Jerryzago

Look at the photos below. One if for 75watt GPUs and the other is for 100watt GPUs. I believe the 980m needs the three heatpipe one. I had my R2 with dual 980m with the amd variants

I believe those 75watt heatsinks have 2 heatpipes and 100watt equivalents have 3 heatpipes. So maybe they will fit the GPU, but cooling will be a problem

Very nice upgrade. I believe MX-4 is an outdated thermal paste. I have an RTX3000 and with MX-4 and PK-3 temps were a problem. I switched to PTM 7950. Now the gpu tops at 75 degress with the hotspot getting to 84. I have an AW 17 so it uses the stock fun curve.

I have mine for almost a year. I had to change the screen cable and saw the two connectors at the board. My screen is LVDS.

Can you share a photo of the heatsink? 4060 is an MXM-A right? Heatsink is the stock AW 17 R4 one? Is it custom made ?

Yeah, AW 18 seems to not work with my settings.

I have a post in the custom builts section with a gallery of BIOS settings. I have the unlocked A14+ and the Video Settings are set to iGFX. Both GPUs are visible in windows and no throttling. Power draw tops out at 80watts for me.

Mine is a PNY RTX3000 and doesn't throttle in my Alienware 17.

I am tempted to replace the screen and cable to my AW 17 with the 120hz one and the edp cable......I will make the RTX 3000 work in PEG mode then!

Yes. Nvcleanstall is our friend since we mainly have not supported GPUs in our systems. I think natively, the 970m was supported for the AW 18, not the M18x R2

That is a major brakethrough and a big win for the mxm mainboards. Sadly this won't work for the AW18 or M18x R1/2 because they have LVDS displays, right? Maybe for the M17x R4 and 17 R1 with the 3D screens?

Thanks. I am running Windows 11

Thank you for the info. I will try this in my Alienware 17 and see results.

Yes. I meant GPU heatsinks. Here is an ad from him on ebay. Contact him from there. https://ebay.us/m/snDk9W Yes, he also sells the 5 heatpipe one for 1070s that has 100watt rating. My RTX 3000 is looking fine with the stock heatsink and fan. For the speakers, I source them from AliExpress. You can measure the speaker casings, lookup their characteristics (wattage, Omh, etc) and either swap the stock ones, print maybe new ones or DIY a solution. There is a post here in the Alienware 18 that a user swaps the stock speakers to higher quality ones.

Hello and welcome to the forum. I use daily an Alienware 17 R1 for my day to day work. It sure is a Beast, even by today standards, as long you upgrade its original parts. Mine came with 16GB with 1600MHz speed, an I7 4710MQ CPU and an 880M GTX GPU. Also it has the LVDS 60Hz Full HD panel and very slow SHDD that took almost 3 minutes to boot to OS. Mine is now upgraded to an I7 4930MX @ 4.0GHz on all cores, unlocked BIOS a14+, a PNY Quadro RTX 3000 (equivalent to 2070) and two samsung SSDs. I will try to help you as much as I can. About your plans. 1) You could dismantle the whole laptop and clean it with isopropl alchohol. The chassis could be wiped with a microfiber cloth also. 2) Changing the CMOS can only be done with the motherboard out. Do that beacuse the battery will surely be depleted. 3) You can install higher speed memmory, but it is unsure that the system can actually run it. I am also in the market for some G.Skill Ripjaws at 1866MHz. 4) The mSata port is using SATA II transfer speeds and is a pain in the ass to remove it, so i stayed away from that. You can install two SSDs into the main slots, and maybe remove the optical drive and put a third one in there. 5) You can go for either 4930mx or 4940mx. The performace gain is marginal. 6) I have no info about this GPU. I went with a PNY one, that doesn't require any modification at all. Bolts right up to the stock cooler. 7) No info on that, sorry. 8 ) If you are comfortable with liquid metal, do go ahead. Though CPU and GPU will require a barrier when the laptop is placed into a bag or tilted onto a cooling pad, because it tends to leak. I prefered PTM 7950 for this matter and is excellent. Undervolting the CPU isn't an option even from the advanced BIOS meny. GPU undervolting will requre a modded vBIOS witch is also unoptainable. Each GPU needs to be modifided specificly for undervolting. E.X. I had an undervolted BIOS for my 980m and it never worked. 9) There was a 17 model with 3D capabilities that had a Full HD 120Hz panel. That also had a diffenet connector to the board. But GPU choises were limited (at that time) because you couldn't upgrade it past a 960M. Even a 980M wouldn't display anything. With the 120Hz panel the PEG GPU needs to drive the sceen. 10) I have installed an AX210 WiFi card to the mPcie port and works like a charm. No adapters are needed. 11) I have no knowedge that other keyboards or palmrests will fit or work. 12) A GPU higher than 980M will need UEFI bios to post. Secure boot is not needed, and since you will need modifided Gpu drivers, avoid secure boot. 13) OEM batterys are not to be found anywhare. Mine also doesn't have a battery. Though my expirience with aftermarket batteries, BMS is the first to die, rather than the cells themselfs. I also use a 330watt PSU. I have two, since I used two for my Alienware M18x R2 with the 3920xm and Dual 980M Sli. It needed 600Watt at full load with my dual PSU mod. About your questions. 1) No info in undervolting. If you succed doing it so, it is a trial and error procedure. 2) Answered above. 3) Answered above 4) Everytime you need to update the frivers, modded ones will be needed. NVinstall app will be your best friend. 5) Almost avery GPU higher than 1070 will requre modifications. With the exception of PNY Quadro RTX 3000. You can order a custom GPU from ebay. A guy in china sells custom ones with superb quality. 6) No info on the keyboard. I repaired mine by replacing the missing keys. I have is as a desktop replacement with an external keyboard and mouse. 7) Clean your fans and test them. If they are able to cool your laptop, then leave them be. 8 ) like I mentioned, the faster Ram will boot, but the extra speed will not be able to be used by the system. I will test it myself and see if I have better results. 9) You can install custom speakers to the stock casing ones. I am trying to do it for my M18x R2 because the stock ones keeps tearing the membrane and sound like crap. 10) We are all open to ideas! Hope I helped you.