Reciever's Ongoing build/mod log AW17 Ranger

Version doesn't matter from my understanding. 30 pin is LVDS so no, it's 40 pin panel.

 

So just use the dell edp cable then right? Confirming it is 40pins. I can't remember.

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Yep, N173HHE-G32 is 40pin and works with the stock Dell eDP cable.

 

What model are you going with for the RAM?

 

The best to go with for the ranger is the Gskill 2133mhz (i only have16gb) butbthat is the ram u want for the AW17 ranger in particular

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I went with hyperx kit since they were the cheapest and reliably sourced. The g skills I could never find when I was ready to buy them.

I plan to alter the ram settings anyways and to my recollection neither were really tested beyond the stock speeds.

 

Do you what the part number was on the hyperx? I want to start upgrading my Ranger with a 32GB RAM and a larger SSD and hopefully that’ll run my work programs like new.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00UVOVV12?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_pd_title

Price went down recently too, was 65 a few weeks ago iirc

 

Those linked RAM is the 8gb version. There’s only 2 RAM slots on the R1 correct? I can’t find the 260 pin 16gb version of the hyperx, but Newegg has a 32GB kit of GSkill 260 pins for $150.

https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E1...oS-DuYWY0xsmmHyX1LYaApRYEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

Newegg is selling there's on eBay I'll link it 1 sec

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The thing i like about gskill is Their life time warranty. Say if you bought used on over ebay especially 2nd hand. No need for a receipt or proof of purchase gskill with send u replacement modules. I did not see the price on those hyperX so low. I know the are the best but buying that a such a low price then flashing then with the program and adding the profiles and such. I kinda of want the hyper x now. lol

There are 4 so-dimm slots in the ranger


here is the link for the gskill for ebay and also mybad... I go the 1866 mhz. here is the link https://www.ebay.com/itm/G-SKILL-Ri...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649


That was mybad guys.. . sorry about that.

 

Interesting, I was under the impression there were only 2. I'll have to crack it open when I get to work next week and look. I don't really plan on doing anything extra with the RAM, I'm not really trying to game with it or anything, just up the speed for running AutoCAD drawings and ArcGIS which can be RAM intensive. That and a new Evo SSD I think should have it running like new. Maybe a 970m down the road.

 

8gb kits will work fine. I bought 4 and they run the rated speed no issue what so ever on a 4700mq.

They charge more for the 4x8gb kit and I'm a cheapskate. 4 kits of 1x8gb is much cheaper and effectively the same thing.

 

Don't bother with a 970m. 1060 is 100 more usually and double the performance iirc

 

I was more concerned with the screen replacement for the 1060 than anything else. I know I'd need an upgraded heatsink for the 970m, but I thought I could run it with the stock screen. Swapping out the screen seems a little about my pay grade at the moment.

 

swapping the screen is 50 bucks most of the time. They are quite cheap lately.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-for-N1...187479?hash=item41ee6fef97:g:k6gAAOSw10VcR0xQ

70 USD.

The 970m still sells for like 200 last time I checked. Its a terrible purchase at that price. If your interested in pushing further, PM me with a timeline and ill be happy to work out a deal for a fellow Ranger user, as I am keen on upgrading to the 1070.

You wouldnt need to upgrade the heatsink, but dremeling the heatsink a bit to have it work with 1060 and above. This card was sold to me by @ssj92 and was well cared for and functions quite well. Sadly, now I want more performance lol. Anyways the 1060 runs at 88w max TDP, if you have a lower end card right now it will still run fine, just might be a little warm with the 75w heatsink.

Technically you dont NEED the upgraded panel either, you can run Pascal with the stock 60hz panel, with the unlocked BIOS you can set the video out to SG mode and the intel hd will drive the screen. You will have a little bit of input lag in gaming iirc but can function until you decide to upgrade the panel at some point.

Also I still have the stock 120hz panel as well and full assembly to make it a direct bolt on replacement, there IS a small dent in that shell though.

But like I said I can make a pretty good deal on this stuff and am in no rush

 

Honestly, upgrading to a 32gb RAM, 1tb SSD for OS and my programs, and a 1060 will have me passing the R4 I have too. SO I may have to take you up on that offer if I can get my bank account back up to a reasonable amount. I usually only keep it on a cooling pad so Temps never get too high. Does the screen require a new chord to connect? Thats the part I'm most worried about being above my capabilities.

 

Oh right there is the cable as well. I believe I have an extra at the moment. Would have to confirm in a bit, working two jobs so my time is limited and still have to make preparations for the week while I have a little down time.

