*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 Ranger (2013) Owner's Lounge Thread

Man, do I miss those days... The hobby of being an "enthusiast" laptop gamer is something I fell into back in 2011-2012. My first Alienware was the M18x R2 and I could not get enough! I later purchased the M14x R2, M15x (used), M17x R4 120Hz, AW 17 R1 120Hz, which were all excellent systems (some only owned temporarily). Alienware was once something you could be proud to own because it had this uniqueness to it - a specialty item. Today, they're nothing more than a "cool looking" product you can buy on the shelf at Walmart.

The ability to upgrade is not only about extending the product life for me. Having the ability to upgrade is like having the ability to work on my Grandfather's GT500. It's a hobby! It's supposed to be FUN. Alienware is no longer fun nor a worthy champion for a hobbyist or enthusiast. They want to target the common, and have fallen into commonality themselves.

Thank you for sharing that!

 

You are welcome. Right now I'm in the strange spot if to sell or not my A17 R1 and believe me I'm struggling with that decision...
Right now I don't know if to go on upgrading or just sell it as it is now light used for a bit more than 1 year and "survive" (meaning almost no gaming) with an old Ivy Bridge Sammy bga laptop for 1 or 2 years, till 21:9 144Hz OLED notebooks come a reality

 

Well, it's fairly dated now. I probably wouldn't keep it unless you're a collector haha.

 

Oh God !! That's some hardcore stufff that I ever saw next to Khenglish's GTX 980 to 980M core swap...Absolutely phenomenal GGWP.

Dang It's in German !

 

Quite exiting page am I right? Those pipes my god!!! Imagine if we could manage to fit a Volta gpu? Having vrams in the same gpu block will save a lot of space. The only concern that it's not clear if it would be MXM compatible...

 

With that mod and we might need to mod the part where that SATA cable from ODD rests If we cut that, given we have a EC modded GTX1070 MSI (No Clevo MXMs I guess, Maybe they changed the screw holes on the cards with new 10xx series GPUs, A guy here tested the 1080s from a P870DM3 to a DM and It wasn't fitting properly) flashed with custom sBIOS we have a new Pascal laptop, Volta well honestly no clue how that will hit us..

Here's another one, The German forum has some real guys there. Damn cool stuff, 4 CPU pipes and 5 GPU pipes, I do have a spare 100W heatsink, Will order a CPU one too, maybe one day..
http://alienware-forum.de/index.php/Thread/7254-AW-17-R1-CPU-Heatsink-Pipe-Mod/

P.S If you can notice I guess both are friends wolf and spock, both machines in the photos is the same one, Look at that 3DVision, Win8 sticker on the bottom panel, edit 2 : maybe the 120Hz are shipped like that but the HS mods are on both machines..xD

 

I would pay good money for that 4 CPU pipes heat-sink

Here there is some other people in HK who is making a 5 pipes GPU mod.. but instead of modding the whole heat sink and chassis they just add 2 extra pipes above the original 3 pipes of the original 100W heatsink.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DIY-5-Heat-...661856?hash=item3aca91e3e0:g:BoMAAOSw0UdXuAts

I wonder which would make a better job.. I would get the one from ebay but I'm not sure how well heat it's "transported" having 2 extra pipes on top of the originals.

By the way if upgrading in the future to a more powerful gpu, rather than a 980m, I would like to make some sort of mod to locate 2 SATA 7mm drives (could be 1 ssd + 1 new hd from seagate 7mm up to 2TB). This 2 7mm drives would have to be located in the DVD-Rom area. I made the test and they both fit one above the other. Using one of 9.5mm doesn't do the job.
So then we'll need some sort of cable/bridge from SATA port 0 to the new double 7mm drives bay.

Sorry I forgot to mention that this will apply only to me as I don't like to have a drive in SATA port 1 (beneath my left palm wrist) as sooner or later start to dissipate a noticeable heat and I don't like that.

