut down????

Fn+f5? (i think) has no effect either?

 

DR650SE I have made flash vbios, now there is a new problem - a blinking of the screen in crossfire!
What version of the driver you use ?

 

Hi Neklec,

Sorry to hear about your problems. Are both cards now showing up in crossfire (even though the screen is blinking).

If so, you might try to reseat your crossfire cable and see if that helps.

 

I use 11.10 GPU drivers.

 

Yes crossfirex works, when I start game starts to blink, I disconnect crossfire does not blink. The cable crossfire has established repeatedly, perhaps blinks.

 

Try removing all driver remnets and starting a new driver install. Boot into safe mode and use driver sweeper or something to get rid of everything. Then run CC cleaner to clean the regestry. Then install the 11.10 drivers again.

 

If somebody is going to sell one 6990m card (the best from clevo) in the near future please let me know. I'd like to buy.

 

More shortly I have got guys-it refers to " Happy New Year! ".
The driver has removed, cleaning DriverSweeper, has established 11.10 blinks when game I start. Who had a similar case?

 

Have you ensured that you updated your system bios to A10?

 

Yes bios A10

 

Hey Neklec, which crossfire cable are you using? The one provided from upgradeyourlaptop or the one you used with your Dell video cards?

if you have both, have you tried swapping them out to see if maybe one of the crossfire cables are bad?

 

Tried both of a cable, the problem has remained.

 

All games or just one?

 

All games.
Can try to me flash 6990m package.zip Undervolt?

Hi DR650SE.
You have 6990s and you flash them M8900 VBIOS, it to work well?
Videocards bought at upgradeyourlaptop?
I tried flash 6990m package.zip Undervolt from Технос and then saw only the black screen, have corrected it flash blindly!
TROUBLE!!!

 

Hey everyone!

Good to see we have a few more recruits to the 6970/6990 fold

I have so far managed to get the cards running at 1.01 volts stable in Furmark, which is good news. Now when I get the time I need to complete the heat sink filing and try to get those temps down further.

Aarpcard, congrats on the 6990/6970 combo! I have a question though, doesn't overclocking increase the power consumption of the cards? I have been running at 1.1v for a while now and in BF3 the 920XM requires a slight under clock to eliminate all throttling. Thus I imagined an GPU overclock would increase power draw and cause throttling again. Are you having these issues at all?

EDIT:: Couldn't help myself and started to tinker with overdrive I can run at the max CPU overclock of 740 and the Memory at 925 at 1.01 volts in furmark without throttling. If I push the memory higher it throttles. Not bad considering it is under volted And now that it is not crashing, overdrive it pretty cool to have on hand

EDIT:: An increase of a bit over a 100 points in 3dmark11. P6316

 

Hey Douse!

Welcome back!

 

Thanks Greywolf Did you have a nice relaxing Christmas?

 

I sure did, only upgrade I did was to add USB 3.0 expresscard to my system. I hope your's was relaxing as well

 

Glad to hear it! Mine was too.

It might be a small upgrade but it is certainly useful!

 

I feel like my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I just started noticing that, sometimes, I can sort of maybe but not really see text / objects on the screen vibrate ever so slightly. I can't definitively see it, but for some reason I feel like its doing it. Is that supposed to happen? Maybe I'm having an issue? Going crazy?

Also, I don't understand how everything was working perfectly for a while, then yesterday I started noticing some weird tearing and vibrating issues in SC2 when I'd try to place a building. If I switched from full screen to windowed, then back to full screen and alt+tabbed, for the most part, the issues went away. I didn't change any settings whatsoever, so I really don't understand why all of a sudden it'd start happening. I kind of feel the same way for a few of the issues I had. For a while, things were fine @ .96, then I had issues. Same happened with 1.0V. @ 1.02 I haven't had any of those issues of the pc freezing / crashing like I did with the other voltages, but this little vibration (which may be in my head) and the tearing in sc2 that started yesterday is annoying me. Even if I had tearing in SC2, I could fire up another game and no tearing in sight, and if I disabled xfire the tearing would go away too. Not really sure about any of this to be honest.

EDIT: Maybe the screen is supposed to vibrate a tad fragile amount and I'm just now noticing? Maybe its a driver issue? Even with the voltages @ stock I still think I see it if I look hard enough. I feel like I can see it more if i type while looking at the text above it. I'm so confused!!!

 

Chief! I love you man! I knew it would work! Id rep ya but gotta spread the love. Someone rep him for me


Intense, can the vibrating be from your fans moving the system ever so slightly?

