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

IC Diamond, nice one. I'm using cheaper paste, MX-4 ... Easy to find in my country instead of IC Diamond.
Only with unlocked vbios you will be able to push the card more then +135Mhz on core, so temps will not rise-up dramatically.

 

What thickness thermal pads do i need to use with the m15x and a 6990m?

 

I've tried to over clock it, and it topped at only 73 degree celcius compare to 69 degree on stock clock when playing Deus Ex Human Revolution although it's very stable, I still prefer <70 degree though

 

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me. I've never done modding or anything like that on my laptop before and I own an Alienware M15x R1(GTX 260M, i7 740qm-2.93Ghz, 6GB). I'm looking to upgrade my gaming perfomance. At first I was looking to upgrade to a 7970M but will my CPU be the bottleneck?
Basically I'm looking for:
1. Plug&Play installation
2. BangForBuck value
And whether to upgrade my CPU or GPU first.

P.S. Does anyone know of any cooling method cause my laptop gets to almost 80degrees celcius T-T I've already changed my thermal compound, cleaned my fans regularly with a cac.

Thank you so much!

 

What games do you want to play? If you're wanting to play the latest AAA titles you will feel a big bottleneck from any processor except an overclocked i7 920XM or 940XM. But any processor is just plug and play.
Bang for buck GPU would be 7970M and you can undervolt this card to 0.975v, possibly even 0.95v to run it cooler. A lot of people have had success with the AMD Firepro M6000 card which is a champion overclocker. Really great performance but you'd struggle to run new games on high settings. I have a 680M that would also be a good option for the right price. This card requires some tweaking and a custom vbios but there are plenty of guides on the internet.

I would get CPU and GPU together and then grab an SSD when you can. Try getting Gelid GC Extreme thermal paste to re-paste your CPU and GPU. Also try running the laptop with the bottom cover off and a fan or cooling pad underneath.

 

Thanks for the response! I am mostly looking to play titles like Rise of the Tomb Raider, modded Skyrim, modded Fallout4, AC:Syndicate, Hitman, Dark Souls 3. In terms of performance, what desktop GPU would u compare to the 7970M because I am at a crossroads right now to either upgrade my lovely Alienware or buy a completely new PC(R9 390X, i5-6500, 16GB RAM) but I also have to add in the cost of a monitor, speakers, and a new desk. So I am more keen to upgrade my laptop as it is cheaper and I will eventually have to upgrade it anyway. I'm heavily inclined to get a plug&play GPU because I really don't want to screw my laptop up xD

It's difficult to find a CPU & GPU bundle that will ship to my country, I live in SEA(or maybe I'm looking in all the wrong places). I just bought a Cooler Master High Performance thermal paste though :O Was that a mistake? Wait, won't dust build up if I take the bottom cover off o_o I apologize if I sound ignorant. Thanks again for the advice mate!

 

If you want a cheap upgrade, the Firepro m6000 is king right now. It's not quite the performance of the 7970 but it costs around a third of the price. It will be a HUGE upgrade over the 260m (probably double the performance).

 

Alright I made my decision
1. i7 920XM
2. 240W batt adapter
3. Kingston SSD 120GB

Now only the GPU is undecided How large is the performance gap between the 7970 and the M6000? My aim is to run most games(as stated in previous posts) at 1080p @ 60fps or so.

 

With my 920xm overclocked to 3.2GHz and my m6000 overclocked to 1000MHz core / 1250MHz VRAM, I score a little over 2900 in Firestrike, a little over 18,000 in 3DMark06, around 4300 in 3DMark11 Performance, and a little over 15,000 in 3DMark Vantage Performance. The 7970m I had was definitely faster, for example, my Firestrike score was around 4300 with the 7970m. Therefore, the 7970m is without doubt superior, but consider the price of the 7970m (around $230) and the price of the m6000 (around $70). It's up to you in the end, but you will not be disappointed with the m6000, especially coming from a 260m GTX.

BTW, even with the 7970m I was not able to run newer games at 1080p @ 60fps. For example, I could do around 60fps with the 7970m @ 1080p, but not at highest details, and when the action got intense on the screen, the framerates would still dip down into the 30s.

You may also run into throttling issues with these upgrades which can be resolved by removing the center pin on your power adapter, but then it won't charge the battery. You can get a right angle adapter like the link below, and remove the center pin from that, and when you need to charge the battery, you can simply remove the adapter and plug in the power plug directly. Refer to this thread, you're probably gonna need to:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-m15x-throttle-the-final-solution.729756/

Right angle adapter:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pwr-Right-A...402101?hash=item5675bb6235:g:9i0AAOSwpdpVbi0O

Good luck. If you get the m6000 and want to overclock it, check the 7870m thread and if you need further help, let us know.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/m6000-7870m-gpu-thread.785735/

 

Have to be honest, 7970M is not capable of 60fps in a lot of newer titles. I used to have one before it died and I replaced it with 680M. The 680M is a bit more high maintenance because you need to flash custom vbios and modify the driver inf file but I can provide guides for all of that. Just for reference my 680M at 1000/1075 get 5380 in firestrike. By overclocking it so much you do unlock an extra layer of performance over the 7970M. If you get one for the right price, this is a much better card than 7970M imo having owned both,

Whilst amazing value for money, the m6000 doesn't have the graphics muscle for modern titles either except on low or medium and/or 720p. Not sure how pricing will change when next gen cards are released later this year?

