AW m17 R4 + m290x graphic card !??

Hi i Hi, i have a problem , i bought amd m290x card and put it into my m17 r4, I've installed standart draivers from amd webpage (Cataliyst Software Suite Omega 14.12 , Display Driver ver. 14.501.1003). The system recognise it as amd m8970 and 3d mark11 test shows a very low result ( it seems that result is the same as intel 4000).My old laptop with the processor 2670qm and grapic amd 7970 got a much higher result !!. So I'm not really sure, what it's wrong. Is it driver's fault or something else? If somebody knows, what's wrong could be, please - help.

my system Alienware m17x R4
intel i7 3630qm
bios A11

 

check to make sure your device manager doesn't show any problems. Use GPU-Z to monitor clock speed. Check to make sure your power plan is set to high performance.

 

Hi changed Power plan into High Performance, I changed standart power suply from 180 into 240. The results are slightly higher but anyway still very low...
I have noticed that cooler doesn't works even when graphic card is in use in 3dmark tests ~80c (but how start on notebook turns cooler 3 sec)

 

I suggest flashing a different vBIOS. I can make a patch for yours, if you use GPU-Z to take a dump of the vBIOS for me. Open GPU-Z, click on the little IC icon with a green arrow on it (should be right under the AMD button), and then upload it somewhere and link me.

Oh, really stupid question. Are you running with switchable graphics, or discrete 8970M only?

 

Here is file http://www.mediafire.com/download/706cptdtba17v0u/Thames.rom

Sorry but i don`t know that switchable or discrete. in bios active AMD ( where is integrated graphics show not available)

 

Ok yeah, that means you are running on dGPU only. I will mod the vBIOS and reupload. I recommend you make a DOS usb flash drive and use ATIFlash to do it, but if you can't do that, atiwinflash will work too.

Modded vBIOS here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/blbhpgrl9icg4kl/MOD.ROM
Flash at your own risk. You should see a new "performance" tab in catalyst control center now.

Edits done:
-Raised base core clock from 900/1250 to 920/1300
-Lowered voltage from 1.10 to 1.050
-Raised turbo clock to 950/1300
-Lowered turbo voltage from 1.175 to 1.075
-Unlocked performance menu

 

Thank You, but I have now another problem. When I've changed 660 into 290 laptop began to overheat and gpu fan doesn't works at all. The temperature rised up to 90 degrees.!!

 

Wait, you had a GTX 660M and replaced with a R9 M290x? I hope you changed the heatsink and x-bracket, or else you will surely have overheating issues. You need a 100W heatsink, a proper x-bracket for the 290X, and quality thermal compound. That is way too hot for a R9 m290X, mine never gets above 72C. That may be forcing your GPU to down clock to avoid killing itself.

 

x290m card got together with x-bracket, heatsink yes same, use thermopaste Arctic MX-2, but if the cooler will work, then the temperature wouldn't rise so high. Just I can't do anything, that it would start to work. I even don't know, how could I turn it on manualy, by using a program. I just tried program "speed fan 4.5" it didn't let me to change any settings. Is there any modified bios for laptop?

 

You may have a dead GPU fan. There is a unlocked bios for the M17x R4 over on tech inferno
http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m17x-aw-17/1964-[m17x-r4]-unlocked-bios-versions.html

Credit to svl7 for his work

 

Did you manage to get the m290x to work with the 17X R4?

 

I had it working with the M17x R4

 

Thank you so much for the reply.

Was it plug and play? Were there compromises (like having to manually adjust the fans)? Were there things you have to do (like modifying vBios) to get it to work?

 

Need to setup custom fan with HWinFO I think, not sure. no VBIOS mod necessary if you get Dell card (I have for sale)

 

With custom fan setup, will the fan setup allows the fans to function in variable speed or will the fan speed be limited to high and low?

By the way. Nice Alienware 18s you have.

 

Custom, you can set the temperature range/fan speed as needed and save the profile. Doesn't have to be limited to off or maximum if you don't want.

 

Did you manage to get the R9 M290X to work properly?

 

Did you manage to get the fans (CPU and GPU) to automatically maintain the CPU and GPU at normal operating temperatures?

 

Raidriar, I got a m290x as well which replaced the previous card (7870m - dead after 5 years of use) and everything is working fine. Except when I try to run a graphic intensive game, like Prey, Doom, Shadow of Mordor, Crysis 3, etc. Then the gpu will simply crash to desktop. Lighter games will work just fine (overwatch, cs:go, quake live, hearthstone, diablo 3). This did not happen with the 7870m, it would run every game with no issues. Any ideas on what's wrong?

 

Use DDU to wipe existing drivers, re-install latest AMD drivers direct from AMD. If crashes continue to happen, you may have a faulty GPU

 

Ok, I'll do it tonight. I read some forums saying that I should try to lower the voltage too. Do you think it's worth the shot? (I did not overclock the gpu, btw)

 

Not really, R9 M290X voltage is already less than the 7970M

 

Wiped previous drivers with DDU and installed those directly from AMD. The crashes are still happening. :-(

Also, temps are actually quite cool when playing those intensive games (around 50-60 C). They crash right when they start, before any image of the game is shown, I can only navigate the menus. Something I noted is, when I played Crysis 2 it would keep on crashing at the beginning, then I changed the graphical settings from DX11 to DX9 and it worked! I played for almost an hour after that with no crashes. What gives?

 

I believe there's something weird with the VBIOS, 'cause it states (on GPUZ) that the device id is 1002 6801, which refers to the m290x, but the subsystem id is 1028 057B, which refers to the 7970m. I searched online for the correct subsystem id that refers to the m290x and it is 1028 05AB.

I downloaded this VBIOS and flashed it using AMD flashing tool under DOS booted from a previously prepared pendrive. Then I could not boot back to windows 10 and was constantly shown a blue screen. So I formatted the SSD and reinstalled W10 then booted up to windows and as soon as I tried to install AMD drivers it would give me the blue screen again. So I flashed my previous backed up VBIOS and was able to install the drivers with no problem but the errors that happened while using heavy games still persisted.

I'm starting to think this is a problem related with an incorrect VBIOS flashed to my GPU. What do you think?

 

unlikely because 7970M (later version w/uefi vBIOS) and 8970M/R9 M290X vBIOS are interchangeable, i've flashed 7970M with 8970M vBIOS and 8970M with UEFI 7970M vBIOS

 

I see. Maybe I should try to flash a UEFI 7970M VBIOS then. Could you please point me to one that`s working?

 

It is not a vBIOS problem. Your core is dying. I don't have my 7970M files anymore I've abandoned that card about 3 years ago.

 

Gee, are you sure? I just bought this card 3 months ago so how is the core dying? I`d really like to try a UEFI 7970M VBIOS, but I could only find a bunch with no UEFI support like this one here: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/148123/148123

 

99.9% sure. If you only got it 3 months ago I would try to work something out with the seller. vBIOS problem usually manifests as either throttling problem or freeze/crash related to voltage being too high or too low. if neither of these are present then your core or memory is on its way out. flash the latest dell r9 M290x vbios you can find and if the problem persists, you need to replace the card. going to a 7970m vbios will not fix this.

 

There you go! Flashed UEFI supported 7970M VBIOS ( this one) and now everything works!!! Even those graphic intensive games are working just fine! Just tested Doom and Prey and played 2 hours each! It's funny, my board is still recognized as a 8970M on GPUZ but maybe that VBIOS changed voltage and memory values to the correct ones, I don't know... I'm just glad it's working!

Thanks for everything!

 

Extremely strange. Did you have to use any override flags with atiflash?

 

I used atiflash -f -p 0 xxx.rom