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

G'day mate!

From memory, flashing a Dell card with a Clevo bios did not work correctly. There may have been artifacts or resolution issues?

Either way, it did not resolve the fan problems.

The Dell card in its current form will work fine in the R2, but you will need to use hwinfo32 and set up fan profile, as the fans do not automatically adjust to temperature on their own. Yes it is a bit of a pain, but you will get used to it.

I have been using hwinfo32 to control my fans for over a year now and I have not had any problems. I don't even think about opening the application before a game, I just do it via auto pilot now

Also, your Audio over HDMI will work whereas it does not for Clevo\Eurocom cards.

Oh, and it will work fine if you intend to crossfire in the future.

 

best solution for 69xxxs is clevo ones. Only problem hdmi not work but you can use dvi to hdmi output cable which also transmits high definition audio and video with quality similar to hdmi

 

Hello everyone, I havent posted in a while, but recently I updated my drivers to the 12.6 drivers, and been running on them for like a month, and now my computer is going crazy. My setup to be exact is m17x r2 920xm 8gbRam and a 6990M CLEVO with the correct VBIOS, and A10 mobo bios. Now I have been loving the performance of the single 6990M but now i get weird flicker problems, weird random blue screen, (NOT A BSOD) randomly my screen goes black, little black/ yellow lines pop out and dissapear, sometimes i get blank white screens popping out, any ideas any help? I already took out the card rethermal pasted it brushed all the dust off, still same ole same. Help plz?

Spoiler

 

The Flickering is due to the 12.6 set. I get it too with my Crossfired 6970Ms.

However, if the screen is just going completely black, I would point that toward the GPU dying on you. I've never seen that happen with mine.

 

Crap hopefully its not my gpuuu nooo I freaking loved that gpu, all the games I played with it ahh... If I was to buy another 6990m and make the old card my slave card and the new one a master card? And have people got the 7xxx working on the r2?

 

Arg, that does not look very good

You have already done what I would have suggested, and that was a full clean out and re-paste.

Next step would be to try to install your last stable drivers to make sure it is not software related. And of course, make sure the card is running completely stock, so reduce any overclocks that you have (if you have any)

 

Yup already done all of that still
ust randomly get a black screen. I'm thinking somewhere in the 12.6 driver there was a corruption that made my gpu just die, I should of never upgraded from 11.10.CCC. oh maybe I can reflow the 6990m?, or should I just got for the new 7 series?

Wait you got the a10 modded bios.. I don't think I have that bios, mind giving me a link to download it, so I have one more chance to get the 6990 hopefully running.

 

I don't think that will help, but you are welcome to try it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...r2-bios-mod-need-suggestions-future-mods.html

Hard to say what would fix it, assuming it is faulty hardware Personally, I would do a full format and a fresh install of windows to 100% rule out driver related issues before replacing the card...Even if it does look like a hardware problem

If you have the means, a re-flow wont hurt if it is already faulty. And yes, ideally a 7 series will always be better but that requires $$$

 

Thanks so much, Ill be sure to give it a try hopefully that will fix something, and if not, pockets aren't empty cuz =] do you actually think a reflow can fix this? I reflowed many ps3 gpu and cpu, but would it be the same for these gpus? Im going to have to run some research on that.

 

All,
It's been a while since I posted, but I FINALLY got the second RMA'ed card back. I installed it tonight, verified that my XFire was enabled and this is the result after almost 5 hours of WoW/Diablo3/BattleField3/StarCraftII.



I wanted to say thanks to Douse, imglidinhere, and especially Greywolf22. You guys really helped out and this thing is finally rocking. My only other question is, does anyone know if you can use a 330W PSU with the A10 Modded bios without hacking up the cable and have it run right? I'm thinking about buying a 940XM for my machine as I have a 620 right now, so only dual core. Any input or help there would be great. If I can help anyone please post here and I'll do what I can.

 

So, today, something interesting happened. When I loaded up WoW (and after testing, any game that uses both GPUs) i'm getting some jittering on the screen, it seems to move part of the screen sideways and place 1 row of black pixels on PART of the screen. It also distorts some text and other items. After googling it looks like this problem is some kind of problem with electronic interference. I'm assuming I need to check the crossfire cable. Has anyone else seen this problem and have any suggestions?

Edit: Back to the same issues. Screen locks up immediately or within a few seconds of launching anything 3D, and as of this morning, the laptop will not boot. I tried 6 times and never made it to the Windows logon screen. Most of the time I just got the graphics card failed post blinky lights.

Thanks!

 

Okay, for anyone who wants to see this insane concoction Douse cooked up a while ago, here it is: His 480w PSU.

