Raidriar

better to have 240W.

For posterity's sake, I am uploading my private vBIOS made by the legendary Prema for me as a gift. He asked me long ago not to share, but I think the 980M's heyday is long past, so I am releasing it for all to enjoy. It has the voltage capped at 1.00V to keep temperatures in check while maintaining stock clocks. It also helps prevent blowing up MOSFETs on the card, a known 980M behavior. I have used this vBIOS in my M18x for years, as well as M15x. It is bundled with the legendary svl7's mnvflash, which will allow you to flash this vBIOS (make sure you use the -6 flag). WARNING: THIS VBIOS IS NOT FOR THE ALIENWARE 18 SLI CONFIGURATION. IT WILL WORK FOR THE PRIMARY CARD, BUT IT WILL COOK YOUR SECONDARY CARD SINCE IT KILLS SLAVE GPU FAN CONTROL!!!!!!!!!!!! Prema, if you are still around and reading, forgive me and I hope you understand. Prema-Raidriar-980M-VBIOS.zip

Clevo 8970M is the best card you can use in the M17x R2. Single card can use latest driver, crossfire can only use 17.3.3. No need for HWINFO to control fans, the embedded controller can interface just fine with Clevo 8970M. Dell 7970M/R9 M290X will need HWINFO to control fans. Nvidia Kepler cards do not work with internal sound with the exception of the GTX 680M, which will require HWINFO to manipulate the fans. Maxwell cards of the GM2xx flavor do not work. Maxwell GM1xx will work, but again, no native fan control.

For posterity's sake, I am uploading my latest ATi Mobility Radeon 8970M vBIOS for those that want to use the card in the M17x R2. The previous iteration of this vBIOS did not provide sound over HDMI, but this one does. Originally the vBIOS used was from a 8970M pulled from a Clevo P370HM. New vBIOS (latest I could find) is based off the Dell R9 M290X, and it works fine on the Clevo 8970M card. It is also Crossfire enabled for use with 2 cards + Crossfire cable. It is also undervolted to run 900/1250 @ 0.95V to keep thermals reasonable in the M17x R2. I have added a variety of voltage modded vBIOS for those that want to try different voltages, the lowest being 0.95V (you need a really good ASIC quality card) to the highest being 1.00V (almost all should be able to run this one). Clevo cards enjoy native fan control in the M17x R2. Dell cards will require HWINFO to manipulate the fans. MSI cards are unknown. ATIFlash is also packaged with the vBIOS (must be run from DOS USB). Please remember the best possible driver to use is 17.3.3 as all drivers after that do NOT work with Crossfire. If using a single 8970M it will work with the latest driver, but brightness will be broken. 8970M_M17xR2_UVPACK.zip