I have 6990m cfx already but...

No hay problema

 

I will definitely have to read up more and consult some oc'ing savvy dudes before I attempt something like that. How much of a performance gain can one expect from oc'ing and is it noticeable or pretty negligible?

 

You can get a 20% increase in performance. Maybe more. I know some people were overclocking their 6970's just about 30%.

 

I got the new-bios M18x, A02.
and I used ATIWinflash to flash my cards with the vbios that #1 provided and booted normally.
I checked the GPUZ only found out that the clock changed.... shaders number didn't change at all..
is the method wrong? i mean ATIwinflash can only change clock or something like that? I should flash by dos?

 

That's interesting, so it seems to work with the Dell card. That the shader count doesn't change has been expected, they probably cut off the additional shaders physically.

No I'm wondering why it didn't work with my card... seems to be an issue with some hardware IDs.

 

you mean there is nothing we can do?
is there any difference between flashing by atiwinflash and flashing by dos?

 

Slv, what card is yours? I have clevo 6970s. I wonder if ot would work ob those. Of course your safer just editing the gpu clock of your original vbios. Unless they read as 6990s with that bios. Then i could do that for hwbot.org

 

My 6970m is from Sapphire/PCPartner according to the original VBIOS, it works with the Dell 6970m VBIOS as well as with the Clevo 6970m VBIOS. It seems to work as well with the 6990m VBIOS, otherwise the system wouldn't post, but I guess there are some issues with hardware IDs and adresses, no idea, I'm not an expert regarding VBIOS and how exactly the mobo communicates with the GPU, and I have no access to the MXM standard...

 

I have a theory, it is that the vbioses that come on the 6900m series have no information encoded in them to do with hardware. My 6970m came with a vbios that that LIMITED the shaders to 960. When flashed with the OEM vbios from an M17x or M18x, the shaders are unlocked as the limit was lifted. However, with the new hardware, the shaders are limited by hardware therefore nothing can be done by flashing, only clocks change. I'll bet that if you flash the 6990m with a 6970m vbios, the shader count will still be 1120.

 

Just a FYI here really...for anyone wanting to compare stock 6970 crossfire with 6990 crossfire (or 580m Sli for that matter)......I did some benching on stock stuff when I got my rig....Dell drivers, no OC on cpu or gpu and these are the figures that I got:

Here's my very first benches on this system. Everything stock inc Dell drivers ....just run after set up/windows updates....benches done whilst my rig had stock ram etc....(4gb & 750gb hdd)

Vantage

Mark 11

3dMark06 for kicks !!

Obviously, completely stock on Dell crappy drivers .....no fiddling with CCC settings, just ran "straight outta tha box" (these are 6970m figures and NOT 6990m)

Since then, I have noticed massive improvement in scores by using AMD drivers and using a few CCC settings "tweaks" ... as you can see from the mark '11 score in my sig, ive played about a fair bit! - OC and drivers and tweaks gave me around a 2400 point boost on mark 11.....

 

Could you elaborate on those CCC tweaks, Stevie? What settings specifically attributed to your increased mark 11 score?

And do you feel going from Dell drivers to AMD really made a difference?

 

im hoping that gtx480m sp is "physically" blocked too......so can bga a gf110-375-a1 core to run full 512sp

 

yup you got 6990's, its a relatively new card so some programs read the name wrong. as long as it performs as it should, your good to go.

NOW PLEASE POST SOME BENCHES!!!!

 

Yep, we think so, let wait for another m18x cfx6990, thnx!

 

Hola Koelle,

para verificar definitivamente que tarjeta tienes, puedes tomar fotos de la tarjeta de los dos lados y publicarles aquí.

 

@pkhetan I don't think he wants to take he's new machine apart just to take some pics lol.

Lol you mean you wish the 480m was blocked by software so you can unlock it and use all 375 cores? or 512 ?

 

Well, this is the only sure way to see if he has a ES 6970M or a real OEM 6990M. All other software solutions could be reading some registers modified by DELL.

 

Todavía no me atrevo, cuando me haga con el 4-piped sollution de fortnax y lo abra, echaré una foto, lo que si he hecho ha sido quitar el ventilador de una tarjeta y he estado comparando (pero claro es la parte de abajo de la tarjeta y eran iguales , por lo menos la zona que vi). El problema es que si quito el control center se falsean las pestañas, que son muy débiles y luego cruje, ya te digo, intentaré abrirlo lo menos posible y creo que será cuando me pille los nuevos disipadores de calor. Saludos!.

