Alienware M17x R2 + AMD Mobility 7970 = can it work?

Of course I did That won't work for sure, the Clevo 7970m can't run without Enduro activated and the iGPU running Windows. That's also the reason why we can't save the 7970m vbios under DOS, it's because the card is not running but the iGPU.

 

Eurocom emailed me today saying that they are currently tailoring the vbios. They will refresh the card in order to get the card working in m17x

 

I got my 7970s from Eurocom Tuesday. Here is a couple shots of the heat sinks they came with.

 

Hi,

Did you plug this card in R2 yet?
Is it working without issues (except the fan control)?

So many topics on this trial R2 vs 7970 and nothing really firm in place yet.
Please let us know whenever you have a chance to write a bit more about that.

 

I Just checked 7970M on ebay.
The price is extreme expensive, which is $698.

 

That's really high. Sounds like 680m pricing. upgradeyourlaptop on ebay told me $575 but that was about 3 weeks ago. And I thought that was too high.

 

Ordered my 7970m from Eurocom. The vbios will need a reflash they said. Anyone know what vbios to reflash to to get it working on R2?

 

Hi, everybody.
It is interesting to me as works 7970m with crossfirex in m17xr2?
I know that some people bought 7970s, but info a zero!
There is enough capacity 240w the adapter, all ports work and as crossfirex works
scaling....? I want to know everything!!!
People respond!!!

 

next time please put a question mark on the end of the thread title.

nobody tested it yet...

 

Single and crossfire setups were already confirmed by a couple of members here
Just search a little.

 

Everything is correctly written!Crossfirex 7970 works for Ichime.

 

What about the sleep/standby/shutdown issues? AND...does one need to use a 3rd party app to control the fans?

 

Uh, i really missed this....probably becouse i really abandoned the forum lightly..due to....diablo 3 farming.

Forgive me bro

seems like fan works ok for @Ichime, audio over HDMI --> i will survive this, but video as well ???

Not a deal breaker for me, but sometimes i would like to link it with my 42' LCD....eee.....no more external LCD then...

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/585064-guide-installing-amd-radeon-mobility-6970-6990-your-m17x-r2-single-gpu-crossfirex-484.html

fans are working fine no need to use hwinfo.

 

Cool! What about the sleep/standby/shutdown issues? Does the 7970M not cause those same issues that the 6900M did?

Once the audio over HDMI gets fixed, we'll be golden.

 

i don't know about those but he didn't mention anything about it you can ask him in the link that i have posted and hopefully he will answer you. i hope he gets the 330w ac adapter working.

 

I looked thru, didn't find any posts specifically mentioning it. I will make a point to ask.
Does one only need the 330W adapter to run two 7970's in crossfire? I only have a single card setup and only plan to get a single 7970...so if I don't have to get the larger PSU, the better.

 

I read through ichime's post, and it sounds like the only 7970 CFX configuration will need the 330w PSU. At this time the temporary solution is to run 2 240w PSU in parallel as the 330w PSU is not recognized by the R2 motherboard.

The 7970m looks quite promising. I am just waiting for the pros to work the kinks out as well. I'll will most likely go for the single 7970m unless the 330 PSU gets resolved.

 

That's not entirely accurate. The 330watt adapter does get recognized by the mobo in the R2, however, it will not charge the battery and will only supply 240watts regardless. Stealth55 did have a work around for this to get his 330watt adapter to max output, but I burned out my 2nd 6990 before I could try it. You can read more about it in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/605322-m17x-r2-gtx-580m-sli-24.html

It's also in the 6990 thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...0-your-m17x-r2-single-gpu-crossfirex-486.html
but finding the exact location will be challenging.

 

We can also try undervolting the 7970m so that it can be used in Crossfire mode with the normal 240w adapter. Anyone try to work in this direction yet?

 

Any news on the undervolt RS?

 

I have a confirmed working Eurocom 7970m in my system, it was plug and play and did not require a Vbios flash, i hear the dell ones are having problems posting and what not. I would post some benches but my power flex cable has died on me

 

Grab one from here:
16 PIN / 150mm AWM 20798 RIBBON CABLE INVERTED 0.50 mm pitch 16PIN 15cm | eBay
It will be longer but don't worry, that's better

Were you able to adjust the resolution to 1920x1200?

 

thanks for the link, i saw the estimated delivery to UK and was like :O
I'm calling dell parts in a few days to hopefully get a quicker delivery date. Never the less if the price from them is disgraceful then i will be using the link.

About the screen resolution, i was only able to dry test the card to see if it runs fine with the RGB led and it looked the same on bootup but then the cable died on me when i completely reassembled the system. As soon as i get this cable i'll post benchmarks and check the resolution

 

You won't be able to source the cable from Dell unless you buy the media bar with it. Even in this case you should check with the rep. if the ribbon is included.

True, it will take some time to arrive to UK (~1 week) but you won't find many places selling it.

 

if it will arrive in under a week then that isn't too bad, the 7-20 days estimated delivery was just scary loving that green m17x btw

 

Afraid not. I had a dell card with a BIOS that black screened my laptop. Needed the rjtech BIOS to fix it. Plus I only have enough funds for now to have one 7970m, so it wouldnt help me to undervolt for Crossfire.

In fact I'm still not working 100 percent as my 1mm cooling pads for the ram is still in the mail. Is now 2+ months for me trying to get this to work

 

good luck on it! keep as posted

 

I got the power flex cable from dell but i don't want to bend this one to fit my broken cover hinge, so i'll probably have to order one of those quickly aswell. for now i'll just turn it on by sticking in the cable but not permanently bending it.


the screen resolution is at 1920x1200@60hz

the card idles between 30-40 degrees and i'm working on overclocking it soon.
You can immediately see the difference just from the sharpness of the screen

 

I am about to stab you repeatedly with my internet knife. (I kid.)

That would have been so nice to have access to instead of dropping $50 at a local computer shop. >_>

Lucky.

 

Do it quickly before i press the ban button

Jokes aside, I know what you mean, even here they're pretty expensive..

 

I just upgrade my M17xR2 from 4870 to 7970 but I cant get video, I hear windows starting normally but I don know how fix it, I have Bios A10, somebody solve this issue?

 

Did you do a CMOS reset? That's where you remove the big battery, the little battery from the inside next to the ram and hold the power button down for 30 seconds to reset the BIOS.

Also, where did you get your 7970m from?