AW18 1070

Eurocom has one and I think the MSI one works

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Wow, for these prices you might as well just buy a new laptop. Thank you for letting me know though.

 

1 1070 is about the same as 2 980M so just buy whatever is cheapest. eBay and taobao are good places to buy cards cheap.

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Still waiting on that RMA, they've had it in possession since 2/5 and no real status update. This is dragging out reeeaaalll long since I started this quest in November, and it's getting ready to be March.

 

I would probably prefer 1070 over 980M SLI only because of having to do reset trick for no throttling. But otherwise 980M SLI is more convenient. PEG mode allows nVidia cards to route the video outputs (DP 1.2) vs Optimus being led by iGPU (DP 1.1) etc.

I find it annoying having to have iGPU control everything. As said Optimus isn't a benefit here since we can always run iGPU only for better battery life.

 

Still no updates?

 

Just letting everybody know, Zotac 1070 also works in Alienware 18

 

Supposedly I cracked the GPU die on the card according to Eurocom.

The AW18 heatsink requires a -Lot- of modification, I even purchased one modified and it was nowhere near modded enough. In addition to grinding away the areas that the AW17 heatsink requires, you must grind away part of the center aluminum due to a big fat mosfet. It also does not cover another mosfet of the same variety at all.

Honestly, at this point at $410/repair, I'm unsure if I even want to attempt this again, or just to sell the 1070 instead of risking damage again.

I'm about $1,300~ish into this at the moment without the $410 repair. It's a nightmare.

 

Wow ...

 

Cut your losses, and next time don't buy from shady eurocom. I wouldn't even entertain the 410$, just sell the card for parts on ebay, you can probably get 250-300$ back out of it that way. I very much doubt you cracked the die, more likely you crunched a VRM or MOSFET, neither of which take 410$ to repair. there is no way for them to verify a cracked/damaged core short of an x-ray machine.

 

Yeah I wouldnt buy from Eurocom either...seems vastly overpriced for what is on the table.

 

I just went ahead with it, even if I got it back and sold it for $300 then I'd still have to pony up another $400~some to get another 1070, plus additional time without a video card.

I know it's throwing good money after bad, but at this point I just want a functioning laptop with a 1070 and this to be over, I started this journey in December, it's almost April now, so I haven't really been able to do anything that the Intel 4600 graphics can't handle.

 

I would have sent the heat sink to eurocom so they can modify it for you as needed so they don’t pull that crushed die bs on you again.

 

I sold my a18 with 2x780 and added a few hundred and have a 1070 laptop with gsync now. Good luck

 

@Rymesis so What has happened so far? I managed to get a gtx 1070 msi edition working fine. DO NOT BUY THE EUROCOMM VERSION they freeze and hang on nearly every laptop I tried it seems they become faulty literally after you put them in the machine, what a crap design. Msi is the best 1070 with enough case mods it should work. And you can stress it hard with no issues, no artefacts on high overclocks etc. They did a good job.
I'm modding my aw18 to support a 4k screen and msi gtx 1070 sli. Just need an sli connector cable.

Edit: btw the msi gtx 1070 mxm pulls around 130w at load for me having two will just leave enough room for the processor.

 

Is it possible to run 2 GPU's independent of each other?

I never had a slotted MXM laptop with 2 slots so I am not sure of how it determines primary and slave GPU.

 

It has a slot for the primary mxm and a slot for the slave one. The master = primary one is used for mainly everything and the slave one is used in sli format. Otherwise the slave isn't even used unless a specific application needs both gpus like mining applications etc.

 

So then, the scenario I have been building interest within isnt impossible then?

The RX 480, even though is only said to support eDP worked in the R2 in SG mode. With that in mind (though the processors are different), would it be able to work in tandem with an Nvidia GPU in the slave slot for just Physx related work loads?

I know there are better performance options but I have been interested in game dev and wanted to toy with Vulkan API, which works well with AMD GPU's and also wanted to incorporate PhysX.

I guess building a desktop would be easier, but its not fun for air travel in the slightest.

 

I'm sure it will work. Im guessing that you just have to disable one or the other when you want to run the card.

