Will a GTX 780M laptop be upgradable to GTX 880M, as far as we currently know?

Will a laptop bought in the near future with a GTX 780M be upgradable to NVIDIA 880M next year? As far as we currently know, will the sockets be the same?

Thanks

 

Until and unless they change the memory bus width to >256 or the GPU requires more power than what the MXM standard specifies (100W?), there should be no reason to change the socket. Of course, the GPU manufacturers might want to make some profit off of the newer part and change the socket completely. There is no way to tell and currently, we know very little of Maxwell apart from the fact that it will have an ARM core on die, to be confident enough to say "yes, purchase a laptop with a 780m and you WILL be able to upgrade it".

 

No sure way of knowing at this point. I assume you will be able to.

 

As much as it's important for you to upgrade to next gen of GPU's then the right choice is to pick an Alienware, at least that is what my bad experience with Clevo P370EM taught me, top end 3700EUR expensive but not upgradable machine? For me that was a very bad purchase and Clevo is in a bye bye condition now, or never ever buy again..
Maybe is not that necessary to upgrade due the performance gain but still feeling bad for not having the freedom of upgrade.
So go with Alienware (highly recommended).

 

I'm not very up to date on the Clevo news but I did not find an mention of the P370EM not being upgradeable. I'm not sure what you are referring to...?

 

Hi, My 2x680M's Clevo P370EM is not upgradable to 2x780M's due to BIOS, 300 WATT power supply and 100W GPU slot (single 780M needs 120W slot), it can be upgraded to dual 8970M's but this one is not powerful as 780M is, the Clevo P370WM is upgradable but that thing got a desktop CPU and for me its not in laptops category, from other side the 2012 Alienware can be upgraded to dual 780M's with no issue, all 780M requirements are included..

Please make sure to understand my point, upgrading from 680M to 780M is not necessary for me, but paying for super expensive laptop with no having the choice of upgrade is bad feeling and experience.

 

You can find the 780m unlocked VBIOS on the internet. The power supply is not Clevo's fault. They have no way of knowing how much one would need for the next gen nvidia flagships and over a quarter kilowatt is a LOT of power for a laptop. You can always purchase a larger PSU. The MXM slot specifies the power, not the manufacturers.

 

So you agree with some points but still act like not agree? what unlocked VBIOS you talking about? TI VBIOS and Prema BIOS are not official and not even from Clevo so yes its fair to blame Clevo, those kind of hacks got no warranties no responsibilities in case of damage or such and they are unlocked for overclock only not to be compatible for Clevo EM/HM.. The MXM slot is managed to handle 100W and will be fried if GPU needs 120W as max to run demanding graphics, otherwise it will not perform as it should (so whats the point of upgrade?)..

-120W GPU1 + 120W GPU2 + 55W MX CPU (all at standard clocks) = 295W so how the hell 5 WATT will be fine for all other components like Mother Board, LED's & other, x3 Fans to spin at Turbo speed to cool the system down? Second, you say Clevo cannot know what power the next generation of GPU's will use and thats right, but even Alienware didnt knew that and they still released 330W PSU and that for me is like a punch on Clevo's face.

-Yes I can purchase larger PSU but from eBay not from Clevo and have some problems like other people got with BIOS shutting the system down when load above the actual system WATT.

The problem is you are not up to date with any of computer knowledge not only with Clevo as you said at the beginning.

 

I don't see you getting much warranty on gpu upgrades, unless you pay a fortune for them.

And if your workflow everyday is furmark + prime 95, then the psu don't really hold up i guess.

 

I wouldn't plan on being able to upgrade to a new generation of cards without a fair bit of both technological know-how and some risk. Indeed, the process is a bit easier on Alienware versus Clevo, but (and i may be wrong) I don't think it is just plug and play for a new GPU in an Alienware either (correct me if I am wrong)

The point about the MXM slot has already been raised.

As a final note, if you are going to be spending a large amount of money (varies from person to person), it behooves you to do your research BEFORE your purchase, especially on things that concern you. Personally, i was choosing between the last gen AW 17 and my current clevo and while i knew about the bios restrictions, it wasn't a concern for me. Neither was being able to upgrade to a new GPU, as any amount of research will tell you that while possible, replacing/exchanging/upgrading a mobile GPU is usually a very expensive affair. Always do your research before. Caveat Emptor.

 

TinyV - unofficial upgrading is the only way to go in laptop world. You have to remember even with Alienware there is no decent official avenue to purchase MXM GPU's, that means no warranty anyway, so not wanting to resort to one of Prema's or SVL7's vbios mods for warranty reasons is kind of a moot point. Further more I wouldn't want a 780m without SVL7's vbios mod anyway.. Have you seen the difference it makes ?! I don't know what is involved with Clevo to get upgrades to work, but you still need to get your hands dirty with AW too.

 

Clevo P370SM (newer version of P370EM) now offers 330W PSU, so I guess they learned. I'm torn between AW 18 and P370SM, any suggestions? And yes I plan to upgrade GPUs down the road too. So?

 

You can spend +$1000 more for a similarly equipped Alienware over a Clevo, and if you *MUST* upgrade the GPU, you're probably better off selling the whole Clevo and buying a new laptop. Buying next gen GPU's within a year after they're released cost $600-$800 or more. Plus most places where you buy the new card won't warranty it, if they do likely for no more than 90 days. In theory it sounds great to upgrade, but in reality, not so much. My $0.02.