Project make M15x Pascal and Polaris compatible (DP only)

Hi guys,

Welcome to my new project Next year I am going to attempt to upgrade the M15x (and of course succeed!)

The idea is quite simple and won't require any soldering whatsoever. The biggest hurdle is finding a space large enough to fix the DP - LVDS converter board.

Components:
1.) DP to mDP cable $8

2.) mDP to LVDS converter (actual size 3cmx9cm) $71

3.) mPCIE usb chip $5

4.) 2 pin to usb adaptor $10

5.) LVDS extension cable $1


The plan is to connect the DP to mDP cable up and route it back inside the chassis cleanly enough. Connect up to the converter board and then connect the M15x LVDS cable up to the board. For power I intend to remove the BT module and instead install the mpcie to usb adapter and using the 2 pin to usb adaptor pictured to power it.

Placement of the board would preferably be somewhere where the LVDS extension cable would not be needed.

Thoughts friends? The adaptor board isn't huge but also neither small. Where could we place this bad boy? Near the ODD or somewhere north of the BT mpcie slot in the cavity there...

As for BT and wifi a simple and cheap upgrade to the intel 7260 would bring ac wifi and BT4.0 to the M15x AIO

I hope to buy all the parts early next year and then test out using the all powerful 260M. If all works well I will get a Pascal 1060 or better yet an AMD E9550 thus making the mod a success!

The project will cost under $150 plus shipping (much less than a new card) and other than the DP to mdp cable sticking out when in use. If successful a further mod could be created where a new "socket" is created in the chassis side. Thus one could then easily unplug the DP to mdp cable and stow for travel with more ease than a laptopcooler!

 

Hi, wonderful idea, I follow you because I'm dreamin the same on my m18xr2 that appear still good for my personal use.

Really interested and maybe I've enough space on this beast to mod

 

Indeed! Thanks. Space will be my problem even though the M15x is chunky.

M18x might be better in terms of space for sure.

Sent from my SM-A500FU using Tapatalk

 

You are using HDD caddy, correct? If so, cut the useless "fin" and stuff the converter on its place.

Use the AzureWave AW-CB160H card with adapters to your/our antennae connector. It's 3x3 so it's worth the extra effort

Good luck!

 

I was thinking along the same lines. The caddy though isnt it a bit small even after modded?

Also the azurwave how does this mod work?

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I don't know the size of the adapter and your HDD caddy's placement and fin size, so I can't possibly know whether or not it would fit. It's up to you to measure it, I just made the suggestion

As for the AzureWave, I was talking about this listing.

 

Really would like to know if it al works in they end......

 

Me too! I look forward to the project in 2017! Wont hold a candle to your H2O mod though Mike

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I don't know about M15x, but as far as M18x is concerned....the empty DMC slot would be a perfect place to put a device to provide power. you could probably stuff the converter board under the keyboard or in the DMC slot area as well.

M15x...space is really tight there. Only spare room I can think of is the optical drive area.

 

Do you use your Expresscard slot? May fit in there with the Expresscard pcb and slot mechanism removed. You should be able to then squeeze the small DP end inside the slot opening and route it underneath the laptop to the DP port on the other side. Wrap the pcb in some kapton tape to insulate it, and use some spongy double sided tape to secure it to the chassis.

BTW, I am also using an Intel 7260 (the N version, not the AC version) card with integrated BT. Works great but getting the drivers to work in W7 was tricky. I had to use a separate BT driver to get BT working. I have those drivers if you are going to need them. Windows 10 detects the card and installs the correct drivers so no worries with W10.

 

I look forward to this too. Nice to see youre keeping the spirit, King

 

This .... would be extremely dope. Good luck King!

 

Wow 6 months have gone by and I have done nothing! haha this plan has not died yet just on hold until 1060 module price comes down! $600 for a GTX970 seems a bit whack!

$800 dollar update for poor M15x. No wonder no one doing it yet! When I eventually get round to doing it I may as well throw in a 940xm for fun...

 

I'll be following this closely.

