M15x GPU Thread: General Discussion on Upgrades, GPU Troubleshooting & Repairs

Here is a quick guide. Tried to reference it on NBR but couldn't find any. If anybody else has a link to one on our forum, please share it

 

This should work on my M15x ?
Placa Vídeo Notebook Dell Alienware Xps M17x 06w46k Hd6970m - R$ 1.000,00 no MercadoLivre


Video Grapgic Notebook Dell Alienware Xps M17x 06w46k Hd6970m

 

Hello guys,

Recently I installed an 7970M. It seems to work fine but most of the time the GPU only uses 40/50% of its full capacity. Is this because my CPU (i5 540M) is a bottleneck for the 7970M?

 

Absolutely! I would try to get your hands on an i7 920xm or 940xm which is overclockable. At the very least upgrade to an i7 720qm but that may still bottleneck that GPU.

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Thanks for your fast reply

I just wanted to make sure it was a CPU problem. I'll try to get my hands on a 920xm as soon as possible!

 

940xm is a better overclocker he he he

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I believe that. But looking at the price, which is 2x the price of a 920xm, i'll settle with a 920xm

Btw, do I need a new PSU for the 920xm/7970m combo? At the moment I have a 150W PSU.

 

I would advise absolutely yes! If you plan on overclocking cpu and gpu (you'd be stupid not too) then I would suggest a 210w or 240w PSU as well as the recently discovered right-angle connector Right Angle Connector Converter for Dell Laptop Power Adapter -LC90B | eBay which means you don't have to "pull the pin" on the 240w PSU so it will still charge your battery. Pulling the pin is required to avoid throttling but you can just pull the pin on the adapter rather than the PSU and the just not use it when you need to charge the battery.

In terms of power draw I quote the highly knowledge King of Interns

(expect 7970m power draw to be slightly higher than 680m)

 

You've been really helpfull! Thanks a lot!

I also didnt knew about the existence of that adapter Going to buy one for sure!

 

Hi guys, I don't know if this is the right thread for this but friend of mine has a M15x, it's a i5 520M so I think that's R2?

Anyway, he had problem with the laptop overheating and forced shutdowns so I told him I'll take a look at it. It was running at like 60 degree celsius on idle so I decided to take it apart to clean the fans and replace the thermal paste. Everything was working fine before I took it apart, however, when I put everything back together, it couldn't turn on.

I tried removing and reseating stuff again one by one but it still won't boot.

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could give me some suggestions. I'm not a total noob as I've taken apart a few of my personal ThinkPads and Vaios before but this Alienware is my first and I've never encountered this issue before.

Thank you so much.

 

Totally remove the cpu and gpu, then reseat them. Then do a battery drain, remove battery and hold power button for 30 seconds.

 

Sorry for the late response, and thanks for the advice, but it didn't work for me. I'll probably have to take it to a shop and get someone to look at it.

 

hi all guys Someone can recommend me where to buy a gtx 660m for my dell alienware MX15 r2'm from Argentina but I can hardly get anything here so excuse my bad English thanks to all ..

 

I would suggest eBay. Look for sellers like upgradeyourlaptop, upgrademonkey, and so on.


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thanks for your answer I will look

 

I've had mine for a few years now so time to upgrade, now my question is I can get a 6970m for £100 or a 7970m for £250 now is the 7970 worth that much more? I'm running the 840qm CPU

 

£100 for a 6970m is a rip off unless you aren't happy with buying a used card. I think a 7970m would be bottlenecked by your 840qm unless you plan to buy a 920/940xm over clock it.

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Cheers Fatboy CPU will be next just need to get rid of the 5850m first, new games are just killing it!
is this the right one as it doesnt mention the m15x???? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131161719335?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

 

GTX765 should work on M15x ?

 

That would work, but I would be careful with cards coming from china...

 

I would also like to mention that my upgrade path with a 920XM and an AMD Radeon 8970M has been successful after some modifications to the vBios and a proper bracket/screws. I am running 0.975V @ 900/1250 with good temps. Don't be afraid to try an 8970M, granted it is dell branded and it is said to work for dell systems. I can tell that the 8970M would be bottlenecked on an i5 CPU or low end i7 CPU. Without an overclock on my 920XM using throttlestop, I would notice FFXIV would stutter a lot. As soon as I activated Throttlestop, it became smooth as a baby's bottom!

 

Can i upgrade to 7970m with AC-Power 150w and i7 Q 740 ?

 

You can, just don't expect crazy performance. More than likely you will run into bottleneck from the CPU. If you are going to get a 7970M, I would suggest getting an i7-920M or 940M to give it the proper juice it needs to shine! Also, If you plan on overclocking both, at a bare minimum I would get an L shaped adapter from amazon or ebay. The mod you would need to do is in this forum. I would suggest a 210/230/240W PSU with the pin mod for best performance.

 

Thank you for reply! I'll consider your advice! And probably i'll buy this stuffs, but for now can i just make it works with my spec?

