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    Help Please: GPU Upgrade on Alienware M17xR3... 680m or 780m?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by farris, Oct 30, 2013.

  1. farris

    farris Notebook Consultant

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    Hi All,

    This is my first time upgrading the GPU on a laptop so I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

    I have read on other threads that on cards like the 780m bios settings and other tweaks are needed.

    I am based in London, England and would like to please ask:
    - What is the easiest card to upgrade to? Is there a plug and play solution?
    - is there a place in London that can upgrade my Laptop to a 780m for me?
    - where is the best place to purchase the cards? I tried Dell direct and they were no help at all. Is there a supplier in the UK or EU?

    My Specs are:
    - 580m GPU
    - i7-2720QM CPU 2.2ghz
    - 16GB Ram
    - Bios insideH20 version 1.0 A12
    - 3D screen but I don't care about 3D
     
    farris, Oct 30, 2013
    #1
  2. Amroth

    Amroth Notebook Consultant

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    Try Widezu69. he lives in the UK and usually has a spare 680m.

    Neither is 100% plug and play because you need to use modded .inf drivers from LaptopVideo2Go: NVIDIA & Laptop News. But this isn't a big deal.

    780m is slightly less plug and play because you have to disable the onboard sound card from the BIOS. Install the card and video drivers, and then re-activate the sound card again.

    If you want the best bang-for-buck, get the 680m because it's not that far behind the 780m. If money is no object, then get the 780m as stock its about as good as desktop 670, and overclocked it reaches 680 levels!

    With both cards you will lose 3D but still can keep the 120Hz refresh rate. Good luck!
     
    Amroth, Oct 30, 2013
    #2
  3. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    True, any of them is fine but the 780m requires more steps to work.
     
    Alienware-L_Porras, Oct 31, 2013
    #3