M17x R2 7970m CrossfireX Ultimate Installation and Tweaking Guide

Another Dell card, congrats!

 

Stick.it.in

 

Very nice
Good luck...

 

curentl only the vga port works.. the laptop screen not... i am reeinstalling ccc

 

Reinstalling CCC should not have any result at all.
If you're not getting display on the laptop screen, first things first, disconnect and carefully reconnect the LCD cable on the motherboard
After you've made sure that it's properly seated, if you still receive no output, flash the RJTECH vbios to the card.

Did you put it in as slave or master card?

 

both. as slave it wasnt recognized by windows but not by ccc, or gpuz or trixx
as master its recognized but the ccc dont find the lcd screen...

now where was that rjtech bios link...

 

I agree with sangemaru, if you're testing it in the primary slot reseat the LCD cable. make sure it clicks into place before turning the "locking bar" down.

I don't think you should flash the RJTECH vBIOS though. That's a Clevo vBIOS and this is a Dell card. It works but it would be pointless like re-installing CCC The vBIOS you have loaded seems to be the correct version which is also used in all of SVL7's mods so its good.

 

double post....

 

You mean it was recognized by windows but not by CCC?

More specifically, at which point is the LCD screen not found? I don't understand what CCC has to do with it.

The specific bug regarding Dell cards not displaying to the LCD was fixed with Clevo vBios afaik, specifically the RjTech-modified one.

IMO, you should look into getting the card properly recognized as slave, to keep the original vBios on it, or attempt to make sure the LCD cable is seated properly. I wasted 5 hours when I got the card because I thought I had the vBios bug and i'd just slightly touched the cable and didn't have output.

There's also the issue of the crossfire cable. Was it connected properly?

 

The vBIOS he has loaded now is the same one everyone is using for modded voltage and clocks so its a known good vBIOS for our machine. I think you're spot on with the LCD connection now and also the crossfire cable when the card was in the second slot.

edit: If Alienhack still has the test vBIOS loaded on the first card that could also be causing the link between the cards not to work when he used the new card in the second slot. We don't really know how that vBIOS is set up. If he has SVL7's mod pack stock Dell vBIOS loaded on the original card then its most likely the crossfire cable since that would mean both cards are running the same vBIOS.

 

so let me explain
the new card had the vbios i showed you
i again reflashed the SVL7's mod pack stock Dell vBIOS BUT the card wont work with my lcd even as a single card!! only the vga connection works!! (with an external screen)

so what other bios can i try to see with witch this card will work as a single one??


concerning using it as a second, i tried without the crossfire cable (just used it as a second card ) but again its recognised by windows but trixx doesnt show its clocks , gpuz doesnt show any info on it etc.


so lets try to find a bios that will make it work as a single card for starters

UPDATE, for now i installed the bios from my experimental card (that is working perfectly) to the new one and trying to see what will hapen

 

i'll be damned... the experimental bios works like a charm...
hmmm
who would have thought...

ofcourse it uses clocks 750 -1000 but that can be easily aranged with trixx (later when i find the right speed spot i will edit the current experimental bios clocks and reflash so that i wont have to use trixx)

so now i can start trying and testing...

 

Hahaha thats awesome.

 

first results 850 gpu 1100 mem 1V 22x cpu multy

 

awesome!!!

Nice score and pics! Everybody loves pics!

What pads are you using atm? Also are you saying that the experimental vBIOS works with SVL7's vBIOS editing tool?

Its weird about the SVL7's mod pack stock vBIOS though...

 

COOLER things come!!


950core 1100 mem 24x multy (3.192Mhz CPU) !!!!

THE PC IS FULL STABLE! I gamed in company of heroes 2, BF3 HAWKEN.... nothing stucks it!!! no BSOD, alt tab is working great


temps:

ambient 31.6C

Really guys i dont know what the fuss is about the 240-330W PSus and the dual 240W psu mod etc.... my machine looks full stable with the card OCed to 950 and the 920xm to 3.2Ghz!!! what else would i want???

