M6000 (7870M) GPU thread

Thanks, so this will support windows 10 & AMD FirePro M6000 as using Radeon HD 7800 series support will play pc games really well without issues. Keeping the drivers updated. Coz I might be updating to b windows 10 today but want to stay on Windows 7 to be safe. Since I'm getting m6000 hopefully this week as it's coming from outside UK. Thank you for all the advice. Your really knowledgeable about these things.

Thank you for all the good advice.

 

Don't even think of it as a Firepro anymore. Think of it as a Radeon 7850 or 7870 because it is essentially that . The Firepro label is given to it because it certified for use in 3D CAD applications.

 

Thanks, I understand. What can radeon hd 7850m & 7870m be compared with. Coz I noticed it kicks ass with gtx660m. So what gpu can be compared. I'm talking of pc gaming. I tried checking YouTube but only found radeon hd 7600m gta v gameplay.

 

Why wouldn't you already buy it and then test it yourself and then tell it us? No need to thank me for this advice.

 

Look at the list of cards linked below. The cards are listed in terms of performance from highest to lowest. You'll get an idea of what is in the range of the m6000. Things change dramatically though when the card is overclocked. When overclocked the m6000 approaches the top of the 2nd class list, somewhere around the 765m GTX.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-FirePro-M6000.77894.0.html

 

Yep! Looks like I broke off a corner of the GPU die. Too much pressure due to tightening down the heatsink mounting screws is my guess. I had it running for a couple of days before it went kaput.

Spoiler

 

Thanks for posting this. Interesting because it appears the uneven pressure affected the right hand side of the die in your case. In my case, the uneven pressure affects the opposite corner. In other words, the corner near the "D" from the AMD logo. I don't see a fracture on mine but I do get tiny chips in the corners of the die. This is not limited in my case to just the m6000. I have the same chipped corners on my 240m GT, 460M GTX, and 7970M. The 7970M is the only one that has failed out of all my cards. I have two m6000s and both have small corner chips but both work fine.

I think this happens when the thermal pads do not compress. When you remove the stock heatsink C-clip screws and use longer ones, or if you file down the x-bracket posts , you are forcing the heatspreader down on the die with more pressure. If the pads are too thick and don't compress, this extra pressure will result in less pressure on the die nearer to the pads, and more pressure on the die area farther away from the pads (such as the corners near the MXM card's pins).

If you notice on the m6000, the gap between the VRAMs and chokes is extremely small. In fact, I recently got some Phobya .5mm pads to try and even those are too thick and because they don't compress enough, they create this uneven pressure. When I use thermal paste instead of pads, I don't have this issue because the paste conforms to the components and uneven surfaces and compresses easily

I am waiting on some new lunar silver panels for my M15X. When I get them I'll take the laptop apart and post some pics or possibly record a video about this so you guys can see what I'm talking about.

 

This is why I installed a shim. I test fitted my heatsink and shim while the card was out of machine. It really was the only way I could see what was going on.

Unfortunately I may not have been careful enough.

Sent from my overpriced Galaxy S6 Edge +

 

This is exciting! At stock M6100 at lower resolutions 900p and down should perform around 7970M level.

If is can OC well it could become a real powerhouse! Only that 128bit memory bus is a bit of a let down. Still though for a 900p M15x that would rock.

 

The M6100 can be overclocked via vBIOS mod. The tools that work on the M6000 don't work on the M6100 (or at least they didn't).

I have been reading this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...locking-vbios-mod-8-m-and-r9-m-series.777509/

 

K4000M pretty good variant too, just plug-n-play card. With modded vBIOS & stock voltage can provide more or less the same results as M6100 can, and costs about the same.
Card cost me ~$156, and still could be bought here - http://www.ebay.com/itm/NVIDIA-Quad...097481?hash=item2eee55d289:g:yl0AAOSw0HVWAODb

Performance with OC for 24/7:

 

Good find! My M6100 was $200. I haven't received it yet.

Edit:
@STiHiaL. That Firestrike score is about 900 more points than what I got with M6000. Impessive!

 

Ok, I pried off the X bracket from the M6000 and the 240M tonight. Removal wasn't hard at all. All I did was heat the x bracket with a heat gun on the lowest setting (430F) and gently pushed on the mounting posts from the top of the card. After I had things worked lose it was pretty easy removing the X bracket. The nVidia X bracket didn't require any heat to remove. I suspect this is because the adhesive was a few years old and had been through many heating cycles in the machine.