My last dreamed upgrade/Mod would be to find a proper 40 pin to 30 pin eDP converter and try to install one of those new AUO panels ( this early NON G-Sync versions) ( AUO B173HAN01.2) Light matte screen, IPS tipe (AHVA) and most important.... 120Hz

 

ordered one. hope it fits . Thanks

 

@Papusan needs to upgrade the AW17 Ranger to 180W GTX 980 for his wife.

http://alienware-forum.de/index.php/Thread/8042-AW17-R1-3D-120Hz-GTX-980-N16E-GXX/

Eurocom has them for sale on eBay...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alienware-1...434407?hash=item1eb71214e7:g:VxMAAOSw9NdXwK8u

 

It would have been perfect as this is a socket machine . But I must refrain and My wife would KILL me. Keep on putting up new outer roof on my house. Damn expensive her at home A **** $ 23000 USD

 

My 980M OC run

 

Hey guys, I have a question for you: anyone here has experience with replacing the original battery (AW 17 r1, 2013)? Mine is on its last legs (barely lasts 1 hour) after 3 years. I'm hesitant because I might go for a new machine in the near future, and I don't obviously use the laptop on the go much, but still, it would be good to have a bit more time when I'm on the couch or moving rooms, etc.
I got a quote from a Dell rep for about 100 euros. I saw a few for slightly less on Ebay, but it's more a question of reliability with that narrow a difference. Should I go with Dell? What was the price when you got it? Or are there any good websites out there where I could find a better deal? Thanks!

 

I've seen quite a few. bought one last year and i'm finally using it and it works as well as a dell one. mind you i bought it from a scrapped aw17 that had been dropped. They are cake to swap. My advice is keep an eye out on kijiji or ebay people sell them cheaper there. batterydepot also has them at a good price.

 

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Alienware-17...7933&clkid=8558218937140774201&_qi=RTM2247627

Anyone have experience with these? I found a way to put one in my AW17 and I'm thinking after i buy the 330 watt psu i'm getting one so i can run vr

 

I was looking at a Alienware 17 for a really good deal. It's the 2014 model with the 4710mq i7 and single r9 m290x. My questions were .. am I able to add a second GPU on this model? As in dual m290x in crossfire or even a single 970/980m? I know this model does not have the amplifier port so that's why I was curious. Also how powerful is this compared to a Alienware 13? The 13 I also was looking at is i5 6200u and 960m. Which one would be more powerful? I'm assuming the i7 would be better but not exactly sure ..thanks

 

Alienware 17 is just a single GPU - sli or crossfire are not an option. In terms of comparing performance of GPUs then this is an excellent website to easily find the information: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile...oryspeed=1&memorybus=1&memorytype=1&directx=1

(Have a look at the 3DMark Firestrike Graphics column to draw comparisons, at that link).

 

Looks like the m290x is faster. I've seen Alienware 17s with dual cards ..is that newer models that support dual? If you had to pick between that 17 or 13^ what would you choose ?

 

The 2014 model with the 4710mq i7 and single r9 m290x should have been almost free for you. Amd's graphics are no no and the 4710mq is the low end model of i7. If you are going to buy this machine, it will cost you money in upgrades. This machine have to be cheap if you really shall buy it.
All newer AW 17 is single graphics machines!!

 

Oh okay good to know thanks ! This 17 the guy said he would take under $600 and the 13 I listed above is $500. So you think I should go for the 13?

 

Aw 17 is a bigger machine. And Gtx 980m is a +- $ 725 upgrade and all will be good. The 13 is a BGA machine with crippled processor. I would take AW17. But thats me Or save the money for a later laptop with better hardware.

