7970M mod project.

Meaker

Meaker

Meaker

Soldato
Joined
19 May 2004
Posts
4,026
Model:
16F2 barebone (MSI)

Pre-preparation:

180W PSU
Motherboard GPU power mod

Materials ordered:

GX660 heatsink (5870 mobility model)
MX-4 thermal paste
Low profile copper heatsinks
HD7970M 2GB GDDR5
Dremel 300 for heatsink modifications
2mm thermal pads for rear side component cooling.


Preparations:

heatsinkmod2.jpg


Green = mild grinding
Red = grind down to level

2 weeks till I get the card atm, heatsink should come next week and give me time to work on it.
 
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Very interesting.

I have a 5870M in my Kobalt G860 and am looking for the same upgrade. I've taken the heatsink off the GPU before but it was completely flat unlike yours that needs grinding.

I've got two processors for it. A 580M (32nm 3.33GHz dual core) and a 740QM (45nm 2.93GHz quad core). I prefer the 580M atm as it uses less power and produces less heat so the laptop is quieter and there's only a small drop in performance over the 740QM. A 7970M might be wasted paired up to a 580M CPU though. :mad:

Did you have a 5870M? Have you sold it? Where did you get the 7970M?

Looking forward to updates :)
 
Hey guys, I can't post on these forums where I got it i'm afraid.

However you can head over to notebookreview to find it. The 7970M cost me £330 inc delivery from Canada, the other materials have added to that a bit of course.

I'll recover some of that by selling my current card (a GTX570M).
 
The system in my sig, the 6990M cooler mostly fits, depending how its designed exactly.

Oh wait, in the M18x, yes it would, they have tried crossfire in an ES on the new R2, not been tested on the R1 yet.
 
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Keep us updated mate, interested in maybe getting a 7970m for my Samsung Series 7 700G7 if they show to be that much better than a 6970m and will run fine on the laptop without too many complications.
 
Fantastic score mate! Tempted to get one for my precision m6600 (which I just put the 670m in!)

What are the temps and noise levels like compared to the 570m?
 
Sorry I should mention that's a different person, Just the first overclocked scores from people who got early samples.

My heatsink and dremel will arrive this week, the card the week after.
 
I have a funny feeling the Samsung 700G7A Gamer GPU is not the standard MXM type and even the shape of it is funny compared to a standard MXM card. Who knows maybe a standard one will fit or may have to order a 7970M from Samsung if they will sell them as parts when/If they release the Samsung 700G7A Gamer with a 7970M.

A picture of the Samsung Gamer 6970M card.

20k6eqd.jpg



Check here for more details and the laptop taken apart.

http://translate.google.com/transla...&prev=hp&u=http://www.3dnews.ru/mobile/622780


Meaker what you think ? Also I heard from a Samsung Laptop engineer that they are not easy to take apart and update the internals. I hope someone has a crack at it and shows it to work with a standard 7970M MXM card and then I will try get hold of one of the 7970M's.. Also another question do these cards have special firmware on them to stop them being used in other companies laptops or do they need a certain firmware to work with a certain companies laptop ? I will have to check the current 6970M I have and see what firmware it is running and if it has some Samsung only stamps in it to stop it being used in other laptops.
 
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Differences can be on several fronts:

Different connectors (Including reversed)
Bios keys on the card itself.
Vbios integrated into the system bios.

Comparing that card to this standard one in front of me, all the holes are in the right place, though it looks like the heatsink mounting points are threaded on the samsung card.

Also notice the cutout on the top right of the card (to the right of the 3 phases) I believe a standard MXM card is the length of the first notch (not the second) so if that is cut out to fit round something a standard card may not fit.

All this trouble to not use standard MXM :/

You could always look into getting a 7970M from one of the new models, it may be similar.

EDIT:

http://www.3dnews.ru/_imgdata/img/2012/01/12/622780/s700g7a-inside-2.jpg

Hmz, it may fit, it is just a backplate too.....
 
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Well, pleased with the 6970, so not actually concerned about performance, but i would too like to see if its possible to upgrade to 7970M. Maybe samsung do a upgrade path for a fee??
 
Hi Meaker, I have a gx660r upgraded with a 6970m, 180w psu, and a modded 5870m heatsink.
What is the motherboard mod you refer to in your first post?
It would be nice to think at a later date I could upgrade again to 7 series gpu :-)

Mick
 
Flying, you just need to modify the heatsink a bit more, it looks like the 7970M draws less power than the 6990m and 580m at this point.
 
Meaker how's it going with the 7970M, do you have the card yet ? Would not mind seeing some "REAL" benchmarks and not made up 3Dmark scores that are floating about the internet and even the laptop forum sites.
 
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