This is what I got:

Both mounting brackets cover approximately the same area when mounted to the back of the card. The square part of the X bracket on the AMD card has a slightly thicker web so replacing it with the 240M X bracket isn't a problem. There is so little difference that interchanging these X brackets shouldn't be an issue. To give you an idea, a human hair is about .003" thick. We are seeing about 2 hairs worth of difference web thickness. I don't see it as a big deal.

AMD X bracket Thickness: .070"
nvidia X bracket thickness: .044" (a little more than .5mm thinner)

AMD X bracket web thickness: .120"
nvidia X bracket web thickness: .113"

AMD heatsink mounting posts: .048"
nVidia heatsink mounting posts: .088"

The nVidia mounting posts are a full 1mm taller than the AMD posts.

 

OK, so finally you can congret me for finishing M6000 upgrade process. YAY! I met so many difficulties but thanks God it's working.
1. Had to use copper shim. In fact I just had a broken AC of some laptop and found good copper plates inside. So that's a hint for you: if you have dead AC, go tear it apart and get what you need.
2. Taking out X-bracket IS a difficult problem! I was very good in theory, used fan, pushed into screwing holes but managed to damage SMD component. It's still connected but barely and is on the angle. Lets hope it will be fine.
3. Big THANKS to STiHiaL! He helped me to finish X-bracket remove procedure and tested it for me in his MX15.

I had to use both 0.5 and 1 mm thermal pads. I spent 2 days at least for calculating thermal pads thickness for every component and using dremel on the heatsink. Now it is good more or less.

For now I don't plan overclocking but will see how it goes.
P.S. Oh yeah, temperature. 65 C degrees max under 3D Mark 11 Unbelievable!

 

Am getting amd firepro m6100 & wanted to know which radeon hd drivers I can use.

Do you use amd hd 7970m drivers for amd firepro m6100.

 

You were kindly asked against doubleposts.

 

sorry, I just want to know

 

Just download the latest Crimson drivers from AMD, they are universal for a large array of video cards. The only time you want specific drivers is if you want to used certified Firepro drivers for a specific manufacturer (e.g., Dell) for CAD use. You're probably better off with Radeon drivers for gaming. BTW, the m6100 uses the same core as the R9 M280X.

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/2516/firepro-m6100

 

speaking about Radeon drivers for gaming. I just searched on AMD for hd 7800m -series drivers but at the end on the right click I see FirePro settings, not " Radeon". Did you guys have the same?
And does anybody have or had a Tab in Advanced Settings for creating custom resolutions with custom refresh rates? Because I don't and this makes pain for me, real pain because Nvidia let this to anyone.
I'm on 16.3.2 BTW, http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/mobile?os=Windows 7 - 64

Added: Just tried to flash modded vBIOS (800/1100). Do NOT flash under Windows if you don't want to get hart attack. This AtiWinflash gave me ERROR message at the end I made a vBIOS dump and it was different that I was trying to flash. So I tried to flash it again and my PC froze almost immediately! Had to do hard reset.

Good thing is that it works. At those clocks I set in modded vBIOS. But no way I try to flash it through Windows again.

 

Thanks Kotsi!

 

OK, here are hints I found about M6000:
- never flash from Windows (read above);
- after vBIOS flash MSI Afterburner stops overclocking. But after multiple reboots with AB settings change there and back it works again;
- don't mess with Global Settings if you don't want to lower 3DMark scores (I set AF to x16 and it lowered graphic scores on ~10%);
- It doesn't let you create custom monitor's refresh profiles!!!
- Frame Rate cap in Radeon Software doesn't work for windowed games (had to use RTSS for L4D2 launched in windowed mode).
- My M6000 came with clocks 800/1000 which are clocks of 7870M so Chinese sellers possibly reflash cards;
- vRAM Memory is rated at 5000 (1250) so you can "safely overclock" to those values (hynix h5gq2h24mfr-T2C). Everything higher is risky if you don't have good thermal pads on memory chips and other components.
- M6000 crystal is easy to break. I actually got the one with already slightly broken corner and dented opposite corner. Awfull taobao seller.
- M6000 is a magnet to newbies who like to talk about nvidia cards for some reason

QUESTION: Any owner of M6000 with yellow SMD components, could you share a photo of memory chips? Just curious if those are different than on usual black-green card.

Spoiler: 3DMark11 900/1250

 

is there any video for replacing the X bracket ?

 

Is there any videos on installing fire pro6000?

 

do you happen to have pics? I just ordered the m6000 blue pcb and thought it was plug and play but now I'm hearing il need a shim ?

 

This is a quick summary of installation notes for my m6000. YMMV, but this worked for me for two different M15Xs and two different m6000s. Both are working great.

