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    Ray Tracing on Alienware 18 - RTX 3000 MXM Upgrade!

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by ssj92, Jan 8, 2022.

  1. ssj92

    ssj92 Neutron Star

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    Just like on my M18xR2 (can be found here): http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/ray-tracing-on-m18xr2-rtx-3000-mxm-upgrade.837027/

    I am basically running Adlink RTX 3000 MXM + Velociraptor (SK 1TB NVMe) MXM

    Wi-Fi 6E Mini PCIe Card

    32GB DDR3L 1600Mhz

    4930MX @ 4Ghz

    Internal display can be overclocked to 90Hz

    Most information is similar to that thread.

    One thing I will say is the AW18 heatsink needs to be dremeled (bottom VRAM area) so instead I used a spare M18xR2 100w heatsink. No mods needed with that one.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    ssj92, Jan 8, 2022
    #1
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  2. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

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    Nice upgrade. I would like to do the same to mine but I really can’t fathom sinking another $600 into a platform from 2012
     
    Raidriar, Jan 9, 2022
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  3. ssj92

    ssj92 Neutron Star

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    The card retails for $1,534 directly from Adlink so from a price point the card is a good deal, especially considering prices of current desktop gpus.

    You have 980M SLI in your M18xR2 no? Might be worthwhile to sell that and use the difference to get rtx 3000 at least for one. I can play every game on my m18x r2 at 1080p no issue even battlefield 2042 with ray tracing on. Although to be fair I hardly game, upgrading and doing these things is more fun.
     
    ssj92, Jan 9, 2022
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  4. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

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    Yes I share your enthusiasm for doing the upgrades just as a proof of concept. Unfortunately I don't really sell parts anymore. I got conned out of a GTX 680M and a motherboard on ebay so if I can't sell the parts locally, I just hold on to them.
     
    Raidriar, Jan 9, 2022
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  5. @tomX

    @tomX Notebook Evangelist

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    @ssj92 are you also getting voltage loss on the Velociraptor MXM Nvme port?
     
    @tomX, Jan 10, 2022
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  6. ssj92

    ssj92 Neutron Star

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    What do you mean by voltage loss?

    It powers every SSD I've thrown at it (SK Hynix 1TB, 1TB Samsung 980 Pro, 1TB Samsung 970 Evo+) and @UltraGSM has also tried many drives including 2TB drives.

    The only issue it has in both 18 and M18xR2 is constant power usage. Even when the laptop is off it drains the battery. On the M18xR2 this isn't as big of an issue since battery can easily be swapped out but on 18 it's more of a pain.
     
    ssj92, Jan 10, 2022
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  7. @tomX

    @tomX Notebook Evangelist

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    this is what i'm talking about. their should not be a battery drain when the laptop is off... don't know hat to do to fix it...
     
    @tomX, Jan 19, 2022
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  8. ssj92

    ssj92 Neutron Star

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    @UltraGSM has somewhat of an idea how to fix it. It requires soldering
     
    ssj92, Jan 20, 2022
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  9. @tomX

    @tomX Notebook Evangelist

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    now you got me excited!
     
    @tomX, Jan 22, 2022
    #9