Considering M17x R2 CPU upgrade.

@OWSucks Glad to hear you're back in action. Hopefully you can finally enjoy your 920XM!

 

Well done for being a total boss Rypac

 

Haha, no worries Now make sure you go ThrottleStop on that beast ASAP!

 

Whew. Nice recovery. I noticed the first time I took my graphics cards out to clean the GPU heat sinks I had to re-install the drivers for some weird reason. I'm only considering the CPU upgrade because I'm thinking I'm getting close to having to clean the GPU's again.

Keep us updated on getting your final glitches smoothed OWsucks.

 

Just wanted to share my experience doing a cpu upgrade on my m17x r2, and maybe get some info as I am currently typing on it with it near completely torn apart @ 1230 am as this is the only way i've gotten it to completely work.

My m17x has dual 5870s in xfire, and had an i7 820qm. On an impulse buy I decided to buy the 920xm off ebay from laptop monkey. I received the cpu in 4 days (rather fast I think) and also recieved some mx4 thermal paste i had ordered from new egg on the same day (yesterday).

I torn my laptop apart, installed the cpu, took out both gpus and repasted using the mx4. Put everything back together, it started right up the recognized the cpu.

It did not, however, recognize my 2nd graphics card. I panic'd thinking I had broken something, so I tored everything back apart. Everything was connected right, i tried taking out the 2nd gpu and putting it back in, starting up, went to windows 1 gpu only.

To make a very long story (all day, and still going for me) short, I ended up swapping gpus just to see if i had shorted 1 out, both gpus worked. After some trial and error I finally got it to recognize both gpus and enable xfire, but now my laptop wouldn't charge, in fact it wouldn't recognize that it was plugged in at all. >.>

After a few more hours of trial and error, I learned 1 thing new, and found out what may be the problem. For 1 (maybe this is common knowledge, but it was new to me) this laptop will not charge, or even see that the power is plugged in to ac without the keyboard plugged in. Not a usb keyboard, the keyboard for the laptop itself. So when I plugged the keyboard in, I started chargin again, but I also lost my 2nd gpu (wouldn't turn on at all).

When taking this notebook apart, you have to remove a large metal frame, to get the cpu from the top. Each time I had tried to load in to windows, and had either no ac adapter, or no second gpu, I had this metal frame on. Right now, I am typing from this laptop, with it wide open, without this metal frame, and everything is working as it should.

I have no idea what is wrong, but my guess would be the metal frame is somehow grounding something out, disabling my motherboard to power my 2nd gpu slot.

This has been extremely frustrating, and I'm going to try and assemble it completely again and try to get everything working, while fully assembled.

If anyone has a clue as to what could be wrong, please post, I'll be checking back if everything doens't work out.

 

Well I'll tell you what, I actually am still having some issues. The problems are that when Dell picked up the laptop to take away for repairs, the keyboard lights worked. When I got it back, they didn't. The keyboard still functions as a keyboard, it just doesn't light up. There are five screws that hold the keyboard in place and one of them is missing - I know it's not likely but maybe that is the reason?

Also, one of the fans (I think it is the CPU fan) is running at 100% all the time. I talked to tech support, and they said that the keyboard lights may be a management problem within AlienFX. After running a diagnostics test and getting error code 2000-0411 (something about "fan 2" not being found), we found the fan is running constantly at 100% because the motherboard does not recognise that any fan is connected, and its default action is to output 100% power.

I'm pretty sure that these problems are software related, arising from my using CCleaner and DriverSweeper to make way for AMD's latest CCC; I think I removed something important and fundamental. I wanted to restore the factory image on my machine, however because of my adventures using imagex from the WAIK to restore previously without Dell DataSafe Local Backup, my recovery partition is now corrupted, and Dell DataSafe won't recognise it. Also, I'm getting an error code something like 0x00000e when I try to enter the windows recovery environment through F8 on startup. The machine tells me to insert the Windows disc that came with the machine and choose "repair your computer", but I don't see that option when I put the disc in.

