[SOLVED] Temporary GPU

[HankinsCrew]

So i am waiting on the rtx 3070 possibly the rtx 3080 if i can ever find one but i dont see me obtaining one anytime soon with the current supply shortage. I am currently on an old alienware 17 r1 laptop from 2014. I have a parts list complied and purchased that will work with the 3070. Will need to upgrade the case to fit a 3080. My question is from what i have read on old forumns is that i can upgrade the alienware to a gtx 1060/1070. Would i be able to install either of those gpu's into my new desktop build while I wait for the new cards and then transfer them into my old r1 and give that to a friend?

 

[ChumP]

It is possible as the Alienware 17 R1 supports MXM GPUs. There are some MXM GTX 1060s and 1070s.
The problem is the driver as someone pointed out in a Dell Forum:

A 980M would be a great upgrade but you can also install a GTX 1060 or 1070.

Anything newer than an 880M will need a modded driver to work. You can learn how to mod your own or head over to forum.notebookreview.com and one of us there can mod one for you.

Full thread here: https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware/Alienware-17-R1-GPU-Upgrade/td-p/7576064

That is because Dell usually makes custom drivers for many of their laptops. Even when you have a Nvidia GPU on your Dell/Alienware laptop, drivers directly from Nvidia won't usually work and only Dell's customized Nvidia drivers will.

This is the reason why you'll most likely need to mod the driver for the upgraded GPU to work in your laptop and that's a BIG HASSLE to begin with.

In my opinion you should leave the laptop as it is... not worth the effort going through that sincerly.