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

Yup. 10char

 

I'm really happy that I finally got everything working again. If it stops working this time then its getting the sledgehammer.

Maybe the past's problems occurred because of the bad format, or maybe because I didn't uninstall the 5870 drivers prior to inserting the 6990's. For whatever reason, before the format - overdrive was never an option in CCC. Now, however, it is.

 

I think my slave card starting to act faulty. I get thin black lines on left side of screen with wierd micro tearing(happens also external screens)this only happens when CF is running.
I've reflashed card,reinstalled drivers and tested with external moniter.Will be switching cards later today.
Anyone start to get anything like this?


Ive seen a line weeks ago but just popd and went away instantly. I didnt think it would be anything. Hopefully theres a way to save card

 

Stealth, I have this as well but I just ignored it because I am also occasionally getting that screen rolling thing.

It also seems to happen more in some games then others. For example, happens heaps in Skyrim, but not at all in BF3. And BF3 works the cards more.

I think it is crossfire related, and I am still waiting on my cable to rule that out.

I don't think it is a bad card, as other members have also had wierd things such as the screen rolling.

 

Oh so its prob just a cable issue. Where can i get a new CF cable?

 

Well, I dont know as of yet

Once I get my cable I will let you know. Unfortunately I just found out that they are only just sending me the cable now (after 2 weeks)........

I am ordering through Mythologic, as apparantly they fit quite well, but this too I can let you know when I get it

 

Mythologic want 40+shipping from me for a cable is that right?. Also Douse have you tried swaping the cards if so did you still get issues always or only when CF kicks in?

 

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

found it this afternoon, not sure if it will work. i wouldnt need a CF cable as ill use the one for my 5870's (unless i need a different one) but the card is type B. i wonder if i order two, if i can flash one to be the slave and one to be the main.

 

Nah havent tried swapping cards yet. I had to mod the crossfire cable for it to fit, so this is the first thing that I want to replace.

I think I remember seeing some of the blue sheath removed from some of the individual cables

$25 for mine + shipping.

Yes, only happens with crossfire. To me it seems like there is crosstalk within the crossfire cable

 

Airborn (82nd? 16th?) Make sure to use the make offer button. You can probably knock a few dollars off. Those should work. I think you'll want to request the ones with posts from them ( somone correct me if I'm wrong) Also be sure to ask them for the screws as the 5870 heatsink screws won't fit.

 

Correct, you'll definitely want to order the card WITH posts...since the 5870 heat spreader will NOT fit (without cutting it and modifying it as some folks have done). Also make sure you ask that they INCLUDE SCREWS as well, since the Dell screws will NOT fit.

 

95th civil affairs (soon) right now im with the 20th. and thanks, ill ask seller if they come with posts ans screws. i hope he/she knows whats those are :S

EDIT I looked at the listing once more:

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

Dang i found another but its a 6970 and also w/o posts and screws... this seems impossible ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6970m GPU MXM 3.0 Type B w/ Soldered Posts | eBay

 

Ahh nice. I'm contemplating a move to CA from an MP BN.

Just send them a message. They will work with you. Plenty of those here have purchased cards from them. Tell them it's for your R2 and what you need and they will get it to you.

 

thanks, ill message seller and see if they can add the post and screws. kinda off topic but i found a new CPU INTEL i7 920XM 3.2GHz quad QS mobile CPU for 273.74 (to replace my i7 M620 2.66) is that a good price? (decided on the 920xm so when i add the 6970's or 6990's i shouldnt have to worry about power)

 

airborn if you are looking to buy on e-bay for the processor, I'd go with either Shirley or Laptop monkey.

I've personally used laptop monkey and he's fantastic, but I know Shirley is great to work with as well.

Both are trusted sellers and many folks on the board have gone through them

 

Ditto, i've bought a few cpu's through them and they've all been great.

Keep in mind you're not buying a genuine intel cpu. It's gonna be at best an ES version made by Intel or at worst Chinese knockoff made by a company in China who somehow "obtained" Intel's chip design.

That might scare you a bit, but that doesn't mean the cpu's are bad. They're very good. Perform and behave no different than the real thing.

That's why they're so cheap (under $300) where a genuine OEM intel 920xm will cost you probably $500 more at least.

