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    M18x-R1 with 7970M CrossFire

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by DumbDumb, May 9, 2012.

  1. GTO_PAO11

    GTO_PAO11 Notebook Deity

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    Yes, let us know how the new drivers work out.
     
    GTO_PAO11, Jun 6, 2012
    #501
  2. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    okay so I downloaded and installed this new driver without any problem. Below are a few runs I did with both drivers 12.5 and 12.6.

    Besides manually setting fans to max via HWinfo and closing off windows gadgets and object dock, everything else is keep as is. I didn't use throttlestop.

    CPU 40-39-37-37. GPU 950-1400

    12.5

    [​IMG]
    AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P23030 3DMarks

    [​IMG]
    AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P6317 3DMarks

    [​IMG]

    12.6

    [​IMG]
    AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P23104 3DMarks

    [​IMG]
    AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P6232 3DMarks

    [​IMG]
    AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P6231 3DMarks

    I did 2 3Dmark 11 benchmarks with 12.6 since I noticed the score is lower.

    So yeah for me vantage get better score while 11 not so much.
     
    long2905, Jun 6, 2012
    #502
  3. steviejones133

    steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    long2905,

    Would you be able to do a stock run of 3dmark 11 without any cpu or gpu (see your gpu is 950/1400) overclock? - TIA
     
    steviejones133, Jun 6, 2012
    #503
  4. Speedy Gonzalez

    Speedy Gonzalez Xtreme Notebook Speeder!

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    thanks long2905 those drivers seems to be similar to 12.5 beta
     
    Speedy Gonzalez, Jun 6, 2012
    #504
  5. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    sorry man but that would be too much trouble for me and I would have to set back a bunch of settings as well as flashing vbios, etc. I'm not that passionate anymore :(.
     
    long2905, Jun 6, 2012
    #505
  6. steviejones133

    steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Fair enough dude, I totally understand that in your case, its far too much hassle....
     
    steviejones133, Jun 6, 2012
    #506
  7. Zero989

    Zero989 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Zero989, Jun 6, 2012
    #507
  8. GTO_PAO11

    GTO_PAO11 Notebook Deity

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    What about benchmarking in gaming like Crysis, Skyrim and Arkham City(concerning 12.6)?
     
    GTO_PAO11, Jun 6, 2012
    #508
  9. Speedy Gonzalez

    Speedy Gonzalez Xtreme Notebook Speeder!

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    I got a run with 12.5 beta drivers :)
    [​IMG]
     
    Speedy Gonzalez, Jun 6, 2012
    #509
  10. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Yes, it works flawlessly with the 580M SLI. The 7970M CF has a hard time matching the FPS in Batman benchmarks. It's odd how much a difference proper optimization can make. I sure hope AMD does something with the drivers for these bad boys real soon.

    Alrighty then! Something new to play with. Crossing my fingers and hoping this works better. I think I could go from "liking" to "loving" 7970M CF if I could get it to be consistently good at everything... hoping drivers fix it. ;)

    Edit: OK, I have done quite a bit of testing (several hours and numerous benchmarks) and this driver works better with 7970M CF than any other I have used thus far. It installed properly and behaves better than the rest for me.
     

    Attached Files:

    Mr. Fox, Jun 6, 2012
    #510
  11. GTO_PAO11

    GTO_PAO11 Notebook Deity

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    What other games, Great man? Can you check? And did you do a clean install with that driver?
     
    GTO_PAO11, Jun 7, 2012
    #511
  12. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Yes, definitely a clean driver installation. As you can see, the driver is working great.

    <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pI_p3SAgkek?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/pI_p3SAgkek?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width='853' height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 6, 2015
    Mr. Fox, Jun 7, 2012
    #512
  13. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    only one problem...it says it's running in dx9... :(
     
    Johnksss, Jun 7, 2012
    #513
  14. GTO_PAO11

    GTO_PAO11 Notebook Deity

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    What do you mean?

