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    Upgrade options M17 R3

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by aaminuk, Dec 4, 2015.

  1. aaminuk

    aaminuk Newbie

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    My poor alienware is feeling its age :) I feel like treating myself for xmas!
    Specs are below

    What are good high/medium/low cost upgrade options and whats the view on the best value for money options?
    I'm thinking of spending around £350 for the upgrades, but I'm open to alternative ideas.


    Processor a Main Circuit Board b
    2.20 gigahertz Intel Core i7-2670QM
    64 kilobyte primary memory cache
    256 kilobyte secondary memory cache
    6144 kilobyte tertiary memory cache
    64-bit ready
    Multi-core (4 total)
    Hyper-threaded (8 total) Board: Alienware M17xR3 A12
    Serial Number: .1271FS1.
    Bus Clock: 1333 megahertz
    BIOS: Alienware A12 08/20/2012
    Drives Memory Modules c,d
    478.89 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
    54.53 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

    HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GA31N [Optical drive]

    TOSHIBA MK5061GSYN [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 0, s/n Y19IT79TT, rev MH000D, Not SMART 4044 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

    Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM0' has 2048 MB (serial number 21546E6A)
    Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM1' is Empty
    Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM0' has 2048 MB (serial number 21346E8C)
    Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM1' is Empty

    Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 [Display adapter]
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M [Display adapter]
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2015
    aaminuk, Dec 4, 2015
    #1
  2. _Drake_

    _Drake_ Notebook Consultant

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    What kind of gpu do you have atm?

    Aside from the gpu I would upgrade the memory to atleast 8gb (so add 2x2GB, would suggest to get those second hand) and an SSD.

    A 128GB ssd and a 4gb upgrade would be about 50-60 pounds so that leaves about 290 free to upgrade the GPU in case it has a stock one (nvidia 5 or amd 6 series) to an AMD 7970M or Nvidia GTX680M
     
    _Drake_, Dec 4, 2015
    #2
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  3. aaminuk

    aaminuk Newbie

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    Sorry mate, thought that I had added it in.

    I have a 560m at the moment, updated first post
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2015
    aaminuk, Dec 4, 2015
    #3
  4. _Drake_

    _Drake_ Notebook Consultant

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    _Drake_, Dec 4, 2015
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  5. aaminuk

    aaminuk Newbie

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    is 680 the card you would suggest? is there an opportunity to go higher then that? I've never upgraded a notebook before, and want to macke sure i get the right upgrade, and spend the money in the right places!
     
    aaminuk, Dec 4, 2015
    #5
  6. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

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    You can go as high as a 780M, or sell it an get a M17x R4 or a M15x and stuff a 980M in there.
     
    Raidriar, Dec 4, 2015
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  7. aaminuk

    aaminuk Newbie

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    aaminuk, Dec 4, 2015
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  8. aaminuk

    aaminuk Newbie

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    Thanks, I'll look at the 780m!
     
    aaminuk, Dec 4, 2015
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  9. aaminuk

    aaminuk Newbie

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    well,

    finding a 680m or 780m seems impossible except for some expensive options on ebay. going to spend a few days looking, otherwise I will have to consider other options, including selling the laptop and replacing it with something else.
     
    aaminuk, Dec 4, 2015
    #9
  10. nick81

    nick81 Notebook Evangelist

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    I would personally suggest selling the laptop and replacing it with an AW17 R5 (2013) which is the last AW easy to upgrade. I recently upgraded my GPU to a 980m and installed new SSD's. Laptop is a beast and at a fraction of the price of a new laptop
     
    nick81, Dec 4, 2015
    #10