M17x R2 7970m CrossfireX Ultimate Installation and Tweaking Guide

Interesting, so there's a .22 stock vbios card that is not uefi-mandatory. Is it a Dell card? Or some other vendor?

 

I had same "issue", thats why i mentioned it.
Tried to run it before updating regedit to check if it had influence on the mantle missing for BF4 and saw the temps and load on GPU2 even when not running fullscreen mode.


BTW Ricard,you know the Disableulps is in many lines in regedit?
Just asking since it seems like the same issue.
Each time you update your drivers it has to be done, again and again and again, on multiple lines.

 

I discussed this with SVL7 a few months back.

At least he thinks there shouldnt be much difference, perhaps some work and some dont?

 

which i tend to forget after each driver update. you would think id remember by now. such a pain in the

 

I always forget to disable ulps after drivers upgrade too...

 

Hi ,

i have just bought an Dell 7970m for my R2 , the fact is i don't know what version of Vbios is on it ...

So if this is an 022 bios, what can i do ? If i flash it with an older bios it will brick if i understand right , does it still brcike the card if i put her in slave slot ? I don't know , just asking .

If i swap the vbios chip with an other one , will it work ?

Can we delete all bios file like EEROM applying hight voltage to some pin ?


What can i do ?

i am pretty sure no one will want to wap his card with mine, and the seller will not accept a rma.

 

Hello toto
First off, try it in the machine and see if it works. If it doesn't, you could try booting with 4870m in main slot and with the 7970m in the slave slot to attempt to read the vbios on it with gpu-z and maybe flash it.

As far as I'm aware, swapping the vbios chip is only usable if you do so to fix a brick with an incompatible vbios, it wouldn't help any in case the card is straight-up incompatible.

No idea on the EEROM question.

Even if it's flat out incompatible, there will surely be people willing to swap, may take time though.

 

Ok i will try it first ,i will have to buy an slave heatsink and fan but anyway i will have to buy it soon or later ...

I have ask an vbios chip seller on ebay :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-Alienware-AMD-RADEON-7970M-VIDEO-CARD-Replacement-VBIOS-V-Bios-Chip-/181166894757?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123

He is ok to flash the chip with any bios we want before sending it !

It might be usefull for some people stuc with bricked Card.

Thanks for the answer


EDIT :

I have found that we can connect pin 1 and 4 on vbios chip to boot the card , even if the vbios is corrupted or not working with mobo. Interesting , with this methode we can boot the card and flash it in DOS ( cut the ire when the card is booted ).

 

Just got my 7970m, looks like new and there is an 015.022 sticker on its back ... I wil test it tonight but i don't have a lot of hope ...

 

Ok so , i have try putting the card on the slave slot with my 4870 in master slot , the computer failed to post , two light flashing , schrol lock and Maj , so an gpu problem ...

I am fu**ed ? Uefi Vbios or something like this ?

Edit : Try it in master slot , it works !! I re-install windows and i see exactly what vbios type is in.

It's an .022 vbios , it work without any reflash ... had flash with 0.975 volt vbios for temps issue an now work like a charm at around 68/70 ° in game , now my 720qm is too weak ... that will never end ^^

 

Hi guys, it's been a while

The laptop is still going strong. I've also experienced BSOD in 3Dmark but 3Dmark11 seems to run fine. I've dual booted with Windows 8 and no BSOD in 3Dmark on Windows 8. I think it may be driver related but games run fine. Something I've never noticed before is the 3Dmark results on the registered version is able to tell you if your CPU multi's were running at max during a test or if it dropped and what average multi it dropped to.

I've also run the new 3Dmark Sky Diver bench and I'm getting 19009 on stock GPU clocks. The heatspring is amazing and I rarely break 81c with the 920XM at 25/25/24/24 at 90TDP even on the complete 1024M Throttlestop bench. It gives me peace of mind as I wont have to replace the TIM in future as its showing no sign of performance degradation.

