The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    M17x Repair/Upgrade Advice

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Daleicmhn, Mar 3, 2014.

  1. Daleicmhn

    Daleicmhn Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Greetings,

    I have an M17x R2 with dual ATI Radeon HD Mobility 4870's in Crossfire...and at least one of them died on me...red lines on bios and glitches and everything...safe mode is functional, at least.

    I've been meaning to buy a new computer sometime this year. I can technically afford it, but I'm moving soon and need a financial buffer, so the new compy's gonna have to wait. I have thus decided to do a very small upgrade to get a several more months of enjoyment out of my m17x before I sell it. I'd like to go with the 5870's in crossfire...I can do a little over $400 and be just fine. I've been reading the forums for a few days to come to this decision and even though I've tried to do my research, I'd really appreciate it if I could lay out my plan and get a little feedback, just to make sure I haven't missed anything important from the annuls of wisdom here and won't do anything completely stupid. Thanks in advance for your indulgence....

    Shopping for parts:

    It is my understanding that this is the primary (left) gpu part number: C8245

    And this is the secondary (right): RV546

    I got this information from:

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-17-m17x/548447-m17x-r1-r2-part-numbers.html

    It is also my understanding these numbers refer to the complete cards with brackets, heatsinks and cable and that I could buy Dell cards with or without the heatsinks/brackets/crossfirecable and, if need be cannibalize these needed parts from my old 4870's and make the new cards fit in either the master or slave side with a few good-quality thermal pads and some good thermal paste.

    Assuming the cards I buy are all right, I use a handy dandy guide to install them, flash proper bios to them, get proper drivers installed and test to make sure everything is alright...proper teardown and static protocols of course.

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...verclocking-tba-bf3-optimization-comming.html

    That's basically it. Any nudges in a better direction would be appreciated...or buyer-beware advice. There don't seem to be many of these available these days, so if anyone would like give me a deal in the WTB forums (posting that tonight), that'd be great
     
    Daleicmhn, Mar 3, 2014
    #1
  2. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

    Reputations:
    3,658
    Messages:
    6,874
    Likes Received:
    969
    Trophy Points:
    281
    Check this out!
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-new-looking-upgrade-m17x-r2-please-help.html
     
    Alienware-L_Porras, Mar 5, 2014
    #2