R1 GPU Upgrade

I did a Windows setup again. I'll try it from the start with your inf file, and I'll do the benchmarking as you say.

 

I wish you luck if it doesn't work i am out of ideas.

 

What driver are you currently using? Did you mod it yourself?

 

Nope!

 

I'm using 451.48 for GTX 1070, I modded myself. But this time I used the inf file that Baqir gave me. This is the one that I made:

 

Did you put the String in correctly at the bottom of your inf? Just wondering if that was the reason for the 0 score.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I did it like this:



My hardware id is PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1BA1&SUBSYS_05AA1028.

 

Yeah that looks right.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Now I got this error:

 

The dreaded code 43.....

First thing is to try a different driver and see if it goes away. Could be a vBIOS issue though


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

What is vBIOS actually? Where can I find the information about it? I'm thinking now the heatsink that I use, It was pressuring the core of the GPU a little, hope I don't break the GPU.

 

Vbios is video bios that has information about memory, core clock, drivers instruction, hardware id etc

 

Where can I find those information?

 

Okay so here is the problem it's the vbios your gpu vbios doesn't support UEFI so we need to find the compatible one

 

I won't be needing a new graphics card for that right? How can we manage that?

 

Okay so 1st of all backup the vbios by clicking the picture arrow i shown in picture save it then download nvflssh bypass one and flash this vbios by disabling the gpu in device manager then
Extract nvflash and then open cmd in directory of the nvflash by typing cmd in the address bar
Then do this
nvflash - 6 biosname.rom

After flashing is done re enable the gpu and restart and then try

Again 1st do bakup then download nvflash bypass i don't really remember the exact name of nvflash

 

The UEFI box in GPU-Z doesn’t refer to the system UEFI. My 1070 also doesn’t have that box checked and I’m running pure UEFI.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The reason the 1070 didn't work in dedicated only mode is because it can't output anything directly to the 60 Hz screen. It isn't capable of outputting LVDS signals, and neither are any of the cards after Pascal. They only support eDP now (if talking about internal outputs that is).

The code 43 error is a little concerning, but does not necessarily mean a dead graphics card. It could (and probably is in your case) something else. Does the BIOS still say Nvidia GFX in the Discrete Graphics 1 category on the main page?

I'm betting this is not a VBIOS issue. The Pascal cards are all UEFI compatible. You also do not need the unlocked BIOS to make the 1070 work. I'm still on the stock A14 BIOS my Ranger came with. My bet is that you won't have any more problems after you get the 120 Hz screen and install it.

 

I wasn't getting that 43 error code when I first started dealing with upgrade. It is probably something else as you say. Yeap in the BIOS it still says Nvidia GFX. Then I should wait the LCD. But for the last, when I replace the LCD panel with the new one, will I get visuals on the screen without having integrated graphics? Is there something else I need to do before replacing the new LCD?

 

The edp cable is mandatory i sure you ordered it but last thing is try vbios flash if it work great if not flash it back to its original version.

 

If the card still shows up in the BIOS, it's probably still good. I've accidentally sparked my 1060 before because I forgot to disconnect the battery before installing it. It still works fine to this day.

Installing the 120 Hz screen automatically disables integrated graphics and the decidated card will output directly to the screen, so yes you will get video output.

All you need to have done before installing that panel is so have set your BIOS to pure UEFI boot, which you have already done, so you should be good. Just don't enable the legacy option rom or you will be met with a black screen.

 

Thank you so much Clamibot! By the way I think you are the luckiest guy on electronic devices. Thank god I removed the battery first. Hope this time I'll be lucky too for this upgrade! I'm waiting the LCD panel impatiently, it's been one month.

 

I think I'm both lucky, and the parts I get are durable .

I get why you feel antsy. It was a real painful wait for me to get my 1060 3 years ago, and that was only a 3 week wait. I needed that 60 fps goodnes. Lol now I need that 120 fps goodness. 60 fps doesn't cut it anymore and looks slow and laggy to me.

I'll be looking forward to the RTX 2xxx MXM cards that supposedly will be released in November, but I think I may just wait for the upcoming Ampere cards. Those will offer a signifcant performance upgrade should they ever be released in standard MXM form factor too. Nobody ever thought that would happen for the Turing cards, so it may happen for Ampere too. One can hope.

