Alienware 18 cpu upgrade

Hi guys I am Alienware 18 with the following specs:

I7 4700MQ
8GB DDR3 ram
750gb hdd
770m in sli configuration

I play games like bf1 and have noticed stutter even at low-medium settings. I know the gpu's shouldn't cause this at low- medium settings. So I think it's the cpu that's the bottleneck as I've read a few articles and know that bf1 is very cpu intense. I'm thinking of upgrading the ram with Kingston hyperx 16gb @ 1866mhz and buy a 4910mq. Is there much difference in the cpu's? Would I notice a difference or not. I know I'd be better off buying a 493x or 4940mx but can't find any in the uk for sale. All feedback welcome guys. Also if I do decide to buy the 4910mq would I need to upgrade the heatsink or would i be ok with just using liquid ultra?

 

unlikely your CPU is the problem, more like SLI issues from 770M...

 

the only good CPU upgrade is a 4940MX, anything else is just a few MHz more that you won't notice or help your issue

 

Missed out on a bargain. There was a Lenovo y510p with an 4930mx and 16gb of hyperx ram at £300. I've seen a new 4940mx at £320. Is it worth the cash for the extra performance it will give?

 

Wrong. I would rather opt for the older 4930MX Oveall a better overclocker.

 

I second the 4930MX recommendation

 

That's what I initially was going for but very hard to come across. Can get one from the states but then I end up paying more than I would for a 4940mx after import taxes and so on. Can get a 4940mx from Germany for a reasonable price. Plus I don't intent to overclock as of yet. Don't know where to start lol. Ordered some CLU paste for new cpu with the 4940mx being higher tdp than my existing cpu.

 

i have both 4930MX and 4940MX, and the 4930MX is the better chip.

again, a couple mhz is really unlikely to be the source of your stuttering. More likely to be recent crappy nvidia SLI support and 770M being a very old card.

 

yeah? and where will you find that? in an antique store?

PS: Yes the 4930MX overclocks better as we saw from my 4940MX vs your 4930MX before..........

ahhh, bring back the old good memories of Alienware

 

Yes I know the cards are quiet old but I've been saving for dual 980's already talked to woodzstack a few weeks ago and had a quote. Really cool guy. So if I get the highest level cpu now and a few weeks later bang 32gb's of hyperx 1866MHz only thing would be the 980's, then I'd have a beast of a machine. Future proof.

 

As yooo see... I'm old So I by the few, can still remember the "real" AW socket machine beast

 

you should probably start with a single 980 before the CPU.....that will make the biggest impact on your system.

 

Hi, I am planning to upgrade my 18 this year so it can last me the next few years without changing it. It is 3 years old today

Specs:
i7-4900MQ (OC LV 1 BIOS A12, 40, 39, 38, 38)
16GB DDR3L 1600Mhz Ram
256GB Samsung 850 PRO + 2 X 1TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD (mSATA and SATA)
GTX 780M SLI

I don't feel like changing my 18 since in Singapore, I cannot find a good laptop brand with modular parts (Non BGA). Many brands are using BGA turdware and even those with non BGA components such as Aftershock (CLEVO) and MSI Laptops, the problem is, they have strict warranty policies and opening them will completely void warranty.

I am not an enthusiast though so I cannot do any unusual modding, just a gamer and want my 18 as a daily driver for school and home. As I won't be going for 4K res, GTX 980M SLI looks ample and more than enough for me at the moment to sustain for the next few years until maybe successor of Nvidia Volta is out.

I am planning to upgrade to:
-i7 4940MX
-32GB DDR3L 2133Mhz
-GTX 980M SLI

As for cooling, I will be trying to use Fujipoly Thermal Pads to replace the stock thermal pads and for thermal paste the new Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut as it looks good since it has almost double the conductivity compared to CLLU.

Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut - 73 W/mk
Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra - 38.4 W/mk
Coollaboratory Liquid Pro - 32.6 W/mk

I am also aware that I need to change my heatsinks to the ones that support 980Ms (I cannot mod due to warranty voiding).

Any tips? I only plan to overclock my i7-4940MX to the 4.4Ghz dynamic factory overclock. Won't go any higher, maybe for testing, but that would be almost never.

