M17x r3 680M compatability

No it in an M17x R3 120 hz....I was prepared to loose the 3D capability.
And the DDU clean was followed by the laptopvideo2 go drivers and they STIILL did not need the modified inf to install or for the card to be recognised ?
can't get safe mode yet...just a flash and black screen.

 

Oh dear........comes from an eBay company.... :-(

I'm going to plug it in my girls alienware to see if it boots to bios...fingers crossed

My mashind is win 7 64 bit.....
Still can't figure why even on the second totally clean install it still run and was recognised without doing anything with the modified .inf

 

I'm wondering if laptopvideo to go has now included the updated inf in the download. You'd have to test with one from NV to be sure.

Anyhoo, this is sounding bad. With the 120hz model you can't start it up without the card but I suggest you remove it, this can be done as a complete unit with the heatsink rather that opening it up. Then put the original back in without the HS and just see if it boots. As long as you don't game on it or run it too long you should be OK. If it does overheat the machine will simply shut off.

If it fires up, then just try the NV again. I know there's no logic to this but sometimes it kicks things back into life?

Good luck

 

Where the good fellow j95 ? He's always put the .inf file for updating the video card driver on this thread......

Or someone can post it for driver version 347.25 That would be great.....

 

He's spending a lot of time over in techinferno ATM. If he does not jump in maybe stalk him there?

 

Hi Micky D and other helpers

sorry for the long gap in repling, life took over and to be honest I lost heart in the gfx 780m not working, still I need to sort it before I have zero chance of getting replacement/ money back.

So after it appears to black screen and die I've now installed it in my girlfriends M17x R4.....
I clean sweeper the drivers, installed it, hwinfo saw it but not working, so I then installed the modified drivers and .inf file from laptopdrivers2go and low and behold its working.....breathed a sigh of relief....so just to check I ran passMark to see how it went....was running ok then black screened... The same as it did in mine.
So now I think it may be a temperature problem and I'm not convinced the thermal pads I cutup and installed from overclockers uk are all making proper contact. It was very fiddley trying to fit them. I used artic silver 5 for the GPU and I also could not find a guide on thickness and placement for the GTX 750m card. I'm using the original gtx580m heatsink as well and wonder if this is the problem.

So

I'm now thinking of buying a new gtx780m heatsink for my M17x R3 laptop that should come complete with the thermal pads ?
I don't suppose any one has any suggestions if this is the way to go, ore some more input and advice? Is the right heatsink different to my old gtx580m does anyone have the correct dell part number for the GTX780m in an M17x R3 alienware laptop?

Many thanks to you all

Mark (Basildon, Essex)

 

Dear Mark from Essex,

Sorry, had a points-of-view moment .
Glad to see you've got the interest back up to sort it

Unless you really messed up with the pads and paste the usual sign of a bad job is simply hot running when gaming. At some point it will shut down the whole machine, blink, gone. I still think it's faulty, it can't be this hard!

The heatsink for the 780m is only for the AW R1 models not ours.

Same heatsink, different pad placement.

Seen quite a few R3's go 780m and it only runs a little warmer that the 680m.

Dell only list up to the 580m/an amd (8xxx I think?) so you have to go with others that have done it. I suggest you have a look over here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/forums/alienware-17-and-m17x.1079/

And search out the R3 with the 780m.

Check these I found today, I can't speak to the prices or supplier: http://www.eurocom.com/ec/vgas(1)ec

They have all the parts you need in a kit form but may be way cheaper on ebay?

Good luck .

 

Thanks Micky, I will have a look tomorrow and get back to you and anyone else

Cheers

Mark

 

HI guys, I fail to modd the drivers 347.52 WHQL to make them work with my 680m in the m17x r3,

someone can help me?
someone has the inf file?

THX!

