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

There was a guy from M17x forum who got a 6970m but with a 1160 shader instead of 960 shader. His stock vantage was 11600. I don't know is that consider a 6990m or not. But a stock 6990m got 14k gpu vantage? Isn't that kinda high?

 

Which thermal paste and thermal pads you recommend?

 

I use MX-4 for the thermal paste and I got some thermal pad from frozencpu (.05mm).

 

Well I guess the secrets out. Yes I have bought ichime's 1120 shader version 6970m. Still not arrived yet but will be delivered later today.

 

The secret's out long ago... see here. I mean, it wasn't that difficult to guess, was it?

@kaizenmx: MX-4 is great and really easy to apply. I also like AS5 but it doesn't spread that easy.
About the pads... you can use the stock pads as long as they're still intact. In case you buy new ones just look that they have a good thermal conductivity and that they're soft enough to get compressed by the heatsink.

 

I've never applied any thermal pads in my life. Is thermal pads really that necessary? Can't I just use thermal paste and get over with it? Also, if I do really need it, can you guys post a link to the specific thermal pad?

 

No, it's not as important as the paste. The paste is crucial. If your pads are still ok and in place you can leave them there.

In case your pads aren't good anymore (ripped apart for example) you can get new pads online. If I remeber correctly Inap is using these pads and I guess they should do their job.

 

Widezu!



You lucky swine! Was it a Clevo card? Or was it unspecified. That sounds so cool!

 

It was an engineering sample that magically unlocked when it was flashed with a different BIOS. I was looking at it too, but he beat me to it.

 

Yeah, I'd heard about it but didn't realise it was up for sale. Bet you're glad you didn't sell for the M17x now eh Widezu?

 

Yeah I'm keeping this for a bit longer now @JohnnyFlash I'm sorry I snagged it away from you. Does this still mean that we'll see you joining the 6970m club?

 

So installed and updated to the newest drivers. TDP was at 105/90w. GPU at stock

 

I hope you had that thing mounted directly to an air conditioner!

 

No didn't. CPU fans were on full and max temp was 82C so wasn't too bad.

 

105TDP and only 82C!? That's impossible! Did you check the logs to make sure either the CPU or GPU wasn't throttling?

 

Yeah I checked no throttling. The score also indicates this ~21k CPU. I'm having trouble overclocking though. A simple 775/1000 is causing shutdowns. So I guess the extra shaders will have power issues

 

That's really strange that it's not running hotter. But if it works, I guess it is possible.

As far as the GPU, the first thing I was going to try was undervolting. Sometimes they set the voltage higher than it needs to be, and you can actually undervolt and overclock.

 

Yeah but the voltages are non-adjustable in the 6970m. Same picture is present in the benchmark thread but here it is. I think it is pretty good

 

You can't adjust up, but adjusting down shouldn't be a problem with the newest RBE as far as I know.

 

Oh ok I didn't know that but I'm ok for now. 14k GPU score is fine for me.

 

Impressive card! Congratulations for getting your hand on this rare piece!

Did you already try to adjust the voltage?

 

There is a RC3 11.5a out.

 

Run your cpu at stock and you can overclocked your gpu higher. It happen to me too, it the power draw that limit the overclocked of either the cpu or gpu.

 

so has anyone been able to get the fan control working on the mxm-upgrade version?

 

We got it working with hwinfo32 where it automated control your fan. It like having the dell version of the card.

 

oh so the mxm-upgrade version now works with hwinfo32's fan control?
just double/triple checking before i make my order since in the first post it says fan control doesn't work. not too fond of checking through 23 pages of posts looking for one that says "it works now"

by flashing the bios with the dell one right? first/second post or something.

thanks dttran83 +rep

 

No you don't have to flash to the dell vbio to get the automatic fan control. Flashing to the dell vbios will give you sound through dispplayport. As far as the fan just use hwinfo32 and the fan will automatically adjust accordingly to the gpu load. You can even have it automatically start and mininize to the tray bar after a restart. So it like the program is not even there .

