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    Alienware M17 Laptop Upgrades

    Discussion in 'Alienware Area-51/Aurora and Legacy Systems' started by LegendaryTRX, Jan 25, 2012.

  1. LegendaryTRX

    LegendaryTRX Newbie

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    Hello all,

    I have a few questions regarding the Alienware M17 that I was hoping you guys could answer for me.

    1st, as of today, what are my options for upgrading ram. Can this machine only handle 8gb of ram?

    2nd, as of today, what are my options for GPU? I bought this machine in 2009 with two ATI 3870s in crossfire, I was wondering if there is a decent upgrade over this setup.

    3rd, what are my options for CPU upgrades? I bought it with the slowest CPU available because I'm a broke college kid. I have been reading on here and heard that it's not wise to go quadcore, i'm just wondering if that has changed. If not, I was looking at this processor: Intel Core2 X9100 Mobile CPU. Would that be a good route?

    Thanks for any help
     
    LegendaryTRX, Jan 25, 2012
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  2. highfly

    highfly Notebook Consultant

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    you should really be asking this in the Alienware legacy forum or m17x forum not in hardware
     
    highfly, Jan 25, 2012
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  3. silentnite2608

    silentnite2608 Notebook Evangelist

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    If you are upgrading because of a performance issue maybe it may be minor and we can work this out.
     
    silentnite2608, Jan 25, 2012
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  4. Rypac

    Rypac Notebook Evangelist

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    Rypac, Jan 25, 2012
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  5. LegendaryTRX

    LegendaryTRX Newbie

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    Ah sorry guys, I did a google search for M17 laptop upgrades and it led me to this subforum, and I posted without looking around. Could a mod move my thread?
     
    LegendaryTRX, Jan 25, 2012
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  6. Nick

    Nick Professor Carnista

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    I just asked them to :)
     
    Nick, Jan 25, 2012
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  7. LegendaryTRX

    LegendaryTRX Newbie

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    Thanks for the move mods. To answer the other question in this thread: I want to upgrade the hardware to play games on high(er) settings, and play games on high settings that are yet to be released.
     
    LegendaryTRX, Jan 25, 2012
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  8. Nick

    Nick Professor Carnista

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    1. 8GB's is plenty for gaming and most everything else.

    2. The 3870's are still pretty decent cards:

    ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2 - Notebookcheck.net Tech

    I'm not too sure which other cards it can use, I believe the Nvidia 260M and 280M work(SLI to).

    http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-260M-SLI.18909.0.html

    http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-280M-SLI.17191.0.html

    3. I'd go with the X9100 over a quad. Your other options are the: T9600, T9800, or T9900. The X9100 is around $180 on eBay.

    Passmark CPU Benchmark:

    X9100: 2316
    T9900: 2309
    T9800: 2198
    T9600: 2033
     
    Nick, Jan 25, 2012
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  9. Mongokatten

    Mongokatten Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'd suggest you check out my post http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-area-51-aurora-legacy-systems/639989-m17-r1-ram-help.html considering a from 4 to 8gb RAM upgrade that wont go because something in the computer is refusing more than 4gb. Even though i have the latest bios etc it wont take my new RAMs.
    I seem to be the only one experiencing problems with it so when I have time i'm going to try to see if there's anyone that have other ram sticks(mine are Corsair) that i can test.

    Calling AW support is also worthless as the only thing they say is that they don't support legacy systems and their original builds, even less if it's not components bought directly from Dell. Oh these idiots...

    Concerning the CPU I can just about play BF3 with enough power with my X9100 @ 3.06, default clock speed.
    GPU I have 2 3870s which are having quite a few fps issues when they are overclocked by about 50MHz - to still stay stable - with BF3. Usually around 25-40fps but in more intense situations it can fall below 15 making it almost impossible to play.

    If you're looking for a computer to game on in the future I'd suggest you get a new one instead, as upgrading this wont get you far compared to what you have to spend.
     
    Mongokatten, Jan 26, 2012
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  10. Silarous

    Silarous Notebook Consultant

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    If you can find the 1GB ATI 4850's for a decent price that would be your best bet. They are out there you just have to keep looking. I picked mine up over a year ago for $180 bucks for the pair off ebay. The M17 in my sig as configured can play every game out there with most of the effects maxed out at 1900x1200 resolution. Far from a slow gaming computer.
     
    Silarous, Jan 28, 2012
    #10