Alienware 17 R5 120Hz GPU replacement compatibility

I'm having some trouble with my GTX 780M - could be hardware related so am looking to get a replacement.

Are there any special considerations for GPU replacements with the 120Hz screen? Or will the standard GTX 880M/980M cards work OK? The R5 I have has three cooling pipes for the heatsink.

 

Hi there, I'd avoid an 880m as they were short-lived and problematical. You can search here for issues.

For a 980m the pre-requisites are Win 8 or 10 with the BIOS in UEFI mode. No messing with the on-board GPU as it's not visible .

You will need a modified driver .inf file to install the driver but if you don't un-install the current one and just make sure it's up-to-date before you start you should find it runs fine and all you have to do is set the resolution and refresh rate. You loose 3d but apart from that I haven't seen any problems or down-sides.

Good luck.

 

Great - I'll see if I can find a 980M for sale. Thanks!

 

Any idea why UEFI mode is required for the card?

 

It's the only way to make it run. It's some sort of incompatibility in the system bios. Could be fixed with a bios update but doubt we'll ever see one unfortunately


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i believe you can still run in legacy provided you're only in optimus mode.

 

It doesn't look like my machine supports Optimus, as it doesn't have an integrated GPU (due to the 120hz screen?). So I'll try EUFI mode.

 

You do have integrated it's just disabled by the system. What I said before only applies if you have 60hz panels.

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Card has been installed and is working well - GPU temps don't go above 65 degrees. My process: reinstalled Windows 8.1 with EUFI boot, installed the card, and used the drivers from here:

http://downloads.eurocom.com/support/drivers/upgradeyourlaptop/Alienware/

I still have to test 3D vision.

 

I recommend you take a look at the techinferno forums. Search for a topic titled "aftermarket driver support". There's a really helpful dude (j95) who posts modded inf files for the latest official drivers. Or you can find his thread which will teach you how to (very) easily mod drivers yourself


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It's best to learn how to mod drivers by yourself. It's easy and you can then modify any driver version you want. Im doing it for my M18xR1 with "incompatible " GTX 880M SLI

 

Thanks - will earn how to mod the drivers myself. I've realised that the driver modification process could become a problem if I decide to sell the laptop at some point - not sure how easily non-technical buyers would handle it.

 

https://forum.techinferno.com/nvidia/5249-[guide]-modding-nvidia-oem-inf-files.html

Great thread. If you bought a MXM 9xxm GPU, remember that even though you're using an Alienware laptop, your GPU has a Clevo Hardware ID, so the file you need to mod is the inf related to Clevo: nvcvi.inf

 

wrong file, that file is for optimus mode. nv_disp.inf is for dedicated mode which includes 120Hz panels.

or you can simply download @j95's modded INFs.

 

Oops my mistake

Forgot this was for a 120ghz screen!


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No souci AW 17R5 GTX 970M

 

is that french?

 

Yes

Souci = worry

No souci (pas de souci) = no worries


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wouldn't it be sans souci then?

 

Nope the expression we use is "pas de souci" when we want to say "no worries".


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ok, shows how much i know about French: zero!

 

Yes French

 

i hope i don't get the black screen problem again

 

dude forget 3D vision because it won't work once the upgrade is done.