M18x R1: Upgrade or Buy a Used Alienware 18?

So, I have been using my laptop for five years now. It's weird that I have yet to try overclocking it.

The GPUs are dead/dying now. I'm just using the Intel Graphics for the moment.

I thought about the idea of upgrading. With regards to that, I am quite okay with spending at least $1000 (Canadian) right now. Are R1 upgrades worth it? I was thinking of a 680m SLI upgrade or a single 780m + processor upgrade.

I have recently gone back to playing World of Warcraft. I wanted to try Overwatch, but I don't get consistent 60 FPS in that game. Same goes with other GPU-intensive games I've tried. Quite frankly, I planned on buying a desktop this year, but the GPU recently acted up. I get black screens in less than a minute when they're on. I haven't tried switching/removing one of the graphics cards because I don't have thermal paste at the moment. I figured it's been through some years anyway which is why I considered an upgrade.

I guess what I really want to know is, which path should I take? I would strongly consider spending more than my initial estimate if it'll be really worth it. I mean, I survived 5 years with a mere 6970m Crossfire setup. I plan on getting at least five more years if the upgrade can do it.

 

If you want to survive five more years then 780M is a good choice but I would recommend swapping MoBo to R2 and buying single 980M(970M) if you don't want to do SLI plus 900 series is more optimized in new games than Kepler which is being crippled now.

Check prices in your region.

 

I thought about that as well. I've been reading about R1 upgrades these past few days. I saw an old thread where Mr. Fox suggested the 780m + processor upgrade. What's the average cost of an R1 to R2 upgrade with the 980m?

OT: Also, my monitor's always had this black speck in the middle of my monitor. It's not a dead pixel. I've always been bothered by it. Is it safe to try disassembling the screen itself? I tried to loosen the two screws on it before, but I couldn't.

 

Prices vary from country to country. Check list of parts in the M18xR1 to R2 upgrade thread + 980M and then check prices in your country.

That's probably Motherboard + daughteboard + msata cable + 980M but im not sure.

 

Was that the thread where the guy was asking for a 3-year warranty from resellers? Is the R1 -> R2 the more preferred route than the processor + 780m SLI I usually see here? I think the other recent thread even suggested an 880m upgrade for the R1.

OT: Also, if anyone can help me with the monitor problem I have, that would be fantastic. I'm not sure if I needed a new thread for that.

 

If you want to use SLI you can use 780M/880M in SLI and it's not as expensive as dual 980M. Just keep in mind that in new games Keplers are more and more crippled same as maxwell will be in next year IMHO. It's standard nvidia practice.

 

Honestly, a single 980m + mother/daughterboard + processor will probably cost a new desktop already. I don't think I'd be too willing for a 980m SLI configuration right now (unless there's an absurd offer).

Now I'm a little bit down. I thought the plan of a single 780m + processor upgrade was good where I even considered an R1 to R2 upgrade. I just can't seem to sell myself the idea on which upgrade path to take, but I also don't want to, essentially, waste this laptop by not having a working GPU that's up to standard.

OT: Thank you for your insights. I hope someone else give their opinion on this matter.

 

I would say skip the used AW18. I recently sent back my AW18 for repair and I'm holding my breath that it can be fixed. Since Dell/ AW no longer makes the 18, parts are hard to come by. I've been informed that if it can't be fixed I may have to settle for an AW17 r3 (BGA ). I'd rather get a refund, BUUUT, we know that won't happen

 

What's wrong with it? I just saw someone post a used Alienware 18 (2013) here that seemed like a good deal, but it has a broken clip. That's why I considered buying a used one because the cost of the upgrade can be comparable to it.

Also, I'd like to know some feedback from people who upgraded their R1.

 

When I sent it in nothing/nada happened when I pressed the power button. I hadn't opened it to do anything to it in months, so it was just dead. Today, I received an email informing me that the repair faze was put on hold because while working on it the PC started to SMOKE -WHAAAAA!?!?!? I fear this is the final death knell for my PC

 

If you want to go 780M route, let me know. I have 2 cards that I've tested in the M18x R1, certainly breathed new life into the machine. Will absolutely demolish your 6970M crossfire setup

 

@Vaeron
I have upgraded my M18xR1 to i7-2920XM and dual 880Ms and im happy but price of GPUs was really low as no one wanted to buy them in Poland so seller had to lower the price for me.

