m15x i-7940xm with a gtx 980m?

[m3lvo]

Hello,

 

I recently bought a nice clean original alienware m15x with the i7-720qm and a nvidia 260m.

I found out that my laptop has 12gb of 1600mhz ram already so thats a big plus. also it came with the bigger 240w powersupply.

 

now my upgrade plan is to get the max achievable cpu the i7-940xm and pair it with a 970m or 980m.

i want to cool them both with liquid metal from thermal grizzly to give them the best chance, and put a stable overclock on the cpu to narrow the bottleneck a bit. 

because from what i've gathered the gpu is pretty big for that cpu but wit good cooling and a powerfull oc it should be worth it? 

something like a 7970m surely is weaker even with that cpu?

 

now my question is, i can not find real info on the thermal pad placement, i can imagine its different for every laptop/heatsink?

i found a few pics (i will add one) but does that also apply for my m15x.

IMG_5481.JPG.068cb10d6fdff635d4ef08bb73102ee3.jfif

[panda_zzz]

Greetings. The standard cooling system can handle 940xm without overclocking and even with slight overclocking. If you want to achieve more, you will have to replace the standard fan to increase heat dissipation.
The native cooling of the video card can handle 970m, for 980m you need to either limit its frequencies to the level of m5000m or change the fan too.
If you want to use liquid metal, I recommend nickel plating the copper sections of the heatsink or the liquid metal will destroy those parts of the cooling quite quickly.

 

[m3lvo]

what fans do you talk about when upgrading? is there a better fan that can be replaced by the stock ones?

 

also from what i have seen on youtube is that the copper does not get destroyed by the liquid metal, copper simpy absorbs the first layer. 

after one year just re-apply the liquid metal leaving the absorbed liquid metal on the copper heatsink, this acts as a closed layer now. 

so essentially the liquid metal makes the nickel plating for you by itself. just put some extra on after a while when it had time to absorb it.

here is that video, all that info is in this one : 

 

[panda_zzz]

I don't agree with you in terms of liquid metal soaking into copper does nothing wrong - it breaks the homogeneous structure, which over time affects heat transfer. besides, to me it's unnecessarily dangerous in a laptop. There's a simpler option that doesn't carry such risks - ptm7950 - cheap and effective.

Here is an old thread on fan upgrading for m15x https://www.nbrchive.net/xfa/alienware-m15x.1078/M15x internal fan mods/