 

Damn, I really want at least 60fps on high or ultra I also need a decent size of VRAM to run modded Skyrim as there are quite a few scripts I run. Will a GTX780M cut it? Or must I opt for a GTX970M? I saw a video of an Alienware m15x running a GTX970M so I assume my m15x R1 works too?(I hope)

 

I was just about to suggest a GTX 780M but this card runs hot unless you are willing to carry out some kind of cooling mod.
Another option might be a GTX 770M 3GB VRAM or R9 M290X 8GB (basically a 7970m with higher clock speed and more vram).

GTX 970M is probably the best graphics card to choose if you can afford it as it runs cooler than a 980M, is cheaper but overclocks almost to 980M stock levels.
If you can afford it, don't hesitate to get the 970M.

 

Damn its about $550 fir the gtx970 :/ Anyway thanks, I'll take it into consideration and decided on a later date

 

Well something interesting just happened. My m15x might have just died. Lol. It won't boot up(tries then reboots) and it kept having screen freezes prior to this. No temp issues :/ took out the battery and connected it to power adapter and it still doesn't work.

 

Do a power drain. Remove the battery and AC adapter, and hold down the power button for 20-30 seconds.

 

I have 4 Dell 4GB 780Ms if anybody is interested, hardly used, pulled from Alienware 18. Can be flashed with svl7 BIOS if wanted.

 

@Muramasake assuming your M15x hasn't just died then this is a great card and Raidriar can pre-flash it with a custom VBIOS for you!

 

Back on my m15x, nope hasn't died yet but for some reason HWinfo doesn't show all the cores of my i7 740qm Only the first core is shown. I just did some research and apparently A09 Bios has some issues with the GTX 260m for the screen freeze issues, can anyone confirm this? :O btw thanks for the tip Kosti! Unfortunately, I'm looking for the 970m or waiting for the new pascal or polaris xD Thanks for the offer anyway!

 

I've had it happen before where not all cores show up in Task Manager. Usually a power drain or restart corrects this problem. You may also want to clear your CMOS by removing all power to the laptop and then removing the little coin cell battery connected to the motherboard for a few seconds. This will clear the CMOS and you'll need to re-set your time and date and other BIOS settings.

 

Hey, so this seems like the place to ask a question about this laptop. Is this laptop worth getting? I found a good deal on an NP8130, but I am an idiot and didn't realize I couldn't upgrade to newer GPUs than the 680m (which is pretty overpriced IMO). I think I can return the laptop as it was not as described. I can get an M15X for ~the same price I paid for the Sager. I know that I will lose out on processing power, which I don't care about (had an similar desktop system up until a few months ago), but I can get a cheaper GPU (quadro k4000m), and I think the CPU will be fine for the games I play.

What I am wondering is: is it too late to get an M15X?

 

The M15X is worth getting but It depends on how much the seller is asking.

The M15X is rare because it is not very picky with graphics cards. There does not seem to be a limit as to what the laptop will accept with MXM 3.0 cards. There are limitations with the cooling system and power supply though, especially on newer cards like the 980m.

After the GPU, you can max out the CPU with a 940xm (920xm will be a better choice) and upgrade the power adapter to a 210-240W model and you should be good.

 

Hello , i am not very experienced on upgrading computers , or either building them ,
i have about 200-250 $ (150£-200£) ,on budget , for any upgrade regarding gpu
my hopes are to , run modern games at med / high settings , 60 fps atleast ? ,but they don't have to require heavy systems , like , Overwatch ,paragon and such
Any suggestions regarding GPU would be extremely helpful , thanks
System specs :
Intel(R)Core(TM) i3 CPU M350 @ 2.27GHz 2.26GHz,6GB ram ,64 bit
NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M

 

Just realised , upgrading gpu's on laptop is way more harder than desktops , holy ....

 

Besides the GPU, you may want to look into upgrading your CPU because the i3 will be a bottleneck for most modern games. A 920xm can be had for around $120. You can then use the rest for an AMD Firepro m6000 for around $70 or spend some more for an AMD Radeon 7970m or Nvidia 680m GTX (around $220-250). If you go for a 920xm, you'll want to upgrade your power supply to at least a 210W model because you'll want to overclock it. A 210W power supply will cost around $50.

Not sure about the frame rates you are seeking, but you can look at benchmarks on notebookcheck.com to get an idea of what a specific card is capable of.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

Upgrading the graphics card is not as easy as desktops but it's not that hard either. The good thing about the M15X is that it accepts a wide range of cards but some require minor hardware modifications to get them to fit and cool properly.