 

Don't expect the big difference between Clu vs. Conductonaut. Maybe 1 up to max 3C degrees. I have used them both. As well some info for you http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...reduce-cpu-temperatures.800550/#post-10438348

 

Goodness. Then it sounds dangerous.

So, personally should stick to CLLU?

And also, how tight should I screw in a heatsink? Because, the first time I tried CLLU, it dried up

 

FYI the Alienware 18 can not support 32GB DDR3L 2133MHz, but it can support 16GB DDR3L 2133MHz.

I have i7 4910MQ and I have it clocked at 4.3 GHz. If price is a point, I wouldn't bother with the MX series as the Alienware 18 is limited to one power brick (360watts).

Also, I use CLU on my CPU and IC Diamond on my GTX 980Ms.

good luck!


-imest

 

that's not true. 2133Mhz ram need some special SPD flash to make it run 2133 in Alienware 18.

 

As I stated, 2133MHz is possible on the Alienware 18, but only up to 16GBs. I was unaware that a Flash was needed to make it work on the Alienware 18, I could have swore that no flash was needed though. Do you have a link to a post that states this or lists how to flash it? I believe Typhoon Burner is used with manufacture SPD profile (timmings, CAS/RAS and voltage settings). Gonna hit up Mr. Fox and see if he can shed light on this topic.

-imest

 

Mr. Fox would be the right guy to ask, he's the one that knows which part of the SPD to tweak. I personally have never tried it, didn't care enough to play with the Alienware 18

 

The thread where I posted this was locked due to inactivity.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/max-ram-speed-for-alienware-18.771859/page-2#post-9938225

It will run 2133, but you need to use Thaiphoon Burner and tweak the tCKmin value to bump the RAM clocks up to 1068.38MHz and then it will run at 2133. User mw86 at Tech|Inferno was able to manage 2400MHz from his Kingston Impact memory using this technique. By default, 1866 is the max.

This is the fastest SO-DIMM available now: http://www.kingston.com/us/hyperx/memory/impact LOL x100 at the "ECO-FRIENDLY low-voltage" nonsense part of their ad campaign. Give me a break... how extremely stupid.

See these results with the Alienware 18 that I posted about a week ago.

 

Hmm thanks for the info.

I understand that MX Consumes More power, but chances are, I am probably still gonna use the BIOS OC LV1 Overclock at ratio 44 43 42 41.

My power brick is 330W.

As for ram, I plan to use Corsair's:
http://www.corsair.com/en/vengeance...-laptop-memory-upgrade-kit-cmsx8gx3m2c2133c11

I don't do much overclocking. As for cooling, I just simply want the best.

So what do I need to tweak to ensure that the new 32GB kit of ram is clocked @2133Mhz? Sorry, I am new to this heh.

On occasions when I overclock, I only do it rarely to almost never, which is mainly increasing clock speed, memory speed, etc without overvolting.

 

@JasperLee93 - look at the screen shot I posted. You read from one of your sticks or an SPD dump. Open the XMP editor. Select the Min SDRAM Cycle Time cell (it shows an 8 in there now. When you have selected that you will see tCKMin in the Adjustable Parameter field. In the Fine Correction box you change the numbers up or down to increase the value in the Frequency field to at least 1068.38MHz to "fool" the Alienware 18 into running 2133 instead of dropping to 1866. Once those corrections are made, you write the modded SPD to the memory sticks. Try just one stick first (others removed) and make sure it works. You need the slightly more expensive "Professional" version of Thaiphoon Burner to edit XMP profiles. If the tweak works, shut down, install the other sticks and update their SPD as well.

 

Thanks! I will give it a try when I get a kit in the future.

 

Wait you can write SPD without having to buy thaiphoon burner now?

 

I'm not following you, bro. I was providing him instructions for Thaiphoon Burner, referring to elements in the window in the screen shot I posted. Of course, any changes you make have to be written back to the memory modules or you're not actually changing anything.

 

I was under the impression you had to buy thaiphoon burner with its silly 1 year license that expires in order to flash the RAM with custom timings. Is that not the case any more?