 

I'm hoping you get this to work eventually. Not really in a rush because I recently upgraded to a GTX 970M for $350. (Luckily found a cheap Clevo card from an international seller.) I can definitely wait till the prices on Pascal hardware drop enough to warrant an upgrade. The 970M is already pushing the aging 920XM. I can't seem to get mine to get past 3.2Ghz without 80c+ temps. The 970M runs cooler while gaming then the CPU haha!

 

Have you tried liquid metal thermal paste like Coolaboratory Liquid Metal or Thermal Grizzly Cryonaut. That as well as a modded cooler stand with 12V fans and the bottom tray removed will definitely help overclocking the 920xm. I used Cryonaut myself with good initial results but I had an issue with it drying out too soon so I have stopped using it, but it is worth trying.

 

Well 350 is okay for the 970M. I am back onto a 260M. Gave up with the 980M and sold it before Christmas. So hot. The 970M is a very good match up with the 920XM and yes many won't clock beyond 3.2GHZ across 4 cores.

That said 1060 offers OCed 980M performance at 80W TDP and would be a final upgrade for this machine IMHO. We need added thermal capacity for the CPU and this is one way to provide it.

 

Kosti, Yeah I purchased the Liquid metal before and found that it was a little messy plus if some spilled outside the die into the other electronic pieces, I don't want to risk damage to my machine. I will try out the Cryonaut and let's see what happens.

King, I was looking into the 980M...but the much steeper cost and the heat helped my decision on not buying it. I hope you do upgrade to the 1060M, so maybe when I'm ready...I can try the 1160M or something around that range. The 970M is more than enough for me now.

 

Lol 1160M. 1060M still going for a good 600 from dodgy chinese online retailers. Rip off of course!

1160M will be $1000 easily. Besides anything more than 1060M is overkill when matched with the 920XM. Even overclocked to 3.6ghz+ it will bottleneck in some instances with the 1060M for sure.

That said a 40W GPU with the same performance at a less ridiculous price tag would also be welcome. Would also give us more thermal headroom to get the cpu up to some higher clockspeeds via overvolting.

 

A cheap try that dont overheat and no cpu bound would be 1050ti 4GB on mxm slot "A" so more small and less watt

 

Bang on. 1050 mxm would be a nice car. 980M performance on a 50w mxm A card!

 

A 1050 has the performance of a 965M.

 

Have you got some benchs?

From here look like a 970m than a 965m..

https://videocardz.com/64096/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-for-notebooks-to-be-faster-than-gtx-970m

 

That's a 1050 Ti. A "normal" 1050 has less performance.

 

~ $642 for a 1060: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alienware-M...242025?hash=item1ecb532269:g:tKwAAOSwmFNZaPvu

But would that setup work? Is converting the LVDS to eDP all that needs to be done to make it work?

I wonder if this would allow something like 1070 SLI on an M18x.

 

With other laptops I would be skeptical about it working due to other machines being far more picky with different MXM cards. The M15x has supported every single MXM 3.0 card since its release that has been tested. The Pascal cards except for lack of LVDS support I am very certain will work using the DP out on the laptop. My mod to convert this signal back to LVDS should also technically work and the GPU will be none the wiser.

Also ssj92 you misread my OP. The mod is to convert DP to LVDS. Not the other way around.

The challenge for M15x is lack space for the signal convertor board inside the chassis. M18x will have much more space but perhaps won't support Pascal at startup.

 

Details on the mod? You have something planned? There is a 1070 going for the price of a 1060....would love to test in M18x and M15x.

 

Nothing more than in the OP. That and a little bit of imagination

 

Actually I think there's no need for eDP to LVDS board because M15x have already eDP route presented on the motherboard. It was just chosen not to be used. I've checked schematics and connections on the motherboard with multimeter. They're only few elements missing from the motherboard to make it work. Obviously eDP connector is'n presented and few more resistors, capacitors and inductors.



What I understand from the Board View and motherboard itself, corresponding inductors L604 and resistors R898, R899 and so on (L605, L606...) should be chosen or to solder only inductors or only resistors because they occupies same places on the motherboard. So in theory it should be matter of soldering connector, few capacitors, few resistors and in the eDP lines itself: resistors or inductors. And off course eDP screen.