I'm not in any rush but I would ask that when you are about to gear up let me know so I can buy the 1070 in advance. I work a lot and don't want my precious little free time to be gone waiting on the gpu in the mail lol

I had to use a copper shim to make full contact also, you might want to consider a smaller one than mine. I have a 0.5mm shim but if you can get thinner it may be a good precaution. The last owner didn't need it in the m18x r2 but it's worth noting I have the aftermarket heatsink before it was altered for use with pascal GPU's.

If it doesn't work out its no pressure I can throw it up on the marketplace here or ebay etc etc.
Until then we can work out the details via pm.

 

If you can find me a 1060 for $250, let me know

 

I wish you luck with that. My 1060 was 500 not even a month ago and they arent going down in price

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Mine was in the 300 range :3

 

Really? That seems like a massive overkill to pay for one, I'm sure I've seen 1070's for ~$500-550 and QS/ES models for $400-450

 

I bought a 1070 for $180 shipped ... lol

I'm using it right now in my MSI GT83VR Titan that I built from parts off eBay.

eBay is the place to get parts , You just have to make sure you dot the i's and cross the T's before making the purchase.

My previous deal was a MSI GTX 1080 200W MXM for $200 Shipped

 

Where did you get them from? What seller?

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Random Seller on eBay. I have the eBay app set up to watched for those items when it gets listed.

 

How for 100 and 200... they are listed no less than 400 and 600 respectively. I have a hard time believing that you got a better deal than a 780m price

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That being said that doesnt mean you didnt. It's just really unbelievable

 

It is unbelievable. lol

I bought a GT80s with SLI GTX 980 full desktop for $800 shipped
a GT73VR with GTX 1070 for $1000 shipped ...

That is just some of the recent deals i have purchased. All from eBay. It's possible.

 

Oh dam look at this!!!!! 2133 hyper x black! So cheap!

Kingston Technology HyperX Impact Black 8GB 2133MHz DDR3L 1.35V Laptop Memory (HX321LS11IB2/8) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UVOVV12/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_O.IOCb5DQTE6Y

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Yep those are the dimms I bought last month.

Working fine with my 4700mq but hopefully they play nice with the 4930mx and tweaked spd / xmp profiles

 

Things that have been acquired....

2TB ssd
1TB msata ssd (OS)
GTX 1070
32GB 2133mhz ram
Second 5TB drive

Planned: 4TB ssd? Likely another 2 TB drive


Now I just need some friggin time to get it all together. A solid weekend would probably do it but I don't get any days off lol.

 

32GB 2133mhz ram? Can you give me a link? I'm very interested in that

 

Links have been shared already in this thread.

 

Sorry didn’t see it, my bad

 

No worries m8.

4 single 8GB sticks is much cheaper than a 32GB kit typically it seems.

 

Yes also amazon Italy has different prices for what I’ve seen, I’ll have a better look after I’m done with all the other upgrades

 

It'd be the first I'd get.

It's getting old so never know when it will be end of life.

 

In case you're tempted....

Spoiler: 1,149 USD 7.68TB SSD (2.5 7MM)

https://www.amazon.com/Micron-MTFDDAK7T6TDC-1AT1ZABYY-64-Layer-Million-Industry/dp/B07BJ75JN1

 

lol

 

Bump on the N173HHE-G32 fitment update!

 

Still working 95 hours a week, believe me I want to get it done lol. I was able to teardown the laptop and also deconstruct the cpu heatsink.

The purpose of this is to provide a mockup design for a new fabricated heatsink. Probably a one off but I'm sure I'd the money is right he can make more.

Oh and I have also purchased a 4930mx, should be here within a weeks time.

 

First attempt to boot with the 1070 failed. 8 beeps.

Its possible I killed the motherboard, first ill test with the 860m I have and make sure its the board and not the GPU.

If its the motherboard its not exactly a problem as I have a backup board right now. Though I would need to flash it with the unlocked BIOS for CPU overclocking later.

Im calling it a night on this for now, not worth rushing to complete a project before bed time.

 

Let me know if you need help diagnosing, or a replacement mobo, I have a spare or two (dm me if needed)

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I have a spare, just finding the time to get it done without rushing is key. That was probably my error, still need to make more cuts and confirm my mistake actually killed the board.

 

Got the replacement board in, unlocked the BIOS, installed the 4930mx, the 860m.

Disabled the power saving features and such.

@Papusan Do you happen to recall the numbers to punch in for the power limit to unlock it? I remember it was something like 42766 or something akin to that.

Calling all @javers ! Do you think you could modify our BIOS with crystalwell? Or Papusan maybe you may know someone that has that skillset?


