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    What is the difference?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Raidriar, Apr 21, 2011.

  1. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

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    What is the difference between ATI 6870/6970 and ATI 6870M/6970M? Are they the same respective cards, just lower clocked?
     
    Raidriar, Apr 21, 2011
    #1
  2. Homo habilis

    Homo habilis Notebook Guru

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    No. They are more like downclocked HD6790/6770.
     
    Homo habilis, Apr 21, 2011
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  3. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

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    I mean core and driver wise, not performance wise. Like can i use desktop 6870/6970 drivers for the 6870m/6970m?
     
    Raidriar, Apr 21, 2011
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  4. Homo habilis

    Homo habilis Notebook Guru

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    Core wise no, they are not. They are like downclocked lower range cards. But AMD used the same drivers for the whole range. Just get their latest mobile drivers, or mod their latest desktop drivers to work for your mobile GPU.
     
    Homo habilis, Apr 21, 2011
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  5. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

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    I have heard that the 6970m is just a desktop 6850 downclocked. The reason why I ask is when I install OS X, I may have to force my graphics card to run a desktop driver. If its a 6850, that's good news.
     
    Raidriar, Apr 21, 2011
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  6. Karamazovmm

    Karamazovmm Overthinking? Always!

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    the 6870m is a rebranded 5870m, which is based on the 5770.

    The 6970m is based on the 6870, but it resembles more the 6850 than the 6870 itself.

    No you cant used desktop drivers on those cards. The mobility support is great, it follows the same pattern as the desktop version.
     
    Karamazovmm, Apr 21, 2011
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  7. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

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    can't do that in OS X. Gonna try forcing desktop drivers though. since its pretty much a desktop 6850, a little messing around may get it to work. But if it were a desktop 6970, it would have been impossible since there is no support in OS X for the desktop 6970. OS X drivers work differently than windows drivers.
     
    Raidriar, Apr 21, 2011
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  8. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    AMD/ati uses the same driver installer **package** for most of their current gfx cards.

    The contents of the installer package are specific for each chip range.
     
    newsposter, Apr 21, 2011
    #8