Alienware m18x GPU upgrade

well upgrading to 560's wouldnt any better then the 480's 580's are improvement but getting them atm are probably not gonna happen since there is a backlog

also getting from dell will probably run you around 800 bucks PER card + labour so roughly 1600-1800 bucks US,(just a guestimate but i know the cards are in that area to buy outright)

Ebay and find some cards yourself and swap out, it isnt very hard, but keep original for warranty reasons,

Sell computer and get a new one with what you want(better)

I can tell you the 580 eats Crysis 1 and 2 alive totally maxed with hidef textures :)

I don't know how this works but if you can talk Dell is selling you what they call a "Part Replacement", which is they take your old cards back you can get a pair for $1100 marker.

Few people mentioned this the back end of 2011.

Apparently it took a bit of talking to get a rep to push it through, but was all done through the 1800 alienware place.

Buying a couple of cards from ebay or somewhere else is a great idea and you'll probably get them alot cheaper - BUT - if your not tech saavy then changing the cards yourself will be difficult, the M18's are not like the old M17 etc, with these you will have to remove the keyboard, fully detached the LCD screen and remove the palm rest just to get to the v/cards, and they can be VERY tempermental

I'm suprised that your having trouble with dual 460's, I had crysis 2 cranked up on a M18x with 460's a couple of weeks ago and it was running fine, temps did'nt exceed mid 70's after 2 hours, no throttling, no blurring, perhaps a benchmark test program like 3DMark vantage will be able to compare your gpu's to others and you will have an idea if they are faulty - just a thought!!!

Maybe it's me. I don't know. I just can't get the graphics to go above high on crysis 2. Maybe it's my location than the computer itself. I'm deployed in the desert right now so that could be why SWTOR is no go. I don't see that affecting Crysis 2 though. I'm not sure if I could even go for the Ultra settings without the cards kicking off.

I'm guessing being in the Desert your temps will be sky high which will result in your cards throttling drastically.

Shy of a few minutes testing in a walk in refrigerator, I'm guessing no where will be especially cool to see if it is heat.

You'd be better checking your temps, download the programs gpu temps and fraps.

Compare low frame rate to the temps and see if they match up, if they do 580s won't help :(

Are you able to get something like a Cooler Master Notepal U3 ? Its an Aluminium J shaped stand with 3x positional fans, you can set all 3 across the inlets to push extra air through there. This maybe a cheaper option to try before graphics cards :)

So off topic, but this is the closest post to my question....

Can you replace the GPU in the M17x R3's??? I have one with a GTX460m and im keen on running the GTX 660m or 675m. The gpu is its only let-down really. So can it be done, is it easy enough for someone semi tech savy to do??

thanks

I believe IF Dell have sold the R3 with the Graphics card you desire then it should run without problems.