ATI GPU in a M860TU?

So a lot of Alienware users are getting sick of waiting for nvidia to come up with a solution for the DPC latency issue caused by their latest cards and are getting their SLI GTX280m replaced by Dual ATI 4870 by Dell( see this thread)

So I'm wondering whether we should start putting pressure on Sager/Local Clevo dealers to do the same. Is it even possible to put an ATI card in a M860TU? If so what would be the equivalent to the GTX260m? Has anyone checked with XoticPC yet to complain about the DPC latency issues with their GTX260m?

I started a thread on XoticPC's forum and Joseph told me it was the first time he heard of this problem...

 

maybe a 4870?

 

It may be possible to put in an MXM 2.1 4870 taken from an Asus W90. I wonder if Asus sells those card individually if you call them.

 

Dont asus have flipped MXM?

So you would need one from an aleinware notebook for it to work.

 

I thought they used MXM slots. As far as I know Alienware only has MXM 3.0 4870.

 

From what I have read, asus use MXM slots but they have the pinout flipped so only asus notebooks work with them.

I beileve you can get a 4870 from alienware as MXM 2.1 HE. If not, then get the 4850 which I know for a fact is MXM 2.1 III (with the HE tab but you dont need it).

 

I tried using a 3870 in my M860TU/M860ETU, it didn't work.

 

I see, so it needs the BIOS support.
I know that the M570TU has BIOS support for the 3870/4850/4870.

 

There is an MXM 2.1 Type III 4850 with 1 GB GDDR3 (pretty sure about being type III, maybe is HE but the HE tab is def. not needed as the 2nd slot in the M17 lacks the HE slot) from the M17 and a MXM 3.0b 4870 with 1GB GDDR3 from the M17x.

They are both standard MXM cards and should physically work in a Sager but I would imagine your BIOS needs to be modded to add support for those devices

The Asus W90 4870s will ONLY work in the Asus W90

 

I am looking at the X8100/NP8120, are you suggesting that the dual gtx 285's have the same issues that alienware is seeing?

 

perhaps... i'm not sure whether people are seeing dpc latency spikes on the newest calpella platform though. from what i recall all the people that have been complaining have montevina-based laptops

 

Yes, the latency is ok with the PM55+CF setup, however keep in mind that the 285s have a current consumption of 75W each and in general will probably stress the chipset more.
I had 280 SLI config with my R1 and the difference between Nvidia and ATI is huge. Even the MCP temps stay lower now than with the 280s.
Even though we (AW users) blame the MCP79 as a culprit of the problems, the SLI config definitely makes things much worse.