M17x r3 680M compatability

UPDATE! We need YOUR help, please see post 204. Thank you!

A Dell rep has assured me over the phone that if I purchased a 680M from them to put into my M17x r3 that it'll work just fine. I currently have a 580M in the machine, and it seems like the 680M is a pretty significant increase in graphics performance.


Will there be any roadblocks I encounter with using that GPU in my M17x r3?


Thanks!

 

Yes. Your 3D won't work. Non-R3 nvidia cards are able to push 120Hz but the 3D controller will refuse to work.

Also just because a rep guarantees that it will work, does not mean that it will work 100%. There may be fan issues, throttling etc. Not to mention the new card is PCIe 3.0 where as the R3 is PCIe 2.0.

I'm not saying it's not going to work. But only until someone tests it will we actually know.

 

There wasn't any issues upgrading from a 580M to a 7970M. The 680M shouldn't be an issue.

Just noticed you had a 3D screen. That changes things as widezu pointed to above.

 

Crap. That's going to be a dealbreaker for me if the 3D will not work.


So is Dell refusing to update the 3D controller to work for newer, non-R3 cards?

 

^^^ This.
I would like to have an answer for the above too!

 

No it is in the bios. The system bios contains the certificate for 3D capability. With a foreign card in, it will stop the 3D controller.

By requesting Dell update the R3 bios for the 680m is the same as asking them to validate a card they offer in a newer refresh to be used in the older one which they will never do. Not in a million moons.

 

Darn. Guess Dell won't be getting that money from me then.

 

Sigh! Was afraid so... Gonna drink til i pass out tonight

Oh, and BTW, thanks for the Throttling fix Widezu... I still mention you in my prayers for that!

 

The question that remains is whether the 680M will work in the standard (60 Hz screen) 1080p R3's.

 

If you are a R4 user having 675m card then for sure you can upgrade it to 680m later

 

But what if you have an M17x r3 and have a 6990m but can only upgrade to an 680m (because that's all they offer in hong kong alienware), any one know if that will work? Because if it does, I'll get one, it'll be a noticeable upgrade to my computer.

 

Hi guys just looking online at components for my alienware M17x and I found out that a new GPU is being released called the GTX 680M. Would I be able to buy and install this into my laptop or am I totally fixed with my 560M card?
I only ask as I want to upgrade my card and was looking at a gtx 580M (I have 560m) to put in it.
Whats the likely outcome of replacing it? Will I blow my computer up or possibly burn out the motherboard etc?

 

the 680m "Should" be compatible. At this time though, nobody has tried it yet. biggest problem is price. costs like an arm and a leg for a 680m right now.

 

Oh thats interesting! Do you think it would improve the graphics much? I am not too concerned about price I want a really awesome laptop and if this can make it work better its a cheaper alternative to a new laptop again )

 

Well, assuming it works right, the 680m will literally thrash the pants off your old 560m....I mean it will blow it out the water completely. Performance of a single 680m is around par with that of 580m sli.....that's how much of a beast it is.

 

580m sli? do you mean two 580m cards together? Been looking at vids online of how to replace the graphics card and its not as difficult as installing extra ram. Here's hoping it does work I will save and buy one if it does.

 

I'm not sure but if the 680m needs more than the stock .87v that the M17x R3 operates on, you may have trouble.

 

Read this like 885.458.340 times. If that's right... imma be a happy guy in 2 weeks.

 

your wallet won't be thats for sure...

 

You can overvolt the the 580m to .92v without any issues.

 

680 available on eBay, anyone tried it in R3 so far?

 

Please please please let it be true I would buy it right now if it wasn't such an expensive risk!

Yeah me too. I have nvidia 560m so this will make my laptop my one true love (sorry dear). Hoping somebody has an answer too I saw a great deal.

 

Performance of single 680m vs 580m Sli is pretty much even...so, yes...you guys read it right...having a single 680m is like having Sli 580m's just on one card LOL....

 

ok, so my M17x R4 with the 680M arrived this morning.

gpu-z on the R4:




580M heat sink:




680M heat sink(only slightly different):




since i don´t have that much time today, the only thing i tested so far if the 680m would fit into the R3.

the good news: it does...

R3 bios A08:



the bad news: i didn´t manage to find suitable drivers for windows 7 (64bit)


nvidias official homepage doesn´t give you a driver for the 680M to download (although the card itself is listed oO).

so far i tried
- the latest beta 304.79
- 302.77 from dell (which states that it is compatible with the 680M)
- 302.72 with modded inf from laptopvideo2go
- 302.71 ("hackness" over at the sager forum uses this one on the P150EM)


gpu-z on the R3 with 680M (no driver installed):




maybe there are some device-id issues, but so far i think its quite save to say that the 680M fits into the R3 once the official driver is released.

i didn´t try to install a new driver on the R4 so far (302.77 is factory-installed), because i fear that maybe dell used a nasty trick to bypass the "no official driver yet"-problem.

