So glad there's still someone out there covering the laptops types I actually like. Great content. Thanks for all the useful information for us, the users
For those that were not sure about which M16 have the 4 SSD slots, see the following: Two M.2 2230 and two M.2 2280 solid-state drive slots, for computers shipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080/4090 graphics card Two M.2 2280 solid-state drive slots, for computers shipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050/4060/4070 graphics card
@thombone Just this morning opened up my M16 R1 with a 4070, the 2 2230 slots on the left are not on the board at all. There are only 2 2280 slots available and one is in use by the stock NVME SSD.
So to preform these upgrades in this video, you must order at least a RTX 4080/4090 in either the M16 or M18? Sorry for the ignorance, I’m just getting into laptops.
Awesome upgrades. I have always tried to do "MAX" upgrades for all of the computers in our house. After I did a max upgrade on my moms laptop a couple years ago ; it was like a brand new machine.
I'm anticipating an X21 that will have a 21.5" 4k panel option. Can't say for sure, but I think that will be their "replacement" area 51m , may even see them badge it as Area 51x
Hi Dave, thanks for going to all the trouble you have to make a tuition video and posting, it's very much appreciated. One thing I've recently seen is someone saying is instead of having 2*2230 drives, you can remove the fan and install 2*2280 drives.
Great review of last couple videos of m18 and this one. Thanks to you, I too ordered the 16gb ram and 512ssd for my m18 as it is completely upgradable and much more cheaper. Thanks and would love more videos on m18.
Wuuuuut. You think it will work in the m18 r2? I was thinking abou5 it when i was shopping around for ram, but didnt see anyone saying theu did it. Landed on the gskill 5600. Didnt install yet.
I got my M16 on sale 2199.00, I have bought already a Fury RAM 32 GB 5600 mhz after watching your video, omg improving 25 fps is so a good upgrade. thanks for your nice work !!!
I have to absorb the cost of the device before I upgrade, but I absolutely plan on using this video as a guideline for upgrading. Awesome video. Your other review of the base model m16 lead me to buy an m16 of my own
All I can say is,, Thank You, Thank You... Just received my M18, and like yourself, I ordered it with the minimum configuration. I have upgraded to 64GB of Fury RAM and have it configured at 5200. Took some work however it's working just fine. Differences here is I did install 2 WD 2230 2 TB drives, and they work just fine as well I can confirm that either Raid 0 or Raid 1 will work. as well I installed 2 Corsair MP600 Core XT Gen 4x4 4 TB all of a gross total of 12 TB in the laptop. All drives work fantastically as well. Again, thank you for the pointers in your video... Cheers
@@MashITTech Not that I understand just what CrystalDiskMark is actually reporting, all I can do is report the numbers Raid 0 as a test setup "SEQ1M" Q8T1 "Read (MB/s)" 10,045.85 and the "Write (MB/S)" 9,263.85. Cheers... That is with the Western Digital WD SN740 2TB M.2 SSD 2230 NVMe PCIe Gen 4x4 drives.
This is still relevant to me. I just purchased a Dell Alienware M18 R1 laptop and needed a tutorial on how to install upgrades from the stock option on Dell's website. Thank you!
I didn`t knew I had all those slots available on my M16 For now I'm ok with the performance of my laptop, but I might fill all those slots with memory and swap the RAM too later. awesome video BTW!
Thanks a lot sir. I don't know how to describe you excellent work. Great content as always but this time you really nailed it. This laptop got huge gains just by installing new faster ram. Great upgrade in multicore performance and great upgrade in gaming. 25 fps boost in SOTR is like you have installed a new upcoming CPU.🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 Thanks again. Keep it up🥳🥳
I was doubting between X16 and M18 to upgrade my alienware 15 r4 and went for the big boy thanks to your reviews. The cooling is always better on a bigger chassis, X16 speakers apparantly suck and X16 has soldered ram. Went for the 2K screen with the 4080, did not feel the 4k would run smooth on max settings even on 4090. 2K is the sweet spot. This thing is huge but don't regret it at all, who cares about portability once it is on your desk. Had to get a new backpack though (Everki EKP120).
Hey I got my first ever Alienware today. The M18. Wanted to let you know how helpful your videos have been. I am going to customize it myself using this video. Can you recommend if i go with crucial p3 ssd, what heat sink to buy? Theres a lot of types and i am very confused.
Hey mate, hope you are enjoying it! I love the m18 :) I will get you some links to heatsinks but first just check what you have been provided? Some laptops I received from Dellalready came with two, they are very random
Great video. I am looking to buy an m16 with the 4090 and was wondering what heatsinks you would recommend for the smaller 1tb drives but also for the other drives that don't already have heatsinks.
Great review. I've been looking for a review on how to upgrade the ssd myself. What's the the clearance to add a heat sink for nvme? Any recommended heat sink?
