Owners of P170HM + Nvidia GTX 680M

I've been searching but cannot find more information about the motherboard revisions of P170HM clevo laptops. Any owners have this machine with the 680M running? If so, can you kindly post a picture of your motherboard revision? From what I gathered, ver 3.3 is not compatible with the nVidia 680M gtx Clevo 4GB card. Thanks
Here is a picture of my board.

 

As long as the 680M has the VBIOS version 80.04.29.00.01 running, I am fairly certain it will run without issues.

 

P150/P170 HM motherboard revision 3.3 cannot work with the 680M regardless of its vBios.

 

That's the first time I hear that, could you please link me to your source? I am curious because I know some people who run the 680M in their 170HM and they never had issues, except of one guy who had a card with a newer VBIOS sent to him, so I had to flash it for him. Of course they all might have a different motherboard revision than that 3.3, but it would be a coincidence.

 

I'll find the threads. Here is a owner who pm me their p170hm motherboard picture. He has the 680m running just fine. But take notice of the motherboard revision.

 

My anecdotal experience is that the 680M won't work with my P170HM with motherboard revision 3.3. My only source is my vendor, Malibal, but getting hard facts out of them can be quite difficult. What I do know is that the 680M that I have is functional, supposedly has the correct vBIOS, but my system won't even load the BIOS with it seated. What's frustrating is that I don't have the resources to try to install or reflash the card in another compatible system, so I can not provide test results from trying different options. I couldn't talk to the tech at Malibal directly, so I couldn't find out exactly what he tried before he decided it was the motherboard revision.

 

Hey, this sounds EXACTLY like the issue my friend had. But this is because of a "new" VBIOS. As I said, it *MUST* have the 80.04.29.00.01 VBIOS. His card came with a newer version, he could not even boot into BIOS just like you. He ended up sending the card to me, I installed it, bootet (my Clevo x7200 has a more generous compatability, I could boot without problems) and verified he had 80.04.33.00.10 on his card, so I flashed it to 80.04.29.00.01, sent it back to him and he is running it now without any problems. Refer to this thread if you are interested. So I call bull--- on the fault being the motherboard revision, the support was just not willing to flash the VBIOS or didn't know about it. Maybe a different motherboard revision accepts newer vbioses too, but as far as I know no other P170HM user had problems with his 680M if it had the correct vbios.

And if you search with google, you'll find nothing on this. I guess there are a lot HM/EM users running the 680M, there must be more people with this particular Mobo, and thus there should be more reports in forums.

**Edit: Oh, and as for the "supposedly has the correcct vBios" I can tell you that in my friends case Eurocom sent him the card directly, and he requested the .29. VBIOS, but the card still came with a newer VBIOS as they simply didn't care about it the card even had the .29. sticker on it, but had the .33. version flashed. So I would not bet my money on Malibal being different in this regard.
Your safest bet is having a friend who owns a notebook with which you can boot (e.g. x7200) flash the card for you.

 

that's why I hope someone post their motherboard pic showing revision 3.3 alongside the 680m and confirm working so we can rule this myth out.

 

Yes. Could someone confirm that they have v3.3 mobo and GF 680M working in it, please. I just canceled order for clevo 680m gpu because i found out that this mobo revision won't allow to use it.

 

One of my problems has always been that I don't have access to anyone with gaming laptop, let alone access to someone with an MXM 3.0b port for a discrete GPU. Without soliciting volunteers online to do it and not steal it from me, I have no inexpensive way to reflash the 680M I have.

I've already built a desktop to be my main machine, but if I sell either the laptop or just the components, I'd like to make sure the GPU works.

 

Thats very true. Its good though that you have a main desktop and not stuck with your main being the p170hm as I am. Currently using my friends i3 toshiba just to browse and periodically check the forums for news on this topic. Also searching for 560M / 580M / 680M is a nightmare in general. Only ebay seems to be the venue selling mobile cards like these but of course they are used and who knows how long it will last before giving out. Most cards on ebay are past the 2nd ownership mark so I would be the third person buying a card that was already sold twice before. As if that wasn't bad enough just look at the pricing for these 2011/2012 ***Used*** gpu's in comparison to 2014/2015 used gpu's and you'll notice there isn't much of a price difference.

Perfect example based on two current auctions on ebay today: (Does not make any sense)
Nvidia GTX 880m Laptop video card 8GB video ram for Alienware 17 &18 new models

• $399.00
• Buy It Now

Nvidia GeForce Dell GTX 680M 2GB DDR5 for Clevo MSI Alienware 675M 670M 580M

• $398.00
• Buy It Now

 

The first listing

The GTX 880M will run in a Clevo systems later than the P1xxEM series. It may even run in a P1xxEM if Prema has modded a vBIOS for it. It will not run in a P1xxHM. It's worth knowing that Dell/Alienware provide a bit more support than Clevo when it comes to upgrading hardware so it's less likely that the generation of the Alienware laptop will interfere with the component's compatibility. For it to function in a Clevo box, it'll need to have the Clevo vBIOS, or a modded vBIOS. If The price is $400 because it should be more than that, but they're relatively easy to find and the potential buyers likely bought their laptops with 680Ms and 780Ms and won't get that much of a boost going to the 880M..

