G73JH 6970M upgrade infomation

Ok all I got home with the Clevo 6970m and put my G73 back together. I turned on the laptop and let it sit on the desktop and took a shower. I let GPU-Z and HWiNFO64 run. About 15 minutes later I came back and found at idle my temps hovered around 60-63*C. The warmest sensors consistently through my trials were the MemIO and ShaderIO. The DispIO and Thermal Diode sensors were consistently 5-10*C lower in both programs than MemIO and ShaderIO. I assume both the ShaderIO and MemIO sensors are under the stock JH heatsink. It just seems the JH heatsink is either on too tight or not tight enough. I would say I have a bad pasting, but the fact that ShaderIO and MemIO are running within +/- 5*C of each other consistently it would indicate to me that there's a common issue with the heatsink itself here.

With further testing, when I was running a video at full screen 1600x900 I get a 4-12% GPU load and temps go up on the MemIO and ShaderIO to ~70-75*C. GPU clock, like at idle was 250mhz and memory clock was 900mhz. Fans ran at approximately 40% the entire video.

Further still I went into playing War Thunder for about 15 minutes at 1600x900. GPU Load was 100% and clocks were 680mhz/900mhz. ShaderIO and MemIO went up to 90*C. I know at that point PN junction break down is imminent and so I shut down the game. The Thermal Diode and DispIO both increased to 80*C. Fans reported running at 100% at 4507rpm for the duration.

You guys are posting phenomenally low temperatures on this thread and I can't seem to come even close. What the heck am I doing wrong?

 

Pasting job perhaps or maybe one of your heatpipes is not performing like it should.

Breakdown temperatures kick in between 110-120 for GPUs.

 

I don't know if the heat pipe is the issue. I don't know how to tell if it is an issue or how to fix it. It never seemed to be a problem with the 5870m. The 5870m burned up due to a dry spot on the GPU that I discovered when I lifted the heat sink.

I still say it's hard to understand why it would be a paste issue on the 6970m when the memory chips are also running hot, unless the GPU is heating up the heatsink and it's just so hot it's overheating the memory with it. I'm using brand new 1mm thermal pads for the memory chips I got from frozencpu.com. I still don't know if it's an over tightening situation or if the sink is making contact with the GPU well enough.

What else do I need to look at?

 

You can test the heatpipes by submerging one half of the heatsink in hot water and seeing if the other side gets hot quickly and if both heatpipes get hot quickly.

 

You should use the stock thermal pads. IMHO 1mm pads are a bit thick
, so you can't get a plane contact on the DIE. 0,5mm are too thin.
+5°C difference between the sensors is in range of tolerance. The sensors are all inside the DIE!

 

Thanks Meaker! When I get a chance to break the laptop down again I'll test the pipes.

Ok I'm not too sure if I can reuse my stock pads because but I'll look at them again. What thickness are the stock pads? Koolance makes a 0.7mm pad. Would that work better?

 

You always want thermal pads as thin as you can get away with, 0.5mm pads are fairly common.

The thinner the pads the closer the plate of the heatsink is to the core and since thermal transmittance gets worse the further the distance you do want it as close as possible.

 

It just seems there's a lot of back and forth about thermal pad thickness. You say 0.5mm as do others I'm sure. I've read 1mm a lot which is why I went ahead with them. I wish I knew what the stock pad thickness was, but mine I found them to be brittle and unserviceable when I lifted the heatsink from my 5870m. My Clevo 6970m did come with new factory pads intended for the given Clevo laptop it was designed to go in. Perhaps I'll use those when I pull the sink back up. The Clevo pads seem extremely soft though. Nothing like the firmer 1mm pads im currently using.

 

Yes, try the Clevo pads. This soft material (like stock from 5870) is good for the All-In-One-Heatsinks. It is flexible and can squeeze a bit.
IMO these soft pads are about 0,8mm without pressure.
I'd tried 0,5mm pads at first. But I still saw a small gap.

 

When you get down to the 0.5mm pads small variations in heatsink manufacturing can come into play but make sure you press down if using soft bigger pads to ensure they take the right thickness.

 

Well I got the rig back together today and repasted once again with AS5. I have the same temperatures issues, but it seems the GPU temps take a bit longer to heat up and are quick to cool down. It seems that the heatsink is better seated against the GPU's die I suppose, but I could be just misinterpreting. The fan speed is around 40-45% at idle. My ShaderIO still sits at 69*C-70*C, which is the warmest of all the sensors consistently. Gaming the GPU ShaderIO sits around 90-93*C. I just can't seem to get these temps down, even after using the softer Clevo thermal pads.

