Aw m18x R2 Dual 980m SLI upgrade!!

Try a different version of physics

 

john since m18x r2 can't take 980m sli without issue, u gonna try when amd's new r9m300x graphics come out? possibly with HBM + tonga, fingers crossed.

 

I think John has sold his M18x R2 already!

 

Maybe I have missed it but has svl7 or any of the other vbios modders indicated that a fix to the throttling and uefi requirements is in the works? (or even possible/feasible?)

 

Not sure about throttling, but UEFI/Win8 is still an requirement

 

I don't get any throttling on the standard vbios. I've ran into the bug once.

 

wait... so the 980m sli works and has no throttling problem on your alienware? And you are using stock vbios? Where did you get your cards?

 

Stock vBIOS and stock settings, but still need elbow grease with the fans etc. And there's no guarantee it'll work perfectly.

 

This may be another silly question, but has anybody run on SG setting in the video section, leaving both the 980Ms in with the intel gpu? I know windows starts to behave funky with dual radeons and SG, but I HAVE managed to manipulate it to ignore intel and run on the dual radeons instead, while in SG mode. maybe the same could be done with 980Ms?

 

Not that it makes a difference I got them from Hidevolution.
I have no throttling and fans work fine on the R2. I'm using 344.91 drivers still.
I'm probably one of the few people who will advocate upgrading to 980m's in the R2.
Throttling appears to be a problem aggravated by using an unlocked vbios.
I've encountered the throttling bug once with other drivers.
Right now things are running sweet, I'll link a ton of gameplay video's I've done once I'm at a computer.

 

The throttling I was referring to was what Mr. Fox was talking about, exceed a certain power draw and the system throttle like crazy.
I know windows 8/UEFI is still a requirement.... The question was essentially will any of this change?... is any one working working on a solution?

 

What you're referring to is the overall system limit in the BIOS somehow with these Maxwell cards. Brother fox found that to be 324W. Unless you overclock beyond the standard vbios limits it's not something to be be too concerned about.. especially if you're getting them purely for gaming .

As to someone looking into our machines as of now. I think not. But Frank expressed that he will try and get something underway for those with m18x / AW18 in a reply to Brother Fox..

Somewhere in this thread...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...r-anything-on-awa.770195/page-11#post-9916140

 

Great great thread.

Rolled through most of it, great thing to glance to learn.

 

Does the 980M work on the M18X R1?

 

No, it will not POST with a 980M installed no matter what settings you use. I tried every combination I could identify with an unlocked BIOS and nothing worked. If you try two in SLI or one 980M with PEG mode you get 8 beeps same as the R2 with Legacy BIOS. If you set SG mode (Optimus) it goes past the Intel Option ROM screen to the BIOS Alien head logo for a split-second and reboots. It will go through this loop endlessly and pressing F2 to access BIOS settings does not work.

 

Is this the same case with any vBIOS for 980M?

 

For the M18xR1, yes. The problem is that it has no UEFI/GOP support. For some strange reason Maxwell GPUs will not POST in an Alienware with Legacy/VGA BIOS.

 

That stinks. Thanks Mr. Fox. I have a single 780M in the M18X R1 at the moment so guess my next project is to do 780M SLI. Was planning to buy a 980M. Good thing I asked.

 

The M18X R1 with dual 780M SLi, especially paired with your CPU configuration, is an absolute beast.

 

Definitely, 780M SLI FTW. Look back a couple of pages in the benchmark thread and you will see my 780M SLI benchmarks with the M18xR1.

 

I want to examine something, just out of curiosity. Can somebody download RW-Everything, and dump all the SSDT files (dumped as .bin or .aml) from the ACPI section, with a 980M in SLI from the M18x R2, and a 780M in SLI? I am just super curious to see what changes have been made, and how their power management differs from that of radeon configurations. I know in my SSDT tables, I see the methods/calls made for turning GPUs on and off (typically routed through PCI0.PEG0 and PCI0.PEG1) with methods _INI (intialize), method _OFF (turn off dGPU), and method _ON (turn on dGPU)

 

I suspected so....

