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1 Rookie
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2 Posts
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2004
May 26th, 2020 08:00
17 R1, 2014, laptop upgrades
looking to upgrade processor and graphics. Just wondering if that’s possible and if so what are the options. New to this, trying to find answers. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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ejn63
10 Elder
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28.6K Posts
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May 26th, 2020 08:00
See here:
https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General-Read-Only/Upgrades-for-my-Alienware-17-R1/td-p/5555549
(your system is an Alienware 17 - not the older M17x, which dates from 2011).
mattyb3
5 Practitioner
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1.6K Posts
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May 26th, 2020 14:00
You have a few options.
CPU: i7 4900/4910MQ (suggested) or i7 4930MX/4940MX - fully unlocked for overclocking
GPU: GTX 780M or 880M (Plug and play) or GTX 980M, 1060 or 1070 - Requires a modded Nvidia driver
Randel867
1 Rookie
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2 Posts
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May 27th, 2020 07:00
The fully unlocked and overclocking cpus do they do anything special or do you have to change something else with that or is it kind of plug and play and the modded nvidia driver is that easy to do?
mattyb3
5 Practitioner
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1.6K Posts
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May 27th, 2020 14:00
If you go for any of the 49xx processors you will need the 3-pipe CPU heatsink. Other than that, they are plug and play. The 4910MQ is a great CPU so my suggestion would be that one.
You may also have to upgrade the GPU heatsink, I'm not sure which one you'd have with the 765M but it may only be a 2-pipe. You are best to grab a 3-pipe but there is a guy in the US who makes custom 4 and 5-pipe for the 17 R1. If you get a 10 series GPU then these are a good idea.
The modded driver is a little tricky if you've never done it before but there are guides out there on how to do it. I've done it a few times now so it only takes me about 5 mins. I usually whip them up for people and post a dropbox link for download. When the next Nvidia driver is released I'm planning on doing a quick 'how-to' video.