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    From 7970m to 970m in a P170EM anyone done it?

    Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by unpilot, Feb 28, 2015.

  1. unpilot

    unpilot Notebook Consultant

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    Hi all,

    Since it is no possible to swap my 7970m to a 970m I am thinking about doing that.

    My trusty sager P170EM is working well but getting a little old.

    Maybe this change would be just what the Dr. ordered?

    I have a i7-3610QM CPU would the new GPU be overkill?
    Has anyone done this swap with a similar laptop...and if so how did it go?

    Thanks
     
    unpilot, Feb 28, 2015
    #1
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  2. Srikar

    Srikar Notebook Evangelist

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    Srikar, Feb 28, 2015
    #2
  3. unpilot

    unpilot Notebook Consultant

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    unpilot, Feb 28, 2015
    #3
  4. Zymphad

    Zymphad Zymphad

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    Why would you get a SLI with a BGA crap HQ CPU? To me that is idiocy.
     
    Zymphad, Feb 28, 2015
    #4
  5. Srikar

    Srikar Notebook Evangelist

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    Yes, it was definitely worth it. Games I could barely get 30 FPS on with varied settings I'm now getting 50+ with max settings. Plus no more frame hitching.
     
    Srikar, Feb 28, 2015
    #5
  6. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Plus the 970m has a lot of tweaking room in it too.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Feb 28, 2015
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  7. unpilot

    unpilot Notebook Consultant

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    Well I have my 7970m for sale on Ebay...so if it sells I will buy a 970m and give it a go!
     
    unpilot, Feb 28, 2015
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  8. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Best of luck with the sale :)
     
    Meaker@Sager, Feb 28, 2015
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  9. Support.3@XOTIC PC

    Support.3@XOTIC PC Company Representative

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    Since mobile GPU's hold their value well it shouldn't cost you too much out of pocket to get the 970M
     
    Support.3@XOTIC PC, Mar 2, 2015
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  10. clevo-extreme

    clevo-extreme Company Representative

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    Don't worry. In Internet you can find many post about this update, however always you can spend your money ;)

    CEG-hardcorecustom -
    your UPGRADE base for Clevo & Alienware notebooks - for NBR & Techinferno users always something special ;)
     
    clevo-extreme, Mar 2, 2015
    #10
  11. TomJGX

    TomJGX I HATE BGA!

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    WSe
    Agreed.. Get a Sager NP9377-S instead of that BGA turd CPU machine... Not to mention that horrible design... I still maintain that the designer should be shot..
     
    TomJGX, Mar 3, 2015
    #11
  12. Zymphad

    Zymphad Zymphad

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    I already had a NBR member run x264 benchmark with the same BGA CPU, the 4790K is 30% faster at stock. 13 vs 17 FPS. This is huge! It's a difference 20 minutes for 1 hour of encoding on a 4790K vs 4720HQ.
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2015
    Zymphad, Mar 3, 2015
    #12
  13. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    The desktop CPU machines do make sense for content producers more so than gamers, it's part of the reason they are offered :)
     
    Meaker@Sager, Mar 3, 2015
    #13
  14. unpilot

    unpilot Notebook Consultant

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    Will the one RJtech is selling work in my P170EM?
    It is a GTX970m but says it is for the P170SM-A
     
    unpilot, Mar 5, 2015
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  15. ashes0809

    ashes0809 Newbie

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    ashes0809, Jul 2, 2015
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  16. LT1-Z/28

    LT1-Z/28 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I just did to my p151em. I had to use both of Prema's bios. I also reinstalled after flashing the bios on both .Was it worth it , yes. From what little testing I have done it was a nice jump. I no longer have bouncing gpu uitilaztion . I was able to turn up the settings my favorite game Assetto Corsa to match my desktop 970. I now get mid 90fps with 20 car field , desktop 120s , compared to 50s with turn down down settngs on the hd8970m . Desktop is 1920x1200 , laptop 1920x1080. I would have gone with the 980 if I had the extra money. I bought my card off ebay and used the one piece heatsink that was on the hd8970m.
     
