Choosing the right GTX 980M for 8770w?

I am on the hunt for a GTX 980 for my 8770w laptop. I am currently looking at all of the options that are available on eBay and they seem to be pulled from a wide array of host machines. Is there one brand that's easier to work with in the 8770 than another, any to completely steer clear of because they won't work at all? I'm a novice when it comes to upgrading notebook hardware, this is actually my first notebook that has an easily user swappable CPU and GPU. I am currently looking at pulls from MSI machines, can anyone tell me if this is a decent card to get working with these notebooks, if not, can someone make a suggestion?

Thanks in advance. Appreciate all the help I can get.

 

I bought a Clevo 980M for my 8760W that worked perfectly as long as no overclock was applied. Running the 980M maxed out WILL cause throttling as the cooling solution in the 87x0w is simply not enough.
Some people report problems with black screen in Windows with certain other vBIOS versions. This can be circumvented by starting the laptop in UEFI mode instead as more of the HP firmware takes over the vBIOS functions it seems.

You will need to have a modified .inf to install the drivers, I am sure you are aware. This can be easily found from https://laptopvideo2go.com/

From my experience with both the 8760w and several 8770w machines are that they are very forgiving in using whatever GPU fits in there physically will boot. Tried a Dell Quadro K5100M that worked flawlessly. Seen several people run most other GeForce MXM3.0 based cards in them as well.

 

That's awesome, thank you @Rideass! I purchased an MSI card off of eBay, scored it for $330, on Monday and it comes in today. Not sure if I'll have the time tonight to get it in, but I'm just hoping it's not a g-sync card (current owner doesn't seem to think it is). Looking forward to having some better framerates than my K4000m provides. I don't really game, I only play one game very occasionally (World of Warships) but having a 4K monitor my current K4000m will only play it at low settings for a reasonable frame rate. Thinking the 980m should stomp that little game in to the ground even at 4K res.

 

I7-3940XM on my 8770W

Also using 980M GTX 8GB OVERCLOCKED in it.

I use Notebook FanControl program which has full Support for 8760W/8770W and allows me to PUT my CPU/GPU FAN at 100% (WHEN I'M IN A MOOD TO CRANK IT UP, Usually I keep it in Auto)

NO CPU, GPU Throttling, no thermal problems.

HOW?

Well it's called ColLaboratory Liquid Ultra and it's absolutely incredible thermal solution. No mods done on my gpu or cpu heatsink.

idle GPU is 36 Degrees Centigrade
Idle CPU is 42-43 Degrees Centigrade

100%LOAD GPU - 72-73 MAX with 200 MHz core overclock, no volt mod, no mem overclock.
100% LOAD CPU - reaches 77 MAX.

Ambient temp - 22-24 degrees, no mods, no ventilation pad.

My point - the heatsink is important, BUT the thermal compound is the killer here! Use liquid metal solution - it'll blow you away!
HOWEVER use insulation around the GPU/CPU to prevent from shorting in case the liquid cooling solution spills away (very RARE, but theoretically possible).

And yes - the 8770W with i7-3940XM/980M 8GB is an absolutely Futureproof investment. No machine comes close and possibly ever will.
The very peak that hasn't ever been surpassed, and quite obviously will never be - it no longer makes economic sense to build such a massively expensive and reliable machines.
It (8760W/8770W) is a love letter to an incredible generation of laptop building - the Compaq generation. And I absolutely ADORE it.

 

The only thing I don't like about the liquid metal type TIC's is that they have a very short service life in comparison to more traditional type compounds. I'd rather not have to take my notebook apart ~yearly and replace all of the compound to keep it working at its peak. They are great though, I use it on all of my desktops, I just prefer to take apart the notebook as few times as possible. Using IC Diamond I don't notice any throttling or wild temps and that stuff lasts forever.

 

Good point man. With Liquid metal you gain 4-5 degrees less and overall stabler overclock potential, however it doesn't make sense time-wise for a newbie.
I change it once a year, no problems noticed yet.

 

Hi guys! I exhausted every single thing I could think of
The issue is - I upgraded from K4000M to 980M GTX (CLEVO) card. *I Dont know if it's g-sync or not.

No brightness control works, lid close - screen goes blank. But that ain't the problem.

After I install the NVIDIA Drivers - the screen goes dark, only external monitor works.

Latest Bios, GPU vbios stock.

Can someone give me a hand?

 

Hey guys, i just wanted to hop into this post. I just got a 8770w and would like to install a gtx 980m.

 

Do it!

 

wow! i didnt realize until i saw this post that my labtop can run 1866 ddr3, and here i am selling two 4gb sticks of 1866 on ebay lol. Looks like im removing it now! I am running a 8770w with 12gb of 1600, will be 8 of 1866 as soon as i return home. 3740qm benching 8300, 1tb secondary drive and 860 evo boot drive.

