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    Upgrade help please! Few questions!

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by TricksterMatt, Sep 8, 2013.

  1. TricksterMatt

    TricksterMatt Notebook Consultant

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    Hello guys, I keep debating whether to upgrade my alienware or not but I think I might as it would be cheaper than upgrading my desktop. Just woundering if I got an i7 920xm would it bottleneck a 7970? Would I have to overclock my cpu to a certain level for it not to? If so what is a stable OC and how do I do this I just want to up multiplier and nothing else as I'm scared and a noob when it comes to overclocking. Also if the 920xm is overclocked would it still be doing turbo mode? And with a 920xm and a 7970 at 1600x900 res what FPS will I get on games like crysis 3 and far cry 3 at high settings? And would this system be more powerful than the AW 14? Also what PSU will I need? And how future proof is this. Haha sorry for all the questions as I want my baby to be more powerful and be the man it's supposed to be ;) I have a gtx 460m and a 740qm at the moment and its not working out on the newest game really well anymore :/
     
    TricksterMatt, Sep 8, 2013
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  2. batfinks

    batfinks Notebook Consultant

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    Long story short, No cpu is not a bottleneck nor will it be for some time. if running a 7970m you would have to contend with throttling, the card is a 100w card and the motherboards limited to 75w pcie rail.
    I don't oc laptops so I cannot comment on that part of your question.
    AW 14 cpu is faster but GFX is far slower considering the AW 15 is fully upgradable were the AW 14 is not !
    Games are moving from cpu intensive to gpu so aim at getting gfx over cpu firstly I would say personally.
    For your cpu to be a bottleneck it needs to be hitting 80% usage when running multiple apps and or your games.
    Hope this info helps.
     
    batfinks, Sep 8, 2013
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  3. TricksterMatt

    TricksterMatt Notebook Consultant

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    Do I need to mod or adjust anything if I get the dell 7970? Also can my gtx 460 backplate fit on the 7970 and can I upgrade to the latest catalyst driver for 7970 or would it have to be modded?
     
    TricksterMatt, Sep 8, 2013
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  4. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    Wow on 1600x900 the 7970M will marmalise every game out there! Pm sent btw
     
    King of Interns, Sep 9, 2013
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  5. MorejaSparda

    MorejaSparda Notebook Guru

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    Why don´t you think on a 680M?. Now its appreciably cheaper and , in my case with a Dell one, at least, the installation procedure has been very easy.
    Once you have installed, you only must modd the ndvm.inf file adding you card ID, and later, flashing with the proper vbios for the correct functioning.
    I had not any problem with 3d clocks, nor throttling ( i´ve been reaching 85 grades on bench tests), neither bottlenecking ( i still have a 720qm Xd).
    I repeat, in my experience and with a dell 680m :)
    Btw, i too have a 900p screen ;)
     
    MorejaSparda, Sep 11, 2013
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  6. bobthedespot

    bobthedespot Notebook Consultant

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    The 7970 is a great upgrade for the m15x. You will not regret it.

    I would go for it over the Nvidia chips, but that is just my preference.

    Bob
     
    bobthedespot, Sep 11, 2013
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