It's crazy how competitive this machine is after all this time

 

Long time no see.

Your R-2 runs well with win8 now? (guess you also have win7)
Recomend the upgrade?

Some of the newer games and programs run better on win8.

My Heatspring runs perfect to. I run 26X 24/7 all cores with 100/95 TDP/TDA not hitting 80 very often. Can also run the 1024 in T-stop.Think it finished just below 400s at best time.

Also run heatspring on my secondary GPU. It runs about 3-4 deg colder than the primary card in fullscreen with heavy load. (also during furmark tests)

 

Hey Noshperatu!Bro. Nice to see your machine is running well.

How's crossfire performance these days with the current drivers? Any stuttering or slowdowns, or does frame pacing tech work well?
I downsized to 'small but high-rpm' myself, and I'm loving it. Here's the Skydiver as well.

I guess the pressure is not that amazing, so my heatspring isn't working here as well as it did on the other machines, but it's still within limits and working well, and I can get some modest overclocking done. And I suppose it has been only four days since i installed, and i can expect some better performance about two weeks down.

 

Nospheratu you using 14.6 beta amd drivers?
I had excellent improvement with these drivers in 3dmark11.

 

I'm dual booting with my old Windows 7 install and guess I'm too lazy to make the jump to Windows 8 completely. But I dont see any problems from the default Alienware apps. Only the OSD apps functionality is mostly replaced by the default Windows 8 OSD. Performance is better than Windows 7 and the boot time is awesome but those are general Windows 8 improvements.

Crossfire performance is basically the same as always, depends on the game. But frame pacing helps a lot. I think the major bottelneck in this setup is still the 920XM.

Even pressure is critical when it comes to Heatspring. I've wedged a small piece of metal between the magnesium cover and the CPU heatsink to give me the extra pressure. It works out as theres a 2C difference between the lowest and highest core temps now on load. From my experience it seems there isn't a drastic improvement over time. It's still cooling much better than the pastes I've used so I'm not complaining I'm a bit concerned over whether the extra pressure was going to warp the mobo but it seems to be holding up fine so far.

Yeah I'm running the 14.6 beta's atm. I think the 14.4 WHQL's are more stable in 3Dmark Firestrike tho as I never got a BSOD with them. To be honest I havent been gaming much recently apart from checking if theres any improvement with new driver releases and the odd UT3 deathmatch. I need to get the new Thief as I'm a big fan of the original games.

 

And I was thinking about selling R2 and getting A18. After creating a thread with a pricecheck I got replies that it is worth only ~800-1000 eur ..... seems like I will spend more time with it....

I'm glad to see some of you still taking full advantage of our beloved heatsprings

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Hell yea we are, there's no replacing those hours upon hours saved on maintenance.

 

Sangemaru you still with alienware m17xr2?
Is your sig your current rig ?

 

Flingin you'll be happy to know my white bleach screen still happens every full moon LoL.....
Fortunately the beast still Rox!

 

Unfortunately I had to let go my own machine, it was simply too heavy for me, whom i really always carry a laptop with me. The w230ss is my machine for the foreseeable future. It cost me a pretty penny (About 900 eur) but for that I got all that needed checking. It's new under warranty, with a fast cpu, fast gpu, enough ram, a good amount of storage space and 3g wireless, all under 2kg. And the display and battery life are very good.
So as much as I miss the benching, I have to admit that I don't feel the GPU performance downgrade anywhere near as much as I CAN feel the CPU performance upgrade. These 4 generations have been kind to mobile CPU's.
This is the first time in recent memory I can play sc2 maxed out and I don't have any fps drop under 60 in heavy combat. That was never possible with the nehalem CPU.

 

I still keep a second brand new RGB panel in my cabinet.......just in case....

I am 100% sure it is a vbios that is causing it, at least it was like that in my case.