I want to get a 980m for this baby! but im not entire sure if ill be able to figure out all the modifying of inf. files that seems to be mandatory with it. I know i wont have any issue swapping out the parts, its just the coding. Do you think you can lay out the technical process of the bios and stuff for us newbies? i would really appreciate it!

i have the backlit keyboard model also running a 1600x900 resolution screen. Would i be able to upgrade to a dreamcolor or 4k screen after i swap to the 980 or do i have to buy the factory one that comes with it? Its so hard to find a forum with others discussing this process.

also, this is the 980m i plan on ordering for my 8770w,- https://www.ebay.com/itm/nVidia-GTX...m=142625053077&_trksid=p2045573.c100505.m3226

I do not plan on modifying the fan as i bought an external fan that works really well from amazon, i am not sure if i need to swap the psu in the labtop to get the full performance from the 980m though?

any tips would be greatly appreciated, please check the link just to ensure i order the right one lol

 

That card will work perfect that's the same one I'm using. Modding the infs is super freaking easy. I'll try and find a post on it with step by step instructions.

You can upgrade to dreamcolor or Full HD easily, plug and play. 4K not so much. DC requires more than a panel however, you also need a color card and the whole setup can be expensive. I ended up having to pay $700 for a complete DC setup. I have a full hd screen with webcam in full top case assembly for sale cheap if interested.

 

This should answer all questions about the inf modding. Second post contains link to a step by step guide, any further questions you might have should be in the thread . It's really easy, I had no problems with it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/nvidia-inf-modding-questions-clarifications.808851/

 

okay, I read through it. I feel like with that and with the aid of some youtube videos I will be able to accomplish it. About the monitor, email me at [email protected].

question, If I get the 980m working in this 8770w, can I run a 4k screen tv at 60fps through the display port? (movies of course not gaming)

 

Yep you can do that. I use mine docked about 98% of the time through a 4k monitor. Works perfect.

 

hi, I found the metal solution you were referring to here. I'm not sure what you mean to provide insulation though? did you have to do some physical modifications after swapping the gpu? also, mine currently has a NVidia quadro 3000m, so will I need to by an xbracket still? I feel like all I need is the gtx 980m, this liquid solution, and to transfer the xbracket from the quadro onto the gtx 980m. I am going to use the notebook fan control program combined with an external fan that draws the air out very well. I will be installing a 1080p screen I got from ebay. If this works I will install the 980m and from there itll just be the file modifications to get the drivers to work.

 

No mods needed.
Transfer the X-Bracket from the old Quadro to GTX 980M.
Apply Liquid Pro carefully on both CPU/GPU and the Heatsink as well.
Use electric insulation tape to cover resistors


External fan not needed!
If laptop is DC2 (Dream RGB...) possibly wont work properly. Check my past posts for info what I stumbled upon.

 

Every cold start I get blank screen
Every time I dock/undock - blank screen.
Brightness controls don't work.
vBios is default Clevo.

The DC2 screen was from 8760w with 780M GTX. Transferred it to my 8770W, but never solved my problem.

395$ at aliexpress

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/GTX...419ddb7&transAbTest=ae803_5&priceBeautifyAB=0

 

Does Notebook FanControl work for the 8740w? HWInfo is cool to keep me from overheating but I cannot get the auto function to work and I'd rather not run on full blast all the time.

I was going to go with Liquid Metal in my 8740w but decided against it as it will eat into the copper heatsink compound and I don't want to have to pull my laptop apart once a year or more often to reapply the TIM and/or replace the heat sink because the copper is pitted. With i7 920xm and GTX 970m I am seeing around 70C full load on the GPU and 70-85 on the CPU and that is using MX4 paste on both chips.

As far as the correct card, I can vouch for this seller as that's where I got my card and he is very responsive when it comes to questions about drivers and compatibility. He even sent me a driver mod guide including required .inf files.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/dsyzyl/m.html?item=302645303211&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

 

Hi all, I'm looking for some brutally honest feedback from any of you who may have done a 980m upgrade or similar on a 8770w.

First and foremost, is it worth it?

Obviously there is the cost of the card ($400-450 shipped) and let's assume $40 for some new conductonaut / kryonaut and a set of thermal pads. So lets figure $450+ for the cost, is it worthwhile for the performance of a 980m? Obviously, a 980m is an excellent mobile card, but there are some 15"/17" laptops to be had with a 1060 (3gb variant) for just over $1000, or clevo rebranded 1070 laptops for $1300+ (like microcenter's "powerspec" 17).

Here is the other consideration on my part - my 8770w has a K5000m, its perfectly capable of playing anything that is a few years old. I just can't run any of the latest games at more than minimum spec (if they are playable at all. With all this in mind, does the performance justify the cost at this point, or should I just save up / wait for a 1060/1070 laptop?

