[M17x R2] with AMD 7970M CrossfireX

[nitsun69]

It's no struggle at all. You can use your current CrossFire cable with the 7970M's and if you want to overclock you will need the modded 330W when you get the second card.

The 7970M's are MUCH cooler. With an ambient of 32C here my idle temps are 38C and load temps are around 70C if I remember correctly. This is with the standard clocks of 850/1200 and 0.975v. My 5870M's used to idle in the +- 48C's and load used to reach +- 88C.

Those are my temps to a T. Will my brackets work with the Clevo cards? I think i read somewhere the brackets fit but the screws from the 5870m's are too thick. In regards to the 330W mod. I see this on the forms a lot. Is there a particulate PSU that is easier to mod then others?

[Nospheratu]

Your 5870M x-brackets wont fit as the 7970M GPU die is bigger than the 5870M. Some users have modded the brackets by either chopping it up or filing the square portion bigger but I would advise against it. You rather get the proper x-bracket to avoid any damage/warping of your card. A 6970M/6990M/7970M x-bracket is the one to get. If you get a Dell x-bracket you can use the 5870M screws if its the CLEVO x-bracket you will have to get CLEVO screws. Be sure to check the rear of the card as sometimes the x-bracket is already stuck to the back, if that's the case you don't need to buy one. The 5870M heatsink needs no modification and is a perfect fit.

There's only one PSU that's decently priced and has been documented to work and that's the M18X/x51 330W from Dell. Amazon is generally cheaper than ebay but I've noticed the prices have recently gone up.

[nitsun69]

Your 5870M x-brackets wont fit as the 7970M GPU die is bigger than the 5870M. Some users have modded the brackets by either chopping it up or filing the square portion bigger but I would advise against it. You rather get the proper x-bracket to avoid any damage/warping of your card. A 6970M/6990M/7970M x-bracket is the one to get. If you get a Dell x-bracket you can use the 5870M screws if its the CLEVO x-bracket you will have to get CLEVO screws. Be sure to check the rear of the card as sometimes the x-bracket is already stuck to the back, if that's the case you don't need to buy one. The 5870M heatsink needs no modification and is a perfect fit.

There's only one PSU that's decently priced and has been documented to work and that's the M18X/x51 330W from Dell. Amazon is generally cheaper than ebay but I've noticed the prices have recently gone up.

can i ask what a typicall price is for the 7970m? ebay has liststhe clevo at: (this listing is for the 8970 but they tell me there priced the same just not listed

Alienware M17X M18X VGA Upgrade KIT AMD HD8970M 4GB DDR5 MXM 3 0B | eBay

and the dells (from upgrademonkey at: Promotion Alienware AMD HD Dell 7970M 2GB GDDR5 FOR M15X M17X M18X Upgrade | eBay.

Seems a like a far difference is that normal?

[nitsun69]

can i ask what a typicall price is for the 7970m? ebay has liststhe clevo at: (this listing is for the 8970 but they tell me there priced the same just not listed

Alienware M17X M18X VGA Upgrade KIT AMD HD8970M 4GB DDR5 MXM 3 0B | eBay

and the dells (from upgrademonkey at: Promotion Alienware AMD HD Dell 7970M 2GB GDDR5 FOR M15X M17X M18X Upgrade | eBay.

Seems a like a far difference is that normal?

Managed to find a used one. Should be here next week. Super excited to join the 7970 club. Wish me luck

[Chris9966]

Hi,

First of all sorry for my english!

I did an upgrade of my M17xR2 i7 620m with 7970m. When it starts no problem BF3 in ultra or BF4 in high no issue. But since the upgrade two month ago, the computer won't start from time to time.

I mean the media bar and the keyboard lit up the fan start full speed and nothing more : black screen, no bip, no access to bios.

Since 3 days the problem is worse, cannot start anymore with the issue described here above.

I push on power button 20 sec after removing the battery and the power cord to release the static stuff.

I tried to restarts with battery only, with power cord only.

I finally remove my 7970m and install back the 5870m and no problem, computer started normally.

I install again 7970m and sime issue no post of the computer.

Any ideas??

Thank in advance for you help.

[Nospheratu]

Managed to find a used one. Should be here next week. Super excited to join the 7970 club. Wish me luck

Congrats @nitsun69 !!! Has it arrived as yet?

