[Guide] - M15x with AMD 7970m

[angelicheart 10]

My CPU and GPU score drop tremendously in 3dmark11 test, after I upgrade my CPU from 720QM to 920XM, what might be gone wrong? I haven't done any overclock thought, unless this was done in stock. Is there any overclock guide?

Am I right that, I should be flashing the GPU vbios to 0.975v, then everything should be better?

Anyway I'm using the stock 150W adapter.

My score with 720QM

AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-720QM Processor ,Alienware

My score with 920XM

AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-920XM Processor,Alienware

@svl7 need your help here. I'm sorry, I'm little confuse here, I don't see all these was clarify in the first post.

[Andy3008 10]

Time to look for a 7970. Thanks for the guide.

[Oldwon 10]

Hello Guys,,

Newly registered member here, I hope you guys don't mind my 20 questions over the next few weeks, ( I hope this thread is still monitored). I am looking to upgrade my partners m15x as its just not cutting the mustard anymore with some of the more recent games of the last few years. its got the HD5850m card and I am looking to purchase a 7970m, as things stand the laptop seems to run quite hot and unless it is placed on a laptop cooling pad tends to shutdown after gaming for a while.

I have spent the last few days looking into the details of this process to do the upgrade and wanted to ask which version of the Bios should her machine be using if it matters... I want to get the system upto date driver wise and updates wise before changing any hardware.

I am looking into trying to obtain a 7970m and having read quite alot of the forums, it seems the Dell ones are the better option, is there anyway I can tell when browsing on ebay and such places looking to find a worthy deal... if its a dell genuine part.

Any advice would be very welcome indeed.

Thanks in advance.

[fatboyslimerr 42]

Hello Guys,,

Newly registered member here, I hope you guys don't mind my 20 questions over the next few weeks, ( I hope this thread is still monitored). I am looking to upgrade my partners m15x as its just not cutting the mustard anymore with some of the more recent games of the last few years. its got the HD5850m card and I am looking to purchase a 7970m, as things stand the laptop seems to run quite hot and unless it is placed on a laptop cooling pad tends to shutdown after gaming for a while.

I have spent the last few days looking into the details of this process to do the upgrade and wanted to ask which version of the Bios should her machine be using if it matters... I want to get the system upto date driver wise and updates wise before changing any hardware.

I am looking into trying to obtain a 7970m and having read quite alot of the forums, it seems the Dell ones are the better option, is there anyway I can tell when browsing on ebay and such places looking to find a worthy deal... if its a dell genuine part.

Any advice would be very welcome indeed.

Thanks in advance.

Dell cards are on blue PCB (circuit boards). Think clevo cards are on green.

You'll probably need a CPU upgrade too otherwise your current CPU may bottleneck 7970m. You may want to read up undervolting 7970m to lower temps. Also invest in some decent thermal paste such as ICD7.

Sent from my One S running 4.4.2

[Oldwon 10]

Thanks for the input Fatboyslimerr,

I appreciate it. If I go for a CPU upgrade aswell would the current cooling be suficient or do I have to look to upgrade the cooling fan (or cooling housing) aswell?

I think if I go for a CPU upgrade I would aim for the 920xm as opposed to the 940xm which seems to be almost twice the price for the differance. Could you or any other members in the know who can spare a moment to comment on this suggest the MINIMUM CPU to pair up on a m15x with the 7970m fitted please?, This would give me a wider range of options and may help the impact on the wallet if I decide to go for a smaller budget choice... its not critical that I save money but if I feel i could get away with reasonable to good performance for less then its always worth considering imho.

Thanks again folks.

PS. Just for further info incase it has any impact on things for advice purposes, I have already purchased 16gb ram to replace the 4gb fitted and I will pass on my C3000-240 SSD as I am also upgrading my Desktop SSD to a 480gb so may aswell pass that down to the M15x to help give it a boost.

[Amok 10]

Hi All,

I came across this thread the other day when I was reviewing how to improve my stock mx15. I decided to upgrade my gtx460m to an AMD Dell 7970, I read this was plug and play

Plug worked, play did not. Although an auto installation of drivers happened as soon as I booted up. The device manager sees there is now an amd 7970 in the slot. However, the display is still VGA (vertical light blue lines within all open windows, and a red hue across the aliens head (this red hue is also present at the windows loading icon).

Removing the old card and fitting the new one was simple thanks to the linked video guides. The installation of the driver software has been challenging, I downloaded:

amd_catalyst_14.1_mobility_betw1.5.exe - Installation ran through the amd install manager (version: 08.00.0916).

Once it got too around 30% the following error occurred: "Application Install: package failure!" I hit continue, the installer ran through until the end where the log appeared, the failed part was:#

"AMD Catalyst install manager" - Final Status = Fail.

