Alienware 17 and M17x R4 Upgrading / 980m / PSU? / CPU / 120hz screen?

Hey guys, I've asked a few questions before about this, but seeing as how the new cards are finally releasing, I was thinking of finally upgrading. I have an r4 and I love this thing to death, basically put a lot of stuff into it already and made it the way I like. I put in a Samsung SSD EVO 1tb in last year and I love it. I used my 750gb momentus xt as a secondary hard drive after that. Even though it might be more prudent to just get a new Alienware model, I wanted to make this one last me a long time.

I've been doing some light reading on upgrading GPU and there's some thing that concern me and what I'm looking to do.
I have an AMD 7970m on my computer, but would like to upgrade to a higher end Nvidia card for that physx goodness.
I know it was just released and I'm probably getting way ahead of myself, but I'm actually looking to get on that 980m.
There's probably no information on how it might fit on older generation m17x, but given the information on previous cards, what should my concerns be?
I read of PSU issues with things above the 770m, and modifying the drivers.

Secondly, I was thinking of purchasing a new processor. I have an i7-3610qm. I know new generation processors won't fit. Any recommendations?

And lastly, when (not if ) I get a new Nvidia card, I wanted to put a 120hz display on my computer. I'm okay with 3d not working as I think it's gimmicky, but I read that the 120hz screen are brighter and look nicer than these default ones.


I know I'll be paying a lot of money to upgrade this m17x, but I don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon. Besides, I wouldn't know what to do if I had 2 PCs.


Thanks and any help would be appreciated.

 

Hi there,

As you say right now the use of the 980m in the earlier (or even the current) models is a dice roll. Going on previous NV cards they can usually be made to work. This involves getting an unlocked bios to force the machine to start on the NV card. I can't say for sure just what problems occur if you don't do this but for non-standard GPU's this is the only way to get them to work properly. Trying to use the hot-key to switch graphics results in the machine attempting a restart, failing and then going back to optimus mode.

You're in a bit of a catch 22 right now if you are thinking of a 120hz upgrade. When you use this display it is hard wired to bypass the on-board intel so there is no need for a bios flash. Since you have an AMD right now the 120hz display may well not work at all (it depends if the AMD card has 120hz microcode on-board?).

Your PSU should already be a 240w version but check. The heatsink has different screws between AMD and NV but I have seen people swap them successfully. The 7970m is a 100w card I believe so you should already have a heatsink capable for the latest cards, only the padding and screws could be an issue. You will want to source the x-bracket for the new card if at all possible.

Of course I'm very interested in whether the 980m will work in an R4 as I'm sure a lot of people are. I'm sure you will get a lot of helpful advice here if you go for it

Good luck

 

Any response as to how this attempt went would be appriciated. I too am looking to perform this upgrade. Thanks.

 

Nope, nobody yet. It might not even work now I find out NV have dropped 3D Vision from the 970m and 980m ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...alienwares-maxwell-coming-49.html#post9816714). I would hope it still has the 120hz microcode but only a real world test will show if it will even boot...

 

There's a thread over on TechInferno showing somebody having issues getting the 980M to work in some Alienware laptops:
Going to test clevo 980m in alienware m17x R4, m18x R2, AW17 - Page 5

Personally, I think these problems will be ironed out eventually, either by using a different vBIOS or just more thorough testing - I think it will work, but I'd be hesitant to be the first one to try (especially as I don't need to upgrade yet!)!

 

^^^And you will need a newer heatsink for the Nvidia GPU as the Die shape differs between Nvdia & AMD. Plus an X-bracket might as well, you can find em on Ebay / Eurocom (High prices) / RJtech (they have 980M for $700).

 

I sent the seller a message today and they responded that this card works with the 120Hz screen AW17.

I'm moments away from pulling the trigger. Anyone tried this?

Alienware 18 M18 17 M17 VGA Upgrade Kit New NVIDIA GTX 980M 8GB DDR5 | eBay

 

I'f you're comfortable throwing away a $1000, go for it. I'm a little wary that the seller does not offer any returns or warranty.

 

I have the alienware 17 with 60hz matte screen. I have been eyebolling this listing too. I want so much to order a 980m for my 17 too but spending a 1000 dollars on a card with no warranty or returns sounds like a setup to get rid of a card that they can't use. I'd feel more comfortable spending 1200 from Dell with one year warranty. I know that sounds crazy but at least it's guaranteed. That's if and when dell even decides to sell them.
My 3 1/2 cents. If you do decide to do it and it works let us all know as soon as possible please.

 

That's why I came here to research and ask questions before I bought the card.

I'm not comfortable experimenting with my AW17. I'll sit tight with the 780M until more adventurous owners make it work.

