GuitarG

16 hours ago, Daedalus said:

  Which is a sensible upgrade for longevity as i see some cards shorten the life of the machine.  I see there is the NVflash and found a custom driver for the 965 on another site. and then there is the question of what bios etc works with what.

Happy to get all heatsink separate parts. Is there a list of which to get? e.g 8770W fan shroud etc? i see you had a laaaarge pile of sinks, pipes and bits to get to the utopia you have now.

Apologies for all the questions, your input Much appreciated, keep up the awesome work. 

CPU is Achilles' heel in this laptop, 3940 will give you nice performance. It is most efficient 3rd gen mobile CPU. Remember to use PTM7950.

The newer GPU you use, the better it will work. 965 may cost more than something better and modern. 
Remember what panel you use, though. 980 and 965 are last ones working with "normal" LCD, newer ones need modified LCD cable and eDP panel or Dreamcolor assembly. I recommend first option more, cheaper and better.
I bought few months ago P5000 for like 100$.

That large pile of heatsink are just leftover from my work and project. I repair a lot of damaged notebooks and sell them. And sometimes I bought a lot of heatsinks for 5$ each. That pile is about 3 years of auctions 😃

Anyway, I found another 8570w auction, wish me luck so I grab it cheapest I can! = ] my modded cable awaits its glory!

And remember when I had Clevo ? Now I'm trying to grab damaged Alienware M17x R4 and try it out.

On 7/2/2025 at 8:04 PM, SuperMG3 said:

Hello. Did you test if RTX 3000 from HP works too? If it works, it means all RTX 3000/4000/5000 work at the end. I can get the cards work on the first slot of my laptop and have better driver supports for RTX 7000 GPUs on the second slot on 3rd gen hahaha

Quadro T1000/T2000 or any RTX 3000-5000 will work. Tried few vBIOS on mine, all worked with differences being what ports it outputs, for ex. some vBIOS didn't worked with my Displayport. They also different with TDP, Mhz min and max parameters.

I would love to borrow Ampere gen card and check if it would work.

15 hours ago, cdoublejj said:

will be seeing some posts on custom heatsinks?

 
Yes, check out my HP 8570w thread or Khenglish's one with his Clevo =) we both made custom coolers

Hi folks! I mapped out connections needed to conversion, everything ready to go. I have 4K IPS eDP screen for testing ready. 
Unfortunately, I have to look for spare 8570W to test my modded cable. Cheapest in my region is about 200$ sadly. 
So Im waiting for cheapest possible =] 

If it will work and don't burn anything, I will show connections schematic here! 

Or maybe someone has one in working condition for sale (or science!) ? 


 

On 6/16/2025 at 7:14 PM, panda_zzz said:

If it is not difficult to show a screenshot from gpu-z with information where it shows that the option above 4g decoding is active

Unfortunately, without Intel GPU it's not possible to use coreboot together with windows. It's linux only

Most important ? Use low temp. soldering paste - lowest is Sn42/Bi58 Melting Point: 139°С. (I'm  pretty sure manufacturers use this exact compound).
Also best to use something like oven with temp. control - don't exceed 140-145 celsius degrees for both heatsink dissasembly and reassembly. And oven is best because of heatsink properties, you need to saturate (heat) every heatsink part for solder to melt and not damage fragile heatpipes.
Best way to clean old solder or prepare surface for soldering is to sand down using sand paper or flat metal file and wipe with isopropyl alcohol on tissue.
Make sure surfaces are flat as possible for best contact between surfaces. Solder is for mitigating air gaps and holding both surfaces. 

On 6/15/2025 at 7:03 AM, Vladka76 said:

I wish you could enable integrated Intel graphics and Optimus technology. After all, this will allow (if I'm not mistaken) all owners of non-DC, non-FHD screens and LVDS cables to install video cards newer than Maxwell 2.0... 😉
Good luck in perfecting your custom coreboot!
---
P.S. I would be extremely grateful if you could explain how DDR3 works at 2133 MHz on your 8570. Another mystery for me. 🙂

Heh, thanks ppl =] that's really nice to hear.

Unlocking iGPU is a no-no, mxm gpu is directly connected to internal display and external outputs. Schematics says intel gpu is not connected anywhere. And iGPU is turned off in chipset configuration, too. But ! having such setups makes it more compatible and not lose about 10-20% of power (like in optimus scenarios). So best way is to modify original LVDS cable and make it eDP.

If I manage to save some money for another (haha) spare 8570w and manage hands health related problems, I will make tutorial of it and present it =}

And DDR3 just works with such SPDs, because those are HyperX Impact 2133mhz ones. They are more rare than 100$ laying on ground, though. You can use cheaper 1866 mhz, those are easier to find. They work out of box. Factory bios is locked in this regard, coreboot allows to overclock RAM (some people use that option in thinkpad ivy bridge gen).

