M17x R4 GPU upgrade, help appreciated!

Hi, first time poster here! I actually bought my m17x R4 back in 2012 after reading all the threads/advice here, and now I'm looking for a bit of advice/assurance again as I attempt to perform a major upgrade.

My R4 came with a 7970M, which died a few months ago. I did some digging and I've found quite a few threads about upgrades, but since I've never done a GPU switch on a laptop before, I thought I'd ask for some expert advice here.

First off - I'm thinking of getting a GTX 880M. Here's a link ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Alienware-17-18-Nvidia-GeForce-GTX-880M-8GB-MXM-Video-Card-JH9PP-N15E-GX-A2-/272337377542?hash=item3f68929906:g:6n8AAOSwdzVXq8~r ) to the card I'm thinking of getting. Is it compatible with the R4? I have the 240W power adapter. I understand I will require modded drivers to use this card, but will I also need to flash the vBIOS? I've never done anything like that before, so any advice is appreciated!

I have the 60Hz non-3D screen by the way, will this cause issues? Will I be able to use the HDMI-input port? I used to plug in my Xbox from time to time.

Second - I have a pretty limited budget, so in the event that I cannot get my hands on a GTX 880M, will a 8790M or GTX 780M be good enough? I do quite a bit of video rendering and 2d animaton work in Adobe After Effects, so what would be the best option for me? I was quite happy with my 7970M, and I'd like something that will be future proof and run games decently (highest graphic settings not required) for the next 3~ years.

Third - might be slightly unrelated, but is the R4 compatible with i7 4xxx or 5xxx series CPUs? I've been considering a CPU upgrade as well in the near future since I only have the 3610QM.

I'd really appreciate any help and general advice too!

 

- My advise is to stay away from the 880M , lot's of issues, thermal, throttling and the OC headroom is rubbish.
- The 780M is an excellent GPU, among the best, the 970M would be better but it depends on your budget. I don't know much about mobile AMDs.
-You have to modify your heatsink,AMD dies are diamond shaped, Nvidia uses square. Also the x-bracket has to be compatible with the new GPU.
- Anything after 680M/7970M requires a modified driver. If you want to ditch Optimus and disable the iGPU you need an unlocked BIOS. If you go with Maxwell.
- Your 240W PSU will be enough.
- Max CPU you could get is 3920XM/3940XM. Haswell is a different generation not compatible, also Intel ditched mobile socketed cpus for BGA starting with Broadwell 5xxx.

 

Your 60Hz screen will not cause any issues. It's actually easier to deal with than the 120Hz screen.

@Solo wing filled you in on the rest.

Sent from my overpriced Galaxy S6 Edge +

 

I also had my 7970m on my M17x R4 die. Just got done installing a 680m. @solowing should have answered all your questions about the 880, the limited upgrade options on your cpu (only ivy bridge), modify heatsink, it is essentially like tape you need to peel off (there are references on this site about what to do) but I was able to use fingers to get it removed so you don't need special tools or anything.

Personally I would stay away from AMD. Here is some details about the 8970m (slighty faster than 7970m)
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-8970M.90656.0.html
8790m (appears to be slightly slower than the 7970m and performs = to 660m)
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-8790M.86796.0.html

This will give you some idea of how the performance will change between most models of amd and nvidia.

I don't know about the HDMI port.