M7700 D900k

So I have my M7700 bare bone kit on the way with a dual core fx-60 chip and a 7800 gtx. How does that sound? My little brother is so excited he said I don't realize the power I'm going to have. I guess we will see. I was curious if anyone knew if the MSI 802.11g + Bluetooth Mini-PCI Card from rj-tech would work in a d900k. Let me know what you guys think about the setup. Once its running Ill put up pics.

 

wait can u post the cost and just to make sure, is there only ONE graphics card?

 

Bare Bone kit $600 (awesome price)

fx-60 dual core cpu $408

7800 gtx $550 (overpaid but there is limited quantity on the market and 7950gtx are almost impossiable to get i was quoted a price for 650)

When its all done it would have cost me around 2000.

This is a $3500 notebook direct form alienware.

Here is a current listing of the barebone kit on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ALIENWARE-M7700...ryZ46323QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

yes the mini-PCI wi-fi card will work.

 

I think the best part of this unit will be the processor. It really is one of the fastest cpus around.

If you get technical it's "old" technology. Its really only about a year and a half old. I think I got great performance for half the price.

 

true...

but for around $2000, I would recommended to get the D900C/D901C with single MXM videocard... since it has the best potential for future upgrades, as compared to the old D900K (which is capped with socket 939 and proprietary Clevo videocard).

Or go for the amazing M570U or new M570RU.

 

Yea, I totally agree with Gophn. Lol, I checked with Dell and they said that I'll be able to upgrade my card in the future without voiding my warranty , so hopefully, mabye in a year....ill upgrade to a card that the m1730 will probably be usin, but i am pretty sure that there isnt a way i can make it with SLi, lol.....

 

You can argue that all day long. They said the same stuff about the the upgradablity of the unit i got. So I'm getting as high as it can go, Instead of going low now with the hopes of upgrading. Ill always steer towards getting a great value then running to get the lastest. My unit will run all the major titles for atleast 2 or 3 years. The FX-60 dual core is a no joke processor. So i'm not to worried.

 

Plus I also wanted the Alienware chassis. So I was limited with that. I dont think anyone can argue the performance that unit will have.

 

My suggestion? Talk to RJ Tech about upgrades.

I had an Alienware m7700 that died. I sold the beast to a friend for $500 who had plans to rebuild it. RJ Tech ( link) carries a full line of replacement parts for the D900T/K series (at a cost), and informed us of all the upgrade options that we had.

The D900T's motherboard could be swapped out for the D900K, allowing us to upgrade from Intel to an AMD system dual-core system (big upgrade) and even carried replacement graphics cards, and would assist us with everything we needed to make the change.

The D900K can be upgraded to GeForce 7950 GTX ( link) and brought up to par with the best of the best gaming notebooks for sale today. They know their tech, are friendly and helpful -- and have the gear you need to upgrade that laptop.

That's my story. The end.

 

yeah exactly. With the dual core fx-60 i'll be pooping on alot of units.

 

the D900T/K series are so much better designed than the new ones. they have alot more connectivity ports positioned at the right places, dual optical bays, audio dj and a usefull lcd clock in the front, better overal sound thanks to the subwoofer underneath.

 

I will not agree with all of this.

The D900K/T may have the dual optical drives and the AudioDJ front panel.. but both are rarely ever used by the average owner that owns this notebook. Same goes for the Parallel and Serial Ports.

The new Clevo's (after this chassis model) had a major improvement internally with the thermal design (with nice dual to triple copper heatpipes). The main gripe a D900T/K owner would have is the average cooling for the GPU.... its placed in an awkward location (under left palm rest) and has a small heatsink and fan for it.... while the CPU has a massive copper heatsink and dual large diameter fans. Thats why these notebooks might have gotten a bad name since the GPU cooling was an issue if you did not take care of the notebook by cleaning out the fans and monitor the temps.

If GPU had better cooling (like connecting a couple of heatpipes into the large CPU heatsink), I would actually continue to recommend the D900K/T.... but they are being phased out for the new models that have much better cooling.

As for the ports, you can just get a basic (under $15) USB docking device that has those ports.

 

I'm super excited either way, its going to be a kick ass machine. I'm ordering a zalman cooler for it so it will help keep the temps down.

 

gargross1983,

I was wondering how you D900K turned out. I'm planning on doing something similar in the next couple of months. When I upgrade my desk top, I want to switch my D900T to a D900K motherboard and install the FX-60 from my desk top in it.

 

We did that to my old D900T. Converted it over after the MB died, made it into a D900K. The replacement process was a little complex, but we found some guides online that made it a breeze.

In fact, we swapped the Alienware case for a brand new Clevo D900* case (my old one was wearing out). Turned out great in the end!

You will need new memory, proc and the motherboard, though. The D900T uses DDR2 while the D900K uses regular ol' DDR.

 

I already have the CPU and the memory, just looking for a good deal on the motherboard. CPU is coming out of my desktop and I got the memory from a friend who parted out his D900K. What else do I need to do?

 

Well, finding a good deal on the motherboard is the hard part. D900 series motherboards are disgustingly expensive. You may be able to find one on a parts store, maybe ebay if you're really lucky, but on average a new one is going to cost about $400 to $500.

We couldn't find one cheaper when we did our conversion. Ultimately, we got it from RJ Tech . Considering the average lifespan of a laptop, we opted for new, new, new! Unfortunately, that came at a price.

RJ Tech may be willing to accept a "best offer" for the part, so I would contact them and see. Otherwise, you may just want to look around.