Here's the stupid part: Dell's solution to all this is to replace the motherboard, fan and keyboard. Why? That will literally be the fifth motherboard they've put in this machine, and the third keyboard. All I wanted was for them to send me a new HDD with a fresh Windows install and factory image on it. Am I wrong in being so sure that these problems are not hardware related? When I said to the tech guy that it sounded like software rather than hardware failure, he talked about resistors on the motherboard that control the fan speed, a communication failure between the keyboard and AlienFX, and "wanting to be sure".

I had all these problems with both the 620M and the 920XM alternately installed, so I know that the new processor isn't the problem.

This laptop was supposed to be the best thing ever, but it rarely works properly and it breaks all the time. My family can't believe the amount of trouble I'm getting for my £2300 outlay (once you add in the new processor, RAM and blu-ray drive that I stupidly bought through Dell it's closer to £3000). When it works its fantastic, but its so unreliable!

P.S: I also figured out (thanks to these awesome forums) that the reason my m17x R2 wouldn't restart properly was because of the new RAM I installed. Upping the RAM voltage in the BIOS to 1.7v solved that problem - are there any side-effects of upping the RAM voltage?

I'm not sure what's happening with your machine mate. I know that crossfire really doesn't work very well - it can be incredibly fussy. It sounds like you've isolated the problem (the metal frame), so I've only really got one suggestion. Without assuming you were messy with your repaste, is there any thermal grease on the motherboard, metal frame or anywhere else where it shouldn't be? It could be that's what's making a bad connection between to parts of the machine. Just a thought.

 

So after spending quite a few hours I finally got things running. The 2nd gpu in my machine really has to be sitting perfectly, I think the slot for it on my MB is a little worn out, since I've pulled these cards numerous times.

Cpu works great so far, no screenshots but a quick comparison done with 3dmark 06

Before: 16,391
After 20,885

Neither score using any OC.

 

So the dell engineer came today. He replaced the motherboard, fan and keyboard, and now the machine won't turn on at all. Yeah. He said Alienware will call me and arrange for it to be taken to the warehouse for more repairs. Again.

I've had at least 3 primary graphics cards, 2 secondary graphics cards, 3 keyboards, 5 motherboards, two power supplies and two touchpads fitted to this machine in the 18 months I've owned it. It has never worked consistently. I am once again writing this ony phone.

I'm starting to think that high end mobile PC gaming is a stupid idea in the first place. If I had the money again I'd buy a cheap laptop, build a gaming desktop from scratch and spend the thousand pounds I'd have saved on games and lottery tickets.

 

It really sucks how much trouble you've had with this machine. It is no wonder that it has left such a bad impression on the quality of Alienware computers. Both of mine have been absolutely perfect and I'm so happy for that. They really are awesome computers...

If you strike luck with the lottery tickets, make sure you share the winnings with your friends at NBR

 

Wow! I can certainly understand your frustration at this point. I would probably be asking Dell Customer Service when it starts to think that replacing the entire machine is a better reflection of their cs and business model. Your patience has certainly been over the top. Especially with all the problems you've had for the money spent and the time you have been without a functional high end pc for that money.

 

Hey guys, I thought I'd let you know that my m17xR2 has been returned to me in perfect working order. The fan and keyboard problems are fixed, so it looks like I won't be getting a refund to spend on lottery tickets after all.

I'm sure other people considering this upgrade will google "m17x R2 cpu upgrade" and find my nightmare story, but to be honest I can't help but think I've been incredibly unlucky with the problems I've had. Dell have been very helpful and haven't tried to rip me off on anything (apart from on a new power adapter last year but I set them straight on that), and my 920xm i7 is now working brilliantly. In fact, I'm surprised at how well it has worked considering its a QS model and not an official release - I expected problems.

Yes I've had chunks of time with my Galaxy SII phone as my only connection to the internet while my laptop's been being fixed, but its hard to stay fucl<ed off when I've got the machine sat in front of me.

