G73JH 6970M upgrade infomation

@tilla
did the g73 heatsink fit the msi hd 5870m without modification?
which backplate did you use?

 

hahah ordering a new heatsink... what's the concrete tool I'd need?

Also, there're 6970s for sale in the MXM website. Would you recommend picking one of those?

EDIT: I think I'm going with the Mx17 R3 heatsink replacement.

I've already spotted the heatsink in Ebay. I'll need some thermal paste, and thermal tape too right? Anything else?

 

Yes, it fits.
Backplate from the Asus 5870, because the screws are bigger than the other ones. The Asus backplate don't fits in the holes of stock MXM cards, so you have to do some more pressure on the spring srews to snap in.

 

No no the picture is of a nvidia GPU in the M17x r3 but i was just looking at a guid video of a 6970m repaste Alienware M17X R3 Re-pasting Guide and 6970 re-pasting guide - Newegg Promo Code - YouTube
the thermal pad is in direct contact with the MoBo.

 

As you can see, it's at the place, where it could make contact with the mainboard. IMO a protection against contact.
In G73 the whole place around the MXM is protected with this black plastic.
And a thermal pad is just as good as the applied heatsink. Just a thermal pad without heatsink is senseless. My opinion.

 

tilla +1 for you,
thank you
this is what I always didnt know.

 

@tilla is right, there's no need to pad the card on the back, AW only did it to prevent shorts. It runs perfectly fine without it. Not even the nvidia cards with VRAM modules on the back need this, it doesn't get as hot as most people think and besides... pads aren't heatsinks. It's pretty much pointless to pad something without having a hs on the top of the pad.

 

Well i was thinking the same but what if the componentd do not get so hot ?. Look on the MXM-page were they did a clevo 6970m swap and they got a thermal shutdown all the time but after adding thermal pad under the GPU it worked.

Well AW could have added the black cover under the whole GPU but did not. On my asus the part that sticks out on the G73 was realy hot when gaming and i did get thermal shutdowns. That might have damaged my GPU.

Edit:
svl7 so what you are saying is that the GPU bends so much that it can couse a short ?. Hmm well might be but they would have saved more when just using a bigger plastic cover at the back.

 

DH48 there is a point in your statement.

 

Didn't MXM-Upgrade also state that a 6970 doesn't work in a G73JH?

 

JW and they just added the JH to it

Well i dont know. Im just saying what i think as i did get abnormal shutdowns in WoT with temps near 90c but skyrim HD packs nothing. Also the part that you used small heatsinks to cover got really hot on my G73. Thats why i glued the extra heatsinks on it.

It might be a dell thing. I did at some parts use thermal pads under the GPU right before the no shutdown problem started and well i did not get any thermal shutdowns in WoT.... Well ill be able to take better look under the cover of the R3 after i get my new GPU from dell to understand a bit better on how it works and why it is there. The underside of the GPU should be realy hot actualy as the GPU is upside down and well heat rises...... I might be wrong to just looking at things that might effect the GPU.

 

@tilla
there is a serious point in your state ment\
DH48 lmfao

 

OT:
@DH48
That was no offense.

My JH wasn't really running last few weeks. I have not much time to play games.
My next plan is to mod the fanholes as you.
Good luck and have fun with your new M17x.

 

Non taken @tilla


Well im not the only wacko around here
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/626199-how-i-installed-6970m-dell-oem-m18x-my-w860cu-pics.html

" The next step was installing the 6970m securely in the mxm slot. I decided that the best alternative would be to put the card in the vga-box, so it would be properly alligned and have the right height. However, as others have reported, the 6970m is a bit longer than the 285m/5870m, so I had to make some changes to fit the card in the vga box. I made four new holes in the box. Two in the middle to fasten the vga-box to the card and two along the sides, to fasten the card to the machine. I also added thermal pads to the backside of the card. You can see pictures of where they should go over at mxm-upgrade.com."


And a nother case:
Clevo D900F

 

I don't think that the thermal pad made any difference, really. If you read trough their report about the swap you'll see that they also exchanged the GPU, it's very likely that the issues were caused by a bad / damaged GPU and not by overheating parts on the back.
I've used several cards in my M15x, and all the 6970m and 6990m worked perfectly fine without the back of the cards being padded, even highly overclocked.
Heck, I even run the 470m with half the VRAMs being uncooled... no issue at all.
And anyway, as @tilla and I mentioned before, a thermal pad simply can't be seen as a heatsink. It's only a thermal interface material, not a panacea against heat or unstable setups. Even though Dell sometimes thinks it helps... they actually padded the two VRs of my GTX 260m.

