Newbie to the M15X world and Lovin' it so far

Hi all, I am not new to the computer world as I have been building, repairing, upgrading and buying brand name computers for years now. I have an alienware desktop, but this laptop was given to me as a gift by my nephew. He bought it brand new in 2011 and used it as his college computer. Now he has passed this baby onto me. Couple of questions and concerns about it. First of all, I have been reading on this forum a bit and also have the same issue with the bottom and sides getting very hot. I have since ordered a cooling fan for the bottom of it and will use that when it comes in. In reading briefly, do I understand right, you can upgrade your video card from the standard 1 gig that comes with it? If that's true, I will be all over that for sure. If that's true, can someone hook me up with a good link showing how to change out he gpu on this. Also, in my computer settings it says I have 16 gigs of ram, where as the owners manual says it only goes up to 8. Which is it and can you put more in than the 16 as long as it is ddr3 and 13333mhz so you wont burn the ram up. Thanks in advance for anyone can help me with these issues, i really appreciate it.

Rich

 

Max CPU: 920XM/940XM, overclockable with throttlestop. Use liquid ultra metal TIM here
Max GPU: Nvidia GTX 970M 6GB MXM 3.0B. Use good quality thermal pads and thermal compound (i use arctic 1.0MM pads and MasterGel Maker compound)
Max RAM: 16GB DDR3-1333
Check to see if you have the 1600x900P panel or the 1920x1080P Panel (latter is definitely more pleasent, can be overclocked to 120Hz)
Add the largest capacity SSD you can afford. You can also dump the optical disc drive in favor of another hard drive or SSD in the same location. Speeds are limited to SATA II
Make sure your wireless card is 3 x 3, such as intel 6300 or AR9380

Still a capable machine today.

 

Thank you so much for your info Raidriar, I really appreciate it. Is the cpu and gpu soldered to the motherboard or are they easily removed to be swapped out? Also, what about the heat issue. Just sitting almost idle on my laptop tray and typing to you and the bottom is pretty darn warm.

 

The CPU is PGA and the GPU is MXM - both are easily replaced. The heat is always going to be an issue as the chassis is made from aluminium. You don't need to worry about it though, its normal for these machines (my M17X gets toasty as well). A cooling pad will solve the issue.

 

Thank you Arrrrbol for your response, I appreciate the help for sure. What does it mean when you say the cpu is pga and the gpu is mxm? Now, as far as prices for the better cpu and gpu, where would you recommend me shopping to get the best deals on them? Is it safe to buy used ones like if someone has one for sale on here?

 

Also how do I Check to see if I have the 1600x900P panel or the 1920x1080P Panel ?

 

PGA is pin grid array - its a type of CPU socket (AMD still use it). MXM means mobile PCI express module.

They look like this:
The one on the left is MXM 3.0A, the one on the right is MXM 3.0B. Your laptop has MXM 3.0B along with almost every other gaming laptop which has an upgradeable GPU.

To check your display right click on the desktop and select screen resolution.

 

Note, you can also use mxm 3.0A cards in your computer as well. You can opt to get the 965M MXM 3.0A card, but so little money difference between the 970M, you might as well go for that one.

 

These seem kind of pricey on Ebay. Do people sell them on this sight for reasonable prices? Also, is there a way to speed up my page loads when using the internet or watching a video on the internet? I have 16 gigs of ram and the load times are not as fast as they should be for the installed ram.

 

Load times are not really dependent on your speed as much as they are on your CPU/network card and network connection

970M pricey card but worth. Cheapest I ever seen was 280$

 

Where is a good place to shop for video cards for this? Do people on this website ever sell their video cards? Where did yo see one of the 970M cards for $280

 

Since this computer was purchased in 2011, could the network card be out of date and need to be replaced with a new one, or maybe a driver update?

 

You could talk to @woodzstack about getting a new GPU.

 

Yeah if you want to buy a 970M at 2015 prices.....you can get a 970M here for much less: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nvidia-GeF...497260?hash=item2f1453c56c:g:A3sAAOSwEUdaaw3G

 

Thank you bullet. Do you know if an older network card would make the internet and videos choppy at all. The machine is from 2011. I wonder if A new network card would speed up my internet.

 

It could be anything...you said you've worked with computers before, you should know this..... check power settings, make sure your drivers are updated, make sure video card is functioning and enabled, make sure processor is running full speed, etc...

