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Alienware M17x R3 upgrading to GTX 780m


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I didn't disable the onboard sound because I didn't see an option for it in my bios. I do have the modified A12. What does disabling the sound do?

Also, my clock is 771MHz not 850 like yours. Why is that?

IDT had no issues with windows already installed only after a clean install I got white screens, integrated HD sound card setting main tab, I'm using svl7's vBIOS OC edition rev 02 http://forum.techinferno.com/general-notebook-discussions/1847-nvidia-kepler-vbios-mods-overclocking-editions-modified-clocks-voltage-tweaks.html#post23432

Really? Ok. Thanks :40_002:

Soo, all the other forums where people say AMD heatsinks will not work with nvidia cards is incorrect then? :02:

Btw, I have a AMD 6870m as well, and the stock heatsink to go with that. Do you think I should use the heatsink from the 6870m or the heatsink from the 6990m?

Another question is... it's 100% confirmed that once i go with this upgrade, I will have to buy: USB Sound Card NC89 6 Channel 5 1 Optical Audio s PDIF External New Useful | eBay because I will need to disable the integrated soundcard?

6990m 100W htsnk it will work but more important is the thermal pad placement, USB SC consider better options Creative Soundblaster x Fi Go Pro USB SB1290 Sound Card 70SB129000000 0054651173736 | eBay

Amazon.com: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB Audio System with THX SB1095: Electronics

3DMark11

x5v8.png

Modded GPU heatsink (580M), beat those GPU temps 1097/6180 1.075V, anyone ? :47_002:

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Thank you. You're the first person that actually gave me a definite answer. :32_002:

Not to bother you with one more question, but I just want to be certain. For the 780m gtx, do i need to get the X-bracket for it, or can the AMD 6990m x-bracket work?

there's this without the bracket:

Alienware M17x M18x New NVIDIA GTX 780M 4GB DDR5 MXM 3 0B | eBay

and there's the bracket only:

Video Card Upgrade KIT FOR MXM 3 0B Nvidia GTX AND Quadro VGA Modules | eBay

Thanks in advance :byebye:

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Fyi:

I got an answer from someone; thanks for the help with my previous questions :32_002:

The difference between the AMD X-bracket and the NVIDIA X-bracket is that the chips on the back of AMD and NVIDIA cards are different and are therefore laid out differently. If you put am AMD X-bracket on the back of an NVIDIA card, the spreader will not lay flat as chips will be in the way. The differences in the spreaders can be seen below:

AMD:

post-17128-14494996054416_thumb.jpg

NVIDIA:

post-17128-14494996054915_thumb.jpg

The screw locations are the same, however the spreaders have different dimensions to accommodate the card they are going onto. NVIDIA manufacturers know not to put any diodes/ chips in the areas reserved for the spreader and AMD manufacturers do the same. You cannot put an AMD spreaders on an NVIDIA card and vice versa. The screw holes would line up as you can tell from the pictures, but the spreader would not lie flat as chips would be in the way.

I swear I never knew that.:02:

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J95, I see in step #1 you begin by entering BIOS and disable switchable graphics. Curious to know if I could keep switchable graphics (or re-enable it after driver install) on M17x R4, if I were to do this. Myself, I had very good experiences with nVidia's Optimus tech on both an M11x R2 and M14x R2.

Also, out of curiousity, what does HWINFO show as your (lowest sustainable) idle battery drain in the PEG-only configuration you're screenshooting in your guide? I can get my system down to about 14w with iGPU @ 400MHz on M17x R4 / 3920xm CPU, and 23w if I boot into straight-PEG mode with 7970m card engaged.

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Fyi:

I got an answer from someone; thanks for the help with my previous questions :32_002:

The difference between the AMD X-bracket and the NVIDIA X-bracket is that the chips on the back of AMD and NVIDIA cards are different and are therefore laid out differently. If you put am AMD X-bracket on the back of an NVIDIA card, the spreader will not lay flat as chips will be in the way. The differences in the spreaders can be seen below:

AMD:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8911[/ATTACH]

NVIDIA:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8912[/ATTACH]

The screw locations are the same, however the spreaders have different dimensions to accommodate the card they are going onto. NVIDIA manufacturers know not to put any diodes/ chips in the areas reserved for the spreader and AMD manufacturers do the same. You cannot put an AMD spreaders on an NVIDIA card and vice versa. The screw holes would line up as you can tell from the pictures, but the spreader would not lie flat as chips would be in the way.

I swear I never knew that.:02:

You can't put Nvidia brackets on AMD cards, but you often can put AMD brackets on Nvidia cards. This is because Nvidia cards often have an extra wide flat area on the card that can accommodate either version. You just need to check closely that you aren't putting the bracket over any small resistors or capacitors.

