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

What is the difference between the 12.7b and 12.7b hotfix ? I'm currently using 12.7b from AMD website since 12.8WHQL causes black screen in 3dMark11. Can I use the 12.7b hotfix for 6990m's ?

 

I'm not sure what the technical differences between them are, but my 7970M CF system worked better (fewer BSOD and no pinstriped screen freezes) with 12.7b hotfix than it did with the regular 12.7b.

I still have issues with my screen going black in 3DMark11 and some games that use DX11, but it has done that with 12.5, 12.6, 12.7b, 12.7b hotfix and 12.8.

 

I just received my new 3 pipe heat sink today. It comes with some kind of thermal compound already on it, should I apply some more? I also remember Mr. Fox saying that he didn't. Also, after installing it, is there any setting I need to change in the Bios or anything.

 

The little grey square on the cpu heatsink is Dell's factory applied thermal compound. If you wanted to use that, it's just a case of cleaning up the cpu die and installing the heatsink - no need to add additional compound on top of the Dell stuff. Alternatively, you could remove it and clean up the heatshink and use an aftermarket compound. From what I've learned about the Dell stuff, it's actually quite high quality and is quite durable in terms of longevity. Chances are it will outlast aftermarket compounds but may not give you quite as low temps as you *may* get from using a compound such as ICDiamond24. The downside to using aftermarket products can be that you would have to repaste more frequently vs. the Dell stuff. Also, the diamond compound will scratch the cpu die and will remove the markings on the chip itself. There are other alternatives if you wanted to use a different product, such as Arctic Silver 5.

I'm pretty sure you need do nothing in Bios afterwards - it's just a heatsink at the end of the day. Perhaps you could monitor temps before and after to check on how much the triple has reduced your temps.

Personally, I'd give the Dell compound a shot. Worst case scenario is that you have to repaste with a aftermarket compound if you don't get good results.

 

Slap it on and go... Steve is correct. There is nothing to change other than the part itself.

Be sure to carefully tighten the heatsink screws in the 1,2,3,4 cross pattern as shown on the heat sink in equal amounts to ensure the heat sink and die mate perfectly and do not overtighten the screws. This is a frequent installation mistake and it leads to overheating. Once the screws engage the support plate go in quarter-turn increments with each screw in the pattern and all four screws will bottom out at approximately the same time with equal pressure.

 

Well I've never really paid attention the the heat, but I definitely will now and keep people updated.

Well I bought a cleaning solution from Dell in the form of a wipe, so all I have to do is cleaning off the CPU with that and just attach the new heat sink? I also read the comment speedy made in regards to the pressure washer. Did you try it and did it make any difference?

 

No, never did it and I did not need to because my temps have been great. If I remember correctly, Speed did that with the GPUs, not the 3-pipe CPU heat sink.

 

i know this is an old thread but thanks Mr. Fox for the video teardown. i have a m18x r2 w/ 7970m crossfire and had to open my laptop as it came with the crossfire cable sitting under the plastic housing. the cable was laying directly on top of the cpu heat sink. (i noticed the crossfire cable was not where it's suppose to be when trying to re-seat my keyboard due to the ESC and F1, F2, F3 keys sticking.) looking at your video, i noticed the crossfire able should seat on top of the plastic housing w/ the mouse pad that the keyboard is installed on. i used your video to take it apart and reinstall the crossfire cable correctly. took about 30 mins.

 

Glad that it was helpful, David. It's good that you saw that. The cable being in direct contact with the heat sinks would have ruined it.

 

nice music on the videos as well as good hand signals pointing to the screws.

btw, i ordered a triple pipe heat sink from that pchub post of the tripple pipe being a genuine dell part. in your video, i see you replacing yours by first wiping off the top of your cpu. @ 22min i wasn't sure that was dirt you were wiping off.

@ 23 min when def leppard is playing, you are wiping something off the triple pipe heat sink (were you wiping off dirt or was that paste that you are cleaning off? after that the the video @ 24.29 sec, all of a sudden cuts to seeing the (TIM) on the triple pipe heatsink. did you reapply paste off camera then start the video again? or was that the TIM that was placed on manually after wiping off the triple pipe sink with alcohol swabs?

i read in your first post you didn't reapply paste so i'm assuming the TIM has to be placed on the heatsink and is not automatically applied. i was going to post this question a month later when the part arrives.

