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Alienware 17 R5 gpu upgrade
Hello guys..
I have a Radeon HD 8970M in my Alienware 17 R5 and I'm thinking on upgrade my GPU.
What options do I have?
Since I have a Radeon, is it possible to upgrade to Nvidia?
I ask that because of Optimus feature. I dont know if its something of the graphics card only or if this feature has something attatched also to the mobo.
Thank you very much in Advance.
Rafael
AndrewSi
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October 14th, 2016 10:00
Optimus is a feature installed with the GPU driver, so no need to worry about that.
You can plug and play any NVidia "7" series GPU and any "8" or "R9 2XXM" AMD GPU.
If you want something more recent you will have to do some slight driver mods to get it to install.
I'll give you the abridged version.
Alienware only licence NVidia and AMD with the serial numbers for the GPU's they were originally issued with.
For example, you have a AW17 R1 - They were issued with "7" series nvidia and "8" series AMD's
Alienware has given NVidia and AMD device and machine ID's for those GPU only - NO OTHER MODELS - So when you use say a GTX980 in your laptop and try to install the driver it will come back as "No compatible device found".
This is because Alienware refuse to release or authorize the new device ID's to NVidia and AMD, so they do not include them in their drivers, hence you get the "No hardware found" message during driver setup.
What you have to do is insert your machine hardware ID into the driver you have downloaded, switch off "driver signature enforcement" and you can install any GPU you like, even the brand new ones.
Sounds complicated but it not, after your've done it 2 or 3 times it will take less than 1 minute
rafaelzigx
3 Posts
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October 17th, 2016 09:00
Thank you Andrew. I answered everything I wanted to know.