Alienware M17x R3 460M to 780M - Questions/Concerns

I got my GPU from upgrademonkey too, but I went ahead & flashed a modded vBIOS after about two days I think! Mind you my card only cost £230 in comparison to a 780M at £600, so I figured if it broke then it's not a massive loss! I haven't heard any reports of Kepler cards dying with modded vBIOS, so I don't think it's particularly dangerous, especially if your temperatures are good.

Fan control on the R3 is done in the 'EC Compal' (think that's what someone told me), so it's not part of the modded vBIOS, you don't get fan control. Fan control is awesome on the R3 anyway. I've worked out you get max fan RPM at 65 degC anyway (about 3900rpm), with gradually increased fan speeds as GPU core temperatures pass from about 59 degC through 65 degC. So, you'll be getting max fan RPM at your 68 degC you're seeing. So, I don't think you can lower temperatures further by using third party fan control anyway. EDIT: Actually, max fan RPM through HWInfo on GPU is 4100rpm when manually set to max RPM (using HWInfo), so I don't think my GPU has ever gotten hot enough to spin up to max fans, but given the tight temperature range of fan control I'm pretty sure to wager that this max fan RPM would be seen before you hit 70 degC.

In terms of the throttling, (good that you're not getting any), but if you did that would either be due to knocking up against the power limits or temperature limits (set in the vBIOS). The modded vBIOS allows you to set your own temperature limits & power limits very simply using the sliders in NVidia Inspector. Default throttling temperature might be 87 degC, that's the default temperature on mine (mine doesn't get hotter than 65 degC though so I only know by looking at the slider in NVidia Inspector).

Overvolted & overclocked cores on the 780M people are benching 1100Mhz or so. For gaming most people are probably keeping it around 1006Mhz (which is the base core clock of the desktop GTX 680, which has the same core chip as the 780M)

 

Excellent info thanks. I think I will flash the modded bios soon. Will post results after that.

 

No problem, will be interesting to see what kind of results you can get.

 

hello! will 3d work on second monitor, on m17xr3 withs 780m?
thx!

 

No, the part of the driver responsible for 3D does not get installed. It might if you purchased the emitter kit so it can be detected as an add-on and I was told by a dell tech that it will work, but I don't trust that advice and nobody I've seen has tried it.

Problem is that the AW uses 3D certification in the bios to identify you have the correct parts; screen and card. So if the card is not in the BIOS it won't work. From what I saw the NV CP does not have the steroscopic sub-tree. A lot of people have requested a well known modder if he could do it but it never appeared

 

All good info man. Only add that you can setup a custom fan table in HWInfo

 

Yes it should work with an external monitor through mini-DP port (Dual Link) 3D drivers installed, even when plugging an external non 3D monitor (HDMI) the option becomes visible NVCPL.

Spoiler

 

+ rep J95, Thanks

 

This is with my Samsung non 3D TV - HDMI (crappiest.....ever) greyed '3D Vision Discover', so Mini-DP (proper 3D screen) should enable the 3D Vision default option.

Spoiler

 

Hmm, the discover version should work on any display since it uses two colour glasses and does not need an emiter. Have you tried to enable it to see if discover becomes available?

This how mine looks and I have the two colour 'discover' option in the drop-down

Spoiler

 

It won't work due to the emitter configuration, still the 3D certification whitelist is for the in-built monitor. I will test this soon...

Edit: Yes it works...

Spoiler

 

Excellent . With set of two colour glasses you should be able to see a reasonable 3D representation as well.

This is the system discover uses Anaglyph 3D - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I got a pair off flea-bay for $4.00!

 

Never! I need time, it will work.

 

thank you very much!!!

 

Thank you very much! so I'll buy a 120hz monitor and everything will be fine.

 

And the 3D vision2 emitter kit and glasses . Unless you want to see it first using the 'Discover' option and just get a cheap pair of anaglyph glasses.

Edit: re-intstall your nv drivers with the 120hz display and emitter connected, just to be sure...

 

yes! I already have the emitter and the glasses...I will buy the mini-DP port cable adapter to hdmi to connect the 120hz external monitor, and hope I will be able to play again 3d games.
thank you very much again!!!! ( sorry for my bad English

 

No problem, it all sounds good except the HDMI connection to the monitor. Not sure about that and I'd see about getting a mini-port to dual link DVI cable.