 

Awesome!!!

Glad to hear alt tab is working as well Nice temps too for almost 32c ambient. The more demanding games apparently cause problems. I don't have Metro to test with though. How warm did your PSU get while gaming? Mines got the hottest while playing Crysis 2 maxed out.

Lol... I just looked at your 3D voltage on your cards its 1.1v!!! Looks like you got a really good PSU Btw drop those voltages with TRIXX or vBIOS mod as soon as you can, that's overkill for those clocks.

 

I have a thermistron so i counted the psu all the time. max temp was 42C.... so its hot but nothing special..

Also i just realized that my laptop is as fast as my desktop.

i run Heaven benchmark , my desktop i5 with 680gtx (not oced) scored 45fps and my m17x r2 with the 7970m cf 850 core 1100mem scored 44....

how cool is that???

Also i want to mention that sadly my experimental 7970 although it saved me with the bios it had in, and is actually a diamong in the core with 950 @ 0.985V , its mem is crap, cant run
stable over 1100... :-(


PS. we need that ATi driver that fixes microshuttering... while running the heaven bench, although the fps were at 40-55 the whole thing was going like slideshow.... i mean really annoying...
In battlefield 3 on the other hand things were better. you could see microshuter but just for 1-2 secs and then it would go away...

 

By the way my experimental Engineering sample card bios...
Alienhack7970m-experimental.rom

for those of you that want to test it.
nospheratu why dont you try it? maybe it will solve the BSOD alttab probs

So all people watching that thread and wanting to upgrade to 2x 7970m crossfire but beeing afraid that their psu wont handle it DO go on!! i cant guarantee that it willl work for all of you but up to now me and nospheratu seem to be stable even with gpu and cpu overclocks (me totally and nospheratu with some minor alt tab probs)

 

Wow. God, I have to wait so much for my second card... i can't believe it. I hope this one works. Riri-Fifi's card wasn't dead, just totally incompatible with my machine.

@Alienhack: Congrats bro, that's awesome.

 

Well that is amazing.
Well done alienhack.

Sanga are you on dell 7970m cards too? And nospha you also?
Has anyone used clevo's in crossfire?

 

I would but I don't trust Dell vBIOS's with my cards after I had the black screen with extreme light bleed. I have Clevo cards so you should be fine. Regarding the Alt-Tab issue, do you update Windows with all the latest updates? I'm running only SP1 as I don't trust the updates in fear it might break something. But if it means no more BSOD's I would switch it on. I know StamatisX ran all updates when he was running Windows 7.

My machine is behaving recently though on 13.4's. I Alt-Tabbed and changed ThrottleStop settings for the Crysis 3 shadow test I did and no BSOD.

Hang in there man. You'll be installing your card before you know it. In the meanwhile AlienHack and I will do our best to iron out any issues and keep you entertained

That's really strange... I would have thought our hardware is the same. Unless your machine or his has a different revision motherboard? Were you both running the same motherboard BIOS version?

@tron2^ I'm running Clevo cards. Its working well apart from my intermittant BSOD issue. But I think its software related as its stable on 13.1 drivers.

 

guys can i ask you if someone has mfc71.dll in his system somewherE?

 

I don't have that file, sorry.
@tron: i currently have one dell card and hope to get another next week.

 

HHUUrraaayyy!!! i managed to get a psu shutdown !! i've trying to see whst it like since this afternoom and just now i managed (i finally saw my psu cable led shut down)

It took 30mins playing BF3 with 25multi in cpu...

SO there is an issue with psus underpowering the m17x r2 BUT i dont think its such a big issue as 25 multi in 4 cores is too much anyways...
by the way i think that i was testing something and the 7970s were overvolting at 1.05V ... maybe thats why it hapened. as i have said usually the cards work at 0.985V

trying that voltage now and 23 multi for cpu (thats still 4 cores at 3050Mhz

 

Haha, the settings you guys are running are so far above what I expected it's not even funny

 

... not to mention that i have every thing that eats up volts in the alienware on! leds, bluetooth... dvd ....

