[How-To]Installing Nvidia GPUs in M18xR1 with AMD 100W Heatsinks

Hey,

I've installed two Nvidia GTX 880M using AMD Heatsinks. Some said that's impossible but I think nothing is impossible

If i forgot about something just tell me, I will modify this guide

If you want to install new Nvidia cards (680M+) using AMD Heatsinks you have to modify heatsinks because they are missing some parts that needs to be covered on the new cards. You also need to have some additional parts that I'll list here. In this guide I'll tell you how to install two cards but if you want just one you can skip second heatsink part and use only 2 thermal pads.

Parts you absolutely need to install cards:
- 3x Phobya XT Thermal Pad 1mm (varies on heatsinks, i recommend 1x 0,5mm too)
- High quality thermal paste (IC Diamond, Gelid extreme, Zalman STG-2)
- Nvidia cards of your choice (In this example two GTX 880M)
- Soldering gun
- Copper RAM Heatsinks like this one (I've used 22 x 8 x 5mm heatsinks): http://www.aab.home.pl/aabcooling/ram_coolers/rh4/Dscf3386.jpg
- Brain

Optional parts:
- Thermal glue instead of soldering gun
- Saw to cut some parts of RAM heatsinks
- SLI Cable (Part numer: GDMRG)
- M18xR1 unlocked bios (better safe than sorry )

So you have all the parts? Cards are delivered too? Let's start modding then!

Look at your left heatsink, you should see something like this:




Then look at thermal pad placement. I've marked red area as the one that your AMD 100W heatsink won't cover. There are important parts here and cannot be left without cooling. We need to modify our heatsink then.



That's why we need RAM heatsinks and soldering gun. We will cut RAM heatsink so it'll fit nicely and solder it to the existing heatsink so it won't move separately.

Cutting:

Here's stock RAM heatsink: We need to cut one "rib" so it'll fit to the heatsink:


Soldering:


After cutting RAM heatsink try to position it as good as you can on the red area here and solder it to the heatsink so it'll move with it as one big piece.


Here's how it should look after soldering:

Placing thermal pads:


Notice that Tin used to weld two pieces together is on the top, if you do this that way you can avoid short circuits on the card and welded element. You also should look carefully on the welded copper part and use electrical tape when you think it's neceessary to avoid sticking metal parts to the GPU metal parts

Removing black tape:

Then look at your heatsink from below, you can see black tape on the core-sticking part. You need to remove black tape completely, you can use screwdriver or some knife to do that. Don't worry, it won't affect anything.

I've marked the black tape you have to remove with red square: http://i.imgur.com/KS1Tzbn.jpg

Finishing first heatsink:


After soldering mount heatsink on your new GPU and look carefully if your new copper part matches gpu components on the card. If it does look from side and try to measure how thin thermal pads you have to put there to ensure that heat will come throught thermal pads to the copper radiator and additionally even to the original heatsink by your Tin. I've used two and half pack of 1mm thermal pads and half pack of 0,5mm pads. Remember that your heatsink was probably heavily used and thermal pads thickness will vary from heatsink to heatsink because it'll change it's shape after using it in high temperatures for months. You should use thermal pad layout from the first image in this post to place them properly. Also remember about placing thermal pads on the top edge of the card because some poeple forgots about it. Don't forget about thermal paste too. You should place as thin layer as possible for maximum heat flow.

Second heatsink:

So is first heatsink ready for your new powerful gpu? We need to modify second one then, same way. Position it, solder then try thermal pads.

Finished heatsink should look like that: http://i.imgur.com/bAZ5ZFj.jpg

Assembling:

If you have modified both of the heatsinks, placed thermal pads and thermal paste on them. You can put them into the MXM slots on the board. If you did everything correcly you can see that your copper heatsink collides a little with plastic cover on the top but that won't be a problem when you will assemble your laptop because screws will tighten everything so don't worry about that

You can compare your view to my reference image : http://i.imgur.com/q6ed19D.jpg

Put everything in place and turn on the laptop, go to the bios. You should see both cards being detected as NVIDIA GFX. Turn on the windows and use gpu-z to check if they are detected correctly. If yes install modded driver and play your favorite games. Congratulations you've did it!

Farewell radeons 6990M!



