Laptop Graphics cards and standards?

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Urumiko

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Dec 28, 2013
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Hi,

I was just curious, some top end laptops e.g alienware 17x, have independent graphics cards which are separate to the motherboard.

In theory this gives you the option of upgrading. I'd like to know, are the slots standardized to something like "Mobile Pci express" or are they model specific?

For example my girlfriend has a 17x R2 which is still decent spec but the graphics card is only a 256mb radeon i think. It'd be nice to upgrade it but 2nd hand models on e-bay have a limited and dated number of options.
 
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I believe most...
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Traciatim

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Though there are a few models that you can change some parts... in general laptops are a 'what you buy is what you get' item. A quick google finds that the M17x-R2 can have the video card changed, there is a youtube tutorial and I found and a link here: http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19507655.aspx and the guide they link to is here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-17-m17x/585064-guide-installing-amd-radeon-mobility-6970-6990-your-m17x-r2-single-gpu-crossfirex.html
 
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Urumiko

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If you look though at a card from an R2,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/251581644927?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

and a card from an R4
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MSI-Alienware-Nvidia-GTX-880M-880M-8GB-VIDEO-Graphics-CARD-Alienware-N15E-GX-A2-/151309142718?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item233aba4abe

they appear to be the same fitting, I can find evidence of someone doing this with a gtx 780, I was just wondering if there were things like power draw to consider.

It looks like people are doing these kind of upgrades successfully, it just looks like you need to tweak the drivers to get round validation.
 
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Dblkk

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I believe most alienware were always 240w. So that is more than enough power. With the newer sockets for the 780m for example, you need to buy the gpu chip and the motherboard section for the cpu. The chip which im sure you know is only like and inch by and inch, the motherboard/daughterboard for it is about 2 inches by 3.5 inches. That plugs right into the actual motherboard, and you would just download alienwares drivers for the 780m then.

But this isn't the right forum for your needs. Although we do have some general experience and expertise in the area. You should go to alienwares specific user forum. There, the users have done this several times over. I know a guy on there that bought dual 880m's to put into his laptop, and then changed out the power board, and uses a 480w power supply. He puts out insane bench scores. But alienwares are typically fully upgradable. Just have to pay for it. I believe the 880m just gpu alone, was around $800.
 
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