Alienware m17x r3 upgrade I BADLY NEED GUIDENCE! PLS

hello everyone, i've been thinking to upgrade my alienware m17x r3 (intel core i7 2nd gen extreme, nvidia gtx 580m 3d vision 4gb ram).I really want to know if i can upgrade my alienware with kingston hyperx predator t2 dd3 pc3 17000 ram module i mean, will it work? i searched for this on the web, no results, i contacted alienware, they only offer guidence to theyr prducts (theyr ram and stuff) so i need to know if this will work prior to spending 300$ on ebay. Please help me ty

 

$300 for memory? I don't think it's worth it - even if the system board supports it.

2nd gen and 3rd gen i7xm CPUs support up to 1600 MHz memory (PC3 12800). Any other limitations may be in place per system BIOS.

 

The link below is the fastest Hyper X RAM I could find in laptop sized ram. pretty sure that you have to overclock your RAM to hit those higher speeds you're trying to achieve, but I'm not to sure as haven't played with overclocking RAM. another thing to note that for gaming anything over 8gigs currently is over kill. That might change once the consoles come out and game dev's get used to using the aditional RAM, but for now 8 gigs is enough.

Kingston HyperX Plug n Play 8 GB Kit 1866MHz

 

Kingston makes HyperX in 2133mhz as well, though the 1866mhz will overclock to 2133mhz too

OP, like Prostar said, I don't think Sandy Bridge CPUs can run RAM at timings above 1600mhz. I may be wrong on this, but I believe only certain IB processors (3740qm-3940xm) support 1866mhz+, and only if the BIOS permits it.

 

Actually you can flash the 1866mhz pnp with the 2133mhz pnp's bios with taiphoon burner and save your self some cash.

Also. It's plug and play. It'll set it self up for the max speed your system supports. Or at least that's the idea. lol

 

Are there any drawbacks to using XTU instead? Thaiphoon Burner is a pain to purchase and use imo. I tried buying it to use on my NP9150, but the website wouldn't accept my credit card for some reason.

 

You can overclock it. Use Mr.Fox's settings. He's done cl11 timing with 2133mhz on his ram. Ask him about the specifics. He did flash his ram with the cl12 2133mhz bios. Now his 1866mhz pnp thinks it's 2133mhz pnp. lol

 

ty all, let me clarify some things, yes 300 $ for ram, cuz i want 2x8gb and i was thinking of getting the 2133mhz kingston hyperx predator version, i dont necessary want it to run at that speed tho, but will the ram work with the alienware m17x r3 2nd gen intel? so if the answer is yes, but it will be at 1600mhz, im good with it , i just need to know, or is there like a limitation for the pc for ex the latest type of ram that is supposted and recognised by the pc is pc3 12000 , anything above that wont work?


p.s. since im now running on 4 gb 1333mhz ram no-name type i tihnk 2x8gb kingston hyperx predator 2133mhz that ony runs at 1600mhz max will be an improvement

 

Yeah I copied his settings the other day and saved the profile in XTU. I just haven't gotten around to testing it out yet. I sent him some rep for hooking me up with a good 2133mhz profile

XTU just seems so much easier than that Thaiphoon nonsense

I believe it would just run at 1600mhz, so there isn't much of a benefit in going with 1866 or 2133mhz modules. I would just grab some Kingston HyperX 1600mhz and call it a day.

 

1600mhz is the sweet spot. Gains are minimal above that. AnandTech | Sandy Bridge Memory Scaling: Choosing the Best DDR3

So basically you can change your sig to 2133mhz ram.

 

Just go with the 1600mhz and save some cash. Use it to buy some more games or mouse or something if you feel like you have to spend the money $300 for RAM is pretty much pointless as you won't see much of a difference between that and the $150 RAM and you don't need a huge amount of RAM for running large RAM intensive programs.

 

sandy bridge actually does support 1866mhz hyper RAM, don't know for all laptop, but at least Alienware M17 R3. coz i have one, as stated in my sig.

out of curiousity, i am also thinking of upgrading. is it a lot of hassle going from 580M to 680M?or should i switch side to the red zone?