And another.. 7970m in M17x R2..Installation with photos

Hey guys,

Quick install question.....the c-clips that are used under on the old dell HS screws, do you transfer them to the eurocom ones (if possible?) or do you just use the eurocom screws as is with nothing between them and the HS (or the HS and bracket)

The 6970m install guide doesn't say if you reapply those c-clips....just shows you how to remove them from the old screws..

 

Do you mean the retainer clips( i have no idea what they are called!! Washers?)? that stop the crews falling out of the heat sink?

 

Yeah they are wrapped around the bottom of the screw and prevents you from removing the screw from the HS..

Do you attach these to the eurocom screws as well?

I'm assuming since the screws are different that they may not fit on them.but I just wanted to know from others here if they had used them...

 

Yes, exactly,eurocoms screws are a lot smaller so i left them out as they just fell off anyway.

 

Hey guys, I installed my 7970m and got the laptop booted..

It booted into windows fine...I installed the latest ATI/amd drivers rebooted afterwards and got a white screen of death!

I quickly hard rebooted again and it booted up fine to windows...got a bunch of OSD errors....I check all of my temps and they looked good...I restarted again....everything booted up fine into windows and no software errors.(I rebooted 3 more times and it booted up fine each time)

However, I notice that my fans don't come on like they usually or always did in the past(full blast for 5-10seconds then idles at 1800rpms)....now they are dead silent, I check my fan speeds in HWInfo32 and they are ALL zero...but burst to 1500RPM every 10-30 seconds....my CPU idles at 50c during this time and my gpu idles at 37c....

I let it just sit at my desktop with just HWinfo32 running and after 15 minutes all of the fans start staying on at 1900RPMs
With my CPU cores steady at 45c and my gpu at 35c. my 4870 idled at 45c so this is pretty good....must be that IC diamond paste at work???

Anyhow...is this normal for the fans to start up like this? It's just eery to hear dead silence until the desktop shows then only a short 3-4 second bursts every 30 second interval if I'd just leave it idling on the desktop..

I'm going to start stress testing my gpu and see how my gpu temp end up as...

 

I'm also having some issues like JJR. However, I can actually post and boot just fine. My problem comes in when I want to play a game: I play the Witcher 2 for 5 min and then I get an emergency shutdown.

So here are my questions:

Question 1. Did everyone use 1mm pads? Even those using Clevo cross brackets? Currently I am using .5mm pads, as the 1mm seemed to bend the 4th corner down too much. I cant tell if my memory is over heating, due to my second problem.

Question 2. What version of HWInfo are you using to control fan speed? I currently have the latest stable version (4.02-1700). However, the sensors for memory don't appear like they did for the 5870. And the temperatures aren't really updating like they normally do.

Observation: Currently my laptop is running off of HDMI. The driver seems to see the HDMI monitor as the built in laptop monitor and the vise - versa. It also sees that I plugged something into the VGA port, but also calls that the HDMI port. I"m pretty sure if I tried I could get them into Eyefinity.

So please let me know if I MUST use 1mm pads. Cheers!

 

Eurocom sent me some thermal pads with mine but judging by the looks of them they are phobya 1mm.

I think you should try reseating the lcd cables, this may be why your screen isn't detected because Eurocom cards are meant to be plug and play.

 

Question1: I used the pads that came with the eurocom card...they seemed very thin but they did touch the HS..I made sure I pressed down on the HS around the memory to make the pad stick to it.

Question 2: I don't know know how to,control the fan speed with HWinfo32. I'm using the same version...and just using it to monitor the fan. I don't think the current fan behavior is doing anything bad since the temps don't go higher then 50 c while idling like this and if I jump into any task heavy app, it would causes them to boost up to normal.

The one thing I don't like about this graphics card is that you can't see the other thermals like memory and shaders that you can with 4870/5870. Either the hw sensors are not there or the software doesn't know how to read them....?

