Clevo P170HM GPU Replacement/Upgrade

Play games on it really, maybe some 3dmark to test performance is as expected.

 

Not sure what performance is expected, just tried Unigine Valley 1.0 and this is what I get:



Is this to be expected? Max temp was 76C.

PS. 3dMark is running as we speak.

Edit:


Max temp here was 67C.

 

Holy crap, I wouldn't be able to survive on a single 7970M right now.

This was my valley run XD


And even with that I want moar GPU power. I'M A MONSTER D= D= D=

 

Yep that looks about right. That era of cards was fun, my highest score with the 680M and 3940xm for comparison:

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/170151

 

Nice, was it so much better than mine because of the GPU or CPU?

Also I looked at the comparison of my score to other similar systems (same GPU and CPU) and their score was like 500 points higher (which is not negligible), do you know what could be causing it?

EDIT:

Also, my idle GPU temperatures seem really low, around 40C, when under load (benchmarks etc.) it doesn't exceed 75C, I am not complaining as obviously I want them to be low, but even the seller said idle is 60-70C and load 80-95C so could I have pasted it wrong? Or did I actually do it so well it conducts the heat so well?

 

It's been several years since I yanked the 7970M out of my P170EM but, if I remember right, I had a similar problem and it was because Enduro was running the igpu instead of the 7970M card. I don't know if later drivers fixed that problem but my symptoms were very similar to yours. I just could not get the 7970M to run full time.

I ended up replacing the 7970M with a 680M and that fixed the problem.

I don't know if that is your issue but I thought I'd throw it out there. Hope this helps.

Bobby

 

thanks, it may well be, and if it is then it would explain the low temps too...

I installed GTA IV yesterday and 80C is the max I am getting and that's after at least 30mins of game play. But then again maybe it is running full power as I maxed the settings out and the inbuilt benchmark averaged 59fps so that's not too shabby I guess?

 

The HM series disable the IGP and dont use enduro.

 

That's not really low. My idle GPU temps around 25-28 deg C is about 38c on auto fans. Just be glad your cooling is doing really well =D. Your pasting probably was very good, and the seller's paste jobs were awful.

 

yea sorry I didn't mean my temps were class leading lol They just seemed low compared to what the seller said 'normal' was, is all.

I might repaste the CPU then as it gets hotter than the GPU and I thought in games it normally is the other way around.

 

Just get some compressed air and clean up those CPU vents properly, they get clumped and dirty lot more often since CPU runs lot more often than GPU.

 

I did that before mounting the new card while I had the whole thing opened so that should not be the cause...the CPU was last repasted about the time my old 6990M started showing artifacts, and from what I remember I used a different method then, and a different method now for the new 7970M GPU which has decent temps I guess.

When I am back from holiday I will repaste the CPU with the same method - see if that helps.

 

Also, am I the only one surprised that a 7970M hardware revision 1.1 worked in a HM series laptop out of the box?

Everywhere I read, everyone always said it has to be v1.2, so yeah, pleasant surprise in my case

 

MM, can you tell me what bios is on the gpu?
Very happy to hear this as many said it was not possible.

 

Yup, this is what GPU-Z is showing:

 

TR2N, so is this what you expected to see?

 

Its probably a very early v1.1, real 7970M based board, before the v1.2 production units came out.

Usually the currently on the market available v1.1 7970M are in fact all 8970M based MXM boards that's why they don't work.

 

I see, I guess I lucked out then

 

Hey Mike,
Just back didn't see this thread.
Looks like I have identical card to yours.

So it seems I should be able to put this into my P170Hm and it should work fine.
Have yet to confirm this but based on your experiences it should work.

Here is my GPU-z info/screenshot

 

The subvendor field on yours says Dell not Clevo, will that matter?

 

My 7970m is in the Alienware m17xr2
See sig.. but I gather it should also be good to go with my Clevo p170hm. In fact, The 680m and 7970m should be swappable between the two machines but I have yet to try that being comfortable with the current setup and performance on both machines.

 

The sub vendor always reports the make of the laptop, even my external gpu does the same thing. It may be to get the drivers working properly.

 

I can't see sigs on Tapatalk Let me know how you get on if you decide to try it in the HM.

@Meaker: you're right it makes sense.

 

Ugh I never use Tapatalk, I just load the full forum in its basic skin.

 

The browser won't notify me someone has responded to my thread, Tapatalk will

Plus the ease with which I can upload a photo straight from the camera or gallery is also a winner for me.

 

You can upload pictures and I am in pretty much every thread anyway

 

Each to their own I guess

 

True and I am on a very large mobile device (Galaxy Note III or Nvidia shield) so that can impact things too.

 

Lol I know the feeling, Note4 here Tapatalk looks nice and clear here!

 

mine is a clevo 151hm1 (2011 model) While the CPU and the RAM are still fine, and are rather high for most games' requirements, the nvidia GTX 460m is really lagging behind in terms of hardware. My question is, are there any cards of 2014 and 2015 that are COMPATIBLE with this machine?

 

the highest performing cards that i know of for the HM series are the 680M and 7970M... which, properly overclocked, should still give u a nice speed bump from your current 460M im guessing something in the range of 200-300%!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

@Meaker: see this is one example where notifications come in handy with Tapatalk, this has popped up without me having to check the thread; )

@isellountos: not sure there are any 2014 onwards mate, I think the most powerful one you can put in is the 7970M/680M.

