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    Upgrading a M15x for today's gaming.

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by freeno56, Jan 27, 2012.

  1. freeno56

    freeno56 Newbie

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    Hi all. I'm looking for a very good upgrade to my Alienware M15x, and when i was looking up upgrades for my graphics card(have a 240M atm) i found some card but I've been running in circles on how to buy it, where to buy it, will it run, what to do etc. I thought a 560m will work out but the forum i stumbled into was very complex, and look a nerd fight more than a question answer.(lol) So I thought instead of looking around why wont i ask question instead of look at others. So that's my story. And if any graphics card i want, it would be a nvida.(NO radeons idc if there better or not i was a nvida.) I heard you may have to update your BIOS and all that and i don't know hot to flash one(don't wanna kill my computer) I a ametur leaning to a pro when it comes to computer programing and stuff. but i NEVER did a hardware upgrade. So if there anything I need you guys to do. make it simple. please please make it as simple as possible. Oh, and the games i wont to at the high(or near to high graphics) are:
    • BF3(thats a big one)
    • World of Tanks
    • WoW
    • Empie:total war
    a few other games but that's basically the ones i play and suck up most of the power and focus of my CPU. my specs are(from speccy):
    Operating System
    MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 740QM @ 1.73GHz
    Clarksfield 45nm Technology
    RAM
    4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 636MHz (9-9-9-24)
    Motherboard
    Alienware (CPU 1)
    Graphics
    Generic PnP Monitor (1600x900@60Hz)
    1024MB GeForce GT 240M (Dell)
    Hard Drives
    244GB Western Digital WDC WD2500BEKT-75A25T0 (SATA)
    Optical Drives
    DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
    PLDS DVD+-RW DC-8A2SH
    Audio
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
    Oh, and btw for a extra FYI I DO have a little fan running on the back of my computer, it really minimizes lag spike and all that.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 8, 2015
  2. Mexic00ls

    Mexic00ls Notebook Deity

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    simple answer: buy a new laptop.....

    or upgrade to the nvidia 460m that should just be a simple swap (if it was pulled from another dell alienware)you could find one on ebay or here in the market place. if you have ever done a repaste the the only added step would be removing 2 additional screws and pulling the card out. thats about as simple as it gets
     
  3. Fersknen

    Fersknen Notebook Consultant

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    Upgrading your GTX 240M to the 560M would be an obvious upgrade. It's around 200-250 USD. The 560M upgrade is known to be problem free. There is a thread on this forum about that very card and the upgrade process.

    Edit: here is the thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/602655-m15x-gtx-560m.html
    Edit: and here is the GTX 560m on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/11078807195...NX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_688wt_1139
    Edit: oh yea, this upgrade obviously isn't something that dell officially supports. It still works fine though.
     
  4. freeno56

    freeno56 Newbie

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    I love you, although i did look at the forum post lol.
     
  5. freeno56

    freeno56 Newbie

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    Yea, I did take my bros laptop apart and put it back together for curious reasons :D And i did watch YouTube videos on how to does this. But i f there anything i know, Alienware makes it easy to get inside. :D