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Hey Flingin, Sorry to see that you're still having troubles, however, I have been using a GTX770M for nearly a month now with no problems whatsoever. As they are pratically the same card with the only differences being VRAM Size, GPU Power, and BIOS, which mean that it Should work. I'm going to rule out any of your problems being hardware realated such as interface, GPU size/Incompatibility and VRAM size/Incompatibility, this is mainly because, as stated above, the GTX770M has exactly the same interface, exactly the same GPU Family, exactly the same RAM family, and identical High Definition Sound Device. So this leads me to your VBIOS, what was your VBIOS configured for in the first place? Have you reverted to your stock VBIOS yet? Have you asked to try Fred1977's VBIOS, and tried that? All of these questions need to be ticked off before you can say that it doesn't work. Once you have reverted you VBIOS, make sure that all steps in this guide are checked off, this is exactly, to the letter, how I got my card to work, if you follow this and it still doesn't work then you can assume that the card simply just wont work with the R2 for some reason; providing of course that you are using the dell/stock VBIOS. Just a last note, it is well worth putting windows into diagnostic startup mode, via MSConfig in safe mode, this will prevent any pesky IDT audio drivers coming on and ruining your day, this was the last piece of the puzzle for me, and may prove to be the only thing preventing you from victory! Once again, best of luck, I really do hope that you get it all working soon! Keep us updated. Ash

I'm not entirely sure that they'll die, that's a little mellow-dramatic, and even if they did it's not like they're expensive, you can replace FET's relatively easily. The only thing that you need to be wary of is the PCB, though the FET can take the heat [probably], the PCB certainly won't, and it's the resulting damage that fries your GPU. I am running a GTX770M in my R2 with stock cooling, and have done some really strenuous, repetitive benchmarks and have never seen signs of heat on my card, and nor have the temps ever exceeded 65deg's. I am inclined to think that as the exhaust fan is placed on the underside of the card, and it promarily sucks up, then out, that there is enough airflow around the card to keep the FET's cool. Anyway, how have you progressed flingn? Have you managed to get any further since last time you tried?

If the BIOS pics have a pink Aleinware logo, it's my guide, hahaha, nice to see it getting out there! Ash

It comes to a point now where I think that it's not compatibility, and it's something to do with your card. Firstly, if it was a power draw issue, the computer would simply just switch off, if it was a clash you'd see the funky coloured screens. I can't see the gpu-z screens above, but what do they say the sub-vendor is, mine does actually say Dell, which leads me to think that it's a bios problem, if yours is flashed for a Clevo or other make would this make it incompatible with your computer? There are a few things you need to check/try now to eliminate most problems. 1. Is your card actually an Nvidia GeForce GTX780M? You can tell by the size if the die, and the amount if ram chips, the card should be blue, also it 'should' have it printed on it somewhere. 2. Are you running the stock VBIOS for your card, 2999Mb of ram doesn't sound right, it sounds as though its configured as a 770M or a 680M. If you're not, and you don't have it, I think [email protected] can get you it. 3. Uninstall all of your Nvidia drivers in safe mode. Or with your other GPU in. 4. Reset your BIOS to default settings then set it back up. 5. Get your card working plug and play first before you reinstall any drivers. It's also bugging me that you have to unplug your power supply before you can turn the machine back on after a crash, instead try just waiting a minute for the computer to shut down completely, fast power cycles are not a forte for my R2, so I think it's more of a case that it won't come on immediately, rather than at all, if it really won't come on at all after a crash, then you possibly have a power issue, I think when windows starts it performs a quick kinda POST but in a windows environment, which seems to push the frequency and voltage of everything to its max for a few seconds, which consumes a bit of power, I you are running a 100-120W GPU and a 55w Processor such as the 920XM or better, there is a small chance that you are overloading the power supply when the monitor comes on, resulting in a crash and you to have to perform a complete cold shutdown and restart. The reason that an external monitor or TV might work is that they are externally powered. But this is clutching at straws a bit, as I said before I would expect an over powered laptop to just turn off like a desktop. It's more likely though something to do with your screen explicitly, as it seems to work on an external ok, bar the freaky gpu-z screens. It sounds a bit silly, but have you tried just leaving it for five minutes, sometimes when my raid volumes are rebuilding for some reason my screen will go black, like its off, and not come back on for ages, maybee if you just leave it for a min and come back it might just come on. Something is really not right here, as you can probably guess yourself. If I had the spare cash I would buy a 780M just to see if I can get it to work, but it's a £500 card that I don't really want, and would mean that it would push my upgrade cost well into the new desktop computer price range so really not an option for me, unless laptop monkey want to send me a free one for experimental purposes ;-) haha. AFIK, I am the only person to get this working on an R2, which makes me think that my computer is a special exception to the does not work rule. If it's any help I did use a fresh windows installation to install this card, which may also point out a possible driver clash. Have little look at your hidden old drivers and delete anything that says NVidia on it. Laptop monkey will probably just send you my screens, as they are emailing me asking for proof that it works, so I'm not sure that they're telling complete truth in that they have got one to work, I think it's more one of their customers have got it to work somehow. If you're lucky you may get my crudely written instruction document from them, written by me haha. Sorry if this post is a little all over the place, I'm just racking my brains for every possible cause and solution. Best of luck when you try it again. Ash

