Player2

urgh! you not being with the GPU is making me anxious LOL

EDIT: If i went with powernotebooks I would be only saving $100 with the current (and crappy) CAD-USD exchange rate. since they take Western Union as a payment method it means that i need to...

1) pay for the item ($707.13 USD)

2) pay the shipping ($59.10 USD)

3) pay for the conversion and service fee (approx. $18 CAD)

4) pay for a brokerage fee from Fedex ($53 CAD)

5) pay the Ontario HST of 13%

and that ends up being around $1160

Mine set me back $926 with tax.

I hope it works ok. That's the most I ever spent on one electronic part ever.

My 980m is sitting at my house.

25 hours from time of order to delivery. I'm stuck out of town working in the mud.

@Player2 you ordered your 980m via hidevolution right? make sure that your screws are in place first before installing. They tend to leave behind a thing or two there.

@J95 well I can live with it for now [emoji14] Just making a 980m work in AW 17 is good enough for me i guess

@thegh0sts I've checked the physics scores and apparently they are pretty much the same there. It is the graphic score that is being gimped and for some reason this does not apply to the R4. I've tested evolve closed beta on my 980m and I have to say it runs FLUIDLY on maxed setting with TXAA so you would definitely want to look forward to it

Yes I ordered from hidevolution and told them to make sure the screws for xbracket were in bag with my order.

you should get it by this week anyway and you being away and not able to collect makes it even worse....damn the wait!

Just checked fed x tracking and it's already in transit. Should be at my house tommorrow by end of day . I've never ordered anything in my entire life and had it delivered so darn fast. From 10:00 this morning to my house by tommorrow.

there will be someone there to sign for it. But I won't be there until friday at 5:00.lol

same, i haven't had mine for a year and so far it has been doing its job like a good little computer

anyway, i hope it works out for player2!

Thanks me to.

At this rate i might stick around with this 980m for abit before jumping ship to either clevo or desktops

I really like my alienware 17. It seams like such a wast to sell it for something else so soon. I've had it a little over a year but it seams like I just bought latst month .

It doesn't show arrival date yet. But the tracking number does show up in fed x already.

makes me wonder if it's worth the money to buy the card!

edit: i could probably order it next week if i want to take my chances [emoji14]

It's a tough decision.

Buy card hope it works decent without to much trouble. $1000.

Buy new rig with 980m . $2000-$2500.

If card works ok you save $1000-$1500.

The card I ordered from hidevolution says 1 year warranty. So the 3 day DOA shouldn't really matter right.?

If card quits working after a week it should still be under warranty. Or if I don't get a chance to check the card until like 4 days after it arives and it's dead warranty should cover it right.?

I'm gonna go read there warranty all the way through and see.

Maybe alienware did this on purpose because they knew they were going to new systems and didn't want anyone to upgrade their systems and be forced to buy there new fangled soldered everything if they wanted a 980m

just make sure no one is there to collect!

on another note if the 980M doesn't throttle while running in dedicated mode then it's definitely something in the BIOS of the alienware laptops and that's something one can't fix...unless you're able to get passed the secure (almost typed screwed but that's kinda true too) flash and get to the EC.

Tomjgx said it doesn't throttle in optimus mode . I will be using optimus mode with windows 7 so I should be ok. Cross fingers.

Ordered my card from hidevolution this morning at 10:00 . Got an email back from them about 3:00 with shipping information. Talk to ted and he said FedEx just dropped off a shipment of 980m's like 20 minutes before I called. so card should be on its way first thing tommorrow morning. Probably be at my house by wdnesday. They said you have 3 days to report a DOA card from time of receiving it. I'm out of town and won't be home till Friday . So I will have like 1 day to check card to make sure it's good.

since i am on 8.1 to begin with i'll try optimus first then see if i can go dedicated.....that's my plan - the month can't end any faster! [emoji14]

How's your new job. Have you started yet.

