m3th0d1c4l

So finally took it apart today and went to try the other card and the original 7970m card and I noticed this: Looking at MXM 3.0 pin wiring diagram they seem to correlate to grounding pins. Not sure if that would be enough to do it, but my assumption is this is the reason it’s not working correctly. I put in my 7970m and worked right away without issue at 3.0 x16. Gonna try the quadro later today or tomorrow.

Yeah I’m running out of ideas myself. Only way to really figure it out is by testing another card I guess or even my older 7970 again and see what happens. I’m wondering if there is some kind of bios setting after I did the unlocked bios that is causing it and I’m just not seeing it, or if it’s really the card itself. I guess only way to rule it out is by trying another card and seeing what happens. I’ll keep you guys posted if I come across anything new. Normally I’m really good about figuring these kinds of things out but this one has me stumped.

So i finally got around to trying Windows 10, resulted in the same exact issue. I just really don't know what else I can try to get this thing to work at the proper bus speed. It has to be a driver issue of some sort because it reports PCIE 3.0 x16 right before I install the drivers in GPU-Z. I will try the other Quadro card in a few days when i feel like taking this thing apart again for the millionth time. In the meantime, any other suggestions of things I can try would be appreciated. Perhaps I am modding the nvidia drivers incorrectly? Basically I just took the nvdmig file, added a line with the device hardware ID modifiers in the windows 10 driver section and the [Strings] section. Is there anything else I needed to do?

Yeah this sounds like the plan to go with here. I got another 2.5” SSD I can use. I’ll go ahead and download/create a windows 10 bootable image and test this out later tonight or tomorrow after work. if this turns out to be the problem I’ll be happy. I can live with windows 10. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks again for the help and insight. Much appreciated.

Yeah yours is running correctly. Should be at PCIE 3.0 x16 and @ part can drop down while idle for power savings. Mine won’t even register the x16 3.0 part at all So I tried uninstalling the drivers and cleaning with DDU and opened GPU-Z when it said just “Microsoft Display Adapter” and now it showed the correct bus speed with PCIE x16 3.0 @x8 1.1 As soon as I install the driver it goes back to 1.1 @1x. I wonder if I’m doing something wrong with the modding of the driver file. I even tried older drivers from 535 version. Same thing. I’m kind of baffled. Don’t know what else I can check or mess with. I edited the nvdmig file both sections plus the strings section. Only other thing I’m wondering if it’s a windows 11 issue and maybe I need to install windows 10 instead? Did you have windows 11 in those screenshots?

It was a 1070 from eBay. Didn't have a vendor listed that I saw on the item description. it showed Dell as the Subvendor in GPU-Z so i assumed it was a dell version or similar. Is there a different VBIOS i should try? I haven't touched the VBIOS yet. I did this with latest on M18x R2 downloads page, as well as trying to let Windows update them through Windows update, same result. Are there any settings in the unlocked BIOS that may be affecting it? I haven't really messed with anything in there after flashing the BIOS except switching to SG mode.

I just now tried this (both sleep and the BIOS) and same result. Bus Speed still shows PCIe 1.1 @ x1 and no difference on power draw/performance. I am going to try the quadro card probably tomorrow or next day but I wanted to rule out of this card has a problem so I can return it if need be. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

So i tried to reseat the card and no luck there. I even cleaned the MXM slot (although was quite clean) and the pins on the card itself and made no difference. Here are a couple GPU-Z screenshots with Overwatch 2 launched that I attached. I just am not sure if its a driver thing that I modded the inf file incorrectly? Or if the card itself is the issue.

I’ll double check that when I get back Monday but as far as I remember they were hitting max speeds per GPU-Z while I had a game running. I’ll install 3DMark and test with that as well

Thanks, I will try this out. You actually might be right about this. I did notice one thing when i was installing the card with the modded copper heatsink. I noticed it was putting a decent amount of pressure on the card and i thought i noticed some warping on the PCB. Perhaps this is causing it? Ill take it apart and take some pictures when i get back Monday.

So small update: I got both a 1070M and a quadro card also to test both out. I installed the 1070 first and performed the driver inf mod and install went smooth and card is working. However the performance of the card seems off. Power draw according to GPU -Z shows never going above 60-65W board power draw and chip power draw is 30-33W max. And bus speed shows as PCIE 1.1 connection @2x instead of 16x/8x PCIe 3.0 I haven’t tried the other quadro card yet but I’m planning to later next week when I have more time to tear it apart again. is this an issue with the card itself, or my motherboard? Or maybe I didn’t do something right with the drivers? Any help is appreciated. I can attach GPU-Z screenshots when I get back home Monday.

Thanks for the info. I ordered the P5000 just waiting for it to get here. Ill post some pics once i get it all together and running. One last thing I had a question on, I saw some threads about the MXM to NVME adapter and the power drain that occurs with the use of this adapter. I saw there was a revised V3 version of this card but there was no definitive follow up on how the power drain was in comparison to the V2 model. Does anyone have this V3 model and tested power drain? Currently I am running a SATA SSD that I just recently replaced but was considering getting one of these adapters if the power drain issue was truly fixed.

Gotcha. Sounds good. I’ll steer clear of the Chinese cards then. I also found a quadro p5000 16GB card from a dell precision. Is this also compatible or will the system not handle this card? https://www.ebay.com/itm/186113313061?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=uSLmA-UYRpq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=3Zbx8-FNQrS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY thanks again.

Thanks for the reply. I have unlocked the bios and switched to SG mode. I am waiting for the heating to arrive. Would the one from the dell precision work as far as an upgrade? Such as this one? https://www.ebay.com/itm/195728292291?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=vp7bGSLNRu-&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=3Zbx8-FNQrS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY now as far as those china 1070m, is it mostly cheap in terms of longevity/lasting components? Or were there other issues?

Hey fellas. Been looking through a lot of threads here and lots of great info. I used to be a part of NBR and Dell Forums many years ago but haven't been very active for a long time. Recently, I have been looking at bringing my old M18x R2 back to life. Its been sitting in my closet collecting dust in its original red sleeve, and I am looking at bringing this up to spec. My current (and original) configuration of the computer: - Nebula Red - i7 3940XM (3 Pipe Heatsink from factory) - 32GB RAM (Original Samsung Modules) - AMD 7970M Crossfire I recently took it apart, cleaned out all the dust, and replaced the thermal compound on CPU and GPUs, and upgraded the Wi-Fi card to an AX210 Wi-Fi 6E/BT 5.2 card as well as placed in a new Crucial 2TB SATA SSD. I am looking at removing the 7970M cards which both still work great without issues, and replacing it with a 1060M or 1070M card with one of the custom copper heatsinks I have seen on eBay. I have seen many talking about the Quadro RTX cards as well. All the cards i have been finding on eBay all seem to be coming from China and are roughly all around the same price range give or take. All the topics ive been reading seem to say to avoid these cards, is this due to quality issues, compatibility or both? I also assume my original AMD heatsink will not work with any of these, but correct me if I am wrong (hence why i was looking at the custom copper ones). I am currently in the process of unlocking the BIOS to place it into SG mode and If i understood from what I have read so far, I have to remove one of the 7970M cards in order for this to work in SG mode until i get the new card installed? Thanks for any and all info. Glad to see people are still keeping this guy up to date as much as possible.