 

980M works with Optimus model laptops and no 120Hz screens... So M17x R3/R4/R5 should work as long as it has a 60Hz screen.

 

It looks like the Alienware resellers have finally got the GTX 980M upgrade to work for the M17xR4 and Alienware 17 without 3D and with Optimus enabled. Unfortunately, there is no indication Alienware will be offering the 17 or 18 with GTX 980M as a configuration option. No such luck for M18xR2 or Alienware 18 owners yet... bummer.

So, anyone looking to upgrade their machine? If so, you may be interested in knowing that Eurocom is offering a 10% discount to members of this forum. Email John at Eurocom sales to get that discount on your new GPU upgrade kit. (If any of the other resellers are going to offer special discounts for Alienware GPU upgrades, I will let you guys know as they are brought to my attention. So far, John is the only one that let me know of a special discount for NBR forum members.)

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Did they encounter any problems? Do you happen to have a link on how they did it or a guide?

 

No, I don't have any details on it. But, maybe the vendors can provide more information. Perhaps a rep from HIDevolution or Eurocom will post a comment here. Having to enable Optimus is less than ideal, and it won't work on 3D 120Hz systems, so it's a partial victory. The root of the problem could be in the protected NVRAM the newer UEFI BIOSes are using that cooperate with efforts to force firmware signature validation. If Clevo does not use such draconian control measures in their BIOS it could explain why it hasn't been a simple drop-in GPU upgrade for Alienware owners.

 

HIDevolution says a 980M upgrade for the 120Hz AW17 is 'imminent'. It's already running in-house and should be released in the next week or so.

Perhaps we were saying the same thing: It's does not work in 3D and Optimus is disabled (it always has been on the 120Hz). But it boots and works fine.

 

Whatever needs to be fixed for 120Hz will likely make it work in the M18xR2/18 as well. I have a hunch that whatever is causing Optimus to be required is blocking functionality for the other configurations.

Gosh, I really hope this works out for 120Hz 3D M17xR4 and 17 owners, and M18xR2/18 owners. If it does not work out for my M18xR2 as an upgrade, I will probably never buy anything from Alienware again for the rest of my life. The difficultly getting this to work on all Alienware laptops as an uncomplicated drop-in upgrade like we have come to expect truly is a bunch of nonsense, and it's downright inexcusable. I hope I don't find myself having to join the Alienware hater/troll club because of this. With worthless garbage like the 13 and Alpha being slopped out the door with obsolete GPUs before the first one leaves the warehouse, things are looking pretty stinking grim for them.

 

While I agree with you hoping for a fix my anger is more aimed at NV not AW.

They have designed a reduced feature set card that relies on the igpu for boot code. They would have known it was a problem on non-optimus AW's months ago but decided to go without them. If some clever programming guru can rewrite the boot microcode then it has a chance of working, but since they have dropped 3D vision from the 9xxm cards even native 120hz support is questionable.

It's like the Microshaft v GPU oem's when Vista came out, TDR's everywhere. It was over a year before the (probable) truth that M$ changed the HAL on the RTM version came to light. There were public statements from M$ blaming poor OEM coding. If the OEM's had stuck to the published API calls it would not have affected them, except the cards would have run like dogs! Not allowed to bad mouth M$. I'm thinking more NDA's or risking existing contracts are stopping Dell just saying NV screwed us .

 

Alienware has to make the cards work in their systems or it would be false advertizement big time on their part. The majority of people who bought the alienware 18 and 17 did so under the impression it was upgradable . I surely did. If I can't upgrade my gpu 6 months after I bought my rig then that's false advertizement by alienware saying it's cpu and gpu upgradale. I think alienware will eventually make it work because if they don't it would cause so much havoc on their sales and reputation. If they don't you might as well of Baugh a laptop with soldered cpu and gpu . Also if they don't I guaranty you I will never buy an alienware laptop again.

 

This issue of upgrading the gpu, fits into row of strange decisions from Dell. Dell has managed to deliver faulty fan profile, the fans can not go at maximum speed as they do under flashing the bios, a useless overclocking profile and capped amps for supply the processor enough watts. In addition, they delivered a gtx880m not working as it should. There are many strange things, Dellienware made with the latest generation of Alienware laptops. They needed almost a year to give us the opportunity and manage all the fans with Hwinfo64. Yet is not the bios as it should be. If they will not give an unlocked bios, should the given the processor enough watts to run the promised overclocking speeds they brag about.

