3870 heatsink in m15x

So ive spent about 3-4 hrs on the phone w/ customer support today

and it sounds like AW/dell is NOT selling 3870's anymore. Sooooo, ill pick one up on ebay or somewhere else.

the question i had is does the 8800m gtx heatsink work on the 3870? it seems like a lot of the 3870s that are being sold are leftovers from m17 upgrades. im assuming the m17 heatsink doesnt work in the m15x.

any feedback would be great. thanks.

 

Hey Fro,

I'm in the same situation - my 9800mGT stopped working. It was barely a year old and Alienware want £400 to put in a new one, ****ing idiots lol. Anyways, I'm looking for a 3870 too, AW told me they don't supply them any more. Let me know if you have any luck.

Maybe it might be worth buying a 260m GTX and putting that in yourself? AW would probably sell you one.

 

I've seen them go on Ebay for about 150 but you have to keep looking, about a week ago I had a 9800m GT spare that I sold to USMC for $250. I would not go a 260, only 280. 260's give minimal performance gains for a 400 Price tag while losing HDMI, and forcing a rather weird startup.

I'd going with another 9800m GT or a 3870 whatever you can find. Or.... Bake your 8800m and see if you can revive it, it works.

 

Thanks for the info. A 280 is probably too hot for the older model m15x?

I'll keep looking on ebay I guess.

Does baking provide a permanent solution? I heard it only solves the problem for a couple of months.

 

No, you might have to bake it several times, but it's a quick fix and sometimes it's viewed as a quickfix, but nevertheless still a fix. You might have to bake several times, but it's viewed as well you got nothing to lose

http://cgi.ebay.com/Alienware-M17x-...o_TV_Cards&hash=item414e83532e#ht_2583wt_1165

They'll let it go for $375 IF you require a Heatsink I'll sell you one of mine for $1 but I don't think you need a heatsink.

 

Cheers, that's a kind offer. I think I might hold out for a 3870 though.

Any idea if a 4870 would work in an m15x? Someone in another post said it should work in an m9750 so maybe the m15x too?

 

No, 4970 is MXM 3.0 this is a MXM 2.1 you can have the ATI 4850 though which is still a fine card. I have both this system and a M17x-r2 with 4870's and I'll tell you right now that it won't work.