Thanks to everyone who helped me with installing these cards and modyfing heatsinks!

Tags: GTX 780M, GTX 880M, Nvidia AMD heatsink, GeForce AMD Heatsink, AMD 100W heatsink, Alienware AMD heatsink upgrade

 

Nice job. As you could not buy the correct heat sinks in your country, this was very resourceful.

Images that have been uploaded the a web host can be inserted using the toolbar icon that looks like a small picture. In the windows that pops open, paste the URL to your uploaded image. I believe you can post as many that way as you need to, not subject to a limit of 5.

 

I know but I would like to upload tchem as attachment so they will never be deleted.

 

Good to see the R1 can be upgraded. So, I have a similar older model: i7-2860QM and 2x GTX 580M's. What parts will I have to have to upgrade to 2x GTX 880M's and is there a better CPU to match with them?

Homer

P.S. Followup question: are these active in SLI? I've seen two different vendors, including Eurocom, that state these only run one at a time.

 

Uh, sorry. Didn't saw your question.

They do work in SLI and im getting good results in Witcher 3 but this is last alienware batch of these cards. I don't know about clevo or MSI version if they work in SLI. Your CPU should be enough for all games except Witcher 3 and ARMA 3 as they are pretty cpu unoptimized.

 

Good thread is really great job and easy to convert, I buy both cards GTX880M questions on this forum there are people who work with great ability like GodlikeRU, question is that there would get through the links or copy of BIOS, VBIOS and Drivers NVIDIA to download, then you need it the Windows disk is only 10 or 64bit Windows 7 Partition in MBR or UEFI format that is detectable in the maps Alienware M18X bios of R1 Thank Infinitely

 

OK, i have a question, i ordered som 100W Nvidia so i didn`t need to modify my heatsink, like i would have to if i used my AMD 100W, but now when i installed the heatsinks it looks like they have the same issue??? Do i have to modify my heatsink even though its Nvidia? i will attach pictures
.

 

Hello Macdaddy 8000,
Here's Picture that could help you solve your problem easily I made a piece of metal 1mm thick and I inserted between the plate and the semiconductor which is located below the original cooler, I add the pieces to change the thermal component above and below this act fine for conductivity, I hope this will help you ca costs nothing and very effective! See you…

 

Thanks alot, how have you attached the copper plate to the heatsink?

 

Just stuck with aluminum duct tape and helps to lowered temperature, Good support!

 

Maybe that's why GTX 880M throttles in some laptops and in some don't

 

That might be......i decided to buy the same copper heatsinks as you 22x8x5mm and then stick em to the heatsink with Artic Silver thermal adhesive, but i was wondering if i have to cut the copper heatsinks in the width, you cant see it anyway so if it sticks out a little from the heatsink wont bother me, but is there a more technical reason why you cut some of it off in the width?

 

I just wanted to make sure that it will fit and don't physically contact heatsink.

 

Project done. Looks like my temps are fine. 3Dmark http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7412887

 

Nice job , looks similiar to mine. I saved a lot of money because I would have to import all the parts from other country.

 

i was under the impression there were issues with running 880m on an R1?

 

Not in my case. A lot of users reported heavy throttling, stuttering or other crap like that but nothing here. Played Witcher 3 on max, played Metro Last Light with 100% usage and nothing wrong. Even posted screens and 3dmark scores.

There can be 3 reasons why:

• GPU was fixed in production process as I ordered GPU that was meant to be mounted in AW18
• newest vBIOS fixed it (already had it)
• Additional copper heatsink over one of the components was reason why cards do not throttle as they now have proper cooling

 

@anarky321 - I think part of the problem is possibly that a lot of defective 880M cards were put into circulation. There were several member of our community that had very serious problems with the GPUs they bought to upgrade their M18xR1 and M18xR2, and the only explanation I can think of is that they were defective parts fresh off of the assembly line. Brother @GodlikeRU has been very blessed with a pair of 880M that work really nice. I have not seen many examples of good 880M cards.

 

Hello everyone this is through
GodlikeRU I installed my two SLI cards GTX880M, it works really well even with the new NVIDIA 361.75 driver,

 

Nice work but I see you are using Windows 10. DO NOT install evga precision X or you will get instant display brick.

You already have newest vBIOS. No need to do anything. Enjoy