Just got mine this morning. 32gb ram 4090 with the cherry keyboard. Utterly impressed. Ran doom eternal maxed at stupid fps and cyberpunk with full raytrace and that path tracing at over 64fps average....on a laptop. Insane However, I cannot get my vive xr elite either wireless or tethered to connect to it at all, I think that is a vive issue though.
I plan on buying the M16 soon. I plan on getting the Crucial P3 Plus 2TB SSD. Do I need to get a heat sink for it? I plan on leaving the original 512GB SSD in to keep the OS etc on. Should I just take the heat sink off of it and put it on the Crucial?
I really hope your channel soon hits 10k subs! Hey I have one question, which laptop between Alienware x16 and blade 16 would you choose for the mixed-use office and gaming?
This was super helpful! Did you ever find heat sinks compatible with the additional SSDs you installed. I'd like to purchase with your affiliate link if possible. Thanks!
Awesome video. Does your machine have a vapor chamber or is that only available on the R2 with the Nvidia 4080/4090? I’m worried about thermals with conventional cooling. I have the WD Black SN850 in my current Alienware m15 from 2021 and that thing goes supernova, along with the overheating in my i9 chipset despite new paste and careful undervolting, my rig is still cooking at around 130°C. What are you temps looking like under load? Thanks for your content.
R1 and R2 are essentially the same except for the CPU (which is almost the same anyway) 4080 and 4090 will have element 31 and vapour on both. M18 temps are pretty good but wil still hit 100c as that is how dell designs them but you can change that behaviour in BIOS (TCC). 130c is insane! is that a typo?
@@MashITTech no absolutely NOT a typo, wish it was. In F I’ve seen her get as high as 266 before crashing. I just bought a fire extinguisher for my desk just in case.
Nice upgrade video, but the lack of an antistatic mat, or antistatic wrist strap while handling the internal components is concerning. It only takes the smallest bit of static to burn chips.
Things have changed a little. For teh 80mm m.2 there is now the Samsung 990 4tb as well as the SN850x depending on pricing in your region. The 30mm ssd now has a lot of options and goes up to 2tb now. There is WD sn770m, crucial P310 and corsair mp600. Ram wise you can now get 96gb kits if yo need the capacity but it is not as fast as the Fury I recommended
so sorry mate I missed this one. If you cant get the correct Dell heatsinks I normally just use the copper plate heatsinks on Amazon, although not designed by dell they are slightly thicker and transfer the heat well.
No not at all unless you cause physical damage to the laptop. If you carefully follow the guide that certainly won’t happen and if you have questions just fire me a comment or start a chat on insta
Great instructions. Thank you. OK, so have an M16 R2 with a 4070 coming. Have purchased the same drives (not the 30mm's) and RAM as you have used. So far, so good. Now, a newbie question if I may: Dell lists a bazillion drivers for the M16 R2. Which do I need from their list?
MOST useful video I've seen from you, very well done. Question - so I have an m17 with 2 TB in RAID but wanted to upgrade to a single SSD. Can I clone the 2 SSDs to 1?
Thanks mate. Yes, this should be fine. You will need an external USBC caddy for the new SSD, if you get a Samsung drive use their cloning software or if you buy a different brand you can use macrium free. Once you have cloned to the caddy remove the 2 drives and put one drive in and test
@MashITTech Gotcha, thanks for your videos BTW! I have a m18 arriving tomorrow. Assuming it's free of thermal issues I'm going to install a 2×16gb 5600 CL40 kit and raid two Crutial T700s. Will benchmark before and after
Hello, is it really safe to not use a heat sink? 😢 I'm going to follow these steps when my m18 arrives. Also, how come you added thermal tape on the first ssd and not the second one?
it depends on the SSD and what you plan to use it for. if it is light use like a games drive you can get away without a heatsink. If it is your OS drive and you are hitting it like crazy then make sure that has a heat sink. Also some drives run hotter than others, the WD blacks for instance do run hot so need the sink. With regards to the rear pads, I have to use it on the WD black as it is a double sided SSD, if it is a single sided SSD you don't need it (My second drive was a P3Plus single sided cooler running drive)
@@MashITTech Hello again. I recently started peaking at around 40-45gb RAM usage due to my various work apps and a ton of essential chrome tabs.. I read somewhere that a 96gb ram kit is able to run on the M18 despite being 64GB max. Is this true?? If so, would it pose a risk on my machine? =o
Thank you so much for this video! I just got a Addlink 2tb SLC 2230 drive for $160 on amazon and installed it with your video alongside me, and it seems to work great! I wonder if I need a heat sink for it. I bought thermal pads, but read that it isn't good to use them unless you have a heatsink?
I found there was little to no bloat at all on the installation. Just the basic Alienware Command Centre. Indeed there was no Graphics driver until i went to the Dell site and updated/installed all drivers.
How much have you been using the laptop? Have you had any heat issues? If so, how have you managed them? Can you easily recommend purchasing this laptop now, or would you say to wait until the next generation?
