Upgrade Alienware M17x R3

Hello Everyone,

I am looking to upgrade my notebook. I am not sure where to start or what to exactly do. I want to improve the notebook speed, and play games smoother and faster, such as Crysis 3 or even Diablo 3 on high settings.

Here are my current specs:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer Alienware
System Model M17xR3
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz, 2001 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Alienware A08, 7/29/2011
SMBIOS Version 2.7
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 6.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 5.95 GB
Available Physical Memory 2.39 GB
Total Virtual Memory 11.9 GB
Available Virtual Memory 7.67 GB
Page File Space 5.95 GB
Display Adapters Intel(R) HD Graphics Family and NVIDIA Geforce GTX 460M

Cheers

 

The cheapest thing would be buying more RAM. The maximum you can have in an R3 is 16GB. But that won't make a super-noticeable effect in speed. Cost ~$150

Next up price wise is swap out your hard drive for an SSD...if you haven't already done so. Cost ~$150-$200

Up third will be upgrading your CPU. The most expensive thing to upgrade. I believe the i7-2820QM (or i7-2860QM) is the highest CPU you can update to by just plug and play. A good used/reman 2820QM on eBay will cost ~$200.

Finally we come to your GPU (graphics card/display adapter). The Alienware subforum here has excellent resources on which graphics cards you can install in your R3...some which weren't meant for your R3, but will work fantastic none the less. Biggest problem is cost. It can get pricy to buy a new GPU. ~$300 or more.

Those are the 4 things in your R3 you can upgrade which will directly affect your gaming experience.

 

Well the 460M is handcuffing your R3. It was a decent value back in 2010, but is it way too weak these days to run much. I think the R3 has run up to 680M, though not cheap. I think 6970M/6990M might be the best value for performance.