 

It will PROBABLY NOT work. M18x already panics with IGPU enabled + 2 980M enabled (LCD stripes), forget about two different vendors + intel. Only reason RX 480/1070 work in SG mode SINGLE card is because the iGPU converts eDP signal to LVDS. Forget trying to combine two signals into one stream from the same card, let alone two different ones. Desktop is a different case, video output is directly linked to the card, iGPU doesn't route or convert anything, you always have one stream of video output. Not the case if you try to do the SG/iGPU trick in the M18x/A18

 

Yes I think it would work but drivers may become an issue as PhysX will not work if an AMD card is detected have no idea why but nvidia made it that way, so if you get it working just disable the card in device manager and use the other. You can try to run both in games which support directx 12 but I'm not too sure how this would work out...

 

Technically it could work if he did a 4k edp mod like I will do, as the signals can run through the dp port. There are 4 channels available through edp and the bandwidth is significantly higher.

Actually forget that just get a 1080p edp panel do the edp mod and your amd + nvidia gpu would work I'm sure about it. No iGPU will get in the way and you will get more bandwidth for your cards to run.

It would take alot of modding to do but if your up for it you can try. I'm not so sure about EC compatibility with the rx 480 though which is why I will stick to nvidia mxms

 

No EDP port in the M18x/A18, good luck finding the pinout from the LVDS socket and wiring it to an EDP conversion board. Not worth the effort

 

He's got some mod planned for the summer for eDP so I'll just have to wait and see how it goes before I let interest peak any further.

Since SG mode is not an option for my use case, haswell doesn't convert signal and I still desire acceleration for physx. Tbph it doesn't need a video output. Driver isn't an issue and hasn't been for a little while, that was an issue at one point though Nvidia finally gave in on front unless they reinstated that position recently.

I'm very purpose oriented, if it doesn't work out I'll scrap the whole idea and just build a desktop later. I just hate air travel with a desktop even if it is an sff. Dual gpu means mATX and AMD vendors have garbage offerings still

 

Already found the pinout from the schematic and from @Khenglish 's help I have the cable I'm gonna use too. This should be interesting. All I need to do is take one side of capacitors and directly solder on to them. There are quite a few but I am aswell as @Khenglish confident that this mod will work. Even the voltage pattern lines up! Can you believe that.

 

Waiting for results ☺️

 

I believe I may need to sell a 64GB RAM stick from my desktop to get the 4k panel and 2 msi gtx 1070's (sli compatible)

 

For now I would just test to make eDP work before committing that level of investment. That seems to be the biggest hurdle if I am to understand the scenario correctly.

Its always irritating selling expensive components from a failed upgrade...well it is for me anyway lol

 

I have a few laptops that can make use of the gtx 1070's, I am buying them firstly to see if sli actually works, it will be put inside a p870dm-g at my bosses workshop which ironically I ordered for him. If it works then I will use the gpu's inside the alienware.

Long story short I have three attempts to get it right considering I have three alienware 18's LOL

 

And hopefully if I do screw up I can get the motherboard repaired from my workplace, yes my boss doesn't mind at all.

 

Make a new thread for this long journey of the AW 18 getting the EDP mod treatment.

 

Good news I finally got the alienware 18 laptops, they both have the 2 beeps of death though. Not a ram issue tried what was written on @Mr. Fox post. Didn't work. Gonna need 2 new motherboards I guess, or replace the bios or intel pch chips, if that is the issue.

They're in pretty good condition if you ask me!

 

You may not have bad motherboards. Two beeps is generally a memory error code. You might have two with bad motherboards, but it could be (1) no RAM installed, or faulty module(s) installed, or (2) faulty overclock settings. Alienware replaced numerous motherboards in the Alienware 18 that had nothing wrong with them. Starting with the Haswell machines, Alienware motherboards save settings to NVRAM and clearing NVRAM is a huge pain in the ass (because they intentionally made it difficult for some retarded reason).

Here is how I resuscitated my Alienware 18 when this happened. Try the steps outlined below:

Alienware 17 (Ranger) /18 (Viking) Owners** - How to 'Un-Brick' Your Mobo

Start by removing all 4 RAM modules, two in the bottom and two under the keyboard. Do the steps above using only one RAM slot on the bottom side. If it does not work at first, set aside the one stick of RAM you tried at first and test another one. Also try another RAM slot if the second stick doesn't work in the first slot you tried using.