Hi,

First of all sorry for my english!

I did an upgrade of my M17xR2 i7 620m with 7970m. When it starts no problem BF3 in ultra or BF4 in high no issue. But since the upgrade two month ago, the computer won't start from time to time.

I mean the media bar and the keyboard lit up the fan start full speed and nothing more : black screen, no bip, no access to bios.

Since 3 days the problem is worse, cannot start anymore with the issue described here above.

I push on power button 20 sec after removing the battery and the power cord to release the static stuff.

I tried to restarts with battery only, with power cord only.

I finally remove my 7970m and install back the 5870m and no problem, computer started normally.

I install again 7970m and sime issue no post of the computer.

Any ideas??

Thank in advance for you help.

Welcome to T|I @Chris9966

If you boot with the 7970M and let it run for a bit do you hear the Windows logon sound?

I'm not certain as to why it stopped sending signal to your laptop screen but you can check if its working by using an external monitor plugged into your VGA port. If you do get picture you might need to flash a compatible vBIOS. Do you have a Dell or a CLEVO 7970M? If you are unsure you can post a picture of the back of your card here and we will be able to tell the brand as well as what vBIOS its probably running currently.

[flingin]

Those are my temps to a T. Will my brackets work with the Clevo cards? I think i read somewhere the brackets fit but the screws from the 5870m's are too thick. In regards to the 330W mod. I see this on the forms a lot. Is there a particulate PSU that is easier to mod then others?

In @Nospheratu guide you have clearly shown 2 types of psu's. One of them have a chip in a TO-92 (Delta psu)package and I would say this chip is easier to work with than a SOT-23 package chip. However situation changes if you obtain a separate pcb to install SOT-23 chip on it. Then the SOT-23 is easier.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[Chris9966]

Hi,

I finally solved my issue after 4 days of cheking (bios, GPU change, forum reading all over the world lol, etc...). There is no PSU issue in fact it was the position of the card in the GPU slot. Maybe the first thing to be checked.

Indeed, I installed the 7970m with 5870M X bracket and try to isloate the card componements which can be in interference with the X bracket.

For this reason, the X bracket/card thickness was bigger and the GPU was plug in the slot with a small angle maybe 5° (difficult to see by visual checking). Due to this false positionning in the GPU slot, the lappost was posting from time time. After moving it last time, the gpu probably moved a bit and no post was possible anymore.

Finally, I cut the X barcket in 4 part and installed it properly and now it is working without any problem. Now I will check that there is no overheating issue in game but the srew are well tight on the card and there is no reason.

I hope it can help!!

[nitsun69]

Congrats @nitsun69 !!! Has it arrived as yet?

Welcome to T|I @Chris9966

If you boot with the 7970M and let it run for a bit do you hear the Windows logon sound?

I'm not certain as to why it stopped sending signal to your laptop screen but you can check if its working by using an external monitor plugged into your VGA port. If you do get picture you might need to flash a compatible vBIOS. Do you have a Dell or a CLEVO 7970M? If you are unsure you can post a picture of the back of your card here and we will be able to tell the brand as well as what vBIOS its probably running currently.

Came in yesterday. Plugged it in and it fired right up with no problems. temps appeared good. Tried playing xcom but after a half hour the comp reset its self. Going to look into repasting tonight. What size pads do you guys use?

[StamatisX]

I don't use pads. I use IC Diamond which is quite thick instead

[nitsun69]

I don't use pads. I use IC Diamond which is quite thick instead

I used as5 paste with 1mm pads on the ram. My idle temps are mid thirty but the high after running 3dmark11 is 98. Seems high. I was afraid of tightening the screws to much thought. Maybe that's the issue.

[Nospheratu]

I had a look at your GPU-Z screenprint on NBR and your default clocks at set to 1000/1400... which is a massive overclock from the stock 850/1200. Did the card come with these clocks or did you flash a custom vBIOS?

My cards with the same clocks and 1.025V hit 93C on the primary and 83C on the secondary playing Crysis 3 so your temps seem normal for that overclock.

As you're running a CLEVO card take a look at the CLEVO vBIOS pack, the links in my signature. You can flash the stock version which is included in the pack but I suggest flashing the 0.975V version as the card is perfectly stable at that voltage and temps are reduced a lot.