1) If your m6000 came with an x-bracket, it is probably the thick one which was made for the Dell Precision it was originally designed for. This bracket is too thick for the M15X chassis. I removed this thicker bracket and replaced it with my stock bracket from my 240M GT.

2) One of the heatsink's heatpipes (the bigger one) presses on one of the VRM chokes (the square grey blocks on the card) and prevents the heatsink from making proper contact. I solved this by using a pair of needle nose pliers to gently press down said heatpipe in order to flatten it slighlty in order to achieve clearance from the choke.

3) I used K5-PRO Thermal pad paste instead of traditional thermal pads. I tried several different thermal pads from different manufacturers and different thicknesses but could not achieve a proper fit. I solved all my problems with the K5 Pro paste on my VRAMs and VRM chokes. I am using Gelid GC Extreme on the GPU core.

4) I did not need a shim, nor did I make any other physical modifications other than what's mentioned above.

5) I installed the latest Radeon drivers from AMD's site. No modded inf files or other methods needed. The card is plug and play.

All these things I posted above are already in this thread in detail. People just getting an m6000 need to actually read this thread.

 

Okay il read it over again, I guess I did skip some pages. Thanks!

I bought this card can somone plz verify I have the right one, I really don't want to mess anything up.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/New-For-Dell-...216-0835033-/181979798879?txnId=1531040127008

 

Yes that's the card. I myself have never seen any other version of this card. There was a mention of a red pcb model (probably confused with the m6100 which came in red) and one with yellow components (probably the caps in the VRM section) like James D mentioned, but I personally have never seen one with those variations. I've had 3 m6000s and they all look the same, just like the ebay link you posted.

 

Yes I saw the 6100 and was considering buying it just because of the post I saw on here. Plus I assume it out performs the m6000. But I wanna make sure my motherboard is good before I start getting gpu upgrades over 100

 

Yes I saw the 6100 and was considering buying it just because of the post I saw on here. Plus I assume it out performs the m6000 but I wanna make sure my motherboard is good before I start getting gpu upgrades that cost over $100

 

Thanks .

 

I have had both the 6000 and the 6100. The 6100 is faster. Not sure if the speed bump is worth the extra cost. At that price point you can pick up a 680M if you watch carefully and are patient.

That being said, I enjoyed messing around with the FirePro cards.

Sent from my overpriced Galaxy S6 Edge +

 

What kind of CPU are you running? I've been stressing about my i7 720QM, does anyone know how this CPU handles newer games with the upgraded GPU? My M15 is running very poorly and I can barley run a virtual machine let alone game simple games on bluestacks. I hope upgrading my 240M graphics card to the Fire Pro 6000 will be enough to game newer games.

 

I am running a 940XM. I rarely overclock it.

According to userbenchmarks.com the M6000 is 267% faster than your GTX 240M.

http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GeForce-GT-240M-vs-AMD-FirePro-M6000/m8596vsm7770

I have a GT 240M and it will play older Source games like Half Life but not much else.

The M6000 is a huge step up. Your 720QM is not currently your weak link. It will be if you go with a stronger GPU. However you can always sell your M6000 later.

Have you tried monitoring your GPU and CPU utilization during games?

Sent from my overpriced Galaxy S6 Edge +

 

Yeah, GPU upgrade for playing games. SSD for snappiness and CPU for virtual machine perfromance and no-bottlenecking GPU.

 

Final update of the Fire Pro 6000 upgrade:

Installation was 100% plug and play for me with the K5 thermal paste. The old GPU was in such bad condition no wonder it kept crashing. I've had no crashes, and gaming performance is great. It even handles GTA 5 no problem.

Side note:
I just picked up a M17 R2 i7 920XM with the 1920x1200 screen for a steal, It has dual AMD 5870 GPU currently. Does anyone have experience with this setup? Any recommendations for GPU upgrades if needed? It hasn't arrived yet so I'm curious to try it out, I paid less than what I paid for the M15X so if I don't even need to upgrade then that's a bonus!

 

Nice work but I hope you didn't use the K5 on the GPU core; it's meant to be used on the VRAM and other components. For the GPU core, it's best to use something like Gelid GC-Extreme.

I think the M17X R2 can be maxed out with a dual 7970M setup. The M17X is more picky about graphics card, unlike the M15X which accepts pretty much anything.

 

I applied it where the heat sink touches the GPU, is that what you mean by the core?? What's going to happen, can I fix this?

Ca

can't believe I miss read this... I put the k5 on the core ! I watched a tutorial on YouTube and it only showed him applying a substance on the core nothing about the vrams and chokes ?

Now

ok I get it now lol I'm such a noob. He did cover the vram and chokes with pads in the vid.

