The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Upgrading M17x R3 (2920xm + 7970m)

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Rayleyne, Jul 5, 2013.

  1. Rayleyne

    Rayleyne Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    35
    Messages:
    205
    Likes Received:
    32
    Trophy Points:
    41
    Sup NBR chaps, I'm upgrading my now working again R3, I love it and i'm never going to part with it but i've run into a snag, Does a 3 pipe Heatsink for the r3 exsist? I'm hoping to get to 4g's on the 2920xm i've ordered, And as for the 7970m, Will i be able to drop it in on bios A12? or do i need A 8, If i need A8, Can i rollback without any problems, IE just flash it.
     
    Rayleyne, Jul 5, 2013
    #1
  2. pp_ph

    pp_ph Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    81
    Messages:
    148
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    31

    What graphic card you coming from? Do you have a 120Hz 3D screen or the 60 Hz screen?
     
    pp_ph, Jul 5, 2013
    #2
  3. Rayleyne

    Rayleyne Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    35
    Messages:
    205
    Likes Received:
    32
    Trophy Points:
    41
    6990m and 2630qm, 60HZ 1080p.
     
    Rayleyne, Jul 5, 2013
    #3
  4. SkylineLvr

    SkylineLvr Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    446
    Messages:
    896
    Likes Received:
    203
    Trophy Points:
    56
    As far as I know, there is no 3 pipe heatsink. The new Alienware 17 can be configured with an XM CPU, but not sure if it comes with a 3 pipes or not. I'm curious, if it does come with the 3 pipe heatsink, I wonder if it'll fit the R3/R4.

    For the 7970M, the A12 BIOS is fine, but I suggest you do a clean install of the Dell drivers (it's listed under the R4), then update to whatever AMD driver you choose. If you don't go this route, then you will run into enduro issues, and will have the screen dim issues. You can follow my guide in my sig, but its not needed if you start with the Dell drivers. Plus I find that HWiNFO is a little buggy on my system.
     
    SkylineLvr, Jul 5, 2013
    #4