No, the GPU doesn't bend, but it is very close some parts on the mobo, so it's a safety measure to prevent shorts, just to be on the safe side.

 

Then why use thermal pads ? No im not saying that the thermal pad is a heatsink lol ....the heatsink is the mobo itself. Well what ever it is for its a bit silly to use it there. I am not saying that it will not work ....it does work but i kept getting shutdowns with the Dell GPU in the G73 and my temps did not go over 100c. The G73 has a bios built in temp to shutdown after putting 3 small pads at the back i did not get a shutdown.

 

Maybe the pads transfers heat from hotspots on the back to the board (PCB).

 

Good news
I got a new 6970m from dell ( this is my 3rd replacment from them). Any way ill get back on the sadle on the weekend but this time with a 6870m as the 6970m will go in the M17. But still i should get 100% with the 6870m in the G73 so i can keep on looking fro the solution to the fanspeed problem.

 

hope you find it soon./

 

any updates about g73 with hd 6870m?

 

Yes has put, all is good. Only with an overheat some problems. Has made modernization of system of cooling - I test.

 

who are you?
we know he have done the mods increase air flow, DH48 did you run any bench's?

 

Update ?

No good new for now as i but the 6870m in the G73 but the heatsink of the 6870 and 6970 in not the same. The 6870 actually has a much thicker copper plate for the core.

Strange is that i have it on with the 6970m in the M17 and it should be overheating as the copper plate would make the thermal pads have bad contact with the components but it idle at 58 (highest temp is on the core) and max is 69 sometimes 74c.

But back to the G73. The 6970 heatsink on the 6870 is the a different story.....the core copper plate is to low and so the heatsink is on the GPU at an angle. Also one part of the heatsink was on a resistor . Had to mode it a bit to get it to work).

Sad news is i got no picture with the GPU And there is a same gray spot on the GPU like with my first GPU. But it seems to work in a way as the notebook work and does not turn off....also the fans kick in at some point. I need to get a external monitor to test it. It might be a back heatsink that is not covering the core as it should.


How are the rest of the 6990m and 6970m running in the G73-s ? any problems pop up ? also has anyone repasted after the first install ?

 

with your dead asus hd 5870m , does your notebook turn off it self withing few seconds? but im have the same issue with my dell hd 5870m , but it posts and I can see the asus splash screen and I can assess bios but after few seconds the laptop turn off it self.

 

The 5870 just turned on for a few sec and then off again. The 6870 turns on and stays on. HDD spins up and in a few min the fans speed up to full speed as it should with the non ASUS GPU. The GPU seems to be OK as it detects it. I need to get a VGA cable to test it (HDMI does not show post screen). Turns out that before i had a damage wifi cable too that might have short something out :/ well. Seems now i have to nurse my G73 to health.

 

hey , try flashing 6870m to 5870m then , asus bios will detect it, im using dell hd 5870m with mine , temps are very low.

 

Now laptop works normally after replacing psu,
My special thanks to DH48 ,Thanatospy, @tilla :for giving me many info about this upgrade, but I actually didnt upgrade but ,I swaped this for a Dell HD 5870m, runs really cooler than Asus HD 5870m, I cant feel the heat on the vents , its like cooled air I would say its like an A/C in GPU vents, but in CPU side omg, its like a hair dryer ,lol ,have to do a repaste soon.
THanks again guys.

 

Excuse for my English
Guys prompt what temperature of heating holds 6970m?
What V-volt and changes in a food it can support?

 

Did anyone watch this video ? Asus G73JH Extreme Upgrade with AMD 6970M 2GB GDDR5 - YouTube

Look at the guy who changes the GPU , lol
he doesnt even use thermal paste , and didnt mod the heatsink, there was no thermal paste at all on the 6970m, but there are some good benchs .

 

that video again confirms the fact that 6970m swap is possible on G73JH, but never gives any details on how he actually did it(Cooling, Power, Bios etc)

 

Yea, he doesnt even mod the heatsink , doesnt apply thermal paste, Just do the heavy bench's .lol
at this time he should have burned the card.
did anyone try an gtx 560 on Asus G73Jh?

 

The swap is easy but it is very easy to brick the GPU as the 6000 series is really fragile. I managed to kill one in a R3 with a correct heatsink and thermal pads. I did not even add to much pressure on the GPU. Also the person in the dell service said that the 6000 seiries is known to have more faults then the 5000 series.