I have been using it a fair amount. I have some gripes with it such as AWCC and the lack of decent undervolting but otherwise its a solid laptop and probably my favourite AW this year. If you can get it for a good price (either discounted or coupon) then its certainly worth it
I'm about to buy the same Crucial 4tb SSD for my m18. After testing for some time do you think it needs some heatsink or is fine without? Thanks for your work.
Because I am just using it as a game drive the temps have been absolutely fine. If you plan on using the drive more heavily then you can just pick up the cheap m.2 slim copper plates on amazon, they drop the load temps by about 10c
I recently scored a new M16 R1 (AMD) 4080 GPU for $1899. I have a few questions. 1. Were you ever able to test 2 TB SSD drives for the 2230 slots? 2. If I get the Crucial/Lexar 4 TB SSD drives, I plan to use them just for storage (and not my main drives with the OS). Should I get the dell thermal pad (OEM)?
Hi, thanks for the video. Is it possible to have the boot drive with OS / programs on a single 2230, then have the two 2280's as independent storage drives? Are there specific types of heatsinks what would be needed for each of these? Totally new to component swapping myself - have previously just gone with what I've ordered from Dell
@@MashITTech I'm literally between M16-18, Razer blade 16-18 and Origin's New Evo 17 x series. I'm setting a goal to get one by the end of the year, till then, I'm doing tons of research.
Finally, a laptop which can run chrome without any issues. LOL I want to buy the m18 right away, but i dont know if they will be releasing a 4K panel on it. Last year with x17r2 they released the 4k after a couple months so i want to wait and see as 4k panel on this best would be 🔥🔥. Do you have any connections in dell to know if the 4k is in works or they'll even release one?
haha they caught me out with that last year on the x17r2, I bought the 1080p on release for review and ended up having to buy a second a month later with the 4k panel 😂 I have contacts I speak with at Dell/Alienware but they still won't answer those sorts of questions. I would almost put money on them adding a 4k in the future but who knows how long it takes for a suitable 18" 4k+ high refresh panel to be available.
@@MashITTech i totally agree with you, i guess ill wait a little and then just take my chances. The QHD panel is also great. 😂😂 Love your videos and how you take time to reply to comments ❤️ thank you.
Thank you for your video, very informative! Just a few questions 1.) Is it also possible to upgrade the GPU for both M18 & M16? 2.) In the video you've shown upgrades made to M18, is it also possible to upgrade components for the M16? (because M16 is less spacious)
Unfortunately it is not possible to upgrade GPU as they solder them on to the motherboard :( All the upgrades on the m18 are the same as the corresponding m16 even though its a smaller laptop they use a similar motherboard. Please remember the 4060 and 4070 get less m.2 slots on m16 and m18
How much less m.2 slots will there be for 4060 and 4070 options? How many in total will I be able to upgrade if I get: i9processor, 4070 gpu? @@MashITTech
I haven't tried the sorbent but I suspect it won't fit. In order to fit 8tb on that drive I am sure the back of the SSD is fully populated with chips meaning it won't fit on the m.2 slot. The sn850x only had a couple of small chips on the back and it JUST managed to fit
Great video, I have alienware x17 R1. Is it possible to install two 4TB SDD. From previous videos they indicate that the max is two 2TB SDD = 4TB storage .
It should be possible to install 2x 4tb of the crucial p3 plus as they are single sided. When I created the x17 r1 they weren't around to test. They would only run at gen 3 speed though so 3000/3000
Can you just add an ssd to the one that comes with the laptop? I just want to add a 4 tb ssd for data only in addition to the 2 tb that came with the laptop.
Unsure if you found the covers for the m.2 drives. But it might be worth it to get your single copy scanned to get the CAD file and sell them yourself.
Thanks for the informative video. The biggest question I have for you which others here I see are asking is about heat sinks. How can we determine the size/type of heart sink that we need if we want to add some that are missing? Is there some guessing involved with choosing what fits or is there some official way going about it? Thanks in advance.
You can contact Dell and they will often sell you the part. For the 80mm you can also just buy a standard copper plate heatsink off amazon. I am still struggling to find a good source of 30mm heatsinks :(
Thank you for this review! I bought the Kingston Fury RAM chips today, and I will be watching this video again soon to make sure I install the chips correctly. Meantime, two questions please🤔 1) This Kingston Fury RAM chip has 260 pins, but the RAM chip being replaced has 262 pins? It looks like your laptop has had no problems with the difference, though. Do pin numbers not matter? 2) I also tried to research the CAS latency on these SK Hynix chips being replaced, but I couldn't find them anywhere. It is strange, because for most other RAM chips, they show the CL, but I cant find that info for these SK Hynix ones. Might you know?
which fury chips did you buy? the 5600mhz that I linked? if so they have 262 pins. spec sheet here: www.kingston.com/datasheets/KF556S40IBK2-32.pdf 2. mine were CL40-39-39-76 as opposed to my Kingston running at 5200mhz @ 38-37-37-73
Hmm, quite strange. It must be a typo on Amazon's website then. Because when i click on the link in the video description you provided, i get redirected to Amazon, and it is the same matching Part Number, but it says its 260 pins on that page. Thank you for the spec sheet and the timing information🫶
So glad there's still someone out there covering the laptops types I actually like. Great content. Thanks for all the useful information for us, the users
What gaming laptop do you own?
