980m/970m Back Plate Question

Looking at purchasing a 970m Clevo card for my laptop. I am not entirely sure of vbios comptability, but I can probably fix that later if there is an issue.

My main concern is that the card has a backplate screwed onto the back of the card. I am not talking about the x bracket, though I will have to remove that as well.

So my question is for owners of these new cards. Can this backplate be removed fairly easily? The picture makes it seem very easy, and simply need to remove 4 screws holding it on. Also the X-bracket. How difficult is it to remove the X-bracket?

For my MSI laptop I need a bare MXM module.

Thanks!

 

x bracket removal takes a lot of patience cuz its glued pretty tightly to the pcb of the card. i guess u can loosen up the glue a bit by using a hair dryer (with caution! otherwise ull damage the soldering by using too much heat) and then gently pry it off. as to the backplate, unfamiliar with that so maybe someone else knows more

 

You're a bit better off asking this question in THIS SUB-FORUM instead of here, due to more people there likely owning 970Ms being there, and more importantly, being able to say whether your system will take a 970M in place of your 780M, or if you would need a new version (motherboard) of the GT60 to do so.

 

I've removed lots of xbrackets without too much drama, a thin screwdriver (which fits through the hole) and patience does it every time.

Backplates are usually pretty easy to remove too.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys. I ordered a Sager 970m card. I am going to attempt the mod. I figure a bit of dremel work, and thermal pad stacking will be necessary until I can source an official MSI 970m heatsink.

Any idea of Clevo cards being able to run MSI vbios? I've read conflicting information. Some have said don't' flash MSI to Clevo cards, but then I've read of users using MSI vbios on Clevo cards. My main interest in running MSI vbios is obviously to get around the need to use a modified INF driver.

 

It is possible that eventually a modded vBIOS might come out that will negate the need for this, but the 900M series are so new there's no way to be sure. You'll have to take a gamble, and report the findings after XD.

 

Please report your findings when you get the card.. Thanks man