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    Alienware M17x R3 GPU Upgrade - Need help!

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Blynxz, Aug 14, 2012.

  1. Blynxz

    Blynxz Newbie

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    Hi, first post on the forums, hope its in the right spot.
    Not the brightest when it comes to computers, especially laptops
    I want to upgrade the GPU in my Alienware M17x R3 to a 7970M, but I'm not sure whether its possible or not..

    Currently,I'm running a 6990M
    Intel HM67 Cougar Point [B3] Chipset
    BIOS: A06
    PCI-E 2.0 x16
    CPU is an Intel i7-2720QM

    I'm aware of the 7970M being PCI-E 3.0 and the motherboard being 2.0 but i have been told that 3.0GPU's are backwards compatible with 2.0
    I might have misinterpreted.
    If i have left out information you need, let me know and ill fill the gaps.

    Also, would upgrading the CPU to a i7 3820QM be possible?
    Or is Sandy bridge motherboard not compatible with Ivy bridge?

    If this is on the wrong section, I apologize.
     
  2. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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  3. Blynxz

    Blynxz Newbie

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    That's quite a bit to read through, haha.

    Thanks allot for that mate!
     
  4. naldor

    naldor Notebook Consultant

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  5. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    Even though it is long, it is probably the best place to ask for this. The 7970 seems to be having issues but on xFire configs mostly.