M17X R4 GTX980M Upgrade

Nah, the 680m is the highest supported. It does overclock well though...

 

Welcome Back MickyD, not seen you post in months - you've probably been doing other things more worthwhile!

 

Thanks Rob. I've been here but mostly watching the Clevo P870D forum, along with a few PM's asking for upgrade help (why do they always go quiet as soon as it's working - I only ask for feedback )

The X8 has been giving me some challenges so I'm looking again for the 'next big thing!' The X9 looks good but not enough of a step-up right now - and Eurocom didn't answer two attempts to raise an RMA. They are getting a panning from what I see, but here in the UK they are the only reseller that has a web site you can purchase from in whatever currency you want (and they deal with the EU taxes).

If the 'GTX980 for notebooks' does get into an Sli chasis (rumored) I'm not going to be able to resist....

 

Ah, that's where you've been, fair enough! Just wait for Pascal I say, the desktop 980 in a notebook is not much of a step-up from your current beast machine! I'm not sure yet what I'm gonna do for my next piece of gaming hardware, I've got some money saved up, but I'm gonna use a good chunk of that for a replacement (didn't say new, not gonna be new!) car this year. My laptop is still pushing out enough frames, so it's not urgent just yet! (Build Desktop possibly)

 

I have a question. my m17x r4 3d model is under the death of 8 beeps circles. I have only 970m clevo vendor. And, i can't get into the bios setup...Only thing that i can do is getting another gpu such as 680m and install it and setup the bios mode as UEFI. Then, change it into 970m ??

I am wondering this problem is about whether LCD panel or just only the twisted bios setup.

Bcuz, when i tried to install WINDOW 7 and got into bios setup, the laptop shut down automatically and after that, the 8 beeps of hell comes to me...

 

Hi, that sucks! Usually the 120hz panel is easier for upgrading to non-standard GPU's as you don't need to mess with the bios to remove the on-board GPU. UEFI does add another dimension to the problem though since as I understand it the 9xx cards do not work in compatibility mode? I believe you have to disable this bios setting?

If for some reason you managed to enable the on-board that will cause the symptoms you describe. Try a bios reset to default and see what happens. Remove the coin cell battery and hold down the power button for a few seconds to discharge the board. You will get an error if it restarts telling you the time/date is incorrect but you can go into the bios at this point.

I can't help much more than that as when the 9xx cards came out I did a lot of research and decided it was too much messing and at that time no guarantee of how to get it to work .

 

I think the problem is because you installed Windows 7, you need Windows 8 or Windows 10 for a 970M/980M in an M17xR4. Have a look at this thread by TomJGX on what's required: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-17x-r4-970m-upgrade.767872/

 

Doh, of course! Thanks Robbo

 

If im taking the jump from my now broken GTX 780M to the 980M which thickness does the plads need to be if you i the GTX 680m heatsink?

 

I use 1.0MM pads all around, worked fine for me

 

Cool, i ordered a 980M yesterday.....Damn they are still expensive......Do i use the same pad placement as on the 780M/880M?

 

Similar placement yes, just make sure you cover all the major components on the PCB.

 

GTX 980M Installed today.

 

good stuff, just be sure to monitor temperatures under gaming. 980M, if not installed correctly or ventilated, can crack 80 degrees in no time.

 

I Will, i played a little Overwatch on Epic Settings and with tripple buffering and i went max 71 degrees earlier today.

 

hi i would like to know if it was a simple plug and play install or some modifications needed? also which windows are you using 7 or 8.1 or 10?
thank you

 

IT was fairly easy, i am running Win10 in UEFI mode, and it was just to install the card, switch to PEG in bios, install Nvidia drivers (with modded inf, and driver signing disabled) and then just play to see if temps were ok.

PS. I used DDU before card install.

 

Quite a bit higher then I am getting...presumably because of the CPU

 

Hello good yesterday I installed a 980m in my alienware m17x r4 but it only rips me off with an external monitor if it does not have an external monitor, it leaves the black screen and the computer beeping once in the windows everything is correct
any solution?
Thank you

 

@ ares6

Do you have a 120hz panel? (no internal GPU visible in device manager). If so you have discovered how to get one to boot in the R4/3D model. The 120hz panel fails POST with a 980m/120hz panel and I've never seen anyone get one to work. Original GPU? It was assumed that the 980m was not possible in that model.

A real pain but you can use sleep and it should recover fine.

 

Hello, I have a panel 120 hz and no gpu internate only makes me beeps in the laptop I have the bios modified and I can not get it to boot


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Thought so, unless anyone else knows better you are stuck with that situation. Sorry.

The bios mode to force PEG is not needed in the 120hz, it only has one GPU available. Usually this is a good thing for swapping out earlier GPU's as you don't need a bios mod. BUT with the 980m they introduced a UEFI only card and it needs the internal GPU to pass the power-on tests. The 908m should pass testing but it does not on a 120hz model.

For some reason the POST must see a 60hz panel or monitor, or it never starts .

You could try an original BIOS ( no PEG option) but I think you'll still be stuck.

Anyone?

 

Then panel 120 hz will never start with the 980m if I do not have an integrated graphics


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That's what I believe.

When the 980m came out there were quite a few threads about getting it to work in the R4/120hz and never succeeded. I guess nobody tried an external monitor? This is actually very interesting as we 120hz users thought we were stuck with the 880m as the best it could use (and that is a poor GPU ).

 

@ares6

Forgot some thing very important. DO NOT mess with the unlocked bios settings. You can end up with a totally dead (bricked) machine!!!!

