M17x-R1 HD 5870 install --> SUCCESS!

Hmmm, this is the first solid evidence I have seen of this working.....now I may want to get my hands on some 5870s!

 

I think I might try switching my GPUs from R1 to R2 over sometime next week if I get some free time. I wonder how well the 260s will like my Core i7 LOL.

Cheers.

 

I may do my tests with the GTX 280m's then see if any R2 owners want nvidia cards bad enough to trade 5870s with me

lol

 

does anyone know why the 5870 is only running at x8 in the r1? or does it always run at x8 in the m17x. thanks

 

ya it is always at x8

is that way in the R2 as well

There simply are not enough PCIe lanes to run x16 on both cards. The MCP79 SLI chipset for example only has 20 PCIe lanes, so 8 per card and the rest for peripherals like expresscard slot and card reader

 

the cpu score is low because i use a p8800 for battery life

 

Very Cool .

 

That is a great gpu score for such a low overclock!

 

the 5870 runs really well in this system honestly. i overclocked the p8800 to 3.1 without any issues either

 

It is a shame but the FSB is limited to about 345 MHz, no matter what you try. That is where having the extreme chips pays off

I can overclock to past 4 GHz

 

ya i have a qx9300
its just sitting in my desk at the moment lol

 

Wow, thanks for that proof, When was the support for Mobility Radeon HD 5870 added? with A05 BIOS?

We need to change the post title to ... M17x-R1 HD 5870 install ---> IT WORKS !

 

Ya haven't tried it with anything other than A05

 

I think my R1 has Bios A02 or something really old, if I can get a 5870m I am fo sure testing that bad boy out. Now the question is will the intergrated 9400m gpu support this or what. If I disable it can it work. So many question....

 

You will have to use either the 9400m or the ATI card. They have to be switched in the BIOS at boot. Same as it is with the 4870s I assume

 

If I can get a 5870 single or crossfire I would install the q9200 ES, much cheaper then the qx9300

 

I am going to be on the prowl for a pair of 5870s....

Any have a set and want nvidia on their R2 instead? I have a set of GTX 280m's I can trade

 

One 5870 seems to work fine, I'm not sure if Crossfire will work on the R1 chiefs.

Cheers.

 

i just tried a secondary 5870 card in my m17x r1 and the m17x recognizes both cards but does not link them in crossfire

 

Did you make sure that the cable is seated well? Also, try reloading the 5870 drivers from dell.

 

ya i literally tried everything. its a no go for sure.

 

Pulled cmos?

 

First, thank you for giving hope to all R1 owners! Awesome!
It's not the first time, IIRC (The "RGB LED in R1" project)

As for the CF, it's not uncommon for CF cable and/or connectors to be faulty.
Do you have an R2 nearby to see if the CF is working?

As for why OT had issues with his R1+5870's,
One possible problem is that those were cards with a different vBios flashed for Clevo notebooks.


+1 Rep! Don't give up just yet, Bro!

 

Hey guys
The xfire cable isn't faulty because i put my 4870s in cf back in and its back up and running. I did however try everything with the 5870s (spent almost all morning messing with them) I think a bios update is needed. I can get to the xfire screen in the ccc but everything is grayed out with the 5870s...but as soon as i install the 4870s back xfire is automatically enabled again. wish i had an answer. If a new bios comes out I will give it another go around

 

oh ya i did pull the cmos that it was originally stumped me with the rgb lcd! i really am glad I tried the rgb though. It is a tremendous upgrade over the r1's stock wuxga

 

Wait, are you using the CF cable from your 4870's for the 5870's?

 

im still deciding on whether i want to just run a single 5870m in the r1 or xfire 4870s

4870's honestly dont seem to offer too much of a performance upgrade over the single 5870. i scored over 9K in vantage with the single 5870 and 11.5K with the 4870s in xfire

 

ya using the same cable....

 

you are comparing an overclocked 5870 to stock 4870s, not doing them justice

 

lol i know

 

Not sure if the cables are identical even though they fit.
Also, is the secondary card flashed with the proper vBios?

Do you have a friend with R2 that could let you try his secondary 5870+cable?

 

ya ive tried all of that .....
i will try to get a hold of another 5870 secondary card with a cable. dell is out of stock right now.

 

both cards should work fine with the exact same vbios if that helps

 

ya the vbios on my 4870 primary and secondary are the same and they work perfectly. also im 100% sure the xfire cables are identical

 

Hey there chiefs,

Yeh I tried the other day without success either. I just decided to do a bit of testing for fun.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...y-r1-gtx-260m-sli-into-my-r2.html#post6861594

Here were my results. I too wasn't able to get crossfire working. The 2 physical cards would show up and the drivers i tested would install fine however crossfire was another whole other kettle of fish.

Cheers.

 

That is interesting, for the life of me I was unable to get crossfire working in my M17x under XP as well. Absolutely nothing I tried would work.

 

ya i honestly dont know what could cause xfire not working with the 5870s but works with the 4870s...

only thing that i can think of is the system bios...

 

As far as the bios is concerned though...CF is CF....it works or it does not. At least that is what I would think.....

 

wB` Whats the thread where you test the RGB LED screen in the R1?? it is hard to get the RGB LED to work in R1?

 

getting it to work is easy, getting the screen is the hard part though (they are about $1k)

 

sorry guys have been afk for a while. Ya the rgb is a direct replacement just make sure if you want the webcam to ask for it since that is a separate part.

 

I recall in one of the update notes for one of the BIOS updates for the R2 that they fixed memory address pointers for the 5870s. Maybe not having that fix in the R1 BIOS is what is giving you guys the Crossfire headaches.

 

i really dont know what it could be but i have now tried two different 5870 sets and neither of them connect in crossfire. The crossfire screen shows up under CCC but everything is grayed out. Everything is 100% installed properly too since afterwards I put my 4870 pair back in and crossfire is auto enabled...

 

This is very interesting! Good work to those who persevered. When I originally tried this, I was using the A03 bios. IT looks like the A05 bios has fixed these issues.

However, I am able to only get the Clevo hd 5870m. Does anyone know if this is going to work in the M17x-R1, as opposed to the Dell variant?

IS there even any difference between the two cards

 

If 2 dell 5870s can be made to have crossfire in the R1, I would get that

 

if somebody can answer this question I will buy one right now and try it out

 

I have used both the clevo and dell versions of the 5870 in the M15x. both are very similiar but the clevos are lacking audio through hdmi and also no powerplay options, so you have to manually change your clocks for gaming and regular use. also the clevo cards seem to be lacking cf connectors, not sure if they added the connector yet.

 

Fantastic. I shall buy one now.

Inap, did you have to flash the bios prior to installing in the alienware? or was it just a simple swap?

 

On the m15x the 5870 is plug and play as long as the bios is version a05 and up. Another things is the dell cards seem to be able to oc higher.