M17x R2 7970m CrossfireX Ultimate Installation and Tweaking Guide

Yea, the voltage is finnicky. I personally manipulated it through XML files, but not all vbioses allowed me to. svl's 022 unlocked overdrive vbios is the best vbios to be doing undervolts/overclocks.

 

it is possible to use a clevo 7970m wimbledon v1.1 2g with 015.024.000.001 vbios on my m17x r2?

 

Insofar as the flash won't brick the card, probably. Although i think it should ork even without flashing. Take it with a grain of salt though

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thanks for your quick response !! so i have to flash the card first?

 

I recommend you try it without flashing it first

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Hi guys, it's been a while. I'm not sure whether many of you have made to jump to Windows 10 yet but I suspect not as there doesnt seem to be a lot of Crossfire complaints

I have this thread open on AMD support forums which details the problem and I would appreciate it if you could chime in there and report your experiences if you are in fact experiencing a RSOD with Crossfire enabled and AMD's Windows 10 drivers on select applications/games.

Basically its a red screen of death that occurs on app/game launch into fullscreen when Crossfire is enabled. It can be circumvented by creating a custom Crossfire profile for the application/game with AFR friendly crossfire mode enabled.

It also occurs with the 15.8 Beta drivers that were released yesterday.

 

Long time no see bro.
Oh boy, Win 10. I love that OS. I really do. Pity I can't seem to use it without my machine turning unusable. Hoping to get an e6430 this week and try it out again.
Sorry I can't help for crap these days I'm really curious what DX12 will do for the m17x-r2 crossfire. I'm thinking it might be a huge upgrade in performance and efficiency if all the kinks get worked out.

 

sangemaru! I wish you still had the R2 but I have to admit I have considering changing when I see the 980M benches. I love Windows 10 too and thats the reason I want these drivers to work so badly. Since Win 10 is going to be around for a while it better well work for me

I'm also curious and since these 7970M's and their GCN 1.0 architecture supports DX12, even if its not comprehensive, it looks very promising for the 920/940XM's.

The only other problem that seems to be erratic on the R2 is the synaptic touchpad drivers but it behaves itself, mostly.

If any other M17XR2 7970M Crossfire users or any Crossfire users that are reading this and are experiencing the same RSOD problem please open a support ticket with AMD here. Every bit helps.

 

These days, I wish I still had the R2 too. If nothing else, that screen would have been a blessing for web development. These days I'm playing the occasional Dark Souls 2 or Heroes of the storm on Intel HD graphics, can you believe that? How the mighty have fallen

 

hey guys what is the difference between 7970M versions 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 , which one's are best fro M17xR2

 

Um, in all honesty, no clue I know that the first batches of 7970m's worked, a second revision that had primitive UEFI implementation didn't, but the most recent batches also seem to work.
I don't know how to translate that into version numbers, but I assume the older the better as well as the newer the better
Also, serotonin-nickname?

 

Lol , in this case I think he's referring to CLEVO cards and older isnt really better. I don't know anything about v1.0 but I do know the v1.1 CLEVO's are finicky with our machines and have to be run with a Dell vBIOS to be stable. The safest would be v1.2 but I'm not sure if they even exist anymore. Apparently they're as rare as rocking horse sh!t

 

I am on v1.1 2G 7970m clevo card.
It works on m17xr2 but have white bleach screen but use hibernate to avoid this.
Good luck

 

Thanks for this info, yes My nick name 5HT is serotonin, you got that right , Its quite a fascinating molecule , My love to know more about it made me a Pharmacist

 

I still have 2

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Do you have any for sale or where can i buy 7970M v 1.2 , someone was selling here on this forum but no response yet

 

My love for it almost turned me into a junkie, heh. Good times. I was thinking of getting into chemistry to do research on cb1 receptor agonists.

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Everything in moderation helps to enjoy things longer with sanity maintained

 

Me too!!!

Side note: I was running them with Shin Etsu x23D paste since I installed them and running Farcry 4 in single card mode made the temps on the primary jump to 103C . I then finally installed the Heatspring on the GPU cores (was only using it for the CPU), and now Farcry 4 cant push the card above 70C. This stuff is awesome. Just a pity I only have only one piece left thats going into my HTPC.

 

Yea, heatspring is amazing. I ran out too after 10 laptops

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any more plans to order them again as a group, if yes then i am in

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Can do but need to gather more people

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I'm in

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Currently employing hobo-level funds, but i'm in for at least a little piece.

