Alienware 18 viking possible upgrade suggestions

Sup guys! Its me again, and now i said goodbye to my gt83 Titan and Alienware 18R2
Just bought AW18 for sweet sweet 700 bucks, PERFECT condition since it was used in typography, was turned on 2 or 3 times

Specs are
I7 4900MQ
512SSD
1000 HDD
16G Ram (1600)
Dual 780M SLI

I want to sell my both GPUs and buy something more powerful... I was able to install modified heatsink and MSI 1070 to my old beast 18R2 (3940XM)

What card would you suggest?
What about DDR3 2133 Kingston Hyper X?
What about 4930\40MX?
Would be grateful for any suggestions.

Maybe....Zotac 1080? But where to get it?

 

Of the 3 machines the alienware 18 is probably the worst of the bunch

 

I disagree , r2 has horrible problem with keyboard and gt83 has horrible quality of chassis. Anyway thread is not a out worse or better, about options for upgrade

 

Also, aw18 mxm slot gives more power than r2, and you cant install for example, zotac 1080 there

 

I think what Receiver was talking about was the quality of the motherboard components compared to the M18x. They seemed to have a much higher failure rate.

Yes, you can definitely upgrade yours to the 4930/4940 and there is very little difference between the two. If you didn't plan on overclocking then the 4900/4910MQ is more than enough.

32gb of 2133MHz DDR3L is the way to go. Just make sure it's DDR3L and not DDR3.

I'm not sure if anyone has successfully installed the Zotac 1080 but there shouldn't be a reason why it won't work. I still don't know if the MXM port can supply full power to the card though.

 

So 1070 msi or quadro rtx 5000/p5200 then?

 

1070 is good to go, already seen it in action here in the forum, though you will be running SG mode for anything above the 980m.

No precedent for the rtx 5000 or p5200 in this system.

And yes, reason I state AW18 as not a great option is that the CPU vrms blow quite commonly.

The Viking couldnt hope to push more power than the R2, R2 is well documented for pulling 200w on each slot along with an aggressive OC for the CPU running 2x 330w AC Adapters.

Dont get me wrong I prefer the keyboard and styling of the Viking/Ranger but the limitations are quite staggering in comparison. Keep the limitations in mind and you will be good to go.

 

There is a guy on the Dell Community forum that claims to have a Clevo RTX 2080 in his 18. I am still not sure how legit it is. His username there is Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006

 

So first of all i was able to overclock y 4900mq to stable 4,4 GHz
without voltage changes. In future ill use liquid metal
second - I decide to buy ddr3l 2133 hyper impact and overclock it to 2666
third - I can use Clevo 780 watt ac adapter with some manipulation it will work.
so I decide to milk the **** up of this laptop and make it relevant for at least a few years
my goals
4900mq stable 4,5 all cores OR 4940MX QS
32GB 2666 ram
1070 with modified heatsink
4TB SSD
780Watt custom AC from Clevo

 

@Raidriar

 

Reciever said it best, I would keep the limitations in mind. I have the 18 and have gone through 6 motherboards before I gave up on an over clocked setup with dual 980ms. I have not powered it on now for more than a year. I loved this computer but I had a very $h1tty experience with it.

My recommendation is to keep the 4900mq at stock (don't over clock) and run at max 980m or 980m in SLI (with no overclock) if you are looking for longevity.

Best of luck to you!

 

Make sure to avoid AVX loads if you manage to hit 4.5Ghz, I tripled the mass on my heatsink of the Ranger ( a better equipped system) and still couldnt get it above 4.4Ghz

Second, you are unlikely to be able to "OC" the ram at all in the BIOS. The only way to go about it is either Thaiphoon burner or directly modifying the SPD of the RAM, even then every attempt previously the RAM would typically default back to stock.

1070 will work in SG mode. Many other GPU's will likely work in SG mode as the Intel HD is what drives the panel and not the GPU. EC will likely keep your 1070 performance as is out of the box, unless you shunt them then the best you can do is tune for best performance under the 115w envelope.

No point in using the 780w adapter from Clevo/Eurocom, Anything above or even near limit of the motherboards VRMs are guaranteed to blow. Even then a 4930mx at a top clock will consume 110w or so while the 1070 is 115w, a standard 330w is already more than enough...

 

It is possible to make 1080/rtx2080 setup. Which was already done by some of my friends. Additional power goes to slave slot.
Also as well, 4940 can reach up to 150 watt which already give us around 350 watt with all other comonents+ 4k screeen(yes its possible to install hete 4k screen and videocard will work in pg mode)
Just wait for it

 

4K has been attempted but is yet to be unsuccessful under eDP, Many would love to see it done so that they can use PEG Mode on the 18.

