Alienware m15x Upgrade! Please help me :)

Hey guys,

I have the Alienware m15x and I would like to upgrade its components. It has Q 820 processor (1.73 GHz, with a turbo boost of 3.1 GHz), I have a GTX Nvidia 260m graphics card, 500gb, and 6gb of memory. I was thinking of upgrading the GRAPHICS CARD; however, my budget is around 320$. Could you guys please tell me what my best option is for an upgrade. Everything needs to be a TOTAL OF 320$ with the Graphics card, socket, Paste...etc..

Thank You Guys for your help, I will really appreciateit

 

The rest of your components seem ok and a cpu upgrade to a 920xm or 940xm would take up most of your budget. Focus on the graphics card as you suggest.
Best thing to do is to check out the NBR Marketplace as laptop graphics cards occasionally pop up here for sale and can be bargains!

Your options in ascending price order are:
gtx 460m (definitely still an upgrade from a 260m)
gtx 560m (some tweaking required)
5870m
6970m (great value and plug & play)
6990m (these are still expensive new but I picked up a used Clevo one from the marketplace for less than $200).
gtx 660m (some tweaking required and you may struggle to get one for your budget but a great overclocker)!

Take a look on eBay and also keep a close eye on the marketplace!

 

Thanks for the help, I will look into the 6970m a little bit more. What other items would I have to buy, once I buy the card? And what do I have to do?

 

It depends. What games do you want to play? You should be able to manage new titles such as Bioshock Infinite on High with a i7 820Q and 6970m with the components you already have.
There is someone selling a gtx 675m in the marketplace right now! http://forum.notebookreview.com/computer-components/716086-fs-nvidia-675m-gtx.html
I'd try to wangle the price down a bit maybe but that could be a good option but would require some some driver tweaking. You may need to lower voltages in the vBIOS also as the power draw on this card would be high!

6970m wouldn't require any tweaking and should be cheaper!

Check the link in my sig on how to upgrade cpu and gpu in M15x.

 

460m is the best card officially supported by us. The 6970 would be a really good upgrade though. If you need pricing details send us an e-mail to [email protected]

 

hello

Good config M15X I7 820QM+ GTX 675MX



Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-820QM Processor ,Alienware 00g5vt score: P6127 3DMarks

 

Hi everyone. Recently upgraded from Nvidia gtx260m to AMD Radeon HD 6900M Series. Running Crysis 2 (yes, I know I'm a bit late) on Ultra graphics setting. I am a bit worried as the GPU temperature is reaching 80-82 degrees and the right fan-side of my M15x gets heated a lot. The laptop even turned off on its own once. I have also cleaned the fans recently.

Any suggestions on how to get lower temperatures?

 

That card runs really hot! Is it a clevo or dell card? If you're not sure take a look in gpu-z. Sounds like a dell card from the thermal shutdowns.
It may be that the heatsink isn't putting enough pressure on the chip to effectively transfer heat. Maybe try some better thermal paste such as ICD24?
A good paste job can make a big difference!

 

@ fatboyslimerr

I thought so! It is a Dell card.. I tried looking up ICD24 on eBay to no avail. Seems like Artic Silver 5 is very popular. Do you recommend that? Also, sorry for being a pain, but is there a re-pasting video that you personally recommend?

 

Artic Silver 5 is good but ICD24 is better. Also try searching for ICD7, its the same paste just less of it.
There is a seller on eBay in Canada that ships internationally.

Check the link in my signature that shows how to upgrade. Ignore those bits and skip to the part where he re-pastes.
I believe a small pea-sized blob on the die works best (not spreading) then gently lay heatsink on top and give it a light wiggle.

 

Sweet! Shall do. I know how I'm going to spend my weekend now. Thanks, again.

 

(update)

Well, I bought thermal paste, isopropyl alcohol and was all excited for the paste job....the problem is that I couldn't get access the GPU. I have followed instructions on that video but there's always 1-2 screws which won't budge. I bought 2-3 sets of screwdrivers to no avail.

I contacted Dell AU and they advised to take it to their service centre. The service centre called me back saying that there are no issues with the GPU and all their tests ran perfectly fine!!

The laptop heats up a lot on the right side when I play Alan Wake or Metro Last Light and eventually shuts down after 20 minutes of continuous gaming, So frustrated with this! I have tried the following things:

1. Cooling pad
2, Elevated the back side for ventilation
3. Re-installed drivers
4. Changing in-game graphics to Medium or Low
5. Cleaning vents often with compressed air... .. all this to no avail.

Now, I am also facing issues with adjusting brightness after updating to Windows 8.1. Brightness doesn't change at all.

I am sorry for venting but I am really annoyed with the shutdowns due to overheating. Can someone please advise what I can do?

Thanks!

 

I hope you didn't strip the GPU screws in your efforts to loosen them. You might never be able to remove the card now without breaking it if you have!

Anyways how is your PSU doing? Is it getting very hot? It could be time to try a new one.

 

I think I have stripped a couple of screws Guess I'll have to live with it.

Pardon my lack of knowledge but when you say PSU, do you mean the AC Adapter or the area where the charging plug goes in? If you are referring to the former, my AC adapter does tend to get hot and it makes weird screeching sounds if I hold it close to my ears. I think the adapter is fine as I recently ordered a spare one from Dell but then again, the sounds and temperature make me think otherwise. Should I try another one?

Also, any thoughts on the brightness adjustment issue?

 

What are your ambient temperatures and what temps do you hit when you get the shutdowns? My 6970M runs quite hot as well in the M15x, reaching mid to even high 80s at full load. I use a cooling pad as well, and I've repasted about 4-5 times with ICD and PK-3 and the temps are still the same.

I suspect that the 6900M cards just tend to run hotter than the 7970M and there isn't much we can do about it, even with a good paste job. I use HWinfo64 and set a manual fan profile that cranks the GPU fan up to 5100 rpm when it hits 75 degrees and that helps me keep the max temps around high 70s to low 80s. You could try that and it might help prevent the shutdowns, but other than modding your case I don't see much else that can be done.

 

I monitored the temperature (using CPUID HWMonitor) and it went up to 91 degrees just before it shut down. I couldn't check the exact temperature as the laptop had shut down.

I have downloaded HWInfo64. Will look for the option to change fan speeds and report back. Thanks.