@Scanner What do you use for EGPU? mPCIE?

@Raidriar
Yup, AFAIK one 780M is as powerful is two 6970M

 

@GodlikeRU
Yeah, removed my wifi card and used its slot for the EGPU. Worked great, simple plug and play. Whole setUP was cheaper than buying new 980m GPU

 

Interesting. Do you think it's better to stick to the 780m SLI + CPU upgrade for the R1? Or should I got the R2 route?

 

And you use some chinese adapter from AliExpress probably? Plug'n'play you say? Hmmm that's interesting. Thanks for the info.

 

Not sure if it's from China, it came real quick. I'm using Bplus PE4c v3 PCIE X16 interface for mPICE. Also using the express card version for my kids old Toshiba Qosimo. That PC had a code 12 error, but I did DSDT by pass to fix it. Got them both from Amazon.

 

Nice, I got gpu damaged in Toshiba Qosmio X505 pretty bad (factory defect).

Does it work good on internal display?

Thanks for the info.

 

Most likely I'll be giving someone the go-ahead to make payment today and I'll ship that AW18 tomorrow. I'll consider a switch in the buyer if I get no bargaining

 

From my experience, the 2920XM and 3920XM trade blows, since I can clock the 2920XM higher than the 3920XM. the iGPU on the R2 is better, and you get mSATA and maxwell support, but, R2 boards are expensive, the specific bits are hard to find if you wanted to convert. Many of the motherboards have that flaky audio chip problem, a hardware level fault. The drivers are a band-aid at best, as the behavior still returns.

IMO go 780M SLI + 2920XM and you should be able to handle 1080P games without issue.

You will want the triple pipe heatsink for the extreme CPU, whether you go R1 or R2. Only factory spec 3920XM/3940XM M18x R2 came with triple pipe CPU heatsink. You can reuse your 6970M heatsinks for the 780M/880M, as they are 100W

 

Both my AW18, and Qosimo X505-Q898 internal screens work with the EGPU setup, BUUUUT, you will not be able to game without external monitor. When trying to game with only internal monitor FPS is like 5-10. When external monitor is plugged directly into EGPU, I get between 45-55 FPS.

 

And what if you use HDMI In @Scanner ?

 

Mind if you PM me his price?

I see. That's enlightening.

 

Will it be bad if I don't upgrade my processor and just go for the 780m SLI?

OT: Also, I'm not quite sure if I should make a new thread on this, but I also don't want to spam threads.

Since everyone has been very helpful, I might as well ask this here.



I've always had that on my screen. I figured it has to be on the panel. Dirt? Scratch? I'm not sure. The zip file contains a short clip of the problem. Sorry for the potato quality.

 

Your CPU will bottleneck two 780M. Nowadays games are crap-optimized or no optimized at all so you need powerful CPU and GPU.

 

So a 2920XM (is it the best one for the R1 motherboard?) is a need if you are going for an R1 upgrade? I thought I could get away with just one 780m replacement for the current crossfire setup.

 

2960XM is best one but 2920XM is basically the same as both are unlocked. If you want to get 780M SLI it's better to make sure that your CPU won't be a bottleneck.

If you plan to use only one card then i7-2630QM may be sufficient.

Even if you later upgrade your R1 to R2 motheboard you can keep i7-2920XM as it will work.

 

I'll sell you my 680M's for $400 shipped. They are rock solid and haven't seen load temps north of 75C. (IC Diamond / Gelid GC Extreme and manual fan control).

 

At this point 2GB of vRAM is super limiting on new games, 4GB in the 780M or 8GB in the 880M will probably do him better if he's gonna shell out on a final upgrade (for now...) on the M18x R1

OP, I would save until you have enough to do GPU + CPU together because you don't want to tear into the system more times than you have to. Better to do it all at once. The back spot on your screen is a dead pixel, happens.

 

I actually have the money since I was planning on building a desktop because my laptop was still working back then. It's just a matter of worth for me right now on which path to take. I'm in Canada right now, and it sucks how there are a lot of taxes that I have to pay on top of the prices of the parts. The hesitation that I get is that, if I at least double the amount for the laptop upgrade, then I'd get a very nice desktop. Since I have yet to move out (I'm moving to Toronto early/mid next year), a desktop is kinda iffy to purchase right now because it would be such a hassle transporting it. Same thing why I was considering buying a used laptop. After the taxes, it'll cost me at least 65~80% of the PC budget.