AMD Display Driver = Sucess

HDMI Audio Driver = Sucess

MS C++ 2012 = Sucess

Hydra Vision (4.2.252.0) = Fail

AMD Accelerated Video Transcoding (13.3.100.40131) = Fail

AMD Accelerated vido Transcoding = Fail

AMD Drag and Drop Transcoding = Fail

AMD Catalyst Control Center = Fail

.net 4.5 = Success

gfx_AMDA00_8.934_F9X96_setup_ZPE.exe - didn't work - same errors as above

gfx_AMDA01_8.973_N3GM1_setup_ZPE.exe - didn't work - same errors as above

So I figured it might be something to do with the bios, being A08, so I downloaded the flash for A09, burned it to cd, changed boot order to CD first. No dice, cd drive spins up then windows loads, no DOS script going through as I'd expect. Reboot and found that A08 is still the bios version. Groan.

Repeated installers above just in case. Got the same results.

So, I've been at it for 4 hours now and I'm seriously considering binning the whole laptop and buying another since my time is limited Does anyone have an idea on what I might have done wrong?

Specs of the machine:

M15X

i7 Q 840 running stock @ 1.87

6GB

Win 7 Ultimate

[svl7 5690]

Dell cards are on blue PCB (circuit boards). Think clevo cards are on green.

Both are blue, Dell are dark blue and the Clevo a bright blue. At least OEM cards. Dell ES cards were black.

@Amok: Try an earlier driver, e.g. 13.x

[Amok 10]

Both are blue, Dell are dark blue and the Clevo a bright blue. At least OEM cards. Dell ES cards were black.

@Amok: Try an earlier driver, e.g. 13.x

Thanks svl7,

It turns out my firewall was messing with the installation (although I had it set to allow all amd) - switching it off allowed the install of the 13.350.1005.0 driver, however, the blue lines I was referring to earlier are still there :/

Duff card purchased, or duff user installing?

[sangemaru 51]

150W is not enough for 9x0XM + 7970m, even underclocked. I had an EXTREMELY good targus 150W PSU that could handle it, but effective power draw was over 180W. I've also used a 240W PSU which failed to handle the combo. You need 210W or above PSU if you plan to reliably use that combination.

Excepting CPU-bound games (and mantle may make short work of that in the future), I couldn't discern reliable performance differences between a 720QM and a superclocked 940XM (@ 3.6GHz-3.8Ghz).

I'd say first prio is GPU, then upgrade PSU, then maybe upgrade CPU.

@svl7: Bro, I hope I'm not nagging, just wondering if you saw my pm or post in the Kepler vbios mod thread.

[Amok 10]

Thanks svl7,

It turns out my firewall was messing with the installation (although I had it set to allow all amd) - switching it off allowed the install of the 13.350.1005.0 driver, however, the blue lines I was referring to earlier are still there :/

Duff card purchased, or duff user installing?

[ATTACH]10792[/ATTACH]

As it turns out, the limitations of this board for new users are hampering me more than helping :/

I cannot view that screenshot, but I suspect it looks fine - this would point me towards a display fault post install of the new card.

Thanks for the help and frustration for 24 hours

[Oldwon 10]

Guys what would you consider the lowest workable CPU to pair with the 7970m on the M15x, my partners is currently a 740qm, would this run ok with a 7970 and 16GB ram and SSD or should it be upgraded, if you feel it should have a better cpu, what would be the minimum you would recommend? With this info I can judge cost - performance, I am kind of assuming that if im not looking for the laptop to be the fastest ever 7970 rig that I could put another cpu in or stick with the current 740qm...

Any thoughts or input most welcome Thx.

[fatboyslimerr 42]

Guys what would you consider the lowest workable CPU to pair with the 7970m on the M15x, my partners is currently a 740qm, would this run ok with a 7970 and 16GB ram and SSD or should it be upgraded, if you feel it should have a better cpu, what would be the minimum you would recommend? With this info I can judge cost - performance, I am kind of assuming that if im not looking for the laptop to be the fastest ever 7970 rig that I could put another cpu in or stick with the current 740qm...

Any thoughts or input most welcome Thx.

Workable in which sense? For playing brand new games at high settings? You'll need a 920/940xm processor and overclock it to 3Ghz+. New titles seem seriously CPU heavy (obviously not all of them like Tomb Raider).

Its very obvious when I start a game and realise I haven't opened throttlestop to set my overclock in effect.

If it's just casual gaming then the 740QM will do just fine. That CPU will bottleneck the 7970M in some games for sure though, just depends how important post-processing and top detail settings are to you in games.

[sangemaru 51]

What slim said.

That being said, back when we were testing for bottlenecks on the m17x R2 with TWO 7970m's, there was no difference in framerate in either Metro 2033, Metro Last Light or Tomb Raider benchmark between a superclocked 940XM and a lowly 720qm. Of course, everything was maxed out graphically. 60fps wasn't much of an issue.