 

I said I worked on computers (old school) I didn't say I know everything. If I knew what to check I wouldn't be on here asking. You care to explain how to check some of the things you mentioned above?

 

Device manager...see if something has exclamation points. run a driver utility like driverbooster to check for updated drivers. make sure you have the proper power 150W power adapter and stealth mode is disabled (right most icon on the touch bar), make sure power setting is set to high performance on he battery icon in the bottom right, etc.

Nothing will work correctly without the right genuine 150W power adapter and you'll find everything is slow. I can tell you my M15x even in its stock form was never slow for general usage or internet.

 

Ok, I am running driver booster, I changed power at bottom right of screen to high performance. On the touch bar, the far right icon is an RPM looking gauge on a car and when I hit it it doesnt do anything. The icon next to it is a flying saucer.

 

the alien ship should bring up the command center to change colors schemes. if the rpm gauge isn't showing anything on screen when you press it, or if the alien ship doesn't do anything either, you probably do not have the on screen display installed (OSD) and you should get that from here:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/alienware-m15x/drivers

 

hang with me im workinng on it :0)

 

Ok Raid, I did the things on your list, updated old drivers, fixed the osd feature, made sure power was set to high performance. How do you check to see if the CPU's are running at full capacity?

 

And also, the power pack is the original 150 watt one that came with it.

 

Also, I watch short videos and they are choppy and laggy. I just had a Asus laptop that died on me that had 32 gigs of ram and I never had any page load issues or laggy video issues with it. I wonder if something on this laptop is eating up some of the ram, hence making page loads slow and videos a little laggy.

 

You probably would benefit from a fresh OS install to be honest. I'm writing this off a 2008 laptop with a core 2 duo and 4gb of ram, and it has no problem playing youtube videos in HD. You have something else going on.

 

Ok, thanks much for your help

 

If you are having internet problems (I was, my WiFi card was crapping out)
I put a Killer Wireless N1103 mini WiFi card in mine and it’s fantastic.

 

Thanks Jmandayman I will check that out. ;0)

 

If you change the wifi card I would strongly recommend getting a all in one AC/BT4 card. This way you are future proofed in terms of wifi and bluetooth.

The killer card is a bit old and the bluetooth card in the M15x is really old school.

See here for a good guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...3gbps-ac-broadcom-bcm94360hmb-success.802198/

 

True! Take his advice ^
I just don’t need/use BT so I opted out.

 

Slightly off topic, but what driver are you using for the Killer Wireless N1103? (Assuming it is installed on an Alienware M15x. If not please let me know). I use to have that wireless card installed, but it was always dropping my internet connection. I am currently running an Intel 6300N. One thing I remember is that the Killer 1103N seemed to have a faster (but unreliable) connection than the 6300N. Have you tried the Intel 6300N? If so how would you compare the two.

@OP- If the Nvidia 970m/980m video cards are too expensive for you at the moment, you could try out an AMD Firepro 6100M. They are currently being sold used for under $70 on eBay. There is also a new one for under $90 on Amazon. It is not as good as the AMD 7970m and definitely weaker than Nvidia's 970m, but is still an upgrade from the stock cards issued with the Alienware M15x. If you decide to go this route, make sure to by some K5 Pro thermal paste for the video card's memory modules (or 0.25mm thermal pads, if you can find some). The VRMs need 1.0mm thermal pads. You can use any paste, but I would use one of the better rated ones. This card is able to handle DOOM 2016 on medium settings at 30 fps(1600x900 resolution).

I also recommend getting a 920xm or 940xm. They can be found cheaply on eBay. You just need to have a little patience. If you find a liquidator type of seller, you can snag one for under $50. I bought my 920xm for about $40 over two years ago and that processor is still going strong.

Finally there are many suggestions that have been given in this thread. If you are unsure about any of them, use the search bar to find the relevant threads that have discussed those issues. That is how I found out about the right-angled adapter (and why I would want one anyway), the different type of video cards, thermal pastes, mods, etc.

 

I didn't realize the M15x came standard with a bluetooth card. What do I have to do to get it to work, just install a driver for it from dell.com? I tried adding a mouse on my system and it said that bluetooth was connected on this computer.