 

That question is answered here. I don't know if they missed out any other options that might work though.

 

thank you guys, i knew about the 7970m, but not about the 680m. (I remain a bit confused about which is best, I have checked comparisons online. Obviously, there is no doubt whatsoever that both are very superior to the 460m.) YET, both of those are 2012 models... I heard some crazy (?) talk about people going as far installing 980m to these machines and claiming it works(???) Anyone got ideas on that?

 

Go with the 680m if you can get it as the 4GB vram helps with newer titles (eg Batman AK and GTA V).
The 7970m card is still an awesome bang for your buck card and impresses me every time on my alienware running at 1920x1200.
Both are excellent workhorses..

 

doubtful, the newest clevo laptops that can be tweaked to support the 900M series cards are the EM series, so one generation after the HM...

 

I think you will find the 7970m cheaper than the 680m at least that's my finding - ebay has plenty more of them too if you're after a used one.
but yeah, if I had found a 680m for the same price I probably would've gone with it for the bigger RAM.

 

I would like to replace my broken hd6970m.

1) Is it true that these cards are unreliable? My first card broke down after only 1 month.
So is it safe to say that replacing with an other hd6970m is not a good thing to do?

2) I want to replace it but I am very dissapointed that my card allready broke after only 4 years. (especially because I hardly used it for gaming.)
So I am looking at a second hand card. And since the reliability of the amd card is questionable, I would
rather want to go with a gtx card. But are they more reliable?

I have an interesting offer on a gtx580m on ebay. The problem is that I read everywhere that dell card don't work in clevo laptops. A lot of people on ebay write that they are.
The person responded to my email where I asked him about compatiblity and this was his answer.
"Dell card's work in Clevo but only if the driver nvidia is modificated."
Is this true? Does he mean bios, if not how would I modify the driver?

Can I use this card in my clevo p170hm. And is it wise to buy a second hand card?

http://www.benl.ebay.be/itm/2222624...badf2e70b6c&bu=43916195034&cp=1&sojTags=bu=bu

Charlie.

 

double bad. the 580m is a very hot card and it will be way slower than your previous 6970m. also, i would shy away from dell cards, u cant get them to work in HM systems, period. best to go for either a 7970m or 680m (clevo cards only and 7970m HAS to be v1.2)

Sent from my Huawei Mate 8 NXT-AL10

 

I concur with Jaybee83, been using 7970m since the beginning of this thread and it's been great. I regularly clean the inside of the laptop from dust to keep the temp down to 78c under Battlefield 4 load - noticed that small buildup of it will get them up to 85-90 and that shortens the lifespan of the card. So 4 years for your card is not bad going!

Sent from my SM-N9100 using Tapatalk

 

4 years is definitely not bad

 

jaybee83 Thank you for the info, so it seems hm models are very specific because he got a dell card to work in another clevo model.

Can you recommend me a cheaper card than the 7970 and 680, I am not looking for high performance no gaming just good video playing.
I am hoping to spend about 150 euro's on a second hand card. The performance of about the hd6970m is perfect for me, but a bit less is fine too.

But it is strange the gtx580m has a better score than the hd6970m on the website: www.videocardbenchmark

The problem is that, in europe it is so difficult to find a clevo card.

 

if ud be fine with a 580m, rather go for a 485m, its only about 5-10℅ slower at stock but way cooler and not as prone to failure. basically, u can use any 400M/500m/600m card from nvidia and any 6000m/7000m card from amd.

Sent from my Huawei Mate 8 NXT-AL10

 

Thank you very much jaybee83, the problem will be finding one in europe that is reasonably priced, I have been searching for a few weeks on ebay and the only one's are dell card unfortunately.
If you know anybody who has a second hand card he wants to sell for a reasonable price, I would be very grateful,
like a gtx485m, or any card really.

 

ill be sure to refer them to you no candidates atm though

also make sure to check the nbr marketolace regularly, u might find something there.

Sent from my Huawei Mate 8 NXT-AL10

 

Roughly what area do you live in?

 

LaptopNut: I am from europe, Belgium.

 

I have an old GTX 485M that I pulled from my P170HM when I upgraded to a GTX 680M years ago. As far as I remember, there was nothing wrong with it but it has been in a box with other parts and the thermal pads may need replacing because they are a little worn.

I live in the UK and I could find out how much it would cost to ship it tracked to you. You could paypal me the postage cost and consider the rest an early Christmas gift. By the way, years ago I sold two laptops to members here and both were very happy but it was local.

I do notice that there were two metal strips on the GTX 485M where you screw it to the heatsink, so it looks like that years ago I was trying to get closer contact with the heatsink. Other than that, all looks fine.

 

i would take up that offer, @LaptopNut has been around for a looong time here good times, playing around with the HM

Sent from my Huawei Mate 8 NXT-AL10

 

Laptopnut: Wow, That is very very generous of you, I am very happy with your offer.
If everything works great I will transfer you an aditional amount for the card.
I have never used PayPal, I will look into it unless you don't mind that I transfer it by banktransfer.

How can I send you a private message to include my email address, because it is not allowed to post my
email address here.