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

Where did you find a 330W PSU or 480W PSU ?

They are compatible with M17x R2 ?

 

Unfortunately, you cannot buy a 480 watt PSU as it is two 240 watts put together using a rectifier diode.

Aarpcard was the first to do it and he and I discuss it throughout this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...90-your-m17x-r2-single-gpu-crossfirex-73.html

Read around that page and on some more as the design progresses.

Here is where my finished result is:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...0-your-m17x-r2-single-gpu-crossfirex-129.html

Unfortunately, whilst we can sustain more power draw and the load is shared between two adapters, it was not as successful as we had hoped because the laptop still recognises it as a 240 watt adapter and tries to make sure that power consumption does not go higher then around 290/300 watts.

This is still a lot better then before where throttling would occur at around 260. Even if you somehow had less throttling, your PSU would then trip.

So we still get some throttling, however we can sustain much higher power draw without a PSU tripping.

At the moment we are waiting to see if a BIOS modification can occur that will let us override the adapter restriction, or at least increase it a little. However it is looking more that they will insert the 330watt PSU ID from the m18x series rather then just disabling the adapter detection....so you may want to wait..

I feel obliged to say we may be playing with fire as I am sure the throttling is there for a reason...

As for the 330 watt PSU, this is just using an adapter from an m18x. There are two ways your can do it. The first way is to use the ID cable from another 240 watt PSU, kinda the same as we have done with the 480 watt PSU.

The second way is that you can ground the ID cable.
This allows you to get away with just using the 330 watt PSU. HOWEVER, You wont be able to use your laptop battery and your brightness controls wont work. Also, it has had vary degress of success so I wouldn't recommend it.

Sweet, maybe I will give it a shot then. How are the controls?

 

Thank you for your very well explained.

Thus we can use only 240W adapter at the moment.

And if we have any problem, we must undervolt the 6990m...

The performance will not be dropped when we undervolt ???

Otherwise it would have been wiser to buy 6970m crossfire ^^

 

controls are same as how you would play any fps. The quad wield's kinda troublesome tho as it ranges from Q (left tentacle), middle mouse button (right tentacle slash) left mouse click (primary weapon) right mouse click (secondary weapon). Tho it is easily solved if you map it to your mouse

 

just finished darkness II on crossfire 6970s. Dont bother, game doesnt support crossfire but really enjoyed it without any sign of lag. Its not the most demanding graphics anyway.

Guys what is this thing?

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

i have two 240 watt psus (different brand though). can i use them directly (just plug in) on it or should i modify something? where can i buy this?

i am damned stucked with two 240 watt adapters but cant create 480 one as i dont know anything about how make those stuff

 

No, you will be fine with the 6990's. You will probably need to undervolt a little and you wont be able to overclock your processor at the same time.

You can use the 480/330 watt options at this time, as I don't get any throttling at all up to and around 300 - 320 watts.

No, performance will remain the same. Unless you undervolt too much.

Ahh ok, I will give it a shot. Cheers

That is an adapter for another brand of notebook (clevo's??) so that you can use two adapters. Much the way we have done.

It is not suitable for us I am afraid

Joining the two PSU's isn't difficult, but you do need to be handy with a soldering iron.

All you need are the Schottky diodes and a heat sink. These are obtainable from eBay. I can provide a link to the diodes if you like.

I would recommend having the exact same power supplies.

 

Ok, so I will see tomorrow, when I will install the 6990s

 

Sweet! Good luck

 

guys, a little update regarding my temp issue. Checked with hwinfo32 while running Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning maxed out for around 15 minutes and my temp got 85+ on thermal diode/DispIo/MemIo and 10 degrees higher on shader.However, it shows as 80 degree on AMD overdrive's temp reading and sapphire trixx's clock. shader temp will always be 10 degrees higher than the other 3 no matter what games i play unless i left my computer idle where all 4 readings will drop down to 46-48. Do i still need to file my heat sink and is the 10 degree higher shader temp normal?

 

Hrrrm, well I don't know how much Kingdom of Amalur rapes the cards, but supposing it was hitting the cards at 100% each (which I doubt) then those temps would just be acceptable for stock clocks and voltage.

Assuming that you mean your shader hit 95C.

Don't pay attention to AMD OD or any of those other applications. You want to worry about the shader temps as they will always be the higher ones.

 

alright Douse, that was really really helpful

 

Well, just played Kingdoms of Amalur.

Whilst it is an awesome game (Love R.A.Salvatore. Drizzt FTW! ) at max everything, I am only hitting 50% usage on both cards with everything max daddy.

So I would be a little wary of your temps if you play a very GPU intensive game such as BF3.

Just use HWINFO and be aware of whats going on.

