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    M14xR2 upgrate options

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by navaneetagarwal, Jan 23, 2015.

  1. navaneetagarwal

    navaneetagarwal Newbie

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    Hi there,

    I have the M14xR2 with i7-3610QM processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1 GB graphics card and 6 GBs of RAM. As you may be aware it's gotten pretty old now and I'd like to know some opinions on what is the best upgrade option for me. If I upgrade the hardware on the machine, the only possible options I can see are throwing in 16 gigs of RAM and putting in an SSD. I just have the normal HDD as of now. I used to do a lot of gaming but now don't really get much time but still I plan on getting back in the game. Do you think it would be worth getting these upgrades? Or will the graphics card be a bottleneck and I should sell it and get a new gig? I also sometimes think of hackintoshing it (dual boot with windows 7). I figure I can remove the optical drive and install and SSD, install mac on the SSD and windows on my HDD. What do you think?

    Rgds
    Navaneet

    EDIT - working late night has its side effects hence the typo in the thread title. Please ignore.
     
    navaneetagarwal, Jan 23, 2015
    #1
  2. J.Dre

    J.Dre Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    To be completely honest, no matter what "upgrade" you put in that computer, it won't make much of a difference (FPS-performance wise). You will need a new computer if you wish to see a significant boost in performance. Unfortunately, your computer has soldered components and those cannot be upgraded.

    With that being said, a new SSD will definitely bring it to life. It will load things much faster and will likely have better battery life. Extra RAM won't increase game performance, nor will an SSD - not in the way you want them to, anyway. SSD's obviously help in games with loading times, etc. but not with FPS.


    EDIT: It's funny how Alienware used to put "overkill processors" in their systems and now it's the exact opposite - they now bundle powerful GPU's with weak CPU's that may potentially bottleneck them in certain games. Maybe they'll finally get it right next generation, lol. :D Or this may be Intel's fault for re-branding so much.
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2015
    J.Dre, Jan 23, 2015
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    iPhantomhives likes this.
  3. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    I agree with J.Dre in the fact that the machine is able to run at its best right now during gaming. Upgrading the RAM won't change much on that side, however it'll help you with better loading times and overall speed. The same goes for the SSD.
     
    Alienware-L_Porras, Jan 28, 2015
    #3