 

Not mini-DP to HDMI, 3D -> DisplayPort 1.2 (backwards compatible to v1.1a) UltraAV® Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort 1.2 Cable or mini-DP to Dual Link DVI-D StarTech MDP2DVID Mini DisplayPort to DVI Dual-Link Active Adapter - USB Powered - Newegg.com as MickyD mentioned + supported monitor (DP or DVI-D inputs).


http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...playport-work-120hz-higher-2.html#post9139966

I'm not allowed to PM andreicomm (minum post requirement)...thanks.

 

Wow that thread is a cluster-f. When I had an Mx18 R2 I was told by a high level AW tech that he would put one together to test NV 3D. He then came back saying he hadn't tested it as NV state dual link DVI only and no AW has a dual link DVI connector. It was only later I discovered that the mini DP technology IS dual-link DVI with added sound. A true dual link DVI to dual link DVI would need a separate audio cable.

Shame I returned it on the basis of his statement

 

After installing the 780M my windows 8.1 install became corrupt somehow and I was no longer able to install windows updates. I decided to do a clean install. I tried to do a win 7 ultimate 64 install but bizarrely I get an error message towards the end of the windows install saying "your hardware is not supported by this version of windows".

I disabled onboard sound and set graphics to PEG etc. I then decided to install windows 8 and did all the updates to win 8.1 having done the chipset driver installs etc first. I also installed the 780M Nvidia drivers fine. The problem now is, it is not letting me install the Audio drivers saying there is "no compatible hardware" in my laptop. I even tried installing these prior to installing the nvidia drivers and also in safe mode and nothing. When I enable high definition audio in bios and try to boot I get either a yellow screen or a white screen.

I note that the dell site doesn't actually have any win8/win 8.1 versions of M17x drivers so not sure if that is the issue. I have ordered a usb soundcard but this is slightly annoying as the integrated sound card worked fine in my last windows install. In device manager I have 2 unknown devices in the same section (neither of which are in the "sound, video and game controllers areas".

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated to get the sound working and the unknown devices cleared.

 

Just a couple of ideas, the win 7 failure is probably because of something to to with UEFI settings in the bios. I do know that it can make drives disappear during a re-install, and it only works if everything matches. IMO the extras you get from UEFI are just not worth the effort on a gaming machine with an SSD. Secure boot? Do you use the machine for any super sensitive data? Fast boot? It uses a hybrid type of sleep mode and requires ALL hardware is UEFI compliant - might cause you issues with turning off the iGPU if the dGPU does not have the UEFI microcode. I would expect it to be on all new cards by now but all you actually get (unless anyone wants to put me right )is a second or two of boot time. Compatibility mode in the BIOS is one of the settings to turn UEFI off.

One unknown device will be the free-fall accelerometer and the driver is on dell under your model Not sure about the other one

Edit: Re the sound issue, check out from post #82, let us know if it's any help?

Edit: I got mixed up and that BIOS stuff for win 8 is R4 only you do not have any UEFI options on the R3, but it does sound like it was trying to use it for some weird reason

 

Thanks for this. I took out the 780M and installed the audio drivers. Then followed the instructions in the post you mentioned and it now works fine. No biggie re: win 7. I'll stick to win 8.1. May have been a hard drive issue as you say.

 

Great news , now to see if someone has this success with an 8xx card .

Did you track down the unknown devices?

 

I'm sure they will. They should be very similar.

Yes, re: unknown devices, one disappeared when I installed Alienware command centre. The other is the free fall accelerometer which I haven't installed.

 

hi,

just a couple of question about this

I have an M17x R4 with AMD 7970M and would like to upgrade the card to 780M.

any inputs? i believe i only need to change the heatsink right?

any help is apperciated

 

I know it's not what you're asking, but the 7970M is a good card, and the 780M isn't leaps & bounds better. Unless you're getting a 780M for a steal, then I'd save your money towards a Maxwell card (when they come out, maybe before Xmas, maybe Spring next year).

