GTX 780M for M17x R3

Hey guys

Did some digging on a Alienware forum, and saw that it might be possible for me to replace my current faulty GPU, HD 6870, with the newer model, GTX 780M.
It was suggested for me to write in this forum due to possible driver issues after replacing the card.
Will buy the GPU as soon as I know that it's possible for me to succesfully replace it. Is it?

I've got a M17x R3 with the following specs:

- Intel i7 @ 2.20 GHz
- 8,00 GB RAM
- 240w PSU
- Windows 7 64-bit

Thanks!

 

Hi, you just caught me in a good mood. This has been answered many many times in the last month or two. I know I posted in most of them,

So, rather than a 'use the search' flame here goes

Whenever you fit a GPU that was not on the original parts list you need a modded driver (laptopvideo2go). New one for every release you want to try.
For some the 780m in the R3 caused the on-board sound to stop. Fixing is a bit of a chore but search out J95's posts, he posted full details.
The 680m does not have (so far) this sound issue - I love mine, very cool running and overclocks like a deamon.
You will also need to track down an unlocked bios so that you can force the machine to use the NV card and disable optimus. I can't tell you exact settings - not something I needed to do on a 120hz model.

Ask away

 

Thanks man. Appreciate you taking the time!

Sounds a bit more advanced than I thought at first, but I really need this GPU, so will try my best.

So I just ordered the 780M on Ebay now. What do I need to do BEFORE opening up the M17x R3 and replacing the card?

 

Since coming from an AMD you should strip out all the AMD driver and files. Use DDU ( Wagnard Tools) before you shut down for the final time on the AMD.

Install the modded bios and familiarize yourself with the options. You're looking foe PEG and SG settings. Confirm this from one of the existing R3 upgrade threads, I've never done this. Well I did it once on my R3 but messed the machine up since you shouldn't mess with these settings on a 120hz model - doh!

Now the bit I missed, actually I was a bit lazy hoping you'd read some of the other posts - just messing with you, sorry! The heatsink.

Open up the bottom and look at how many heat pipes the GPU has. 2 pipe=not suitable. 3 pipe (100w)= OK. The AMD captive screws on the heatsink will not fit the NV x-bracket or spreader as it is known. You should try to get one with the card, you might be able to fit the AMD spreader but contact pressure will almost certainly be wrong leading to a hotter card. I have seen 680m upgraders use the twp-pipe heatsink without any serious overheating BUT, the 680m runs much cooler than a 780m

I strongly recommend trying to buy a 680m heatsink for the R4 from Dell. It comes all pre-pasted and padded ready to assemble. This saves a lot of research and stress over pad locations and thicknesses - which will be different than the AMD. You will still need the smaller diameter screws NV use. The 780m is (I believe) the same component layout as a 680m so that heatsink (680m) will be perfect. If you are re-using the AMD one remove any tape from around the GPU core area. This will not match the NV GPU core size/shape and will interfere with the contact - again causing overheating.

Yes, it is daunting, upgrading laptops is not an exact science like desktops and is very OEM specific (often). Very satisfying when it works though, a considerable increase in gaming performance .

Good luck

 

Do you have 3D working with that setup?

 

Hi man, good to see you again

I do . The 680m was listed for the R4. It's one of the reasons I'm not upgrading it any more. I'm getting an AW R2 just to check the gaming out on the latest GPU.

The mooted bios to add 3D certify to non-standard cards never materialised

 

Yup, I'm back! Haha.

I'm glad it works fine on that machine with 3D. I was under the impression that the setup did not allow 3D.

 

Well I hope you don't get too many posts asking you for an opinion .

It goes: R3 580m, R4 680m AWR1 880m as the fastest cards to support 3D, and of course AWR2 N/A. Sob...

 

I thought you were talking about the 780m on his platform. Are you referring to the 680m? I mean, do you have 3D working on a 680m not on the 780m?

 

Correct. I failed to mention that to the OP .

 

This is awesome. Thanks!

So obviously I have another set of questions.

1. I seem to have found a modded VBIOS for 780M here, http://www.techinferno.com/2013/06/29/unlocked-nvidia-gtx-780m-vbios/ . Is this one correct?
2. I found J95's posts, http://forum.techinferno.com/nvidia...arket-upgrades-driver-support-modded-inf.html , but most of what is written is foreign to me.
Is this nessecary for me, or only if have issues with my sound card?
3. My heatsink has 3 pipes so I should be set, right?
4. I purchased a separate sheet of 0,5mm thermal pads that I'll have to cut out myself, but I found a layout for the 780m, so that should be fine yeah?
5. What part of these instructions will I have to complete before replacing the GPU, and what will I have to do after?
Do I install the modded VBIOS before installing the card?

 

1. Yes, that will allow overclocking above the dell imposed limit of +135mhz. You don't need it for the upgrade.
2. Yes, j95 can be cryptic until you understand his writing style, haha, but the info is solid. The link was referring to modifying the driver installer. Easier to just get the inf file from laptopvideo2go/drivers. You will need this for every driver release. You replace an existing file in the installer's folder and away you go.
3. Heatsink, check. Just remove any tape around the paste area.
4. It will be fine but there are places where it needs to be thicker, you can safely double up.

The sound card issue might have been resolved by another R3/780m user I am advising (which is causing me much personal confusion right now!). He disabled the on-board sound (in the bios) before installing the driver then turned it back on after - worked fine for him .

Phew, been a long day, good luck.

Edit: just realised you have a 60hz display. You do need to find an unlocked bios so you can disable the on-board GPU.

 

All right.

