[HOPELESSLYFAITH]

What are my options for a new GPU for my M17xR4? I have a 7970m in it now but its dying and artifacting really bad from overuse/overclocking.

I have a 3940xm in there so it still has a decent CPU and would like to use it as a HTPC that could be used for some decent gaming if I wanted to.

Whats my cheapest/bang for my buck option?
What is the best GPU I can throw in there?

 

[Imglidinhere]

There's no guarantee that any of the current upgradeable GPUs will even work. Alienware is fickle about that, but you could maybe look for snagging a 970M if you want a fair upgrade.

MXM GPUs are only included with the highest of high-end these days. It's a shame really.

 

[HOPELESSLYFAITH]

There's no guarantee that any of the current upgradeable GPUs will even work. Alienware is fickle about that, but you could maybe look for snagging a 970M if you want a fair upgrade.

MXM GPUs are only included with the highest of high-end these days. It's a shame really.

970m is ~$325
980m ~$400

what are my other options.

780m isn't much cheaper and way slower and 7970m and 680m are not very good price to performance either.

Are there decent pascal MXMs out there or no?

 

[Imglidinhere]

970m is ~$325
980m ~$400

what are my other options.

780m isn't much cheaper and way slower and 7970m and 680m are not very good price to performance either.

Are there decent pascal MXMs out there or no?

Pascal has crazy higher thermal density compared to Maxwell, at the very least you'll have some severe thermal issues, plus no heatsinks are made for those MXM modules for that Alienware, plus the BIOS doesn't support it anyway. It all stopped at Maxwell, and support is exceedingly limited too.

If you can manage a 980M, you're looking at nearly double the performance of your 7970M: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-980M-vs-AMD-Radeon-HD-7970M/m15596vsm9441 It says +91% over the 7970M. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.

 

[buellersdayoff]

What are my options for a new GPU for my M17xR4? I have a 7970m in it now but its dying and artifacting really bad from overuse/overclocking.

I have a 3940xm in there so it still has a decent CPU and would like to use it as a HTPC that could be used for some decent gaming if I wanted to.

Whats my cheapest/bang for my buck option?
What is the best GPU I can throw in there?

Have a look around at notebookreview forums, guys there were right into that stuff. I put a 780m in mine and was a pita when you updated drivers. I think someone got a 980m going in there