Using the 7970M heatsink, I don't see why you can't use that one, you might just need to move the pads around on it for it to work. It certainly has the cooling capacity (100W cards). Will need an x-bracket specific to NVidia (and the 780M ideally, but I'm using my 560M x-bracket on my 670MX and it's working perfectly) (pretty sure you won't be able to re-use the 7970M x-bracket though). Remove any black tape on the heatsink GPU contact surface (if it's there).

 

I'll just add to Robbo, There is no heatsink for the R4/R3 for the 780m as the case design changed. You could buy a 680m one (as I just did ) but as he said, you will have to get he x-bracket and the screws as the captive ones on the AMD heatsink will not fit.

You'll need to see if you can turn off optimus in the BIOS and force boot to the dGPU. The R3 needs an unlocked BIOS but I think the R4 had it added at some point. It's no good me looking as the iGPU is disabled on 120hz models.

You also will need to get modified drivers as the card model is not an OEM original.

I agree with Robbo though on the value of this upgrade, it is probably not that great for the work involved. And I see those 780m's run way hotter than I like a mobile GPU to run at just stock - in the new AW 17 anyway.

 

Alright then. so i guess ill just wait for the new cards to come out.

I just asked because what will happen is the guy will take my 7970m card and replace it with 780m, ill just add $311.

Thanks for the reply.

 

Yeah no probs, probably better to put that $311 towards a next gen card when they arrive soonish.

 

Volta is around the corner...


M17xR3 - Windows 8/7 GTX 780M installation

[Guide] Modding Nvidia OEM INF Files



nvdmi.inf v337.81

GeForce 337.81 Beta Driver

 

• Game Ready - This 337.88 Game Ready WHQL driver ensures you'll have the best possible gaming experience for Watch Dogs.

GeForce 337.88 WHQL


Modded nvdmi.inf v337.88

 

Thanks for the driver links, any idea if I will need to disable/otherwise mess around with the sound in the bios before updating the drivers, or if it will just be a regular uninstall > install new drivers > copy in modified inf?

I had the common sound issue when installing my 780m but managed to fix it by following the steps suggested here and putting my old card back in. I've been hesitating updating my drivers for fear of having to do that all over again!

 

This 340.43 Game Ready Beta driver ensures you'll have the best possible gaming experience for GRID: Autosport and the Battlefield: Hardline Beta.

M17xR3 - Windows 8/7 GTX 780M installation

[Guide] Modding Nvidia OEM INF Files


GeForce 340.43 Beta

Modded nvdmi.inf v340.43

 

Thank you!

I've just successfully installed 780m in my R3, thanks to your guide!

I am forever thankful - as you can remember, I borked my 580m due to voltmodding. 780m works like a charm!

 

OK - everything works swell; I'm just having two little issues, tho [Alienware m17x R3 just for the sake of understanding].

When I first booted up with the 780m installed, I got a black screen and beeps happened (I didn't count - 6 maybe?); it was with the IDT and IGP turned off [graphics set to PEG]; I simply powered off and on - it started allright; installed the nvidia drivers, rebooted, turned on the IDT - everything works including sound. However, the beeps still RANDOMLY happen (tho not very often - once every 3-4 boots). A simple power off/power on makes the notebook boot just fine.
Why do the black screens with beeps randomly happen? Any idea?

Also - my sleep mode doesn't work. Whenever I power the notebook on from sleep mode, all I get is a white screen.
Anyone experiencing similar?

Other than these, everything works just fine. I'm getting great performance and really good temps with the 780m.

PS.
Haven't tried the modded vbios yet - what exactly does it do? Everyone boast that it can help you get over 10k in 3Dmark - does it overclock/overvolt?

 

Sleep will not work due to the firmware not knowing how to deal with the card I believe.

 

Wait, so is anyone else experiencing this as well? Because I don't believe I've seen a single post regarding the lack of sleep mode and it's kind of a huge deal breaker...

 

I reckon people who are upgrading their M17xR3 with 'massive' graphics cards like the 780M are more the serious gamer types who probably aren't bothered about sleep (for their computer!), and just concerned with performance - probably why there's not lots of posts on it (even if it does break the sleep function). My sleep function on my R3 has never worked reliably, even when I had the standard 560M in there.

 

You should still be able to hibernate though and with an ssd it should not take long to come back up.

