FuryArc

I just spend $300 and bought a motherboard off of eBay. I finally got everything to work and my GTX980m is awesome. Installed windows 8, too. Process took about 2 months and a lot of talking with HID Evolution support who were surprisingly really helpful. They were able to tell me what to do and give me the right drivers to install. I just followed the general pattern of update VBios in my radeon hd 7970m, then set up boot in UEFI mode, then replace graphics card with the GTX980m, then install windows 8 UEFI from a USB stick, then update the OS and install drivers for the computer hardware, then disable driver signing in windows 8 (settings>Change PC settings>Update and Recovery>Recovery>Advanced Startup>Troubleshoot> startup repair> then pressed 7 to disable driver signing), then I installed the modified drivers that HID Evolution gave me and everything worked like a charm! I played GuildWars 2 and had MSI Afterburner monitoring my card during that time and I had stable temps of around 60-65 celcius and got roughly 140fps. I am satisfied. I have no screen "flickering" or anything and I did not modify my heatsink or anything. Some people say you need to put something over a couple pins because they rub up against the heatsink, but I have not encountered any issues with that as of yet. Everything works 100% and I am a happy camper. If anyone wants to know more, just message me and I'll be glad to share my information since it was so difficult for me to obtain it. Thanks for all that help I had here.

Um.... wow... I cannot express how much gratitude I have for you at this moment. Since you have so clearly and specifically outlined this process, I will find old boards and practice first. This sounds really fun, and really frustrating. I now wish I could just take my mobo to a place where they could just reprogram my current bios chip. lol Well, since that probably isn't an option, I'll practice a lot on old boards. If I screw up, I can just buy a new one for pretty cheap. Again, thank you so much!!

I get your point. Thanks again for the feedback Mr. Electrical engineer! The rework station that i bought and the one that he used has both a heat gun and a soldering iron that are very small. As seen in the video, he puts the heat gun far away from the board to insure that he doesn't blow the chip off of the board. And yes, alienware bios chips are very small. I already have a chip, and it is tiny. I understand most of what you are saying, and this may seem like a elementary question, but what do you mean by a "cold joint"? And would heating the joint with the heat gun and flux be more advisable since I won't be adding any new solder there is less chance of me putting too much solder? Also, I really have no other old/dead boards. This is my only board and I have no other option but to use it.

Thanks for your information!! I really appreciate your help. I have watched videos on youtube, and they don't seem nearly as rough as what you describe. I believe the method you are using is to actually add solder to the board by re soldering the connections. The method that I am going to try is just to put flux on the connections via a small brush, then heat the connections to about 400 degrees and simply remove the old chip and place the new one on the board and then heat again to get the new chip mixed with the solder on the board. This way, i avoid getting solder on other places and it is much less of a mess. I watched this youtube vid: . I even asked him the brand name of the items he used, and I purchased the same ones. I plan to duplicate this method.

I just heard about a rework station that is commonly used. It is called Kendal 898D+ Rework Station. I just purchased one on Amazon for 79.98. I am also in progress of purchasing Amtach ​BGA Reballing Flux.

Alienware laptop: m17x R4 Intel i7 3610QM (stock clock) 14GB RAM 1600Mhz CL9 AMD radeon hd 7970m (stock clock) Windows 7 64bit 750GB HDD 7200RPM 64GB samsung SSD (cache)

Hello T|I member base, To be honest, I really enjoy threads like this on computer technical sites. It really make things feel more like a home than just a random place for people to be full of pride and arrogance about why they are the best at whatever. About myself: I am 21 years old and have been fiddling with computers since I was 12. I have crashed many computers and then fixed them. I really enjoy working on and with computers. Currently, I am in college to obtain my pharmacy doctorate degree, but I plan to get a bachelor's in programming and software development for fun afterwards. Anyway, I mainly delt with desktop computers, but about two years ago, I bought an Alienware m17x r4 off of eBay, and I love it. It is much easier to transport than a full atx tower. I still consider myself to be a novice in regards to anything computer related, but I still have a lot of fun trying new things. How I found T|I: Recently, I decided to upgrade my laptop gpu from a 7970m to a gtx 980m. When attempting to do this, I found the thread on this site where people were actively discussing how they did the upgrade. I found that there was a specific strategy on how to upgrade. I decided to become a member of this site because everyone seemed so helpful. It also seemed like people were having fun trying new things and new ways to upgrade their computers. I really enjoy it when people are having fun with their computers. At the moment, I am in the process of replacing my bios chip because I used absolutely no common sense. It will be really fun to actually mess with the hardware of my computer instead of always with the software. I know that there is a high risk of damage to my computer, but it wouldn't be fun without a risk, right? Anyway, I appreciate the opportunity to join this site and be part of the lively discussions.

My recommendation is to build a desktop and not a laptop. It is almost impossible to get a good laptop for that price, but you could get a decent gaming desktop for it. Just make sure that you prioritize your budget around your processor and graphics card. Most people don't realize how much a processor helps with gaming. Good processor is manditory, decent graphics card is secondary. Then all the other parts can be mediocre and you'll still be able to get great fps during games. That is my strongly researched theory. If anyone disagrees with me, well, that's life.

Hello, I am attempting to replace my bios chip after a bad blind flash. From my research, I need a heater, flux chemical, tweezers, and bios chip. Currently, I have a bios chip from eBay and tweezers. I am wondering if anyone has successfully done this task and what type of heater and flux chemical they used. Also, if anyone has any other methods in which they replaced their bios chip, I will be very appreciative of that information. Thanks!!