Whats the name of the processor upgrade for an m17xR2?

Well, since I am keeping my r2 for a while, i was hoping to ee what processor i need to get to get this bad buy as currrent as possible.
My current processor was the bottom of the line when the r2 came out, Q 740 @1.73 ghz. I recall there were some better processors out there, inclusing an extreme one.
Any sugestions which one should I get. i am hoping i can find a reseller on amazon, so i can use the credits I have been hoarding for a while

Thanks in advance

Is this what i am looking for?

Amazon.com: Buying Choices: Intel Core i7 940 2.93GHz 8M L3 Cache 4.8GT/sec QPI Hyper-Threading Turbo Boost LGA1366 Processor

 

i7-940 is a 1366 socket desktop CPU, it will not work.

The only real upgrades is a i7-820QM, i7-840QM, i7-920XM, i7-940XM.

 

Haha..funny, that's not the lowest available....check my signature

Anyway, as for your question, all cpu's and gpu's for mobile devices are marked with an M at then end.
Desktop GPU = GTX 680
Laptop GPU = GTX 680M

This same theory applies to the Clarksfield processors, all the laptop/mobile versions are marked with M.

What are you looking for, intense high end gaming? you should look for a high end GPU AND a high end CPU.
Having just a fast cpu and a "simple" GPU setup, your system will be bottle necked (GPU)
Having just a fast GPU and a "simple" CPU setup, your system will be bottle necked (CPU)

The 2 hardware components compliment each other.

Be aware that you are looking at minimum of a $1000,00 worth of HW for a high end upgrade.
Most people don't really see the logic in this and honestly....there isn't any, it will never really perform like their desktop counter parts.

All mobile device have lower TDP's and less of the full architecture for a simple reason....to reduce heat (and cost...although a mobile cpu is usually more expensive )

I myself ordered a GTX 680M and a 920XM (ordered it yesterday) and i had to cross the $1000,00 mark.
I have a liquid cooled desktop setup with a i7 2600K with 2 680's in em hooked up to a 2560x1440 resolution monitor.....so i'll probably never even use the laptop

I can spend the money because i just have the money for it but these upgrades are just a luxery extension in reality (my opinion)

So in short, my message to you is....is this really what you want....or more important..what you NEED....

Good luck with the hunt

@Tsunade Princess:
the 820qm i would not even mention because the performance between the 820 and the 840qm is pretty big but, the price difference is not even worth mentioning.

 

I'd ask myself what you do with the laptop, to see which upgrade is best for you.
I think it would be wiser to upgrade the GPU maybe instead of the CPU, it yields you much more bang for buck in games for example.

The 940xm and 920xm are legendary processors, but if you're not an overclocker and benchmarker, i don't think it might be the right choice for you.

And as others have said, if you really want to upgrade (which will also mean you will get amonster of a machine agian able to compete with the R3 and R4 in terms of performance) you are looking at a hefty price tag (i almost spend the purchase price of an R4, on upgrades alone for my R2, and that does not include the price of the R2 itself). The result is astonishing, but it's not the best choice for everyone.

 

Well, i am already running an r2 with. 7970m, a samsung 840pro 512 gb ssd, 8 gigs of ram, so i beleve my cpu is holding back the machines performance.
Now, where can i purchases these chips? I looked everywhere and no luck. In addition. Whats the diff between both? I dont plan to overclocl... Yet. Its just that newer games are asking for higher cpus.. And dont want to be caught in a situation where i can,t run the games

Also, is this what i am looking for then?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...=&coliid=&condition=used&me=&qid=&seller=&sr=

 

if you are not an overvlovker then you better start since you buy 920xm.
eBay is one of the choices. Ask on NBR marketplce. price tag would be 200 if you are lucky, 250 normal and what is higher is just a speculation.

 

Awesome, at 250 i would definitely be willing to buy
UPDATE: Looked on the NBR and could not find any... unless i am searching wrong
If anyone can assis and/or link one for sale, let me know

 

Ignore this comment....unless he means Euro's

Normal prices range between $300,00 - $850,00
Thats the "normal" price.

There is however a catch.
You would want the cpu advertised as: OEM or QS.

Oem comes straight out of the manufacturs laptop and is the official supplied end product of Intel.