Doesnt really matter if the 4940 can take 200w, the VRMs need reinforcement or replacement with alternative VRMs otherwise they will blow.

 

My friend and master who managing all my alienwares already make 4k screen works in AW18
in PEG yes.

 

Would be cool to see but still lacking the proof

 

This would be amazing to see. Any chance he can show us how?

 

if it's so, tell him to make a guide over here!!
Talking about GPUs best choice for an GTX it's the 1070 MSI.
If you want an RTX, there are some 3000/4000/5000 on ebay

 

Ok i will in time, he almost finish his project, he use natrix from asus 18,4 laptop with water cooling gv800 i this

 

There will be a few people very interested in this as the screen upgrade has always been seen as impossible.

 

The one who tried before was using a LVDS to eDP adapter but ultimately gave up on it.

Even I entertained the idea of the AW18 but under iGP you cant use both MXM slots so I gave up on that as well.

 

GPU temporarily upgraded to 1060
Next upgrade will be CLEVO 3080 (yes its possible. external power goes to second MXM slot, we already did it with our test Clevo 1080)
Maybe 1080 will be installed with pictures this winter.

 

SG?

 

IDK its not me who install but guy who did all upgrades for me. It worked without SG using 4K screen as far as i know. I plan to install 4K screen in winter(december) i will post feedback here.

 

You don't know, but it's not SG. A bit of conflicting statement there.

I hope you are not being taken advantage of if you don't know what is actually going on.

Is this mystery technician replacing the vrms and somehow reinforcing the traces?

 

You will see) I will give all the pieces of evidence after new year

 

He told me that after his work i don't need to switch every time GPU in Bios when throttling so I think its not SG mode

 

The AW18 doesnt have an eDP output, not sure if there are traces on board to even enable that function like there was with the P150EM. The 1080 doesnt support LVDS either.

I hope it works out for you, but I am quite doubtful especially with a 4.5Ghz overclock, that will blow your vrms as they are notoriously weak.

 

I know that many is doubting me about 4k display and clevo full blown 200+ watt overclocked 1080, i will prove that this is not scam. But for now, a little bit **** on the vent

 

Btw this is only temporary. Next step - water cooling i side chassis. Yes this is also possible. As well as new special mofsets which allow to overclock 4940 to 4,8 stable ghz. You will see.

 

S hit on the vent number two. For now working with Aetina 1080, but planning to install 1080 clevo.

 

So the ultimate goal is 4k display( spoiler -from asus GV800) water cooling + overclocked 4940+rtx3080 Clevo. But i need more money lol

 

Any reason you are using AW 18 instead of M18xR2?

Let me know how it goes, I am also continuously upgrading my M18xR2 every chance I get. Recently I did RTX 3000. Looking for A4000 Q1 2022.

It will be more impressive if laptop can be assembled back as "laptop" after everything.

 

because its impossible to install 4k display to 18r2
and also because mxm slot of Viking can draw more power

 

This is very interesting. I was under the impression M18xR2 can draw more power than Viking.

What makes the 18 support 4k display but not M18xR2? They both use LVDS.

Would be cool if your friend could explain this to us in the WhatsApp chat.

 

Because of different type of display.

 

About friend, he is not public person, he agreed to send me pics of his work, whic i will post here.

 

Well as of yet no proof of viking having more capability in power delivery,nor even any reasoning behind anything. Just a mystery friend who talks to no one.

Always hopeful but still haven't seen anything to bypass the shoddy vrms, just a heatsink and an mxm card installed.

 

Ask your friend to run 3dmark firestrike and 3dmark time spy benchmark. It will allow us to see how the 18 performs in relation to other laptops.

This is my recent upgrade in M18xR2. RTX 3000 (basically quadro version of rtx 2060):

https://www.3dmark.com/fs/26323934

https://www.3dmark.com/spy/23195932

https://www.3dmark.com/pr/1236582

 

You will eat your words. What the point for me to lie? What do i get?) Fame? On very narrow-specialized forum? Lol!
Im just telling what we are doing.

 

Ummm, no. Everything in the quoted text is factual. Its a fact that as of right now, no proof is provided and as of yet all we see is a heatsink and an MXM card installed.

I could care less about you and your outlook, I dont want other Viking owners to needlessly fry their systems in the hopes of recreating a yet to be seen goal for this machine.