I just opened it up and cleaned it up with cotton swabs and cleaned any fibers left behind with air in a can. So I'll be doing the install tmr hopefully nothing's damaged. Everything was running fine until I realized my noob ass mistake so I'm thinking it's okay ??? Only ran for 24 hrs max with the k5 on the core

 

Don't worry, nothing will be damaged. I already did a test on the K5 on an i3-350m CPU just to see how it performs and it's not that bad but it's not meant to be used on silicon (see page 22 of this thread).

Just use it where thermal pads would go such as the VRAM modules, and the VRM chokes; and use standard thermal paste on the silicon die (core). K5 is good for about 2mm in height so don't try it on larger gaps as well.

 

Yep everything fit great and my m15 is running noticeably cooler. Thanks again Kosti

 

did you removed the x bracket ? ,if yes , how did you manage to do it ?

 

Edit:
No I didn't remove it, I thought the two x brackets were close enough in size... I really didn't want to risk damaging the card so I didn't swap the x-bracket.

 

Edit:
I couldn't imagine removing the xbracket without damaging the card but what do I know lol.. I removed the one on my old damaged card as an experiment and it actually came off pretty easy by prying it off I'm not sure how you would re attach it though...

The new cards xbracket it prob held on more securely so you will prob need to put the hair dryer to it

 

The x-bracket for the m6000 is .5mm thicker than the stock bracket for the M15X. It causes a noticeable flexing of the board when installed in the M15X MXM slot. Check post 170 of this thread (currently on page 17).

EDIT: To remove the xbracket, use a hair dryer (or a heat gun on LOW heat) to soften the adhesive tape holding it to the board. Then push down on the screw posts with a small screwdriver (be careful not to strip the threads). As it pulls away from the board, you can start prying it off with your fingers. When replacing the x-bracket, make sure the insulating layer is not damaged.

 

I know this is a 7870M thread, but I recently acquired a late model 7970M Dell NOS, with higher asic quality (77.7%). It can do 1000/1300 on stock voltage of 1.050, so I'm going to try to undervolt as far as possible on stock 850/1200 and see where I can get. Maybe one of you M15x guys would be interested in such a card, if it undervolts nicely?

 

I know it was prob covered already but what's the worst that can happen by installing it the way I did?

 

I hope the bending doesn't cause issues in the long run, I didn't change the xbracket on my m6000 install

 

That's why I swapped the x-bracket for the thinner, stock one. In the short term, the flexing can prevent the thermal compound (both on the silicon die and components) from spreading evenly across the heatsink. In the long run, extra heat and flexing can cause other problems on the pcb.

I noticed the thicker bracket was going to be an issue right away as I was mounting the card. Something was not right. I had to press down the card with more force in the slot in order to get the screws tightened, whereas with the stock bracket, the cards did not need any force to press down the card into the slot in order to screw it down. This is because the thinner bracket has clearance from the magnesium chassis in the MXM slot while the thicker bracket does not have any clearance and pushes down on the magnesium in the slot.

 

so i swapped the x-bracket of m6000 using the hair dryer as kosti advice , and the temperature is maximum of 68 C , i haven't overclocked , i want first to test it before overclocking because i am new to overclocking .

Spoiler: X-Bracket

i put the previous thermal paste but i added one more 1m X 1m to one of the vrams to fill all of them , and did the thermal paste mx-4 to gpu core .

Spoiler: Thermal pads

i benchmark it using unigine heaven and got about 694 on ultra comparing it to 298 using gtx 260m , which is good for me :

Spoiler: Benchmark

but after installing the gpu card , i found these glittering red pixels that's some times appear rather than black color :

Spoiler: red lines problem

i changed the pnp monitor settings from 32 to 16 true color , it reduce the red pixels but , there still more .
any idea ?

edited :

i connected my m15x to external monitor and there were no red pixels its fine ,so what cause my m15x monitor to have these red pixels ?

 

Nice work and good temps.

The red pixels may have something to do with the LVDS display cable. Try re-seating it on the motherboard and the back of the LCD assembly if necessary. Visually check for any tears or cuts in the cable especially around the hinges and any portion where the cable is bent and also wiggle the cable around and pinch it at different points while it is connected and see if the red pixels go away. If they do, then there's a cut in one or more of the small gauge wires inside the LVDS cable assembly. If wires are cut, you can undo the sleeve and find the cut wires and solder them together with a bit of heat shrink over the solder point for insulation, or you can buy a new cable.

 

actually i did ssd caddy mod also , maybe that what happened .
Thank you , i will check the LVDS cables , can i do this check while the laptop is working , to see the red pixels variation ? or it is unsafe ?