GTX 480M video on Alienware M17x (R1)

I have a little question.
Will GTX 480M graphics card taken from Clevo X7200 work on Alienware m17x R1 without any issues?
Or there will be some problems?

 

if you are doing a single card it may work.

But for sli, I am not sure if the R1 can handle the power in full throttle.

Surprising I havent seen a thread for 480M so sorry I cant give you a definite yes or no.

 

Thanks for any information.

 

Are you definitely going to do it? It could be really interesting..

If you were to trail blaze, Im sure people can help you with troubleshooting.

I think the notebookreview says that 480m is similar with 580m in term of power (100w).

Do you happen to have a second 480m?

 

Only one))

Information found. R1 has MXM 2.1 slot, so it's not compatible with GTX 480M.
Thanks. Thread can be closed.

 

I am pretty sure the that the M17x R1 has a MXM 3.0b Standard, the older M17 has the MXM 2.1.

 

This is confusing for many people. To make things clear there is no such thing as M17x R1.
17" Dell Alienware models are M17x, M17x R2, M17x R3.
Many confuse the M17x with the preDell Alienware.

Now to answer your question, the card fits physically, the M17x is MXM 3.0 type B, but BIOS support is where you might have difficulties or not.
Also this model has a nVIDIA chipset which can be an advantage or not.
In conclusion it has to be tested to know for sure.

Cheers

 

what predell model do you refer to? (the M17?)

good one on the MXM clarification

 

That is very interesting. I'm looking forward to hear from this. It would be great if M17x supports newer cards than 280M GTX. This way we wouldn't have to change the whole system (which i love as it is) just for upgrading to newer generation cards.

I heard some time ago about a modded BIOS for the Dell AW M17x "R1" . I wonder if it would be possible to add newer cards support by modding the BIOS.

 

That's true but nothing was done except bringing some hidden options to light, also none of the options affected the system in anyway because they weren't 'unlocked'.
It seems that they dropped the project @bios-mods.com which is sad :/

 

and it looked promising...

 

Well, the thread is still open even if the old replies were deleted and I think ahmed is the moderator of the Phoenix section.

 

I have investigated a little more about the MXM of the Dell AW M17x "R1".

Although mxmupgrade.com lists the M17x as an MXM 2.1 laptop, i have checked with the Manual , where it is clearly stated it is MXM 3.0. So , the laptop should support MXM 3.0 cards "with an individual budget of 75W". I do not believe that if only one card is used , the power is shared to both slots (With a total of 150W) . If that's so , that means

Upgrading to a GTX 480M or GTX 580M should not be possible , as a single card consumes 100W.

Upgrading to a GTX 460M or GTX 560M though should be possible , as a single card consumes 72W and 75W respectively.

I'm not sure if it's possible to switch from Nvidia to ATI , although i wouldn't see why, but i believe it would also be possible to throw in an ATI Mobility Radeon 5870 HD , although it has been reported that it does not work in Crossfire (dual cards).

Power consumption according to notebookcheck.com

Here is a link. -> http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5981/capturekne.jpg

If upgrading to newer cards is limited by just the BIOS support , it's really a shame. So unfair.

 

Electrically speaking, the M17x (Dell) will be capable of handling a single GTX 480m, GTX 485m, or GTX 580m. It's only when the total draw by the graphics cards exceeds 150watts that problems start to occur. (Also excess draw in 1 slot may cause heat related instability in the physical MXM slot itself, but it *should* be capable of handle 100watts of draw from a GTX 480m).

It also *should* be able to handle SLI GTX 480m's, GTX 485m's, or GTX 580m's if someone got that working. Overclocked, and overvolted GTX 280m's draw close to 100watts a piece and people didn't have many problems running two of those. (two PSU's could also be used if needed).

Mind you this is all electrically speaking. While there shouldn't and most likely won't be a problem on this end, as Katalin said, vbios/bios/chipset incompatibility would be the determining factor of whether or not this will work

 

I'd check the electrical connectors before making the assumption that the R1 is MXM 3.0 compatible. There is a difference between 2.1 and 3.0.

 

Of course it's MXM 3.0 compatible. People are confusing the M17x made by Dell and the M17x made by Alienware when it was not owned by Dell. Have a look for yourself.



Idk about you but I see MXM 3.0b slots.

 

In my opinion if R2 can handle one GTX 580M/485M then the R1 for sure can. The R1 and R2 have the same power suply, the same cooling system, and the SAME VGA ports (2x MXM 3.0b slot), only difference between those two machines are everything related to the chipset, funny thing is they even were sharing issues once ( that means R1's bios and R2's bios are similar).

Anyway I am not sure about the GTX 480M, it has been never tested in any alienware machine (I think).. because we all know the 480M was a fail in power consumption. But the GTX 580M should work in single mode, but the fans will probably not work well.

PS: I think the thread's creator, owns an Area-51 m17x?? and not the Dell's M17x.

 

someone mentioned earlier in this thread that M17X R1 is only limited to 280Ms.

FYI: I am running mine with two 285m in SLI

if you look them up on ebay, they are much cheaper than 280m cards but are also faster and can hold stronger overclocks. I have mine OV at 715/1787 for the core.

If you can try the 480m on the M17X I'd say go for it. back in the day, I was the guinea pig for the 285s on the M17x, and it worked amazingly!

though, I wouldn't recommend you trying it if you can't afford buying a new one in case something go wrong. leave it alone then.

 

Ok let's be clear one more time: the first Dell release of the M17x was never officially referred to as the R1, that's why all the confusion with the pre Dell model. It also has the same chassis as the M17x R2, difference is made by the chipset/motherboard.

