M18x R1 Tear Down Video: Ivy Bridge CPU Heatsink and 7970M CrossFire Upgrade

What does dell charge for each of those part numbers on the first page?

 

I isntalled MSI Kombustor and watched the temps and fan speed. The RPM stayed as low as 2800rpm up till 77 degrees, after that i jumped to 3500- 3600rpm. This is with 7900MOD drivers. Forgot to try this with the ones that i overheated with.

 

OK, I just installed this and it installed fine over the top of the previous drivers. No modding was required. (Note: unzipping using 7zip produced errors, but WinRAR did the trick.)

Will begin testing for benchmark scores and stability.

 

@Mr. Fox, shouldn't OpenCL be ticked in gpu-z? Or is it because the cards are still not officially supported by the driver?

 

It should be, but it is not properly enabled, as you indicated, due to no official driver support. The box cannot be manually selected.

By the way, that driver installed fine, but it is no good. My system is not stable using it. I went back to the 12.5 beta again.

 

I just added something to my list of things NOT to do;

Arm wrestle Mr. Fox....

 

Mr. Fox, are the after market thermal pads required? Will the kit come with thermal padding?

 

Someone asked this a few pages back. The kit comes with pads.

 

That's funny.

Thanks for responding. I am going to have limited presence on the forum for about a week due to projects at work.

If you order 7970M heat sinks from Dell, they come with everything... pads and the solid thermal "paste" on the GPU die area. No extra stuff is required. Take a look at the photos of the heat sinks in the opening post (including the very first photo of them still in the box) and you will see how the come.

 

This is a great tutorial and awesome sound track I did this about maybe two weeks ago, I meant to post a pic but have been busy.

When Mr Fox points out you need some working space he's not kidding, and who would have thought you had to break this thing down to its bare bones! Ha!

Why do I always have a left over screw ? (j/k)

My GPU and CPU upgrade.




I asked for the 3pipe heatsink so they sent me a 1pipe and 2pipe You have to love Dell!

 

I posted this a bit off-topic so ill post it here instead

My computer is weird. The GPU is idling at 50-56C with 0 (Zero) fan rpm.

1800rpm at 65C
2000rpm at 70C
2300rpm 72C
2800-2900rpm at 74C
3400rpm at 77C
3600rpm at 79-80C

Only got it to 82C

Now i switched to x-treme burn and its running 86C with 3600rpm , it wont go higher.

THOUGH i did make another discovery, i see my GPU clock jumping up and down from 450MHz to 850MHz, do i have throttling? EDIT: Though this was at higher temps, maybe at low 80´s. I havent pushed a game that high so nevermind that .

This is a very quiet machine, i like it

 

I just got my kit today too as well, funny thing is they sent me the same (1heatpipe + 2 heatpipe)... At least they can add...

Hey, getting ready to put everything together, one quick question for everyone... Did you guys install the stock drivers first and then the 7900MOD one on top of it afterwards? Or did you guys go straight to the 7900MOD?

 

lol. Yea that's what I was thinking. I guess they don't ship with the 3pipe. Now I'm gonna have to order it. I hear it will significantly reduce heat. What CPU are you installing ?

 

Just a weaksauce 2760 for now... but was looking for future upgrades. Hey when you installed your 7970m's did you use stock drivers first then the 12.5's over it?

Mr. Fox, or anyone that can help.... My 2nd GPU temps are not showing under HWinfo... I did the steps where you have to configure and check boxes 1-6... Still no go... Someone please help.

 

when i try to install 12.5 beta i get a black screen during installation and it doesent come back on... i have to hard reboot my laptop?

am i doing something wrong?

 

Mine worked straight away. But I have heard some users needing to install stock drivers first then latest on top of it

 

I didnt install the 7970's as Dell will not cover them under warranty on the m18xR1 I originally had a solo Nvidia 460m and upgraded to the Dual 6990's. In any event I cleaned out all video drivers and associated files/registry keys and folders with Driver sweeper. Then restarted and allowed windows to install basic VGA driver. Shutdown and installed video cards then rebooted into the OS (After a 5 beep hard reboot) and downloaded the Catalyst Control Center directly from AMD after having it detect my hardware. I'm not sure the Auto Detection works for the 7970's.

 

Where can i purchase these 7970m cards from?

