Upgrading my Ranger

Hello there, first off, I just want to thank all of you who have put time into figuring out how to push this model to its limit. I would also like to thank those who have helped people like upgrade and learn about the Ranger.

Story
About 2 and a half years ago, my father picked up the Ranger from a local Pawn shop for really, really cheap. The people at the Pawn shop said it had been running really slow, hence the reason it was dirt cheap. My father and I opened it up, and cleaned out what was probably the most dust I had ever seen in a laptop. I took this time to also re-paste both the GPU and CPU. After that, it was working very well, and much faster. It was then used by my father for about a year until he upgraded to a more mobile laptop. Ever since then, it has been sitting around. I've been saving some money and have been doing research about the Ranger for the past month. I'd like to resurrect it, and use it as my main rig. I'm well aware that upgrading costs a lot of money, but I enjoy working with computers, and especially laptops. So potentially upgrading this laptop doubles as a project for me.

Specs
This model came with a GTX 880m, and a core i7 4710mq, I may be wrong, but I think this was one of the lowest-end CPU's that the Ranger shipped with, so I'm guessing the original owner cheaped out on the CPU. This model also only has the 60hz 1080p display and no mSATA drive.

What I would like to upgrade it to
My ideal upgrade would be a GTX 1070m (I'll refer to the MXM 1070 as the 1070m,) and a 4930mx. I'd also probably want to throw in an mSATA drive too.

Heat pipe situation
This mostly goes with my questions I have, but currently, the GPU has 3 heat pipes while the CPU only has 2.

Major questions

• I know for sure that the Ranger can take a 1070m with a bit of driver modification, but would 3 heat pipes be enough?
• I also know the Ranger can easily take a 4930mx, but I would like to do a bit of overclocking on this CPU, would I need more heat pipes to safely OC?
• If I were to upgrade to a 1070m, can I stick to the 60hz display, or would I need the 3D 120hz display.

Minor questions

• If I DO need to upgrade my heat pipes for my CPU or GPU, isn't there a seller on Ebay who sells better cooling solutions for the Ranger, I think I've read about him on the forums, but don't remember his name.
• Is it normal for a 1060m to go for about 300 U.S dollars and a 1070m to go for about 400 U.S dollars?
• I'm aware of Woodstackz, and have heard very good reviews from people who have done business with him. Just to make sure, does he still sell Pascal MXM chips?
• Is it true that the modded drivers for the 1070m DON'T allow you to have access to the BIOS?
• Is it recommended that I upgrade to a 330W power supply for a 1070m and an overclocked 4930mx?
• Last question, but if i do plan to OC a 4930mx, would Arctic MX-4 be good enough, or would any form of Liquid Metal be best?

Conclusion
This whole community and idea of pushing the Ranger has really peaked my interest, and I would love to be able to push my Ranger to its limits. I would like to give another thank you to this community, and to those who have spent there time, patience, and money doing what they do.

 

Hello, I'll try to answer as many questions as I can but hopefully a few more guys will chime in with extra info for you.

I believe the 3-pipe heatsink will do a decent job for you. I use the OEM 3-pipe in my M18x but there isn't another option for me unfortunately. You can try the 4 or 5-pipe custom one. Here is the original eBay seller who also does the 4-pipe CPU heatsink. If you want to push your CPU then the 2-pipe probably won't be enough. I've never seen any decent before/after comparisons between the OEM and Custom heatsinks though.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ALIENWA...535971&hash=item3b03a14a3b:g:AfMAAOSwmuVafDUN

It has always been suggested that the 120Hz display is the best way to go but others have said that the 10 series will still work with the 60Hz. You will need the unlocked BIOS to set the video mode to PEG. The 120Hz machines are set to PEG by default.

The prices seem about right. $400 is the max for the 1070 and it's what i paid. I have seen them go for a little less though. $360-380.

I have heard that you can lose access to the BIOS but I've also heard that this isn't true. I can't comment on this one as I've only tried the 1070 in my M18x.

I would definitely upgrade to the 330W adapter with that combo especially if overclocking.

 

Alright, Thanks! Though, it looks like there is only 3 heat pipes from that seller, I'm guessing there's 2 that are stacked? Let me know if I'm wrong though.

 

330w isnt needed, you cant pull more than 118w on the 1070 and you will be hard pressed to push 100w on the CPU for a daily clock, wouldnt want to anyways since it doesnt have the foundation to support that for long periods of time.

The N173HHE-G32 is the best panel you install for the laptop to date, its a nice panel especially if you prefer matte over glossy.

The heatsinks arent explicitly needed but they are nice for stunting spikes in power. I used the stock heatsink initially from the 780m and I still maintained a 58c temperature with the MSI 1070n

the aftermarket CPU heatsinks are "better" but they seem to have issues with the contact plate, so it renders it moot more often than not. Give it a try with the stock heatsink first before moving to something else.