 

the new revisions have 6 levels of fan control, which is sweet.

 

Yep using it now. 6 slots allow for more increments which means smoother transitions and no sudden sounds. I actually have my fans spin full speed (~5000rpm) by the time the components get to 65C. Some may say that is too early but under heavy load, both the CPU and GPU reach over 80C from 60C quicker than the fans can spin up to full so I guess it's temperature headroom in a way.

 

cheers ty guys.
will be ordering my card in the next few weeks i guess

 

No need to read through all the pages, all the necessary information is in the first two posts, I keep them up to date.
The fan control through HWinfo32 has nothing to do with the type of the GPU, it will work with any GPU in the M15x. The fan gets controlled by the mobo and not the video card (not like in desktop systems).

Nice!

 

So I'm pretty much dead set on ordering this card from dell, but my only problem with it is the extension bracket. I read other topic and the problem of the bracket is really bugging me. I have 5850, so will the bracket from my card fit 6970? If it doesn't, then what are my options? I've heard Dell doesn't send the extension bracket along with 6970...

 

Its should be fine, it may sit a bit tight but it would still fit.

 

No one seems to have those brakets... lol. First I was concerned a little bit, because it's quite a tight fit. But it fortunately works just fine. Make sure your the bracket has a rubber coating on the side that touches the GPU, otherwise use some tape (like I desribed in the first post).

 

Dell is confusing 6970 mobility with desktop card...

 

Yeah, unfortunately a lot of the Dell reps are doing this with Mobility cards. You can find the Dell part nr. in the first post, this should usually help.

 

Finally ordered the card after multiple of stubborn salesmen refusing to sell me the card just because I have different laptop. It took me about 1 hours and 30 minutes to order the card.

Unfortunately, they can't send me the technician for "upgrading" the card, which means I have to do it by myself...

 

Wow, great news, congrats!! You must be pretty convincing

Exchanging the card will be much easier than ordering it from Dell, hehe. I can upload some pics if it helps, let me know.

 

LOL, not convincing, but deceiving.

I basically told them that I'm planning to upgrade the card for my M18x which I bought from my friend, and they believed it. Of course, I only said this after multiple failed attempts to convincing them to sell me the card.

And yes, I would like the pics please.

 

Ok, I added the pics as attachement in the first post. Maybe I'll make a PDF file when I find time, with instruction.
Also take a look at the disassembly video and official service manual I linked to in the first post.

 

Do I need to get new heat sink also? Also for some reason, the card I'm getting is listed under M18x, not M17x R3.

 

No, like I mention in the first post, the M15x heatsink fits perfectly. There's only one type of GPU heatsink for the M15x unless I'm totally misinformed.

 

No you don't need another heatsink. It will be fine
Edit: svl7 beat me by a few seconds

 

Thanks for the fast replies, guys. I really appreciate it. Especially sv17

BTW, for future reference, 6970 is no longer associated with M17x.

 

Excerpt from M18x Parts Number List:

Video Card (VGA)
V9XKH AMD Blackcomb XT HD6970
29NC1 AMD Blackcomb XT HD6970 Right Heat Sink
RYVMN AMD CFX (CrossFireX) cable
VDV04 Nvidia M460m N11e-GS
5DWH3 Nvidia M460m N11e-GS Right Heat Sink
GDMRG Nvidia SLI Cable

Note the identical P/N for the 6970 used in both the R3 and M18x.

 

6970 is not even under configuration option for M17x.

 

It is. Maybe not in the US at the moment, but it is in other countries. Seems they want to push the M18x in America.

 

Still there.

 

Recently there have been some questions about how to exactly remove the GPU. I added a little guide for the whole exchangement procedure in the first post.

Let me know in case you order the card, I wanna see some more people powering up their M15x.

 

Man this card is really taxing out my system. Gaming on everything stock and it still throttles every now and then. Only a bit but it still does. Keeping this baby though. If only someone near where I am had a higher rated PSU I can borrow to see if that solves anything