Ati Radeon Mobility HD 5870 on M15x or M17x

I ordered a M17x R2 with a single HD5870 last friday, does or doesn't it have the crossfire connector?
* Since they are two different part numbers and the parts page specifically list RV546 as having the cable, my guess would be no. Also, there is not a part number for just the CrossfireX cable.

So if I'm missing out on power, would I still be able to upgrade it to crossfire with another HD5870, heatsink, fan and CF cable?
* I do not understand, "So if I'm missing out on power"?

 

Well I just hope they release them soon! My guess is still on or slightly before E3... i just hope they release it before the 5% off coupon on alienware sys over $1899 expires

 

Hi Chris,
I was wondering if those who ordered their m17x r2 with a single 5870 will be able to upgrade by buying an additional 5870 w/ the xfire cables or would they have to purchase an entire kit consisting of both 5870s w/ xfire cables. Also how much will such an upgrade cost?

 

Did they e-mail that coupon out? I haven't received it yet.

 

Sorry, I mean GPU rendering power, not Watt's or anything (bad choice of words I guess).

But my original question is still not really clear... As the question of Desertf0x9 in this thread is exact the same (except for the price part), maybe I should refrase it;

Can I upgrade my M17x-R2 from a Single HD5870 to a crossfire (dual) setup by just buying another single HD5870 (part RV546)? And does this part (part RV546) contain a heatsink, fan, cf cable?

 

0SVXBK8LJBJ0ST

It works only on the Home website. It doesn't work with EPP.

 

Thanks, guess it'll come in useful for someone that doesn't have EPP access.

 

I was wondering if those who ordered their m17x r2 with a single 5870 will be able to upgrade by buying an additional 5870 w/ the xfire cables or would they have to purchase an entire kit consisting of both 5870s w/ xfire cables. Also how much will such an upgrade cost?
* I really have no idea. I am in Technical Support, not Sales.

Can I upgrade my M17x-R2 from a Single HD5870 to a crossfire (dual) setup by just buying another single HD5870 (part RV546)?
* Yes.
And does this part (part RV546) contain a heatsink, fan, cf cable?
* That is what it looks like in the picture.

 

can you verify if the single 5870 card in the M17x has a CF connector on the card?

 

Chris I love you for confirming this.

 

Thanks

*10char*

 

Not to rain on the parade or anything, but from what I gather, those with a single 5870 can upgrade only by buying the whole kit, or 2 5870's with the cable? It doesn't seem like you can just buy 1 extra card from the description of the part numbers... That wouldn't be very attractive at all. Plus you would need the 240w adapter if you didn't have one already.

I guess we will know soon enough after the first single 5870 is received.

 

I already have the 240w included so that wouldn't be a problem.

 

OOO i want to buy the CF setup.. was the price mentioned? If so I missed it.

 

No, the price wasn't mentioned.. Dell has the part number, but no info on cost or when it will be released.

 

I tried to purchase one ATi HD 5850 over the phone for my m15x and AW Tech Support would not sell me one. Their excuse was " The part number does not exist , and therefore cannot be sold, you have to wait till after June 5th to call back and check " . O.k....then.... That sucks !!! I have a laptop worth over at least 4K (Of course I didn't pay that much) and my weakest part is the GPU.

AW did verify the ATi HD 5730(boooo), but no price because it was not in stock.

 

Why do you want a 5850 when you did the 5870 mod? I must have missed a post somewhere.

 

I haven't been posting...just a few times..lol I just want to see what will be the difference, heatsink,drivers...overclockability and so forth. At least if I fried my m15x, I would want to do it the right way.

 

Why June 5th? Seems weird.

 

maybe that is when they are releasing the CF 5870's on the m17x?! lol

 

I have been following the topic and I have a question. Although the dell rep says otherwise I have seen several people with 5870 in their m15x. From what I've read and seen from furmark tests the 5870 cooks in the m15x. How is the 5870 under gaming conditions, like crysis? I currently have a gtx260m and would like your advise to either go for a gtx285m upgrade that is not as hot (I assume), or just go for it and get the 5870 upgrade? They cost the same (oddly) so the only factor really is the heat to performance increase ratio. Bearing in mind that this laptop will be my primary computer for a good 3 years, so I want to be able to game properly for a while, but I don't know what the long term effects will be.

Sorry for the long post but I really need an answer.