Also I ordered the following for the Ranger...

Coolermaster U3
3x 2150rpm Gentle Typhoon
3x White filters
Kingwin fan controller
External power adapter from coolerguys
Opolar LC-06 (For CPU heatsink efficiency)
9 Port USB Hub (2x 2.4a power / 7x USB 3.0)

About 250 USD, kind of expensive but if you want a real cooling pad this is what it is.

If there is space I plan to put my extra drives under the cooling pad as well. A bit of an impromptu dock with function I can appreciate.

Really excited about the i7 4980hq, seen some scores in Cinebench getting close to the 1000 mark.

 

I am now posting on the Ranger with the GTX 1070.

There was a weird problem, it would reboot immediately after initializing into Windows. Then I tried booting safe mode to see if it was a driver issue and booted just fine into safe mode. Then also the problem during this was I must've damaged the eDP cable as the N173HHE-G32 wouldnt work anymore. I replaced the cable and then I tried the panel again and presto, I was back in business. I decided to try and refit the panel and now it doesnt work, sooooo that was sad. Now I am back on the stock 120hz/3D panel for the time being.

Used DDU to remove the driver, then reinstalled thanks to @Rengsey R. H. Jr.

I ran Shadow of War and DOOM 2016 and it seemed to work just fine so far. I also removed the grill from the laptop and will begin cutting away at the frame a bit to allow clearance for the frankenstein heatsink. I dont have a heatpipe on the VRMs so I am using a bunch of mosfet heatsinks as I dont want the VRMs to fail on me.

12TB of storage in my laptop, 3TB of SSD storage. 15TB storage total

Now I just need to get that 4980hq working and this Ranger will become quite unique!

 

it's weird indeed that you are having this problems with the display and the cable, I've stressed mine quite a bit during installation with no problems after.

 

I've been taking this thing apart over and over again for over a month now.

As for the n173hhe-g32 panel that was all my fault the double-sided tape I used was actually damn good, removing it caused a lot of stress to the panel and it likely died bc of that.

 

I’ve heard that the 40 pin connector is pretty fragile so yes it’s probably that.

I hope you are successful with the 4980hq it would a really good upgrade

 

Yeah but luckily, through all this experience with the laptop and basic trial and error it didnt prove to be a large set back, also having a lot of parts laying around helps lol.

The sad bit is that I will need to buy another N173HHE-G32 panel, but for now I will test with just the stock LT variant.

I have been playing with the Ranger for today and it does at times shut down, I do think this is just like @loafer987 problem when he got the card installed. I do have a lot of copper mosfet heatsinks on the VRM area but maybe I need to add some more to be safe.

I am also using The CoolerMaster U3 pad with its stock fans. I have the 2150rpm Gentle Typhoons, just waiting for the 4 pin AC adapter to show up. I plan to replace both of the heatsinks but I need to hit another financial milestone first. As long as I can prevent the shutdowns I'll be happy, but I'll take it easy once I can replace the heatsinks.

That all being said, my load temps are quite nice on the GPU side of things, 62c is the highest reported temp, with 58c being more the norm.

I will have to talk with cicichen on Ebay to see if he can fab a heapipe from the VRMs to the heat exchanger in the style of Clevo laptops.

Also the i7 4980hq doesnt post at the moment, I will be holding on to it until I can hear back from @javers or someone else with the proper skillset to inject Crystalwell microcode into the Ranger's sBIOS.

A side note, for some reason my mpcie to USB 3.0 A adapter seems to have stopped working, so one of the 5TB drives is outside hooked up to the USB hub. Im going to have to check the BIOS to see if the DMC is disabled but its much more likely the adapter stopped working, it has after all, weathered quite a storm with me tearing down the Ranger repeatedly.

Another note, My HDMI port doesnt seem to be working, when I hook up the screen it detects that its hooked to something and becomes active, but doesnt display anything? Im using Geforce 430 atm.

There is still plenty of work to be done, but the installation of the GTX 1070 was a great milestone. Thanks @Rengsey R. H. Jr. for providing the 1070 for such a great price and for also providing the INF so I can install the drivers.

I love my 13 R3, but its nice to be back home on the Ranger <3

 

I've been using the coolermaster U3 for the past 4 years with stock fans, if you arrange them correctly it can make a real difference during normal usage.
I had the same problem with the HDMI, turned out it was setting to automatically display at an unsupported resolution (4K60 in my case) I don't know if it's the same in your case.
Can you share some pictures of the modding for the MSI 1070? If cicichen makes a good heatsink for the vrms I think a lot more people will be willing to upgrade to that card.