Success! Alienware 18 + GTX 1060

So I successfully finished my upgrade to 1060 on my Alienware 18! Thought id give a detailed write up on how I did it.

First I had to get an unlocked bios, luckily @Raidriar has released the Alienware 18 A12 Unlocked bios, which I got here.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/release-alienware-18-bios-a12-unlocked.802249/

So after that, I needed to set the video mode to SG (Switchable Graphics) , and then shut down the pc, and tear it down and install my new 1060! (Note- you need a modified heatsink, I obtained mine from @woodzstack along with my 1060)

After booting up, I needed to install modified nvidia drivers. just editing one .inf like most tutorials told me to didnt do anything besides let the driver install, but unfortunately it wouldn't swap to using the video card.

that's where @ssj92 linked me to this page,
https://premamod.wordpress.com/2017/08/15/j95-nvidia-inf/
which while it was a little hard to figure out, just download the first two download links,

Then use DDU to uninstall the current driver if installed, (just the nvidia driver)

Then disable driver signing, (just google disable driver signing)

Then open the 398.11 driver, then whilst its extracting, (copy the inf's from the zip file into the display.driver folder in the location you are extracting it to, and the setup.cfg to the main folder, replacing the original setup.cfg and all the inf files. (only nvdmi.inf is required to copy, but i just copied them all for ease)

and after the install, reboot, and it should all work perfect! ^.^

Big thanks to @Raidrair @woodzstack @ssj92 and anyone else who helped me along the way, thank you! ^.^


https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/27049916?

 

Looking good

https://www.3dmark.com/fs/15564093

 

I want too!

https://www.3dmark.com/fs/14108705

 

Great news for me, i have to do the same shortly, for the moment i bought the left 100W AMD heatsink which should be compatible straight away

 

where did you buy your 1060 from ? thanks

 

@encor50 @woodzstack sold it to me, along with a modified heatsink. Pleasure to buy from, great communication.

From what I read on the 1070 mod, the amd still required alittle bit of grinding down, helps to reduce the pressure put on the pcb as well.

@giogrig but yeah apart from alittle bit of bios testing, Im having no problems apart from thermals, which I think i just need some better paste. plus the fan wont max out ever. but its working great.

 

Keep us posted, I want to upgrade to the gtx 1060 that should easily fit in the 100w amd heatsink, so you’re experience it’s very important.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

is that an MSI card?

 

I believe so.

 

Is it a black card?

 

https://store.alezka.com/laptop-gpu...xm-msi.html#/g0warranty-full_90_days_warranty

this'll be the card here. so yep

 

How's the heat under load? Also, any issues with stability in Windows 10? One of my m290x's has just died, so I'm looking at either single 1060 or 980m sli. The cost of sli is making me consider the 1060 option, but I use the PC for work as well so need it to be stable.

 

It was getting hot but i was using silver 5, i ordered GC-Extreme that just arrived today, so ill give you more solid numbers late tonight.

Ive had 0 stability problems since getting it up and running. running windows 10 from the start

 

Sorry it was grizzly Kryonaut. same difference. No stability problems, and playing pubg at 1080p med settings (uncapped, didnt test other settings) cpu and gpu were 70C-75C,

 

any news, how is it going so far ? did u changed the thermal paste ?

btw the 1060 is 100w TDP ?

 

Its going really well! no problems at all and I did use the grizzly Kryonaut, and it worked wonderfully. never get over 80C these days waiting for a custom cooler to get here in the mail in the next day or so i hope, and ill be able to test if it increases my cooling potential or not and i read somewhere online the TDP is similar if not alittle below the 970m, witch is 80w

 

so you're using a 75W cooler or the 100W version ?

 

TDP of the MSI 1060 is 75w, however the draw is mostly smthing around 80w regarding to HW-Info.

 

I was using at 100W cooler, which id recommend, but now technically i think im using a 200W cooler

But with the 100W cooler i was still getting pretty toasty, so id recommend it over the 75W cooler for sure.

 

tell me more about this ----> "but now technically i think im using a 200W cooler" ?