 

If they release 3.0b 20 series cards then I will have no option but to grab one. I don't even care about the CPU bottleneck

 

I've got so many years ahead to think about the new cards and upgrades because I get nervous when dealing with laptops, I fear making mistakes. I'm not much of a tech-savvy as you are. You know every detail. Until this 1070 is not enough for the games that I play, then I'd think about getting new ones. But this MXM cards are very important, life saving for some laptops! My husband has got a RTX 2070 laptop, but I think it's onboard GPU, I'm not sure. Not useful at all. I envy him from time to time but it goes away after a while because I love my alien much more

 

The CPU bottleneck alone on the 1070 when playing CPU intensive games is enough to bother me. I can't imagine a top tier powerful ampere MXM graphics card that is getting held back just because of the CPU. That would get me on insane levels of frustration

I honestly think the 1070 gives the current mobile RTX cards a run for their money too. A mobile 1070 OC'ed can get about 18000-19000 graphics score on FS. A 2070 gets about 19XXX which is not to far off from the 1070. As before thr real thing that hard caps your performance is the damn CPU.

On another note, I see my Alienware's specs equivalent to a R4 but more stylish and no BGA Crap. So if that's enough to last a couple more years, this will do no problem with 4 - 6 more years ontop of the 8 years this laptop already has

Alienware R4 FS: with 1070 and 7700HQ



7th gen processor vs 3rd gen processor

 

That wouldn’t bother me. I just like seeing how far these old machines can go. Gaming and benchmarking don’t mean anything to me.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

same, but I'm a little smart and would perfer to keep things running under budget too!

 

I have yet to run into a CPU bottleneck in any game that isn't a laggy unoptimized piece of crap. Any decently optimized game still runs fine at 120 fps with 3rd and 4th gen CPUs, although I do expect this to slowly change after the release of the new consoles this December. We'll start needing more cores after that.

Maybe it's just the games I play, but as I said, the CPU isn't a bottleneck in anything for me as long as it's a decently optimized program. I'm only GPU bottlenecked in my games released 2015 and after. I need a more powerful GPU to drive 120 fps in those games.

 

Both more recent tomb raiders are cpu limited and will drop into the 40fps range in the more crowded areas of the villages, also, battlefield I and V will be severely cpu limited in any map with 64 players, or any battle royal game in the early game with lots of players..

Even the last batman game will be cpu limited.

If you play older titles you might not experience as much cpu bottlenecking, but it's there and it's making your 1% and 0.1% frames way bellow 60Hz, that was the main reason why I decided to get a new laptop instead of upgrading my 980m, I knew that I would regret being cpu limited in lots of games.

 

Yup mostly any open world game will make it obvious that the CPU is bottlenecking hard. What I do in GTA5/ State of Decay 2 is to just crank up the res to 2560x1440P via DSR. At least I get a more visually better looking game with the same frames as 1080p. I even tested 4k on state of decay and it seemed to play at least 35ish frames on the ultra preset which if lowered to med will give about a solid 45ish

 

Yay! I got my LCD panel today. Can't find any information about how to replace an eDP screen, do you guys have something for me to guide me. I can tear down the laptop thanks to those youtube videos but I fear from this edp cable, it's different from the old one, I don't want to insert it wrongly. Thanks again already.

 

You'll have to do a full teardown to access the internal output ports, which are underneath the keyboard.

There will be two display output ports, one LVDS and one eDP. The bigger of the two output ports is the eDP port, so you won't have to worry about inserting the cable in wrong. I won't physically fit into the LVDS output.

Next, take a thin plastic object like a debit card, and wedge that into the space between the screen housing and the bezel. Use the card to pry the bezel off the housing. After you take the bezel off, unscrew the original screen from the housing and replace it with the 120 Hz screen (connect the other end of the eDP cable to the screen before doing this).

Then plug in the eDP cable to the motherboard, reassemble, and you're good to go!

 

I see, I'll immediately check them but while you're here I just want to ask you one more thing. Cable has two parts for each side. The one that I put a check mark is the one that will be inserted, I can't find the other one where to be inserted.

 

That other connection is for the infared sensor, which is absent on models that did not originally come with the 120 Hz screen. The infared sensor is for Nvidia 3D vision, which is a dead technology. It was all the rage when this laptop came out, but nobody uses it these days.

