Anyone with original 7970M's still going strong? Looks like I'm no longer in the running..

Random crashes started yesterday and by this morning I could no longer start Windows normally. Safe mode is a color-corrupted mess and only by switching to integrated graphics am I able to boot up properly. Tech support obviously couldn't do anything so depot is in order.. (No I haven't tried dissembling and swapping the cards. Not in that mood these days.)

I'll take a couple of photos of the current cosmetic condition and remove most of my custom hardware. Anything else I might be missing? Wish me luck guys

9/17/13: Bombs away!

9/18/13: Package received at depot. Estimated shipping date: 9/20

9/19/13: After a brief period in which the estimated shipping date was actually moved forward to 9/19, the repair is now ON HOLD due to parts out of stock Must be hard to find a pair of good 7970M's in the warehouse..

9/20/13: Interesting turn of events: first a rep called to tell me that the video card's on back order, no news there. However in the evening the depot status tool reported that the unit has been released from hold. New estimated return date is now 9/24. Found some forgotten 7970M's just lying around in the shelves?

9/24/13: Repairs completed and package on its way. Replacement part: M3XJV - Board. Seems to be GTX 660M for some strange reason? I'll have to get a hands-on to be sure..

9/24/13: False alarm: machine arrived with 7970M. Proceeding with testing.. No good. Tech visit scheduled.

9/27/13: Tech visit.. leading to depot service call. Details coming in my new post.

10/2/13: Depot take 2. On hold for parts.

10/4/13: Repair resumed. Seems like there're always a couple of 7970M's lying around when you need them..

10/7/13: Repairs completed. Replaced video cards, left video card heatsink and motherboard

10/8/13: Machine received in working order! Mission accomplished.

10/10/13: Premature optimism: random crashes all over again even on clean OS install. Tech support offered to submit system exchange request, to call back in 48 hours.

10/24/13: Cheekily called again requesting updates. Told exchange approved and being processed, not sure if new or refurbished, and to expect contact again in 48 hours.

10/28/13: Automated call from Dell saying exchange has shipped last Friday. No idea what the specs are but NOT looking forward to a clammy refurb..

10/29/13: Received one AW 18, possibly refurb but good as new. Came with 4700MQ and 765M SLI which is a downer but after calling tech support I am promised a dispatch of 4930 and 780M's. Dell's awesome like that.. Holding my breath for the actual tech visit..

10/30/13: Lightning speed tech visit. The guy was told to replace CPU and GPU but Dell didn't ship him any GPU's.. Swapped CPU for 4930MX and now waiting for 780M's

11/19/13: Long story shot, expecting new replacement to arrive ~12/03/13 with sweet specs. Details here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...like-im-no-longer-running-11.html#post9459421

11/26/13: Thanksgiving came early. Got the brand new replacement today. All's good now. Full resolution in 2.5 months-- is that good or bad?

 

>Anything else I might be missing?
MSI afterburner, Intel EXT
> and remove most of my custom hardware
Is ES cpu original ?

 

Spong_GTO I think you held out the longest out of us 7970m crew. Hahaha 100% failure rate lol. I wonder if there are any 7970m's left to replace yours with...? See if they'll switch you over to some 680m's and save all parties any future headaches...

 

feodor89, thanks for the advice. I'm not giving them any of my usual hard drives so I just did a clean windows install on a blank hard drive. If they manage to pick a bone out of that I would actually be impressed

The ES CPU's obviously not from Dell but the original won't be with me for the next month or so (land&sea shipping along with the rest of my trash). Will have to try my luck on that..

TBoneSan, was half-expecting some comforting words from you I won't have my hopes high but it would at least be a slight upgrade if they give me a pair of those Rev. 01 7970M's. Heard that those have 1.00 V stock voltage among other things..

 

Lol, 7970m life yo Atleast a set of freshies will do for a while - I try to think of it like a pit stop tyre change in a F1 race - I know I'll be coming in for a new set eventually hahaha. The original has 1.05v yes? That's atleast what my replacement set were at (vbios xxx17). Massively overvolted out the gate for 800/1200. So much so I can actually get away with 915/1315 at 1.025v and get far better temps than the stock settings.
Someone at AMD for sure had their head up their ***. Will Dell send you out a pair to do yourself? Save you changing back everything for the depot?

 

i had one 7970 fail on the 25th of august but had it replaced still going strong!

this also sounds exactly like what happened to my primary GPU.
remove the primary card (left side) and swap in the secondary card.

try booting up then and let us know. Also do you not have in home repairs? that is a life saver.

