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

Happy New Years Everyone!!!

 

God damn, don't get me started with 7000's.......spent enough money on these!!!!

 

Interesting. I switched the cards around and I'm pretty sure it occurred in safe mode with both configs. I can't imagine both cards have that exact same problem.

Also, I thought Stealth Mode used integrated graphics?

EDIT: Isn't there a driver for the monitor itself? Under Monitor in device manager there's "Generic PnP Monitor". Could that be something that I could clean out / reinstall? Maybe it got corrupted? Also, What is OSD? I've been needing to reinstall some Alienware stuff for a while now. When I turn the pc on the Alienware logo on the bottom of the LCD itself starts blinking, and in my profile its supposed to stay static. If I disable / reenable the alien fx, it goes back to staying lit properly.

 

What is your refresh rate set to?

EDIT:: Seriously I am grasping at straws. Are you on a laptop stand? Do you have a fat sub playing tunes. Take it off the stand (if it is) turn off all devices on the desk that may cause vibrations.

Even the laptop fans can cause vibrations if not seated properly.

 

Its on the cryo lx. This laptop is heavy as balls, you really think the stand could affect it? I'm checking now.

Also, no sub in this room but there is one in my house. I'll go unplug it. Its in another room maybe 30 feet away through 2 walls.

Why would you upgrade your m17xr2 with new cards when you already have the m18x? Seems like a waste of money no? If you wanted the RGB then why buy the m18x at all? :O)

EDIT: I took it off the stand and turned the sub off and I think I still see it. Again, its so hard to see. I'm looking at the text in this post as I'm typing and it just looks like the words are moving ever so slightly. Its Almost impossible to put your finger on, but its annoying as balls.

 

Nah a sub in the other room wont do anything unless it is cranking.

Laptop stand may definitely do something especially with the fans on full. I know my fans in the Cryo LX get loose and start making a noise, but i don't see vibrations. They do move my mouse (when I had a R.A.T 7)

Maybe I am not as observant.

 

Hey IntenseIGFX,

Hope you get your issue fixed/solved.

Douse,
Also that other rolling screen in game issue, I used to have that on a pair of 5870Ms. I had to get new GPUs to fix the issue. Hopefully yours is not the same case.

When I do get either the 600M or 7000M GPUs I'll most likely give them a quick run in the R2 to see if they work, maybe run a bench or 2 and get back onto DR's top 5 list LOL
However they will be mainly for use in my M18x.
I then might try and sell the 2x 6990Ms or just chuck them into the R2.

Cheers.

 

No change with the laptop off the stand. Its almost like the contents of the screen are just moving so so so so o slightly that its hard to see directly, but definitely bothers you.

Not sure how much you or Dan travel, but it may be a good idea for you guys to get a desktop Save you some serious coin and head ache. I've never needed to always have the best possible video cards that are out unless they'll affect the games I'm playing. You benchmark s on the other hand, well - everyone h as their hobbies! ^.^

EDIT: What about the generic PnP monitor for the monitor driver? CMOS battery? Anything? I'm just trying to think of something.

 

Hey IntenseIGFX bro,

You able to show us a video of it? I may have seen similar instances before.

Cheers.

 

Yeah I have read threads with similar results. Unfortunately I don't have that option (without throwing away moneys) so I will find another way

Its not the end of the world as it practically never happens in BF3 and only sometimes occurs in Skyrim. Can totally live with it and when it seriously frustrates me it will be time for a brand new insane desktop

Intense's results give me hope, considering he had it in SC menu and it changed with a driver change.

 

Well, since my thread was moved, probably for being to discreet, i'll ask openly.

Would anyone with xfire 6990's and rgb want to test out Diablo 3 Beta? I'm trying to test how well it will run on maximum settings. Only 1 person, so send me a pm if interested, and I'll reply if I believe I can trust you.