Oh well, more power to the magical R2 then

 

edit-fix, 980m works flawlessly in old pure legacy m15x , no any throttling or any other bs and under windows 7 too ofc now that's some power to good old hardware

 

Dang that is pretty impressive!

 

Yes, that's an exception. The M15x seems to like whatever GPU you feed to it, but that was before the InsydeH20 BIOS. If I am not mistaken, the M15x uses a PhoenixBIOS like the M17xR2.

 

I wonder if the 980M would work on the M17X R2.

 

It might. There is only one way to find out... try it.

 

I had one of each unit from the Alienware dual GPU line-up post-2009. M17X R1 & R2, M18X R1 & R2. And of all the units, the R2 was the first and only one to be sold. Bloody hell. I would've been up for giving this a shot.

 

I would have tried it my M17X R2 as well but I sold it for the M18X I have now. Hehe

I was able to get the 680M on the M17X R2 when I had it. It ran great but then saw an offer for an M18X with GTX 780M I could not resist.

The 1200P RGB screen was a beast on M17X R2. It be cool if it could run the 980M.

 

That wouldn't be the best solution anyway. I still love our M17xR2. It's a great machine. But, it's too old and limited in the CPU department like the M15x. Some people only care about GPU performance and for them it would be better than a BGA jokebook. GTX 980M all by itself is not wonderful enough to make the CPU not matter in my opinion. I don't think there is any GPU amazing enough to make me not care about CPU performance.

 

It's good enough most of the time to get a really good gaming experience though. Especially with the 970m it's not an expensive upgrade and it will slam any modern machine with a 965m at 1080p.

 

Are you talking bout the M17X R2 with 970M?

 

It applies to any older machine that will take a 970m.

 

Well, I've been a lurker of these forums for a while, ever since I bought my M18x R2 in Nebula Red back in November of 2012. I'm glad I lucked out back then, finally able to afford a gaming laptop and I managed to pick the cream of the Alienware laptop crop, apparently. I originally wanted a Sager/Clevo but they didn't have the sort I wanted available at the time, at least not as far as I could find. The equivalent would be a Eurocom Panther 5 AFAIK?

Anyway, instead of selling my rig (and probably being unable to make the difference if I sold it anyway), I decided to bite the bullet and go for the 980Ms. Upgraded my RAM as well. I even managed to find the X bracket support plates with the L-shaped spreader for the memory, and bought a pair just for the 980ms.

The last thing I feel like I need to do is the dual PSU mod. Now I know there's a tutorial posted so graciously by Mr. Fox, but (and Mr.Fox, this is direct to you) how exactly can I make a box with removable cables instead of hardwired components? I would have PM'd Mr.Fox in private for this information, but due to posting requirements I cannot. I'm MOSTLY stumped on where you managed to find the connectors for everything to allow attaching/detaching. ^^;

Someone mentioned that a rectifier isn't necessary in the original tutorial thread on technoinferno, but I'd rather play it safe and not fry my system or set my house on fire.

Any help from anyone who can be of assistance would be much appreciated. I ordered my 980Ms from RJtech and I'm really hype to get started. Have the USB bootable 8.1 and everything. I'm also aware that the dell spreaders have the potential to create short circuits, so I'll be careful with that on the GPU.

Oh, and I read on an ancient thread, Mr. Fox, that there's no need to remove the 3M adhesive backing on the spreader (not the silicone pad, but the gasket)? It will work fine without the adhesion to the chip? Thanks in advance, and I'm terribly sorry for this wall of text and any ignorance due to things I might have missed.

 

Enjoy them 980m's.. They are beastly. For dual PSUs you're out of luck. Dual PSUs don't play ball with 980m SLI in the R2.
Mr Fox posted the details somewhere in this thread.

 

Oh really? I was following this thread for a while when it was first kicking up dust around these forums, but I haven't kept track of it until recently again, especially that it's more relevant to my endeavors now.

I remember a lot of people wondering if the throttling issue would be solved with dual PSUs; I couldn't find anything in this gigantic thread regarding what Mr. Fox said about dual PSUs being a no-go for this system, but I'm assuming it only makes the throttling issue worse? If not that, then what issue does it cause?

Also, thanks. I'm definitely looking forward to the 980s! They're being shipped out tomorrow.