 

ok so it seems stable at 23 multi on 4 cores (25/24/23/23)
the temps raised to 79-82 for the 2 7970s , the cpus were max at 87 - 89- 89- 92

and the whole alienware chasis is burning hot!!! :thumbsup: i like the smell of bunrt aliens on the morning!!!

 

Haha. Keep it toned down a little, don't want to push the PSU too hard. Little bit of undervolt/underclock on the GPU's might not hurt either.

 

Nooo!! i wanna smell the burning silicone!!

i want to find the max stable and then i will tone it down.

i have to mention that in new games that there are no ccc profiles from ati for crossfire yet, crossfire doesnt work, the second card doesnt do anything, like company of heroew 2 (brand new game) and planetside 2 crashes cause of crossfire whenever you enter a vehicle..
on battlefiel 3 on the othe hand that cf works great i get 130 fps in ultra!!!


lets hope the new experimental catalyst driver will fix many issues....

 

You guys are taking alienware to a whole new level.
:thumbsup:

 

We are taking R2 to a whole new level

GTX 780M is coming soon

 

I concur that battlefield 3 is full stable at 23 cpu multi. Last night I played 4 hours and then I left the laptop on inside the game for another 8 hours while I was sleeping. No stuck or restart or anything

 

Brilliant feedback AlienHack :thumbsup:

What TDP are you running? And are you running Windows with updates on?

 

Tdp 85/70

Win 7 64bit with some updates

 

The real q is nospheratu, with Alienhack settings is your system stable too?
Also, does anyone have a video/link to that micro-stuttering everyone talks about on crossfire/SLi?

 

GUYS!! if i tell you what i am going to you will get shocked!!!

so my system is super stable even with full gaming and 23-24 cpu multis!!
when playing the cpu reached 78-80C wich is super,
the graphic cards on the other hand reached 80-88!!! (88 is too much in my opinion)

so after searching a little i realised that the GPU volt bar inside trixx wich i was suposedly using to change the 7970s volts (VDDC) ISNT WORKING!!
HWinfo backups this as in full load it shows 1.1 V in the cards!!!!

SO MY PSU IS FULLY STABLE WITH 2 7970s with 1.1 V each and an overclocked 920xm with 23 multi?? (3059mhz)
AND I ONLY had one psu shutdown (the psu led shut down and had to take it off the plug) with 24 multi?

THATS CRAZY! and shows that we can surely use twin 7970m in crossfire with 920xm extreme oc STABLE 100%


So no for my problem , the overvolted cards, how can i lower their VDDC?? trixx doesnt seem to work!!!
is there a BIOS editor i can use to edit my curent experimental bios?

 

AlienHack, I tried a radeon vbios editor on the 7970m bios's to look at them in detail and possibly modify, but it did not work.
Svl7 @forumtechinfo has modified the bios's but am not sure how he does it so possibly that may be a pathway to ask him.
Here is a link to them(both over-volted and under-volted):

AMD 7970m - modified VBIOS

Good luck

 

I tried an ati vbios editor too but it doesn't support newer cards bioses as it says something about newer cards having a digital check with their bios or something.

Damn.. I must find a way to lower the cards volts. 1.1 seems too much to me!
I wonder why trixx doesn't actually change the vddc although it says it does...

 

Hey guys, so today i might be an owner of a M17x R4 laptop with a i7 3630qm, 22gb of ram (dunno why he has that much in it) 7970m gpu.

Can i crossfire this baby later on if i wish so? I have completely non experience with laptops, always been a desktop user.
Will it be hard to install for me?

Call me insane, i'm trading my high end PC for a 4 month old m17x r4, my PC holds a 4670k, 8gb 2133 ddr3 ram and a gtx780.

