M15x & 6970M / 6990M - What you need to know - upgrading, problems, solutions

[f_klo]

i used saphire trixx to OC my 6970 from stock 680/900 to 750/1000 and so far no shutdowns with SWTOR and never goes beyond 82.

[Kazalor]

Originally Posted by JohnnyFlash

Work on the voltage.

What do you mean work on the voltage? Sorry I'm a noob when it comes to OCing GPUs.

[Noth666]

Apoc2k8,
At this point I would suggest trying with your 5850 again to check that that still works, sounds to me like you might have a bad card, or some other issue.

If you get video with the 5850 either your 6970 is bad, or it has wrong vbios or something like this...

If you get the same situation with the 5850 ie no video, then it has to do with something other than the card itself, so something has probably gotten loose inside the laptop, but if you checked and pulled out and reseated all the cables I would not know what...

[JohnnyFlash]

Originally Posted by Kazalor

What do you mean work on the voltage? Sorry I'm a noob when it comes to OCing GPUs.

You can probably undervolt your card a little and still overclock it, that would reduce power consumption and heat. Here's a thread for info.

The way I usually do it, is to dump the vbios with GPU-z, then edit all the settings to the 2D lowest settings with the Radeon BIOS Editor (RBE). From there I use a tool like to Trixx or AMD Clock Tool to see how far each voltage can be pushed stable. That's only my way though, and there's always a small risk when you flash your card.

[spidert622]

OK for some reason after installing my 6990m my system sounds like a leaf-blower. I leave it on at night so I can charge my mamba and g930 headset and it keeps my awake at night. Anyone know why it's so loud? The card idles at 60C and the cpu is around 50C. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Edit: so I have been wondering why my gpu scores have been low... I think I know why, my idle clocks are 300/900 which probably means It thinks I am using an external display. I have been looking where I can change this but I can't find anything.

Is it in catalyst?

Now when I go to trixx and go into overclocking then press reset my clocks go from 300/900 to 400/900 then to 100/150. My computer is quiet again and my fps on crysis looks better then it seems to hit all wall and go from 30-45fps to 5-15fps.... seriously whats going on...

[JohnnyFlash]

Originally Posted by spidert622

OK for some reason after installing my 6990m my system sounds like a leaf-blower. I leave it on at night so I can charge my mamba and g930 headset and it keeps my awake at night. Anyone know why it's so loud? The card idles at 60C and the cpu is around 50C. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Edit: so I have been wondering why my gpu scores have been low... I think I know why, my idle clocks are 300/900 which probably means It thinks I am using an external display. I have been looking where I can change this but I can't find anything.

Is it in catalyst?

Now when I go to trixx and go into overclocking then press reset my clocks go from 300/900 to 400/900 then to 100/150. My computer is quiet again and my fps on crysis looks better then it seems to hit all wall and go from 30-45fps to 5-15fps.... seriously whats going on...

Use the newest GPU-z to monitor your clocks, it's the most reliable. I would check the heatsink contact with the card.

[Noth666]

Yay,
Now I have received my hd-6970m so I shall soon be joining your club .
Still need to bios flash the box as I noticed I am still on A06 according to tools.

Does anyone know the lowest bios to support the AMD/ATI cards on M15x?

[shroomy08]

So, I'm new here, I got my hands on a 6970 but it's the Clevo version.
Any help on how to get the screw holes out? Just wondering if anyone has done this yet. Thanks in advance!

[kurupt]

Originally Posted by Noth666

Yay,
Now I have received my hd-6970m so I shall soon be joining your club .
Still need to bios flash the box as I noticed I am still on A06 according to tools.

Does anyone know the lowest bios to support the AMD/ATI cards on M15x?

flash your bios to A09

[shroomy08]

So I was able to find the X bracket and the matching screws for the card. I was reading that all I need are the matching screws but I'm curious if having the X bracket is preferred.