Well my 7970m just died

At first I thought it was a virus, but I keep my system as clean as possible......The screen started flickering, displaying funny patterns, etc I tried it in Linux and Windows..... For some reason my Function F7 was not working to go from dedicated to on board graphics.

I ended up taking the laptop apart and pulling the 7970m out and rebooted, the Intel graphics kicked in and everything is working fine, so my screen isn't messed up, its the F ing graphics card. It was fine for 4 years and then splat.

For personal reasons, I hate Nvidia, I have always gotten defective products from them. But having a card from ATI (I don't believe in AMD) fail isn't helping.

Looking at the Nividia options, all the numbers and re-badges are confusing...... All I know is the 980 is their highest end card and the most expensive.... the rest are a blur.

Would someone explain the differences between them and which ones are more powerful than the 7970m from AMD?

I really wish AMD would grow a pair and release a real upgrade in their mobile line of graphics cards.

 

Go to notebookcheck.com (linked below) and look at the list of graphics cards. The cards are listed from top to bottom based on their performance (top being highest performance). That should give you an idea as to what cards are more powerful than the 7970m.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

But before you give up on the 7970m, try replacing the thermal pads on the VRAM and VRMs. Mine artifacted like crazy until I realized the pads I was using were too thin and did not make contact with the heatsink. Replaced them with Arctic 1mm pads and have been running smooth ever since, no artifacts at all. Of course, the thermal paste is important, but thermal pads are sometimes overlooked.

 

well after 4 years of service, I call that a good run for any graphics card. You can replace with a R9 M290X, a GTX 780M, or a GTX 980M

 

Good points, although the 980M in the R4 is gonna require using a modded inf file with the drivers.

In addition, I'd also try removing all traces of AMD and Intel drivers using DDU ( http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html), and then reinstalling the Intel driver 1st & then the latest AMD driver 2nd - maybe that could remove your problems.

 

Thank you everyone, not sure what route I want to go yet, however as far as purchasing the new card or card "kit" are there any suggestions? I see Eurocom sells complete upgrade kits, but I feel their prices are also a little on the high side.... Are there other places to get the cards/kits that offer better prices....

 

Not sure if you're gonna need a kit. You just basically need a new card and an x-bracket. If the new card uses the same x-bracket as the 7970m (only some newer AMD cards do), then you can re-use the x-bracket. Then you're gonna need some thermal paste and thermal pads. What kind of card are you looking for? Have you had a look in the NBR marketplace? You can post in the "Want to Buy" forum if you want.