17xR1 advice

This would explain why I can't play a game such as Crysis/BFBC 2 or CODMW2 for any longer that 2/3 minutes, before the game becomes laggy for about 10 seconds before returning to normal playing... repeating until I want to throw the thing out of the window...

I don't have anything OC'd because I don't have a scooby doo...

Thank you, more ammo to use when speaking to Alienware/Dell...Have you had any luck with your case? Ive heard about this throttlestop software, but I've also heard its not good for the GPUs.

 

I thought i'd wait til monday before i call them back so i can get hold of the same people so i havn't made progress sinse my last post.

 

HALLELUYAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They're sending me an R2! The config should be emailed to me in a couple of days then i can negotiate if theres something not up to par on it. Thanks for everyones advice/help

@wolverine: In regards to throttlestop i have been using it for a while and seen no side-effects and if you just use the logging feature to record the throttling and don't actually "use" the program then it wont have any impact on your system. Good Luck

 

Congrats. I'm just waiting for my order number now, too.

 

Well they've sent me the config and they're gonna give me:

I7 620m
4gb DDR3
Dual 4870's
1920*1200 CCFL

I'm pretty happy with the processor as it'll perform better than my current 1 but the 4870's and ccfl are gonna have to go i think. Gonna try and push em for 5870's and RGBLED...

 

if they are sending you an r2 i dont believe the specs are negotiable..

 

actually it was made clear that they are but that i might have to pay extra for any upgrades i request. But i'm trying to get more out of them for my time that they wasted trying to sort my r1 out. If they dig their heels in i'll consider paying more but only as a last resort.

 

well the good luck to you mate i was pretty happy with the specs they gave me thou for my replacement.

 

They usually don't give such an option (to pay extra for an upgrade) since this is a replacement not a new purchase.
I tried to push for better specs before (just wanted a different color) but they didn't let me have it.
But, Good Luck

 

Well... Its all over. I had to pay £180 more to get the screen and 5870's but i'm not to cut up about it as now i'm getting a FAR better machine than i had before.

Specs:

I7 620m
4GB DDR3
Dual 5870's in CF
Bluray ROM
1200p RGBLED

 

Heres a question: I read that the 620m has a built in gfx chip on it, would there be a way to use this to conserve the battery life like the r1's integrated chip?

 

No. The PM55 chipset doesn't allow it.

 

oogamer,

What was the pivotal step you took to get this resolved? I'm at the swapping out of components stage!

how long from your first call to the time you were confirmed a replacement?

Wolverine

 

Took 3 weeks in all. From the time i had my first component swapped to the confirmation of a replacement was about a week. The "Pivotal" step was when i threatened to file an official complaint with trading standards and hinted that they would help me persue legal action if it came down to it. Basically just be really firm and let em know your not gonna ever let this drop until it's replaced. Good Luck

 

Thanks pal. I have to get the thing back to the UK now, as I am serving overseas. They have said that my other half can continue the process, but I have to wait until I have tested the system with the new power cord they shipped first.

I have the added protection of my credit card company too. I have seen your new specs compared to your old ones. Do you mind if I ask how much your initial price was? I paid 2.8k for mine. Do they do a like for like swap re components, or do they price up existing configs based around the initial price?

 

Well my original system was 2.4k and the new system was initially a similar price but i opted for a gfx upgrade and also they made me pay £90 for the RGBLED screen (which is highly recommended it seems) and £100ish for the 5870's. So you can get a better system (if you want) but it'll cost ya.

 

According to the website, my order has been shipped!

Now i'm a little sceptical because it only said it entered production yesterday so i don't know what to believe really...

 

It may have been in production before it posted. Mine went from production to shipped and never hit boxing. For such a high end system they sure keep you in the dark all the time.

 

Thats bull! the R-2 only has an LED screen now, i would have told em to F off with that 90 charge and send you the system anyways, bet you it would still have an RGBLED

 

Well the replacement is here and there's already problems with it out of the box. 3 dead pixels, a scratch in the middle of the screen BEHIND the glass and the fans on the cpu and the secondary gpu vibrate and cause a loud humming... i've told them about it and there sending a tech on monday. bad show...

 

Ouch. Might have mine tomorrow. Kinda worried now.

 

Sounds like yours was a refurb, not built new

 

i'm 99% positive that it was a new build because 1. they said it would be and two none of the damage is cosmetic - the scratch looking mark is inside the screen, not an actual scratch. But never the less i'm still not happy.
I'm considering swapping some bits from my r1 into my r2 like the touch pad, the media bar and the fans, what do you guys rekon? Should i swap the stuff or let the tech deal with it all on monday?

 

Well i took the plunge and swapped the medai bar cover, the gpu fan and the palmrest from my r1 to my r2. The lights are as normal now and the fan rattling is gone so all is good... except for the screen.

 

How about the peformance compared to the R1? I've been told I have to sit in front of my computer for 48 hours in safe mode to check for the 'hard lock' problem. They want me to call software support now and pay foor the calld to them....;(

 

didnt they want the R1 back?

