Alienware Area-51 m15x (2009 release) video card upgrade

Will an m15x support an ATI Mobility Radeon 4850? If its a slave card, will it still work?

Power consumption of 45-65W, so temperatures should stay relatively cool.

What heatsink will work for it?

 

As far as I know, no one here tried it. 4850's are pretty hard to come by and there are risks of bios limitations.

benfclark on this forum tried the 4870, it didn't really work so this option is out of the question.

Now if you're in possession of a 4850 or are willing to track one down and try, your input would be much appreciated because it's a question to which I would like to have an answer too.
Just make sure it's an MXM type 2 card.

Master and slave are only important in crossfire, for a single card it shouldn't matter, your card will just show up as a 4850x2 (can be fixed by a gpu bios flash).

As for the heatsink, looking at pictures of 4850 I think that the one from the 3870 should fit it good if not perfectly.

 

so why wouldn't it work in the m15x? heat? The bios should recognize it.

Also, its a MXM III 2.1 card, has the same type of memory, same bus width, same DirectX and Shader Model, and just a little higher of a power consumption as the ATI Mobility Radeon 3870.

I don't get why the BIOS wouldn't recognize it if it can recognize the quadro 3600m and 3700m, and the nvidia 8800m gtx, 9800m gtx, 260m and 280m, and the ATI 3870. The ATI 4850 is right in the same range of those cards. ALSO!!!......The 3870, originally released in the m17-R1, can work in the m15x, so why can't the 4850?

Take a look here:

----- AMD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850 - Notebookcheck.net Tech

and the chart for graphics cards, look for the cards stated above. ------
Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List - Notebookcheck.net Tech

and if heat is a problem, I have super-special thermal paste and a laptop cooler to make sure it stays low.

AND ADDING ON TO ALL OF THIS......The ATI cards still have driver support, unlike the Nvidia cards. That makes it all the better.

 

no need for 3 different threads...

 

well........sorry about that. But still, are my opinions firm or is there disbelief?

Has anyone tried putting one of these in?

 

I quote myself:

The heat wouldn't be an issue, it should run cooler than the 280 but the chip architecture is different from the 3870 whereas the nvidia cards are based on the same architecture. This is where the BIOS comes in play: there's a possibility that it will work of course but as there are incompatibility risks, no one bothered yet.

You're right, there are 4850's in the m17 but the motherboard chipset is different. As you may know, 4870 is also an option in the m17 but it doesn't work in the m15.

I'm really curious about the outcome myself so if you have the chance to try, I say go for it but don't blame me if it doesn't work afterwards. I'd love to put one of these in mine but I'm not risking it until I have confirmation.

 

You said something about chip architecture. What do you mean by this?

That it might not fit in the slot properly or in the system?
Also, the motherboards are different in the M17x, not the m17x, and the 280m can fit in those. So just as an example, people took the 280m's out of the M17x and put them in the Area-51 m15x. Yes I know these are Nvidia cards, based on the same architecture, but still I think of what is the best deal and if it will work. So far I think I will work.

And actually, I did buy one. It was $200 because I got the price lowered. The only thing about it was it is used, but I think that just means its tested in a machine. I contacted the seller and asked him, and I am waiting for a reply.

The heatsink I am going to get for it is the one I stated in the previous posts. It should fit, and the card I hope will work.

Even if the card does not work, a 7 day warranty is offered so if I test it and it doesn't work, I can send it back and get a full refund.

THAT sounds like a good deal. $200 for the card, 7 day warranty, and full money back.

A PICTURE OF THE CARD AND THE HEATSINK I AM BUYING FOR IT

 

Chip architecture is how the processor itself is made, transistors and everything. It has nothing to do with the slot. The card on the picture will fit without any problems.

Laptop BIOSes, unlike desktop motherboards are programmed for a select few graphic cards, but there's no harm in trying
If it works, it'll be the best ATI option (best option period considering the issues on nvidia cards) for the m15x!

I'll wait for an update, I'm more and more curious.

 

So you have one yourself? If so, how much did you buy it for?

And in relation to that, how many of these cards are still sold on the market? I only found one.

If it was used, even for a week, or just tested, would you buy it for $200?

 

If I had one, I'd have already put it in a long time ago, there's virtually no risk involved in trying it out. I just didn't want to buy one and find it useless afterwards.

These cards are pretty rare. In your case, you had a pretty good price, I'd probably buy one for that price too (shipping to europe preferably included).

If you confirm that it works, I'll certainly be on the prowl for one yeah...

 

So if you found one of these 4850's, and it was for a reasonable price, lets say like the one I got, would you buy it if it was used? This meaning only for a few weeks. What about if it was a test, to see if it still worked after a while?

And if it had a 7 day warranty, so you could test it out and make sure it worked, would you still buy it?

This is what I am going through right now, and I already had the price lowered to $200 from $300. The problem is my parents are telling me I shouldn't buy a used card.

 

I don't think that you can still buy this card new unless you know someone who knows someone

If you were buying a nvidia card like the 8800GTX, you'd have to be caerful because these cards are known to be faulty and you could get a reflowed one which will work for a week.

But in this case, you're buying an ATI card, which as far as I know doesn't have any known issues. If it works, it will work that's what I'm saying.

If I had some spare cash and found an offer like yours, sure I'd buy it. Even more so if it had a return policy. Hell my desktop radeon 4870x2 was bought used and no issues for 4 years...

 

Yes, that is what I am trying to explain to my dad. He says he would never buy anything used because it is usually faulty or bad if its sold used.

But I keep telling him that I think its just listed used because its been tested in a system. I have yet to find out from the seller.

This one guy I am talking to on the forums said he tried a 4850 in the Alienware M9750 and it worked! So I don't see why it wouldn't work in the m15x.

 

That actually gives me hope, the M9750 being an older laptop...

Anyways, tell your dad to go check ebay and other second hand item sales, over the years I've had a few mishaps related to that but it's insignificant next to the money I saved on buying used items (and this goes from clothing to electronics).

In this world we live in today, few people actually keep items from new to completely used up... especially in the domain of computers as it evolves constantly.

 

So guys I have some rather disappointing news. I did not want to go through with buying the 4850 used for $200. I really wanted to test it out, but it turns out they are so so so so rare to get in NEW condition that I couldn't find any. So thanks to niffcreature, I am most likely now going to get a GeForce 160m. I think it is a good card and it is in NEW condition.

I was hoping to give the 4850 a test in the m15x, but sadly I couldn't go through with it because it might have fried my motherboard or worse if I tried.

To anyone that is pursuing to test it in the future, give me a holler when you try it out so I can see if my efforts would have been in vain.

Thanks.

 

Wait....What?! It wouldn't do anything to you computer, as I said, no harm in trying out.

But it's your call and at least you'll be sure that it works. By the way, didn't you mean a geforce 260? If you mean 160, be careful to get the connector on the right side so the card wouldn't end up upside down.

Could you PM me where you found the radeon 4850? I might take a leap of faith myself...

 

There are two MXM 2.1 mobility 4870 in the marketplace for an awesome price here if you want:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/com...-video-cards-mxm-3-0-6990s-mxm-2-1-4870s.html

 

As checked by benfclark, the radeon 4870 does not work (or at least in his case), although if he'd be willing to test, I'd be interested in the results. The prices are good I have to admit that!

 

Oh, that's a bummer, sorry about that.
Would be nice to test one with a 4850 vBIOS, no?

 

We aren't certain the 4850 works either, that's even more of a bummer...