Help needed in deciding update for alienware 17x r4

My bro bought an alienware m17x 2-3 yrs back with gtx 660m. Now after seeing the performance gap between 970m and 660m he wants to upgrade to 970m. My questions are:
1)Will his 3d 120hz display work after upgrade?
2)Is there any need to change the heatsink or fan?
3)Any other prerequisites i should know about?(i know we need UEFI boot and only win 8 and 8.1 works as of now)
@ Mr. Fox pls help
We have decided on eurocom's kit
http://www.eurocom.com/ec/upgrade(1,259,0)ec

 

1) 3D won't work ... 120 Hz will
2) You need a new heatsink ... the fan will do fine
3) Other than heatsink, heat pads, bracket, thermal paste, UEFI bios ... You should be fine

 

any idea why 3d won't work , i mean is 3dvision entirely unsupported on new gpus? ... and any idea if i can retail out the 3d screen separately or something? and is there any upgrade that might save 3d besides 680m and the very old gen gpu's?
btw hidevolution or eurocom kits? which is better?

 

I'm not a 3D fan and don't have any first-hand technical experience with it, but if my understanding of how it works is correct, an aftermarket GPU upgrade doesn't have the license required for 3D to work.

HIDevolution and Eurocom, and RJ Tech, and PowerNotebooks are all selling the same video Clevo video cards. I suspect they all come from the same place. Just choose the vendor you feel most comfortable with, best price and warranty. The warranty duration does vary by vendor. Some are 90 days, some 1 year.

 

1. 3d wont work, 120hz will
nvidia uses some kind of signature matching/licensing with gfx card and the motherboard for 3d on the display
if they dont match, it wont work
680m is the max supported with 3d on the R4(do check on this, unsure if you upgrade to 680m will retain 3d capability or not)
rest assured, any other 7xx/8xx/9xx will not do 3d

2.660m is a lower wattage card, you will need to get a 100watt heatsink
IMPORTANT- get a 240watt power adaptor, most likely you will have received a 180watt with the 660m

3. your best bet is 980m(if you can let go 3d)
you will need new pads, some good thermal paste and some expereince
also it will require modded drivers(also, do ask the seller which vbios you are receiving)
see J95's post on our forums

 

ok, last question now ... is it gonna be worth it ? i mean i know in terms of performance its worth it; but the prices are exorbitant $700 without taxes .... i paid $1200 for my new aw 15 with 970m inclusive of taxes(currently omitting the optimus problems cz i am sure my bro wont even care abt that ) what will be the lifetime of this gpu chip?

 

remember the 970m in the new AW15 is a soldered on GPU and not like the ones that are purchasable MXM cards so if your bro gets the MXM card he'll have more VRAM to use.

the real question is: how much does he care about 3D functionality? I want to get a 120Hz panel and since i also have a 980M i can't use 3D and I don't need it.

 

Since I have 3D and actually use it let me tell you what I think ... Car games and 1st person RPGs and Shooters are where the 3D features really shine ... Anything else (3rd person games, strategy, sports ... etc.) I find it quite annoying to be frank and completely distracting and worthless but I am a person who hates nothing more than going to the cinema to find out the movie I want to see is in 3D so your mileage may vary.

Nonetheless the 120 HZ part of the equation is what I believe is the sweetest part and the overall quality of the panel that dell uses when compared against current line up panels from most of the OEMs

 

Thank you for your responses all