I hesitantly say use Furmark for a quick idea of what you might expect, but be warned it will cause temps to climb quickly but will give you an idea of where you are. I dont like using it with our setups as power consumption is off the charts. However it is good to see where you stand if GPU draw is maxed out.

To give an idea, I cannot sustain Furmark for extend periods of time at my clocks (780/950 when gaming, 800/1000 when folding), but it is fine for games. I don't hit 90C at my clocks in BF3, but I would have a thermal shutdown in Furmark after 5 mins or so.

Did I mention how much I love R.A Salvatore? Oh yeah...I did :laugh: :laugh:

 

Just did another test with witcher 2 while running on maxed out spec except ubersampling and my max temps are 86 thermal diode/86 DispIO/92.5 MemIO/ Shader 98. This is after running witcher 2 for approximately 10 minutes or so. Temp seems to stabilize around 86/86/92.5/98

oh and btw Douse, im only using one single 6990m for Amalur so would doing so force it to use more GPU usage?

 

It would, here are my temps using crossfire just cause I took a screenshot already. This has involved me escaping the caverns etc.

I will turn off crossfire and post back.

tbh, I would be a little wary of your temps. They are high, especially at stock for clevos....normally they should be around the 70 mark from what I have seen on the forums...

And your ambient temps will also make a difference. Where are you and how hot is it? I am in London and I would say it is 20C-25C indoors atm.

 

Just did another test and yes, Kingdom of Amalur was hitting up on 97% on my GPU usage. Oh well, would see what a IC diamond 7 and .5mm thermal pads can do to improvise my temps now

currently in melbourne and temps are fluctuating between 22-28 degrees now.

Ahh and i forgot to mention that these temps might be because of me using the stock dell thermal pads and i initially wanted to make sure if i needed to file my heat sinks as aarpcard mentioned

 

Cool, environment temps will play a big factor as I am originally from Perth so I know Will be going back in about 6 months.

So just ran the same game with xfire off and temps maxed out at 86C on the mem. It is not hot in here compared to your ambient temps so they seem acceptable. I would still always perform a repaste and replace the bad Dell pads with something better just for the sake of it.

Also, I have modified my heatsink to get my temps but hopefully you dont have too. I am also on a cooler.

Your temps are nice considering you have not done a repaste\pad yet. My temps were always high but this is something I have come to terms with Makes me strive for better cooling

EDIT:: With the pads, whilst 0.5mm is fine, just look at your contact after you have installed the heatsink and make sure that contact is made all round

 

I'm living in perth also and the ambient temps make a huge difference, regular dust management is required and raising the back of the laptop helps too

 

And perhaps consider undervolting your card, as this will drop the temps a lot.

 

yes can you give me a link with those diodes? where did you get the heatsink from and how did you power the fan for it? this whole project seems difficult to me

 

Same issue as Kenny regarding temps lol
When it's still 30 Celcius at 2am, you know your laptop isn't going to be happy at daytime and yeah regular cleaning of the fans, grills and circuits is compulsory.

Now Douse, riddle me this...

If I purchase a 330W adapter from the Perth Alienware Overtaxed Corporation.... will it work in my M17X-R2?
I didn't fully comprehend your post regarding the 2 ways to make it work.

Thanks

 

yeah i'll undervolt my cards as soon as i get another 6990m

btw, would a combination of 6990m crossfire and 820qm cause any throttling that a 6970/6990+920/940m will? cuz i am considering between either a 820qm or 920xm right now

 

6990s installed !

No issue at the moment beacause they are underclocked/undervolted :

3DMark06 :

Stock (715/900)



Overclock processeur (TrottleStop) + GPUs (740/1000) :




3DMark11 :

Stock (715/900) :




Overclock processeur (TrottleStop) + GPUs (740/1000) :

 

Since i have these cards in my system.. im having like these lines in the middle of my screen..

its like hard to describe i only have it when a movie or a game is playing in full screen and when images go verry fast example in game when you look around verry fast with youre mouse

i see those lines in the middle of the screen horizontal... mostly you see it when you play a movie on my laptop.. what could this be ?

Nevermind LoL Aero Theme Fuzzle Fixxed this for me !

*gratz gloops verry nice

 

I've a "little" issue : with Battlefiled 3 , sometimes the FPS down to 15 FPS for 5 seconds...
But normally I've 70-80 FPS .

It's a driver issue ? or other ?

 

i have the same problem in bf3, idk what that problem is

 

However, not everyone has no problem...

I use the 12.2 Catalyst driver...

 

It seems like power throttling make sure that you have turned of your gpu overclocks and that throttle stop is no longer overclocking your cpu

@Trulyfatal have you sorted out your cards yet? did you find a stable voltage?