 

wait, what ? I have a 7970M in my m17x-r4 but I rarely use the laptop, instea di use my m18x-r2 with the dual 680m's but, are you guys saying the 7970's basically will just . . die... most probably , if used extensively everyday, say for gaming/benching ?

 

I must sound like an idiot saying this but I'm actually glad to be getting served by the depot, reason being that I can't just take a day off from graduate school and wait around at home.. Once I get my office space in the department it should get easier though.

woodzstack, I have faith that your 7970M might just last a good while longer given that you rarely use it. I've been using my M18 on a daily basis, games and whatnot.

 

It's all about luck i reckon too. :thumbsup: No one can categorically say when or how long a GPU's lifespan will be.
Mine have been going strong 24/7 running maxed out at 1Ghz Core and 1400Mhz Mem. Used for like 1.5 years.
I don't think we should live in fear but just use our systems to their max and enjoy.

BTW hope all goes well with the depot sponge_gto! :hi2:

Cheers.

 

Both my 7970's are still going strong after a year....so hopefully im ok...but one never knows. Well if they fail next year would give me a reason to see if the 7970s are worth the time and effort.

 

It's actually good to see that AMD cards are still holding up. It doesn't look like AMD cards are going to be offered in Alienware systems this year, so, maybe next year that will change. Even though some would consider AMD to be an 'inferior' product to NVIDIA, I think having that option to choose which GPU you want is great, and I hope to see them offered again next year. I also hope to see more brand choices across the board with other components as well (i.e. memory, SSD's, etc.), but that's wishful thinking on my part.

I understand why they parted with AMD, though. I'm going to assume it was due to the amount of service requests involving replacing them, which probably cost Alienware/Dell a lot. It is a proven fact that NVIDIA GPU's tend to be of much better quality. But then again, they do cost more...

Bottom line: Hopefully AMD steps up their game and gets back into the ring. It would be nice to have a reliable and cost-effective solution for performance.

 

I didn't know 7970s had such a short life. A 1-2 year lifespan is really unacceptable. That's just more of a reason to get the extended warranty as it guarantees you the assurance of that being taken care of. Good luck on the replacement.

 

There will be one or two bad samples in any lot but I hope these do last longer :/

 

Meaker,

Unfortunately it seems it is exactly the opposite with the 7970's. It seems like there maybe one or two good ones in the lot. I have to have both of mine replaced three times within four months, with the third time resulting in being changed over to 680m's.

@ Sponge_GTO, I know where you are coming from with having very limit time with grad school. I finish grad school this Winter, and have had to really take some time away from my course work due to technical issues with my laptop. Though I have to give you crazy props for being brave. I outright refuse to send my laptop to the depot. I really hope the depot takes good care of your beast and returns in better condition than when they received it.

 

That's a shame about the 7970M... it had tremendous potential to be an awesome product. ATI products used to be really good stuff... good performance, decent drivers and durable hardware was something I always counted on. I was a fanboy for many years. I never had issues of any kind until AMD took the reigns from ATI.

The 4870M CF in our M17xR2 still runs like a champ. Not that powerful mind you, due to its age, but still kicking and very reliable. I just upgraded that old beast for one of my sons today. Took it from 4GB DDR3-1333 to 8GB of DDR3-1600 and took out the nearly full Toshiba 320GB HDD and replaced it with a 750GB Momentus XT. He was running Catalyst 12.1 still and I fixed him up with 13.4 beta and it is still a very solid machine. He is a happy young gamer, but I think the now-homeless dust bunnies that had nested in his heat sinks are not very happy with me right now. Their warm and fuzzy life got sucked away in an instant this afternoon.

I hadn't worked with that machine since it was confiscated by my son close to two years ago, but the reunion with the 1200p RGB LED was nice... what a feature-rich work of art that machine still is to this very day. By Alienware standards it is no longer a barn-burner, but its CrossFire performance still puts many newer machines to shame.

 

no problems with mine so far sinced i join
but to be perfectly honest i do switch between IGFX when i dont play games then switch back when i do

 

@ mr. Fox

The 7970 is a very good card in terms of performance. At least for myself it performed very well and with the frame pacing driver everything ran smooth. Well until the cards died that is. Amd products are plagued with poor drivers, and the 7970m is also plagued with a tendency to crap out. It really is a shame.

 

I agree. Especially since the frame pacing drivers have come out the performance is fantastic. Just the inherit looming problem of the hardware crapping out.

 

My video cards both still work like a charm. They've been in my system since I got it.

