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.

    How to determine my revision type?

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by nerves82, Oct 10, 2011.

  1. nerves82

    nerves82 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    7
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    So I am looking into a GPU upgrade but having a heck of a time finding one. I determined that the 460m is the best available option for me, however I have noticed the HD 5870. It is the same slot and power consumption however Dell support does not have it listed as a viable upgrade option. Now I am attempting to find my revision number so a retailer can give me a yes/no answer. Any way to find this out? Thanks.
     
    nerves82, Oct 10, 2011
    #1
  2. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    5,395
    Messages:
    4,571
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    105
    The 5870M is not officially supported for the M15x, but works fine. Dell offered the 5850M (substantially identical to the 5870M, but with reduced clocks). The Dell 5850M is an excellent card and is highly overclockable, but they are hard to find.
     
    The Revelator, Oct 11, 2011
    #2
  3. nerves82

    nerves82 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    7
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Well I am having an easier time finding the 5870 then I am finding the 460m. Any way to determine my revision number?
     
    nerves82, Oct 11, 2011
    #3
  4. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    5,395
    Messages:
    4,571
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Which processor do you have?
     
    The Revelator, Oct 11, 2011
    #4
  5. tauzins

    tauzins Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    im pretty sure regardless of revision as long as that LINE of the m15 had that certain card, its supported. so the 460/5850/260/240/and 5830 should be your available options at least through dell
     
    tauzins, Oct 11, 2011
    #5
  6. nerves82

    nerves82 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    7
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    i7 740qm is the CPU. I have the HD5850 and 6gb 1333 DDR3 with a 500GB HD. Tauzins, I see you have your system specs on your sig and you call your system an m15x R2. How did you find that out?
     
    nerves82, Oct 11, 2011
    #6
  7. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    5,395
    Messages:
    4,571
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    105
    You have a M15x (capital M). Its predecessor was the m15x (small m). There are no revisions per se to the M15x, although some will occasionally call the M15x an R2 to distinguish it from the m15x.

    Unless you need a special feature of the 460M (CUDA, PhysX), your 5850M is faster and more efficient than the 460M. A 460M is not an upgrade.
     
    The Revelator, Oct 11, 2011
    #7
  8. Ldmoose

    Ldmoose Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    94
    Messages:
    199
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    The 460m is a downgrade from the 5850m. The 5870m wont give you any worthwhile increase in performance, compared to the 5850m. If you want to upgrade the GPU from a 5850m the only viable options are the 6970m or 6990m.
     
    Ldmoose, Oct 11, 2011
    #8
  9. nerves82

    nerves82 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    7
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Another thing I wanted to mention is that aida64 tells me my HD 5850 is a PCI-e 2.0 x16 and i looks like there are a number of PCI-e slots like X16, x16 2.0 and x16 2.1. How does this all relate to the mxm slots?

    Hopefully this will help some others who are struggling to find out what there computer will take.
     
    nerves82, Oct 11, 2011
    #9
  10. nerves82

    nerves82 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    7
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    @ Ldmoose

    According to AMD Radeon HD 6990M - Notebookcheck.net Tech the 9670m and 9690m are only a viable upgrade option for large laptops I.E. 17 and 18 inch. I'm assuming that has to do with the heat production and the power consumption?
     
    nerves82, Oct 11, 2011
    #10
  11. noelho

    noelho Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    9
    Messages:
    118
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    noelho, Oct 12, 2011
    #11
  12. JohnnyFlash

    JohnnyFlash Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    372
    Messages:
    2,489
    Likes Received:
    11
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Remember that these Radeons generally undervolt pretty well. I'm going to be getting a 6990m soon and first thing I plan to go is see how well it undervolts. Having 1120sp's at 650MHz will still beats the pants off of 800sp's at 800MHz.
     
    JohnnyFlash, Oct 13, 2011
    #12