SLI MSI 1070 MXM in P370EM... An adventure

Excellent Work!

 

Their cards come without an SLI connector...

 

putting 1070m in sli in my p377 would be achievable?

 

Not without an SLI connector on the cards it wont. Plus then there is the card shape to worry about.

 

Wrong thread :/

 

I just noticed that there are MSI 1070 with and others without SLI bridge... How can you make the difference between the two? Serial number or part number?

 

I've seen the exact same cards that I've got (MS-1W0V1, ver 1.0, rev 02S) without the SLI connector so I'd say just looking at it whether it's got the white connector, or the black void with exposed solder points is the only reliable way to tell.

 

I am getting conflicting info from Eurocom compared to what I've read in this thread. Hoping someone can help clear this up:

I would like to upgrade my stock np9370 with Eurocom's 1070. I would be perfectly happy without an internal display, relying on HDMI to connect to an external display.

This thread, In several areas, indicates that the HDMI port works without upgrading the display, LCD cables or MOBO. Is that the case with those of you who opted to not upgrade anything besides the GPU to a 1070?

The response I received from Eurocom, asking the same question, states that one would have to replace the MOBO + LCD + LCD cable for the HDMI port to be activated after installing the 1070. The reason they gave is that all ports related to video display are handled by dGPU that need eDP port to be active in order to activate other external display/HDMI ports.

Just looking for a little reassurance that, as this thread indicates, the HDMI port will work with the 1070, but without also replacing other components?

 

I didn't need to replace the mobo (but it did have prema bios before I put the 1070s in). The same motherboard was used in the P370EM3 which had a 120hz eDP panel from the factory.

I had the GPU generating a windows desktop without any drivers or displays, internal or external, connected (which Teamviewer dsiplayed via remote desktop connection). Once drivers were installed, the external outputs worked with the right vbios. This was all before the eDP cable/panel arrived...

That said, I didn't use a Sager or Eurocom 1070, so whatever firmware specifics may be baked into those products I don't know.

this thread may have a link to successful NP9370 + Eurocom 1070 upgrade
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/successful-mxm-gpu-upgraded-laptops.805136/

 

Yes that's odd indeed! Two same cards with same part number but one with the SLI connector, and the other without it. It's quite unusual coming from MSI...

 

I guess for them if they are providing it then it will be under the machine serial first so the same part number but for two different machines.

 

Yes you must be right. But still, how much does a sli connector cost compared to the whole mxm board ? Do you think it's possible to resolder it afterwards ?

 

Anything can be soldered though the connector is very fine pitch. The Vbios might need to be flashed too. I don't think there are associated passives at least.

 

Personnaly I would'nt risk it...

 

You could risk destroying the card so yeah it's a risk.

 

thanks for tasted. great news

 

Does hdmi and DP both now work correctly since the modded INF? I recall seeing hdmi working.

 

Yes though that was more due to finding the right vbios

Stuck on 375.70 driver tho, there's some fix in there for these particular cards in that driver package that I've never been able to isolate and mod into later drivers.

 

Nvidia is very crafty.

I fought with that error 43, and 41, for a good 2 months and finally gave up and went back to a MUCH older driver that works flawlessly. I tinkered with INF mods for a little bit but nothing seemed to take care of the issue. Examining the .inf files and some others I think I have an idea of what is happening. The biggest difference I saw between my old drivers from the Sager site and the drivers directly from Nvidia were that at some point in the life cycle mention of the 860m's was gone. Code 43 is legitimate in some cases ( overheating, overclocked, etc) but in your case, and many others, that driver has literally been crippled.

We know nothing is wrong with the hardware because it works properly with older drivers. In my humble opinion it looks to be planned obsolescence.

 

Would this work with stock heatsinks in a P370SM3?

 

Depends on whether there were any differences in the heatsink other than the two-piece EM GPU heatsinks being fused together in the SM, and the CPU heatpipe and small rad shared with the EM slave GPU heatsink being removed and the SM slave GPU getting a bigger dedicated rad.

If the ridge on the edge of the heatsink is the same, the only tricky bit is using thin strips of two different thickness thermal pads (2mm & 4mm) to cover the entire surface area of the VRM FETs

 

What ridge?

 

The vrm fets on the 1070 are in a slightly different position, they extend further south compared to this old 580M board

 

Hmm, I cant tell by the listing, but I think I'm going to go for it

 

You'll need to carefully examine it and get the fit on those vrms just right. At least you don't need to remove metal.

 

Either way, If I do get it, and 1070's don't fit, 980m/780m is always an option, its only going to my brother anyways

 

You'll be happy to hear that Gecube just released their own 1070s with SLI, in stardard form factor, and with somewhat decent design

 

Where?? links?

 

TaoBao

 

The VRM quality is the big question.

 

According to GeCube, the main VRM components they are using (mosfets, chokes) are the same as those on Founder's Edition cards. As long as they are telling the truth, my only other worry is the smaller components like the capacitors, resistors et cetera which are of an unknown quality. I'm thinking of buying one to see if they are really any good, but i've not decided yet.

 

Founders in what arrangement though? Got a picture?

 

Some pictures of it here: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?sp...iAA2go&id=573568242587&ns=1&abbucket=3#detail

I'm tempted to buy one and be the guinea pig for it, if its really any good then SLI might be fun to have a play with. The MSI 1070 is a safer option though.

 

So it's a 3 + 2 phase most likely, still no idea which vrm chips they are though.