AMD 7970m - modified VBIOS

[DigitalFubar]

ok np..ill get a copy up soon give me a few minutes..

[DigitalFubar]

bios.rom

there,, i tried with ati flash and it didnt work so i used atiwin flash and saved it.. gpuz would work ether...strange..

[svl7]

It's the very same vbios as the one I used for all the mods.

[DigitalFubar]

so why would the drivers not be working for me? i hate the mod one because it crashes all the time and the m17x one doesnt seem to load stuff up at all..

[Brian]

You got bsod in games because the driver wasn't switching to full screen 3d voltage and clocks. I had that issue back in the 5870m xfire days. Fire up an instance of furmark and while it's running, turn on a 3d game in full screen and it shouldn't blue screen. AMD drivers....:banghead:

Sent from my GT-N7000

[long2905]

thanks for all the hard work man! Can you make one that is overvolted at 1.1v and also has default clocks as 1000/1500?

[DigitalFubar]

You got bsod in games because the driver wasn't switching to full screen 3d voltage and clocks. I had that issue back in the 5870m xfire days. Fire up an instance of furmark and while it's running, turn on a 3d game in full screen and it shouldn't blue screen. AMD drivers....:banghead:

Sent from my GT-N7000

no its not that.. let me be more specific.. it will load say.. the secret earth.. but blue screen on mine craft in a small window..

[mw86]

well thats hard to say isnt minecraft on the classic games list? try a bunch of modern games... then diagnose glitches in classic game... can you play in a large window on minecraft btw like fullscreen? what modern games have you tested thus far even a demo of mass effect 3 is good test....

[DigitalFubar]

well thats hard to say isnt minecraft on the classic games list? try a bunch of modern games... then diagnose glitches in classic game... can you play in a large window on minecraft btw like fullscreen? what modern games have you tested thus far even a demo of mass effect 3 is good test....

ok.. i get main stream graphic intense games to run now.. ..it took some work with the bios but i got it going.. seems the number was off for my card with what was in the inf file.. so its going..

now what is the highest stable clock rates with these vbios's? or are they all semi stable?

[mw86]

you will need to test all cards will handle a little different.. start on stock, overclock a little with no overvolt... start on the lowest overvolt... test... try the next one up etc till you hit a wall or temps get uncomfortable.. then drop it back to where you saw the best performance with the best temps

can I ask did you recive those for the M18x R1 in a repair exchange for your current video cards you had before or did you purchase those direct from Dell? If so how much are they charging in total for all heatsink etc plus the two videocards. Does your warranty if you have one cover their usage in it? Were they nice enough and easy enough to talk to about 7970m or were they secretive at first? Thanks sorry for all the questions. Running one gpu in mine and trying to see my options... since I am do a repair on atleast one out of two of my video cards.

[DigitalFubar]

you will need to test all cards will handle a little different.. start on stock, overclock a little with no overvolt... start on the lowest overvolt... test... try the next one up etc till you hit a wall or temps get uncomfortable.. then drop it back to where you saw the best performance with the best temps

can I ask did you recive those for the M18x R1 in a repair exchange for your current video cards you had before or did you purchase those direct from Dell? If so how much are they charging in total for all heatsink etc plus the two videocards. Does your warranty if you have one cover their usage in it? Were they nice enough and easy enough to talk to about 7970m or were they secretive at first? Thanks sorry for all the questions. Running one gpu in mine and trying to see my options... since I am do a repair on atleast one out of two of my video cards.

WELL I had some problems and got no where.. the techs in my area suck.. they damaged my laptop.. i needed a motherboard swap..well i didnt need it but alienware seemed to think so before they would swap out my old 460ms..

but when the tech came out.. the first one told me he would not work on my system and tried to just leave.. so i told him to call his boss.. his boss sent some one else out who tried the same thing.. finaly convieced him the second guy to do the swap real quick.. and he damaged the little ribon that conects the media button to the MB.. the little brown conector that holds the ribbon in place on the mother board side.. he scratched my system broke the bezel around the keyboard..

And a few other things.. well my gpus still were acting up s i called alienware and they said they would swap out my cards with the 6990s from the 460 if i bought 2 years worth of warranty for 1050 bucks.. so i did.. then they didn't want to let me install them my self and the techs refused to come out again and do it..lol.. i spent hours on the phone and finaly convinced them i was able to do the job.. when i got it my system i found the clips broke i mentioned before.. stuff unplugged.. screws missing... so i email a level 3 tech guy that was on another forum and explained my problem... and told him i need to be compensated.. that this was unacceptable.. and i told him id like the 7970s.. he said ok..np and sorry for all the trouble.. it was the first cool thing alienware has done for me and my m18x-r1 since owning the laptop..

I still have those clips broke but i still have warranty and its been noted that the tech messed up.. in hind sight i should of asked for the red body be snt to me or at least the screen lol with the red cover..

And that is how i got my 7970s.. i didn't buy them.. Dell was just plain awesome in taking care of the problem..

but on a side note.. i called in about the drivers to see when they would be released and why the m17x-r4 drivers would work for me and they tried to get me to return these for the 6970s..lol and the phone rep was kinda insistent that i do it..I told him they was no way in hell id go backwards since the cards i just had were 6990s..why he thought it was of to get me to try and take the 6970s? he said that the 6970s were all he could offer me.. I told him that was unacceptable..and that if he wanted these cards back he would have to upgrade my whole system to the same speced system but in the m18x-r2.. and that i was disappointed that he would even consider it was ok to try to get me to send the cards back to him..

