M15x & 6970M / 6990M - What you need to know - upgrading, problems, solutions

I got a 250w psu and get shutdowns in skyrim but bf3 never get shutdowns so its not the psu

 

Do you think that this would help the shutdown issues?
Newegg.com - Cooler Master Notebook Cooling Model NotePal U2

looks good to me, but i'm not sure it would help.
By the way I am getting 6990m for Christmas.

Also do you think it is worth upgrading to the 9-cell battery? Or would this only raise my temps further?

One more edit.
Which one should I buy? I can get the money for both.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-Mobilit...o_TV_Cards&hash=item1c20948c5e#ht_2433wt_1396
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-Mobilit...o_TV_Cards&hash=item1c20396a53#ht_3612wt_1396

 

Can I get a link to the latest drivers? AMD checked my drivers and said they were all up date? This is weird. Then I opened red Orchestra and the menu had green fuzzy graphics, indicating something was definitely wrong. Is this a driver problem? Or did I damage my gpu? And how can I take off power play and what is high performance power plan?

 

Hey guys,

I've installed my 6970m into my m15x and for the most part works great. I get some random stuttering issues with the computer though when I'm in games--I'll be having luscious frames for a few minutes, and then for a couple of seconds it will drop down to unplayable frame rates--and then return to normal. It does this quite a bit. I saw some material on this issue earlier in earlier posts, but would like some feedback if possible.

m15x
i7 720
4gig 1333
6970m

 

I use the U2 cooling pad, it is awesome, nice and light. Comes with 2 fans which don't really help much with the m15x but are nice to have. I've bought a few of these for people in my office and have a lot of fans lying around, you can fit 6 fans under the stand if you REALLY want

Search the AMD site for drivers.
You want powerplay on, this is accessed from the Catalyst control panel in the tray (bottom right).
High performance power is a windows setting, left click on the battery symbol in your tray and it should come up with the options there.

I'm not sure what the green fuzzy graphics means though, doesn't sound good

 

@Kazelor

If those issues occur only when you start playing games then it's driver issue, but if it occurs all the time then it's the card. For now I'll throw the bet on the driver, check on that.

@MrR. Roma

I had the same setup, however not the issue. Usual stutter occurs when GPU temperature hits high and the card tries to underclock itself to cool down. For now please log your temperature when you play games. GPU-Z is a great tool for that. Remember to also tick the box 'continue refreshing this screen while GPU-Z is in the background' in the sensor tab.

Post the log back to the forum, we'll take a look at it.

 

Hey thanks for getting back to me. I reinstalled windows, wiped my HD, and tried again. Now Skyrim defaults at high but I crank up the game to Ultra with 4x AA and 4x AF. I get about 30ish FPS, but I still think my card should be able to max out AA and AF and still get a high FPS. I downloaded some drivers, 11.11, 11.11a and another one. Anything else I can do? I really think I can push my card harder.

 

Yeah that is about what I get in Skyrim, I take it easy on the AA though as it really taxes the card at high res. At 1080p on 15" screen I don't find AA makes that much difference anyway, the pixels are tiny already!

 

overclock is the key, but aa kills the performance, for me i usually leave it off

 

Can I overclock it and still stay safe, or would that be a bad idea? Would overclocking my 6970M put it in danger of overheating, and would it drastically increase performance?

 

exactly!
love it to death

 

Hey guys here's my GPU-Z log that was requested. Take a look and let me know if there are any ideas.

 

whoops, here it is.

 

Hmm, I can see your GPU utilisation dropping from 100% to 0% for a few seconds every now and then causing your stuttering. Unfortunately I don't have enough experience with the card to offer any advice though Could it be some kind of throttling?

 

Excellent temps. Whatever your issue, it's not thermal throttling. The short periods of reduced clocks are probably transition points or video inserts if any exist in that portion of the game.

 

Yea, not sure. I didn't flash to the dell vbios, could this be the issue?

 

Kinda weird it looks like your fan kinda stops working, did anybody notice or was it just me.....?

 

The seller is calling me tomorrow to try and rectify the issue. I'll let the forum know the solution--in case anyone else has had this happen.

 

i just did 3dmark11 and this is my score.. dunno what the E stands for and what do u guys think?

i got E4270 on advanced..

 

E stands for "entry", you want to use "performance" which will give you a "Pxxxx" result. Performance is the only option for the free version and thus the most used setting. Pretty much all results you see online are "P".

 

I have a few hundred bucks and i'm currently running the 260m which is quickly becoming unbareable. I am considering getting this card and installing it however i'm worried about having some sort of issue and basically being out of my money.
I read the info on the card and the xplate problem as well as the soldering screws issue. Is there another card i should go with that might be less risky but still give out close to the amount of power the 6970 gives?

 

How about the 5850m or the 5870m?? But honestly if u could afford it just go for the 6970m.. But if not I recommend the 5850m or 5870m.. As before I upgraded to the 6970m a couple of guys from this forum told me so.. But I'm glad I went the 6970m route

 

edit......

 

I bought that exact card yesterday. Very pleasent to deal with and assured me the card would ship without soldered screw holes. Talked them down to 285 so i was happy. Cant wait to get it!

 

I played skyrim and battlefield on high settings and it ran so smooth, I thought I was playing on a desktop!! So the 6970m albeit overclocked is a very good card.. I used to have a 260m and honestly it was e.. out of 10 I would give the 6970m 8 and if u overclock it a 9..

