M17X R4 Upgrade suggestions-RAM and Video, help please.

I have a 2012 M17X R4 factory spec'ed as follows:

i7 3rd Gen 3610QM processor
Geforce GTX 680M
8 Gb Dual Channed DDR3 @ 1600Mhz
Screen is Wide FHD 1920x1080 60 Hz

I am looking to upgrade the RAM to 16Gb and want some decent modules, suggestions needed.
I am looking for a better GPU but don't want a crazy difficult mod, would like something close to plug and play.
The GPU doesn't need to be the fastest out there, just something to help the machine deal with newer games if possible. Something fairly simple, tried and tested.

I would like to do it myself if possible.
The only other upgrade I can think of would be replacing the 7200 rpm HDD with an SSD, but that might come later.
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

You can do a huge improvement if you are prepared to overclock/overvolt.

I run my 680m @ +180mhz on the clock and voltage @1.01v. Runs great and temps never exceed 72c. It works fine up to +220mhz but I just back it off, it's a very solid GPU (for a change!).

If you're interested PM me as I put together a package with various vbios files (authors acknowledged) with descriptions and instructions .

The SSD is by far the best upgrade for a very noticeable improvement so worth thinking about. The R4 also has a MSATA port that can be used either as a boot device or (easier IMO) a small, cheap, SSD to cache the HD. In tests I did some time ago this produced boot times almost as fast as a dedicated SSD.

Going with a cache means no OS installation but does need configuring correctly. Research 'Intel Rapid Storage Technology'. The driver should already be installed on an R4, and you will find detailed threads on adding a cache drive to an R4.

Good luck.

 

Thanks Mickey,
I was hoping to avoid overclocking if possible but will not close my mind to it yet.
I saw on Eurocomm their kits for the R4, listing the GTX980M but claiming it won't work on Windows 7.
I inquired as to which card is the best if I want to keep my Win 7, and the reply was simply a link to the same page for the R4 that I had already viewed.
Big help.....

 

Yeah, I understand. The 980m does need win 10 for UEFI boot, that the R4 supports). The only options for win 7 will be the 7xx and 8xx cards.
The 7xx cards run hotter and no faster than a reasonably OC'd 680m and the 880m was a real pig for overheating and throttling .

In both cases you need a modded BIOS to disable the on-board so that is a down side, along with having to mod every driver update.

The CPU in mine (3820qm) was the top CPU available at the time from Dell. I don't recall the speed but it does come with three levels of OC in the BIOS. All pretty mild and Dell approved.

Win 10 really is not that bad on the R4. It is Dell approved and (so far) has been fairly painless. Put that against win 8 that lasted 45mins, haha.

Good luck.

 

Thanks again Mickey,
Loaded my config ID number on Dell and my build shows a 32 Gig SSD caching drive and a 7200 Rpm HDD. In My Computer it shows as one single drive. (I didn't see the SSD in Device Mgr but will look again.)
On their support website they don't support Windows 10 on the R4, or at least MY R4.

Since I was looking to do something fairly easy I will skip trying to do Win 10, since I like Win 7 much better anyway. I may do the SSD and Ram since they are relatively cheap. Adding a $800 (Eurocom) GTX 680M might be unwise compared to buying a new mid-range M17X.

So, I may indeed try a little overclocking of the GPU. I just bought BF1 and the Nvidia "Game-ready" app set my card to low detail on everything, lol. (The min requirements are for a GTX 660 but that is for the desktop card I'm sure.) I will report how it looks when I get time to fire up the game.
This was my second Alienware Lappy, the first being a M15X, then this one in 2012, then a M13X in 2015. The M13X (GTX 880) handled Borderlands 2 and Fallout 4 just fine.
I don't know why I keep buying Dell-Alienware, since they drop all support not long after launching a new product ........... oh yeah .... it's the credit line.

 

NP, glad to help .
If your config says a caching drive then it is probably there. You don't get to see it in windows except in Disk manager. You should see a brief config screen before the bios stating the status if Intel drive management (and a hot key to enter it).

Think of it this way. You have enough cash to consider an upgrade to the graphics. You need it for some or the latest titles. To upgrade to a decent level then the 980m is probably the best. BUT the baggage it comes with is a pain you'd like to avoid.

Now, if your concern is burning out the GPU, that will just force the upgrade path. If you find that overclocking buys you another six months then the cash situation may well be different?

As for AW, they are not even close to the same company I 'joined' as a customer. I could write pages but it's over now and I've moved on.

Their support was what got me. I could easily identify a failed piece of hardware so I had four home visits to replace major components. Then they went BGA boxshifter and threw away their enthusiast customers .

Anyhoo if you're ready to give it a try, small steps, I'm here to give you a hand - my (sad) fun haha.

 

Partial follow up....
First of all Micky, you are spot on as far as understanding the situation here - thanks.
I ran BF1 on default settings and the game was smooth, did not document frame rate, but it was on low detail. After struggling to get my joystick working I came to find out BF1 doesn't quite support joystick, so I got a full refund from EA games. I then loaded IL2 instead, to satisfy the combat flight sim cravings.
I will report on the performance later when I get time to play with it.
If I don't upgrade this machine I think it is still viable as a photo editing rig until I rebuild my desktop rig sometime next year.
Yes I will be most likely be picking your brain when it comes time to clean install Win 7 on a new SSD.
First I gotta see if I can find the disc, as I don't remember if it came with one.
Thanks,
DC