Question About The Alienware 17!

Hi guys, I'm very tempted to sell my current Alienware M15x which I have had since 2011 for an upgrade to the AW 17. How much do you think I would get in GBP (£) for it as I have fully maxed it out in terms of upgrade and it is in immaculent condition apart from very few mintor scratches which are only visible under direct light such as sunlight or a torch. Also just repasted with brand new tube of IC Diamond 7 on both CPU/GPU and cleaned it from top to bottom and blew out every dust bunny in sight from every nook and cranny inside my laptop. Custom VBIOS on 680m + pin modded PSU to allow full power usage with no throttling whatsoever with the 3.2 GHz 920XM and 680M both overclocked. The specs for my machine are in my signature. I am tempted to keep my Samsung 840 Pro 512GB though so I can put it in the new AW 17 and put in my old Seagate Momentus XT 750GB SSHD in the M15x.

I have a few questions about the Alienware 17:

1. Can I put a 4940MX in this machine?

2. Is it worth changing out the 4710MQ to the 4940MX?

3. Is it worth the upgrade from my current M15x with a 920XM @ 3.2 GHz across 4 cores and a 680M to something like a 4940MX and 880M? Will I see a big increase in FPS boost? I know I will get SATA 3 speeds on my 840 Pro which is good.

4. I heard people are having problems with the matte rubbing off is this just from normal usage? I plan not to carry it around a lot as it is a desktop replacement laptop which will be stationed on my desk. Either way I plan to carbon wrap it anyway which won't be an issue hopefully.

5. Or should I just wait for a newer refresh of the 17 with broadwell and a "true" maxwell GPU?

Thanks guys!

 

No one can help me?

 

My answers are in red...but don't take my word on any of these. Just trying to help out!


1. Can I put a 4940MX in this machine?
Yes

2. Is it worth changing out the 4710MQ to the 4940MX?
If you like to OC then I say yes. I wish I could've gotten a better CPU than my 4700MQ and probably will in the future. Not much play room with the 4700MQ and I'm sure that's the same with the 4710MQ

3. Is it worth the upgrade from my current M15x with a 920XM @ 3.2 GHz across 4 cores and a 680M to something like a 4940MX and 880M? Will I see a big increase in FPS boost? I know I will get SATA 3 speeds on my 840 Pro which is good.
Can't really speak on this but according to notebook check, the 880m performs about 15% better than the 780m. I'm thinking you may get a 20% performance gain?

4. I heard people are having problems with the matte rubbing off is this just from normal usage? I plan not to carry it around a lot as it is a desktop replacement laptop which will be stationed on my desk. Either way I plan to carbon wrap it anyway which won't be an issue hopefully.
If you aren't going to carry it around then I don't see it being an issue. I haven't had my A17 very long but I don't get the impression that the rubber is going to rub off anytime soon...

5. Or should I just wait for a newer refresh of the 17 with broadwell and a "true" maxwell GPU?
If you're satisfied with your M15x then it might be advisable to wait...but who knows how long that wait will be my friend!

 

4940mx? I dont think you can put, because this is a haswell and your motherbord dont accept this kind of processors

 

Ah...I thought he was referring to putting it into the A17.

 

I unser for question no 3

 

Yeah I saw that, but his questions are about the A17.

 

For question #3: You can't upgrade your M15x to those components. They're not compatible. The 780M may work in the M15x, but it's only 20% faster than the 680M. The 880M has not been tested in the M15x. So, no, it's not worth it.

Get the new Alienware 17 with the 880M. It will outperform your M15x.

 

I meant would I see a big improvement in FPS from upgrading from my current setup of my M15x to the specs stated on the AW17. If I could upgrade my M15x to the 4940MX and 880M you wouldn't see me start a thread on the AW 17 forum but thanks for the input so far.

 

How does the R9 290x Radeon card bare up to the 880M

 

It doesn't.

 

Around 870m level.

 

Rebranded 8970M which yet again was a rebranded 7970M which pretty much sums it up lol.