Alienware M17x R3 with original AMD Radeon HD 6970M, what to upgrade the MXM too?

I have scanned through lots of posts, but I still are unsure what to actually upgrade the original AMD 6970M to?

Things that are of concern, any decent MXM appear to an arm and a leg to buy, basically eBay seems to be the only source?

I have trouble installing any drivers newer than the official Dell AMD drivers from about 2 years ago with my bone stock original 6970M. If I do install anything from AMD the notebook will BSOD during the install, and if I can somehow manage to get newer drivers installed (which I have, don't know how I did it) then the brightness becomes stuck on high and the switchable graphics become broken.

Pretty doubtful what to actually get, or if it even worth the trouble having a unstable system, could it be better just sticking with the old 6970M?

If I buy a newer AMD card will the mounting bracket work fine, as in just need the an AMD MXM card, and will the normal drivers works fine from AMD? I don't really want another AMD card.

If I buy a new Nvidia card, will this be the better choice, and if so will drivers not be an issue. I am thinking that I will need a replacement MXM mounting kit? I would prefer Nvidia as an upgrade card


General specs of the Alienware M17x R3 that I have. i7-2820MQ, 16GB-1600MHz, 1.5TB (x2 750GB) RAID0, AMD Radeon HD 6970M, Power Brick = 240W

btw. If the MXM is essentially is the same or similar to a PCI-Express slot on a desktop motherboard where you can just throw in any old card that fits the slot, whats up with all the driver issues and stuff not working?

Also would rather upgrade to Nvidia if that with work going from a AMD based system?

 

Hi, I can only talk about Nvidia and unfortunately the best you can get for the R3, and not have any optimus/driver/fan things to 'fix', is the 580m. This has proved to be a very unreliable card with multiple failures posted (I had three!).

It might be very cheap though and as long as you don't try to OC it too much or change the voltage it could be worth a shot - decent performance although I don't know how it stands up against the AMD

If you go NV the heatsink will fit but you need the x-bracket for the new card and also the captive screws are a different size (AFAIK) so you'll need to source those.

Hopefully you get some AMD expert advice

 

You should be able to upgrade to a GTX 780m fairly easily. I'm not sure if you would require a new heatsink -I don't think the HS from the 6970m would work, but I could be wrong. They can be bought fairly cheaply from the likes of Ebay, as can the card itself. You could get quotes from Dell, however, they will probably be much more expensive. Here's a video of a GTX 780m upgrade - in the comments, it is mentioned by the author that the machine shown is a M17x R3.

Also, check out this post (and thread): M17x R3 GPU upgrade to gtx 780m

 

Or...you could just get a 7970M and double your current performance and use existing heatsink and brackets without paying the nvidia premium. You can overclock it and hit similar performance as a 780M. Seriously the driver install is not as bad as people make it out to be. All you have to do is install the base a00 dell package, install the latest mobility driver from AMD, and install the latest intel hd driver. it may take a few times of switching the graphics/couple reboots to get it right, but it does work. I had a 7970M in my m17x r3 and it worked fine with switchable graphics, brightness, etc.

 

This sounds pretty good, then I just need the 7970M MXM card and that's all right?

Best to go with 2GB or 4GB model, where is the most reliable place to get it from, without buying a dud?

Does it have to be official card, like Dell and not like MSI or otherwise

Then a matter of getting drivers to install correctly?

If I use non Dell drivers I end up having pretty major issues. I am wondering how it is going to be better (as in functionally) than the standard card, or is the original card just to old and causes the issues. Did you go from a 6970M, if so did you have issues with using non-dell drivers?

 

Anyone else please help me with the next above post questions, thanks.

 

you should be able to go with any of the manufacturer. MSi cant crossfire but with the R3 thats not an option. Dell would probable be your easiest to find and switch. I have a R2 so I cant comment on the vbois but they should be out there. check out tech inferno there is probably someone over there with some pointers

 

The only place I can get a 7970M within my current situation is from eBay, is it safe to buy the cheapest Dell model card from a relatively unknown Chinese seller?

 

If it's from the likes of UpgradeMonkey, I believe they are legitimate and should pose no concerns. I've seen plenty of people buy cards off Ebay without issue. Of course, if the seller is offering any kind of limited warranty, you'll want to get the card installed to test it out within that period...just in case....

You could also look at the NBR marketplace for fellow members selling components: http://forum.notebookreview.com/computer-components/

 

Check the feedback and see if they get mentioned on google are good ways to scout out sellers on ebay

 

I had a look at upgrademonkey, their pricing was bit higher than most other sellers, and they only had 8970M 4GB available in my area, which I don't really need as a 7970M 2GB should do just fine. I need to keep the price under a certain cost otherwise I will get stung wth import duty and taxes, which would make the 8970M cost even more, hence why to go for 7970M.

I found a seller that has 99% feedback and over a thousand sales, says item has been tested, item is a Dell model with actual photos of the card, 14 day return after buyer receives it. I went with this seller as was the cheapest with free shipping, and the cost is low enough to avoid import taxes.