 

Same here Count me in as well, depending on price (The South African Rand taking a nose dive recently isnt gonna help matters)

@TR2N, what vBIOS are you running currently? I know you have issues with the P270WM 7970M vBIOS but I've been using 015.024.000.002.043595 (BR43595.003) that was made for the R370EM 7970M's for about a month now without issue. It's worth a try if you haven't already.

You could also try 015.024.000.001.042817 (BR042817.010) that was made for the P570WM 7970M's. I tried this as well and I had no screen anomalies. The P370EM and P570WM are both Crossfire capable machines without an integrated GPU so the vBIOS's are Non-Enduro.

 

Sorry for delay.
From memory it's the eurocomm vbios.
When I get back to computer on Monday I will post/update you with exact vbios number. If you have link for me to try your vbios please post

 

I've attached the vBIOS files here but you can download it from http://downloads.eurocom.com/support/drivers/VBIOS/ as well.

These are stock CLEVO vBIOS versions so no mods have been applied. For any inexperienced members that come across this post and wish to try these vBIOS files...

Flash at your own risk, you are responsible for your system and the changes you make on it.

 

Can I ask why you switch vbios? I've always used the ones from your Sig with no issue. Anything to be gained from switching?

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The vBIOS in my sig is fine. The only reason I tried others was to troubleshoot an RSOD Crossfire issue in Windows 10. Its the same BSOD problem we occasionally had in Windows 7/8.1 but its more apparent in Windows 10.

Read the below thread if you would more info. Theres also a fellow M17x R2 owner who is experiencing this with Dell 7970M's and a Trifire desktop user with exactly the same symptoms, down to Windows bugcheck code and faulting driver symbol.

https://community.amd.com/thread/186955

I think its safe to say the vBIOS is not at fault especially if the RSOD disappears once you create an custom AFR Friendly Crossfire profile for the problem app/game.

 

Ok here is my vbios version on clevo 7970m v1.1 2G running in alienware m17xr2.


Which do you recommend I update to?
Are you using the rjtech vbios cause from memory using that I could boot up into windows but no 3D support.

 

That's a Dell vBIOS and an early revision. I think that's the same vBIOS svl7 used for the initial mods and vBIOS tool. I say try either one, all you're looking for is a fix for the bleach screen. The P370EM appears to be a newer build number but the dates within the P370EM and P570WM versions are very close to each other.

I know some CLEVO v1.1 2G cards came with the P370EM 7970M vBIOS though so maybe try that first.

I was using the RJTECH (P270WM) vBIOS and thats the vBIOS I based all the modded versions in my signature on but atm I'm running the P370EM version. Theres no difference for me (v1.2 2G), performance or otherwise but it might help fix the bleach screens for you. It's worth a try.

 

Thnx Nospheratu.

I will try that vbios in a week or so.
Still using my computer so need it working for now if you know what I mean

 

Hey folks, I just wanted to share my gratitude for all the input you have put on here about the upgrades possible to the M17x R2. I was going to sell mine back in January when I found this thread and realised that my machine is still capable of running games at high spec!

I've been quietly lurking here and on another couple of forums, but this was the best and most useful thread by far.

My lappy is now running the 940xm, 2 x 7970m, 16gb ram, and as of next week will have 1tb ssd (currently at 500). I'm running it on stock clocks and voltage on a 240w psu, and am getting stable performance. 3DMark11 was 9843P. Right now I'm playing through Tomb Raider on ultimate settings, and getting 50-60fps. Much, much happniess.

Sure, it would have been cheaper to start with a whole new machine, but it's been so much fun! And it's so pretty....

Anyway, thanks again, I absolutely wouldn't have had the confidence to do this upgrade without the wealth of knowledge contained within this thread.

 

I think I speak for everyone here when I say we're happy you're happy with the machine
Now post benches, hehe
And do consider the 330W mod to lengthen the lifespan of your PSU (and increase performance).

Have any of you tried using Leshcat UnifL drivers with the driver fixes in the utility? I'm using those now and getting pretty nice performance (considering the PCIe x1 Gen1 bus width, heh) on my r9-270x eGPU setup (which I had a LOT of trouble setting up). From what I've read through the net, they do some serious fixing for AMD stability issues.
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6088269 - 4703 FS
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10340013 - P6854 3dm11

Unrelated, I know, but I got to share the tweaks

(check out that CPU clock speed, hehe)

 

Yep...happy to see ine more chap in the team, and without much problems.......lucky you @Slyph404 !......on the other hand......i am so sad in will have to put my R2 on ebay soon,, just don't know if I should part it or sell it as a whole, also have a spare new RGB LED screen in the box.......

Motorbike upgrades ain't cheap, R2 has to go



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Has any 7970M Crossfire users made the jump to Windows 10? I cant seem to shake this RSOD with AMD's latest drivers.

