Clevo P170EM - 6990m Broken - Upgrade Options?

It would appear that my 6990m has bitten the dust, will show a jumbled messed up image on the log on screen, then black from there on in. If I disable it through safe mode, then boot back into windows, can get in. But asoon as re-enable the card, screen flicks black. This all started after computer locked up.

I was wondering if anyone knows what the options are to fix this, seems really hard to find a 6990m these days as they've been discontinued. I've found a few GTX 675m's at a reasonable price, but say they've come from an Alienware.

Any idea, if there would be any reason why I shouldn't be able to just chuck one in with the same heat sink. Is there known compatability issues between Alienware and Clevo GPUs? Or moving from ATI/AMD to nVidia?

Other then thermal paste, is there anything else I'm going to need? Fine building and fixing desktops, but just bit nervous about messing about with a laptop guts.

Thanks for any help or suggestions can give, this is being quite the pain.

 

Afaik you can stick pretty much any GPU into a P170EM, including interesting cards such as 7970m, 680m, etc.
Have you considered buying one of the 7970m's on sale here? Your heatsink would also be pretty compatible.

 

It should be pretty much anything, Sager machine's heatsinks are pretty generic anyway so you might just have to move around some thermal pads so choose the best value card for you basically.

 

... and another 6990M bites the dust (and I bet re-flow will fix it, the same with other people).
There must be something seriously wrong either with particular (big) batch of these cards, or with heatsinks used.

 

"doo doo doo doo, Another one, Another one Bites the Dust"

Re-Flow - Just done a search, and traditionally I prefer baking cakes, but I'm up for baking a graphics card. Not like it can break it further.

...

I haven't seen any, done a quick forum search but can't see anything. Got a link?

Yeh, I'm looking at anything from 660m to 675mx, and 7970m. The 680m can get stuffed though, the cost vs benefit curve is way off on it.

....

Also, it turns out my laptop is a P170HM, I hope that doesn't make too much difference. *Fingers crossed this Re-flow thing works*, even though do fancy an upgraded graphics card could do without the expense, if can avoid it.

Thanks for all the help.

 

I'd say 7970m for an hm machine.

 

I tried reflowing the 6990m, and ITS WORKING. In windows. Just installing something to test in 3D.

I'm actually abit shocked that worked though. Putting a graphics card in the oven goes against all my natural instincts with a circuit board. But whe hey!

Thank you for all the help, I literally would of never thought of that fix without the suggestions.

 

I'm having the same issue with the 6990m on my P150HM. Would you mind posting an update on how well the card is working/what you specifically did to reflow the card? (Mainly temp and time)