URGENT help needed for defective 7970m in M17XR4

Hi everyone,

Just earlier today I got up from my desk to get a glass of water and when I sat back down my displays were black. Had to reboot the computer by holding down the power button. When the laptop turned back on, I could see red lines on the Windows load screen.

Having owned a M1710 several years back and having had to replace a defective video card, my heart sank knowing what was happening.

I loaded up the Dell diagnostics and it gave me the error code 2000-0332 Video Memory Integrity Test Discrepancy.

I then opened up my machine and popped out the card (to run it with the onboard Intel graphics chip) to make sure it wasnt a motherboard issue, and the computer works fine.

So, obviously my video card has failed.. Sadly..

I found one on eBay for 300$ and am thinking about buying that to replace the broken one.

I have a few questions however that I would like to ask before proceeding;

1) Is it normal for a video card to fail after roughly 2.5 years of use? The laptop was never too hot and was well maintained..

2) Do I need to replace all the thermal pads that I can see on the card? If so, what product do I need to look for? (SEE picture 1)

http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/Holy_Peanuts/image2_zpshu3ha1ea.jpg

3) Since I would be most likely throwing out the bad card, I might as well try to re-flow the solder in the oven.. Can anyone confirm that I can do this with the X-Bracket still on the card? (SEE picture 2)

http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q566/Holy_Peanuts/image2_zpshu3ha1ea.jpg

 

1. The 7970M was poorly made, there are many failures for this specific card with no apparent reason unfortunately. You can try to bake in the oven for a while, but it is a temporary fix at best.
2. You do not need to replace the thermal pads if they are not ripped/poor shape
3. You can do this with the bracket on. If you are going to reflow, I suggest getting some no-clean liquid flux from ebay to and get it all under the die area, it helps in reforming solder joints during the reflow process.

I would suggest swapping the card for a 680M or a 780M if/when budget allows. 7970Ms are ticking time bombs, I had one that never overheated in my M17x R4, but it died anyway. I speculated early revision 7970Ms had such poor ASIC quality, it definitely reflects on their longevity. My first 7970M had ASIC quality of a mere 55.1%, which is god awful. My later 7970Ms have ASIC quality of 68.7% and 78.1%, so I'm crossing my fingers its enough to last a good while longer (knock on wood).

Rumor has it the 8970M and R9 M290X were built on a more refined process, so you don't see widespread failures like you do on the 7970M. The ASIC quality on my R9 M290x is 79%. In contrast, you almost never find 680M or 780M failures, and they have very high ASIC quality, so take that for what it may be worth.

 

Thank you for the reply!

Well I currently cant even boot it up with the 7970m so I urgently need an upgrade. Would I need to reflash the BIOS if I were to buy the 780M?

680M to me would be a downgrade so the only option for another card would be the 780 I guess..

 

680Ms are great overclockers, as are 780Ms, but I would definitely spring for the 780M. There is no need for a BIOS flash, it works plug in play, but make sure you get the correct x-bracket (ask your seller) and you will need to remove the black tape on the GPU heatsink. The process is simple, just go slow and scrape/pull off the tape. the die area is different on the nvidia GPUs, which is why the black tape must be removed.

If you have no further use for your dead/dying 7970M, PM me.

EDIT: Avoid purchasing MSI or ASUS 780Ms, only buy MXM cards that are Alienware or Clevo branded. The former two do not work in Alienware systems.

 

Would I be able to use the same heatsink that my current 7970 is using for the 780M?

This is the auction I was looking at for the 780;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Nvidia-Geforce-GTX-780M-Alienware-17-18-Laptop-Video-Card-/161734768641

 

As I stated before, the heatsink is reusable, but you will have to remove the black tape on the side that sits on the GPU die. That auction doesn't look like it includes the x-bracket, you should ask the seller. if not, you need to source one from eBay or find a card on ebay that includes the bracket. The bracket is needed for properly fastening the heatsink to the GPU, and the brackets from AMD are not cross compatible with nVidia cards.

 

in the NBR marketplace first as there would be a few people selling them...i am looking to sell my 780M soon.

 

It looks like the auction comes with the X bracket, its written in bold red lettering haha .

I did notice however that the card is only 2gb. Does that change the performance versus its 4gb version? Im using benchmarks from Notebookcheck and the results they show is for the 4gb version..

At 389$ it seems like a good deal considering its a refurbished card and therefore in good condition.

 

Just wanted to give an update. I decided to reflow this card in my oven at 385 degrees for 11 minutes.

Problems seem to be gone for now. Played Heroes of The Storm and ran 3D Mark 11, everything checked out.

So here's another advocate for reflowing broken GPUs in the oven.

 

Is it still functioning?

Edit: Attempted to oven reflow to no avail. Also tried a heatgun which did not work.