M15x Nvidia 470M Mod

Soo dang tempted but there is of course question of usability!

 

It would be good to know whether there were some changes on the mobo for the 460m M15x... but I don't think so, if I remember correctly, someone posted lately that Dell put him a 460m in his laptop as replacement for the 260m... but I might be wrong.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your all your effort Inap, so much appreciated!!

 

Last leap of faith, couldn't hurt. Modded inf for the Dell 460m driver. Put it in the R28.../display folder overwrite the old one. Change the extension as well.

 

You might take a look at this - the inf. file for the 259.39 drivers for the Sager 8760/8690 notebooks with the Clevo 470M. I was going to do a detailed comparison of this file with the modded 263.09 .inf file from LaptopVideo2Go, but outside interruptions keep getting in the way. I think the answer is in these inf files. Inap's M15x is recognizing the card (and as a 470M) and whatever drivers he's used have installed. It just seems like a settings problem with PowerMizer and/or state/clock settings. The same card is working with these and later drivers in the Sager, so it's in the details. I don't blame Inap for being sick of the whole effort, but there is probably a relatively simple answer here if we can just figure it out.

UPShare.me

 

thanks guys still no go, arrrggghhh!!!!!

 

I think rev is right. I too think it has to be something in the .inf files. I'm not that knowledgable about the exact workings of video drivers, but if:

1) The laptop Posts with that card installed.
2) The laptop Boots with the card installed.
3) The laptop is relatively stable with the card installed.
4) The laptop recognizes the card as a GTX 470m and displays the correct info in gpuz
5)2D clocks work obviously fine.
6) Video applications work at 2D clocks - he used 3D mark and got a score.

Then I am convinced there is no hardware level compatibility issue and no sbios compatibility issue.

I also think it's not very likely that there is a vbios compatibility issue either. I think it has to be with the .inf files. That would explain why the vender in gpu-z was listed as dell.

Let me double check. Inap, the card is not a dell card right? Is it a sager card? Have any video drivers installed correctly? If so, was the only problem with them that the card would not go above 2D clocks?

I would buy the card in an instant if I had the free cash. I'm dying to try it in my M17x and have another go at messing with it.

.. .. . . . It's something with the .inf files for the driver - or maybe the actual driver itself . . .but that makes no sense. There are video drivers that support the GTX 470m. I bet the answer to this is really easy and will be a "duh" moment when we figure it out.

Where did you buy the card from? Was it MXMupgrade.com? Maybe they can add some insight - they know all the in's and out's of this stuff. Shoot them an email anyway even if you didn't buy it from them. I've sent them emails asking questions a few times and they get back to you really fast.

 

Inap did you ever try Clevo drivers? The drivers downloaded straight from Clevo may contain an .inf file that's specific to the card and may give different results. Here is a link to the 64bit/Win7/470m driver clevo has listed for the W860CU/W870CU:

ftp://usftp.clevo.com.tw/W8xxCU/VGA/GTX470M_64ip

 

even the vbios program aren't reading the card correctly. someone suggested a way around it but seems risky. maybe the card will work later on with more official support. all thats available are modded drivers, and those are hit and miss. either boot up with no 3d or boot up and hard crash.

dane can you reup the link, it not working.

 

could it be perhaps that the card itself has something wrong with it?

 

i don't have a set day for returns, but i don't wanna hold on to it for to long. prolly gonna return it today or tomorrow. since i'm selling off the M15x there is no real reson to keep it. may have to get another M15x when the ati 6000 series comes out, heheheh

could be a possibility but i doubt it.
really wished there was someone else thats willing to do this mod at the same time.

 

ok i think thats it for me, returning the card. special thanks to larry for loaning the card. and to everyone here for your advices. too bad i didn't get it to work, well i hope later on someone else gets the guts to try it out when more driver and stuff are released.

 

Too bad it didn't work, but thanks again for all your effort!! I'll see, maybe I'm gonna try it with some new drivers when I got the money... but could take a while until then.

 

If you still have it inap here is the link:
CLEVO - Download
Select the w86x/w87x in the first drop down then the vga in the second box and hit submit, on the next page it's 470m/64bit link and that should be the official Clevo driver for the 470m.