Edited May 16, 2012 by DigitalFubar

[mw86]

Thank you so much your response was extremely helpful and I am glad Alienware took care of you. I am in the same boat and working with a rep like you now. Can you share a zip of the exact driver that worked in your M18x R1 correctly? It would mean the world to me. I need the exact one you have installed and it needs to be the one already modified and ready to install. Thank you so much. I actually may be talking to the same great Alienware representative you worked with who set you up in a fair resolution. He is hesitant to assist me till he's got a working driver for 7970m... Is it the above M17x R4 driver but modiffied? I don't know how to add the .inf etc... Can you assist me in this. You have been very helpful.

[Jimbo]

So.... For guys that have done this sort of swap before, could anyone estimate how much it would cost to swap the 6990s in my M18X to a pair of these babies? Including selling the 6990s. Can't get away from the idea of smashing P10k 3dm11 with a laptop.

Edit: Eurocom are charging $991 for a pair, so I suppose I need to know how much the 6990s are worth and if there's anywhere better to look for the 7970s.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Jimbo

[Brian]

Pair of 6990s are worth maybe $600-$640 max in the USA. Might be able to fetch more in Europe and OZ.

[lthuiyi]

Svl7! I love u!!

When I was so frustrated for unable to stop the 7970m from the annoying throttling when playing crysis 2 or running 3d mark 11(combined test), I find ur thread of the modified vbios of 7970m!!

I must say i feel like seeing the god the moment I see ur posts!!

After I re-flash the vbios to reduce the voltage to 0.975V(first I tried 1V, but throttle won't stop just gets better ), I find no more throttle any more!!

With the new vbios, I'm able to run 3d mark 11 with 920 @ 24/24/24/24, no more throttle in combined test.

Also, however long I run crysis 2, not even once throttle I detected.

It's like a miracle and finally I can run 7970m perfectly in M15x, all with ur help!

I wanna to say Thank you man!!

[mw86]

@Jimbo When i last spoke recent to SVL7 he said about $550 each from Dell I think without heatsinks...? so it shouldn't cost much over what you'll get for selling the 6990m pair

[svl7]

About $565 with heatsink, so it should be less without. But I'm not sure whether the backplate is included when you don't get the heatsink as well.

[svl7]

After I re-flash the vbios to reduce the voltage to 0.975V(first I tried 1V, but throttle won't stop just gets better ), I find no more throttle any more!!

With the new vbios, I'm able to run 3d mark 11 with 920 @ 24/24/24/24, no more throttle in combined test.

Also, however long I run crysis 2, not even once throttle I detected.

It's like a miracle and finally I can run 7970m perfectly in M15x, all with ur help!

I wanna to say Thank you man!!

Hehehe, thank you! Great to hear that it solved your issues!

Always nice to see some results of all the work!

[DigitalFubar]

svl7 may I ask you what tools you are using to mod these bios? Im trying to change a sub vendor string and all the tools i have and have tried seem to be usless? would you mind linking me to your tools if its not to much trouble?

[svl7]

I guess you mean software like RBE and other tools which allow easy VBIOS mods. There's no such thing for this VBIOS, you have to do it by hand.

[windskyflyer]

Wowww, amazing, now I think I can get rid of the terrible crashes and no-respond...

By the way, can games enjoy the same experience? You see, when I did the regular overclocking, the games were instable and crashes occurred now and then...

[svl7]

Hi windskyflyer, welcome to T|I!

What notebook do you have? I've only played some BF3 so far, and it worked flawlessly. Though I did not overclock, mainly due to the insufficient voltage supply circuits on the M15x motherboard. Also, it's not really necessary to overclock this card for gaming, the performance is already great at stock clocks.

[lthuiyi]

Hi windskyflyer, welcome to T|I!

What notebook do you have? I've only played some BF3 so far, and it worked flawlessly. Though I did not overclock, mainly due to the insufficient voltage supply circuits on the M15x motherboard. Also, it's not really necessary to overclock this card for gaming, the performance is already great at stock clocks.

can't agree more! 7970m is truly a beast even @ stock clock!

for the insufficient voltage supply circuits on M15x's motherboard u mentioned, have u tried to modify and improve the supply?

Normally I'll consider it really impossible... but not after I read ur incredible threads about physical modification on 6970 & 920xm : )

[svl7]

for the insufficient voltage supply circuits on M15x's motherboard u mentioned, have u tried to modify and improve the supply?

Normally I'll consider it really impossible... but not after I read ur incredible threads about physical modification on 6970 & 920xm : )

Hahaha, yeah, I've been dreaming about this, but it's not worth the effort... the only way which might be possible would be quite a crazy mod and not desirable regarding the portability of the system.

[tauzins]

Hahaha, yeah, I've been dreaming about this, but it's not worth the effort... the only way which might be possible would be quite a crazy mod and not desirable regarding the portability of the system.

Wanted to ask you svl7, so the 7970m stock is gonna have power draw issues? i cant seem to find a clear answer from here or the notebookreview forums. m15x, currently only have a 740qm but i plan on getting the 920xm so thats why i was asking.