 

Ok I am getting very curious about this upgrade, the 25k+ 3DMark scores are tantalizing, can anyone please recommend a solid configuration in terms of drivers and clocks using the flextronics 240W PSU? I am already pushing the limits of this PSU with the clock settings in my sig and have tripped it quite a few times, how can the 6990's achieve such spectacular scores without running into the same problem?

And also, where is a good source to get them and the cable? Thanks in advance.

I apologize, I started to read all of the pages in this thread for information in this regard but after the first 15 or so I gave up.

 

Honestly I can't even tell if its real or not. I suppose if its that minor it can't be much of an issue. Try looking at something really closely and tell me if you see it at all. My Z1 does it pretty noticeably but that's just the nature of the screen I think.

EDIT: The screen vibrating and tearing in SC2 only seemed to happen when I'd place structures, but I just launched skyrim and it was doing it just standing there. Its not huge, but its noticable. I just did a clean install of the drivers and that didn't fix it. Why the hell would this issue just appear out of nowhere? The voltage of the card doesn't seem to matter with this issue.

This is really frustruating. Everything is fine for a few days, a week - then new problems occur. Trying to decide how worth it this upgrade was...

Can anyone think of anything I should try?

EDIT: I'm switching the cards in the slots and it's time for me to cut new thermal pads. The tech had cut the ones that have been on there but this will be the 4th time I've had to reseat the syncs with these pads so I need to put on new ones. Do I put them on the heatsincks to set up or should I lay them directly across the ram to make sure it gets aligned correctly?

EDIT 2: Spent 2 hours cutting new pads out / reseating both heat sinks. Good news is I got my temps even lower, but bad news is I wasted my time. I'm still having the exact same problem. If I look closely @ my desktop icons I can see they move just a little. There's "vibration" in games. Can anyone please think of what this could be? I hate to reseat the hinksinks again to put them back on my 5870's to see if that even fixes it.

Help!

EDIT 3: I have no video drivers installed and the shaking occurs even in safe mode.

Did I mention --- HELP!

^.^

 

I sometimes get the shaking as well Intense but I also get annoying intense flickering as well.

For example, the shaking may happen when I am in a loading screen, or looking at scores in BF3.

I just ordered a new crossfire cable from Mythologic to rule out a damaged cable due to the mod.

So, this is definitely happening in Windows as well? That is strange, as mine only ever happens in game....

EDIT:: Just for fun, I uploaded a video of the strange crossfire stuttering that I get. This is in Portal and actually happens quite frequently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuK8dWJAA7A&feature=youtu.be

EDIT x2:: Intense have you got an external monitor that you could plug in and see if it still does it?

 

I can't tell if the vibrating occurs on my desktop monitor. Again, its so subtle its nearly impossible to notice. I'll log into skyrim and see if it happens there, but again it doesn't happen all the time. Its inconsistent. Sometimes I'll play SC2 and it'll be there and another time it won't. If I'm having the issue in SC2 and I go into the video settings, I'll get that same stuttering you get in portal.

Any other ideas? The only other thing I can think of is switching back in my 5870s but I'm not even sure if that will fix it.

EDIT: I plugged the laptop into the wall instead of the old power strip that it was plugged into and I think it solved the issue. I still feel like I see the vibrating in the screen, but its so small no one else besides me can see it. Since I plugged it into the wall I haven't seen the stuttering in games, but that was inconsistent to begin with so I'm not sure if its gone or not.

Could the old ty power strp from 10+ years ago have caused the issue?

 

Funny that you get the same flickering as I do. I thought I was only experiencing it!!!! When I get my new crossfire cable I will let you know how it goes.

Well, I can see how that COULD cause an issue but it shouldn't as the PSU should be filtering the power.

It is really strange....could either be the cards or the monitor. So I would focus on replicating the issue on another monitor to rule out the laptop screen.

And just to make sure, you are running the native res? I know it is silly but it can give that feeling of a lack of sharpness/shaking.

Sorry I can't be of more assistance but it is a tricky one and it is hard to give advice without actually seeing it

 

Yea, I'm running the native res. I still see it on the screen. That tiny bit of shaking. Its so subtle but its there. What really irks the hell out of me is the fact that everything was working great, then a problem arose. That's happened several times since I've installed these new cards. Everything was fine with .96, then problems arose and I had to go to 1.0, then 1.02. 1.02 has been fine on the other issues, but these stuttering issues on the screen seem independent of the voltages. I also see them with xfire turned off so I can't imagine the cable has anything to do with it. I have a hard time understand how the cards affect it when I get it in safe mode with no display drivers installed, and I even swapped the card slots. I don't think I see it on the external monitor, actually. Its so hard to tell, but I don't think I see it. I'm still under warranty so hopefully they can send me a new LCD. Its so hard to tell, though. I may try putting back my old cards first to rule that out. Sigh, this is so stressful. If I had a good 13 inch laptop like the p330 (if it had an IPS screen) I'd just sell the damn thing and build a desktop. I'm getting really stressed out with all these issues.