 

Nope - hibernating doesn't work either; and after a whole day of trying different things, I came to know it's the IDT Codec causing this.
Onboard sound CAN INDEED be enabled by the trick posted before, but they conflict once waking up from hibernate/sleep.

Is there some way to change the IRQ of GPU/IDT? It might be that...
I curse Dell/Alienware for the lack of R3 support... All it would take would be a single BIOS update...

 

If you know for a fact that its the sound drivers causing the issue, then you could get a USB sound card. With that plugged & put to sleep it might work, because then the IDT drivers would be out of the loop then. Better sound too, I've got the Xonar U7 and can recommend that. They vary in price, you can get some really inexpensive ones if all you wanted to do was circumvent the sleep problem. (assuming it is the IDT sound drivers causing the problem)

 

Yes, but first and foremost - the machine is a notebook; carrying around a USB soundcard kind of defeats the purpose of mobility.
I'm trying to find some sort of solution.

Found out that if I disable the IDT within the device manager, I can sleep/hibernate and enable it again.

It seems the machine ONLY hangs at white/black screen when the soundcard (drivers?) launches BEFORE the gpu.
That is why you have to turn the IDT off in bios before installing 780m's drivers.

I wonder whether it's an IRQ issue (can this be fixed somehow? can you reassign IRQ's in Win7/8?).

 

Is this external USB sound card not portable enough for you?!:

DYNAMODE External USB 2.0 Sound Card Deals | Pcworld

Can't help you with solving it any other way, because don't know enough about IRQ's, etc.

 

hey everyone, can someone hook me up with latest driver and modded inf that works with 460m?

Is the one on LV2Go works?

 

Because you have a stock/unmodified system (using a 460M in an R3), then NVidia drivers will support your notebook without the need for a modified inf file. You can just download the latest notebook driver from the NVidia website.

 

The sleep mode not working with 780m and IDT AUDIO enabled has been fixed! [thanks to a user on techinferno].

Make sure you have ENABLE POWER MANAGED >> checked << in the IDT Audio Codec software advanced section (and set to 30 seconds or something).

This way sleep mode/hibernating works and you don't get any weird white/yellow/black/green screens and hangups of the system!
Just use the instructions already posted (disable IDT drivers, disable IDT in bios, put your 780m into the system, install modified GPU drivers, re-enable IDT in bios, make sure ENABLE POWER MANAGEMENT is checked - IDT AUDIO works 100% this way).

 

Game Ready
Best gaming experience for Metro: Redux and Final Fantasy XIV (China)


M17xR3 - Windows 8/7 GTX 780M installation

[Guide] Modding Nvidia OEM INF Files

GeForce 340.52 WHQL

nvdmi.inf_v340.52_AW_M17XR2_R3_R4_M18xR1_R2_GTX_680M_780M_880M



Edit:
Since v340.43 nvidia no longer supports NVCUVENC encoder 600/700/800 GPUs.
Try this mod for both NVCUVENC & NVENC support (Latest nvcuvenc.dll -> #307 nvdmi.inf_v340.52_nvcuvenc.dll_New) -> M17x R3 GPU upgrade to gtx 780m - Page 31

 

Hey j95 sorry for bothering you but, I recently just got a GTX 770m as a replacement for my M17x R3 3D model because my previous GTX 460M fried and I've encountered an issue where after i installed the new video card I turn on the system to find that i have a black screen with 7 beeps. I know for sure that my processor is not to blame as it was working perfectly before my previous card fried and im pretty sure that the new card is NOT DOA. Is it that because i havent installed/uninstalled any drivers before it fried that im unable to upgrade to this card? My integrated graphics is disabled by default because of it being incompatible with the 120hz screen so this is making this task extremely difficult on me. Is there anyway i can get passed this and get the card to work? I really love this laptop and any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

I'll just jump in here in case J's not around.

The 770m has been a problem for many people and I have only seen one that managed it. With the 120hz panel you can run the original best R3 GPU - 580m, the best R4 GPU - 680m, or the best recent GPU - 780m.

Caveats are that only the 580m will work plug and play. The 680m and 780m will need modified drivers but the 120hz works - 3D does not .

HTH

Edit: Forgot to add, the 580m is a VERY unreliable card but you can get lucky....