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.

    alienware 18 question

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by nationalwheel, Mar 4, 2016.

  1. nationalwheel

    nationalwheel Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    16
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    6
    So I was looking at the Alienware site, specifically the 18 laptop. I see they no longer offer the 980m's, only the 970m's. So I hooked up with chat, the person there told me that for now the 970m is the most stable for the new architecture they're using. They are working on the compatibility for the 980m. Has anyone had issues with the Alienware 18 with 980m's? Thank you for reply.
     
    nationalwheel, Mar 4, 2016
    #1
  2. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

    Reputations:
    1,708
    Messages:
    5,820
    Likes Received:
    4,311
    Trophy Points:
    431
    Lol. I have my Alienware 18 shipped in December 2015 with 980Ms from the factory and they work fine 100%

    Most likely Dell is having supply issues for the 980M, or will be phasing them out. It was a limited model after all.
     
    Raidriar, Mar 4, 2016
    #2
  3. Scanner

    Scanner Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    180
    Messages:
    877
    Likes Received:
    270
    Trophy Points:
    76


    More than likely it is a shortage of the 980m. As one of the people that had 980ms in their AW18, before Dell was selling them--YES, there are problems with the 980m in the 18. Some people report the 2nd GPU fan will stop working resulting in high temps and shut downs, others don't get full performance and others will say its great. The problems can be worked around, hwinfo app for 2nd fan problem, and Prema vbios for throttling issues.
     
    Scanner, Mar 4, 2016
    #3
  4. nqduy

    nqduy Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    44
    Likes Received:
    8
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Hey @Scanner, can I run 970m SLI without any issues (hint: 980m SLI issues)? Any heatsink mod required?
    Thank you!
     
    nqduy, Mar 5, 2016
    #4
  5. Scanner

    Scanner Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    180
    Messages:
    877
    Likes Received:
    270
    Trophy Points:
    76

    I honestly do not know. The rush was to get the 980m working and the 970m was skipped over.
     
    Scanner, Mar 5, 2016
    #5
  6. pathfindercod

    pathfindercod Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,940
    Messages:
    2,344
    Likes Received:
    2,349
    Trophy Points:
    181
    I'm pretty sure the issue is the bios issued and maxwell. So being a 970 or 980 is going to more than likely have the same outcome.
     
    pathfindercod, Mar 6, 2016
    #6