In short, it doesn't go to any component you have. I have that cable seated to the screen housing with tape so it doesn't flop around.

 

Hmm i see. Then I don't have to insert it anywhere. Hope I can do it smoothly.

 

Black screen LCD is turning on but with a black screen. I connected the other 2 sides which one has the eDP output, was I supposed to connect just the eDP? In other words am I supposed to connect just the two of them out of four? My fingers hurt because of this screwdriver

 

2 questions for you first:

1): Did you unplug the LVDS cable?
2): Are you getting an 8 beep error code when the laptop turns on?

The only part that doesn't need to be connected to anything is the plug for the infared sensor. The second part that connects to the motherboard is responsible for the alien head light on the screen lid.

If yes for both questions, did you use the FN + F5 keyboard combination to set the laptop to dedicated only mode before replacing the screen? The laptop must be set to dedicated only mode for the eDP output to output a signal, otherwise the laptop will continue to try and output though the LVDS output port.

No worries if this is the case though. Just connect the laptop to an external HDMI monitor and you should see an image come up regardless of graphics mode (this works with optimus mode or dedicated only mode).

 

Yes I unplugged the LVDS cable, and there is no beeps. I'll try to do that now. I wasn't able to use FN + F5 when the other screen was connected. There were no action when I press the FN and F5.

 

Try plugging the laptop into an external HDMI monitor and see if an image comes up. If there is no beeping, then everything should still be good.

If an image still doesn't come up, then you have the same problem I did when I inserted in my 1060. I was also met with a black screen with no beeping.

To fix this, perform a BIOS reset. To do this, remove all RAM modules and turn the laptop on. You should get a 2 beep error code. Once the laptop shuts itself off, very quickly insert in a RAM module into any of the slots before the laptop restarts itself. This should force the laptop to display an image.

The reason this works is because a BIOS reset forces the system to reevaluate the hardware connected to it. So in the case of the 120 Hz screen being connected, it auto switches the graphics mode to dedicated only so an image will be displayed to the screen.

 

I get it, hope I can do it. By the way can I use the TV as an external HDMI monitor?

 

Yes. Anything that accepts an HDMI signal will work for this. Even another Alienware laptop with HDMI IN enabled

If this fails, try the BIOS reset I mentioned on the previous page. A black screen with no beep error code usually can be fixed with that procedure.

 

Ok, I'm gonna try BIOS reset because there no visuals on tv either. Wish me luck Is it enough to insert only one RAM after laptop restarts? I can't do all four of them at the same time I guess

 

You only need to insert in one module before the laptop restarts, which is approximately 2-3 seconds after it turns off, so you have to be quick. You can insert the rest back in after the reset.

 

I'm so nervous right now, god please give me Usain Bolt strengths and speed! After that I should be able to see things on my screen right? By the way do I have only one shot on this? Or I can try it again? I'm gonna be faster if I'd have only one chance.

 

You can try this as many times as you need. No need to stress yourself out over it .

What I did was have the RAM module almost inserted in, but not quite so the contacts didn't meet. When the laptop turns off, quickly and gently insert the module.

After the laptop turns back on, you should see the Alienware splash screen if you were successful.

 

No there is no change! It beeped more than 2 but beeps were 2 times between the others. It was like beep beep...................beep beep...................beep beep and goes. I forgot a DVD inside of the DVD ROM. It always tried to read the DVD. Is it important?

 

The 2 beep error code will repeat for a while (I think 14 times if I remember correctly) before the laptop shuts off. Insert a RAM module after it shuts off. The laptop will restart on its own in around 2-3 seconds. This is easier to time if the AlienwareFX lights are on when the laptop is on since you'll have a visual cue when the laptop shuts off.

I've never tried a BIOS reset with a disc in the optical drive, but I'd take it out just to make sure that doesn't screw up the process.

 

I did it like you said but nothing changes, can't see the Alienware screen. Is it possible that I might have been bought broken GPU or LCD? Or the wrong LCD. It is like this:

 

That looks like the right screen. Also after performing the reset procedure, there is no more beeping correct? Just a black screen? Is the backlight on?

If the screen is dead, there will usually not be a backlight, and the laptop will give an 8 beep error code.