Is my video card going out, plus technical advise requested, please.

Here is a quick run down of the situation. I have a AW18 since late 13 and I have been pretty happy with it. I haven't had and problems to speak of.

About a month ago I purchased a M18XR1 for him due to a friendly wager we had going on. I got it for what I thought was a pretty reasonable price. It's not maxed out, but will suit him until he raises the money to purchase upgrades or I give him parts out of mine after I upgrade.

I ended up coming across a deal where I purchased 2 M18XR1 for a little more than what I gave for his. They both have 2960xm in them. The same guy also had a R2 and I knew that the R2 had better performance than my AW18, so I picked it up as well.

One of the R1's is in perfect condition. Looks like it just came out of the box. Not really any sign of wear at all. The other R1 is kind of rough. It's got some pretty good scratches in it and the control panel with the volume buttons on it is starting to peel and has a dent in it, so it is going to be a fixer upper. The R2 is in good shape except for a couple of scuff marks on th3 lid.

I checked them all out and everything appears to function correctly. My original idea was just to have a extra machine for a back up if something was to ever happen to my AW18. The R1 that is in perfect shape has video card 0 is showing fast temperature ramp up. I haven't pulled it apart yet, but I am going to assume that either it needs a repaste or I have a card going out. I have watched Mr. Foxes teardown video and I'm confident that I can pull it apart fairly easily.

Long story short I have a few questions.

Machine 1
M18XR1
2960xm
2 - 580m SLI - potentially 1 card going out. In perfect shape.

Machine 2
M18XR1
2960xm
2 - 580m SLI
cosmetically not in the best shape. Going to be a project toy. Few mods planned.

Machine 3
M18XR2
3610qm
2 - 660m SLI
First upgrade is the processor. Which is the better pick a 3920xm or a 3940xm? It's my understanding that the only difference is that the 3940 has a slightly high bus speed? Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

Machine 4
AW18
4800qm
2 - 770m SLI
This is my daily driver. I work on the road and I don't watch TV or anything like that so this is my main form of entertainment. I would be up the creek if it went down. I had planned on maxing this out once I got the other machines lined out.

Question 1. The biggest question I had was do I need to go ahead and tear the 3 older machines down and repaste them? I'm pretty sure it hasn't been done. I don't really want to risk tearing the AW18 down just yet. That will happen a little later.

Question 2. I was looking at ram and I found Kingston hyperx at 1866 for the R1s and corsair vengence at 1866. I believe that this is the fastest ram I could put in the R1s, please correct me if I'm wrong. Which is the better brand? And recommendations?

Question 3. Is 2133 the fastest ram the the R2 will support? Recommendations please.

Question 4. The R1s will take a pair of 780ms with minimal fuss, but nothing higher. Is this correct?

Question 5. If I put 980ms in the R2 can I do it on Windows 7. It's my understanding that I would have to move down to Windows 8 to do so. Please correct me if I am wrong. I know to avoid the 880s like the plauge.

Any other suggestions or recommendations? I would be glad to hear them and thanks in advance.

 

Q1: yes, repaste
Q2/Q3: 1866 is the max on the R1, 2133 on the R2
Q4: 880M is the limit for the R1, 980M for the R2
Q5: No, you will need Windows 8 or Windows 10 with pure UEFI environment to run any Maxwell GPU (970M/980M).

Please let me know if I can acquire the R1 in good shape with the 2920XM in it please. Interested in a bare bones M18x R1 for sure.

 

Thank you very much for the information. It's appreciated.

I had not really considered selling any of them yet, but if I do, you will be the first to know.

Thanks again.