M15x GPU Thread: General Discussion on Upgrades, GPU Troubleshooting & Repairs

What the 920XM has that the 740/840QM don't have is an unlocked multiplier. That will allow you to overclock the 920XM to past 3Ghz. Results will vary upon chip, but my 920XM allows me to run 27x on 3-4 cores and 28x on 1-2 cores. (Roughly 3.6Gbz on 4 cores and 3.73Ghz on 1-2 cores) That puts it faster than a desktop i7-920 and within 15-20% slower than the 3720QM. You won't be able to get those speeds on the 740/840QM. You can go ahead and go with the lower end chips, but there are speed gains to be had with the 920XM. If you decide to replace the CPU/GPU, I would suggest getting IC Diamond 24 as thermal paste.

The first gen mobile i7's don't support IGP on the die. So there will be no switchable graphics. Just the dedicated ones you would have installed on your MXM slot. Bare in mind, once you go i7, you can go up to 16GB ram too. I suggest Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB PC1600 ram. It downclocks to 1333Mhz just fine and uses VERY reliable Micron memory chips. If you end up getting the 920XM and the 7970M, make sure your PSU will be able to support the load. (240W PSU recommended, but can do 210W with pin mod. Check forum for details)

Hope this helps.

 

Thank you, it really does. Sorry for the delay in response, just when I was looking at upgrading, my m15x starts playing up by randomly restarting...

 

I've decided to go ahead and pull the trigger to update my aging 560M. I am looking at the 7970M

Promotion Alienware AMD HD Dell 7970M 2GB GDDR5 for M15X M17x M18x Upgrade | eBay

If I buy this card do I need any other supporting items such as a proper xbracket or anything? If so where can I get one? I've tried looking but am having trouble finding the right one.

 

Thank you for taking out time to reply. Can you list the things I need to have (brackets, heatsinks, pads, screws etc) before I make the plunge to 7970m and 920xm. Are these plug n play? Would the AMD 5730m's bracket, screws and heatsink fit 7970m? I need to know all the details because sourcing parts is a BIG problem in this part of the world.

 

I'm sorry to hear that, when does it restart? Does it give you a blue screen? Did you run a virus scan? I would test the hardware using memtest86+ for memory, Seatools for windows/hitachi drive test for hard drives. All this on a NON windows environment. Hope this helps.

 

You will need this: GPU Spreader x Bracket w Screws for MXM 3 0B AMD HD69X0M 79X0M 89X0M VGA Modules | eBay

This and thermal paste (IC Diamond 24 works best) + Thermal Pads (for the memory chiips/mofsets). Hope this helps.

 

The 5730's bracket will not fit the 7970M. I learned that the hard way. you can get this bracket: GPU Spreader x Bracket w Screws for MXM 3 0B AMD HD69X0M 79X0M 89X0M VGA Modules | eBay

As long as you get a 7970M that is designed to work on dell/aw laptops, it should be plug and play. You may look into getting a modded vBios to make the 7970M run cooler. (lower voltage)

Thermal paste (IC Diamond 24 works best) + Thermal Pads (for the memory chiips/mofsets). Hope this helps.

 

Hi guys,

One question this graphic card(gtx 675m) part number:N13E-GS1-A1 is compatible with m15x? My m15x have ati 5850m will be have problems to install gtx 675?

Thanks

 

Refurbished 920xm? Good or horrible idea? I assume for $11.50 it's a scam or complete crap , but thought I'd at least ask.

 

that is the current price in the auction... I presume the min price to sell is way upper.

 

haha wow, just wow is all I have to say..... hangs head in shame

 

Well now that I've embarrassed myself, what's the general consensus on a refurbished cpu off ebay?

Sent from my Moto X using Tapatalk

 

Going from a 5870 to a 7970 - The card I am buying supplies the spreader/x-bracket.

Can anyone confirm the densities and amount/size of thermal pads needed?

Haven't had any luck on this...

 

I use Phobya Ultra 5W/mk 1.0mm thermal pads on my vram. A 120mm x 20mm strip should be enough to cover all vram and capacitors on your 7970M.

 

PERFECT - Thank you, +rep +kisses +bj's whatever you want... lol

As a curiosity - 1.0mm only suffice? I noticed some videos and setups (m15x/m17x etc) had thicker stuff on the capacitors?

 

I'm happy with 1.0mm, the vrams also leave an indent on the thermal pad suggestion sufficient pressure is applied. I used the stock green thermal pads (which seem a bit thinner) on all the capacitors.

 

Hey guys!


Some one can link me where to buy a new FRONT GLASS to M15X?

Look at mine, got some scratches

 

Ebay, I've seen them there....

 

Hey everyone, first time attempting to upgrade an m15x, so newb mistake here. I bought a gtx 860m that came from a clevo. Put it in white screen after windows comes up, boots in safe mode only to find that there's no hardware ID for my the 860, so my m15x isn't detecting it I suppose. I read that a guy put a 970 in an m15x, any chance anyone can help me figure out how to make an 860 work? I tried putting my 260 back in but somehow the card got borked and now with the 260 the m15x won't post just gets stuck in a recycling boot failure. Please help.

 

Help!

I tried to upgrade my M15x from my factory geforce 240m to a geforce 260m. Powered it up nothing comes up on screen so I switched back to the 240m and still nothing on screen on power up but sounds like it's running. How do I fix this?

