M6000 (7870M) GPU thread

I'm getting over 2900 in Firestrike with the overclocked m6000. Stock clocks I get around 2400. My 460m scored around 1400 if my memory serves me correctly. Since the 460m is faster than the 260m, I'd say it's gonna be a huge upgrade indeed

 

Yes, I am sure it will be.

Man, I completely missed the posts in page 11. Skimming failed me this time...

Sent from my overpriced Galaxy S6 Edge +

 

On my setup the heatpipe is hitting on the one of the tall components on the board. Looking at the die height from the side the AMD GPU is much lower than the nVidia one. So, for now I am putting the 260M back in place. I ordered a bunch of 15mm x 15mm shims of various sizes off Ebay. Found a USA seller with 30 shims for around $7 shipped. Can't beat that with stick.

In the mean time I installed the 480GB SanDisk Plus and I am putting Win 7 on it.

I will report back after I get my shims.

 

Same problem I had. I just flattened the heatpipe a bit with a pair of needle-nose pliers to achieve clearance from this component (called an inductor, or choke). Try the shims, but you don't really need them if you make some minor adjustments.

Some observations from my experience with this card:

First and foremost, you need to achieve clearance from that inductor hitting the heatpipe. Otherwise, not only will the heatspreader not make contact with the die, but the heatsink will sit at an angle when mounted on the video card. Because of the heatsink sitting at an angle, there's also a risk of uneven pressure on the die. I cracked my 7970m's die because of this.

Next, and also important are the thermal pads. Remove all the thermal pads from the heatsink and test some thermal paste on the GPU without them. Without the thermal pads in place, you should notice that the paste spreads a lot better. This is because the pads do not compress well enough and prevent the heatspreader on the heatsink from making good contact with the die. The pads also cause the heatsink to sit and an angle when mounted on the card (similar to that inductor hitting the heatpipe).

If contact is still not good, you can remove the x-bracket from the card and file down the screw posts in small increments (about .5mm at a time), re-mount, and observe how well the paste spreads.

When all is done and paste spreads well, reinstall your thermal pads. You will probably notice that now the paste is not spreading well. This is because the pads are not compressing enough, thus preventing the heatsink from making pressure on the die.

I tinkered around with 1mm pads and .5mm pads and still could not get satisfying results. I then discovered K5-PRO thermal pad replacement paste and all my problems are solved. This paste is like a cross between a traditional thermal pad and thermal paste. It is thick and stays in place well, and compresses extremely well. Temps are great. Even overclocked, the card stays in the low to mid 70s.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/thermal-pad-alternative.787919/

http://www.ebay.com/itm/K5-PRO-gumm...535070?hash=item5afdd3395e:g:9mMAAOSwPcVVm30Z

 

I tried flattening my heatpipe as you described, but couldn't get enough out of it to prevent it from contacting the choke. I was test fitting the heatsink to the card with the card outside the laptop. When I tightened the screws all the way the card was actually being bent by the heatpipe. Not good.

I am going to try the shims when they get here. I will keep you posted and thanks for the great reply!

 

I think the shim will help because it will effectively increase the height of the shorter GPU die. It may also solve the issue of the heatpipe contact because it will also lift the heatsink a bit. On mine, I had to slightly bend the heatpipe upwards besides flattening it to achieve clearance. Copper is delicate and bends easily but you got to be extra careful because if the heatpipes crack, the liquid inside will spill out. Luckily mine are still intact

If you finally get a shim height you are happy with, you can attach it permanently to the heatsink using thermal epoxy like Arctic Silver Epoxy (the one with two parts that you mix). This should make things easier when repasting. Anyway, let us know how it goes and what size shim works good. I may end up doing that myself in the future.

EDIT: on second thought, perhaps it's better to just use regular thermal paste on the shim because if you change the video card in the future to another model that doesn't need the shim, you might run into problems.

 

I don't know. I was thinking perhaps to buy it but this stopped me:

• K5-PRO has thermal conductivity K>4W/mC * (at least 3 times higher than common thermal pads that are used on computers and commercial electronics)

• K4-PRO has thermal conductivity K>3W/mC * (3 times higher than common thermal pastes that are used on computers and commercial electronics)

How is that happening that their thermal paste has lower thermal conductivity than their thermal pad/paste? 3 vs 4
How is that happening that they use W/mC while Google tells me that it should be W/mK
How is that happening that 3W/mWHATEVER is "3 times higher than common thermal pastes" while MX-4 declares to have whole 8.5 W/mK?
P.S. Of course everything depends on how true all that is because Purified synthetic diamond has a thermal conductivity of 2,000-2,500 W/mK compared to 406-429 W/mK for pure silver doesn't mean IC Diamond give 100 times better results than MX-4.
Also AS5 proved to lie stating it has 8.7 W/mK while in reality only 0.94W/mK - What a JOKE!

