Blitz Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Well i was searching on ebay and found this ATI Mobility Radeonnow my question is will this work in my m17xr2? i want to run dual cards, or is the performance gain from 2 5870's to small to get out of the 6970s? Im asking if its cost effective to upgrade to the 6970's, it seems in bf3 my fps is all over the place and it could be internet but it ranges anywhere from 160 to 25 fps, i've updated drivers and such but still a large range. Settings on medium btw.So if anyone would like to post there findings with bf3 and m17xr2 that would be great, resolution is 1450x1050Specs920xm8 Gb 1333 g.skillDual ati 5870'sTo sum up if theres confusion is it worth getting dual 6970's will i see a big performance gain (40-50 fps) on some games? Or should i just stick with the 5870's and wait and buy a new laptop in a year or so? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 (edited) you had a lot of questions in the one post... well Dr650Se said in shoutbox his R2 with 6990m's runs smooth at ultra settings and no antialiasing... you can probably do almost that if you tinker enough with a overclock on the 5870's i had a set and they overclock well. 1.1v is a good over volt to get a nice gaming overclock going... 1.15v will get very nice clocks but needs good cooling. Its all up to you Ivybridge will be even faster than sandybridge is vs first gen Intel core. and future gpus will be even more powerful... i'd say you got a good enough rig to stick with till something better comes around... like amd 700series... their top cards esp mobile come out mid next year... maybe you can throw them in... midrange 7000 series may be here by end of this year. So i suggest wait for right time to buy upgrade cards or even a upgraded system. try flashing the 5870s to a constant mhz since for me having any sort of powersaving features can cause erratic performance in my use... i set 3dclocks for all profiles in the vbios and flash them... theres some guides here on 5870m vbios... there will be a bit of an increase in fps from5870-6970 but is it worth a few hundred thats up to you but i'd say no... go for a bigger uprgrade than 6970m's will provide... Edited October 27, 2011 by mw86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Brian Posted October 27, 2011 Founder Share Posted October 27, 2011 If you're going to spend the time and money to upgrade, go full out for crossfire 6990s. But yes, even 6970m xfire is worth it over 5870m xfire, you will see about 15-20% gain in framerate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 i have ati rbe but when i flash to change clocks it doesn't seem to work or is there another way or program to do this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 i have ati rbe but when i flash to change clocks it doesn't seem to work or is there another way or program to do this?read my post here http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m18x/268-official-alienware-m18x-owners-lounge-7.html#post14920 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 got it to work i was on the right track just didn't have winflash and it wasn't recognizing cards now i set voltage to 1.1 and gpu mhz to 800 and Mem mhz to 1200 what area of clocks has others successfully used or should i trial and error with furmark for the next while which i will probably do just like to get a base clock area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 Well I flashed back to stock clocks and now no post cant flash to fix or can i? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 (edited) Well I flashed back to stock clocks and now no post cant flash to fix or can i?Could you try a power cycle? What was the source of your vbios file? I can send you vbios files but we need a method of flashing blindly... Both cards were flashed and not interrupted? What clocks did you flash and did you flash the same vbios of your 1st card to your first card and the same for the second only flashing the vbios to the same card? Edited October 28, 2011 by mw86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I think we need to have you set up a usb drive or something handy to boot from in dos to flash your cards. Have you tried unplugging the cmos battery under the base cover and starting the system then turning off replacing battery cable from battery to motherboard and boot up... still no boot when you try that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 got it to work i was on the right track just didn't have winflash and it wasn't recognizing cards now i set voltage to 1.1 and gpu mhz to 800 and Mem mhz to 1200 what area of clocks has others successfully used or should i trial and error with furmark for the next while which i will probably do just like to get a base clock areaI wanted to post i am try 1125 in furmark now because 1170 was too high and you went to 1200... so not good... for future reference this was to flash a permanent overclock for 24/7 use and should be checked before flashing, you can use spahire trixx for testing clocks before using flashing... im testing 1125 mem for furmark stability and it should be good... mind you i've taken care of cooling issues over stock M18x such as repaste and heatsink mod. 1200 is okay for benching but even with proper cooling its high for long term. Thats 4800mhz in ram because its quad pumped gddr5... okay for short benches but may produce artifacts in long term gaming. Back to task at hand do you have a usb stick? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 In plugged the cmos no avail its flashing caps and scroll lock no post.. not sure how a USB would help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 @svl7 I need your help Blitz had a bad flash not sure what differed from my method i linked to above but his result was a no post. Mine hasn't done that with that method. We need your expertise on a fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 (edited) OMG I forgot you are still on 5870 right... you need usb method like in the m17R2 5870m vbios thread... i used this method for 6970m im so sorry i posted a link to that method... i lead you astray its all my fault.this is the proper method for your cards http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m17x/51-ati-amd-5870m-vbios-flash.html Edited October 28, 2011 by mw86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 (edited) Your method did work I got to 800 gpu MHz and 1200 mem mhzBut it was clock a little to high so I reflashed to down clock and that's when no post I have a Msi with the same slot if I can get it to run on that ill flash them back to stock if not if you could verify the link in my first post then ill get the 6970s and right now I'm doing this by phone Edited October 28, 2011 by Blitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 (edited) glad to hear it worked. so it failed at reflash. well the MSI could very well save your cards... then use the method i posted after the on called 5870 vbios flash thread... i looked at link seems valid but I don't know if the eurocom 6970m is problem free in Alienware... SVL7 would know this better... the pic shows a blue board and mine is black... not sure if the chips and placement is same for the alienware heatsink... i'd wait to hear a confirmation from Svl7 that the cards probably compatible.*****the mxm slot is right etc seems compatible @svl7 what do you think? Edited October 28, 2011 by mw86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 The cards itself looks fine as far layout but compatibility is the questionI saw in feed back one guy had it in an r2 but not crossfire.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svl7 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Did you already try to flash it back by putting it in the MSI system? As long as the cards look identical it'll be MXM 3.0, so the only question would be whether the MSI can POST with the card... Let me know.About the 6970m... the one in the picture works, but there's a problem... backplate is soldered to the PCB which prevents you from using the screws from your heatsink (since clevo uses slightly smaller screws). I recommend contacting the seller and ask him whether he can provide a card with a proper backplate (removable), clevo/eurocom also has 6970ms without the stuff soldered on as far as I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 They do have them with no posts so its compatible with the r2 and I'm not home yet I will be late tonight to try the msi but is the 6990 alot better then the 6970 I mean with another 200? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 (edited) M17 R2 bench thread heres post of R2 6990m xfire http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m17x/133-official-m17x-r2-benchmarking-thread-8.html#post14719The overclock room on the core of 6990m is more so than on 6970m in a lot of cases...the shaders are 1920 (6970 xfire) - 2240 (6990 xfire) the clocks don't matter because they can be raised on both but stock is a little higher on 6990m. Clock for clock the 6990m h'as the 6970m beat through the line up past the 6970m's handling IMO. So stock or overclock 6970m<6990M. Price is truly a matter of opinion is 10-25% more performance in video processing depending on app worth paying $200 more?AMD Radeon HD 6990M Crossfire - Notebookcheck.net Tech Edited October 28, 2011 by mw86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svl7 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Eurocom sells the 6990m for $436 and rjtech for $490. The 6990m has 120 more stream processing units and 8 additional shader units, this definitely makes a difference in games. Whether it's worth it is a different question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 (edited) I'm not seeing it for 436 if I could get it for that price id Jump on it granted if I can't get my 5870s to postO yes thanks for the help thus far I'm a wizz on desktops but laptops and gpu compatibily get me stumped Edited October 29, 2011 by Blitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 well that fixed it i'm actually kind of bumbed but i think id rather wait and buy another killer machine on a later date this one should serve me for the next 6 months or so unless ofcourse i view the bench thread 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svl7 Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Well, that's what it shows up for on the site... $436 (probably not including shipping). Ah yeah, the standard currency on the site is CAD, I set it to USD. In CAD it's $480. See here: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Well, that's what it shows up for on the site... $436 (probably not including shipping). Ah yeah, the standard currency on the site is CAD, I set it to USD. In CAD it's $480.See here:[ATTACH=CONFIG]2648[/ATTACH]That's a great deal isn't it... i wish I had the mula then again thats for 1.@Blitz glad you got your R2 reflashed.... maybe now we can help you tweak it... many users have some nice results with the same machine.... StamatisX has the 940xm and 5870X... got some gret benches with it too. He uses his at 3.57ghz 24/7 mhz never drops... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz Posted November 1, 2011 Author Share Posted November 1, 2011 (edited) the method you were using for your 6970s with rbe works really well with the 5870s i have to use the overclock tunner though if i don't i have to reflash them right now i'm currently sitting at 800 mhz and 1100 mhz on memory i'm sure i could push it further as i think max they were hitting 83C i did a repaste on everything and its running like a champ now, i know my cpu is at 3.2 5% overclock but it seems to run a bit hot did they release new fans with the R2?, reason i ask is because this is actually an r1 system, i've changed the motherboard out the gpus, cpu, and to a blu ray player everything else is from the r1 and all works perfectly. O and the screen from the 1440x900 to the 1980x1200 i would have bought 2 of them had my cards not reflashed correctly but i ended up spending that elsewhere Edited November 1, 2011 by Blitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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