Hi guys, seems like my 980m's delivery is due sometime today so i'm back again seeking advice regarding it. Hopefully it doesn't DOA on me again like it did last time

Anyway, I'm installing it on my AW 17 60hz. Which driver is the recommended driver as of now for it? Should I use it on windwos 8.1 optimus or Dedicated mode?

If you have windows 7 installed try it on that first with optimus. Then try with windows 8 dedicated. Theirs quit a few people here interested how it works both ways.

Whatever you decide we will be waiting to hear how it works.[emoji12]

that's the best course of action.

trying to see how to get that thermal pad sheet thingy.

Yea I seen that in the eurocom video.

I will ask hidevolution if they have something like that or what they use for there card installations.

if...

a) i could take off the x-bracket without damaging both cards

had a way to reattach the bracket to the new card

from the eurocom install video there's an optional bit of protective sheet that has the thermal pads for the underside of the GPU.

That's the problem once I took xbracket of my original 770m for the 780m it didn't want to stay on so I had to tack with a couple drops of super glue onto 780m to keep from pushing of back of card when I tried to screw the heatsink on. So I think if all possible it is best just to use the xbracket that comes with card and get the screws to mach.

That's what I plan to do.

i would like to use the x-bracket from the 780M on the 980M but by all accounts it seems that when the GPU arrives to you it already has the bracket attached to the card (i.e not separate that you have to install yourself).

For you it would be better to use your 780m x bracket because it has the heatsink ears to cover the memory on the back of your card. But taking those things off seams like a gamble to me .

just use the one that comes with the 980M - it does mean that you'll be using different screws though i've been told you should be supplied with the screws, thermal pads, thermal paste, etc.

I hope so because there's no way I trying to remove or pry off a xbrace on a brand new $900 gpu. My luck one of the tiny resistors next to xbrace will pop off or something. I got buzzerd luck when it comes to stuff like that

I was wondering if anyone knows if I can just use the x brace that comes on the 980m if I have the right screws for it. Cuz when I swapped xbracket an 780m I bought the darn thing was so hard to get off I was afraid I was going to damage the card for sure and I would just rather use the one that comes with the card.

I looked up torrance california Wich I bilieve is were hidevolution is located and I am 3 hours and 17 minutes driving distance from there. That should make for pretty fast shipping considering they have the gpu in stock.

no, it came with windows 7 but i upgraded to windows 8.1.

That's great news for both of us.

Because if the 980m don't work proper with windows 7 and optimus then I will need help upgrading mine to windows 8.1 as you have done with eufi to get card to work. Then maybe I can help answer some of your questions about 980m performance in our systems.

My system came with 256gb ssd and wd 750 gb hard drive. I added a second identical 750 gb hard drive in the vacant bay.

and i'll be interested in seeing how that goes for you even though i am windows 8.1.

Did your system come with windows 8

@Player2 - Please, let us know when you will get your gtx 980m and share some info if it works with AW17 Win7 (without UEFI) on 60Hz screen. I'm curious about this configuration and keep my fingers crossed.

Most definately. When I get the card I will have to come here anyway to get help from the experts on modding the inf for the driver to work because I have no experience in that sort of thing. It will be a learning experience for me.

Are you using the stock vbios for that 3dmark11 run above mr fox .

Is everyone changing their heatsink up coming from a 75w card(765m,860m) to 970m/980m? Eurocom's website shows a quick tutorial upgrading to a 980m and it appeared that they reused the 2 pipe heatsink. Can anyone confirm that it is okay to reuse the 2 pipe heatsink?

I don't have a 980m but from what I read it runs cooler than 780m.

I used 2 pipe heatsink with a 780m overclocked in my 17 no problem . If you overclock the crap out of the 780m it would run 82 but still work. 780m stock without overclock would run 70c with 2 pipe all day.

That's just my experience with 2 pipe.

I'm going to order a 980m and just use my 2 pipe. I think it will do just fine with good paste job.