 

Has anyone else been brave enough to retry this with the newer BIOS?

I was checking ebay out of curiosity, theres a 470m on there for $675.00 or £400 that is some price to pay considering there are newer releases! You will probably get a what... maybe 15% increase over the 5850m?

 

Yeah I was going to. Might save up and get me a x7200 with 470m in sli and take one out and try it. If it works then woopteydoo and I can use my 460m as a physx in the x7200 but I'm very doubtful.

 

If you bought a 470m from a business you could return it within so many days to get a refund if it didn't work because of consumer rights.

I really cannot see why Dell wouldn't allow a 470m to work if a 460m does.

The problem is the 470m seems like a rare card, there is still so little support still and most laptop manufacturers skip it. Saying that I can partly understand the pricing does not seem very good.

 

Yeah thing is I live in the UK and they offer 7 days return. I will be making a loss with tax and return shipping if I can even fit it within 7 days.
Edit: Might see if I can get one from Kobalt but they seem quite tight about their stock, not to mention some problems they were facing with delivery.

 

With a small component you could get away with tax and duty easily, ask the sender to declare it a gift, lower the declared price or declare as a second hand item. It's not so bad with something small like that, you run into issues with customs when you start declaring brand new laptops as free gift items I'm very curious to see if the 470m works, maybe theres somemore for sale online within the uk or closer than Canada. I'd buy it myself but I haven't even got £400 in my bank account atm. I'm still not sure if for the pricing whether or not it is a worthy upgrade over the 5850m. I'm more curious to see how upgradable this laptop really is...

 

Ha believe it or not, I have some tax problems with my 460m when I bought it recently. But yeah I really wanna see a 470m in my M15x, one can dream...

 

I had this with the 460M I tried in my Acer.

I wonder if the bios needs some kind of handshake from the system bios in order to enable full clocks?

 

As I believe Acer uses MXM III type A so it wouldn't work but I have no idea why the 470m type B wouldn't. Just really annoying!

 

Meakers acer uses the same mxm slot (originally MXM 3.0 type A, modded to type B).

 

Oh ok my mistake. Sorry

 

Which OS do you use? Is it XP or Win7? My GTX460M goes with the same problem on XP, but no problem on Win7. Hope this could help...

 

was using win7 ultimate, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

I'm really tempted to try either the 6970 or the 485m once RJTech lists them. I saved a grand by going with a bare m15x over the P150HM, so I have a little extra cash to spare.

 

I don't think the 485m will work. It is 100w card where as the M15x can only handle up to 75w. If you have the USB 3.0 version of the w870cu, your safest bet is to try the 470m in the AW, so if it doesn't work, you can always swap that with the 5870 which will work in the M15x and both laptops will still be happy.

 

I don't think the 485m is really worth the 1000 bucks anyway... I mean it's definitely a great card but the price it outrageous.

@JohnnyFlash: Hehe, you're tempted too I see

 

Hey sorry for bumping this old thread but I asked over at the Clevo sections on whether the 470m needed a modded inf anymore and I've been told that the latest nvidia 267.24 officially supports it. Bundled with the new bios we may have another shot. I wish the people at Kobalt were a bit nicer and would loan me one so I could test it.

 

Yeah... that would be great. It's not that easy to get the hands on a 470m, at least not without buying one. It's pretty a rare card... but great info!

 

trying to keep the dream alive huh, hahaha

anyone else wanna take a stab at it.

 

It is good to dream, honestly if I was in the US or Canada I wouldn't hesitate in emailing Larry to loan/borrow/buy that card. Wonder how the bios guys are doing.

 

Hi, when you say DIE !!! you video card die ? the cpu die ??? was the 470m using a lot of power ?

 

Hi, can you tell me if the video card works fine on your computer ? I have the same m15x R2 and I was thinking to move into 460M when I see this post... so far is going ok you video card ? the 470M with the alienware M15X ?

 

There is a part two thread. The 470m is confirmed not to work by Inap and myself. It will not go to maximum clocks. I advise you to get a 460m, 5850, 5870 or a 6970m.