Henrik9979

The amd 6990M is pretty outdated. And the ones I can find on eBay is too overpriced.

Of course I forget you are on a gtx 260m and the 6990m is VERY good if you compare these two.

Gtx 260m vs 6990m = 210%

6990m vs 7970m = 51%

7970m vs gtx 680m = 2%

680m vs gtx 8970m= 2%

3 hours ago, rummenagu said:

 

My actual GPU is GTX260M.

I will use it for gaming. I know or think that GTX680M is better card to gaming that M6100 but I don´t know if the price difference worth for the performance in gaming.

I don´t heard about Nvidia Quadro but I´m looking for Ebay and the prices are expensive, I don´t know how is the performance.

  

Don't go for Nidia quarto because it is also just for workstations. Of cause you can game on a firepro and a quadro but you can also game on the Intel processor. But what they have in common in is they ain't meant for gaming! So you will not get a very good gaming experience.

So DO NOT buy a Nvidia quadro or Amd Firepro for gaming.

If you don't want the nvidia gtx 680m you can look for an amd 7970m or and 8970m.

But if your alienware is nvidia 3D vision ready and have a 120hz screen, then you are stuck on nvidia. Amd will not even work.

The AMD driver is it from AMDs website or clevo? Because I have tried both with 7970m and 8970m that you can't install the newest amd driver directly. You need the old one from clevo and then update to the newest.

About bios and windows 10, I have only tried the newest prema bios with windows 10 and this works like a champ.

Otherwise.

Hvis vbios should work even though it's for the p150em.

I'm sorry to hear your situation.

Not to be cruel, but your friend is bit of a jerk first fucking up the vbios and the accual bios without first do a backup!

Anyway I have a clevo myself but not the 7970m.

But the first thing I will recommend you to do, is install a modded bios from a guy called prema.

https://biosmods.wordpress.com/p170em/

This makes your clevo perform much better and there will be a change you 7970m will start cooperate. 

The next thing you can do is disconnect the internet and run DDU again.

The install this old native driver from clevo for the amd 7970m.

Remember to run the installation as windows 8.

http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/e-services/download/ftpOut.asp?Lmodel=P1xxEM&ltype=2&submit=+GO+

If this did not help, contact Prema, he has the correct vbios for you. Both the original and modded version.

Consider donating a little bit for his help. He is an expert in clevo.

I suppose you will use it for gaming?

You would be disappointed by choosing the amd firepro.

Have you heard of Nidia quadro?

These types of graphics cards aren't meant for gaming. 

This is workstation graphics cards.

Typical use is for photo, video, graphic designs, rendering you name it.

A long story short, it is not optimized for gaming.

Another question, what card do you have now???

On 3/12/2016 at 2:36 AM, cody.castor said:

Why would you want the gtx 860M? You would be much happier upgrading to gtx 780m sli. Not many have a gtx 860m sli setup on their alienware, maybe because it has allot of compatibility issues.

Anyway, upgrading to any nvidia card is a bit expensive. You need to buy two new nvidia 100w heatsinks and a SLI cable.

If you want a cheaper solution you should upgrade to AMD 8970m crossfire. The crossfire cable and the AMD heatsinks from your 6990M will fit nicely.
I have a alienware m18x r1 with a AMD 8970m (no crossfire though) running on the stock bios and have been overclocked it to perform like a gtx 780m.

Any further questions let me know. If I don't answer so fast, then send me message more. Sometimes I don't see if I got a notification.

 

@svl7 ,

I was wondering if the specs for the BIOS were available. I am new to the BIOS modding community and don't want to make any mistakes with hardware upgrades and such. The two things right off the top that I was wondering about was: what, if any, changes are there to the speed capabilities of the RAM? I believe the current cap on my rig is 1600, but if 1866 is available with this mod then HELLS YEAH! 

Sorry got excited. Secondly, I was wondering if this BIOS will allow for me to swap from the AMD 6990M CrossfireX to GTX 860M SLI? If so, do you know of someone who has done it that I could speak with to make sure I do everything right?

Any input would be greatly appreciated. As a noob to this I just don't want to brick my rig.

On 12/9/2016 at 6:21 PM, dogs said:

Hi Henrik,

I got a reply from Eurocom and it looks like i caused the damage to the card when installing it. So I've just blown close to a grand for nothing

This is the reply from Eurocom:

 

Mark our technician has taken a look at your video card and has found that two corners of the die on the video card in question have been crushed.  I have attached photos to this email.

 

 

 

Damage like this is done when the video card is installed into the notebook and the heatsink is installed with either too much or uneven pressure.  As both corners on the same side are damaged, I would guess the latter.  When this happens the card will work for a short time and then will fail after it has been heated and cooled several times, causing the cracks to expand.  This fits your case to a tee.  As a result of this damage, the manufacturer will not replace the card under warranty.

 

 

 

We have two ways we can proceed from here…

 

 

 

We can send your video card off to the manufacturer and have them replace the die with a fully functioning die.  This would take 2 weeks or so and assuming the card can be repaired will cost $175.00 plus shipping.  The other option is we can return the damaged card back to you as is.

 

 

 

Please be aware that before we ship any video card out, each card is fully inspected and tested to ensure they are in perfect working order.  In this case the die was damaged when the installation was attempted.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. It's sound like you have been very unlucky.  
At least we tried to fix it our self but physical damage is way out of my league. Sorry.

But what is your plan now? Just stick with your 680 card or are you willing pay for the repair and try again?