On the other hand, the Dell GTX 680M 2GB will not work in any Clevo box. There is no Clevo vBIOS available to support the 2GB Dell version of that card. Clevo GTX 680Ms are harder to come by and sell new from resellers for between $700 and $850. People try to get $500 for used Clevo 680Ms, but for that price, I've watched cards sit on ebay for months. However, if you're in the market for a 680M, you've probably got a P1xxHM, P1xxEM, or a X7200. You're in a pretty specific group that needs a Clevo card and the right Clevo vBIOS to get going. If you have an earlier model system, you can't use it. If you have a later model system, you can run something faster with more memory LESS THAN the cost of a 680M. You might have an Alienware as well, but again why not run a better, cheaper card? From what I'm been watching, $400 for a 2GB Alienware 680M is overpriced by about $75. But we can ignore them anyway since they won't work with our systems. I think fair a price for a Clevo 680M is about $400 to $475. I priced the one I have at that amount. I just wish I could flash properly, I could have sold it already.

Another option is trying your luck and your patience with Aliexpress.com. You can sometimes find an inexpensive card direct from Hong Kong and the seller may even offer to flash it for you. However, most of the time, the 680Ms on there start at $500 refurbished and shipping is never free.

 

I understand the points made but these cards are aged and much newer nvidia cards are available for almost the same price. Given the option to buy a 880m used for 365$ vs 680m used for 400$ I would definitely go with the 880m (if it was supported in my system). My budget is $300 for the 4yr old 2012 nvidia 680m card.

 

MXM cards have always maintained their value very well due to their scarcity and niche demand.

 

Understandable but illogical in terms of technology and time, just my two cents.

 

Supply and demand will always be the victor

 

@Meaker@Sager can you bust this motherboard revision myth, that the 680M won't run on revision 3.3?

 

I think its the truth we p170hm owners have to face. I know there are more owners of the 680m & p170hm but I guess they are not active on here anymore. I've chatted with Aj from youtube but he hasn't sent any pics of his motherboard yet.

 

is it possible to flash any gtx 680M with 4GB to the needed .29 bios?

 

Well I used MSI vbioses for my Clevo 680M for testing purposes without major issues, it just didn't work very well. According to the TI forum, MSI 4GB 680Ms should also work in Clevo machines with the correct vbios, but I am not sure. I just know that if I used a MSI vbios on my Clevo card, the clocks were a bit messed up.

Of course, if you want to make sure you don't run into any issues (and at this price point I would) just pay the extra for the Clevo 680M and eat instant noodles for a month

 

You can tend to cross flash the vbios from other vendors with the same vram amount but as mentioned you can get some odd behavior.

 

Yes

 

I have a P170Hm and 680m (4GB) and am late to the party...LoL.
I will take a peek over the next day and post back what version I see there.

All good with it lovely system..

 

This is also correct a MSI 680m will work within the P170HM. Just make sure the correct vbios is flashed before inserting.

 

And the 2GB variant does not work at all or are there models which should work?

 

IIRC, it also works wit the Dell stock vBIOS.

 

Mh ok? On the page before someone says that there is no Clevo Bios for the 2GB variant which would be needed to make it work.
2Gb versions are much easier to get and for a cheaper price. How sure are you with the dell bios?

 

The Dell stock vBIOS works for the 2GB cards...

 

I have v3.3 in my clevo. To Carla sorry but my 680m 4GB works in the v3.3 clevo motherboard. Vbios issue??

Good luck.

 

Finally someone who busts the myth. Malibal was just making it up and were not willing/didn't know about the vbios, which is kinda sad when the community knows more than the reseller.

 

TR2N thank you for giving the truth on this myth! Care to post pictures of your motherboard for others to see? Thanks!

 

I also have a P170HM and since my GTX 485M died, and I'm looking to upgrade to a GTX 680M also!
My motherboard is v3.2, so I hope there is no problem to do so aside from finding a vbios compatible card...

 

It looks like there may be an issue, it may be worth going for a 965M based more modern machine.

 

Agreed.. Clevo's BIOS with the HM is a massive fail when it comes to upgrading GPUs sadly.. a 965M machine might be a better option as after you sell your Clevo for parts +include the cost of a 680M, it will come to about the same...

 

Wish I could help. I have version 3.2 but the blind flash was confusing. What Windows O/S are you on. I am on Win 10, and when the blind flash happens, it didn't work out. I have a gtx 680m version 64, I backwards flashed and now it shows up. I am just looking for the drivers now, that seems to be my unicorn. When I did the blind flash it said wait for a beep. I waited and got a what sounded like an alert tone. I figured out that when the tone happens, you have to hit the arrow key to the left 1 time, then hit enter. At this point I heard a very loud distinct beep. Turns out that was my flash happening and now my 680 card reads in bios, just no drivers. So half way there. If you are having problems with the blind flash, that was the info I was going to post in my other thread you are part of. I hope this helps you out some..........

 

As long as you can flash the card to the correct VBIOS (or ask the vendor to sent it to you pre-flashed, and stress it enough, cause some vendors like to overlook it), there are absolutely no issues. All you need is the correct vbios and an inf-mod, we can help you with that.