1. I've been trying to figure out how to use laptopvideo2go for an hour now, and I'm just getting lost in websites and guide with different/outdated posts all over. Could you help me out here?
These numbers that you have to search for, they are found in the Device manager AFTER you've installed the new GPU right? I'm running Windows 7 64-bit, and really hoping that there's a driver for the 780m available..
2. and I think that's it so far.

Still waiting for my card..

 

Yeah, the site is very poor with the instructions, They kinda assume only geeks are using it!

Don't search. It's not useful except for people with very old cards. Just go to the driver list, select the latest one (or one you have been advised to use) and you will be offered the driver or the inf. If you have already tried a driver then you can just get the inf and replace the original which will be under c:\nvidia\displaydriver\ version\display.driver\ by default. Version numbers of driver and inf must match.

If you download the driver from LV2Go then it will expand in whatever folder you run it. It is not modified though so you still need to do the file replace.

Good luck.

 

Ahh okay. That is so much easier, jesus.

So I guess I'll just download the "Latest Driver" on the right side for Win 7 64 bit, and that should work for my 780M right?

By the way, do you know of anywhere else to get the unlocked BIOS than Techinferno? You have to post 5 posts before you can download, and they need to approve you posts to count.
So I've like posted 10-15 posts, but only got 2 approved. Such a pain in the ass.

 

^^ true that .
I have been posting for several days but nothing shows up . All mods are active most of the time but they don't approve posts . Maybe they are trying to make us to join the TI ELITE Membership , to harvest money.

 

Yeah they most likely are, and it's working... I'm seriously considering spending the 5 bucks for a months membership.

 

I.ve only see them posted at techinferno, and it is frustrating, for a long time I have asked members (PM) for help or just asked here and got them. I did pay the $5.00 and got one I was looking for some time ago. Recently I have made a few posts there and now got 'approval' to download. They do have a lot of good stuff so membership requirements are better than advertising IMO. Always donate beer money to the author as well.

Yes for the driver, but just to add to the confusion it says Win 8 when it's 7 as well.

 

A cool dude offered to download the files for me so I'm almost set.
Just need the files for NVFlash.

So I finally got the card, but the ****ers didn't include a Nvidia bracket as they promised in the product description. Hope it'll be all right? I'm not planning on overclocking.

Just be to clear what to do.

1. Disable the onboard sound card in BIOS.
2. Replace the GPU with thermal paste and what not.
3. Flash the unlocked vBIOS from TI.
4. Install driver from LV2Go and replace the modded .inf file.

Missed anything?
Pretty nervous about messing up my laptop.

 

Not quite , its an unlocked BIOS you need to disable the on-board GPU (sorry to ask again, a lot of threads I am working on this stuff) if you have a 60hz display. The unlocked vBIOS is to allow overclocking.

I would do the unlocked bios first. look over the settings you need to change and familiarise your self with them. Then do the rest.

Signatures help me a great deal

 

No worries, I found one pretty easily.

So I got it installed, and after some troubleshooting, I got it working. Pretty stocked now!

Ran a FurMark test, and the temperature keeps below 80 celcius, so it seems to be working.
Gonna run a 3DMark test in a minute, but it seems like it was a success.

Thank you so much for the help and assistance man!!

 

Sweeet! Congrats on the success. That does seem a little warm to me for an 'm' chip, mine never hits 70c at stock, but I do recall the 780m running hotter.

 

80C is normal temps for 780M.. Like I said before, get some good IC Diamond thermal paste and some good Phobya XT pads and your temps will be under 70C.. Also set fans to high power using HWinfo64...

 

Hi Malte book and mickyD.
Could you please post the link or image of the GTX 780M Thermal pad placement please and what thickness go' s where as this my be my problem and I need to retry before trying to return the card.
Also do I put the a square of the thermal pad across the reverse side again where it sits over the cups on the mother board

Cheers

mark

 

This is the 680m but I'm told it's the same as the 780. Also a 680m padding from factory and 580m factory


And: http://downloads.eurocom.com/support/drivers/zip/Alienware/6xxm/680M thermal pad placement.jpg

 

Hi MickyD

Thank you, both images are a bit different pad wise, and I still can't find the thicknesses.
Any ideas on thickness? Also do I put a large thermal pad on the rear ? The rear sits over an exposed bit of motherboard circuitry..

In my girlfriends m17x RR AW with a gtx660m she has the large one.....I now can't remember if my origins dead GTX580m did or didn't.....I know I should ave photographed it at the time...duh....lol

 

Yes to the large pad on the rear. My 580m and 675m had that large pad.

Thickness's. There seemed to be three thicknesses from 2mm on RAM and some others, up to 4mm at the edge where the VRM's are. You might have to assemble dry and look for imprints as the pad does need to be compressed. They are fully reusable. Another method, and one I use when I have no idea what is needed. Put a tiny ball of putty on each component. Lightly dust with talc then dry assemble. The putty will be the exact clearance so you need to add .5~1mm for the pad. Pads can also be doubled up.

HTH

Edit: some of these should help as well. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=eurocom upgrade

 

Hey Micky...glad you found this post

As it goes the card,heatsink and paste is in a box in my work bad for tomorrow...

Its exactly what I plan....takes me back a bit, but we used to use swish pads to work out bearing cap sizes required for the crankshaft and conrods....you , as you said, built up the crab assembly drive with the pads and then measured them and fitted the right size shells

Great minds think alike.

Will let you know how it goes

 

Amazing, I learned about this stuff rebuilding an old Land Rover engine and gearbox many years ago. Manually filing down the caps, using that metal tape stuff that squidges and engineering blue with bearing irons to get the correct clearances. It was a little tight when I started it but I had a hose running cold water through it while it bedded in. Awesome oil pressure! They don't do engineering like that any more, throw it away and replace .

Good luck, you'll have no problems I'm sure .