 

follow this thread. youll have to come up with your own inf for the drivers but it will work. the white screen issue is a driver conflict between the sound card and the new nvidia hdmi outputs

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/m15x-gtx770m-guide.771350/

sounds like you may have not installed the card correctly. double check everything. it should at least post

 

I just had to remove the cmos battery it works fine now

 

nice congrats

 

Has anyone managed to successfully put a 770m in an M15x? I have one and wondering if it can be upgraded to that level

 

yes. many have done it including me.

ill gladly sell you mine if you want it. i was looking to upgrade to a 970m

 

Hey guys, I have a new problem with my battery.

The battery icon shows : 0% available (plugged in, charging). However, it is not charging.
If I disconnect the power adapter, the laptop will instantly shut down.

I already tried a few things to no avail :
1. Uninstalling the ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery in device manager
2. Removing the battery and the power adapter and holding the power button for 1 minute.

Those 2 didn't work for me, and now I'm out of ideas.

Please help!

 

sounds like your battery crapped out.

 

yeah happened mine too. the battery is dead. there is a battery thread here but I haven't bought one

 

how much?

 

Anyone here using the AMD Firepro m6000?

 

I appreciate if someone helps me buy a 1GB DDR5 6870m dell to place it I get blank screen. please help!!! my team is Alienware m15x r2, excuse my bad English .

 

do i need to upgrade to the unlocked a09 bios or is the standard dell a09 bios cool for upgrading to an M290x?

 

Unlocked BIOS is basically useless. Standard A09 does the job.

 

I'm about to buy a Quadro K3000M to replace my dead GTX 460M since the FirePro M6000 I ordered was dead as the seller tested it. Do I need to do anything to get it works in my M15x or just Plug and Play? And does the K3000M have similar gaming performance as the M6000?

 

Yes, if the card will be from Dell Precision notebooks it should be just Plug-n-Play, even no need to mod inf files.
In total, K3000M should have more or less the same performance as M6000 can provide.

 

Oh, thank you, I was confused about its performance compare to M6000 because on notebookcheck.net they said that K3000M has the same gaming performance as the GT 750M but the M6000 was situated between HD 7850M and HD 7870M which is a lot better than the GT 750M

 

FirePro M6000 and HD 7850M - HD 7870M - HD 8870M - R9 M265x/M270x/M275x (maby even - R9 M365x/M370x) - basically it's the same card with different GPU/VRAM speeds. So you can compare performance of this cards.
As for K3000M, there is no any card that can be paired to it.
GT 750M just higher clocked card with less CUDA cores and half sized memory bus width. Yes, stock to stock they are will be pretty close, but if you will overclock K3000M and M6000 in total you will have more powerful cards than even overclocked GT 750M/755M.

 

Thank you again I'll definitely take the K3000M since it's easier to find in my country than other GeForce or FirePro, RadeonHD cards (although it's somewhat overpriced)

 

Hi, all. I have a 680m from my m17x that I'm thinking about dropping in my m15x. It's using the stock 5850 card right now. I'm wondering what sort of parts I'd need to make this operation work (I'm sure this has been asked before, but I haven't found it yet).

My guesses would be:

1. Different x-bracket? I'm still using my 680m x-bracket in the m17x, so that's out. Not sure if the 5850 x-bracket is compatible at all.
2. Some 1mm silcone pads
3. A different PSU? I have a Dell 240w on hand (and an angle connector I can pull the pin on if necessary). Was there one that was more compatible? Was the throttle-nightmare ever put to bed?
4. Flash the card to an SVL7 vbios

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

1. Yes different x-bracket. Pick one up easily enough (from the Marketplace?)
2. I use 1mm Phobya 7mk/W Ultra thermal pads on my 680M.
3. 210W or 240W with centre pin removed from either the jack or a right angle adapter. 100% throttle free for years now using my 210W adapter. I can push 1000/1100 @1.05v and 3.4Ghz on CPU easily on my 210W adapter with no throttling.
4. Yes flash the card with either the 1v or 1.025v vbios (from Tech Inferno website)

 

hi there, I've got my M15x up and running, but I got a question: Which Quadro driver should I install? Quadro ODE or Quadro Performance?

 

Any you wanna. I never tested gaming performance of Quadro ODE 361.91 compared to GeForce 364.51.
But, Quadro drivers might be more stable.

 

Hm, interesting card - http://www.ebay.com/itm/NVIDIA-Tesl...693764?hash=item4648f47fc4:g:eIgAAOSw5VFWMFsh

Looks like it's based on GM204.

 

interesting! I've never thought about gaming with Tesla cards (or at least, using Tesla as primary GPU) , not sure how they perform though. :/

 

Here are some benchmarks of my new Quadro K3000M as requested by kosti

3DMark11 (I don't know why 3DMark11 didn't regconize my card )



Unigine Heaven Basic preset



Unigine Heaven Extreme preset



Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL


Cinebench R11.5 CPU


According to the benchmarks, I think the i7-720QM is too weak, guess I have to replace it as soon as possible

 

have anyone tried to "overclock" LCD refresh rate?
Normal


"Overclocked"

 

Pretty good score as for stock clock's, time to overclock it ^_^ Mem should be fine on 4000MHz, core anyway will be locked to +135Mhz.

I'm using 100-120Hz refresh rate from time to time, just don't know how it will affect on LCD life time.

 

I'll probaly try to OC my K3000M but at this time, I'll only run it on stock clock because I still don't have a good cooling option :/ Will try it as soon as I got a cooling pad

 

K4000M with OC to +340 on core hit's about 77-78C on stock cooling. With HWiNFO possible to cut few degrees cos stock GPU fan table didn't spin it to the top speed. K3000M should be cooler, so there is nothing to worry about.

 

mine has topped at nearly 70 on stock cooling (with a 5cm lift off the ground and I use IC Diamond 7 carat) not sure if OC will increase temp to what point