QS is the quality sample that engineer made to be as close to the end product as possible (early stages/different batch)... But might not be as the OEM end product.

Last but not least is the ES.

ES the engineering sample.
This is a cpu with all the instruction and architecture that is supposed to be working in the end product but has not made it passed quality testing (original batch/untested)

So:
OEM, you want this but you pay at least $200,00 - $300,00 more then the QS.

QS, this is your price ranged product.
This is supposed to be as good as the OEM....but no guarantee.

ES, no guarentee whatsover....you may want to avoid these....
ES chips are the cheapest of the cheap...or at least they should be.

Down side between QS/ES chips.... You can't tell the differences because they are both branded as ES.




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So, before I try to make an offer on it, could someone tell me if the linked processor the one i shouold get? Also, Do i need any special heatsinks? pads? fans? or the ones already on my machine are enough?

Again, link for the processor i am possibly buying
Amazon.com: Buying Choices: INTEL CPU Core i7 EXTREME Mobile i7-920xm 3.20 GHz Processor 2.5 GT/s 8MB cache BY80607002529AF QUAD CORE i7 3.20Ghz OEM (Tray)

or this one (cheaper on ebay)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-i7-92...CPU-/251170428467?pt=CPUs&hash=item3a7aec9633

 

Haha.

I was talking about ES. Someone can post an item for 300 or 350 but nobody will buy it.
And anytime it appears on eBay as auction the final bid will be around 250 value.

 

Sorry about that:

the one from Amazon seems the be the real deal.
The one from E-bay....i have no idea....remeber to make good arrangements....i'd personally steer clear of these "OEM" chips.
Perhaps anyway else has bought OEM 920XM from ebay around this price and has some experience that they wish to share...?

i'd go with the one from Amazon, Everything about this offer seems correct (Also the price)
300 is ....well a good price, but cheap will usually cost you more in the end....

I'd say Amazon.....anyone else want to make a suggestion?

 

If you dont overclock, there is no point buying an XM cpu.
You will not or hardly notice the difference with normal use with a non xm processor.

You get an XM to overclock, thats what its made for, thats why its so expensive.
So if you really plan on not overclocking it, it's very likely you will be very disappointed. The 920XM without OC is not special, its the power it unleashes when OC that makes it why people want and buy it. Without OC you are not going to notice anything compared to for example an i7-8xx series (which might even be faster). And hardly any difference outside some benchmark difference with a 7xx.

Your other question: its plug and play, you dont need extra fans or heatsinks or whatever. Just some thermal paste.

And i can only acknowledge what others said, avoid ES, be sharp when buying QS, and prefer OEM if it fits your budget.

 

Yup, that is correct.

Click THIS LINKl there is no real difference.....when you don't overlock....

again....tell us what you want...
I suggest you go with the 840QM, you don't sound like you are gonna overclock "out of the box"

The 840QM is WAAAAaaayyyyy cheaper so you can save that to invest in a better GPU.


EDIT: if you do decide to go with a 920XM....get better thermal grease and pads.....that baby will become hot when you start OC'ing on all cores.

 

Great news, the person in amazon, i was abl to reach on the phone, and negotiated to a decent price of $275
Even if I do not overclock, at least i am bumping my mhz by 2, which should be worth it for the price. Any thoughts?

Also, i never heard about the installation... Do I need to buy any aditional stuff? Or does the sync and fan from old ship work with this?

Thanks in advance

 

As stated in the post above:
get better thermal grease and pads.....that baby will become hot when you start OC'ing on all cores

The 920XM has a another draw back...it might be the case that you have no GPU fan control.
I have no idea what kind of GPU you are running but the well known high end cards seem to have no fan control in combination with the XM cpu's

about upgrade steps:

Reset BIOS.
Pull the bios battery
Swap the CPU
Reverse all steps


gratz on the new upgrade btw

 

Thank you. I am all excited, and I think thats at 275, I paid far less than hat i expected I have IC diamond for thermal grease, Do not know where I can get a better pad... any sugestions?

