M17X R2: 285m vs. 5870m

I have an Alienware M17X R2 with an ATI 5870.

Unfortunately, I'm trying to install (an os made by a "fruity" company). However, that OS doesn't support ATI mobility cards. But it will support Nvidia cards.

So basically, I'm going to have to replace my 5870 with a 285m. So I have two questions:

1) How much of a drop off will there be with the 285M?

2) I'm looking at the cards in ebay. What would the card type be? Is this one compatible?

NVIDIA GTX 285M - MXM III B - eBay (item 110493830887 end time Feb-07-11 08:50:10 PST)

3) More of a stupid question. Would it be possible to have one slot with the ATI and the other with the Nvidia and just go back and forth between the two depending on what OS I use.

 

If you have crossfire I'll trade you my 285's for your 5870's

 

1. I think you'll notice, at stock, about a 15-20% difference. Although this won't always be blatant in every single title. Most of your games will fly with either of the cards.

2. MXM III is compatible.

3. I blieve so, but then you lose the option of having proper Dual GPU performance.

 

sorry, but I only have the one 5870m. I could give you the one 5870m and 300 dollars for both your 285's?

of course, I have no idea, how we would actually do a trade.

 

What does the "B" mean. Is there a type A and B card?

Really? Can someone give me confirmation of this? can I put the card in the ebay link in the second slot, or would that have to be a different card?

 

What Kade_Storm said is true you'll not take advantage of the benefits of SLi or CF(nVidia or ATi).
The m17x has MXM III Type B slots.

The card in the eBay link(GTX 285m) will work in your m17x but keep in mind that you'll need the heatsink for it(to fit the m17x),SLi cable if you're planning on buying two and if they come bare you'll have to put the thermal pads between the heatsink and card(i have the sizes ) along with some thermal paste on the GPU die.

cheers

 

Awesome. Can you forward me to an installation guide or something that can give me a little more of an Idea on what I will have to do?

Also, just to confirm one more time, are you sure the same card will fit in either slot. I always thought that there would be a different card for each slot.

 

If you still have warrenty take note that dissasembling the machine might void it.
There are 2 official dissasembling videos of the m17x on youtube,just type "m17x teardown".
The nVidia cards will work in eighter slot,the difference is made by the heatsinks.
Also IF in the extreme case you'll run into issues with drivers instalation that might be due to their vBios,anyway if the cards are not faulty you should be able to boot and flash them with m17x R2 bioses from the GTX 285m(can be found on NBR,search for GTX 285m bios or contact me)
Might want to ask the seller if he has more info on his cards(where do they come from?)
My advice is to look for a pair of GTX 285m (if it's a must) with the SLi cable for m17x and their heatsinks(trust me you'll have a hard time finding them)

 

Can the heatsink for the ATI card I have be used for the 285 or is it completely different?

 

I don't know,somebody else could probably confirm this,a good idea would be to post a picture of your heatsink and get somebody with a GTX 285m do the same.
But the thermal pads would definitely not be the same(sizes and position).

EDIT: don't remove your heatsink and reseat it if you don't have some thermal paste to replace the old one

 

Hey there... have you tried making the OS switch at all yet? Our lappies don't have the best support. I have an R2 but with 285m's and while I can boot into it, virtually nothing has any real support. the big one being the motherboard. it wont be recognized, supported, etc. you can get in and run the basics, browse the web etc, but with our systems its next to impossible to make them work cleanly. You will be doing alot of manual edits to your DSDT, and I'd def reccomend getting a utility that allows you to view your new os partition in windows or linux so you can go in and fix things without the use of command line... let me know if you any pointers.

 

Yea, I had an R1 and was able to get it working (wrote a guide actually....google my username...first one I think). However, Alienware replaced it with the R2, which is soo much better, except for this small compatibility issue.

However, rumor is that the company i'm talking about will introduce new lappy's in March. And if they put ATI/AMD Mobility Cards in there, then this shouldn't be a problem anymore.

But look at my guide, if you have 285's, then my graphics solution might work for you.