Upgrading GPU on Alienware M17xR3

Hi, I've been considering upgrading my laptop GPU, as the performance of my GTX 460m doesn't seem to be up to par anymore (had it for 2 years now).

I was doing some research and found that the best upgrade I can do with the least hassle is getting a GTX 780m, price is not really an issue for me as I got this laptop on sale with pre-set specs so I just took what was the best. I do not really care about the 3D as I never use it anyway but since I've been informed that upgrading to another 3D compatible card should reduce the need to tinker around with the BIOS and etc I'm up for it as I said before where price is not an option.
Few problems though, 1. It's my first time doing anything with laptops aside for cleaning the fans, 2. Where can I even get the card, I can't find it anywhere and its even harder considering that I currently live in the UK, 3.Not sure if its even really possible in the first place.

 

It's reasonably easy. If you have a 3D display, your 3D will disappear but the other good features of the display such as 120hz will remain. Plenty of good videos on youtube to help guide you. I'm in the UK as well and I can help you out with finding the correct GPU etc.

 

Great, I don't really care about the 3D as I've never used it aside for the novelty of it on the day I bought it and never again lol. I am living in Cambridge now so there aren't many places for me to get these parts, well not that I am aware of that is. If its not too costly I might also want to get the CPU upgraded. Like I said in my post is the GTX 780m compatible with my laptop I have a 490m atm.

 

Would a AMD 8970m work in a R3? Thanks

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-question-anyone-installed-8970m-m17x-r3.html I think this might help...but still no one is helping me T.T lol

 

The 490m doesn't exist...do you mean 460m?! Laptop GPUs can be bought online easily.

 

Yes, I mean't 460m I don't know why I keep mistaking the 9 and 6. But where? I can't seem to find anywhere reliable I don't want to end up buying a few hundred £/$ card and have it not arrive or arrive faulty.

 

Get a GTX 780M, otherwise get a GTX 680M. Those are the only two cards you should even consider at this point in time.

 

Now that choosing the graphics card is solved...where can I actually get them? Or should I just get a Vidock and buy a way better graphics card? lol

 

eBay is probably the best place.

 

You should get a GTX 680m, there are a few comparability issues with the 780m that require some tinkering with the bios. You can find stuff on eBay or I could sell you one. I have one lying around somewhere and I'll support you with driver updates. Get enough quality posts to PM. I'm in the UK too.

 

Oh, if the tinkering with the bios isn't all that bothersome I am up for getting a GTX 780M however I don't have a paypal account and it makes it a bit difficult buying off ebay.

 

You really need a paypal account. Its a good way of getting your money back if you were ever sold a dud.

 

And, aside from the benefits, it only takes a few minutes to do (if you're in the USA).

 

I did some extra research and found out that the GTX 780M may not be compatible with the TDP of the R3. Also, I live in the UK and for some odd reason when I sign up it says I have to be at least 18 when I am quite clearly past that age by now lol....

 

780m works just fine as its an 100watt card just like the 680m/7970m/6990m/580m TDP wise.

 

You'll definitely need to do some tweaking for the 780M, including flashing a modded vBIOS and using a larger PSU, at the very least. Depending on what CPU you have, you may want to upgrade that in the near future as well. The CPU & GPU work together, and when one is slow and old, while the other is new and powerful, hindered performance may be the only thing you'll see.

 

Any Sandy Bridge i7 & up CPU wise will be fine with a 780M, most games are GPU limited (with some exceptions), it's the GPU in laptops that are typically the weakest link. Intel have done a great job with their mobile processors, they're just not a bottleneck (mine never uses over 60% CPU for the games I play). Upgrading the GPU is the way to go, and a 2630QM and up won't hinder the performance of a 780M. The 240W power brick of the R3 is also plenty for the 780M too, unless you have an XM processor that you want to overclock to high levels.

 

I recommended the larger PSU because I wasn't aware it came with one as a standard. If he has the 180W, it won't be sufficient. As for your comment about the CPU not bottlenecking the 780M, I don't agree, and I still recommend upgrading the CPU at a later time if the 780M is his choice.

