[Guide] Installing AMD Radeon Mobility 6970 / 6990 in your M17x R2 (Single GPU and CrossfireX)

[Douse]

I am unsure if this has been covered, but do you guys think the 6990m's will be compatible with the m17xr2? Or will they be drawing to much power....

[kenny27]

They should be fine although no one has tried yet (I plan on being a Guinea pig in a few wks tho) just your overclocking will be even more limited

[Douse]

Until they figure out how to use the newer ac adapter

[aarpcard]

I am unsure if this has been covered, but do you guys think the 6990m's will be compatible with the m17xr2? Or will they be drawing to much power....

They are compatible - just ask ichime with his ES 6990. Power is another question. Dual 6970's run close to the PSU's limit. Dual 6990's might trip it under heavy load. But you should be able to use two 240watt psu's in parallel

If you're interested, go back into this topic and read some of the posts - I outlined a whole thing on the power problem.

[kongrad]

CptXabaras

Thanks for answer.Can you please write on which settings you were playing Crysis 2.I think it was with high res. pack and DX11.Was it luggish?Thanks.

[Douse]

Yeah i have read through it all, however alot is still, at this stage, speculation :|

Have you attempted to run the power adapters in parallel?

[kongrad]

pkhetan has goon price on 6990's.If someone could try them on m17x r2?Maybe within a month we will know the truth. And aarpcard, can you please explain a little bit about two 240watt psu's in parallel,please?Thanks.

[aarpcard]

Yeah i have read through it all, however alot is still, at this stage, speculation :|

Have you attempted to run the power adapters in parallel?

Not yet because I haven't run into any power draw limitations with only 1 PSU. When I get a 920xm or 940xm, I'll probably pick up a second PSU and try it out if I have power problems.

Personally I would be extremely surprised if parallel PSU's didn't work. Coming from an electrical standpoint, everything is sound. And the bios will still only recognize it as a 240watt PSU so there won't be any problems there.

[aarpcard]

I still think it would be possible and safe to run two 240 watt PSU's in parallel. If I run into power issues when I get my 6970's I'm going to try that. The voltage being supplied to the motherboard will be the same - and that is all that matters when it comes to IC functionality.

All a second 240watt PSU in parallel would do is provide extra headroom past the original 240watts when more power is needed. You do have to be worried about too much current being drawn through the voltage regulators on the motherboard, but if they can handle a 240watt draw, then my educated guess is that they're engineered for at least 240watts + 20% or 290-300watts.

Using the full potential of a 330watt PSU on the M17x could be damaging I think - along with the possible 480watts provided by the two 240watt PSU's in parallel - but as long as the total draw is below 300 watts, then I'd be confident in the internals of the laptop being able to withstand it - with either the 330 or 480 watt PSU's.

Using the two 240watts in parallel would be the easiest solution as of right now to people's power issues.

Clevo actually does it on their X7200. If you get SLI GTX 485m's or CFX 6970m's you have the option of buying a second 330watt PSU and an adapter to use it in parallel for a total of 660watts.

Electrically speaking, there is no danger - as long as you don't draw much over 300watts from what I can deduce. The extra wattage is just overhead, and the actual voltage supplied to the motherboard doesn't change - and that is what is important; incorrect voltage thrown at IC's will fry them a million times faster than heavier current. The current will only increase as power draw increases and if 240watts is right on the line between handling it and cutting out, then max draw can't be much above that and still within the safe range of amperage engineered into the components.

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[Douse]

Do you think BIOS would detect something amiss, considering that it has a cry about the 330 watt psu?

And the adapter would just a cable that both power packs plug in too, yeah?