Alienware 18 various mods + eGpu

I'm here to ask some help for some ideas that I have inside my mind. For first I wish to improve the performance in game with a different gpu. At the beginning I was thinking to get rid of the SLI of 765m and put inside one gtx 980m but considering all the troubles with the 980m and still the expensive prices, i'm considering the idea of an eGPU on the PCI x1. First I wish to understand at which point and with which card I will experience the bottleneck of the PCI X1 slot. Considering that I have to get rid of the wifi card I was thinking to buy a small wifi dongle to put inside the dmc port if this will be possible, any ideas here ? I'm open to any ideas and suggestion, any information will be much appreciated !

 

You can get a used MSI GTX 1060 MXM module cheaper than you can get 980m's, and the 1060 is about a 14% performance increase over the 980m. I believe the 1060 works in the Alienware 18. MSI's 1070 MXM module may work as well, and you can get a used one for about the price of a 980m, sometimes cheaper. I haven't tested myself if the 1060 or 1070 work with the Alienware 18, but the Alienware 17 and 18 are very similar, so I would think that what works in the 17 *should* work on the 18, but you should ask around first before attempting anything since computers don't always work as expected. The Alienware 17 is known to work with MSI's 1060, 1070, and 1080 MXM modules, although the 1080 will require a custom heatsink since the graphic core is in a different location than on standard MXM modules. The memory bandwidth from a PCI X1 slot will severely gimp any modern card.

 

bad luck, gtx 1060 does not work on mine due to Dell's Fault, the LCD connector is LVDS not eDP therefore no way ( so x1 looks is pretty much all that I have available, I whish was on the market an adapter something to use the pci-express port in which now I have the graphics card's

 

There is a device called SourNinja Dual-Wield that is an MXM to PCI-e connector which was prototyped a while back, although I'm not sure if it ever kicked off. I thought the Alienware 18 had both an LVDS connector and an eDP connector because I remember there being a 120hz option for the screen configuration a few years ago when it was still on Alienware's site.

 

that's right but if you remember properly, only the 17" had the 120hz option panel.... not the 18" version. In my opinion Dell on purpose they put on the market a half obsolete machine considering the LVDS connector. Such a shame and a headache for me as well. I know the Sour Ninja product but it looks like they abandoned the project time ago.... I couldn't find any news....

 

giorig if you unlock the system bios you should be able to set it up to boot "SG" and then run the gtx 1060 in optimus (for single gfx cards only, no sli). This way system will still POST with the onboard Intel but switch to the Nvidia card when a graphics load is detected. You may lose around 5% performance in this config but should be a workable solution for lvds.

Jon

 

^ Are you sure this will work on the AW18?

 

No I can't say for certain as I don't have an AW18 to play with, but now an unlocked system bios is available for the AW18 I don't see why not, as long as you can configure for "SG". In comparison the M18x R2 was never designed for Optimus as it had that hotkey switching with a reboot instead, but with the unlocked bios and SG people are running LVDS / GTX 1060 with it just fine. Equally people are running the Alienware 17 R5s with lvds / optimus / gtx 1060 + 1070 just fine and they are the same generation as the AW18.

Would be really great for someone to give this a go and post confirmation either way if it works.

Jon

 

a bit risky for sure, as operation but none the less a hope. never installed any unlock bios so far can you provide some links to this mod ?

 

Yeh sure, see the below thread. As per their instructions just make sure you are already running bios version A12 before you attempt the unlock and you should be all good to go. Once done SG should show up in the bios under something like Advanced -> Video Configuration -> SG.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/release-alienware-18-bios-a12-unlocked.802249/

Jon

 

thx I will definitely have a look into it, and yes my bios version is A12 so should be easy

 

Recently i flashed the a12 Bios Unlocked version and indeed i could find the SG option here is a pic. At the moment i still have a sli of gtx765m installed, if i switch to SG it's still going to be able to boot and run properly ?

 

Basically worst case it doesnt post after swapping to SG or a different bios option, pull the battery, pull the cmos, and then hold the power button for a little bit, put the batteries back in, and try again. I had to do that alot while getting my 1060 working, since i was testing different bios options while trying to figure out why optimus wasnt working. (Was the nvidia driver lmao)

 

I had a go and yes boot’s properly, will only use the integrated intel though, but the good thing is that works as intended, thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thats with two graphics cards in right? does it detect them both? But SG mode is switchable, it should try to use your graphics card if a load is put on, but if it doesnt, its a driver issue.(which could be because optimus and sli dont work together well, idk) when installing my 1060 i had trouble getting it to use the graphics card instead of integrated, and i just had to finish modding the graphics driver

 

Yes is with two graphics card in, that's my guess when i load the gpu the nvidia's doesn't work therefore i think is a driver related issue. like in you're case

 

question, old thread I know, but would a 18 inch uhd lcd work for this laptop? found a Chinese seller on ebay selling one. same 40 pin lcd and size fitment. any info would be great. thanks

 

No. The laptop don’t have edp connection.

Do you have a link to that lcd ?

 

what a bummer,
here is the link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1631090508...1&_trkparms=gh1g=I163109050888.N101.S1.R1.TR1

it would be great if worked somehow.