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

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by SlickDude80, Apr 24, 2012.

  1. widezu69

    widezu69 Goodbye Alienware

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    ^^Seems the most logical answer to it all. Now I've been back from the toilet after a massive dump but I'm still awaiting the dumps from OEM 7970m users.
     
    widezu69, May 10, 2012
    #251
  2. DirtyTrickster

    DirtyTrickster Notebook Evangelist

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    widezu69, not to be rude but I doubt any R4 owners will be involved in this thread. Perhaps you'd have better luck in one of the R4 threads. :)
     
    DirtyTrickster, May 10, 2012
    #252
  3. widezu69

    widezu69 Goodbye Alienware

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    Yeah I know. I just wanted to make a toilet joke :)
     
    widezu69, May 10, 2012
    #253
  4. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    unless you can convince them really hard or do them a favor they cant refuse :p
     
    long2905, May 10, 2012
    #254
  5. jaybee83

    jaybee83 Biotech-Doc

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    lol, im reading this right now WHILE taking a dump :D

    Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2
     
    jaybee83, May 10, 2012
    #255
  6. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    have you guys tried RAGE yet? it seems to be bugged or something and I can only get 20-35FPS :-s
     
    long2905, May 10, 2012
    #256
  7. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    Lol Jaybee and widezu as Brits your toilet humour is fit for America :D
     
    King of Interns, May 10, 2012
    #257
  8. maxheap

    maxheap caparison horus :)

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    @Long, congratz bro!! That 7970m is looking sweet in your sig ;)
     
    maxheap, May 10, 2012
    #258
  9. TMoney

    TMoney Notebook Enthusiast

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    I just wanted to say that this thread is totally awesome, and makes me so glad that I discovered the NBR forums.

    Coming from Apple products, I'm used to pretty much not being able to upgrade anything. It drove me crazy, considering my proclivities towards DIY. I'm going to be happy as a clam now that I can pop out the GPU on my just-ordered M17X and upgrade to the "latest-and-greatest" a year or two down the road. Pretty sweet.
     
    TMoney, May 10, 2012
    #259
  10. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    thanks man! I really enjoy it so far. Miles and ages better than my 2 former heavy hitters :p.
    What is your status man? I saw him online quite often this week.

    How crazy is it that the only thing that set my laptop back is a XM CPU???
    [​IMG]
     
    long2905, May 10, 2012
    #260
  11. daveatx

    daveatx Notebook Geek

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    Do you only get a 7.9 hard drive rating with those Dual Crucial M4s in Raid 0? Do you know what the score is for a single?
     
    daveatx, May 11, 2012
    #261
  12. Heihachi88

    Heihachi88 Notebook Deity

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    SATA III single hits 7.9 WEI
     
    Heihachi88, May 11, 2012
    #262
  13. maxheap

    maxheap caparison horus :)

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    He will take a look this weekend, but I am kinda hopeless already :D
     
    maxheap, May 11, 2012
    #263
  14. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    7.9 is the top score you can get on windows 7. Windows 8 raise it up to 10 or something.
     
    long2905, May 11, 2012
    #264
  15. DirtyTrickster

    DirtyTrickster Notebook Evangelist

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    I see you got your bios dump. :D feel better now?
     
    DirtyTrickster, May 11, 2012
    #265
  16. widezu69

    widezu69 Goodbye Alienware

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    Haha yeah feels like I've offloaded a huge amount out of my...
     
    widezu69, May 11, 2012
    #266
  17. widezu69

    widezu69 Goodbye Alienware

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    How does one fix the really low brightness issue?
     
    widezu69, May 11, 2012
    #267
  18. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    We havent found out yet. Although it may come out randonly as you put the card to work.
     
    long2905, May 11, 2012
    #268
  19. widezu69

    widezu69 Goodbye Alienware

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    Something exceedingly strange with mine, The temps rise to about 75C before the fan kicks in before cooling it to around 65C. You guys get the same?
     
    widezu69, May 11, 2012
    #269
  20. SlickDude80

    SlickDude80 Notebook Prophet

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    That's normal for a ATI cards.