 

^^ Amigos, "4-piped sollution de fortnax" is the only thing I'm able to comprende here, lol

 

jeje, sorry, i said that I'll try to open only if is necessary, coz the plastic part form command center is so weak, the "necessary open" will be when I adquire your super new sollution cooler,
one thing, Im sure they have done something to the gpu coolers coz I have compare both "new and old" and dbi from new are 20% less loud.

 

interesting... now, I'm even more excited to see some photos of the heatsinks

 

AS soon as I have the new super cooler sollution, i will open and repaste, ejej

How is the proyect?

 

Ok, so when you open your computer just be sure to make photos for every side of the cards and stickers so you will not need to open it again.
Although, I doubt that Dell will put ES in their machine.

 

So be it!, pkhetan, what is the different between engineering sample and the others?

 

The project is in progress, 2 separate teams are trying to make two different products. Whoever does best gets to the mass production
Don't expect the final results any time soon though, couple of weeks is the earliest possible ETA. We are all too busy with main projects

 

the ES sample is a testing one, so if they find some problem with it they will modify it in the releasing version, but if they didn't find any problem it would be the same. And some times the ES version has more features than the releasing version (for example the ES 6970M has more shader than the 6790M releasing version)

 

Well, I will disturb a little you each time I see you in this "lands", you have to understand I want the best for this "baby".

 

Interesting, very interesting, and how is the way that i can identify one ES card? Only phisically?

 

there is some softwares that read some registers in the cards to know with which card they are communicating, but these communications could be simply misleading. The best way is to take the card physically, to write every number on it and to look around in interet; this is of course if you suspect fraud.

 

Thx, very helpfull, when i open i will take several big photos, jeje.

 

Ey Koelle,

Pido disculpas de antemano por mi espanol!

Yo vi tu post el otro dia sobre los 3-5 fps aumento en crysis 2 desde la 6970m a la 6990m. ¿Cuáles fueron los fps numeros con cada tarjeta? Sería muy útil tener una idea del porcentaje de aumento en ese juego.

 

@Koelle: Any chance for a Vantage and 3dM11 benchmark with only 1 card activated? Would be greatly appreciated!!

 

One way you can identify is if you have a look at the DIE. If it says ENG on it anywhere, it is a pre-release card.

 

Dell will never put ES parts on their products so why bother what we need to see is some game benchmarks like

crysis 1920x1080 very high no AA
aliens vs predator 1920x1080 all max settings with the AvP tool
just cause 2 1920x1080 max settings

3Dmark 11 performance with a single gpu
3Dmark vantage performance single gpu


That will make this thread more interesting the reason for running single gpu benchmarks is to compare the stock single 580m score I believe is like 13,500 on vantage and see if the 6990m is close,equal or better than that

 

I also would very much like to see single card 3DmarkVantage.

 

Yes, please run Vantage with one GPU disabled.

 

i'll have an m17x i7 2820, 1080p screen with single 6990m tomorrow. will run some games and post fps's and what not. The most graphically challenging games i have are:

witcher 2
crysis
crysis2

what settings should they be in?

 

ultra
very high
ultra dx11

 

super, will do. Will i need to download new drivers?

 

just run everything stock then update drivers and re run benchmarks to see witch drivers are better

 

Ahhhhh!!!!!!

Just got my 18x w/6990s in.... stuck pixel about 2 inches off of center!

 

Ohhh.. that sucks call them and make them build a replacement don't settle for a screen replacement on a new machine

 

or you could try and work that pixel "free" with dead pixel checker.....worked for me when I had stuck pixels....

 

Neither look like they are responding :\

I'll see if they can get a replacement going. Problem is, this one is the replacement essentially for the one I sent back. The keyboard seems good, and I'm going to stress the 6990s and see how they do.

I had a M6400 that had a screen replacement for 3 stuck pixels, and aside from the tech snapping a few things (at the time, I was a certified Dell tier 2 depot tech for my school district and certified to do screen replacements on our work latitudes and vostros) that laptop was a peach. Sigh.

 

Can you run some benches anyway ?

TheCD ... run em

 

As they are in the centre of the screen, you could try "massaging" them by gently pressing on the screen....I did that too and it fixed a few for me.....worth a shot if you plan on a return anyways....

Hehehe...yeah, lets see some figures ...muahahahahahahahaha

 

Call Dell to replace it.

Does the GPU-Z recognize yours 6990m or it shows as 6900 series?

 

Don't worry, as you were told a couple of times, GPU-Z and similar programs need to update their databases to recognize new hardware properly.

When I got my 6970m in April, it didn't get recognized properly either.


What about some single card benchmarks? A lot of people would greatly appreciate to see some runs with only one card activated.

 

Yeah, at least they will eventually add it. My 2920xm ES is doomed to be called 2400 XE by those programs

 

i got you-->single card benches coming soon...m17x with single 6990m tomorrow