 

Why not using this one ? the 345.20. Even though the Serial Number below the 347.52 but it's the latest driver released for NVIDIA so far. If you're interesting you can go to this link and using the modded Desktop driver including the .inf file. Our good fellow Moderator create it and I personally already install it. Since your system identically with mine, it will works also in your system. Just remember to doing it step by step for installing the mod driver (disable driver signature enforcement, etc) and you're good to go.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...d-for-alienware-and-clevo-mobile-gpus.772018/

 

Get the modded driver from laptopvideo2go.. They have the modded inf to use.. Should not need any modding!

 

Hi MickyD1234

Well its been The best part of Two months since I was last on here.
Good news is eBay/PayPal got me a refund for the GTX780M Gfx card that I brought and only run for about ten minutes.... I got it imstalled and running, left a graphics benchmarker running when i went to the loo and it was black screened and dead when i got bqck, so now im back where started - A dead Alienware M17x R3 3D 120 Htz screen ( version with no/disabled on board graphics)
With the decision of what card to go after and find again.

I still fancy The GTX780M over the GTX680M but now I'm worried that it won't work or I didn't put enough/too much or wrongly placed the thermal pads and that might have contributed to the sudden death. The 780 will obviously last longer as games graphics continually push the boundaries, andi am an early funder on star citizen - Roberts space imdustries so every bit of GPU power will be needed.

Has anyone got this defnatly working in the 3D 120htz M17xR3 laptop?

 

Hi there. So you've had two 780m's that started fine then burned out? It's gotta be something else I reckon. I can't confirm a 780m in a 120hz R3 but there is no reason for it not to work and certainly no reason for it to fail.

What heatsink (original GPU) are you using? You could be messing up somehow with the pasd/paste but the usual thing is to monitor the GPU temp constantly when you first start using it. just to be sure.

The 680m is a star card IMO and from what I have seen is very easily capable of getting 780m performance (but cooler running ). If you go for one of these you can get the heatsink for the R4/680m from dell and it comes already pasted and padded ready to bolt together. Takes any guesswork out of the equation. Not too expensive either, I paid around £40.00 for the whole thing from dell.
I also have a package for 680m users for overclocking and overvolting to get awesome performance .

 

Hi Micky
No I probably confused you. I've only had one 780m - it just took a long time to get you he refund.

Looking on eBay, 680m 's are not as easy to fine or in the USA so work out very dear.
Upgrademonkey has a couple of 780m and there add says it works.....may I just got a duff card

I will have another look for 680m's but they don't seem much cheaper than the 780's

 

I do confuse easily haha. You probably did get a bad one, I have seen this before but again not a single 680m failure so they have stood the test of time.

If you get another 780m then just be sure to watch the temp. Use something like Heaven 4 to bench it and watch the temp. On a 680m it should never go over 70c and the 780m over ~76c when correctly pasted/padded. A poor job will have 'temp creep' where it slowly goes up higher than that over 15 to 30 mins. A bad job will climb rapidly!

Good luck in your search.

 

Hi Micky

I looked into performance differences between the 680m and 780m and decided To go with the 680m - your happy with it, it seems the more common upgrade, and as you say - it can be overclocked quite well and runs at a cooler temp. I've managed to buy a new one £300 and will contact dell and buy the R4 680m heatsink assembly ready pasted and thermal padded just for piece of mind ( though I may still replace the GPU paste with article 5 silver before fitting.
As soon as its delivered, I hope I can tap you up for some more help if needed and also to discuss how you went about overclocking it and perhaps compare notes if you don't mind?

As a side note, do you know the maximum i7 processor that you can put in the M17xR3 ? I assume it would use the same heatsink fan assembly?

Have a great bank holiday weekend

 

Hey man, glad to hear you found one, and of course I'm here for you when it comes to getting the best out of it. Just FYI but the 'heaviest' game I ran on the 680m was AC: Unity. Just dropping down the res a bit and lower AA and it played very smooth at a +220hz OC! Max temp of 75c so no probs.

I went with the dell heatsink just to be lazy, although I claim testing for the community!