 

It's not just upgrade of the new Alienware laptops with gtx980m Dell are struggling with. They will not update others of their products on time.
These are some questions others have to Dell's handling of the new hardware that they have not launched yet .:

Please can anyone here or someone from Alienware say why options to configure GTX 970 or 980 are still not available on the new area 51, when other computer manufactuers have got this options months ago. Even there is no option for a single titan Z card but only in dual configuration. I found this very strange.
http://na.alienwarearena.com/forums...e-software/is-everyone-avoiding-this-question

Why is Dell the last manufacturer of all pc manufacturers with and introduce new products? Dell is several weeks later with launches of new hardware products. This applies to the entire range of the new hardware.

 

anyone has update on 980M working in M17x R4 with 120hz 3D screen?

 

I have 60hz screen m17x R4 and upgraded it from 7970M to 980M but the card does not seem to work properly. I cannot switch to the card - the computer still and only uses Intel graphic card

 

This is interesting: NVIDIA GTX 980M 8GB Upgrade Kit and Service for Alienware 17 and M17x R4 | eBay

They are claiming they will install the 980M for you.

 

Have you uninstalled all remnants of AMD drivers, run DDU Uninstaller to remove any remenants of AMD drivers. Then try reinstalling the Intel graphics driver, and reinstall the NVidia graphics driver. This is assuming you want to run it in Optimus mode - seems to be the most reliable/stable way of using the 980M in Alienwares.

 

Why are there two threads about this? Anyway, I'll leave a link to my request in the other thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...re-17-60hz-gtx980m-upgrade-4.html#post9894370

Much appreciated if someone would do so.

 

There are not two threads. This is for people with 120hz panels.

 

try using an external display?

 

The discussion exists in both.

 

Yea but this topic specifically states 120hz screen. The other topic specifically states 60hz screen

 

Sorry, I didn't realize we were debating semantics.

A screen upgrade is a screen upgrade, and a GPU upgrade is a GPU upgrade

 

No...This was specifically created to confirm if the AW17 & R4 supported upgrading to the 980m if you were running the 120hz panel and the answer really is at this point no one apparently has an absolute answer.

 

Seriously. I've heard as many "Yes" to this question and as many questions to explain how to do it, while there's been no definitive answer yet detailing how. I would give 5$ to the person who details how to use it, thoroughly. Even if its a copy paste from elsewhere. I want proof!

 

Here from TI by J95 he fixed the P-state Maxwell GPU throttling issue with his modded drivers + He achieved to get Win7 UEFI on his machine ---> Check the post and sig for more
This is the proof that Alienwares with only PEG mode / dGPU / 120Hz (which needs only dGPU), which includes M18x R2, AW17 120Hz, M17x R4 120Hz, AW18 & The machine is M18x R2 980M SLI, look at the 3DMark and FS scores ----> 3DMark11 Firestrike (If u PM him he might send you better FS scores, I've seen a FS of 16K on his machine, can't find the post)

Though one user need the Modded Prema BIOS which is un-released atm (BETA phase) , add this antoher perk (UEFI capable NVFlash, which doesn't require flashing with removing one GPU in SLI machines and the AW17 120Hz machines which doesn't have a BIOS option for the SG mode to make the flash compatiable as Maxwell fails to get boot with legacy /CSM with UEFI (needs pure UEFI setup) this is the post here pointing UEFI compatiable NVFlash ----> This page has the whole NVFlash version, updated one discussion, more over if you read from 180th page the results on Alienwares with Maxwell are posted...

Prema's words on the vBIOS situation -> Here

Those runs on Alienware SLI machines are much better than the old 15-17K 3Dmarks and 13K FS scores on other machines b4 prema mod + J95's Pstate fixes, this concludes that they should run fairly good on this brand's beasts now, with a minor trade-offs like Pure UEFI environment but yet they can't get post 20K 3DMarks like @Mr. Fox 's P570WM 980M SLI, other P570WM's might also get past the M18xR2 easily but this performance boost and throttling fixes are much better than the old situation....

P.S : The 980M's OC'd draw too much power - "In his specific system its the GPUs/AC Adapter...it crashes @ about 510W power draw due to the dual AC Adapter facing some challenges..." - prema, the P570WM 980M SLI beast makes the whole machine draw a copious amounts of power @ 700W !!

I guess, I got everything posted right....

