Alienware 17 100w (3 pin) GPU heatsink

Hi guys, My current Alienware 17 houses a Nvidia 680m with the 75w (2 pin) GPU heatsink. There have been no temperature issues so far and the highest i've seen on it would be roughly 78 degree while playing Battlefield 4 on maxed settings. I am planning to upgrade to a Nvidia 980m as soon as it gets out and at the same time replace the 75w (2pin) gpu heatsink to that of a 100w (3 pin). The question here is:

1.) Will the R3/R4's GPU heatsink work with Alienware 17?

2.) Does anyone have the part number for the 100w (3 pin) gpu heatsink?

any feedback would be much appreciated

 

Hi, I can help a little.

I've only seen one AW17 owner order an R4 heatsink and all they said was 'it fits fine'. Kinda surprised with all the case changes but I guess it keeps manufacturing costs down?

I ordered one (R4/680m heatsink) from Dell but the P/N is not on the invoice! Price was reasonable as well

The 680m is already a 100w rated card and although you say your temps are fine, for a 680m you're at the top end of the temp already. I have overvolted and overclocked to the point of failure and never seen higher than 72c. No secret tricks to the paste/pads, I just bolted it together as it arrived with everything in place already .

I have also worked with a few 680m upgraders and their temps were as low as mine.

Good luck and if you go for an R4/680m heatsink please let us know if there are any 'fit' issues - do you have a dremel?

Edit: You might like to change your sig to [NVIDIA 880M NEVER] lol

 

wow sweet I've noticed that there are several 3 pin heatsinks for the R4 with different part numbers. Would you happen to know which one of it works?

 

Since they are padded and pasted for specific cards I guess dell have all the different part numbers? All I said was for a 680m on an R4 and it turned up like this:

The x-bracket came with the card.

The AMD cards have a different size captive screws as well

 

Sorry my mistake, deleted post

 

Check out his 'currently using' under his sig

 

You'll also want to check out your PSU wattage. If the machine came with a 75w card you might well have the 180w PSU. You want the 240w one .

 

Wouldn't worry about my psu btw. For reasons whatsoever, my default rig came with the 240w PSU

 

I'm getting an Alienware 17 with 180W PSU for 860M Maxwell 2GB GDDR5 will i get the 3 pin Heatsink for future upgrades ?
Thanks !

 

I believe the 860m comes with a 75W heatsink.

 

Yup, it will come with the 75W one... 2 heat pipes I think instead of the 3 on the 100W one..

 

Thanks guys but here in this video the uploader says in the comments that the newer 2014 model like the same specs as mine they only require to change the GPU, Even the dell website features the heatsink photos are 3 pipes.
So wanted to confirm it....

Replacing The Video Card and Heatsink on the Alienware 17 - YouTube

I thought i could change the GPU with the new Maxwell 980M when its out, ....Plus just searched on Ebay and unfortunately the Heatsink 100w one is not available...

 

Have you tried just calling dell for the heatsink?

 

Well, wait till you get your 17 and open it up and see what heatsink you have.. Hopefully its the 100W one... I don't understand your rush in doing this as it will be a while before the MXM 980Ms come out whichever way...

 

I beg to differ. A friend of mine in Australia ordered a new Alienware 17 this year with 860m in it and apparently it came with the 2 pin heatsink much like mine which is a 770m by default

 

I will hope for the best. As for now there are no 100W heatsinks available for whatever reason, I should use my new coming system with the 860M maxwell...Will check with the dell guys once the 980M starts shipping !

 

They are hard to get on ebay, but i kept checking regularly and i got lucky a few weeks ago and got one...

 

I've found a couple of sites here, searched with the whole tag/part no of that item for our AW 17 R1 Ranger.

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=A....69i57j69i61&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=0&ie=UTF-8

from the above link, but most of them are from Europe.
Buyitdirect - Dell ASSY HTSNK VGA NV14E-G AW17R1 - YP26V

 

I've managed to find a site selling the elusive YP26V ( 100w 3 pin Heatsink) as well however, this site is in chinese and would pose quite a bit of problem even if we are to use google translate. DELL YP26V_ÌÔ±¦ËÑË÷


The price is pretty good too considering that 180 Yuan converted to USD is roughly about 30 USD. Not too sure about the shipping fee though.