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    M17 R3 Replaced graphics card help.

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Kuros135, Dec 3, 2013.

  1. Kuros135

    Kuros135 Newbie

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    Running Windows 7 64-Bit
    Intel i7 2760 2.40 GHz CPU
    Bios Alienware A12 8/20/2012
    8 gigs mem

    "Dell Alienware M17x R3 ATI HD 6870M 1GB MXM 3.0b" is the description of the card below.

    So, I (today) just installed an AMD 6870m graphics card in my laptop. Prior to this I had an nVidia 580m installed, however for quite some time, it's been blue screen more and more often. After talking with some tech-y friends of mine (they work with computers in varying degrees) the general consensus was that the card was dying. I ordered up the new card from ebay, and installed it approximately an hour ago.

    Now, the confusing thing is, is 1) after booting up the laptop, it indeed installed a video driver. The laptop then re-started. I checked the device manager afterwards, and only my intel integrated graphics card was showing up. So, I checked a game- I popped into League of Legends and it was/is running significantly better than it was previously. When I had it running off of my intel graphics (to prevent blue screens, I turned off the 580m, which worked) I had to run things on very-low for every setting (or off, for shadows) and I'm now running at a.. stable.. 60-90 fps on medium graphics (for some reason, after I tried to manually install drivers for the 6870m and updating my Bios (from 2011 to 2012 bios) the game now locks to 30-fps if I have v-sync on, even though my screen is set to 60 hertz.

    But my video card is still not detected, even though I can play the game better. I'm not sure what's up, and I've tried restarting multiple times (and as I said, installing bios/drivers) but to no avail. Any help, anyone?
     
    Kuros135, Dec 3, 2013
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  2. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    Have you tried pressing Fn+F7?
     
    Alienware-L_Porras, Dec 4, 2013
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  3. Kuros135

    Kuros135 Newbie

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    Yes, I have. Tried again just to make sure. Still no graphics card detected.
     
    Kuros135, Dec 4, 2013
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  4. Kuros135

    Kuros135 Newbie

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    Bumping to see if anyone may have a solution for me. Sorry for this.
     
    Kuros135, Dec 6, 2013
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  5. bigtonyman

    bigtonyman Desktop Powa!!!

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    does the 6870 pop up in the bios? If not, you may not have seated the card correctly or the card is bad. :(
     
    bigtonyman, Dec 6, 2013
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  6. Kuros135

    Kuros135 Newbie

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    No, it does not.

    I will try re-seating, just in case.

    Any idea on why I did get an increase in performance though? That's the part that confuses me.
     
    Kuros135, Dec 6, 2013
    #6