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The M15x is Alienware's 15 inch extreme gaming laptop.

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M15x Upgrade TO THE MAX :D 2016

  • a friendly heads up, i am very dyslexia so my grammar and spelling is poor. thank you as well for taking the time to read and post. plz dont post pointless comments about my typing skill OR " just get a new labtop" ***

looking to just upgrade my M15x much as possible as a project ( cuz i like learning :3 n tinkering ) will list what it has and what i done so far with questions. the point of this post is see every possible upgrade i could do then do it. i dont however wana do big moding jobs on it, but i am ok with small ones. i have taken apart the computer 3 times to clean,upgrade and just paint the outside.

BUILD

started with > done > Next upgrade?

  • also ok upgrading upgrades i already done, like my CPU *

OS: Windows 7 >Windows 7( fresh install) and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

CPU: i7-720QM 1.6 GHz L3 6MB > i7-920XM 2GHz L3 8MB > Next upgrade?

GPU: GeForce GT 240M ( this need a huge upgrade )

RAM:2x 1gbs > 2x 4GB 1.33v > next upgrade? ( read below )

MOTHER: intel PM55 Express chipset CPU socket : BGA1288 /socket G1

STORAGE: HD 250Gb > SSD 500Gb

ETC: missing charger and battery > got both from online

Commets/Questions

OS: would puting windows 8.1 be a good idea? ( i hate win10 soooo much)

CPU: what is better GHz or the cacha? like 2GHZ L3 8mb VS 2.8GHz L3 4mb, the 2.8GHZ also runs at a lower watts ( 55 >35) but also has a GPU on it may need a heat sink mod so both tops get love. also not fully get what makes a cpu work or not work with a motherboard then the chipset? googled n got chipset for some site to see what CPUs it can use cuz it only asked for whats the chipset.

GPU: easy this is the most behinde part of the labtop and what is the best upgrade can i do with this? seems ubuntu likes nvidia more then ATI but if ATI has a much better card then i am willing to suck up with lil bad drivers still ubtuntu gets a good ones for ATI

RAM: got two 4Gbs on it, people say they are doing 16gbs with two 8gbs. some say its pure luck if it works or not..... this cant be true that its lucky. has to be a way to know what will work. the motherboard has the volt options for ram 1.5V 1.6V 1.7V

its also DDR3 and memory frequency is 1333 MHZ

MOTHER: petty sure i cant upgrade this lol. i did however upgrade the BIOs A02 to A09. got ton better at cooling. this labtop was my friends that gave me it, had huge heating issues. not agisnt modded BIOs too but what i found seem to not be much better then the A09 stock

STORAGE: hard drive to SSD. i know i will get a 1tb or more to give better room to both windows n ubtuntu. right now i got 2 500gbs, one windows 7 the other is ubuntu. what is the fastest storage and is it wroth it?

ETC: when i got this. didnt have a battery or a charger, got both on ebay. both was ever used and in great shap. labtop runs with 150v right now too. cooling wise. it ran SOOOOO HOT but the huge BIOs update fixed it. now its not even close to how hot it was. now sits at 60 to 70 on cpu. the gpu is runing at 50. both temp checks are aftering idling on tf2 for HOURS, like 4. i also added lil legs to the back of it n added a vent right over the top of CPU n GPU. cooling wise is great so if any upgrades make it got alot hotter, will be ok. i even got fully new heat sinks for both cpu n gpu ( and yes added new thermal paste, it was sooo dry n crusty)

The End

Thank you for reading and dealing with my poor grammar n spelling. i hope i learn alot from this post :3 thank you to everyone who posted n share their though n info

Beantwoord! Bekijk het antwoord Dit probleem heb ik ook

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no answer at all? :l

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Hi,

The following is just my personal opinion.

1. If you don't like Win 10 then stick with Win 7.

Win 10 is the result of all the improvements that were first attempted with the introduction of Win 8. Most of the problems in Win 8 were resolved and Win 10 is the result. It also has better built in security than any previous Win OS. You need also to bear in mind that support for Win 7 ends in 2020, Win 8.1 ends in 2023 and for Win 10 it is 2025.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help...

2. Installing a SSD will definitely improve the performance of any PC. Use the SSD for the OSs and a large capacity HDD for storage.

3. With regard to all the other suggested performance improvements by hardware upgrades, it becomes a cost /benefit decision. Is it better to spend the money on hardware which pushes the motherboard to its limits and which in the end may cost nearly as much as a new laptop which has better performance and features or buy the new laptop. Ultimately it all comes back to the motherboard and what it can stably support. It will become too frustrating if it is pushed too far and is not running smoothly just so that the performance is fractionally better.

You probably already have this but here is a link to the service manual for your laptop which you may find useful.

http://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-pr...