I don't know, typing this post on the external monitor I think I may see it on the screen too.

Any ideas? Can you think of just ANYTHING I can try?

 

Hope you guys get that stuff all worked out. Sucks your having issues

 

Bugger man Sorry to hear you are having these problems. If it is any consolation, I too am having issues, albeit slightly different!

I guess something to remember is that this upgrade is outside of the specifications of the system so potential problems should be expected.

What version of BIOS are you running?

My issues are all good, I don't mind having something to sink my teeth into....call me crazy but I like tinkering

 

A10.

Can you all try looking really closely at your screen and see if there's any minor vibration? I have to take my glasses off to see it and stare really closely and even then its not definitive. Its not like it makes things blurry or anything, its just - there.

Maybe electrical interference? I just hate to put the 5870's in there and have it not change anything. It may be my only choice to at least test it.

Dan, do you have any issues whatsoever? Up until like yesterday when this started happening - I think you and I were the only two people on this forum who were issue free with the upgrade. It seems like so many people have issues.

Can anyone shed light on why does it work fine for a period of time and then, without changing a single thing, it stops working fine?

Also, side note : what does "Burn In" mean in terms of how Furmark uses it. The program has the option to chose burn in test / burn in benchmark or benchmark (users settings) and burn in is checked by default under options. What is it?

 

I have a few different questions. I skimmed through much of the 300 pages here, but didn't find the answers.

The guide mentions the Dell 6970's have a 1120 shader "problem" ? Doesn't that sound like a bonus? Or am I missing something? Or is the only problem the sleep/hibernate crash that comes with it?

On that note: If the card indeed does have 1120 shaders, it is possible it is actually a 6990? Since the emergence of 6990 seemed to coincide with the complete disappearance of 6970s. Has anybody been bold enough to flash a 6970 with a 6990 bios?

 

Those mobility 6970 with 1120 shaders are engineering samples(not the final product) that's why.

 

So the guide simply hasn't been updated to reflect the newer Dell 6970's and the experience one might expect?

 

The guide hasn't been updated for a long time

We have been talking about updating it but never done so.....yet.

Happy New Year!! I'm drunk

 

Hi Intense...so I looked REALLY closely at the screen and I see no vibrations what-so-ever (for what it's worth I have 20/20 vision...so can't compare with/without glasses etc).

I honestly don't know what could be causing it. It sounds like it could be some sort of electronic interference. Have you tried moving your laptop into another room and simply plugging it in there? I think you said it occurs even in safe mode, so that to me would indicate that it's not a driver problem, but something else.

Maybe something a bit off with the crossfire cable? or something else.

I can't explain why you are seeing tearing when you haven't before, unless it could be that as the cards heat up they are just displaying some sort of problem with the chips themselves.

Otherwise I have no clue what else might be causing it.

Good luck to you though...what a hassle.

 

Woo Hoo Douse! Happy New Year. Not quite that time here yet...not to say I haven't started drinking a bit early

 

Let me know if you have a few hours and can do a few tests, I'll let you know what it is via pm.

It's for a certain video game I've been asked about.

(It's nothing illegal)

 

The tearing wasn't like, tearing - it was like what Douse had in portal, only when in the menu screen in portal. Since I went to 11.10 I haven't had anything like that. I rebooted all the electrical devices in my home office and I still just can't tell if its there or not. Its so minor I can't tell, and I'm not sure if it happens in the other room or not because its so hard to see.

I feel like I may have wasted my time switching the cards around, and even worse my temps got worse (not bad but worse than they were). I ran out of my 1mm pads so I'm using .5 and they don't work as well. Greywolf uses the spread method for the chip on the gpu, but do any of you use the dot method? I'm going to redo them when the 1mm pads come in the mail. Also, do any of you put pads on those other components that the heatsink doesn't have that raised area for? May get my temps even lower.

Anyway, I may throw in the 5870's tomorrow just to see if it changes anything, but if it does it in safe mode, do the cards have any influence on that whatsoever? I assumed safe mode used onboard video or something.

Thanks and have a happy new years!

 

Hey Intense,

Just an FYI...the R2's don't have an integrated video card...so even in safe mode it's using the primary 6990.

 

Happy New Year All Round Folks!

 

Happy New Year EVERYONE!

May the new year bring more adventurous GPU upgrades.
I can't wait to get my hands on a couple of 600M or 7000M GPUs.

Cheers.