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Which graphics card for Alienware laptop?

working class

working class

working class

Associate
Joined
22 Jun 2010
Posts
68
Location
Birmingham
Hi guys, I'm asking for a friend. He has an Alienware laptop which the graphics card has failed on.
The current card is a Nvidia Geforce 880M. Overclockers don't seem to have them in stock any more.

Could you tell me what would be the equivalent replacement now please?

TIA.
 
What Alienware laptop is it ? I suspect a 17 or 18

Most of these systems can take a lot of mxm cards, as the price of a 880m is seriously expensive now you may as well get a 980m for around £550
 
Thanks for the reply chaps. It's a Core i7.

Is that how much he'll be looking at roughly? £550? Is there any other cheaper options?
He doesn't use the laptop for gaming.
 
If he doesn't use the laptop for gaming why did he buy an Alienware?

Just tell him to buy the cheapest MXM graphics card that is compatible with his laptop. What model is the laptop?
 
no doubt as above dell would be the best to ask. I think my friends card died in his alienware and they gave him a discount if he returned the one from his machine.
 
USA/Canada will then come with import charges. Does the laptop run with the card removed? As it could have onboard that'll run if the card is removed. That is a guess mind you. I did look at upgrading my 680M but cost was huge so I didn't bother.

I though MSI might be releasing the upgrade kits here for the GT72 range but it was selected regions only.
 
seems daft to me that this isnt something that enthusiast sites do as more and more laptops are starting to use a standard mxm these days... ok sometimes it requires a bios flash to make it compatible but thats what we do... we tinker with things to make them work
 
Hello chaps, sorry for the late reply been busy. Okay so I have the laptop in my possession now.

I don't think the graphics card is/was at fault. When I booted it up yesterday it was giving out a continuous single pulsed beep, about every 2 seconds.
I did some research and it was pointing to the cmos battery being failed, failed motherboard or possibly corrupt bios.

I stripped the laptop down yesterday night and put a new cmos battery in. This has made no difference.

How would I go about flashing the bios to the latest version to make sure that it's not that that is the problem, bearing in mind I can't get it to boot at all at the moment?

Forgot to add it's an Alienware M17x.
 
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If you cant get it to post, your problem is probably a more fundamental fault than requiring a bios update. Without being able to get it to post, i believe the only way of changing the bios is by replacing the bios chip if there is one.

If he doesn't game, what is the laptop for?
 
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