 

That's fine, you don't have to agree with me, but I'm quite confident about the point I made, and I'm making this point for the benefit of other users that read this thread. Have a look at the following link from Toms Hardware, which is a 'Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart':

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart - Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: September 2013

You'll see that basically all the Sandybridge 4 core CPU's & up are listed as the top step in the hierarchy, in terms of gaming performance. The i7-2630QM is on par with some of those processors listed in that top tier, and I believe the i7-2630QM was the slowest CPU you could buy in the M17xR3, so that's why I think his CPU will not need any upgrading. Also, my 670MX pushes out as many fps on my small 1600x900 screen as a stock 780M on a 1920x1080 (I know this because I've compared gaming benchmarks), and it is the framerate at any given quality setting that determines the comparative CPU usage for any given game, so I know that the 780M would not tax a 2630QM when gaming at 1920x1080. And it's from this personal experience with the 2630QM that I know that high CPU usage is not a limiting factor for me in any of the games I play, including 'next gen' games like Crysis 3 where it is CPU heavy (& GPU heavy) & takes advantage of all 8 CPUs.

I have heard some users say their 2630QM bottlenecks some games: Planetside 2 (from my memory). But, I also think that the reason for that is because the game is not optimised for multiple CPU cores. Future games are more likely to be able to take full advantage of 8 cores, therefore I believe that these rare incidences of CPU bottlenecks will no longer occur (at least over the next 3 years say).

 

You don't have to convince me, I know for a fact it will be an issue later on. You may have noticed in both of my posts I said "later" or "later on" and what I meant by that is like a year from now. I'm speaking in reference to hindered performance in the future with newer games. It will happen, it's only a matter of time, so he might as well get a new CPU as well. For now you won't experience this, but I can almost guarantee you it will be an issue with games like Battlefield 4, and next year's games, running on Ultra settings. I've experienced this issue with desktop computers, not laptops, but I'm assuming it is similar in regards to this specific situation while having a very powerful GPU and a weak CPU. It won't be a substantial hindrance on performance, but it will be noticeable, to a certain extent.

The whole point of upgrading is to expand on what we call 'future proofing' your system, at least for the next couple of years, correct? So, it only makes sense to me to go ahead and grab a CPU within the next 6 - 12 months.

You're going by what you've experienced and I'm going by what I've experienced. Maybe you're right, maybe I'm right, maybe neither of us is right -- that doesn't matter here. The point is to properly advise him on upgrading his PC for future proof gaming and it's quite obvious the next generation of games will be much more demanding on both: the CPU and GPU.

 

Yep, that's fine, as I said in my last post, I'm writing this stuff for the benefit of other users who read this, I'm not trying to convince you. I think that the 2630QM will be obsolete in terms of gaming performance no sooner than the 780M, so I don't think it'd be worthwhile upgrading his CPU. I would suggest the 780M upgrade (keeping 2630QM or up), and by the time the 780M is obsolete, then buying a new laptop, because at that point CPU & GPU technology will have both moved onto the next level beyond the upgrade capabilities of the M17xR3.

 

The 780M will be obsolete as soon as the 880M becomes available. The 680M is probably a better choice, in regards to performance for cost, as it performs similarly to the 780M already.

 

Yes, I think the 680M (£388) is probably the better cost/performance upgrade, and as stated earlier in the thread is an easier installation than the 780M (£588) in terms of BIOS tweaking issues. Money no issue & no fear of BIOS tweaking, then the 780M.

 

Well, Money for me isn't the issue, BIOS tweaking not so much....lol
Also My CPU is a 2720QM.

 

Your CPU is plenty enough to support a GTX 680m in gaming. With a modded bios, you can have that CPU running infinite turbo without any issues. I would go for a 4GB version GTX 680m and the differences will be night and day it will more than double the performance the GTX 460m will provide.

 

2720QM is good, perfectly fine for gaming. Widezu has good advice about the BIOS tweaking to run infinite turbo on it. In fact he created a thread on how to do it here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-2960xm-cpus-m17x-r3-without-modded-bios.html

(You don't need one of the XM CPUs to benefit from the tweak, you'll still get infinite turbo following the advice in that thread).

 

Have you considered getting a new PC?

 

20nm isn't coming till next july at the very earliest and it will probably be even more expensive to produce than current gen cards, so it will be interesting to see what happens. You can't go wrong with either the 680m or the 780m though.

 

Lol I am in Uni now, I would get a computer if I could. Plus, I don't want to part with my friend here lol.

 

That's interesting, so no major performance advancements until then then!