NVIDIA GTX 680M Thread - M18x R2 and M18x R1 Upgrade Discussion

And who cares about the iGP as long as you have that big boy running in your machine. You should be happy that it works...

I received my R2 with dual SLi 680m 2 days back and I couldn't be happier. The screen looks much brighter with the NVidia cards compared to the AMD, details are more clear and had no issues so far (However I did not make any benches so far). I beleave if you order the new R2 and you have money to buy the CrossfireX you will definately have the extra money to add the SLi GPU's instead. The troubles you are going through every day with AMD cards is not worth it...

Only one issue I have faced so far with both the cards (Nvidia and AMD, both in SLi mode and CrossfireX), water flickering in crysis 2 is still there. It could be an issue because of the SLi / CrossfireX mode or a driver problem. In single mode with either of cards this problem is not there. But as Mr. Fox mentioned I did not buy a dual system just to use one card. As a matter of fact, I have built an desktop in 2007 (I think) with 7900GT SLi cards and it has been like that since that time. I only opened it last year to clean the dust, other than that no issues...

Mr. Fox I totally recommend selling your system and getting the R2 with 680M SLi!

 

You may not care about iGP but not everyone uses the laptop for only gaming every second whilst its turned on.

 

^^^ You don't have to play games all the time to have the Dedicated card running 24/7. Plus those cards run pretty cool while standard using (browsing, word processing, emails, music) and the fans kick in rarely. My system is on since yesteday and if I do not do much (as of now I only do some browsing, emails) the temps stay in between 45-50 and I never hear the fans turning on at all...

 

Yes but if you are running on the iGPU, you will get much better battery life than if you are running on the dGPU. Which is probably the main reason why people prefer to use the iGPU while not gaming or doing anything intensive.

 

No, Optimus and Enduro hybrid switching technologies are not supported on the M18x. The M18x employs a superior mux switch that is manually executed at the hardware level. It is far more reliable and enhances battery run time when using the IGFX.

There is no compelling reason to switch to the IGFX unless you need to run on the battery, and it works extremely great for that. It is a matter of personal preference. When connected to AC power, there is no advantage to switch to IGFX unless a person is OCD about wearing out their discreet graphics cards.

I'd dearly love to do that, but I'm still very pleased with the M18x R1 (excusing the 7970M CF) and don't have the $4,000 it would take to buy an equivalent spec'd R2 with a 3920XM and 680M SLI. My wife just recently forgave me for spending $4,000 on a laptop, so I don't want to push my luck too hard, LOL. Plus, I would not be able to bear the thought of selling the R1. It's like a member of the family now and I'd have to keep it, rather than selling it to offset the cost of the upgrade. I need to be able to sleep at night, too. I would lose sleep wondering if the new owner is taking good care of it. (Just kidding... sort of.)

 

Does anyone know approximately when can we order the 680m directly from Dell (as a replacement part for those with R1)?

Thanks in advance!

 

Not available right now - I imagine it will be a good few weeks yet before Dell start "allowing" the cards to be bought. Even then, until they are "validated" for use in the R1, they wont be officially supported - meaning various tweaks etc would be required to get them to work 100%.....that's what I am thinking anyway.

Regards to validation for use in the M18x R1, I doubt Dell would be in a hurry to do this as it will affect sales of R2's - they like to hold us to ransom when it comes to owning the latest and greatest GPU's - they seem to not want us to be able to upgrade to these cards which is really underhanded if you ask me.....

 

that's true, but does it make sanse to said the the loptop is upgreadeble if dell don't allow it?!!!

 

Purchase a 4GB Clevo card, they're better anyway. The Dell cards are gimped as far as OC and have less ram. The only down side of the Clevo card so far is that you lose IGPU functionality which may or may not matter to some people. Battery life with the 680M running is about 2.5 hours and that's enough for me. I haven't tested HDMI IN yet either but I heard modding Dell's 680M driver enables the functionality (i never use it).

 

^ Has anyone tested the MSI GTX680Ms? IIRC they also have 4GB like the Clevo ones.

 

Have you tested 3d output at all, mate?

 

hey compay joker, how is the 680M on games and benchmark?

 

Sorry no 3D tv to test it with.

Check my sig.

 

How much did you buy the 680m and where ? Is that easy to install ?

 

Anyone here actually swap out their 580's for 680's? Any issues? Everything working as it should?


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I have an m18x with 6990m's in Crossfire. I'm currently considering whether to upgrade to 680m in SLI... or wait for one more gen to see how much more boost in performance I can get.

