Upgrading from a 580m to a 7970m. How to properly perform this operation?

So I purchased a new 7970m from ALIENWARE M17/M18 VGA Upgrade Kit - Dell HD7970M | eBay and it's nearly here. How do I properly migrate from Nvidia to a AMD (my first AMD card lol) without breaking my m17x r3? I know my 3D screen function will be disabled and I'm fine with that, what should I download/do in preparation for this beast?


Also did they ever fix the issues with Creed 3 and the 7970m? If not, I'm gonna miss playing that at work

 

You should uninstall the nvidia drivers before inserting the new card. Are you ok with the mechanics of swapping the cards?

 

Do you have the 3D panel (120hz)?
Creed 3 got probs on AMD? I'm very disappointed with it graphically and haven't researched it yet!

 

Yep got the 3D Panel.

And @Meaker: Yeah, I think so. They have a really informational videoguide on the dell youtube account for this model laptop.

 

Oh dear . You can only use NV cards in the 120hz model. It is pluged into a diferent port on the MB to bypass the intel on-chip video. One guy tried to plug the display into the 60hz port but it wouldn't pass POST - came straight back when the NV card was replaced and the display plugged back into the correct port.

 

D8. Oh man, won't work at all? I guess the only viable option would be to stick it on NBR marketplace with some cash on the side to try for a 680m :/ was hoping to play around with it! Which brand 680m should I look to get that'll be the least trouble for my m17x r3?

 

The only way is to replace the panel with a 60hz one - and someone has actually done that as well! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but at least you found out now rather than after a bunch of hardware and software atempts

I have followed a few 680 threads and there is a large one titled something like '680m on R3' but I can't find it right now. Basically, if you go for a clevo or other brand then it will work and can be overclocked - they have 4gb of RAM but this is not needed. The Dell branded will cost a LOT more, only has 2gb RAM, and is restricted on overclocling unless the vBIOS is flashed with a modded version. No 680 will give 3D on the R3 because Dell have refused to update the bios with a 'certificate' for 3D with the 680. There is also a vote going on over in a dell forum trying to get them to update the bios. I'll have a look around and edit this post when I find it.

Edit: Check this out http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/672230-m17x-r3-680m-compatability.html

 

I assume you meant GB rather than MB, my first ever graphics card had 4MB of ram

So you need to replace the cable and screen to go AMD then, it's odd AMD have not pushed them to support it on the radeon series.

 

Oops, yeah

Yup, the problem is that both the AMD and the on-board intel cannot drive a native 120hz display. It only happens when a 120hz display (and normal HQ monitors can do both 60hz and 120hz) is used. Both cards can do 120hz with driver assistance but at startup the machine needs to see a basic VGA adaptor before the OS and drivers install, hence you never get to the bios load screen.

 

The AMD hardware supports it, it just needs bios and system support, which I'm surprised AMD just ignore.

 

Yes it does just not in compatibility mode at startup. If you could get the machine to POST and load drivers it would work - or if the panel dell chose had multi-sync. The only 'theory' I have that might make it work is to disconnect the panel altogether and connect up an external display using the mini-port. Once it POST's' drivers will take care of the refresh rate. Dell had to come up with a different wiring scheme to use the 120hz display, bypassing the on-board for the 120hz display. Not something usual so only NV made their cards 120hz native specifically for this scenario (and their 3D solution).

 

The default cable will be dual channel LVDS and not capable of delivering the required bandwidth for 3d, so that's why you would need a different method. Also Intel do not support this method of output, it may be Nvidia had an engineer on site help dell with the design to push their 3d tech.

Getting free engineers/techs out to firms/games developers is what helps nvidia a lot.