 

correct me if i'm wrong but i recall reading somewhere that the overclocking software afterburner can read all the other temps

 

Hey guys , I still able to get those black/white screen on boot up..however, it only seems common if I reboot my laptop very quickly ..that is, I choose shutdown ...wait until the alien head power button goes dark...then quickly turn it back on again... 7 out of 10 tries resulted in a post white or black screen....

The longer I wait after shutdown, the less likely I get boot up display issues...

Can anyone perform the same test with those rjtech Vbios and eurocom ones to see if they can reproduce this?

If this is something only with the eurocom Vbios, then I may flash my card with rjtech ones....but it this happens with both then I guess I'll have to live with it...

 

I don't have those problems. Using Eurocom cards with rjtech vbios.

 

Yeah, I may just burn that rjtech Vbios anyways...

I'm assuming you don't have any negative issues with the auto fan control , restart or sleep issues that people have reported with earlier vbios releases?

Hey Dalorian,

Have you tried to power up your system with a cd in the dvd/blueray drive?

My LCD won't display anything on during or after post if I leave a cd in my drive...it just displays a black screen even though I can hear windows boot up in the back ground...

The only way I could get around this is to tap the alien head power button to put the machine into sleep mode, wait until everything goes dark and the head flashes then push the power button again to wake up from sleep mode... As soon as I did this the LCD came back up displaying windows login screen..

I took the DVD out of my drive, rebooted and the LCD started up fine. I put the cd in again, rebooted and same problem.

The only way I can use boot CDs now is to leave it out, start the laptop, keep pushing F12 during post to bring up my boot options, put the cd/DVD in the drive , select "boot from cd/DVD", press any key when prompted and the LCD works fine afterwards...until I reboot again..

The crappy thing about this laptop is that there's no manual eject button to force the cd out of the drive...

Anyhow, I can't remember if I had this issue before with my old graphic cards or if this is something new...I don't use or leave CDs in my machine very often..

FYI, I tried afterburn, and it only shows one gpu thermal sensor like HWinfo...(both softwares displayed all of the thermal sensors in the older cards)..

I can only assume that the 7970m just doesn't have the additional sensors???

 

It might be a "smart" sensor that only reports the largest temp on the card, or perhaps even worse it might only be reading memory temps. While my memory is downclocked it stays at about 40 degrees. When the memory is at full speed, HWInfo jumps to 60 degrees. I know this isnt a core thing because the core stays low since all I am doing is swapping output ports, and not playing games.

 

Is this the correct card for the R2?
AMD Radeon HD7970M (WimbledonXT) MXM 3.0b 2GB GDDR5 - Upgrade Kit for Alienware | eBay

 

Yes, thats the one.

 

i bought the exact same kit but if you message them telling them you wish to install it in a m17x r2 then they might give you a discount as they had given me

 

thinking of pulling the trigger on one of these from upgradeyourlaptop. I think the only things that don't work with these cards are hdmi and automatic fan control. right?

 

Auto fan control should work with the latest eurocom Vbios (and maybe the rjtech Vbios as well?)

I'm not sure about hdmi....for most people it seems like it doesn't work...but I think the dell r3 Vbios will work for the hdmi but seems to be plagued with other issues when used on the r2...

 

once I get my system back up and running I hope to try one of these

 

Like I stated before I could get at least the video portion of the HDMI port to work with the rjtech bios. I have no equipment to test audio.

 

Guys im going to change a Alienware 17X R3 with good specs for a AW M17x R2 and a diference of 1200 dolars and im going to buy 2 7970M CF and a i7-920XM and a 330Wats Adapter is that for the 17X R2 what do you think guys?

 

Hi Hanser! It is certainly ambitious! I do wish you luck! As long as you understand the limitations of the 330 watt power supply you should be fine. You can also check out techinferno forums for more hints and advice as the guys there experiment with the hardware allot more.

 

humm so what adapter i need the norla of 240Wats? or buy a new 1? ii mean because i want the 2 7970M on CF imgoign to spend the 1200 on that and for the i7-920XM CPU ! what do you think? and thanks for answer

lookk Guys thisi is what i want to do

1. Change my AW M17x R3 for a AW M17x R2+1250 Dolars
2. Getting the Computer and the money im going to Buy the 2 7970M with all the STUFF it needs and the i7-920XM

thats all ! what do you think? i mean because 2 7970M are a monsters BTW 1 7970M is a monster 2 of them OMG!

