soumen08

SSD? I'm playing the game right now, and I don't have any issues with game load times. Sadly though, my Alienware M14XR1 only has the GT555M which allows me to play in low only. But no, it does not take forever to load.

For games, it should make little to no difference. The Y500 tends to have reasonable graphics right? If its editing etc though, overclocking wont help much since the speed of an i7 comes from the other cores, which allow a process to distribute the load. This isnt possible with the i5 you have at the moment.

I think the best idea is to just let it be. Just put a cloth or something on the palmrest when playing. I tried cleaning it with all kinds of different things, and all it does is makes it worse. After a while I notice it gets cleaner on its own (just make sure the cloth you put is cleaner than the palm-rest lol)

Should be possible as long as you stay within the same generation. My friend's Alienware M14X for instance came with an i5 which I later helped him upgrade to a i72670QM. This was easy because I had that exact CPU in my Alienware M14X. How much it would help your use case for would depend on what your use case actually is. If all you're doing is watching videos and surfing the web, I doubt you'll see much of a performance increase. If on the other hand, you're editing photos or videos, you'll see a sizeable jump. Might I also suggest getting to an i5 and getting an SSD? I believe that would leave you with a faster "feeling" system.

I'd go with the 970. It has the benefit of utilizing your budget properly and you do end up getting quite a bit more performance than the 960. The new versions of the adobe products have gotten more and more GPU intensive. I'd expect to have a longer return on investment with the 970 than the 960 and a hundred bucks of cash

In general, GPUs provide more bang for the buck than CPUs do (for gaming, that is). I'd go for a reasonable core i7 - 6700 or the k version if you really want to overclock. This also gives you an LGA1151 motherboard, so its a bit forward looking. The GTX980 should be ample for FHD gaming. Later, you can swap into the 980Ti at a point where the price would have dropped a little instead of buying it sooner. Speaking economically, you'd be better off doing that, while still having excellent gaming performance while "waiting".

A gaming laptop with replaceable GPUs! As the thermal needs continue to stagnate(This year's alienware 15 is smaller than the last year's one - smaller transistors run less hot), I can see why a more modular structure would be the nicest thing ever. Take your laptop to the nearest service center, get a GPU upgrade and done - New laptop!

I remember having bought the laptop with an SSD. Back in the day, that was a Samsung PM830. It works well.