Alienware M17x r2 upgrades

I love my m17xr2 but feel like upgrading it for it to become a bit snappier, noting wrong with it atm but just feel like it !

heres the current specs

120gb corsair gt ssd
500gb 7200rpm sata data drive
8gb corsair vengence ram, tried 16 but for some reason wouldn't work, think it was the proccessor limiting this
1 x HD 4870
i7 CPU M 620 @ 2.67GHz
standard wifi card that shipped with the laptop


also where would i be able to get upgrades for this

 

I have 12gb working in mine.
Other people have 16gb working in theirs. It was plug and play. I've heard some modules with only 8 chips on them don't work, did you have one of those dimms?.

How much would you want to spend?

If I were you I'd get a new cpu - 920xm's can be found for cheap on ebay.
And either a 2nd 4870m Single/Dual 69XXm's.

Both are pretty bad. Not sure which i would pick if I could only upgrade one. I think it's either both or nothing at all at this point.

That's where it's lacking. Upgrading those would make it a beast.

 

See sig for upgrade ideas.

 

I tried 3 different set of ram, 2 sets of corsair value and 1 of corsair vengence with the 16gb config and nothing, i did post a thread about it, and sweet you can upgrade the cpu in these ? i assumed they would be soldered in, how hard is it to change the cpu on these ? Cheers off to ebay i go, and for budget there ain't really one tbh !

DR650SE LOVE THE CASE !! wow thats stuning

 

Hello, WW, check this too there are quite a few threads about upgrading the M17x R2, i'm sure you'll find something interesting

 

I agree with aarpcard, I think upgrading to a single 69xx (or dual) would make a huge difference...also upgrading the CPU could make a signficant difference as well depending on what you are doing.

For gaming you'll probably see more bang for your buck upgrading your GPU..since you are running a single 4870 you'll want to verify that you are also using a 240W power brick or you'll have to upgrade that as well to go to a dual card system.

If you are doing more CPU intensive applications then the CPU would be a great upgrade as well.

Really depends on what you are doing...good luck to you!

 

Cheers guys im looking at the 940 cpu, is it worth the extra over the 920 ?, i usually do a lot more cpu intensive stuff than gamming atm due to studying so this looks a good move, also just have bought a killer 1103 wifi card

 

A 940xm= 920xm+133Mhz+a lot more $$
You can get a 920xm and easily over clock it to 940xm potential. Plus, the best over clocking results were achieved with the 920xm.

 

No it isn't worth the price premium, 920XM are less than 400 these days, and ES/QS chips even less. I haven't bothered to overclock mine, does everything I want mine to do.

 

Thanks i was meaning to ask what is the difference between a normal chip and a ES/QS chip as there is about £100 price diff on these

 

ES = Engineering Samples, usually distributed to OEMs/ODMs for testing. QS = Qualification Samples, distributed for testing for like benchmarks, retail stores, etc. OEM = what they actually sell retailers for sales. Of course there is retail, direct sale to customers...$$$$$$.

TBH there isn't much difference, some people say OEM overclock better, others argue QS. I say it's all luck, I had a E0 E8400 and a G0 Q6600 that wouldn't overclock for crap, and they were considered god like easy to OC.

 

Great thanks for the info !

Before i push the button on a new cpu will probs be the 920xm unless i can find the 940 at a good price, how hard is it to swap with my 620 ? I have watched the youtube vids of the the actual swapping over but i mean in terms of doing anything to the bios ? i am currently running the modded a10 bios should i change this before i do the upgrade

 

The CPU is plug'n'play no need to modify anything in the BIOS.
It's recommended you perform a power drain after the installation to reset the CMOS though.

 

Thank you very much for your help guys, now just got to purchase the new cpu still torn between the two as there is a £30 price difference between the 940 and 920 and how much of a performance boost should i expect from going from a 620?

 

I went from a 840QM to a 920XM very recently.

>>> so many games have benefited noticeably

>>> the 840QM was bottlenecking plenty of things

The 920XM is unlocked to run @it's max turboboost as standard, which alone works wonders, but if you use ThrottleStop to increase the TDP to something like 80W (the power threshold within which it can maintain it's max turboboost), it "refines" the 920XM's max turboboosting that much more so that it smooths out gameplay all that much more

>>> I owe a big debt of gratitude to a number of ppl on these forums for getting me onto ThrottleStop as well as generally wise'ing me up to CPU upgrades etc - I wouldn't have had the confidence to get it done without them, especially when I messed up! (you won't, I'm just an uber noob!).