 

azza, you can buy them from "our rep" if you want.....he might be able to save you a few quid on 'em too.....

 

Any thoughts if the new M18xR2 3-piped HS will fit M17xR4 case? Or there's a size difference?

 

Oh man THANK YOU posting this Mr. Fox!! I just came across this post and it's helped clarify some stuff for me (I'm in the process of doing a few upgrades too), particularly how hard it is to get the palm to disconnect from the back of the laptop! I finally gave up on it and put everything back because I didn't want to break anything. Guess I can try again later.

One quick question - I'm upgrading from the 6970 Xfire to 580 SLI - I have an X bracket for one of my Nvidia cards, but not the other. Will the X bracket on the AMD card work on the Nvidia? I know it's a noob question, but I wanted to verify before ripping everything apart.

Thanks!

Okay, one more question - where do I get a plastic pick like the one you're using? Google is failing me in my search for this

Thanks!

 

Try googling "plastic pry tools"

 

Hahahaha...thanks Stevie Actually, I eventually found it by Googling "plastic spunger" or something like that.

Anyone have feedback on my other question: I'm upgrading from the 6970 Xfire to 580 SLI - I have an X bracket for one of my Nvidia cards, but not the other. Will the X bracket on the AMD card work on the Nvidia? I know it's a noob question, but I wanted to verify before ripping everything apart.

Also, I'm so glad folks like you put all that stuff in your sig. I was just wondering what kind of backpack I should get for my M18x.

 

Well, the Orion is purpose made for the 18x so you can't get much better than that, IMHO.

As for the backplate question - I wouldn't like to try and cross match components between Nvidia and AMD - you may end up shorting out the gpu's PCB....get the right one to start with.

 

I updated the opening post with links to the new drivers available for download. I am getting better results with the desktop Catalyst 12.7 beta and CAPS 12.7. Still not ready to declare victory without further testing, but things are definitely better with these new drivers. I did do a clean OS install last night to get rid of all the old garbage driver crud, so anyone having issues may want to try that. AMD drivers are buggy enough without old files and obsolete registry entries corrupting things.

 

Added a new video to opening post...

 

coooold M.R Fox!!!

 

Thanks, bro. Glad you like it. Check this one out. Looks best if 1080p is selected.

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6ASIJaoqwJs?version=3&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6ASIJaoqwJs?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width='853' height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

 

Updated post #2:

Best (but not great) driver for 7970M: [ Download Catalyst 12.7b hotfix]

New 7970M vBIOS: [ Download vBIOS 118]

 

thanks for providing the drivers link

 

12.5 Beta is the best at point of stability

 

Brother Heihachi88, I'm sure you have good reasons... what seems better in terms of stability with 12.5 beta on your system? I was thinking of going back to 12.5 beta for testing purposes and I am just curious if you can be more specific so I may compare notes with you.

I have noted that there are some 6970M CF and 6990M CF owners that still find drivers that AMD drivers released roughly a year ago work better than AMD's current best.

 

Here's the reasons why 12.5 beta is better than 12.7 beta for me:

1. No system hangs (only power off then on helped me) with Hardware acceleration ON in Firefox 13, 14
2. No system hangs while Adobe Photoshop CS5 or CS6 is on with a checked check box "Use graphics processor"
3. Diablo 3 makes a black screen in a spider cave ACT 1 (only power off helps) on 12.7 beta, on 12.5 beta its absolutely stable.
4. Just Cause 2. Flashing textures at very far distance (12.7 CAP1 didn't helped), on 12.5 beta all looks smooth.

 

Thanks for the list, Brother. Funny you mention Just Cause 2. I just uploaded a video showing the micro-stuttering and texture flickering. It's not as bad as some other game titles, but still there. This is with 12.7, so I am going to go back to 12.5 and compare notes on the things you find work better. Thanks again.

 

For those that haven't discovered it yet, I am finding that Catalyst 12.7b hotfix works better than any other AMD driver with my 7970M CF setup. [ Download Catalyst 12.7b hotfix]

 

Post #2 has been updated with the following:

 

Is there any difference with the different BIOS revisions?

 

I've tried all three, and no... nothing I can discern in terms of function or performance. Only difference I can see is that GPU-Z reports a different version number when you look.

 

BTW, are those 3dmark 11 scores on Performance or Extreme settings?

