Venerable Sager NP8130/Clevo P151HM1 -> GTX 970m GPU Swap

Hello all,

I've come to ask for help keeping my venerable Sager NP8130/Clevo P151HM alive.

It's 10th birthday is in February, and the GTX 560m that shipped with it has finally started to go. I haven't used it for gaming in years, but it still put in work as a media center/work laptop until the GPU started to fail. After a while of looking into replacement options, I came into possession of a GTX 970m, which I thought might be drop in compatible.

From what I've read I will need Prema 's modded bios to enable the 970m itself in the bios environment, as the Sager bios is locked to the 570m.

I'm wondering if I will only need to flash the sbios or if I also need to flash the vbios (the 970m is "new" replacement part advertised as for "Clevo HP Dell Alienware") to ensure compatibility.

My understanding is that the vbios is on the card itself (thus it should be fine), and the problem of replacing this laptop's GPU is the bios Sager shipped the system with. I could be wrong, but either way it looks like I need Prema's modified bios, and probably a higher wattage PSU.

tl;dr:

Dropped a GTX 970m in my Sager NP8130/Clevo P151HM1 to replace the dying 560m. It fit, the machine powers on and has display, but I suspect power or bios issues as it won't boot/go to bios with the new card, but it will with the dying 560m (have swapped back and confirmed).

@Prema please please please send me your modded bios for the Sager NP8130/Clevo P151HM if you still have it. I will happily pay/donate for the service if needed. My hope is that a bigger power supply and the modified bios is all I will need to wring a little more life out of this well loved platform.

 

Yeah the HM were very picky, I'm not sure if Prema could get some of the cards working in it but if you saw a post where it was reported it would then fair enough.

 

I'm going to try upgrading the psu to 200w before I do anything bios related. I know it is a long shot, but here is hoping Prema gets back to me.

 

180W-200W would be plenty.

 

HM series cannot run nvidia 900 cards. Prema had a P170HM3 and could never get it to work. The best you can do is some revisions of the 7970m (pcb revision 1.2 with a dell or P570wm vbios flashed on), and 4GB 680m cards with an old vbios flashed on.

Funnily the older 1st gen core systems can run 900 series, but unfortunately HM series cannot.

 

It handles the mxm card in a funky way is why. The EM is better too.

 

180W PSU changed nothing, which is disappointing. Displays splash screen but no boot/bios.

I'm probably going to sell the 970M and try to source a working 560M to keep it running. It seems like it wants to work with the 970, or I'd have no display at all. Alas, probably nothing that can be done if nobody has figured out how by now. I thought I'd seen screenshots of someone getting a 980 to work with the P151HM but of course I can't find the relevant posts now.

 

P150EM and P151EM motherboards are almost a complete drop-in replacement. That'd let you use a 970m and much stronger if you wanted, while still letting you use all other HM components like CPU and RAM. This may be cheaper than finding a working older graphics card. I think the only issue you may have is the keyboard connector may be in a different spot, and you may or may not be able to run your HM's keyboard cable to it. We can check this in images if you are interested.

The P15xEM motherboards use the integrated graphics to drive the display, so as long as your dying 560m still reports a temperature (if the P151HM is not beeping and turning off, then it is), you can just plug that in, disable it, and sell the 970m. The integrated graphics would be fine if you're not gaming.

 

The main thing would be getting a board+keyboard for a reasonable price.