So yea - I think you'll see a huge difference coming from a 620.

 

wow thanks a lot for the advise, what is throttleStop ? and how would i use it on a 920/940 ?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/531329-throttlestop-guide.html

Read that thread, it is all about Throttlestop.

 

Thanks a lot that is a really informative guide !

i think i have found the cpu i am going to use it is a

Intel Core i7 Extreme Processor 920XM Qualification Sample Q3B8 3.2GHz 8MB L3 Socket P CPU

Model: Q3B8 (QS)

will this fit in my board ok 17xr2 a10 mod bios and will it take the full 16gb ram

 

Yea that will work.

 

Brilliant thanks for your help i will order it tonight

One quick question does the cpu require thermal paste or pads and what one is best

 

You'll just need thermal paste.
Make sure the die is clean and apply only a little.

Thermal paste brand makes little difference in temperatures, the important thing is to apply some. I go for MX-4 because that's what i can easily find where i am.

 

Thanks a lot, i have done this a few times on desktops but not sure what the procedure was with laptops, the cpu and mx-4 have been ordered ! should have them thursday with any luck

 

wait a minute, i havent been here for a while. since when does the m17x support 16gb of ram???

someone link me to the best 2x8 pair of ram i can buy for this puppy if this is true

 

Newegg.com

 

Newegg.com - CORSAIR 8GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory Model CMSO8GX3M1A1333C9

I bought 2 of these for my R2, works great. I found POST takes longer with more RAM for obvious reasons (Dell does a quick memory test on POST).

 

but as i found out it will not work with a 620 m cpu you get a BSOD related to memory allocation

 

Ok, I caved and just bought 16GB of ram for mine...

These threads are bad...well for me...get me thinking and researching and buying...

You are all bad influences..you should be ashamed

 

So like, what do you intend to do with all that ram? I've only seen a max of 6GB being used in my system.

 

Oh probably nothing...maybe play around a bit more with VMware on my system. Really its for nothing more then because its pretty inexpensive and I'll have it "just in case". Plus I've always been one to try to experiment to see how far I can max out my systems...so in other words...no real good reason other then I can

 

I've played a heavy spawning map in SC2, that ballooned up to 4.5 GB RAM. I also typically have 15-20 FF tabs open, and at that time I had TF2 open which chewed up 3.5 GB RAM, so I was sitting at 13.5 GB RAM usage.

 

would 16gb single sticks work with a 920xm so i would get 32gb in total


Corsair Vengeance 16GB Memory Module PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR3 (SODIMM)


is the ram im thinking of

 

There are no 16Gb SODIMM sticks as far as i know.
Best you can do is 2x 8Gb to reach 16Gb.

 

i have just found the 16gb stick on ebay, a corsair vengence 16gb x 1

SPECIFICATION

General

Barcode 843591016971
Memory

Memory Size (Total) 16384MB (1 module(s) x 16384MB)
Memory Type DDR3
Memory Speed 1600MHz
Memory Package SO-DIMM
Designation PC3-12800

that is lifted straight from the description

 

That is a 2x 8Gb kit
There are no 16Gb sticks as of today.

 

Cheers for your help ! i got 2 x 8gb corsair coming

i also have got a 940xm as it was only a fiver more than the 920 question is how do i set it up so it runs good and at 3.3ghz constantly not just on turbo

and any good aftermarket laptop coolers ?

 

One day there will be a 22Gb stick of ram or even 32gb stick of ram...just one day...

 

right so my 940xm and 16gb ram kit arrived today and wow what a difference i like now to start oc'ing this baby

 

hi West , which version of ram work the 1333 or 1600mhz i have them both but it wont post (i think its because of my 15-520m) so will the 1600 or 1333 work with the i7-920xm

 

Use 1333, getting 1600 is kinda useless since it will downclock to 1333 if I remember correctly

 

1600 is going to downclock to 1333, and it will only run 1333 if you have a quad core i7.