Kestranor

Yeah, that's the same as mine. I don't know why it says 0.9V, as it goes up to 1.0V under full load, at the highest clock rate.

Ah, sad to hear it. Appreciate the the reply though.

@Klem Not really a modification request, but a sanity check on a vBIOS from svl7 I dug up from another thread. I have a Dell 7970M with vBIOS version 015.022.000.001. Original vBIOS extracted from the card HERE. I found this vBIOS from another thread, which I think is supposed to undervolt the card to 0.975V from the stock 1.00V: HERE. When comparing the two rom files, I can see that they are largely identical, only a handful of parameters seem to be changed, but since I'm not familiar with the hex files themselves, locations, formats, scaling, etc., I cannot tell what and how exactly it was modified. If you have a couple of spare minutes, could you please check if it does what I hope it does? It would be much appreciated.

So my first 7970M died on me after years of use, and I recently got a replacement. This time, I'm looking to undervolt the new one, as I suspect hitting 80-82 C temperature peaks from time to time did no favors for the old card. I'm not too concerned about performance, I'd prefer for the card to have a longer lifespan. I have seen the 7970M vBIOS pack here, but alas, I still have no rights to download it. Anyone willing to help me out by pointing me to a Dell 015.022.000.001 BIOS with a 0.975V undervolt (assuming it's allowed by the rules of course)? I can also attach the stock bios of this card if it helps. Thanks. EDIT: nevermind... as soon as I posted this, I got promoted, and consequently, got access to the download. So I guess the issue solved itself. EDIT2: seems I spoke too soon. That package only contains vBIOS files of older versions, not the latest one. The original question still stands.

Brief update: just got confirmation on the other forum that only the Clevo HD 8970M works properly. MSI doesn't work with M17x and using the Dell R9 M290X will result in no native fan control. It is also not possible to flash the Clevo vBIOS to a Dell card, as it will brick it.

From what I've read, only the Clevo is proven to work... which is a shame since it costs twice as much as the others. By the way I asked the same question on the NotebookReview forums (in the original HD 8970 thread), so far, no replies. I've read something about the Clevo having a different vBIOS than the others, not sure if this is the only difference. Probably not, since then the vBIOS could be updated and all of them would work the same. I've read specifically that MSI won't work, Dell however is a good question. I've also seen Dell R9 M290Xs which are essentially 8970Ms, that cost half of what the Clevo 8970M costs. Would be nice to know if they can be made to work properly. Anyway, I'll let you know when / if I find something new. The guide does not mention the need for an unlocked BIOS, so I assume the official A12 is enough for the Clevo.

Did a bit more digging, found another thread HERE that essentially confirms that some HD8970Ms work well with the M17x. If this is true, the HD8970M would probably be the most cost-effective option for a GPU upgrade, since HD8970Ms are also better than HD7970Ms quality-wise. I might even bite the bullet and try it. Will report my findings if I did.

Hi! Unfortunately, this forum seems pretty dead... my post before you was a bit longer but I essentially asked the same thing. But no replies whatsoever. For what it's worth, during the digging I've done in the topic I found the following info. Take it with a grain of salt, as this is by no means first hand experience (which is why I asked here in the hopes that someone who does have experience can offer guidance). AMD: HD7970M - Probably your best bet, although pretty outdated as it is. Still a big boost over your previous card. Here is a guide on how to get it fitted, but it's very old and the images are missing. The card itself has 2-3 times the passmark score of my old card as well as double the VRAM (2Gb), which is really needed for modern games. Price is pretty acceptable on Ebay second-hand. HD8970M & R9 M290x - From what I've read these cards are pretty much identical and would be a better option than the HD7970M, but there are a number of reported issues with these, even though they're said to work more or less. These issues include: no proper fan control (fans have to be controlled manually by third party software), HDMI and VGA output ports don't work properly with them, compatibility problems, driver issues with switching graphics, possibly more. Also the GPUs themselves need to be reflashed before they'd actually work with an M17x. What they offer in return is double the VRAM, which is a big deal in the overall scheme of things, especially if you want it to last - and some more performance. Price is comparable to HD7970M, which sounds awesome, but if they indeed have all these issues... yeah, I don't know. Would be nice is someone confirmed that these could be made to work properly with tweaks. NVidia: GTX 780M - Said to be compatible and is pretty much recommended by most people as the best GPU you can get in your M17x. I've not done too much digging into this one honestly, since I own and AMD card, like you, and for this one, you'd need to buy everything along with the card, new heatsink, new bracket, the works. And the card is a lot more expensive that an HD7970M to boot. But admittedly, it does offer some more performance. GTX 880M - A "newer" card than the 780M, people still prefer the former though, since the 880M is said to have a truckload of issues, quality, heat, you name it. From what I've read, you're better of forgetting this card exists and getting a 780M if you're looking to go NVidia. Overall, I've concluded that an HD7970M would be my best bet, of course you could come to a different conclusion. Up to you. In either case, it would be nice if someone could confirm any of what I wrote.

Hello Community! I'm the proud owner of an M17X R3, from 2011, which I was lucky enough to pick up as a huge bargain back in the day. Even though it's glory days have passed, it is still in amazing condition. I never had any issue with it so far, it served me really well, initially for heavy gaming, nowdays not so much. This machine is officially the notebook I've owned for the longest time in my life and despite my putting it through a lot of use, it just keep going. In fact, I've grown so attached to it that instead of looking to buy a new machine, lately I've started to read about the possible upgrade options and whether or not they're worth it. This is where my confusion starts... This machine has an AMD HD5870M in it, so pretty much any card would be an upgrade over that... but most of the "official" upgrades would not really add much in terms of viable performance for the price. This is where the "unofficial" upgrades come in. I've read about people upgrading their R3s with various cards, of which the best were the GTX 780M, HD8870 or R9 M290X. I'm mostly interested in the AMD upgrade options, especially the M290X, which is said to work just fine (some users reported HDMI and VGA not working?), since I've read they are easier to upgrade to than the GTX780, which requires a lot of messing around in the BIOS and whatnot, but then again, since I'm really looking to extend the usefulness of my machine, I'm open to any suggestions. Either way, sorry about the long post. To cut it short: if any of you knowledgable people still browse this forum, could you please point me in the right direction for upgrading my R3 with a better GPU (preferably an M290X or the best AMD card that works without major hickups)? Much appreciated.