Upgrading graphics card from M290X to the best GTX card

Hi all , hopeing someone here knows a thing or too about upgrading my graphics card in my AW 17 2014

it currently has a R9 m290x 4GB graphics card, i7 4700,16GB RAM 240v Charger

i want to upgrade the graphics card to the best GTX card that is better than the AMD card i have

will it just be a matter of swapping cards, and getting 330V charger? or will the 240v charger i have be ok?

Where is the best place to purchase a mobile GTX card, im from the UK

any help much appreciated
Thankyou

 

The best option for you is a 980m 8GB of course. First of all, you should read this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-17-60hz-gtx980m-upgrade.768673/

Its easy to do swap, works almost plug&play. You can flash it with prema bios specially designed for this card.
240W charger is ok, but for agressive overclocking and much powerfull CPU than yours (4700mq) - 330W will be better.

Dont know UK market. But know vendor in Europe who sends this card abroad (769 Euros).

 

Hi there Castiel, Appreciate your reply.

I dont know what prema bios is. but i have just updated my bios to A14, is the prema bios necessary?

im really not to clued up about laptops, i just want better performance, would i notice a huge increas from the 4gb m290x to the gtx 980m? is it worth the upgrade?

Also my charger says 240V and not W is this a problem or the same thing?

 

You will need to see if you charger is 330w, 240w, or 180w. 240w should be alright and power your system without problem, 330 is better if you want to be extra careful. 180W is not recommended because you can decrease the system's performance.

CPU = 45w
GPU 980M = 135-140w


How to see W capacity? Simple, you multiply the output. Volt * Ampere = Watt on the PSU.


BIOS should be updated to the latest, A14 sounds good.

PREMA VBIOS is for the graphic card, it ensures your GPU is performing optimally without any throttle. It's easy to modify and you don't have to do anything.
Download for 980M -> https://biosmods.wordpress.com/gtx9/

 

Thanks Mobius, I have took a pic of my charger, can you work out if it will be strong enough?, Thankyou for help

http://imgur.com/FWvLOaE

 

- 19.5V * 12.3 A = 239.85 W
- You need the 330W adapter if you have an extreme CPU XM/MX series. Your 240W will be enough for a 980M.
- You need a 100W GPU heatsink (3-pipe), not sure about the x-bracket/ AMD heatsink layout though.

 

also you will need to run modded drivers see techinferno for them

 

Modded bios for card, modded drivers.. im beggining to think isit worth it. Seems to be more hassle than i was hoping for.

i might sell mine, and put a few £100 towards a better one?

 

unfortunately you can balm nVidia for that personaly im hoping AMD get there act together a put out a good mxm card even if there not much of a gain over the 980m I've just had it with the nVidia BS

 

what would be a better AMD card than i already have?

 

obviously the tests are done across different laptops (different cpus, ram, fan profiles & cooling solutions ect.) but is fine as a rough guide
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-980M.126692.0.html

if you don't mind waiting a bit I'd advise waiting & seeing what happens/is compatable this gen (RX4XX GTX10XX) GPUs & upgrade to one of those

oh i know my post seems negative the 980m has got great proformence its just a pain

 

It might be too much work at first, but it's worth the effort. The work is usually done the first time, after that you can grab modded drivers by J95 or @ laptopvideo2go....

 

I have the model you are aiming for and trust me you don't really need a 330w PSU since most games don't even reach 240w with an overclocked 980m.

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

 

the gpu comes with the x-bracket.