 

Buddy of mine has a AW18 with Dual 980m. He switched to Legacy mode by accident (or wasn't paying attention) and how obviously the system wont start. (8 Beeps).
What is the required process to fix this? Take out both 980's, boot on IGP, switch to EUFI and refit the GPU's? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Three things I can think of:

1-Have him install his win8 disk (usb stick or whatever) and repair his OS.

2-Can he use system restore?

3-The last way (pain in ass way) is to wipe hard drive and reinstall OS and start over.

 

I mean as in, black screen upon startup.

 

Sorry, if that's the case if the person still has his old GPUs reinstall them, fix the bios to where it should be reboot to make sure pc comes on. Then reinstall 980s. I'm just speaking to what I did when I screwed something up. I find Win8 UEFI can crash really easy. I had to do a lot to make win7 crash.

 

No old cards, can boot on IGP right?

 

That should not be a problem.

 

Yes it should run ok, it does not have an ec panic like other systems.

 

Yes your buddy will either need to place back in the old GPUs or take out the 980Ms. Boot back into the system bios and change back from legacy to Full UEFI mode. Then put back in the 980Ms and he should be golden again.

Cheers.

 

Hey guys. I have a M18x R2 with a single gtx 980m installed Running Windows 7 on SG mode. Today my computer froze and I was forced to force shutdown. However, when I restarted, I end up with a black screen after the Starting Windows screen. The screen doesn't seem to have backlight and connecting and external display does nothing. Also, certain behaviors suggest that Windows isn't fully loaded either, as pressing the power button does not turn the computer off naturally as it would if I was in the login screen. After tweaking around, I discovered that uninstalling either one of the video drivers (nvidia or intel through safe mode) will allow me to go into the system just fine, albeit with one less properly working graphics card. Changing graphics mode to IGFX in BIOS works too. However having both drivers at the same time will never allow me to boot in. Now I am fearing the worst, is my 980m broken? I can't properly test this theory as setting to PEG won't even allow me to POST. Anybody able to deduce anything based on the evidence?

 

Just a follow up. I am able to boot up to the system if I disable the 980m in device manager in safe mode. Now if I boot up in normal windows and try to enable the 980m again I instantly lose video. External doesn't work either.

 

Another follow up... It seems like I accidentally hit fn+f7 while testing in windows and now my system is back in PEG mode. And not surprisingly I get 8 beeps. What is surprising though is that along with 8 beeps I also get green line artifacts across the top half of the screen. So thats pretty much confirmation that my 980m is faulty. Since I'm gonna have to open the system up tomorrow anyways can anybody tell me what is a quick way to tell for sure if my graphics card is faulty? I just want something for the papers when I send it back.

 

Hi my friend,

I have a Alienware M18x R2 with dual ATI 7970m and windows 8.1.

In two years I need ti change 3 time the master GPU, and now I work with a singke 7970m, finally I have 3 foulty 7970m in my house. (-.-)

I really dont know if the problem is the PC or just tge 7970m is very sensible but I like, if is possible to do without problem, upgrade to single or double nVidia 980m GTX.

I read this topic but I dont really understand if this is possible or not, of course I wont all work without problems or Just I keep my 7970m.

I have some question.

The compatibility is total?

Single or double sokution work well?

I can di with original A12 bios?

Temperature or fan issue?

How about tge power? I know the m18x r2 have two slot of 100w (x2)
But one 980m need more than 100w, right? This mean I can have performance issue?
Cuda work?

SLI work?

Optimus work?

What I need to buy for upgrade from 7970? New heatsink? Thermal pads?

I wont be sure all work perfect because if a expensive upgrade and I dont do if I can use tge new cards at full power and without problems.

I hope at the help of the people do this uograde with success, if is possible.

Thanks!

 

remove the 980m, go to bios, enable full UEFI mode, reinstall windows 8.x , install all the drivers for the 980m, if it works out well, and there are no problems then your GPU is ok, if this doesnt work, then GPU is faulty. BTW if youre getting green artifacts in bios post screen etc, your card is highly likely is faulty.

 

A good alternative is to buy 2 pcs gtx780m. These graphics cards are under half the price of gtx980m and works great on your alienware..