 

Yes, what you saw me cleaning off was old thermal paste. And, you are correct... I did not apply thermal paste because I used the factory TIM that was pre-applied to the heat sinks by Dell instead of paste.

 

Sorry for the thread resurrection, but has anyone priced the 3PVGK Heat Sink Support Plate lately? The quote I received from dell parts for it was 400+ each, that doesn't even include the cards. Is that normal, I couldn't imagine a support plate costing 100 less than the graphic cards themselves.

 

That doesn't sound quite right. Maybe they are pricing you for a card, not sure. If it is only the support plate that you need, why not try Ebay. I just found this lisiting for the support plate on its own:

Alienware DELL Precision AMD Video Card GPU Heat Sink Spreader AMD 6990M 7970M | eBay

 

I ran into a similar goof up in the Dell pricing system for the NVIDIA support plate a couple of months ago. I wanted to order the special support plate designed for 580M that has heat spreaders for both memory banks and use that with my 680M SLI. I was quoted over $300 for that little bugger. There is no way on earth that is price is correct, but when it gets messed up in their system it seems that nobody knows how to straighten things out. Just order new heat sinks instead and you should be in good shape. The heat sinks are inexpensive and they normally include a support plate anyway.

 

So Mr. Fox Im not sure exactly how to like contact you in a message. But hopefully you will see this post. Since you have successfully upgraded your r1 motherboard to an r2 motherboard. I also have an r1 system. It ran great till a month ago. After much tinkering I have found that by taking both my 6970m Radeon Graphic cards out,and running on integrated graphics I am able to use my laptop again with out getting the 8 beep codes. However I am able to use run with one graphic card at a time. But when ever I do anything that requires more use of the graphics card, my system shuts down, and does the 8 beep codes everytime i boot up, until i open everything back up, and take the card out and so on. Also when my computer is on, and even when booting up the battery is not detected, and i get the plugged in but not charging notification. So im lead to believe that my system is not getting enough power. I believe it may be a motherboard issue with that. So, heres what i am planning on doing. I can either buy a new r1 board from dell for like $450. or depending on what all it would take i am considering buying the r2 board and installing that. But if i go with the r2 route i would need more information on what all i would need to get for that to make it happen. And if you could provide me any help with where to obtain the r2 board and other pats for it, it would help out greatly. After watching your youtube videos, i definitely want to upgrade my graphic cards after i fix my motherboard. So any help you can give me would be awesome.

 

Cool, I'll try that in a few weeks; I spent my spare cash for toys on Star Citizen this last weekend, so I'll have to wait till next paycheck. Thanks for the input regarding the plate.

 

Hi all,

It's been awhile since a second ressurection but still sitting with a R2 that has 7970m's and wondering which drivers are people using? Is it still the 12.7 or 12.9 betas, or are we finding stable and performing drivers in the 13.x range.

Responses or links to other threads... always appreciated. I have been searching for awhile, but this seems the only suitable thread to post in based on the topic.

Cheerio!

 

Wow you've been living under a rock in AMD land
Do yourself a favour and install 13.8 beta or above. I think 13.10 just came out today so give them a try. There is a whole sticky thread devoted to AMD drivers in the AW18 section of the forum. You can't miss it.

 

Ah, I think I found it.
This one? http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...rformance-problems-discussion-thread-175.html
Thanks! I recently reimaged my machine, and realized I didn't know what version I had running which was stable. Then searching found a whole bunch of 12.x discussions until I stumbled here / there.

Yes, my rock has been nice and cozy.

 

Yep that's the one buddy. Let us know how you go with them. Ill be installing 13.10 beta tonight when I get home from work. 13.8 and beyond are gold.

 

That was an awesome video my friend! you still have them older video cards by chance and want to sell? lol im currently on a single GPU the Nvidia 675m GTX, was curious what results id see on having a dual GPU set in this baby. I also have a 3720QM unlocked CPU i want to throw in this compared to the stock 3610qm, im sure ill see some benefits hopefully

 

Thanks for the compliment. I don't have the 7970M cards any more. I don't recommend them for a number of reasons, but that would certainly be a great deal more horsepower than a single 675M. I would recommend adding another 675M for SLI rather than going to 7970M CF. That would be comparatively inexpensive and a more reliable product, although not quite as powerful as dual 7970M. Better yet (if your wallet can afford it) would be an upgrade to 680M or 780M SLI.