For those that were not sure about which M16 have the 4 SSD slots, see the following:
Two M.2 2230 and two M.2 2280 solid-state drive slots, for computers shipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080/4090 graphics card
Two M.2 2280 solid-state drive slots, for computers shipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050/4060/4070 graphics card
@thombone Just this morning opened up my M16 R1 with a 4070, the 2 2230 slots on the left are not on the board at all. There are only 2 2280 slots available and one is in use by the stock NVME SSD.
Lovely video helped me a lot to upgrade my internal memory 1 tb just is not enough anymore
So to preform these upgrades in this video, you must order at least a RTX 4080/4090 in either the M16 or M18? Sorry for the ignorance, I’m just getting into laptops.
@@BigSniper9703 yes
Awesome upgrades. I have always tried to do "MAX" upgrades for all of the computers in our house. After I did a max upgrade on my moms laptop a couple years ago ; it was like a brand new machine.
it is a monster, Alienware is a real monster and it's value is coming back this year, I wish they will have a better x18
Yes I was also disappointed there was no x18 too 😢
I'm anticipating an X21 that will have a 21.5" 4k panel option. Can't say for sure, but I think that will be their "replacement" area 51m , may even see them badge it as Area 51x
I would buy that in a heart beat 😃
@@freemaysin5088 How can you say that?
They need better customer and technical service
Hi Dave, thanks for going to all the trouble you have to make a tuition video and posting, it's very much appreciated. One thing I've recently seen is someone saying is instead of having 2*2230 drives, you can remove the fan and install 2*2280 drives.
I can certainly imagine that is possible but I do not know how that will affect cooling. I will take a look though and let you know 😃
Thanks!
Thanks so much
Thanks
Thank you very much, that’s most kind 🙏
Thanks!
Thank you very much 😀
Great review of last couple videos of m18 and this one. Thanks to you, I too ordered the 16gb ram and 512ssd for my m18 as it is completely upgradable and much more cheaper. Thanks and would love more videos on m18.
Thank you, glad they are useful :) I have another x16 video coming out next, then the m16 review but after that I have more m18 videos planned :)
I have the M17 so thanks for this video!
m16 r2 96 gb RAM - Initial boot a bit scary but took the crucial 96gb without issue..
thanks for the video!
Wuuuuut. You think it will work in the m18 r2? I was thinking abou5 it when i was shopping around for ram, but didnt see anyone saying theu did it. Landed on the gskill 5600. Didnt install yet.
Yeah I'm in the initial boot stage rn, it's taking it's sweet time lol
I got my M16 on sale 2199.00, I have bought already a Fury RAM 32 GB 5600 mhz after watching your video, omg improving 25 fps is so a good upgrade. thanks for your nice work !!!
I got the 64 kit but my bottom cover refuses to snap off.
Can you share the link where to purchasethe ram?@bensaylor125
@@Rppiano amazon my friend :)
Great video, plenty of useful information and advice! Brilliant tip using some thermal tape on the back of the SSD to prevent short!
What's your opinion on ROG?
It is great to have this upgrade options in a laptop.
yeah it really is, I was becoming used to only getting 1 or 2 m.2 slots in a laptop which is a struggle for me
I have to absorb the cost of the device before I upgrade, but I absolutely plan on using this video as a guideline for upgrading. Awesome video. Your other review of the base model m16 lead me to buy an m16 of my own
Glad to be able to help. Just remember if you have the base model you don’t get the extra 2x30mm m.2 but you can still do the 2x 80mm and ram 👍
Thanks for this. I just did something similar with my own M18 following this guide.
After 3 videos, i subscribed. High quality content, satisfying information for especially Alienware users.
Thank you mate, glad to see another alienware fan onboard :)
@@MashITTech i’m that fan who picks alienware even when other brands have better components with cheaper prices. Admirer of brand and logo.🐺
Thanks so much about to invest in these machines and was wondering how to upgrade myself. Sensational.
Glad to be able to help. If you get any questions when upgrading it just give me a shout :)
Thank you for this video! Now I know my upgrade options with the M16
All I can say is,, Thank You, Thank You... Just received my M18, and like yourself, I ordered it with the minimum configuration. I have upgraded to 64GB of Fury RAM and have it configured at 5200. Took some work however it's working just fine. Differences here is I did install 2 WD 2230 2 TB drives, and they work just fine as well I can confirm that either Raid 0 or Raid 1 will work. as well I installed 2 Corsair MP600 Core XT Gen 4x4 4 TB all of a gross total of 12 TB in the laptop. All drives work fantastically as well. Again, thank you for the pointers in your video... Cheers
That is great to hear about the Raid David, I haven't had a chance to set up an array yet, did you get some impressive scores?
