New M11x R2 i7-680um motherboards in the grey market

There are currently two vendors on ebay selling the top of the line European spec'ed m11x R2 motherboards with the i7-680um processors on them, new:

NEW Original DELL Alienware M11x Motherboard Core i7 680UM R2 P/N WV01P | eBay
Alienware M11x Motherboard Core i7 680UM R2 P/N:WV01P | eBay

With expedited shipping coming out to $250 for either vendor. This seems like a nice upgrade path for i3 and i5 owners. I ordered from the first vendor's link because they have a 30 day policy vs 3 days for the other one.

 

Wow, is it reliable?

This is tempting!

 

I should get the motherboard next Wednesday or Thursday and then post some more details, unless a board member in Texas receives it before I do. I plan on redoing the heatsink paste, so I'll know if these are really i7-680UM and then next issue is to jam it in my refurb m11x R2 to determine if it actually works.

 

Are you able to put this in an R1? I know there's some extra/different ports that may not line up on the right side, but would it technically fit and basically turn it into an r2?

 

Can't wait to see the results!

 

to bad they sell these parts only in the US and Canada...

 

This is not true imo , maybe not about Motherboard , but a friend of mine asked dell to buy a new GPU for his M17X a few month ago, they said they could sell it to him , and send them for him to " DIY ".

In France ...

 

Any updates?

 

Has anybody got this mobo and are benchmarks available?

 

I'm eager to see if anyone has had any luck with this mobo/processor.

Is it as easy as dropping it in? or is there a more complex install process required?

 

Hello,
I bought the motherboard for my Alienware M11xR1 and the side ports are definately different. This information was found out first hand, because the dell representative told me that an R2 would fit in an R1. I should have known better than to trust Dell Support -_-

So when I got my new i7 motherboard I was pretty excited. I took my m11x apart and tried putting it in the case and... it wouldn't fit. I even tried grinding away with a dremel for hours to see if I could get the new motherboard to fit, and by the time I was finished. I was displeased with the look of the case. So I went and bought a bottom case off of the internet.But the new parts didn't stop there. You also have to buy a hard drive adapter which dell was out of stock of (said they should have some in by nov 31, 2011.) You also need other parts. So here is the list.

If you want to upgrade your m11xr1 to an R2 (Fully) you will need the following:

Things marked with * have no way around buying them

*New Motherboard (obviously)
*New Audio Board(the old one will fit if you try hard enough, but just the USB ports work, not audio)
*New Bottom Case Assembly
*Hard Drive cage
Keyboard (ribbon shape is different)
*Caddy adapter (adapter to fit from the hard drive to the motherboard)
New Bottom Plate (the plate that covers the memory, battery, etc)
New upper assembly (touchpad assembly)

the whole project will run you around 500 USD, but I believe it to be worth it for the experience and being able to say that you built your Alienware.

Also if anyone was wondering... you can skip a couple parts off the list but you will need to mod the design of the case. For example I just bought the hard drive adapter and not the cage. So I took my old one and trimmed off the old tabs from the side. And machined one that would fit. (you could also use rubber tape on either side of the hard drive cage to hold the drive in place through friction.)

I also kept the original bottom plate. You will have to cut the tabs off, and take out a couple of screws. Using a double sided adhesive on th inside of the case will make the plate stay latched if it is sagging on the corner near the fan grill. Or you can created new holes by just piloting them and lightly using a punch to create an indentation so the screw is flush.

The other thing you can keep is the touchpad upper assembly. Just trim a little bit of the plastic near the keyboard ribbon connector so you can access the Keyboard LED Connector. You will see what I mean when you take it apart.

You can also keep the keyboard from the R1, but you will have to bend the ribbon cable a bit to get it to fit in the motherboard connector.

The coolest thing about upgrading from an R1 to an R2 is that I didn't have to re-install Windows 7! ^.^

 

So what's it like, performance wise...

 

It's pretty good, runs battlefield 3 okay. One thing I should mention is the i7 is 2 cores 4 threads for this chip. not 4 cores 8 threads

 

Can you post a CPU-Z screenshot?
Thanks

 

Here is the screen shot, you could have also gone to intel's website if you looked at the motherboard description on the original poster's link and seen what processor it was.

 

can someone tell me the difference between these 2.


This is what i have.

it locks up really bad.
i tried to run memtest on it and it locks up under a boot disk.
the research i have done i think the board is bad???
I7640UM-K0, M11XR2
P2PCP


MOD NOTE: No advertising outside the NBR Marketplace.

 

oops did not release i was advertizing.

any way can so,me on tell mew the difference between.

this board i am looking to buy Core i7 680UM R2 P/N:WV01P

to replace this board witch i think is bad I7 640UM-K0, M11XR2
P2PCP

 

Almost nothing. They should be exactly the same, just 1 uses a revised CPU. For a replacement it should work, but as an upgrade it would be pointless as they are almost identical.

 

thanks i think my board is bad .
it will lock up even under a memory test boot disk.
guaranteed lockup if you try to transfer files

 

It could be the RAM or HDD, both a hell of alot cheaper than replacing your entire systemboard.

 

yep i have new ram coming today for 8 gig upgrade it was cheap.

also ordered the new 750 HD.
will do that first.

 

Nice! Where did you find the 8gb ram?? Also the 750? I've been searching like crazy and been doing a lot of research, don't know if I'll do a 512gb SSD ($799 cheapest I found which is stupid insane) or just a large HD for way less.

 

Or maybe just get a 128GB M4 for ~$100? Why does it have to be go big or go home? What's wrong with not storing hundreds of GB of stuff on the hard drive?

Ever since SSD's came out i've been using them (started with a 60GB G.Skill Phoenix PRO, now on a 128GB Crucial M4) and regardless of going through 200GB of downloads every month my SSD never fills. You just need space management and a decent external drive.

SSD's are not for storage, there's really no reason to get anything above a 256GB.

 

this is what i got.
it did not fix the lockup so looks like a new motherboard.

yep i did a windows 7 install from scratch


Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 2.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Solid State Hybrid Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822148837
Standard Return Policy

$154.99
1

CORSAIR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory Model CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9
Item #: N82E16820145281
Memory Standard Return Policy

$44.99


got oit from Newegg