M17x R2 7970m CrossfireX Ultimate Installation and Tweaking Guide

m17r2 I have same 7970m card as you in my m17xr2.
I await your testing as I too have thought about what you are doing and need confirmation.
I would make both clevo with v1.2 in primary and v1.1 in slave.
Then again you could try v1.1 in master and v1.2 in slave but I have no idea if this combo will work.

I curiously await your results
Good luck.

 

Same problem in 3dmark with dell card for me, and yes you can use the 240w for a time. You will push something like 260/270w with the cpu oc, arournd 240w with the cpu @stock.

 

Good luck finding v1.2 though. For more than half an year browsing around (the web, eBay as well), I only came across one, and the seller wasn't shipping outside US.

 

Two questions...
Will mod " Nospheratu" (Dell 330W Power Adapter Mod) with psu 330W give me more power than 240W for 7970m CF?

Maybe this mod "imsolidstate" (330W power supply for M17x update) will be better?

 

Technically its the same mod. Read the Credits at the end of the guide and you will notice I mentioned imsolidstate as well as linked to his site.

From my personal experience, 7970M Crossfire running at default clocks and a 920XM running at 25/25/25/25 mulipliers and 90TDP/82TDC never breaks 300W draw on my Killawatt meter . Not even with Crysis3 which is still the most demanding game I've tried.

 

You have the third option, solder the chip directly on motherboard like i did.

 

My psu is flextronics. Where I have to solder this chip to my motherboard? Do you have any photos, picture or something like that?

 

Yep, it's here :

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...stallation-and-tweaking-guide.720908/page-241

I have used a tiny prototyping pcb, you can't solder the wire directly on the chip, it will break the legs.

I have to say that this technic work good BUT it sometime make some weird stuff and the laptop won't load the battery until i do a clear cmos, it pull in crossfire without problem , no power saving system or anything else, just this battery loading things. I always use it on power supply so i d'ont care but if you are doing some trip with it that can be anoying.

 

How did you do that?
When I choose this settings by trottlestop I have BSOD.

I'd tried other setting (below) but I always get BSOD.
25, 25, 25, 25; TDP 90 TDC 75
27, 26, 25, 24; TDP 90 TDC 78
26, 25, 24, 24; TDP 90 TDC 90
27, 27, 25, 25; TDP 85 TDC 62
27, 27, 27, 27; TDP 96 TDC 86
Or when I run 3DMArk I get BSOD too.

The only settings which works good are: 24, 24, 24, 24; TDP 82 TDC 63

What's wrong? Maybe psu or 920xm is wrong, or it's a matter of bios settings. I've got bios version A10 with settings as below:

CPU Preformance Mode: Turbo + XE
Turbo Mode: Enabled
DDR Voltage: 1.5V
CPU Vcore: Default
CPU Frequency OverClocking: 5%

I would like to set the highest multiplier to play Witcher III

Ps. Still I've got one GPU 7970m (clevo 1.1), I can't find clevo 1.2

 

Drop the CPU Frequency Overclocking to none. It's unecessary when using Throttlestop and our XM's. It's basically overclocking the system bus and your memory as well. So you have multiple points of failure if that particular component cannot handle the frequency.

 

I've done it! I think I'm officially the first person to get the 7970m in my m17x r2 while using the original triple pipe heatsink. I had to cut the current fins on the heatsink and modify and cut a few pieces inside my case but now it fits great and runs even greater. I will upload photos and make a thread for anyone interested in the tutorial with pics.

Can anyone tell me what size thermal pads I need for the stock 7970m heatsink? Going to order some proper fitting fujipoly thermal pads. I was thinking something like 1mm and 5mm. Can anyone confirm? I'm currently getting 65c max while playing dying light with max settings but I didn't have proper sized thermal pads so I had to double stack and triple stack the thermal pads I had to fill the gaps. Ghetto but works. Hoping that with proper sized one piece thermal pads I can get temps a little lower...

 

Awesome mod @ RianChio23

I would suggest just checking how many pads you stacked and doing the math to order the right thickness. That way you have the exact thickness for your particular install. I dont think a single pad on surrounding components will net you better temps on the core than stacked but its worth a shot.

I'm only running pads on my memory and the VRM's components are bare. I also started off with stacked pads on the mosfets and inductors but it didnt make any difference. I subsequently removed them to optimize core contact and been running like that ever since.

 

Ok thanks for the info @Nospheratu. The mod took me about 5 hours to complete but was worth the time to be the first heh heh. All you need is a basic dremel and about 6 cutting discs lol. I originally wanted to heat up the solder and remove the stock fin setup from the original 2 pipe heatsink but was having some trouble getting it off so I just cut the one on the 7970m heatsink. Next when I get some free time I will attempt again to remove the fins from the stock heatsink and attach it to the 7970m heatsink.

