All of you guys use your Alienware laptops naked without protection?

it doesn't need protection imo. handling it with care will suffice.

hi all sifu here, is it worth to go for a 2rd hand good condition m17x r4 and upgrade the gpu to gtx980m or is there any other alternative solutions?
and is the cooling pipe in the r4 sufficient for cooling down the gpu beast?

This post has been edited by SoulRex: Sep 19 2015, 04:29 AM

Yes, M17x R4 heatsink all come with 3 heat pipe. It definately enough. Only thing you need to aware is the power brick. Best is go with 240 watt or 330 watt.

so, back to the root question, is it worth to go for a 2rd hand aliienware m17x r4 and opt for gtx 980m upgrade?

Depends on the price and the laptop condition.

it's better than upgrade to 680m or 780m. for 980m upgrade, just make sure the screen is NOT 120hz.

Just want to thank square manage to successfully upgraded my graphic card from ATi radeon HD 5730 to GTX 660m ( yeah not much of a big upgrade but is still an upgrade) and the computer still run fine for now

anyone want to upgrade graphic card should find him xD

nice

just swap to what you need is good enough. we don't need 980ti or titan-x x-way sli to live.

http://hothardware.com/reviews/alienware-x51-r3-review

x51 r3 wif skylake.. yea

btw do you know what are the alternative networking card upgrade available?

for wifi module, you can go for .ac card. you need .ac router also. i still use the old intel 7260.ac card. max it can go is 867Mbps, average around 700Mbps.

how about killer 1202? can the newer series like killer 1525 fit in?

as long as it's a hmc/mini-card form factor it should be fine.

killer 1525 is not compatible, because it's in m.2 form only. (same as intel 7265.ac)

okok thx for the info

hi guys my M18x r2 wrty expired long time ago. There was a user here who used to sell Alienware Warranties. I want to buy for 2 more years, can anyone refer me please

not sure if this can done, but you can try ask putochip123, fb page: https://www.facebook.com/DellAlienware-Sale...51731/timeline/

edit:
Dell Alienware 18 System BIOS

Version A12, A12

Enhancements:
- Disable PCIe Active State Power Management of Nvidia GTX980 MXM Card.

This post has been edited by horns: Sep 28 2015, 12:15 PM

Guys, I am using a M17x R4 with the 660M. This has never happened before, but it seems that when I'm gaming, it throttles at times.

Say I'm playing World of Tanks, at lowest settings (at 720 reso too), it runs fine for about 5 minutes in game at 50FPS or so, and then it'll go down to 5-9 FPS for 1 minute or so. Any idea what's up with my baby?

Any tests I can run to give it a proper check?

Running Windows 8.1

Did you monitor the temperature?
But this sound like unstable power supply. Is your charger keep on disconnecting?

It seems my temp is uber high at 80+ even at idle. I guess it's time to replace the thermal paste?