I never even removed their paste, I jsut bolted it together, fully expecting to have to repaste when I overvolted/overclocked it. But no, if I'd have seen a degree or two more then I would probably have done it. The only thing to check is that the pads are 'square' to the surface they are on. They can be a little wonky but not so much that a stock machine would have any problems.

Can't say on the CPU but usually the numbers are the same first digit (family) then 9xx (920?) for the top CPU's. Not heard of any different CPU heatsinks so I guess they are all the same.

 

Maximum processor is the 2920XM/2960XM... There should be a few 2960XM on sale in NBR marketplace soon under computer components...

 

Thanks Tom JGX......I will check it and eBay out cheers

 

Anyone can guide me for searching the .inf file I required on Laptopvideo2go ? The site is so confusing......

Let's say my system still run 344.60 driver right now, But I can't find it on search column on that site.....

 

Yeah you're not alone with that site!

Just go to the /drivers page and scroll down to the driver you are looking to use. Then select the driver and you get the option for the driver or inf. select inf and save it. Replace the original of the same name in the expanded driver folder (c:\nvidia\...).

Search is useless and win 8 is actually win 7 and vista as well.

Good luck.

 

Hi MickyD1234,
Ah Ha....Im Back!!!!

Captains Log Stardate 18:4:2015

Well, received the GTX680m GFX card from Transalvanian Laptops Romania (from Ebay)
Fitted today wih original GTX 480 heatsing butwith new thermal pads and artic 5 Siver (dell could not supply a new ready pasted/padded heatsink - apparently they are difficult to get hold of and there outside support company said to try individual independent sellers (mainly American) on ebay!!! (thanks dell for your continued support and valid customer after care)

Great news...its all in and running with latest 35005 drivers + hacked .inf file

run heaven benchmark (all default benchmark settings) and also FurMark benchtest at program default settings (1080 res) and I have attached the results for you to look at if you get a spare half hour.

No I was wondering if you had the time, you could share with me your experience of how you overclocked the GTX680m card please when you are not too busy.

Many Thanks (many , many times over)

Zipitupuk

Mark

 

welcome back from your successful mission capt'n! Transylvania Laptops Romania eh? That place could have the coolest logo!

Since you couldn't get the heatsink (I had to start an email convo with a dell tech before he arranged one for me) the first thing to check is temps. Once they are rock we can proceed to work it . I've got a package I put together for the 680m so once I have temps I'll post you a copy and we can PM - I enjoy helping with the 680m, it's such a good GPU for this stuff!

Don't use furmark though, it's no longer considered safe for overclocking. Use msiafterburner and the on-screen-display settings (monitors) to set up monitoring when gaming.

Run heaven 4 (with tessellation on max) running for around 15 mins and let me know the starting temp and max.

I'll need to dig out some comparative data for you since I've moved on with the awesome kit in my sig .

Good luck .

 

Hi MickyD1234
with all tesalation setings on max (sliders fu to the right) it just clipped 65 right at the end of the test - tickover temp is 54
Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0
FPS:
44.4
Score:
1118
Min FPS:
15.7
Max FPS:
94.9
System
Platform:
Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1) 64bit
CPU model:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz (2192MHz) x4
GPU model:
EZ Display 1.2.0.0/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M 9.18.13.5005 (2048MB) x1
Settings
Render:
Direct3D11
Mode:
1920x1080 fullscreen
Preset
Custom
Quality
High
Tessellation: Disabled

rechecked - tesalation was defnatly on high

 

Strange it says 'disabled'. You set it in the first screen before starting the full screen, and not the menu's?

Anyhow, it still sounds nice and low on the temps. Now max out the stock overclock at +135 and test again, I forgot that bit!

I'll PM you a link, follow the instructions in the .doc file. Start with the stock voltage and see how far you can go before it crashes out, it's nothing to worry about, just watch the temp, hit around 75c and you're at about the limit and want to go back a step or two.