 

Thanks for the help! Now, for the display upgrade, would I need to get a new display cable or can I use the current one.

 

If you have a stock 60hz panel then yes as that panel is LVDS with any 120hz panel that this laptop can use is eDP.

There is an upgrade thread in this subforum by mogrules! with all the part numbers and details

 

I found the forum, thanks for the info.

 

I have the heatsinks, fans, cables, panels, 4930mx, 32GB 2133MhzCL11 RAM

Even got a couple of dead boards, palm rest, my own custom heatsink (was thinking of using a 2 fan heatsink) etc etc

Let me know if you are interested, I will retest the components to make sure they are working if you are.

If you are interested I can take some pictures, Ive been trying to come up with ways to re-use them for ages now and always seem to get pointed into another direction, currently its my P750ZM that gets my attention now...

 

I am intrested mostly in the 4930MX, though, I'm quite new to the forum so don't know my way around everything. How would I be able to PM you?

 

I found your listing from a year ago and saw that you got it at a stable OC of 4.4 GHZ, how many heat pipes was this done with?

 

I used 3 heatpipes, but I doubled the fans, and the mass of the heatsink (or in laymen's terms, the exhaust)

Still have it

 

Alright, and I'm guessing you still have the heat pipes you used with it?

 

The heatsink is still altogether, Im sure I could find the un-used heatpipes if I was pressed to do so.

Admittedly it was a first time experiment so there are things I would do differently, I may rebuild my Ranger and give it another go. At the time it was my only machine so I was spending weeks without my daily driver. If I put more time into it I may be able to finish the idea of making a 2 fan 1 heatsink scenario and potentially hit that 4.5Ghz mark that I couldnt hit, one of the main issues was actually bad contact plate.

 

Ok, good to know you still have the heat sink. This will probably be the last question I have, but for the unlocked BIOS, can I just install it, or do I need to do anything before installing it, I'd like to be able to mess around with everything before I start buying more parts. Ashtrix just made the post a bit confusing.

 

Theres not much reason to go out of your way for the unlocked BIOS for the GPU upgrade alone, though it might prove beneficial with eliminating CPU throttling I cant remember before/after what was available. you might run into a little bit of CPU throttling without disabling some items.

You should probably put your own serial number or asset tag (cant remember which term it is right now) into the modded installation otherwise you wind up with someone elses, its been a few years since I have done it so I dont know if its the same iteration or not because I recall them redacting the original (which I used) due to people just using it and not changing the name.

THe heatsink I have will not work in a standard chassis, at all. I also used it with a 12v fan that was double the thickness of the OEM fan.

 

Oh ok, did you just use the special heat sink and fan with the bottom plate off? Also, I thought you needed the unlocked BIOS for switching the display type if you were to upgrade to the 120hz panel.

 

No not at all, switching SG and PEG modes are built into the platform, its one of the Fn keys. Unlocked BIOS lets you do that in the BIOS but its not explicitly needed.

You want to make your changes before switching to PEG and reinstalling windows under UEFI environment. For me, I lost access to the BIOS afterwards, others claimed to still have access. Not sure what variable was at play for that to occur.

Um no, I used double the mass on the heatsink heat exchanger, if you see the exhaust, picture around 2.2x the amount. Extensive chassis mods, modified bottom lid and bottle caps for feet

 

For switching between the SG and PEG modes, are you talking about the Fn, F5 key, the one that gives the option to switch between the integrated graphics and dedicated graphics? If thats what you mean, doing that key combo doesn't do anything.

 

You likely dont have the drivers installed then. As the Fn DOES do something, it literally switches between SG (optimus) and PEG (dGPU) mode.

There is an integrated only mode but that Fn key does not initiate that.

 

Ok, I made sure to install both the nvidia and intel drivers after I wiped it a few days ago. I'll re-install both drivers and test if it works.

 

neither one of those will do anything for your keyboard Fn keys.

 

Ok, installed both drivers and it still doesn't do anything. The BIOS detects both the intel and nvidia graphics but I cant switch between them. Any other idea on whats going on?

 

I didn't see what your last post, sorry about that! Would you have any clue to what exact drivers I would need?

 

I would look on Dells site for drivers on your laptop, might be OSD or control center I cant remember anymore.

 

Alright, I fixed it by downloading the OSD. Thanks for the help and I'm sorry for my caveman-knowledge like questions.

 

I apologize for all of the questions I have, but I've been reading about the different BIOS versions. I've read from you that the A17 BIOS has performance loss. Should I stick with A17 or downgrade?

 

I say stick with A14+ BIOS if your going to go down that route.