That being said, Starcraft 2 and Crysis 3 are a whole different ballpark.

[Lapo 10]

Hi there,

I tried all possible driver versions but my dp/hdmi won't work (for both video and audio), I've got the card from mxm-upgrade and it shipped with a dell vbios, I had overtemp issues so I reflashed it with svl7 (THANKS!) modded undervolted bios. I tried to flash it with clevo 15.019 (mine is and was before the flashing 15.017) but the flasher don't allow me to (and it is probably right not to :-)). Any advice?

Thanks!

[Oldwon 10]

ah Cheers guys that puts some perspective on things, Its my Girlfriends Laptop and not so likely to be running fps type games tho not impossible. She is not a hardcore gamer, but is more likely to play mmo's and the odd action game, maybe the odd fps. I think i might try with the 740 first before taking any plunge into a change of cpu... I think its likely the Elder Scrolls Online will be its next gaming candidate and from the min specs that game lists I think she will have no issue on max settings with the 7970m and a 740qm 16gb ram... I will try it as it is then upgrade the cpu if I feel its holding the machine back I guess that would be the most prudent approach for now...

Thanks again for the input its much appreciated, I will let you know how things go once I get hold of all the parts...

[Lapo 10]

Hi there,

I tried all possible driver versions but my dp/hdmi won't work (for both video and audio), I've got the card from mxm-upgrade and it shipped with a dell vbios, I had overtemp issues so I reflashed it with svl7 (THANKS!) modded undervolted bios. I tried to flash it with clevo 15.019 (mine is and was before the flashing 15.017) but the flasher don't allow me to (and it is probably right not to :-)). Any advice?

Thanks!

I have no idea if my card is clevo or dell, gpuz says it's dell, but it' probably from the bios (which is dell, then...), I know it's blue and the power capacitors has white text on them (I've seen pictures of clevo cards with dark text on power caps), the exact bios string as in gpu-z is: "0.15.017.000.001.042717 (113-C42904A1-117)", device ID is "1002-68002, subvendor "Dell (1028)". The mobo chipset revision is 11 (says cpu-z). As I said my main issue is dp/hdmi not working (and automatic fan control, but that's not a big issue), the weird thing is that before windows starting up the dp/hdmi actually mirrors the display, then it stops working. With all the drivers version tested I get the same behaviour (from 13.4 to 14 beta something, which are the latest and greatest now).

[Agent of Time 11]

I bought my 7970m from those eurocom people on ebay, so im pretty sure it was clevo. I was using it for a long time and somehow I would overcome throttling and it would return, I tried a few different vbios. I cant even remember if I ended up trying svl7's vbios. Well, I stopped gaming for a long time and now im hooked again and ive been playing far cry 3 and bioshock infinite and it has been throttling.

What I want to find out is Is there a BEST vbios version for the clevo card to eliminate throttling? Or should I just keep playing around. Right now I have it flashed to .975v and 875/1350. I think those clocks were a bit high so I was underclocking it to like 850/1200 while playing.

The version is 015.017.000.001.042717(1130C42904A1-117) and I dont have any idea where I got it or when I flashed it .

Sorry I did not read every page of the thread I could not find determinate information on the best vbios for the clevo 7970m.

[sangemaru 51]

I bought my 7970m from those eurocom people on ebay, so im pretty sure it was clevo. I was using it for a long time and somehow I would overcome throttling and it would return, I tried a few different vbios. I cant even remember if I ended up trying svl7's vbios. Well, I stopped gaming for a long time and now im hooked again and ive been playing far cry 3 and bioshock infinite and it has been throttling.

What I want to find out is Is there a BEST vbios version for the clevo card to eliminate throttling? Or should I just keep playing around. Right now I have it flashed to .975v and 875/1350. I think those clocks were a bit high so I was underclocking it to like 850/1200 while playing.

The version is 015.017.000.001.042717(1130C42904A1-117) and I dont have any idea where I got it or when I flashed it .

Sorry I did not read every page of the thread I could not find determinate information on the best vbios for the clevo 7970m.

As far as I'm aware, the problem with m15x and 7970m is motherboard and PSU related. First of all I assume you have a 150W PSU, which is not really enough to handle the 7970m + an i7 CPU properly (draw is up to 180-200w). So you would need a modded 240W PSU. In addition, I remember talks of the power circuitry on the m15x mobo needing some kind of modding to properly allow the 7970m to draw power on the m15x, or running heavily undervolted (0.95 volts on GPU).