@@MashITTech Not that I understand just what CrystalDiskMark is actually reporting, all I can do is report the numbers Raid 0 as a test setup "SEQ1M" Q8T1 "Read (MB/s)" 10,045.85 and the "Write (MB/S)" 9,263.85. Cheers... That is with the Western Digital WD SN740 2TB M.2 SSD 2230 NVMe PCIe Gen 4x4 drives.
@@DrPacman1 Those are about double 1 drive - very good!
This is still relevant to me. I just purchased a Dell Alienware M18 R1 laptop and needed a tutorial on how to install upgrades from the stock option on Dell's website. Thank you!
Glad I could help!
I didn`t knew I had all those slots available on my M16 For now I'm ok with the performance of my laptop, but I might fill all those slots with memory and swap the RAM too later. awesome video BTW!
I hope this channel grows.
haha me too 😂
Share it then
Your content and quality of the video is very good . Bring in some more videos of alienware m18 r1 love to watch that
I have an x16 video coming soon then the m16 review, after that there will be more m18 videos :)
NICE!! You finally got the 4TB! And thanks again for showcasing it :). Im Ganna buy it (crucial 4TB) once it's on sale or when I buy my new laptop 😊
Yeah, I was so pleased when I found it was definitely single
Sided! Tempted to get one for my blade 14 which only has 1 m.2
Thanks a lot sir. I don't know how to describe you excellent work. Great content as always but this time you really nailed it.
This laptop got huge gains just by installing new faster ram.
Great upgrade in multicore performance and great upgrade in gaming. 25 fps boost in SOTR is like you have installed a new upcoming CPU.🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
Thanks again. Keep it up🥳🥳
Glad you enjoyed it, I also loved it was a fraction of the price Dell charge for the upgraded components 🤣
This was really good coverage man!! 🎉
Really useful content! Thank you for the inside !
Worked for me!! Thank you!!!
Great video as always. Glad this laptop has more slots!
yes its so nice to see a laptop with more than 2x m.2 slots in 2023 😃
@@MashITTech what thermal tape did you use when putting in the ssd?
I was doubting between X16 and M18 to upgrade my alienware 15 r4 and went for the big boy thanks to your reviews. The cooling is always better on a bigger chassis, X16 speakers apparantly suck and X16 has soldered ram. Went for the 2K screen with the 4080, did not feel the 4k would run smooth on max settings even on 4090. 2K is the sweet spot. This thing is huge but don't regret it at all, who cares about portability once it is on your desk. Had to get a new backpack though (Everki EKP120).
Hey
I got my first ever Alienware today. The M18. Wanted to let you know how helpful your videos have been. I am going to customize it myself using this video. Can you recommend if i go with crucial p3 ssd, what heat sink to buy? Theres a lot of types and i am very confused.
Hey mate, hope you are enjoying it! I love the m18 :) I will get you some links to heatsinks but first just check what you have been provided? Some laptops I received from Dellalready came with two, they are very random
Welp, k know how to do it now, all I need is everything else 😭😭😭 beautiful, beautiful work, truly awesome
Great video. I am looking to buy an m16 with the 4090 and was wondering what heatsinks you would recommend for the smaller 1tb drives but also for the other drives that don't already have heatsinks.
Epic. Very useful and easy to understand
Glad it was helpful! :)
Great review. I've been looking for a review on how to upgrade the ssd myself. What's the the clearance to add a heat sink for nvme? Any recommended heat sink?
11:07 Did you find any 30mm heatsinks?
still looking for a decent source atm :(
Excellent video especially the info on the 2230s not sure if will add them but nice to know they can hold more than 512 thanks again
IT could be handy for a couple of years down the line if you fill the main two bays :)
They can take 2TB drives.
This Much storage is a dream for some pc then it is for this laptop
Just got mine this morning. 32gb ram 4090 with the cherry keyboard. Utterly impressed. Ran doom eternal maxed at stupid fps and cyberpunk with full raytrace and that path tracing at over 64fps average....on a laptop. Insane
However, I cannot get my vive xr elite either wireless or tethered to connect to it at all, I think that is a vive issue though.
Oh sorry to hear that! I don't have a vive to be able to test either :(
Sorry to hear that. Are you looking to upgrade your memory to 64gb?
I plan on buying the M16 soon. I plan on getting the Crucial P3 Plus 2TB SSD. Do I need to get a heat sink for it? I plan on leaving the original 512GB SSD in to keep the OS etc on. Should I just take the heat sink off of it and put it on the Crucial?
Thansk Bro...The best 🙌
This is awesome! Thanks so much. This will save us a lot of money!
Happy to help!
Great video to watch, what thicknessof cooling pads did you use?