I really did want to go NVidia, but the extra cost is to high, and as others have mentioned that I will need to buy an additional NVidia heat sink, fan, thermal pads. With the 7970M then I should be able to just pull out my 6970M and change over the card transfer over the original parts.
Feel kind of strange buying such an old card such as the 7970M as it came out way back in 2012 and my original card is only a year older at 2011, I hope this is worth it for now?

 

I think it will be well worth it for now - you should see s substantial jump in performance coming from a 6970m. Here's a thread you might find handy:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-mobility-7970-m17x-r3-illustrated-guide.html

Have a good read through........bedtime reading! LOL

 

Thanks heaps, I seen a bit of that guide last night, the main part at the start, looks pretty easy, look like the 7970M is going to be pretty sweet even after a couple of years. lol there are a lot of pages to read through.

From what I gather all of these are the exactly the same card 7970M = 8970M = R9 M290X with the clock speed being altered just a tiny bit on the newer rebrands. Maybe a little bit more VRAM on the later model which isn't going to matter much if at all at 1080p.

The used 7970M has cost ~$323 with free shipping. This is the exact item, does this look ok you to guys?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231262260479?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 

Looks fine to me. Genuine Dell part number for the GPU. From the pictures, it seems to have been sold without the backplate to attach the heatsink - you could ask the seller if it is included or not, I didn't see it mentioned in your listing. If you look at this listing Dell Alienware AMD HD 7970M HD7970M 2GB GDDR5 Video Card 9XVK3 09XVK3 CN 09XVK3 | eBay in the second image, you can see the X-bracket/support backplate that seems absent on the one you bought.

If it is not included, I guess you have two options: buy one like this: GPU Spreader x Bracket Screws for MXM 3 0B AMD HD6990M 7970M 8970M VGA Modules | eBay or use a hair dryer on your 6970m to heat up the adhesive tape that holds the support plate onto the back of the GPU to allow you to remove/reuse it.

The part number for the backplate is 3PVGK

 

Arrgh oh no, I didn't realise it had something missing stripped of the card, otherwise I wouldn't have brought it. I would have brought a card with the back bracket already on had I known, dam it this is going to cost me extra and extra hassle. I was looking for a drop in replacement otherwise I would of spend money on Nvidia card if I had to buy extras.

Now I feel pretty dumb wish didn't buy this one. Is there any way to cancel eBay sales?

 

Don't feel dumb! - maybe you could contact the seller to discuss it....see if the bracket is included or not. It's no big deal to warm up the back of your 6970m with a hair dryer and remove the support plate and reuse it if it is not included. You won't damage the GPU, just loosen the adhesive that holds the plate on - makes it easier to remove it.

 

Yeah just use the bracket of your old one it'll work fine.

 

Contacted the seller and they said they would send one with it, pretty awesome, just have to see if it turns up with it.

Are you able to use the latest 14.4 mobility drivers with the 7970M?

 

7970M arrived today with X bracket attached.

Followed the guide on here on how to install a 7970M, although a couple of my very small thermal pads has gone a little crusty, but doesn't matter as I could see in the guide they were not perfect, and could see where one of the very thick blue pads had been swashed down hard in one of the photos (same thing happened to mine after putting in the 7970M, I just let it be).

Installed card carefully cheeking everything done all looking great. Power on, and blank screen with 6 long beeps, then I was feeling pretty sad, likely oh no have I brought a dud. In a last ditch attempt I removed everything (paste made good contact with the core, pads weren't that good though but ok), cleaned the leading edge of the pins (even though didn't become any cleaner really) and re-seated that card, and my surprise it worked! Still don't understand why it didn't work then first time, it was just as well seated as far as I could tell, is this pretty normal with these MXM cards, I am wondering that the card might be bit iffy?

 

Congrats!! - great news that you are up and running. As for the beep error, 6 codes = video card, but my guess is that it was not seated correctly initially - but you sorted that and cleaned the pins so that proper contact was made and it worked. The cards can be a bit temperamental about seating, sometimes. As long as everything is working as it should, sit back and enjoy your upgrade!

+ rep for the work!

 

Thanks heaps with the 7970M help.

I could be bothered with re-installing Windows 7, my recovery partition never worked from factory to use AlienRespawn application and create restore media, however I could do a F8 restore and use AlienRespawn there, but that's not for me in the end.
Created a clone from the F8 reinstall but never used it, nearly 5 year OS vs. less than a year, like improvements made with 8.1 which make things pretty easy (at least for me anyway), as I hated the way Windows 7 and AMD video drivers were continuously giving me grief in the R3.

Went with a clean install of Windows 8.1 and it runs like a charm with some driver and application installs and tweaking, pretty much everything working without extra hassle.

Installs AMD 14.4 mobility drivers straight from AMD's website and overclocks with Sapphire Trixx to an easy 900/1500

Hugely recommend changing the to 7970M card to anyone reading this that still haven't replaced an aging AMD card in the R3.