M15x Upgrade to GTX 460?????

Hey Guys!

I am trying to buy my twin brother a new GPU for christmas and i have done plenty of research but im looking if someone can simply help me out....

Can someone please tell me which GPU i need to buy exactly because i notice there are many different kinds.

After i install the new GPU is it plug-n-play?

 

If you already have the GTX 260m, I believe it is plug-n-play, from what I've learned. If you had an ATI card before, then you have to uninstall the ATI drivers and then install the Nvidia ones after putting your card in.

 

yup should just be uninstall previous drivers and then your all set. I'd install the old nvidia drivers anyway and reinstall just to make sure nothing gets corrupted or messed up in the process.

 

Since no one went ahead and listed your options, here they are:

Your options in terms of performance gtx 460m, amd 5850m, amd 5870m, gtx 560m, amd 6970m, amd 6990m.

Once you decide on which card you want, then you can go on figuring out if you need to remove drivers/update and what not. Til then, pick a card.

 

Be sure that you update your BIOS to the latest version. I upgraded my M15X with a GTX 460M and learned the hard way that you need to have the BIOS updated.

 

I want to get a card that stays within my budget of $150-250 so i was leaning towards the GTX 460m; however right now my brother has the ATI 5730 and i do not know if the back plate is compatible. Can someone post a link to where i can buy the correct / compatible card, THANK YOU!

Before i purchase a different card am i going to see a big performance increase if i change out his 5730 with a 460? Because right now he can only play WoW on medium settings with still sub-par FPS and i want a card that can at least handle BF3 on medium (his laptop cant even start the game!)
Right now i have a nvidia card in my M17x and i love it so i am leaning toward nvidia very much!!!

Again thank you for helping me!!!! I appreciate everyone taking the time out of there day!!!

 

I have no idea how to update the BIOS, is it as easy as install and run? Or do i have to manually change up some things?

Again thank you for taking time out of your day and helping me! I truly appreciate it and hopefully with the help of all of you i can swap out my brothers GPU for an awesome Christmas gift!!!

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/549258-m15x-bios-a09-discussion-thread.html
Here is a BIOS upgrade tutorial.

 

5850m and 460m are very close in performance, difference being the 5850m is cheaper, but also harder to find.

 

Hello everyone, first post. Sorry to hijack the thread but I have a question.

What does the 'm' stand for at the end? I found a Gigabyte GTX 460 for $180 (CDN) and I was wondering if I should buy it or not but I don't know if that 'm' makes a difference or not.

 

I believe that the m stands for mobile, which is for laptops. A regular GTX 460 would be for a desktop, but you may want to make sure just in case; any pro wanna confirm?

 

Yes, the m stands for mobile in most cases with the two major card manufacturers. GTX 460 would be a desktop card. GTX 460m is the mobile version.

 

Cheers.

I was afraid of that. None of the local stores carry mobile cards.

 

Are you in Canada? if so there is an ebay store out of Ontario that sells the GTX460M currently selling for 250 and the GTX 560M for 275...
Just note that while I got my part, I had some issues with them losing my order.

 

only place to buy mobile cards atm is dell, Ebay, and here in the NBR marketplace. If you are patient and look around I'm sure you can find a good deal

 

I would prefer to buy a new card. I was browsing the Dell site but I didn't see any mobile cards on offer. Then I talked to a Dell representative who told me my graphics card was not upgradeable...

Dell sure doesn't make it easy for me to spend my money.

 

they don't sell the 460m anymore, if my GPU dies the would give me the 560m not a 460m

 

I would actually like to get a 5850m or a 5870m but I can't find them new.

 

Can my 5730 back plate be used for these? And does these cards have the proper fastening holes for screws?

Nvidia GTX 460M MXM 3.0 TYPE B 1.5GB GDDR5 Video card | eBay

1.5GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M MXM 3.0b Video Card ~555M 570M 580M 460M 470M 480M | eBay

 

idk if you heatsink will fit or not. dell supported the 460m in the m15x so it might but idk. As to the two cards you listed there, you might wanna find out what v-bios they are running and make sure they are compatible with the m15x

 

@zlatko you have like a 1% chance of finding a 5850m/5870m which will be brand new. I bought a used one off a NBR member and it is working flawlessly, overclocks very nicely, and low temps. Couldn't be happier. Just because a card is used doesn't mean it won't perform as it should.

 

Just like khetik said, theres no problem in buying a used GPU.. just find one in the NBR market place!

 

Well I've managed to find a new GTX460m on ebay along with a 5870m and I'm seriously considering buying one or the other. My only concern is power supply. I run a 150W with a i5 processor and I'm not sure if thats enough power for both the GPU and CPU.

 

I would not worry. I'm running a 460M and an i7 920M with no power issues while using the original power brick.

 

Thanks for bearing with me everyone. I'm trying to cover all my bases here before I purchase something.

If I buy a Clevo card off ebay (either 460m or 560m), will I need to buy a heatsink or will the one from my 240m fit? Also, will I need to do any extra work to get the thing up and running or is it plug n play?

 

should just be plug and play as far as I know. I don't know about the heatsink buy you might need to get a modded fan control setup idk.

 

Just in case there is someone else out there with a 240m looking to upgrade, make sure you have a proper heatsink because the 240m heatsink will not fit the bigger cards. This is the only thing stopping me from upgrading right now because I can't source one. I may have to bite the bullet and pay a ridiculaous amount for a card frm Dell (providing they still have stock to sell me one).

**EDIT**

I stand corrected : http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/m15xR2.html

 

can you not just buy the heat sink from dell?

 

to the OP, the dell alienware M15x only has 1 version heatsink unless u have a pre-dell machine. as for a clevo card u might need a different video bios so i would recommend a dell card for plug and play. here take a look at this, http://forum.notebookreview.com/com...460m-video-card-1-5gb-vram-mxm-3-0b-dell.html he is selling a dell 460m for $230 dollars this is your best bet.

P.S. table21 at the marketplace just posted a bunch of 5870m for $120!!!!

 

get them while they are hot, table is a good seller

 

who needs a 460m get a grip boys

now we have 560m
its cheaper then the 460m and 10-15% faster

 

it's cheap and actually supported by alienware so it should work with no mods needed

 

well the mods are easy (if you know how to copy/paste text in notepad is all it takes..)

seperates the boys from the men I guess

 

haha I'll prob get into modding when I have to put unsupported hardware in this rig I'm not in a hurry.

 

560m rocks and is supported very much so with M15x

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ion-upgrades-gpu-troubleshooting-repairs.html