    widezu, i assume that you will be doing testing with the oem vbios? please post your results ;)
     
    SlickDude80, May 11, 2012
    #270
  21. GeoCake

    GeoCake http://ted.ph

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    o_O My fans kick in around mid/high 50s sometimes low 60s and lower them to high 40s/low 50s
     
    GeoCake, May 11, 2012
    #271
  22. widezu69

    widezu69 Goodbye Alienware

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    Hey guys, I've got a problem. My card scores 5721 in '11. My CPU is clocked at 4Ghz. And when I overclock, I hardly yield any higher. What are you guy's CCC settings? Graphics Test 4 is like only 15fps :confused:
     
    widezu69, May 11, 2012
    #272
  23. jaybee83

    jaybee83 Biotech-Doc

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    dude! dont u dare go grazzt here on us!!! watch out for ur card :eek:

    Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2
     
    jaybee83, May 11, 2012
    #273
  24. SlickDude80

    SlickDude80 Notebook Prophet

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    my CCC settings are at default.

    What are you overclocking the card to? Are you using the MSI afterburner method as outlined in my guide? when you set the clocks, you hit "apply" in afterburner?

    Could it be that vbios that you flashed today?
     
    SlickDude80, May 11, 2012
    #274
  25. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Have you tried returning the CPU to stock?
     
    Meaker@Sager, May 11, 2012
    #275
  26. widezu69

    widezu69 Goodbye Alienware

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    Well I got the performance back on top I think. Stock is around 5757 in '11 which is fine methinks. I have my CPU @4Ghz. My card hits the ceiling @975/1500 where I score 6550 which I reckon is respectable :) within GTX 580 scores which I am very happy about.
     
    widezu69, May 12, 2012
    #276
  27. SlickDude80

    SlickDude80 Notebook Prophet

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    that's good news widezu, what was wrong originally?
     
    SlickDude80, May 12, 2012
    #277
  28. widezu69

    widezu69 Goodbye Alienware

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    Well originally my card was underperforming when overclocked and it seemed really weird. Dunno how I managed to do it, maybe it was GeoCake's vbios. Anyways, shame I can't hit that fabled 1Ghz. Maybe in the later days we'll see chance to overvolt. I believe we are currently @1.017v or something like that. I'd love to see 1.1v or 1.2v :D
     
    widezu69, May 12, 2012
    #278
  29. troyguitar

    troyguitar Notebook Consultant

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    Any thoughts on why your overclocking procedure doesn't work on an R4? Here's what my afterburner looks like after changing the .cfg and registry:

    [​IMG]

    None of the sliders can be set via mouse or keyboard, they all just say 0. It was the same way yesterday with the 12.5 drivers.
     
    troyguitar, May 12, 2012
    #279
  30. GeoCake

    GeoCake http://ted.ph

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    Installing 12.5 modded might have been a bad idea for your system. Should have stuck with Dell drivers and adjusted your powerplay settings/disabled integrated using hotkeys. Best you can do is revert back to the stock Dell installation.. That works fine with HWINFO64, etc
     
    GeoCake, May 12, 2012
    #280
  31. troyguitar

    troyguitar Notebook Consultant

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    I formatted the drive and went with Dell drivers. That is my current status.

    I'm not sure what you mean about those other adjustments and HWINO64 does not see the 7970 at all. There aren't really any powerplay settings to adjust.

    [​IMG]
     
    troyguitar, May 12, 2012
    #281
  32. GeoCake

    GeoCake http://ted.ph

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    GeoCake, May 12, 2012
    #282
  33. troyguitar

    troyguitar Notebook Consultant

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    Same topic as what? Those are completely unrelated.

    I know the 7970 is running, I just can't find any way to monitor or overclock it. The switchable graphics seem to be working more or less as intended, I have no issues with those.
     
    troyguitar, May 12, 2012
    #283
  34. GeoCake

    GeoCake http://ted.ph

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    You've posted like everywhere, just a little confusing :p

    Does it show them under device manager? Maybe click the scan for hardware changes button?

