[GUIDE] Installing and Overclocking the AMD Mobility 7970 in the M17x R3,an illustrated guide

Hey Guys... Does it matter whether I use the A08 or A10 BIOS unlocked for an Upgrade to a AMD 7970M?

I've a M17xR3

 

Hi guys,

thanks for the wonderful guide and thread.

I have one question - are there any stability issues or driver issues that have to be noted (without overclocking the card).

I mean there is no much use of a new graphic card if i get a BSOD 10 min after i start playing a game.

What i understood so far is that it is possible to upgrade R3 with a 7970, but is it stable enough? Would appreciate the feedback of anyone who has already upgraded his R3.

Thanks.

 

Runs like a dream on all Drivers that are 12.6 or later.

Only issues are no Intel 3000 and the dim screen issue.

 

Thanks Joe85,

i am not using the integrated graphics card anyway, so no Intel 3000 is not a show stopper for me.

What is that dim screen issue?

By the way, how do you install ATI drivers that do not come from Dell? I tried to install once(got them from the official ATI site) but the installation stopped and i got a message saying that i have to get the drivers from Dell.

 

I've tried to install my 7970M in my M17xR3. I followed step by step the instruction of the guide. On the first boot, the BIOS shows me the ATI GFX. After i've successfully installed the driver and tried to start a benchmark, after 5 min my display goes black and nothing happend anymore. The Temps were at 75°C (the log showed me that temps). Seems fine. But now the card is not detected in the BIOS. I have removed the graphic card and reinstalled again. Still nothing. My system will not detect the card.

What can i do?

 

what card did you have previously before the 7970m? if you had a nvidia There have been reported issues with the 7970m and the nvidia heatsinks (causes a short). You might have fried your card.

 

I had a 6990M before. So i thought this would be fine. I don't know why it is not working!?

 

After changing to 7970m, my m17x r3, will often get white screens, I have to move the screen to get the display back, this doesnt happen with an external monitor though, any idea how i can fix it?

 

that kinda sounds like u may have a loose display-wire connection with the mobo

 

checked that, took my whole laptop apart, bt it seems it only happens with th 7970m, i switched back to my old card, 560m, don have this problem

 

Has there been any change on the HD3000 front?

Any driver support for it and the 7970?

 

huh, weird...

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Hi Hat-Trick,

the same exact thing happened to me. Have you found a solution?

 

HI guys i have dell A12 version bios.

I need unlocked bios to upgrade to 7970m?

THX

 

No I have an R3 with a 7970m I installed and I am running on the A12 bios as of today. Runs perfectly fine.

Slick....I'm having problems with the msi afterburner. Can't find anything older than version 2.2.2 and with that version or 2.2.3, you said your guide wont work for them. Anyway around this? I haven't been on the forums in awhile since I built my desktop and now that I will be without it for a month I want to get my 7970m OCed alittle, even though it will never be as good as my EVGA Geforce 670 FTW...I miss my desktop. Anyways, do you have a work around?

 

hey dude, just download these two files here and put them into ur AB installation directory, then u can use any version of the tool u want

https://www.box.com/shared/87dxghtm2bhfaonabv5c

https://www.box.com/shared/90engxolk8x52p4ka5a2

cheers

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

ok, so how do I change the CG.file? Do I open it with notepad or what? I'm trying to figure out how to give myself admin rights to open it and modify it? Assistance please1!!

nevermind i figured it out. I'm about to play with it. Whats a good stable speed for all gaming? I dont want to change it for certain games but just leave it for all games.

Ok so when I apply an overclock, the screen flickers. its pretty annoying. Is there a fix for this?

 

two workarounds for the flickering:

either change overclockingmode in the config file from 1 to 2, but then ur gpu wont downclock anymore when idling.

or try to enable amd overdrive, check the thread in my signature for that. last update in the opening post

cheers

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Hi guys, i just recieved my new 7970m from an ebay seller called upgrade monkey, it came in full dell packaging but required me to re use the x bracket from my 6970.
No problems in installing it in my R3, the problems began once i installed drivers....... extremely bad performance, as in well slower than my 6970, 10 fps on hitman absolution where i was previously getting 30-40, ive tried every different driver out there and its the same problem, now i look back at the ebay listing it mentions in the small print that the card will work out of the box in an r4 or an m18x but may require vbios flash to work in an r3!!! any ideas???

 

Forgot to mention I'm on the a12 BIOS with the Intel igp disabled. Windows experience index shows 6.9 for business 3d applications and 5.5 for Aero performance

 

Have you tried contacting them to see if they have that bios?

 

I have indeed, guy says no. Look on notebookreview is all he says. I'm starting to worry that I've bought the wrong card.