 

I found a 980m for 600or best offer and a 970m for 450 or best offer hmmmmm. Is the processor in the 13 that bad for gaming on MMO or call of duty and battlefield? The 13 caught my eye since its light and smaller. But then again I don't want to be suck with bad hardware. I hear mixed things about the 960 vs m290x so not too sure

 

Will the 13 bottleneck with a good desktop card ? The 13 i5 has turbo boost too btw

 

I agree with papusan on this one go for the 17. I'm trying to find a desktop 980 that will fit without too much moding so far i've found 1. I would kill to get a 1060 mobile that would fit the AW17. And the 13 would perform ok with a good card in the dock but multi thread games will cause the thing to bottleneck at the processor

 

Hmmm stuck on the fence

 

I'd never accepted a BGA machine. = Same as wasted money

 

Any recommendations for the RAM guys ? Waiting for the Black Friday deals...

I'm looking at 1600MHz 9-9-9-24 CAS Corsair Vengeance or Corsair 1866 11-11-11-32 CAS or HyperX Impact 2133 11-12-13 CAS or 1866 11 CAS HyperX, the CL11 2133MHz Corsair is out of stock unfortunately.

Does the Ranger support 2133MHz ? or the 1866MHz boot ?
I know some apps/games would love the low latency RAM over the speed, like the 1600 CL9 vs 1866 CL11, Similarly for Speed.

But It'd be better If someone knowledgeable help me with this, I'd just go with 1600MHz if no idea comes up here..

 

I don't think AW17 can support 2133MHz. Go for fastest Corsair Vengeance 1866MHz. I mean those sticks is safe. I think @Mr. Fox managed tweak Corsair up to 2133 on Aw18.

 

No, I had Corsair Vengeance 2133 and had to tweak tCKmin up a few ticks with Thaiphoon Burner to get it to run at 2133 in the Alienware 18. I had to do the same tweak with G.SKILL 2133 in the Alienare 18, so it's something off a bit in the Alienware BIOS. You have to trick it into submission. Both Vengeance and Ripjaw were plug-and-play 2133 in the M18xR2.

 

Otherwise would it run at 1866 or won't POST ?

 

I re

When it came about upgrading the RAM I remember I consult you all the big guys in this forum and yes everybody confirmed that 2133MHz ram will bot boot properly. So then I was between the Corsairs 1600 CL9 vs 1866 CL10.

But then later I read this forum about input lag:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1433882/...ios-optimization-guide-for-modern-pc-hardware

I've been with conversations with "r0ach" user who started and did several test, so then went to the 1600Mhz CL 9 route. Basically having a shorter latency will prevent to have "less" input mouse lag. So take it with a grain of salt but that was my experience.

 

Has anyone thought to use the msi 1060 vbios flashed instead of using a 980m?

 

@Nomad , The 1866 Corsair/HyperX C10 are not available at Newegg or Amazon sadly, only the 1866 C11 is there from both or the 1600 C9. Damn tough choice.

Looking to snag a Corsair GTX 256GB Flash drive ( It's a mini SSD) And a Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7mm 2.5" Drive, Momentus M9T is not available anymore & the RAM ofc with a Silverstone ODD-HDD bay this friday, All for the AW17 Ranger

EDIT : Only found this G.Skill 1866 C10 kit but 32GB only !!

In case you missed.. http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/msi-1060-in-aw17.798347/

 

Nice find with that G.Skill 32gb ram! If you don't go for that I'd go 32gb Corsaird 1600 CL9

ps: True I realized all manufacturers moved from 1866 cl10 to 1866 cl11 I really don't understand why..

 

1 - For 980M / 780M /1060 you need a 240W PSU atleast and 100W HS & 330W for 4930MX+980M and up.
2 - Get the 1060 from Woodz if you want.
3 - Pascal won't work with 60Hz. 120Hz eDP you need for the Pascal.

Next 980M is faster than 9xxx pts in 3DMFS. OCing it will get you 11-12K mark. 1060 has 6GB vRAM only I see that as a downgrade also the reselling value is less because there's no SLI with that GPU. Your take.

