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Guide on how to upgrade the Alienware m15x R2

By Kris Verbeeck

Another fine Alienware machine. I see a lot of machines but this one is very well build, solid as a rock, really. On top of that: fancy, in a very in-your-face kind of way. In all honnesty, the glowing head, the "AlienFX" lighting control system (allowing keyboard and other illumiation colors to be selected) is a bit much for me but if you want your notebook to be a showpiece: great stuff. Off course, great looks is one thing, but with this kind of machine you'll want kickass gaming performance to boot. So, what do you do if you got a m15x with an i7 processor, score extra points with an SSD drive but your GeForce GT 240 isn't quite if you want? Right, you call Ghostb... I mean MXM Upgrade

Cor, the machines owner, read this and he decided to send in his notebook. This allows us to test a card or if possible several cards and get a general 'feeling' of the machine. If we encounter issues, we're more likely to solve them. So. what happens when we can offer no upgrade or the costumer is not convinced? Easy, we send the machine back as it was, no questions asked, no bills to be payed.

	One of the perks of this job? You know that tingly, hot feeling when you buy a new notebook and you get ready to unpack it, take it out the box for the first time? So do I, and I get that more than once every year...
	What struck me here is how "heavy" the screen frame is. Where most manufacturers attempt to keep the frame as thin as possible, this is not exactly catwalk material. I didn't design the thing so I don't know but I have to wonder if this is the price you pay for the fancy exterior and lightshow...
	Backlight on the keyboard, brutal intake grills (which, I believe, do not take anything in...)
	Needed any more proof of that SSD drive?
	When working on a laptop, always, remove the battery. Even it the machine is turned off there are still parts that are "live"and where using a screwdriver or disconnecting it can cause catastrophic damage. To remove the backpanel it suffises to remove 2 (two!) screws. That's the absolute record in our all time listing (and I'm not complaining).
	Insides. Tidy. Solid. Also important: thermally well balanced. The fan can be removed with two screws.
	4 Screws release the heatsink from the MXM card. Unfortunately, one of the supports of the backpanel does not allow to tilt out the heatsink. Obviously, we could have removed the support altogether but that would not be a nice way to treat this machine. Logic dictates that the grill at the botto must be removed prior to removing the heatsink. The grill looks to be secured with a single bolt. When the grill refuses to yield, I applied a lot of force, assuming the grill has a clicker or... actually, I don't know what I was thinking.
	Not that the grill didn't yield. It did. I just wished (and I assume the owner agrees) that it would have done so in another way. Note: 95% of the notebooks out there would have had a plastic grill. Eye for detailand an obvious pointer that there's a budget for quality.
	So, could this have been avoided? Yes. I took a peak under the cover above the keyboard and sure enough: screws secure the grill. Or rather: secured it.
	With the heatsink gone, the GT 240 is revealed. 2 Screws hold it down.
	The bracket from the GT 240 fits perfectly on the HD5870.
	The card fits the notebook fine and is shown with a fresh layer of thermal paste applied.
	Double check of the assembly. The perfect print of the GPU die means the contact is OK. Using the flexible "X" instead of fixed spacers means minor height difference between MXM cards are accounted for.
	We had some issues installing fresh drivers. We tried stock ATI drivers, drivers from out supplier and some HD5870 drivers we found on the we but none would install even though no warnings are given. In the end we were able to install the drivers manually in the device manager. You need to point to the extracted ATI driver, in my case it was located under driver -> packages -> drivers -> display. Should you encounter additional issues, let us know and we'll support you. Does it work? Sure does! We later scored even 12660 in 3DMark06 a bit later, compared to the 7K for the GT240.
	Unfortunately, the 3Dmark score was not the only thing that skyrockets. The temperature does so too. While the GT 240 doesn't break a sweat and doesn't even hit 65 degrees Celcius, the HD5870 rose to 87 degrees during 3DMark06. At this time we retraced our steps and re-applied the thermal paste on the GPU core, using a much thinner layer of paste. We also lifted the back of the machine a notch (using a CD) case in addition to allow better airflow. This saved a few degrees. However, during a Furmark test we had to terminate the test before shutdown temp would be reached. in toquickly rose to 100 degrees during a Furmark run. we've had cases like this in the past and failing Furmark does not mean the setup is not suitable for gaming. It does mean, however, that the notebook will be hot and operating on the limit of what it can do. Keeping it in perfect shape (dustfree!), elevating the backside and preferably using a good laptop cooler are all highly advised.

We had some issues installing fresh drivers. We tried stock ATI drivers, drivers from out supplier and some HD5870 drivers we found on the we but none would install even though no warnings are given. In the end we were able to install the drivers manually in the device manager. You need to point to the extracted ATI driver, in my case it was located under driver -> packages -> drivers -> display. Should you encounter additional issues, let us know and we'll support you. Does it

Your purchase includes the actual card and shipping (registered regular postal service for EU, DHL for US, Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, Turkey and Switzerland). For EU customers, VAT is included. If you need a specific quote for your country, please contact us.

	Alienware m15x R2 HD5870 - EU delivery	Alienware m15x R2 HD5870 - US delivery		Tube of AS5 - 8€
	380€	350€

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