 

So do mine, its just I'm on my second set

 

My 2 cards run fine also. Had them since June 2012.....unlike you guys though I never changed the drivers since I received my laptop from alienware.....nothing overclocked etc....never saw the need ....it plays c3....bf3 fine.....I just pray to god Batman Arkham origins will run fine.

Now you guys have me worried. I did get the 3 year advanced warrenty..

 

Ditto, one year since I got mine in the R4, apart from driver issues...knock-wood..... It's perfect, for me it's real test would be GTA v and or that new ubisoft title something dogs

 

Fedex is mighty fast with the pick-up, coming in less than an hour after I made the call. I found it interesting that the depot is all the way in Houston TX Seriously though, is there only one depot in continental US?

I'm impressed that people have chugged along with stock drivers for so long. I'm sure many of us would agree that the performance of the CFX 7970M solution has undergone quite an evolution. I for one wouldn't want to go back to pre-frame metering drivers! Anyway it's nice to hear that some of us had better luck with our cards. All the best to your cards' health!

 

Mine are going great too. One year since i bought the laptop, some mild clocks and good drivers and everything runs smooth. BUT that killer wireless card made me go crazy Thank god for intel 6300.

Two days ago i spilled my coffee over the laptop and almost had a heart attack Eevrything is ok tho..

 

How do you know if you have originals? My babies(knock on wood) are still running strong.

 

By "originals" I meant the Rev 00 cards that were supplied at product launch. But understandably most people take it to mean cards that came with the laptop first-hand so if yours did then won't worry about them being "counterfeits".

 

Dual 6990Ms still running strong 2.1 years in on my M18x R1 with zero issues and overclocked the entire time. Showing their age lately in performance on the latest games, but solid as a rock. Can't understand what went wrong on the 7970Ms.

 

Woohoo I'm over the moon~ Apparently the replacement parts included the following:

M3XJV - Board

which appears to be some fire-spitting GTX 660M's!! I think I'm gonna have to call Dell to thank them for this precious upgrade from the pathetic 7970M's, just soon as Fedex drops by this afternoon..

Update: False alarm: 7970M's still. Will run some tests now..

 

what the hell, these AMD cards still exist on DELL stocks? just about a month ago, person I worked with, got his m17xR4 sent in to depot due to same issue of 7970m and has been swapped gpu to 680m, all I know it took them about a week before the just I think gave up waiting searching on AMD gpu and gave him GREEN FLAG

hows the test goin on your pair of RED DEVIL CARDS?

 

Lol a pair of 660Ms in replacement would have been amusing..... after you got the proper replacement sorted.

He may be more interested in catching up on some missed gaming GSM

 

Well I tried. Everything 3D freezes within 30 sec with Afterburner showing 60+ degree temps on both cards. Been on the phone with support but was told to wait for call-back after the usual routine (BIOS, Dell video driver etc.)..

 

Finally off the phone. Technician coming later this week to replace CPU sink and fan confused and both video cards. Let's make this one count..

 

Well I hope it gets sorted so you can get back to some butter smooth gaming.

 

hope they bring you pair of 680m's , or eventually will just supply you with new aw18 at least 775m SLI'ed or even better with 780m SLI

what has the cpu hs and fan to do with freezing cards lol

wish yo best of luck

 

My 7970's went out a while back (a little over a year old) and due to being super busynot having time to game I just now got around to calling for a replacement. I was originally told to send the laptop in, but I wasn't to keen on that so I waited (I paid for in home service). I'm glad I waited because now they're out of 7970's and are sending 680's as replacements. I couldn't be happier. This was my second and last time buying ATI/AMD. My first ATI was a 9800 pro AIW that had serious driver issues with some of my main games. I thought I learned my lesson then, but from now on team green all the way.

 

Congrats to all those who got the extra green bonus. My service call did list the part number of the 7970M though so no high hopes here.

I have to make an observation that calls to 1-800-Alienware are no longer directed to any foreign call centers it would seem. The last three calls I've made were all answered by (what could pass as) North Americans who appeared to be fairly competent (no doubt still following a guide book by the letter but at least not too clueless about what's going on).

 

I've had my 7970's replaced twice within the last month, both times 7970's were in stock. If this new set fails again, I will politely ask to be moved over to the green team, as much as I want to like AMD, their drivers and reliability just doesn't sit with me.

 

I've not seen that sort of issue on other brands, I wonder if the dell PCB is having some sort of issue.

 

Yea I might do that too if I were in your position. Though I wouldn't bat an eye if the answer was a flat no.

