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    New M17x R4 and upgrade to GTX675MX

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by raiden87, Dec 10, 2012.

  1. raiden87

    raiden87 Notebook Evangelist

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    Hi there,

    i'm about to order an alienware m17x r4 with hd7970m (i got a really good offer :) ). My biggest concern is about the problems with amds enduro technology... (Is there really such a big performance loss?)
    I thought about the option to change the HD7970m to a GTX675MX (bought on ebay) if i'm having too much trouble. Is it possible to change the AMD to a NVIDIA? Or am i forced to use AMD cards for the whole lifetime of my m17x.

    Thanks :)

    P.S I know my english is bad, hope u understand me anyway :D
     
    raiden87, Dec 10, 2012
    #1
  2. DDDenniZZZ

    DDDenniZZZ Notebook Deity

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    Honestly it wouldn't be worth it (personally, its a performance drop if anything?) Either spend that money you would use on a upgrade to a 680m or keep the 7970m, they're both great cards. The drivers are slowly getting better for the AMD cards so I wouldn't worry too much. THe 7970m will beat the 675mx anyways i think. But theoretically you are not stuck to a amd card if you buy amd, it can be used for nvidia if you want to, you may need a new bracket and etc. for an nvidia card to fit in though.
     
    DDDenniZZZ, Dec 10, 2012
    #2
  3. Kevin

    Kevin Egregious

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    With the R4 Enduro issues don't matter, because you can manually shut it off completely with a switch.
     
    Kevin, Dec 10, 2012
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  4. bigtonyman

    bigtonyman Desktop Powa!!!

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    I'd stick with the 7970m. Why take a performance loss for automatic card switching. Just disable the integrated card while gaming and your good to go. ;)
     
    bigtonyman, Dec 10, 2012
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  5. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    You can shut off the automatic card switching for any GPU with the unlocked BIOS. Just set the video configuration force use the the discrete GPU and disable the Intel iGPU. The downside is if anything goes wrong with your MXM card, your system won't automatically switch over to the Intel GPU.
     
    radji, Dec 10, 2012
    #5
  6. leeshjnn

    leeshjnn Notebook Evangelist

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    This is one of many reason why I'm thinking of switching to 680M down the road. I think a CMOS battery reset or a BIOS blindflash will be able to solve this problem. I haven't tried yet so not 100% sure.
     
    leeshjnn, Dec 10, 2012
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  7. Kyrius

    Kyrius Notebook Consultant

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    Nope, it would be a downgrade.
     
    Kyrius, Dec 11, 2012
    #7