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Trying to upgrade components, can someone help?
I own the Alienware m17x R4 laptop and am going to be upgrading some parts soon. I have built gaming computers before and worked slightly with laptops in the past, however I have never upgraded a laptop before and want to make sure everything is compatible before I drop $2k on parts. Here is what I want to upgrade:
1. gpu- from Nvidia 660m to Nvidia 980m
2. ram- from hynix 2x4gb 1600MHz to Corsair Vengence 2x8gb 1600MHz
3. SSD- from samsung PM830 mSATA 128gb SSD to samsung 850 pro 500gb 2.5" SATA III internal SSD
4. HDD- from Western Digital 500gb 7200RPM to HGST Travelstar 7K1000 2.5-Inch 1TB 7200 RPM SATA III 32MB Cache Internal Hard Drive
physically swapping out the parts is not what im concerned with, but will all of these parts be compatible with my M17xR4? I have no idea [*-)]
additional information:
OS: windows 7
CPU: intel core i7-3740QM cpu @ 2.70GHz (max qualified) overclocked to 3.49GHz (3.69GHz max turbo boost speed)
sound cards: CREATIVE sound blaster recon3DI, Nvidia high definition audio, razer surround audio controller
video card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M 2GB
display: generic PnP Monitor
Game7a1
727 Posts
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March 30th, 2015 20:00
3 & 4. You have 2 HDD bays, so no need to swap them out, so what I would do instead is buy a 500 GB mSATA instead of buying a 2.5" SSD. That way, you keep your current HDD and get an extra 1 TB (or are you going to do something different with the new SSD and HDD?).
2. Should be fine. Remember that there are 4 RAM slots in the R4, so you could just get another 2x4 to get 16 GB or a 4x4 to replace your current RAM.
1. You'll want to get a Clevo 980m and install a modified Nvidia driver. Apparently the Nvidia drivers for the 13/15/17 R2 work fine, so you can get one of the drivers from Dell support site (unless you want the latest driver, in which case, you'll have to modify the driver's .inf file).
As well, you'll need to get the heatsink designed for the 7970m/GTX 680m and a 240w PSU for the 980m to work properly. If you don't have any lying around, some good thermal paste and pads are needed.
HypeHypest
1 Message
0
March 31st, 2015 02:00
Hi, so i'm in the same situation, only I have the x51 R2 from Early 2013, i'm wanting to upgrade my Sound Card, Memory and GPU but unsure whether they'll fit thanks to the compact sizing of the x51 R2, the components I'm wanting to add are:
1. Corsair CML16GX3M2A1600C10B Vengeance Low Profile 16GB 2x8GB DDR3 1600Mhz CL10 XMP
2. MSI NVIDIA GTX 970 Graphics Card (4GB, PCI Express, DDR5, 256 Bit)
3. Sound Blaster Z PCIe Sound Card with High Performance Headphone Amp and Beamforming Microphone
My main concern is the size of the Sound Card, anybody know whether these will fit into an Alienware x51 R2?
Thanks :)
Natakuc41
86 Posts
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March 31st, 2015 03:00
If you want to restore the Alienware Factory Settings onto the mSATA SSD follow the procedure I documented here to update to the latest version of Alienware Respawn and create a Rescue Disk (Bootable External Hard Drive) or Factory Backup (Bootable USB Flash Drive):
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/dell-backup-and-recovery/using-a-hdd-and-ssd-together-with-dell-factory-settings/
My guide uses Dell Backup and Recovery but for an Alienware system you should use Alienware Respawn which is essentially a reskinned Dell Backup and Recovery.
You may then use DiskPart to remove partitions from your old drives to prevent a dual boot (not necessary if you aren't using these drives).
Game7a1
727 Posts
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March 31st, 2015 08:00
You won't be able to use that sound card at all. There's only 1 PCI slot, and that's for the GPU, which should fit.
bootsmyler
14 Posts
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March 31st, 2015 15:00
I would like to replace the 128 msata with a 500gb msata. I will either use the 128 as an external or put it in my dads laptop ( its pretty old so it would help out his laptop). I was mostly planning on replacing the western digital 500gb HDD for a 1tb HDD and turning that 500gb HDD into an external hard drive (used for system backups and stuff) and then adding a 500gb SSD into the empty bay since SSDs are faster at locating specific data than HDDs and less prone to failure or discs breaking, I would rather switch the 500gb HDD with a 500gb SSD as this is a laptop and will at some point probably be jostled around and dont want to risk it.
I'm attempting to max out what this laptop can handle so even though I will probably not reach 32gb I want to go for it anyway. I do a lot of gaming and games have become progressively more memory demanding, so I'd like to be able to run any game on ultra settings for years to come. I also do a lot of 3d modeling and video editing stuff so memory is a definite 32gb.
Game7a1
727 Posts
0
March 31st, 2015 15:00
There are two 2.5" bays and 1 mSATA bay. If you get a 500 GB mSATA, you do not need to make anything external (unless you want an external enclosure for the 128 GB mSATA). You'll have enough room.
May I ask something. Do you need 16 GB or 32 GB of RAM? Because if all you do is game, then you don't need that much RAM, especially 32 GB.
I know the specs and such of the m17x R4, so I can give good advice.
bootsmyler
14 Posts
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March 31st, 2015 15:00
So its my understanding the m17xr4 has 2 HDD/SSD bays and 1 mSATA bay. would it be possible for me to replace my 2.5" 500gb HDD with a 2.5" 1tb HDD (ill probably get a case and use the 500 as an external) , then replace the 128gb mSATA with a 500gb mSATA. Would I be able to fit a 512gb 2.5" SSD or will I not have enough room? I'm not certain on the layout of the bays, would 2.5" be too thick? how much room do I have to work with? If I can fit the 512gb 2.5" ssd and 1tb 2.5" hdd AND the 500gb msata I would be very happy. I also found that there are 2 extra memory slots under the keyboard and plan to change the 8gb of hynix 4s to 4x8gb corsair vengence cards to give me 32gb total since I have a quad core processor that can handle that much memory. Its a thick laptop so I'd like to make use of any space I can.
Game7a1
727 Posts
0
March 31st, 2015 16:00
The memory you're thinking of is VRAM, not RAM (haven't heard of a game that takes up more than 8 GB of RAM), but the other things you do is what matters for the RAM upgrade.
Your dad's laptop may not be compatible with mSATA, so you have to get an adapter (mSATA to SATA). I'm also not sure why you would want 2 SSDs. Are you going to RAID them or something? Because if not, then better to just get 1 TB SSD and no HDD at all. Or two 500 GB SSDs.
Considering your budget is $2,000, you only have ~$1k for the RAM and storage (most likely ~$900) as the GPU, heatsink, and new PSU will cost a lot. So out of the $900, about $220 is for the RAM (if you go for 32 GB), so that's $680. A 500 GB 2.5" SSD (Crucial BX100) will be about $170 and a 500 GB mSATA (Cruical M550) is about $200. A 1 TB HDD at 7200 RPM is about $70. An external enclosure for an HDD can be found at $10, and a mSATA to SATA can be found for cheap (say $5). So that leaves you about $225.
I mean, it's your money. But that is what you end up having at the end, which should be enough for a 1 TB SSD of 2.5" or mSATA form factor (if you take out either SSD and the 1 TB HDD).