    HWiNFO64 should see it, it sees everything, sure you have it? HWiNFO64 Download Try latest and beta
     
    GeoCake, May 12, 2012
    #284
  35. troyguitar

    troyguitar Notebook Consultant

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    That's strange, HWiNFO64 didn't see it yesterday or earlier today but does see it now. I'll call that a victory :lol:

    Now that I can see the temperature, any ideas for getting the overclocking running?
     
    troyguitar, May 12, 2012
    #285
  36. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Wow man i gotta say, playing BF3 ultra settings with FPS never drop below 45 is surreal :O
     
    long2905, May 12, 2012
    #286
  37. reborn2003

    reborn2003 THE CHIEF!

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    Man thats awesome news LONG! :p + your only running on SINGLE CARD with no driver support whatsoever! ;)

    I'm getting around the same FPS on my current rig with dual 6990Ms.
    Low 40s and upward spikes to 100+ at times but mostly stable around 40 - 60fps with every video setting set to max.
    I can't wait to hear what DUAL CARDS can do :eek: with BF3.

    Enjoy rediscovering BF3 all over again LONG! HAPPY DAYS! :D

    Cheers. :)
     
    reborn2003, May 13, 2012
    #287
  38. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    so apparently 7970M can be overvolted according to slv7. He posted on techinferno forum. Holys***!
     
    long2905, May 13, 2012
    #288
  39. jaybee83

    jaybee83 Biotech-Doc

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    liiiiink ^^

    Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2
     
    jaybee83, May 14, 2012
    #289
  40. Heihachi88

    Heihachi88 Notebook Deity

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    Heihachi88, May 14, 2012
    #290
  41. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Oh man, sweet.
     
    Meaker@Sager, May 14, 2012
    #291
  42. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    hey guys the latest version of HWinfo 64 just by launching it give me back the proper screen brightness.

    ...and it seems to stuck there.
     
    long2905, May 16, 2012
    #292
  43. SlickDude80

    SlickDude80 Notebook Prophet

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    interesting...thnx for the info :)
     
    SlickDude80, May 16, 2012
    #293
  44. dandan112988

    dandan112988 Notebook Deity

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    i tried to open the config file and it just asks me what program to open it with because it doesnt find any. No option to open as admin.
     
    dandan112988, May 17, 2012
    #294
  45. jaybee83

    jaybee83 Biotech-Doc

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    ummm....notepad? ^^

    Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2
     
    jaybee83, May 18, 2012
    #295
  46. SlickDude80

    SlickDude80 Notebook Prophet

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    dandan, put a shortcut of notepad on your desktop. Right click on it and "run as administrator"

    Then once open, do file, open and navigate to your afterburner cfg file.
     
    SlickDude80, May 18, 2012
    #296
  47. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    hey slick anyway I can get rid of the '7900 MOD' line? :p. Its kinda bugging me.
     
    long2905, May 18, 2012
    #297
  48. SlickDude80

    SlickDude80 Notebook Prophet

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    Sure,

    go to:

    8.97-120418a-7900-MOD-W7-W8-Vista-x32-x64\Packages\Drivers\Display\W86A_INF

    open C7137336.inf (if you are running windows 7)

    Near the bottom of the file, you will see
    AMD6800.1 = "7900 MOD - AMD Radeon HD 7970M"

    Just delete the 7900 MOD part and you are good to go. You'll have to reinstall the driver though
     
    SlickDude80, May 18, 2012
    #298
  49. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    oh thanks man! thats easier than expected. Though apparently I have to wipe out the driver completely in order to do so. Oh well there is always the next fresh windows install :p
     
    long2905, May 18, 2012
    #299
  50. bwells88

    bwells88 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey all.... how come in Catalyst Control Center there's not an option to only use the AMD graphics?... I'm plugged in 24/7 and changed the Power option to Max Performance while being plugged in but I'm still having to set defaults for programs... one simple check box is all we need... 8)

    Any word on a modded A02 bios for the M17x R4?
     
    bwells88, May 19, 2012
    #300
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