Update on Radeon 7970m (Sager/Resellers)

Heat and also I believe power is limited to only 100w per slot in MXM

 

Thanks very much for responding to this, Justin - sets my mind at ease. I think a lot of us in this thread are perhaps a bit on edge, maybe a bit too likely to believe whatever we read.

 

Yup for the MXM 3.0B. For A it is 55W. Yeah I think the design challenges vs profitability ratio is way too high for them to consider a dual GPU mobile card. Imagine, if you went two duals, that would take it to over 400W for the GPUs only. The size of the power brick will be enormous!

 

Don`t worry guys. Only 11 days until Nvidia is suppose to announce GTX 680M

 

So it is possible to have a bios fix that would allow turning off of Enduro? From what I gathered from the post by mythLogic it was not going to be possible to turn of enduro at all.

 

If only it were 11 days to availability of the product itself... :/

 

Yeah true. Some are saying early July, some are saying August. Not shure if any notebook OEM get the GPU before others though so some may get in July and some may get it in August.

 

Haha. Exactly. I just did my last "upgrade" - 660M to 675M. Figured the 675M will have better resale come August/September when the 680M drops. Only $100 more too...

Wish I had the patience for 7970M anymore!

 

I'm really beginning to look forward to it now... Only wish it arrived sooner!

 

anyone else not infected from the "switching to 675m" virus yet? am i the only few 2nd batch 7970m survivors?

 

The reason I would be interested is for machines with only one GPU slot. Certainly someone could get two 50w GPU's that could outperform a 100w one in a few generations...

 

Also, I seem to be suffering from the "can't view last page" glitch that has been going around recently.

 

Try Chrome, FF does the same thing for me and cant view the last page but Chrome is ok

 

That would be difficult to find. I do not see two 660ms outperforming the 7970 or the 680m that is going to be released. The 660m has a 75W TDP. The GT650m has a TDP of 45W but it would be foolish to install two of those instead of one 680m. It hasn't been happening since SLI was introduced, I don't think it will happen in the future. The benefit, if any, would be minimal at best and the source of problems would far outweigh the benefits, if any.

 

So, forgive my ignorance, because I really am not much of a techie and am just trying to figure out what's going on. I'm not sure what you mean about this "report"- is it misinformation or guesswork or something? I understand that the cards you've sent out have passed all the QC you've thrown at it (which I really appreciate by the way, QC is always a good thing). However, if the cards were made using essentially the same components/bits and pieces that were causing failure of the 2nd batch of cards, isn't it likely that a number of the first batch might show the same issues later down the road?

Thanks for all the help and info you guys have given so far, it makes the wait much easier (and much more exciting too).

 

This post was moved to a new home on a page that actually loads.

oh mysterious page 97, what to you have against NBR?

 

ohsnap, so the people whose laptops are being shipped with the 7970M's are still screwed?

 

Nah as XoticPC has stated the next batch are all patched up and ready to go, the first batch shipped default free.

Only way your screwed is if you were on a time frame and weren't in the first batch! Which you were right?

 

Page 97, y u no work?

 

whew, that's a great relief. Yup, was in the first batch. Feel bad for all those who werent :[

 

Works fine for me...

 

I hope this is true. I'm not sure what all happens in QC, but I imagine that since the 7970m's that made it through still share the same 3rd party components that are causing the issue, the problem is still a possibility for the 1st batch of cards right? Or is the QC such that it removes this as a real possibility?

 

Due to the fact that a true ETA is unreasonable to ask for I made the decision to cancel my order and get an Alienware M17x with the 7970m. I ordered it today and the estimated delivery date is 6/6. Can't really complain about that. The issues mentioned recently in this thread concerning the third party components have me a little on edge but I upgraded the warranty. Hopefully Dell/Alienware QC thoroughly tested the batch they received.

Just an FYI I was able to get a pretty good deal by emailing the US sales Rep Allan who has a thread here on NTB. Got $100 off, 2 day shipping and a couple percentage discount as well as a 5% gift card when all was said and done. If anyone else is interested be sure email him at the address listed in his thread for a quote.

The switch could end up being pointless, Sager may start shipping again before the month is up for all I know. I have 1 Alienware already but after all the great things I had read and heard about Sager I was hoping to try one of their machines. For certain I will next time though.

 

You know, all cards come from AMD. Did you read Eurocom's post? Because AW would be affected too, they just won't have caught it.

Also, page 97 still no work

 

No worky for me either.

 

Alright folks to clear up a common misconception I see brewing in this thread its time for some damage control on behalf of AMD for some of the unjust flak they're getting. This catastrophe is not AMD's fault.

In case you all missed it, the actual 7870 pitcairn dies that they're manufacturing into these cards are all 100% fine as stated above by upgradeyourlaptop who has supplied the most information at this given moment. AMD does not manufacture the PCB the chip is on but it is instead manufactured by suppliers of each vendor, they merely supply the lucky pitcairn dies chosen to serve the mobile elite to each company. Dell, Clevo, ASUS, etc. manufacture a PCB to stick this die on and it becomes a 7970M. Its clearly stated, bolded and underline and was so close to being in pink font to get the point across that its third party components namely the voltage regulator on the PCBs of the 7970M's as the faulty component on Clevo cards in the second batch. Manufacturing mishaps happen and Clevo just happened to pick the wrong component and well **** happens. Seriously. Sometimes things go wrong when you rush production to get things out the door.

TL;DR - Not AMD's fault its just a mistake that happened on Clevo's end, so don't hold them responsible for something out of their hands. If you still need your laptop in a timely manner by all means call in and get an Nvidia card. If you still don't have faith in AMD drivers, get an Nvidia card. If you aren't happy with enduro and prefer optimus, get an Nvidia card. But people, please don't mass cancel order to spite AMD because you feel they caused this mess. They didn't. Again, **** happens.