 

Hello, same guy here due to certain problems I had to create a new account :I ,I know this is weird but. I can buy a new PC for the price of 400$ ,in contrast to 250$ for GPU upgrade , should I just get a new PC ?

 

And do you know where can I get em ? Like do I have to custom build , or is there a good site for selling prebuilt pcs

 

New ......

 

Rofl

 

And do you know where I can learn to upgrade notebooks ,sy for lotta questions

 

Ey make that money for upgrading 300$ rofl

 

Guys a question can you use processors for example , 920xn which is coated with thermal paste again , on another laptops,and i download the drivers after I install , right ?V yeah , idk sht

 

Guys a question can you use processors for example , 920xn which is coated with thermalpaste again , on another laptops,and i downloadthe drivers after I install , right ?V yeah , idksht

 

You should not reuse thermal paste. You need to clean both the CPU and heatsink (rubbing alcohol works), then reapply thermal paste. You also do not need drivers for CPUs.

 

If I replace my GPU with used GPU. With thermal paste , would it work ? And where can I learn about the modifications I have to make for replacing like changing BIOS and all (

 

Just saw the reply , ignore this -_-

 

One more question boss,how can I know if the socket of the CPU is the same as
my old one ? And if it's different , do I have to do some changes to its shape ?

 

You can't change or modify the socket. To find out if a CPU is supported you need to look at both the socket type and chipset on the motherboard and look at the list of processors supported by the manufacturer (Intel or AMD). Besides that, especially on laptops, you need to find out if the manufacturer supported a specific CPU on a specific laptop. Sometimes the BIOS will not support a specific processor in a laptop even though the socket and chipset support it. There are also power and heat issues that need to be considered before upgrading as well.

Let us know what you are trying to upgrade specifically and you'll get a more precise answer. If you are trying to upgrade an M15X to a 920xm, it is officially supported by Dell on the M15X but you may want to upgrade your power supply, especially if you plan on overclocking it, because it draws a lot of power that the stock 150W power supply may struggle to deliver.

 

Sir. As you have suggested the 920xm and m6000, after some research , I am , planning to upgrade ,the CPU to 920xm and GPU to m6000 , and possibly get a different power supply

 

Good choice. That's exactly what I have running right now. A member named Maxslo is selling some m6000 cards and some 240W power supplies, both at very good prices.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/fs-dell-alienware-gpus-and-other-parts.763688/

If you get the m6000 make sure to have a look at the thread below:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/m6000-7870m-gpu-thread.785735/

 

Thank you very much for the suggestions and guides , do I have to know anything more like applying heat sinks?or doing changes on BIOS,i'll be contacting the member soon, thanks

 

Haha ;D just replied to your thread
Anyway, yeah shoot me a PM adn we can talk about any questions you might have

 

Ah , after I learn about modding & upgrading I might contact you

 

Thanks for the response, been a bit busy with class or I would have responded sooner.

Anyways, the one that I am looking at has a 5730, if I upgrade to a 980 or something, what kind of heatsink would I need/where would i get it?

 

I read the 980m runs hot in the M15X. You can't change the heatsink itself but there are cooling mods you can do by modifying the bottom cover (or removing it entirely) and adding some 12V fans to push cool air on the heatsinks. The 970m should run cooler, but you may want to look at other cards such as the AMD 7970m and Nvidia 680M GTX. They don't offer the same performance but they run cooler and are a lot cheaper.

 

The 970M is really the sweet spot from a performance standpoint. I had no issues with it running hot on either of the two M15x machines I put them in.

Note that I setup these machines at stock clocks and voltages for everyday use. My main goal was to provide a fast gaming machine to my daughter and my son's wife. Both of them love their M15x machines a lot.

 

Pretty sure 970m runs cooler than 7970M and 680M all at stock. This makes it even more attractive imo

 

Ok, I was messing around with a FirePro M6100 and decided to flash the vBIOS to one in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...locking-vbios-mod-8-m-and-r9-m-series.777509/

Well, things went bad. The flash failed. So now I have a bricked GPU. I have other other laptops (M17x R4, M18x R2) with iGPU so I can just put this card in there and try to recover? Anyone have general steps or a link?

 

Depends: do you have stock vBIOS?

Dunno about M17x, but i know i read multiple times about cards being flashable on M18x R1/R2 or maybe even both, it was a long time ago.

If you are somewhat skilled with soldering iron and have a SPI programmer, you can also desolder, reflash and resolder the vBios chip

 

Yes, I have the stock vBIOS. I saved it before I hosed it up.

Sent from my overpriced Galaxy S6 Edge +

 

cards are easily flashable in the M18x R1 and R2. Just set BIOS graphics to SG, since it powers the iGPU as well as both MXM slots, so you can read/write while still have display through intel graphics.