    Is the Xfire registry trick necessary?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 6, 2015
    GTO_PAO11, Jun 7, 2012
    #514
  15. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    where it says d3d9 right on the right hand side of the screen. in the video. and i just ran skyrim and it says the same thing. i was looking at the ground and it even looks like d3d9. is there a direct way to enable dx11?
     
    Johnksss, Jun 7, 2012
    #515
  16. GTO_PAO11

    GTO_PAO11 Notebook Deity

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    Have you tried other games? I don't think Skyrim supports dx11 at all.
     
    GTO_PAO11, Jun 7, 2012
    #516
  17. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    i have notice that on a few...even dues ex, rage....but i cant tell if it's just what msi reports or is it really the correct version of dx....
     
    Johnksss, Jun 7, 2012
    #517
  18. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    I always do it, no matter what.
    I wonder the same thing. It could be a false report.

    Edit: not a false report. I set Very High Defaults. I re-ran it with DX11 features and will post a couple of screen shots in the benchmark thread.
     
    Mr. Fox, Jun 7, 2012
    #518
  19. Zero989

    Zero989 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Nice! What were the results beforehand?
     
    Zero989, Jun 7, 2012
    #519
  20. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Instability beforehand... results are essentially the same, just smoother to work with. With other drivers I tried, performance dropped and things got more buggy, so I'm glad to see an overall improvement with no loss in performance. Plus, some of them had to be tweaked to get them installed. This one just installed like it was meant to be.

    Just don't check the box to install the Application Profiles in CIM because they're outdated. Leave it unchecked and install the latest CAPS instead.
     
    Mr. Fox, Jun 7, 2012
    #520
  21. Pandasplooge

    Pandasplooge Notebook Geek

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    I really hope that there is still a lot of untapped potential in these cards. Even with the newest drivers from Guru3d I am barely seeing a difference in most games and my scores are actually worse in the Metro 2033 benchmark with the 7970's then with my old 6990's.
     
    Pandasplooge, Jun 7, 2012
    #521
  22. residualvoltage

    residualvoltage Notebook Deity

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    well when crossfire works right you will see way more as your single 7970m overclocked can probably near your 6990m's in crossfire.
     
    residualvoltage, Jun 7, 2012
    #522
  23. Zero989

    Zero989 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Okay thanks. I'll be sure to do that. Once my CrossFire gets working...
     
    Zero989, Jun 7, 2012
    #523
  24. deuceduzit

    deuceduzit Notebook Evangelist

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    I just bought me a 2nd hand m18x and have a 7970m on the way... now I just realize I need new sinks for everything to work.... anyone have any ideas how much the heat sinks are from dell?

    Anyone have one spare sitting around? Gladly pay for it.... pm me.
     
    deuceduzit, Jun 12, 2012
    #524
  25. DumbDumb

    DumbDumb Alienware !Wish money wasn't the problem.

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    its the same heat sink that are on the 6990s if that helps.. sorry for the way late response.
     
    DumbDumb, Jun 25, 2012
    #525
  26. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Well, it's actually not the same heat sink. The 6990M heat sinks will fit without a problem, but the 7970M heat sinks are slightly larger and probably do a better job of cooling. If the M18x you purchased has NVIDIA cards, then you will need new heat sinks. Sorry to hear you've ordered a 7970M GPU. You may be waiting for a long time for drivers that work... and, we still don't know for sure that it will even work properly with an "official" driver.
     
    Mr. Fox, Jun 26, 2012
    #526
  27. Nekoarashi

    Nekoarashi Notebook Enthusiast

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    So.. funny story. Back at the end of April I placed an order with Dell technical for a pair of 7970 GPU for my M18X and was promised delivery within the week. Never happened, got delay shipping notice after shipping delay notice. Finally around the start of August (and speaking to countless service reps for Dell and supervisors) I get told that the parts are end of life and not coming back. ? I thought that was a flagship part. Does anyone know who at Dell I can contact directly so that I can see what is really going on and order the parts through them? Please let me know, the last few months have been a total waste and I really need to upgrade from my 560 sli's. Thank you, you guys are great :)
     
    Nekoarashi, Aug 25, 2012
    #527
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