m15x GPU upgrade worth it?

[Jerochy]

Hey guys,

Here are my specs before I forget:

 i7 920XM @ 2.00GHz
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 

1024MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
238GB SAMSUNG SSD

I got an m15x off craigslist for $400 a while back and I'm enjoying it alot, however, I'd like to upgrade the GPU, but don't really know if it's worth it. As with alot of gaming laptops, it has minor cooling issues when it comes to the CPU. I saw upgrading to the  6970m is really popular for the m15x r1, but it is around $130 on ebay and don't really know how much gaming improvement I would get because of having a cpu only running at 2GHz and running at like 75 degrees when gaming. 

Does anyone have any experience with upgrading a GPU in a laptop with a slow CPU? I know in a desktop, upgrading from a gtx 260 to a 6970 is night and day, but I"m just wondering if it would be the same in a laptop. Thanks guys. Also, I have the stock 180w brick the laptop comes with, so I'm assuming I would need to buy a 240w one too? Thanks.

[Guest Kloaked]

It's possible, but do it at your own risk. You're not guaranteed for everything to go smoothly. In my opinion, it's not even worth the trouble.

 

Yes, you would need all of the stuff you mentioned to (theoretically) make it work. But again, you're not guaranteed for it to work. If you try it and it works, cool. If not, don't say you weren't warned.

[ApolloX75]

It's risky on a laptop that old. You'd need an Alienware specific card since a lot of the vBIOS of other makes are incompatible with each other. You'll also need the cooler for the 6970m since the heatsinks will be different.

 

I'm at this decision state with my GT780 too, so you're not alone in the frustration.

[sushisharkjl]

If you can get the right MXM for the laptop then it will work just fine. Have a look on eBay, searching for your laptop model number + graphics card.

[Jerochy]

On 2/29/2016 at 7:42 PM, sushisharkjl said:

If you can get the right MXM for the laptop then it will work just fine. Have a look on eBay, searching for your laptop model number + graphics card.

I'm pretty sure mine is a p08g, so I should just search on ebay for graphics cards to fit there? I've seen some nicely price 6970's that work for "m15x, m17x, m18x" but didn't have my model of my m15x specifically. If you have the time, do you mind showing me an example.

[sushisharkjl]

55 minutes ago, Jerochy said:

I'm pretty sure mine is a p08g, so I should just search on ebay for graphics cards to fit there? I've seen some nicely price 6970's that work for "m15x, m17x, m18x" but didn't have my model of my m15x specifically. If you have the time, do you mind showing me an example.

Yeah, just search for that on eBay. All M15s's should use the same MXM pinout/form factor.

[Jerochy]

10 hours ago, sushisharkjl said:

Yeah, just search for that on eBay. All M15s's should use the same MXM pinout/form factor.

Thanks a lot man. I'm probably going to be getting either a gtx 460m as the games I like aren't too crazy, and I do have a main gaming rig.