Could use a little help with my new 7970M!

So hey guys, I just bought a 7970M for my Alienware M15X and I was just curious at what I should set the volts to and if theres perhaps a guide for someone like me who's a total beginner at doing this kind of thing. I saw one guide on undervolting but it looked like it was CPU only and the others I find sort of want me to get a flash drive or some . I guess I was wondering if there was an easier option.

Also, I'm using the stock charger for the time being until I upgrade between the 210 or 240 PSU.

I know this is also a little random but if I were to change my PSU does that also mean I have to get the m17x DC jack or would the m15x DC jack be fine?


Thanks for all your help in advance!

 

You can leave it stock if you'd like. You just need the 210 or 240w adapter. The m15x will accept the bigger psu fine, no need to change any dc jacks.

To stop throttling, if I remember correctly, it was found to be a issue with the ac adapter. You can buy a jack adapter to put on top of the 210/240w adapter and remove the middle pin on the adapter jack. This will allow the laptop to run full power, but it will not charge the battery.

 

So I just read up on what throttling was. Basically if I keep my laptop at a cool temp it should be okay. Wouldn't undervolting help that though? Thats why I was sort of curious what to set it too. I also hear that it allows the GPU to last longer as well.


I'll still loo into that adapter, I believe it's pretty cheap regardless.

Someone else told me that my stock charger is fine as long as I don't over clock the GPU just yet and undervolt

It's a pretty expensive GPU so I'm trying my best not to mess it up when I get it ;P

 

No undervolting still won't solve throttling, at least not in my experience. I'm running 700/1000 @ 0.900v yet it can still throttle probably because of my 3.6ghz i7 920xm. I don't game on my m15x though, so it's not a problem for me.

 

Guide to Video BIOS flashing | techPowerUp Guide to flashing new vBIOSes
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2654032/Bios975.ROM 0.975v vBIOS, made using svl7's vBIOS patcher.

Definitely get an L-adapter and pull the middle pin on it. This stops the power delivery to the laptop from being limited and thus stops throttling. If you want to overclock an XM processor and your 7970M you need a 210W or 240W PSU. Get one soon or watch your 150W PSU die.

 

Well right now my processor is just an i3 duo core at 2.4 GHZ but I did plan on overclocking and such as soon as I got my hands on the 920XM and thanks so much for those links! I'll make sure to look into it asap.

Hopefully I don't mess it up <___< I'm pretty new to all this.

 

If you plan to overclock, make sure you always check the PC's temperatures using a monitoring software.

 

Throttlestop info here is brilliant and refreshes individual CPU core temps quicker than any other monitoring tool. It can also produce log files to diagnose throttling issues during gaming. The only way to overclock your XM processor.