I really hope your channel soon hits 10k subs! Hey I have one question, which laptop between Alienware x16 and blade 16 would you choose for the mixed-use office and gaming?
If you can wait until 12:00GMT that very video is releasing 🤣
This was super helpful! Did you ever find heat sinks compatible with the additional SSDs you installed. I'd like to purchase with your affiliate link if possible. Thanks!
Did you try a 2tb 2230 drive?
Love your videos!
Thanks for the video. Can you also use the 2TB 30mm SSD or is 1TB the limit?
Alienware can hold up to 10tb ssd
Great video! Is there a M16 review on the way? I’m wanting to buy one, but there aren’t many reviews yet. Trying to decide between the M and X series.
I am currently working on the m16 review and hope to have it out late next week. I will also compare to the x16 too 👍
@@MashITTech That’s exactly what I was hoping for! I’ll wait for your video to make my purchase. Thanks!
good video, thank you 16.04.2023
Informative! I was wandering is the 1Tb the maxism capacity for the 2230 ssd slots? Or it can go even further to 2Tb per slot.
2tb drives should be fine, I just couldn’t get hold of any when I ordered
@@MashITTech Ok, massive thanks.
What is the alternative program you use for the Alienware Command Center? Thanks for sharing your knowledge
What drivers do you recommend reinstalling and don’t reinstall
Awesome video. Does your machine have a vapor chamber or is that only available on the R2 with the Nvidia 4080/4090? I’m worried about thermals with conventional cooling. I have the WD Black SN850 in my current Alienware m15 from 2021 and that thing goes supernova, along with the overheating in my i9 chipset despite new paste and careful undervolting, my rig is still cooking at around 130°C. What are you temps looking like under load? Thanks for your content.
R1 and R2 are essentially the same except for the CPU (which is almost the same anyway) 4080 and 4090 will have element 31 and vapour on both. M18 temps are pretty good but wil still hit 100c as that is how dell designs them but you can change that behaviour in BIOS (TCC). 130c is insane! is that a typo?
@@MashITTech no absolutely NOT a typo, wish it was. In F I’ve seen her get as high as 266 before crashing. I just bought a fire extinguisher for my desk just in case.
This Thing Called "The Beast"
Very nice video very informative ty
Nice upgrade video, but the lack of an antistatic mat, or antistatic wrist strap while handling the internal components is concerning. It only takes the smallest bit of static to burn chips.
Buying one with lowest ram/ssd is a great idea for budget. But you have to remove built-in ram and ssd and wasted?
That is true, but still cheaper than buying the 64gb upgrade from dell plus I often put the old ssd in a caddy and use it as an external
@@MashITTech That's is great. Thank you for reply, although I don't have a plan to buy an 18" laptop which is huge and heavy for everyday carry.
Would the options in the video still be the best components to go for with the M18 R2 in 2024, or have any better alternatives emerged since then?
Things have changed a little. For teh 80mm m.2 there is now the Samsung 990 4tb as well as the SN850x depending on pricing in your region. The 30mm ssd now has a lot of options and goes up to 2tb now. There is WD sn770m, crucial P310 and corsair mp600. Ram wise you can now get 96gb kits if yo need the capacity but it is not as fast as the Fury I recommended
If you brought a heat sink is there a brand and/or material you prefer?
so sorry mate I missed this one. If you cant get the correct Dell heatsinks I normally just use the copper plate heatsinks on Amazon, although not designed by dell they are slightly thicker and transfer the heat well.
thanks so much also did you ever try the 2 TB drives
Thank you so much.
Great video. I just got m18 R2. Will doing such upgrade void Dell warranty?
No not at all unless you cause physical damage to the laptop. If you carefully follow the guide that certainly won’t happen and if you have questions just fire me a comment or start a chat on insta
Great instructions. Thank you. OK, so have an M16 R2 with a 4070 coming. Have purchased the same drives (not the 30mm's) and RAM as you have used. So far, so good. Now, a newbie question if I may: Dell lists a bazillion drivers for the M16 R2. Which do I need from their list?
You should have the option to enter your serial and it will give you the necessary drivers. I will take a look when I am inn the office to confirm
This solidified my decision. Smart move by Dell to include upgradability, saved me a lot of money!
3:47 five terabyte?
lol what an idiot, I meant to say 512gb PS this video has been up a while and you are the first person to mention it 🤣
the WD SN570 is also a single side drive
So is it correct to assume that you can save almost 1000 usd by upgrading the RAM & ssds ourselves ? Thank you Dave for this btw really insightful
That is correct and you get faster components too 😀👍
I was glad their ordering system defaulted to the 1TB SSD after realizing it was $500 for an additional 1TB!
Thank you for this. I see you didn’t disconnect the battery before installing the upgrades?
In theory you should. I am upgrading all the time and never disconnect the battery for ssd or ram upgrades 😂
@@MashITTech I think I’ll stick with disconnecting it because I’m not as experienced as you!