My main concern is DX11 gaming... the 6990's can chew through anything in Ultra settings, but throw on DX11 and texture packs and I can start to see the hit to fps. So I really have two questions...

#1 How significant are the performance gains? Any benchmarks in games like Batman: AC or Crysis 2 w/DX 11... or Withcer 2 would be helpful.

#2 How much was the upgrade? I only have about $1500 to burn.

 

This information is already posted on the web. Try Google search for "M18x R1 680M upgrade" and see what you find.

 

I did read a few of the performance reviews before coming here... just wanted the opinion of those that had upgraded.

However, I cannot find the price anywhere... only the price if upgrading for a brand new m18x... I already have the laptop, I just want to know the price of the cards.

 

There is some ebay auctions starting at 790 a card but not sure if that gets you the heat sink and the supports too.

 

Cool, thanks... didn't even think to check ebay. Although the prices I'm seeing on there are $840 - $990

 

if you can wait like 3 months I would think the prices would go down, they did just come out a month or so ago.

 

Yea, I'm in no hurry... I can chew through most games max'd out w/ smooth frames for now. I mostly want to be prepared for the next year or two of DX11 gaming though... I was actually going to skip the 680's and wait til the next gen of Nvidia cards... but I want to be able to max the hell out of Crysis 3 in Feb

 

By February, nVidia will have released the next Kelper version, so 680m's will be a notch down

 

Prices will vary depending on where you get the parts. You'll need new heat sinks and SLI bridge cable. The 680M uses the same heat sink and SLI bridge cable as the 580M and 675M. Those parts are very inexpensive from Dell and that is the best place to buy them. Grab yourself a 3-pipe CPU heat sink at the same time. The video cards are going to run you $1,400 to $1,600 for a pair of them. The Clevo 4GB 680M cards offer the best performance available in a mobile GPU.

 

How are the Clevo's working in the AW's though? I thought I'd read about some issues with them that's why I'm asking. I can't imagine they're "plug and play" right?

 

Great, thanks!

 

They seem to work fine. They are just a generic MXM video card from what I understand. Nothing proprietary to Clevo, just available through Clevo or some Clevo resellers. 5150Joker has one in his M18x and it works very well. He will be adding a second one soon.

 

honestly, its cheaper and easier to get the r2. Here is a break down of math: you can probably sell your r1 for about 1600, for about 600 more or so you can get a dual 7970 or 800 more a dual 680. to upgrade, you would have to get a pair of 680 or 7970, either way, its around 1600 for a pair with heat sink. So your down 1600 vs the 800 plus the hassle of installation which of course will void your warranty with Dell. You can sell your 6990 for probably 400 - ebay fees so around 350 a piece and you get about 700, buying a r2 would save you about 100 bucks plus time.

 

LOL, to buy an R2 the way my R1 is built would be more than $4,000 before negotiating a discount. Plus, I would prefer to own both systems (M18x R1 and R2) versus selling the R1 at a huge loss. If I sold my R1 for only $1,600 I would still need to cough up, at the very least, another $1,400 to have the R2 spec'd the way I would want it to be. Even if I planned to buy an R2 today I would not be able to because 680M is temporarily not available.

Plus, upgrading video cards DOES NOT void your warranty. That's a rumor and it is not true. Granted, it was said by some Dell employees, but the people that said that were simply misinformed. If you buy the video cards from Dell, they have a warranty. You can do any mods you feel like doing to your Alienware and as long as it does not cause damage you're good to go (straight skinny from Dell employees in the know). Obviously, Dell will not cover aftermarket parts that did not ship with the system, but the system itself is covered until the warranty expires.

 

Thanks for all the input guys, I am working on getting two of these puppies to put into my system. Seeing as I already have 2 580m's I assume I already own everything I need to do the install? X bracket and all?

 

So did you loose the IGPU as well???

... I put back in the original discrete gpu the 560m and still did not have the IGPU available ... regardless of driver installs or fn f7 gpu switching the BIOS nor windows would recognize the IGPU ... I assumed the issue was the MB and returned the m18xr1 for replacement at the reseller.

I am now choosing between getting another r1 for the same $1800 or the r2 for $2100 ... any thoughts on which one to get and put my 680m and 2920xm into would be appreciated

 

I say spend a little extra for the R2. A non-XM Ivy Bridge CPU would not be a good reason to pay more for the R2. I would consider it a performance downgrade. However, the additional drive bay and HM77 chipset is definitely worth the $300 price difference. Since you have the 2920XM ready to drop it, you're already set with an awesome CPU to go into the R2.

