[SOLVED] What can I upgrade my Alienware M18Xr1's Graphics Card to?

[l-dawson95]

I am looking for advice on what to upgrade my Alienware laptop to. I use it primarily for video editing and low-key visual effects but would like the option to go into visual effects a little more, nothing like modelling though. I'm looking for a reasonable mid-range graphics card that allows me to do this and will for a couple years.

Current specs:
Motherboard
Manufacturer Alienware
Model M18xR1 (CPU1)
Version A05
Chipset Vendor Intel
Chipset Model Sandy Bridge
Chipset Revision 09
Southbridge Vendor Intel
Southbridge Model HM67
Southbridge Revision B3

Intel Core i7 2820QM
Cores 4
Threads 8
Name Intel Core i7 2820QM
Code Name Sandy Bridge
Package Socket 988B rPGA
Technology 32nm
Specification Intel Core i7-2820QM CPU @ 2.30GHz
Family 6
Extended Family 6
Model A
Extended Model 2A
Stepping 7
Revision D2
Instructions MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, Intel 64, NX, VMX, AES, AVX
Virtualization Supported, Enabled
Hyperthreading Supported, Enabled
Stock Core Speed 2300 MHz
Stock Bus Speed 100 MHz

Memory
Type DDR3
Size 20480 MBytes
Channels # Dual
DRAM Frequency 664.4 MHz

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M
Manufacturer NVIDIA
Model GeForce GTX 460M
GPU GF106
Device ID 10DE-0DD1
Revision A2
Subvendor Dell (1028)
Current Performance Level Level 0
Die Size 228 mm²
Release Date Sep 03, 2010

Hard drives
LITEONIT LCS-128L9S-11 2.5 7mm 128GB (SSD)
WDC WD10JPLX-00MBPT0

I'll be honest, I know very little about upgrading , hence the information dump. If you need more information, let me know.

I'd be open to upgrading other areas of the laptop too, if necessary which my initial research has shown I would likely need to do with the CPU but from here I'm at a loss where to go.

Thank you for any advice.

 

[jitteRs]

You can't upgrade a laptop. You can only upgrade the ram and storage of laptops. However, if you get a desktop then you can upgrade anything you want!

 

[velocityg4]

From what I can find. Yours supports up to the GTX 580m officially. But it looks at though people have had success using the GTX 780m and 880m. You can probably find those modules used on eBay

Just don't spend much. All those GPU are pretty lackluster by today's standards. The GTX 10 series was a huge upgrade in laptop gaming. As they were close to their desktop counterparts. While prior gens were far behind.

You can't upgrade a laptop. You can only upgrade the ram and storage of laptops. However, if you get a desktop then you can upgrade anything you want!

That's not true in all laptops. Some of the huge gaming models have removable GPU. At least some used to. I haven't looked at the recent ones. Those Alienware had removable GPU.