51m mobo/vid module compatibility chart

Hmmmmm....

"Confidentail information for internal use only"

.... I hope the Alien Squad doesn't hunt us down!

I'm going to check tonight. Hopefully mine is a 4004 or a 40A6. It might get me some more interest in the one I am selling.

-Geed

ach furchtbar - so much for the sticker. don't have that one (keyboard was replaced from US to GR version). Any other way to find out the revision (except from calling customer support)?

We're still not buying into what AW is saying. A good friend has a 40A5 mobo rev. He too has a 9600 and wanted to try a M11. You should have seen the smile on his face when we popped in a 9700 and it came to life.

Someone recently told me build date has alot to do with it. I dont know...maybe.

I've tried a M11 in 4 different AW's and so far they've all worked. I'll have to get in touch with the other three and find out what their rev #s are.

Interesting stuff

Checked the support page at AW:

1 | ALIENWARE AREA-51M 766 CONSP BLUE 15.4" NOTEBOOK REV 40A6

Yay!!

So from this chart I have the 4001 series, I will most likely NEVER be able to upgrade to the 9700 then?

thats funny whe i go to look at mine on there it just says revision 2.o ?
I got mine back in november I doubt seriously I have one that can take the upgrade. we can still hold out hope that if Nvidia brings out the 6800go that that one will be compatible.

From the knowledge base:


An Area 51-m motherboard Revision 2.0, as seen on the sales invoice, is a motherboard version 4001 or 4002.

all you do is take your keyboard off and look on top of your memory slot there should be a sticker or something mines is 40A3 I brought my area 51-m in february.

Without taking out they keyboard, how would you be able to check the mobo revision? I'm not exactly sure where to look for it on the invoice.

Unfortunatly im not near my Laptop currently i will definatly check whe n i get home but im sure its an erlier modle in wich upgrading to the 9700 is not going to be an option. I ahve always wanted to try out and Nvidia though> I used to be a Voodoo guy before becoming an ATI guy. I have never owned an Nvidia I may have to get one in my next desktop or maybe even if the 6800go coem out for this just to see how good they are.

You can sign in at AW and then go to your system specs. It should list the mobo version number after the color and screen size.

Bastards!

1 | ALIENWARE AREA-51M 766 SAUCER SILVER 16.1" NOTEBOOK

No dice there.

well i have the 40A5 mobo... but i wonder from your friends exp with it,,,
did his 51 recognize the system as a 9700 ???
and did you guys do any benchmarks to check if the card did boost performance???
Ive heard of some 51 systems workin with the 9700 card,, but does not do what its pose to do,,, its like putting in a 9700 card but still get 9600 performance cause the mobo is not correctly recongnizing card...
let us know what you find out, thanks for info

ATI must be a problem child

It is a wonder why ATI cards have so much trouble with the 51m lappys..
Nvidia seems to be working fine with the systems and it appears that Nvidia is going to "hopefully" make a 6800 AGP laptop vid card that we 51 users can upgrade too,,, i like many others here prefer to upgrade to a ATI,, but with the problems to upgrade to anything other than a 9600 card,, it seems crazy for this agravation,,, another good point is,, remember when the farcry patch came out,,, it seemed the majority of ppl having problems with the patch,, were realated to,,,guess what hardware,,,you got it ATI card,
Nvidia cards really did well with the upgrade,, except for the load save games problems but that was with everyone,,,
Nvidia is alot farther ahead in OpenGL than ATI,,, and Doom3 is of course openGL,,,,
so if Nvidia comes out with their new AGP cards for lappys ,, i for one will be happy,, thats if AW will let them be manufactured for 51 lappys.. not real sure there,,,but anyway, i feel ATI cards are good,, but they are starting to really fall behind on the tech side of things coming,,, for one,,,, COMPATIBLITY,,,LOLOL,, jezz my are51 is only 3 months old,, and i cant upgrade to a 9700., i have the 40A5 mobo,.just like alot of ppl,,
Oh, well,, just my 2 cents worth

REVISION 2.0=4001, or 4002 WTF????????

So much for the 9700...Alienware you can personally kiss my a$$ with your bull$hit upgradeable laptops...now if the 6800go becomes an option then perhaps I will retract the BS comment but you can still kiss my a$$...

Its ok Notebook time heals all wounds even those of no upgradeable laptops. All we can do now is see if alienware will step up to the plate for thier customers and offer us one decent upgrade for this laptop they promised would be upgradeabel at time of purchase. If not I would like to see a good $500 rebate on the purcahse of a new laptop by those of us who bought this one hopeing for a laptop we could upgrade.

Thanks Brain...Alienware is now poised to either prove that customer satisifaction is their priority or that they have become like the other giant manufacturers...