Upgrading my Alienware m17x R3

Hi

I have for 6 months now been trying to upgrade my laptop :S there is SO much information and i feel way overwhelmed...

I have now:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2720QM CPU @ 2.20GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.2GHz <---- will this be a bottleneck, or is it good enough?
Memory: 16384MB RAM
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M

my m17x R3 have 3D, and I like it, but if i HAVE to I can sacrifice it....


So far i have figured out that i want to upgrade my:

- HDD - I have two hdd in raid with only 600mb space..I want one of these two SSDs ---> Samsung 840 Basic EVO SSD (Bulk) - 500GB OR Samsung 850 PRO SSD - 512GB. And for HDD somthing like this (or maybe just this one) WESTERN DIGITAL HDD Green 2TB 2.5.
I have also read that my r3 has a mSATA port under the keyboard, should i have one more small ssd (like this one SAMSUNG SSD 840 EVO 120GB) for cache in that one? Wil these components fit??

- GPU - Im stuck here. I want the best one i can possably fit in my alienware m17x r3! I need help here.

- RAM - i can upgrade this as well if i need to, but again i need help to find one that wil fit


I live in Norway, so it should not be a problem to get parts

Thank you in advance

 

What games are you trying to play? My 2630qm in my r3 is still going strong for most games, not sure if you need to upgrade it really or not. It all depends on what you play and how processor intensive it is.

-Hard Drive: I don't think the r3 has the msata drive as that slot was used for the wireless streaming deal that originally was offered with the r3, but I could be wrong. I'd get the 850 evo as its cheaper and you won't really be able to notice a difference between it and its more expensive brother. They are both fast. As for that hard drive it looks like it should fit just fine as long as its a 2.5 inch hard drive.

-Ram: 16gb's is plenty and I wouldn't touch that.

-GPU: I personally still have a 6990m in my r3 which is about as fast as your 580m and I haven't been around for a while so hopefully someone can chime in on what card would work best for you.

Hope this helps.

 

Im playing shadow of mordor, and gonna be playing dragon age inqousition and the witcher 3. I want good settings

 

does anyone have any input?

 

The r3 does not have an msata slot (the r4 does however for comparison).

I would personally get a 7970M or 680M since they both are basically plug and play.

But with either of those you will lose 3d.

The i7-2720QM should still be fine since it has a quite high turbo boost speed (3.3 ghz) and the ivy and haswell cpu's aren't that more powerful (not that much has really changed).

 

Hi there, I'm with Drake on this one. You're going to have to give up 3D (and I think it's great in the 'right' games) but you'll retain 120hz. Start with a 680m. On the 120hz model you won't need an unlocked bios or even have to mess with the settings. All you need is a modified driver install file as you would for any NV gpu that is not supplied as OEM equipment.

The 780m is also an option but I have read of R3's having on-board sound issues with it.

The CPU is probably going to be fine for gaming. One advantage NV have over AMD is in the physics arena. NV use their own propriety chip (PhysX) while AMD off-loads the work to the CPU.

The 680m runs cool and is VERY overclockable with a little work (I can help there ), even AC: Unity is running good on a mix of high and ultra settings (~30% overclock).

I did see one person that said they got their 3D back but you have to plug in a desktop external 3D emitter and then re-install the driver. What I never found out was if this was with the internal display or an external 120hz monitor?

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the replies im gonna go with the 780m and try my luck.

Is it best to do a clean install b4 installing the new card or after?

And i have been looking to buy the 780m but im having problems finding it, i can only find the big ones for desktops...any tips here on how i can find one for laptops? Are they called somthing else?

 

I never touched the driver before installing. The machine started up in 800x600 and I simply changed it. The driver worked just fine. I even always use the upgrade option to keep my settings without issue. When it goes bad though DDU is the utility of choice for stripping out old settings: Home

Good luck with your search, 780 M should only find what you need...

 

Ok. But im gonna reinstall either way because im buying a new ssd to put my operating system on. So should I reinstall b4 or after changing the card? I can get the ssd today, but i have to wait 1 week or somthing for the card

 

I would go with before, just to make sure your driver install works fine and your not working with two variables .

 

You want the NVIDIA Geforce GTX780M 4.0GB GDDR5 MXM3.0B GPU... As for CPU's best thing is to get a cheap 2960XM (about $200-300) and then get a SSD + 12/16GB RAM and your'e sorted...