About to pull the trigger on an R3, need a few questions answered...

hey all,

i'm about to pull the trigger on an r3 with the 120hz 3d display (2nd gen sb, 580gtx) and have a few mild concerns before i kick dell over $2500:

1) are there any systemic heating issues folks have with the r3? what's the chance of getting a system with a bad paste job or heat issues?

2) is this model -- with the 580gtx and the 3d screen -- optimus-based? i'd assume not, since the 3d l702x wasn't. just wanna make sure, because optimus is the bane of my existence.

3) dell's site only let me configure it with one drive -- is there a bay for a second drive, where i could drop an ssd?

4) any other important caveats around the r3 -- common build issues?

thanks for any timely responses!

 

Not that I know of, and in general all stock paste jobs are bad! But good enough if you are gaming at stock clocks and no overvolting. You can even overclock to 740/1000 on the R3 whilst having acceptable temps on the stock paste job. If you are going to overclock, I highly advise you repaste the GPU and change the thermal pads, people tend to get very good drops in temps on the R3 allowing them to overclock + overvolt (needs vBIOS flash) whilst having acceptable temps. This is for the 6990M, I don't know about the GTX 580M though.

I have the 6990M, so I'm not 100% sure but I know with the 3D screen you can't used integrated graphics, so you are forced to stick with the GTX 580m all the time, this can decrease your battery life but oh well. I must also advise you take a look on how to remove the throttling with the GTX 580M.
If you can do without the 3D screen, I'd highly recommend you go with the 6990M. Not only will you get a choice of using integrated graphics, you will also save a lot of money whilst having roughly the same performance as the GTX 580m.

Yes there is, complete with an interposer and caddy. All you need is the new drive and a screwdriver to put in a second drive. No need to buy anything else. Note the interposer is found inside the empty caddy, you take this out and use it when needed for the second drive. This is always present, even if you choose 1 drive on the Dell website they will always provide you with the second caddy + interposer.

Not that I know of, mine is VERY solidly built, I am extremely happy with the build quality, no creaking, nice weight to it, nice feel to it, rubber feet do their job very well, no light leakage from LCD.
One thing I must say is that some of the screws are easy to strip on the R3, so you must be careful if you decide to open it all up. Also the media buttons are not touch sensitive like the past models, they are physical buttons that are quite hard to press. In fact the plastic around it noticeably depresses when you push really hard to use these buttons. You have to push quite hard to make the plastic depress, and you have to push quite hard to activate the media buttons. Otherwise the plastic is very solid.
I am very happy with the keyboard too, and the only way to make it flex is by pushing really hard on it; a lot more than what is necessary to use the buttons. If you type normally or even a little aggressively you will notice no flex. So you get the best of both worlds here; a decent, solid keyboard that only flexes when it has to so that it doesn't break.

 

+1 rep to Prank for typing all that lol

dude, this 580m is optimus based...have fun with that

i think prank has answered most of the questions. BUt before you drop serious coin on the 580m...just be aware of all the throttling issues people have had with the 580m...essentially, when the card hits a certain temp, the mhz on the core and ram drop. So your performance will take a nose dive.

Also, you really don't have enough juice to use 3d on the laptop. The frame is rendered twice in 3d. So your fps is halved

You don't get this throttling on the 6990m...

 

alright, i liked the idea of having a 120hz screen moreso than the 3d (and of course the lack of optimus, since this machine will never be off external power), but the throttling sounds obnoxious. i'll go with the 6990m. thanks for the quick replies! gonna talk to an alienware rep now...

 

oh, with the 6990m, does it have a case switch? have you had any issues with poor gpu detection or microstuttering?

 

what's a case switch? If you mean manual switching between intel integrated graphics and 6990? than yes it does

No issues with microstuttering.

The only place where i've sen Gpu detection issues is in Gpuz because the hardware id of the 6970 and 6990 are the same (its not an issue though)...i score mid 15k's in vantage with a small overclock so its all good

 

sounds great. thanks for all the help. one last question: a little cursory research indicates that a few folks (self-selecting, of course) had their 6990m chipsets burn out early -- is there any potential, in your opinion, of long-term systemic issues with this chipset (beyond the regular failure rates common to all high-end mobile gpus)?

regardless, trigger = pulled. y'all have been a tremendous help. rep points all around!

 

If you are going to be overclocking this card (which I recommend you do for high end games, max 740/1000 if you don't want to repaste, much higher if you are willing to repaste/repad) then you will be keeping an eye on the temperature of this card anyway. Between 70-90 celcius is acceptable, but mid 70's-low 80's with overclock is what you should be aiming for.

If your card breaks anyway, you will have warranty to take care of it.

You can try benchmarking the GPU when you first get the laptop to make sure there are no hardware problems to give you a little peace of mind

Also, congrats I hope you enjoy your new laptop as much as I do mine

 

No heat problems as far as I now.
3D system has no optimus.
There is a second bay yes.
Throttling only appears is some benchmark not in games as far as I know.

 

no need to worry about temps...if you're really worried, lower your temps with a repaste of the GPU as the stock job is pathetic

 

Zero throttling issues with my 580m so far (few months). Only two games I've played is Crysis 2 and COD: Black Ops. With some serious hours put towards COD, I dont think I've seen 70*C yet.

Really can't go wrong with either the 580 or 6990