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185038
January 1st, 2014 22:00
graphics card upgrade : Alienware M18x-R2 with Nvidia GTX 660M
i have an Alienware M18x-R2 with Nvidia GTX 660M as it's graphics card, sadly the card is seem to be dying (flickering green pixels on laptop screen), so i'm looking to buy and upgrade to a newer one but i'm not sure which to pick
can you give me a good suggest
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BJFox
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763 Posts
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January 2nd, 2014 02:00
Sure... go with 680M or 780M. Both are awesome and a LOT more powerful than 660M. You'll see a massive increase in performance.
You will need to obtain heat sinks for 100W NVIDIA graphics cards because the 660M heat sinks are not effective enough to keep those much more power graphics cards as cool as you want them to be. The rest of the parts will be fine. Please note that if you have one 660M, in addition to a right side heat sink you will also need an SLI bridge cable, 330W AC adapter and right side fan if you want to upgrade to SLI.
There are already some other threads covering this subject. Here is one that you may find helpful:
Alienware M18x R1/R2 GTX 680M SLI Upgrade Information
Before you take the leap, if your system has 660M SLI the flickering and odd display coloring might be caused by a SLI bridge cable that needs to be replaced. You may have to try replacing that first. Of course, this would not apply if you have one GPU.
Dayner_kurdi
5 Posts
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January 2nd, 2014 04:00
I see thanks your answer but I do have few more questions related to my problem, yes my unit dose have a secondary card but I'm not sure where is the problem, is it the card or cable
1- I don't see the flickering when I switch to my other card.
2 - I counted my 660m to a mounter to make sure, and I also don't see the flickering dots
dose that make the cable one that causes the problem ?
Sorry but my hardware knowledge is blew basic to tell the true
89fordprobee
1.2K Posts
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January 2nd, 2014 11:00
BJFox
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763 Posts
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January 3rd, 2014 13:00
If you have dual graphics you will see 2 660M in Windows Device Manager and the NVIDIA Control Panel will have an option for SLI.
A bad CrossFire cable can cause the problems you are having, but it should not only be using the internal LCD display. It would show on an external monitor also. If you are only having problems when using the internal LCD you may have a problem with the LVDS cable or the actual LCD panel itself. Chances are good that there will also be issues using integrate graphics if the cable or LCD panel is having problems.
Dayner_kurdi
5 Posts
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January 3rd, 2014 19:00
well the thing is my unit show it don't use SLI cable, it only show the current card i'm now using
here is a video about my problem
[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cObl48fIa-c:550:0]
i'm now looking to buy part since all workshop here in tokyo are saying its video card but they dont have the video card in store , should i also buy the SLI cablie to make sure ? if so can you provde me which one that work with my unite ;/
Dayner_kurdi
5 Posts
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January 3rd, 2014 20:00
Ya I know that about buying part but I don't want to buy it unless 100% sure
89fordprobee
1.2K Posts
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January 3rd, 2014 20:00
well according to the control panel you only got one video card.... and then onboard ... so sli cable is irrelevant unless you have dual cards
video cards aren't something you can get form any store for a laptop its either EBAY or from dell spare parts ...
henkafghanistan
8 Posts
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November 6th, 2014 12:00
hello
is the problem solved because i have also the issue with flickering pixels.
but on a external screen he is good.
so i think graphic card is good.
thanks marcel
gameengineer
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May 12th, 2016 17:00
Kicking the dust off this old thread a bit but it seemed like the right place.
I've got a similar situation as the OP but my 660M is fine and I just want a faster card. I am going for the 780M in a single configuration only but I am not sure if I need a new heat sink or any other additional hardware. I read I might need the "right side" heat sink: Y48TK. Is that for an SLI configuration or will it work for single card?
The power supply is 240W so gauging by what I've read it should do fine especially for single up 780M.
I've got the M18X R2 with i7-3630QM and 12GB RAM.
Funny, but when I contacted Dell Sales and they pointed me to this thread. :)