Figured it'd do more help than anything at this point. Might help others figure out how to make this crossfire thing work. I gave up and am selling one 6970M.

That's a driver issue if I'm not mistaken. That happened a LOT with my setup too. It doesn't happen with one card but I'm told that's a Crossfire ONLY problem. Irritating to no end in some games... >.<

 

imglidinhere, I'm thinking its hardware, especially since half the time i just get the blinking LED's citing Video Failed POST. I have reached out to Eurocom. If I can't get this figured out, I'll probably either ship the laptop in or just ask for a refund and sell the laptop with dual 5870's in it and buy a new m18xr2 with dual 7970's.

Edit:

You have no idea how badly I want this to be a software problem, but I think that is HIGHLY unlikely.

 

Hi PWn3R,

Sorry to hear about all the problems you are having. I agree that I think it's probably hardware related (one of the video cards sounds like it's acting up). Definitely doesn't sound like a power problem to me, especially if it won't even post half the time.

Not sure what else to say, other then I hope Eurocom can be of some help.

Good luck to you!

 

Yeah, I emailed on Sunday night as well as yesterday. If I don't get a response soon, I will just call them and see where they want to go from here. It's getting expensive shipping parts back and forth. So far its cost almost $300 in shipping mailing stuff back and forth. I can't seem to come up with any good reason there should be issues. The second card won't power up in the first slot either.

The only thing interesting is that the card that is primary right now and working appears to be from a different batch than any of the other cards I've gotten. Some of the chips on the board are different and the labeling is a different color with different serial numbers by a large margin. Both cards had the same vBIOS rev.

 

Ouch, sorry to hear about all the shipping charges. If it's an consolation (and it's probably not), I had to ship my original cards to Germany to have them "tested" and they were held hostage for 6 weeks (because the guy was on vacation for 4 of those 6 weeks), and then they determined there was no problem and wanted to charge me $100 dollars to ship them back.

Luckily I have a friend in Germany who was able to retrieve the cards and ship them to me for about $12 dollars.

So I sympathize with what's going on.

Regarding the chips and serial numbers, I wonder if they sent you an older card from stock (the broken one), or a refurbished card (I would hope not, but does seem odd that they are so far off), or simply another batch. Anyway, I do hope they can get this sorted out for you. For a lot of folks this is a simple plug and play operation...but for a few of us (myself included) it turns into quite the nightmare.

It's easy for me to say that it's worth it, after having mine running for almost a year, but for the first 3 months I tried to get them going I wasn't so sure.

Either way, I hope it works out for the best.

 

Hi, have you tried spinning the connection on the xfire cable upside down on both cards? I had a similar issue initially when I started using the new cable.

 

So does it look like the 330w psu being compatible with the R2 is a pipe dream?

 

Awww man, sorry to hear it PWn3r

Maybe going down the path of some 7970's may be a good idea after all the trouble you have been having.

 

Getting an error trying to search this thread, I was looking for the post about sanding down the heatsink for better contact with the gpu. I'm still not satisfied with the primary gpu temps.

 

Douse, Eurocom has my laptop right now, but the tape was moved INFRONT of the heatsink (would be between the fan and the heatsink) in pictures they used as documentation to try to say that the problem was caused by heat. I am fairly certain that the ONLY way the tape could've gotten there was if it was intentionally moved there by someone. It most certainly was not in that position and if it was, the temps i posted would've been sky high. I am more than a little frustrated, but I'm hoping that they will get things taken care of. I will force a refund through my bank, sell the laptop and buy a new m18Xr2 if I have to. I will let you guys know how it goes. Hopefully I can report a good outcome from them, but based on my experience I don't know what to say.

 

From bad to worse... Let us know how you go, literally out of our hands.

 

hi gloops

how come you did this 4 months before and no one copied you?
every m17 r2 user wants a 330watt psu
does something went wrong with your setup?
because i dont get why people dont use it if you successfully make it work in a r2
i want this so badly overvolting 7970m xfire in a r2 rgb-led

 

Oh man, that really sucks...Good luck to you.

 

Hi everyone,

What's the latest verdict on the Eurocom 6970 cards these days?

Are they still having auto fan problems?
Audio out via HDMI?
Any shutdown/sleep/hibernate crash problems?
Screen resolution stuck at 1600x1200 still?

I've been offered a good deal on a single Eurocom 6970m from upgradeyourlaptop on ebay. I've asked them and they said their Eurocom cards don't have any problems with the R2 anymore. Is that true?

Hope you guys can give some feedback. I'm torn between a dual 5870 (that I could get slightly cheaper) and the single 6970. My only reservation with the 6970 is the reported problems on the first post of this thread.

After days of scouring eBay and other sites, I came across this card:










The heatsink that will come with the card.