 

I have obviously never did any mod to my R2 and therefore would be very oblivious about a lot of things. If i may ask is the post that you are referring to the "x" shaped metal with the 4 screw holes in here? ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

 

wait what?
people wanting it with posts?
why?

mine fit perfectly without posts.
used the brackets from the original 5870m's.

if there was a mod to make it fit, could someone please link it. i know it's possibly within the 370 odd pages of this thread but if someone by any chance has it bookmarked...

 

xeroxide, if you used the X bracket from the 5870s, it is sitting on some of the components for the GPU. I wasn't personally cool with that, as there is a specific space with no components where the X bracket should sit.

 

Ditto, I went all chop suey on the bracket so that only the anchors remained.

This way no pressure was placed on any components.

 

I swap my slave card and it works fine. I need new cf cable x.x

 

For some reason when I bought my cards the price for the cards with posts and without posts were the same. I see recently they raised the price for the cards with posts. Still would be worth it to me...I've never been too good at chop suey myself

 

Uhh I haven't actually seen, but do you get proper fan control with the 6970/6990 swap or does it just run 100%? Cause the fans on the 5870 Mobility are already driving me insane.

 

Has there been any fix on the HDMI audio out? Also any way to edit vbios with fan tables or do I have to use hwinfo32 to do the fan speeds.

 

Automatic fan control works with the Clevo\Eurocom cards, however Audio over HDMI does not.

Basically the other way around with Dell and ES cards, and you may get shutdown\sleep problems.

What do you mean about the 5870 fans driving you insane?

 

Yes, fan control works fine with clevo/eurocom cards.
5870m fan drives you crazy becouse heatsink is attached with low pressure on components, resulting temperatures skyrocketing, well.... not exactly skyrocketing but our fan is designed to KICK IN somewhere around 71-76*C.

The fact is, 6970m is more power hungry, but with proper heatsink mod, will run cooler than 5870m.

My 6970m never goes above 71 during gaming at the moment (undelvolted and OC'D)

 

So Dell 6970/6990 do not have fan control? :S

Don't really care about HDMI issues...RGBLED WUXGA LCD is better. :X

 

Nope, Dell Cards work in the M15x, but in the M17x R2 they will give fan control issues.

In the M15x Clevo cards give fan issues. Funny how it's reversed.

 

Hmm. So the clevo cards dont have any of the shutdown/sleepmode problems? The only issue is no audio through dp/hdmi right? Im considering this 6990 cfx upgrade or the 580m sli upgrade. Just want the most functionality. I know the performance is quite similar.

 

Correct, the clevo/eurocom cards only have the no audio over HDMI issue. No shutdown/sleep mode problems.

 

Alright. Great thanks.
Can someone with a 480 watt psu pm me. I want to ask some questions.

 

Can we please clarify this whole posts/screws/heatsink story please?

When the card was delivered from Eurocom, it included about 12 screws and a crossfire cable. It also included two seringes of thermal paste.
However, there was nothing else in there.

A lot of you guys are talking about modding the heatsinks to fit the cards or ordering posts/brackets that will marry the card to to the heatsink better than the standard 5870 ones.

Could someone please explain, simply, what the posts are, where they fit and where the standard 5870 one comes into contact with the card/heatsink?

Thanks,

Mike.

 

Hi Thenzfarmer

Let me see if I can clear this up a bit.

Eurocom sells two versions of their cards. They sell the card that has no heat spreader (the x-bracket) and they sell a card that has soldered on posts in place of the heat spreader.

If you purchase the cards with the soldered on posts...you do not need the heat spreader, because you simply place your heat sink on the card and screw the screws onto the posts. This holds the heat sync in place on the card. Make sure you ask for them to include the screws however, as the screws for the Dell cards WILL NOT FIT.

If you purchase the card with no posts, then you need to acquire the x-bracket from some other source. Some folks have done what Douse did, where you take the existing x-bracket from the Dell 5870's and clip off the corners to use them to put the brackets through the holes so that you can screw the heat sync in place.

This requires modification of your x-bracket, because if you don't...it will not fit properly. Also, if you modify the x-bracket then returning the system for warranty work or whatever becomes an issue.

The clevo cards I purchased originally included the x-bracket so it wasn't an issue, but Eurocom does not.