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Best upgrades:

I have owned this model since new 2010. Still doing awesome!

CPU: Intel I7 920XM or 940XM is best choice, can use Throttlestop program and clock up to 3.6Ghz on all 4 cores safely.

GPU: Nvidia GTX 980M is technically last top card for this model, but needs modifying for peak performance and most importantly to run cool: svl7/johnksss vbios (Prema vbios will make it run too hot), 1 x copper shim during install, and dual power supply's as its very power hungry.

GTX 970M would be considered top card without all the 980M necessary mods, and is 85-90% of its performance, runs cool, and is very over clockable.

GTX 680M can be found for a little less $ and still excellent at current games. Need to modify .ini file to install any of these 3 cards (not too difficult). Last supported Dell/AW card was 460M without needing to modify.

Memory: 16G is max, and is not a myth, Crucial Ballistic is excellent (will down clock to 1333mhz). Will not display in BIOS but will be recognized in Windows.

Wi-Fi card: Killer-Wireless card was an option new, better than stock.

Display: Can upgrade to FHD (1080p) screen from stock HD+ (1600x900).

Power Supply: Upgrade to Delta (Dell) 240W power supply, and buy L adapter and remove center pin only on adapter, allowing more voltage to power upgraded GPU (GTX 680M - 970M). Dual 240W x 2 will be needed for 980M.

Battery: Try to find original optional 9 cell battery, it's harder than finding 6 cell, but it's bigger and raises the rear bottom of laptop to allow for better cooling.

Purchase good thermal pastes for CPU and GPU chips like Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut or Gelid GC-Extreme.

Purchase good thermal pads for CPU AND GPU memory chips, Arctic Cool is excellent.

^^^^Can find all these parts on Ebay, just have to search and be patient, hardest item to find is original 9 cell battery. GTX 980M $400 and up, GTX 970M $300 and up, GTX 680M can be found for $250 or less.

Download Throttlestop, and MSI Afterburner or Nvidia Inspector to overclock GPU and CPU.

Search on website notebookreview.com under M15x thread to search all info and communicate with other M15x owners.

Enjoy!

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Hello, are all these upgrades still the top upgrades for 2021?

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Yes they unfortunately are. I have a GTX 970m, i7 940xm, 16gb of ram and an SSD. Those are the max upgrades for 2021

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Hi. I'm new on this FQ. I had m15x. Already i upgrade disk on SSA Adata 250GB and i want chance a GPU. its possible to but a card (min 4 GB) what i just can plug them install drivers and it will work ? I will need them buy a more powerfull power supply? I hear a lot about upgrade GPU bios. I'm not a specialist with laptops :/ On YT a few guys just change a GPU them instal a drivers and it work. It that easy ?

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Hey buddy, I'm new on this forum too. And I, like you, am in process of upgrading my m15x. I've already upgraded my HD to SSD, 240 watt PSU, 8GB (total) RAM and i7-940XM CPU. I'm not sure how beneficial it would be to upgrade my RAM to 16 GB, but I know for a fact that my GPU is the bottleneck to the computer's performance. I've scoured the web for more info on GTX 970m upgrade on a m15x. Only to find a very limited knowledge on this configuration. After the answer provided by hps1 on this forum, and a YouTuber (Marc M). I've decided to move forward with the purchase of the GTX 970m. It's a daunting task, because the GPU upgrade kit is expensive! Moreover, it's not guaranteed it'll work; not enough people have tried this. If it doesn't work out, I'll have to eat up the cost! The arrival of my GPU is Friday. I'll will inform you of the result on the upgrade. Best wishes!

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GTX 970M upgrade should go without a hitch, but you will need to modify the .ini file.....lots of info on the web. Techinferno & NotebookReview. 970M can be found for $300 or less nowadays.

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hi , just wondering if there are better fans to fit to the m15x 2011 model as i would be keen on doing that gpu upgrade once i had better fans

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Hello, I’m still using my m15x. It runs fine just a little slow. I was wondering if all these upgrades mentioned above are still the top upgrades for this computer in 2021?

Thanks everyone

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they are, and its cheaper and less hassle to sell and buy a machine that has a 970 or 980 in it already, something like the msi phantom will cost you about 400 quid, and come with a 6th gen i7 cpu which is much better than you will get out of an m15x at the same price for parts, and alot better power wise

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Eh, tinkering is fun though. Just upgraded mine from i3 370 to i7 - 840qm 4 to 8gbs of ram - 1tb SSD and currently trying to decide which MXM GPU to upgrade to. Thinking 970m of course, but it may be possible to get a 1050 or even a 1060 working in this machine according to one Reddit thread.

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Urska zal eeuwig dankbaar zijn.
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