 

Yeah, I don't think I will use thermal adhesive on the heat sink. This M6000 is just a placeholder until something better and exciting comes along.

Here is a link to the shim pack I bought.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400562132776

$6.37 with free standard shipping.

Total of 30pcs Laptop GPU CPU Heatsink Copper Shim. Compose of the following sizes:

5pcs 15mmx15mmx0.3mm
5pcs 15mmx15mmx0.5mm
5pcs 15mmx15mmx0.8mm
5pcs 15mmx15mmx1.0mm
5pcs 15mmx15mmx1.2mm
5pcs 15mmx15mmx1.5mm

I will let you know what shim thickness I like.

 

Interesting, I never even noticed the mC part. I assumed it was the same as mK but apparently K stands for Kelvin and C stands for Celsius. I can't comment on how good the stuff transfers heat but if it is at least on par with generic thermal pads, then it's fine by me . I wish there was a way to monitor VRAM and VRM temps on notebook cards but as far as I know there aren't any sensors for other components besides the core on MXM cards. I probably wouldn't use this paste on a silicon die but I think it should be fine for VRAM and VRMs.

When I get a chance, I will try K5pro on a Core i3-350m I have sitting in the drawer and compare it to MX-2 or MX-4 which I have plenty of. That should give us an idea as to how well this stuff can transfer heat.

 

It doesn't matter. C and K have the same scale value to each increment. The only difference is the reference point in regards the C and K. 100 C drop in temperature is the same as 100 K drop in temperature.

T(°C) = T(K) - 273.15

 

Ok, so I tried K5-pro on an i3-350m in my 2nd M15X. I also tried a generic Chinese .5mm thermal pad, and finally concluded with Arctic MX4. I monitored temps with Open Hardware Monitor. K5 Pro and MX-4 applied with pressure method.

Ambient Temp: 20C

K5 Pro:

Idle: Fluctuates from around 39C-45C
Prime95 after 15 minutes: Core 1: 77C / Core 2: 78C

.5mm Thermal Pad:

Idle: Fluctuates from around 40C-44C
Prime95 after 15 minutes: Core 1: 84C / Core 2: 84C

Arctic MX-4:

Idle: Fluctuates from around 39C-43C
Prime95 after 15 minutes: Core 1: 63C / Core 2: 65C

One thing I noticed was that with both the K5 Pro and the .5mm thermal pad, once Prime95 started, the temps rose into the 70s almost immediately and then finally started settling into their max temps when the fans starting speeding up. MX-4 on the other hand gradually increased into its max temp.

K5-pro does a decent job compared to a generic thermal pad. I personally would not use it on a silicon die, but for components like VRAMs and VRMs, I think it should perform well.

Here's a pic of how it looks after removing the heatsink. Although this stuff is thick , it compresses well and spreads evenly. If the pressure is uneven it still conforms to the shape of both the components and the heatsink surface, and best of all, it stays in place and does not run.

 

Nice job @kosti! This puts things in perspective.

 

This blue thing on the left ism5Pro too, right?

 

No, that's an Arctic Cooling 1mm thermal pad.

 

anyone having white screen issues. Wondering if its the gpu, laptop just goes white, if i lift it or move it slightly seems to fix itself.

Rather odd tho

 

Bad LVDS cable perhaps? Try re-seating it.

 

Is AMD FirePro M8900 compatible with Alienware M15x & amd firepro m6100 compatible as well because it's clocked at 1.1GHz

 

M8900 is compartible, but it's an old 6970M, M6100 should work as well. But, M6000 will have better "performance per $" rate.

 

Alienware m15x, does the colour matter or is it easier using the original dell m6000 pcb was red instead of using dell m6000 pcb blue? Does the colour matter? Does a amd firepro m8900 work with m15x & is amd firepro m6100 compatible with Alienware M15x? Am interested in buying it as it's clocked at 1.1GHz Core Clock! eBay seller claims it's better then Nvidia GTX 860M in performance! Thanks for the advice you give me guys!

Okay, I didn't see this thread, so can I buy amd firepro m6000 (Blue) do I need longer screws? Or is it plug & play. I'm asking as another thread spoke about an original amd firepro m6000 red pcb that I haven't found on eBay. Only seeing the blue pcb. I'm on Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64bit. Is it compatible & will the drivers work from amd. Sorry for all these questions but I have not used amd firepro m6000 before. Thanks for all the advice guys.

 

Just read at least a part of this thread.

 

Alienware M15x/i7-Q720 Quad Core/GeForce GTX 460M @ 1.5GB GDDR5/4GB Ram upgrade/150GB HDD/Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.