 

I can boot the pc with an external monitor and it is projected the image in the laptop I can also enter the BIOS and tacor parameters but I do not know what parameters touch greetings


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It's a bit complicated but basically once the POST test completes, this is when the first screen appears, everything is now fine The test has seen the 60hz display and passed so the 120hz display works as well as the monitor. In fact you should be able to unplug the monitor as soon as the first screen appears.

Do not touch any of the bios settings. You do not need an unlocked bios and it lets you completely mess the machine up. DO NOT CHANGE ANY SETTINGS unless someone specifically says it's OK.

All good in the pic, that's a first for me

 

Then there is no solution for the screen


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I do not believe so. All you can do is downgrade it - maybe find a 60hz user that wants to swap?

Wherever you go you will need access to a monitor to get the machine running. Sleep will be just fine but you will be in trouble if you need to restart it without a monitor attached.

 

Ok does anyone offer to make the change of screen? Can you tell me where i can find a screen


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I might be reading your post wrong, but 980m and 120Hz screen are both working fine in M17x R4. 980m needs UEFI and does not boot into legacy with 120hz screen, but the laptop does POST fine with UEFI enabled in BIOS

Did you have MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision X installed on the laptop? I that is the case, I have a feeling the screen was bricked. You can confirm this by checking the monitor hardware ID in device manager. Try typing 'device manager' in the start menu, go to monitors, properties on the internal display, details and then hardware ID. Could you post a screenshot of hardware ID please? Which Windows version are you using and is it installed in UEFI mode?

 

The machine boots fine if an external monitor is connected.The panel then works fine. Getting past POST is the issue. Sounds like you could assist the guy with his bios settings please? Thanks.

EDIT: Note he has an unlocked bios, don't believe that is needed?

 

It is not required, I have regular A13 BIOS. BIOS needs to be set to uefi enabled and legacy disabled (very important), secure boot and fast boot can be on or off, it does not matter for 980m to post with 120hz screen.

I had the 8 beeps no post when the old screen was bricked (later reflashed the firmware and fixed, then fixed again via Linux) and was able to get post with an external display. Hardware ID was wrong, so I wanted to see his 120hz screen hardware ID.

 

Thanks man, I'll take it up when he posts again.

@ares6. Sorry for the bad info, it seems we only need to get your bios settings correct. I recommend you install the stock bios first so the chance of a mess up are far lower!

I'll be back around 11:00am (uk) tomorrow

 

I flashed my 980m with slv7 and later Prema vbios straight after installing it, never used it on stock vbios. When first installed, 60hz screen was used and later I upgraded to 120hz screen. Vbios change from stock might be important. The good thing is, it can be done in windows now and does not need doing in legacy like the first svl7 vbios as it's no longer an option with 120hz screen.

 

Thanks, that could be important, and why there were so many people failing to get the 980m working? I have used the vbios from both and indeed it's so easy nowadays. Even flashed both cards in a single session and never left windows. I had some weird voltage issues with the Prema Vbios, and my core bios is Prema so I went back to stock. The cooling of the Clevo is borderline so any OC needs careful monitoring anyway.

 

344/5000
Hi, I'm telling you a little
I have an Alienware m17x r4 with bios A11 unlocked and 120 hz monitor
My problem is that the laptop stays pumping if I do not connect an external monitor does not start and does not enter the bios
E seen that it is possible solution with graifca and my nonitor of 120 hz
Can you give me some help this very grateful
regards

 

Could you show your monitor's hardware ID please?

 

Hello good and the laptop works without external monitor the way you told me and I just have to know how to create modified drivers which I have now are the eurocom and the minute works at 120hz when starting only when closing the lid and open it is configured at 60hz Without being able to climb to 120hz otherwise very happy I do not have 3d anymore and the minitor mine is of the same id as the one in the photo


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I am glad to hear the screen is working for you now. Please see the link below for the latest modded drivers and how to install them:
https://www.techinferno.com/index.p...ort-modded-inf/&do=findComment&comment=157501

 

Hello good and noticed many basins in several games go to 120 fps or more and go down to 40-50 temperature goes very well you know why thank you


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If the FPS drops, but temps look ok (what are your GPU and CPU temps when this happens by the way), try turning in game graphics to low and see if it still happens. A lot of games have some scenes, which are not as detailed and therefore have a lot higher FPS, while when you reach some very detailed scenes, FPS might drop as graphics card needs to work a lot harder there. This would be normal for most AAA titles, like Battlefield 1, Forza Horizon 3 etc. What driver version did you end up installing?

Another thing that might be in play here is graphics card might be throttling. Throttling can be seen in GPU-Z program you already have: when the FPS drops, wait 5s, minimise the game and check the 'sensors' card on GPU-Z. If you see the GPU Core clock and GPU memory clock went down, your card is throttling.

If the card is throttling, you can flash it with Prema BIOS (save the original vBIOS file with GPU-z so that you could go back if you ever wanted):
https://biosmods.wordpress.com/gtx9/

 

Ok thanks i will see that such temperature is not always this in 65-70 degrees and the driver i have is 378.49 as it changes the graphics bios greetings


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Hello good I already changed the bios but I still have many fps lows then to see if it performed a test of 3dmark 2011 and send the score


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3d mark 2011


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Con el 3d mark 2011


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Could you run free Firestrike on default settings please?
http://store.steampowered.com/app/402290/

 

Hi, I have a problem downloading the test and I have tried it from several sites and nothing the BIOS was changed without any problem you save where I can download the bios of Mikecacho vbios mod thanks


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