M15x and GTX 560M

Theres so many files on that site. Do I just match up the version with whatever is the most up to date on the website?

I.e. I have 285.62 for the 560M as the current driver on nvidia.com
Do I go to your linked site and download THAT version? v285.62 Windows 7/Vista 64bit | NVIDIA OEM Mobile. Is that the one I would get then?

 

Yep your choice really. I always have a whole bunch of driver sets here handy whenever I need to test some setup.
280.26 is nice to start with, stable and produced most of my high scores..
I still await some of you to go benching yourselves.. and beat me eventually ?

 

I have a quick question,

I plan on getting the gtx560m for my M15x and just wanted to make sure it will work.
My computer currently has the gt240m in it and has the A04 bios. Will I be able to upgrade my card or will it involve updating the bios?

Thanks for the help!

 

You'll need to upgrade the BIOS, but besides that, according to this thread, it will. I'm waiting for mine which is in transit

 

Do you know if the MSI GTX560M is compatible with the M15X? I have one to sell and want to know if I can offer it to Alienware owners.

 

Good question as I have my MSI 460M in sig to sell as well

 

I heard that upgrading the bios can brick your computer if anything goes wrong... If that is true then I'm willing to get the gtx460m if it won't involve updating the bios, it should be more then enough of an increase in performance for me anyway.

 

Well every M15x owner should upgrade to A09 bios, if not for supported hardware 460m 560m etc. then at least for bugfixes, compatibility with new drivers, system stability, etc. etc.
Check Dell website for a complete list of fixes.

Re MSI: My guess is the msi 560m will work as well,
Check the hardware id and do the same trick 4 ur ID as per this post earlier.
(you need a M15x to do this dont have one? well send me ur card and I be happy to find out 4u.

 

Do you know where I can find the A09 bios update and are there instructions on how to install it.

Thanks for the help.

 

Sure check this thread @ dell drivers

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/488201-new-m15x-owner-information.html

 

Thank you very much!

 

Well, technically just about anything can brick your computer. But I've never really heard about someone bricking their laptop by installing a functioning bios update. I've done it more times than I can count in my many years using computers - never gone wrong.

There are plenty of fail safes in place to prevent you from installing the wrong one (it'll refuse or at the very least provide a huge warning if you try to install one that doesn't fit).

The process is very simple:
1) Download the ISO file with the BIOS update from Dell's website
2) Burn the ISO to a CD-ROM
3) Boot from the CD-ROM and follow the on-screen instructions.

I can only imagine bricking of the system happening, if the system is shut down or something during the flashing process.

I'd say that taking the computer apart, and installing the new GPU has a much larger chance of bricking the computer, compared to the BIOS update it self.

 

So I recently bought a GPU from E-bay that is supposed to be a GTX 560M for my M15x laptop. To my surprise both of them noticed that the pins did not fit easily as my previous GPU; the GTX 260M. We installed it and then tried to boot it up but it gave a double beep (Which means that the GPU isn't recognizing the mobo). We tried it again to confirmed that it was a double beep. We noticed that the bottom right corner pins that are normally smooth weren't there. I'm not sure if this is a MxM 3.0B setting .... I have left an attachment with a low resolution pic of the GPU. I can provide better pics if needed. Can someone confirm that this is the GPU or if its something totally different? Thanks for the help!

 

Thank you for the info! plus rep for you good sir.

 

Looks like it should fit, I'd know for sure it I had my m17x handy but its sadly at the dell depot getting repaired(I hope). Found a picture of the 460m though, and it looks to be the same design as your 560m so it should fit correctly. Are you sure you put it in correctly? It could also be the card has a bad Vbios on it or somthing idk. Hope some of this helps your out.

Pic of a 460m:

Spoiler

 

Check that no plastic - put there to protect the card during transport - is left covering parts of your card or gpu-die when you fit it in.
See attached pic of another 560m(from my eBay seller eurocom) that did not boot initially cause of that.
Remove everything and try again. Should fit real smooth, no pressure needed at all, when doing it right.

Btw who is Ur seller at eBay ?

 

Be careful guys, the layout looks probably the same but by looking at the blue colour of the card, I would say it comes from an iMac or macbook pro so basically an Apple gtx460m...

For instance, the HD6970m came into the iMac and was blue unlike the Dell 6970m (black) and Clevo/Eurocom's (green).

Hope this helps but what you would need to do is flashing its vbios in an Apple computer if I am right...

 

Yes I noticed the color difference thats why I asked where he bought it Lets find out

 

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=190601094424
I'm at work right now but I'll give a better URL when I get home

 

I see that N12E-GS-A1 is written on the chip. I made a search and Asus type GTX 560M shows up. As you know Asus does not use standard MXM pin sorting. Looks same but kinda different.

I may be wrong about the code, picture is blurry.

 

dang that really sucks Hope its not what it appears.

 

N12E-GS-A1 is the correct code. How did you conclude that it is an ASUS? I did the same search and couldn't confirm?

 

Found this. Take a close look at the GPU-z picture :

Nvidia Geforce GTX 560M sighted - Notebookcheck.net News

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/110788071956?ssPageName=STRK:null:IT
This is the one I bought

Will this work??



EDIT - I looked at the card again and compared the two. My card and his card share no similarities other then the code on the chip itself. My card isnt the same color and has different black blocks located in different locations. I wonder if my card will fit... got me a bit worried.


I just received my card today. It has the same code you guys are referrnig to as the guy who can't get it to fit. I bought the card from EBAY from a recommended link given from here. Hopefully it doesn't have the same issue as this gentleman.

 

I should be receiving mine tomorrow - lets hope for the best (since I also bought mine from upgradeyourlaptop on ebay )

Let us know if yours work.

 

As far as I can tell, N12E-GS-A1 is simply nVidias product code for the 560M Chip

 

Card's codename is N12E-GS-A1. N12E = GF106 core | GS = GTS version | A1 = revision. The GTX versions come with GE,
http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/545749-msi-gt780-hands-another-6-months-yr-6.html#post7218411

 

I just contacted the vendor and I will try to get a variation GPU. Thanks for the help guys!

 

Yep, N12 = Generation, E-GS = model, A1 = chip revision.

 

Hey, I'm planning to buy the 560m but am confused whether I should upgrade my cpu, it's the i7-720. Any suggestions are helpful. Also I already have the 9-cell battery.

Thanks

 

I bought mine from there too. It works fine.

upgradeyourlaptop is the eurocoms ebay seller. I asked his email and he gave me one with @eurocom. Strange thing is that, on eurocoms web page, card is slightly more expensive then ebay.

 

Well dutchess63 made lots of benchmarks with his old cpu and with 940xm. So you may see the performance difference in first few pages in this thread and make your own decision.

For me, I thought it wouldnt worth changing it.

 

Re: 560m > eurocom = upgradeyourlaptop eBay = fine to order ur 560m from.

Re: 940xm > ever since I upgraded to 940 (coming from 740) my 560m is throttling (after some time playing games for example). Didnt have that with 740 before.
Updating vbios of 560m just recent, brings some relief -but it still does the throttle dance- although less noticable...
Somebody want a 940xm ? I think I sell it

 

Hey thanks for your in depth information in this thread, partly which made me want to upgrade to a 560m, I read about how you repasted ur gpu and bought thermal pads, can you tell me what brand did you use, I read inap's thread as well, but I wanted ur suggestion as you've clearly put the card through it's paces.

 

Arctic mx-3 thermal paste, and for the pads I ordered news ones yes, but I ended up just re-using the old pads from 260m. No need to order new pads

 

Those pads deteriorate pretty quickly...

 

I didn't have any problems with them deteriorating, just pealed it off and put it on the new card.

 

EDIT- It appears that my current nvidia monitoring tool and performance (overclocking) tool are giving me some issues now with the new card. I put the setting for my overclock in, and it tells me "Unable to apply changes". But the monitoring tool says it is indeed running at the overclocked settings I put in. Wierd. Can someone recommend a better overclocking tool/temp monitoring tool that's user friendly to me for the 560m? Thanks!