It seem's like its the end of the road for this config unless AMD fixes the issue as the exact same RSOD code is becoming more apparent in Windows 8.1 as well.

 

I was thinking about buying two 7970m for $400 but if the m17x r2 is having problems with the new windows I might not. Any input on what I should do?

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That is an incredible deal if you able to get two 7970M's for $400. The 7970M is still a formidable card and theres no issues that I've experienced running in single card config.

That said its a gamble on whether AMD will fix the RSOD issue. It seems to be a Crossfire Profile problem that affects very few configs so its unlikely to get AMD's attention. It might be fixed through a related problem on another platform but I wouldn't get my hopes up. I am able to workaround the issue by creating a AFR profile for the app/game but it doesn't always work with all apps/games that RSOD.


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I could install W10 and see if I am also having similar issues, where to download it from ?

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You can get it from the below link.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

Dual boot or install on another drive. Skip the product key prompts and run it in the grace period just to test.

Best of luck!

 

@TR2N, I was trying to troubleshoot the RSOD issue by connecting the R2 to an external screen and using HDMi and I found that the P370EM 7970M vBIOS I posted earlier detects the HDMi port as a Displayport. Well at least that's what the OSD pops up when I connect the HDMi cable. The HDMi output still works fine though. The P570WM 7970M vBIOS detects it properly as an HDMi port although this vBIOS is based on the original P270WM vBIOS my mods are based on. However I cannot seem to get the display output only on the HDMi. If I select HDMi only using the fn+F6 keys the laptop switches back automatically to RGB+HDMi.

I tried a few different vBIOS while troubleshooting including Dell's, CLEVO"s and Alienhacks ES vBIOS. All of them still produce the RSOD in certain games/apps.

@flingin, I'm using 3Dmark Firestrike as a test for the RSOD's. If you create a custom Crossfire Profile for 3DMarkICFDemo.exe and 3DMarkICFWorkload.exe with AFR Friendly Crossfire mode in CCC the RSOD's will stop.

If you want more detail on the issue and which games/apps the RSOD occurs in check out this thread. It's sad to say but I'm guessing the combo of the 7970M's and our RGB screens and the way its connected is triggering the bug in AMD's drivers. The reason I say this is because another user on the AMD Support forum who has the exact same issue running trifire and a very unique 8 screen video wall experiences the exact same symptoms. His setup is actually crazy awesome. You can read about it here although he's upgraded his machine to the config mentioned in the AMD Forum since then. He has some video's of the screens in action here.

 

I just ordered two 7970m and they came out of a m18x r2, will they work okay for this?

 

They should.

 

Got a HD 7970M for cheap less than 100$ bucks .
It comes from a m18x r2.
I'l test it and post update.

 

Interesting observations.
I just tried hooking my m17xr2 via hdmi port to tv. No luck. Pressed Fn + F6 nothing.
Reminds me of this thread.

 

Today got my card through post.
Did a clean install by cleaning all components with isopropyl.
I used shin etsu thermal paste.
My temps are 39oC idle , 76oC 3dmark11.
Do I need to use the other x plate from my gtx 580m to increase the pressure on the die?
What are the normal load and idle temperature for this card?
Also how to find the version of this card?

 

Clevo or dell? Temp wise probably doesn't matter. I idle around 35. Room temperature around 22. Undervolted vbios. Think 39 is a little high. My plates are off a pair of 5870. Might be the difference


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Its a dell card from m18x r2 .
my room temp is 30oC.
Which vbios are you using ?

 

I just ran Far Cry 4 for 4 mins and my laptop suddenly shutdown.
Then I ran HWinfo in background to check temps while gaming and it seems to go past 87oC.
What should I do right now?
I modded my vbios to undervolt it (0.95v) also overclocked the mem to 1400mhz .
It runs 3dmark11 without a hitch and scores 6850 points for graphics.
Also I lifted the back side of the laptop and gamed then I was able to game without shutdowns.
Should I use the X-Plate from my GTX 580m ? so it would make more pressure on the die ?
thanks for any advice.

 

I think it might be the heatsink installation that you need to take a look at again. What card were you using with the heatsink before putting it on the 7970M?

Read the first post in this thread where sangemaru mentions thermal pads and what thickness to use for nVIDIA and AMD heatsinks depending on what card you had previously. The thickness of the thermal pad could affect the heatsinks contact with the GPU core which is the main priority.

Also worth looking at is the amount of thermal paste you're using, it should be just enough to cover the core with a tiny bit of excess spilling over the edges. Easiest way to get consistant results is using this method.