What went wrong with the 7970m's

Didn't know that. I thought 3.0B was newer.

 

I hope this issue gets sorted out soon. I put in an order for a sager NP150 earlier today with the 7970M. I sure hope the wait is worth the upgrade. If I have to wait more than a few weeks I may just have to give AW a shot. I hope the BIOS are released to fix Enduro as well.

 

Gents,

Been out of the loop here for a couple days (nice weather+ having fun with my new p150em...) I have a 1st-batch 7970m, have been gaming and benching for a week now with not one issue. What's the consensus? Do we need to send our toys back?

Also, is there a good thread or post on oc-ing the 7970m? I tried afterburner, but no love: program doesn't initialize.

 

Look at my sig...go to section 10 of my 7970m guide. Afterburner is the only way to overclock it right now, but you have to unlock it first

There are a few people with R2's who are waiting for cards. Because we now know how to undervolt the 7970m, i have no doubt that the 7970m will work in the R2...the question is: fan control, but it appears we will have HWINFO for that. We will see soon enough

 

I wish i was on your guy's level trying to unlock afterburner. I'm still on ACT 1, THE WAITING GAME.

 

Thanks, Slick. Figured it needed unlocking somehow. Delicious rep karma coming your way

Wow, that would be boss if 7970m worked in an m17x r2, almost regret letting mine go now. Wouldn't be surprised if it did work considering 6990ms compatible (with a few minor caveats).

General question: why do some laptops seem to have perrenial compatibility with new cards e.g. m17x r2, m15x, while others e.g. p150hm, p180hm require a bios modification (and what exactly needs updating in the bios? Card name, voltages...?)

 

^ Money talks. Clevo needs to sell some seashells to make money, part of the reason why they intentionally not make the new cards work even though the MXM port is the same generation.

120% Gamut RGB LED, I think my eyes will be happy with something like that. Mine only has 92% but from what people are saying, it's a whole new level for that screen.

 

This is what I mean by Alienware's quality control problems. Good luck to the people who switched from sager to alienware. ;p
Defective 7970m Alienware M17x R4 - YouTube

unless the 7970m's undetected defect/problem from alienwares are just now showing up.

 

120%? Make me laugh.

 

So Dell has updated their bios to allow for 7970m in m15x and m17x? I'm not sure that's the case.

But yes, I understand why Clevo isn't updated compatibility for the older models. They have every motivation to force people to buy a whole new platform to have the newest GPU. After all, Clevo makes next to nothing on individual GPU sales. I signed the petition and all, but think it's a pipedream: Clevo mgmt has made up their mind at this point I'm betting.

 

At least MSI gets it and offers great value barebones.

 

^ dell doesn't have a strict regulation over bios/ec such Clevo.
Their bios structure along with Mxm has less caveats and controls thus making the gpu upgrade almost free of problems and hassles.

What im fighting for is to make Clevo up to their statements, because giving the restrictions they apply to their machines the only way would be an official bios update. With AW there's no need, the fact that the hd7970m can work in an "old" m15x shows that their method of building things doesn't require further development of bioses.

Now go aks those m15x owners that now can upgrade to hd7970m if they feel satisfied with AW. Ask them if they will ever ditch the brand. I guess not.

 

It's crazy.

Think of the M15X owners who got them at the beginning and how easy its been to keep on the edge of the performance curve and in comparison how cheap that has been compared to getting a new system every time.

 

Yup Signed!! Shall be owning an EM soon and I would hate to be forced to buy a new laptop next year when the laptops are refreshed again.

 

The M15x is from September 2009, a bit more than 2.5 years One of the first MXM 3.0 systems.
Still a great machine, true, hahaha

To be honest, I can't really believe that the VRs are the issue on the Clevo 7970m cards, for several reasons... telling from the past (6900m series) and from pics of the Clevo 7970m I can tell that the Dell card and the Clevo one are using the same VRs. Also the related circuits are designed identically it seems.

In addition to this, it's highly improbable that a whole batch of cards is simply defective, a GPU is a highly complex device and it needs to gets through thorough testing before getting shipped from the manufacturer to the client (Clevo). It's not that they just populate the PCB and the ship it, it needs to get tested in advance.
As a manufacturer you can't allow yourself to ship out bunchs of defective cards, it's so unlikely.

