M17x R3 GPU Upgradability?

First off, hello guys, been reading the forums for quiet some time, but this is my first time posting =D

So I have decided to switch to Laptop gaming as I am studying abroad (United States) and a laptop made more sense, due to portability.

I have looked at many gaming laptops (Sager, Asus G73, EON17, Battalion) but I'm favoring the Alienware M17x due to it's appealing looks and it's brand name. The only thing holding me back is seeing those other laptops offering better processors and GPUs, mainly the GTX 485m.

So my question is, if in the unforeseen future they decide to release GTX 485m and update the BIOS to support it, how hard would it be to manually upgrade the R3 to use the 485m, and would the 485m actually fit inside?

Also how hard would it be to do the upgrading myself? I was thinking of just asking the University IT Center to upgrade it for me, but if it's easy I might do it myself.

 

Upgrading the GPU would be as simple as removing the bottom cover, taking out a couple screws that hold down the GPU and HSF assembly and replacing it with the 485M along with some new thermal paste.

 

Two things to keep in mind before upgrading.

1. the 485 is very expensive, if you were to just buy the card, considering the 480 go for around 800 on ebay, the 485 is probably going to be around 1000.

2. You might have trouble with warranty if you were to upgrade the graphics card.

 

you can do what joker said and see what happens.

 

Additionally, the GTX 485m is a 100watt card. No one knows if the R3 will be able to handle 100 watt cards. So don't get your heart set on it just yet. Wait to see what happens down the road.

 

well, if i can add my part, i have purchased r3 with keeping in mind that people say it is easy to get upgraded and also that gtx460 is basically keeping almost all games on maxrez. two exceptions like crysis and metro dont keep good fps on single 485 anyway (resource: notebookcheck) so it's only up to you. and its the best looking laptop from what is out there.

 

This is pure speculation on your behalf. First of all if ordered through Dell assuming they offer it in the R3 later on, I would imagine the 485M is going to sell around $750.00 (Normal high end upgrade price for a single GPU at Alienware/Dell)

For that price they send you the card and some guy comes and installs it.

The warranty is in that case for both the PC and the new upgraded GPU.

Only if you got a card on Ebay would the warranty not cover the GPU but the rest of the PC would still be covered.

 

Does a tech come out to install the card free of charge with any graphics card purchased from the Dell website?

 

Not free of charge, they just usually include it in the inflated card prices And the comment above about power consumption isn't really spot on, the 6970 has the capability of being a 100 watt card and has been confirmed for the R3 so the power consumption isn't the real issue here. Just keep in mind that there is absolutely no guarantees that any GPU's will work in the R3 aside from the GTX460m, 6870, and 6970 so buying a computer with your heart set on a card that may never get put in the computer isn't exactly the best policy.

 

At this point there's no guarantee that anything besides a 460M/6870M will ever be offered in an R3. There is the implicit understanding that a 6970M will eventually make it's way to the R3 based on leaked photos but Dell hasn't publicly announced it.

 

They actually have in a round about way Joker, go check out the thread on the parts list that was posted by ChrisM from Dell it lists the 6970 along with a Dell/Alienware part number. If it's been released on a part list specific to the R3 that to me means that it's confirmed. You can find the thread here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/550787-m17xr3-part-number-list-reference-thread.html

 

wow it would be sweet if they release the 2920 along with the 6970.

 

You can find full details by going to Search Dell.com

search: M17x

(The R2 is at top of results, R3 is in middle)

Amazing specs!

 

That's interesting PellyNV do you know if there have been any discusions on putting the 485m into the R3 between Nvidia and Alienware? Those specs on that page state GTX 485m which has been seen a few places. If you have any additional info on it I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we'd love to know.

 

They had a part number for 4870m GDDR5 as well. I'm not saying it won't be made available (I think it likely will) but that a part number is not a good indicator based on the past.

 

Very good point Joker, but the 4870m was just a change in specs, I think we're going to see the 6970 for certain but knowing Alienware who knows what the actual specs or performance is going to be lol.

 

my 1st post...so be nice

im in the UK, just gone to configure the m17x r3 and i have the option to add a 2GB GDDR5 AMD® Radeon™ HD 6970M w/ PowerXpress


i have done a lot of reading and cant recall anyone saying that they have spec'd one of these? Is this the gpu that's on par with the (all be it speculated) 485?

 

It should be on par with the 485M or slightly slower. Glad to see it's out, now we need someone that owns an R2 who plans to also purchase an R3 test it out in their R2.

 

Disclaimer: I work for NVIDIA

Now that's out of the way, on "par" is being a bit generous. Since neither have been tested directly against each other on the same platform, I'll be fair and just point to the known facts.