 

Cool true that man!
I remember last time I thought I had fixed it somehow after I reseated and re-pasted the GPUs. I went for a couple of months without the screen rolling. Then one day bam it just came back lol

Truth be told the laptop/notebook bug has gotten a good stranglehold on me lol. I just sold all my desktop and parts and have not looked back.
I don't see myself ever going back to desktops any time soon.
I would also like to get the top of the line Nvidia GPU next time however the $$$ must be right.
I know AMDs 7000M series will most likely be too tempting though.

Cheers.

 

Yea, the screen rolling happened after I'd get like a tear line going verticly up the left side of the screen while trying to place structures in SC2. Then I'd go into the menu to try and disable v sync / full screen or whatever and I'd get that rolling - again only in that menu. Both of these issues started @ the same time. I just don't have any idea why everything was working fine, then it wasn't. I was so happy with my perfectly working machine! Why!!! WHY!!!!! WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: Can someone comment on cmos battery / the generic pnp driver? Can it hurt to try the CMOS? What could it even potentially do? Greywolf once told me to try it to fix a graphical issue. It didn't, but I assume he had reason to ask me to try it.

Also, never got my question answered about burn in.

 

TBH I am the opposite. I moved countries and needed a mobile power house. Whilst I love the challenge and the experience that this has given me, I will definitely move back to a desktop. Only now i have even higher aspirations. Perhaps water\peltier cooled system again.

I did this when I was 14 in 1998 with a Celeron 566 @ 1Ghz with a literal make shift system made out of PVC pipes and a motor bike radiator plus second PSU and a 75 watt peltier with water block.. God knows how my folks let me get away with it....it died when condensation got to it after a few months and plenty of lannage

Keen to do the same now with better equipment and technology.

Anyway, cant help but ramble when I drunk

Burn in is just a term related to absolutely smashing a GPU/CPU. Nothing you should worry about really. i suppose some TIM's need to be 'set'.. it is just to set consumption to max burn\cause heat etc...it is pushing the system (in this case GPU) to the absolute max.

I used to be a big advocate of this (in the desktop world) but lately with laptops I don't think this is wise with power constraints etc and should not be run for extended periods of time (30 mins + etc etc). AMD and Nvidia give warnings about Furmark as it pushes cards past their max ratings, and thus they cover themselves for damage.

As for the CMOS battery, I don't think it will make a difference but sure, reset the BIOS and see if it changes anything just to be sure.

I dont know what you mean about about generic pnp driver..

 

That 10char

 

My main monitor (laptop screen) is:

 

Times Square NYE!! This May be one of the few things that beats my R2. Times Square easy so crowded were close enough to see the ball. Too crowded on the barricades.

 

I don't understand. Does that mean that that monitor driver on there is just for my dell monitor maybe? Even though its not plugged in atm?

 

hhahahah nice!

I got lazy and stayed in instead of going to the London NYE Fireworks. Crowds are meant to be epic......bugger that

Maybe. Right click on desktop. Select 'Screen Resolution' and see what is being used.

 

The only way to eliminate the cards as being the problem...that I can think of anyway is to put the 5870's back in and see if the problem still occurs. You could use the crossfire cable from Eurocom with the 5870's...that way if it doesn't occur, you'll know that it's not the 5870's or the crossfire cable (which would lead me to believe one/both of the videocards are a problem).

If it does occur, replace the crossfire cable with your dell crossfire cable and see if that addresses the problem (thus leaving the crossfire cable to blame).

If all of it still occurs regardless of the cards, then something else must be going on.

Thats all i can think of with a pint of fosters in my system.

Maybe a few more and I'll come up with some other suggestions.

 

Been drinking a bit. Just reread my last post

 

LOL /10char

 

Would the xfire cable even affect anything if it happens with xfire disabled too? Since it does happen with xfire disabled, I imagine the cable doesn't matter.

EDIT: My fiancé doesn't see the shaking at all. After looking at her Mac for a while I think I started to see it there too. She thinks it's just my eyes. I work a lot on that computer and the screen is damn bright. My eyes could just be strained and are causing the problem. Is that a possibility? I don't see shaking on my iPhone screen but that's a different type of screen maybe. I'm so confused!!!