 

It could be one of the heatpipes not performing up to par in which case a replacement would help.

 

I checked the heat pipes in a hot glass of water as you instructed and checked for cracks where the gasses inside could escape. I found no obvious damage and the heatpipes did heat up evenly. I'm wondering if I need a new tube of thermal paste. The AS5 I have is a couple of years old now and I've seen it argued all over the net whether or not the thermal paste expires, or breaks down over time when not in use. I've also read AS5 has a long cure time to set, so could that be the issue? Strange as I repasted my 920XM this weekend and it performs and idles flawlessly at 50*C at idle and doesn't peak over 67*C just as it did previous, though when I pulled it up, it too, had a small dry spot on the die. I have to wonder if the stuff is bad/old because I rarely paste improperly.

 

Paste will "set" once applied so may appear to have a different consistency. You could always try a more modern paste.

 

I ordered some MX-4 thermal paste a few days ago. Should be here in the next couple of days. I've been reading a lot about the more modern non-conductive pastes and they seem light years ahead of AS5. I am also going to try that and retest my copper pipes again. Hopefully something good will come of it.

 

IC Diamond is the most recommended thermal paste by many users but also very costly.
Before you reapply, make sure you use paper towel with a little bit of WD40 to clean the existing one.
Once cleaned and dried with 2nd paper towel, you can then apply the new thermal paste.
Make sure you don't over-apply it because when you secure the heatsink, that tiny bit will spread out.
You can open up the heatsink again to make sure it is spreaded out evenly before you fully secure the heatsink assembly.

 

Sorry for the delayed update, but the military has me moving around a lot lately. I repasted with MX-4 and retested my copper pipes and all seems well. The temperature still idles at 68-70*C though it heats up more slowly and cools down much faster. I repasted my 920XM as well and though it's overclocked it idles at 48-50*C otherwise and never gets higher than 60*C. I'm not sure what else to try but I guess I'm stuck with this. Can anyone recommend a good thermal glue? I was wanting to make sure my copper sinks don't fall away from the components on the GPU as the thermal tape I'm using doesn't seem to work well.

 

Those temps are fine, I would not worry about adjusting them any further.

 

Recently I flashed my Clevo 6970m with a Dell bios to get back HDMI functionality. While that does work audio over hdmi still doesn't work. Having read this forum over and over again, perhaps I've missed a solution. Also, upon flashing the Dell vbios and reinstalling Catalyst 13.9 I cannot get the CCC to come up. I have researched this issue and have come up empty handed on the solutions. Any suggestions? Thanks guys!

 

hey guys happy a new year
i have a ASUS G73JH and i want to upgrade my GPU can i put any MXM III there?
of course with heatsink MOD

i just want to know if any MXM III card will work with this motherboard... i'm stating to learn more about notebooks
thanks in advance

 

Often there will be bios conflicts so each card has to be tested, the 7970M is the fastest (and most difficult to get running perfectly) currently tested working I believe.

 

thanks for taking some time to answer me
in fact to be real honest i'm studding 3d and i would like to change my card for a fire pro and i thought the M5950 would be a great idea by the fact is made with same architecture and is close to the HD5870M

do you think is possible?
i don't want to deal with problems since i will use the notebook for study and i know this card is not so powerful than original one but i have a simple quadro on my desk which outperform very good cards in 3d programs

thank you very much for your help
rep added

 

The M5950 has tended to be pretty compatible, you would want the GDDR5 one and it must have a bios chip.

Gaming performance might not be quite as good but it's a very cool running chip.

Be aware that MXM-A cards have a different layout (but identical screw positions) so you need to make sure nothing will short on the heatsink or hit into it.

 

once again thanks for taking time for answer my questions and give me some tips about it
i really appreciate

i think i'm gonna try the M5950, if everything goes fine i'll post it again to help other people with same questions

 

one last question meaker and sorry for bother
i find a M5950 for DELL PRECISION M4600 and i'm about to buy it
my G73JH will be able to boot this card?
or i will need to do a VBIOS MOD (blind flash) to boot?

 

It's not really been done before with this model, if the vbios is not compatible then there would be nothing else to try.

The dell card is your best chance though.

 

Thanks Meaker, i really appreciate your help
i was afraid i couldn't even boot with the card in my notebook but now i'm more confident to do it...
i'm ordering a DELL PRECISION firepro M5950

if everything goes fine i will make a thread so maybe it helps other people with same problem
have a nice week pal

 

Always the best way to pay back help is to report back and help others, good luck and take your time.