4 hours ago, dogs said:

Hi Henrik,

I have sent the card back as faulty but not heard anything back from them yet.

I have the 680M installed at the moment and am very happy with that at the moment.

i will see what i will do when the new card arrives back.

It has not arrived yet? Hasn't it been a long time since you send it back?

Any news?

30 minutes ago, dogs said:

 

Hi henrik,

Yes they will but I have also managed to source a cheap 680M and have that installed currently.

I'm glad your "nightmare" might be over.

I'm curious if your 780 will be plug 'n' play. Anyway if you want me to fix the driver just say so. Got your back bro.

1 minute ago, dogs said:

Hi Henrik,

sorry for delay just got back from holidays.

i've sent it back as faulty.

Will They send a new one?

I have finished fixing a alienware m17x R4 recently with the 3D ready screen. It had a gtx 675m but it was fried, I got it to work a couple of times but when starting up the new DOOM it gave up.

It tried replace it with a amd 8970m but for some reason it will NOT boot. Keep giving 8 beeps. I then tried a gtx 880m and it worked again. 

It has been a month now and the costumer say it still work flawlessly.

So the gtx 780m shall work, because the 880m is a overclocked 780m with more vram.

What's up? You got it working?

13 minutes ago, Alkuin said:

Dear forum-members,

 

I have a problem and I desperately need your help.

After making some changes in unlocked BIOS my computer (M18X R1) refused to boot. Now i have black screen from the start. "Alienware" sign glows, fans turns on and nothing else happens. The main question is - How can I reset BIOS if "blind flash" didn't work (tried multiple times - fans start run at full speed, but no beeps after that). Removing CPU won't work either.

 

P.S. Please, forgive me for my bad, in terms of English grammar, post.

Have you tried clear CMOS? Disconnect the power cable, remove the battery AND the small bios battery. (it is flat and round and connected with a cable to the motherboard)

Press the power button for 30 seconds to drain remain power from the motherboard.

Leave the big battery out and put the bios battery in and connect the power cable.

Turn on the computer, it will give you 5 beeps. Disconnect the power cable again, forcing the computer to shut down.

Press and hold the FN key on your keyboard while connecting the power cable.

The computer should start up for 5 sec and then reboot to Windows.

Hope it works

On 27/7/2016 at 1:56 AM, Mr. Fox said:

Close, but you have the "M" in the wrong spot. He used a desktop 980 core on the 980M. As far as how it runs, check out his benchmarks. Pretty amazing stuff, done by an amazing person.

Thanks mr Fox.

But how is the benchmarks scores compared to a real 980? 

I'm a little confused.

You succeed swapping the core from a 980m to a 980.

Now what did you achieve exactly?

Does it run exactly like a real 980 or does it still perform like a 980m?

Also is it even worth it compared to overclocking the 980m instead?

33 minutes ago, dogs said:

hi Henrik,

not tried it yet. Waiting also for a spare x-bracket to arrive seeing as there is a sheared screw in one of the holes on existing x-bracket on 780M.

I am off on holiday next week for 3 weeks so most probably try it after I get back.

I appreciate all the help you have given me Henrik. Seems as though you are the only one who is willing to help me out on this forum

 

Anyway I have just fixed an alienware m17x r4 and it is pretty similar to an alienware m18x r1.

The issue was the notorious 8 beeps problem.

The problem came after a bsod. The owner was sure the card was fried but it seems to work, the problem was a bad driver.

If you can't get the 780m to work I am willing to test it out for you. You can send the card to me and I will try it on different systems to see if I make it work.

But I'm sure you can make it work.

On 11/7/2016 at 4:07 PM, dogs said:

thanks Henrik,

I will have to wait till my thermal paste arrives before i attempt anything else with it as I have used it all up swapping cards around

I did notice my CPU running at 87 degrees so will re-paste that too when it arrives.

 

I can't understand why it worked for about a day or 2 then after the BSOD can't recognize the card. That tells me that the CMOS was ok before the BSOD.

Did you got it to work?

hows it going?

I suspect the issue could be, that while the gtx 780m was active it switched to the Intel graphics card, shutting the gtx 780m off.

If it doesn't show in devices management then press F7 it should ask if you are sure about switching to performance mode, and you need to restart.

Oh I noticed some details on this forum.

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN85593/EN

If you boot the computer from the battery, it can start in powersafe mode which disable the discrete card.

On 9/7/2016 at 5:28 PM, dogs said:

The old GTX660M works fine so looks like 780M card is fried

Sorry the delayed answer the site was down.

Okay have you tried put the 780m back in?

Now in the m18x, when installing a new graphics card you sometime need to disconnect all power sources. Disconnect power cable, take out the battery AND the BIOS battery.

Hold the power button for 30 sec. Put back only the bios battery and power cable.

Turn on the computer should give you are 5 beep error code. Unplug it. 

Then keep holding hold the "FN" key while you turn it on again.

It should start for around 5 sec and reboot, then let go of the "FN" key. Now the bios (cmos) is reset and it should recognize you graphic card.

Again this method is for the m18x r1 and r2.

Have you checked in your bios setting if you can switch off the discrete graphics card?

I don't think you have fried you graphics card because of a driver. In al my time messing around with drivers and overclocking I have never fried a card.

I have made my motherboard sparkle from the port where the graphics go into and it didn't broken anything. Try put your old card back and see if it will be recognized. Then put back the gtx 780m.

Try enter bios and see if it is recognized there?

It doesn't appear as unknown device?