Some questions on the Alienware 17R1 1070 upgrade

Yes, its the long one under the ODD

 

UPDATE: keyboard fixed still trying to fit the frame
can't seem to fit le lower part on the sides of the alienware logo any suggestions?

 

Yeah, the price levels over here are 100-150 $$ higher, when wanting to buy new and genuine 1060/1070 directly from reliable resellers (and not from taobao).

 

So I have this situation here: all the clips snap back in except for those beside the Alienware logo on the frame. I have also removed one on the screws brackets from the display (top right) as it was in the way of a clip. Any ideas?

 

Thanks for the shoutout.

 

Update: Screen Upgrade completed

 

Mind sharing how you did it? You are one of 3 people I think to do this.

 

While I don't consider my work fully done yet I know what needs to be done. I needed the lid on my laptop to close because I have a flight today.
Basically modding the hinges is not enough, some other parts of the lid case need to be polished with a rasp or similar tool (i used a rasp as I had the display installed while I was doing it) and some clips need to be removed, I also removed the bracket in the top right as you can see in one of my previous photos as it was in the way of one clip. I also polished some clips (also in the photos above) from the frame itself as they were not needed anymore.
The biggest problem is the right hinge as that is where extra room is required because you need to fold the ribbon cable of the 40 pin connector behind the screen this will make it thicker and it won't allow to clip the frame, so you have to polish until it fits. [ see Example 1 from another user on here]
I'll also upload some picture of some stages of my polishing work [Mine and mine2]
Getting something as close as Example 1 as possible should be more than enough to fit the screen the best way possible.
If you have any specific questions I'll try to answer them as best as I can, keep in mind it is 1:25 am here in italy so it may take a while for me to answer back

 

Thanks for the insights! This will be helpful for me when I get the time to finally complete it. Like you, I was able to get the panel in but due to the dimensions it doesn't close. I ran out of time but looking forward to finishing it.

Thanks!

 

I'll add something to that. If you want to use the original screen brackets, as I did, there may be a small thing that looks like a screw stuck in it (I don't know how to better explain it) you have to remove it as it will raise the display to much on the top side. You either push it to remove it or you break it with a tool and then remove it (as I did). If you decide to use this method and put cardboard in between the original brackets and the display you may want to know that it has to be less than 3mm thick (it must stay below the lateral screw holes and not cover them).

Some other advise:
- the clips on the part of the frame that covers the hinges are very fragile and they will inevitably breake if you keep putting and removing the frame
- the "light module" has to be removed, I have also disconnected it from the motherboard and,while that is not necessary, having one less cable behind the alienware logo should make it easier to clip the frame back on. (this means losing all the lights in the lid area not just the alienware logo)
- for other people: be careful when you close the palm rest back on make sure that it clicks in the power button area or you won't be able to turn it on later

this is a question/suggestion: there was another connector beside the webcam connector I gather this is for the 3D of the OEM 120Hz display but it gets in the way with this one, so I had to put it behind the display. I was wondering can it be cut?

Little review of the display so far:
The colors are amazing, I always hated the fact that my display was so dull, as photo and movie editor this is a blessing. I have played a very colorful game yesterday (sea of thieves) and it was almost like playing on my sony 4K TV.
When it comes to game experience I have noticed that the 120Hz refresh rate diminishes the screen tearing effect that you get when disabling vsync to the point that it is barely even noticeable (at least in the games I have tried), I plan on testing the G-Sync capabilities of this display when I upgrade to the 1070. My display came with a stuck pixel, that is green in color but still works when over white areas, this not enough to ask the manufacturer for a replacement so I hope it comes unstuck as time goes on (I have already tried the most common methods to solve this problem but none has worked yet).

Future plans:
- This friday I'm going to buy a "Dell" 1070 mxm from a reseller on taobao that I have contacted, with the help of a chinese friend, 440$ shipping included.
- I'll buy this heatsink too, and will perform the upgrade only when both this parts are here.
- I'll test the gsync functionality when I get the 1070, if it works it will be another big pro for this display

 

Do you have a link to the 1070?
I highly doubt you'l be able to get Gsync working for numerous reasons

 

Here's the page. Gsync is not a deal breaker if it works it's cool if doesn't no matter. Why do you think it's not going to work?

 

No AW 17 R1 has shipped with GSYNC afaik, and that isn't a GSYNC card

 

The N173HHE-G32 display I have installed on mine supports gsync but I believe the edp connector we use wouldn't even support it, even with the right card. So it's probably a lost cause

 

Probably comes down to the connector, either way I'm not concerned with it either.

 

AFAIK laptop gsync is more than correct panel + gsync card. Some NBR forum members reported that changing just cpu would disable gsync.

 

If the option is there then make sure you know how to use Fn keys to disable primary then disable gsync if you lose the screen

 

I guess it depends on which component is running the display. As I understand it, G-sync is supported by all the GPUs since the 965m but the 1070 I'm buying is not a normal 1070 so it may not work on that. I also don't know how much work is done by the connector that remains a 6 year old part. So we have a G-sync screen powered by a 1070 that may support gsync using a cable from 2013, chances are slim.

I have one question: I have noticed that there is a msata installed on my laptop and when I boot it does show, but in the os is no where to be found. Does it contain manufacturer stuff? Is it safe to remove/upgrade?

 

On laptop that does not officially support gsync you wont be able to make it work on integrated screen. Is there a way to force G-Sync ?

 

well, still an amazing screen if only I could get that pixel unstuck now....

