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    7970M VRAM Overheat Help!

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by Night92, Sep 2, 2012.

  1. Night92

    Night92 Newbie

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    Hello there guys,

    I've just installed a 7970M into the M15x and have experienced many shutdowns. I have undervolted the card to 0.95v, changed the thermal pads numerous times, and the shutdowns still occur. I am using the fujipoly 0.5mm thermal pads. Temperatures are stable at 72 degrees while playing guild wars 2 which uses less than 80% GPU utilisation (does not shutdown), but when it comes to games like sleeping dogs it shuts off after 10 mins.

    I tried using MSI Kombustor to stress the GPU to 99% and the temperature stayed at 80 degrees, but it could only last 6 minutes 35 seconds before it failed on me again!

    Please help me guys! I really do not know what to do.

    EDIT: I am using the 6970M Clevo bracket with the appropriate screws the seller sent me.
     
    Night92, Sep 2, 2012
    #1
  2. Daverish

    Daverish Notebook Consultant

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    Hope this helps, im wondering if you only have the VRAM covered and not anything else! The red is where I had 0.5mm pads and the green were some really tall/thick pads! My card came with a Clevo heatsink still attached and I reused the non-standard (whatever size) pads they were for the parts I circled in green.

    7970m (1).jpg
     
    Daverish, Sep 2, 2012
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  3. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    The middle of the green rectangles contains capacitors. They need no cooling. ;)

    Night92 - make sure there's enough pressure on the die, else some area of it might overheat. It's very unlikely that your issues are due to the vram modules, they don't really run hot.
     
    svl7, Sep 2, 2012
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  4. Daverish

    Daverish Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks svl7, I'll update my photo. I was trying to go off memory, my bad!
     
    Daverish, Sep 2, 2012
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  5. Night92

    Night92 Newbie

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    I took my laptop apart again and tightened the screws as tight as I could to make sure there is enough pressure on to the heatsink as well making sure that the thermal pads were properly placed. This time, it could survive the first fifteen minutes of furmark burn in test and tops out at 84 degrees. I decided to go for a second round of testing, but it failed miserably after 7 minutes as it shuts off again.

    I am so desperate to get this fixed and have been tearing apart my laptop several times with new thermal pads and numerous repastes. Please help me! :(
     
    Night92, Sep 3, 2012
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  6. imglidinhere

    imglidinhere Notebook Deity

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    I would use 1.0mm pads because 0.5mm pads make absolutely no contact with the 7970M I possess. I understand the difference in heatsinks and the like but I always hear that 0.5mm never does well enough.
     
    imglidinhere, Sep 6, 2012
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  7. Mexic00ls

    Mexic00ls Notebook Deity

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    I would not use furmark, use in game testing
     
    Mexic00ls, Sep 6, 2012
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  8. Night92

    Night92 Newbie

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    After an umpteenth amount of repastes, the laptop does not shutdown in any games now :) But it still does when it comes to furmark. Oh well if it works well with games I am more than satisfied ;)
     
    Night92, Sep 6, 2012
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