 

So i wont be able to install gtx 1060 since i have 60 hz display ??
but edp will be there in the motherboard rite ?? that is how we can upgrade to 120hz display rite according to http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/120hz-3d-screen-upgrade-for-alienware-17.758711/
so cant we use the edp port in the motherboard ? using the native 60hz displaywithout upgrading to 120 hz display ?
So if i cant install 1060 in 60 hz display, then i have to go with gtx 980m 12k firestrike is not bad can u post me 3dmark firstrike of ur gtx 980m max overclocked stable ??

 

eDP port plugs into the other slot for the mobo with a different cable and nope 60Hz is for LVDS 120Hz is for eDP and all new notebooks use eDP standard now 4K is through eDP only.
My Oc score is in my sig I didnt max it as currently 980M perf with Svl7 vBIOS is just enough for my needs, and M17x R4 user scored 12K here. I just don't see paying a $700 for a 1060 class, tier 3 card with low specs.

 

Damn i should have kept my m17xr4 gtx 675m...it was 3d so 120 hz could have taken in gtx 1060 or gtx 1070 !
So gtx 980m it is then for me....after overclocking it sure closes upon gtx 980 wow 12 k fs is amazing !! Thanks for ur help ashtrix
for acheiving max overclock with gtx 980m will 240 w charger enough my cpu is 4700mq ?
any standard gtx 980 desktop variant available without needing to hard mod the case ??
Also if i upgrade my display to 120hz then gtx 1060 or gtx 1070 is possible rite ??

 

Yeah, Don't worry the 4930MX upgrade would help your 980M too, Also the 330W is fine get that for more life & efficiency, 120Hz should help you get Pascal yeah.

 

I have just replaced the mortherboard on my laptop. But when booted the screen back light goes on but doesn't post anyone now what's going on

 

Very Hard to diagnose, Need your info on the previous state of the machine why the Mobo swap was needed - Check for the manual for the Beep signs. I personally have no idea on the beeps, You could try to boot it with 0 RAM sticks and then 1 or a pair next swapping maybe and see what happens.

 

Hey guys, couple quick and easy (I hope) questions.

I have the AW 17 listed in my signature with a 780m in it. I recently upgraded to a Razer Blade because the AW was too big and heavy for me. I am having trouble deciding what to do with this laptop as I love the machine, it was my first new Alienware that I saved up for and bought myself etc so it has some slight sentimental meaning to me (in the sense that I don't want to just throw it away and see it wasted). I'd like to sell it to a friend if I can find one interested in a laptop that's powerful and capable of playing games but I do not have many IRL friends interested in PCs or laptops and I'm not sure if I want to even sell it online for the prices they seem to go for now compared to what I paid for it (Yes, I know technology drops in price I just don't want to sell it to a stranger online for a quarter of what I paid for it if I can find a friend or another use for it and see it be reused that way).

Anyway, I know these have replaceable GPUs in them, and the CPU is still more powerful than my new Razer and the AW handled just about anything I threw at it fine so it is still a more than capable machine (imo). So...I'm looking for some advice on what to do with the laptop. If I do not see myself really using it much in the near future, should I just try to sell it here or ebay or something and get as much for it now as I can before it continues to possibly drop in value even more? Should I just hold onto it until I can maybe find a friend who needs a new computer and try to hook them up with a deal on this?

Lastly, the reason I am here and the thought that just popped into my head....should I keep the laptop and upgrade it? Can I potentially get (I mean I already got 3+ years out of it) a longer life span out of it than my Razer Blade seeing as how the machine can be upgraded? Would it be worth updating the GPU to a 980 or something, or holding onto the machine for another year or 2 for new generations of GPUs to come out and get better and be able to (hopefully) upgrade my GPU to a 1270 or whatever they will be 2 years down the line and essentially make it more powerful than my new Razer again? Things that really interest me about holding onto it is that I can upgrade a significant amount of it like I can a desktop to keep the machine viable going forward, and I can also upgrade the screen to a 120hz screen which is something I wanted to do a while ago. I feel like this could be a slightly less portable, but more powerful laptop with better performance with the 120hz screen to be able to take with me if I go away somewhere for a week and want to be able to play games at a good refresh rate on a good laptop with a bigger screen and better thermals, while keeping my RB for what I really bought it for, as an every day carry with me everywhere laptop to use for work and gaming and always have on me at all times wherever I go if and when I want or need the power to do stuff where as this could kind of be a desktop replacement type computer for when I need to take it somewhere with me but want more power?