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Hi all,

Newbie here. I've been reading for a while but didn't feel the need to post, until I screwed myself by buying the wrong 7970Ms. They're Dell, but flashed to 015.022, so they won't POST on my M17x R2. Yes, I know that was mentioned in the first post of this thread, and I should have checked. I didn't, and I have the cards now. No refunds on this purchase on eBay. My bad.

What I need to know is: Am I hosed, or is it even remotely possible to downflash these to 015.021 (or get new vBIOS chips that have 015.021 on them)? As they are, they're useless to me, so I'd have to turn around and sell them. I don't have a system that can flash them anyway, since the M17x R2 won't POST with them installed, but I'll clear that hurdle somehow if it's possible to make these cards work for me.

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have.

 

As far as I'm aware, it's not them using 015.022 that's the problem, it's that they have a special kind of compatibility feature (that probably ties into UEFI functionality) that prevents them from booting on your machine, regardless of the vbios equipped to them (although since they already refuse to post, flashing them would probably not do anything useful for you).

Clarification: you can use the 022 vbios on these machines. Unfortunately a specific subset of 022 dell cards refuse to function.
I recommend trying each card separately in the main slot to make sure they don't work, even trying a blind-flash to svl7's overdrive unlocked vbioses in the first post, but you'll probably have to sell the cards to find ones that work.

 

Alright, I'll give them a try in the main slot. Thanks. I'd previously only tried them in the secondary slot with one of my 5870s still installed, so that I might be able to flash them more easily.

 

Main-slot, single-card only when you try them.

 

They're both good. Thanks. Didn't think to try them in the main slot, one at a time only.

 

So, so very close. Both cards are working, idle temps of ~30 degrees, but... the CFX cable doesn't fit properly. It's the cable from the 5870Ms that I had in this thing before. The CFX slots on the 7970s are slightly closer to the side of the cards than they were on the 5870s, so the cable is being bent by the heatsink assembly on the slave card.

Do you remember if you had to get another cable for yours, sangemaru? If memory serves, you didn't upgrade from 5870s, but before I go buy another cable, I figured I'd ask.

 

the 5870 cable works you just need to slightly mod it. remove the clear tape on both ends by about 2 inch. (very carefully) then wrap in in electrical tape to protect it. the slave heatsink fins get in the way. you will have to slightly bend them with a blunt end of a screw driver, just slightly. I have heard some people removed a fin or two but I wouldnt do that as heat is aways an issue.

 

Tried this and the system is still telling me that the cable isn't connected to both ends. I think I might have broken it trying to fit it in there with the heatsink fins intact. =(

Gonna buy another one and try it, worst case, I end up going from 5870M CFX to 7970M single, which is still an upgrade, and I have an extra card for when that one inevitably dies. [/optimism]

 

Many users damaged the cable by modding it, they are Super-Duper fragile. You must be careful like you would open a human chest and working on a open heart.....

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Yeah, I wasn't exactly careful with this one. I'll be more careful with the one I just bought. The things are bloody expensive for tiny little ribbon cables, aren't they?

 

Yes they are. Those companies are making like 500% price margin on those " small extras "
But don't worry, you are not the first one....
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Crossfire cable:
Some of the cables you get, has not got tape on them and is way easier to fit.
I also had this problems.

Heatsink room for plug:
Like others mentioned, i made a slight dent in the fins with a flat screwdriver where the plug is same direction as the plug. Very carefully.
The fins might spread a bit on the bottom when you do that, you can gather them again and holding it together using a small bit of high temp tape on the bottom. Careful not blocking the airflow. Better not removing fins, cause you don't have to.

 

Great advice presented in here. If you suffer from clock drops, stuck clocks on one card, and other synchronization issues in the future, the crossfire cable may be the culprit.

If you can find some for cheap, I'd buy 2 or 3, just to be safe and have replacements.

You don't necessarily need to bend the heatsink fins. You can bend the way the cable slots in, being mindful of not tearing it out of the connectors, and fit it on to the card while the card is out of the machine, then add-on the heatsink in your hand carefully, then install it into the machine.