Also the news with the apparently bad VR came from eurocom... I don't want to make wrong accusations here, but regarding the past and current events I just don't really trust this statement.

Just my 0.02

 

^ Exactly what I have been thinking (and I believe saying as well). VRs going bad simply does not make sense, unless they used a completely DIFFERENT type of VRs by mistake (like switch the voltage regulating values or something), in which case they shouldn't work at all, not work for a few hours on some chips and not on others. Also, problems like these are easy to fix. Simply get another batch and remake. Costs money sure, but not time. I think the reason that no one has any idea what the fixed date for the next shipment is is because they don't really know where the problem lies, or how exactly to fix it for cheap. IF that is the case, then I think this wait could last a few more days.

 

In an email response to me from Clevo TW, they claim that the 7970M can't work in the HM series because it has a chipset / design limitation. I don't know whether to actually believe them though. What do you think?

If that is the case then their entire brand is EOL to me.

 

Are you sure you will own an EM soon? Why would Clevo stop forcing people to buy new laptops if they could get away with it and people were still buying them. I can see them doing the same again. Perhaps they will claim it is due to a chipset / design limitation each time

 

I don't know if that is true. Mythlogic can upgrade the nv GPUs in their builds. If it was a hardware thing, they wouldn't be able to. Myth drivers and software are their own (provided it is approved by Clevo). Also, what hardware limitation can there be? Power? Coz the only limitation I can see is the MXM slot, which is compatible. Initializations of peripherals are done by BIOS but that's a software. I don't see what could possibly be different in terms of hardware. If someone has any idea what it could be and wants to vindicate Clevo, please add to our knowledge.

 

Also this guy here says that the 7970M works in the W860cu, if that's the case then this whole charade is turning into a comedy.

 

no bro, no updated bios, the 7970m's are plug and play in my m17x R3. The R2 may have fan control issues, but it will work...and as far as i know, on the m15x, it's pretty much plug and play also.

This means that the design in the Clevos are not as good. And it also means that instead of helping you prolong the life of your laptop, Clevo would rather you spend another $2k on a new laptop when next gen vid cards come out. Not acceptable in my book

M15x's are 2.5 yrs old lol...I stand corrected I thought they were older...but still a fabulous value when you consider that you can upgrade the latest and the greatest into it. You just extended the life of your laptop another 1.5 yrs with the 7970m

 

If I owned a HM right now then I would definitely refrain from buying a Clevo unless this issue is sorted out. I dont think CLevo can get away with such an act every time. May be they do get away this time. But I doubt that will compel them to do the same next time too. They cannot possibly keep it up as people will naturally start shifting to MSI, ASUS, Alienware etc. People who keep buying laptops every time new technology is out are either those who are obsessed/fascinated with/by technology or those who game often. Both these people know what is going on or at least come over to forums such as these for proper guidance. The EOL of laptops after a year or so will definitely be affecting only these customers as these are the ones that will seek upgrade options and not the standard customer who buys a laptop once in say 3-4 yrs directly from Dell or Samsung because it looks cool or it is sleek.

So if Clevo keep this up, they will drastically lose customers from this segment that keep upgrading their rigs. This change will not affect the normal customer. So I am hoping Clevo will not be bold or dumb enough to keep it up and ruin its potential customers in this segment.

You can get away with something like this once. But not if you do it regularly. So I will gamble and buy the EM from Clevo and in case if Clevo ditches the EM after say an year it will be bye bye Clevo for ever. I will not even bother like people here are trying with this petition. It will be Goodbye!!!

I anyways have my eyes set on Alienware next so lets see how it goes.
One can never clearly predict how things will end. All we can do is speculate

 

Oooh Boy... We definitely need to know what it is that he figured out actually

 

He haven`t tried 7970M though

 

I guess he is basing it on the fact that he got the 6990m to work in it.

Or is he trying to say it works in the M15x and hence should work in the similarly aged W860cu??

 

I'd be extremely surprised if it did work in a W860cu ...i don't think he knows for sure. 6990m's worked in HM's too!

 

Hey guys, has anyone had an update from any of the resellers as to when Clevo will start sending machines yet? Malibal's been worryingly quiet for a few days now.....

 

I would look at the 7970m update thread for that. A lot more people there and the resellers/builders are also very active.