Does the upgrade to a 980m degrade any of the existing functions of the laptop (even subjectively?) - I have read a lot of posts across several sites and can't get a good sense of this. Some people seem to have endless problems after upgrading to GPU that isn't on HP's whitelist. I just cannot tell if that is to be expected or if those issues are just caused by inexperienced users attempting the upgrade. Among the problems, I have read that 980m install can cause loss of brightness control, problems with display/video out, no video on startup (does this mean no BIOS/UEFI access?), among other problems.

So, TL;DR - if you are a 8770w owner, was the upgrade worth it? Will this upgrade potentially cause a bunch of problems (see above)? Would I have better compatibility with another workstation card, like the M5000M?

 

What about what thermal pads to get sizes and such? I can't seem to get a straight forward answer anywhere...

 

So, check this out... 980m stock drivers, stock inf file installed fresh new drivers right off the US website... GPU idle temps are anywhere from 32C idle to 35C idle.... but under load the card throttles and hits temp limit at 83C..... and im using Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut... so idk where im going wrong? This doesn't seem right...
*EDIT* I also am running the Notebook fancontrol on 100% with an 8740M 17 blade fan..
**EDIT** DOH gpu wasn't meeting the heatsink....seems as if the springs are worn out
***EDIT*** Figured it out.... I never swaped in the K4000m X bracket.... it still had the old bracket on it.... Chilling at a cool 34 idle and 63 playing far cry 5 on high 1080p

 

I don't believe the 980m is worth it cost wise, especially with the old CPU that our laptops have as it will likely bottleneck a bit. The 970m is a good deal cheaper and I think that would be the way to go if you want to "max out" your laptop. I HAD the 970m in my 8740w but had compatability issues with it so had to exchange the seller for a 780m that I expect to perform almost as well and even that would be a hell of an upgrade. Total cost for that card for me is 250+8 shipping on eBay. Even includes thermal paste and pads for the memory. I did buy an extra GPU heatsink for $20 as well so I'd have one I can grind down for the new card and one I could use for the old card if ever needed.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

Appreciate the info! I was very on the fence last month, but holding off for now. I'm going to consider the 970m though if I get the urge to upgrade again soon. Sadly the 980m prices have gone up more since my last post (resellers on ebay and elsewhere), looks like they are around $550 now - getting a bit stupid considering I've seen 6gb 1060m's for less before (won't work in the 8770w obviously, but point still stands...)

 

Can you confirm the GTX 980M combination is working without issues in combination with the dreamcolor panel? I read messages here, that 'Maxwell' cards are not working in combination with DC. Or issues with gray scaling.

I swapped the DC panel from a 8760w to my 8770W and now like to upgrade to a 980M (or +) graphics card.

 

Don't do it! It doesn't work!
Black screen after nvidia driver installation, after resuming from sleep mode, no brightness controls work... 8760w DC+GTX 980m is a no go...

 

Works perfect in my 8770w!!

 

With DreamColor screen?

P.S. now I saw you have 8770w, probably it's more compatible with 980m...
Did you have some issues with black screen after installing nvidia drivers?
Which OS (legacy or UEFI) and vbios are you using?

 

No issues with black screen. I'm using Win 10 UEFI boot and vbios is stock MSI card.

 

What happens when you put your laptop on sleep mode? Does it wakes without black screen?
Which drivers are you using?
Do you have problems with the brightness? Does brightness controls work?
I wasted my money with that GTX 980m...
Can you share your vbios version?

 

Everything above functions properly. No problem coming out of sleep mode. When I'm at my computer tonight I'll try and get you the info.

 

This is a screenshot from right after I installed the DC panel.

 

I was also able to make the card working on Win 10 Uefi with 388.13 driver (actually windows installed them automatically on first boot)
The problem appears when I try to update the driver with newer/older one- after restart - black screen.
When put the laptop on sleep - black screen on wake...
Brightness stays on max and hot keys doesn‘t control it..
Cold boot = black screen, have to force reboot with power key, then works...
What remains in mind is that my problem is the combo 8760w DC+ GTX 980m.
You are using 8770w and if you haven‘t faced those problems, there is clearly better compatibility of 980m with 8770w DC.
No other explanation...

 

I think I am just out of luck ... in a Polish forum I saw a guy with same combo as mine (8760w DC+ 980m) and he has experienced exactly the same problem as me, unresolved by now for already six months...
I am going to sell this card.
Will keep using my 780m, clocked at the speed of 880m.

 

Did you find any solution about those blank screens? I am in the same boat...

 

Brightness control works? Fan control works? Hdmi audio and video works?

 

I am also interested if brightness controls work on your setup?
Does your DP port work too?

 

I have an 8770w 1080p NON-DC panel. Also looking to replace the stock K3000M with a Maxwell GPU.

But what I haven't been able to find in this thread is the 980m MXM 3.0 cards do they ALL fit or only a certain type (A or B)? or there are no "standards" in card dimensions?

 

3.0b is what you need.