 

No, it shouldn't be the crossfire cable if it occurs in single GPU mode.

As for your eye's, It could be, but hopefully not Staring at a very bright screen for long periods of time is not good for your eyes.

There is heaps of information on the net about eye strain caused by computers. Maybe see if you are having any other symptoms, and don't hesitate to get checked out by an optometrist.

 

Please tell me if I buy 6990m from upgradeyourlaptop what problem is supposed to be?
Fan issue, hdmi, sleep mode etc?

 

Only issue is audio over HDMI which does not look like it will be fixed.

Make sure you order them with soldered posts and also get the screws included as it will make your life a little easier.

Also get a crossfire cable from them, as the original one does not fit properly.

 

Make sure you're prepared to deal with some tweaking to get things right. Every computer reacts to them differently. If you plan to overclock make sure you get an additional psu.

 

I'm going to buy a single card.
Now I have M6600 with M8900 (6970m) OCed to 880/1150 and it's faster than 6990m @stock. This is enough in everything I play. The only reason I want the R2 is RGB display. Even one of the best 17.3 FHD display AUO B173HW01 v.4 is far from RGB quality.
I think a single 6990m with 920xm @3.46ghz is still a quite good setup, isn't it?
I have time to February. Maybe I will get an offer for 580m.

BTW I thought eurocom cards have a fan issue.

 

Nope no issue with fans on the Eurocom cards (running two of the 6970's right now) and as Douse stated the only issue is with no audio over HDMI.

I did reflash the Eurocom cards with the Clevo bios, so I'd recommend doing that if you run into any issues with the stock Eurocom bios...but with the Clevo bios there are no issues at all except the audio.

Hope that helps

 

thanks.

Could you please tell me what differences are between eurocom and clevo card.

 

Essentially they are both the same card just different manufacturers. The Clevos are Green and the Eurocoms are Blue (at least on the 6970's not sure about the 6990's), and flashing the Eurocom cards with the Clevo bios essentially makes them the same as the Clevo card.

Both have the problem with no audio via HDMI, but don't experience the shutdown/hibernate sleep issues or the fan issues.

Since the Clevo cards have been a bit more difficult to acquire these days most folks have been going with the Eurocom cards from upgradeyourlaptop (Eurocom's ebay address).

I sold both of my Clevo's and purchased Eurocoms instead, and they have been running flawlessly now for about 2 months.

Make sure if you purchase the Eurocom 6970 cards that you buy them WITH the posts and ask that they include the crossfire cable for a Panther 2.0 and the screws to install them.

If you purchase the Eurocom 6990s they come with the x-bracket retention bracket, but still make sure you ask them to include the screws for installation and the crossfire cable as well.

Hope that helps.

 

A lot of helpfull information
Thanks +1

What the posts are?

Look at this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-Mobilit...363?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item1c2094af23
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-Mobilit...848?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item19cb1497e0

Which one?

 

Hi there,

This one:

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6970m GPU MXM 3.0 Type B w/ Soldered Posts | eBay

They used to be the same price, but unfortunately started charging more for the soldered on posts. The posts make installation a breeze though and I highly recommend them.

Also make sure you ask for the screws as they won't necessarily send them if you don't, and the Dell screws are too big and won't fit.

 

Any comment on that? Also for whatever reason I'm getting slow down in Sc2 when there's a lot of stuff on the screen (drops to about 45 fps) when before it stayed @ 60 no matter what. Maybe its 11.10 doing that where 12.1 worked better, or maybe its the cards increased temps (still never get higher than 76 in sc2) where as before I never got higher than 72-73 in SC2). Anyway - insight on the quote?

Happy new years!

 

What do you think about this one?
Is there everything ok with the posts?

ATI Mobility Radeon? HD 6990m GPU MXM 3.0 Type B | eBay

 

I know a number of folks here have bought 6990's from upgradeyourlaptop, and I believe they include the x-bracket...although I'll let someone who's purchased a pair ask about that.