 

Sounds fairly complicated however I have a spare M15x motherboard if you want to test it out currently fully functional.

If this upgrade is feasible it will be a major success! I wonder if it is possible to change the cpu socket to support sandybridge

 

not without changing out the entire chipset....

 

Ok sounds good to me

 

definitely sounds plausible.
I'm pisspoor with my boardview reading skills; any chance you can give me a parts list?
I've got steady hands for soldering this kinda thing.

 

This is exciting! If successful and you enjoy this kind of modding as a hobby you could always offer the upgrade to other M15x owners for cost of shipping and a crate of beer (beer money )

 

Sure, no problem:


Basically all resistors and capacitors looks for me as a standard size 1x0.5mm which is 0402 or 1005 metric size.
Summarizing values:
R898, 899, 900, 901, 902, 903 - 0 Ohm, only jumpers
R906 - 4.7k
R907, 908, 909 - 100k
C811, 812, 813, 814, 815, 816 - 0.1uF 10V filtering caps, ceramics
C817 - 220pF 50V, ceramic
L604, 605, 606 - DLW21SN900SQ2B, they are filtering inductors made by Murata: http://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/Murata-Electronics/DLW21SN900SQ2B/?qs=/%2bYoplLUB5itW4EugIfLLg==
I'm pretty sure it can be any other so called common mode chokes with that same parameters. Besides there's no need for them if there will be jumper resistors soldered. Lucky I have broken motherboard from m17r1 which use those filters so I can reuse them if I want.
And last part is connector which according to schematics is exactly AE_FI-G30SB-VF25-DT. I found it on the aliexpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...00-DT-LVDS-Connector/1928062_32497904033.html

There's some soldering but not that much. Only pain will be the size of those caps and resistors. Good luck then.

 

Wow hopefully it works! I would definitely pay for a hardmod like this. Unlimited upgradability!!

 

Darn it. My 260M gave out last night. Time for a replacement.

 

do you want another 260M? I've got one in my desk draw at work and I'm near to the Bmth area (seem to remember you have family there)

 

Just installed a used 5850 for 40 euros shipped. Nice offer though. I do indeed have family that way although I live just over 1000 km to the south east of there

 

5850/5870 is one of my favorite cards ever. I had mine undervolted significantly at stock clocks.

 

What is the DMC used for?

 

Slot across from the wifi slot in the M18x...not sure where it was in the M17x, it's been 4 years since I touched one. DMC was a special mini pcie slot that was used to power the sibeam wihd option that was never really popular.....was like an extra 120, and you had to buy the receiver station separately.

 

so, is there any update on this project or any successful attempt in soldering missing components to make eDP available?

 

Not that I'm aware of, and frankly, there isn't much point to it other than a proof of concept. Nehalem will bottleneck anything beyond a 980M.

 

but it would still great to have a 1060 in this machine which will deliver more performance than a 970m with better power effeciency as well as dx12.1 support and larger VRAM right?

 

1060 is 6GB VRAM, 970M is also 6GB VRAM. 1060 will not run cooler than a 970M, they are in the same TDP class. dx12.1 may be the only benefit, and it's not worth the massive amount of work to the motherboard only to find it might not work. 970M/980M is good enough for M15x.

 

oops, I forgot that the 970m also have 6GB of VRAM, my mistake. yeah, you're right, unless dx12.1 offers more thing than dx11, the 970m/980m seems like a better choice

 

Yeah this project is on hold. I have way more pressing matters to take care of yes 1060 isnt a great upgrade. That said e9260 if it ever comes out would be a great low power unit and of course future low tdp cards that punch above 980M at a suitable TDP.

 

https://au.mouser.com/Semiconductor...llers/Images/_/N-wnwh?Keyword=MAX8792&FS=True pretty sure this is the missing edp chip that needs to be soldered on

 

Just because there is a place marked EDP on the board doesn't mean it has traces underneath running to the right places. You're welcome to try and see though.