The M17x R2 is also rated @75W per MXM socket and that didn't kept users from succeeding with newer cards.

Also all Dell M17xs to this date are ONLY MXM 3.0 !


@ONE_j FYI we know that 285M=improved 280M

 

I think the 285M and the 280M are the same card!.. and finally, does the Area-51 m17x has a MXM 2.1 or 3.0 ?

 

They are slightly different.
And the Area-51 m17x is MXM 2.1, not made by Dell.

 

Good to know the difference.

So besides the MXM slot (you would have to open up your laptop to see the slots) is there any other thing that differenciates the dell M17x and the AW (Area 51) M17x? that can be easily seen?

chipset?
Hardware options?

 

Their design is very different.
AW area-51 m17x (not capital M) are the ones that came with the ripley and skullcap lids.
They have a bezel around the screen, DDR2 memory etc etc.

And the M17x (not m17x) just look at your M17x R2, they are the same outside, they both feature DDR3 memory and MXM 3.0, only different chipset/motherboard.
M17x: nVIDIA chipset
M17x R2: Intel chipset

 

This is what confused me as far as naming scheme. This is my pre-Dell m17x... R1.

 

That's a m17x R1. Lowercase "m" matters.

 

So Zeera here the Op has as m17x-R1 (MXM 2.1) ou a M17x (MXM 3) ?

 

He doesn't have any, I think he asked this because he's trying to sell the 480M and somebody with a M17x asked if he can upgrade to this card.

 

So.. Can the Dell-AW M17x R1 be upgraded to any MXM 3.0 compatible video card that does not exceed 150W? Or does the BIOS restrict that? If so , can it be bypassed?

 

You are right. But maybe we will try to put the card in that alienware. And will see if it works))

 

I can test it for you if you want and if successful i might buy it!

 

But how it can be done? Cos your location is slightly far away)))

 

Get a shipping quote and i'll pay it both ways if it's reasonable, that is if you agree as i bet there isn't just me that want to see this happen.

 

I will wait a couple of weaks, because there is one more person who is interested in buying this card in my country. If no one of those two will decide to do this, wait a massege from me)))

 

Of course, no problem, after all selling it was the point.

 

where are you living??? ... Nobody can say if one video card will work or not, they just need to be tested, that is the only way to know it.

 

I'm from Ukraine

 

Hi! Today I bought GTX560M for my M17X R1 On Ebay. I hope that it will work

 

Please let us know how it goes...

 

OK. I chose 560M because its power is about 75Watts. But it must have better performance than GTX285M I think. And I like its price ($275). But we need to wait the delivery for about one week. tyranus7 do u really live in SilentHill?

 

Well.. I really don't want to live in Silent Hill, but I think I would like to go to Silent Hill sometime to fight my sins ..

About the GTX 560M it will be a really great upgrade, if you get two of them to and make them work on SLI, anyway, with the GTX 560M you have DX11 that is nice too. If you are going to buy only one GTX 560M make sure it has a SLI connector, so you can get another GTX 560M in the future and test the SLI configuration.

 

Originally my M17X cames with two 260M in SLI. Then I sold them on Ebay, and one of them was returned to me burned by buyer Hope that I can fix it soon. And I really do not like SLI... Now I decide to have some risk and buy 560M while not sure if it will work on R1... It has a sli connector, i see it on the picture. But I think to leave one GTX560M and one GTX260M as Physix extention. Without SLI bridge if it is possible.
Sorry for poor English

 

Say hi to Pyramid Head for me

 

But with a couple of GTX 560M you can set SLI on, only if you want. You can always disable SLI through Nvidia control panel. Why you don't like SLI by the way??? It works perfect for me most of the time and if not you can try tweaking in the Nvidia Control panel to SLI work better.

I think the GTX 560M should work in the M17x R1. The only issue I think you can have is have the fans running at full speed all the time.

I will try, but I don't think anybody is able to talk to him.. he is too busy

 

Help! I bought on ebay GTX 560M, but I have M17H-R1 bios official last, cannot install the driver, the installation says there is no compatible hardware, how to overcome this problem Thanks, sorry for my english I live in Ukraine

 

That's because the .ini file doesn't have the GTX 560M's ID, you'll have to add the lines manually and that's it

Did it boot with the card in?

 

Wow probably it works! But you should to go to the bios and turn off internal card. As for drivers you should go to the nvidia site and download the latest driver for GTX560M manually.

I hope that the fans full speed were my only and the strongest problem with it I have not enough money to have 560M in SLI right now. But who knows what will I say when the more powerful games appear

 

I prescribed the id, the laptop rebooted and showed colored pictures,windows puts on his driver vga

read that the problem be in the BIOS Dell

 

So let's hear it:
Does the laptop boot if you turn off the integrated graphics?
Do you have a clear image with the default VGA drivers?

 

Colored pictures? That means the laptop is not showing the video properly??? ... This remind me when somebody first tested the HD 5870. I am not sure what changed back then what allowed the HD 5870 to work in the M17x R1.

Is your GTX 560M a Dell's version?? If not I think a Dell's GTX 560M has more chances to work than any other brand.

By the way, there is no need to you disable the IGP in bios, just disable the Hybrid SLI (if it is enable). The laptop will boot using the IGP but it will allow you to test different drivers version and make more tests.

If the card is not working well, I think the solution might be change the vbios for the "right one"..

 

I told him to disable IGP just to make sure he's on the 560M, since his replies are not really accurate.
First he said that the drivers won't install, that's why I told him to add the IDs, but at that time he didn't mention anything about having issues. Let's see if the problem is driver related or a BIOS/vBIOS incompatibility.