I was using an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 @ 1GB GDDR5 & vbios got corrupted after failed flash. I then purchased a new Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M @ 1.5GB GDDR5 & new Intel Core i7-720QM Quad Core @ 1.6GHz/2.8GHz Turbo Boost & upgraded from Intel Core i3-370M @ 2.4GHz Dual Core @ (4 Threads). Everything works well. The only issue is that I couldn't play any pc games properly because of using old GeForce Game Ready Driver so instead installed GeForce GTX 460M Driver from Nvidia website. Everything works well but after I updated to 4GB Ram from 3GB, I now get random BSOD Blue Screen but I shut it down & it starts up again & I can download & play pc games for hours. Do you guys think it's the Ram upgrade I did that's causing these random blue screens?

 

@kosti I received my shims yesterday. Tried 1.5mm and it was way too thick. Went to 0 5mm and it was too thin. I got out my calipers and figured I needed .887mm to match the height of the GTX 260M. So I settled on 1.0mm shim and it works pretty well.

I worked out fitting the shim and thermal pads on the card before mounting the M6000 in the laptop.

After I was happy with the shim and pads I removed the heatsink and cleaned everything with alcohol.

I installed the card and then I pasted the shim to the GPU. After that I put paste on the shim and installed the heatsink.

The M6000 went right to 1040/1300 with no complaints. Overclocked the 940XM and got a bit over 3000 in Firestrike. Max temp on the GPU was 70c. I am pretty happy with this.

Next is to see how this runs Mechwarrior Online tomorrow night.





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Nice, you're getting better temps than me. After a Firestrike run mine tops out usually around 72C. Good work!

BTW, how did you overclock? Did you overvolt as well? I couldn't get mine stable at 1000/1200 at stock voltage.

 

Overvolted .050v so it is sitting at 1.175 I think. I will have to check.

I didn't even try it at stock voltage. How silly of me.

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That sounds about right for that level of overclocking. Those temps are impressive then because I only upped the voltage one notch to 1.150V and mine runs hotter than yours. What thermal paste are you using?

 

Is amd firepro m6000 play Battlefield 4 multiplayer @ High Settings. Have you tried Star Wars Battlefront or Hardline. I played: Hawken. It's free to play @ Steam. It's about Mechs.

Are you guys currently using amd firepro m6000 graphics card. I heard that someone put an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M @ 6GB mxm 3.0 gpu into his Alienware M15x & he had installed a Intel Core i7-940XM cpu as well. Theirs a YouTube video of him playing games with it. So when you use demanding graphics card. Do you need to change the adapter from 150W to 240W or is it okay to use 150W with GTX 970M.

 

Grizzly Kryonaut is the paste.

I thought it would run hotter too because the shim adds another interface.

Pics:

Spoiler

IF running the 970M at stock and a mild overclock on the 920XM/940XM I have found the 150w to work pretty well for gaming. Not so much for max benchmarking.

I don't play those games. But look at what people are saying about the 7970M. If it can't do it then the M6000 won't be able to even if overclocked. This is definitely a nice bang for the buck solution, but the bucks aren't that high so neither is the bang.

EDIT:
Actually I was curious too. So here is a guy playing with a GTX 670M at 1080p. Seems he is getting around 30 fps. He does mention that he loses 8-10 fps while recording. I have experienced this as well. So you should see 40+ fps with the M6000 if you overclock it? Just a guess.

 

My gtx460m gpu says it's clock core is only 570MHz & not 675MHz? I've a gtx560m zip & wanted to ask how to Flash this.

 

Do some searching online for ways to overclock your 460m. If you flash the vbios make sure it's made for your specific brand and model card. I think a 560m vbios will probably brick a 460m.

 

I wanted to ask, Nvidia quadro k3100m 4GB, is this gpu good for gaming?

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-Quadro-K3100M.98854.0.html

 

How do you overclock gtx460m gpu? I've msi Afterburner but that doesn't work. I've ThrottleStop but don't really use it much. I used gpuz to look up my gpu & found asus has rom files with 675MHz & wondered if they can be used to flash gtx460m gpu to bring it up to 675MHz from 570MHz?

Thanks, it's performance is slightly below gtx765m. Should be great for gaming. What gpu & vpu do you use.

Will having a 240W Adapter help my gpu play better?

Thanks, I'll keep look at NotebookReview Forum for ideas. I already bricked my other ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 so don't want that again. Thank you for the advice.

 

As I already mentioned, an overclocked m6000 should beat even a 765m. I am basing this on Firestrike benchmarks. Deadsmiley is scoring over 3000 in Firestrike and mine reaches over 2900 points but mine has a smaller overclock. It's up to you, but for a mid-range gaming card it's hard to beat the m6000 based on its price.

 

@gkdel247 Please refrain from multi-posting (use edit button instead) and stick to the topic. Thank you.