 

Hi today i test contol for gpu fan with HWinfo, but it has only 3 steps with EC function disable. When is eneable I could control CPU fan with 50 rpm steps. Is it possile to create conection with CPU and GPU fan to control it with lower steps not 0, 2000 and 3600? Has anyone try this?

 

Sure, wire it up.

 

Ok I will test it run only CPU fan connect to GPU with Dell EC. I read more than 6 threads which CPU fan should i chose. I have m17x R5.
Some people has got only one degree difference but someone gas got more than 10 degrees on gpu. I think you wrote about is, but you modified 14 R2 fan.

On ebay is 1,6 CFM 2,3 CFM : https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Alien...940746?hash=item1a7a2d544a:g:QPkAAOSwOM5ci8DB
6,5 CFM: https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-for-DE...050473?hash=item1a26612569:g:arIAAOSwCU1YrrOK
10,5 CFM: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Turbo-...885313?hash=item3d7a102c41:g:80UAAOSw0d1b7PtA

The last one it looks same as 14 R2 fan. Bearing is "magnetic", but i think it is fluid bearing like others.

 

I think for gpu the fan is from M17x r3 and the cpu fan is from an m14x R2 but I now use an ebay fan until I get working on myachine again.

 

while I wait for the GPU and heatsink to arrive I have some other questions for some future upgrades:
- how do I mod the bios and what are the greatest advantages of doing so?
- what is the best ram I can put in the ranger?
- I am also planning to replace the ODD with an hard drive slot, can I buy any of those adapters from amazon or do I need to find one specific for the AW17?
- there's a mSata 60GB SSD installed on my laptop that I didn't know of, is it safe to remove/upgrade it? Now it only comes up when I boot in UEFI but the OS cannot detect it.

EDIT: it was a 60GB mSata ssd

 

It's likely a caching drive in your setup. If you have anything important on your laptop, backup it to a external hard drive or something similar. Then you can remove it

 

the problem is that I can't access it in anyway from the OS

 

Interesting I have 80GB msata SSD too, but I install OS on it. This week I will swap for 500GB 860 Evo. But I install OS on RAID not UEFI.

 

when I bought the laptop I had a 750GB HDD and the OS was installed on that, then my HDD died on me one day and I bought the 840 EVO and reinstalled back the OS on that (losing everything). I was never able to use the normal windows boot from that day only uefi.

 

Okay I've rebooted the system and it looks like it's dev cache and it is disabled right now so I guess removing it would make no difference at all

 

You need specific cable for the rangers odd to hdd swap.IIt has a part number that I can't remember but I can check my purchase history later and likely find it there.

Modding bios is simple, not much more can be said how to do it. Eliminating power throttling settings to maintain high overclock in the cpu is one of the first main benefits. SG mode also comes in handy from time to time.

If your upgrading to pascal pure uefi environment is a requirement

 

I not an expert when it comes to overclocking the cpu, I've done it in the past, but then I put everything back as it was because I didn't have time to learn all the things necessary to get the best out of my CPU. I plan to find a good guide once I upgrade it to the 4930MX or 4940MX.

For the uefi I should be all set, the gpu will arrive in a few days and the heatsink maybe some time next week, I will perform the upgrade then and post my results.

 

Keep us updated i am going to uogrde to a 1070 soon too

 

Wait wait wait... we can insert a clevo mxm in our aliewares? The clevos have extra power plug on them... i thought we coudnt use these

 

You can do anything with enough modding lol. I haven't seen any case of a AW with a Clevo MXM B+ 3.1 card, but I'd assume its possible. I can 100% confirm however that someone got a GTX 980 DT MXM card with external power working, drawing through a external power supply
+

 

I was wondering if it has been done with a power suply from somewhere within the mobo. Because 2060 2070 and 2080 mxm cards were just released but they are clevo style ones

 

Likely, @Khenglish would be the person to ask

 

UPDATE: the heatsink should finally be here in the next 24 hours so I can finally upgrade.
I know that I have to:
- uninstall all the drivers of my 770M (I'll use display driver uninstaller)
- install the new card and heatsink
- boot and disable driver enforcement
- mod the inf file to install the new drivers downloaded from nvidia website
Is there anything else I should do? Any common problems I might encounter?

 

Uefi installation and peg mode.

 

is this good for UEFI? where do I enable PEG?

 

Legacy mode disabled iirc

And peg mode is under video options

 

If I disable legacy option rom I can’t boot it’s been like that for years and I don’t know how to fix it

 

The problem is that when I disable legacy rom it gives the error "no bootable device found", I guess it is because none of my drives are set as bootable (see picture), am I correct?
Do you know how to fix this?

 

Thats because your windows install is not compatible with UEFI, you'll need to reinstall it.

 

Damn, and lose everything? Is there no other way to fix this?

 

Can you tell me exactly what to do so that I don't make the same mistake again?

 

Its the foundation for which Windows is installed on to. You cant repair foundation without destroying the house generally. Move the sensitive data to your other drive and begin anew. You can do this in advance of the GPU arriving, The 770m should support the very same criteria for which the 1070 requires to function.

 

Okay tomorrow I’ll make a USB and reinstall it, I have all the data on various hard drives it is more reinstalling everything that bothers me. Will this automatically fix the problem or is there something else I need to do afterwards?

 

Should just need to reinstall windows for the UEFI incompatibility to be fixed.

 

Pascal won't function with legacy rom option enabled, it needs to be a pure uefi environment.

Note: with pascal installed you will lose access to the bios so everything needs to be set appropriately before install. If you can't boot pascal don't fret, reinstall the 770m and boot, double check settings before thinking the worst case scenario; a DOA gpu.