I don't know, maybe I'm asking the wrong people or in the wrong place and everyone will tell me you can never have enough laptops. I know it's my decision I need to make but I'm torn now on what to do lol. I thought the 10* series cards were not going to be available as standalone cards but it looks like the 1060 is, so will there actually be a possibility for future upgrades or will the 980 or 1060 kind of be the limit? Now that I see some 1060s, or even 980s that I could purchase it almost makes sense to hold onto this machine as a spare or to potentially upgrade and make viable again in the future.

 

Hello friend,

As you've said this machine, It is the last MXM / PGA - Socketed machine and true to Alienware corporation's ideals and last from the Real Alienware. Dell has changed the brand into a mainstream jokebook due to it's Privatization starting off with 2013 thus the radical re design from the M17x and M18x lineup. Well this machine is Plug and Play with the 1060 AFAIK which is 10-20% more performance EDIT : over 980M and 120Hz is a real upgrade for this beast, Also the 4930MX processor could help you run it even with slightly Heatsink modded for Zotac 1070M (calling it M because It's really a Mobile chip unlike the beefy MSI and Clevo cards) or else you got an MSI 1070N or a Clevo 980 GTX both with hard mods, I know most of the people don't want to take that hassle and invest that much of time but just in case letting you know, there's also a CPU mod. Next is 980M / 970M are drop in upgrades ( More on the 980M maxwell upgrade) which are very easy and worth every penny you invest with Maxwell ( Fan mods). Pascal is just a beast and even It will work fine (check the links), now that Intel is also lagging with the Silicon roof, Kabylake is good but not an overwhelming upgrade over Skylake machines and Haswell is fine for the 1070 card and maybe can even run an eGPU, Also we can expect the RX480's Embedded version - E9550 with less TDP requirements and more power, Or maybe even VEGA in the future or we can expect a lower class Volta / Navi in MXM format with standard 3.xB form factor

Coming to the selling point 780M and with good HW might sell it for 900$ or less because the BGA 1060s are slowly getting popular dropping the demand for 980M machines but they are BGA for me they aren't even worth $1 sorry no offense but that's me when it comes to "High performance and gaming with more than $1500 tag", So ultimately selling a real notebook off well I'd say that's a waste and you don't even know that person will take care of her like you did. Also "If the bond between you and the Alienware 17 is a serious one". Just Keep it and upgrade with 980M without any mods or issues and store it as a souvenir for the future where it no longer can meet your computing requirements but could serve as a monument for good times memories, nostalgia or else you know you can mod it too

I hope this was good enough for you. I may have skipped some points. Also I too share a serious bond with my beloved Alienware, You are not alone in this regard

Have a nice day.

 

Thanks a lot for this reply. I did not realize that this model was the last one that supported replaceable GPUs. For that reason alone I feel the unit is worth keeping as I can potentially upgrade it down the line to make it better than my current laptop when it comes time to replace it (assuming MXM continues to be supported and ways to make cards work with the board are around). What exactly do you mean by privatation that started in 2013?

It does have sentimental value to me just because since I was a kid and saw Alienware machines, I always wanted one and thought they were the coolest things. I bought my m11x which I still have when I got my first job and got it used from a member on these forums. I still have that as it was my first actual laptop I bought myself then years later when I got a better job and had more money I bought this one which is kind of my first brand new laptop I ever bought myself/owned in general and it is something that I would like to hold onto. $900 is honestly more than I thought I could get for it, I feel like I see these going for like 6-700 but maybe I was looking at the wrong things.