 

The 460M runs at 570MHz core because it has vBios for M15x, you can flash it with M17x/M18x vBios and then it will run at 675MHz ... that's what i did with every 460M that i have.

The K3100M doesn't play nice with M15x, trust me, i've tried everything, from driver modding, to disabling sound in bios, to trying geforce drivers instead of quadro ones, the driver installs, but it doesn't work properly (won't enable aero, won't play games, and video is blocky) basically as if there would be no driver installed.

In my opinion the best P/P option for M15x is indeed the M6000, and i've tested plenty of them, trust me.

 

I was playing WoW last night on ultra setting and getting 30+ fps. So I changed from ultra to good and got 70+ fps.

A few minutes later the screen rapidly flashed from white to black repeatedly. I shut down the laptop with the power button. When I tried to restart I was met with a black screen.

I think I killed it with the combination of the overvolt 0.050 and the overclock 1040/1300? It's a shame as I was really impressed with the performance for 80 bucks. So I will order another one after I swap in my 260M to verify it is indeed the M6000 that is dead.

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You know, it's kinda terrifying how often people get died m6000 -ies. Let's hope it's not dead and just driver issue of some sort. Also take a look at the chip itself, maybe it was pushed too much?

 

That's how my first one died, just went to a black screen. I have two running now both with .025 overvolts and so far so good. This got me thinking of maybe returning to stock clocks.

 

Well this was an experiment from the start. I just wanted to try it out. If it worked in would have something a lot better than my 260M. Ha!

EDIT:
Considering I was playing Mechwarrior Online with my Quadro FX 1800M and the GTX 260M is 31% faster than the Quadro I should try it out.

I am eyeing the FirePro M6100 too, but it is around $200 on ebay.

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The 6100 is impressive for sure and probably capable of reaching 7970M levels of performance at a high OC however for 200 you can probably pick up the 7970M or 8970M with the same performance at stock and same heat output therefore too. Throw in a minor OC (so as not to kill the cards haha) and the M6100 doesn't look like much of a bargain.

Interesting though

 

Since my M6000 is dead I am going to remove the X bracket. Pondering going to M6100 as its a significant bump from M6000 and the price is better than 7970M. I haven't seen anything under $250 for the 7970M on ebay.

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Am getting - AMD FirePro M6000 on Thursday next week for £51 @ ebay. My gtx460m is overlooking to 749MHz while using Nvidia Inspector & MSI Afterburner. I've ATI flash, what program do you use to overclock amd firepro m6000? I might be upgrading ram to 6gb or 8gb. The gpu am buying has - 2gb gddr5 @ 750MHz Core Clocks. You were right about this card. It is good for the price & performance.

 

Before overclocking you need to make sure the card is properly installed and that may require some modifications to the x-bracket and the heatsink itself. Read through this thread. Pretty much everything is addressed from installation to thermal pads/paste and to eventually overclocking.

Did you notice the x-bracket on the m6000 is thicker compared to the 460m's bracket? I posted about this a while back. Because of this thickness the card flexes when installed in the mxm slot. I'm wondering if this flexing has anything to do with the card's sudden failure, perhaps due to uneven pressure from the heatsink on the die which may lead to a crack on the die. Have you inspected the die for any cracks or fractures?

 

The original x-brackets on all firepro/quadro cards are thicker, to the point that some cards don't even fit in the M15x, that's why i ship my cards with different x-brackets for different laptops... the M15x always need to have the thin x-bracket, otherwise the card flexes way too much, and when put under stress it will break. i would seriously advise against using the stock x-bracket on M6000 in M15x...

Also, the xbracket has lower mounts, basically flush with the card, and if you tighten them you are risking a cracked die before you even boot the card for the first time, so really, just dont ... take the x-bracket off 240M, 260M, 5770M, 5850M, 460M, whatever you had before and put it on M6000, you will thank me later

 

If you do it could you upload video to youtube of this?

 

I noticed the mounts were lower as well.

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Probably not. I don't have a good camera for this.

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I noticed it doesn't support windows 10? So the driver I found is for 2015 Jan! So the amd firepro am receiving is also called Radeon HD 7800M, can I use those drivers with windows 10 or I've windows 7 home edition on my Alienware m15x. I'm asking coz I didn't find another drivers except for last year.

 

I posted about this back on page 17. I drew a little diagram of the problem with the x-bracket thickness. I also posted about one of the chokes obstructing one of the heatpipes on page 18.

Yes, use the Radeon 7800 series drivers, not the Firepro drivers.

 

Can I upgrade my Alienware m15x to windows 10 and upgrade m6000 with these drivers

 

Yes, from AMD's site, select "Notebook Drivers," then "Radeon HD Series," then "Radeon HD 7800M Series," and finally select your OS.