2011 m17x r3 upgrade?

so currently I own the 2011 Alienware m17x r3 model and don't get me wrong i love this thing to death and it's no where even near dying the problem - cooling and the graphics card. i feel the cooling in this thing is pretty average and the same with the 460m. its just fallen behind and i was wondering if there's a way to upgrade both without buying a new one? and if there is a way to upgrade would trading in my current rig discount it? some told me to just back up my entire HDD and sell it when I have near $3000 for a nice new M17x R3.

tl:dr should I buy a new laptop because my graphics card is behind or is it possible to replace it?