An0npl4y

Hello,

I don't have pictures but it was something like this:

Main DIE big copper plate and VRMs plate was from MSI heatsink as I explained in first post of this thread, 3 copper stripes and radiator was from stock heatsink. Anyway, even with such a modded heatsink when I was using the 330W PSU and reached full power there was still thermal issue, the system still needed to be improved.

I see now Eurocom offers such an upgrade, but with standard MXM form factor GTX 1070: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/quadro-p5000-with-m17x-r4.800489/page-8#post-10625469 (at least it's same width as standard so it can fit easily)

The card just looks just the same as Gecube one: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.34.7132bccaqt2kP9&id=557169195143&ns=1&abbucket=7#detail

Gecube 1070 is rated as 115W TDP, while MSI one should be higher I guess. I saw mine over 125W on HWinfo when reaching 100% load. I think MSI card is such a beast it gets real hot, Gecube one must be a little less powerful but it should also get lower temp on the other hand. Other good thing is it looks like Gecube one can be used with stock heatsink. My advice is if someone want to make this upgrade nowadays, then go for the Eurocom / Gecube card. Form factor will avoid to dremel the chassis, and there is no huge heatsink mod to do. Also, it probably runs cooler so I think that's the way to go IMHO.

Have fun and high FPS

Hello,

It depends which CPU you use. Only XM CPUs allow to use RAM at 2133 MHz, with other CPUs you'll get BSOD very soon after boot. I tried with 3940XM and I could set 2133 MHz on BIOS without issue, but with a 3840QM I can't go higher than 1866 or I get BSOD.

Hello,

It seems someone was brutal on this one! You can find N17E-G2-A1 GPU cores on Taobao for around 100$: https://world.taobao.com/item/550718809982.htm?spm=a312a.7700714.0.0.675ba573gBilvX#detail

Youn can also find stencils: https://world.taobao.com/item/557884869609.htm?spm=a312a.7700714.0.0.675ba573gBilvX#detail for reballing: 

So even if your GPU core is dead, your 1070 can still be repaired. Some companies can do this kind of job, I guess you'll have to search for it. It would be better than throwing your expensive GPU to the trash.

Hello,

Hardware rev should not be a problem. Finding the right BIOS setting is kinda tricky. Did you set primary display to PEG? Do you have GPT partition?

Hello,

For the connector mod I just used a small cutting pliers, and I finished using a little cutter with a scalpel blade. No need to get the dremel out for this, only for the chassis mod.

Hello,

I was using ICD7 so maybe using liquid metal can help but I don't think it can solve thermal issue alone. M17X R4 was not designed to cool down a 120W or a 150 W TDP GPU, so all the cooling has to be improved, not only thermal paste but the whole heatsink, especially if you want to upgrade to a 1080. You'll need to work on fan, DIE plate, copper stripes and radiator, everything will have to be modded.

No I can't make any measurement since I sold some of the stuff I was using to build another project I'm working on right now. I'm having more fun building projects than playing with it, I managed to reach my goal which was to get over 14k FS score. Only thing I can tell you is 330W PSU was mandatory to get full performance of the 1070, or there was a PSU bottleneck and I couldn't get full CPU and GPU load at the same time.

Instead of Ebay, search Taobao and you'll find interesting things, such as this one: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.15.ebb2eb2IIfArd&id=546741719542&ns=1&abbucket=5#detail

Be aware that 1080 without power connector are SLI ones, and are usually performing less better than standard ones so maybe it could be interesting to get electrical scheme of the power connector, and build a power source.

You project seems really interesting, here are may main advices:

-try to source your GPU on Taobao, it will save you money because 1080 MXM are very expensive and you'll need money for other components

-3940xm is not so much powerful compared to the 3840qm, and it can get very hot when overclocked. I think 3840qm is the best choice for the CPU

-building a modded heatsink is mandatory, you'll need to get a 1080 heatsink so you can use the DIE plate and the VRMs plate, with copper stripes from the stock heatsink (maybe you'll have to add other copper stripes) and stock radiator or bigger radiator if you find one which can fit in. Get ready to use a torch, it will be very hard soldering job.

-create your own thread, this is a huge project and you'll need advices from the whole community, there are lot of people with great computer knowledge here

-get ready to spend countless hours searching, testing and building before it will work

With a 1080 you could reach over 18k FS score, it could be a good target!

I don't see any other reason than PSU bottleneck which could explain that:

-GPU load average value while gaming stays around 70%, not reaching 100% (this is why GPU temp is so low, with 100% GPU load it would be higher)

-FS combined score is lower while physics score is higher when overclocking the CPU

Also, 240W PSU doesn't mean the system will run smooth until above 239W power draw. Power limit alert will appear before. I had just the same kind of problem.

If you know someone who have a 330W PSU, just ask him if you can give it a try, it would be the easier way to check. But it's really looking like a PSU problem.

