[SUCCESSFUL] Alienware 18 + MSI GTX 1070 MXM

980DT OC'd is about the same or just faster than a full TDP OC'd 1060, somebody can tell me wrong, but that has been my experience. SLI isn't necessarily bad, but scaling isn't generally that great in most games, the few that do support it well are few and far between, and some games flat out can't work with it. I believe the 1080 would be much faster than a single 980DT, and probably 2 assuming only ~30% average scaling, and easier and cheaper to find. I still woudln't really call it a safe bet, but better than two 980DT's

 

I just hope the alienware can handle 150w load on one mxm slot thanks for all the info by the way.

 

It should be able to, MXM slots have a draw of up to 180w, and the 18 has a hard limit of 330w, so lets say 80w+150w+30w<330w
Honestly if you succeed, might have to try this out myself

 

Imagine tdp modding the gtx 1080 to 180w using the spi flasher. That would lead to insane scores as well as insane amounts of heat lol.

Then doing the 18.4'' lcd 4k mod I was on about will be feasible as the alienware would just have enough horsepower to push 50-60fps at 4k.

After all the modding I might actually keep the machine due to its big screen size and pretty good sound quality.

I will update this thread too if it's possible, did you buy the alienware 18 in the end?

 

Still debating on whether I should, with Dual M290x's, 16GB RAM, 4700MQ, 500GB SSD and 1000GB HDD, is that good for $700? The left USB ports are trashed though. If so, I need to sell my 17 R1 immediantly, someone offered 525 for the model in my sign with only the Samsung

 

No this was done with an eDP 120hz panel and lots of hardware modding.

You would have better luck going the route of Khenglish and modding the 980m with a 980 DT core, however you will still fall a little short because of the lower vRAM speed compared to the DT iteration. I cant recall if he ever got the DT vRAM modules working as it also required a different resister along with the faster vRAM modules from the DT part.

 

But with similar amounts of modding, he could get a 1080 theoretically working in a 18

 

In sg mode I'm pretty sure that nearly every new mxm module which is similar to the normal mxm standard and doesn't need extra power from connectors will boot fine.
Optimus can be forced on cards that don't even utlize it.
It would make more sense to go down the gtx 1080 route. If a gtx 1070 can work I don't see why not a gtx 1080 can't.
The thing is dell did one thing right, which is including a edp to lvds converter on the mobo. This way every native edp GPU can work as long as the integrated GPU is active as the signal is converted through that and the igpu is allocated to the primary display, in this case the lvds internel screen. Sure you loose some performance but for an alienware 18 to run a gtx 1080 I would 100% do it.

 

Also,another life saver is the HDMI in

But yeah you thinks thats a reasonable deal?

 

Considering they are giving you $525 I would say that is reasonable although you should try asking for $550.

The alienware 18 for $700 is not worth it though. Those are technically two 965ms in sli which is RUBBISH and with a 4700mq and only a 80gb ssd asking for $700 forget it. Ask him to decrease the price by at least $100 or add in a bigger ssd.

Edit: you changed the post, in that case with those specs that's not a bad deal at all. But the usb ports are broken as long as your fine with only two that shouldnt be an issue.

 

That is specific to machine. Khenglish has been modding his P150EM for years, and also probably had some help from Prema to bridge the gap on the software side of things. Though I cant say for certain, its just a guess.

He modded his laptop to accept the 1080, but also seemed to have issues using multiple monitors iirc

The one big hurdle is finding the eDP trace and then get them to work. Then also accounting for the different core height

Also the 1080 has been tried in the Ranger and it could boot but failed any 3D application test. Most 1080's wont even post and the 1 that did failed. It is assumed its an issue with EC or possibly that the MXM connection cant handle 200w power. The thread died off I think its been a while since I read it.

SG mode, not a fan. Nice for vBIOS flashing a soft bricked card but thats all I care to use it for.

 

I remember that now! Yeah, he never did update it, but IIRC it couldn't handle 3D because it overheated nearly instantly

 

It will work in sg mode I am sure of it, anyway I need to buy a gtx 1080 for my eurocom tornado f5 as the taobao guy I was buying my cards of only has 2 which I have bought purely for the P870dm-g. When I have £800 more I will buy another gtx 1080 so that all my laptops are functional basically. I will definitely get rid of all my msi laptops as bga needs to go. Already sold my dell precision too.

 

Yeah, gonna go for it. I have a usb hub anyways on my docking station

 

Can you make a thread on the 1080 SLI in the DM-G? I think you would be the first

 

With the eurocom tornado f5 heatsink I can nearly guarantee that temps will stay in check as that is a perfect fit.
I will need to do heatpipe mods though, only worry is bursting a pipe as heating it expands the air. Unless that is crap I have heard from my technicians.

Edit: laptop heatpipes do contain liquid right?

 

I'm going to have to work many hours to get the money to afford all the mods I am planning, if I get my hands on two gtx 1080s I will be testing them in the clevo.
A thread will be made too.

 

I dont recall that so Ill stay on the fence with that detail.

You will need heatpipes and also more heat exchanger mass. Pipes alone will only slow the rising core temp. heatpipes carry gas iirc

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-17r1-gtx-1080.805151/ here it is, the only guide of reference we have

Edit: wow look at this extreme cooling mod http://alienware-forum.de/index.php...G/?s=beab6788f18eead1f127f0fa93899eeb580bf16c

 

In that case I'm not touching it lol, gonna ask my technician to do it.