 

Hmm 780m sli would be a killer upgrade but definitely the wallet wouldn't like that one lol Maybe ill look for a second 675m GTX for now to SLI her up for now and maybe see how that goes. Also want to look into getting one of them 3 pipe CPU heat sink, where you recommend parts like this, Ebay perhaps?

 

675m SLI would be a nice upgrade for you and would be fairly cheap. 680m SLI would, in my opinion, be the very best 'bang for buck' right now....

As for a triple pipe cpu heatsink, I have one available if you are interested. You can either PM me or take a look at my 'For Sale' thread here (gpu's have gone, unfortunately):

http://forum.notebookreview.com/com...i-bridge-oem-extreme-edition-triple-pipe.html

 

Get the 3-pipe heat sink from Brother Steve. After his is gone, anyone that wants one should first try to order one directly from Dell/Alienware rather than eBay.

 

Triple pipe CPU heatsink bought and paid for by turilo - reference: http://forum.notebookreview.com/com...bridge-oem-extreme-edition-triple-pipe-3.html Post #31.

Thanks mate - it'll be on it's way to you tomorrow. :thumbsup:

 

I'll be looking forward to putting that baby in this beast! Thanks again for the sale! and to Mr. Fox for the advice and great teardown tutorial :thumbsup:

 

@steviejones133 Triple pipe CPU heat-sink received today! Great packaging job m8! and speedy delivery! thank you sir :thumbsup: Oh and my IC Diamond Thermal paste came at the same time i ordered! couldn't have worked out better hahaha

 

is it still required to modify the drivers if you go with the 680m or 780m on the m18x R1? i know the 7970's are plug and play and i lean towards that setup but with having experienced the 6990's on this machine, i really hate amd driver support.

 

Yup you will always have to mod the INF for newer Nvidia GPU driver installs on the Alienware M18x R1. This applies to both the GTX680M and 780M GPUs. I am currently running dual 780M GPUs in my M18x R1 rig! :thumbsup:

Also you are right if we download the mobility AMD GPU drivers we never had to mod anything to get them to install.

Cheers.

 

WOW, that was quick - even I'm surprised at how quick you got it! - thanks, and I'm chuffed you are pleased with everything!

Please leave any feedback regarding the sale over on my NBR feedback thread located here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/mar...k/733852-steviejones133s-feedback-thread.html

 

but why mod the inf when you instal the mobile nvidia drivers?

 

Unfortunately they don't detect the newer Nvidia GPU's automatically. So you can't install any of the new Nvidia drivers plug and play if you will. You need to mod the INF file and add in the hardware ID's so that the new driver can detect and then you can install the new GPU drivers.

No real biggy really. There are plenty of experts on here that can help or normally release the modded INFs for the community. :thumbsup:

Cheers.

 

the hardware id's of what, the gpu's? if so then even on the m18x R2 these cards should not instal unless you mod the inf and add the Id. otherwise what other hardware Id is it really and why would nvidia not include it for so long?

it sounds like you are trying to instal the desktop drivers on the laptop.

 

Your right champ! The M18x R1 and R2 both need modded INF's to have the Nvidia drivers to install. Only the Dell Nvidia GTX 680Ms are plug and play with driver installation on the M18x R2 notebook. Other upgrades such as the 680Ms and 780Ms on the R1 require modded INFs to install. Also the same for the 780M on the R2.
Nvidia won't be adding the hardware ID's ever.

Trying to install the desktop drivers, now that would be very silly of me! :thumbsup:

Cheers.

 

One of the downsides of the nvidia driver system unfortunately. Also under windows 8 you have to disable driver signing enforcement.

 

i assumed the inf only carried the hardware Id of the gpu's. from what you are saying the inf also carries the hardware Id of the laptop's motherboard so that is why the blame is on nvidia.

if you can tell me exactly what needs to go in a modded inf file and what needs to be taken out or checked for i can write tiny executable that does it automatically instead of having to do it manually each and every time.