6870m heatsink vs 580m?

just got a 580m, just wondering what i need to install it? its not coming with anything like heatsink/backplate/cable.

im assuming I cant use my 6870m heatsink/backplate, where's the best place to get one for the 580m?

 

Call Dell/Alienware. The heatsink, backplate, pads and GPU paste are sold as a kit. Part number is V1K2G. Price is $24.95 + s/h; ended up costing about $33.00 if memory serves. The AMD heatsink is barely adequate for the 580M under the best of circumstances; with most installations, you'll end up with throttling under stress.

 

i just looked at the backplate, from the pictures i've seen on google images the one i have is the exact same as the one for the 580m as far as i can tell... it looks like this:



the heatsink is a 3 bar the same as a 6990/6970?
it looks like this (the top one):


and from what i can tell, some people are running that one with a 580m?

i'd really hate to order the things just to find out that they're exactly, or close, to the same thing...

 

Yep, the top heatsink is from an AMD card, the bottom one is a 580M heatsink. Below is the back of a 580M; the back of your card looks like a 580M, but is probably a 460M backplate. The backplates were often mismatched as the 6990M and 460M were added. The proper backplate for the 6800-6900 Series cards do not include that metal wing on the back because the VRAM chips do not extend through to the backside of the AMD cards; that signifies an Nvidia card.



This is the top of a 580M heatsink for comparison:

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The heatsinks are similar, but they are not the same, and the proper one works better. You can certainly give the old one a try; perhaps your usage demands are such that the added cooling is not necessary. The 580M heatsinks should be available in the future if it turns out that you're not happy with the AMD heatsink. I'm not selling heatsinks, just pointing out what's available and the best solution based on my experience with the 580M. It will not hurt my feelings at all if you choose to ignore my suggestions and stay with the old heatsink.

 

yea, my usage isnt anything demanding. Starcraft 2, tribes ascend, eventually hopefully planetside 2.

im also wondering if i could solder in some additional copper "heatsinks" if there's any space available. doubt i'll need it though. if anything my HD is the limiting factor, till i get an SSD.

also have an i7-3720qm on the way, and 8gb of ram.

 

You might want to reconsider the 3720QM. Unfortunately, Ivy Bridge CPU's don't work in the M17x-R3, which uses Sandy Bridge CPU's (2720QM, etc.).

 

really? because i just saw a thread on another forum that they do. they were actually talking about the 3610QM.

specifically they said that the motherboard is capable. though the bios is not? i'd like to actually see if anyones tested this?

i mean, i can get a 3610 or 3720 for like 300 bones, where as the only thing that comes close per passmark is the 2960XM, which is 1000$.

any reason we cant get a bios update? or will the r4 bios work?

 

Suit yourself, my friend. Let us know how it all works out.