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The heatsink will work fine use this 680m thermal pad placement/reference http://www.techinferno.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/680M.jpg disable the IDT onboard sound card and use a USB SC instead http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m17x-aw-17/3702-m17x-r3-gpu-upgrade-gtx-780m-9.html#post61496

ok, so i got the 780m and installed it. My amd heatsink worked fine like J95 said it would, but, i have ONE VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION... in this pic

post-17128-14494996124004_thumb.png

on page one, there's an "X" and a circle in it. the 2 chips that are circled to the right, the AMD heatsink doesn't fit over both. only over the upper one. so what i did was just put the thermal pads over both and put the heatsink on the upper half, but the lower half is still exposed, but with a thermal pad over it.

ALSO:

I understand that the thermal ad placement is important, which is y im so concernet for this.

Please, I would really like your help on this. I'm so confused...... :sweat:

The differences in the heatsinks can be noted in the pics below:

post-17128-144949961255_thumb.jpg

you can clearly see the difference in the length of the metal plate to the left end circled in both pics. Thank you in advance

post-17128-14494996124327_thumb.jpg

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Yeah those two chips require a little modding, try a copper shim/better or aluminum as an extension of the htsnk to cover them, but thin enough to fit under the htsnk, it's important that it sticks you don't want any loose metal part there so sand the parts and use a thin layer of this or similar (heat resistant) Amazon.com: J-B Weld 8265S Weld Compound - Epoxy Twin Pack: Automotive apply enough pressure to make a strong bond and remove glue residual.

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Yeah those two chips require a little modding, try a copper shim/better or aluminum as an extension of the htsnk to cover them, but thin enough to fit under the htsnk, it's important that it sticks you don't want any loose metal part there so sand the parts and use a thin layer of this or similar (heat resistant) Amazon.com: J-B Weld 8265S Weld Compound - Epoxy Twin Pack: Automotive apply enough pressure to make a strong bond and remove glue residual.

Thanks, I had a feeling i would have had to do that... sigh... more headache... Btw, i bought the usb sound card go pro u mentioned earlier, however, I got my on-board sound card working. I read alot of forums where people didn't get it working so i was very confused yesterday. I have the m17x r3 model and i upgraded my hdd to a ssd so i had to reinstall windows as a result.

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  • 4 months later...
Thanks, I had a feeling i would have had to do that... sigh... more headache... Btw, i bought the usb sound card go pro u mentioned earlier, however, I got my on-board sound card working. I read alot of forums where people didn't get it working so i was very confused yesterday. I have the m17x r3 model and i upgraded my hdd to a ssd so i had to reinstall windows as a result.

Hi, just a little curious, how did you get the sound to work?

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  • 1 month later...

Hi, I'm new here, but I have read some threads about upgrading my M17x R3 from a 6990M to a Nvidia GTX 770M (ordered today, but now i realised without bracket and heatsink)

I think my 6990M is dead, because after a fresh Windows 7 64 Bit, I can't install the ATI driver, get black screen during install process

The Heatsink seems to work (with a little modding - I still can't see the pics) but what about the X Bracket? Does the AMD Bracket work on the Nvidia GTX 770M)

Because: Insteed of buying a new bracket, I'd rather order a Radeon 7970M, it's not so much more expensive then -.-

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Hello. Got a similar issue upgrading to the GTX780 on M17xR3 windows 7, but with an added goodie, that with the new 780 card installed, laptop doesn't boot and gives one beep. We are trying to uninstall all the graphic drivers again, and sound card drivers, and follow your steps using the same files as listed in your post. The issue we've been having was that drivers wouldn't install without the card in, and with the card in won't boot. We'll update this post after trying what you suggested.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 7 months later...

omg i cant seem to make this work, and nvidia drivers first give me options to install many things, and not only hd audio driver, 3d (which wont work) and graphic driver. what is wrong?

audio wont work with 780m, or its video or audio.. im getting mad about this.

please, step by step.. whats wrong?

disabled IDT for installing GPU, workaround and always PEG, used DDU for reinstalling drivers, and such.

no luck.

:(

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

Hi guys,

i know that this is an old post but i need help. I just upgraded my AW 17x R4 from 660m to 780m and i am having problems, i followed instruction here how to install driver and that was sucessfull ( that driver is a bit old now, newest is 353.30 ) and when i run H1Z1 i have only 5,7 fps before on 660m i could play it with no problem on low, but now its unplayable. I dont know what i did wrong. I didnt flashed my bios, its A11 version. do i need to always install modded drivers or can i just download it automaticly from Nvidia Experience.

Any help will be good :)

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  • 2 months later...

Hi all, New member here with a problem hopefully someone can help me with.

I purchased a GTX 780m (pulled from an upgraded m17x r3) to upgrade from a GTX 460m and can`t get the thing to work on my kids m17x r3 3D 120hz. I have been searching the net and can`t seem to find a definite step by step install guide for dummies in plain English for the 3D 120hz version. I understand that I will lose the 3D and that`s no problem, I have the A12 unlocked BIOS, changed settings - PEG, disabled audio etc, and all I get is the dreaded 8 beeps and a black screen. Operating system is Win 7 Pro 64bit. Any help to get this working and to save my marriage and my kids disowning me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

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