17 R1, upgrading graphics card

First of all thanks for your concern and answer. I tried to learn what R-type my laptop is, in fact I posted here to learn about it but someone said to me it was just m17x, it didn't have any R-types. It is 2014 released you're right. It's a relief for me to learn this R-type because this information is needed for the research about upgrading it.

I will check the NotebookReview for this matter, but there is one more thing that I want to ask you. I live in Turkey that's why I cannot do shopping from ebay, but I can use aliexpress (I'm planning to buy the graphics card from there). I believe it's not easy to find those heatsinks, but I can try hard to find them. My question is do you think it will be worth that struggle? I mean the performance of the laptop, there should be a huge performance difference between 980M and 1070M. Just want to know your thoughts about it. Right now I'm focusing on 980M. Thanks again!

Happy to help.
Yes there is a significant difference between the 980M and 1070 but also a significant cost as the 1070 can be up to twice the 980M price and then extra for the better heatsink. A 1060 is a good card that sits between them. 
Yes there is a huge difference between the 17 (R1) and 17 R2 as this is when Dell decided to start soldering the components onto the motherboard, which was a huge mistake in my opinion so it’s important to know which one you have. The machines with replaceable parts are still very popular. 
I’ve only ordered one thing from Aliexpress (M15x motherboard) but it hasn’t arrived yet. Hopefully it does get here in working order soon. 
Good luck with the upgrade and feel free to ask more questions. 
EDIT: In some places, the 17 was actually called the M17x R5 and it can even say it on the small black label on the bottom of the laptop instead of just 17. 

Yes only the high end GPU’s need the custom heatsink. You’ll already have a decent one for your CPU. You may have a 2-pipe heatsink for that but there is a 3-pipe CPU available for the extreme CPU’s (4930MX and 4940MX). These are fully unlocked CPU’s for overclocking. 

Thank god I was lucky that I bought this R1 earlier before R2   I don't like those soldered motherboards either, not useful at all. Also good luck on your order from Aliexpress, I hope you can use it without any problems. Now I got this M17x R5 thing too! I will probably bother you a little bit more for this matter, thank you for your sincerity.

I believe those 4-5 piped heatsinks are needed only for graphics card, I am right? Or should I find them for both processor and graphics card?

Hi Mattyb3, Killbillur,

I am in the same configuration as killbillur.
I have an Alienware m17x bought in 2016, which had an 880M with some variations:

Processor: Intel i7 - 4710MQ
RAM: 16 GB
Graphics card: Nvidia Geforce Gtx 880M

My graphics card finally died last summer.
I ordered and installed a GTX 1060, but I can't get it to work properly ... I've been looking for several months ...
Regularly I modify the Nvidia drivers in the hope that this regulates my pb, but nothing helps ...
In desperation, I even installed unbunto in the hope of running a driver on it
I must have missed a stage, but which one?

My last attempt dates from today, when I modified the driver 446.14 of Nvidia. I did the following:

I modified the nvdmi.inf file (corresponding to dell).
In the NVIDIA_Devices section:
- NVIDIA_DEV.1C20.05AA.1028 = Section067, PCI \ VEN_10DE & DEV_1C20 & SUBSYS_05AA1028
In the [STRINGS] section:
- NVIDIA_DEV.1C20.05AA.1028 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060"

1C20 : Geforce GTX 1060
05AA : My Alienware
1028 : Dell

I modified the ListDevices.txt too
- DEV_1C20 & SUBSYS_05AA1028 "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060"

At this stage, the installation started, but stopped after detecting a hash problem.
So I modified my windows by playing the following commands to pass this problem :
- bcdedit -set loadoptions DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
- bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING ON

After reboot, the drivers are installed correctly.
Unfortunately, the GPU is never used, I have a maximum FPS of 20. If I deactivate the HD Graphic 4500 my FPS drops below 3

@mattyb3: if you have an idea of ​​the stage that I missed...
@Killbillur: I hope you don't find yourself in the same situation as me. The resolution of my bp's will certainly be useful before incurring costs in a graphics card :(.

In advance thank you for your feedback, I hope to find a solution

What does it show in the Device Manager under display adapters? Does it show the 1060 and if it does, is there a a yellow exclamation mark with Code 43?

Did you disable the Driver Signature Enforcement before installing the driver?

It correctly show NVIDIA GTX 1060 without yellow exclamation mark.

In general, it says that my driver works correctly and in the driver detail I find the version

Indeed the digital signature has been disabled. The problem would come from there?

I updated several games to check if the bp was not from launchers which blocked the use of the GPU. I observe very varied operations according to the games and their platform.
- Blizzard games only use the Intel HD GPU.
- Games with EasyAntiCheat refuse to start (no Driver signature Enforcement)
- Some games in the EpicStore (Civ6) use the 2 GPU, but DirectX12 not working. But theese game work perfectly with Intel HD GPU (don't sure that my GeForce is correctly use).

There is one part on the mod that i'm not sure, the "Section" in the line below :

NVIDIA_DEV.1C20.05AA.1028 = Section067, PCI \ VEN_10DE & DEV_1C20 & SUBSYS_05AA1028

I've chose the first one (067) present un the file, but maybe i should take an another. I've not find table to translate "Section" in something else and understand it.

The section isn't very important. You just need to get the GPU, Machine and Vendor ID correct which it looks like you've done. Unfortunately it's very difficult to diagnose over a forum like this so I would suggest to head over to the forum at NotebookReview for some more help. You may have a similar issue to me with my 1070. I have to regularly go into my unlocked BIOS and switch the video setting over to iGFX and then back to SG (Switchable Graphics) before I can get the 1070 to work at full power. You may need to flash the unlocked BIOS. This is available on that same forum.