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Alienware m17x R4 gtx1070 upgrade Successfull


handale30

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I added this post in the another forum a few months ago but felt like it could also help someone here, enjoy... So ive owned quite a few Alienware laptops but out of all of them my favorite has always been the great m17x R4. I love its aggressive looks, its lines and grills remind me of lamborgini design, the 1 glass sheet screen, the media keys looked futuristic and its laser etched name plate added a touch of personalization and attention to detail that they used to have.
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So considering it still has powerful specs for modern standards, i7 processors, 32gb ram, 2ssd and 1msata slots, 120hz 3D display, mxm slot, sd card reader, I couldn't help but to sell my 2 current laptops (15 R1 980m, 4k, 15 R3 1060) and purchase a pristine example of this machine with all its original packaging to upgrade it up to todays specs.
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The Original Specs of this particular system were:
 * Intel i7 3820qm 2.7ghz / 3.7ghz
 * Nvidia GTX680m 2gb
 * 8gb DDR3 RAM 1600mhz CL11
 * 250gb Samsung 840pro SSD
 * 1tb Seagate Momentum HDD
 * 17" 1080p 120hz 3D display
Desired Upgrades:
 * Intel i7 3940mx 3.0ghz / 3.9ghz
 * Nvidia GTX 1070 8gb
 * 32gb DDR3 Ram 1600 CL10 Corsair
 * 1tb Samsung 860 EVO SSD
 * Liquid Metal and better thermal pads
 
 2019 Specs:
* Intel i7 3940mx 3.0ghz / 3.9ghz
 * Zotac GTX 1070mxm 8gb
 * 32gb DDR3 Ram 1866 CL9 Corsair Vengeance
 * 1tb Samsung 860 Evo SSD
 * 256gb Samsung 840 Pro SSD
 * Liquid Metal and Fujipoly 17w/mk thermal pads
 * 17.3" 1080p 120hz 3D display
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I already purchased the GTX 1070 mxm, 32gb RAM and the 1tb SSD.
The GTX1070 is installed and working at its full power. I applied Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal thermal compound to both CPU and GPU and Fujipoly ultra extreme 17.0 W/mK thermal pads with my modified GPU heatsink and new X-bracket. CPU is overclocked from OEM BIOS to stage1    4.1ghz  3.9ghz 4cores. No chasis or board was cut or damaged during this process as I wanted to keep its integrity and no throttle issues what so ever. As I already had the 120hz edp screen, it was an easier job to do and thanks to @Striker123 and to @D4ddy for their threads as they made me have the guts to go through the project and to Rick for selling me this perfect example of a computer.
 
Alienware m17x r4 1070 mxm
Alienware m17 Ranger 1070 mxm
 
Here are some before and after benchmarks so you can see this baby flying ;)
let me know what you think about these numbers...
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I will be uploading more pictures soon as it only lets me upload 5. If you guys have any questions id be glad to help out.
 
current issues:
   - the GPU fan does not automatically work so I have to use HWinfo to manually build the fan table but HWinfo sucks balls at this and doesn't start them automatically either, also with HWinfo I take control of both CPU and GPU fans at the same time and sometimes I just want my CPU fan to be spinning. so if someone has a fix for this man that would be great!
 
 
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GTX 680m Heatsink modding in 4 spots to fit the GTX 1070.
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These are the different sizes I had to use and the high temp electrical tape can be seen on the GPU as a secondary measure on top of the conformal 1905273064_thermalpads.thumb.jpg.ede640dfd41257361044ced0cbcb6344.jpg
 
Liquid metal about to be applied to CPU and heatsink.  MG chemicals Silicone conformal Coating applied to CPU and GPU PCB boards to avoid short circuit. 
 
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  • 2 weeks later...

Very epic my dude. I'm rocking the exact same build with the added addition of replacing the black layout for the nebula red one. I also have a 3 copper heatsink for the cpu, paired with the m14x fan and liquid metal my cpu runs at 4.5 ghz. Unfortunately after 1-5 minutes it clocks down to 3.9~4.0, even though the temps are between the 80-85 which is perfectly acceptable.

 

I have no clue why your gpu fan doesn't work properly though. The only explanation that I can think of is because you might need the unlocked bios for that, which I have. 

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It's great to see people still rocking these machines. I wish I could get them to work in my M18x R2. My 780M's are getting a little long in the tooth and I hate to let the old girl go. 

Awesome job!

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  • 1 month later...

 

Hi, one question I am going to try to update my alienware m17x r4 to a gtx 1060 from an ati 7970. There is one thing that is not clear to me, buy a screen of 120hz 3d second-hand, but it is necessary that I buy an EDP cable or on the contrary the cable that brings the screen serves me ?. A greeting and sorry for my English I am using a translator. A greeting.

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Excuse me, another question, it is very different to install a 1070 of a 1060 ?, and another thing how much you cost the 1070 ?, there is much difference in price between one and the other ?. a greeting

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  • 3 years later...

Hi, ive got a zotac 1070 mxm card, and tryed in a clevo p370sm3 3d 120hz laptop, after start its giving screen(it is not have optimus and intel hd) so the card is working , have prema bios on it, but after around 30 sec its starts beeping and then after sime time its shuts off, both in bios and windows, I cant find that bios setting enable or disable this thing. In the m17xr4 do You have this same issue or theres a setting in the bios for some options?

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1 hour ago, Csupati said:

Hi, ive got a zotac 1070 mxm card, and tryed in a clevo p370sm3 3d 120hz laptop, after start its giving screen(it is not have optimus and intel hd) so the card is working , have prema bios on it, but after around 30 sec its starts beeping and then after sime time its shuts off, both in bios and windows, I cant find that bios setting enable or disable this thing. In the m17xr4 do You have this same issue or theres a setting in the bios for some options?

 

The zotac 1070 mxm didnt activate the automatic fans on the Alienware for me so it would overheat and crash if I didnt turnt it on manually with hwinfo. Check of your fans are spinning. 

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Im only have the gpu now, and planning to buy an m71x r4 or a 17 haswell laptop.  In the 17 R1 , the pascal series are confirmed to work?

Edit: when we tested the zotac card in clevo  we find out, that there's some vbios witch are using lvds output,  due to not giving screen to  edp  internal display ( we carefully flashing  vbios to the card , to not brick it with wrong hd id  ). Maybe these vbios can work with lvds 60hz display , saving a lot of money to not upgrade to 3d screen.

Edited by Csupati
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