Also static is a killer. Well i think we all know already that it work

 

Have you got the new 6970m on your M17x r3?
Yes most of the guys who tried to upgrade g73 to 6970m failed because of pre-manufactural problems of 6970m, and I guess I have to wait for 7XXX series cards, because they may arrive as problem free , so atm im not willing to upgrade. did anyone try an nvidia card on g73Jh? because I read some guy had tried to put an g73jw gtx 460 card on Jh which will not work for sure, jw bios and gtx 460 vbios has some serious connections, and JW gtx 460 vga card doesnt fit Jh? (am i wrong?)

DH48 you should wait for hd 7XXX series or GTX 5XX/6XX

 

Well my G73 is on a shelf and waiting for me to do something. Im looking for a stock 5870m for it but if the 7000 series come out i might give it a go.

would be nice if someone tested a nvidia GPU again in the JH but it might be the mobo itself not allowing it to boot.

Nop i am waiting for a new mobo and the 6970m. Might arrive by the end of next week so im on the IGPU

 

All these problems with the 6970M do not seem to show themselves with the 6990M has anyone attempted it? How much difference is there in the heatsink compared to your modded one.

When the 7 series comes out I will be selling my 6990M so if you are interested

This was not an attempt to profit only general interest

 

The 6990m has been tested and well the dell one has the same heatsink code so i am guessing it is the same as the 6970m and so the same moding as with the 6970m

Well same here with my 6970m as soon as the 7000 hits the market

 

Im going to try an GTX 560 on G73Jh , just paid 150$ for it, he will be shipping it on moday, within 2 weeks il be getting it , so I can check it with my G73jh, hope that works,
Yes 6990 and 6970 both are mostly same so we can expect both dies for no reason ,lol
should wait for 7XXX series to come , it may change the graphics history.

 

I found out what killed my 6870M. Here is a picture of how well Dell has made their GPU.s


The X back plate has an extra part on it that hold a thermal pad from the bottom but add a little more pressure and you get a short from on of the resistors. Time to heat up my soldering gun and see if i can wake it up Got the asus 5870m for parts anyway so why not try. I think when i put it in the G73 the mobo might have had a higher sport were the metal plate was and just made it shot out the resistor.

Ill get my tester from the shop tomorrow and will hopefully be able to find the right resistor.

 

OH thats bad, I think you should check your g73 , because this short could cause some issues with g73 mobo.
hope you fix this.

 

Nop mobo is ok as it should have killed the AW M17x to when i tested the 6870 in it.

 

update us with happy news,
on side note: the gtx 560 should work because , I read the G73Jh bios file with an software , and it didnt mention ATI or Nvidia in any fields, so It should work according to my guess, the gtx 460m from jw didnt work because its hardwired.

 

GTX 560m won't work, I bet on this.

 

I dont know why but i have to agree on what svl7 said. The JH GPU does not boot in the JW. Has been tested in the ROG forum.

Strange part is that i remember some forum were ppl said that it did post but whent black after windows loading screen.

The mobo does not have info on the fan control too but one Bios update was reported to change the fan duty cycle that can not be found in the bios.

If you use aida64 you will find that it shows SLI support (has the Nvidia logo next to it) but the status in "not supported" at least on the JH it shows that. Also software thermal control has "Not supported" status. But good is that you are testing it as the fist 6870m inthe G73 ended up dead too and most thought that it did not support it.

 

Hi guys, I just want to prove that Dell hd 5870m works in Asus G73jh so I uploaded this video; Asus G73Jh with Dell HD 5870m - YouTube

 

Good to know and fans work normal or full speed ?

 

Normaly the GPU fan don't spin on startup.
So I guess it has problems with fan control too.
But keep on testing and report the results.

BTW: I wouldn't run electric parts on textile underground (bed?). Ever heared of static electricity?

 

with bios 204 it was at 100% but with 213 , it like 80% but if it gets heated then 100% , the fan controller is not doing a good job.

I have to try with diffrent bios's ,
yea im running it keeping it over my bed ,lol
and whats static electricity?
I dont even ground my self ,lol most of the time 19V current passes through my body , I feel like pinching me lol.

 

UPDATE!!!!!!!
Today I got the gtx 560m ,
the heatsink fits perfectly but idk if it makes propper contact with DIE, I guess it should be, and then I powered on but nothing on screen , and fans run 100% .
I agree with SVL7 , Im here to pay your bet price, its a waste of money to buy this card. Can I flash my Jh bios to Jw bios? if something goes wrong I have the programmer to reprogram bios chip. so can any one help me.

 

A 6990m will work too?

 

Yes mate it will work. but the fans will be running at 100%