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    Upgrade Alienware M17x (R1): Is it worth it?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by wacdag, Mar 15, 2013.

  1. wacdag

    wacdag Notebook Consultant

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    Gents,

    I was wondering, I need some advice on my Alienware M17r1 (as per my signature). Is it worth me upgrading my current setup of a single NVidia GeForce GTX 260M to a 280M SLI. Or would it better to save myself £*** and use that money to put towards a new laptop. Never had a big issue with it (touch wood) since it was purchased 2.5 years ago.

    Secondly if I were to upgrade from a 260M to 280M SLI are the parts required to upgrade are:

    NVidia GeForce GTX 280M – 2 off
    GPU Heat sinks – 2 off
    1 GPU Fan (assuming my existing GPU fan is compatible) – 1 off
    SLI cable – 1 off.

    Help will be greatly appreciated!. :thumbsup:
     
    wacdag, Mar 15, 2013
    #1
  2. sangemaru

    sangemaru Notebook Deity

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    Well, your current machine may still fetch a pretty penny. I'd definitely upgrade if I were you, most cpu's prior to Sandy Bridge are starting to bottleneck like mad in recent games.
     
    sangemaru, Mar 15, 2013
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  3. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Going from 260M to 280M considering the cost and modern technology is simply not worth it.

    A 660M machine can be had in a 14" chasis for $900 and provide similar performance.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Mar 15, 2013
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  4. wacdag

    wacdag Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks for advice guys. I kind of expected it to be cost prohibitive to upgrade to 280M SLI and just the general lack of parts avaliable even on ebay got me wondering. I may invest my time and effort in to researching for a desktop anyway for even more powerrrr!! :D
     
    wacdag, Mar 17, 2013
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  5. gthirst

    gthirst Notebook Evangelist

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    It would be rather inexpensive to upgrade to a single 5870m, which would be a HUGE boost over the 260m. Go to Crossfire for just a little more. All you would need is the card itself, some thermal paste and thermal pads. It uses the same heatsink. You can get the card for under $150 pretty easily through the normal channels.
     
    gthirst, Mar 17, 2013
    #5