By the way, I have succeeded with compiling coreboot with ReBAR and Above 4G options, it just worked. Unfortunately I don't have Ampere card or Intel Arc to test it.. but I think it would just work.
At least I hadn't encountered any problem or bug people said when they used DXE rebar driver.

Well, this custom coreboot need more polish, but seems it works !

7 hours ago, Vladka76 said:

Hello!
I'm an owner of 8770w with non-DC screen and new Quadro M3000M.
Do you have any experience with slice Battery repacking (elements replacing)?
On the 4pda.to you wrote:
"8770w battery don't have *smarts*, only need to remember to disconnect from biggest +V to lowest (battery voltage drops in increments and BQ don't destroy itself), solder new ones and charge-discharge 2 times."
Thanks to your firm confidence in these words - I did repack successfully my primary original (yea!) VH08XL - but this is not enough to me.
I have an idea to buy a DEAD slice battery - BB09 (QK640AA) with 9 elements (3s-3p) - and do the same. 😉
What do you say about this?
How likely is it that the words in the lot description, 'does not hold a charge', mean 'already locked BQ'?
 

Thank you for attention.

Hi, in fact I did same, bought BB09 not holding charge. I had to wake it up using original HP charger (you have AC input on battery, so you don't need to connect to laptop to charge it). It held charge for almost hour, but near 10% backlight started flickering - meaning battery needs new blood li-ion cells. I discarded guts of that slice battery and made it laptop stand so I can use it laying on carpet or bed.

I think yours need longer time on HP charger

On 5/12/2025 at 8:40 PM, SuperMG3 said:

Hello. What screen do you use in your laptop? I mean you managed to get an RTX 5000 Turing to display on your internal screen. Is it pure-eDP or half LVDS and half eDP?

I use DC screen, meaning it's LVDS driven by EDP-to-LVDS board. That board is connected by EDP from mobo.
On mobo there is 50 pin connector, housing both LVDS and EDP signals. Which one are used is determined by GPU used.

About project I think that CPU is defective, every RAM I tested threw error in memtest, meaning RAM controller in CPU is shot. And I don't see any good CPU for sale, even on marketplace....

On 5/4/2025 at 10:43 PM, SuperMG3 said:

Hello. Will you ever test RTX 4060/4070 MXM 3.0A on your laptop? They are from X-Vsion and cost below 450€ They don't require 4G decoding as @panda_zzzgot the 4060 work on Alienware M17X R4 with optimus. No one else tested the GPU on eDP without optimus

 

I don't think it is worth with such old CPU. It compiled shaders for Monster Hunter Wilds for 6 hours (first start). Right now I have faulty RAM sticks to troubleshoot and I'm getting tired.

8 hours ago, Will said:

@GuitarG Hey, I recently got an EliteBook 8560w for cheap. Sorry to bother you, but would you mind answering a few questions please?

1 - Do you know if it's possible to run a quad-core processor on a dual-core motherboard (P/N 684318-001)? Would it work normally?

2 - Do you know if it's possible to swap the 8560w motherboard with the one from the 8570w? I previously swapped the motherboard of a 8760w with the one from a 8770w and everything worked fine, so I’m guessing it might be possible with the 8560w too.

3 - Is it true that the display will not have a back light until the driver is installed with maxwell cards? Im planning to maybe get a M2200.

1. Yes
2. Yes, I planted DC screen from 8560W to mine 8570W.
3.Never used Mxx cards, but in that case I would use external monitor untill installing drivers.

On 4/4/2025 at 3:24 PM, loopster said:

You wrote earlier that your VRMs were overheating during early testing.
How did you notice or figure that out?

Pretty simple, test using game/program taking between 90 to 100% usage of GPU, check GPU core temp with Msi Afterburner and if core temp is lower than 90 celsius, any sudden shutdown means power delivery overheat. Not all GPUs, especially those in laptop, lets you check those.

I checked height of original heatsink and compared that to mine.

It was windows update that corrupted my me region along with bios .... I used windows 10 ssd for using nvflashk for vBIOS flash (it was faster than learning how to do same in ubuntu), used it for like 4 minutes, after successful flash I restarted... "WAIT FOR UPDATES BEING DONE"

During those few seconds before I pull plug, it made so much destruction. I had to use different flash chip and search for original bios dump!! ME region destroyed laptop entered manufacture mode!

And I used Windows Update blocker on that drive (it was "emergency safe win10" external ssd).

Now it is working again. But let it be warning for everyone =]


TL;DR - using Win10 for vBIOS flash broke my laptop BIOS. GPU is fine

Tried different distros, finally stayed on one seemed most known to me (I had experience since version 8.04 was considered new). I always had given up on learning and using it as daily driver, now I sometimes have some problems, but lefty loosy - righty tighty and still not going back anymore to Windows.. especially after last 3 buggy reinstalls in 2 weeks..