 

UPDATE

I wiped all drivers for the 7970 and the Intel igp. Installed drivers from Intel and disabled the igp. Installed enduro performance drivers. Speed is better but still pretty bad. 20fps on Whitman benchmark. Installed 12.11 beta drivers over them. Speed doubles to 40 ish fps. Still not lightning fast but much much better. I'm going to tweak about and see if I can coax this card into being the beast it should be!!

 

Hi guys,

I am after following the guide on the first post, to re-new the drivers for my 7970m in my Alienware M17xR4. I used these drivers, the first ones mentioned, http://download.benchmark3d.com/AMD/Catalyst/8.951.1/8.951.1-120305.7z
I am wondering is this still the best drivers to use or are there newer ones to update to?
Also when i tried to use MSI afterburner the sliders are stuck at a max of 850mhz and 1200mhz, I followed the guide. I had olny 2 folders in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} that contaned EnbaleUlps 0001 & 0002

Thanks, any help would be appreciated.

 

Hi, the 12.8 drivers were very good. Also the 12.11 drivers offer a significant increase in performance on Far Cry 3.

 

The 12.11 drivers offer a significant increase in everything.

 

I updated from 12.8 to 12.11 not so long ago.

Performance increased around 5-12 fps on most games.

Cons:

I found that after the update Skyrim's sky seems to flicker, anyone else experiencing this? Not that I play Skyrim a lot but it's one of the games I use to try drivers with

 

Yeah i noticed the same on Skyrim. Especially up near High hrongar, if you look up its flickers quite a bit.

 

Hi guys, after install 7970m an set on computer, i must do any change in Vbios? THX

 

Hi All,

I have read through the entire thread to see if I could piece together a solution to a problem I am having, but think I need some help on this one. I have recently installed a Dell 7970M in my M17 R3. I followed the original guide, disabled the on board IGPU, set the External GPU to PEG. Following on from this:

- I performed a clean install of Win 7 Ultimate 7 64bit.
- Downloaded and installed all recent hardware drivers from Dell Support.
- Installed the latest 12.11 Catalyst for the 7970.
- Installed 3D Mark 11.

I launched 3D Mark 11 and the first 3 GPU tests ran fine then suddenly a solid blue screen. I needed to hold the power button to reboot. Since then the card will not run any 3D application without immediately crashing to a solid colour or sometimes I get a checkered pattern. Ultimately... Not Good.

I've tried numerous clean installs with different Catalyst versions, nothing works in 3D clocks. I've flashed the motherboard BIOS, I've flashed the VBIOS, nothing helps. 2D applications run fine. Running HWinfo I have noticed that my 7970 clocks run at 300 core and 150 memory, core sits at 0.875V. These clocks seems very low, is this normal?

Reading a forum headed up by M18 members it sounds like I may have degrading VRAM modules. The only thing is I previously owned a M15x R2 and had the 7970 installed in it for two weeks. Never once, not one single time did I have a freeze or drop out with the card. Strange.... But then again things can go faulty in time.

Any help much appreciate guys. Thanks.

 

Приветствую всех! У меня проблемма, ноутбук Alien. 17x R3 FHD 2820qm 6970. 1.5тб. Raid. 16гб Винвовс Виста Домашняя. Я вчера поменял 6970 на 7970 и "разбил" Raid поставив под Виндовс ssd . Теперь у меня 7970 , под Виндовс 180гб ssd + 750гб hdd. После установки драйверов (на чистую систему у меня экран стал примерно на 50% тусклее : ( Я пробовал все драйвера которые есть для 7970 на сегодняшний день, ни чего не изменилось. Может кто нибудь сталкивался с такой проблеммой? Буду рад услышать любое мнение.

 

Hello, Alex, welcome to NBR.
This is an international forum so please post in English.

 

I welcome all! I have problem, the Alien laptop. 17x R3 FHD 2820qm 6970. 1.5тб. Raid. 16гб Vinvovs of Whist House. I changed yesterday 6970 on 7970 and "broke" Raid having put under ssd Windows. Now at me 7970, under Windows 180гб ssd + 750гб hdd. After installation of drivers (on pure system) at me the screen became about 50% more dim: (I tried all drivers which are for 7970 today that didn't change. Maybe somebody faced such problem? I will be glad to hear any opinion.

 

Yeh you need the version of HWinfo mentioned in the guide. Run it at start up and it should bring your screen to full brightness.

Would have thought there would have been a more permanent solution to this by now.


