Alienware M9750 looking to upgrade to SLi

So about 11 months ago, I got a M9750 laptop with a single nVidia 8700m on the assumption that if I tried to use this thing with SLi, that I would endanger my seed and future offspring. (Don't get me started on the french x86 videos that involve burning computer parts)

Well, I kind of regret not getting SLi now, so I'm thinking of doing the upgrade myself (As I do not like the idea of sending in the machine and not having any control as to what gets changed and what remains).

So, firstly, it seems that nVidia 9600Ms are more common than 8700Ms on eBay (and they perform better too).

Before I acquire another 8700 or a pair of 9600s, I'd like to know where to start as far as making sure that my laptop is compatible with the upgrade.

Issues I have in mind:
1. The motherboard might not have two MXM slots, and I don't know how to check (Already looked online) aside from taking my laptop apart.
2. Cooling. I have no clue where to acquire a heatsink for a mobile graphics card, and I have no clue how the setup would look like if I had two. Also, it would seem that there's no standard as to which side of the card the chip die is on (Very unsure about this).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Did you buy the laptop from Alienware new or used from a second party? If from Alienware, just call them and they will sell you the correct GPU and SLI cable. You can install it yourself and they have good instructions in the tech support section.

 

if you have a little extra $$ to throw around, get dual ATI 3870, they will blow away dual 8700m easily

 

hey scook9 are they compatible with the m9750's motherboard? Because the only current cards for sli from alienware are the 7950's and the 8700's and its fairly easy to install the cards urself. just unscrew the back panel and then unscrew heat sinks and boom put em in and screw it all back in. And yes alienware has great instructions on how to do it (pics included)

 

The installation is the EXACT same process. And there are a couple threads demonstrating this upgrade being successfully performed to the m9750. I am not sure if alienware supports this upgrade (yet?) but it is 100% possible and safe.

ichime and rob41 are 2 users who are very knowledgeable of these systems and can offer you alot of help.

 

hmm I just found and read the thread. I'm considering trying to find a cheap one and see if it really does outperform both sli 8700 gt's and 7950 gtx's

 

a single 3870 beats dual 7950's

2 3870 is like your laptop was reborn. It's worth it Now just find someone with an m17 who just got 4850's and buy their 3870's haha