M17x R2 7970m CrossfireX Ultimate Installation and Tweaking Guide

Yeah I'll post some more pics. Any other dell vbios you can recommend to try? Do they have to be based on 15.022 to not brick my card? Yeah I could use that link for the vbios'

 

Let me know if these help

 

judging by the pictures.....it looks like a Dell 7970.
I would flash to 015.017 i think most Dell CF users are running on that(i am running on 015.022)

and my experience was to flash 1 card at the time, i have had issues trying to flash 2 cards.

 

+1
Definitely a Dell card.
NiveQ has the solution.
Good luck.

 

I think it was @Trome71 who was running Dell cards with the Clevo vBIOS as he found he has less issues with that config. Perhaps PM him for more info?

 

So downflash my 15.022 to 15.017?

 

Thank you everyone for the help. Weird that my card will output thru hdmi but not my rgb led. So then is my card safe to downflash to a lower vbios like suggested? If anyone can tell me for certain which vbios to try first I'd appreciate it =)

 

You say you have two more 7970M's. Have you tried those? I apologise If you have already mentioned you tried them, I havent had much time to follow the thread.

Are all of the cards from the same seller with the same vBIOS version sticker on the back?

 

Personally i can't confirm it, never tried it. I should add the disclaimer sentence

 

I have successfully flashed my dell cards to 015.017 and back to 015.022 and back again(both cards 3 times)
this without any issues.(lucky me i guess)

but of course i cannot guarantee that you will experience this as i have.
and covering my own butt here but flashing always is a risky business.
so only do it if you feel confident about the process and take your time.

but the issue you seem to be having with your screen seems troublesome,
i have only experienced this with a busted motherboard connection.

 

And your cards were 15.022 originally? Yeah I put my old 4870m in and it worked again which rules out a bad connection on my lcd thankfully. Can you give me a link to those vbios' you used? I'm down to try flashing it to 15.017 and see if it works

 

when i bought my r2 it was fitted with only one gpu(4870)
then i replaced that with an 7970 that came with 015.017.

later on i decided to try the CF route so i purchased another 7970m with heatsink etc.
that card was fitted with 015.022 and i flashed it to 015.017.

the vbios can be found here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.php?manufacturer=Dell&model=HD+7970M

Happy Flashing

 

Thank you sir

 

Downflashed my dell 7970m 15.022 to dell 15.017 vbios. My card didnt brick and is still working but still no video out on my rgb led. I guess my last thing to try would be flash the clevo non enduras (...or something like that) vbios since everywhere I've looked the only person that had the same issue did that to fix their card despite it being a eurocom version of the 7970m. Any thoughts or concerns before I do that?

 

The only thing I'll say is that the Dell card you have possibly has a clevo vbios.
If you do flash and be prepared to have it bricked, then the rjtech vbios is the one you want cause it fixes the Clevo 7970m with the display not showing but Windows boot-up sounds are audible.

Good luck.

Edit: found more info here
http://forum.techinferno.com/alienw...reen-after-installing-eurocom-7970m-help.html

 

I flashed all dell vbios so far and none of them fixed it. I will try the clevo rjtech bios right now. I hope it works, if not I will try one of my two other 7970ms

 

So I decided to try my other cards and the 3rd one worked fine plug and play. All three are dells with 15.022 vbios a00. Now to flash the 2nd card and setup crossfire

 

So... what actually happened with that Dell card with the Clevo vbios? Any luck or is the card simply cactus?
Curious.

 

I made 5 posts and still couldn't download the vbios to try flashing it so I got over it and tried my other card. As soon as I can download the vbios I'll flash it and post the results

 

Hi all,
Crossfire is now working perfect on my R2 (activated in CCC and i can display the xfire logo when playing, no benchmark yet)
@tot29620 : thanks for your support, with the new cable I bought from maxslo was it plug and play.

My only problem is: this fu*** Alienware 15 performs better with it's 980M.
The R2 is still my favorite.

 

Well you should have asked me

Here is a link to Clevo 7970m vbios - enduro off/rjtech version.
http://www.filedropper.com/7970m

Enjoy and let us know how you go. If you want the eurcomm version which I use for my 7970m v1.1G on m17xr2 let us know and I will post link to it as well.

 

It could be due to your CPU, the 7970M CF and 980M should be the same in performance, each having advantage over the other in certain games, but i think a 740QM is a little to weak for that GPU power lol xD... a overclocked 920XM would be recomended...

 

Turned on my laptop today and now my screen is whited out. Swapped in my old 4870m and it's still white....reseated the lcd plugs and still white....any ideas what happened?

 

Ahhh the bleach phenomena heheheheh

Careful though if you leave it on too much it will permanently damage the screen which prior users had to buy a new one.

Try this..
Connect an external LED monitor to the vga port of the alienware m17xr2 whilst booting up windows. Then unplug the vga cable once in windows.
The rgb led screen should come back to life.

However, if this does not work then unfortunately the screen on your alienware m17xr2 is cactus.

Did this happen with the new(working) dell 7970m cards? or did something else happen prior to this white bleach screen? Curious.

 

It happened with the 7970ms. If I have to buy another screen after all this, I'll probably just sell this laptop lol.

 

What causes this white out to occur? The 7970?

 

That sure is unusual as the Dell 7970m's do not suffer from white bleach screen.

I am suspecting your screen could be on it's way out unless some connector is loose.
If you are still getting the white bleach with the 4870m then I think it's your screen as that should not happen.

There are a few theories behind the bleach phenomena but it seems to be a motherboard bios incompatibility with 7970m gpu vbios but can be side-stepped if you know what to do.

 

Yeah I was getting it with the 4870 too. The screen never had any issues till today. Yeah weird that a dell card would do it. How much does a replacement rgb usually go for?