How much does this all cost plz and can i fit it all to my m16 🤔
MOST useful video I've seen from you, very well done. Question - so I have an m17 with 2 TB in RAID but wanted to upgrade to a single SSD. Can I clone the 2 SSDs to 1?
Thanks mate. Yes, this should be fine. You will need an external USBC caddy for the new SSD, if you get a Samsung drive use their cloning software or if you buy a different brand you can use macrium free. Once you have cloned to the caddy remove the 2 drives and put one drive in and test
@5:25 ? There are lots of single sided m.2 SSDs....
not above 2tb! I have only found the p3 plus and we think we have found a lear model which I am about to order to test 👍
@MashITTech Gotcha, thanks for your videos BTW! I have a m18 arriving tomorrow. Assuming it's free of thermal issues I'm going to install a 2×16gb 5600 CL40 kit and raid two Crutial T700s. Will benchmark before and after
oh wow! let me know how you get on with the T700's, I haven't tested them yet :) what brand of ram are you buying?
@@MashITTech Gskill. Seems to be the lowest latency kit I can find. Most of the others are CL46
nice! Its really hard to get GSkill in the UK, I really should move to the states :)
am enjoying mine actually
Hello, is it really safe to not use a heat sink? 😢 I'm going to follow these steps when my m18 arrives. Also, how come you added thermal tape on the first ssd and not the second one?
it depends on the SSD and what you plan to use it for. if it is light use like a games drive you can get away without a heatsink. If it is your OS drive and you are hitting it like crazy then make sure that has a heat sink. Also some drives run hotter than others, the WD blacks for instance do run hot so need the sink. With regards to the rear pads, I have to use it on the WD black as it is a double sided SSD, if it is a single sided SSD you don't need it (My second drive was a P3Plus single sided cooler running drive)
@@MashITTech Sounds great! im going to buy the exact same link and opt out of the heat sink for my games drive. Thanks! :]
@@MashITTech Hello again. I recently started peaking at around 40-45gb RAM usage due to my various work apps and a ton of essential chrome tabs.. I read somewhere that a 96gb ram kit is able to run on the M18 despite being 64GB max. Is this true?? If so, would it pose a risk on my machine? =o
mamma mia! finally room for all my VHS home movies.
Hi where do you get those thermal tape squares?
Thank you so much for this video! I just got a Addlink 2tb SLC 2230 drive for $160 on amazon and installed it with your video alongside me, and it seems to work great! I wonder if I need a heat sink for it. I bought thermal pads, but read that it isn't good to use them unless you have a heatsink?
I found there was little to no bloat at all on the installation.
Just the basic Alienware Command Centre.
Indeed there was no Graphics driver until i went to the Dell site and updated/installed all drivers.
How much have you been using the laptop?
Have you had any heat issues? If so, how have you managed them?
Can you easily recommend purchasing this laptop now, or would you say to wait until the next generation?
I have been using it a fair amount. I have some gripes with it such as AWCC and the lack of decent undervolting but otherwise its a solid laptop and probably my favourite AW this year. If you can get it for a good price (either discounted or coupon) then its certainly worth it
I'm about to buy the same Crucial 4tb SSD for my m18. After testing for some time do you think it needs some heatsink or is fine without? Thanks for your work.
Because I am just using it as a game drive the temps have been absolutely fine. If you plan on using the drive more heavily then you can just pick up the cheap m.2 slim copper plates on amazon, they drop the load temps by about 10c
just a quick note, the 4060 and 4070 only have 2 drive slots, the part of the board where you put the 30mils is bare.
Yes, that is what I also said. Except the traces are on the board, Dell just decided not to solder on the m.2 connectors :(
@@MashITTech Does that mean that I can solder my own m.2 connectors and have more functional m.2 NVMe slots that I can use?
I noticed you didn't put any heatsinks on the 2230 SSD's - can you get away with not having one or is it essential.
How do we access the menu shown at 8:15? I haven’t figured out how to get back here to tweak these options.
I recently scored a new M16 R1 (AMD) 4080 GPU for $1899.
I have a few questions.
1. Were you ever able to test 2 TB SSD drives for the 2230 slots?
2. If I get the Crucial/Lexar 4 TB SSD drives, I plan to use them just for storage (and not my main drives with the OS). Should I get the dell thermal pad (OEM)?
Hi, thanks for the video. Is it possible to have the boot drive with OS / programs on a single 2230, then have the two 2280's as independent storage drives? Are there specific types of heatsinks what would be needed for each of these? Totally new to component swapping myself - have previously just gone with what I've ordered from Dell
I really liked the video. It's detailed and informative. I would like to ask if you have a video comparison of the M18 vs the Razer Blade 18.
Thanks
Sorry, I still haven't had a chance to get the blade 18 in yet :( I hope to get it soon
@@MashITTech I'm literally between M16-18, Razer blade 16-18 and Origin's New Evo 17 x series. I'm setting a goal to get one by the end of the year, till then, I'm doing tons of research.
