Just got my 880M twins!

Big thanks to UpgradeMonkey for good service and fast shipment! I also got the 3940XM CPU to replace my 3840QM and a triple heatsink! Now I just wait for the bits and pieces which is underway for my dual 330W adapter build (big thanks to the Fox) to get this little monster running at full speed, pluss the INF mod for the driver (also big thanks to the Fox)

Only thing missing is some faster RAM, seems like Corsair has the best SO-DIMM memory? 2133Mhz at CL11?

 

What are these going in aw18 r2 or aw18?

 

Cant use a dual 330W on a AW18 (sadly)

 

You're all set fella. I'm keen to see what numbers you can pull in 3d Mark 11 with those 880m monsters. Congratulations

I'd put my money on it being a R2 if he's looking at doing a Dual PSU mod

 

Spent $2k on 880M's? Hope you got a better deal than what's on eBay.

 

2247 dollars for the 880M's plus the 3940XM and express shipping Good deal for me, not much money anyway IMO.

Also got this cleaning kit from CoolLab including the paste



Big different on the heatsinks!

 

Expensive as hell, but I wouldn't necessarily say you've overpaid, considering what the 3940xm and simple 780m's still sell for even on the marketplace here.
330W mod is pretty easy to do, some of the guys in my m17x r2 thread did their own variant which didn't require opening up both PSU's, by using an adapter between the PSU and the machine to trick the machine into thinking it had the 'correct' psu attached.

 

That's freakin' awesome!

I don't have an Alienware, but I really like them. If I could put one in a "sleeper" housing I would.

 

That's a good deal Let us know how it performs

 

Oh goody! This is really exciting. Congrats on the killer CPU and GPU upgrade. I'm officially jealous now.

The latest iteration of Mr. Fox's Alienware Dual 330W AC Adapter Mod - Imgur does not require modifying a stock AC adapter in any way... just a box they can plug into similar to a Clevo dual adapter setup. Works exactly like a single adapter, but with way more power on tap. (This is only beneficial for M18xR1/R2 owners. It doesn't provide any functional benefit for the Alienware 18.)

 

Yeah, that's not a bad deal. Hope you enjoy them.

That mod is sick, Mr. Fox.

 

There must be a little IC you can use to regulate power and not use a heatsink, might be time for a home brew PCB project to create something like the sager box.

Problem is the demand I suppose now the new machines cant use it.

 

What was the part # of the Heatsinks that you used? I just got 2 880m myself and was wondering what heatsinks were compatable. I brought 2 new nvidia gpu heatsinks from dell awhile ago but I can't remember what the part numbers were...

 

I actually think the heat sink is cool looking. It definitely needs it. The sucker gets pretty warm with both AC adapters pumping 330W through the bridge rectifier. I haven't seen the insides of a Clevo adapter box to see what's in there. I could probably swap out the sockets and output cable and make one work for the M18xR1/R2. They are using basically the same AC adapter without the ID chip and a different connection on the end.

 

Which plugs did you use for this? OEM Alienware laptop power plugs?

 

@Arotished - Congrats on your new components. All I can say is that you'll definitely have a lot of fun putting them in your M18x R2, tweaking and benching those twin 880Ms. I'm also eager to see the dual PSU mod and will be following this.

 

the 880M backplate dont fit my heatsinks, it used smaller scews that my heatsink uses.

Now I need to search for screws that fit...

 

Need to remove it, how?

 

Remove the ones you have and replace them with ones that fit

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

remove what?

 

The screws are usually included (upgrade kit), Dell's won't fit (Clevo) GPU Spreader Screws Six Screws per Bag | eBay

 

Does anyone know exactly what you need to buy to go from 680m to 880m besides the cards themselves?

 

Posted this answer in the other thread... if you're using what was provided with a Clevo GPU it is the wrong support plate (aka back plate, "X" bracket)... 680M heat sinks and SLI bridge will work perfectly for 780M or 880M. Not only is having larger screws a little better, the heat spreader is there for a reason. You place the heat spreader on the bank of vRAM on the outer edge of the PCB, not the bank of vRAM that spans the width of the card.

Yup, looked on the previous page. That's exactly what happened. Get a hair dryer (not a heat gun, 'cause you don't want to melt solder, LOL) and warm it up a little bit, then use a plastic pick tool or a very small Philips screwdriver to push it off from the opposite side. Stick the tip of the tool in the threaded screw hole and gently push. You can gently wedge a piece of plastic under the back side as you are working your way around each corner to prevent it from re-sticking itself to the GPU PCB. (Cutting an old credit card or hotel room access card into strips works well for this.) The back plates are attached with a double-sided adhesive rubber gasket. They stick really well, but warming it up a little helps soften the glue. When you put the Dell support plates on, you can leave the paper backing on the center part and only remove enough of the paper backing to expose adhesive around the screws stands. You only need it to stick to the GPU... it doesn't need to be "welded" to the GPU... just enough adhesive to hold it in place while the screws are installed. If you do it that way they are super easy to remove later on if you ever need to.