Edit: you could also try putting thermal pads on the voltage regulators on the underside of the graphic cards, this will help disperse some of the heat they generate and most like solve the throttling if you aren't using any over clocks and have under volted your cards (ie your throttling is not a power problem but a heat issue on the regulators)
here is a pic of were the thermal pads should go

 

I've disabled the overclocking (CPU + GPU) and it's the same...

But with 1 GPU , I have no issue (35-40 FPS all the time)

With 2 GPU : 70-80 FPS , but sometimes 15 FPS since 5 secondes...

 

Has anyone tried playing GTA IV with Icenhancer 2.0 for improved graphics?
The game looks stunning but no matter whether I'm running on single GPU or Xfire, the fps never goes above 21fps.
This might be a result of a CPU bottleneck and the benchmark reports the GPU detected only being used at 43%.
Any similar experiences?

That's clearly power throttling. Have you tried lowering your graphics?
I play the game on high settings at 1.05V on the gpus and have not framerate drops whatsoever.
Experiment with the voltages and then with the game settings to find your paradise.

 

You are with crossfire enable ?

What is your driver and CAP ?

 

Hey Gloops!

Congrats on your install

Kenny and thenzfarmer are right, this does in fact sound like throttling. Especially since the issue is not there when you disable crossfire.

I am not sure if you mentioned that you had undervolted the cards already? This is a must with dual 6990's and a standard 240 watt psu.

Also, make sure your CPU is running stock as well.

Here is a little test, when you are getting the throttling in game turn your monitor brightness right down and see if it reduces.

FYI, I am using 12.2 with 12.1 CAP 3.

Hey Thenzfarmer

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, been busy on the weekend!

Little background on how they work. If you cut the cable of your PSU you will see three cables. A positive, negative and an ID cable (normally blue). The ID cable is responsible for the laptop recongising a valid PSU.

Therefore, the way that I would recommend would be to use the 330watt with your 240 watt adapter. The idea being that you connect the ID cable from your 240 watt psu so the laptop detects a valid adapter. However leave the positive and negative running back to the 330 watt power supply.

The second way I don't recommend as it is not consistant (people have had mixed results) and you lose your ability to have a battery and you will also lose your brightness controls. However, it involves grounding the ID cable to the negative. This means the laptop does not recognise the adapter, but it still seems to work as long as you do not have a battery installed. I also think simply not connecting the ID cable will have the same results.

The positive to this is that you only have to use one adapter.

TheWiz is hopefully looking in to inserting the 330 watt adapter ID in to the BIOS so the m17xR2 recognises a valid 330watt adapter without any modifications.

Hey Mate,

I used the following: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MBR7030-S...877?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a103b43d5

You get 4 but you only need one as each unit has two diodes in it. You can see how I connected it in the pics I posted earlier.

Heatsink wise, really anything from eBay will do the trick. Mine was overkill as I just pinched one from an old computer. The diode will be ok being passively cooled, so you don't need a fan. Just do a search for Aluminium Heatsink in eBay. Doesn't have to be too big. It will get hot but the diodes are designed to work in high temperatures.

In my setup, I powered the fan externally but if I would do it again I would use a passive heatsink as I dont even turn on my fan these days.

Maybe something like this? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Power-Tra...ecialistRadioEquipment_SM&hash=item2eb64bba58

Or this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40-x-50-x...47158771?pt=AU_Components&hash=item3cc1a9a6f3

Obviously the bigger and the more fins you have the better it will passively cool.

Honestly, if you go to a electronic store and show them the diode that needs to be cooled, I am sure they will be able to provide you with a suitable heat sink.

 

Thank you for your answer

I've undervolt the GPUs with RBE @1.05V

But when I launch 3D11 to test , in HWMonitor, the 6990s are @1.1V ...

What is the problem ? (I've verified the new bios and it's @ 1.05V)

 

Not sure

For me, overdrive had an impact on my voltages so perhaps enable and disable OD and see what happens?

Or perhaps download ATI Tray Tools and use that to adjust your voltages? This way you can do it on the fly and see if it fixes your throttling issues.

 

THANK YOU Douse !!!

It's Ati Overdrive which was Enabled. I've Disabled Ati OD and it's OK !

I check with benchmark and games and I'll let you know

 

Great

Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

TrulyFatal, have you had any luck yet?

Perhaps the same issue if happening for you, where your voltage adjustments are being overridden. I would recommend to use a monitoring app to confirm that your voltages are correct in game. Also ATI Tray Tools should let you change the voltages on the fly. May help you troubleshoot more effectively.

 

Having some blue screen issues with my 6970's, Had my rig apart a few tme this last week for some upgrades, but now I've run into some issues with blue screens...... atimpag.sys?

No matter what gam its the same, also was going to try flashing cards back to std vbios but i've followed the instructions on the first page 3 times now but keep getting errors?

Help!

