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23653
April 7th, 2015 09:00
M17 XR4 GPU Upgrade
Hi There,
I've got an Alienware m17x R4 and have currently got an HD 7970m graphics card installed but want to upgrade, i've looked at the Nvidia GTX 780M and it is compatible with my laptop but i'm unsure if it's just a simple case of swapping the card over, is there anything else I would need to do to install the card properly? i've asked other sellers on Ebay but there information is a bit vague.
The questions I would need answering are
1. Is it a simple case of swapping the card out.
2. does a driver come with the GPU card - I have looked on the Nvidia site and i'm pretty sure I can download the driver from there but I just want someone that knows what there doing to confirm.
3. are there any other steps i need to take in regards to it fitting as other sellers mention I might have to replace the whole heat sink in the laptop.
If someone could help to let me know that would be great
Game7a1
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April 7th, 2015 12:00
It's not a simple swap-and-play, but to get everything to work properly isn't hard either. And no, the GPU does not come with a driver. You'll have to install a modified one.
Before you install the 780m, uninstall all AMD drivers with DDU (display driver uninstaller), and then you insert the 780m and install the modified drivers. Notebookreview's Alienware forum has two modded drivers for these types of upgrades.
cam8009
4 Posts
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April 8th, 2015 05:00
Hi There
Thanks for answering my question as it made alot of sense, do I have to download the DDU from the internet and use that to uninstaller the current GPU drivers?
To install the driver for the 780m can I do this on the Nvidia website?
Game7a1
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727 Posts
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April 8th, 2015 08:00
1. Yes,
2, Sort of, but you'll have to mod the .inf file. If you don't know how, then use this driver for the time being.
Make sure the GTX 780m you buy is one from an Alienware or Clevo laptop.
cam8009
4 Posts
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April 8th, 2015 10:00
Hiya
Yes, i've made sure that it's from a Clevo and It's also been in an Alienware Laptop before, unfortunately i've got limited experience with modding files so I won't really have a clue what to do.
The driver you've provided me would it just be a case of wiping the old drivers off from my AMD HD Radeon 7970m, and then installing the card then start the machine up then download and install the driver you've provided? is there any modding to do with files involved once the driver been downloaded?
Look forward to hearing back from you
Game7a1
6 Operator
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727 Posts
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April 8th, 2015 11:00
The driver I linked is already modded, so if you want to get the newest driver, you just copy-paste the old .inf file into the new one.
Alternatively, you could use Alienware's Nvidia driver for the Aw13/15/17 R2. They should work as well.
Only install the Nvidia driver after uninstalling the AMD driver and inserting the GTX 780m. You pretty much have the right idea.
cam8009
4 Posts
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April 13th, 2015 05:00
Hi There
Thank you for getting back to me and I apologies for the late reply, I bought the Nvidia GTX 980m card have got it in front of me, so I'm currently on my desktop and have uninstalled the AMD Drivers via Device manager, I shut the computer down and have taken out the old card and put in the 980m card, would the next step be to turn the laptop back on and download the Moded driver you provided me and then i'll be good to go?
I'll await for your response before I continue with the next steps
Kind Regards
Game7a1
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727 Posts
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April 13th, 2015 08:00
I think so.