In a totally unrelated note, the depot had also swapped my UK keyboard out for US style. Still getting used to it but hey, when in Rome..

 

Do the following part numbers look right for 2 680's replacing 7970's? I checked the part numbers list Mr. Fox posted, but the numbers don't exactly match up. 3MHHT is listed as a support bracket only for various Nvidia models, and Y48TK is listed as just a heat sink. I'm assuming that 3MHHT might be a kit now? Just wanted to check with you guys before I call them up.

Part Number Quantity Ordered Description
3MHHT 00002 PLATE...,BOTTOM...,SUPPORT...,VIDEO GRAPHICS ADAPTER...,NVIDIA...,AV MLK
Y48TK 00001 ASSEMBLY...,HEATSINK...,VIDEO GRAPHICS ADAPTER...,13GS1,M18XR2,RIGHT...

 

You will probably end up with two spare support plates, as each heat sink usually includes the support plate. 3MHHT is the part number for one NVIDIA support plate as a stand-alone component. Every time I received replacement heat sinks there were extra support plates.

Here is the M18xR2 part number list provided by Dell/Alienware [ LINK]. Unless the part numbers have since changed, this information was accurate when originally provided to us.

You would need the following components for a full 7970M CF to 680M SLI conversion to be like it came from the factory:

• 2 - CPCXD GeForce GTX 680M MXM Graphics Module
• 1 - GDMRG NVIDIA SLI Bridge Cable GTX 580M, 675M, 680M
• 1 - Y48TK Right Heatsink GeForce GTX 580M, 675M, 680M (may include 3MHHT)
• 1 - 5G1VJ Left Heatsink GeForce GTX 580M, 675M, 680M (may include 3MHHT)
• 2 - 3MHHT NVIDIA support plate GTX 580M, 675M, 680M

When installing the support plate, the heat spreader for the vRAM should cover the memory chips on the long end of the MXM module. In other words, perpendicular to the PCI-e edge connections rather than parallel to it.

 

Thanks for the reply Mr. Fox. What I listed was all that's on the service call status page under "What parts are associated with this service call?". I know they said it would be by the end of the month before they had the parts. So I wonder if what they're listing now is just what they have in stock and the page will update when they get the actual cards. Hmm trying to decide if I should call or not.

 

Probably so... It would not hurt to call and find out. Maybe they are going to ship what they have in stock right now and send the rest later. They have done this before with replacement parts for me. Not a bad idea, as you will avoid running out of one item while waiting for restock on something else.

 

Thanks again going to give them a call now.

 

Tech visit scheduled for today so I was a little excited. The technician was a pretty cool guy who quite liked my tech-savvy gestures (displaying the M18x R2 service manual on my other computer waiting for him, among other things). We were just chatting happily as he tore down the machine, replaced the video cards (Rev 01 babes!) and tried to screw the heat sinks back onto the video cards.

That was when he reallised that the replacement cards did not come with x-brackets behind them so he couldn't attach the screws. The x-brackets from the old cards did not seem like they were detachable either. Having no other option, he had to put the old cards back in my machine and call the mothership. A depot service was quickly scheduled and we called it a day without any success..

So I guess this repair story has still got ways ahead of it..

 

Dell normally replaces the heat sinks at the same time, and the heat sinks normally includes the support plates. Did they only send GPUs?

The support plates are not easily removed. They have an adhesive rubber gasket, but warming them gently with a blow dryer (not a heat gun) will generally get them to turn loose.

 

Wish I had kept my wits about me and looked it up. At the time it simply didn't occur to me that the x-bracket was a separate part.. Dell only sent GPU's. When the tech called his help line the dudes on the other end sounded even more confused Let's hope the depot does more testing than "booting to Windows" this time round..

 

On hold at depot again. Got an email informing me of that too and it said that if not resolved in 2 weeks they'll contact me with alternative options. Anyone has got experience with said alternatives?

 

Hard to predict. Possibly switching you over to 680M SLI (if 680M parts are available and 7970M parts are not) or maybe a new 18 as an exchange. Unless you really want the new machine and are willing to wait for them to fix the BIOS (CPU power settings and fan tables) I would ask for 680M SLI if they offer you a choice.

 

Well I can see it becomes sensible at some point to swap me out for some 680M's and save up on the endless labor/replacement/shipping costs that 7970M's might continue to incur. As for a new 18, I don't really want a beast missing a leg and Dell probably wouldn't want to miss out on the $$$ it was gonna sell for