When purchasing a GPU for m17x R3?

Hello all,

I'm a long time reader but I just joined .

I have a m17x R3 with a gtx 560m and was thinking of upgrading to a gtx 780m 4gbs. I know that the card is compatible with my rig with a little help from other threads. My question is when buying a 780m does it need to be alienware specific like what I see on upgrademonkey's and upgradeyourlaptop's ads on ebay or are used cards from any other brand laptops compatible with the m17x (like from a MSI GT 70-2). I might be able to buy off some friends that are going for 880m's for a cheaper price then what I see on ebay, Not sure if heat sync's and bracket will fit perfectly.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Happy Gaming

ps: hope this hasn't been posted 100 times I looked for it I swear XD

 

I also wanted to know if the 880m will for into the new m17 latest model

 

Well I know the 880m physically fits the R3 and apparently works with modded drivers. Eurocom offers an upgrade kit and has good reviews helping people install the cards. Alienware M17X M18X VGA Upgrade KIT NEW Nvidia GTX 880M 8GB DDR5 MXM 3 0B W SLI | eBay
video on upgrade


for myself I look at the 680 vs 780(about 30% better previous) vs 880(about 10% better previous and with 8gbs will never be used) and I think the 780m is the best bang for my buck especially if I can get it for cheaper. If u have latest model aka R4 then there should be no issues from what I have read, don't they offer that now on dell?.

Still would like to know does it matter where I get the card from. I know different manufactures make nvidia cards, just not sure if their all exactly build to the same scale. Or should I just opt for a new card with Eurocom(upgradeyourlaptop on ebay) or Upgrademonkey on ebay.

 

Well I seemed to find out myself. Any 780m will fit . though not all laptops work this way apperently MSI for example.

 

I would get the 780M... The 880M's on the market seem to be dodgy and there is really no point in getting one with all these extra problems..

 

dam I was just considering buying 880m (since my friend sold his) card from Eurocom (upgradeyourlaptop on ebay) >.>. will do some more research on the dodgyness of those cards. Not even sure if it worth it.

System m17x R3

processor: i7 2630qm sandybridge
graphics: 560m
RAM: 12gb

Think the processor will throttle the cards 880m or 780m? I havn't played anything that uses more then like 40% or processor yet.

I basically plan to upgrade once, after that new computer until nvidia decides to make a new architecture for its cards I read any i7 sandybride processors and up can handle present cards no problem, even mine.

 

Much appreciated for the warning. I found out the 880m tends to run about 6 degrees hotter with about the same performance as the 780m, never mind the other issues. Now to research if I can take my X bracket and pads from my 560m, pretty sure I can .

 

You should be able to the the X-brackets and as for pads, I would get new ones.. I believe you need to have 0.5mm ones but I'm not 100% sure...

 

Thank you for the confirmation. I've been using this thread as a guide to what I will be doing.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...are-m17x-r3-460m-780m-questions-concerns.html.

Also seen this video so I think heat sink just fine to. Video and thread don't have anyone stating you can do this explicitly with X bracket thats why I was asking. They are still great resources for anyone else looking into this.
.

Ya pads are cheap and I think like 1mm is what I need, some good thermal paste, and 780m card. Then I should be ready to go :thumbsup:.

 

Nvidia and AMD have different brackets but they tend to stay the same between cards of the same brand.

 

Thanks for help guys just purchased my 780m from

Dell Alienware Nvidia Geforce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5 Video Card FJHX2 0FJHX2 | eBay

They have sale on for next couple days selling at 629.10 USD. They get their cards directly from the DELL factory in china. They label the cards as used, but have a 3 month warranty with good rep so not to worried.

Hope all goes well.

 

Hope you enjoy it! It's a great card.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

 

Yay I finally received my card. But after researching I can't seem to find what thickness I need for my card. I seen the placement on other forums but don't know what thickness . finding anything between .5 to 4mm. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

well finally found a post J95 made with measurements of thermal pads.

View attachment 113566

Also lucky me I got an X bracket attached with my card (didn't know I was getting one). When I pull out my 560m I plan to take a picture of both cards side by side with brackets in them so anyone curious can visually compare for themselves.

 

I finished installing my card some time ago, and was testing it. I would like to thank all those that helped in this community . currently peak temp I got to is 77 C running 3d mark firestrike, averaging high temp at 75 C. STOCK SPEED

notes of interest:

- 560m heat sink fits and works well
- x bracket the same though I got one with my new card
- using .5mm fujipoly extreme(11) stacked was a good idea as making changes to thicknesses in areas compared to above presentation was necessary. 1.5mm in the 2mm areas, and 1mm in the .5 areas show above.(always check for contact)
- experience a scary time right after installing and changing the required bios options. computer started up with black screen beeping 6 times (graphic issue) - SOLUTION card was not sitting right, so took out and installed again. no more problems
- used small dot method with mx-4 thermal paste vs the mess I found dell had on my old card
- removed black tape on heat sink to open up more surface area (might be why I needed to adjust thermal pads a little)

As far as I have read online my temps seem really good comparing to others online running 80-90+. I have tried overclock +135 core +450 memory and everything seems fine even temps but won't keeping that until my coolermaster u3 plus comes in.

any advice or thoughts would be great, or if you have any questions feel free to ask.