Alienware M17x R3 with 2gb 6990M question

Greetings,

I'm new to the forum and had a question. I just purchased my first Alienware, a M17x R3 with the 2GB 6990M graphics card. When the laptop arrives the device manager noted that it had the 6970M card installed. Call alienware and they sent a tech to switch out the cards. On his first trip the card that he installed wasn't recognized by the motherboard...all I had was the integrated graphics.

They reordered a new 6990M card and he returned and installed it. But it displayed as a 6970M card in the device manager. He tried to download the 6990M drivers but it failed (incompatible device). Called Alienware tech dept and they took remote control and downloaded a 6900 series driver from their website that worked. Only thing is that the device manager displays it as AMD Radeon 6900 series. No where on my laptop, not even the BIOS, does it show that I have the 2 GB 6990M graphics card.

My question - The tech told me that in the Alienware M17x R3 that all 2BG 6990M cards are displayed as AMD Radeon 6900 series in the device manager. Is this true. Does anyone have a M17x that shows the 2 GB 6990M in the device manager?

 

My shiny new Alienware has a 580m but my dusty old previous laptop had a 5870m so I have a LOT of experience loading ATI/AMD drivers. They always say "Series". They never list the exact card. Download GPUz and run it. Compare your output to this one I found in the benchmarking thread. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...benchmark-thread-part-4-a-72.html#post8280013

Your GPUZ output should be very similar to his. The screenshot in his post is of a bunch of benchmarks. You just need to compare to his actual GPUZ output which is on the left side portion of the image.

Hope that helps!

 

Thanks for the reply. I'll try that but shouldn't there be a way to see and confirm what graphics card is installed in the without taking the laptop apart.

 

Down load GPUz and open it up. How many shaders does it show? The 6990m has 1120 at 715Mhz vs the 6970's 960 at 680Mhz.

 

Thanks! It shows 1120 at 715Mhz. So it must be the 6990 that's installed.

If anyone has this card what Dell Driver is recommended in an M17x R3.

 

I am using Dells stock driver and Device Manager shows the card as a AMD Radeon HD 6900M Series. I have the 6990m 2GB.

 

leshcat blog IT Tips & Tricks: Catalyst 12.3 Pre-WHQL UnifL for Switchable Graphics

I'm using these ones with no issues what so ever.

 

^^ its probably safer to install the 12.2's...there were some issues in Skyrim and BF3 with the 12.3's

The latest dell drivers are based off the 11.5 cats...they are ancient. So NO dell driver can be recommended. Update to the 12.2's for way better performance on the latest AAA titles

You can try the drivers from wingman (they look interesting) or you can get the official 12.2s from AMD and just install over your existing dell drivers:

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst122Previewdriver.aspx

Download, run the exe, follow the prompts. It shouldn't be harder than that. If you bsod, restart the computer and it will continue on the install

 

AMD Catalyst 8.96 14 February – BenchmarK3D

Came out today, really great performance for me and straight forward install, check it out folks

 

ohh thanks for the link!!!

cant wait to go home and install this baby.

 

lovely! 8.96 already!

 

Anybody else try these newest drivers?

 

Same thing happened to me. You probably have the right card. I did despite the driver (at the time) telling me it was a 6970. Since updating drivers, it reads correctly 6990.

 

will this work with the swich graphics option?or do i have to do anything to make it work properly?

 

Switchable graphics will ALWAYS work if you started with the stock dell drivers (which you should have)..

 

ya i have the stock drive, just had a problem as it wasnt compatible with the latest MSN messenger, after installing it it would not switch the cards , took a good few days and about 3 fresh installs to find out that it was MSN stopping me to switch the cards, do you know if this has been fixed in this version?

 

You won't be able to switch cards if something is using the dedicated card, that's why it says 'close all programs before switching'. It's nothing to do with the drivers..

 

cool, thank you for the info +1 rep

 

tried to install it and the pc just reeboot into safe mode
think ill have to install stock driver again

 

did it go straight to safe mode or was there a BSOD?

 

RIKO, I assume it rebooted into a 640x800 resolution or something like that?
Just run the installer again and install...

Common issues are a BSOD or restart, which just means you need to run the installer again. Click custom and make sure you are actully updating driver and ccc to a later version

 

I don't get it. I thought the bigger the number is the newest driver. So, mine using 12.3 now...., did 8.96 is the fresh new after 12.3 ?? if that is, I want to try it also.....

 

8.96 is the Driver version
12.3 is the Catalyst Control Center version

Keep that in mind!

 

Sweet dude..... +1 rep..... Downloading now......

hope it's improve Skyrim or BF3.....

 

Thanks for that.

Is it a good idea to uninstall drivers before installing a newer driver or do you just install right over the previous one?

Thanks

 

So far it's the best driver for BF3.

No no no, do not uninstall. Always install on top of the old ones. If you get a BSOD (just the nature of the install process), try again after the reboot. It always works on the second attempt.

 

i get BSOD then it restart with the option for start normaly or safe mode
also cant switch graphic cards

 

ok , quick update
i manage to revert to dell driver and graphic switch is workingagain
had to uninstall all in safe mode cause i as getting BSOD even installing the dell driver , and had to clean de register as well in safe mode
now if anyone can give some tips how to install this new driver without problems let me know

 

i'm noticing some HUGE improvements with the 8.96 drivers!!!

 

GeoCake, I should be able to install these over the latest Dell drivers?

 

I went from Stock Dell to AMD Catalyst 12.3 RC 8.95 31 January – BenchmarK3D (gave me a BSOD at first, rebooted and ran the installer again and it worked) and then to AMD Catalyst 8.96 14 February – BenchmarK3D

 

whaw..., this is my first EVER driver version which I can install it straight forward without need to uninstall the old driver or installing a stock driver first. Switchable GPU from keyboard working fine also. I just can't open my graphic properties and switchable GPU menu from my right click on my desktop. did anyone find same problem as me ??

during using 8.95 and 12.3 driver, I can open both of them normally....

 

Did you install one on top of the other?