Upgrading the CPU on my Alienware m11x r3

Hi i have an alienware m11x r3. Inside it has and i3 processor and i am looking to upgrade it to an i5.
The reason for this is that my i3 does not seem capable of running most of my games and i get awful frame rate.
I have tried to talk to dell about this but they have been useless by giving me broken and expired links.
What i want to know is if it is possible to upgrade it so i can play my games. (reason i bought a gaming laptop and did not expect to need to upgrade it) also how much would it cost to upgrade.
Thanks
fangster321

 

No you can't upgrade the CPU, it is soldered onto the systemboard along with the GPU. If you wanted to replace the entire systemboard with an i5's board, it would set you back at least $350 going off Ebay prices.

 

Well that's a shame is there anything else i could possibly do to speed it up so i can play the games i want to.

 

What games are you trying to play? Have you tried over clocking the gpu or dialing down graphics settings?

 

I have tried it on all sorts of games but have not done any overclocking (is that wise on a laptop). How am i meant to oveclock it.

 

I fail to see how the CPU can be blamed as the bottleneck here. Even in the R1, I can play MW3 with most settings on High and shadows and DOF off, and I have excellent framerate at native resolution.

Are you trying to run crysis or something? Because even Unreal Tournament 3 is playable

 

I dont lag too much on mw3 but i do on black-ops and i lag on tekkit, medal of honor and batman ackham city.
(Games i like the most)
It seems to be my processor which is causing it.
So it may be faulty
Any ideas?
Thanks
fangster321

 

Sadly the I3 is a little low powered and mainly because it lacks the turbo that the I5 and I7 have which can boost up to 1ghz higher than the I3. Overclocking on the R3 really does minimal in terms of a performance increase these models are really only for mid range gaming at most they have integrated chips and small cooling systems.

You might wanna maybe look at selling it there are some good replacements if you really need the power like the new Clevo 11 inch model with a full sized I7 and 650M GT. The M11x is really for enthusiasts it is all about the look and the style for me and the I5 and 540M GT are perfect for what I want to do with it as I cannot play shooters or high performance games on such a small screen.

 

Seen as it is no good for games (Im very annoyed that i got a gaming laptop that i cant game on.) And i people are unlikley to buy it for that reason. It will be very hard to sell. Is there anything i could possibly do to speed it up!!!!!!!!!!! Also does anybody have an email for dell head office as i want to find out y they are saying it is an amazing gaming laptop when it clearly is not and if they will do something about it!!!!

 

It is fantastic for games in my opinion I am in the process of selling my clevo and using my M11x until I build my desktop in January. I intend to play Starcraft 2, Baldurs Gate Enhanced, Football Manager 2013, Torchlight 2, Anno 2070 and League of legends on my 1080p screen at medium to high settings

It is great for gaming but you cannot expect it to be high end because it is not and that has nothing to do with the CPU the 540M is an integrated mid range card. Apart from the Clevo which has no backlit keyboard or fancy features you wont find this power in anything else this size and you must always research the hardware of a laptop before buying it.

 

What are the best universal game settings then on games so i can get the best performance from it. Also is there any software i could use to get better FPS in games like COD

 

Is there any universal game settings i can change on steam or anything like that which will allow the games to run faster.

 

Every game is different you will need to use FRAPS and test the settings yourself to find the best results. Normally Anti aliasing will cause the biggest decrease in performance.

 

ok thanks for that. How much would it help to decrease the resolution.

 

If you jump from 768P to 1080p like me it will have a major effect but 720p should be your lowest really just limit your settings from high to medium.

 

ok then thanks.