 

You can, but you will run into throttling (your system slowing down due to not enough power) and bottlenecking. (Your graphics card not performing as it should because your cpu is not feeding it enough data)

 

so, I have the following options:
HD5870M = 270USD
420USD GTX 765M
7950M = 520USD
these are the prices in Brazil.
What do you recommend me to buy, considering my current settings?
Whereas processor will be traded in a few months, maybe at the end of the year.
What is the best option that I should buy?

 

It depends on your budget. Where are you getting those prices? Did you check ebay? Can they ship to Brazil? The 7970M would give you the best performance for sure. The 5870M is quite dated...it's still a great card but I would go with one of the newer offerings. As for going with the 675M or the 7970M.... take this website as a basis. Radeon HD 7970M vs GeForce GTX 765M Clearly the 7970M is the winner in performance, but the 675M uses less power. Personally, if you can afford it, I would go with the 7970M. A lot of people have success with it here and it can be overclocked fairly well with adequate cooling.

However the 675M or the 7970M will be currently bottlenecked by the 740QM CPU and possibly throttled without the l-shaped adapter with the pin mod and/or a higher wattage PSU. I would look into getting a GPU, but don't forget the CPU and PSU/L-Shaped adapter if it fits in your budget. Let us know if you have any more questions.

 

So i'll get this 7970m! In my country if i buy with ebay i'll pay 100% tax for everything! So, if any product cost is 100 USD i'll pay 200USD, 100% tax for Brazil buyers... Can i hold for while with 7970m ? I mean can i use internet and some games with this configs?

 

Damn, that Brazil tax really sucks! :/ The 7970M should be great for you, I would want to avoid getting cards from China and MAKE SURE that it is compatible for dell or dell branded. You may run into issues that may or may not be able to be fixed. We are here to help but just try to get one that is compatible for dells/alienwares. As said earlier granted you have the CPU and PSU/L shaped adapter to support it. Internet should be fine as it isn't using much power at all. Games you may have to lower the settings till you get a faster chip and more power. At least at a minimum you need the L-shaped adapter to have the 150W pull a little more power and not run into throttling issues (unless you OC). Dell Laptop 90 Degree Right Angle Power Connector LC90 | eBay

And I would suggest also getting a 210W+ PSU...the more the better as your budget permits. If you get the l-shaped adapter, look on the forums to do the pin mod. it is very easy and simple to do! I have an 8970M and a 920XM and when I was playing a game, i did not activate 3.2Ghz and my game was stuttering and lagging on high/ultra settings. The GPU should be more then enough to run the game smoothly, but the CPU was at a slow clock rate. As soon as I set my unlocked 920XM to 3.2Ghz, it become smooth as butter! Hope this helps!

 

Really thank you for replies, you help me alot bro!
I just got one more question!

So if i'll spend about 1k USD to upgrade my M15x, it wouldn't be better to buy a new m14x?
Hmm, now can i pay you a beer or something from ebay ?

 

It is no problem I am only repaying the kindness that others in this forum have shown me. I don't mind helping anyone at all!

You can technically buy an M14x, but from what I remember those laptops have integrated GPU's. Upgrading it will be an issue. It is smaller, but it comes at the cost of performance and upgrade shots. If you decided to upgrade the CPU, you will only be able to upgrade to the highest capable chip for that generation. Also because of the size and power, they usually do not come with the high end mobile GPU's. to get that you will need the M15x/17x/18x. I thought of getting the 17x, but it's too big for me.

I initially questioned buying and upgrading the M15x at first too. After a while, I figured what the hell...I invest all this money and time, and it's faster than my custom built desktop! I spent about $300 for the laptop. (It came with a 720QM/8GB/AMD 5730M/320GB spinning hard drive.) I spent $200 on the 920XM, $300 for the 8970M, $150 for the 16GB ram, $60 for the PSU, $10 for the L-Shaped adapter, $210 for the solid state drive, and $30 for the wifi card, $30 for the USB 3.0 card. $1,280 I spent total. For comparisons sake...I priced an M17x with specs compared to my M15x, Dell wants $2,500 for it! The m17x doesn't even have a blu ray rom and a higher capacity solid state drive in that price!

As you can see, that's close to DOUBLE the price. So you can go the M14x route, and it would be fine. You can also spend more for a newer version of the M17x; But, the M15x is the best in between! There is plenty of horsepower left in the m15x, and you can upgrade the GPU, so it's going to last a good amount of time before it will be replaced. Considering that my current M15x can pretty much run any game on Ultra or at least high settings, I'm happy.

 

Thank you! I'll hold with my m15x <3 . So i just was looking in my city for a better psu and i just found a 180w , this still bad for GTX 765m ?

 

It's no problem, glad you decided to keep your M15x! 180W would be okay with an L-Shaped adapter so long as you don't plan on OC'ing. (Which would be a waste if you decided to go with the 920XM cpu) It would probably pull 210-230W off that adapter. Keep in mind that the GTX 675M is a 100W TDP GPU and the 920XM can pull 100-150W while OC'ed! If you OC both, you may end up pulling around 230-260W+.