- p.s. this is to address what happened pages back.

 

I did read that but I also read Justin's post which seemed to contradict Eurocom's. My understanding after reading what Justin had to say is that the first batch was fine, the second batch had issues with the third party components.

Perhaps the AW was shipped without the faulty parts? I have no idea really just thinking out loud. I also had to RMA my first AW (a desktop) and they were really great about it. If anything does happen I can always warranty it.

 

The next batch is ready? What? When was this said?

 

How much more is it over the Sager config you originally were going for, if at all?

 

Dell has a different supplier than Clevo, so this defect in Clevo's production doesn't effect Alienware at all.

 

I think the portion of upgradeyourlaptop's post that freaked people out was the part where he said that all Clevo HM models were completely incompatable with the 7970 at the moment, and directly stated that the first batch also had faulty voltage regulators. At least, that was the part that worried me, given that I already got my laptop and I'm hoping I don't have to ship it right back to where it came from in a few days, y'know?

I absolutely agree with the content of your post, though, and it makes perfect sense and jibes with everything that I've heard from the reps from xoticpc.

 

AW was $2,139 before discounts, $1,898 after + tax. Sager was $1,954 out the door. I think the total difference was around $110 but I felt it was worth it.

 

I also noticed something odd on the Dell/AW pricing page, they charge more for the 675m than they do for the 7970m? Anyone else seeing that?

 

Excellent info! Thanks. I remember reading something similar with older "ATI" GPUs and the 3rd party components when someone was trying to stick an ATI HD6970 into a D900F Clevo D900F

"We had some issues in the past where we experienced some unexpected shutdowns. One of the possible culprits are these three DC/DC chips at the back. I added a patch of thermal material, which evacuates some heat to the motherboard."

Edit: This would however mean that Clevo is ultimately responsible for the problem with voltage regulation on the 7970M (for example going to the lowest bidder)

 

So, would AW 7970m's work in these clevo's?

 

Im not surprised that they are still used to selling Nvidia cards higher then AMD's , they haven't adopted their prices to the new consumer demands.

 

no, it freaks out and shuts down..

 

Where'd you get that info? So the problem is not the 2nd batch 7970m's but the way clevo's react to them? Can a BIOS update fix this??? what is this i don't even.

 

I just got my Sage NP9150 with 7970M in, so far it works great. I will continue to test this weekend. Thank you to Abe and PowerNotebooks for getting it to me so quickly!

 

pictures or it didn't happen, j/k. Can we has benchmarks?

 

Congrats! We're all jealous.

 

Uhg, this news of significant delays on the 150/170's has really made me question my purchase decision =-(. I was already on a bit of a time crunch when I ordered the 150EM but figured an early June delivery would be acceptable, but now I'm contemplating just chalking up the extra $$ for an Alienware. Though my fiance may disapprove and confine me to sleeping on the couch for a few days on top of already being a dish duty for the foreseeable future (women are evil......) it may just be worth it if I'm going to be waiting until mid/late June.

What's a guy gotta do to get a new computer at a reasonable price around here seriously

 

atleast you'll get to play games with the 7970m @ your couch. Worth it.

 

Yup not a thing to worry about guys, the first shipment passed both Clevo QC and Sager QC. I will list my previous post:

 

A few posts back, there was some commotion about not knowing when the cards would finally shipped because the issue with them wasn't known. Now that there has been some information about this. The question is, when exactly is this whole mess going to be over? I would like a ETA with a high % of confidence in the date (greater than 90%), so i can base my decision on whether to continue to keep waiting or walk away. It's ok to not make any firm commitments when they didn't know what the problem was, but now that they know, to me there seems to be less of a justification for the continual sandbagging of stating a realistic release date.

 

I've put in another 15 hours of gaming with diablo and skyrim with my 7970m in a 150em that i got tuesday and can confirm no more BSOD's, i think mine was a random fluke. For those curious, atikmpag.sys caused my bsod.

 

Well, I rode the rollercoaster yesterday and I put Mythlogic through it with me. Luckily, they were cool as always with everything...heh.

Downgraded from 7970M to 660M, then upgraded from 660M to 675M, then finally upgraded back to the 7970M (to where I started). Just going to wait it out. Even if it means my laptop is 3-4 weeks out from delivery.

 

Just to update who was waiting like me, hd 7970m DOESNT work in HM models.
Basically we're doomed, I don't see why a probable 680m would work.
Our best upgrade is a 675m, which doesn't make sense for those running either 485m or 580m/Hd 6990m.
Start selling your laptops guys, that's what I'm going to do.
Thanks and credits to mr.Dan Ross and Mark Bialic over Eurocom for their kind contribute and availability into performing such tests.
Screw you clevo.

 

Do you know why? I don't have an HM but I would most likely be upgrading, probably to a 680m (most DEFINITELY to a 780m, orhwatever the nv/amd flagship is and whichever one is better). I was wondering if it was because of the MXM slot? What revision do the HMs have?

Upgrading my new 170EM, not the one in my sig

 

The bios doesnt POST when the hd 7970m is installed in the laptop. So its either a problem with the bios (which is mostly like so) or a problem in the newer PCI-ex standard which is 3.0 althought it should be compatible with 2.0.
Gtx 675m works fine, but as i said, is basically a 580m, which is basically a 485m overclocked.
Probably its 3.0->2.0, not the other way around.

Its like when you try an IB cpu into an SB mobo, althought the socket is the same, it simply wont work.

Clevo also ditched the HM models, as they are EOL. So unless they release a new bios to support the cards, we're cut out.

With the EM however this shouldnt happen in any way, since its newer and there will be plenty of life span out of them.