The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    My Alianware 18 GPU upgrade mission

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by Damin, Mar 9, 2020.

  1. Damin

    Damin Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    15
    Messages:
    219
    Likes Received:
    48
    Trophy Points:
    41
    Hello all first off if anyone has some tips tricks and advice for fine-tuning my AW18 please feel free to contribute it is much appreciated.

    So the main reason for this project was to put my 2x MSI GTX 980 ( non M ) cards into a housing as they failed to work in my P870DM or P375SM and my P370EM so CLEVO systems were out of the question for SLI

    My AW18 has the flowing inside

    2 x Samsung 256GB EVO950 2.5 SSD's in RAID0
    2 x GTX 980 SLI
    I7 4900QM ( i used conductonaut liquid metal on the CPU )
    16GB DDR3 1600

    And a few other extras like a MSATA drive and a 3rd HDD rater than a Bluray Drive

    Thermals are okay but i dont like having to use HWINFO to control the fans ( is there not a better option maybe in a bios MOD or (FN Key) shortcut ?
     

    Attached Files:

    Damin, Mar 9, 2020
    #1
    electrosoft and Chivalrous Roamin Knight like this.
  2. Damin

    Damin Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    15
    Messages:
    219
    Likes Received:
    48
    Trophy Points:
    41
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2020
    Damin, Mar 9, 2020
    #2
    Rengsey R. H. Jr. likes this.
  3. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

    Reputations:
    1,708
    Messages:
    5,820
    Likes Received:
    4,311
    Trophy Points:
    431
    Raidriar, Mar 10, 2020
    #3
  4. Damin

    Damin Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    15
    Messages:
    219
    Likes Received:
    48
    Trophy Points:
    41
    I got them from a seller on eBay that harvested them from a GT80S or that other system MSI do iirc a nighthawk ?

    Very very rare find .
    I have a damaged one laying around ...it died after me removing it from my GT8036QF

    But they work pretty well in my ALIENWARE 18 now just need to fine-tune them a bit more on the power front
     
    Damin, Mar 10, 2020
    #4
  5. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

    Reputations:
    1,708
    Messages:
    5,820
    Likes Received:
    4,311
    Trophy Points:
    431
    Damn I’ve been looking for a pair for ages and never found anything on eBay, just the standard 980M :(
     
    Raidriar, Mar 10, 2020
    #5
  6. Mastersbest

    Mastersbest Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    15
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Mastersbest, Mar 10, 2020
    #6
  7. Damin

    Damin Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    15
    Messages:
    219
    Likes Received:
    48
    Trophy Points:
    41
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2020
    Damin, Mar 10, 2020
    #7
  8. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

    Reputations:
    1,708
    Messages:
    5,820
    Likes Received:
    4,311
    Trophy Points:
    431
    Let me know if you want to sell your working 980 cards
     
    Raidriar, Mar 13, 2020
    #8
  9. Rengsey R. H. Jr.

    Rengsey R. H. Jr. I Never Slept

    Reputations:
    1,084
    Messages:
    2,771
    Likes Received:
    1,020
    Trophy Points:
    181
    @Damin , Can you upload the VBIOs of the GTX 980 that you currently are running in the AW 18 so I can keep for future upgrade.

    Also , if you can show us some pictures of any modifications that was done to the heat sink/installed in the AW 18 etc...
     
    Rengsey R. H. Jr., Mar 13, 2020
    #9
  10. Damin

    Damin Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    15
    Messages:
    219
    Likes Received:
    48
    Trophy Points:
    41
    I will let you know but it's a not highly likely because for this setup 1070m SLI is not possible due to ldvs and no edp option on the AW18
     
    Damin, Mar 14, 2020
    #10
  11. Damin

    Damin Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    15
    Messages:
    219
    Likes Received:
    48
    Trophy Points:
    41
    the vbios has is https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/182854/182854 the driver .inf i needed to mod though don't know if there is a fix to this ?
    the heatsink needed the same mod done thats needed for the gtx 1070m (its not pretty)
     
    Damin, Mar 14, 2020
    #11
  12. Mastersbest

    Mastersbest Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    15
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Mastersbest, Mar 14, 2020
    #12