Reason is this, A14+ has microcode v22 which has been shown to hit slightly higher clocks while requiring slightly less voltage on haswell.

Plus you dont have to eat that 7-15% performance hit from the security patches.

I just sold off my RAM, so I guess the CPU is yours if your interested. Ill have to test first make sure its still working and what have you.

 

If I'm correct isn't A14+ the modded A14 BIOS, still reading about this stuff at the moment, its all new to me. And about the CPU, keep trying to sell it, but if the 4930MX isn't sold by Christmas time, I'll probably be willing to buy it and maybe the heat sink.

 

I'm such an idiot, and probably broke something. I just got the A14+ BIOS, and accidentally switched the display to PCI I think, I now get 8 beeps. I know this is code for LCD failure, but would re-seating the GPU work.

 

Ok, I took the GPU out and laptop DID POST. I changed the display option to auto, I put the GPU back in and got 8 beeps, I'm hoping I didnt kill the GPU, but I think I should change the display option to something that isn't auto. My guess to whats going on is that after putting it on auto, it defaulted to PCI because that is what it was on last. I'll test it tomorrow though.

 

You will usually get an 8-beep error when you have the 120Hz display and the display cannot find a dedicated Nvidia card. Did you still have the 60Hz? What GPU are you using?

 

I'm using an 880M with a 60hz, The issue happened when switching to PCI as my display option in the BIOS

 

Then you should switch it back to SG and hopefully it will go back to normal. Usually the only ones you need to select are SG, iGFX and PEG, depending on what you're trying to do.

 

Despite what I said 2 posts ago, I actually wanted to test it further, I took the GPU out again and laptop goes on, but no display back light or any response from the display. So if the GPU is in, 8 beeps, if its not, no signal but Laptop backlights appear to work normally and CPU fan spin.

 

Are you not able to get into the BIOS anymore?

 

I dont know, I may be able to navigate the BIOS because everything works fine, it's just that I can't see anything. There's no display output. I'm wondering if I can plug the laptop into an external display to see If I can get the BIOS menu on there.

 

It's definitely worth a try. If not, you may have to do an NVRAM reset. There is a bit of a process to do this in the Ranger, I'll try and find the thread here.

From memory it's something like; remove the adapter, unplug the battery and remove all the RAM. Hold the power button down for 30 seconds. Plug in the adapter and turn on. Wait for it to give the No RAM Detected beep code and wait for the laptop to restart itself. Before it restarts to the beep code again, quickly throw in 1 stick of RAM.

 

Ok, what are the odds of the NVRAM reset working. Also, do I do this WITH the GPU in or WITHOUT it in?

 

Found it! Good old MrFox! It's basically what I said before. Note, that it was found that you do not have to remove the CMOS battery during this process

https://www.dell.com/community/Alie...-to-reset-UEFI-BIOS-when-no-POST/td-p/5521711

 

I would do it without the GPU but it shouldn't matter. The NVRAM reset puts the BIOS settings back to default so it SHOULD go back to SG mode and let you get your display back.

 

Ok, I'm actually going to head to sleep now, I'll update you tomorrow. Thanks!

 

Hopefully it works for you.

Also note that it is never good to mess around with your internals while connected to power but it's the only way to do it in this case. If you decide to do it then be very careful not to touch the board when you put the RAM in. Try to reduce the chance of any static build up. Don't be standing on carpet in socks...... An anti-static wrist band could be helpful.

 

Yeah, that was something I was a bit worried about, but i’ll be sure to ground myself when doing the reset.

 

I've never messed with internals while on power.

A lot of people had issues with nvram reset I just removed cmos and drained power like any desktop and was good to go, would get 5 beep which is the desire beep code then just reboot into a vanilla system

 

Did you get that to work on the Ranger? I’ve tried it the old fashioned way and it didn’t work for me. Would be much easier if it did.

Also, you have to remove the board or cut the chassis to remove the CMOS battery which is a pain


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I did cut that battery cage off yes because while modding its a huge pain to to tear down the whole system just to do a reset.

It seems to be different for different people and i dont know why, I went through about 3 motherboards and that reset behavior was the same for me on all of them...

 

Alright, so is what I need to cut the cage right next to the wireless card that blocks the CMOS battery. If I’m correct, how would I go about cutting it off.

 

I used a dremel, makes for more concise execution of what you want, or you can use cave man method and use pliers to rip it off. Not my first choice though.

There is also a handsaw, grinder, etc. Get creative lol, just make sure you sand or grind out the sharp edges so you dont cut yourself later when working with the CMOS battery later on.

 

Ok, and just to make sure, is that area ALL plastic, you can see in the pic a silverish area; I have no clue if that’s metal or not

 

No that is all metal for whats covering the CMOS battery, the housing for the battery is plastic (as to prevent a short in operation) to the best of my knowledge.