Good evening all. I am happy to announce that my card installed perfectly, and I was able to install the modified drivers without issue! I am currently running my 560M ideling at low 40C and going up to high 70C's when in game. I will probably try overclocking tomorrow.

Thank you to the following for posting such informative guides and giving me some 1 on 1 utchess, Kpk02, and the other posters here.

I was vary wary with upgrading my GPU especially in the m15x, but it went withOUT any issues, from the uninstall, to the cleaning of the gpu, to the installation and driver installation. I am currently running SWTOR on max settings and getting about 50 fps outside (tattooine) and that's with Bloom and shadows on!

I love the card. Thank you all for the great posts and I look forward to visiting again for future upgrades!!

PS: What should my highest gpu temp get to before I get worried? And I am currently using NVIDIA system monitor and performance tools to overclock and monitor my temps. Are these acceptable? Not looking for anything crazy just the basics.

 

I haven't got the 560M but you can overclock with nvidia inspector..

The best way (the way I do it) is via the vbios = use GPUZ to download the bios from the video card.. Use Nvidia Bios editor to change the clocks. More details on my sig below (260M example) There is a windows flashing tool for the vbios..

above all - BE CAREFUL! Better safe than a dead card..

 

I've successfully completed the installation of my GTX 560M!

Idle Temp at around 38C.
3D Mark Vantage Score: P8727 3DMarks (stock settings)
Max temp during the benchmark was 65C

Hardest part about the installation, ironically, was removing the control button panel above the keyboard. Man I hate having to be that rough on plastic - but it comes off just fine when you find the technique.

I pasted it with MX-4 and padded the RAM facing the heat sink (didn't put any pads on the bottom side, since those things refused to stick properly to the card.

Had to swap the X-plate from the 260M to the 560M - required considerable force to remove the one on the 560M.

 

Congrats, Fersknen. Sounds like the perfect installation. Great temps and excellent score at stock clocks.

 

Congrats, it was easy right? I looked up my scores for you..
Highest with 740cpu is P10522 in vantage..
Use it as a reference point.. see attached

enjoY

 

Indeed! I think I got the thermal paste applied correctly. I haven't applied this paste since 2002, where I last assembled a stationary PC.

Well, I think I'm mostly being CPU limited anyway, so I think overclocking would be mostly for sport anyway but hey we all enjoy sports... at least e-sports anyway.

I had GPU-Z running during a three hour SWTOR gaming session I took on it, and this is the log from it: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtAElpzos2O6dDJNRm1Na1U4Sl9VdW1YcmYxdDBFVFE#gid=0

It never seem to ever fully load the GPU, and I had the game set to high. But maybe trying some other games over the weekend will shed more light on this

 

Not at all. I think 740 + 560m is the best combo now go for it

 

Well, in that case! Is Nvidia Inspector the tool of choise these days?

 

Yes very much. nvidia inspector is the Way to Go.
Tick the OC tab (opens up a right screen) and than just tick unlock max and min. Its the only Tool OUT THERE in which You can OC multiple P stages (performance stages) at the same time

 

That'll be my weekend enjoyment then

By the way, I think this upgrade for the m15x is mature enough to edit the first post in this thread with a consolidated guide of how to do it (the typical: where to get the card, the driver modification and the usual about installation - in particular the x-plate, and references to the usual dis-assembly guide).

This appears to be a completely problem free modification, if run at stock clocks, and a great way to prolong the life of this laptop

 

Well thank you and have a great weekend. Let us know if you blow up we send a plane okaY to rescue M15x

 

Having just cleaned up my desktop after having done this, I see that I might have been a bit fast when using the Thermal Pads. I used 0.5 mm ones (I remember that I intended to use 1mm ones), and I'm thinking that maybe these are a bit too thin to properly create contact between the ram and the heat sink?

Is there anything to look for, that might indicate improper cooling of the RAM?

 

Thats real little.. I ordered the same in china but never used them.. mmm am more thinking in CM 0.5 or so plus. for gpu. for the ram i dont use any.. is there a need? I think the ram is like ssd. like chip