 

Hi sangemaru,

I am new to all this do you know where I can buy two AMD 7970 from I am from the UK?

 

For me sangemaru there was not enough room for any cables between heatsink fins and card edge.
If i hadnt made a dent, the cable would have been pushed very hard against the connector and wires would have been very hard bent if i had forced in the screws.

 

check out upgrade monkey on ebay. i think they ship out of the uk

 

Just a reminder, this is what i have done, i just removed approx 10 fins ( to expose the connector in Full, but do NOT go to far OFC ), it did not affect the temps at all.

As other stated before, it may be very difficult to insert the cable there without even slightly bending the fins, i decided to remove them, because even bending them did not give me enough room to be " comfortable " to work with.

Cable is bloody expensive, and i did not want to rize the costs even further, i would say, this is easly THE most fragile component of the laptop......and sellers know it

Photos for reference

 

Waiting for my new cable to arrive. I may very well go that route, flingin. I already have a decent cooling pad so that should help offset the removal of a couple of fins if it comes to that.

 

Meisenst has been the last to buy these cards in operational state. He should be able to provide best vendor.
Most of the rest of us live by more than 1 year back in time information.

Hehe, there is never to much cooling, and cooling pad does not offset removal, it adds to the cooling needed.
If you have to remove, you have to.
Removing could cause your heatsink to leak if not removed carefully.
If a dent is enough it is the easiest and safest. No sharp edges for me at least.

 

Moving the fins left and right will remove them without any issues. Removing them would be as a last resort for him if he wants to be sure that cable will remain intact

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so i totallyscrewed myself then i guess, i wasn't thinking about the bios version i seen a cheap card and bought it. not i have one on 015.021.000.001.000000.C42904A1.119 and one on 015.022.000.001.000000.C42904A1.119 . but i seen that @meisenst bought 2 dell cards with the same bios version and they are working so is that all i need to do the is buy another 015.021.000.001.000000.C42904A1.119 ?

 

I think OP @ Sangemaru bro.... you should mark in red on the 1st page about those "small" differences. .....frustrating it can be for new to this upgrade users

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also can i just have someone flash the same bios version on a new V-Bios Chip?

 

If you have two dell cards, and your 022 card posts you can be OK.

Try first each card alone in the primary bay.
If your 022 dont post you know you have to go get another card.

If all problem is different VBIOS on same brand card, you still can be good.
But as sangemaru puts it, not all 022 cards work in the R2.
And if both cards post, you can change flash by yourself.

I you read slightly back you see that sangemaru comments on flashing another VBIOS on not posting cards, or swapping VBIOS on no posting card.

 

ok thanks alot, i already had the 021 installed right now so i know it works ill try it and get back to you guys if i need any help doing the bios flash

 

one more thing if i'm not going to overclock anything do i need more then a 240 watt psu? i bought 2 so i could do the mod but then i thought i read that if i'm not overclocking it will be fine?

 

Everybody who is going CF should do the PSU mod bro. There are cases where single PSU will work, but this is only periodic as single PSU is then forced to work at a high strain of ~240-270 watts even when nothing is overclocked, and eventually is going to shorten the PSU lifespan dramatically. So it may work for couple of weeks and then you will be forced to do the mod anyways.

So do the mod bro

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The CPU needs to be OC'ed if you want to use the power of CF.
Then the CPU is 80-90W, and you are in a hole even with stock GPU's. (could be as much as 100W each at full load)
Even underclocking and undervolting the GPU's could leave you short on power over time, and only a few PSU's were able to handle this load when benching. (loading the system)

To quote flingin : "do the mod bro"

 

I wonder if this same logic applies to clevo 7970m cards with revisions v1.1 and v1.2
I am thinking about it as possibly last upgrade for my alienware. I currently have eurocom vbios and it works albeit with occasional white bleach screen. If I combine with v1.2 which does not suffer bleach screen and use this as master and v1.1 as slave I wonder....

Ps- its getting hard to source a clevo 7970m card these days.