 

Yeh it's going back on monday but the way i see it... until it leaves my house it's still mine and i'll do with it as i please. Performance wise it's about 30% better in all fields. Just a shame about the screen and now the crossfire flickering issues i'm having.

 

they should replace the screen -call them and request it

 

i have and they are next week... i also requested they send me a second gpu to see if its a hardware or a software/driver issue.

 

Oogamer,

Just a quick one, as you've been through the process...

I have thrown everything I have at the Techs including threat of small claims, Trading Standards, Consumer Credit etc. For ALL my issues, they are blaming software problems, and want me to call their software team. I am of course not happy with this option, because we all know its not software that is causing the

Battery charging problems
Stutterring issues
FPS drops
system lock ups

Did they every try to convince you to do the same? and do you have any alternative advice?

how is your new system getting on?

 

the final thing they threw at me before they caved was that it must be a software issue... due to them replacing everything, to which i countered "so your saying that this system is incompatible with windows then?" because they had asked me to do a clean installation before they even shpped parts.

The only advice i can give is to ask to speak to the senior technician in charge of your case... threaten him with further action and make a point to ask for his name (as if to say during a claim you would mention him directly) - that might add a little more weight to what you are saying when you speak to him.

Also make sure you've read up on all of the problems you're reporting so you can counter anything they come up with... i went in armed and could see how easily they could've tossed me aside if i didn't.
Good luck

 

Cheers pal.

They want to try the new NVidia drivers first, then they will being to replace components.

Having any luck with your new R2? I can see you've had a few dramas?

 

I was able to eliminate the flickering by forcing no downclocking in the VBIOS. The flickering is occurring when the GPUs switch to "emergency" clocks (overheating clocks in the BIOS). The cards aren't overheating, they're being power-starved. Once I forced the GPUs to not use the emergency clocks, I had to force my processor to a lower max multiplier otherwise I BSOD after a while with the video driver in places I'd normally just throttle. This was a somewhat more forced situation, though, as I would let the system sit at a point in the game that I knew put both the CPU and GPUs at almost 100% utilization, so for normal gaming I wouldn't blue screen and the throttling/flickering wouldn't happen.

Like the R1, this thing seriously needs a larger wattage power adapter for games that max out both the CPU and GPUs.

 

Elkay, did you find that the flickering went away when you enable v-sync? If not then i think we have different issues.

 

Unrelated to v-sync. V-sync off can create "tearing".. some might view that as flickering, but it's unrelated to this. This is actually the old flickering problem that A05 "resolved".. i.e. they likely raised the power point at which the system throttles the GPUs to just above the limit of what most people cause the system to hit, power-wise. I can cause the flickering/throttling at will if I run Furmark Multi-GPU and Prime95 concurrently. Dragon Age is the only game so far that I can make it happen with under normal usage. I haven't had time to try much else, though. I can say that running 3 copies of Everquest simultaneously only had me hit peak wattage of about 200W and thus never cause it to happen. That game is horribly unoptimized, though, and barely uses the GPU for anything. Going to try Crysis tonight. That's the other game that I could get to cause CPU throttling on my R1.

My major concern is that games as optimized as Dragon Age are going to become more common in the near future. Maybe then more people will see that the power issue isn't completely resolved. I'm actually wondering if the people that didn't see the flickering with Furmark/Prime95 were actually still having the throttling but the system was handling the flickering not happening a bit better. Of note, I do have the RGB LED screen.

 

i understand the tearing effect but what i'm seeing is a pulsating varience in lighting (dark to light in lines across the screen mainly the most prominant in menus) and the menu's themselves will appear and dissapear like buggery.
This flickering i'm seeing isn't related to stress on the gpu's its constant in any fullscreen game that utlises crossfire.

Maybe mine is an issue with the second card...

 

Hmm.. rendering in CrossFireX/SLI is done one of two ways with two cards. Either alternate frame rendering where each card renders consecutive full frames, or split frame where each card takes a portion of the screen (each doing half in a perfect world). What you're exhibiting doesn't sound like a problem with one card vs the other based on that.

 

so it might be a driver issue then? but if that's the case;
1. i can't test it because theres only 1 driver for the 5870's
2. why wouldn't other people be exhibiting this issue?

 

Update on my issue, got to the point where they have swapped the mother board, so far we have swapped a CPU, and the RAM. Have to reinstall OS later to see if this has solved my problem...if not, ARGHHH!!!

oogamer, will this be the final step before the R2?

How is yours by the way?

 

I dont know if it'll be the last step because there isn't a set of instrucitons on how to handle this case. I'm sure if i hadn't dug my heels in i'd still be doing os reinstalls and talking to them now...
That's my advice; after the os reinstall ring them and tell them that your unwilling to jump through any more hoops for them and sound angry, ask to talk to a supervisor or senior tech.
You've given them more than enough chances now and you're well within your rights to get a replacement.

On a lighter note i'm pleased with my r2, performs quite allot better than my r1 and the screen is allot better. Still waiting on a replacement screen though cos this one was shipped with scratches but other than that i'm a happy camper.