 

steel, you don't have any shutdown issues while playing skyrim at all ?

 

After reading this thread i finally decided to install the 6970m into my computer. But for some reason after 5 minutes or less my computer just shuts it self off and the alien head pulses. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sounds like overheating, what are your idle temps?

 

I cant even check sometimes it literally shuts down sometimes while loading windows.

 

I think it might be overheating though because from the moment the laptop turns on the fan is blowing at full blast. And thanks svl7 fo the quick response.

 

Repaste time... Sometimes it goes wrong, just reapply the thermal paste. Make sure you properly clean the heatsink and die, also check that the card is making proper contact with the heatsink.

The full blast fan is probably not because of the temps... at least not when it happens directly at boot, that's simply the card which isn't fully compatible with the EC of the M15x. You can use HWiNFO to control the fans, as described in the first post of this thread.

I still recommend checking the temps, to make sure it's not something else that causes the issues.

 

that is normally caused by using the backplate from the m18x in an m15x.

check and make sure your heatsink actually makes contact with your chip

 

Sounds good. I am work now so i will double check that when i get home. I actually went to a laptop repair place to have them install it. I guess i should have done it myself.

 

True, good point! This can easily be corrected, simple mod, see here.

 

I am using a dell card so i didnt think it was needed.

Yep i am using the backplate from an m18x.

 

Oh well, then it's definitely overheating, fan shouldn't blast... repaste asap and mod the backplate.
(Don't do the mod in the same place as you have your M15x, the fine metal dust from the grinding could cause serious problems... make sure to properly clean your hands after grinding down the backplate.)

 

Will do thanks to you and table21 for the tips. Also what did you use to grind down the screws.

 

A metal file, use whatever you have laying around, you can borrow or get for cheap... a metal saw could work as well, or any tool which can grind down / cut off metal.

 

Sounds good, i probably have a metal file around somewhere

 

Also i wanted to know does getting a 920xm or 940xm improve fps on non-cpu intensive games.

 

No mate, no shutdowns at all, and I used trixx to oc the card as well.. It might be the heat if urs shutdown.. Try putting something the lift the laptop up for better ventilation while playing games.. I helped for me.. Personally I never had problems playing skyrim or any other game..

 

Yeah .. It does improve performance at a level.. But if u overclock it by using throttlestop, the 920xm or 940xm really speeds things up and u will notice in everything including games..

 

Well i ended up breaking one of the post on 6970m back plate. when iwas removing the heat sink one the screws was stripped. So if anyone has a backplate for sale send me a pm.

 

i still have shutdowns though, sigh...

my hard drive feels very hot before it shuts down. do you guys think that overheated hard drive might cause the shutdowns ?

 

i doubt its the hard drive.. does your gpu become very hot as well?? u should post your temps and check if your fans are working properly..

and when it shuts down could u restart it right away or do u have to wait 5-10 mins for it to cool down before u r able to restart??

 

Lets start again with your machine... something's wrong.
I can't remember all the stuff which you've already tried... you have a 720QM right? 150W PSU?

Does the PSU trip? (No blue light anymore when after the system crashs)
What are your GPU temps?
What are your CPU temps?
How many external HDDs or devices have you connected to your system?
Powerplan?
Battery in the system or not?
What kind of 6970m do you use?
Which backplate?
Any mods on the heatsink?
Any other special (not officially supported) hardware in your system?

 

-my specs is 720qm with 150w psu, 4gb 1333, and 7200 rpm hdd, stock clock A09 bios, and 1v dell vbios

-the shutdown is like power shutdown (when you hold power button for about 8 sec to force shutdown) and the computer restarts itself 3 second later
-psu light stays on when the shutdown occur
-gpu temp is 83 maxed in all of the shutdowns (average temp)
-cpu temp is 60 maxed in all of the shutdowns (average temp)
-there is one more external hard disk that i use, but the shutdown also occur when i unplug the hard disk
-powerplan is on high, have tested in all of the plans, shutdown still occur in both, actually i tried all and to no avail
-battery is in the system
-my card is eurocom 6970m from ebay, without soldered post, no hard mod needed
-backplate use is 260m
-applied widezu's heatsink mod, before and after still shutdown occur
-all hardware officially supported, except for this 6970m

-as an additional note, i can play 3 hours straight of bf3 multiplayer without shutdowns, but skyrim shutdown in less than 5 minutes everytime, even i first booted in the cold morning

thanks for all your help, i thought i'm left in the dark

 

I going to pitch in here a bit for hel20es, my 6990m USED to shutdown while gaming usually. My heatsink and gpu make full contact, i completely covered the back of my gpu with .5mm fujipoly pads and the other components on the top with .4mm, 1mm and 1.5mm pads. Now my temps didnt improve and it still hits about 94c every now and then, just like it always has but now it never shuts down with or without the 150 or 240 psu. I also have 11-12beta, the heatpipe mod, i kept the 6990m backplate(e-clip pressure on heatsink) and voltage is flashed to 1.05v, laptop cooler

 

so i guess it's back to padding again, time to ebay for some good fujipolys

it would be very great if you could point out with images on where you padded your card. especially the back where the x-plate is, do i leave some space around the x-plate area and cover the rest ?

thanks again for the heads up Mexic00ls, really appreciate your help

 

Well guys I tried couldn't mod the backplate properly so I am gonna put the card up for sale with no backplate. Thanks to everyone who gave me tips it was a pretty fun and frustrating learning experience.