 

Tried this the whole day when I got them, the motherboard which had a 4940mx just kept beeping 2 times no matter what I did, replaced the processor, ram, gpu and tired again no luck...
The second motherboard is definitely dead came with a 4700mq, Wi-Fi light was flickering keyboard lights on fans don't even turn on no beeps nothing, replaced processor, ram etc. It's like this one is shorted out somewhere.

These motherboards are 100% faulty and not recoverable, maybe because they are first revision motherboards which still have the dmc connector soldered I don't know. I've ordered two motherboards for £350 and I'll probably sell the other ones.

 

Too late for me, also the card is dead again. I went on vacation for a week and put the laptop into hibernation. There’s a short on the card somewhere and that’s why I’ve been without a computer since the middle of May.

I gave it the benefit of the doubt but after the expense of a motherboard and changing out every other piece I could think of that might cause a short, Removing the video card allows it to boot.

 

Return that gpu and tell them to send you an msi gtx 1070, it is worth the case mods trust me. That will NEVER run into issues even if you overclock it and run it 24/7 with 100% load. I know from experience, I have had 2 gtx 1070 mxm's and always stress tested them for at least 48 hours straight before using them. Eurocom is trash, they use crappy quality mofsets on the board which is why the card either ends up burnt or shorts out due to overvoltage.

In fact I just bought another 2 more msi gtx 1070 mxm's with the sli connectors to make this mod I'm doing work.

 

Also guys just got my 2 4940mx processors, one processor is missing a ground pin but uses less voltage and overclocks higher than the other one which has all the pins and is in better looking condition. I can do up to 4.6GHz with the one missing a pin and only 4.2GHz with the other one.

Both cpu's are QS editions and reach almost the same speeds as my 6920hq @ 4GHz which is AMAZING! Gotta say it was worth the money getting the 4940mx and not the 4930mx.

 

What temps and sustainability at those speeds under Wprime1024? That's usually my baseline check after the CB10, CB15 and Wprime32 run.

 

No idea have to check, I put both processors in a lenovo g510 that has a socketed i3 processor, it was drawing 70w when the i3 only draws 35w lol. Due to only one heatpipe on the heatsink, YES ONLY ONE, I metal pasted both processors. Got an ice pack and before running benchmarks put the ice pack directly on the heatsink. Temps resulted in about 75c max and NO THROTTLING! The ice pack melted in minutes though. Got 750cb on the cpu missing a pin (4.2Ghz) and 738cb (4.2GHz) on the other cpu. The power adapter cut out often resulting in the laptop shutting off, hence I needed to do the benchmarks multiple times.
Not gonna try it again in that laptop, just needed a baseline benchmark to see if both could compete with my 6920hq.

The missing pin 4940mx can do 4.6GHz but can only handle a tsbench (throttlestop becnhmark) , hence it's not stable.

When I get the alienware 18 motherboards I will do a proper test as the cpu heatsink has 3 heatpipes NOT 1 lol. Also I don't want to stress that lenovo too much, it might kill some components on the motherboard considering the power adapter is only 65w and the laptop is meant for a 35w processor.

 

@electrosoft here are some benchmarks:

http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/9120089

Go through the run history to see the benchmarks. The first two are for the 4940mx with all pins, second two are for the 4940mx with missing pin.

 

Bit of a complicated situation, but I'll check into the MSI 1070. Does it require different heatsink mods than the other 1070?

 

Good luck i hope you solve issues quickly i'll keep an eye on this thread

 

I've run into a bit of an issue getting power limit throttling with my 4940mx, I have made the turbo boost unlimited and put the current to max. The tdp gets stuck at 83w on prime95 how do I unlock this?


EDIT - Fixed: undervolting is key

 

Turns out one motherboard works perfectly, lvds screen was issue for the laptop. Images can be requested to show that motherboard works fine...

I can do £200 for that motherboard as it functions perfectly and is NOT REFURBISHED OR REPAIRED under any circumstances it is simply a used item which ironically came out of a brand new alienware 18 which has still got the protective stickers on it and everything

 

Long time lurker on these forums first time poster (Been looking around since the AW18 launched)

It seems that the 1070 MSI card is what people have recommended in these forums as the go to card. Where would I be able to find one that is reasonably priced. I have looked through the Taobao website (super annoying to navigate even with google translate) and avoided places like Eurocom as they seem to be overpriced, As I understand it there will always be a need for heat sink modifications which I do not have any issues with just trying to breathe some life back into my AW18.