I ended up on the 1.050 one with an OC of +220mhz on the clock and +200mhz on memory. Temp max of 72c. Go in steps though as all cards are different and yield different results. If you have any games with benchmarks in them then these are good for seeing real results from the overclocking.

Have fun

 

Guys please help

Here is my story after going through 2x 580m and 1x675m they all ended up with the same issue of randomly crashing with a black screen after gaming for a while.

I decided it's time to upgrade to a 680m as it seemed the most stable for my m17x R3. Now here is my issue I turned my computer on after installing the card everything seemed fine card was detected as chairman adapter. I went on to install the graphics drives however upon disabling IGP and enabling PEG my R3 would just boot to a black screen. Nothing at all appears. So I went on to reset my bios and the computer turns on as normal. I can then proceed to do the same thing enter bios and disable IGP and PEG but it always returns eight the same error of the computer not being able to boot afterwards. The 680m is detected in bios and on the desktop when IGP is active.

Please someone help, I know the thread is out of date but I really need assistance. Thank you. I also flashed the bios it did nothing. I'm on A12 on motherboard bios

 

Hi, I had the same amount of GPU's on my R3 fail!

I'm guessing you have a 3d 120hz model? For this you do not make any bios changes, the machine is already only using the NV card. All you need is the modified INF file to allow the NV Installer to recognize the card and work.

Re-load the original bios file and default it.

 

I'm pretty sure I'm with a standard 60hz model. My issue is my computer turning on to a blank screen after disabling IGP and enabling PEG. Strange thing is when I put in my 675m it will turn on but with the 680m the screen remains blank - no beep codes. Is it maybe because I purchased a 680m SLI? I thought single SLI was exactly the same as a 680m

 

Ahh, I've only read others doing this on the 60hz R3.

The card is exactly the same, sli just uses the cable that joins two cards in sli machines. So the black screen is from boot or after windows loads?

It is strange about the 675m working, this is also a non-standard card in an R3 so it should need the bios changes as well (and why I thought it might be a 120hz model. If you see the intel GPU in device manager then it is a 60hz model)

 

I see the intel Gpu in the device manager and then vga (680m). With my 675m I had to do the same thing as with the 680m in bios however the 680m once disabling IGP and enabling PEG the screen will go blank upon boot. The 675m however will start up and work. Maybe it's another faulty card who knows... Surely I should be getting beep errors or something?

 

Thanks for checking, no insult intended just confirmation for my own assurance .

It is sounding very much like a faulty card. Very unusual for the 680m to be a failure as IMO it's a rock solid card with a lot of potential. I got mine used from a m18x owner on ebay.

What happens if you do not make the changes, it won't switch to the NV when gaming?

 

Additional: sounds a little crazy but try disabling the on-board sound!

 

I've disabled the Intel sound before it didn't really do anything. It has no drivers installed on it so I doubt it would activate when trying to play games. Strange thing is when I flashed the bios of the card to try and get it working it detected it as a 680m. It's annoying because it is being detected everywhere just not working! Maybe there is an actual issue with my m17x r3? Surely 4 different cards can't all be faulty? Also I flashed my motherboard bios to A12 again and it seems the specific menu to disable the IGP has now disappeared. At the moment I'm literally running my computer with no GPU inserted. Thanks for taking the time to help me Micky.

 

NP I like a challenge!

The R3 had a lot of GPU issues but mostly down to the 580m which I have seen literally a dozen or so die . AW Replaced my 580m R3 with a 675m R4. Three months later the 675m died and they replaced it. That was when I upgraded to the 680m - but that IS a stock card in the R4. Turned out the 675m is exactly the same card as the 580m with a rebadge.

Anyhoo, to the issue.

If the 675m still works then put it back and install the driver. When replacing an NV card with an NV card I never uninstall the driver, it figures it out and the worst that happens is it might start windows in low res and you just select the correct one.

The bios will need to be the unlocked one for you to see all the options.

