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    M15X + 780M or 8970M FORUM MEMBERS EXPERIENCE

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by CANDYPOP, Jan 4, 2014.

  1. CANDYPOP

    CANDYPOP Newbie

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    Did somebody in the forum already update their machine with the 780m or 8970m ?
    and the most important question did it work well ? :D
     
  2. JohnnyFlash

    JohnnyFlash Notebook Virtuoso

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    The 8970m is the 7970m, so you can use those threads for reference. The 780m would draw too much power I think, the 680m is a viable option tho.
     
  3. fatboyslimerr

    fatboyslimerr Alienware M15x Fanatic

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    If you're prepared to do things like tweak driver inf files and flash custom vBIOS then definitely get the gtx 680m as it can overclock much higher than 7970m/8970m (same card). If you're more of a plug and play guy get a 7970m and overclock it higher than a 8970m like I have, and be happy.

    Gtx 780m draws too much power so can only be run at stock and even then not sure how stable or how hot it runs.

    Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk
     
  4. chopsy

    chopsy Notebook Consultant

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    If you don't have a power hungry CPU, the 780m runs well, no throttling at stock clocks or any stability issues. However, in certain games it runs hot.
    It has a 3Dmark11 graphics score of 8000. Physics and combined are low(don't remember how low exactly, but low.) because of my CPU. Max temp during the benchmark was 78. It's winter here so the ambient temp is low, especially in my apartment. In the summer, the high temp may be a big problem as the temp builds up really fast in some games, for example in The Witcher 2 it reaches 80 in a few minutes. I had a gtx 260m before this 780m and this temp seems too high to me :). I hope to fix this issue by doing a KOI cooling mod. When I get a new CPU, I also want to get a 240W power adapter if I notice any power issues.
     
  5. CANDYPOP

    CANDYPOP Newbie

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    you are so wonderful guys !!! :thumbsup:
    let me resume it quickly my m15x have a 720qm processor, a 150W power adapter and a gtx 260m so :
    Do i need to flash bios for 780m, 680m and 8970m i mean tweaking drivers is not a problem but flashing hmmmm if it work wonderful if not i will lose my pants :eek:
    Finally if i understand only the 7970m is plug'n'play !!!
    If anyway i need to flash bios i will need to flash the bios on my alienware or my 780m or 680m video card ?
    But i find this seller on ebay :
    Nvidia Geforce GTX 780M 4GB DDR5 FOR Clevo Alienware Upgrademonkey IN Stock | eBay
    It say it work for m15x but do i need to change power or keep my 150W if i only run the card at stock ?
    thank for everything guys :thumbsup:
     
  6. chopsy

    chopsy Notebook Consultant

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    I have a i7 740qm and a 780m and I kept my 150W charger. It does not get hot and I have no problems with it. If you get 680m or 780m you will have to flash them in order to run stock clocks. Otherwise, they will be severely underclocked. I don't know about the 7970m.
     
  7. fatboyslimerr

    fatboyslimerr Alienware M15x Fanatic

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    Don't buy from Upgrademonkey. They have a bad reputation and poor customer service. Try to buy one from the marketplace here on the forum (under General).

    A more powerful PSU is advised if you also plan on getting an extreme processor (920/940xm) as these are very power hungry. I would highly recommend getting one of these processors as I have noticed very clearly how much games stutter if I forget to run the 3Ghz overclock, i.e. at 2.1Ghz games are bottlenecked by the cpu. You will experience heavy gpu throttling however unless you remove the centre pin from the jack of the psu.

    You don't need to flash 7970M but I would recommend it to lower the voltage. The 7970M can run perfectly fine at 850/1200 (stock clocks) and 0.975v which is a pretty significant undervolt. It also runs much cooler at this voltage.
     
  8. CANDYPOP

    CANDYPOP Newbie

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    chopsy how much fps do you get on ultra with 1920x1080 on crysis 3 (if you have it of course) with your 780m ? :D
    fatboyslimerr how much fps do you get on ultra with 1920x1080 on crysis 3 (if you have it of course) with your 7970m ? :D
    thanks !!! :thumbsup:

    about upgrademonkey i didn't know their reputation was so bad because some of my friends bought from them and everything was good but anyway i pay by paypal if i have any troubles they can handle it i hope ???? :D
     
  9. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    Crysis 3 is quite heavy on the CPU. The 740qm will certainly be a bottleneck at high settings. I reckon you need a good 2.8ghz-3ghz minimum OC at 1080p running this game to not bottleneck the GPU. I have a feeling if you were to upgrade the CPU Chopsy your 780M will be able to stretch it's legs much more. Probably in many games those of us running the lowly 7970M can get better fps because of this. When you do upgrade the CPU however the GPU will then consume more power and get even hotter as it won't be limited anymore...

    I would recommend the OP to either get the 7970M or 680M GTX which are great value for money OR wait for the next generation nvidia maxwell and AMD offerings.
     
  10. chopsy

    chopsy Notebook Consultant

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    I'll have to get an external screen for that, I have the 1600x900 one :D. On this monitor, all cranked up to very high, max antialising and max everything, max fps is 30, avg fps is 20, 14 is as low as they go.

    In the end I agree with what everybody says here. The GTX 780M can't be run all games properly(Dota 2, World of Tanks run fine) without a cooling mod or an underclock/undervolt. After a CPU upgrade I really don't know how things will go.
     
  11. djboz

    djboz Notebook Consultant

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    Congratulations on your 780m Chopsy, glad to see you took the plunge! Did you have any issues with the on board sound?

    I have the 770m (upgraded from an AMD 5850m) and apart from loosing the onboard sound, it all works fine. Not too big an issue for me as I have a USB headset (when using it as a 'laptop' otherwise its plugged into a monitor via HDMI and I have always used the HDMI sound with that solution. I have just not had the time to investigate it fully (new house, new daughter and busy job have all kept me away from gaming too much!)

    Boz
     
  12. chopsy

    chopsy Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks! Indeed I had issues with the board sound, but after a few hours of headaches and trying stuff I managed to get it working :D. When you have some time on your hands and you want to fix the issue pm me. It takes a bit of uninstalling and reinstalling and several reboots :)
     
  13. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    I am happy you tested out for the community Chopsy however running the 780M on a 1600x900 machine was perhaps not fitting. You could have saved a TON of money and had just as good performance buying the 680M GTX! This chip also runs incredibly cool and if needed can OC far better than the 7970M (a good 30% increase in many cases!) I fear that once paired to a 1080p reso and a decent cpu the 780M will not play well! Power draw will be up hugely!

    The new generation is where it is at I conclude that the 7970M/8970M are basically old now. Also the Kepler tech that the 680M/780M are based on is also a bit long in the tooth! The 780M does achieve a very good performance increase however when let off the leash it just consumes far more than old gaming laptops were designed to handle.

    At this point it really makes sense to see what the next nvidia and amd architecture bring in terms of power efficiency as we M15x owners MUST keep GPU power consumption to 100-120W maximum. That really is the hard limit! I admire people trying things out and investing in the old beast as I have done and will continue to do but it is important to keep things sensible. Paying $600 for the 780M and running it in the M15x paired to a 720qm-840qm and 1600p reso while also knowing about the limits of the laptop is not sensible and therefore not advised at all.

    Not directed at you Chopsy as you have really helped out the community doing the upgrade but rather to those who haven't upgraded yet.

    Happy upgrading peeps.
     
    chopsy likes this.