Or you can ask the seller a question, they've been pretty good about replying.

*EDIT* Just noted this in the sellers ad:

This sale is for a card without posts. You will use your current spreader and screws to attach the card to the unit.

So you'll have to inquire about a spreader/x-bracket. The ones from the 5870's do not fit although they can be
cut and re-used as some folks on this board have done.

 

Uh, I got ATI Mobility Radeon? HD 6990m GPU MXM 3.0 Type B | eBay and everything (for the most part has been - err or maybe not) is fine. You all told me to get that. No one said anything about posts. Why are they needed? I'm confused.

 

Intense I think yours came with the x-bracket, like several others on the boards did (correct me if I'm wrong).

It looks like for some reason they are now selling just the card without the x-bracket (spreader) similar to how they sold the 6970's if you didn't purchase them with the soldered on post.

Always worth double checking with the seller though.

 

The xbracket connected on the back you mean? The cards have raised cylinders for the screws to go into @ all 4 points on mine. It didn't come with anything but the card and the cable though.

EDIT: Maybe I didn't do a good enough job pasting the chips or maybe its the .5 pads, but my in game performance has really been faltered since I switched the cards. I should never go below 60 fps in SC2, regardless of how much there is going on the screen, but now I go to 40 when its crowded. In skyrim, I had to reduce the settings to high. My benchmark scores are still what they were, which is what confuses me. I'm going to end up repasting and re-switching anyway because I'm going to stick the old cards in tomorrow to check the shaking issue.

 

rjtech also sells 6990m. I think it's the clevo card. But there is no info about posts and xbracket.
Laptop Video Cards :: ATI HD 6990M 2GB Video Card for P170HM - R&J Technology, Clevo Barebone Notebook kits, Laptop and desktop system builder

 

Doesn't make much sense. I don't have SC2 so I can't comment, but Skyrim (without mods, but running the 1.3 patch and 12.1 CCC beta drivers) never drops below 60fps indoors and stays around 52fps outside with absolutely everything maxed at 1920 by 1200 with both my cards at 830mhz.

Granted I have everything at stock voltage and a massive OC, but I do find that whenever I don't have my second PSU plugged in, I get massive throttling in skyrim which drops the framerate often to 40fps or even 20fps.

Sometimes benchmarks scores can stay unchanged in the midst of throttling because they aren't long enough to induce the throttling. I found that when I still had my Dell 6970.

Run two instances of gpu-z (one for each gpu) - you could also use rivatuner, and monitor the gpu % usage when in a game that's giving you problems.

The best way to test this is to stand in one spot in the game, and not move for a long time. Throttling will show up as a pattern of spikes of decreased gpu usage on gpu-z's graphs. Be sure you're logging the results as well to inspect them more closely.

The most important thing is though for you to find a spot in the game where your gpu usage is really high and there is no action - so you can just stand and wait for a good 10 minutes - if you move around or there's an AI fight going on in front of you, then your results will get skewed. Also, do you have a wattmeter? Another telltale sign is if the watt reading from the meter drops significantly in a repeated fashion while running a test scenario like I described above. What's your typical power consumption?

Personally, it doesn't sound like throttling to me. Also, a bad past won't cause any performance loss so long as your temperatures are ok (i.e. below 110C). If you rule out throttling and temperatures, then it seems like everything is probably normal.


Also, that is a backplate that people are referring to. Both of my cards have backplates. Personally I like them better than the cylinders because with a little bit of effort you can easily alter their height or swap them out to accommodate different heatsinks or apply more pressure on the gpu die.

