i7-3940XM worth it now at the $300 price point?

So I have an Alienware M18x R2, with the 3820QM, and I am wondering if the top of the line is still the i7-3940XM for my laptop and is it a reasonable upgrade for a relatively small amount of money $300?

Sure I'm not doing anything intensive that even justifies the 3820QM, but I have always been a bit extreme with what I do (Sold my 2013 Black Edition GTR, just to get a 2014 Track Edition, and for what? lol.. I daily drive my GTR 99.9999% of the time, so did I need the track bits? nope).

Same is true for the 3940xm. I guess at $300 why not max it out? I remember playing with the old M18x and they were a ***** to get at the CPU, I have to imagine its the same here too? So I'll hate myself when I get started, but love myself when its done. (yes, I've dont cpu swapouts before)

I currently have the factory 780m SLI setup

 

I'm not sure, but id like to know what is the max cpu for the Alienware 18 mid 2014.

 

Based on your tendencies with you cars... I think you answered your own question
The 3940xm will overclock very nicely. Since you like cars.. it's worth noting that Project Cars benefit tremendously from running higher CPU clocks.
However if you've already got a decent OC on your 3820QM it may not really be worth it. What clocks are you running?

 

My recommendation is swap the 3820qm for the 3940xm and the gtr track pack for the gtr nismo if you got the money to do it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

In the grand scheme of things $300 shouldn't matter you it sounds like. You'll only benefit if your overclocking otherwise it's a epeen situation.

 

This is why I love you guys. lol its been years since I was last on, but you cut right to the chase.

1. Project Cars is a game I assume? oddly enough I rarely play car games (I suck at them), yet I do track my actual cars in real life (I do well too).
2. Ya know, i never OC's my 3820 that much, I think because it was not as easy to do, I know like some of the 3840s or something were easier, but your right, maybe I just OC the crap out of my 3820 and see what happens? I HATE blue screens like a mofo, thats why i was thinking the 3940 would just be the solution, better performance with no issues unless I OC it (which is the point right?, but are they more stable with a mild OC vs trying to do a bleeding edge OC on a 3820?). Sadly after I posted this, i found out (correct me if I am wrong) that they 'stock vs stock' form of 3820 to 3940 was like a 3% gain? Thats DEFINITELY not worth my time (money non issue, but dismantling my laptop and it being down for a few days and the risk of damage to other ****, isnt worth it for a 3% gain, I am guessing on the OC side the 3940 picks up a lot more then the 3820 on OC ??
3. hahah on the Nismo, a guy who knows his cars , yeah, its not that much faster on the bottom end, the nismo is definitely more track oriented but I think it looks ricer, and its no quicker zero to 60, and thats where I do most of my street light hustles I live in the city of chicago, its about getting from light to light as fast as possible. lol. And that grainy as **** Avatar of mine is my Lamborghini Murcielago, which I also own. So I'm fine with having a Murci Roadster and a Track GTR. Blowing 150k on a nismo that I dont love the looks of, and its not that much faster in the 1/4 mile just seems excessive EVEN for me. lol. I'm thinking about trading in the Murci on a Mclaren 650s, which can whoop the ass of a nismo gtr . (Good talk!)

 

once you get 3940xm, apply liquidUltra compound, replace old wimpy CPU heatsink with 3x the mass triple copper heatsink, maybe even upgrade your CPU fan if its a weak one (refer to CFM flow rating on the FAN sticker), and up your 3940xm to somewhat 4.5-4.8 GHz on all cores as a daily setup, man, that's no more any 3% of a difference, the difference be like day and night, if you were to really load it... or just talk about it as a bragging rights you could dive in to some tuning this XM chip to dial in to 5GHz club, now that I think should sound tempting

 

UltraGSM !!! yes!! I'm soooo there with you on that. So I have the Alienware m18x R2, you wouldnt happen to know the part number for the 3 pipe? I am guessing with a 3820qm I at least got a 2 pipe. But yeah, 3 pipe is a great idea. As far as replacing the fan, I am guessing its probably pretty good being alienware m18x R2, but if there is a known replacement fan thats better, just point me to it, and I'll buy it.

So any direction on where to get the 3 pipe cooler? (Make this painlessf or me, I'll click and buy with a direct link )

Thanks!

Appreciate the help everyone, this is what I had hoped for, for insight!

 

oh well I happen to have one on hand and it is for sale, but I havent updated my FS thread, however the fan part Im not sure, you have to check by the rating on it, last time I had my m18xR2 which I loved to the bottom of by heart, I had CPU fan rated I thin ~11cfm , and when I had few before they were rated somewhat !4cfm, I guess maybe due to low spec factory CPU configuration... its written on the sticked of the fan, just pop the back panel and look it up. Most parts can be got from places like pchub.com or like I have mentioned, I have the 3pipe heatsink and it still is unused with factory TIM if you will like that. I could sell it to you if you wish, PM me on that.

 

Big shout out to UltraGSM, thanks for getting me going down the right path. I ordered the heat sink, now I am waiting on the ebay sellers who have the 3940xm's for sale, to see who is going to give me the best price on a new 'retail/oem' version. (Not a fan of the ES/QS stuff).

Next crazy question, which GPU's should I go for? I have 680 SLI setup right now (2 units). So I'd want SLI for a 780,880, or 980 setup. Thoughts?

 

SLI of 970M is your best bet... just ask Mr.Fox or other members here in Alienware subforum if there is no tricky thing underneath.
As I heared upgrading Alienware with socket CPU like yourth is waaaay better than buying newer BGA-crippled Alienware junk.

