Max cpu/gpu options for Alienware 18?

picking up a alienware 18 for 360US, apparently has issues with its video card not accelerating, thats what a computer shop told him.(it has dual R9 M290X's)

Will the 1060 or 1070 MXM work in the alienware 18? or would a person be better to get a pair of 980's?

It also has an i7 - 4710MQ.

Thank you ^.^

 

I would have advised against the Alienware 18, it is a lesser platform compared to the M18x R2. best to go with dual 980Ms and a 4930MX

 

well ive got a alienware m18xr1 at the moment, and thinking of eventually upgrading it to the m18xr2. but for 360US, i thought it was quite a good buy, since im pretty sure i can just swap the main and secondary video cards to get it working.

 

If the GPUs aren't running at the proper clocks, it could be numerous issues.

System board (as I found out on a used I picked up AW18 no matter the GPU in slot 1, it would never achieve rated clock speeds)
Power adapter
Power Jack
fans
TIM/pads
Dirt/crud
Actual card or cards themselves
Other fun tidbits

Let us know how it eventually turns out.

 

Hmm. I have another power adapter to test it with, (i believe m18xr1 power adapter is compatable), and in my experience with another repair, the power jack throttled the cpu first, but it should be able to find online if thats the case. And it will be getting a full proper cleaning and re pasting upon arrival

I can test the cards in my M18X to check them as well. And I will! Any idea if the AW18 can use 10 series graphics cards?

Also nice 5.2Ghz on your 8700k, best i could do is 5Ghz on my 8350k :c

 

The M18x R2 and Alienware 18 can both use Pascal cards, but only with an unlocked BIOS and only ONE card through SG mode so they run through optimus

 

thats good to know! thank you! ill probably end up picking up a 1060 or 1070 after I confirm its not a motherboard or power issue

I had to grab an unlocked bios for my m18x from techinferno last time, is it exclusive to them again, or is there one here on notebookreview?

 

I really advise against doing that. 980M is just as good as a 1060 if not better and you can add a second one later for 1070 level performance. Too many headaches with Pascal cards.

I have not posted on TechInferno since they started using Coinhive. My unlocked BIOS is found here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/release-alienware-18-bios-a12-unlocked.802249/

 

true. for some reason i thought the 980M sli was as powerful as the 1060, but i was definitely wrong. i probably will just do dual 980M's then. thank you

and thank you for your unlocked bios! Ive downloaded it and screenshotted the instructions, just so i dont lose it Im hoping to go and get the laptop tomorrow, so ill keep you posted on how things go!