MSI GTX 1060 MXM successfully working on Alienware M18X R2 (another socket victory against BGA crap)

[aaronloveweed]

Hi All! First thread poste here!

Very happy with my beast ..again!

m18x R2 on modded bios (SG mode needed, optimus mode igfx+dGpu)
 

So my msi 1060 from alezka.com (Woodzstack thank you) was arrived yesterday, fast, very well packaged , and with a bit of icdiamond7.

 

Removed (not very well..buyed and used a dremel for first time) the tiny metal square on heatsink , that touch ram on 1060.

 

 

put thermal pads everywhere to match heatsink space.

 

 

 

Absolutely do not tight or strengt too much the gpu because has on his backside a big squared capacitator that push on motherboard

 

 

 

Here 3dmark11 to start benching

msi1060 (stock clocks) + 3920xm(4.2Ghz) on m18xR2 .

 

 

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/12179815

Score 13581

GraphicScore 14934

Physics 10877

CombinedScore 10396

 

Max GPU temp 71° (at 24° t.amb).

 

 

 

And Here 3dMark

 

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/19968894

 

Score 9849

GraphicScore 11547

Physics 11182

CombinedScore 4318

 

Max GPU temp 71° (at 24° t.amb).

 

Superposition benchmark
GPU max temp 72°

 

Now I'm start to look if performance is aligned with other 1060's powered laptops.

 

All suggestion are very welcome!

 

Bye All!

Edited May 16, 2017 by aaronloveweed

[aaronloveweed]

@Klem

Could you like to modify a bios for me? This one modded by (svl7+Swick) Raidriar.

Please if possible:
 

• Change the Bios default BOOT from PEG to IGFX (if not already done on this bios).
• Embed this gpu id:  10DE-1C60 (msi 1060 6GB)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5dGmVHDQ7iuNERzYkMwMW1RMDQ/view?usp=sharing



Many thanks for now, then another donation..
 

[Klem]

Hi!

Check PM.

[An0npl4y]

Kudos for the great work! You just opened a new door: the good old M18x R2 is still alive and it rocks!

[aaronloveweed]

First run with a small OC on MSI 1060 +200core +125mem (3920xm@4,2Ghz, RAM@2133Mhz cl11)

10656 points
GraphicsScore 12678
PhysicsScore 11176
CombinedScore 4703


Fan on max controlled by hwinfo.
Max GPU temp 57° at 22°ambient.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/12680412





extreme no OC
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/12677737



Ultra no OC 2668 points
GraphicsScore 2605
PhysicsScore 11249
CombinedScore 1360
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/12677635
 

Edited May 20, 2017 by aaronloveweed

[An0npl4y]

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...

Edited May 22, 2017 by An0npl4y
typo

[Cleber]

I was wondering for that. I am seeing many chinese users of TaoBao using that cards with MXM 3.0B factor posting results in 60hz screen. I already saw alienware 17 and M17x R4 working of igfx and 60hz screen at feedback section. 

 

The GTX 1050ti have LVDS output also in MXM 3.0B so maybe the gtx 1060 can have also.

 

A user managed to work quadro P5000 with igfx also on his M17x R4: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/quadro-p5000-with-m17x-r4.800489/'

 

I think if your system has a igfx or other type of resource to transalate the vga signal you will be fine.

 

I will try in my M15x a gtx 1060 or 1050ti when get more funds,,,, the PM55 chipset has support for translate to vga, lvds, and 3x display ports. It already have a ramdac integrated that the people say that is missing in pascal and polaris.

[aaronloveweed]

I already asked Klem to insert gpu id micrococode into m18x R2 bios but booting in PEG mode results in 8 beeps sound with no output on screen,

so lvds here is not working but only vga output by chipset translation by igfx.

About SG mode + SLI I cannot help sorry

[decool]

On 20/05/2017 at 7:26 PM, aaronloveweed said:

Fan on max controlled by hwinfo.
Max GPU temp 57° at 22°ambient.

 

wow nice temperatures, what is your secret ?

 

I've made the same upgrade on my m17x r4 and i have 67 °C when using fire strike.

[aaronloveweed]

7 hours ago, decool said:

 

wow nice temperatures, what is your secret ?

 

I've made the same upgrade on my m17x r4 and i have 67 °C when using fire strike.

No secrets here, hwinfo at 4300rpm full blast, remeber to put a small (very small) line or dot of thermal compound, because when it is too much, the temperature

 is worst then a small amount.

Tape on radiator's fin to fan.

IC diamond on GPU.

I'm waiting for new thermal pads and a tep module, when them arrive I'll mount on gpu the 6heatpipe cooler instead of mine (pics will be posted here)

 

[naightmehr]

Too much thermal compound shouldn't have an impact on the cooling performance, Linustechtips tested this by using a lot of methods, such as a small pea, line and putting too much, the temps didn't vary a lot, 1 degrees each.