If I were you... i would actully first buy GPU and only then CPU to see real difference after CPU upgrade and feel that money are worth spent.

Cheers!

 

sli of 970m ? you mean 980m ??

 

Heat + price made my choice. I didn't analyze situation very well but I have a feeling that SLI of 970m can be overclocked higher while still be cool enough as opposed to 980M, especially if you choose XM CPU. Also price is unforgively high for 980M

 

You're a performance nut. So 980M SLI is what you want. But it's not an upgrade without hassles in the r2 - Ie. Driver / vbios mods and needing to run Windows 8.1 in full UEFI mode on your machine.

@James D - 980m SLI runs plenty cool enough in the r2. That's not an issue at all.

 

I was telling that max % overclocking which can be achieved to xC of temperature will be higher on 970M than on 980M
so performance difference would low enough to ignore looking at price difference.

 

I see, but I don't think a guy that's upgrading from a 3840m to a 3940xm is going to suddenly go for performance per dollar

More importantly though, any overclocked Maxwell card in a R2 is going produce power throttling issues due to the BIOS complications. The way around is basically semi-baking (for lack of a better word) in a overclock under every driver release to match the VBIOS and nVIdia Driver power states. It's an awful lot of work to do every few driver releases. Unless things have changed and have become much easier since I had my 980m SLI's ? @ [Nikos] @j95

With regards to the R2 and it's BIOS complications, I think it's more attractive to just go for 980m SLI and be happy at stock clocks rather than relying on a hefty OC for performance.

 

Yeah heat has never been an issue with my 980m's, but @James D you're right the big price price does hurt. Performance per watt is probably most crucial if some one wants the very best option as of right now, As @TBoneSan said an overclocked 970m will draw more power then a stock 980m, its just whether it gets better performance before it throttles. When @Prema releases the custom vbios the 980m will be the better card out-right, but we just got to wait for it. Until then though stock 980m's go well when using @j95 's modded drivers with the updates profiles.... provided you can afford it and are happy to set it up.

@2002_Viper_GTS_ACR The W8.1/uefi requirement and bios issues (full disassembly to reset the cmos/bios, thankfully vbios flashing is no longer an issue) should be the first thing that any one considers when looking a the 970/980m as there really is not much hope for that to ever change.

 

I know some others on this forum are all about performance no matter the cost, but I prefer to undervolt my cards and overclock them modestly to give some performance boost and increased longevity. Should increase battery life, decrease heat too.

 

Hi All.
I have a question.
I have Alienware m18xr2 3630qm/32ram/180ssd/500gb/7970m crossfire/330w.
I did upgrade to 3940xm and new heatsint I have also Cooler Master Notepal U3 Plus .
The question is what frequency cpu I can overclock my 3940xm on air with such a configuration?

 

Really depends on your temps and silicon quality. If you use Liquid Ultra paste you can probably easily do 4.5 with an average chip, possibly more. For gaming and a single PSU you might need to back off to 4.3.

 

This made me laugh, as the 3940xm is literally being delivered tomorrow from UPS. As far as the tripple pipe heat sink I need for it, well thats been coming from Lithuania since about a week ago. So who knows when that will arrive.

Yes thats EXACTLY the point, I do NOT want to upgrade to win 8.1, I love windows 7. And Windows 10 as we all know is a nightmare right now. So it sounds like the 980's arent even an option, and the 880s were crap from what I read, and it makes NO sense to go from 680s to 780s ...... whats a guy to do?

FYI, as always I really love how this community works and shares information freely, and doesnt ridicule each other! Really love the vibe here. Any feedback on the above is appreciated.

Thanks,

Jon

 

Raidriar has posted in the 980m upgrade thread about back porting the changes in the Alienware 18 A12 bios to the R2 bios to get legacy mode working with the 980m and therefore windows 7 will work as well... so what do do?... I'd wait and see how that turns out. Fingers crossed he is on a winner, then you can upgrade with no regrets.

 

sounds good, I'll keep posted. I kinda wanted to do the GPU and cpu at the same time to save the hassle of the dissassembly twice, but maybe I just need to man up and do it twice.

 

Ok, Chip came in, whats the verdict on what paste to use ?

 

use liquid ultra

http://www.coollaboratory.com/de/produkte/liquid-ultra/

I would also make a silicone border around the CPU die on the new heatsink area on the edges of the copper plate just on the area where copper meets aluminium, so you're guaranteed this compound will not touch the heatsink aluminium part and does not drip across the motherboard components in event of shock/vibrations while carrying the machine (which is guaranteed to cause fatal consequences).

Prior silicone application, I will encourage you to use thin sealing tape on both surfaces of the CPU and heatsink bases prior silicone application for easy removal of the sealant next time you're going to replace the compound.
PS: removal of such application will require you to use some tooth floss to cut the silicone border around in between components so you dont break anything while staying clean and professional.

you will want to read this, yea, take your time, read the whole thing:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...y-liquid-ultra-any-tips-before-i-start.741745

 

I welcome the advice, can you give me a few more specifics on what pads to get and perhaps an image of what your talking about for the configuration?

I'm not too worried about me being accurate with the paste, but certainly willing to use the precautionary measures you recommend, but I need a bit more guidance/explanation (images maybe).

Thanks!

Jon

 

lol somehow the m15x works very well with maxwell series excp the temp the newer and better like m18x cannt even boot DD

 

I am literally baffled by what you just said and have no clue what you were attempting to convey.

 

He was just saying that the M15x can run Maxwell (though a little warm) cards while the M18x R1 cannot.

 

ahhhhhh Thanks@!!