 

The 680m is a beast for sure...i've seen 7500 3dmarks11 with a very heavy overclock

gogul1, if you can wait, just hold off for a tad because the prices are exorbitant right now. The highest I've seen is $1200 plus shipping at laptopmonkey...others are selling for about $800. Most retailers who have got their hands on cards are only putting them in systems right now....i would estimate that wider availability will come by the middle of next month...at which point, i have some decision making to do

 

Id suggest just to sell you R3 for like 900 on craigslist or ebay, add in the other 900 you were going to spend on 680m and buy a new R4...
thats what i did

dell also has great financing options and a free xbox 360 for students

 

Bravo and +Rep for the effort. Keep us posted.

You might try these, newly released for the 680M -- Verde 304.79 Beta. NVIDIA DRIVERS 304.79 Beta.

 

I am being patient at the moment due to the card being so new that it's still up in the air. I will gladly pay for the card as the effort selling the laptop, ordering a new one etc is too much. We have gumtree in england which is a site like craig's list but its mostly for stolen goods and broken tat. Ebay charge too much I sold my M11X R3 a week ago so have the money to pay for the card now but I doubt it works at the moment.

 

I tried to order the 680m from eurocom and they called and told me that they been having issues with the 680m, some were defects I'm assuming and I told them I was going to install it into the m17x r3. They said that it wasn't working with the r3 (due to research i presume) and told me they were going to test it out to see if its fully working and call me back today and let me know what the deal is on that, so keep your fingers crossed...

 

those were the first i tried.
even though .inf-files have entrys for the 680M, im getting the "no supported hardware found" error.

im going to try and install those on the new R4 later on...

 

holy mac!! This thread might have just saved me a wad of cash

@Gogul1, here's hoping that you get those driver issues solved and get that card working...rep+ for the effort

 

Are the drivers that came with the r4 different from the ones on the nvidia website? Maybe the r4 drivers off of dells website work with the r3

 

Should try with the IGP disabled

 

Aww man, only 2GB compared to the Clevo's 4GB?

 

2GB is a good thing. 4GB is pointless because the video card will never use all that memory and 2GB should overclock a hell of a lot better.

 

interesting 758mhz boost?

 

Hmmm... Well it looks like the bios for the r4 is the same as the r3 bios released on 4/30/12 so the bios for r3 should be fine with the 680m. The drivers is the newest thing released from dell 6/28/12

 

You have a point there, but let's wait for die hard OC'ers like Widezu to put a 680M in his R3/R4 and compare it to Clevo 4GB's (most probably Meaker or HTWingnut)

I'm concerned about 2560x1440 though, as I would want to connect a 1440p display to this laptop if I ever have the chance to buy it

 

There is a reason as to why there are no single GPU desktop cards with over 2/3GB memory as they are serious overkill.

 

my name is not Gogul1

like i already said, i tried those but theyre not working

i have the 3D-display, so no IGP at all ^^

the R3 bios differs from the R4. also i just realised dell.com only offers bios A02 for the R4 while my machine already has bios A04 installed.

 

The 680 desktop had slight FPS problems with 1440P res, SLi or the 4GB offerings fixed FPS to an acceptable state.

 

I wonder what's different between the 2. My laptop comes with A02.

 

hahahahaha...well someone just got repped by accident lol

Well, no, your name isn't gogul1, but mrm2x, you deserve some rep too! Good job and I hope you get that 680m working in the R3

rep+

 

so, tested a bit more...

first, i tried installing the latest nvidia 304.79 beta driver on the R4 and...it worked.

guess this means R3 + 680M needs more than just a proper video-driver ?!


i also did a quick 3Dmark11 on the R4
- results are "out of the box"
- 680M gets listed as "generic vga"
- detected clock speeds are way off





quite a funny thing you get when testing the new nvidia 3Dvision v2




confusing, this new 680M is

 

Can anyone with a Dell 680m please dump the VBIOS and send it to me? Would really appreciate it!! Thank you!

 

mrm2x, you may wanna check this thread out - see if it maybe helps out with a workaround for the overlay problem.

[*Resolved] "Prototype Test-NVIDIA Confidential" Error Message [See posts #283, 319] - Page 33

 

Didn`t you guys notice that the Dell 680M have turbo boost, and its higher clocked than the Sager 680M?

Sager 680M don`t have turbo boost, and its "stuck" at 719MHz.
Great news for future Alienware owners

Here is the Sager 680M

 

Oh, I definitely noticed this, littleone did as well, check the post above... that's why I'm asking for the vbios.

Ah, and welcome back from "team red"

 

Thanks. It was actually pretty nice to do something else for a change

BTW: How is the turbo boost function coded in to the GPU? Is it easy to recreate for those without?

 

Going back to 120hz 3D compatibility in the M17x r3 for a sec...

Called Alienware again, and once more I was given a 100% assurance that it's going to work without a hitch with the 3D controller. But I still don't buy it, I told him.

He said that I could return the card within the 21 day window for a full refund if it didn't work properly with the 3D.


Should I bite, or no?