So the choices are:

1)Purchase with posts... make sure to ask them to include the screws as well. Nothing additional needed to secure the heat sync to the card

2) Purchase without posts and you'll need to modify the x-bracket from a Dell 4870/5870 to fit properly

I suppose a third option would be to find someone (Clevo) who sells the correct x-bracket...but purchasing with posts is far easier in my opinion.

Here are two example pictures..one is for a 6990 without posts:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-Mobilit...054?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item1c2295b9c6

and here is an example of a 6970 WITH posts (I couldn't find a 6990 with posts, so not sure if they are doing this with the 6990's still or have some other method)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-Mobilit...470?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item19cc917266

it gives you an example of what I'm talking about...

If anyone wants to expand on this or if I've stated anything inaccurately please feel free to correct me.

Hope this helps.

Let me know if there are additional questions and I'll be happy to answer the best I can.

 

Since I've taken the CMOS battery out a few times in the past resetting things, I never realized that Intel Virtualization Technology was Disabled. Should it be enabled?

 

Only if your running virtual systems.

 

I'd add, "Ask for the screws, cos they're different."
P.

P.S. Nice job

 

What exactly is that?

 

Thanks Paul!! I'll add that now

 

Here ya go

Spoiler

 

Aha! You're the man! Thanks for taking the time to write this, now whenever somedy asks we'll just put our hands out and say "talk to post #3734"

Cheers bud, I received the cards with them pre-installed thank goodness.
+rep

 

okay ive read what i could of the forum and was wondering, what if i need to reinstall my OS? like, say i finally get my 6970s or 6990's working and a month or so down the line i need to redue my computer? are yall starting fresh from the get go and then when the cards and drivers are all good yall are creating a back up disc? or is it possible to get say the 6970's in my system AFTER ive gotten plenty of cool software installed and if i need to reude my computer, i can and it will automatically pick up the new cards when i do the respawn? (i know, im kinda confusing....i hope yall can understand that)

 

Hey airborne!

You can do either. I did a new install when I first got my 6970s in an effort to get crossfire working which didn't help. The next time I simply installed my new Eurocom cards in place of my 4870s without doing a fresh install and it works perfectly. I will recommend creating an image of your machine in a working state so you wont have to start from scratch but that's just what I do now. So I don't think it really matters. If you were going from an nvidia based card to amd for example then a fresh install might be easier, but considering the 4870/5870 drivers are the same as the 6970/90 drivers I don't think it neccesitates a clean install unless you run into problems. Just my 2 cents

 

Hey greywolf, okay im going through a dilemma... i have the money to purchase a 920xm and 2x 6970s however, i am trying to decide if its worth upgrading.. i mean sure its an upgrade but an expensive one. right now i have an i7 m620 and 2x 5870s and i have no problems with crysis 2 (maxed out) but batman arkham city, BF3, Skyrim, all struggle to run on max with my setup. how does your system run? flawless fps? how is your system with the 6970's? stable? i dont wanna have to constantly monitor heat and worry about undervolting and underclocking constantly.. before you went and got the upgraded GPUs, did you contemplate selling your R2 and using the money you would have got and used the money you would have spent on GPUs to buy an 18x? i think thats a thread id like to see. id like to hear what others who have made the upgrade instead of buying an 18x thought like, what was the reasoning behind the decision? im getting the feeling like my R2 as great a screen as its got, my be struggling to keep up with the times.. i was watching videos of the 18x gaming and its great! if i put a 920xm and 6970's in my rig, will it perform even close?? if it cant get close to touching an 18x, wouldnt it make more sense to upgrade computers instead of GPUs? or do they actually make a huge difference? lol sorry for the barrage of questions, like i said ive got somewhat of a dilemma and am having a hard time deciding on what to do.