Please tell me THIS IS CLEVO's 6970m card.

Please tell me THIS IS CLEVO's 6970m card.

Please please please please......PLEASE.




The ebay link:
AMD Radeon Mobility HD6970M BlackcombXT 2GB DDR5 Graphics Card - ATI6970M | eBay

 

Hi, guys, hope all is well! Updated the first page with some new information. Also, I'm in a bit of a rush and I know that there are some 480w PSU mods performed already and if there is a working solution for that, please let me know/link me the tutorial and I'll put that info in my OP.

 

It's been a week now that they've had the laptop, the only information I have from them is what I posted last week. I hope they get it resolved soon. It's getting a little frustrating.

 

Can anybody confirm this is a Clevo card? The seller himself is not sure. Sigh...

 

It is exactly as my 6970's even the vbios (BR39257.008 version). My guess is that it is actually a Clevo card.

 

How about the ENG word on the GPU die? These are Clevo Engineering Sample cards? Yours have the ENG as well?

 

Mine are not ENG samples, but i don't really recall if there is that word on the die. (i don't think so). Engineering samples of 6970's have 1200 shaders vs 960 of the regular version. They can be buggy as far as people have reported but also they can be perfectly fine and perform as a 6990's. It's a little of luck of the draw. One thing i'm sure it is a clevo card.

EDIT: if i recall well, Engineering Samples have Black PCB. This looks to me as a regular 6970m. I can check out later, i have some picture of my cards, not here at the office. But unless somebody will confirm before me, i wont be able to answer you before tomorrow

 

Thank you for the help. I'll wait for pictures of your card before deciding.

 

Yep, this looks like a Clevo card to me as well...looking at my pictures off my old cards I unfortunately can't read what it says on the Die...my picture is posted here if anyone has better eyes then I do:


By greywolf72 at 2011-11-28

One thing I will say is that all 4 of my Clevo cards had the silver die...maybe it's just the way the picture is taken that makes it look so dark?? Don't know.

 

I zoomed in and yours do not have the ENG word on the die.

 

Exarkun, i have checked the picture that i have, it's a blurry one as Grey's one unfortunatly, but clearly there is not ENG neither in my cards. If internet here were i am decide to cooperate , i'll post it (it is not so clear but if you zoom in is quite visible)


EDIT: the picture!

 

Thanks Cpt

Bit the bullet and bought an Eurocom 6970m from a fellow NBR. The card was already flashed to Clevo VBIOS so it *should* be plug and play. *fingers crossed*

Now..i need to get screws for the heatsink...M1.6x3.5mm....hmmm

 

Yeah I've had really good luck with my Eurocoms with the Clevo VBIOS on it. So hopefully it'll work out well for ya.

 

Hi All,
Just got my M17XR2 back from Eurocom and fired it up. So far everything looks happy, It just finished installing one of the cards and wants to reboot but it is downloading a bunch of game patches. It is now sporting dual 7970's and hopefully it will stay functioning. I'll post back tomorrow. Did anyone ever post that Eurocom 7970 BIOS that everyone was asking for? If not, I can post it from the cards I have. -- Let me know, hopefully I can start providing some assistance at this point

Thanks again to everyone who has helped along the way.

 

That is awesome PWn3R! Good to hear! Do you have a custom power supply as well? Or is it just the 330w from the 18x?

 

I built a 480 using some of the plans in the forums here, but with my KillaWatt meter, the draw on mine has never exceeded 210W so I just use the 220 I have. If necessary I will buy a 330 probably.

 

Ah, I see what processor you have now. I can see that working. Very Cool!

 

Unfortunately, bad news bears are back with more bad news. This evening I fired up WoW, hit the logon screen and BAM - Freeze again. Now laptop is failing post citing blinky lights (video light code) intermittently. I tried wiping and reinstalling 12.4 12.6 12.7 and beta 12.8 and beta and no dice. Machine won't boot after driver install it sits on the Windows logo screen when it passes POST. I tried booting into safe and dropping one card from device manager and rebooting, which gets me to Windows, but as soon as it tries to install the driver, it goes to a black screen.

I've contacted Eurocom, but I'm about at my wits-end so far, I'm in this for almost 2K between parts, shipping and labor for Eurocom to take a look this last time. I'm thinking it might be best to pull the second card and go from there. My Killawatt meter is was showing 182W draw when my machine locked up and it dropped to 140W 5 seconds later.

I'm doing my best, trying not to rage (too hard) and stick this out. For what I paid I could've bought a new M18XR2 with my employee discount for the same price with a better processor, more memory, and a warranty with the same cards.

It doesn't inspire me with confidence that the box I got back got dropped HARD atleast 1 time by Fedex, and it looks like it was slid into something sharp as part of it was shredded through 1/2 the layer of cardboard.