 

Personally I don't think there's anything R2 offers that R1 doesn't do just as well. The aftermarket 680s > Dell 680s that come with R2 so you get much better GPU performance when overclocked and with R2 you lose Wireless HDMI and only gain a msata drive in exchange. Ivy is ok but nothing earth shattering vs sb.

 

The third SATA drive capacity and HM77 chipset are advantages, but other than those two things, "not earth shattering" is accurate to me also. The mSATA thing does not really interest me that much. It would be a nice extra, but not something I see a need to have. Having the ability to install 3 drives in the caddy would allow me to put my Blu-ray burner back into the chassis. So, I'd say that would be worth $300 difference in price for me. I would not miss the wireless HDMI... never had it before and don't really have a great deal of interest in that.

 

Well apart from Ivy, the HM77 chipset doesn't really bring anything substantial to the table. If Ivy blew away SB then I'd be inclined to agree but I don't see the value there. I use wireless hdmi at home and love it, especially when I get the itch to play a game using a controller and wanna beam it to the big screen. Third drive for me isn't a big deal since I got external drives sitting around that I can plug in whenever I need them. Also don't forget, the 680s you can toss in the R1 murder the Dell 680M.

Well I guess if an R2 owner got a single 675M and tossed in two aftermarket 680M then R2 > R1 overall in performance, especially now that svl7 unlocked the bios for them. I'd be curious to see if the Dell throttling algorithm causes problems for any 680M in the R2 or is specific to a Dell 680M. So yeah I agree, if you're deciding between R1 and R2, then go with R2 with a base 675M and toss in two Clevo 680Ms for max performance (I don't think svl7 will be able to crack dell's throttle algorithm anytime soon). For us R1 owners with maxed out systems, R2 isn't worth it.

BTW I'll be grabbing a second 680M in a few weeks or sooner hopefully. Got my triple pipe CPU sink in today, its giving substantial gains in temperature vs the double pipe CPU sink which surprised me.

 

I can hardly wait to see how it runs in SLI.

I'm more optimistic that with the HM77 the R2 might see a BIOS update with the Intel RST 11.5 OROM. I kind of doubt we will see that coming our way from Alienware for the M18x R1 BIOS and HM67 chipset. That's the only real reason HM77 would interest me. You're right... hardly any difference in performance between SB and IB, and it seems that SB procs run cooler for the most part.

 

Pssssh come on Brother Fox, go read that thread on T|I. SVL7 is ready to add 11.5 OROM to the R1 bios

 

I read it... and I am eager to see if it works so we can have TRIM for SSD RAID0. I don't have a sample of the 11.5 OROM to give him yet. I had found it at another site before, but can't locate it again this evening. I suppose the question will be whether or not the size of the OROM will keep the physical size BIOS update within specs so it can be flashed successfully.

 

The chance of having 3 drives is nice but not too necessary for me could be useful for video editing but I do have my desktop for that as well .

Msata seems cool but ehhh... not the game changer for me ... though I am curious if there might be a benefit to a 3920xm with pcie3 vs the r1 and pcie 2 ??? I know on the desktop pcie version does not make a huge difference till HIGH res and 4 way sli gaming but I do not know as much about these cards and I will likely get a second clevo 680 as I already have 1 ...

Thanks for all the feedback and thoughts. I can get the r1 right now , but the reseller (have giftcard with them) might not get the r2 in for another few weeks ... and I am itching to put in the clevo 680, 2920xm , 512gb ssd and 32gb ram I have sitting around the office LOL ...

So the big difference seems to be the pcie speeds but will that make any difference?

I read somewhere that someone thought their r2 had a more vibrant screen than his r1, any one see them side by side?

At fry's the other day I saw the R1 and R2 next to each other and the keyboard bezel on the r2 seemed noticeably shinier which seemed cheaper looking than the bezel of the r1 to my eyes, and the rubberized coating on the palm rest seemed smoother and less grippy on the r2 than the r1 (not that one texture was preferable to me , they were just different) (only the r2 was powered on so I did not see their screens side by side)

I have not done the wireless display thing but I was considering getting a receiver or 2 for the tv and projector ... hmm that is something to consider
I will check this thread again in the AM in case there are any more good opinions ... thanks for the great opinions already posted!