Also, my fans are currently being controller through HWF... since the 7970 does not cool automatically

Here are the details o my current set up.
M17xR2 with a q740 processor
8gb ram
7970M video card (single card)
512gb Samsung 840 Pro SSD
500 GB WD 7200rpm HD (slave)
USB 3.0 pcmci card

My windows performance index is 7.1 (cause fo the processor)
After the upgrade it should go to 7.4 (cause of memory)
Better memory would bring it to 7.8

 

Ah, i see you are all set to go
All you need now is a better half mini wifi card (bigfoot 1103N)

Thermal pads i have no idea, i have a local reseller.
Be carefull you find the right thickness...i suggest 0,5mm.....that way should they be to thin you can just stack em up

the thermal grease is the leftover from you 7970m i take it?
it will do very nice so like i said....you are set to get boosted

hmmm just had a thought....do some benchmarks....post'em and do em again after your CPU upgrade....might be nice to see the synthetic number increase

 

Will do. ill try to run some tests this week for the "before" results.
I will have to go to microcenter "local reseller of PC parts" to see if they have the pads I need.

 

Good luck, and enjoy

EDIT: Did check and i had BIOS 5% overclocked. Removed overclock and got same index on CPU speed and 7.5 on my memory.
Adjusted slightly with trottlestop and increased to 7.6 on both CPU and memory.

 

Ok, as i wait for the xtreme processor, anyone can share any guides on how overclocking/general usage works. i recall that putting an extreme bios would open new optoions in the Bios for overclocking. is this correct, or will i need a custom bios?
Second, is there a guide on how to do the settings, and the average conservative setting to us. (meaning, a decent but safe boost). i know I Know, overcloking and safe are words of 2 different dictionaries... but there is still a level of prudence that can be attained... right?

 

This was a big help to me:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/531329-throttlestop-guide.html

I suggest not starting with bios OC until you really know what's going on. Start with reading the guide, installing TS, and play around a bit. The XM is made for overclocking, so don't be to afraid to break it.
I started with just seeing what happens when I turn a dial up or down, checking the benchmark, and reading in the guide what the option did. Then look up some other people's settings, try some and go from there.
I learned there is no such thing as 1 setting to rule them all, every pc and processor is different, it's really a trial and error you must go through for your own system.

You'll come to a point (prolly quite soon, I had the same) wher eyou have no clue what you're doing, or how to up your performance and use the xm decently, then just open a post and ask your questions

 

thank you sir. bookmarking and reviewing

 

Ok, so after several forum threads and what not, I ordered a nice extreme processor for my m17xr2. I Still can't beleive i got it for only $250. Anyways, everything runs fine. Installation was plug and play. temps seem to be normal (so far), and my Microsoft experience index went from 7.1 to 7.4
I have not yet started to play with overclocking, sicne I want to make sure everything is rght with the processor. I guess that after a week, ill go into that rabbit hole and have some fun... but in the meantime... anything I should be looking out for? Any tests/software/etc... I can run to make sure the processor is good etc??

thanks again.

P.S. Current config is Alienware m17xr2, x920,8gb alienware ram,AMD 7970M video card,samsung 840 pro 512gb SSD, rgb lcd... everything else is periheral or non important

 

Power up, set your destination and press the launch button. You're XM will rocket you the rest of the way, just make sure you're strapped in tight.

Post your CPU temps if you're not sure about those. HWinfo will tell you what the multipliers are maxed at. Mine is set to stock so my multipliers max at x24 per core. 3DMark or other benchmark software are good enough to test CPU and GPU together. I was also told that you can get a good read on performance with games like Far Cry 3 and increasing the performance settings on them until you notice a lag.

 

Ok, i ramn about 2 hours of hawken.. seems to be a very hardware intensive game.
The max temps i got was 70 and 71... but average is like 45.
I am runing standard clock... no overclocking yet

 

OC that beast, you will not know what hits you...

You can run some 3dMark Vantage or 11 benchmarks, post the CPU score and the link to the results, and we could go from there.
I am particularly interested as I have a similar setup in my m17x, and it's always nice to compare stuff and see where I might have tweaked stuff which you can use, and vice versa.

I made sure the processor was correctly working on stock settings and did the 3d mark benchmarks, just so I have a baseline with data to get going from. From memory, it gave me high 18k score, low 19k score in 3d Mark Vantage.