 

hehe im going to make a post about it soon, but I had a beefed up gpu cooler made

 

ookk keep me posted pls !

 

@ColaMonster hey man im in the same situatuin as you were but the links have expired i believe, any way to get a hold?

 

Which links weren't working? I'm around always

 

hi @ColaMonster i did manage to find the zip files but im a bit lost as to which one to get for my alienware m18x r2, should be same as all 18x but there are so many zip files
Also wondering as to all nvidia drivers are fine now or some are a no go

 

So I believe you are going to need to download the the optimus zip and pair it with a nvidia driver of the same one, like v398.1 , so youll have two zips

and after you install the drivers this way, so optimus works, you can update up to current

 

So in that case do i nit delete the optimus folder in the zip?

 

I personally copied every single file from the folder over to where they went in the driver

 

The optimus folder is in the driver though

 

Yes but you need to put the modified folders downloaded into the corresponding downloaded driver, after you disable ddu and start the install

 

just tried it and unforunately doesnt seem to work for me, not compatible hardware it says :/
perhaps i need a certain driver for m18x r2

 

disable driver signing, (just google disable driver signing)


You are skipping that step and you can't

 

hey
no i didn't skip that step all preparation steps were good. Im thinking that i maybe messed up on the profile inspector part and will try that again, however i am not getting all the menus described in the guide

 

Follow my steps, you don't need the inspector part

Just need to disable driver signatures, copy the folders of modified files over after the driver extraction completes, then continue the install after copying it

You just need the files from the site, follow my steps more

 

will try again before before it gets too late

 

I'll look at my steps later and try seeing if I can word them better

 

could it have something to do with the specific driver? i do believe i need an optimus inf could be something along those lines mby, or the reverse that i don't need it

 

Btw i did manage to reinstall the driver its just not using the card

 

Basically make sure you are replacing the infs that arlready exist in the driver


And if you don't reboot into disable driver signature checking mode it won't let you install the driver

 

@ColaMonster Tried again today and finally made it work
The result is however not very impressive as i seem to be getting the same performance from my 1060 as i did my dual 7970.
Also i cant seem to be able to use the 1060 for display so my external 144hz monitor is stuck as 110 :/

 

Well, two cards = the performance of one card is pretty good, means lower heat, lower power consumption, ect.

and what issue are you having, in what game is it stuck at 110?

 

@ColaMonster if my 2 7970m were the same as a gtx 1060 i would have never ever bought it, especially as it doesnt allow me to take full advantage of my fairly expensive monitor which my 7970's did. Im getting about 180 fps in OW in training on lowest settings, and i was stuck in the 110 in dota 2 which i dont get as it shouldnt be that demanding

 

what cpu are you running? dota 2 is like League, which with a 1060 im bottlenecked by my cpu, not my gpu.

 

3730 qm or smthing along those lines. The things is i get double the frames with same cpu and 7970s

 

Can you run something like 3DMark Firestrike or 3DM11 so we can see what scores your system is getting?

 

That is why I was eyeballing the 1070 to replace the dual 980s in my M18x... that thing is burning hot on my lap. I had to get a new lap stand with fans... Also, I haven't replayed The Witcher 3 yet but I recall my single PSU getting tripped and having to unplug/wait/plug back in while playing.

Homer

 

Well i rly never had any problems with 7970s as i just wanted the upgrade for raw performance but if 1060 requires me to be stuck at 110 hz with my external monitor i dont rly care how mich of a performance boost im gonna get

 

https://www.3dmark.com/fs/16292654

seems to be scoring a little bit higher then me old crossfire setup.

Unfortunately getting about the same or less in dota 2 and csgo which i play mainly and the reduced interactivity with my external monitor is a problem for me

 

Congratulations!

 

I still dont understand what you mean by you are stuck at 110hz. are you using mini displayport? is it 110fps your stuck at (software wise) or hz, like hardware issue? Nvidia issue?

if its FPS cap, check settings for a fpscap, (if none, check in config file for a fps cap)
also check if its a cpu bottlecap.