 

Errors when flashing? Exactly what error are you getting?

atikmpag.sys is the video driver crashing. Perhaps uninstall, sweep and reinstall your drivers.

I don't think it is related to having your machine apart, probably moreso coincidence. Just double check your temps to be sure.

 

OK, I had the problem yesterday with drivers 12.2, 12.1. and 11.8 always the same result, so went for a full format but once all reinstalled today same problem. Managed to get the cards flashed back to original vbios (was using and old version of atiflash) and now seems to be working ok, just dont understand why the undervolt thats been working fine now for months, yesterday decided to stop working???

going to run some tests and log temps, hwinfo only seems to see 1 gpu? is that common?, well it see's 2 but only gives temps for 1?

None of the temp going above 70.5 degrees c, on core or memory on either card playing BF3

 

Yeah that is just ULPS disabling the second card. You will find that if you use a 3D app and the card comes out of power saving mode then HWINFO will pick it.

Strange with the undervolt. Although, I have had this happen before just not over such a long time. The undervolt will work fine and then all of a sudden it becomes unstable...

Nice temps! No need for an undervolt unless you get throttling.

 

I've the same issu with GPUs @ 1.05V .

I'll test with 1.02V....

 

Ok, have you turned your brightness all the way down to see if it is actually power throttling?

Does it happen with the same frequency?

 

@ 1.02V the same... with No AA, No Anisotropic , same frequency (715/900)

I don't turned my brightness down... What do I need to see ?

 

Hi Gloops...

I believe FN+F5 will lower the brightness if I recall correctly

 

Thank you Greywolf22

I've found my issue :
- if I play with low graphics : no problem (85-110 FPS)
- if I play with normak graphics : no problem (80-100 FPS)
- if I play with high graphics : no problem.... but sometimes with explosions

I must to stay with normal graphics ? or it exist a solution ?

 

That makes sense that it is throttling as explosions on high settings will cause the cards to work the hardest.

The fix is to keep dropping your voltage and hopefully it will allow you to drop enough to stop the throttling, but still be stable.

How low have you gone? And have you tried reducing the brightness yet? You can drop about 10 watts by doing so

 

OH YEAH !!!!

I've put the brightness at the minimum, and NO problem with ULTRA SETTINGS !!!

GREAT !!!!! =) THANK YOU VERY MUCH Douse !!!!

The 330W AC don't work with M17x R2 ??? it's too bad....

Or with a external monitor , I would have no problem ???

 

The fact that it is working now, shows it was power throttling.

So you can drop your voltage down further (some people have been successful at 0.96v but they have 6970's) until you find it does not throttle any more.

If dropping the brightness made a difference then you are right on the border of it working.

How low have you gone with your voltage?

An external monitor would certainly fix the issue as you would reduce your power draw even more as your laptop won't have to power the LCD screen.

Nah, the 330 watt doesn't work without modification.

Sorry Billy, missed your question.

The only power difference between an extreme and non extreme processor is 10 watts (820qm is a 45 watt CPU and the 920xm/940xm are 55 watt CPU's).

So yes, technically you will potentially have less throttling with an 820qm, but personally I would go for the 920\940xm without a question. They have SO MUCH more potential thanks to Throttlestop.

And you can always clock down if you really wanted to!

 

Currently, my 6990s are @ 1.02V and 750/900

I can drop again, but I thing the benefit is too small... And I could not put my brightness at the middle minimum

 

Why are you overclocking? That's what's causing your throttling...

 

Hi Gloops...

I agree with Douse in that it seems to be the key to get a stable undervolt on your cards to minimize the power draw as much as possible, since reducing the brightness seems to indicate the problem is indeed the power.

So, a few thoughts on this...

1) Finding a stable undervolt on your card would be the best solution, assuming you can find one that is stable enough and does not cause throttling.

I don't know if the problem could also be that your power supply is just not robust enough to provide additional power and possibly a new power supply could help (I believe IntenseGFX had a problem with his power supply and he ended up buying a new one which helped to address part of the problem).

Unfortunately this is simply a guess on my part, so maybe other folks can chime in on this.

Also, if you are running a lot of external devices off your USB ports it might be worth removing what you can to see if that provides any additional power. I run practically all my USB powered devices off a powered USB hub...I don't know how much of a draw this can contribute, but might be something else to consider.

If you can get access to a kill-a-watt meter it might help you narrow down at one point it the throttling occurs and just how high it is going.

Just some thoughts.

*EDIT* Wow you all beat me to it...I agree with DR650...if you are overclocking your GPU's at all make sure you don't. There is not enough power in a 240W adapter to pull any sort of overclocking on the 6990's at stock voltages. Stock is 715/900? if I recall.
Also make sure you are not overclocking your CPU as well (or the 5% OC in the bios)