Alienware m17x r4 gpu

My friend has what he thinks is a faulty gpu and since we both have the same laptop R4 with the same graphics card AMD 7970M, he was wondering if I could try his gpu to make sure it's dead. I was wondering though if i would have to repaste the gpu everytime I'd take it out and try it? is it as simple as mounting it and putting the screws in since I would be trying his card and then putting mine back in.

 

I mean, you SHOULD grease it, but you COULD get away with seeing if you can get to make it to windows desktop (which is GPU hardware accelerated) but uses 2D clocks, so it wouldn't stress the card terribly. Chances are the card is dead though, 7970Ms like to die just like 6990Ms and 580Ms

 

You can remove the card and heatsink as a complete assembly. Just remove the fan and two retaining screws. With a little wiggling it comes out. I have never separated a card from the HS in the machine. Do it on the bench .

 

^^This is a very simple process that will let you help your friend. Let us know your findings.

 

Thanks for the tips guys, didn't realize i could do that.

 

You're welcome. I thought that might be the case. Every time I see a teardown vid I want to scream Noooooo. The x-bracket has a sticky on it or it would drop down when you unscrew the HS but this does not matter when you do it out-of-the-machine .

Let us know how it goes.