Sager NP9150, 7970M has suddenly failed. New card suggestions?

Well, I was just gaming one night and I started getting artifacts... Thinking it was something due to software, I just turned my laptop off and turned it back on. Booted right up, and I was relieved.. I remembered though that this is a dual GPU laptop.. Started up a game and hoped for the worst. Sure enough, my 7970m has failed, though my "Sh*tel HD 4000 Suck" still works to browse the web, and maybe play some flash games. While using the 7970m or in a game, there is artifacts, flickers, and memory glitches then blue screens or just quits the game (depends on the weather I guess) while using high performance, in my catalyst switchable graphics.

Well.. Damn I must say.. The laptop is barely out of warranty, and it just decides to take a crap. I don't expect Sager to do anything about it, but oh well. Looking at ebay, I don't think I want to sell an organ to buy a new 7970m or a 680m, so I might go with a cheaper 580M.. But, what I'm wondering is that if I would need a new bios chip or anything to make it compatible? I'm new to the laptop world, as I've been a desktop user since I've been able to use a mouse, and sold my gaming desktop for this thing.

It just sucks that I so happen to have a faulty card. (Series to be exact).. A lot of people have their 7970m fail, which is weird that AMD would release such an unstable card.

Any cheap suggestions on a laptop GPU? Like I said above, I'm looking at a 580M, but if you guys have another suggestion, be my guest!

Thank you!

 

GTX 770M.

It will cost you $100 more than GTX 580M but it will be way better

GTX 675MX would be better but it doesnt look like its available at ebay.

EDIT: Nevermind. 7970M cost like $475. That would be much better for $25 more.

 

Another good option for you might be to just underclock your card by a few Mhz. It could well be that it's just become unstable at your current clocks due to degradation of the silicon, which you would be able to bring back to stability by maybe underclocking the core or memory by something as little as 20Mhz (depending on whether it is the core or the memory that has degraded). That's a better option than downgrading your GPU by a country mile! Try it, see if it works, before you go off buying a new GPU.

 

What program do you use? Just used MSI Afterburner to underclock just barely. Core is at 425MHz and Memory is at 600MHz.. Looks like it's actually more unstable from before, sadly.

Well, I don't think I want another time bomb. I might have to go with Nvidia for mobility, as bad as it hurts to say (I'm an AMD fanboy, as they put it), but Nvidia seems to make more reliable mobile chips from what I'm seeing.

 

You have just underclocked your lower power state frequency (which is used when browsing if you didn't have Intel HD), it is the higher gaming state frequency that is unstable when you run games. Make sure you underclock that gaming state frequency. Gaming state frequency for the 7970M is 850Mhz on the core, so underclock that to 800Mhz and try again.

(You can use any program that allows you to underclock your GPU core or memory: NVidia Inspector for example.)

EDIT: Apologies, NVidia Inspector probably only works on NVidia cards! So, for your AMD card, just use any overclocking program that lets you underclock the core and/or memory.

 

Or you could check the marketplace... Not to honk my own horn, but I need cash and have some perfectly good cards for sale. Like the 670mx in my sig (check the 3dmark link).
Also 680m/780m etc.
Seriously, don't waste cash on old-gen cards that are already used and bound to fail whenever...
I'm not the only one selling stuff in the marketplace.

 

So is the video card just plug n play.. (As in just get drivers, then play). Is there any hardware configuration that I need, like a custom BIOS chip or something?

 

So, did you work out how to underclock your gaming state frequency to see if that helped? There's not much point buying a new GPU if you can just underclock your card by 50Mhz or something and solve the instability in that way. (Last time you underclocked the wrong frequency, so that would have had no effect on your games). Try bringing the frequency down from 850Mhz to 800Mhz, if that doesn't help then try a similar approach with the memory frequency.

 

Buy yourself a GTX 780M it's a really great powerful single card you can try underclocking, maybe experiment with throttlestop check every possibility with your computer, even the ram it can be many reasons why the 7970 died in the first place.

 

He can't upgrade to the 780M.

7970M failed because Clevo's AMD 7970M sucks balls. Worst soldering job you'll ever see. Mine failed too, with chips falling off from the burnt soldering. It's horrible.

Bought a 675MX and has played all games at same or better performance than 7970M and most importantly, consistent performance. 7970M could be great and then makes you cry. 675MX has been stable.

I suggest going with Nvidia 675MX or a 680M if you can afford it. Performance BIOS + overclocking will give you good results. I bought the new Nvidia heatsinks from newer Clevo models and seems to make a difference.

Also drivers have been a breeze with Nvidia installer. It's night and day comparison to AMD. AMD desktop owners seem to be happy, it's a shame AMD doesn't provide same level of quality experience for mobile.

 

___________________________________________________________________

I know this might sound silly, but if you are still looking for a replacement 7970m GPU, then I DO know of where you can get a 7970m card, and it's in my laptop. I am selling my Sager P150EM gaming laptop.
It has the the 7970m/HD4000, Intel Quad core 3610QM, and 12 Gigs RAM.
Works great, and even has some games on it.
If you are interested, send me a Private Message, and we can go from there on it.