Hello, can you give us recommendations for the AMD advantage model? Top RAM speed is what I am interested. Thanks!
Finally, a laptop which can run chrome without any issues. LOL
I want to buy the m18 right away, but i dont know if they will be releasing a 4K panel on it. Last year with x17r2 they released the 4k after a couple months so i want to wait and see as 4k panel on this best would be 🔥🔥. Do you have any connections in dell to know if the 4k is in works or they'll even release one?
haha they caught me out with that last year on the x17r2, I bought the 1080p on release for review and ended up having to buy a second a month later with the 4k panel 😂 I have contacts I speak with at Dell/Alienware but they still won't answer those sorts of questions. I would almost put money on them adding a 4k in the future but who knows how long it takes for a suitable 18" 4k+ high refresh panel to be available.
@@MashITTech i totally agree with you, i guess ill wait a little and then just take my chances. The QHD panel is also great. 😂😂
Love your videos and how you take time to reply to comments ❤️ thank you.
Thank you mate, appreciate the kind words :)
Thank you for your video, very informative!
Just a few questions
1.) Is it also possible to upgrade the GPU for both M18 & M16?
2.) In the video you've shown upgrades made to M18, is it also possible to upgrade components for the M16? (because M16 is less spacious)
Unfortunately it is not possible to upgrade GPU as they solder them on to the motherboard :( All the upgrades on the m18 are the same as the corresponding m16 even though its a smaller laptop they use a similar motherboard. Please remember the 4060 and 4070 get less m.2 slots on m16 and m18
How much less m.2 slots will there be for 4060 and 4070 options? How many in total will I be able to upgrade if I get: i9processor, 4070 gpu? @@MashITTech
does the AMD version of the m18 come with 4 ssd slots if i get the version with 4080 or 4090?
What did you take it out of raid and go with AHCI?
because if you go RAID you will need to install raid drivers which is complicated for users and offers zero benefit unless you actually use RAID.
So 10TB is the maximum for this device? Or could you but bigger 8tb instead of 4tb on the bigger slots ?
Thank you! Would you know if the SABRENT 8TB Rocket 4 Plus fits (and is supported) in the 2280 slot?
I haven't tried the sorbent but I suspect it won't fit. In order to fit 8tb on that drive I am sure the back of the SSD is fully populated with chips meaning it won't fit on the m.2 slot. The sn850x only had a couple of small chips on the back and it JUST managed to fit
@@MashITTech Thanks a lot! I hope Alienware introduces a model with a chassis as thick as the old M18X R2, with more room for upgrades.
Great video, I have alienware x17 R1. Is it possible to install two 4TB SDD. From previous videos they indicate that the max is two 2TB SDD = 4TB storage .
It should be possible to install 2x 4tb of the crucial p3 plus as they are single sided. When I created the x17 r1 they weren't around to test. They would only run at gen 3 speed though so 3000/3000
Please make a comparison video for the Alienware x16 and m16
That is on my list! Just finishing x16 vs razer blade 16 atm then it’s m16 review video followed by the comparison 👍
Can you just add an ssd to the one that comes with the laptop? I just want to add a 4 tb ssd for data only in addition to the 2 tb that came with the laptop.
Unsure if you found the covers for the m.2 drives. But it might be worth it to get your single copy scanned to get the CAD file and sell them yourself.
Thanks for the informative video. The biggest question I have for you which others here I see are asking is about heat sinks. How can we determine the size/type of heart sink that we need if we want to add some that are missing? Is there some guessing involved with choosing what fits or is there some official way going about it? Thanks in advance.
You can contact Dell and they will often sell you the part. For the 80mm you can also just buy a standard copper plate heatsink off amazon. I am still struggling to find a good source of 30mm heatsinks :(
I noticed there was a BIOS update fairly recently, any news on the RAM speed upper limit being integrated for the 64gb option?
Thank you for this review! I bought the Kingston Fury RAM chips today, and I will be watching this video again soon to make sure I install the chips correctly. Meantime, two questions please🤔
1) This Kingston Fury RAM chip has 260 pins, but the RAM chip being replaced has 262 pins? It looks like your laptop has had no problems with the difference, though. Do pin numbers not matter?
2) I also tried to research the CAS latency on these SK Hynix chips being replaced, but I couldn't find them anywhere. It is strange, because for most other RAM chips, they show the CL, but I cant find that info for these SK Hynix ones. Might you know?
which fury chips did you buy? the 5600mhz that I linked? if so they have 262 pins. spec sheet here: www.kingston.com/datasheets/KF556S40IBK2-32.pdf
2. mine were CL40-39-39-76 as opposed to my Kingston running at 5200mhz @ 38-37-37-73
Hmm, quite strange. It must be a typo on Amazon's website then. Because when i click on the link in the video description you provided, i get redirected to Amazon, and it is the same matching Part Number, but it says its 260 pins on that page. Thank you for the spec sheet and the timing information🫶