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    M15x - 6970M or 6990M

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by agent_mulder, Oct 23, 2011.

  1. agent_mulder

    agent_mulder Notebook Consultant

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    I have Alienware M15x with GTX 260M.
    I'm thinking of upgrade.

    Will ATI 6970M will damage my laptop ?

    Will ATI 6990M will work in M15x ?

    Which one is better 6970M or 6990M and why ?
     
    agent_mulder, Oct 23, 2011
    #1
  2. Wally33

    Wally33 Notebook Consultant

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    What revision is you alienware M15x?

    From memory, the 260M was available as an MXM 2.1 card and an MXM 3.0B card so any attempt to figure out your notebook model from the graphics card would be pointless.

    In answer to your question, I am not sure the M15X would have the thermasl headroom to run a 6970/90. I remember reading something about fan issues with using a M18x 6990 in an M17x and that Clevo/Sager 6990s worked better.

    Hopefully that should tie you over long enough for an Alienware member to answer the question a bit better. Go find out what revision your M15x is or take off the bottom and upload a photo of the MXM card
     
    Wally33, Oct 23, 2011
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  3. kurupt

    kurupt Notebook Consultant

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    both will work in your m15x. the 6990m is better than the 6970m

    check the 6970m thread for details

    as for the 6990m all u need is to update your bios to A09

    1 question for ppl that already have the 6990m. does the 6990m have the same retention bracket problem that the 6970m has??
     
    kurupt, Oct 23, 2011
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  4. khetik

    khetik Notebook Deity

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    revision shouldn't matter, considering in his title he stated having a M15x as oppose to an m15x. I believe the M15x was always a 3.0b card (post dell).

    and kurupt is right that both those cards will work fine in your M15x with a little fine tuning (i.e. fan control). the 6990m is about 15% better than the 6970m.
     
    khetik, Oct 23, 2011
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  5. kurupt

    kurupt Notebook Consultant

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    6990m doesnt have automatic fan control??
     
    kurupt, Oct 24, 2011
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  6. khetik

    khetik Notebook Deity

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    Not 100% positive but I believe it has the same issue as the 6970m where you have to use hwinfo32 to control the fans and can set it to start with windows and not worry bout constantly running the program. So in a way it is made to run automatically, if that makes sense.
     
    khetik, Oct 24, 2011
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  7. kurupt

    kurupt Notebook Consultant

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    makes perfect sense but i thought that dell and clevo 6970s had automatic fan control??
     
    kurupt, Oct 24, 2011
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  8. widezu69

    widezu69 Goodbye Alienware

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    No only Dell versions have auto fan control.
     
    widezu69, Oct 24, 2011
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  9. khetik

    khetik Notebook Deity

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    I was going based on what was in svl7's initial post/guide in the 6970m. I double checked his post, and there is no mention of whether or not the clevo cards have automatic fan controls. He goes on to say that it is basically the same as the mxm card, so i'm left to assume it doesn't have automatic fan control
     
    khetik, Oct 24, 2011
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  10. Safwah

    Safwah Notebook Enthusiast

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    only dell has fan control, clevo and mxm dont. If you can get a dell go for it, makes things much easier. I have a clevo 6970 and its not just the fan control theres other lil things that arnt mentioned such as multiple monitors not automatically setting to 2 monitor when connecting the cable where as my 260 did and also not recognizing the native resolution of the screen so occasionally games will default to 1280x768. Apart from that the clevo does work and is cheaper so meh.
     
    Safwah, Oct 24, 2011
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  11. khetik

    khetik Notebook Deity

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    Also, I believe there was a problem with the sound over display port/hdmi unless you flashed vbios, clevo card that is.
     
    khetik, Oct 24, 2011
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  12. Safwah

    Safwah Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah but i never use that feature so didnt bother about that.
     
    Safwah, Oct 25, 2011
    #12