New Alienware M17X R3 owner with possible video issues

So my daughter wanted to have a new gaming machine that is capable of running Heroes of the Storm from Blizzard. I had previously owned an Alienware machine myself and it was a very good machine and I had very few games it couldn't run. But I got rid of it a little while back. So when we found a M17XR3 available for $400 I had her jump on it. However, so far it has not been a good experience so far.

I should preface that I am an IT person, tearing apart machines is not a problem for me nor is it working with software issues. So I'm more than willing to replace parts as needed should it come to that.

This weekend I really started digging into the problem trying to find a solution and the more I dug the more frustrated I was with this machine. Now if the machine is just incapable of doing what I am asking it to do, that's one thing. But I feel like it should be doing better than it is. HotS is not a heavy graphical game. It even stutters in Hearthstone, which is even less taxing. So I think it might be hardware/driver issue that is causing the problems.

Symptoms. When booting up the sound crackles a little. Like it sounds like when you have a bad cable or blown speakers. It's possible that they are but it's just another factor you should be aware of. When we launch the game, the game loads and on most menu screens things look good. When you get into the game the framerate is abysmal. It has a few moments where the game is moving pretty good but then starts freezing up and then is unplayable. We have the game settings on the lowest setting.

Hardware: As said, it's the M17XR3, 8gb of memory (4x2gb sticks), Nvidia 460M video card and I replaced the hard drive with a Samsung 850 EVO SSD drive. Installed the Windows 7 image that came with the machine. I downloaded all the latest drivers from Dell's site and updated the BIOS to the latest (a12). That didn't seem to change anything. I upgraded it to Windows 10. Same results.

I discovered that the system can have the video card replaced fairly easily and that the supported models go as high as the 560M (I think). But I found a thread on this forum talking about ways to put in a 870M. If I could upgrade it to that I would love to do so.

So my question to you here, would be the following:

1. Anyone with experience running Heroes of the Storm on a M17XR3 with the 460M? Does it run horribly for you?
2. Does any of the issues above sound like a bad video card?
3. Can I upgrade this model with the 870M? I don't mind tinkering with the BIOS and the system. Just want to have a fairly reasonable chance of it working out.

Any other thoughts or input? I appreciate the help. I'm new to the forums, but I plan on hanging out more going forward!

 

I have an m17x r3. I even had a 460m in there at one point (long story).

I don't play HOTS so have no experience with that. However, when I did have the 460m and with drivers etc updated at the time - I didn't notice any horrible slowdowns and was even running what was at the time a fairly taxing benchmark like the Heaven benchmark. Even with games like Star Wars the old Republic and a few different steam games I had not many issues in framerate. Other issues, yes - but framerate even at reasonably high settings (not maximum) were ok.

Officially the 17 r3 (it seems you have the same generation as I, not the new r3 I guess) can support as high as the 580m or the 6990m from what I recall.

Unofficially, I've seen people here putting in and trying many different things but having to run purely on discrete rather than switchable graphics. Things like trying the 780m, 880m. Not sure about others.

The main things to consider from the top of my head are things like heatsinks and those bits etc if switching to ATI/Amd graphics. If staying on Nvidia, I guess they should be ok but cleaning and repasting is probably a good idea.

Other things I recall people having to do is modify inf files for drivers to be installable if putting in cards that have worked but not officially supported (ones higher than the 580m). Search around for other cards people have put in here and I'm sure you'll find those sort of tweaks detailed.

The 560m though was an officially validated mxm card for the r3 that we have so you should be ok with that.

I would not recommend a 580m though whatever you do - it's fast but by golly, this is the 2nd one I have had and it's having all kinds of freezing, bsod issues. I typically run the crappy HD3000 graphics at low settings as I can't currently afford to get anything better or replace it.

880m. Not sure about the current data but a while back when I was more active here (if lurking more is active ) then I recall people talking about all kinds of thottling issues with that. I know MickyD had great fun and was very happy with the 680m though that I recall.

Good luck on whatever you do.

 

@Vastidious
it sound like you are running optimus and that it is not switching from the igpu to the 460m

1. if you are running in optimus are you sure that it is picking up the game correctly? (is it switching to 460m when in harthstone or not. you can add games manually under nvidia control panel)
2. have you checked that the gpu & cpu are not thermal throttling?
3. what drivers are you running?
4. what is the frequency of the ram in the laptop?

the most recent generation of nvidia gpus you can use atm is the gtx800 series (i haven't used a 800 series but i believe them to be prone to overheating at least the 880m is)

here is a link to a guide on how to upgrade the gpu
https://www.techinferno.com/index.p...gpu-upgrade-to-gtx-780m/&page=9#comment-63943
if you upgrade to a 600 series you don't need to disable the on bored sound i believe there is someone on the forums who has got their sound working with a 780m but i cant find it atm will update the post if i can find it

 

I have this same laptop, with the gtx 560m, and 16gb ram, and it runs HotS just fine, graphics setting on medium if i recall. I run all the blizzard games just fine, with the exception of Overwatch, even with settings on super low and resolution at 50% its still very joggy. I am currently looking to upgrade, but having a hard decision which gpu to go for. I tried the 580m recently from Ebay and as soon as the card would activate (ie starting a game requiring the dedicated card to switch on, the system would freeze immediately. Did not matter what game I was loading but as soon as that card kicked on, computer froze up everytime) currently returning that card, possibly faulty. That swap should've been pretty flawless, updated drives, no need for modded drivers etc. Updated bios to (a12 from a09) prior to 580m install, card was recognized by system etc, just as soon as it kicked in, computer would freeze up. If anyone has any ideas as to why it was would doing that I'm all ears!!

 

have you checked the card by booting into the dell diagnostic tool? (select it in the boot options)
what are you temps?
have you got a 3pipe gpu heat sink?
does it read properly in GPU-Z?