EDIT: I think I may have found your problem, enter your BIOS, go to the Advanced tab, and then enter Performance Options, then go in to the IGD - LCD Control Sub Menu, then press space to change the property from Auto, to Disabled, prss F10, save and exit, then reboot, it should work fine now, fingers crossed, i'm gonna try with it turned on and see what happens! Sorry I haven't been around to help, it's a shame you can't get it to work, but it seems to me like one of two things, either power, or hardware, do you by chance have the upgraded WLED display for the R2? Because I have the standard 1440x900 one which works fine, which makes me think that the GPU really doesn't like your display. Make sure you are running the stock VBIOS, as that will change your Hardware ID's, and really mess up your device name if it's not the right one. Also make sure that you have no silly power save options turned on. It may hard to come to face with it, but you may have bricked your GPU, if it will only display on external monitors, it makes me think that something is really wrong with the card interface. It might be worth a making sure that you are running BIOS A10 Unlocked, then try resetting it all to the default settings, and then work from there, changing everything manually to see if you can get it to go. As I said above though, it may be an interface issue with your display, and not the card, but I would imagine a card that works with a standard display would work equally well with the upgraded one, but who really knows. Best of luck, keep us updated. Ash

100% Confirmed working GTX 770M on Alienware M17x R2 Just done a quick WEI test, and though its by no means a benchmark, the 770M has achieved a 7.7, which is pretty darn good. Furthermore, after trying a quick game of Planetary Annihilation, my temps didn't exceed 80 degrees, thanks to the cooling mods around the web, which I think is a pretty good bonus. Just follow the above settings on my post and everything should work. A few last things, below is a copy of my current VBIOS, and a link to the driver I am using. Cant wait to see an 780M working. VBIOS: Zippyshare.com - GTX770M.ROM DRIVER: v326.29 Windows 8 64bit | NVIDIA Mobile OEM - 32x Series GeForce Driver release - LaptopVideo2Go Forums Again, thanks to slv7 for all of your great hints, tips, and software, and of course everyone else that has contributed to this thread. It's been a pleasure. Ash P.s. If anyone is interested this is the card that I bought: Nvidia GeForce GTX 770M 3GB DDR5 for clevo alienware upgrademonkey pre order | eBay

By Joe I think he's got it.... I have sucessufully managed to boot into windows normal mode. I have Onboard HD Audio OFF I have IDT DISABLED Currently using the standard VGA controller, but I am going to reboot into standard (not diagnostic) mode and try to install the Nvidia Drivers. Incidently I found that this is the only version of Phlash that works with my R2, for those that are stuck in safe mode: PHLASH16.EXE I will confirm it in a minute, but for now, I can kind of semi-confirm that my GTX 770M is fully compattible with the M17X R2 under the above settings, I will upload a GPU-z Screen soon. Thanks a lot for your help slv7, this thread has been awesome! Ash

Hi everyone, Just thought that I'd bump this thread. I too decided to take the plunge and chose to upgrade my m17x R2's GPU, and have successfully installed a GTX 770M into my machine; and alas, I have the exact same problems as flingin above. The problem is definitely to do with with the hardware, or firmware of either the Alienware base system, or the GPU itself. I know this due to several things, firstly the machine works in software rendering mode, (safe mode), which uses the device VGASAVE to render the screen, and the GPU is not active. Secondly, it's not due to drivers, for two reasons, as the card fails using either the standard VGA driver, and the specific Nvidia One, I've tried four different driver versions so far, not one of them has made a difference. Furthermore, my windows boot log shows that the VGA driver loads successfully, in fact windows loads successfully, just the display isn't rendered correctly. I have had some progress however, in that my screen isnt always white, or black, it changes colour to whatever it feels like, and it sometimes even has black and dashed lines periodically. It seems like it wants to work, but there may be a protocol error or something.... I believe that a fix will come from a Vbios, therefore leading me to my next question, is there a stock Vbios that anyone can upload for me, or is there a way to download the Vbios from the card in safe mode? As I would really like to look at it in detail. Moreover, would anyone know how to flash my mobo bios without using the WinPhlash tool in safemode, maybe a dos boot disk. Thanks Ash