 

Great work! can't see a single reason why you would want to do that? You have modified the heat-sink so it could fit, why would you want the stock radiator? It would be smaller than what you have now.

 

Well I cut the 7970m heatsink fins to around the size of the stock one on the double pipe setup. The only reason I'd like to, is to see if it cools better, since I kinda made the one on the triple pipe ugly and the fins aren't as straight as they once were lol. I'm curious to know if cutting them and misshaping them lowered their cooling capacity and if the double piped one having completely straight fins, will maximize my cooling while using the triple pipes. They aren't pretty to look at lmao but it's working great so far lol. I might just spend some time filing and straightening the fins more before I go through the trouble of detaching and reattaching the fins

 

Looks great.
How's the cooling? Better temps?

 

It does look ugly Have you trial-and-error -ed the design, or you directly took the stock cooling as a guidance? I'm asking since I think there's room for a bit more "meat" than what the stock cooling has. Straightening would definitely bring some improvement. The air would escape more freely. Try with a pliers to straighten them and then with the Dremel (parallel to the fins) to work the sharp edges that are left from the initial grinding. As a side note - is there a gap between the fan and the radiator? My initial measurements suggested that the radiator assembly would have to move a couple of millimeters towards the heat-sink in order to avoid gaps, which would reduce the cooling capacity.

 

I took the stock cooler for an idea on the shape I needed to make it I then started slowly shaving off metal and test fitting till it fit in. You need to remove the magnesium cover and cut a peg off the bottom to allow the 3rd pipe room to fit inside. After the card is installed you can then put the magnesium cover back on but the card has to be installed with the cover off to fit

 

So, you've done it the proper way - fit as much as you can Yeah, usually when you beef-up the cooling you need to disassemble more parts, since you are making it bigger than it was meant to be. So, I wasn't expecting it to fit with the magnesium cover still there.

 

Yeah I'm getting better temps with the triple pipe than I was with the double pipe. Most games don't go over 55c, the newer games like dying light max out around 63c at the moment

 

Here from the side you can see it's shape is similar to the original fins on the double pipe setup after cutting it up

 

Its not very pretty but it doesn't have to be does it?

Performance is key here and if you use a similar black paint to what the stock heatsink fins have, you wont see it through the rear grills.

I'm not certain how much of a difference the paint on the fins affect temps but I suspect not much if at all. It has to be the right type of paint like the one Dell has used on the stock fins, you don't want to create a layer of insulation.

Even with the wonky bits its still a brilliant mod

 

Thanks man. I have since straightened the fins out using 2 thin metal cards and filed all rough edges with a tiny file. I'll add some pics. Looks way better now and cools a few degrees better

 

So after some tinkering I have got my temps on my 7970m to 59c max as seen in this video. Made the video 5 mins long so you can see the card is warmed up and reaching stable temps at 57-58c!!!! I hope this gets somebody else to try the mod as it is well worth it. I'm betting somebody else can do better than I did too.

 

Hey guys I am thinking about giving this mod a go with my m17xr2, and I just wanted to make sure I was getting the correct part first. The way the warning was written about vbios versions left me concerned.

The item I'm looking at is a Dell from upgrademonkey. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alienware-A...-M17x-M18x-upgrade-6970M-8970M-/261732938530?

I've confirmed that the vbios is 015.021, but in the same conversation the lady said it wasn't compatible with my device. Language barrier is causing some confusion between us I think.

 

I might sell mine two 7970m's as I shifted my interest to motorbikes and no longer have time to play games. Both cards are is superb condition with heatsinks, and cfx cable

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

Well I'm only looking to do the single card at this time. There are a lot of other mods I'd have to make to jump into crossfire, so I wanted to take it one step at a time. For now I purchased new fans and other stuff for a cleaning and repaste, and thought I'd give this a shot while I was at it. Eventually I may give the full on mod a go haha. Either way it's a seemingly expensive wasted endeavour to end up getting the wrong thing.

 

Yes it will be a money and a tim wasting endavour if you end up getting a wrong card or card will go faulty. So be carefull there and learn on our mistakes

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So do you think this one in particular should work correctly?

The part about

Is what has me worried. Does that mean the card needs to be below 015.021, or it can be 015.021 or below?

