hd 5870

Would a hd 5870 work properly if i paired the heat sink from my existing gtx 260m or would i have to find heatsinks that are amd specific?

 

I thought I already answered this...hmm, maybe not.

Yes. The heatsink from your GTX 260m should work with that card. Heat sinks are specific to the notebook model number. So a heatsink for the M17x R2 should fit all the video cards for the R2.

 

Are you sure about that? - can't say I have hear of AMD heat sinks being compatible with Nvidia graphics cards. I know that in the case of the m18x, AMD heat sinks for 7970m will not be compatible with a 680m, for example. Maybe the older 17x is different.....myself, I'm not sure but just looked at a couple of Ebay listings for heatsinks for both and they do appear identical....

Alienware AMD Video Card M17x R2 MASTER Left Side Heat Sink 4870M 5870M 6990m

Alienware Nvidia Video Card M17x R2 Master LEFT Side Heat Sink 260M 280M 560M

The seller is the same and the pictures are identical - right down to the markings on the pads, indicating it's a picture of the same heat sink for both listings.

 

The newer heatsinks are slightly different between the 680m and 7970m. As seen in this photo, the contact area for the AMD heatsink is rotated 45 degrees since the die on the 7970m cards is also rotated 45 degrees (i.e not square with the MXM card edges). The Nvidia heatsink's contact area is not rotated since the 680m die is square with the edges if it's card. That is the only difference I've noticed. I BELIEVE you can modify either of these heatsinks to be universal with either card by removing that black foam/plastic from the copper TIM plate. But this is just a theory. I don't have a spare R3/R4 heatsink to test with.

But to answer your question, the older R2 heatsinks I've found to be identical. This was supported by the information I was given by an Alienware tech who stated the heatsink on the R2 is specific only to which side the GPU is on, not the GPU brand.



PS: if you do a side by side comparison of the photos that eBay seller posted, the photos themselves are identical. I don't know why said seller is selling the heatsinks as individually different when they post photos which are identical to the other. Just a thought from a crazy person...

EDIT: I held this page open for too long and posted after you had updated your reply...whoops!

 

I couldn't quite recall the heat sinks from my M17x R2 days.....I guess you can just peel off the black tape and rotate it and stick it back down if you were interchanging, or simply take it off. As for the 5870m, the gpu die is also square to the edges of the MXM card so I guess the Op doesnt even have to bother messing with the black tape anyways....

 

Same with the 260M and 280M. Only the newer AMD GPUs have the die rotated 45 degrees.

 

I just installed a 5870m using a gtx 260m heatsink. While I am currently having some issues with my setup, temperatures seem fine and the heatsink works

 

cool beans bro