Alienware M17-r3 upgradable hardware

Ok so everyone knows that Alienware charges ridiculous amounts for there memory and Hdd upgrades. So my question is this:

If i leave my m17 at base configuration with only 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (2DIMMS). Does the (2 DIMMS) Mean that I only have access to 2 DIMMS of Ram? Thus 2 gb in each slot? Or Do i get 4 to upgrade from? I would like to have 16 gb of ram for rending, animation, mudbox etc.

So if i want to get that upgrade do i have to {8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS) [Add $200.00 or $6.00/month1]} in order to get able to use 4 DIMMS?

My other question is about my HDD. Now I know that SDD's are obviously the fastest on the market for more price, but should I bother upgrading my Hdd from alienware? or should I leave the HDD at a base:


Base 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s [Included in Price]
750GB 7,200RPM HDD [Add $100.00 or $3.00/month1]

500GB Hybrid Solid State Drive [Add $125.00 $4.00/month1]

256GB Solid State Drive [Add $500.00 or $15.00/month1]
Raid 0 Performance

1 TB RAID 0 (2x 500GB) 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s [Add$150.00 or $5.00/month1]

1TB Raid 0 (2x 500GB Hybrid Solid State Drives) [Add $175.00 or $6.00/month1]
1.5TB Raid 0 (2x 750GB 7,200RPM) [Add $250.00 or $8.00/month1]
512GB Raid 0 (2x 256GB Solid State Drives) [Add $1,000.00 or $30.00/month1]

Should I upgrade to one of there expensive HDDS or buy an aftermarket HDD and either install it or have someone else install it

 

You'll have access to 4 DIMM slots no matter what you chose.

Check the HDD prices against newegg or tiger direct. Just remember that due to the flooding in Thiland, HDD prices have been on the rise since the HDD industry was hit pretty hard. Western Digital lost 60% capacity for new HDDs as most of thier drives where from Thialand, and Seagate had some clients they had contracts with to get HDD parts, that were greatly affected from the flood. So Dell may not be much more expensive than the other manufactures or websites in this case. Just gotta do the price compare yourself.

 

Ok thanks man

Is there a specific brand of ram I should be using to upgrade? Or a brand that I should stay away from? I of course want as little problems as possible.

 

Leave the Ram and HDD at base config and upgrade those yourself. Actually, i even went with the base CPU and upgraded that after

For example these are my upgrades so far:

8 gigs of ram for $45
M4 SSD $179 shipped
core i7 2820 $270 shipped
core i7 2630 sold for $290

Grand total spent on upgrades: $204

If i went through dell, that would have cost me like $1200 at the time

Post this in the Alienware forums if you want more perspective...everyone gets as little as they can get and then upgrades parts themselves for a fraction of the price. We have tons of how to guides

The one thing that i would invest in is the vid card. Currently the sweet spot is the 6990m

 

Yeah i know that 6990m is great however i'm looking to not only play games on this labtop, but also run maya 2012 on it. Windows 7 and ATI's drivers don't play nicely with Maya thus why i'm going with a nvidia.

You can upgrade the cpu that easily?

I knew that memory and the Hdd was an easy upgrade however I figured the cpu was more set in stone.

 

Yes AW will take any current generation CPU. It would be wise if you want the i7 Extreme Edition to order the specific heatsink (DP/N HD9NJ) as it's only ~19 dollars shipped.

Theoretically the R3 should take any new MXM card.

 

yes unfortunately for my wallet, you can upgrade everything easily on the m17x...even the LCD screen. The vid card is pretty much unplug the old card and plug the new one in, attach heatsink. You're done.

For the CPU...i did this guide for upgrading the CPU...its easy:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...pu-m17x-r3-illustrated-guide.html#post8021785

 

Shoot! now that i think of it...the only things left stock on my laptop are the keyboard, LCD, DVD, and motherboard!!! holy crap lol

 

Haha nice, i'll definently think about it.

 

I upgraded to a 750gb 7200rpm drive through Dell because I had a 25% discount code, meaning it was only $75 which is cheaper than I could have got one for (around $110 for a WD drive). This was fine for me as it will be a secondary storage drive so a hybrid drive would be pointless. i will be putting a 256gb SSD in for my boot drive.

for the RAM, I left it at 4gb and will be putting 4x 4gb of HyperX PnP in myself for 16gb total.

 

sweet system!

you've pretty much maxed it out...except for maybe a 4+ghz 2920/2960 extreme processor in your near future

 

lol I'm really happy with it and can't wait to get it next week!

I got the most cost effective CPU right now which I'm sure will see me through for a good while.

I need the RAM as I run VMWare for work. The rest was just for fun

 

2760 is all you really need...but the 2920xm's are going for about $650 on ebay right now so i was tempted, but settled on the i7 2820 for $270 shipped. I've since sold my original core i7 2630 for $290 so it was a free upgrade with cash in my pocket

 

Is there room for a SSD as a boot drive and a Hdd in the m17 r3?

 

Yeah there are two 2.5" SATA slots.