 

Thanks! I tried to heat it up alittle but the glue was just sticking on to hard and I dont wanna risk destroying the cards. I said I wanted the 880M for the Alienware, not Clevo/MSI and he still shipped me the Clevo version and even now tells me that the heatsink from a 680M will fit perfect,

I wondering in just getting smaller screws, seems to be M1,6x3,5MM screws. If Clevo computers works without having to "cool" the VRAM under the cards then the alienware should work also?

One thing, I see that alienware have 2 different backplate, one that covers only one raw with the VRAM and one covering both.....why is this?

 

its not stuck, it just appears that way. be very very careful and peal it away. It will work.

 

OK, yeah, you can use smaller screws if you want to. It's understandable that you're in a hurry to get 'em installed. I would be excited and eager as well.

If your friend named Clevo jumps off a cliff that doesn't mean you should do the same thing just because he did. The Clevo chassis is made differently than an Alienware and there is a reason the heat spreader is there. The Alienware support plates for AMD GPUs don't have any heat spreader and the end result shouldn't be catastrophic without it like jumping off a cliff would be. But, the point is that following Clevo's lead on something isn't necessarily the smartest thing to do.

The left GPU in an M18xR1/R2 chassis has less air flow between the MXM module and motherboard to cool the vRAM. The right GPU is exposed to two fans (CPU fan plus it's own fan). That's why they had the dual-bank heat spreader on the left (primary) GPU. That type of heat spreader was only provided with GTX 580M/675M SLI and you can't even buy them from Alienware any more. (I have tried and they are not available.) I purchased them on eBay as used parts. GTX 580M ran hotter than Kepler GPUs, but cooler is better no matter how you look at it. I figured if it worked well for a hot-running GPU, it should also work well for one that doesn't run as hot. So far, so good... I bought two and used them on both left and right GPUs with 780M SLI.

From 680M SLI forward they only use the heat spreader on the outer bank of vRAM. The new Alienware 18 NVIDIA support plates also use a heat spreader on the outer bank of vRAM.

 

Yeah, on my 580M and 675M laptop I have one duel VRAM cooling pad and one single VRAM cooling pad support plate but on my 680M there was only singles on both.

I just gotmyself two dual VARM cooling pads support plate from ebay (A88Y) better just make it right the first time, I have my 780ti twins to play with meantime

PS: Dont make fun of my friend Clevo!

 

Clevo is OK. He is a little weird, but nice guy. His sister is a real knock-out.

 

Clevo have some nice features, like not having to take appart the hole laptop in order to change parts.



Well, just need to wait for parts one more time..

 

except that its older technology and 6 series chipset. pros and cons.

 

Isn't the chassis for the P570W (X79) made the same as that?

Yes, there are pros and cons to just about everything. You stack 'em up and decide what's best for your needs.

 

Yes but the fans now screw to the heatsink rather than the back cover.

 

The Clevo chassis fans look huge compared to alienware. Are they better ?

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I compared notes with another Clevo owner recently and my M18xR2 fans are slightly larger. Not sure if it is the same fans show in the above Clevo or another model. Whether or not they are better would depend on their CFM output. If they are larger but move less air per minute they won't be better.

 

Wow thats what you call monster fans.. its huge

 

Yeah the GPU cooling is not quite as good as the alienwares but the CPU cooling with the monster heatsink and two fans is in a league of its own.

 

With an overclocked 4930K or 4960X desktop processor, there is no alternative. Most real performance enthusiasts would be liquid cooling those CPUs in a desktop chassis. The CPU heat sink and fans absolutely have to be huge and very effective or the CPU would have a meltdown and the laptop would be pretty much unusable.

 

How can you know that the laptop will become little unstable if it has a meltdowm?

 

BSODs all over the place due to heat/damage. Or it may not even post BIOS at all..

 

Severe throttling and/or thermal shutdown.

 

Im sorry, but that was a slightly joke. I would guess that if you computer looked like this (aka meltdown) your system would be unstable

 

Well if it had insufficient cooling you would get either crashes or massive frequency throttling.

 

NOT IF I CAN HELP IT.

i disabled HT and running at 4.8ghz so cool lol. disabling HT at such high frequency reduce temp by a great load (easily 10C-12C underload, about 5C at idle) and only lose 10% in performance, not bad.

 

Just installed both 880M but no signal, just a black screen when I power it up followed by some beeps, then I tried to swap cards around but nothing then either. Then I tried my old 580M cards (my 680M's are sold) and then everything works.

Bummer...

 

Maybe you have to set it to IGP first and then modify the Clevo video BIOS with a DELL 880M video BIOS. I think its done with a pendrive to boot in the e-sata port. I want to confirm it because soon I will change my 7970M with a 780M.

 

IGP? Anyway, good point there...

 

Something has to be wrong. Johnksss already demonstrated that it works fine. It's a rebranded 780M with an overclock and more vRAM, so there is no reason to expect anything less than perfect compatibility.

Maybe the GPUs are defective. If neither one works individually in the primary slot, they sold you a pair of dead video cards.

 

or I destroyed them when I removed the support plate..

 

I don't think you damaged them. It is possible but very small. Give the single GPU test a try first. Good luck!