Question about upgrading my R3

Ok so..I bought my laptop in April and it has worked pretty well. However, I have had a terrible time with the drivers. Especially the GPU drivers. From everything I have read here, the 460M paired with the 60Hz screen sucks. I want to get rid of it so I have a system that will actually work like I thought it would when I bought it. Dell won't let you upgrade the GPU from their parts site, and I can't seem to find a mobile GPU replacement online. Anyone have any advice?

 

Search '6970M' on eBay. The one seller has them for $420. You're outside of your warranty window, so there is no other solution. You should post your system specs in your signature, and supply a 3DMark Vantage benchmark if you can. I'm sure other folks have your configuration and are just fine. Do some digging to see what they're doing.

 

well you can wait and see how the 560m does and the other future GPUs coming to the m17x. Eventually all the mobile GPUs are online on sites to be bought (though resellers). as TurbodTalon pointed out, ebay, would be a great place if you want to upgrade to the 6970m.

 

i7-2630QM
320GB WD Scorpio HDD
8GB RAM
GTX460M
1600x900 6Hz

Those are my specs. I just ran a 3DMark11 and got a P1832 3DMarks score. I've never benchmarked before but I would assume that is bad. It doesn't seem to want to use my 460 even though I have the program set to use it. Yet another frustration with crappy Optimus garbage. So, if I buy the 6970m would that solve my Optimus flukes? I assume it would. Thanks for the help guys!

 

any resources on the 560m? if its anything like the desktop 560 Ti, it'll be something just a tad better than the 460m, but still under the 485m.

what are some of the other GPU lineups coming for the m17x?

 

@OP

Yes optimus has issues.. depending on apps used.....i had mine within Game and benchmark...and after 2 replacements...finally called it quits and swallowed the "red tablet aka 6970" ...and believe me the experience is something else...not only can you "physically" turn off the GPU and switch to te IGP ...it's also the fastest single fastest GPU you can get "in volume" till atleast the 485 hits....
so quite simply ...yes the 6970 would fix this issue

my only concern is that there is this thing regarding how the dGPU sends its feed through the iGPU.....read Rage3D.com : AMD PowerXpress 4.0 & Interview with AMD's Asif Rehman [ AMD PowerXpress 4.0 & Interview with AMD's Asif Rehman ]

to understand....i am not entirely sure (do a search to confirm) that a 460M 60Hz user can switch to the 6970M...but if you can...it's worth it

PS..this comes from a guy who has always been a NVIDIA fanboi....but logic dictated my decision to dump NVIDIA (optimus) now...it wasn't worth the hassle

 

@Z2005...the 560M is essentially a faster 460M part....you can check online for their comparison

 

man i really hate rebranding or whatever you wanna call it :/ seriously, if its just gunna be a faster 460, why not call it the 465 lol.

 

560m is only a small boost performance wise and probably a bit fixed on the energy usage (nvidia should drop Optimus and go (manual) Switchable Graphics like AMD is) but the reason it is not called the 465m, is it is the new architecture based off the nvidia 5xx series. (but it really does deserve to be called the 465m lol)

what i would recommend doing is waiting for the announcement for the 580m and/or 485m (one or both is/are coming) it be best to wait for the top of the line, it be better in the long run instead of upgrading to the 6970m and then realize that you should upgrade again.