The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Which side is primary video card slot

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by ElGranCachudo, Aug 27, 2016.

  1. ElGranCachudo

    ElGranCachudo Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    68
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    16
    So one of my 680m's died out, so I removed it and left the good one inside. Just wanted to make sure which side is the primary video card slot? The left or right of the cpu. Also I've noticed I can't boot into intel card now. Any idea why?
    Thanks
     
    ElGranCachudo, Aug 27, 2016
    #1
  2. GodlikeRU

    GodlikeRU Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    165
    Messages:
    1,254
    Likes Received:
    562
    Trophy Points:
    131
    Left
     
    GodlikeRU, Aug 27, 2016
    #2
  3. ElGranCachudo

    ElGranCachudo Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    68
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    16
    K good i thought left. So it looks like if i dont have a card installed in my right side then i cant boot to integrated card. But when i put my bad card in i can. Is that correct? Why does both cards need to be in to swap to intel card? Will i be alright with my bad card in the right side as long as i dont put the sli cable on?
     
    ElGranCachudo, Aug 27, 2016
    #3
  4. GodlikeRU

    GodlikeRU Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    165
    Messages:
    1,254
    Likes Received:
    562
    Trophy Points:
    131
    It's not correct. You should be able to boot with one or without any discrete GPUs. I used my M18x for a 2 months without any GPUs. Better take out your bad card.

    Check your BIOS, you should set display device to IGFX instead of PEG if you want to use internal GPU.
     
    GodlikeRU, Aug 28, 2016
    #4
  5. ElGranCachudo

    ElGranCachudo Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    68
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Well it looks like my card wasnt dead. I was thinking perhaps its the firmware. So i pulled out my old usb stick with my backup firmware, booted into dos and flashed the bad card and it worked!
    I was thinking what could have caused it and i honestly think windows 10 anniversary update caused it.
    With my 18x r1 in order to get the drivers to work i have to go in and mod them. Shame dell never gave support for them. But i noticed while i was in chrome my windows said it updated my nvidia drivers. I was thinking wtf. Its one thing i have no control over my windows updates but now my hardware updates too.
    Didnt think much of it. So i continued on chrome and got to this interactive map trying to do my work. And all of a sudden my pc just shut right off. From there i thought i had fried my main video card.
    I thinking now when windows 10 updated unmodded drivers, my cards firmware got corrupted.
    Well im back to windows 7 and honestly it just feels better, cleaner and no more problems. So here is the big middle finger to you microsoft trying to take over complete user control.
     
    ElGranCachudo, Aug 28, 2016
    #5
    GodlikeRU likes this.
  6. GodlikeRU

    GodlikeRU Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    165
    Messages:
    1,254
    Likes Received:
    562
    Trophy Points:
    131
    Glad your card is working again :)

    You are limiting your DirectX to 11 if you don't use Win10. 680M is Kepler so it can use DirectX 12 and there are already some DX12 games only like brilliant Forza Motorsport 6 apex, more coming. There are many how-to's on the internet how to completely disable tracking and updates from windows 10 so you can use it as Windows 7. You may also install some themes that will make Win10 look like Win7 so there won't be differences.

    Just don't use EVGA precision ;)
     
    GodlikeRU, Aug 28, 2016
    #6