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    Alienware Area-51 m15x R-1

    Discussion in 'Alienware Area-51/Aurora and Legacy Systems' started by tutsuo, Apr 29, 2015.

  1. tutsuo

    tutsuo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Good afternoon,

    I have an Alienware Area-51 m15x R-1... Its been working so well until last night my graphics card(8800m GTX) failed.

    I was wondering what the best card would work with this laptop.

    -=Area-51 m15x=-
    Model : Alienware Area-51 m15x R-1
    BIOS : X36
    OS : Vista 64
    RAM: 4 Gig
    CPU: Core 2 Duo x9000 Extreme
    GPU: None it died.
     
    tutsuo, Apr 29, 2015
    #1
  2. protivakid

    protivakid Notebook Evangelist

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    Don't get another Nvidia 8800. Find an AMD 3870 on ebay or if you are lucky a 4850/4870 but those are pretty rare.
     
    protivakid, Apr 30, 2015
    #2
    tutsuo and Alienware-Wasserman like this.
  3. Alienware-Wasserman

    Alienware-Wasserman Company Representative

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    For that specific model, I'm going to have to agree with protivakid.
    I think the 3870 will get you your money's worth.
    Plus, I never really had a chance to play with an 8800.
     
    Alienware-Wasserman, Apr 30, 2015
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  4. tutsuo

    tutsuo Notebook Enthusiast

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    tutsuo, May 1, 2015
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  5. johnfisher

    johnfisher Notebook Enthusiast

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    Technically, speaking the 4870m is the best option, however there will be slight problems, like HDMI not working, problems putting the laptop to sleep, depending on the vendor, the card might not even work.
    If you wanted a supported card, the 280m would be a good option, However, the card needs to be MXM 2.1, NOT MXM 3.0, and as such has become somewhat of a rarity

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alienware-m...426?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19ff6f154a

    The 4870 is about 5% better than the 280m, but the 280m will work better with the laptop. Tough choice, as its $100 more expensive.
    Whatever card you get, look closely at the pictures to determine if the bottom bracket on the 8800m lines up with the transistors on the new card.
     
    johnfisher, May 4, 2015
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  6. WhiteAlien

    WhiteAlien Notebook Guru

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    I believe that for GTX 280M HDMI also is not working, but you can reflash it to 9800M GTX and it will work. 9800M was one of the last high end officially supported cards for m15x, but I have never seen any of those cards. For me it's like a myth. Myself I've reflashed GTX 260M to 9800M GTX and everything works perfectly, even powermizer.
     
    WhiteAlien, May 4, 2015
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  7. tutsuo

    tutsuo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Last edited: May 4, 2015
    tutsuo, May 4, 2015
    #7
  8. WhiteAlien

    WhiteAlien Notebook Guru

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    The one in photo is 2.1 type HE, it should fit in. For heat sink you need to watch for 2 big squares at the end part of the card (probably transistors), they sometimes are slightly displaced so you might need to cut the heat sink. The price for that card is really good, even suspiciously low. The risk with NVidia cards is to get burned one, ATI are more resistant.
     
    WhiteAlien, May 5, 2015
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  9. protivakid

    protivakid Notebook Evangelist

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    Don't get an 8800m, others like myself told you it was a bad idea. If it's not DOA it will be dead soon after. Here is a master AMD 3870 for $50. I will not say 100% it will work but more than likely it will. It's also only $50.

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALIENWARE-M...091?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43db955a33
     
    protivakid, May 5, 2015
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  10. tutsuo

    tutsuo Notebook Enthusiast

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    3870m too slow, thats what i had in it before the 8800m burned out. BTW i appreciate everyone's help through all this.
     
    tutsuo, May 7, 2015
    #10
  11. protivakid

    protivakid Notebook Evangelist

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    protivakid, May 8, 2015
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