Honestly though just knowing that this laptop is possibly the last AW with replaceable parts in it, that alone makes it worth keeping in my opinion as there is always the possibility of upgrading it and making it a better machine to last even longer. I know intel has not made too great of improvements in CPUs over the past few years (I mean my 6700hq doesn't run single threaded games such as CS:GO nearly as well as my 4700mq did which is disappointing to me that my 3 year old laptop plays my main game better than my brand new laptop), but if they do, would there ever be the possibility of upgrading the CPU further or do the socket types change throughout laptops like desktops and a 7xxx or 8xxx cpu would not fit in the slot on this motherboard (assuming I am even properly understanding you that the CPU is socketable) so the 4930MX would be the best possible cpu to put in it, but would require modding?

980m or 970m would be plug and play but a 1060 or above would require some extra mods or configuration to work correctly right? I also thought I saw some people in the thread saying it would not work unless you had a 120hz screen as it needs to connect to a certain video connector, so if I were going to try and upgrade down the line it seems like I might as well/have to upgrade the screen as well (which is something I would want to do) is this correct?

Either way I definitely think I will plan on keeping this laptop unless someone comes along that I know needs a computer and I trust to take care of it. Otherwise I will take care of it and keep it somewhere safe and have a backup pc/laptop incase I ever need one or someone comes over and we want to play games together etc.

 

Alienware History from 2006 - Present ( From King to Pauper ) and The Industries showing middle finger to consumers -

Dell had bought Alienware in 2006, it had the machines made by Clevo as a partner. Yes it dates long back, Then further down the road we had many extraordinary machines - M15x, M17x, M17x R2 the SLI one - First gen i7 machines, Beautiful design and full customization options from website. Later we had the Sandy Bridge platform, (excuse me if I missed the timeline of a few old machines) M18x SLI 580M one and M17x R3 they all had beautiful same design principles and exemplary build quality unmatched performance and full MXM machines with precise heatsinks across all, This had continued upto the M17x R4 and M18x R2 with Ivy - Meanwhile the Desktop market also had amazing lineup with ALX chassis and Aurora, Area 51 machines which were top at that time - This is what Golden Age of Computers, Alienware, Liberty consumer choice was.

Starting from 2013 things went downhill in all - First blow was Win8 and It's B$ UEFI starting with the post M18x R2 time - Alienware Haswell Era - Our machines which had the huge re design on every point - started with the removal of MgAlloy chassis to only middle frame, Lid being MgAlloy. Plastic Backplate with not so strong design, CPU and GPU fans with low CFM ratings, Battery removability gone need to remove the backplate, NVRAM BIOS (The Ultimate cancer infestation, CMOS reset wnt reset the BIOS need to use specific tricks, this is mentioned in the links above this post, Secure Flash locking the sBIOS modding unlike the Ivy Bridge Platform - Thanks to @svl7, Prema, Johnksss. Svl7 is MIA now, He was a really good person I knew him since 260M days of my M15x was a real good guy now we only have Prema with us who does the mods for Clevo's, did them for 980Ms Svl7 did mods for vBIOSes until 980M starting with 460M I guess, We really miss him hope he's doing good) Gimped Fan tables, locked FAN RPMs in EC, No laser Etching personalized option, Removal of customization on website, AW18's motherboard hardpower cap vs M18x R2's no power cap, a Professional OCer goes by Mr. Fox he had 780M in SLI in his M18x R2 pulling from 600W using a dual power brick (This machine was superb with thermals, OC options, User control over HW total fantastic build, beast looking only match was Eurocom Panther 5 the X79 chipset machine which can run Xeons and Hexacore CPUs, She also got struck by the MXM dropping by Nvidia after Maxwell), He started with 580M SLI, 680M SLI, 7970M CF, 780MSLI - Unfortunately 980M SLI didn't work properly when OCing the CPU and GPU causing some EC communication across the board and throttling, Dell could fix that but they didn't care. AW18 was delayed indefinitely (end of 2015) the time when Maxwell was announced maybe the Dell was restructuring the strategy and wonder why the Haswell had redesign ? Also Dell had killed the XPS performance machines to the kiddo crap now.