 

airborn334, i've got the 920xm + 6970's in xfire..
i also play all 3 games you mention so i'll tell you. (using 12.1 drivers and all games uptodate using steam/origin)

arkham city runs fantastic, after the patch fixed dx11, it's smooth with only little jerk entering new areas (the usual load stutter). fighting and all that is smooth.

bf3 runs alright, i haven't played it all that much but from what i've played (the first few levels and a game or two of multi, it ran perfectly on high and quite acceptable on ultra, it is a twich shooter so i am a little more fussy about fps dips in this one and to be sure, i keep it on high.

skyrim doesn't play all that nice with crossfire, i have it disabled for this one. i got it working once, but in all honesty between the flickering and the performance drops, it was easier to disable crossfire and get the cpu optimizer loader.

as for temps, you do need the back of the laptop raised (or a laptop cooler... or both) and i have had it a little hot when the ambient temps are high (small closed room with poor ventilation). the laptop itself warms my bedroom, great in winter... very bad in summer when the days become blistering hot.
for me, any temps above 90C are unacceptable. i will change whatever is necessary for the gaming conditions or stop gaming when it reaches 90C.
i've only ever had to do this twice so far, and in both cases the room was almost unbareably hot.

*edit*
as for it performing close to a m18x, i have no idea. the only test bench i remember the result of off the top of my head was vantage, around 20k.

 

Hi Airborne,

I can definitely share my reasons/experiences with upgrading my processor/graphics card vs going to an M18x.

My original configuration was an I7-720QM with a pair of 4870 in a crossfire configuration. I jumped on the R2 prior to the 5870's being available which is why I went with the 4870's initially. This was almost 2 years ago at this point (I think Feb-March).

Initially I planned to only upgrade my processor...the price had come down pretty significantly and I was looking to add a little more life to my R2. The processor upgrade was a good investment, but I was still stuck with 4870 cards...which while decent for gaming, were only Direct X10.1 cards and couldn't play the latest games at very high settings (specifically Witcher 2 and Crysis 2).

Initially I considered upgrading to 5870's (this was prior to this post being done and Ichime's tests with the 6970's). But didn't want to spend the money for only a 15-20% increase in performance.

I had planned to keep my R2 for at least 3 years, and since the M18X had recently come out I figured I'd run on my current system for another year or so, and wait for the M18X-R2 (or equivalent) to come out.

It was at that time, that I came across this post. The difference in gaming performance from a pair of 4870's to 6970's was supposed to be huge (and it is). So I decided that since I still loved my R2 (especially the screen), and could add additional life to it for about half (or more) the cost of an M18X that I would go that route.

Besides a few bumps in the road with my cards, I think the investment in the cards was WELL worth it.

The cost of the cards themselves are significantly cheaper then a new M18X (even if you include the processor upgrade), and the performance although not quite on par with the M18X (since it does have the new Core-I7 processor), is fairly close...and has allowed me to play pretty much all my games on the highest settings (minus known issues with Crossfire, bugs, etc).

I also get to keep my gorgeous screen and should give me another couple of years of life with my system.

The R2 has shown itself to be quite capable at gaming, and with all the folks in the forums willing to test out the latest HW, continue to push the limits of what it's capable of.

It's impossible to keep up with the ever changing HW and laptop configurations, so unless you are like some of these folks who buy a new laptop every year it's a matter of getting as much out of your system as possible. And I try to skip a few generations if possible.

I personally think (and the M18X folks might chime in here), that since many of todays games are GPU based rather then CPU based, that you'll get a better bang for your buck upgrading GPUs then CPU's. Therefore although the performance of the sandybridge processors are indeed better, the edition of 6970/6990's to the R2's along with an extreme processor (920/940XM) should yield you very similiar performance between the two in gaming.

Don't get me wrong, the m18x is a beast and if money was no issue, and if it included the same screen as the R2, I may have gone that route. But for me, it was a no brainer to spend the $1000 bucks towards a new processor and new cards to give me another 2 years of life.

By then I assume the GPU/CPU's will have significantly increased in performance/capability and the newest games will be requiring the bump. I expect my R2 will be able to keep up with gaming (for the most part) until that time.

Hope that helps...that's just my personal opinion.

*EDIT* I should point out that I'm comparing slight to no overclock settings on the m17x-r2 to a stock m18x. I realize that you can probably overclock the m18x to get a wider margin in performance gains...due to the bigger PSU.

Also, sorry this thread go so wordy...regarding the heat/overclock/undervolt issues. I personally haven't had any problems with heat on my cards and no throttling what-so-ever. I do undervolt my cards via a bios flash to keep the temps down, and it allows me to use the BIOS 5% OC to push the limits of my processors/cards a bit more. If we can get to a point where the 330W PSU for the m18x works, then all of these issues may very well be addressed. But even without the 330W, my system rarely pushed 240W (even while gaming), and I've never had an issue because of this.

