Alienware M17 ATI 4870?

Hey all, I'm new here on the forums. I've been using it a lot lately dealing with issues with my M17, and recently downloaded zfactor OCZ 0.29 BIOS and it seemed to fix everything. Anyways I feel like the only thing holding my laptop back is the 3870x2 in crossfire. I recently called Alienware parts department and they said they have a 4870 that's available and compatible with the M17? They want to charge $344.00 a piece. I just wanted to get some input on what you guys thought, thanks!

 

What is the part number for the HD 4870's? You can find them on eBay for cheap.

Check these for the performance difference:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4870-X2-Crossfire.14406.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-3870-X2.14242.0.html

Just make sure that whatever card you buy, that it's MXM 2.1.

 

Just wanted to say you have an Area 51 m17x, (pre-Dell) so the card they are trying to sell you isn't compatible. Table21 had some 4850's that were compatibl with your laptop for sale in the marketplace though I'm not sure if he still has them. That laptop isn't really worth spending the extra money on video cards since you won't get a major performance increase for the what you spend. Best bet is save up and get a new laptop, or sell the old one to get more funds for a new one

 

Actually he has the Arima w840di rebranded version of the alienware m17 which is the only one that supports quads and CF cards AFAIk.

And, its TOTALLY worth it to upgrade to the 4850, for only 250$ with both cards included. These cards are better performing that even a GTX 470m or 560m so you'd have to spend upwards of 600$ to get that kind of performance in a new laptop.

 

table21 has 4870's

http://forum.notebookreview.com/com...ards-alienware-m18x-pulls-tons-new-stuff.html

 

So the 4870s are not compatible correct? Where can I pick up a pair of 4850s?

 

The 4870's in the link posted above should work, they are MXM 2.1.

 

Does the M17 upgrade to HD4870 X2 / crossfire (that Alienware/dell told me about at $389.00 about an hour ago) work? Alienware M17 not x and rather than building a new desktop for Diablo 3 I'd like my matte screen device to handle it.

 

Dell doesn't make the m17 and they don't make any graphics cards that work with it.

 

I realize this but on alienware.com / chat with a representative it connects you to Dell who then was able to connect me to the Parts and Upgrades Dept also live chat.

"You can also chat with them at" - http://chat1.us.dell.com/netagent/c...0&portid=1F874336-BA34-4D77-B132-1973E3A10BD0

Want to be sure since some threads here would indicate that 4850s are the only ones that work in an M17 because of MXM version 2.1 or some such thing, though at one time I do remember seeing on the alienware site that for at least a short while you could order a new M17 with 4870s. AW also declined to comment on the price of 4850s and when asked if they were referring to an M17x replied that this was M17.

Anyone have any info about this? I found http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...357640-m17-general-information-thread-94.html but didn't know if these accounted for the alienware affiliated upgrades and parts dept selling hd4870 unless ofc there was a misunderstanding... http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/387248-4850s-vs-3870-m17.html seems more generally accepted.

Not clear but it seems that some people can and cannot get 4870s and therefore it isn't recommended to get 4870s because of heat but just to go for hd 4850s. Is this pretty much correct?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/387407-m17-gpu-upgrade-ordered-email-included.html
Is it possible to get HD4870 MXM 2.1?

 

Hmm, I really don't think the Alienware we know today wil sell super old parts for laptops made by entirely different manufacturers. You'll have better luck on Ebay, thats for sure.

Yes its possible to get 4870 MXM 2.1. To clarify, its also possible to get 6970m and 7970m on MXM 2.1 if you have a lot of money and enough knowledge to completely reverse engineer the MXM structure and GPU architectures. My point is, a GPU model number does not indicate what MXM type it is.
You seem to understand this but its very important because if you keep contact Dell i believe you are going to end up with some overpriced incompatible MXM 3.0 4870s.

All that said, I might be able to help you get some 4870s MXM 2.1.
The cards Table21 had seemed to be from a very special source, I don't think you'll see them out there again.
I think you can find some way to handle the heat.
If your interested you can email me at my username @gmail.com since you can't use the PM system yet.