The Dell announced going Private from Public in 2013 and thus all these restrictions, Might wonder why does this have relationship ? Yeah the thing was - A member here had a known contact and the reality was during the acquisition of Alienware in 2006 the deal was made, Dell will be funding the Alienware but slowly gain control over the Company and implement their own design standards, marketing strategies and principles, I didn't mention the Desktop market right ? (here's a few posts One, DT garbage, [read the thread also] from Cass-Ole a fellow enthusiast and amid lover of real beasts with hardcore looks). And now later 2013 the 14 Haswell machines came with HQ option - Intel BGA filth, started it was a shock to most of the people but by that time the dumbing of consumers took place, thanks to Facebook and kool-aid crap. Asus used to manufacture proprietary MXMs (ROGs with 460Ms) dunno what they were upto while the Desktop hw from them is superb, Since Dell departing from the PGA mobile CPUs to BGA hell Intel might have made all OEMs take the same direction, I bet this is what happened with Dell dropping the socketed machines from 2014 Intel could easily push the BGA abomination, MSI didn't even exist in this class at that time, Now here we are the BGA Genocide - All laptops shipping with that Garbage Win10 and BGA crap., MSI being the crown but still offering stupid BGA CPUs while their nasty practices are famous in the MSI forum if you want here's a little excerpt (BTW check that thread It's a beast of a machine but has it's downsides if you read the thread slowly) from that, Partially the users are also the cause of this being not thinking and addicted to the iCrap, no offense but the lack of choice makes me cringe and anger.


Edit - Nvidia dropped the ball on the MXM 3.0b reference designs thus we have this all weird MXMs from MSI and Clevo from 9xx Series they conducted an experiment of dropping M and introducing desktop class, It was a bait and we couldn't resist the performance and boom all jumped and they even kicked the old consumers using those 9xx desktop class machines P77xDM / 870DM machines from Clevo can't upgrade to Pascal due to redesign of the Pascal GPUs, Though this time prema said clevo will push the same design. Only time will tell.

Coming to upgrading this Ranger machine - Yes the 4930MX is the last CPU you can use but no modding whatsover, if interested can try that hardmods I linked., It's the fastest CPU better than 6820HK in terms of voltage control and binning, Pascal needs this new Hardware called eDP port - Our laptop has it the 120Hz screens needed that connector in our machine we have both 60hz (LVDS, Phasedout with Pascal, why ? Nvidia wants us to buy the BGA crap and new machines line Intel not upgrade them) and 120Hz connectionss (eDP -30Pin).

(Echo Haswell BGA doesn't have the MUX switching, this what helps us to switch to a pure Intel GPU - IGFX+dGPU - Dedicated graphic card to total dGPU mode, making the machine best this was incorporated by MSI in some machines later removed maybe some still have in new iterations, Alienware made this feature now available again with Pascal refresh - An ROG mashed AW crapshoot design with worst heatsinks, Clevo doesn't have this feature)

Our machine as I've said has that 30pin connector for the panels I think some panels are whitelisted check the 120Hz upgrade thread for more info on this matter, Yes we need that Else the machine won't use the internal display, And the 1060 needs no moddings afaik maybe a little but not at all worth to invest in that GPU since It offers less memory bandwidth and low vRAM option for high price and all that for just 15% boost over 980M (I've already linked you necessary posts for this upgrade check my previous post on more info regarding this), If you OC the 980M it would be enough for 1-2 years, (YMMV) - Just letting you know this just in case - worth mentioning that MSIs 18" use the GT80s (old broadwell machines) same LVDS panels It's working but there's a kicker MSI is using a converter on the board for that, from eDP to LVDS, Also Prema has modded an old Ivy based laptop's sBIOS to make the Pascal Post with that 60Hz LVDS thanks to the Ivy Bridge HW, It has some display pipeline that allows this.