 

So who knows how to side step that? @tron2^

 

If I replace the screen is there a chance this could happen again? Or at least not for a while? I found a new screen for $65

 

Try my method with the vga to external lcd and see if you can get it to boot into windows and then remove vga and hopefully your rgb led screen works.
Failing that then the new screen will be necessary unfortunately.

Good luck.

 

Thanks @tron2^ it didn't work unfortunately so I guess it's time to buy a new lcd. It boots and the card is working. Played some games thru external and it works but my rgb is white washed and barely displaying. I'll update you when I get the new screen in a few days.

Does anyone know if the m18x r2 uses a dell version or a eurocom version? I've only seen people with white screen issues on the eurocom card. My card should be a dell version ( it came out of a m18x r2) yet I have this damn white screen issue. I have a new rgb screen on the way but would hate for this to happen to my new one after a day again...

 

Yes but no , biggest problem is 7970m are 2Gb VRAM cards. Crossfire still have 2Gb available.

My 740QM runs at 149 FSB (thanks to your guide). I'm looking for a 'cheap' 9x0XM CPU. Not ready to invest much €€€ again in my R2.

 

Okay true, but not that many games actually require >2GB vRAM, ... wel not unless you game at 4K xD
Hehe good to hear that people find my guides usefulll

 

My card is running at 68c max while playing crysis 2 on ultra settings. My new rgb led should be here tomorrow. I hope this one lasts and doesn't get the white washed screen. For now I'm playing thru hdmi on my 55 inch

 

Yup those temps are fine and normal similar to what I get.
Keep us updated on the new rgb led screen.

 

just received my new LG rgb led. Now for the install...

I was getting shutdowns due to my card getting too hot. Couldn't get the c clips off to do retention mod so I just slightly bent the mounts on the heatsink upwards so that when screwed down they would put more pressure down on the gpu die

Up and running with new rgb LG screen.

 

Excellent news.
Well done

 

I found a place on ebay that sells the gorilla glass bezel brand new for $60. Once that gets here I will have a brand new looking m17x r2....I'm stoked =) Thank you for everyone that answered questions I had. If you have paypal give me your paypal address and I will donate funds to you to buy you couple beers each

 

Nahh mate...
Our satisfaction is your satisfaction and this is what a community forum is all about.

Enjoy

PS- you got me thinking whether to do crossfire 7970m on my m17xr2. Will see with GTA V if the need to upgrade is required.

 

Thank you everyone. Does anyone have a m17x r2 sli cable they want to sell? I have a friend in need of one

Next up I'm going to try modifying my m18x heat sink with my m17x heat sink to make a hybrid one that cools better using parts from both. I'll post pics once I start after work today.

If anyone is interested here is a link to the bezel new
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171019120586?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

If you are plannin to use teh left gpu heatsink in the m17x r2 be advise that you wil need to cut some part of it, it doesn't fit quiet right inside and you have to move backward the pipe from the plate, put it in a oven and the pipe will desolder from the plate, BUT the pipe can become wider due to the temp and lose theire flat side. So no good thermal contact anymore with the plate ...

I haven't tryed yet but it's one the things that's planned for mine.

 

I 2nd this! Def Lookin at this myself too. Really like the heat sink and at least it would fully touch and cover all components that needed cooling

 

I have one somewhere

 

oooooo =) Let me know what you want for it

 

20€ shipped anywhere you want

 

I'll take it! You can send me an invoice thru paypal

 

Ok, you might want to edit the post, I don't think its wise to share email so openly on the internet xD...

 

Hello everyone.

There are many pages in this subject and when english isn't your mother language it takes a lot of time to figure somthing out.

I have m17x r2 i7-920xm, 7970m (clevo rev 1.1). I want to buy one more 7970m.

1) Has it to be clevo in version 1.1 or any version of 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 ?

2) First one is clevo. Second card can it be dell card ? - will I have to control fan speed of this card in hwinfo?

3) Understand that one psu 240W won't manage oc 920xm and oc 2x7970m . Which one would be better choice 2x240W or 330W mod?

 

Hi m17r2,

1) Has it to be clevo in version 1.1 or any version of 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 ?

I would advise getting the v1.2. The vBIOS that is most compatible with our RGB screens is based on v1.2. Last I read this v1.2 vBIOS has compatibility issues when used with a v1.1 card, I'm not sure if this has changed. I do not know anything about v1.0 cards unfortunately.

2) First one is clevo. Second card can it be dell card ? - will I have to control fan speed of this card in hwinfo?

I'm not certain. I think the primary card determines whether fan, hdmi, etc work. So it could work but generally its advised to get the same brand card to avoid potential issues.

3) Understand that one psu 240W won't manage oc 920xm and oc 2x7970m . Which one would be better choice 2x240W or 330W mod?

I would recommend the single 330W. Less modification work involved and easier to transport. I've only broken the 300W barrier once and that was at extreme oc levels. That said, I would get your second card first and play around with your 240W before getting the 330W. If you do get shut downs or the 240W gets hot during gaming I would then suggest getting the 330W.

Another issue to note with v1.2 Clevo cards and our machines is a BSOD issue that I have not been able to resolve. It occurs vary rarely but can be reproduced with Crysis3 and Watch_Dogs. In Crysis3 it occurs when changing resolution in game. With Watch_Dogs it happens as soon as the game loads. It also happens in 3Dmark sometimes in between tests.

The common pattern here is that the BSOD occurs during resolution/screen mode change only when using CrossFire and on drivers 13.2 beta 3 and above. 13.1 works perfectly fine with no BSOD's at all.

No Dell users have reported anything similar afaik.