Here you go:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/678968-7970m-dim-screen-fix-r3-sort.html

 

13.1 mobility confirmed working well on the m17x r3 + 7970m with windows 8 64-bit
Installed fresh from Windows Standard VGA and I got one error.
The log said, HDMI Input - Sound error.

I plugged my laptop into my cable box.. Sound and Picture input worked fine.
/shrug

 

The brother, you helped me! Everything well works, thanks to you!

Joe85 The brother, you helped me! Everything well works, thanks to you!

 

No problem. Thanks should go to SkylineLvr for finding it.

I simply just copy and pasted

 

oh thnx man

but i wonder where can i buy the 7970m
for the alienware m17x r3
intel 2670qm

 

Here:

HD7970M Alienware M17x/M18x VGA Upgrade Kit; Dell HD7970M 2GB DDR5 CF Ready | eBay

 

I dont know if anyone is having this problem but when ever i try to update to any newer version of the catalyst control center my screen goes black and will not come back on unless i do a hard shut down ( of which im always apprehensive to do). Anyone have ideas or had the same issue?

Btw im running a 7970m in a m17x R3
my current drivers are the ones recommended in the beginning of this Thread.

 

Are you installing the new drivers over the top? If so, have you tried a clean install?

 

Is the Guide on the first page still up to date? I have an m17x r3 and plan to upgrade the videocard (6990m) with the 7970m.

Do i need still a modified Bios?

 

It depends on the seller you are buying from,some will specify you will need to do that.I just upgraded to 7970m after buying from here:
HD7970M Alienware M17x M18x VGA Upgrade Kit Dell HD7970M 2GB DDR5 CF Ready | eBay
No need to modify vbios & just follow the guide by SlickDude & voila!

 

So I have had my alienware 17 R4 with a 7970m GPU for almost a month and I have followed this guide several times trying to overclock my GPU.

I am able to unlock it in MSI but whenever I go above the defaults of 850 / 1200mhz my screen messes up a little and when i launch a game it will crash my computer or my GPU will stop working and windows has to recover it.

So I can overclock my card but it is not stable.... I wish I could get this to work I barely increase the settings and it will crash....

 

Each card is different. Some cards are able to overclock unrealistically high and others are the complete opposite and can barely overclock at all. I had decent results with my 460m and was in the top 5% for a system with that card, but my 6990m has been the total opposite and barely overclocks at all. varies from card to card so you never know what you're going to get.

 

You could also try this, it will help you minimize screen flickering problems (you may still get some flicker or not any at all).

1. Download the Latest AMD Drivers.

2. Download & install Driver Fusion. (You don't need to do this if you want to clean up your registry manually)

3. Download the latest version of afterburner.

4. Un-install any other versions of Afterburner, Trixxx, GPU Tweak etc. Don't want other apps interfering. Do not keep user settings, delete everything.

5. Uninstall the AMD drivers via Add/Remove Programs.

6. Restart your PC. Once back into windows run Driver Fusion. Analyze AMD and then delete all entries. Restart.

7. Now you can install the new drivers. Follow the prompt and restart your PC.

8. Once booted back into windows, install afterburner. Once its installed run it, it will prompt you to restart, restart.

9. Create a shortcut to msi afterburner and place it on your desktop. Right click the shortcut, properties and add /xcl to the target box. Click ok+apply, then run the shortcut like so. Delete /xcl once you get the clock limits message.

10. Restart your pc. Once back into windows open afterburner, go to options and enable voltage control and monitoring like so.

 

I am gonna try those steps but I have one question first.

When I am installing the AMD drivers will it be a problem that I am using the Intel integrated graphics.... My fn+f7 is not currently working.

My dxdiag shows the integrated graphics and not the 7970m. I cannot switch to it and the bios will not let me dsable the integrated graphics....

*edit I can use the 7970 when using an app or playing a game that I have put to high performance in catalyst.... but regular desktop activities... hell I even put dxdiag to high performance and it still comes up with the intel graphics.

 

You can't have the intel graphics enabled with the 7970m as there isn't a current driver that supports intel 3000 hybrid graphics and the 7970m. You are going to have to disable your Intel card by using a modded bios.

 

And I am learning how difficult that is

Well I am going to re-install windows for a 3rd time in 48 hours and hope to god I can get the fn+f7 working....

 

Alright after my third windows re-install I have my FN+F7 working and I am running on the 7970M.

Drivers are installed, afterburner is installed... Thanks Tony and Luis

In response to the steps Luis posted

Should the target in the properties of afterburners shortcut look like this

"C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI Afterburner\MSIAfterburner.exe"/xcl

I have tried a forward and a backslash it says the path doesn't exist but it will let me launch afterburner anyways and... no message comes up overclocking is locked at the default 850 / 1200 mhz.