Upgrade graphic card?

Hey everyone,
Currently, I have the base spec alienware 17 from the late 2013, and I believe that it's soon time to upgrade my components. I already installed an ssd for cache and it significantly boosted my speed. My question is, is it worth it to upgrade the CPU? Also, what GPU is an optimal price to performance ratio for my 765m? I know that 860m is marginally better and 870m is better than the 860m by a lot, so I'm thinking the 870m, but are there any different opinions here?

 

780m > 870m > 860m

bear in mind you need a 3 pipe heatsink for the 780m.

 

What's your budget? The best graphics card you could get would be a 970M (~$600) or 980M (~$900). What kind of stuff do you do? Would you benefit from a faster CPU?

 

doesn't matter cos the 2-pipe heatsink won't be enough to move that heat, it barely moves enough when attached to a 780M. so they need to get that replaced first before getting a new GPU.

 

I think 970m is overkill for now. Does 870m not require the 2-pipe heatsink? And if I were to decide to churn out a few extra bucks for the 780m, where can I buy the 3-pipe heat sink? Also, wouldn't it be more reasonably to buy the 970m if it were $600 since it's marginally stronger than 780m and only a bit more expensive?

 

dell is the only place i know of is where you can get the heatsink.

 

Alienware Heatsink alienware 17 r5 3 pipee | eBay
Seems like they only have the R3+4 for the triple pipe, do you think that's compatible with my machine?

 

You're gonna want to use the right part number to try and search for stuff, cause the Alienware 17 R1 (not R5) takes a different heatsink. Part number for the 3 pipe is YP26V.

New Genuine Dell Alienware 17 GTX 780 GRAPHIC100 Watt Heatsink YP26V 0YP26V | eBay

 

Hmmm, do you think I should just call Dell on this to replace it for me? I'm confident in my ability to replace but I'm not entirely sure if it's cost-worthy in terms of money and time to do this instead of Dell.

 

Couldn't hurt to see what it would cost to have them do it. It's an easy swap if you end up doing it yourself, you'll just need some thermal paste.

 

it's quite easy to replace the heatsink because you'll need to repaste the GPU anyway and thermal paste isn't overly expensive.

i suggest buying the one linked by DaveFromGameaVision and getting some decent thermal paste.

 

but how much value would my current graphic card achieve since it's used?

 

a used 780M will go for about $350 - $400. so for a 765M I think about $200 but that's my guess.

 

Looking at eBay $200 is about right. If I was listing it I'd do $250 Buy it Now w/ free shipping and let people send me offers. If you sell on eBay you're gonna lose ~13% to fees so if you could sell it somewhere else (like on here if you had 100 posts) for like $175 you'd make about the same.

 

Ahh, then would you recommend I buy a used graphic card? my 765m still seems to perform the same it had been for the past 2 years, so I don't think a used graphic card performance would diminish.

 

scour the marketplace forums here to see what you can find. though your first priority is to get the heatsink if you want to use more powerful cards like the 780M and up.

 

Well, I wasn't really planning on upgrading until this summer when I leave for college, so I want to upgrade my screen (which has 2 dead pixels on the right side, barely noticeable unless white background) and since I'll be upgrading my screen, I'll need a better graphic card to support the 1080p. But of course, I want to do that over the summer, not anytime soon. But do you think I should just get the heat sink now since it's still functional on my 765m?

 

I'm not too sure how difficult it is to find one of the three pipe heatsinks so if you've got the cash now and know you're going to upgrade later it won't hurt to get it and leave it sitting around for a few months. That would be preferable in my opinion rather than waiting and not being able to find one when you need it.

 

honestly, grab it now cos alienware have moved to more slimmer models so they parts you're looking for might become harder to find if you decide to look later.

 

I see, with all these new upgrades, I might have to get a new power adapter, right? My current one is kinda tearing at the end so I figure I might need a new one soon. If I get the 240 watts one, would it still work well with my current laptop or will it cause issues like having too much power?

 

most people have bought 330W PSUs and they work fine with the AW17.

 

Whoa, isn't 330W a bit of an overkill?

 

nope, means you have enough head room to overclock

 

Ahh, my current overclock setting (MSI afterburner) is +135Mhz core/+725Mhz Memory. If I decided to change the voltage clock right now, would it be safe? Also, how much difference would voltage change make?

 

hard to say without grabbing a wattage meter and checking the PSUs power draw from the mains.

 

Considering your running a 4700MQ, and a 756m. Getting a 330w PSU would be a waste of time. The power draw will be need when you decide it is time to go for the extreme CPU and flagship GPU snd start applying OC.

 

I would suggest getting a 240W PSU.. Much cheaper and honestly, if your'e going to upgrade to a 780M/870M/970M, 240W is enough.. I'd personally say, get the 970M and you'll be set for a year or 2...

 

You need 240w otherwize with 180w you can just reload your laptop with >100w GPU.
As i did, you can mod r3/r4 heatsink to fit well in r5. I still got 2 modded r4 100w heatsink but you can do it easely, there is one of my thread somewhere in this forum And i still got a 780m to sell too .