If you can take a screenprint with GPUshark on the detailed view. This will tell us what voltage your card is using for those clocks.

[nitsun69]

So I went to flash my card with atiflash and got a error 0fl01. Any idea on how to solve that?

[Nospheratu]

Does it say "SSID mismatch" with that error code? If so, that's normal since you're probably changing vBIOS versions.

Before you flash please backup your vBIOS.

Command for backing up vBIOS

atiflash -s 0 backupfilename.rom

Command for forcing the flash since the SSID's do not match

atiflash -p -f 0 yourbiosfilename.rom

[Chris9966]

Hi,

I am trying to flash my 7970m on M17xR2 with the vbios pack on the first page.

1) Do I should use the Dell7970m.rom? I did not find the checksum for it

2) When I try to flash directly with undervolted, I get the error P/N mismatched. Should I forced the flash. I do not want to brick my card.

Thank in advance for your help.

[Nospheratu]

What card are you trying to flash? Is it a CLEVO or Dell?

What vBIOS do you have currently? Check GPUshark detail view or GPU-Z for your vBIOS details.

[nitsun69]

Does it say "SSID mismatch" with that error code? If so, that's normal since you're probably changing vBIOS versions.

Before you flash please backup your vBIOS.

Command for backing up vBIOS

atiflash -s 0 backupfilename.rom

Command for forcing the flash since the SSID's do not match

atiflash -p -f 0 yourbiosfilename.rom

Hey Nospheratu, It came like that. Apparently it was from a R3. All I did was plug it in and install the drivers and it loaded up,

Flashed it. the issue was I wasnt force flashing. Corrected it last night. how does this look?

[Nospheratu]

Looks perfect

Your temps should have reduced a lot now. Which vBIOS did you flash? The stock or undervolted?

[nitsun69]

Looks perfect

Your temps should have reduced a lot now. Which vBIOS did you flash? The stock or undervolted?

Flashed the undervalued vbois. Temps last night playing xcom would hit 90 in 5 minutes today after 15 minutes it was holding at 63. 3d mark was giving me scores of 7200 last night and 6600 today which makes me sad.

[Nospheratu]

Lol

It's to be expected, it reminds me of a line from a car club I used to belong to,"Fast, Reliable, Cheap. Pick two, because you cant have them all" Not exactly relevant but higher scores come with the temperature penalty. Our heatsinks weren't exactly designed to cool these 100W cards, the fact that they can at stock is impressive.

If you used a CLEVO vBIOS from my signature you will see OverDrive is available in CCC. You should be able to run 8970M clocks at 0.975V stably ie. 900Mhz on the core and 1250mhz on the memory. Play around with the other voltage vBIOS's and set higher clocks and try to find the sweet spot for performance and temps that you are happy with.

[nitsun69]

Lol

It's to be expected, it reminds me of a line from a car club I used to belong to,"Fast, Reliable, Cheap. Pick two, because you cant have them all" Not exactly relevant but higher scores come with the temperature penalty. Our heatsinks weren't exactly designed to cool these 100W cards, the fact that they can at stock is impressive.

If you used a CLEVO vBIOS from my signature you will see OverDrive is available in CCC. You should be able to run 8970M clocks at 0.975V stably ie. 900Mhz on the core and 1250mhz on the memory. Play around with the other voltage vBIOS's and set higher clocks and try to find the sweet spot for performance and temps that you are happy with.

Thanks Nospheratu, I used the ccc overclock to the 8970m settings and I am know getting ~ 6900 with temps of 74 and im idleing at 36. Looks like these room to go temp wise. what would you try next this is my first real time Ive played around with overclocking a GPU. dont have a very good understanding of how to go about it. Know of any simple guides on these forums?

[Nospheratu]

I don't think there's a guide here but its simple really, it involves juggling clocks, temp and voltage. Voltage helps stabilise clocks with the detriment of higher temps. Don't go over stock voltage though if you want your card to last. I have my cards undervolted to 0.975V for daily use.

In other news, I finally managed to break past my +-5700 point barrier I was getting with FireStrike. I was on version 1.0 instead of 1.1...

