iTzUbiquitious

The M15x have a max CPU upgrade path to the first gen i7 940XM.... As for graphics cards, well we've seen 980M and 970M graphics cards working flawlessly in them. The CPU is our only limiting factor, but truthfully for now you can overclock the CPU so much it's on par with current offerings.

+1 - But unfortunately there is no monitor cable associated with the GPU install process as it's connected to the motherboard on the top side of the system. If the system was working fine with another card installed, then we have to either consider the install isn't 100% or we have a problematic card. I'd start by removing the card and redoing the instillation. Sometimes just re-seating the card can resolve some weird issues. Good time to make sure that the thermal compound install was 100% and the thermal pads are placed on the memory and capacitors since you are ripping it apart. Ensure you removed the old drivers and installed the newest ones from amd.com. If you still have the issues, I'd contact the individual you got the card from and start looking into a replacement for your defective one. If you're flat out stuck with it, people have gotten lucky resurrecting them by throwing them in the oven.... But do your research before you start playing bakery.

Never experienced any issues in the four or so years of owning this system. Upgraded to a 7970M from the 5850M, installed the card and with just drivers, no issues after numerous restarts. Flashed 1.000v and than 0.950v vBios in between benchmarking to get a temperature threshold I was comfortable with and noticed I'll on occasion get these lights when restarting. If I leave it, it'll boot after a moment. If I remove the power supply and cell battery and power cycle, it'll go away for awhile but return. Besides working through the teething issues right now with suspect throttling issues, no "problems" noticed. Temps running a easy 66-74 degrees C while playing games. If the error was persistent to the point it would NOT boot, no matter what I did, I would suspect a dead card but my situation is very curious. Running original power supply and 740QM processor which are getting upgrades as the wallet allows.

I'm hyped... Have not played it on console yet. But I'm hoping the multiplayer isn't... Uhm... Something you play once and never touch again. Longevity would be highly desired upon for me.

It all comes down to ease of access... A console experience is in my opinion misled as a more cost effective gaming platform. But ultimately a console, is way more user friendly to setup and use (no drivers issues, etc). These reasons give them the sales, and thus giving the developers more reasons to push console development over PC.