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.

    Which version of AW 18 do I have?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by Zeck, Mar 12, 2021.

  1. Zeck

    Zeck Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    15
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    6
    How do we tell the difference between AW 18 R1/R2 and so on? I have an AW 18 that I got in 2015. I not it's not an M18. How do I know which one I have?

    My intent here is to upgrade my dual GTX 860m cards to GTX 970m cards. I have the most recent BIOS (A15) from Dell so I believe(?) that it will support the 970 cards.

    Any help is appreciated.
     
    Zeck, Mar 12, 2021
    #1
  2. Tenoroon

    Tenoroon Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    149
    Messages:
    749
    Likes Received:
    583
    Trophy Points:
    106
    Your Alienware is an Alienware 18 Viking, also known as the Alienware M18X R3. You should be able to upgrade to dual 970M's if they have the SLI connector and are by Dell, but you might be better off getting a GTX 1060 or 1070. @Maxware79 knows a lot more about the Alienware 18's than I do, so he should be able to help out.
     
    Tenoroon, Mar 13, 2021
    #2
  3. M18x-oldie

    M18x-oldie Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    14
    Messages:
    385
    Likes Received:
    129
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Yeah, better leave that dual path behind you and go single card, 980m, 1060, 1070, cause there's no sense at all going dual. Games supporting SLI are a VERY few numbers.
    The 980m should be supported natively, so also no messing around with driver modding and it runs on PEG.

    And with the second MXM slot you could try the NVME mod, for example.
     
    M18x-oldie, Mar 14, 2021
    #3
  4. Maxware79

    Maxware79 Alienware died in 2014

    Reputations:
    218
    Messages:
    1,277
    Likes Received:
    944
    Trophy Points:
    131
    There is only one official version of the 18.
    Some people call the 18 with the 800 series cards the 18 R2 and the 18 with the 900's the 18 R3 but these are unofficial titles.

    Yes, it you have the latest BIOS then it should support the 900 series.

    I'd agree with just going for a single card rather than SLI. It's a waste of money and you can probably buy a single 1060 for around the price of two 970M's.
     
    Maxware79, Mar 14, 2021
    #4