 

@bartuc66 yes M15x, i had isuess with the driver as well, I uninstalled them for the n1103 and it’s lighting fast and never drops connection.
@Guarddog32 ive tried everything to get my wireless Bluetooth to work as well with no avail.

 

So if I search the n1103 on ebay or amazon, they should have it there? Isit an easy installl? Take off the bottom cover and I should have access to it there? Wires will match up or do I have to mod anything?

 

Where can i get the standard bluetooth driver that is supposed to be stock with the laptop? I can't find it for the M15X with windows 10 installed.

 

Yes, I purchased mine from eBay. it is a very easy install but slightly more than just the bottom cover. you will have to remove the keyboard as the card is underneath it.
The wires will match up, from left to right: black, grey, white.

 

Is there a good program out there for searching out and installing any out of date drivers on your computer. Per Raids direction I did a clean reinstall on windows 10 and that helped that issue I was having, buyt now I need a couple missing drivers call "base system device", there are 3 of them called that.

 

Hopefully someone can answer that, I as well, have that problem. 2 “base system device” and 1 “unknown device”.

 

Anyone know of a free decent program for updating your drivers and not charging ah arm and a leg for it. Also, can someone tell me please tell me if my m15x laptop came with bluetooth in it?

 

I used “driver easy” last night and it located 2 of the devices and updated them for me. It costs, but if you do the free version you’ll just have to update them manually within device manager.

 

Great I will give that program a try and see how it works. Any info on the M15X coming preinstalled with bluetooth capability?

 

Ricoh Memory Stick Controller driver is missing also from my device manager and dell does not have the drivers on their website also the Ricoh card controlller is missing. Any ideas where I can get them?

 

Had the same problem, go to device manager, right click the devices and go to properties, details, then click the drop down and select hardware id’s. Find the vendor and device Id. Search for them on the internet, (pcidatabase.com) find the ones that correlate. Search google and find a driver download for them. Download it then update the drivers for the “base system device” through device manager.

 

m15x drivers: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/alienware-m15x/drivers

Look what I found there:
Bluetooth:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=V7VRR

Ricoh card reader
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=1VWN9

infrared receiver driver:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=VD508

hard drive free fall sensor
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=5Y21N

 

Hello forum,

I am also a new owner of a M15X and trying to upgrade it. Changed the cpu to a i7 740qm (planning to go to 920xm) and now I am currently wait my new gpu (GTX 675m) but not so sure if it can run on my M15X. Do you think we can make it? Any suggestions are welcome! Thanks in advance..

 

return 675M immediately if possible, terrible graphics card, dies very quickly for no reason.

 

Thanks for the answer. I got this for free from a friend of mine. It was running on his Alienware M17X. Don't know if it will run on mine though.. Sure i believe it will be much better than the gtx260m i am currently running, right?

 

So what "driver" are you using? Did you just use the Window's device manager to install it, or did you use a certain type of Atheros or Killer Driver?

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Does anyone know of a stand alone modern Bluetooth card that would fit in the old Bluetooth card slot of the M15x. I wish to update mine as Microsoft plans to release an updated Xbox One Elite controller with Bluetooth (similar to its new Xbox One S controllers). I do not wish to install a 2x2 wireless card with Bluetooth as I like using my current wireless cards.

For anyone curious:

How to install the original 2.1 Bluetooth cards of the Alienware M15x on Windows 10.

1). Download the Driver from Dell.
2.) Extract the Driver into a folder from the zip/rar type of file.
3. Use Window's Device Manager to install the driver. Use the choose driver from a file option. Point it to the file you created in step 2.

For some reason trying to install the Bluetooth Driver from the zip/rar file no longer works in Windows 10.
* If the above does not work, try the about steps as the admin.

 

Hello again,

I just installed my GTX 675M on my Alienware. It boots up normally, found new drivers but after 3-4 minutes of normal operation fan starts spinning like crazy and finally my laptop shuts down. I guess that is bwcause of new GPU overheating reasons. I have apllied thermal pads driven by the layout of the picture i have here.

img


Am I forgetting something? (I obviously must be.. ) Note that I use the same heatsink i had which was used for my old gtx260m. Any suggestions??

Thanks in advance guys..!!

 

Possible your GTX 675M is incompatible with M15x embedded controller, unable to properly module fan speed. Also could be poor heatsink contact, you need to monitor your GPU temps with GPU-Z