 

Performance... hardly anyone runs the Extreme settings in our Community.

 

Cool... Just checking thanks for the modded vbios, I havent flashed mine yet since all seems well but others w/ issues will now have something to try.

 

So, you got your 7970M SLI problems sorted? If so, that is very cool. Did they replace your GPUs or exchange the system?

As far as the Extreme benchmarks are concerned, it would be kind of nice to see us move that direction. I think a lot of guys like seeing the higher numbers and comparing their results to legacy hardware, LOL. To keep things consistent, I just go with the majority.

 

Thanks for this great guide Mr Fox
Currently stuck with M18x-R1 heatsinks that don't match the 7970s, now trying to order the right ones from Dell.
Unfortunately i must spread some rep before giving more to you mister

 

Thank you, man. Appreciate the compliment.

 

They replaced the GPU's in my case and all is well now.

 

Hey Duece! That's great news. I am very excited for you. I received replacement 7970M cards and they had significantly worse issues than the cards I already had, so I returned the replacements and put the originals back in. So, I am very pleased to hear that you received a good pair of 7970M video cards.

Mine work good more than 50% of the time. At least one of the GPUs has bad vRAM, which causes random DX error messages, black screen freezes and BSOD. When I play games they work pretty well until that bad area of the vRAM is accessed. I am not having any of the problems with the browser freezes, artifacts, severe screen tearing and other issues I was having earlier. It seems that fixing the 2D core/memory/voltage settings equal to 3D settings has cured most of the issues that were causing those usability problems. CrossFire is working as it should also, but only consistently so if I set all of my registry keys for EnableCrossFireAutoLink to a DWORD value of 1. (By default, some of the keys are zero, and if I leave them set like that CrossFire often does not work as the GPU utilization on the second cards stays at 0%, FPS are low, and stuttering is very obvious.) Adobe programs still freeze up on me, but that is a known bug with AMD drivers that has no fix that I am aware of. I think that overall my system may be working better than some of the M18x R2 that came equipped with 7970M CrossFire.

 

Sweet fix. Any ETA on the replacement for the one with bad vram? Thanks for all your contributions to the forum. Now I hope AMD releases some decent drivers soon.

Its scary to think that the 7970m's is such a hit and miss as far as QC. Have you heard anything from Dell/AW team lately? Hope you get your replacement soon

 

Yes, I am in contact with them about resolution on my 7970M issues. Alienware Support has always been very good to deal with for me. The reps here is this forum are extra awesome.

Last night my secondary GPU just vanished. (I think this may be the defective one.) I could see it in the BIOS, but it was nowhere to be found in Windows. Only the primary GPU showed up in Device Manager and there was no option for CrossFire in CCC. This has happened a few times before, but this time it went away and stayed gone after multiple reboots. Then, as suddenly as it disappeared it reappeared. What is odd is there are no error messages of any kind when this happens and the system seems to function exactly as it would be expected to with just one 7970M in terms of performance. When the card reappears, I simply select CrossFire in CCC and things are like they used to be.

So, I dunno... maybe something going on besides vRAM... maybe a GPU VRM acting up? That might better explain the vanishing act. Both of the video cards that I returned were not operating at the correct voltage specs. One was higher than it should be and the other was lower, and the memory clock speeds on one was out of spec. That problem followed each video card when I switched PCI-e slots with them, so it definitely was an issue with the video cards not an issue with my system.

Sometimes I wish I could do that trick. Being invisible on demand would be pretty cool, but it's not a cool trick for the GPU to be playing on me, LOL.

 

Hey Mr. Fox, nice video/benchmarks. I'm about to order the M18x R2 with the 7970m's in Crossfire! I would go with the 680m's SLI, but I can't put $600 more out on it. I feel like once AMD/Dell fixes the issues with Crossfire, they might out perform the 680m's. Anyways, I hope I am making the right choice and won't be dissapointed with thr performance of the 2 beasts.

 

@darksouler76 - I hope so, too. If you get a good pair of 7970M in CrossFried they definitely will rock your socks off. Congratulations on the new M18x R2. I think chances are pretty great you'll get a good setup. It's only subjective and I have no way to prove it, but I think the first wave of 7970M video cards had the more glaring issues. The frequency of problems seems to be a lot less for those that received newer GPUs or ordered new systems with 7970M more than a month later.