    LT1-Z/28, Jul 2, 2015
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  17. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    The 980m is less bang for the buck, you could tweak your 970m of course when you want more.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Jul 2, 2015
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  18. LT1-Z/28

    LT1-Z/28 Notebook Enthusiast

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    It is just like the desktop cards the 980 is over priced . The 970 is best bang for your buck. Even though the desktop cards are closer together in performance.
     
    LT1-Z/28, Jul 2, 2015
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  19. Support.3@XOTIC PC

    Support.3@XOTIC PC Company Representative

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    There is a premium added to get the best for mobile and desktop.
     
    Support.3@XOTIC PC, Jul 3, 2015
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  20. clevo-extreme

    clevo-extreme Company Representative

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    all new Nvidia cards work with stock bios on P15xEM/P17xEM - we upgrade self for our customers...
     
    clevo-extreme, Jul 4, 2015
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  21. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Over priced? I'm not sure I would go that far, you still get 30% more performance. It's just not quite the same performance per $ as the 970M which for a mobile card is priced very nicely.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Jul 6, 2015
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  22. LT1-Z/28

    LT1-Z/28 Notebook Enthusiast

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    To me $100.00 per 10% increase in speed is a bit steep IMO. I got lucky with my upgrade and paid even less than the cheapest vendor price by quite a bit.
     
    LT1-Z/28, Jul 6, 2015
    #22
  23. eriannmx

    eriannmx Notebook Consultant

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    Where did you get your upgrade from?
     
    eriannmx, Jul 6, 2015
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  24. LT1-Z/28

    LT1-Z/28 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I found my card used on ebay for 350.00 . I used the heat sink that came with the laptop. I had to buy some thermal pads as the AMDs were to thin for some areas . Which I also found on ebay for cheap . so for 370.00 I was able to do the upgrade.
     
    LT1-Z/28, Jul 6, 2015
    #24
  25. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    See if you can track down one of the latest heatsinks for the models as they were improved over time in the SM and SM-A machines for instance.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Jul 8, 2015
    #25
  26. LT1-Z/28

    LT1-Z/28 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Is this directed at me ?. If so the heatsink in the laptop is a one piece unit. I am guess this is the newer design. The one that came with the card was a two piece. I tried the one that came with the car( two piece) and it ran very hot. The one piece heatsink let's the card run very cool . The only thing I needed was 3mm and 2.5mm thermal pads. I also 1mm just to replace what as already there.
     
    LT1-Z/28, Jul 8, 2015
    #26
  27. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    The single piece is better but there were a couple of revisions of the single piece.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Jul 8, 2015
    #27
  28. LT1-Z/28

    LT1-Z/28 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well it did go back under warranty late last year for a video issuse. I believe they replaced the gpu and heatsink as it did not look the same as when I shipped it to them . It ended up being a bad lcd cable . But I think they were covering the buts and replaced the gpu also as this one did not oc the same. Anyway do you have a part number for the latest version? .
     
    LT1-Z/28, Jul 8, 2015
    #28
  29. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    That's not something I have to hand, but if it's recent then it's not a big issue.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Jul 10, 2015
    #29
  30. Newbie_NS810

    Newbie_NS810 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Lucky you, either way give the 970m a nice OC for the extra juice or save it for later when you feel your notebook is getting old ;)
     
    Newbie_NS810, Jul 13, 2015
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  31. LT1-Z/28

    LT1-Z/28 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah I got lucky saved an easy $100.
    00 or more . I just missed the one that ended at $300.00 that would have been really nice . I have already had it at +150 on both . Played a bunch of different games and no crashes or weirdness. And it still ran cooler than the AMD HD8970m at stock clocks.
     
    LT1-Z/28, Jul 13, 2015
    #31