Installing SSD and future upgrades

Hello everyone,

Let me start off by saying that I am aware that there are tons of questions out there regarding installing a new SSD into an m17x.

I am planning on upgrading my M17x R3 as Battlefield 4 is coming soon and my GTX 460m is just not going to cut it. I have decided to start with a faster HD. I don't really have any particular files I want to keep so I am planning on throwing everything off my current HD and use that for media and school files.

I bought a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD today and I am planning on installing it myself. The problem here is that this will be the first time for me, ever replacing hardware in a laptop/desktop, so my knowledge is limited. I am however quite handy, so I am sure I can get it done. After some searching around the internet I found a lot of of information regarding installing an SSD. I found the following site: Upgrading to an SSD - Alienware User Support
and I was wondering if I should just follow exactly what they do here and it will be alright.

As you will see on that site it says all the drivers need to be installed, I will not have any problems with that. The BIOS on my m17x R3 however, does not support the new GTX 770M (this is what I am planning to replace my 460m with) since I am installing a new SSD I thought why not get ready for that 770M and install any BIOS drivers (that do support the 770M) or any other drivers already wich will make the 770M work, that way I don't have to it that when I get the 770m.

Wich programs should I install on the SSD? Obviously I will install my most played games on the SSD, but I am unsure about let's say, Google Chrome? Rainmeter?(when people see my alienware they are already flabbergasted, but once they see the awesome ironman rainmeter skin I use, you should see their faces)

I have also never had a laptop/desktop with multiple SSD's/HD's. I was wondering what would hapen if i would download something from the internet, does it get saved on the SSD or on the HD? obviously I don't want to pollute my SSD with stuff that will just slow it down.

If I get a 770M will my procesor (i7-2630QM) bottleneck it?

These are my questions for now, I am sure I will run into some more questions later.

I want to thank everyone who is willing to invest time into helping me making my alienware more awesome!

And an apology for any failures in english, it's not my main language (if it really bothers you, feel free to correct me!).

Slangtong

 

Hi.
Those instructions are pretty comprehensive. All I would say is not to replace the drive that is in there but use the spare slot and change the boot order in the BIOS. If you have any problems you can simply change it back and run on the original install.

I believe you will need an unlocked BIOS and turn off the iGPU for the 770. Optimus will not work. Dell do not do BIOS updates for newer cards on older models so you have to hunt one down - or someone here will help . You will also need to use modded drivers to include the card/machine ID's. I get them from here: LaptopVideo2Go: Drivers.

I setup a downloads folder on my data drive and used the 'library' feature to add it. Then use this as the default location in the browser.

I've put everything on mine and only the occasional game since I run all them from the data drive. The extra couple of seconds during loads do not bother me - more of a rest period usually. I still have over 90Gb available. Fast boot and snappy windows is what I like but if getting into the game quicker is important then you should still be able to get quite a few on there.

Don't know about the CPU bottleneck but I've not heard of any issues there.

HTH

 

Alright that info really helps! I have never been in the BIOS before but I'll figure it out. I'll just put my room mates's laptop next to me so I can still find info on the web.
Not sure about the library feature thing but i'll look it up!

Thanks alot

 

Np

Windows will create a bunch of libraries, one of them being 'downloads'. all you do is create a downloads folder on the data drive, right click on it and select 'include in library'.

If you're not familiar with the bios then the stuff for the 770 will need better help than I can give as my machine is a 3D model. Only the dGPU is connected. I would not need a bios fix but I'd be giving up the 3D

Changing the boot order is easy enough to find

Good luck!

 

Hi Slangtong, you're gonna love that GPU in your system, it's essentially the same one I've got, and you'll find that the 2630QM will be fine, it doesn't bottleneck any of my games, and it never goes over about 65% CPU usage during gaming. The SSD will just make your system snappier & more responsive, but won't really help gaming, except for cutting down load times and in open world games it can help prevent stutter due to the improved streaming performance of an SSD.

I don't know how much research you've done regarding upgrading & installing the GPU in your laptop, but you seem a bit sketchy on the BIOS at least, so I thought I'd give you a few pointers.

OK, so I used this thread, the information in the first post as the basis on the procedure in terms of the approach to the BIOS, and general procedure (settings you need to change listed in first post of that thread):

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-mobility-7970-m17x-r3-illustrated-guide.html -> this if for the 7970M, but the BIOS procedure and some of the other info is relevant.

But, you'll want to use the unlocked A12 BIOS not the A08 that they mention (yes, I think it has to be unlocked). I've attached that for you (actually won't let me attach such a large file). You can get it from here:

[M17x R3] - BIOS A12 'unlocked' & 'SATA tweak'

You should be able to use your existing heat sink, remove the black tape from the heat sink GPU contact area and just move the pads around, and you'll probably need to purchase 1mm thermal pads for you to build up certain areas of the heatsink. I had to study the card & chips along with the heat sink to work out the depth of the pads required & where to put them, I doubled or tripled up on some of the 1mm pads to get it to contact probably in some areas. It's important to pad it up properly, too much pad thickness and the GPU core won't sit flat against the heatsink, and you'll put uneven pressure on the card as well. Too little pad thickness, and the the other chips won't make contact with the heatsink. This is the hardest part of the process. Thermal paste needed for the GPU core obviously.

Some extra info, some of which is applicable in this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-17-m17x/672230-m17x-r3-680m-compatability.html

Then you'll need to install graphics drivers using a modified inf file, otherwise the drivers don't install.

Oh, and you'll lose Optimus, will just be able to use the dedicated card.

Flashing a modified vBIOS is not required, but will allow you to overclock beyond +135Mhz on the core (but voids the warranty on the card if they find out), you might be able to request the user svl7 to make you one, but he may need a small donation to be persuaded:

NVIDIA Kepler VBIOS mods - Overclocking Editions, modified clocks, voltage tweaks

Hope that helps.

 

This also helps alot!

I don't really care much about optimus as i barely ever use it without the charger.
Once I get the 770m I will look at some videos on the internet about the thermal pads and thermal paste so I can do that right.

 

The videos might help, but don't just follow blindly how someone else padded up their heatsink. The padding configuration is only applicable for a certain heatsink and GPU combination. So even if you find a video for a 770M padding, then the padding configuration is unlikely to be the same if the heatsink is a different model to yours. Unless you can find a video of someone padding up their M17xR3 460M heatsink for a 770M, then you won't be able to just copy it. And I wouldn't advise you to just copy it anyway, because there's no guarantee that the person who posted the video did it right. I think it's better to rely on your own eyes & experience with the heatsink & GPU when you 'play' with it to see what the best pad configuration is. But the videos are likely to help give you a general idea of the process.