Thanks.

 

I have tried it, and that didn't work at all, sadly. Everything I have tried has been unsuccessful. I've tried almost every frequency I could think of. The core more, memory less. Memory less, core more. The same clock, but less on both, then tried a little difference, core memory, less, more, more, a bunch less with more etc.. Everything. It's like it doesn't even want to try to work. The worst part about it? No more Rust in class.. Maybe it was a good thing, but it still sucks.

Yes, I can agree on the sketchy performance I received with my 7970m. Minecraft, I was running about 15FPS while in Skyrim, solid 50+..

I've been looking around for graphics cards recently, and have actually decided on the 675MX. Thank you for the advice, I will have confidence that it should last me.

As for last measure suggestions. Do you think I could bake the card to re-solder the joints? Just wondering, because this laptop has dual graphics, and it can run without the 7970m in place so I don't care if I damage the card more. Also because it will be almost 6 months+ before I can purchase a new card.

 

If you need a 675MX heatsink and bracket let me know if you order one on Ebay or whatever without full kit. I have an extra one that was never used, including the heatpads.

Baking doesn't work. It's a temporary measure at least on mobile if it works, maybe a month, but it will have a permanent death guaranteed.

675MX has been stable with my overclock 300 core/600 mem. But when I say all games, that games I have in my collection. I have no idea how it will hold up with say Witcher 3. But games like Titanfall and The Watcher all should be fine. Witcher 3 maybe on lower settings? BF4 is smooth for now.
- I don't expect games to be much more demanding than Witcher 3 for a long time since next gen consoles have proven to be unable to play games at 1080p still. So there you go.

My suggestion is do the 675MX and then build a desktop if you need more power in a year or two. Laptop parts are just getting insanely more pricey every single year. It's tragic and disheartening. My machine was $1600 and now it would cost $2300, what the frick?

 

This is my two cents...(I have a 7970m in an Alienware m17x r4 but I have experience with overheating ps3's and desktops)

Artifacts and what not are a result of overheating or a dodgy driver.

If overheating I would check with Speedfan and see what temps you get with the card.

If its not overheating then try and use a more stable driver.

If it IS over-heating (which I think more likely) then I would take it apart and if its a mxm 3.0b ( which it should be) then you should be able to take it out and check the thermal paste.

If it comes off easily then the thermal paste is not a good one or not applied correctly. Your GPU could STILL be good. (Hopefully)

Get some good thermal paste like Artic Silver 5. Follow instructions making sure it doesn't get on the motherboard.

Lots cheaper than getting a new GPU.

Cheers

PS. I'm running bf4 on ultra with the 7970m at 900p. This is a kick card with a low power draw and overheating issues aren't common. If your thermal paste is right I would suggest "lifting" the back of your latop for more air-flow because your fans aren't doing the job. Lifting the laptop where your vents are can be the difference between 5-10 degrees celsius in temp. If your 7970m failed because of overheating, just about anything else you put in will eventually unless you sort out your cooling issues (heatsink, thermal paste, fans etc)

 

If you want to try baking your card as a last resort here's a link describing how to do it:

GPU Bake again ....... - News - LaptopVideo2Go Forums

Make sure you remove your heatsink from the card before you put it in the oven (which is different to the instructions in the link above)!

 

i'm sad to hear this... i had a AMD 5870M in a G73JH and it performed excellently for over 3.5 years and still is doing so... Even though your'e out of warranty, it might be worth trying asking Sager.. Be a bit agressive and push a bit... I was thinking of getting Sager/Clevo.. Good riddance I didn't after this story...

 

how much would a 675mx cost?

 

There's one going for $460 at R&J Tech. I've bought from them a couple times and they're pretty solid.

 

Sorry for the bump, but I don't get on much.

Anyways, yes.. Good thing you didn't.. Their tech support is close to HP or Dell in terms of quality and likeability. For one, David (The tech I talked to first about the issue) was as helpful as a door handle. They insisted that they needed to 'test' the unit for a $95 labor fee when I had said that I knew it was the GFX card. I then said you charge $95 to unscrew 7 screws? He said "You can buy the GPU and install it by yourself.." At about that time a second tech associate contacted me about the laptop, which was nicer, but when I complained about the first being unhelpful and rude, and how I had spent this much money, and to be treated like that is a very bad business practice. He didn't respond to me after that, nor did David..

Just bad.. When you're out of warranty, they will treat you like crap. The worst part was.. They hadn't even said a simple 'Sorry'.

 

Sorry I'm new to upgrading a gpu and was wondering why can't he upgrade to an 780m?

 

I believe it was either assumed or OP mentioned that they own a p1**em machine which is currently incompatible with the 780m.

 

For p1xxem you can put 7970m, 8970m, or gtx 680m which is most $$ but have best perform. and lowest temps @ load and idle.