Don't let this thread dissuade you from doing this upgrade, its a worthwhile thing to do. That's especially true if you have crossfired dual ATi 5870s like I do, as your processor will be bottlenecking your system. Plenty of people in these forums have performed the upgrade with no problems.

I would NOT reccomend using DriverSweeper and CCleaner to uninstall Dell's video card drivers and install AMDs own ones with the latest Catalyst Control Centre. That process for me is what started all the crashing and BSOD problems which led to me re-installing my OS from the windows disk, and then having to re-re-install without Dell DataSafe Local Backup by using the imagex tool from Windows AIK, a process which (because I fucl<ed it up) has left me with a corrupted recovery partition. Stick with the latest video drivers from Dell. I know they're 18 months old and Dell should shift their arses and updtae them, but if it aint broke, don't fix it.

I'm looking at overclocking my CPU, but my stress tests are pushing it up into the high 70 degrees without any OCing at all. With only 20 degrees to play with I question whether I should overclock at all...

 

Greetings guys. I have i7 840 in mine r2 - whether it is necessary to make updating on 920XM? Whether will give it an increase fps and speeds in games?
Thankful in advance for answers.

 

Only if the games are CPU intesive, which most games are not. Games are bottlenecked 90% of the time by the GPU.

 

So it is not necessary to do updating? I that at all won't see a difference?

 

Depending on the game you may see an improvement, what games are you playing?

 

Skyrim, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - call of Pripyat ,Battlefield 3 ,Metro 2033

 

What's your GPU?

 

My cards 6990s

 

Skyrim will utilize the GPU mostly, however shadows make use of the CPU. Its silly but in both of my rigs if I move the shadow slider to ultra my CPU jumps to 99% but if I move it to low, CPU stays around 30-40% on my M11x and 20% on my Phenom II x4 (or used to til it died )

Funny thing about Skyrim, if you use anything that requires the script extender (mods) those process through the CPU as well, so it is very possible to get enough mods that tax your CPU and GPU together, so be careful.

Metro 2033 really taxes my M11x, both on CPU and GPU so I can't give you any accurate info on that title.

BF3 I have heard is pretty good about using the GPU but uses the CPU for physics (even with having PhysX support) but I honestly don't know as I don't own it.

Stalker is a game I haven't played in a long time, so cannot help you on that one either, but I can almost promise you it will be heavily GPU dependant as it was designed with the PC in mind.

 

I totally agree, I had a similar experience, following the advice of some other R2 owners: using driver sweeper in safe mode, rebooting and then using CC cleaner in safe mode rendered my rig inoperable. I had to perform system restore, and luckily that was it. The thing is, Cryis 2 was running with a moderate GPU overclock before I attempted the 12.1 or 12.2 drivers (cant remember) and after reverting to 11.10 and system restore started getting constant BSOD and had to revert to a mild overclock.

Haven't considered reinstalling OS.

Will just install and repair new drivers through AMD program from now on.

Well let me convey my experience. So I added a 2nd 5870 as I was getting very low FPS and stuttering in Dead Space 2 and Call of Duty Black Ops on the highest graphical settings. To my surprise it didnt alleviate the problem.

I was using an i7 720 QM and per the advice of another R2 owner I decided to spend the $370. for a 920XM off of ebay.

MONEY WELL SPENT.

It is almost counter-intuitive, but both of the games mentioned were running extremely buttery after the CPU swap.

We're talking a marked increase in clock speed here, considering with unlocked multipliers via ThrottleStop an extreme CPU can safely operate in the 3.5-3.6 GHZ range.

If youre looking at a 940XM for ~$700. I would consider a 920, which unlocked is virtually identical for half the price.

I do not know about your power issue but I was unable to use the laptop on battery power alone after adding 2nd GPU. I have since removed the battery as to lighten it a bit, it is somewhat of a non-issue for me seeing as how the battery life was abysmal to begin with.

 

I thank all for answers!
Such processor will approach eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices