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    m9700 graphics card upgrades

    Discussion in 'Alienware Area-51/Aurora and Legacy Systems' started by NortheastBread, Dec 4, 2011.

  1. NortheastBread

    NortheastBread Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey there first time poster here. I've read through a lot of the threads and everybody here seems to be passionate about Alienwares and knows a lot about them so I figured I'd bring my question here.

    I have an Alienware m9700 AMD 64 2.2 ghz and the graphics cards are done. I've already looked at plenty of 7900 GS cards that are going for decent prices but what I was wondering was if it would be possible to upgrade graphics cards in order to squeeze a little more performance out the laptop. SW:TORs coming out soon and i'd like to be able to play on it.

    Any help would be great guys thanks.
     
    NortheastBread, Dec 4, 2011
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  2. NortheastBread

    NortheastBread Notebook Enthusiast

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    any help guys would be great...
     
    NortheastBread, Dec 5, 2011
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  3. rsgeiger

    rsgeiger Notebook Evangelist

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    Ho NortheastBread! Welcome to the forum!

    The 7900 GS is a little on the low end for the computer, but still workable. There are 7950 GTS versions that can work in SLI. I have those and I love them. Problem is there are no more driver updates for these cards, so be wary.

    The best that people got working stably in the m9750 is the ATI 3870m Not sure if it is the same for the m9700. Wish you luck! Try ebay and search this forum for these model numbers. They sometimes have links that are life on ebay
     
    rsgeiger, Dec 6, 2011
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  4. NortheastBread

    NortheastBread Notebook Enthusiast

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    Do you have them running in SLI? do they run games decent?
     
    NortheastBread, Dec 6, 2011
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  5. rsgeiger

    rsgeiger Notebook Evangelist

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    They do run games decently. Not at Ultra or even High settings anymore. medium-high is more accurate, as long as SLI works. Have not tried the new releases yet, and since I have a new alienware, wont be trying too soon :)
     
    rsgeiger, Dec 8, 2011
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  6. NortheastBread

    NortheastBread Notebook Enthusiast

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    since you have the 7950s, what the heck is the deal with the daughter card parent card?

    I keep seeing that everywhere
     
    NortheastBread, Dec 13, 2011
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  7. Ari3sgr3gg0

    Ari3sgr3gg0 Notebook Consultant

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    One has a bios set for master and needs to be in the master slot while the other a slave bios that needs to be in the slave slot. The Mobility 3870 won't work in that laptop since it has an Nvidia based chipset that won't allow it. You can try running some 8700m gt in sli on that machine for an upgrade into dx10 and having some overclocking headroom. The 8800m gtx/ 9800m gt rebrands may also work though the temps would probably be a bit higher. They would also be bottlenecked by your processor though if you find out your fsb info you may be able to overclock your single core with setfsb.
     
    Ari3sgr3gg0, Dec 20, 2011
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  8. NortheastBread

    NortheastBread Notebook Enthusiast

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    So with the 7950s, with them having designated slots, would they work in a m9700, not the 9750?
     
    NortheastBread, Dec 21, 2011
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  9. Ari3sgr3gg0

    Ari3sgr3gg0 Notebook Consultant

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    7950's also work in the 9750, that was an option for the 9750 at it's release
     
    Ari3sgr3gg0, Dec 22, 2011
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  10. Dezire

    Dezire Notebook Guru

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    Dezire, Dec 27, 2011
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  11. Dezire

    Dezire Notebook Guru

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    Your best option is twin (2X) 7900 512Mb cards. Part number 40GAB040Z-D41B.
    You can have the same part number cards in both slots for Sli in the AMD cpu M9700.
     
    Dezire, Dec 27, 2011
    #11