Upgrading components in Alienware 18 from 2014 ideas?

[Phantasmii]

Greetings fellow Tom's Hardware users and experts,

After much deliberation and thought, I found it due time to upgrade (what is possible) some essential components in my personal Alienware 18 laptop that I purchased back in Aug 2014. I'm here looking for options as well as counter arguments of what I should and shouldn't do, so please take my works as those coming from a computer novice, I've only built a desktop once and it was unsuccessful.

To start off I currently have an Alienware 18 2014 model, running an i7 4810MQ @2.8Ghz processor, 16GB of memory RAM, dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 860m 2Gb running in SLI through their integrated GPU software. To give an example of something I do everyday, I play video games, have for years. With the recent Battlefield 1 release I find myself having to run my PC hard at the lowest settings possible in game to be able to run fluid FPS and performance, the one thing is that it tends to overwork the PC quite a bit if I use it for about 10 hours nonstop.

To put my goal for this in words. I'm looking to be able to run future gaming applications at a much more stable level and worthwhile performance than I am now. So from my experience that includes having to upgrade or completely buy a new system in order to do that, I'm looking for some ideas and options I could further investigate to better gain an understanding of what I can accomplish.

I do appreciate any form of insight and opinions this forum can give. I will keep a close eye on replies.

Thank you so much, I will keep this thread updated, please leave a reply if I missed any form of information needed to better make an assumption as to what I can possibly accomplish with this post.

-Phantasmii

 

[Aeacus]

For us to give you the best advice, fill this out and reply back here,
link: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/353572-31-build-upgrade-advice

 

[Phantasmii]

@Aeacus, this method of format does not provide any information as soon what I am looking for. I would merely just prune it and branch off what I have already listed. So my apologizes but I won't do that at this time. I feel the information provided is sufficient to get the point across as to what I am looking for. Thank you.

 

[Aeacus]

Since you failed to state your budget, here's a build that gives you best FPS for several years to come,
pcpp: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/hMYFXH

If you don't like the above build, perhaps now you understand the importance of my initial reply about filling the list.

 

[Phantasmii]

Since you failed to state your budget, here's a build that gives you best FPS for several years to come,
pcpp: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/hMYFXH
If you don't like the above build, perhaps now you understand the importance of my initial reply about filling the list.

Again, read my post. I implore you to. I said I was to upgrade components within my current computer. Seeing as you didn't read it, please do so now so you can better understand what I'm asking for advice on. Thank you.

 

[Aeacus]

So from my experience that includes having to upgrade or completely buy a new system in order to do that, I'm looking for some ideas and options I could further investigate to better gain an understanding of what I can accomplish.

You did state that you're willing to go for a new system though. If the new system is another laptop then i can't help you since i don't do well with laptops. My expertise lies in desktop PCs.
But if the new system would be a desktop PC then knowing the budget helps us to build the best price to performance ratio build for you.

 

[Phantasmii]

So from my experience that includes having to upgrade or completely buy a new system in order to do that, I'm looking for some ideas and options I could further investigate to better gain an understanding of what I can accomplish.

You did state that you're willing to go for a new system though. If the new system is another laptop then i can't help you since i don't do well with laptops. My expertise lies in desktop PCs.
But if the new system would be a desktop PC then knowing the budget helps us to build the best price to performance ratio build for you.

I have already gone and done with the desktop scene and was successful to a point, I just don't see it being a beneficial platform for my current work studies. What I am looking for, to better make it clear, is to upgrade the internal components of my laptop so that I can get back into a current generation model for use. I am currently running on over 2 year old tech and its starting to get overshadowed by current software and games coming out this year.

To put it short, I'm looking for advice on what I NEED to get upgraded on what I currently have and where I can look at finding the best price and or Tech to help me put it together.

 

[Aeacus]

Researched the Alienware 18 and it's upgrade paths a bit.

For gaming, you'll benefit the most from the better GPU since you already have 16GB of RAM that is more than enough for today's games.

You can go with GTX 880m in a 2-way SLI,
comparison: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-860M-vs-Nvidia-GTX-880M/m8647vsm8540

Or if you have more money, a GTX 980m in a 2-way SLI,
comparison: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-860M-vs-Nvidia-GTX-980M/m8647vsm15596

For upgrading your laptop by yourself, here's a nice video tutorial on how to do it,
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P53mSnY3voY

 

[Phantasmii]

Researched the Alienware 18 and it's upgrade paths a bit.

For gaming, you'll benefit the most from the better GPU since you already have 16GB of RAM that is more than enough for today's games.

You can go with GTX 880m in a 2-way SLI,
comparison: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-860M-vs-Nvidia-GTX-880M/m8647vsm8540

Or if you have more money, a GTX 980m in a 2-way SLI,
comparison: http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-860M-vs-Nvidia-GTX-980M/m8647vsm15596

For upgrading your laptop by yourself, here's a nice video tutorial on how to do it,
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P53mSnY3voY

This was something along the lines of what I was looking for, I was going to try for the 980m SLI, I'll have to see if I can get a better source than Eurocom as is the videos creator for the 880 installation. Thank you Aeacus.