CPU & GPU upgrade options - Alienware 18

Hi all,

I've had my Alienware 18 for a few years now and want to upgrade the processor, and possibly the graphics card
Currently I have:

Intel Core i7 - 4700MQ
2 x GTX 770M (SLI)

What are my upgrade options please.

Thanks

Steve

 

You can get :

CPU: 4930MX or 4940MX. If your an overclocker then the community says get the 4930MX.

GPU: GTX 880M or GTX 980m. Mine came with the 880m. Cards throttled a lot, but played all the games thrown at them on ultra or whatever the highest settings were. I upgraded to the 980m cards. Sigh, if I could time travel I would not have gotten them. Hindsight is 20/20. Tooo, expensive; you MUST convert your hard drive to GPT it's normally MBR. You MUST go into the bios and switch your bios to PURE UEFI, mod your heat sinks for the 980 cards. You also MUST use hwinfo64, in order to control your fans. For reasons way to numerous to list here, the 2nd GPU fan will not work with the 980m card. hwinfo64 ensures everything works. And finally, hope you get good 980m cards, mine sucked and I replaced both of them more than once. Follow the thread on how to do it it's very good written by 1Schumsta1. Good luck

 

I have just ordered 2 x 980M cards from woodzstack..

I tought A12 bios and the 980M vbios files fixed all the problems for the Alienware 18 ? (Second GPU Fan) (
PURE UEFI ONLY)

and whats the reason to convert your HDD from GPT to MBR ?

Greetz

 

Are you in that sub-demographic of Alienware 18 owners who isn't helped by the A12 system BIOS along new 980M vBIOS (both by Dell and Prema)? It's meant to resolve these issues (fans and pure UEFI compatibility issues), but I understand that for some folks, this isn't happening.

 

Mine has 4900MQ with x2 770m
OP should just upgrade his CPU. They can be had for quite cheap in the States.
Should I keep using it for another year and buy a new machine or should I get new GPUs now? I'm quite happy with my CPU. But it seems 980m are not properly supported yet (?) If so, what's the next best option? 780m?
Thanks for your input, guys.

 

@Trulyfatal, and @Kade Storm HDD to GPT from MBR is so that it will work in pure UEFI with 980m. Prema's vbios fix worked with v1.1.1. He made a v2 vbios that some are reporting does not make 2nd GPU fan work. The v2 was made because v1.1.1 users could not upgrade Nvidia drivers to any branch that started with 361. V2 vbios not made specifically for AW18. I don't know anything of being in a subcategory, I just never bothered to try. My system works for me so I left it alone and quite frankly I just wouldn't use any of Dell's vbios. @nqduy don't forget you can look into the 970m. 400USD less than 980m on average.

 

before A12 you had to use UEFI.. A12 Fixxed that issue i tought you knew about this because you were the first ones who tested this no ?

 

I do know about it, but like i said my pc is working fine so I leave it alone. I did upgrade to bios A12, but did not want to go back wipe my drive make it MBR and reinstall the OS. I didn't see the point, things work-LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE

 

Thanks for that buddy.
Do you know if i can swap the sli 770m for a single 980m

 

of course you can !

 

BIOS A12 + 980M = works fine in Windows 7 X64, which is what I currently am using. I recommended 4930MX or 4940MX + Single 980M. SLI support has been mediocore to nonexistent recently, so a single card will fare better for now.

 

Thanks ever so much - i think thatswhat I'm going to go for

 

thanks