Upgrade a G73-jh to 6970?

Hi There! sorry I'ven afk for a few days, i was having fun with my new desktop, the sandy-e is amazing i must say, well but that is for other section , im thinking in make a guide to help ppl, but i'm waiting for DH48 because he have a better and strong method to make the upgrade, my way is also ok but require a lot more of time and tools to make the customs heatsinks etc, also my english is kinda basic and a guide require no mistakes, ill try to give up a try to see the fps in bf3

 

Battlefield 3 settings set to HIGH ,Average FPS (40) with temps after 1 hour of gameplay (server was full load):

 

Nice frame rate. What were you getting with the 5870m? I have only played the Beta and I'm waiting for Christmas to get BF3. I plan on attempting the 7xxx series upgrade if at all possible with a 920xm.

 

Thanatospy
get HWiNFO for more details on GPU temps and stuff

 

he actually got a stable temp around 80-90 max or less I am ready to upgrade to the 6990m but still waiting to see what are the amd 7k series are capable to do first then will decide what gpu to upgrade to cause the 6990m are around 430$ shipped now and dont think the 7k series will be much more expensive maybe around 150$ or a bit more or less.
I already save that amount of $$ to do the upgrade and ordered 2 spare GPU fans just in case fan failed somehow.

 

Great temps Thanatospy, even my 5870M is getting hotter in Bf3 Could you make also a SS of Hwinfo?

 

hi guys

G73Jh with 6990m.That what I want but when I checked web page :
MXM Upgrade Home Page there is information ,that you cant fit any other card to G73 because ASUS card looks different and mxm slot is different.
Respect to you guys.You try it and you done it.I have send this forum link to MXM upgrade guys, to show them ,that they have to change engineers and learn heh.

I am very interested to fit radeon 6990m to my asus.I found one on ebay :
ATI Mobility Radeon? HD 6990m GPU MXM 3.0 Type B | eBay

Seller already told me ,that few people fit this card to ASUS g73 succesfuly and if there will be any problems I can send it back
I will give a try

 

I never used before hwinfo, i love it now xD, i tried bf3 today but the server was 50% load, my roomtemp is about 22c

 

MXM upgrade tested the JW not the JH and more than one member have tried to upgrade and they work but only one of them manage to keep it alive so far cause of good preparation if you are going to upgrade the GPU make sure you got the targus 180w ac adapter to be sure you power is sufficient.

 

Thanostopy, great news to hear about this upgrade. My question to you is what did u have to buy and what changes did u have to do? Could you make a mini-guide or something?

 

Takes me 1 day to read all 81 pages
Now I know how risky it is but still possible and exciting .
Is anybody from UK in here? Maybe we can meet somewhere and try to do some upgrades together? 2,3 or even 4 brains better than 1
I can organize tools and G73JH + 6990m to fit.
All I need is support,help with any modification and 6 beers after our success


Thanatospy and others who still trying to build a monster +1 respect

 

Hi
Good job
I'll try to upgrade my g73jh with the 6970 ati card.
If I have understand:
1 it works only on g73jh with ati 5870
2 a more powerfull power supply is better
3 cards are not the same and integration needs modifications on cooler system
4 need to be patient
5 no need of special moded bios and last one is fine?

Please tell me if i'm on a good way cause my english is not good and i might haven't notice something important

 

only JH will upgrade to the new 69XXm
and for me I just put the steps in this order:
1- 180w AC adaper on stock CPU 240w AC adapter with 920xm/940xm and 69XXm.
2- Cooling mods : VRM Heatsinks ram sinks will work fine + udervolting if needed + Cut the Blue sensor wire in the GPU fan to make it run full blast all time + spare GPU fan just incase + decent paste job + cooling pad.
3- enjoy your beast ( G73JH ).

 

still no software control of the fans?

 

unfortunately no till now dont think it will be there any soon the problem is the the codes of the mobo bios it controls all the fans both CPU and GPU and somehow its locking the ability to control the fans by any software.

I dont think there is a solution in the future unless another hardware mod like a switch or anything similar.

