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    Upgrading an old M17X

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Mad-Gary, Sep 30, 2014.

  1. Mad-Gary

    Mad-Gary Newbie

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    Firstly, apologies if a similar post has been put up in the past, I did scour the forums for a while, but I thought I'd go ahead and ask advice on my own situation.

    I have a 2009 Alienware M17x and it's feeling it's age; it takes 7 or 8 minutes to boot up and a further 5 or so to actually get in to a usable state once logged on. It's been formatted recently, but it didn't help much. The OST seems to take up 70GB on a fresh install out of it's tiny 160GB HDD (122GB according to windows!). I find it struggles now with even lower end games, which leads me to believe one of the components is possibly kaput. The hard drive is also unworkably small. However, I love the screen size and the general chassis and layout of the machine, despite its weight. And I'm still cringing at the price I paid for it 5 years ago!

    What I would like to know is, given my stats at the bottom, is this a viable machine to upgrade to play mid level games on at least medium graphics, with little to no soldering or technical know-how? Being it is primarily a computer that travels to work with me that is being bashed about a lot, I'd rather not spend more than £400 (~$600) on upgrades, when a bottom end gaming laptop could come in around the £800 mark.

    As an after thought, is it possible to purchase the plastic that covers the screen which has become scratched?

    Any advice or insight would be appreciated, thanks.

    Base
    Alienware M17x Gaming Laptop - Space Black
    Memory
    6144MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [1x2048 + 1x4096]
    Video Card
    SLI™ Dual 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
    Hard Drive
    160GB (7,200rpm) Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive
    Processor
    Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9800 (2.93GHz,1066MHz FSB,6MB L2 Cache)
    Microsoft Operating System
    Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1(64 BIT)+ Windows 7 Home Premium
    Power Supply
    240W AC Adaptor (100 - 240 V, 50-60Hz, 3.5A)
     
    Mad-Gary, Sep 30, 2014
    #1
  2. TomJGX

    TomJGX I HATE BGA!

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    You know, you could sell this for 200 - 300 and get a 2nd hand M17x R4 with that and your £400 upgrade budget... Throwing money at this obsolete machine is not worth it..
     
    TomJGX, Sep 30, 2014
    #2
  3. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

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    Yeah its an obsolete machine, no sense in upgrading anything in it. A 600$ laptop will likely outpace it easily.
     
    Raidriar, Sep 30, 2014
    #3
  4. Mad-Gary

    Mad-Gary Newbie

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    Thanks for the swift replies, I had a feeling this might be the answer, but it's good to have it confirmed.

    Now, where do I go for recommendations on a replacement....
     
    Mad-Gary, Sep 30, 2014
    #4
  5. katalin_2003

    katalin_2003 NBR Spectre Super Moderator

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    katalin_2003, Sep 30, 2014
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  6. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    If you want to game putting a modern gpu in it and a small ssd would still be better than any £600 machine.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Sep 30, 2014
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  7. TomJGX

    TomJGX I HATE BGA!

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    He can only put at max dual 5870Ms which will not beat a single 7970M... Also, the CPU can be upgraded at max to a QX9300... He can easily find better deals for used AW 17s on ebay...
     
    TomJGX, Sep 30, 2014
    #7
  8. J.Dre

    J.Dre Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    I agree with Tom.

    Sell your M17x or part it out on eBay. Use that money and put it toward a used/refurbished Alienware 17 R1. The used M17x R4's on eBay are about the same price. Even a base Alienware 17 R1 will outperform your current M17x.
     
    J.Dre, Sep 30, 2014
    #8
  9. Mad-Gary

    Mad-Gary Newbie

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    Thank you for the swift replies, gentlemen.

    When splitting and selling the laptop, is there an idiot proof guide to separating the laptop in to its constituent parts? The guts of the laptop are not something I have ever ventured inside of. I was quite unaware that the parts would still be worth selling.
     
    Mad-Gary, Oct 1, 2014
    #9
  10. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

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    Not really an idiot proof guide, but you can search around the forums for disassembly posts. You could probably get money from the LCD, motherboard, and chassis.
     
    Raidriar, Oct 1, 2014
    #10
  11. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    Why can't he put a single 7970M inside? Pretty cheap now. A 7970M + small SSD as suggested while using the old HDD as a secondary data storage drive would perform quite well and remain cheap. The T9800 isn't the slowest dual either. OC a bit and it should be ok for most games with some settings turned down perhaps.

    If the OP is attached to his M17x then this route is quite feasible. If not then part it out as suggested by others.
     
    King of Interns, Oct 1, 2014
    #11
  12. toto29620

    toto29620 Notebook Consultant

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    Nope, 7970m and 6970/90m doesn't work in the R1, same thing for nvidia, 280m sli maximum.
     
    toto29620, Oct 1, 2014
    #12
  13. TomJGX

    TomJGX I HATE BGA!

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    +1... The R1 is really totally obsolete... At least the R2 can hold it stead with dual 7970Ms if required...
     
    TomJGX, Oct 1, 2014
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  14. darnok44

    darnok44 Notebook Consultant

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    Actually I did get the video from Clevo 6970m on external screen. Unfortunately I didn't test it further, yet. That's my little plan, to investigate it and hopefully I will prove that old m17 can take something stronger then 5870m.
     
    darnok44, Oct 1, 2014
    #14
  15. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Interesting, I guess an issue with the nvidia chipset being picky.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Oct 2, 2014
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  16. katalin_2003

    katalin_2003 NBR Spectre Super Moderator

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    katalin_2003, Oct 3, 2014
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