 

Hello, I agree with the above post.

I upgraded my M15X (2 years ago) from the I7 720qm to the I7 920xm (laptopmonkey ES) and the difference was extreme in terms of benchmarks, desktop & gaming performance alike.

M17X-R2 specific, it is, and this is my understanding, a much easier laptop to open, clean and update compared to the M18X. Compare the screen quality between the two laptops if you can. The M18X might also have greater benefits for you... 18' screen, wireless HD, sandy Bridge, (faster SSD read writes???), better touchpad and better/quieter cooling!

As for the GPU upgrade, I'm on 6990s and the increase in performance from 5870s is incredible. Performance wise, we are currently bound to stock settings which bring us close to the M18X-R1 in terms of performance in games - and that to me is the key factor. $1000 vs $3500 for near similar performance. I didn't think twice.

Finally, and not least by any means, the pleasure, satisfaction and pride of having achieved such a fantastic upgrade with such a helpful and kind community of M17X-R2 lovers is priceless.

We, on this forum, have owned the system for some time and have tweaked it so much that it has become a hobby... one that you might be able to enjoy with the M18X, who knows!

Your call

 

So if i put a 920xm and CF 6990s i should be fine as far as power consumption right? i have decided to upgrade my r2 and maybe a year or two from now, ill buy the revised 18x (r2). i think that i f i put a 920xm and CF 6990's it will be just as good stock as an 18x minus the CPU. farmer, you have 920xm and CF 6990's do you worry about heat? did you undervolt your 6990's? how is your system as far as BSOD's? this: eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices is the cards i plan on getting but i was wondering how i can tell if its the clevo ones that dont have boot up issues or fan issues? "6970m Engineering Sample from MXM-upgrade.com (Please note that MXM-upgrade.com is currently selling OEM 6970Ms): Originally had display issues with the original VBIOS. This was rectified by reflashing the card to the VBIOS used in the M17x-R3 6970M. Also found out that this specific ES chip had 1120 shaders vs. the 960 shaders the original 6970M is supposed to have. Nonetheless, functionality was no different than the 960 shader (except for increased performance). While flashed, the system fans did NOT respond to temperature and was stuck on one speed. Also, the system would crash when shutting down, in sleep mode, in hibernation mode, or when unplugged from the PSU." apparently the one i need is: "Clevo (and resellers) 6970m (This is the recommended version and will be used in this guide): There are two versions of these type of cards; the cards meant for single GPU setups (Clevo P150hm, P151hm, P170hm) and the ones meant for Crossfire setups (Clevo X7200, X8100)." so, if anyone has purchased the card i posted, can you pplease let me know if its the clevo one that doesnt have fan or boot up issues?

 

These are the Eurocom cards that a number of folks are using now (myself included although I run the 6970's)

So you can flash the Clevo bios on them and you won't have any shutdown/hibernate or fan problems.

The only issue will be no audio over HDMI.

Upgradeyourlaptop is Eurocom...so make sure you inquire about the posts and be certain to ask them to include the crossfire cable and screws as well for the posts. Be sure to tell them you need the crossfire cable for the Eurocom Panther 2.0 so that you get the correct length crossfire cable.

 

once i flash them, will they need to be reflashed if i reinstall Windows 7? i will ask them for the posts, screws and CF cable (the one for the eurocom panther 2.0) i know they will supply the screws and posts, im just not sure if they will know if a certain crossfire cable goes to a eurocom panther 2.0. im guessing the CF cable im using now for my 5870's wont work? or am i asking for a second one in case i mess it up lol?

 

They should include the cable for free since you are buying 2 cards...and there are two reasons to get it. It's always good to have a backup, but there have been quite a few of us who have not had success with the 5870/4870 crossfire cables communicating correctly, which has been resolved using either an 18X crossfire cable....or the Eurocom cable.

So I always recommend getting the Eurocom cable...just in case.

Once you flash the card bios, you will never need to flash it again (unless they have a patch for the audio of HDMI...but I digress). So once flashed you won't need to worry about it if you reinstall, or update, or anything like that.

Good luck!