 

The PCIe 3.0 has more bandwidth, but in real world use the PCIe 2.0 bandwidth is not being saturated. So, same thing you observed with desktops probably applies here. There may be a small gain in performance, but probably not a "game changing" experience. But still, more is generally better when it comes to performance, even if more is only a little bit. Several "little bits" can add up to something significant. Plus, you may have a longer upgrade path to take advantage of the next generation or two of GPUs whereas the PCIe 2.0 might not go as far down the upgrade path.

If the post you remember reading is the same one I remember reading, I believe that person had switched from AMD to NVIDIA. I noticed a much more vibrant display when I switched from 6990M CF to 580M SLI... it was a very noticeable improvement.

 

quick question: If I purchase single 680m and replace it over 2 6990m's , which side should I put it ? Or it doesn't matter?

By the way, I know that now Dell is not offering 680m for R1 users, so if I buy the 680m from Clenovo, is that possible for me to ship my laptop to Dell and they will do the GPU upgrade for me?

 

Where did you get the triple pipe cpu cooler???

When I ordered my dual pipe from dell USA they did not have any clue about the triple pipe one ... and I REALLY want one if it does cool better!!!

So how much cooler is it?

Again where did you get it?

If I can not get it here might you help me procure one ?


edit: general question for everyone , from what I gather I will be stuck at pcie 2.0 speeds if I buy the r2 and keep my 2920xm right?

If that is the case would the 3920xm be a better choice with the r2 or does heat really limit it's OC compaired to the 2920xm?

 

I don't know that the 2920XM affects the PCI-e speeds. I could be wrong, but the R2 should run PCI-e 3.0 regardless of the CPU installed.

Yes, the 3 pipe heat sink is much better with an XM CPU. A number of us have confirmed that already. In a highly overclocked mode it means the difference between completing a benchmark and thermal shutdown in some cases. Here is the info you need to order it from Dell: 0MXJ5 Heat Sink Assy, CPU QC XE M18XR2

3920XM is a fine CPU. It was limited by the locked down BIOS, but now that it is unlocked in the R2 it should be great. Still waiting to see M18x R2 owners with an unlocked BIOS show us what it is actually capable of doing. Everything I have read indicates Sandy Bridge CPUs run cooler than Ivy Bridge, so your 2-pipe heat sink probably would not be effective at cooling the 3920XM.

Yes, it does matter... It belongs on the left side as you are facing the laptop for normal use. You will need a new heat sink. It's the same one that a GTX 580M uses. Your 6990M heat sinks will not fit properly. Very unlikely Dell would install a Clevo GPU for you. Is this something you don't feel comfortable doing yourself?

 

Well I placed the order for two Clevo 680m's...I'm very nervous about installing them lol. It will definitely be quite the experience that's for sure. As far as the software side goes, joker can you tell me what I need to do before removing my 580's and after? I assume an uninstall of the 580 drivers are a no brainier. But what about installing the 680 drivers afterwards? Anything out of the ordinary in that step?


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Buy from outlet, it has 25% off right now 2600 to 3000 minus 25% of that and then plus tax should still be around my stated number. He will have to wait a bit until the 680 is available again but dell coupons comes up all the time. And I believe my post was to the OP not you so I'm not sure what relevance your system spec has to my post. If you buy parts from dell, yes its under warranty, but the OP was thinking of buying from ebay or clevo, that does NOT carry dell warranty, no way is dell going to warranty those cards, so if he screws up in installation, OC, or anything like that, dell may warranty his system but certainly not those two cards. Dell can also make the claim that the after market parts damaged the system and void the warranty that way, its happened before. In the end, its safer, less hassle, and probably cheaper depending on his luck, to buy a R2 from outlet with a coupon and sell his R1 then to try and get two 680m's with heatsink and fans.

 

Yeah, haha... Remember I just got my mother board and GPU changed. I think I messed up my laptop when I open it to re-install RAM. Now I'm kinda scare

 

I did a quick cursory search for Clevo 680m's and all I found were some single card setups from Upgrademonkey for $990..........so I have to ask, where are you guys finding these things for less?

 

The 4GB Clevo cards can be purchased from Eurocom. Expect to pay almost as much, maybe a little bit less than Upgrademonkey.

 

I bought mine for 830 a piece with all accessories and thermal paste. Without accessories they cost 790 iirc with Eurocom.


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I'm probably looking right at them and missing them, but could you post a link or PM a link to where they are on the Eurocom site? I can't find them anywhere.