 

Putting too less will increase thermals since less area is covered, I'm a bit wary of IC diamond since it leaves scratches on the heatsink surface

[An0npl4y]

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.

[aaronloveweed]

no triple pipe copper for 680m was for 100w TDP also on m17xr4

(I also owned one in the past but I preferred m18x r2 for better temp too at that time)

Edited May 24, 2017 by aaronloveweed

[decool]

it's still ok even when you missed up your heat sink mod 

 

https://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=66708920170519203142.jpg

 

 

[aaronloveweed]

On 24/5/2017 at 8:33 PM, decool said:

it's still ok even when you missed up your heat sink mod 

 

https://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=66708920170519203142.jpg

 

 

horrible!

Look like my first attempt tomod my heatsink, very bad, but second one was a way better! (First time dremelling work bro? me too)


 

[aaronloveweed]

Finally I think I have modded in right way a win 10x64 driver for my MSI 1060 mxm on m18xR2, so here my result from 3dMark Time Spy
http://www.3dmark.com/spy/1823644

[loafer987]

Nice thats looking good. Im impressed your physics score beats my aw17 at 4 ghz. 

Heres my latest 1070 score. 

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/12668293

 

Not sure how i missed this thread. I am extremely curious if the zotac 1070 would work in the m18x r2 now. a couple people have them in AW17 R1's but they required a vbios flash to MSI vbios.

 

[An0npl4y]

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!

[Homer_S]

When we can make this work for this card, I'm in!

 

Homer

[b-tzu]

GG

If only I can find a 970M, 980M or 1060 to replace my 880M, in France, at prices that still a little affordable...

[farbote]

On 16/05/2017 at 7:30 PM, aaronloveweed said:

But yes, as Mr Fox said and I have also confirmed with one of my friend who works as an engineer in Nvidia who was also involved in the architecture of Pascal, the screens used on the 18 are Legacy a.k.a LVDS. Pascal only supports eDP type of screens.

So even if you somehow managed to fit the card and cool it well, or even feed enough power, it won't work. Either the 18 would reject the card or nothing would appear on the screen, thereby making this upgrade useless or a waste ???????

 

The new NVIDIA and AMD cards do not support notebooks with LVDS display panels. Only eDP panels are supported. This is no upgrade path beyond Maxwell.????

[aaronloveweed]

 

 

 

Hey man, why you quote me with not mine written words? Where did you get this weird message?

ù

ù
 

to remain in thread, Optimus act like an emulator for convert edp signal in lvds, so no issue with notebook equipped with it

Edited August 18, 2017 by aaronloveweed
pic added

[farbote]

Hi, sorry I am French and my English is very limited, I recopy your text to elicit a reaction because I do not understand how the 1060 can work? Because as you said it is not compatible with the screen, sorry to have done like that, and for my translation ....

My configuration :   Alienware M18xR2

Type de Bios    Insyde EFI

Version du Bios    A11

Type de Bios    Insyde (05/17/2013)

SMBIOS Version    2.7

Chipset: Intel i855GM/PM    Non  (Intel Panther Point HM77, Intel Ivy Bridge)

Type de processeur    Mobile QuadCore Intel Core i7-3740QM, 3500 MHz (35 x 100)

Carte vidéo    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M  (4 Go) x2 sli

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2017 by farbote

[aaronloveweed]

14 minutes ago, farbote said:

Hi, sorry I am French and my English is very limited, I recopy your text to elicit a reaction because I do not understand how the 1060 can work? Because as you said it is not compatible with the screen, sorry to have done like that, and for my translation ....

My configuration :   Alienware M18xR2

Type de Bios    Insyde EFI

Version du Bios    A11

Type de Bios    Insyde (05/17/2013)

SMBIOS Version    2.7

Chipset: Intel i855GM/PM    Non  (Intel Panther Point HM77, Intel Ivy Bridge)

Type de processeur    Mobile QuadCore Intel Core i7-3740QM, 3500 MHz (35 x 100)

Carte vidéo    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M  (4 Go) x2 sli

 

 

 

Just install an unlocked bios for m18x-r2 (search here for "swick's" modded bios, but you need 5 posts to download or a premium subsciption)

From unlocked bios navigate to select graphics option, change it to "SG graphics mode" (it mean switchable graphics) and then not move from there (only selection aviable after 1060 install is SG or IGFX,  not PEG because the lack of EDP connection make it not bootable in this mode)

Remove the tab on heatsink to fit 1060.

Do not tight too much the gpu's screws because push on motherboard.

Mod a driver inf to accomodate your gpu ID.

Play!

[farbote]

Hello, thank you very much for the information.I have this bios file: M18x_R2_A11_Maxwell_Legacy_Improved.rar

Is this the right file?

 

So there's nothing else to do? just set up the bios? but it must be configured before installing the 1060 gtx with my gtx 780? Or the 1060 is detecting before bios setting?