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    A question about this pc (fast answer please)

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by jonas1151, Jul 8, 2012.

  1. jonas1151

    jonas1151 Newbie

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    Im planning on ordering an alienware m17x R4 in three days...

    it has an i7 3610QM, an amd radeon hd 7970M and 6 gb ram (wich i would upgrade too 12 gb soon), killer wireless, 500 gb, blu ray

    my Question is, is this a good 3D design/gaming pc (since i have to do both for my work)

    and my second question, there are these rumors that the AUTOMATIC gpu switching doesnt quite work with a radeon hd 7970m (this rumor isfrom the m17x R4 review on notebookcheck, check that out for more technical information)
     
    jonas1151, Jul 8, 2012
    #1
  2. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    radji, Jul 8, 2012
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  3. Tapakidney

    Tapakidney Notebook Evangelist

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    Seriously? Did you even read his post? Come on man...

    To answer your questions, yes, of course that will be a good machine for gaming and 3d design. Might be worth a CPU upgrade if 3d design is CPU-bound.

    GPU switching works mostly fine for me, and it will get better with drivers. You can just turn off the iGPU if the switching causes you trouble.
     
    Tapakidney, Jul 8, 2012
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  4. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    Yes, I did. Just didn't see the 2nd question, which the answer to that is the automatic switching can sometimes be troublesome...it just depends on which game/application is trying to switch from the intergrated to discrete graphics. Some work, some don't.
    AS far as asking about good system specs before you buy, I was told by a moderator (quite some time ago), that those sorts of questions should be posted to the owners lounge or ordering advice threads.
     
    radji, Jul 9, 2012
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  5. OblastSRT4

    OblastSRT4 Notebook Evangelist

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    btw, he posted this in the sales thread and got an answer.
     
    OblastSRT4, Jul 9, 2012
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  6. vadupleix

    vadupleix Notebook Consultant

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    As to the design part you can possibly consider a CPU upgrade to 3720 not only because it will bring you significant performance boost but also it will enable you overclocking it up to 38x as a surprise brought by ivy bridge(if u don't want to overvolt it)
     
    vadupleix, Jul 9, 2012
    #6
  7. SlimShady

    SlimShady ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒ&

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    OP, that computer should serve you well for what you want it for, although if you're doing a lot of 3d design work I'd consider upgrading the processor and when you get it, upgrade to 16GB as opposed to 12GB of RAM.
     
    SlimShady, Jul 9, 2012
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  8. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    In reading the OP again, I would never recommend 6GB or 12GB of RAM. A friend told me horror stories about system performance and stability that was only fixed when you put 2 RAM DIMMs that were the same size (I thought 6GB meant 2x3GB). Boy was I wrong. My cousin's new XPS 15, it came with 6GB standard. Out of the box, damn thing took over 5 mins to boot up. Removing all the bloatware didn't help at all. I removed the 2GB stick, boot time dropped to about 2 mins. Gave her a 4GB stick to make her total to 8GB, she boots up now in about 45 seconds. I'm just speechless on how combining different module sizes can slow the systems down that much.
     
    radji, Jul 9, 2012
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  9. Tapakidney

    Tapakidney Notebook Evangelist

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    ...you're just full of weird input, aren't you?

    12gb works just fine - I think what radji is referring to is when you don't match sticks in their corresponding slots, so a 2+4 and a 2+4 (yes, bad idea). Obvious solution is 2+2 and 4+4. You then utilize the 6gb that came with your machine, run in dual channel mode, and save money.

    12gb is a good plan. Again, I'm not sure if 3d stuff will really utilize more than 12gb, but if so, might be worth considering later.
     
    Tapakidney, Jul 9, 2012
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  10. jonas1151

    jonas1151 Newbie

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    ty for the information guys, i really appriciate it :)
     
    jonas1151, Jul 10, 2012
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  11. Megatony73

    Megatony73 Notebook Consultant

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    I thought this was a problem that only occured in older computers with older motherboards...
     
    Megatony73, Jul 10, 2012
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  12. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    You're more than welcome ;-)

    Sent from my Samsung Epic© 4G powered by Sprint®
     
    radji, Jul 10, 2012
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  13. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    Same here. I would imagine Dell would not sell notebooks with 6GB of RAM unless they were somewhat stable & reliable...but I was wrong. What the other guy said does make sense, though. 12GB use 2x4GB and 2x2GB so its probably more stable as long as the modules are installed in the correct DIMMs

    Sent from my Samsung Epic© 4G powered by Sprint®
     
    radji, Jul 10, 2012
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  14. johnboyo

    johnboyo Newbie

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    Hi i puchased alienware M17X Refurb it had windows 7 pro. No cd supplied or others with laptop.After playing laptop for a week or so it was great , i must have downloaded or uninstalled something or other. went to go back in game saved and the game was so slow i could not play it as before .I have formatted laptop insalled win 7 prem.drivers seem ok but some games play to slow .When playing before you could here the cooling fan com in on high end games , but now just cooling fan for laptop.It came with service tag removed . would love to get it back as before..At present it just aother laptop PS Key Pads are still lit only...
     
    johnboyo, Jul 23, 2012
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  15. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    You might be missing any or all of these steps. Make sure you use only drivers from DELL.com for your machine.
     
    Alienware-L_Porras, Jul 23, 2012
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