7970M question for the R2

I've come to ask this question a lot when considering the purchase of the 7970M for my R2. Can the 920XM keep up with the GPU without bottlenecking it?

 

Simple answer, yes. For optimal results, use the full potential of the 920xm with Throttlestop (which you do anyway looking at your sig)

 

Definitely yes, it won´t bottleneck the video card.

 

what if with 740qm which is in my R2.
Can it keep up with the 7970M GPU without bottlenecking it?

 

Even my 720QM was fine with my HD 7970m

 

wow. good to hear. Thanks~ :thumbsup:

 

Expect about a 16000/17000 Vantage score for a 7970m and a 720qm for example, at stock settings.,
And a wicked gaming experience

 

It should be fine. I am planning to add dual 7970 with 940xm to my r2

 

Good luck powering it

 

There is a dual 240W PSU or an M18x 330W AC adapter mod that can be used for the M17x R2. The 330W AC adapter is not enough power for an overclocked 940XM and 7970M CF, but for a less powerful CPU or a 940XM running at stock speeds it should be enough.

 

Both not proven to 'really' work. People have been able to have the R2 recognize both of the mods and run off them, but apparently no one has been able to really have the PSU's deliver the needed power.
Unless I'm mistaken, i'd like to hear, I'm holding out on a 2nd 7970m due to this
Edit: See last 2-3 pages of this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/700280-situation-330w-psus-7.html where we have been discussing it a bit

Then again, Riri-Rifi seems able to run 7970m XFire and a 940XM, both heavily OC's on a 240watt PSU. So what to believe these days

 

Doesn't a 940XM draw more power than a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge XM?

And, the 330W AC adapter is not enough to power a heavily overclocked Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge XM CPU along with a heavily overclocked 7970M CF or 680M SLI setup in the M18x. The AC adapter can be easily tripped. For gaming, in most cases 2.6 to 2.8GHz is more than adequate for excellent results. Very few games benefit much from a higher CPU clock speed that that, and lowering the CPU speed this far will dramatically reduce the amount of power being drawn. (Many games will even play very nicely with only two CPU cores active, or 4 cores with HyperThreading disabled.) You cannot indiscriminately set everything to the max and let 'er rip because there is simply not enough power to go around. It would take a 400W AC adapter to avoid that.

The CPU does not need to run at max OC at all times to get good results, and doing so can actually lower benchmark scores due to power starvation. Maybe Riri-Fifi is disabling AlienFX and dimming his display, disconnecting all external peripherals, etc. He may also be toggling his CPU overclock using ThrottleStop profiles and his GPU overclock using MSI AB or Precision-X. I have needed to do these things with the M18x R1 and M18x R2 to avoid shutdown caused by exceeding the power limits of the 330W AC adapter during heavily overclocked benching. I can trip the circuit on demand by using my max OC on CPU and GPUs without discretion. It only takes a matter of seconds to trip it in 3DMark11 test 1. The massive CPU overclock is only required in the Physics and Combined tests, and only the Combined test benefits from both being massively overclocked. If you learn how to do this for benching, you'll never exceed the limits of the AC adapter or experience a power shutdown. But, this type of hassle really and rigmarole is not required for good gaming. In most cases any i7 XM CPU and 7970M CF or 680M SLI can be run without any kind of overclock or increased power limits and still deliver a stellar gaming experience.

 

Does anyone know if the Dell 7970m's output hdmi and audio on the R2?

 

HDMI yes, audio over HDMI there's mixed results, for some it works, for some it doesn't

 

AFAIK doesn`t matter what PSU or how many PSU's we use, R2 cannot draw more current than 240W. It might look like the PSU's are working, they might even run a bit cooler due to power balance and lower draw on each.

I just have a pair of 7970m in mail right now and a R2 with 940xm, I am not sure if I can resist the urge when 7970's show up on my door step

If I do end up doing it, I will definitely underclock both 7970's so they run a bit cooler and still give me more grunt than a single 7970, of course this all might go down in the drain

 

Don;t know if anyon cares, but with my 7970 from eurocom isntalled on my r2, i DO GET both HDMI video and audio.

 

See here. Read the rest of the thread, 16A draw = 320W