Need Help About Upgrading my old AW17?

Question

Hi, I need your help to guide me to have highest possible upgrade for my AW M17x (service tag: ). I know how to dissemble & assemble but I have no idea about specs, model, compatibility etc etc.

Currently my AW is on:
i7-4910MQ @ 2.90GHz
RAM 32GB
Nvidia GTX 880M

Please list down something better, medium range & highest range if possible. Sorry if asking for too much!

I'm planning to use more on 4k video editing, slightly for gaming.

Thanks!

mattyb3 · Accepted Answer

Hello. Without too much stress you can upgrade to a GTX 980M but you will need a modded driver if you want the most recent Nvidia driver.

It is also possible to upgrade to a GTX 1060 or 1070. It is best if you have the 120Hz display for this upgrade but I believe you can do it with the 60Hz display but you'll need an unlocked system BIOS. There are different types of 1070's available with the MSI 1070 having an extra piece coming off the PCB so some modifications are required. If you search for an MXM 3.0b GTX 1070 then you should be able to find one that does not need major modifications.

There are also people who have upgraded to RTX cards but I have no experience with these so I can't really comment. Chassis and heatsink modifications are usually required for these as they do not currently come out in the MXM 3.0b form factor.

There is talk that 3.0b RTX 2080 Super cards will be released later this year so that is exciting for those of us with older MXM laptops.

Any upgrade from the 880M will require a modded Nvidia driver so you can either learn how to do it or I can quickly whip one up.

A51-06 · Accepted Answer

@mattyb3 You’re the Modded vBIOS dealer Lol.

So I’d recommend you upgrade to the 980m with 8Gb of VRAM for 4K editing but the reason why I’m recommending you that is because all the 10 series cards and the 20 series cards are just way too expensive like in the $600 range. So I’d just stick with the 980m plus it’s an amazing overclocker.

Shahran Sam · Answer

Wow. You guys are great. Thanks for the recommendation & explaination. I have to save every bits of info here & start googling.

I guess I'll go with 980m because when i search 1070, it shows me gpu for desktop.

Just now nvidia update my laptop, there are red dots all over my screen! Still looking for a solution.

A51-06 · Answer

Rollback the update and disable it from starting up in the task manager.

to roll back to device manager and then click display adapters, then right click the Nividia one and go to the driver info page and click the rollback button.

Let me know if that fixes it.

@mattyb3 WE GOT 2 SOLUTIONS FOR THIS GUY!!!

A51-06 · Answer

The prices range from 450 - 750

mattyb3 · Answer

You need to search for MXM 3.0b GTX 1070.

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Need Help About Upgrading my old AW17?

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