 

I have little problem with my card it's broken (5870). In my country 6870 is not avalible and only asus can sale in ther support. I read this topic but i dont find any info about working 6970 on Asus G73JH wtch model working perfectly or something dont work ? In this moment my g73 is in pices and i dont now what to do whit him.

 

You can find the identical replacement off eBay, see below.
Asus G73 G73S G73J G73JH ATI HD 5870 VGA Video Graphics Card 60 NY8VG1000 C14 | eBay

 

It will be good but he sell only US/Canada and i'm from central Europe ;/ In my country there is nothing only 5870/6970 from dell/Alienware card. i look for asus card and shipping to diffrent country and i dont find notning. I dont now what to do with this asus support will do the replacement but it's not chep and 2 month for wait.

 

It's still the best to contact ASUS directly to perform a non-warranty repair service to save yourself the hassle looking for a usable replacement.
Information related to custom options are usually limited and a bit complicated, and result cannot be guaranteed.

 

Hi,
I'm from Germany and have a Asus 5870 from my G73 laying around.
Can't send you a PM.

 

Hi there! Wow have been almost 2.5 years from the mod i make to my g73jh and it still working everyday like a new one Nice post @DH48

 

Where did you buy the 6970 Thanatospy? Im from argentina!

 

Hola hermano! Yo la había conseguido de ebay, mira aquí tienes un link: New Eurocom AMD HD 6970M | eBay

Damm this card looks nice: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alienware-M...362?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item1e7e0d2452

 

I wonder if anyone has tried the 770M as it plays well with other non enduro/optimus systems.

 

Sorry for long time not write. Thanks for help i will sens the notebook to Asus.

 

Hopefully the issue gets resolved.

 

If it's still in warranty that was your best option.

 

Ey guys, I need help with my upgrade!! By the way, fantastic post you have here!! Well, here's the problem:
I decided to upgrade my g73jh, since my 5870 died, and bought a Dell 6990m. I did the heatsink mods that you said and the temps are just great, btw 50 and 55º (Arctic Silver mx-4). The problem comes when I play games: I decided to do a little benchmark with Crysis 2 with ultra settings and it just goes smooth (45-50 fps) but, after 3 or 4 min of gameplay, the laptop just shuts down. I tried with other games such as Skyrim and Batman: Arkham Origins, and the same issue.
It cannot be overheating because the computer does not even getting warmer, and when it shuts down I can turn it on inmediately, while the usual thing is that you have to wait a few minutes for the mobo to low its temps. I do not overclock.
My theory is that it is a matter of power consumption. My power supply is the ADP-150 NB D (150 W), however it has lived better times and the battery is almost useless. In any case, the laptop has more than three years on its back and I have "squeezed" it to the maximum.
Anyone has experienced this?

 

You've answered it yourself pretty much.
Because you went from 5870M which is 50W, and the 6990M is 100W therefore your AC adapter is at least 85W short.

 

Thanks for your answer!
That's what I supposed. However, I have read over here that many people were using the default 150W power brick, and they even did some overclock with it.
Anyway, I have to say that my laptop is more than 3 years old and that I have never replaced the AC adapter nor the battery (this one is practically useless).
Which power supply would you recommend me for my configuration?

 

I can confirm that charger from lenovo works fine on my g73sw with 680m just fine for 6 months now but you must either replace charging port or tip on charger as it is not same as original.
Part nr. 45N0060 230watt

 

Finally I picked this one:
Targus Universal AC Power Notebook Adapter APA05US PA 1181 08 3 Connecting Tips | eBay

It is 180w, next week I shall receive it. I really hope that this should fix this issue.
As soon as I get some news, I will let you know

 

You should get the 220W AC adapter at least because 180W can be overloaded which triggers overload protection.

 

I don't know, many people over here has used g73jh standard power brick (150W) for 6970m, even for overclock. The wattage btw 6970m and 6990m is similar, so a brand new 180w power brick should do the trick without paying extra electricity bills (my flatmates would kill me xD). Besides, I shall remember that the status of my current power brick just sucks after more of three years of extreme usage, and perhaps this is the reason why I have this problem during gaming. I'll cross my fingers when the new power brick arrives :S

 

According to NotebookCheck.net, 6970M is between 75W and 100W TDP.
AMD Radeon HD 6970M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

So hopefully the new adapter will work well.

 

Yeah!! As soon as I plug it in games, I'll let you know if I shall recommend it for those who want to make some upgrade to this model of laptop

 

Thanatospy
do you think the 8970m will work in the g73jh do you know any1 who can mod the vbios to turn off enduro in the 8970m?