M17x R2 Revisited

Hey everyone , I decided to go backward and picked up a max spec m17x R2. The reason was simple. I love the WUXGA screen , all aluminum top and bottom chassis, and it's a 17". My question is , What is the max GPU upgrade available , either nVidia or AMD that will work in this laptop.

Current spec has Intel 940XM - 8GB RAM - Dual AMD 5870

Thanks in advance.

 

I believe the max is dual 7970Ms with some sort of undervolt, either 1.0 or 1.025. Stock is 1.050V

 

I think at least one 980M will work in it just fine. I know 970M will because there are already one or two M17xR2 owners running a single 970M here in this community. A single 980M should be much better than 7970M CF, especially with it undervolted.

 

970m work in m17x r2 ? i heard that can not pass bios screen

 

yeah the only reason I said 7970M because the only place I've seen a 970M or 980M work is in the M15x, not seen one in a M17x R1/R2. I remember reading the 780M having issues in the M17x R2 regarding no onboard audio compatability and no video on the LVDS internal screen, only HDMI output.

 

With the M17xR3 and M18xR1 that is absolutely true... won't work at all. I do not remember the user names, and maybe a couple of them will find this thread and comment. M15x and M17xR2 can both run Maxwell. They use Legacy Phoenix BIOS, not the newer InsydeH20. In fact, @svl7 has set some world record benchmarks for the M15x with 970M in his M15x. Something is screwed up with InsydeH20 BIOS that causes problems with Maxwell GPUs unless you run them in pure UEFI mode or use Optimus.

 

M15x works fine, M17x-R2 has issues the last time I checked. It wasn't displaying every other line on the RGB LED, or maybe both - the standard and the RGB. Here's the topic, the last posts indicate that it is unlikely to work.

@Rengsey R. H. Jr. - Congrats on the purchase, I love WUXGA as well 7970m CF seems the only way so far.

 

you mean in pure UEFI with InsydeH20 BIOS 970m&980m work fine in m17x r2?

 

M17xR2 does not have InsydeH20 BIOS and no UEFI support, but it does not need it with Phoenix or AMI BIOS. InsydeH20 BIOS appears to be what is causing the problems with the new Alienwares and Maxwell.

OK, well maybe I remembered wrong. I could have sworn a couple of M17xR2 owners had installed a single 970M with success, but maybe not.

 

You could be right, as I'm not very frequent around here. That's the only topic I know that is about M17x-R2 + Maxwell.

It could be the BIOS, or the way it's written. There could be something that messes-up compatibility. Sometimes I wish MXM was more standard than it is. If everyone followed the guidelines, we wouldn't have to care about incompatibility.

 

No, I think that is the thread I remember and it looks like we never got a straight answer if it works correctly or not. @nbr2019 is one of the people I was thinking had it working. If he ever got the messed up colors sorted, he has never mentioned what fixed it. At least it will boot with Phoenix Legacy BIOS, which is more than we can say for InsydeH20 Legacy BIOS. Wonder why it works fine in the M15x, but not the M17xR2? Strange.

 

James D is selling his M15x for under $300. Scrap the M17x and get the M15x.

980M works fine without an undervolt. Dual PSUs works without issue, 16gb of ram possible. Decent heatsink for cpu means 3.6ghz attainable under load with an XM

No RGB but the panels it uses are still high quality.

M15x is simply a better machine RGB aside at this point

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I just sold My R2 for $1150
Maxed out with CF 7970m's and PSU Modded Cable
Countless hours of work on it ( upgrading, not fixing )
I loved it, and it handled most of the games pretty decently i must say.
Reason i sold it it just got old.....old CPU...old S-ATA no USB 3.0 or 3.1 ( only via stupid adapter that sometimes does not work properly ) And stuck with Windows 7 because W8 started to give RSODS problems to some of CF7970m users

I once got 780M GTX to test out if it works in R2, it did NOT. UEFI came in and killed all future GPU upgrades, even though i had 2 MXM slots and i thought i am future proof.

RBG LED Screen, the WOW factor of the laptop i loved, in its endless stupidity, like in IDIOCRACY movie, Dell decided to put garbage panels in all its future models, and when they kinda got it ok-ish with some of the recent panels, we got BGA - thanks Dell Bro

"5 years is enough"...i am telling to my self, every 2 seconds, on my knees, in the room corner facing the wall and nodding with my head....wanted to buy new A17 R3, but noticed Dell soldered everything on the motherboard, plus all alienwares cannot take an advantage of higher spec CPUs or XM cpus because of throttling issues

Thinking about a desktop now, hell, my Alienware M17xR2 was resting in one place and not moved single time for 5 years.

Thinking of waiting for Pascal, skylake i7 and 34inch IPS curved monitor, i think it should be enough for me to finally forget about the laptop that

...changed my life really....

i feel lonely now....

 

Don't know if I'll ever be able to take that step. I'm happy and sad for you at the same time

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It is sad that the M17x R2 doesn't have great GPU compatibility. I wonder how Dell messed that up when they managed to create uber compatibility on the M15x from the same generation.

