Upgrade Crossfire GPU M17x R2

Hello,
I'm sorry in advance for my mistakes, I don't speak English very well.
This is the only forum that contains so much information about Alienware. But it's hard to understand for me. So sorry maybe I'll ask questions that have their answers in the topics below.
So I explain my problem to you. I have an M17x-R2 that I stopped using because I am currently using a desktop PC. But mostly because of a problem that makes the R2 turn off automatically when the GPU reaches 85 ° C. But I'm going to have to start traveling often and therefore I think to upgrade it to be able to play a bit on the go and use the adobe suite.

Currently I have:
CPU: 920XM
GPU: 7970M
RAM: 16 GB
128GB SSD + 1TB HDD 7200 rpm
240W power supply

I have a heatsink, a fan and x-bracket for 7970M for a second graphics card and a crossfire cable.

I have many questions:
1- Do you have a solution for my graphics card that turns off at 85°C? Or do I have to change it?
2- Is it better to have a 7970M or 8970M crossfire? With alienware or clevo cards? As I understand clevo manages the fans but not the HDMI sound?
3- I will also have to buy a 330W power supply because 240W is not enough, right?
4-I saw that the crossfire cable on the 7970M is not practical to connect without bending it, is it problematic? Is there a solution I don't know?
5-Will the PC be able to manage VR? It seems a little fair but you never know!
6-Did I forget something? Have you chosen something I need to know?
7-Is it worth it? Or will it be wasted money?

Thank you in advance!

 

1. Sounds like extreme throttling?
2. Crossfire is a waste and it'll be bottlenecked anyways, easier to just stay with a single care and overclock the CPU/GPU
3. 330W needs a chip mod to work properly (read: at all), there are many threads here
4. I believe you can use the stock 5870M CFX cable, but failing that bending it can be sketchy but should work
5. Not well, it'll be heavily CPU/GPU bottlenecked, I'd say for a minimum at VR you'd need something like a 4th gen i5 and a R9 390, your CPU is closer to a 4th gen i3 and the GPU is barely keeping up with a R7 370X.
6. Don't go for crossfire, do the 330W ID Chip mod and use the extra juice to squeeze more performance out of it.
7. Personally, I'd try selling it, machines from that era are getting rarer and rarer and fetching higher prices, with the money earned you can get something smaller that would be better for travel and faster, like a Acer Nitro 5.

 

Thank you for your answer !
Hum... I will follow your advices and I'm going to drop the idea of the crossfire then. I'm going to look for the Acer.
But this alienware has sentimental value and and f it is possible to solve the problem of 85°C it would already be great!
How to solve a extreme throttling ?

 

How fit is your thermals setup, paste, pads, ever changed these? If yes, what did you use?

Do the fans spin up properly? Cleaned them and the heatsinks from dust?

 

Thank you for your answer !

I remade everything not long ago. I used this image for the size of the thermal pads.

I used phobya pads and MX-4 thermal paste. I think it's good.
No problems with my fans and I cleaned the dust. In reality it is not easy to reach 85°C in winter with the raised PC. But it can happen. And the PC cuts directly. I don't think it's an overheating problem. The 7970M is supposed to be able to heat more, no ?

 

Did you check the contact area on the chip for good contact.

Yes the AMD cards tend to generate lots of heat.

I've had a 7970m in my r3 (it also has a "tiny" GPU fan, but it didn't overheat at all).

 

Yes, I even tried installing the card on the right side using the other heatsink, the other fan and the result is the same.
That's why I gave up, I don't see a solution to this problem.
But I saw that I am not the only one to have this problem on the forum apparently.