Alienware M17x r4 gtx980m upgrade - can the card fit if it's from a different laptop

Hi guys, this is my first post here.

I have some very basic experience with easy tasks such as changing the hard drive, adding RAM, repasting, fan cleaning, even keyboard exchange (this one was a pain in the a**). Now I want to upgrade my graphics card.

I have currently a Radeon HD 7970M and I want to upgrade it to the gtx980m. But I want to do it in an unusual way because I found potential to save money.

I want to buy a laptop from a different brand that has the same graphics card and then exchange the cards.

Will the card taken from another laptop automatically be compatible? How can I tell?

Can there be different forms of this graphics card, maybe even with incompatible firmware?
Which specs of the other laptop do I need to know in order to make sure that a gtx980m when taken out will also fit into my Alienware M17x r4? And is there a website that allows me to find those specs easily?

Also, do I need a new heatsink?

 

It will likely end up costing a LOT more than simply buying an MXM module and you may also have issues since there are quite a few non-standard MXMs

 

And if I stick with other Alienware's. Will there still be compatibility issues?
I WILL save money as long as I can make sure that the card is compatible. Broken laptops having that card intact sometimes sell for less than the card is costing. Rarely, but I have time to wait.

 

Successful MXM GPU Upgraded Laptops
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/successful-mxm-gpu-upgraded-laptops.805136/

MXM GPU Resellers in the world
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/mxm-gpu-resellers-in-the-world.804197/

 

Thanks for the links, they were useful. Now I'm starting to get why the answer is not entirely straightforward.

Correct me if I'm wrong:

There are two different form factors: MXM A (70x82mm) and MXM B (105x82mm)
Then there are some laptops with cards that have the size MXM B but are customized by the manufacturer to work only on a particular model
So I need to know in addition if laptops having this card, have that card uncustomized or not

I see that GTX 980m N16E-GX-A1 form factor MXM B is mentioned everywhere

Do I need to stick specifically with N16E-GX-A1?

I'll need new pads
I'll need new screws
I'll need a good paste
I can keep the heatsink

For example the GTX 980m from an upgraded MSI GT72S will be compatible, right?

It actually would be very useful to compile a list of compatible laptop models.

 

Correct. I haven't seen any 980m cores soldered onto any MXM type A boards though. All I've seen are either 980m cores soldered onto laptop motherboards, which is an abomination of a motherboard design, or on MXM type B modules. As far as I'm concerned, ALL gaming laptops with a 980m inside are either soldered 980m's or are standard MXM type B modules, with the exception of ASUS's ROG laptops, which are proprietary cards.

As far as compatibility goes, in my experience MSI cards are plug and play. They tend to be fully compatible with alienwares MOST of the time. What broken laptop are you looking at anyway? Can you provide a link please?

Honestly I'd recommend going for the 1060 from MSI. It's about a 12% increase in processing power over the 980m, and sometimes used ones pop up on ebay for less than a used 980m.

 

Thanks Clamibot I will look into the 1060 as well now. Heatsink would stay for the 1060 the same?

As for the 980m, according to the information I gathered by now it's mostly gaming laptops from

-Alienware
-MSI
-MSI GT72S
-[added] Medion Erazer series (German OEM partner of MSI)
-MS GT80S
-Clevo
-some selected ASUS models

And bringing your information with mine together those will be incompatible/useless:
-ASUS ROG series
-ASUS G750JW

What about resellers such as Schenker? Is it all the same as Clevo or can there be differences?
I will update this list if I discover mistakes or get more information

Oh, and can I stick with the 240W power supply or do I need to go higher on that? I can see that those cards can consume a lot of power.

Btw. I'm planning to use the card for heavy neural network applications as well, but I'm not sure if that matters. I probably don't have too much choice anyway, so I'm just trying to get my hands on the greatest upgrade I can reasonably do myself.

The laptop I was looking at that time was a broken MS GT80S but the listing doesn't exist any more.

 

The 240 watt PSU is actually more than enough for the 1060. The TDP of the MSI 1060 standard MXM B format card is only 80 watts, so your heatsink will work as the Radeon 7970m has a 100 watt TDP, which means your Alien came with a 100 watt heatsink inside.

GTX 980m directly from Dell or pulled from a 2015 Alienware 18 should work. The 2015 Alienware 17 and 15 models though are crap, as the CPU and GPU are both soldered to the motherboard (DEATH TO BGA CRAPBOOKS!!!). MSI cards are your best bet since they generally work very well with alienwares, although clevo cards are supposed to work too, but MSI is the most compatible from my experience. It has always been plug and play for me. However, regardless of whether you get a 980m or 1060, you will have to perform an INF driver mod to force the nvidia drivers to insall, but I can guide you through the process so no worries .

I've never heard of Schenker, so I don't know what to say about that. I always buy individual parts, and usually off Ebay since they usually have what I need. If not, Amazon has all the stuff I need that Ebay doesn't have. Make sure you do your research on the seller when buying a product, and on the product itself.

You are correct about the ASUS laptops. None of them will give you a 980m that will work with your Alien since they are stupid proprietary cards. Also make sure you have the 120hz screen. Some people have managed to get their R4s working in optimus mode with the 1060 and 1070, but others haven't. The screen will act as a failsafe if you don't get it to work in optimus mode. The 120hz screen does look better though. On the R5s, the screen is required to even run the pascal cards at all. Battery life will still be good though since the pascal cards consume a low amount of power while idle. My 1060 only consumes 4 watts while idle.

 

You're right, the prices can be about the same and the performance of the 1060 is better. However the 1060 is much harder to get if I want it cheap.

Also, I'm not sure if I have the 120hz screen. get-edid | parse-edid returns the following

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "?@"
ModelName "?@"
VendorName "LGD"
# Monitor Manufactured week 0 of 2011
# EDID version 1.4
# Digital Display
DisplaySize 380 210
Gamma 2.20
Option "DPMS" "false"
Modeline "Mode 0" 101.70 1600 1648 1680 1830 900 903 908 926 -hsync -vsync
Modeline "Mode 1" 67.80 1600 1648 1680 1830 900 903 908 926 -hsync -vsync
EndSection

xrandr outputs:
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1600 x 900, maximum 32767 x 32767
LVDS1 connected primary 1600x900+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 382mm x 215mm
1600x900 60.0*+ 40.0
1440x900 59.9
1360x768 59.8 60.0
1152x864 60.0
1024x768 60.0
800x600 60.3 56.2
640x480 59.9

I can only guess it's a 60 Hz screen? Does it mean that only 980m will work?

Btw. I added Medion Erazer series to the list, they are using MSI boards
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-the-graphics-card-in-a-medion-erazer.764562/

 

Looks like the 60 Hz screen as there are no display modes with a refresh rate higher than 60Hz. However, the 120Hz screen is actually not required for the R4s to run a 1060 because of Intel FDI in optimus mode. The integrated card on the CPU will convert the eDP ouput signal of the pascal card to an LVDS output signal, which is then relayed to the screen. I just recommended the 120Hz screen because it looks better, and some people haven't gotten it to work while others have. It may just be the ones who didn't get it to work had some conflicting BIOS settings, but it's best to have it just in case.

In your case, the 980m will work for sure. The 1060 may or may not work without the 120Hz screen. Either way, you will have to perform a driver INF mod to force the Nvidia driver to install. Also from what I've heard, the 980m overclocks better if you're planning on doing that. For either card, look for one from an MSI laptop or is MSI branded. MSI cards offer the best compatibility with Alienwares other than Dell's own MXM modules.