Upgradeable GPU's returning? Interesting.

According to good ol Frank.

Anyway, didn't see it here so figured I'd post it. If I missed it somewhere please feel free to delete this.

 

It is rather unlikely, given how MXM has been handled thus far it really is a pain.

 

If they do decide to do this, they might implement it in their new DGFF (Dell Graphics Form Factor IIRC)
Although, given their desire for thin and light, I again highly doubt it

 

First phrase that came up while reading “ DGFF “ had me thinking it’s “ IDGAF “ ... lmao.

Ray

 

I agree MXM hasn't been handled that well but those that have used it have given us an upgrade path that has been lacking for quite some time. Clevo systems had MXM video cards and socketed CPUs so you could upgrade them at any time in the future. That is why I love them. It is something that is sorely lacking with Alienware.

If I didn't have to get a computer with the minimum specs for my needs right now along with one that would work for my wife's needs while sticking with my budget, I wouldn't have bought the 17 R5 that I just bought. I would have stuck to Clevos. Maybe when I can afford to replace my Clevo (that was stolen), I will give the Alienware to her.

 

MXM isnt much use if you can't upgrade to the newer cards you're promised, hopefully Turing is handled by the, especially the 2060

 

Most of the time MXM video cards can fit but the cooling systems of previous generation systems do not have the capability to support the new cards.

 

MXM died when Nvidia stopped providing mxm reference designs and when clevo and MSI started ducking up the physical designs to make some weird shapes.

 

At least those 'odd shaped' msi cards can work in some laptops. I'm happy for what I have (msi gtx 1080 and msi gtx 1070 sli) before it's all taken away in newer laptops

Unfortunately bga is the way forward. Hopefully I would have lost interest in laptops by then...

 

I'd be surprised if when the 3000 series gpu's become available years from now that we'll get an upgrade module for this laptop. Dell will likely have an excuse for why they had to change the form factor again. But, if your someone that wanted to get a fully decked out model with an RTX 2080, 9900k, 64gb of ram, that you could get one with an RTX 2080 and base memory and CPU and just swap them out yourself at a cheaper price and sell the parts you swapped. And if your someone that goes with a 2070 you could swap for a 2080 once a refresh comes out. If we're lucky we might get one generation where we can upgrade to the next generation GPU's.

 

Can anyone explain this thing? I thought that while there is an MXM format, all gpu-changeable laptops has its own modification on it, so you can't take mxm card from Eurocom laptop and put in into Alienware?

And the second question, does it really work? If I buy Alienware Area-51m with 2080 will they release a 3080 module in 3 years? I think not. So what's the sense of it?

 

And the third question, if you ready to accept such bizarre thing as two power supplies, where we have here only one gpu?

 

Buy it for the power not upgradeability. I purchased a top of the line at the time Alienware 17 r4 gtx 1080(ended up returning it, hest issues) laptop for $200 less then what a 9700k / 2080 Area 51m costs and that will be good for 3-5 years easy. The price of the 51m is totally reasonable imo. You get desktop cpu power and a 2080.

 

You always have the graphics amp as an option as well if Dell only provides one generation or none of upgrades.