M17X R2 Just received...

My roomie just received a R2 with crossfire 5870 and 740qm.
He was asking me if he needs to update or change something?
I have always been Nvidia biased and have never gone through ATI cards so I don't know what to suggest him.
I also don't see the control panels like that of Nvidia. Can anyone give me information on latest drivers or updates that are necessary for the system.
Also, the 740qm idles around 55-60 and I feel that is little overheating.
My qx9300 doesn't exceed 50 idle. Is that normal for the i7?

 

make sure he disables catalyst AI or he will get the problems i had with the screen flickering. and update to 11.2 catalyst it is a slight performance boost

 

how to do that?
I dont see any control panel or anything like nvidia?
Is there any full tutorial to sort out everything?

 

just got to start, programs then catalyst control center and click CCC

 

It had the windows default so there was no ccc.
I just downloaded and installed dell drivers and flashed the bios.
Now I can see CCC.
When I go to device manager, I can see two cards but when I click on crossfire, I see this:
Is crossfire enabled or not?

 

go to amd.com and download 11.2 but when you do it dont do express. do custom and uncheck the display driver. install the rest. then go to the dell site and download the driver then and do custom install and only check the display driver and the hdmi sound driver i think. there will be some you cant change just leave those how they are.

 

Do NOT disable catalyst AI because Crossfire doesn't work then anymore.

 

Just did what jakedizzle suggested..
I got new ccc but still the crossfire option is grayed out.
cant diagnos or do anything..
Any other suggestion?

 

1) download the latest versions of Driver Sweeper and CC Cleaner and install them.
2) go to control panel and uninstall Catalyst Control Center using the express uninstall option
3) Reboot into safe mode and run Driver Sweeper and select the ATI option and click on Analyse and once its found all entries, press Clean
4) Then run driver CC Cleaner and select the registry cleaner and then let it remove all entries it finds.
5) Then start Regedit and do a search for "ATI" and then "ATI Technologies" and delete all entries
6) Reboot into normal mode and then run the install for Catalyst 11.2 and choose the custom install and make sure everything is ticked and then let the install complete and it will reboot one more time. Then go into Catalyst panel and check and you should see xfire enabled. If still isnt then it may well be a hardware problem - eg - xfire cable not connected/seated properly.

You did mention in your earlier post that you had updated the vbios on both cards to the latest one from dells website - just making sure you have coz the latest drivers need that otherwise you will get BSOD.

 

It is still not working.
When I go to Crossfire diagnostics, it says
"The CrossfireX internal bridge interconnects linking your crossfireX graphics card are not properly connected. Both bridge interconnects must be attached."

 

Disconnect laptop, remove the panel and check the X-Fire bridge connector, might be loose/not connected.

 

The tech is coming to replace the cards.
The new laptop has 1440X900 LCD ccfl while the old one was 1920 X1200 so the dell is also replacing the LCD.
So, is the new lcd by default RGB in 1080p or they have the ccfl too?

 

Need to figure this out before the parts get shipped today.