You're at a point where you have to make a choice. If you keep the 240W PSU, overclocking the CPU will produce extra amperage draw, so GPU performance will decrease. Best way to fix this is upgrading the PSU to a genuine 330W Dell PSU so you can OC your CPU and enjoy your GPU performance in full load at the same time. 3740QM is perfectly overclockable by the way.

I don't know about the game you're playing, but you can notice that your GPU load is around 60% to 70% while you're gaming. I'm not sure if this is a normal behavior with this game, I guess this is more likely because you're hitting PSU limit. What is the GPU load when running Firestrike combined test? If it's not close to 100%, it means you're hitting 240W PSU limit, I had same problem with my 1070 which was bottlenecked by the PSU. If your game needs both high CPU load and high GPU load at the same time, you may hit PSU limit when gaming, while you still have good graphics score while benchmarking since CPU is not at full load.

On 01/06/2017 at 8:19 AM, loafer987 said:

I am extremely curious if the zotac 1070 would work in the m18x r2 now.

Same for me, this is very interesting!

Also, keep in mind M17x R4 and M18x R2 are very different. There is much room inside the M18x R2, which helps for better cooling and fresh air flow. Heatsinks and radiators are not the same too. M18x R2 was designed to run with an extreme CPU and 2 GPUs in SLI, while M17x R4 was made for 45W max CPU TDP, and a single GPU.

Hello,

This is a really good score, it's an awesome upgrade. You're close to the top FS scores with a GTX 1060 (notebook): http://www.3dmark.com/search#/?mode=advanced&url=/proxycon/ajax/search/gpu/fs/P/1106/500000?minScore=0&gpuName=NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Notebook)

Also your temp is very low, so no problem for OC.

Do you have more technical informations about the fact that SG mode is not compatible with SLI? There were so many people saying that pascal cards would never work on the M18x R2 since it would work only with eDP display. Now you have shown it can be done, then maybe we can go even further with a SLI of pascal GPUs? Anyway, the 60 Hz screen would still be a bottleneck but this is very interesting...

It seems pretty good, with same CPU and same GPU you're close to @Prema score on a Clevo P150EM: http://www.3dmark.com/fs/10795610

Also, temps are low so you can easily try a little overclock to improve your benchmark results, but your 1060 seems to perform well.

You can use HWinfo, and MSI Afterburner which will also allow you to overclok or underclok GPU.

The 1060 should appear as Microsoft basic display in device manager. This is where you have to install driver with modded inf.

Did you try making updates and rebooting?

It should not be a problem. Can't you see it in disk management?

Share your first Firestrike bench with us 

OK nice, there you go 

GPT is another problem. You must format your HDD so it has GPT partition, for example using diskpart:

diskpart
list disk
select disk <disk number>
clean
convert gpt
exit

A little search with your GPT error message will give you a fix for this.

From what I understand, your problem is that you set display to PEG, and your GPU doesn't have UEFI compliant drivers in its vbios. You need to set primary display to IGFX and reboot. Then, you'll use iGPU and you'll be able to disable legacy mode and reboot again. This is when you'll be able to set primary display back to PEG again. And you won't be able to reboot with this setting, that's when you'll put the 1060 in and successfully boot with it.

What are the settings in Advanced / Video configuration / Internal Graphic device ?

I was uploading files, but since you flashed you don't need it anymore.

You have 120 Hz screen, right?

OK so your problem now is your GPU doesn't have vbios with UEFI driver. This must be the issue which won't let you disable legacy mode.

Can you post pictures of your BIOS settings now?

Everything is explained in the unlocked BIOs thread.

You setup the USB flash drive, you put all required files in it, and you boot with it.

You should have those files: fpt.exe fparts.txt prr2.exe flash.bat m17xr4.bin (unlocked bios file you want to flash)

This is what I still have on the USB key I used to flash my BIOS, and it worked fine.

Then you just launch prr.exe, and after you launch flash.bat .

If this lack of SLI support could be solved somehow, I guess my next laptop could be a M18x R2.

I searched and found a brand new good quality laptop with SLI of GTX 1070 or 1080 is around 4k$ to 4.5k$ at least. Using a M18x, it could cost "only" 2.5k$ (MXM cards price, and M18x R2 can be found at fair price on marketplaces nowadays).

This is really nice to see more and more old gen laptops can be upgraded with MXM pascal GPUs. That's exactly the reason why BGA is crap, because it would never allow such kind of upgrade.

I'll try to help you with this, I had same kind of issue when upgrading to the 1070.

Problem here is you're not in full UEFI, so it won't work. You need to disable this Legacy mode in BIOS. You can do it only when booting with a GPU which vbios supports UEFI as I explained in my thread.

So I think you should start by installing unlocked BIOS, and then with the right settings you will be able to disable legacy mode.

Install the unlocked BIOS, and post pictures of your BIOS settings for Advanced / Video and Boot options. We'll fix that.

Too bad it can't work with SLI. Do you know if 2 pascal GPUs would be OK, even if not linked with SLI cord? Maybe not because of optimus mode?