Alienware m17xr3 upgrade graphic card

The M17x R3 uses PCI 2.1, newer cards are PCI 3.0

Nvidia's 600 series do not qualify as a validated upgrades for the M17x R3. This doesn't mean the card will not work, it just means it wasn't tested and approved for the M17x R3, which means you may experience unexpected behaviors and any problems that may arise because of the upgrade will not be covered (it it's still under warranty).

You will have to get a new heatsink and support plate for the 670m.

The 240W adapter should be enough, if you own the 150W version you may need a new one as well.

hi, thx for the replay, I wonder what card can I use to replace the old one, coz  the old one is not working now. can you recommend some graphics cards (having at least equal performance as the old one) so that i dont have to change the heatsink and the support plate?

ps. the warranty is gone now, so i like to do it myself.

cheers

daiyue

Here is a list for the video cards that are compatible with your system and give you a better performance.

- Nvidia:

      GTX 460

      GTX 560

      GTX 580

- AMD Radeon:

      HD 6990

      HD 6970

You can send us an e-mail to alienwareupgrades@dell.com please include your service tag, contact information and a brief description of your request, we can help you check the available options.

can i use Radeon HD 7970M instead?

cheers

daiyue,

We haven't test the HD 7970M on an M17xR3, as I know is not supported.

Check out this link to compare the video cards according to different benchmarks.

And I forgot to mention on the above post for the nvidia cards you will need to replace the heat sink and support plate.