But now that I think of it, svl7 had/has a m15x with 7970m, and he's sure to have made an awesome thread on this. Search the forum here, it's his home after all

[fatboyslimerr 42]

Pull the centre pin out of your PSU and say goodbye to throttling. It will no longer charge the battery however so it is advisable to get a new 210w or 240w PSU to use for gaming and keep 150w for travelling And charging battery.

Sent from my One S using Tapatalk

[Agent of Time 11]

Pull the centre pin out of your PSU and say goodbye to throttling. It will no longer charge the battery however so it is advisable to get a new 210w or 240w PSU to use for gaming and keep 150w for travelling And charging battery.

Wow! Thanks. This is some good information. I actually have both a 150w and 240w, because the old 150w stopped charging the battery so I bought a 240. With that in mind, should I pull the pin on the 150w and use that for gaming, and 240w for charging?

Can you please explain exactly how I pull this center pin out? You mean on the brick itself I assume, the middle of 3 prongs? How would I remove this?

Edit: that would not make sense since it has been determined that the 150w is inadequate power for both the 920xm and the 7970m, correct? The only reasonable option is to defile my 240w psu and try to use the 150w to charge the battery, no matter how unreliable it is. Sometimes it would go a month without charging, then suddenly start charging again. Or, I could buy a second 240w.

[fatboyslimerr 42]

Wow! Thanks. This is some good information. I actually have both a 150w and 240w, because the old 150w stopped charging the battery so I bought a 240. With that in mind, should I pull the pin on the 150w and use that for gaming, and 240w for charging?

Can you please explain exactly how I pull this center pin out? You mean on the brick itself I assume, the middle of 3 prongs? How would I remove this?

Edit: that would not make sense since it has been determined that the 150w is inadequate power for both the 920xm and the 7970m, correct? The only reasonable option is to defile my 240w psu and try to use the 150w to charge the battery, no matter how unreliable it is. Sometimes it would go a month without charging, then suddenly start charging again. Or, I could buy a second 240w.

You should keep a PSU for charging the battery. Try to ensure your 150w PSU can charge the battery, perhaps try to fiddle with it a bit. Could be a loose connection somewhere.

I'm referring to the pin in the jack that plugs into the laptop, not the plug. The pin removal process involves using some thin nose pliers and wiggling the pin till it snaps. You might still get throttling but just toggle stealth mode and you'll get full 3d clocks again.

My 210W PSU does the job perfectly with plenty of headroom for overclocking. 150W might be a bit limiting to how high you can push it.

[Agent of Time 11]

Ok. So I fiddled with the 150w and got it to charge the battery, so I guess its worth a shot at modding the 240w. However my needle nose pliers are gone and I will have to find something else to do the job. If this is actually THE solution, then I assure you my jaw will drop upon confirmation.

Update:

So, on first impressions, it is amazing. I load up far cry 3, and the throttling that usually starts as soon as I enter open world never happened! It was the smoothest playing in as long as I can remember. Cheers to you fatboyslimerr for that. However, I did experience an unexpected shutdown after 20 minutes playing. I hope that is just a rare anomoly and not related to the mod.

[fatboyslimerr 42]

Ok. So I fiddled with the 150w and got it to charge the battery, so I guess its worth a shot at modding the 240w. However my needle nose pliers are gone and I will have to find something else to do the job. If this is actually THE solution, then I assure you my jaw will drop upon confirmation.

Update:

So, on first impressions, it is amazing. I load up far cry 3, and the throttling that usually starts as soon as I enter open world never happened! It was the smoothest playing in as long as I can remember. Cheers to you fatboyslimerr for that. However, I did experience an unexpected shutdown after 20 minutes playing. I hope that is just a rare anomoly and not related to the mod.

You should monitor your gpu temps. If you have a dell 7970m, that card loves shutting down when it gets too hot. You might want to try undervolting it. You can easily run stock clocks at 0.975v.

Sent from my One S using Tapatalk

[Genetics 70]

Pull the centre pin out of your PSU and say goodbye to throttling. It will no longer charge the battery however so it is advisable to get a new 210w or 240w PSU to use for gaming and keep 150w for travelling And charging battery.

Sent from my One S using Tapatalk

@fatboyslimerr I do have 240w (Delta PSU)...Is there any alternative other than yank the centre pink? 240w is quite expensive here and yanking the centre pink make me feel miserable :S

[fatboyslimerr 42]

@fatboyslimerr I do have 240w (Delta PSU)...Is there any alternative other than yank the centre pink? 240w is quite expensive here and yanking the centre pink make me feel miserable :S

Do you still have the original 150W adapter? These must be cheaper and you could buy one just for charging the battery. I believe also the lower power 80W PSU from the inspiron or whatever has the same fitting and might charge the battery but no one has tested that. I know svl7 has managed to get some very impressive benchmark scores with a 7970m without removing the centre pin but I have no idea how he managed them. For us lowly humans removing the centre pin is the only option.