ALIENWARE Area-51 m17x Graphics Cards Upgrade Options

These days I am doing a research to replace my 8800 GTX SLI cards (which are not working by the way) with some better options. I have narrowed down my options to following

1. NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M
2. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M
3. Nvidia GeForce GTX 9800M

I have spent a lot of time going through various posts as well as on internet to decide what will be suitable for my system but to be honest I am confused. My original SLI cards were fried because of heating issue (my wife placed the laptop in a 'confined space' with no air circulation option during cleaning) and I have wasted a lot of money getting them repaired (apparently the person was a fraud and I had to involve police to recover my laptop), so I will really need your support.

I have also contacted MXM notebooks and waiting for their reply but in parallel I am also looking for other options.

Can anyone specify any non-compatibility for above mentioned cards to my system for me to exclude it and further narrow the options.

Many Thanks

 

Dual GTX 280m is a possibility

Your other option would be dual 4850. It should work but you never know offcourse!

Cheapest option would be dual 8800m/9800m, the other options will cost you way too much.

 

i contacted MXM and they said that they haven't made a 280m SLI yet... just a thought

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...area-51-m17x-dual-gtx280m-project-thread.html

No fancontrol and not that much faster (no sli cable reduces performance a bit).

The only viable option is a 8800m sli setup imo. (I know i have a 280m but i managed to get it at 8800m price )

 

Many Thanks for the comments,

Well, I intend to use SLI only if I opted to use 9800m or else I will go only one card. Performance will be a bit slow but I am OK with that. That I why I added FX 3800M to the options

Thanks

 

The FX 3800m is an MXM 3.0 card so it won't work in your m17x.

I tried an FX 3700m myself. It works fine with the m17x except for hdmi. The only working bios i found was a 280m bios (other gave no 3d clocks). And for some reason it doesn't recognize the HDMI output.

A real 280m works perfect if you flash an 9800m bios. 280m clocks + shaders + 1gb of memory but with a 9800m name (i tried hdmi, even audio works).

The only problem is the lack of fancontrol. I asked someone for help but it needs a biosmod and it's not easy.

I myself am downgrading to a 8800m myself since its way too annoying

 

I think the gtx280m's are "alot" faster Im getting between 5-10 fps improvements in games. I think some games have caps on fps as ive seen no improvement in fps in the original Crysis and the newest star wars, however I can max out the detail and maintain 30 FPS???

Yes having the fans maxed out is a little loud but the hot GTX280m's only reach 65 under heavy gaming.

 

price <=> performance

Ideal upgrade would be 2x fx 3700m but i could not get mine working with any other bios then the 280m. I had an HP fx 3700m, maybe a Lenovo one might work. It's a different pcb.

What we need is a someone to make us custom cards. 9800m pcb for optimal compatibility and a working sli connection. Fx 3800m core (binned at 675mhz) - 1.2ghz DDR and an maybe a small overvolt.

Anyone?

Btw usmc, any idea where i can find a relativly cheap SLI cable. i have a 8800m in the mail and i might have found an 8800pm from a dead m15x really cheap. (and i have 2 heatsinks). Now just the cable for optimal performance!

 

True Frag the GTX 280m can be pricey no doubut. The 9800m gt is really a beast that was underated due to the hit or miss nature on the life span of the cards. You shouldnt have to be an expert to keep them running smoothe.

There are a few 9800m sli cables on ebat, search 9800m, they should fit as the form factors for the 8800 and 9800 "apear" to be exactly the same.

 

Thanks guys for the comments. I was in favor of 9800 but these seem scarce. Also you can find 280/285 GTX in same price.

I am unable to understand one thing (apologies for noob question in advance), why flash the cards with other bios like 9800 or even 8800. What is the problem with original bios.

 

280m bios

- no hdmi
- no sli

both work with a 8800/9800m bios.

 

So can I use one 280 GTX without any issues .. right ?

Will I need to flash it ?

 

and one more thing, is there any difference between Area-51 m17x & Area-51 M17x. I am hoping it is just a typo.

 

there is a

area 51 m17x alienware mxm 2.1 - comes with nvidia cards

area 51 m17 alienware mxm 2.1 - comes with ati cards

all powerfull m17x - dell/alienware with mxm 3.0

 

Thanks a lot, for me its first one.

Now can i use 280 GTX (single card only without SLI)

 

Yes but remember, no fancontrol! You'll have to cut the blue and yellow wire to make the fan run at 100%.


Loud but it does provide a better overclock .

And i'd flash a 9800m gt bios, use nibitor to set 280m clocks and if you want to overclock it's possible to overvolt to 1.05v.

as i said before 9800m bios = working hdmi.

 

Great, thanks a lot ....

hope i find a better deal on ebay

I will need some help with flashing but after I manage to get spare card

 

It's actually:
all powerful M17x Dell/Alienware

 

Ask any questions you have. I have the swap that members are referring to. It took me about 5 months to get it running right, Ive done and experienced it all with the GTX28om and the area 51 m17x. Ive got two GTX280m's running in SLI, with HDMI, thats play the most modern games maxed out. If you want automated fan control, run your older card in the slave spot. The computer will use the slave card to monitor and adjust fan sppeds.

 

The M17 ATI 4850 cards inside an Area 51 M17x do not work. There is no display response or fan life.
On a positive note, I recently discovered that an X9100 SLB48 cpu does work! with my own variation of the Naton FSB downclock pin mod to change the clock from 266 to 200 (is this a first for the ol' M17x?). This is not a mod for the faint hearted tho.