If you can get the NV driver installed but the machine will not boot with the 680m then I have to think you have a bad one - but we're in unknown territory here and I'd hate for you to invest any more money and find it still fails - consider the replacement - but NOT an AW!

Oh yeah, silly stuff but clean the 680 edge connector with IPA or other alcohol.

 

What is the edge connector? My 675m functions to some extent but has repetitive crash issues. Strangely the two 580m's and the 675m all had the same issue of black screening whilest playing games and the sound looping.

 

Also could this potentially be an issue with the psu not supplying the 680m with enough power?

 

Not unless you have a 180w PSU but the 580m is a 100w card so the 240 is the standard PSU. If using a 180w then usually all that happens is it throttles.

The gold 'fingers' that plug into the motherboard.

That is exactly what happened to me with the 580's and one 675m. On the 675 I did manage to identify it happened at exactly 72c every time in whatever game - huh? I alt-tabbed out of games for ages until it got so bad only safe mode would work. At that point I went though the 'call support' mangle - again

 

Guess it's not the PSU then. I'm reinstalling the 675m then I will put in the cleaned 680m, if it still doesn't work I think I'm going to throw in the towel. Is it worth buying another 680m as I am going to be refunded for this one?

 

Very strange new development!!! It seems my computer is Infact turning on!!! I heard the skype sound of it opening. My display is remaining blank for some unknown n reason???

 

That's after getting the driver installed with the 675m? Do you have anything you can hook it up to externally, just for a test?

I'd try again if it's a no-cost option, at least you'd be sure the R3 has expired and feel better about spending a chunk of change!

 

Tried hooking it up to the TV through hdmi, no luck. This is after installing the 675m drivers. In all honesty it's looking like a dead 680m to me I've been getting quite unlucky with GPU's as of late. It's a shame because I bought this 680m for £200, all the others on eBay are going for £250+

 

Also one final question, why do some 680m's have a delta chip and others a 1Ro chip? Top right corner of the pictures.

 

Yup, gotta agree, the 680m looks like the culprit .

As for the chips it's just whatever was available when the card was made I would think. No-name against branded. The branded one has a P/N ending the same.

Let me know how you get on, I paid £260 around a year ago...

 

Managed to find a 760m for £230 will it be compatible with my laptop?

 

I've not seen anyone use one so I can't be sure. It should be but maybe someone else can help?

 

Sorry I meant a 780m*

 

, yes, seen quite a few r3/780m. The only potential issue is with the on-board sound. Most people are fine but for some it takes a bit of messing, you'd need to research the exact sequence but it involved disabling in the bios at some point, re-enabling and installing the OEM driver - I think ...

 

780M works fine in M17X-R3. You of course might need a modified driver, like go to laptopvideo2go for instance, and enter your harwdare ID's into the blanks and copy the information for the .INF yourself. You might also need an update to the system Bios, but afaik, many have used an nVidia 780M GTX in a M17X-R3, I fact I had a client just the toher day who got one and worked fine after the basic 10-15 minutes -figure out whats what. Think he updates bios and things worked great.

 

Installed the 780m, everything works fine! The only issue is the temperatures... When playing games they only rise, in fact in idle my computer is still needing to use its fan It seems as if the card is not being cooled properly

-EDIT-

The card came with a modified bios... is this maybe the issue?

 

Could be, the modded Vbios is usually for unlocking the full overclock ability, stabilizing a power throttle OR increase the voltage for better OC ability. If it overvolts then this will ramp up the temps but since the card should throttle down to P5 or P8 (use nvidiaInspector to see this) in windows you should only see it running hot in-game. Because the NV card is always used now it can idle in the 50c~55c range in windows. My 680m runs the fan at minimum often to stay in this range.

You'd need to track down the reference voltage and check this against yours when running something like Heaven 4. Or locate a stock vbios to load.

What temps are you seeing?

What heatsink and x-bracket did you use?

Did you research the pad thickness and placement? - this is usually card specific.