M860TU gets BIOS support for GTX260M

Well, it's official, the M860TU has support for the GTX260M.

Here is the new M860TU BIOS that supports the GTX260M (and NOT the 280M):

BIOS 1.02.14 or here

You will need to flash the newest KBC/EC firmware before this BIOS if you don't already have it:

KBC/EC 1.00.10 or here

The clevo servers can get extremely busy, so if it doesn't work first time, try again later.

I take no responsibility for you bricking your notebook with this information.

 

Hmm... does this mean that there's no need for a motherboard revision just to install a GTX 260m? I guess it's great, don't think the performance gap between this and 280m will be large, though.

 

Thought this was old news, read the original thread here.

And yes, 4860 FTW!!!

 

That thread showed a driver for it, which is tentative. This shows BIOS support which pretty much means it WILL happen (and probably soon)

 

well if M860TU and M570RU and TU will have new card upgrade we can hope that they will release for D901C too

 

M86 and M57T have no replacement so a upgrade would be possible, but D900 is on the oppsite....

 

, i was hoping that a new bios update wouldnt be needed, i had usb hub issues with the .12 bios version.....

 

you cant upgrade your parts if the bios isnt support them

 

Do we really know if this is for the current m860tu?it might be for the revision....

 

yes it is here you can see

http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/e-services/esupport/MarketDLOut.asp?model=M86xTU&go=GO&type=BIOS

 

That's for the current model?if yes, where's the .08/08 Ec/Bios???

 

this is the Clevo Officia site for their bios files if they didnt upload this bios so it maybe is some beta version or its not soo good for to be uploaded they give on the resellers sometimes alpha and beta bios version here are uploaded only the final "Stable" version of the bios

as you can see that the .12 version is there that you have

 

The thing is, it was there.....now it isnt which is strange.....

 

i dont know maybe they removed it because its bad version dosnt matter because this bios is for M860TU

 

What are you talking about?all those bios are for the m860tu. Still i was wondering if there are different bios for the new revision?if yes how do they differentiate them?

 

yes they all are for the M860TU with new support or some bug fixes and other stuff

 

Hmm...

So my only question is whether Clevo will completely drop the 9800M GTS from the M860TU and replace it with the 260M GTX, or whether the 260M GTX will simply be a more expensive upgrade option. And if it's the second, does that mean the price of the 9800M GTS will drop significantly?

 

we cant tell until they are released but i think that the 9800M GTS will drop cant be sure

 

Well the 9800M GTX didn't drop in price, but the 280M/260M are considerably cheaper. I'll even wager that wholesale the GTX 260M is within the same price range as the 9800M GTS. If the upgrade is handled in the same manner as was the 5797 upgrade, expect to see a straight replacement.

One factor, that adds a grain of salt to my theory, is that the performance gap between the 9800M GTS and 260M will be much larger than the one which exists between the 9800M GTX and the 280M. With that factored in, resellers may opt to charge a small premium for the 260M upgrade. I think +$150-$200 would be fair.

 

Im more interested in knowing if there needs to be a different heatsink from the 8800m Gtx/9800m Gtx

 

Well, I'm pretty happy about this. I may still wait till July 1st, after which Microsoft will purportedly be giving a free Windows 7 upgrade to all new purchasers of notebooks.

 

Well it's pretty much a smaller (and faster ) 9800M GTX, so I can't see it needing a new heatsink since the GTX doesn't.

 

Yeah, I actually believe it runs cooler than a 9800M GTX as well.

 

I believe it will run cooler, and a tad better in the performance sector, but nothing shocking. It will have 16 more SPs, and will run at 550/1375/950 ... whereas a lot of users already OCed the 9800M GTX/GT/8800M GTX at at least 600/1500/950 stable...
So it won`t be much of a jump, just less heat, and a few minor increases in shader heavy relying games.

 

It will run cooler than a 9800M GTX due to the smaller die size and less consumption by the core as a result.

 

http://www.mycizmo.com/?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_67&products_id=189&action=configure

Here you can preorder a m860tu with a NEW GTX 260M.Its about 150 USD more costly than the 9800 GTS

 

Haha I called it. Around +$150 is a fair premium, but more importantly, this confirms that it's an MXM 2.1 card, so my upgrade is all but guaranteed if the retail price is as fair as I expect.

 

Wow, that is a really good price considering what you are getting over a 9800M GTS. Looks like we were right about the price drops Kevin. High 5!

 

Wait, so the price of the 9800M GTS will drop?

 

Probably not, but seeing that [the 9800M GTS] is available in notebooks that cost like $1000, it might be at a good enough price already. Also, the fact that the GTX 260M is only $150 above a GTS instead of like $700 is very good news.

 

If the GTS 160M (9800M GTS at 9800M GS voltage) is adopted into the M860TU, the base price will drop.

 

Yes, but i thought the GTX wasnt supported by Clevo even if the gtx will work in the m860tu.

 

How do you flash the KBC/EC? Same as the BIOS?

 

Same as the BIOS.

 

You always do the kbc/ec first, or you'll brick your notebook. Always.

 

i can't wait

 

So the questions now are: How much will it cost retail and who to buy it from?

Theriko, thanks for the Bios and EC updates. Hadn't found the need to flash a bios in a while and had quite a scary moment when a BSOD happened right after the windows start up screen. Thankfully, going into the bios and selecting XP as my OS fixed that.

 

Is the new BIOS update already stable?

 

It's been posted on the clevo download site, so is a fully released BIOS, so I must assume it's stable

 

Any photos of it yet?

 

The latest BIOS is perfectly stable, however it seems that the flashing took longer than it did for previous BIOS updates. Now my laptop waits for the new GTX260m, it better overclock like crazy just like my 9800m GT does!

 

I'd been waiting for someone to guinea pig this BIOS for me, so thanks.

I'm with you on hoping this 260M is a good overclocker. G92b cards are supposed to OC like champs so we should be able to do big things with this one. I'll say around... 670/1675/1100 will be max clocks.

 

Lol, for far too long Kevin is usually the guinea pig.

 

Haha yes, that's exactly why I decided to sit this one out.

Besides, it's the aftermarket cards are at least a month away, and depending on the price/performance, I won't be buying one anyway. I'm in no hurry to flash a BIOS I may never need.

 

I've been using the new BIOS for about 2 days now and no problem so far.

 

Same here, flashed my laptop to this BIOS version a few days ago and it's working perfectly. I wonder if Xoticpc will accept any pre-orders for the GTX 260m?

 

Not, they do not have any estimate price for it either, however they told me that we'll be able (at least for those who purchased their M860TU from them) to purchase the GTX260M from them and do the upgrade ourselves. I even asked if we could do some kind of step up so we get a discount on the GTX260M but they don't lol, I really wonder what I'll do with my 9800m GT, it' still really fast and a king at overclocking, so I'm not 100% of getting the GTX260M either.