The run was done with 25x on all cores with 90TDP and 82TDC. GPU clocks were 1000/1400. I had to raise voltage to stock 1050V as it locked up on the first run. I used 13.11 Beta 9.2's and max power draw recording at the wall was 347W. Result is here.

[nitsun69]

I don't think there's a guide here but its simple really, it involves juggling clocks, temp and voltage. Voltage helps stabilise clocks with the detriment of higher temps. Don't go over stock voltage though if you want your card to last. I have my cards undervolted to 0.975V for daily use.

In other news, I finally managed to break past my +-5700 point barrier I was getting with FireStrike. I was on version 1.0 instead of 1.1...

The run was done with 25x on all cores with 90TDP and 82TDC. GPU clocks were 1000/1400. I had to raise voltage to stock 1050V as it locked up on the first run. I used 13.11 Beta 9.2's and max power draw recording at the wall was 347W. Result is here.

Thanks, so I got my second card yesterday and was having problems with it idling at 99% for some reason ulps 0003kept turning on. Fixed that then it blacked screened in 3dmark11. After that it wouldn't load past windows load screen. It was suggested I switch it to primary to see if it would run and it won't. I have your undervolted 0.975 on it. Oh it's a Clevo card direct from Eurocom. Any ideas? If also asked over at notebookreview but thought I'd try here too

[Nospheratu]

There could be two issues, firstly the black screen could be due to your secondary card needs more than 0.975V to run at stock clocks. Try the stock vBIOS. If it runs stable then flash a lower voltage vBIOS ie. 1.025V check if stable, if it is try the 1.000V. Use small increments and test, use the same method for the core and memory clocks when you're increasing them ie. increase them a little at a time and test.

When you say you switched it to primary and it does not run, do you mean it doesn't get past the Windows load screen or it does not boot at all?

Getting stuck at the Windows load screen usually means driver issues. Boot into safe mode and uninstall the AMD drivers, reboot, back into safemode and then run the AMD Cleanup Utility. If you still cannot get past the windows load screen or you're unable to uninstall the drivers in safe mode try the ATIman uninstaller in safe mode.

Other news, the Catalyst 13.11 Beta 9.4 is out now. Direct link is on the page for mobility.

Feature Highlights of The AMD Catalyst 13.11 Beta9.4 Driver for Windows

- Includes all Feature Highlights of The AMD Catalyst 13.11 Beta9.2 Driver

- May resolve intermittent black screens or display loss observed on some AMD Radeon™ R9 290X and AMD Radeon R9 290 graphics cards

- Improves AMD CrossFire™ scaling in the multi-player portion of Call of Duty®: Ghosts

- AMD Enduro Technology Profile updates: XCOM:​ Enemy Unknown, Need for Speed Rivals

[nitsun69]

There could be two issues, firstly the black screen could be due to your secondary card needs more than 0.975V to run at stock clocks. Try the stock vBIOS. If it runs stable then flash a lower voltage vBIOS ie. 1.025V check if stable, if it is try the 1.000V. Use small increments and test, use the same method for the core and memory clocks when you're increasing them ie. increase them a little at a time and test.

When you say you switched it to primary and it does not run, do you mean it doesn't get past the Windows load screen or it does not boot at all?

Getting stuck at the Windows load screen usually means a driver or hardware conflict. Boot into safe mode and uninstall the AMD drivers, reboot, back into safemode and then run the AMD Cleanup Utility. If you still cannot get past the windows load screen or you're unable to uninstall the drivers in safe mode try the ATIman uninstaller in safe mode.

Other news, the Catalyst 13.11 Beta 9.4 is out now. Direct link is on the page for mobility.

Feature Highlights of The AMD Catalyst 13.11 Beta9.4 Driver for Windows

- Includes all Feature Highlights of The AMD Catalyst 13.11 Beta9.2 Driver

- May resolve intermittent black screens or display loss observed on some AMD Radeon™ R9 290X and AMD Radeon R9 290 graphics cards

- Improves AMD CrossFire™ scaling in the multi-player portion of Call of Duty®: Ghosts

- AMD Enduro Technology Profile updates: XCOM:​ Enemy Unknown, Need for Speed Rivals

If I have both cards installed i cannot get pass windows start screen. If I switch it to the primary slot the comp starts but the screen stays black.