Noobie Wan Posted December 5, 2022 Share Posted December 5, 2022 Hello everybody, Looking for detailed steps, so can upgrade my Alienware 18 video card. Found an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, MXM 3.1, 8GB DDR5 (see attachment). I tried to install it "plug and play" and all I had was an 8-beep code & blank screen, so I had to place again the original video cards. I've been doing research for a while, but I'm sure I'm missing some middle steps, so I humbly ask for help. Thanks in advance, people. MACHINE: Alienware 18 i7-4940MX CPU @ 3.10GHz, 32GB Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M (SLI) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runix18 Posted December 5, 2022 Share Posted December 5, 2022 4 hours ago, Noobie Wan said: Hello everybody, Looking for detailed steps, so can upgrade my Alienware 18 video card. Found an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, MXM 3.1, 8GB DDR5 (see attachment). I tried to install it "plug and play" and all I had was an 8-beep code & blank screen, so I had to place again the original video cards. I've been doing research for a while, but I'm sure I'm missing some middle steps, so I humbly ask for help. Thanks in advance, people. MACHINE: Alienware 18 i7-4940MX CPU @ 3.10GHz, 32GB Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M (SLI) I hope I am not mistaken, but this are the dreaded zotac cards whom even if you flash it with dell/msi vbios (to enable display output) you will still have error code 43. Maybe an ALienware owner like @ssj92 knows better of this upgrade. 1 Desktop - MSI X670E Tomahawk Wifi (cheap Ebay mobo that I fixed) | AMD 9800X3D | 64GB Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5 6000MHz CL30 Dual Channel Kit | MSI RTX 4070TI Suprim X | Alienware 27 AW2724DM 2K 165 Hz Gsync | Samsung 990 Pro Nvme - Boot | Other various storage | Windows 11 Enterprise x64 SOLD - Clevo P870DM-G | i9-9700K 4.5 Ghz on all cores (-50 mv undervolted) | 32GB Hyper X Black 2666MHz | Clevo RTX 2080 3.1b undervolted for better temp 1905Mhz @881 mv | AUO B173HAN03.1 144hz Gsync | Samsung 980 NVME | Dsanke TM BIOS - Chujoi13 adapted based on needs | Network Card: Intel AX210-AX | Windows 10 Pro x64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssj92 Posted December 5, 2022 Share Posted December 5, 2022 Make sure you are on unlocked bios. Go to bios and look for video configuration. Change from PEG to SG. Then try again 2 Alienware Area-51 18 : Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX @ ??? | nVidia GeForce RTX 5090 | BE200 | 1TB Gen5 9100 PRO Alienware Area-51M : Intel Core i9-9900K @ 5.3Ghz | nVidia GeForce RTX 2080 | AX210 | Samsung 970 Evo+ Alienware M18x R2 : Intel Core i7 3920XM @ 4.7Ghz | nVidia GeForce RTX 3080 | AX210 | Samsung 980 PRO Alienware 18 : Intel Core i7 4930MX @ 4.5Ghz | nVidia Quadro RTX 5000 | AX210 | Samsung 980 NVMe More Laps: M14x | M14xR2 | M15x (980m) | M17xR2 (RTX 3000) | M17xR3 (WX 7100) | M18xR1 (RTX 5000) BEAST Server: Intel Xeon W7-3465X 28 P-Cores | 2x nVidia RTX Titan | 128GB RDIMM | Intel Optane P5800X CS Studios YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CSStudiosYT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxware79 Posted December 5, 2022 Share Posted December 5, 2022 Yeah, you're going to need to be on SG mode. There could still be issues with the Zotac card though. 1 Alienware Aurora R15 - i9-13900KF - RTX 4090 - 32GB DDR5 Alienware X51 - i7-3770 - GTX 1060 - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware M17x R3 - i7-2760QM - GTX 580M - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Area 51 ALX - i7-975 Extreme - GTX 980 - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Aurora R2 - i7-3770K - GTX 670FTW - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Aurora R4 ALX - i7-3930K - GTX 1060 - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Aurora R4 ALX - i7-3930K - GTX 670FTW - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noobie Wan Posted December 6, 2022 Author Share Posted December 6, 2022 Hi guys, I read all of the answers. I downloaded the unlocked A12 BIOS for my 18. Currently it is flashed with A15, so I will downgrade to original A12 and then apply the unlocked one, right? Couple more things: 1) It might be better to get another non-zotac video card for the whole process to be easier and guarantee system stability? 2) The 1070 should be placed while the i7-4940MX is handling the video? 3) The current heat sink for the 860 will be enough for the 1070? Thanks a lot for the help, your knowledge and your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runix18 Posted December 6, 2022 Share Posted December 6, 2022 3 hours ago, Noobie Wan said: Hi guys, I read all of the answers. I downloaded the unlocked A12 BIOS for my 18. Currently it is flashed with A15, so I will downgrade to original A12 and then apply the unlocked one, right? Couple more things: 1) It might be better to get another non-zotac video card for the whole process to be easier and guarantee system stability? 2) The 1070 should be placed while the i7-4940MX is handling the video? 3) The current heat sink for the 860 will be enough for the 1070? Thanks a lot for the help, your knowledge and your time. 1. Yes, MSI 2. Yes, SG means Switchable Graphics, essentially video output is routed through Intel gpu, so you can actually have a video output 3. No, you will need the 100w heatsink. 1 Desktop - MSI X670E Tomahawk Wifi (cheap Ebay mobo that I fixed) | AMD 9800X3D | 64GB Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5 6000MHz CL30 Dual Channel Kit | MSI RTX 4070TI Suprim X | Alienware 27 AW2724DM 2K 165 Hz Gsync | Samsung 990 Pro Nvme - Boot | Other various storage | Windows 11 Enterprise x64 SOLD - Clevo P870DM-G | i9-9700K 4.5 Ghz on all cores (-50 mv undervolted) | 32GB Hyper X Black 2666MHz | Clevo RTX 2080 3.1b undervolted for better temp 1905Mhz @881 mv | AUO B173HAN03.1 144hz Gsync | Samsung 980 NVME | Dsanke TM BIOS - Chujoi13 adapted based on needs | Network Card: Intel AX210-AX | Windows 10 Pro x64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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