 

RBE doesn't work with the 7970M's vBIOS. Try SVL7's editor. It only supports the Dell 7970M ES vBIOS which is the same version that used for the vBIOS pack linked by tron2^ above. Since your vBIOS is an early version it may work. Worth a shot.

 

Congrats and welcome to NBR

That's a very hard to digest trade though You wouldn't be able to do crossfire or SLi on that machine, only the M17x R2 and the M18x have that functionality.

Just to put things in perspective the 7970M is not a desktop 7970. The mobile 7970M is based on the desktop 7870 chip with desktop 7850 clock speeds. The GTX 780 performance is greater even if you had two 7970M's in crossfire. That said I'm assuming you did the trade because you needed the portability. Hope you have fun with your machine :thumbsup:

 

Thanks, i had no idea i already had a account from 2011.
This looked like the best laptop forum website i could find.

Yes i need the portability cause i LAN regularly at a friends place, and we mostly don't play heavy games, and i won't mind playing at medium/high settings.
But i've heard this laptop can play current games at max settings with decent FPS.

To bad it doesn't do multi GPU, but i could upgrade later to a 780m?

I am aware that mobile gpu's are slower then desktop GPU, i've read that the 7970m is as fast as a gtx570 wich sounds amazing.
So it's also a 7870 desktop performance GPU with lower clocks?

I've seen the 7970m temps go from 60-70, could i OC it to the 7870 speeds?
And what temps are safe for this mobile GPU anyway?

I'm sorry if i post this here, it's probably best to make a new thread.

 

Where can I find that editor?

 

Yes, an upgrade is possible to a 780M but I'm not aware if its been confirmed working with a R4. The 7970M is technically the same chip as the desktop 7870. You can view more detail about it here. Its also possible to overclock the core to stock desktop 7870 clocks. I would say up to 85c is safe temps. I personally don't believe in overvolting MXM cards to reach higher clocks as I don't think their VRMs are as robust as desktop cards.

edit: It seems that some users are using the 780M with the R4.

Sorry man, I thought I thought I added it. Its here.

 

Love the laptop so far, ArmA3 runs almost same as my older desktop PC lol that's insane.

Should i use the Turbo for the CPU heavy games like ArmA3 to get better performance?
I'm scared the CPU will get too hot and die on me soon.

 

Yeah use it, that's what its there for These mobile chips are very hard wearing, running it stock with default functionality(Turbo) won't damage it at all. You can always monitor temps in the background using ThrottleStop or RealTemp.

In other news... I had my first proper shutdown today with Crysis 3. Settings were high with shadows on low at native res. GPU's were stock and CPU was 24/24/24/24 with 85/72 TDP/TDC. I played for about 30 mins and I noticed my FPS dropping at constant intervals which was probably the cards throttling and then total blackness. PSU indicator light went off as well.

Since I reverted to the P270WM vBIOS one card is running at 1.00v 3D voltage. So I still have some room for improvement.

 

Nospheratu I used the vbios editor. It reads the vbiod but shows same crazy numbers for gpu and mem. And if I try to change and save it gives an error.

Guys I have to find a way to lower my gpus gvoltage.
.

 

The only working solution for vBIOS for our cards is the vBIOS mod pack... try flashing the 0.975v one.

I know you said your new card doesn't like it but try to re-download the vBIOS pack or make sure the checksum of the modded vBIOS is correct before flashing. The checksums for each vBIOS is in a text file in each folder. Use ATIflash in DOS mode with the "atiflash -cb <filename>" command.

 

Ah damn, we so need some help from svl7 I tried to contact him a while ago but he must have been busy. Still, you guys sure are pushing those CPU's I have a feeling I'll need a new PSU for the second card... even running 0.975v on a single card and the CPU with lower multis and TDP settings (because so hot), my PSU gets very hot. Flextronics crap.

@AlienHack: Afaik, you can use svl7's vBios patcher with something like the 015 vBios. I'm pretty sure that's still on the net somewhere, gotta look for it.