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Alienware M17 and ATI 4850 1 GB?

post #1 of 5
2/21/13 at 10:13am
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I have the old Alienware M17 from 2009,  bought it with a single 512 MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD8370 M88 XT not crossfire. Now I have a need for higher grahpics card. In the past I tried to get 2x512 MB crossfire, the Dell support told me they don't support such an old system... (Woww!!!) and getting 2x512: either http://www.ztronics.com/ that never responds for outside the US, or getting crossfire cable, video card, fan through ebay and others - buying separately would be huge waste of time so I gave up.

 

Now my graphics card do weird lines and snowflakes, sometimes may even freeze. Originally the system came with Vista 32 Home Premium but I use Win7 x64 Home Premium since years ago and there are drivers for x64 Win7 for M17, so far never had any problems. But mostly, it's the upgrade that I need to do.

 

While looking for newer video driver, surprisingly there was:

 

http://support.alienware.com/Support_Pages/Restricted_Pages/driver_downloads_processed.aspx?os=W764&cat=2&manu=12&item=1161

 

Around finding this drivers page, I saw:

M17 ATI 3870 and ATI 4850 Video Card driver for Windows 7 x64. Is there ATI 4850 Video Card 1 GB video card for M17 not M17x?? does any1 know if this is compatible with my laptop and if I can buy it from somewhere to make the grahpics at least 1GB?? Just to get a few more years of it before I consider buying a new system in few years.

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post #2 of 5
2/22/13 at 10:11am
I believe we have a thread somewhere here about compatible graphic cards for/between Dell and Alienware models. Search for it

cheers ...
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post #3 of 5
2/23/13 at 12:05am
Thread Starter 

Searched, found no such thread with compatibility :(

 

If someone can confirm ATI HD 4870 or 4850 are compatible, then we can go from there? Firstly which one is better? I have my laptop with a single card ATI HD3870, so if I were to go crossfire, would I need other things besides the video card itself? And if not, say if I want a single one, do I need just the card?

 

Or another HD3870 may be an option but if I need fans, cables for that, better not, I don't know how to build that not much into hardware stuff... I know 2x512 HD 3870 is better than a single 1GB HD4870/4850 yes?

 

And where to buy any of those? I need for Europe

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post #4 of 5
2/23/13 at 8:23am
The big question for your system is whether it supports the MXM standard for upgradeable graphics cards. The screw spots are the same, but the connector portion is shorter for your card than the MXM standard. As I see it, you have a few options.
  1. You could get an exact replacement card from ebay, which would definitely work but would not be an upgrade. Such a card could be found at this link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alienware-M17-ATI-M88-XT-HD-3870-512MB-Slave-Video-Card-MOBL-VM88XT512MSLVR1-/350662303612
  2. You could get an M17-specific ATI 4850 from ebay that would probably work in your system and would be an upgrade. An ebay link for that is here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alienware-M17-ATI-Redeon-HD-4850-1GB-Master-Video-Card-MOBL-VM981GBMST-/181080955725
  3. You could try buying a new MXM card that would be a significant upgrade, but may not work in your system. Some options are here: http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/Store_30.html If you choose this option, I would recommend first talking to the folks at MXM Upgrade to see if they have any experience with your system.

Of course, if you're not comfortable taking the computer apart to replace the video card (which can be a complicated and time-consuming process if you're not familiar with it), then you can just buy a whole new system.
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post #5 of 5
2/24/13 at 1:13am
Thread Starter 

Some said for a single card is better MXM 2.1 HD 4870 (also hard to find) but if this HD 4850 is certain to be compatible, I'd go for the 4850 since I heard HD4870 would have a problem with crossfire. Even if i take 4850, for now just a single one. From the link I posted in the OP you can see the drivers are either for HD 3870 or HD 4850, I will assume HD 4850 is the one agreed by Aw as compatible card.

 

Besides, I am with Win7 x64 HomePremium, Alienware made drivers for it so my current freezes means this ATI HD3870 will soon be gone, gotta replace it and I never had probs with my drivers and all run on Win 7 x64. Afterall, doubt I will do it but at least 4850 gives room for crossfire if I ever decide to buy a 2nd one. So I will look for a model no further, thanks. Now I need an EU site for it.


Edited by emtr - 2/24/13 at 1:27am
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