 

Yea, not sure what it is. Everything was perfect @ 1.02v. Then one day I started having some occasional tearing in SC2 and the subtle screen vibrating. Before that my ingame performance was perfect. Now I've had to downgrade my settings after I've switched the cards around. I'm going to put my 5870's in and see if the subtle shaking goes away. If it does, I'm going to return the 6990's, or at least try. If it doesnt and its something else, then maybe Alienware will send me a new screen and reswitching the cards around will give me back my performance, even though my benchmark scores are the same. Its not like staying in the same spot causes throttling, its just when there's more going on in SC2 the fps drops some, like any game should to some degree, except before in SC2 I never ever dropped below 60 fps no matter how much was going on. With 11.10 I can run skyrim @ ultra because it uses both cards. Before, with 12.1 and xfire disabled for skyrim I could run @ ultra fine, but now I have to reduce to high. No clue is going on here.

 

Nice overclock Aarpcard. What is your memory at?

I found that even a slight overclock of my cards to 740/925 has made an noticeable improvement in games. Also since running that at 1.02v I can even clock up my CPU a little more which is nice.

I need to get my temps lower so I can really push these cards! Got some more paste on the way and going to continue the heatsink mod this weekend

At the moment I can hit a max of 90 on the shader after many hours of BF3.

EDIT:: Doh, just read your sig The cards not like to hit 1000 on the memory?

 

Yeah the cards don't like going over 975mhz. I think it's my 6970's fault. I haven't tested the 6990 alone to see if the memory can go higher. Anything above 975 will actually result in decreased performance and major instability.

The 6990 hits 90C max that I've seen. It's usually around 86C though.

The 6970 hits around 98C max. Usually around 94C. I did a lot of heatsink and backplate work to try and reduce the temps on that card from 106.5C. My efforts seem to have worked a bit. I'm going to try one more thing though and that might help get the card under the 90C mark.

 

aarpcard, do you spread or dot the chip on the gpu? Also, do you put thermal pads on the other components on the cards that arent beneath the raised areas of the heatsyncs?

EDIT: Also, is it possible for me to test the 5870's without having to close up the machine again? Is it safe to hook in the keyboard and keep it turned over while also hooking in the top pannel to turn the machine on but without closing it up? That way I don't have to strip the holes / screws any more than I need to.

EDIT 2: Question - could bad ram cause diminished game performance without affecting benchmarking scores?

 

It is possible to not put everything back together but be very careful as you increase the risk of shorting something.

I do it sometimes when testing.

Generally if your RAM is faulty you will start getting BSODs, errors in windows, failure to POST and also beeps during startup.

You can test your ram wth a free memory testing tool called memtest86:

Memtest86.com - Memory Diagnostic

On the topic of ram, for those that have upgraded their ram to better quality (tighter timings etc) has there been a noticable difference? I dont know if the Dell ram is any good or not :|

 

I've improved my repaste performance during time and yes with a little more attention you don't need to put everything back together

I do repaste the gpu without even uninstalling them from the system, just removing the heatsink, when i test them it can be done with keyboard connected but folded back over the palmrest, out of the way, same thing for the media bar. Once i'm sure everything is fine, then i put everything back together.

Same for CPU repaste, but since there is no magnesium cover you should be more vigilant not to short anything (expecially with the back of the keyboard since is metal and can accidentally touch something on the motherboard)

 

Magnesium cover? Are you referring to that sticker over the GPU that is supposed to protect the small pieces of metal around the chip? I had to remove that to properly clean the spilled over thermal grease from when a tech put way too much ic diamond. There is some thermal greese still sort of covering a few of those small peices of metal because it's near impossible to get it off.

 

You don't have the magnesium cover installed? I hate that damn thing, but I wasn't sure what the consequences would be for permanently removing it.

 

What is the magnesium cover?

Also, after switching the video cards back around I got my great video performance back. I also took more care in applying the pads / paste. Also, I get those IRQ_NOT_LESS_EQUAL or whatever blue screens at least once every few weeks, and the shaking of objects on the screen happens even with the old video cards in. I have some 1066mhz ram. Is it safe to put that in here and test it? Also, I have a bootable USB for atiflash. Can I put memtest on that? Dan did that all for me so I have no clue how to do it all.