 

So, whats your paypal address... for that 5$ haha

 

Lol

 

hey guys, i was seriously considering upgrading to 980m, waited for atleast 3 generations so that it could be a significant upgrade
but searching regarding 980m in r4 has opened a pandora's box!

i really confused right now

will i be able to upgrade my r4?
currently running 680m 2gb with 120hz 3d screen(dont really care about 3d), using svl7 vbios and unlocked a11 bios
using windows 7 ultimate
i dont know what uefi or legacy is about(most of the discussion was centred on this)
also will my cpu be adequate for it?

also please guide/recommend me a reputed seller with international shipping, who can supply all parts needed for upgrade.

thank you

 

Hi, I can't speak to experience but I've followed a LOT of threads since the 970/980m release before deciding it's too much hassle/risk and just replaced the machine used as my primary gaming rig. (see sig for totally awesome gaming lappy )

What I found:

The cards will not boot (POST) in R4's unless optimus is there for the iGPU to provide POST code but, this is only under legacy boot - this is the 'old' method of providing microcode to the BIOS for testing the hardware.

For the machine to POST from the 980m (as a 120hz model must) it needs the bios set to pure UEFI (a new, restrictive, faster, boot method) and the compatibility mode (not sure if this is the correct title in the BIOS) used for older hardware needs to be off.

Now the kicker, only Windows 8.x can start in pure UEFI mode.

The problem with 9xx compatibility is only on AW hardware.

This is all conjecture obtained from months of reading and common results!

Your 680m heatsink will be fine so all you need to track down is a pad positioning/thickness pic, something the big resellers on ebay supply when I checked it out.

Good luck man .

 

Try.. http://www.eurocom.com/ec/vgas(1)ec

 

thanks for the reply

it says
for 3d 120hz alienwares it need bios a12, also windows 8.x in uefi mode
i dont have windows 8 and a12(running unlocked a11), any hope for windows 7 ultimate?

 

Couldn't agree more with @MickyD1234

Spoiler

Full UEFI - You cannot access safemode / Intel Option ROM utility. Very fast bootup, actually it's good but the OEMs are using the features of it to lock us down.
UEFI /CSM - I guess you can access above options.
CSM -Legacy - It's the old school BIOS bootup which has various options to install bootloaders (Linux etc..) and all others tbh with an SSD none of the bootups would make a drastic difference...

Here --> Alienware M17x R4 GTX 970M upgrade
Ask the OP he will help you out with BIOS, etc when you are ready to upgrade...

On a side note,
You wont need a Win8 /8.1 /8.1.1 for Optimus / 60Hz / SG mode.
For 120Hz you will be needing win8+ on full UEFI for sure else 8 beeps, Plus thanks to the new NVFlash that helps out 120Hz AW17, M17x R4 owners now to flash a vBIOS, Wait for the Prema to release a fully working non-throttling vBIOS as I guess slv7 / johnksss vBIOS may give occasional throttling on 120Hz / PEG / SLI setups...Refer to the earlier post.

As for the CPU part I think while OC with 980M the CPU may run into bottleneck....

here's the post that will help you plus j95 has a similar 120Hz machine r4 -> @ T|I

 

Hello, I'm back. So about to pull the trigger on a 980m. Reading some of the posts has me second guessing. So I'm going to forget about the 120hz and just stick to my normal 60hz, will that still be an issue? And I've been reading through the Tech Inferno thread; was the OP successful in getting it to work on his R4?

 

Hi, the previous page pretty much covers your question for a 60hz model but to clear it up a little,

Yes the 60hz model is fine and you get the bonus that UEFI compatibility mode is viable as the machine can POST from the intel GPU. This should make win 7 an option but I don't know how well (switching?) that works.

I've seen quite a few successes posted for the R4 and no 'give ups' .

Good luck!

 

R4 with 60Hz will be easier to upgrade... With 120Hz, you have added complications.. Follow the stuff in the thread in my signature and you'll be fine..

 

970m is the same as the 980m in terms of upgrading I assume?

 

Yep. Only the difference is the heatsinks 70W- 970M 100W- 980M. Better get a triple pipe 100W heatsink that would be necessary for 980M and for 970M the card would run cool.

 

I don't know what driver voodoo NVIDIA does but even with a 970M and a 100W heatsink, my 970M hits 70C sometimes in games... New drivers have definetly improved performance but the temperature increase has been just lol..

 

just keeping an eye on this thread
please update this thread if anyone successfully upgrades the r4 120hz with the 980m

 

friendly bump

any status update for 120hz alienwares?

 

I think you just need to run Windows 8 in Pure UEFI mode, no legacy mode selected, GPT partitioned disk - that's the method to run GPU dedicated mode on a 60Hz screen so can't imagine it being any different for a 120Hz display which forces you to run in dedicated mode. Not 100% sure if there are some throttling issues with that setup though, I know there is on the M18xR2 for example which runs in dedicated mode. (No throttling issues for M17xR4 owners running through Optimus on 60Hz screen).

 

Well if someone was able to use 980m/970 on Alienware 17 120hz please give us the steps to do (need pure uefi? Drivers inf mod? Vbios mod? Give us all steps to do)! Thanks