 

You are in "mostly" uncharted territory hanser. Please read this forum and this thread. There you will get MUCH better ansers.

If you just want to know what I think, then I say it is a great idea and you will be the envy of the m17xr2 owners, BUT you are taking RISKS. You will need the right vbios, the correct cross bracket, the right screws, and the correct power supply. It will take modding your own hardware; this will not work if you plan just to shove everything into the system. READ ALLOT on this. I dont want you to regret your choice.

Good Luck!

 

I've done a few startups with a dvd in the drive but I can't remember if it was before or after RJTech vbios flash. I can check it out for you. I don't think there's a problem like that with the RJTech vbios though.

I've not noticed any issues at all so far. Fan control is on auto, no need to manually control them through HWInfo, no reboot issues but I haven't tried the sleep / wake up yet.

 

There is also another option of getting the 920xm, a single 7970m and a SSD setup and last but not least a ram ugprade.

This eliminates any problems you may experience and still ensures your R2 is a complete beast.

 

Good morning guys, I'm having a problem with my alienware.
replace my video card for two 7970m and also my 330W psu for m18x id I just cut the cable to the notebook recognizes him, but he did not exits of stealth mode, and I can not use two cards in crossfire, he is no battery, and when I press the button it just says that you can not disable the stealth mode in low power, it appears neither the dialog box saying whether or not you want to disable
when I turn on my 240w psu works perfectly
anyone have any solutions to the problem?
would uninstall this stealth mode?
thanks to all!

 

if anybody has problems with getting a black screen when you check temp sensors in hwinfo, then update it because older versions will try and check the multiple sensors which 7970m doesn't have

 

I placed my order for the eurocom 7970 today so I'm keeping my fingers crossed I will have no problems. I ordered it with the x bracket and screws. I have an extra heat sink already so I hope it all goes smooth.

I do have a question or 2.
The board comes with thermal pads but I wanted to know what is the correct size for the 7970 and who makes the best thermal pads?

While I'm asking about themal pads what size it used under the CPU cooler?

I want to order some good ones as I will be switching to a 920xm soon also and want to run as cool as I can.

 

brlowe, Eurocom send pre-cut thermal pads with the cards and you just have to stick them on in the right place, i however modified the ones they sent so only the stuff that has to be padded is padded. As for the thermal pads the phobya ones Dalorian uses are decent. I am using the ones Eurocom sent and my card idles around 36-39 degrees and i also have an 920xm and that idles around 40-55 degrees depending on turbo clocks. good luck

 

Yeah , I just left the original thermal pad next to my CPU when I did my 920xm CPU upgrade....my idles temps are the same ....around 45c.

Just note with the 7970m, if you after boot your pc and it goes to a white screen, turn off the power to the laptop right-away (don't let the screen stay like that or it may burn out your LCD) then wait 10seconds and try again... I only got this after my first reboot after installing the latest ATI drivers and when I tried to use a boot cd to restore my SSD drive after upgrading it's firmware.

 

Oh I know, my card was plug and play. The biggest problem I encountered was my power flex cable dying on me but I got a replacement and it's all good.

Edit: as far as temps go, these are the temps i get.

Idle: 35-40C

Skyrim High Res texture Ultra settings: 70-75C


Sleeping Dogs- High res Texture Absolute Ultra w/o AA - 70-75C


the games are measure with the U2 cooling pad but its so crap theres only 1 or 2 degrees difference. I think its time for an upgrade to a cooler that can actually hold the R2

 

Hrm....I was able to get as high as 81 degrees, and that was with a cooler and HWInfo controlling the fans.

Guess I need to re-paste AGAIN! grrr....

I don't know what other people here are doing, but if I don't use HWInfo to control fan speed the fan speed stays constant, and if I play a game it will power down with a heat crash.

With HWInfo controlling things, games remain stable but temps can get high with high texture games like Witcher 2.

