Eager to upgrade my old 2009 entry-level M17X, help a newcomer out :)

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum and wanted to ask a question..

This may be a blast from the past but I just bought a used M17X. It's release date was in late 2009, and it's the entry-level version. The specs are displayed below:

CPU: 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P6800
GPU: nVidia GeForce GTX 260M
RAM: 8GB (I assume DDR3?)
HDD: x2 250GB HDD (The original only came with 1)

So this is my question...

I'm not too sure what motherboard the laptop has in it - however my only interests are if I can replace the CPU and GPU so that I can improve this laptops performance.

If it actually possible to replace these parts - am I fairly limited to what I could put in based upon the motherboard I have?

Any input would be greatly appreciated

 

You should be able to upgrade to a core2quad but this is a really old machine. You should be looking at a whole new one instead.

 

A bit old, if gaming is not a big issue, then an SSD would be a wise choice should make your computer feel a bit more snappy. otherwise maybe even try overclocking or tweaking the 260m. Might eek out a bit more power.

 

Thanks for the input guys.

Is it possible to replace the card altogether with something a bit more powerful?

For example, a GTX 570M which has the same bus support (PCI-E 2.0)? Or is it also important to consider the cards MXM Type and OpenGL/CL spec?

 

Hi, I'd try asking over in the owners lounge as well in case that is 'better' watched by R1/R2 owners.

What I can say is that you can't apply the same rules you would with desktop components on a laptop. Well at least not on any of the AW17's I have seen. Guaranteed (assuming everything else is OK) you could just add a second 260m and run SLi? Tracking down the heatsink will be the problem with that solution . It still won't be up to a later single card but has the best chance of success. Once you want to use a GPU that was not sold in the original build you're into a fair bit or work and research

 

You can't sli yourself. The motherboards wont have the ports for it.

 

I thought it was an R1/R2 (09?) and had dual card MB. My bad.

 

Another problem would be buying a gtx 260m and the power supply. Oh and not to mention, cooling.

 

Yeah, the power supply might be an issue but I don't know what the default PSU it was supplied with since it's sold with dual card capability? The M18x has always had a 330W as far as I know. For cooling it would need the dell part for the fan and heatsink, not something that is going to be easy to find - but may be worth a couple of searches...

 

The r1 and r2 (I had an r2 for a while) were crossfire and sli capable. They had the CPU in the middle, and one GPU on each side. If he can find a 260m and a heatsink assembly it would work. He would probably also need a bigger power supply, as I think the single GPU configs came with a 150w power brick, and the dual GPU ones came with a 220ish watt one.

 

Wow thanks heaps for the input everyone. It means a lot when people with experience take their time out to help a newcomer out.

I understand upgrading laptops is in a completely different league on comparison to upgrading parts in a tower.

I bought this laptop thinking it was a high end model (quad core CPU, better gpu) - but it turns out it wasn't.

My main objective is to use it for 3D modelling and rendering as I'm an engineering student.

Would running two 260M's in tandem be more favourable than purchasing a new gpu? I've done some research on how to figure out if a gpu is capable of replacing an old gpu (by looking at the bus/Mxm type), but does it go even deeper than that?

I also understand upgrading the gpu in anyway will warrant the upgrading of the psu.

Can the CPU be upgraded easily?

 

power brick is just buy a new power supply which is like $50 maybe?

I doubt 2 260ms would make a huge difference unless your modelling software can take advantage of SLI?

CPU would probably help the most, but performance wouldn't be ideal, depends if its worth it for you.

 

It does go deeper than the slot/interface type. Laptops have power saving technology to switch to a lower power GPU when it's not needed. Optimus on NV and Enduro on AMD. Both technologies rely on the OEM to supply the correct fan profiles and temp settings. Upshot is if dell did not sell a GPU with a model then it's usual to have to disable the on-board and this can require an unlocked bios.

By using a config (Sli) dell sold with it these issues go away so although you'll give up some performance you win with the ease of the upgrade. Goes either way

There is also a problem with driver support. The combo will not be in the NV driver installer so you have to modify (or get at: LaptopVideo2Go: Drivers) a specific driver .inf file for the driver to install and this needs to be done with every new driver .

You'll need to find out exactly what your CPU options are but the job itself is easy enough.

What is the wattage of your existing PSU (output voltage x amps)?

 

Ah, I see. Does this power saving feature also 'swap' the display driver in the windows device manager? Because I've noticed my on board gpu is present in the display driver section, and other times my gtx 250m is present. But they are never both listed, it's either one or the other.

As for my power supply I can't be sure as I'm not home at the moment, but the lowest it could be is 150W and the highest would be 230W.

 

The highest (tested) GPUs that the M17x R1 can take is Crossfire 5870s, for cpu a T9800 is good enough, you can also get a SSD but it will only Works at Sata II speeds, and the 1200p is the best screen you can get... no idea if you can put the 1200p RGB inside that so get the CCFL.

 

Interesting, I've just checked my PSU's output power and it's 240W.

 

I'm running xfire 5870m's, still chugs along ok, just depends what you really want out of it i guess. Upgraded the cpu to a Q9100, only because i got it for free.