 

ok
if the upgrade is only on the graphic card do you think we must run full fan?
I love my laptop for low noise it makes
I wish it will stay as quiet as possible

here is a software solution to make run fan fullspeed on the asus serie G (french forum):
http://portables4gamers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=13468
I didn't try it myself but it seems working

 

i hope it works better than cutting a wire but the guys are looking for a programmable software that you can set fan speed depend on the GPU temp
but if this works it will be cool ether.

 

I think it works.My fan speed is 4650 RPM all the time

 

the fan control is working by the software in the link that berserk's and i confirm that I maxed out skyrim with 58c lol well it was around 13 mins of gameplay.
and its blast both CPU and GPU fans to max.

you will have to restart the laptop to get your normal fan speed back.
noise level is very acceptable for my own experience I'v heard Lauder fans.
+1 for the link

 

it could be a good idea to put a potentiometre
something like zalman's gpu fan solution.
the better will be a numeric one wich depend of t°
but a manual one is easier to install and will work fine.

 

That's quite a find +1 rep

 

Manipulating EC registers with RWE isn't new and was mentioned earlier in this thread too. Most registers seems to be readonly or not useable for a fan control tool.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/579780-how-force-g73-fans-100-a.html

 

how ever this one work properly for me and I will use this when ready to do my upgrade still working on the vrm heatsinks tbh its quit hard to make it attached to the orginal heatsink but i hope the the cooper bars that i cut will work as a heatpipe to transfer heat from the ramsink that i modified to fit them on the vrms just to make sure nothing will get fry during the upgrade procedure.

 

Nothing is really unworkable, if you are so adamant about fan control you can have fan control by plugging it into a custom made PCB with a false fan jack that is controlled by your own custom programmed microcontoller that can be bought from some stores on ebay. The PCB need not be that big to be prohibitive to place it somewhere inside the G73 Chassis.

If anyone is interested the concept is to use the I2C protocol to talk from a slower BUS to the faster BUS on the mobo. You can control this micro-controller from windows via I2C tools or make your own GUI that is stand alone app. This is all ofcourse for those who know this filed.

We do this on a regular basis for various custom designs. But don't expect anyone to do it as a free tool and we cant be bothered giving support later on for it either. Doing something like this gets you paid very handsomely in fulltime job at a company.

Plus buying the PCB and soldering and getting the circuits all done nice and good is all down to the skill of person trying it out. Its not worth the hassle.

Bottom line: don't be picky, you are already performing a mod that is not going to be covered by anyone in terms of warranty. So if you want the card cool enough do a good heatsink mod and pull that sense wire from the fan to drive it at full rpm. Clean the vents every month atleast once and it should last 1-2 years before you need to change the fans. If you are not comfortable with any of these compromises don't do the mod, this is not for everyone.

 

So far this is available info on HD 7000M ans GTX 600M
AnandTech - Introducing AMD?s Radeon 7000M and NVIDIA?s GeForce 600M Mobile GPUs
thought it would be interesting for you guys.

 

The renaming nonsense is despicable from both AMD and Nvidia, but the highest end parts that we are after will be be GCN for AMD and Kepler based for Nvidia not a rebrand that's much is certain.

 

I have not seen any evidence yet that GCN will be available to mobile. All I've read is that it will available on the HIGH END DESKTOP. And high mobile is mid-range downclocked desktop.

If you know something different, please give us a link of proof. Because if that is the case, will be very exciting.

My impression is high end mobile will be the newer VIW4 architecture that was used on Cayman, HD6970 desktop.

 

If you know the foundry business works, its merely academic for you to know exactly what to expect.

As for proof, unfortunate no link is worthy of being called as proof unless its from AMD direct and they wont give that out until they lunch. The other IT sites have all got it mixed up time and time again with occasional wins in their predictions. But if you know this business and how it works you dont need links to know whats coming.

You might have heard of TSMC skipping the entire 32nm process because of ramp up troubles. The Cayman VLIW4 based 6900 desktop chips were really meant for the 32mn process. So they had to cut down SPs and features to make it within the TDP of the available 40nm process.

It is as complex as putting together a new layout to shrink a 40nm layout to 28nm because DRC and LVS can only be automated so much. It still needs a large team to work on that project alone for custom by-hand modifications. Plus they need a team working on GCN 28nm layouts, Plus they have now a group for fusion APUs. This is a huge undertaking. And all that trouble for a small mobile discrete high end GPU market which hardly brings in the big bucks? They would be wasting money on Cayman 28nm shrink.

AMD never does that, nor does Nvidia it doesn't make financial sense to do that, rather its easier to just re-brand.

Also their partner Global Foundries who were supposed to handle loads of future APU orders and some GPUs, aren't able to ramp up production just yet and several projects have been cancelled, we wont know which until AMD confirms what were killed off. There is speculation of-course, but no way of knowing exactly what parts. But cancellations are fact and expected given the situation. Have some friends who work for Glofo who are only able to admit to troubles but cant talk of cancellations.

TSMC DRC LVS is different from Glofo's so that means making completely different designs just for the sake of shrinking Cayman to 28nm at Glofo for a small insignificant mobile market. Because we already know bulk orders are going to TSMC for the GPUs, this AMD confirmed to the press. On the other hand if we assumed AMD will work on 28nm shrink of Cayman for TSMC process that is also not going to happen as its a waste of money, time and resources over a pointless minute market.

So AMD already has the 28nm GCN core ready, they will have stripped down versions for lower model SKUs, and mostly the 2nd level of SKUs amongst the GNC high-end parts will be binned with lower clocks to be the mobile parts, that way they can keep TDP under control also increase performance. Let say 7970 is the highest single chip card, then most likely the 7870 will be the desktop part of choice to be used for mobile accommodations.

So yeah the original Cayman is never coming to the mobile MXM platform as a feature shrink. And you already know Cayman is not going to happen on the 40nm process without reducing clocks drastically and cutting out many SPs which will weaken it against even the current 6970/6990Ms in terms of performance gains. It would be total waste of energy and resources when you can just use cut down GCN which is ready.

Generally a desktop GPU that's within the 120-150 watt range can easily be fit within the sub 100 watt range. With 28nm the power projections looking very good we are looking at some very powerful 120 watt desktop chips that can be made into 70-80 watts mobile flagships with more TDP room to play with should Nvidia come out with an answer later on (they have delay issues too as per their own leaked slides)

AMD could launch a 100 watt MXM card too but that would be shooting their cash cow too soon, as they can milk that later if and when Nvidia responds with Kepler.

 

It was interesting to see how they created the 6000M lineup when still stuck on 40nm. I guess the 7000M line up will depend a lot on how well 28nm is going and just what kind of power usage savings it offers in practice. I expect yields will be quite poor for most of 2012. That's usually par for the course with a new process.

In any case, the chips using the new architecture will most likely be big and hot, pushing 28nm to somewhat of a limit. NV will surely push a lot farther on their 28nm GPU size though because they have been willing to take a lot more risk than AMD since GF 8800.

 

The 6970M is a full Barts Pro GPU and the 6990M a full Barts XT GPU. Only the clocks are lower on GPU and Memory everything else identical to the desktop chips.

So the chips per-se are the same the chips used on desktop lines, they infact come from the same fabrication lines. The ones that failed to pass higher speed-bins get passed down as mobile parts as they are still good for lower clock operations. Sometimes due to demand even good chips that are desktop worthy end up on mobile cards.

 

I didn't want to create a new thread and thought I would post this information I ran across for all the people working hard to make the G73JH one of the most fun modding projects. Please read up and take no responsibility if you brick your laptop. I am just checking it out as of now and had to rename the BIOS file .rom to open it. This allows you to see and edit all BIOS options (if you know what you are doing).

[EFI] ASUS G73JH

 

Nice find and update for the Amitools.
Thermal Control is my Most interest.
+rep

 

wow this is very good find. AMAZING.

 

I'm not entirely sure but maybe this will help solve the fan issue with the GPU upgrade. Overclocking the 920xm or 940xm might be easier also.

 

Things I've Found in BIOS Strings

Max Memory Fequency Selections in MHz 1600MHz Token 0x0209

Ability to set the Turbo button to a higher overclock at startup Token 0x0641 (no need for SetFSB anymore) Enable your max overclock at the touch of a button!

I also found in Setup Configuration Advanced> SATA Configuration> Software Feature Mask Configuration Raid 0 and Raid 1 are Enabled and Raid 10 and Raid 5 are Disabled. I was under the impression that Raid was not supported at all on this chipset.

 

TBH, this needs its own thread... The possibility of this level of control in the BIOs has significantly more implications than just 6970m upgrades.

PS- your sig link is dead, but the post you linked worked...

 

nice found dude +1 rep
can you upload to another server like multiupload or anywhere else megaupload is blocked for me.

 

Still waiting for my last part to arrive (the JH heatsink). But i have been looking at the bios and vbios string and i cant find anything that runs the GPU fan.

Nice find Inferno1217.... i cant seem to find GPU or system fan control. It only has CPU fan control and trip points for the fan.

The GPU fan is at 0 RPM when the system is lower then 41c. the 213 bios has got 3 trip points for the fans+ it has some sensors on the motherboard to. Not even a hint to GPU fan control. Did find some reference to PCI-e socket and ID config but no fan. Starting to think its hardwired to register the 5870 and all other GPU-s run at a default speed. (kind of like a wrong lambda sensor on a car that makes it run rich)

Still looking for a program to get a better overview if the Vbios string.


If i am lucky ill get the JH heatsink on firday and can start my second attempt.

 

I have posted some infos in the other thread.

Where did you buy this?
I have a 6970 here too now.

 

The JH heatsink i orderd from a shop that does warranty work for asus. Just send a e-mail asking if i could order a heatsink for the JH. Price was 29 euro for the heatsink.

Did you make a new thread @tilla?

 

I meant this thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/631561-ami-bios-editing-tool-g73jh.html

Mmmh, I couldn't find cheap ones.
Asusparts.eu has damn expansive shipping costs. 23€ cooler + 17€ shipping.
Maybe I will try it without modding the stock cooler. I have watched the 6970 and I don't see a real problem with it (cutting). Will see.

 

well i got two options
1)Go with the R3 heatsink. I need the JH heatsink just for the pipes on it . The R3 has 3 but the JH only 2 so i need to solder one more on to the R3 heatsink.

2)Solder part of the R3 heatsink to the JH heatsink to cover the rest of the card.

 

Hi, yesterday I was trying to put Dell HD6990M card into my G73jh and it was fail. Fans are on full speed, I can see bios but when start OS the display is black. I try re-install OS and 5 different drivers and nothing.... Any suggest?

 

Do you get the Windows loading screen ? Were does it go black ?

If it goes right after the windows loading then if i was you id take the card out as soon as possible. One of my 6970 died like that.

 

Took apart my clevo today and repasted the 6990M and replaced the thermal pads with high performance ones. I was amazed how many sections of the card require conduction. In the clevo we have two separate heatsinkd leading to one large fan for the cooling one solely for the DIE and the other for the caps etc which only uses thermal pads but there are at least 12 sections that are covered. Does the R3 heatsink cover the entire card?

If the 6970M runs at anything like the 6990M I can see it will be a problem for cooling in the JH.

 

Yes, I can see Windows loading screen and after that the screen is black. I try about 20 times... Do you think my card is now dead??

 

Mine died like that. Unlike you i got to windows the first time and it worked until i opened a video. After that i got windows loading and black screen.

Try to boot into safemode. If you get in there then you might have damaged the core of the GPU

After that try to swap the car back.



Strange...if the card is dead then we have a second one that has died like that.
Did you use the JH heatsink ?

Might be mem. damage too

 

Realy strange, faulty gpus or bad install?

 

hmm that is really weird did you try to put some ramsink on the vrm before you start the system?
and did you try to flash clevo bios on the card to see if it will solve the problem?

 

I'm not sure becouse i try couple times to put card and once i saw desktop and i open catalyst i have card 6990M and open Mafia II- benchmark( on high 16x 66FPS) but suddenly i saw gsod. I restart laptop and display is black. I thing is something with slot for the card and everything is dependent from how to put the card in slot... or from heatsink i use JH heatsink...