6990M Dead again in my M17x R3, advice for GPU replacement

Hello

I purchased my M17x R3 back in December 2011 and my first 6990M died December 2013. Got it replaced under warranty to a new 6990M but now that one has died as well.

I might be able to get it replaced with a new 6990M due to the warranty laws where I live (Denmark), but I am afraid that the new card would just burn out as well, so I would like to get a more future proof card.

I have looked at the 580M vs. 6990M and from what I can tell, they have basically the same performance, but the Nvidia card have better thermal performance. That correct? And how is the 580M's "durability" compared to the 6990M? I have found several threads about burned 6990M but can't seem to find information about the 580M.

In case the warranty does not allow another exchange, what GPU upgrade would you guys recommend? I would like to retain (if possible) my switchable graphics as well as my sound card, and from the information on this forum this excludes some GPU's (ie. 780M/79xxM) as there are some compatibility issues.

Thank you for your time

Cheers


Sidenote: Anyone have experience with migrating a Windows 7 installation from Intel Raid (2x 750GB HDD) to a single SSD without reinstall?

 

I'd recommend baking the card in oven to salvage it.
Good luck.

 

Anything newer than the 6990m/580m will not support software graphics switching. You can however, use the toggle switch in the bios to swap between the igpu and the discrete card. If you're willing to do that you can drop a lot of different cards into the r3.

 

Get the 680m dude...... still have a kick for today's game at the high setting. Same like you, My 6990m also dead before I using 680m until now.

 

Don't bother with the 580m.

 

What were your load temps (eg. Furmark) with your 6990M's? It seems extraordinarily unlikely to have two cards fail on their own in that time without any other factors at play.

 

Yeah get the 680M or a 780M if you can find it cheaper then the 680M.. Stay away from AMD cards especially with the bad luck you've had

 

Go for the Nvidia GTX 780M. Best GPU the M17x R3 can run fully compatibly with.

Cheers.

 

Thank you all. Apparently my notifications are not set up correctly so I missed a bunch of replies.

I could try but with my current facilities it would probably result in a lukewarm card. Think using it can heat it more than my oven -.-

Is this using the modded bioses? I am currently using the default and with that I can only choose between PEG (with no HDMI, dedicated) or SG which is switchable.

Haven't tested it the new one, but the old one that died could easily push into top nineties and once I force closed the program as I hit 105. (C). I don't think the new one is that bad, but I don't know, yet.

Fully compatible as in no issues with audio and drivers etc.? What about Optimus, or is it using the bios as bigtonyman mentioned?

Thank you again for your replies and tips.

Might go for a 780M but that requires some further research. How is the Linux/Windows driver support for bios switching graphic cards?

 

The 580m fails a crap ton more than the 6990m. The Nvidia GTX 580m is notorious for failing.

Do not buy it.

 

You will have to swap cards through the bios. Optimus doesn't work with anything newer than the 580m in the r3. As for sound issues and such you will have problems, but there is a fix. I personally haven't swap to a newer card (still rocking my 6990m for now) so i can't tell you how hard it is to do on the software side of things. Hopefully someone else can jump in a fill in what needs to be done.

 

You have to know that HD6990M is totally unreliable gpu. My first card died without any overclocking or overheating 1 year ago, second 2 months ago. No cause just died. I now have two 880M SLI but you can buy 780M if you find it cheaper. There was no 780M in my country so I had to buy 880M but no problems with it so far.

Don't know much about linux because I didn't installed it on my Alienware. Previously had Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, Manjaro. You can switch to iGPU manually if you have unlocked BIOS (IGFX mode) so no problem with that but as far as I know there's no linux utility to do it manually (FN way). Im a programmer, I could write that utility but don't know if anyone needs it. If yes I can try. Don't know about audio issues because I own M18xR1. I didn't need to disable anything, just plug and play.

 

Do you where I can find that fix?

Thanks again. I will probably go with a 780M then and use bios switching, just gotta find a good seller with a kit for a reasonable price.