NVIDIA's advantages:

• Supports Optimus Technology (no manual switching or remembering what mode you're in). Perf of discrete GPU with battery life of integrated graphics!.
• Fermi architecture has much higher DX11 tessellation performance than AMDs 68xx/69xx
• Supports 120Hz 3D Vision and 3DTV play (hookup to 3D TV)
• Has Verde driver program with support for all major OEMs
• Supports OpenCL, DirectCompute, and CUDA
• NVIDIA's DevRel team and The Way It's Meant to be Played program dwarfs the size of AMD's (talking about the number of employees for each group)

 

Only numbers talk and so far we do not have them with similar CPU to be able to know.

1. I don't see how your first point is an advantage to Nvidia since PowerXpress is basically the same. The GPU is turned on or off without reboot and automatically without the user having anything to do.
2. That's yet to be confirmed
3. Yes that is the only advantage so far
4. Irrelevant for R3 users
5. ....
6. LOL, if your company is so big and powerful than have some stuff right from the start and partner with Dell to make the R3 come with the 485M from the start so people don't have to choose in between 3D and power.

 

Any chance that giant devil team can get optimus to work on a 3d system when 3d is off?

 

Oh yeah and I forgot, optimus does not even work on 3D laptops... Therefore making your point about 3D ready irrelevant.

 

ummmm....i like this i think only time i will choose gtx 485 is if i need it for WORK or need 3d or if i have wads of cash burning a hole in my deep pockets

 

I do not understand what you are trying to say. You clearly do not understand my question.

I asked about 3D and Optimus because it does not work together. Sean from Nvidia explained why the other day in this forum. Since there is a giant team from Nvidia, as explained in the poster I quoted, I wondered if there might be some future work/development to allow Optimus to work with cards WHEN NOT USING 3D mode. This is not the case currently but with this giant (as opposed to AMD) development team, perhaps it may be an interesting project for them. My request is anything but irrelevant.

 

Oh, I must have mis-quoted then. I was trying to emphasize on the point of the guy from Nvidia that it's really not a good selling point to say oh, Nvidia cards work well with 3D and we have optimus. The key is they don't work together. And PowerXpress being the same as optimus there is really no advantage there.

 

Agreed. I was additionally, very slightly sarcastic, suggesting that the Goliath devRel team make optimus and 3d play nice. At least with 3d shut of while using optimus!

 

I can't believe the 6970M is still not available in the USA. It's available in some many countries already.

 

I didn't realize these forums were here for advertisements. There are proper places for this and it isn't here.

 

He just stated some of the advantages of the Nvidia option, take it easy. I agree though, its silly that they didn't design 3D to work with Optimus. However, the AMD 3D solution is isn't at this point, so even if you chose AMD you wouldn't have 3D and Optimus either. His statement doesn't say that they work together, it just states that you have that option if you want it. I'm not a fanboi so I couldn't care less what brand I have, but at this point 485M vs 6970M, and I'd easily take the 485M.

However the most informative part of his post was the link to the Dell website that shows a 485M option for the R3. This is the second reference on Dell's website regarding 485M and the R3.

 

Yea they need to hurry up lol

 

How about giving us a hint at when the 485m will be available in the R3 lol, next month? Come on

 

When we say "on par" we mean raw 3D performance.

• 
  
  I don't think anyone considers this a plus seeing how one cannot choose optimus AND 3D on the same system, it's one or the other. I'd rather have manual switching like AMD.
  
  
  Which 6800/6900 series are you referring to? If it's Cayman/Barts, then not really.
  
  
  But no optimus with 120hz support.
  
  
  Some people like Verde and others don't. I'll give you this point, I prefer nVidia drivers to AMD but the gap has closed significantly.
  
  
  Okay I guess but not really useful for gamers. You should have mentioned Physx which is useful for the target audience here.
  
  
  Now there's a good point. nVidia spends a lot of money on marketing and vendor specific optimizations. One final point you left out: COST. How does the 485M stack up against the 6970M in performance:dollar? I'll go out on a limb and guess it drops heavily in AMD's favor.

 

If someone wanted to upgrade the GPU/CPU on an R3 with 3rd party sources... they could put them in, and if a problem occurs, just take them out, put back the "old" ones, and call dell/AW. I upgrades my CPU some months ago, and had a tech come over to replace my DVD rom. He did see I had a quad core in there, and knew it was not supposed to be there 0_o... he did not care! most of these in house techs really dont give two $#its if you upgrade, and will keep it hush hush.

On the other hand, if one of them was to contact dell/AW you would be in deep $#it. So I would put all the old components back in B4 you call a tech.