EDIT: It is Ubuntu, 24.10
And Arch also known as SteamOS on my SD.

On 3/23/2025 at 2:31 AM, SuperMG3 said:

 

I did buy an HD 5870M but it was faulty as the laptop would shutdown in windows/bios/dos after one minute from power 

It could be sign of not compatible GPU core temperature sensor. Laptop enters panic mode, fans goes with max speed and turns off after minute.

There was one guy, to whom I sold my P5200, that described problem (here on forum) and solved it. Then P5200 worked flawless with his Clevo. You have to look for throttle reason (in Throttle stop) and I suspect it could be power limit (because of not compatible temp sensor).

PCI gen 2 wouldn't limit wattage given to GPU

Nice mod ! I modded my Eee PC a little too, it ran everything I threw at it, every retro game from DOS to Win 98 era. It was 900 series model.

As good as it can get now, benchmarks after "another patch":

On 3/11/2025 at 12:05 AM, Myro said:

What corrections are you referring to?

In my opinion, the most suitable solution would have been a custom-made heatsink, preferably copper. However, the biggest downside is that obtaining one is much more challenging.

True, best and very costly way, I got quoted almost 150$ for one ! And then is even bigger problem, heatpipes. It wasnt possible for me to set them up like I imagined. That is because of laptop non-negotiable dimensions like battery or RAM slots. Sadly.

I circled two troublesome VRM's protrusions, depth for coil cooling is also different

Now hardest part comes - to solder it. And if works like intended - paint job.

On 3/1/2025 at 10:38 PM, Myro said:

Great job! How are the temperatures under load? And what is that PCB doing in the corner of the heatsink?

Looking forward to see the final build fully painted!

Thanks !

Still ironing heatsink out, I forgot about different thermal pads dimensions. It shame I don't have some nice CNC machine.
I played for a while and temps were up to 90C turbo CPU and GPU 70-80C depending on load. VRM or VRAM overheated once after 30 minutes, so I'm making corrections

What PCB do you have in mind ? If first photo, it is donor board+case cutted up for aligning heatsink with highest homemade precision 🙂 I use damaged CPU and GPU board, screw heatsink on and clamp heatpipes.

Secret for success is to align first, then push harder second time.

After baking like this first, then its screwed harder and heatsink only for max efficiency

Now time for final tests, touch and black paint

LEGO®

8 hours ago, Mikiiiiiii said:

 

I'm glad I didn't immediately impulse buy that GPU then, it's probably marked down so much because its missing something. What model & revision is your HP card? There's another card on eBay that's Rev D Model XW3E, but I'm not sure what differences it has compared to every other revision.

I have same model & revision, so that one seems more safe choice. Differences are much more stable behavior, hardware bugs fixed. Using my P5200 as example, in rev A that card would burn its power delivery if used with +90W bios. With rev D it could use 110W for long time with no problem.

Model and revision says about board, not core used.

It is true about perfomance loss in SG, up to 15%.

For that alienware it seems you may have two options: 1. two board versions, one for edp other for lvds 2. one board version using single connector and two different lcd cables (like my HP). With eDP you would have much more LCD panels to choose from (LVDS is on its last breath).
DP signals are different than embededd DP, eDP drives with PWM internal LCD brightness, use of closed-lid hall effect swtich for turning it off when closed, most important ones.

Quadro cards are (or at least were) a lot more tested for high quality and reliability. They are made from better silicon dies than consumer grade chips. My previous Quadro P5200 had almost a non existent resistance on VCore, it was much more efficient than typical GPU.

For your question, it depends on how your laptop generate graphical output. There are generally 2 ways, using internal GPU as internal display driver or dedicated GPU only. With first one you can safely assume most GPUs will work. With second options, you have to be careful. Mxm card have to use correct vbios and drive internal display.
On schematic you can read that laptop can output in serveral ways, you can disable Intel iGPU and use eDP-dGPU only.

Quality Samples may don't have *final* specs - in worst case you may have downclocked GPU, no Nvidia PhysX, Raytracing etc.  It depends

HP one is Quality Sample, because it is "Model 0MB" and additionaly first Rev (A). HP Quadro RTX surely supports eDP, though. I'm using one taken from Zbook 17 G6 in my 8570W. Remember that you have a lot of modification to do with it. X clamp is 5mm offset, so are two mounting points too.

As for green RTX I don't know anything I could help with.

New board, new approach. This time results satisfy me more

Soldered two pieces of metal to original mounting points, holds very hard and screws RTX very nicely.

Now I have to sort, dissasembly and test a lot of copper pipes. And lastly, solder whole heatsink assembly

Interesting setup spotted in Asus laptop - third fan.



It is funny to see similar approach to temperature problem as my second fan blowing additional air to GPU cooler