Your machine will slow down to keep up with the power demand or even worse the PSU may shut off the system. The GTX 675M is based off nVidia's Fermi arch...which isn't known for energy efficiency. I would suggest getting at least a 210W PSU if you can find it. It would future proof yourself and would allow you to OC with the L-Shaped adapter. However, If you will use your current CPU and the GTX 675M without OC, the 180W should be okay.

 

Really thank you for advices! So i choose GTX 765M to buy.
Now i got a new problem.

I follow this to install
Nvidia INF driver modding (Guide) - Guru3D.com Forums

But i need to DISABLE intergrated HD Audio to work..

Any advice, what can i do ?

 

Congorats on the video card purchase! You can go to the Bios settings (Hit F2 when you see the aw logo when when you power on the m15x) and go into the settings to disable onboard audio. Hope this helps.

 

Thank you for Reply, Just need install drivers in proper order.

So GTX 765M WORKS 100% in M15x! And it is AMAZING!

Anyone know max temps?

I just get around 40c idle, 70~~76c Gaming...

 

40c idle is great. What ambient temp are we talking about ?

 

We are in winter now, so about 15-25c, we got crazy temps this year oO

Now just with chrome and musics i'm about 39c GPU

While playing World of Warcraft for 2~~3h with ULTRA Graphics got max 56c

While playing Crysis3 for 1h with HIGH Graphics got max 76c

So, i never reached 80c yet.

 

I've got a new quest, while in battery my M15x are really slow, can't do NOTHING watch movies or streams are really impossible. Is That normal ?

 

Are you on stealth mode when on battery? Does the laptop go into high performance power plan while on battery?

 

It's quite normal, everything throttles down to meet the power output of the battery. To watch movies you could try to use vlc media player and enable the gpu processing option from preferences - it will allow you to watch almost anything even on battery.


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is it worth to pay $800 to upgrade my m15x ??

upgrading my m15x from these specs: Intel Core i7 720QM (1.6Ghz -...) | 8 GB ram |500 GB HDD | Nvidia GTX 260m | the regular 150 W ac adapter |battery 6 cells .

to these : AMD 7970M 2Gb DDR5 cost $400 | Intel Core-i7 920XM(2.0Ghz-3.2Ghz) cost $300 | 210 or 240 ac adapter cost $100 | killerN wireless or Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 cost $15-$50

these prices are approximated from ebay and its not included the shipment

GPU

CPU

WiFi

of there is upgrades cheaper and better than these please tell me .

 

Intel Core i7 920XM Extreme Edition 2 0GHz SLBLW | eBay - 920XM (Wish they had this price when I bought mine...it's $160)

ATI Radeon HD 7970M Fan Heatsink | eBay - 7970M $255

New Dell 240W AC Adapter PA 9E J938H GA240PE1 00 Y044M 330 4128 330 4342 | eBay - 240W $60

Intel 450MB Centrino Ultimate N 6300 633ANHMW Half Wireless WiFi Card Mini PCI E | eBay - wifi - $21.50

Judging by the fact that I have the same machine with my specs below and I love it...I would say it's totally worth it. Hope this helps.

 

So my computer knowledge is somewhere close to zero and I'm looking for some upgrade advice.

I've just upgraded my M15X to 16gb ram, which has helped, but I think I need a further boost.

My CPU is an Intel i7 Q740 1.73 GHz
My GPU is a GeForce GTX 460M

Which would benefit more from an upgrade at the moment?

 

Glad you came to ask us. It depends on what you are looking for on your beast. Are you looking for more gaming performance? Web browsing speed? 16GB will allow you to open more programs, but I would start on first evaluating on what you are looking to do. Overall speed improvement will come with getting the CPU and HDD upgraded.

Getting an 920XM and an SSD from Samsung or Intel should fit the bill. You would want to overclock the 920xm to see the real speed boost though. There are plenty of guides here on how to do that. Gaming performance would benefit from getting the 920xm and a new GPU like the 7970M/680M. As far as which one you should upgrade first, I would suggest upgrading the CPU.

The max you can get is a 940XM and the cost difference between the 920 and 940XM is huge...while the performance benefit is really minor. Hope this helps.

 

Unless you find a 940xm for under £200 ($320), in the NBR marketplace
Bargains to be had!

 

That could work if there is one available. Alternatively, the 920XM's are going for around $175 on ebay.

 

Yeh I bought my 940xm two years ago. Bit out of the loop with prices. That is pretty darn cheap for such a good processor despite its age.

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Yeap. I would have bought the 940XM if it wasn't so expensive at the time I bought the 920XM. The fact that our chips can OC so well even increases the value. I paid about $220 for mine. This was 2-3 months ago haha.

 

Hello everyone I'm from Pakistan. Had a few queries and found this amazing forum. I'm getting M15X with i3 and 5730m for $380. I've read about the upgrades and by my assessment the total cost apart from shipping and duties would be ~ $500.. i7 920xm would cost ~ $170, the 7970M around ~$300 (Aliexpress) with ~$100 for Ram HDD and PSU. I've read the 920xm wont make real life gains if one's running 740QM or 820QM. Can we really skip the CPU upgrade and keep our costs minimum? Does the m15x have the capability of switchable graphics?