After this, download ThrottleStop if you haven't already, read through the Throttlestop guide, this really will unleash your XM processor with an investment of just a few hours of your time getting to understand TS. Then some GPU OC-ing and you will see amazing number increase in your benchmarks, and gives you some help in tweaking everything.
And as said, while doing this all, your temperatures will tell you a lot about your system.

 

I am jealous you guys can tweak the XM voltage in your R2's If you are not running at least 4ghz for 1 core then it is a crime :thumbsup:

If only the M15x had this option.

On the side Jiggymf mate it looks like our systems are almost the same! Identical for ram,gpu, pretty much ssd and cpu

 

As I said I was right. I am always right

Here is 920XM for $220 + ship (OBO)

 

That's an ES though, and a used one also. Also noteworthy that selling QS or ES processors is against the law, and prohibited by Intel, and not allowed.

I for one would never, ever buy a QS or ES processor, even without taking into account the above.

 

Thats just luck he needs to sell it because the bidder no longer responds.
(Un)fortunatly i bought a OEM for a higher sum of money

I am not really sure why you are posting a new thread....
Didnt jiggymf already tell where to look?

Anyway, good luck with the benchmarks.

 

sorry unphoto. i was looking for the original processor thread, but could not find it. Let me look again, and ill stop posting on this one. Sorry

yeah, found the thread. Ok, small question. I have my processor installed. is there any way to verify mine is an OEM vs Qs, vs Es?
I mean, it was advertised as oem, but since i got it so cheap (aparently... i dont know much about these things), I jsut want to make sure everything is kosher

 

No need to apoligize , i was just wondering if there was a deeper meaning behind the new thread and/or did you forget about the link for TS?

If i was a moderator i would have merged/moved this thread

 

The one which is underlined by me means nothing or very doubtful for me. Used means nothing because 5% chance someone will OC it to 95-100C Degrees as default. ES and QS are not restricted on NBR. This is one. I know that ES and QS are sold by Intel for compatibility and other types of check so after they are sold they are no more Intel's property. Perhaps there are some which Intel gives for free and therefore are still their property as written on Intel website but in general I would say it is outdated information.
After all you can write your own opinion but I bet on each yourth there will be 1 hundred of people willing to buy one as long as it is in 100% working condition.

@unphoto, not just luck Such luck happens regular once a month or more often. You just need a patience and know how to search
Good day.

 

If you install CPU-Z, you can check if the processor is ES/QS, it will mention it in the overview.

 

Dag nabbit. That's dirt cheap there. If I had the money I'd buy it just to turn around and sell it on eBay at a higher price

(eBay doesn't disallow engineering samples, no?)

 

Don't forget about eBay fees and PayPal fees. That must be about 15%, isn't it?

BTW, this is why people hate retailers

 

Yup. 15% sounds about right. That's why I would set the start price at $350. At that price I would still get $300 out of the sale after the eBay mafia fees. $80 is not a bad profit...better than collecting underpants.

 

I want ot tahnlk everybody... AND SPECIALLY JIGGYMF (WHO WALKED ME STEP BY STEP VIA FACEBOOK)... for helping me research., buy, install and overclock my cpu.
Today my machine is so freaking awesome, and its running cool temps.
We ran a nice vantage test, and the score seems to be good

AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-950 Processor,Alienware score: P21444 3DMarks

I hear that i can potentially push it further (since i am in low 80s)... but i have no need to be king of the mountain... i am perfectly happy with my current hill top

Anyways, thanks again

 

i7 950 processor?

 

Enjoy your beast ^^

That is somewhat awkward indeed that it shows a 950 in Vantage though Oo

 

Yeah I was wondering the safe thing. Could there be something fishy with my cpu? Should I open a new thread?

 

If it runs and your numbers shows that it does indeed, it outruns my 940 a LOT so you shouldnt be worried. LOOOL.

You have done an upgrade that the rest of us envy.

Hope you find where the error is. At lest i can not make my 940 run as good as yours yet.

 

Well, oddly enough, i have the same "950" issue in my benchmarks.

It's that information tool from Futuremark, it just recognises the Clarksfields cpu's as LGA1366 CPU's and these score are around a stock desktop 950 i geuss?

Click the numbers on my signature for full details.


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