 

The current consensus is that what BIOS is on the card is irrelevant. This was applicable when the guide was written because the first batch of 021/022 vbios cards were UEFI-locked.
Now, you just need a confirmed MBR-capable card, or a machine supporting UEFI (which the m17x r2 isn't).
If they allow you to return the card, you can try theirs. But I'd just get one of flingin's cards.

 

I could sell but only whole 7970m Mod, laptop i would sell separately.
That would Include:

2x7970m's with heatsinks already on and repasted with ICD 7
CFX Cable
PSU Modded Cable that can be used with any PSU you want

If somebody wants it, let me know, basically Full Mod without pain and Plug & Play into your laptop

This is in what i am investing in now !

And Carbon Fiber upgrades for CBR1000RR are not cheap !

 

Ah, brother flingin', i'd buy your beautiful little machine outright. I miss having a powerhouse, the pain of iGPU gaming is strong. Unfortunately just like you're investing in speed, I'm putting my all into this.
But damn, that pretty lady looks HOT.

 

Would've bought them myself if I had the money to drop on 2. Do appreciate the offer though!

 

Palabrewtis, one of the r9-m290x cards I had sold to someone else and had had returned as dead-on-arrival just got tested, the card worked fine in a friend's m17x-r2. So I still have one up for sale if you're interested. Let me know.

 

I actually ended up getting one from Upgrade monkey. We'll see if it works at some point this weekend, who knows?

 

Good luck, hope it works.

 

Seems to be operational. I'm getting intermittent shut downs after temps get too high 85*. I think I will have to modify the screws to make better contact with the gpu, but that's a pretty terrifying prospect. I don't want to accidentally crack it.

I lucked out it seems too. Before buying the card I had told the seller I was putting it into the R2, and Upgrademonkey actually had an operational vbios for my already flashed onto the card without me asking. It was literally plug and play since I was already using the older stable drivers for my 5870s. Aside the overheating which I am sure I can fix.

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I recommend you undervolt it, or undertake the cooling mod posted some pages back. Reaching max 62-65C temps is something beautiful.

 

For the undervolting, that just requires re-flashing bios to one of those that Svl7 made? Which has been deemed most stable for the Dell version of the card?

 

Not even that. We've been able to use overdrive with hacked xml's and registry entries to overclock from windows without flashing. Not all of us, but you can try. if it doesn't work, flash it.

 

Cool beans. Gonna try to figure out how to get these c-clips off, and provided I don't bust my gpu I'll let you know how it all works out.

Thanks for the guide! It gave me the inspiration and confidence to try this out. It's been a while since I've had fun messing around with a little project like this.

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I'm getting close. Moved the c-clips and got the heat-sink more contact on the GPU. Temps idle around 35-45, and I can actually start a game and do some gpu stuff. Before within a few seconds of starting anything GPU intensive it would shut off. Now after about 15-30M in games we're hitting a point where the temp is getting too high (83-85) and the pc will auto shutoff. I might could tighten the heatsink a tad more, but it's just so nerve wracking. I really don't want to bust it after getting so close! I will take a look at some of your tweaking stuff and see if I can't undervolt the gpu and get its temps a bit lower.

 

What paste are you using? Paste technique. It's a hot debate but I find for gpus and rice size x is best. Don't over tighten I should know crackedy first die that way. What is you environment temp?

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IC Diamond

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Room is about 74, wood table top.

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Put two bottle caps under the back end to raise it up a half inch room temperature is not bad. I use the 5870 heatsinks too
I bend the bracket ends up ever so slightly to give some more pressure but don't over do it. Did you manage to undervolt?

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Could you elaborate on the XML hack I have only ever flashed but would love another option

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Yeah I'm actually searching through threads now for that same idea. I would prefer not to flash

Looks like somewhere around page 25 they're working on it. - http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...nd-tweaking-guide.720908/page-25#post-9254757

 

Yeah, that's the one. Please confirm if it still works. Thinking of publishing this guide on my website as well. I'd like to generate more information for enthusiasts-to-be.

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I'm starting to play around with other settings. I enabled voltage manipulation, but by default it's set to minimum. I'm assuming undervolting is not possible through this? Something just isn't working. Both voltage settings were adjusted along with he config file. But the bar just doesn't allow adjustments still. It does say certain cards are not supported, perhaps without a bios change this card is one of those cards on newer versions of afterburner.

I'm moving on to seeing if I can't overclock the CPU a bit. That will have a much bigger impact at this point than undervolting my GPU as much as I'd like to unleash the beast. This 920x is just sitting here in its default state begging to be let loose. I will have to look up some guides for that one to see what the best known multiplier settings and program to OC are at the moment. If something comes up where I can figure out what I'm doing wrong with afterburner I'll let ya know.