 

Max gaming temps are around 85 for me personally. Haven't tried crysis on it yet. But bfbc2 for hours and that is what I get. The hottest part of the 5870 is the memory so get some good thermal pads. I'm pretty sure the 285 will have similar temps.

 

Someone also needs to try a 4870 in the M15x, it got passed over in favor of the 5870 but the performance should still be good but with lower temps

 

Right, so you reckon I should get the 5870 as it will have similar temps as the gtx 285m....but with better performance. So could you point me in the direction of some good thermal pads? So what is the max temp you get, 85C? Would you reckomend the upgrade and were there any difficulties, like drivers?

 

you can try to change the thermal past (i put liquid metalic pro "it was very hard" but it's very efficient).

http://www.coollaboratory.com/en/

 

u can get thermalpads from frozencpu... and use mx-3... max temp is 85c... that is alright for these cards... idle temp on stock clocks is 57-59c and on 200/300 it is high 40's....

as for the drivers u have to use device manager and update the drivers from there by directing windows to the folder containing the driver files... I didn't find it difficult at all ...

 

i have one of those but didn't use it... was not sure about it... did u use it to cool the gpu ram... its very thin actually...

 

Forgot to ask, you guys use laptop mats and stuff, and internally what could I do about cooling. As I said this would void my warranty and I don't want to find myself with a melted graphics card a year down the line. How long gave you guys had the upgrade for?

 

Oh, I use arctic silver 5, or is your recomendation better?

 

i use it on gpu and cpu (6 hours to do it) with this thermal pad (in 1mm 'cause it's this size in alienware) :
Aquatuning -Your watercooling and modding distributor - Phobya Wärmeleitpad Ultra 5W/mk 30x30x0,5mm (1 Stück) Phobya Thermalpad Ultra 5W/mk 30x30x0,5mm (1 piece) 17068
and a cryo lx.

As5 is very good.

 

double post

 

LOL, why six hours to apply (presumably) 2 thermal pads?! Are you using the thermal pads as an alternative to thermal paste? Also, is that metal paste thing worth the effort?

What I'm getting a sense of though is that actually quite a few people have done this upgrade.

 

it's a thermal paste wich is very liquid and if you do a mistake you will destroy the component (and the first time i didn't put enough).

 

Damn, I'm not experienced enough to be doing stuff that could instantly kill my CPU and GPU.

 

get mx-3, no curing time and non conductive, so its noob proof. also the thermal pads the white wizard recommended is very good, but the pads are for the ram and the paste is for the chip.

 

yes and there is a pad on the cpu heat pipe too.

 

Could anyone possibly provide a link to the said thermal pads an mx-3 paste if possible? Dw if you can't be bothered. Should I not use my arctic silver then? So you guys say this will adequetly cool the CPU and gpu. What have you done on your machines?

 

Should I not use my arctic silver then? And where would I download the latest drivers from, on the ati website I can only find the catalyst control centre.

 

artic silver 5 is a good paste, mx3 too.

the ati driver (dl full package) : ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver

 

So just install it? Because that's the software that I found but people are saying that you have to specify driver locations and stuff.

 

if you have the a05 bios you have to install the driver manually if you have the a02 bios you can install it (if you have 5870 you have to install it manually).

 

What temps do you guys get at idle and at several hours of gaming? Also are you using a laptop cooler?

 

The A06 bios is out. What does that mean?

 

at the first boot i see 40°C (104°F) on both gpu and 39°C to 41°C on cpu (102.2°F to 105.8°F) after occt gpu (it's a burn test) i see 70°C max (158°F) on both gpu and after occt cpu 67°C max (152.6°F). In my lounge (where the laptop is) i see : 26°C to 28°C (78.8°F to 82.4°F) and the alien is on the cryo lx but it's off.

 

Right, but that's on a m17x. It's designed to take a 5870. I have a m15x and I really don't want to burn it out. On some other forums people who have done the upgrade say not above 100C preferably 85C. What do you think?

 

look at that : Alienware m15 R2 Upgrade

 

Yeah I've been in contact with them reguarding that post and it's the high temps and the failed furmark that worry me. I mean at idle the graph shows 74C! Mine's at 54C when idle. I wanted to speak to people who have first hand experience with the upgrade and know actual gaming temps, that's why I started posting.

 

there is a post on it in the m15x section but i think you can buy a 5850.

 

5850 is worse than my 260m is it not?

 

ummm no, 5850 is better than 260