Thank you, I appreciate you noticing the monitor problem. I've long since thought that they were dead pixels. I just can't confirm it because I don't have the necessary technical background or experience with other cases of it. How much does a replacement LCD cost right now?

OT: Why did you (GPUs) have to die on me?

 

6970M and 6990M are just total crap and they die in every laptop. Just slightly worse than 580M

 

Thank you for the offer, but I'm leaning on 780m cards right now.

They're my first AMD cards as well. I've always used NVIDIA with my desktops. I think I also swapped the GPUs to each other two years ago.

 

If I can get past EU taxes, I'm sure Canada will be a non issue. BTW I am also Canadian

LCD replacement is expensive. You're looking around 250-300$ for a brand new panel, or play the used panel game and hope for the best. In my experience, the 4 used panels i've sorted through have always had a dead pixel somewhere.

6970M/6990M had poor solder holding it to the MXM board. If you are REALLY in need of quick temporary fix, you can buy some no-clean liquid flux, drip it until you see it come under the actual GPU module, and use a heat gun or oven to reflow the solder. This is a temporary fix only if you really need to use the cards for something. Otherwise, replacement is the only option

 

Were you speaking figuratively over the taxes? I'm more resigned to the replacement option right now. I'm still open for a used one, but it'll depend on the price relative to the upgrades [780m SLI/CPU (2920XM?)/LCD (maybe)] I'm trying to do.

 

No, I can mark it as gift and low value, you will not get flagged by customs

 

Just for info. You cannot mark low value because custom then takes look at guess Ebay and local catalog for customs. I am purchasing things over Ebay for years. And I found out that it is much better for you to put,say 150$ incl. shipping than 20$. I am just saying from my kind of business from abroad. Customs these days are much more sender/receiver aware...

 

What's the trade-off if you don't?

 

If you don't what? Pay tax and customs?

 

I purchased AMD 8970m. And I told seller to put 106$ incl. shipping,so 76$ part and 30$ shipping. Customs when package arrived at their location,didn't looked even at the receipt from Ebay store. They wrote the value of 285$ and I paid tax and customs at THAT price not the price of receipt. Even though I paid card around 260$ incl. shipping. And at the end card costs me 386$ WT*...But that is the way it is.... I just replied for you to know. And If you don't accept package they will return package to sender,but will charge sender sending again... Years ago it was much better and easier for these kind of things. Only way to order some expensive stuff is for someone in let's say USA who is coming to your country get you part/order physically!

 

Sorry I wasn't clear. I was just curious what's the trade off if one doesn't declare it on the proper value.

I've never had any transactions over eBay, so I don't know how things work over there. I've always bought things from Amazon or in person. While I am willing to pay for the right/an awesome deal, I don't have any idea on how the taxes work regarding customs. I mean, I was expecting that the item from eBay would just be delivered at my doorstep.

 

I bought a lot of items from ebay and never got customs. Maybe it's just a luck but I always said mark my packages as SAMPLE not gift. They can't force me to pay customs if item is a sample and chinese guy will confirm it's a sample

 

I don't know about that. In Serbia (everything I told you is what's it like in Serbia) package must have value even though customs in Serbia almost never care. Customs in Serbia is one of most strict in Europe.
I didn't said you will have problem....

 

You are one big lucky guy That doesn't pass Serbian customs! It cannot be sample if sender is private owner and sending to private owner. Sample in Serbia is only possible when Firm sends "sample" to Firm. But then you need to pay over T/T and that way you cannot buy stuff from Ebay for your home

 

You are one big lucky guy That doesn't pass Serbian customs! It cannot be sample if sender is private owner and sending to private owner. Sample in Serbia is only possible when Firm sends "sample" to Firm. But then you need to pay over T/T and that way you cannot buy stuff from Ebay for your home

 

In Poland they don't give a damn huh

 

I'm not selling on ebay. I'm selling on here through paypal. It doesn't get flagged. I've done this before to Canada and France without issue.

 

Dammit NBR...double post

 

I haven't set double post. I had single post. but for some reason it doubled.

 

I got same double post problem, there are some issues on the forum

 

For the CPU (2920XM), is the upgrade also used or do you find a new one?

 

Sorry but who are you asking?

Edit:: Jesus I waited 2 minutes for this to get posted...