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September 13th, 2022 10:00
Which Alienware can you remove CPU and GPU ?
I'm buying a new 17" laptop I am interested in a 2020 - 2022 Alienware I love the design and specs on these I can't find out which years or models are soldered to the motherboard. I hate this because if a cpu or GPU dies you are in a world of hurt $$$$ wise.
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mattyb3
5 Practitioner
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1.6K Posts
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September 13th, 2022 15:00
Your 17 R1 was the last Alienware laptop (along with the 18) with an MXM GPU and mobile Intel CPU that was replaceable. The Area-51M R1/R2 has a replaceable desktop socket CPU but it has the proprietary Dell format GPU so it really isn't upgradeable.
All other models since 2014 have a soldered CPU and GPU, some also have soldered RAM
It is a shame but that's the world of thin and light laptops.
17 R2 - R5 - Soldered CPU and GPU
m17 R1 - R5 - Soldered CPU and GPU
x17 R1 and R2 - Soldered CPU and GPU
Area-51M R1 and R2 - Socketed CPU and Dell format GPU
mattyb3
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1.6K Posts
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September 13th, 2022 19:00
The i7-4930MX and 4940MX are the top processors. They have higher base and turbo clocks than the 4700 but they are still 4 core 8 thread processors. They also have more L3 cache so they are a little zippier. These extreme CPU's are made to be overclocked so that's when their performance really shines. You won't notice a huge difference with day to day activities but an overclocked 4940 will pair with a 10 series GPU better (or higher) than a stock 4700.
Lots of people have successfully got the 10 series to work. The 120hz panel is suggested though as the cards lose some performance using the 60hz with Optimus.
You can also get the 2000 series cards to work but they are the Quadro variants, for example the Quadro RTX 3000. This card is similar to the RTX 2060.
I know people who have attempted CPU socket swaps between laptops but nothing successful yet.
yojimbojones
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September 13th, 2022 19:00
wow i didnt know my year laptop was one of the last of its dieing breed to swap parts. that really is a shame. out of curiousity with my i7 4700mq how much percentage in performance and instructions per clock would the highest upgradeable CPU be? i think there are extreme edition cpus that my laptop can be upgraded to but i dont know if it would be worth the upgrade performance and money wise. arent they still 4 core 8 thread cpus? it would be really amazing if there was some sort of mod or work around for these older laptops where you could somehow get a newer generation socket cpu like an i7 10th or 11th generation and a 2000 series gpu to work with the main motherboards. altho the GTX 1000 series is pretty solid. was the 1000 series super buggy to get a 1070 to work with these?