Phew that was a wall of text, hope it helps, Have a good one

Trivia - I was into M15x because of the socketed hw , Absolutely loved her a piece of art she can even run 980M without any hitch haha. That period was a real boon to our computing, End of an Era with this Pascal & new crap Alienware, Now expect HBM based Volta GPUs heat things up with the existing Pascal MXM consumers.

 

Everything is correct little bro. Yooou can your history
Alienware....

 

Thanks for that post I don't plan on upgrading this machine anytime soon as it still works fine for most games I throw at it and it will be fine to sit around incase I need a spare PC or laptop or have a friend who I want to play a game with however in the next year or 2 when it starts to be held back more I may look into upgrading the screen and GPU as a side project to make it more viable again and potentially even more powerful than my current Blade.

The laser engraving was one of the first things I had noticed when I got my laptop. That was something I had always wanted...a little personalization to make the laptop "mine" and my m11x has the plate on it with the guys name who I bought it from here. I was quite disappointed when ordering my laptop back in '13 that I did not have that as an option. I know Dell had bought AW years ago but I didn't realize the chains of events and why things didin't significantly go down hill.

A friend on mine still actually has an old 15 inch AW (forgot the model name or number I don't think it was a 15x) that had the "alien texture" on the back of it and only the Alien head logo illuminated on the machine. I'm still trying to get my hands on that from him just to have and own and be in my possession and take care of as I consider it a piece of art and history and don't want it getting thrown away as these laptops become harder and harder to find. I don't remember the specs of it but I am sure it would not be good for much these days and I don't know how much it could be upgraded. I still use an old Alienware tower that I built my current desktop in because I love the design and aesthetics of them and had always wanted to own one of them back in the day. My only issue is the lack of ports available on this chasis and I will have to replace it soon. The lack of USB 3.0 and other i/o options in the front of the case kills me. It is also massively big and heavy yet it does not have as much space internally as other towers it was a struggle to fit my 980 in it and I'm sure newer cards will have a harder time. The side panel also basically touches my GPU (and this is without the side panel fan in I believe) so as much as I love this case I will need to replace it soon as it's limiting my functionality now at this point as usb 3.0 is more and more prevelant and I am unable to get the full speeds out of my devices.

 

Wow nice man, you have the M11x & that Aurora cool !! I love that little beast M11x - If someone is selling here I will grab one for me for sure for the collection of that old legacy look, Miss my M15x she was such a beast and a beauty.

 

Yeah I will never throw that case away I'll plan on building a spare computer in it with weaker and smaller parts but that thing is a piece of history to me. I can probably even find a 3.5" drive bay to throw in it so I can at least get USB 3.0 in the front I've just been so lazy since the side panel doesn't fit properly with the fan on and my GPU. I really need to get my hands on my friends brothers old Alienware Aurora (?) laptop. It was either a silver or green one with that black textured back to it...I want to add that to my collection as well.

And yeah I love the m11x, I don't use it anymore, or I actually just gave it to my mom to use for a work laptop for home, but it was the first one I ever owned, was a little beast of a machine when I had it and yes it has that old style I love and wished I had gotten my 17 in that style but I was a year too late, oh well. I do love that M15x and wish I had gotten those. I think when I got my 17" they had 14, 17 and 18 available and got rid of the 15 temporarily? Otherwise I would have gone with that, I love that style with the "grills" in the front and the LED around the mouse pad instead of the whole pad being an LED.

 

Hi guys, just an info. I have the Aw 17 in my signature, if i buy a G-Sync/FreeSync external monitor is a waste? I have to upgrade first with a GTX 9xxM or a Radeon M295X?

 

Hi Flaick.

As far as I'm aware you can't upgrade an NVIDIA to an AMD as they use a different connection to the mobo.

According to the NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility site notebook GPU's are only supported from the 9 series upwards so I would suggest a 980m (something I want to do since the new 17's don't offer anything to make me want a whole new laptop).