Is anyone else experiencing random fluctuations, weird crashes, or something else? I'm still trying to decide if my card is stable enough.

 

I can give you my vbios I bought from Eurocom recently so they'll be updated. I'm having no such problems. Highest temp I reached was while benching and it went upto 84

 

My card showed up today so I will install the heatsink cool and be ready to install. I have to wait till this weekend to put it in as they are coming to replace my motherboard for a strange boot up issue I have.
Next for me to get is a 920xm for it.

 

The 920xm is a huge upgrade from the. 740qm

 

From everything I read it is not worth the extra cash. I'm coming from a 720 so the 920 will be a good upgrade.

 

Edit: I didn't mean to offend you guys, the power of the 7970m is getting to me and I wanted to equal it out.

 

Ok I could not wait and wanted to test the card. I installed it and it booted up great. Installed the driver and all looks good. Installed how info and something is wrong. GPU temp idle is 37c but my fan is not running. Ran some tests and it heated up but the fan does not kick in. What do I need to use to control the fan? Any help would be great.

 

I felt from my chair when i saw this post, 920xm--> 14-16k ? LOL

check this, standard OC of my 920xm (20k)

AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-950 Processor,Alienware score: P20732 3DMarks

and 940xm is usually much more expensive than 920xm

i can bump the voltage and FSB as well and this would be 23k

fan is working, but not kicking in becouse you have probably done awsome paste job

 

....

Do you realize that 940xm is just 133Mhz "faster" than a 920xm? And that basically on our R2 and using Throttlestop they are just the same? Can you explain how the 920 is bottlenecking your 7970? becouse of the lowest benchmark CPU score vs new gen i7 equiped R3 or R4? if it is so, that's not bottlenecking, of course the new generation CPU are faster than the first i7, but doesn't mean that "old" i7 is slow, especialy the XM's. In real application environment, for example gaming, you won't notice the difference, unless the game is heavily CPU bound.

Edit:

I mean no offence but i believe that you don't really know how to use your XM cpu...

Edit: here, if you haven't done so already i strongly sugest you to carefully read this guide, is from the author of Throttlestop. It will help you to fine tune your XM chip and possibly improve your experience. Keep also in mind that a proper paste job, ventilation and ambient temperatures play a strong role on how much you will push your cpu.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/531329-throttlestop-guide.html
Your mileage may vary

 

Go to the corner and think about what you've said. That has to be some of the worst advice/info I've seen on this board.

 

Hmm don't know if mine is dodgy but I get fluctuating fan speeds, and Ive only reached between 14-16k In the latest vantage throughout all the time I've tried it. Probably because mine is a QS


Nice vantage score, don't know why mine doesn't achieve that

 

I wish it was not kicking in because of the paste job but it is getting hot enough to cause a shutdown.
How can I manually control the fan setting just to test it.

 

Use HWinfo, it has a fan control function that works really well

 

Although the temp of the 7970m is low I find that the wasd keyboard area gets quite hot. Probably the thermal pads/paste doing such a good job

 

I think I did a poor paste job and that may be part of my problem.
I went ahead and pulled the card out and put the GTX 285 back in for when they come change my motherboard. At least I know mycard is good an works. I will figure out the fan issue after my motherboard is replaced.

 

just got my 7970m installed and it is freaking beast. HDMI video and audio work as does the display port. Only thing that doesn't seem to work like oem are the fans. they stay at 25% regardless of the temps. So I am using Hwinfo 64 to control the fans and all is good.

got my card from upgradeyourlaptop on ebay. Emailed them first and tell them what your putting it in first.

 

How is it that people have different experiences? In my R2 fans work fine but no HDMI output? I am running catalyst 12.8 I get HDMI output until windows/display driver loads then no signal and Windows only sees one monitor. If I uninstall drivers I get HDMI but clone mode only and I think Windows still only sees 1 monitor. I also bought from upgradeyourlaptop.

 

maybe eurocom updated their Vbios. I don't think my HDMI works properly either. brooks mind sharing your Vbios?