Search the Community

Hey So I brought a 970m the other day and have finally got round to fitting it into my laptop. Installation went smooth and system posted. The bios recognised the nvidia gpu but the system recognised it as a standard graphics adapter and had an error code 30? I think this was because the correct drivers weren't installed yet. So I continued doing what I was doing and installed the correct drivers by downloading them off of eurocom and then disabling driver signatures (because I am running windows 8.1). I then had to replace an INF file with a modded file and the driver was on my system. When I rebooted my computer I now see that the system doesn't even register the graphics adapter but the drivers are correctly installed. If anyone could tell me where to go from here that would be great. In the meantime I am going to reinstall drivers and and see if that does the trick. Thanks Tom

Note: This Build log is just a repost from another Overclocking forum. The mods said I couldn't link to it in my signature so I'm reposting it with some of the response remarks in the single firstpost. This isn't like some epic awesome cool desktop build log, its just to show case what you can do with customizing and creating a gaming rig out of a high end gaming notebook. Its not something really special but it is a fairly unique build and I did much of it by myself, with some stuff purchased at XoticPC. This log is pretty much on hold until I get all 3 of my monitors so I can start it up again and do debezeling and building an eyefinity array for the system to use. I'll update it when I can get my new monitors and parts. Feel free to ask questions or leave comments, thanks for taking interest. Audios, ~Franbunny Alice Viera Stats and Specs Super M17X R4 CPU: Intel Core i7 3740QM IvyBridge Overclocked @3.77GHz all cores, turbing up to 4.06ghz 2 Cores, according to CPUZ GPU: Dell/Alienware AMD Radeon HD7970M 2GB GDDR5(Thames/Wimbledon XT)[MXM Slot] Motherboard: Alienware M17xR4 HM77 Socket fcPGA988(Sandybridge/Ivybridge) Memory: Kingston HyperX 12GB 1866mhz DDR3 Dual channel, 4 SODIMM units: 2 x 4GB+2x 2GB Storage Solution: 64GB Crucial M4 mSATA SSD[boot drive] 750GB Western Digital Scorpio Black[storage] 60GB Kingston SSDnow! V+ SSD(Caching) Case/Chassis: Alienware M17X R3/R4 with XoticPC service applied custom artwork created by Me(Franbunny Alice Viera) Display: 1920x 1080 60HZ Super Clear Super Bright Alienware 17.3inch FHD WLED screen @ 72%NTSC Gamut. External ASUS VS207-T 2160x1215 Downsampling(1600x900)monitor. Optical Drive: 8x DVD Buner RW drive slim slot load Audio: Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di High-Definition 5.1 Audio with THX TruStudio Pro Software, Audio Powered by Klipsch 2.0 4speaker array. Overall Cost: $2300 even. Base system: 1909$ XoticPC upgrades: 198$ Aftermarket upgrades: 193$ Includes all taxes shipping cost Doesn't include the 30$ extra charge for the artwork update I got, but a friend paid for that for me. Original (Modified) thread post below! Lots of cool stuff, check it out :thumb: Alright so I got my M17X R4 today and I'll be starting my build here soon. I dubbed it a "Super M17X R4" because it has advanced upgrades that you can't get stock from Alienware.com Its basically a stock HD7970M 1080P M17X R4 Nebula Red with an SSD from XoticPC installed, and my personal graphics artwork applied to the lid(Art by me, Vinyl application done by XoticPC) Nothing super fancy like some of the guys's nice rigs around here hey its a stretch for a laptop. Heres my concept art to real world imgur thread with photos from XoticPC: http://imgur.com/a/VcQiR The "super" upgrade that I'm doing Base build i7 3630QM HD7970M 750GB HDD 1080P 60HZ Screen XoticPC upgrade 64GB Crucial M4 mSATA SSD for OS Custom artwork Vinyl(120$ had to do a 2nd print) Total machine price from at unboxing: $2103 My Parts list 12 GB DDR3 Dual Channel Kingston HyperX RAM (Kingston HyperX 2x4gb 1866mhz Memory Modules Kingston HyperX 2x2gb 1866mhz Memory Modules, 6GB per channel.) Kingston SSDnow! V+200 60GB SSD Intel Centrino 6250 Multiband WifiCard+WiDi compatable+WiMAX technology Artic MX-2 Thermal Compound Update: Got a i7 3740QM from Alienware free of charge as an error with XoticPC's problematic customer service, ty Alienware! Got my first of 3 1600x900 monitors and Soft modded the driver for 2160x1215 downsampling resolution. "Soft Mods" Xotic PC did a clean install of Windows 7 HP for me but They were missing some drivers so I'm catching theme as I go along. Debating whether I should just drop in a clean install myself before doing all the software level mods. (^Lol did this last night, done) Login Tweaks wallpaper Windows Manabí OS-Tan Windows 7 theme modified with my own changes(Done) Intel SRT Technology(to be used with the 60GB SSD)(Done) Windows OS Symbolic Links creation for SSD theory operation(see below)(done) Downsampling custom monitor resolution: 2160 x 1215(+15)(2.62 megapixels)to emulate future eyefinity workload. Hardware Mods Chassis and Crucial M4 SSD Install(XoticPC did this) ArticMX-2 applied.