M17x upgradable?

Hi all,

as the title suggest, are the m17x r1 upgradable? For example the processor, is it possible to upgrade it to a core i7 from the core 2 duo?

Thanks for reading.

 

i can't answer the question for certain but you can only do so much with older technology. im gonna say your stuck with core 2 technology. don't know that you can go from core 2 to the i series. the motherboard is probably going to be too old to support the newer techonlogy.

 

Upgrading to an i7 is not possible unless you get the R2 mobo(should work since the M17x and the R2 have the same chassis, but not sure) + the i7. Also, you can upgrade your GPU's to 5870's.(not officially supported by Dell though)

 

It's possible to get the R2 mobo into the R1 chassis. May be a bit pricey but it can be done. This would basically allow you to get i7's and upgrade to the MXM 3.0b cards like 6990 etc....Note that some things don't work though putting the R2 guts into the R1 chassis. Small things really though, like the capacitive buttons i think? Not sure but you can probably search it up.

 

man, just wait for a little while and get a new lappy, don't waste money on old tech

 

If he can get an R2 mobo in to it + say an i7920 that will cost around $6-700. Then if he get's 5870's that will be around $4-500, 6990's will cost around $900-1k. So for anywhere from $1500-1700 he could have almost an M18x.

http://www.partsforlaptop.net/Parts_for_Alienware-Dell_Alienware_m17x_r2_Motherboard_14M8C.html - $379.99
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Intel-C...333-/250941244722?pt=CPUs&hash=item3a6d438532 -$279.99
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATI-Mobilit...o_TV_Cards&hash=item1c2295b9c6#ht_3590wt_1396 -$430


That is a total of $1089.98 + shipping for an R2 mobo, 920xm, and a single 6990. That is a decent upgrade for an M17x IMHO.

 

i'd probably wait and say the upgrade isn't worth the hassle.

New vid cards are coming out anyway as well as new laptop refreshes etc...

With the effort and money put into the upgrade, i'd rather put it towards building a desktop and play almost any game max.

 

Thanks for the replies. I actually have a m15x with specs as listed on my profile. I was thinking of trading for an m17x r1. But, it seems that Im better of upgrading my graphics card.

Cheers,
CoHmS.

 

lol.....yea your better off putting a 6900 series into it and getting the performance of almost dual-gpus. 6990m is as fast as 5870's and take away the fact that there should be no micro-stuttering, you can play most games at super high settings above 30FPS and it should feel smooth

 

1 6990 is almost as fast as 5870's with an decent OC they will match it, But yah OP definitely don't trade your M15x for an R1. Get the 6990 I posted above its $430.

@pewpew good point about the desktop.

 

Completely possible. A few people have done it a long time ago on this forum. I believe they had audio issues though when using the R1's I/O board.

So if you swap the MB, you should buy an R2 I/O board too.

 

I do have a gaming capable desktop already, so Im pretty much just trying to upgrade my mobility gaming with a few twists, or better to say experiments. Im thinking of using a desktop graphics card for my laptop, since it doesnt get moved much from desk. Thoughts?

 

Not happening.

1) You're not going to fit a desktop gpu in a laptop due to MXM and PCI-e being incompatible.

2) The only other option is to use a PCI-e dock connected through your express card slot in the laptop. The bandwidth through that port is equivalent to PCI-e 1x. Any gpu when limited to PCI-e 1x is going to be severely bottlenecked - so much so that a single 4870m stuck in a MXM slot will even outperform a desktop GTX 580 being channeled through the expresscard port.

Not worth your money.

 

I can certainly understand that a desktop GPU wont fit into a laptop. But I never knew that the PCI-e through the expresscard port would be such a severe bottleneck. Anyways, I think Im done here. Thanks very much for all your answers and thoughts. Very much appreciated.

Cheers,
CoHmS.