Hawkeye

Hello, I am currently just ordered 2 x 780m sli from upgrademokey from ebay, in anticipation for Fallout 4. currently i have a a05 bios, but i am not sure it is unlocked, and i am upgrading from 580m sli. does it a real necessity to upgrade to a05 unlocked?

Just occurred to me that I didn't reply to this message. Yeah I would highly recommend getting the lastest BIOS at the very least. Unlocked is better as it allows you access to hidden BIOS features that are not available on the stock one.

So I finally got around to testing my rig for you @Hawkeye. I played a video that only contained a DTS Audio track (graphic below) and played it through HDMI to my living room receiver. It worked fine with the 780's. As an experiment I switched to the integrated graphics and tried again. Again the video worked fine with the receiver. Let me know if you want any more tests done.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]16529[/ATTACH]

That was the answer I was looking for Steve135! Now the question is how am I going to get away with funding 2x 780m's... Maybe I should start with 1 for now.

Overall, power wise did you see a huge draw compared to before?

Good stuff. Waiting til that day!

Hello and sorry for posting this here.

Since I cant open a new thread.

I am not an advanced Pc Tech , I am just a simple user with a huge issue.

Which means I cant provide any useful tips to help so I can never reach 5 posts with the current policy and my lack of knowledge.

About my issue.

I own an Alienware m18x R1 and I too want to upgrade to a GTX 780m.

but first I want to ask everyone who knows and has the time to help to view these links, understand my issue

and help me if its possible providing a solution.

Black Screens , Insufficient Voltage Resets and all that stuff! | NotebookReview

That link above has the 2 links that sum up my problem.

Thanks for understanding and for your time.

Besides the 330w PSU and a little tweaking, R2 heatsinks (you can actually get away with R1's), new thermal pads, a new SLI cable (might as well, these cables do degrade over time), the 780m's will run SLI well as the power usage is identical to running SLI 680m's anyways.

That said, if you want to play it safe, the 680m's are pretty much plug n' play if the Dell BIOS is installed on them. But it really comes down to price at that point. Whichever way you go, just make sure you get a 4GB video card so you can be a little future proof in the event this is the last laptop you'll ever own.

Personally at this point I may have to accept my fate with a pair of 680m's in SLI instead. I do use my laptop hooked up to my receiver so I require the audio to come out properly via HDMI passthrough. The current methods with the 780m are not fully supported in that sense unless your able to prove otherwise 'Steve135'. Though I could route the audio through the optical, not everything works as expected especially when KODI comes to mind.

Yeah I did. Just got back from a little trip so I haven't been active on the forums. Got the 2960XM with 780 SLI. It runs cool enough, and didn't have any issues when I put the parts in. However after playing Far Cry 4 for a little while sometimes the power supply will kick off, and sometimes the game will just crash. I had thought this may have been due to the dodgy overseas power at the time but came back and my machines still doing it. I think the cards and chip may be to much for the power supply when being pushed, though it's funny to note that this doesn't happen in 3D Mark. Also the cards run pretty cool showing 75 deg temps at load with the fans running at about mid-range.

It's been a while since I caught up in this forum. Can you verify that 5.1 audio is still passed properly via HDMI when you hook your laptop up to a TV or receiver? I may have to accept the fate with a pair of 680m's instead if this is the case.

Between you and me, the heatsink performance is the same. However, if you can get the R2 heatsinks for the same price, you might as well. They provide more coverage though you will need more heat transfer material to cover the areas that were not covered initially in the previous revision.

The 980m you speak of works due ti being able to run legacy UFEI? The m18x R1 does not support it, at least from what I've read on people attempting to try anyways.

Supposedly the best, cheapest option is to run a 860m SLI rig, but honestly who would run that...

?

As per title.

I have yet to find any documentation or threads about this so might as well start now.

No dice. It was too costly in the end for me.

What about you? It looks like you successfully installed the video cards in your R1 Steve135...

Depends on the game honestly. CPU bound games would obviously benefit from CPU's closer to desktop performance. If you want to play games at 1080p at least least 30FPS minimum, video cards are without a doubt the biggest priority when it comes to investment purposes.

The m18x shouldn't have torx screws... ShadowOfScales could you take a picture of the screws that are stripped? In regards to the ribbon cables having no plastic clips, how is that possible? Did someone break them? Is it a refurbished unit?

Hey all,

I'm looking to purchase 2 780m video cards for my m18x R1. The 780's are coming from a Alienware 18

Currently it's running a 2960xm with a 580m SLI setup.

Have a couple of questions that need answering:

1. Will I be able to install them without modifying the vBIOS?
   
2. Is updating the BIOS to the unlocked A05 BIOS all that is needed?
   
3. Thermal wise, should I go purchase m18x R2 video card heat-sinks? Can I get away with just the ones I have now?
   
4. Any suggestions for a shop for replacement thermal pads? Can reusing the existing ones be enough?
   
5. Is the 330w power supply adequate enough to power both cards and CPU before considering overclocking options?
   
6. The CPU is still using the stock pad (since I got it). The temperature from the CPU hasn't gone up to warrant a repaste. Should I repaste anyways?
   
7. I'm using Artic Silver MX-2 for thermal grease. I assume this is more that sufficient for the above thermal paste jobs?
   

Also, does anyone have a direct link outside of this forum for AlienwareRGBLed.zip? Thanks!