Alienware M18x R2 heat sinks in M18x R1

Hello everybody!

Will heat sinks from Alienware M18x R2 physically fit in Alienware M18x R1?
I have 2 x AMD 6970M. I have read that heat sinks from R2 are better. I do not know which parts will be the best.

Right Side Video Card Heatsink
For R1: DP/N: 29NC1 029NC1 AT16L0010F0, AT0FM00A0C0



For R2: DP/N: 8J8TM, 08J8TM, AT0MI0040C





LEFT Side Video Card Heatsink
For R1: DP/N: 0Y8T9Y, AT0FM0070F0



For R2: DP/N: V4NXK, 0V4NXK, AT0MI0010C0



Could anyone help me?

 

http://forum.techinferno.com/alienw...nware-18-r1-right-gpu-heatsink-where-buy.html

Suggests they are, just be aware they may not fit the cards to well even if they fit in the chassis if you get ones not for your specific model.

 

Taking this opportunity, which is better to add to M18x R1: two graphics cards AMD 6970M or one 7970M?

 

I'd take a single 7970M

 

Someone told me that R2 heat sinks will fit in R1 without problem. Additionally it does not matter if it will be AMD or nVidia, both are quite the same / compatible with AMD and nVidia, only stickers are different .

 

They will fit without any problem. M18xR2 is nearly identical as M18xR1.

Other question is lifetime of your 6970M. They are so unreliable that they will die without a doubt shorly. You better sell this crap and buy 680M+ NV gpu. Really. I have two 880M in M18xR1 and they works fine however I had two HD6990M and they died in a year period. If you want to maximize money savings then buy 7970M becuase 6970M will die a lot faster.

 

OK, I understand. 6970M is not worth the nerves.
However I like to ask about heat sink AMD <-> nVidia. Is it true that I can use nVidia heat sink on AMD GPU and conversely i.e. AMD heat sink on nVidia GPU?

 

Yes, most parts are dimensionally identical in the M18xR1 and M18xR2. The heat sinks will fit like a glove. The motherboards are exactly the same dimensions, but the I/O daughterboard ribbon cables and SATA interposer cables on the M18xR2 are wider, so they cannot be mixed and matched. They must follow the motherboard of the same model. Literally everything else is swappable, including chassis, display components, and all visible exterior pieces. The only difference between the chassis parts is the M18xR1 has no special mounting location carved out for mSATA drives, but the chassis base is otherwise the same. The M18xR2 HDD caddy accommodates three drives instead of two, but mounting to the chassis base is identical. You need the R2 motherboard and SATA interposer to actually use three drives.

Even though they will all physically fit, the information you heard about the GPU heat sinks being all the same except for the stickers is totally false. There are some significant differences between them, especially as relates to their cooling abilities. Ideally, 7970M and 680M GPU heat sinks are needed for those GPUs or newer GPUs. They can be swapped around AMD versus NVIDIA, but you have to peel off the black shroud on the copper plate because they are different on AMD versus NVIDIA and will cause interference with die contact. The 7970M and 680M heat sinks are noticeably heavier and larger, cover components that need to be cooled that the older heat sinks do not provide coverage for, and they are more effective at cooling. There are also 75W and 100W heat sinks. Using a 75W heat sink on a 100W GPU will result in thermal management issues.

 

So yes, grab a new heatsink and a 7970M and you will get a nice bump in performance and thermals should still be good.

 

Hey,

If you want to maximize savings look at my signature. I wrote a guide how to install NV cards using AMD heatsinks.

 

Surely you would buy the kind you wanted if upgrading them?

 

If I am remembering the scenario correctly @GodlikeRU could not buy the heat sinks in his area, so he had no choice but to improvise. He also could not buy 780M in his area, only 880M. His heat sink mod worked out really well, but buying the correct heat sinks would be the ideal option if they are available.

 

Necessity is the mother of all invention I suppose. At this point I'll be buying a clip on programmer for my bios chip lol.

 

Umgh what does it look like? Also what's the point of it?

 

Careful though with the first generation /batch of clevo 7970m, the 4 center capacitators (behind 4 ram chips) will not let the R1 heatsink fit perfectly and together with the card... i'm facing this problem right now...

I ordered a R2 heatsink on pchub which looks different on that specific area. I hope that it wil lwork out, if not, I will have to dremel out that heatsink area...

R1 version



R2 version