Edit 2: I've pulled the secondary card, and then inserted in the primary slot. Neither card will work in the primary slot properly. The one that was in the secondary slot will not even enable Aero theme, the one that was originally in the primary slot goes to an orange or yellow gradient from the bottom of the screen up within a few seconds of starting the games or anything 3D.

If anyone else has any ideas, please let me know, as the guys from Eurocom don't have any either. At this point they have decided that I should try putting a Dell card in the machine instead of a Clevo card and see what happens with that. I am thinking that some kind of damage must've occurred at some point during shipping, and I am hoping that the mobo isn't hosed now.

 

I currently have dual 6990's. Is there any drawback to the 7970's? Do they take more or less power than the 6990's? Is it possible to undervolt them? Is it nescessary? If the Xbracket + heatsync from the 5870's doesn't fit with the 7970's, what are you supposed to do? Where can you buy the eurocom 7970s? How much are they?

Also, once the alienware hits around 240+ watts, regardless of a modded PSU, the machine will throttle to some degree. Has anyone figured out a way to prevent that yet?

 

The same heatsink fits regardless, and I think the X bracket on the 6990's is the same as the 7990's. I have filed a complaint with Fedex because my system was damaged from what I can tell by the dropping during shipping. Even my old 5870's don't work. I will see what happens but it looks like my M17XR2 is permanently out of commission.

 

hi, this has been discussed in this thread.

and to answer your questions, the 7970's take 100w TDP which is the same as the 6990's and the X bracket is the same,nobody that i know off has of yet undervolted them and ran them without a 330w/480w PSU. and to buy the eurocom 7970's like the rest of us you contact ebay member upgradeyourlaptop and tell them which system you want to install it on. They then put the right Vbios on and sometimes give you discounts


edit: just a little info about the 7970m, it gets between 20-23k in vantage with a single card which is only a little bit behind the 6990m CF. It supposedly runs much cooler and overclocks really well


edit2: when undervolting Eurocom Vbios come out and if your able to run 2 cards from a 240w PSU, i may even consider going CF

 

What about the 7990? Also, the power draw doesn't cause throttling? I run my CFX 6990's @ 1.02V with 0 issues. The bottleneck in this pc, at this point, is the CPU. I'm not sure how much getting a new card even helps in today's games (compared to the 6990's which can run all of the games I play just fine). I'm not investing any more in my r2 - I was just more curious than anything. When I get some money together I'm just going to build a really nice desktop and sell my R2. I really need to find a decent 13 / 14 inch (non alienware) laptop that can run games @ mid settings for when I travel. That's for another thread, though.

Why can't the 7970's be undervolted? Are there such things as mobile 7990's working in the Alienware M17xR2? Can you Xfire the 7990's? You don't need any more than the 240W PSU for 1 7970, do you? Just curious.

 

Hey Everyone!

Been a while since I have been on, kept busy moving back to Aus! Hope everyone is well!

I have been having some issues with my system where I am getting thermal shutdowns when my GPU's hit around 90 degrees.

Any idea what might be causing this? I think it must be something else heating up other than the GPU as they should be able to handle up to 100...

Damn Australian climate!!!!

I am thinking about using some more thermal pads on the back of the cards, perhaps something is heating up there? What do you think?

PS: Actually, in hindsight the previous pads may have been lost since the last time I took the cards out for a cleaning....hrrrrrm

PPS: Has anyone seen this Fujipoly EXTREME thermal pad before?! 11.0 W/mK...almost double the heat transfer of the 6.0 W/mK premium pads...

 

Yes a 240 PSU is more than enough for a single 7970m and there isn't such a thing as the 7990m as of yet

Edit: how much do them thermal pads cost? Although with this beast in my machine i dont really need them

 

Can be pricey, especially since you can only really get em from frozencpu in America. So tack postage on to that as well: Thermal Pads / Tape | Page 1 | Sort By: Product Title A-Z - FrozenCPU.com  

 

I thought I'd mention that I've manage to undervolt the 7970M, or at least I THINK I managed to. o_o Yesh got mine in. :3 And I used RBE and GPUz when I changed the voltage settings. I just mimicked the 6970M's settings and it APPEARS to have worked.

I say APPEARS because the temps are down by around 10*C. o_o They always ran hot in my machine anyway. 90*C normally and now around 80*C. I remember the 6970M running hot even after being undervolted as well.

I'm in class at the moment and I'll upload it for someone else to try if they feel bold enough to poke around with it. o.o I just tried it because my heatsink seems to have gone bad. I get temps that are CRAZY high compared to systems specced exactly the same as mine. >.o