M17xR3 and Windows 8.1

Folks,

I have read a number of related posts about installing Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 onto a M17 r3. I understand it is not officially supported by Dell. I guess our Alienware laptops are not powerful enough to run this new OS (I know it is a lack of driver support).

My particular setup includes a 6990m AMD GPU that is part of the switchable graphics system. What I understand is that while some have installed 8 and 8.1, monitor dimness and or loss of the switchable graphics feature has resulted (among other issues).

My question is to anyone who has a M17 r3 (especially with a 6990m) and has successfully migrated to Windows 8.1 with no loss of functionality, could they please provide detailed instructions on how they did so either in this thread, or point me to another thread/website with such instructions.

Regards

 

Why would anyone in their right mind want to ''upgrade'' to Win8.1 on a R3 gaming rig.
80% of the companies out there still run WinXP vs Win7 for a reason.
That same reason applies to Win7 vs Win8.1 on a gaming rig.

 

I run 8.1 on my R4, in terms of the 6990m, I am pretty sure there will be windows 8 drivers for them, I would just stick to the latest ones. Maybe try an older dell one before you 'update' to a newer version. Just do upgrade installs for updating grpahics drivers, rather than the clean install.

It should be pretty stable tbh. Might be worth trying the install on another partition, or clone you current windows setup, just incase it doesn't work. But I can't see any major reason why it wont.

 

Thanks for the replies gents. I actually decided to purchase a new machine for a variety of reasons. It will come with 8.1 already installed.

Regards

 

That's a good choice. If you wish to sell your m17x R3 you can do so on the NBR Marketplace.

 

incase someone else is searching like i was, i cleaned installed windows 8.1 pro on my m17xR3 when i switched to a SSD. i have integrated graphics disabled in the bios so i never ran into problem with that. I just downloaded the latest beta drivers from the amd website. the normal drivers work too i just like testing the beta ones. The only issues i ran into were two missing devices in the device manager. One was the freefall sensor and the other was the OSD buttons. I just downloaded the R4 drivers. I wouldnt recommend doing that but in this case those drivers are pretty generic as is so it worked out for me. Good luck for anyone else.

 

I've been running 8.1 since it was released. I had to disable the Intel HD3000 but besides that it's been smooth sailing, no issues. I also upgraded from a 6990m to a 8970m 4GB. Both cards work well with 8.1

 

hey guys, mind if you give me a guide on what things i need? i am currently having a problem installing the os on my r3, i have a dell 7970m 2gb and a new ssd to install the os to. also i am still at the stock a08 bios that came with it when shipped. i really need help! when i installed it before, i got a bootloop after restarting. when i reinstalled a new os, the screen went all white when i installed the amd drivers (14.6)

help please!! TIA!