(done) Full CPU overclock: 4ghz OC 2cores, 3.77ghz OC 4 Cores HD 7970M Super Clock: Gaming stable clock: 972mhz Core/1225 Memory Here's what went into the system. Storage System schematic, part of the "Super" build title meaning So before anyone asks about my storage solution set up here "Why 2 SSDs?" One is for OS, the mSATA, its specifically for OS, Drivers, Communicators, and browsers. If something of that sort doesn't fall under that category I simply do not want it to be on that mSATA SSD, I want to keep it clean and as quick booting as possible This SSD will be separate to operation of user applications and games. However the 750GB HDD will be paired in raid operation with the 60GB SSD which will cash and pin programs from the 750GB HDD to give me maximum storage and performance ratio. It's going to be a pain to set up all the symbolic links and moving around system files to keep files off the SSD but keeping everything operating to perfection is an absolute must for me. I'm stoked to see this M17X R4 finally arrive, because It will handle every game I play without issues and will later on be able to support a 720P eyefinity set up which I plan on saving up money for. I'll be doing an unboxing and overview video, along with an upgrading video as well. EDIT, got a semi unlocked CPU for this part, OC'd it to 4Ghz with Bios and Intel XTU settings. I've never used AMD graphics before, but since GCN Radeon HD 7000 series is better for high resolutions and multi screen performance, as well as my workstation projects and programs I desided to hang up my green and black for a red and black tshirt and wanted to get something that would fit my value and resources.. I'm curious on the difficulty of overclocking and tweaking the mobile GPU to achieve a worth while and stable overclock to support the higher resolutions for downsampling, eyefinity and games in general. I don't want to push it hard, I just want to see a good 3dMark11 score pop up, and have acceptable frame rates at high to max@720P to 900P eyefinity. Here's my 3dMark stock with the 13.6beta drivers After all the hardware is installed and running, and full windows updates. http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6688658 This will be my 4th Alienware, and my 3rd Alienware laptop, and I'm stoked to see it come to life. I hope you guys enjoy my presentation, because I'm absolutely stoked. :thumb: Hardware upgrades: Done! File system managed: complete! Overclocking: Done and Stable 4ghz OC 2cores, 3.77ghz OC 4 Cores Downsample Resolutions: 2160x1215 External monitor softmod Downsampling Build progression Concept First Mock up Final mock up Artwork completed Final Print Fun Fact. This is the 27megapixel image that I created for the Vinyl artwork. http://franbunnyffxii.deviantart.com/art/m17X-skin-R3-364624834 This took me a little over 41hours to do(not including mock ups or stuff like that), because it was done pixel by pixel... In MSPaint and then the image was drafted and finalized and rendered in MS Powerpoint2007. The original image of fran that is in the middle of the artwork is a 45megapixel digital graphic. It wasn't cleaned or optimized for usage http://franbunnyffxii.deviantart.com/art/Fran-Final-Fantasy-XII-352296560 I cut and cleaned this image out pixel by pixel, by hand in MS paint, for the most humanly accurate possible raw image. It took me 36hours to do that. Build photos from XoticPC Crucial M4 mSATA SSD installed Unboxed and to the next stage Teardown and rebuild video http://www.youtu.be/zvxtMZ3QGQE Now I can go on to overclocking and stuff. http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6693475 http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6693520 Highest I can take it without overvolting WOOT http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6694445 this is where my laptop was failing before, because it was so heavily undervolted. apparently it was a full 0.25 under standard voltage. Its pretty epic to see this score pop up being on such a low voltage. I think I got a good card. :thumb: Anyone think I can break 1ghz? 20minute stress test a 99% gpu load. didn't even break 67C Wow... 1ghz HD7970M http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6695051 Highest OC before I went up to and got the i7 3740QM Blows me away to see this thing is benching a little more than half the power of a GTX 780/titan... just amazing for me going from a GTX 570 1280MB-->GT 335M-->GT650M-->HD 7970M Nope. Its all native, which is one of the reasons I got the M17X to begin with. If you look deep down at the M17X R4's specs you see crap that alienware put in it that other companies didn't like the native support for up to 2133mhz ram, along with HDMI In, and Sound recon3Di, and klispch audio, ect. The MSI laptops couldn't support my SSD system, the asus couldn't either, and both MSI and asus will void your warranty if you pull off the heatsinks and repaste if you're not a qualified specialist at a retail vendor. blahlblah. alienware doesn't care. "mod away! we love to see that stuff" they just don't support whatever 3rd party stuff under their warranty. But yeah everything you're seeing here is native, nothing tweaked beyond software. Current Set up.