Had an incident when I was 16 and was heating some liquid adhesive which popped and went straight into my eye. Burned like hell and was difficult to get out. Needless to say if I do it eye protection will be used lol.

 

That cooling mod is simply amazing, must sound like a jet on full load though.

 

Breaking down a heatsink is simple enough with an oven or toaster oven. The trickier part is adding more mass to the heat exchanger which usually means you need to re-position the fan.

But if I had anything in my eyes I would certainly be more cautious lol

 

@Grant B Gibson His card died, I had similar symptoms with my dead gtx 1070 (normal mxm) from eurocom.
Vbios can interfere but I can manually flash, I have the tools now.

I actually bought my spi flasher for the sole intention of tdp modding my gtx 1070 which is dead now.

 

Is there anyway I can do a hybrid mod where I use the end part of the alienware 18 100w amd heatsink and literally solder those 3 heatpipes directly to the 1080 heatsink?
Of course I will remove the heatpipes from the 1080 heatsink before hand.
I was thinking of adding one more heatpipe for vrms though as I'm a bit more cautious after the info you gave me.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Msi-Vortex...R1&_nkw=msi+vortex+980&_from=R40&rt=nc&_oac=1 for less than the price of 2 980m's.... (it has dual 980m's not 980DT)

 

This item does not ship to the United Kingdom... That's not a bad deal either.

 

It must be so much easier to get stuff in the US, here electronics are way more expensive too.

 

Oh my bad oops. Yeah, everyone complains about prices here, but the stuff here is basically free compared to other countries

Honestly might even go for that vortex

 

To be fair it is decently priced but it has two 980ms which is outdated now.

 

Yeah

 

I just looked at the prices for the eurocom tornado f5 heatsink, they cost around £150 which is roughly $200!
I guess I'll have to pay for it to get the best performance.

 

I'd be careful, one feedback rating. Seems to be priced way too cheap.

 

Eurocom has a tendency to overprice everything in their inventory. Be sure to thoroughly test for QC if you buy from them.

 

From looking at the feedback and pictures , it looks like a scam.

 

Is there a way I can get it cheaper? Nothing comes up on taobao

 

Finally found the heatsink for only $70!

 

Hello, changing a little subject, but I saw that the topic is active.
I have an alienware 18 with sli 780 and i7-4930MX but it is running on windows 8.1 and i not upgraded to Windows 10 i'm afraid it will not work because of the rumors that when upgrading it has 8 bits and does not start.
Is it safe to update it?

 

The core will support LVDS, but the question is if MSI routed the LVDS off the core to the MXM slot or not. I would assume they did. Try to find high resolution pictures of the card and we can check if there are traces going to the MXM slot LVDS.

 

Did you guys know that a pair of GTX DT 980 (MXM) running stock , gives 20.9K in 3DMark 11.

 

I ran the 7GHz rated memory that is the same as 980 desktop cards. It clocked 100 to 200 MHz better than the stock ram, but not to 980 desktop levels. I also ran the 8 GHz 1070 memory. It was actually slower than the 980 desktop memory without editing the BIOS for memory timings.

 

Thats really impressive, but the amount of modding required would be better suited to 1070 SLI/ Single 1080, which would have better real world results

 

I will provide a picture but I don't see much point in doing the mod, now that I've found a. Cheaper source for the heatsink I will defiantly be putting in a gtx 1080 which will blow two 980s out the water when tdp modded anyway.

 

@Grant B Gibson you won't believe it, I just got my hands on a gtx 1080 for a eurocom tornado f5. I've bought it for only £400 which is how much a gtx 1070 is!

It has the sli connector too, just another one and I can sli the 1080s in the clevo. I don't think I will ever get a deal that good lol not even taobao gives it that cheap.

 

Yeah man thats freaking amazing, congrats to you. NGL the Clevo card requires heavy modding in the P870DM, but the MSI card should be fine (assuming SLI connection is intact) I just managed to snag a P377SM-A barebones and I'm excited to start modding it

 

@Grant B Gibson I think you might be right about me being the first person to sli gtx 1080s in the clevo P870dm-g. Good on you for getting that barebones.

Edit: Damn that's some pretty impressive hardware packed in that clevo, didn't know it took two mxm cards.

 

@Mr. Fox got one working in his DM-G, but because Clevo ruined the MXM form factor, it took a **** ton of modding. Also got a 8700k in it lol!

 

Also some word of advice, if you go for the extreme processors try and snag a qualification sample 4940mx, they overclock high and will blow the 4930mx out of the water. Due to lower temps. Otherwise DO NOT BUY THE OEM 4940MX you'd be better off with a 4930mx.

A qs 4940mx at 4.3ghz will give you about i7 6700k speeds in certain applications, in gaming definitely.

 

Yep that's the whole reason I bought a P870dm-g, one to put a 8700k in it and put in two 1080s and two to make it my permanent desktop replacement.

Believe me if this mod works I won't even be looking at buying a desktop for the next 3 years as I will literally have an equivalent in front of me lol.

 

I was planning on buying a 4300m or 4700MQ lol I don't have enough money to spend on that sadly and it really only needs a powerful GPU, its only going to be playing GTA V and Rainbow 6 Siege

 

The minimum spec processor you want is at least a 4700mq. On a side note, there is actually an Intel bug that allows you to hack every non extreme 4th gen 'mq' processor and make it unlocked. If you every want to test how far you can go with that chip you should check the thread out. Some 4700mq owners took their 4700mq to 4930mx levels which is crazy.