Does the ATi Mobility Radeon 3870 work in the M9750?

Short answer: Yes. I finally got my OCZ Whitebook today and simply swapped the graphics cards with my Alienware M9750. Both cards work on both platforms (meaning to a lesser extent, a 7950 GTX works in the OCZ Whitebook).

UPDATE: Now TWO ATi 3870 Cards CAN WORK IN THE M9750. See Below for details.
First here are some actual pictures of the systems (and I apologize for the horrid image quality):

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/5165/Sidebyside.jpg

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/6558/Sideby2.jpg

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/8854/sideby4.jpg

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/9475/M9750WhtBk.jpg

GPUs:

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/1160/NVidiaAti.jpg

And these are screenshots taken of the M9750 with a Single ATi 3870:

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/7364/screenshot1.jpg

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/6...turesM9750.jpg

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/5825/GpuzCpuzCCC.jpg

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And 3dmar06 (single 3870); Note: This was done with a T5500 processor, a really low end processor. For comparison purposes, this system got a 4997 with the 7950 GTX:

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/4350/3d06score.jpg

Also, I forgot to take screenshots of the temperatures after 3d06 ran, but as I stated in another forum, it hit 84 degrees C. But because I didn't apply thermal paste properly (I didn't clean the remaining paste from the GPU cores and the heatsink; I just applied over the residue), temps could probably be lower than that.

------------------------------UPDATED SECTION BELOW ----------------------------------

- Putting just the Slave 3870 will NOT work on the M9750: blank screen during boot-up.

- I got BOTH cards to work in the M9750. The Master card goes in the middle, and the Slave card goes where the daughter nVidia card would normally go (on the left). There was enough space under the heatsink of the M9750 to connect the bridge cable between the two cards. This is shown here:

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/2...0BriConATi.jpg

^ Interesting to note, Although the plastic/seethrough material was touching the heatsink, there was no damage or melting done, even after benchmarking, so it is safe to "maneuver" the bridge cables that way if you do decide to replicate such an upgrade)

The following is a picture of the M9750 with both cards (the two cards effectively make up a single 3870 x2):

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/8...50DualUndr.jpg

And some screenshots of the M9750 with the Dual ATi GPU solution:

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/4674/2GPUM9750.jpg

Temperatures of both GPUs (left = master, right = slave):

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/9...M9750temps.jpg

3dmark06 with 3870 x2 + T5500:

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/5...03d06score.jpg

In fairness, the T5500 is a weak sauce processor and thus, only about 1k gain over a single 3870. Also, temperatures after the 3d06 run:

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/3...0temps3d06.jpg

^ add 5-10 degrees in real life because it was on a notebook cooler with the cover off.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take screenshots when I did the Counter Strike Source Stress Test. The system got 123.37 fps at 1920x1200 with everything maxxed out (8xMSAA, 16xAF, reflect all, etc) Temperature after that test was 64 degrees C and 63 degrees C on both GPU cores.. for comparison purposes, this system with the 7950 GTX gets around 75-80 fps on the CS Stress Test (4xMSAA, 4xAF), and my Whitebook with the Ati cards got 166.7fps with a C2D P8600 (Also 8xMSAA, 16xAF). So really the CPU is holding this system back...by a lot.

Side note* All benchmarks were done with the ATi Catalyst 8.7 drivers (177.80 drivers for the 7950 GTX)

Ok, the original post is updated. Just right-click the image and click on "view image" to see a better picture.

temperatures and all that stuff are documented in the OP.

I'm also interested in testing this on an Alienware M9700, but I just have a broken motherboard of one. So if anyone wants to send their M9700 to test to see if the 7950 GTX and the 3870 works, that would be great. I'll pay for shipping, and in the event that your M9700 is damaged under my care, I'll give you my M9750 as a replacement. I reckon it's possible to test both GPUs in the M9700 because the heatsink design of the M9700 doesn't block the GPU bridge connector of the 3870s.

Update: I tried using the slave 3870 card with the 7950 GTX and it did NOT work: screen is blank throughout the booting process.

However, remember when I said the M9750's heatsink blocked the bridge cable connectors for the ATi cards? Well, there was enough space under it for the bridge connector cable to fit, so I was able to install BOTH ATi GPU cards on the M9750 and connect them. Both cards were seen in the M9750 meaning that it can also run two 3870 GPUs. Although after installing the drivers, Vista reported the cards as "Unknown", GPU-Z and Catalyst verified that BOTH GPUs were working in the M9750. Stay tuned, I'll post screenshots and benchmarks.

Probably, but it didn't affect anything else; the device manager saw the two cards and reported them accordingly, same with Catalyst.

BTW, updated the first/original post with pictures, screenshots and benchmarks of the M9750 with both ATi GPU cards (the two 3870 cards effectively make up a single 3870 x2)

Well, the interesting thing about the ATi GPU cards is that they are really the 3870 x2: Although they are physically two ATi 3870 cards, the cable bridge makes them a single 3870 x2. ATi even lists the Mobility 3870 x2 on their site. This explains why there is a Master card and a Slave card, and why just using a single Slave card won't boot up in both the Whitebook or the M9750.

Because of the nature of the GPU solution, it doesn't really use PCI Crossfire, which is why Vista/GPU-Z was able to detect both ATi GPU cores on the M9750 even though the M9750 uses an SLi chipset. They'll probably do the same thing for the 4850 (they had the Mobility 4850 x2 listed on ATi's device ID website) when it comes out for the Whitebook.

So in short, crossfire and Sli don't really matter as both ATi GPU cores function properly in the M9750.

The M9700 is next on my list, which will be tested soon...

I'm guessing around $500 for both cards (adding the second cards costs $220-$250 extra from some vendors).

For those interested, results of the M9700 going through similar procedure:

http://www.notebookforums.com/showth...88#post2979188