 

I think it's the other way around - it takes some to make a proper BIOS. Greetings from my I-wont-play-nice-with-aftermarket-AMDs 8740w. Also there is a mod topic about MXM Acers, which fixed a lot of incompatibilities, because the BIOSes were messed-up.

Sorry to hear that @flingin . A proper cooling would've got the CPU up to mid-range current gen, maybe even low-end quads. But the GPUs... Actually I think that newer AMDs would work. The only reason why the nGreedia's 9 series didn't work is because of the performance. They cut everything possible in order to get as much performance. FP64? Who cares, it's all about games. Power draw? We tried to block the overclocking so no one notices how the power figures went crazy once running non-stock. Colors? All current laptop displays are 6bit, what colors? So here enters bit cutting/color compression or whatever. Less color bits for crunching = less burden = higher performance. Again, sorry for your loss. I was looking hard into getting and modding the hell out of one (especially now that I finally found the schematics), but I don't fell like investing in another Intel machine for now. Would build an AMD desktop instead.

 

From what i've read previously the 970M and 980M won't work in M17x R2, (Messed up colors on the internal screen).
I don't own any M17x R2's anymore so i can't say for sure if this hasn't been resolved as i've not been reading up on the M17x subforum in a while...

I've had a single M290X in 2 M17x's and it had no issues apart the fan stuck at 2500rpm.
Max upgrade would be 2x M290X, but you have to hardmod the CF cable to fit into the new connnector. Also beware, the M290X come in variants without the CF connector too.
I think @Raidriar managed to mod his CF cable to CF the two M290X in M18x R2.

You will have to use HWiNFO to control the fan speed though.

 

I did get the Del T6VXY R9 M290x working in crossfire, but I had to trim the existing cable on the sides to get it to fit, and pull off one of the top plates on the connector. I had to use electrical tape to keep it in place, and I didn't like that at all....If anybody wanted to go R9 M290X route, I would say try to find a reasonably priced Clevo 8970M, since it uses the old standard MXM CF connector like the older cards did. However Clevo 8970Ms are outrageously priced for whatever reason, so this could be difficult.

 

Dell had to be difficult with their new connector lol.

 

I'm currently running 2x 8970m 4gb cards, cant get crossfire to work but i'm thinking either the cable is unplugged some how or just not compatible with the new cards (the cable is from the 48XX series) any help would be appreciated.

Also max spec is 940xm proc. 16 or maybe 32 gb of ram (all tho it will not be recognized in bios)
and the 8970m 4gb card is compatible using clevo vbios (got MXM and clevo cards to work)

*edit* switched out crossfire cable with another OEM i had and resat every thing. working perfectly now, kicking up fallout 4 now!

 

What cable and what card manufacture?

 

I'm getting a pair of Dell R9 m290x WITH CF cable delivered tomorrow. I will test out if it works. ( finally got the right cable .. Lol ) and yes this is the 2nd set of R9s. I sold the previous two already.

Pinky, what clevo BIOS was the one that work for you. I'm getting my cards tomorrow and want to prep. You can post the BIOS too , would greatly appreciated.

 

i hate you so much. Where in the hell did you find the cable?? Or did you buy the ebay set for 750....

Please run benchmarks on latest drivers in the M18x R2, with undervolting + OC test and stock voltage + OC tests, if possible. Still trying to abandon the 780Ms...

 

I offer that dude $580 for the set with HS and CF cable. He said $600 , and I said OK.

 

Brave soul, hope you get good results.

 

Seriously ? Lol.
I will be testing a GTX 880M on my m17x r2 tomorrow, il update with results.

 

I think $550 - $600 was what they are worth IMO. These were from AW 18 equipped with AMD 100 Watt HS , and the scarce CF cable. I have a few machines to test this on. lol

 

Hello folks! I am a LONG time reader, first time poster! I just upgraded my m17xR2 to a 940X Intel. I also upgraded my GPU to a 5870m. However, I want more power. What specific card/brand do I need to upgrade this monster to a m290x? What vbios would I need? Does HDMI, Sound, DP, etc, work with the m290x?

I also will likely be putting up my old 4870m cards (master and slave) with crossfire cable on ebay.

-Adam

 

7970m or 8970m in cf is the best we can do unless someone has figured something else out

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Does the 8970m work flawlessly? Dell or Clevo?

Thank you!

 

No it does not, you will need to control the fan, and i'm not sure if the audio over HDMI works or not, i haven't tried.

 

Damn. I could have sworn I have seen conflicting posts stating some had 8970 working perfectly whereas others have not.

 

It's just that the Dell cards will run @2500RPM and other brands will force the fan to @4500RPM
you need to use hwinfo for both imo.

 

Ah I understand so you need dynamic control for the fans either way. I'm on linux and I have a fan control program equivalent. I'm gonna see if I get my hands on an 8970m. THank you Maxsio

 

Svl7 got an MSI 8970m to work with native fan control.

https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/3010-m15x-with-amd-8970m/

 

Awesome! I just checked it out. That's certainly a step in the right direction for my search. I have an m17xr2. I'm still on the hunt via google.