Alienware 17: detailed Questions!

Hi!

Im planning of getting rid of my MSI Gt70 because MSI's Service is so unbelievably crappy (i am waiting now almost 6 weeks for the DOA replacement) and i hope Dell will treat me better as a customer! I have several questions, maybe you can help me:

-Can i RAID the 2 Harddrive slots in RAID 0 without any issues?

-Is the throtteling of the GTX 780M still an issue, or has this gone completely with the new BIOS?

-Alienware offers a OCed 4900MQ: any experiences with that?

- Can i custom order my machine withoud RAM and HDDs (already have that at home)

-is the 120Hz Panel worth 150€ extra? hows it compared to the standard panel?

-can i set the fans to 100% manually?

-How are the Temperatures in general?

-has anybody compared the new AW keyboard to the MSI Steelseries Keyboard yet?

It would be really nice if you could help me out here, maybe somebody has even testetd both Notebooks.
Thanks a lot for your help

 

Question one (1) you can Raid 0 with no issues if using platters you can cach to the mSata.
Two (2) no throtteling with the 780m problem solved.
Three(3) you can order the 4900 OC'd as I did or OC it your self I have pushed it a little further.
Four(4) I do not believe you can order any system from Dell wit no HD's or Ram installed.
Five(5) I do not know.
Six(6) I have no problem with fans so I do not use third party to control them
Seven(7) Temps are on the cool side cooler than any Alienware system I have owned.
Eight(8) Have not compared the keyboard, but I like the 17 keyboard just fine.

 

RESPONSE BELOW

-Can i RAID the 2 Harddrive slots in RAID 0 without any issues?
Yes, you can. I have 3 mSATA in this system with the mSATA to SATA convertor and 2 of them are in RAID0. No issues whatsoever.

-Is the throtteling of the GTX 780M still an issue, or has this gone completely with the new BIOS?
I didn't face any issues with the latest bios.

-Alienware offers a OCed 4900MQ: any experiences with that?
I do not think you will have any issues with the overclocked system. This notebook is one of the best in cooling solution. They have invested a lot of money and time on this. Alienware team works for Dell and I do not think money was an issue, so they had sufficient funds and time to test and build those machines as much as possible.

- Can i custom order my machine withoud RAM and HDDs (already have that at home)
No.

-is the 120Hz Panel worth 150€ extra? hows it compared to the standard panel?
I do not have it, but there is a youtube video and the guy is amazed of the quality. However, keep in mind that optimus is disabled due to NVidia running 100% on the 120hz panel.

-can i set the fans to 100% manually?
No.

-How are the Temperatures in general?
While normal browsing and watching movies, this notebook is dead silent. Maybe CPU 45-50 degrees Celsius (ofcourse the dGPU is off because of optimus). While gaming CPU is max. 70 while GPU about the same (intensive gaming), maybe even much less than that...

-has anybody compared the new AW keyboard to the MSI Steelseries Keyboard yet?
Yes, I have both systems. While the steelseries is the best keyboard you can get, I will give the A17 a 4 out of 5. I think this is the only thing that brings this notebook down.

If money is not an issue for you and you are able to shell out about (atleast) $500.00 more, I'd say go for Alienware (I know you are looking at MSI or Alienware), you will not regret it. Best of luck!

 

Thanks for the answers!!

How does the Audio Quality compare against the MSI? speaker- and Headphone jack - wise?

I want to have this machine for at least 3 years, and MSI managed to stretch my patience to the absolute maximum in the first 6 weeks (they delivered me 2 defective Systems! and now they cant find a replacement...). i know that the Dell service is much much better!

 

The AW17 is much better than any MSI laptop you may be considering (in the price range). I guarantee it...

 

Dude alienware uses way better components.. Over MSI

 

Has anyone compared the sound quality yet? Directly?

Is it possible to change the ODD for an SSD? Is the ODD connected via latest SATA 6GBPS?

why are a lot of 3d mark scores of the AW17 lower than those of the GT70?

Is exvhanging the parts (MSata SSD, memory, ODD) a lot harder in the AW17 than in the GT70? Is it officially allowed by DELL?

 

I swapped out my Optical drive to a SSD as in the sig..I don't see where the 3DMark scores are low seem average to me for the system. Dellaware allows you to change your system pretty much anyway you want just keep any parts so if there is a problem you can put everything stock as they are not going to warranty other parties parts..

 

Answers below

Has anyone compared the sound quality yet? Directly?
IN MY OPINION THE MSI HAS BETTER SOUND BUT ALIENWARE ALSO IS NOT BAD AT ALL. AS A MATTER OF FACT THE ALIENWARE SOUNT IS MUCH LOWDER.

Is it possible to change the ODD for an SSD? Is the ODD connected via latest SATA 6GBPS?
YES.

why are a lot of 3d mark scores of the AW17 lower than those of the GT70?
MSI OVERCLOCKS THE SYSTEM FROM BIOS AND IT DOES IT BY ITSELF. HOWEVER, MSI RUNS MUCH HOTTER THEN ALIENWARE. IF YOU OVERCLOCK YOUR ALIENWARE, I AM 100% SURE IT WILL NEVER REACH THOSE TEMPS.

Is exvhanging the parts (MSata SSD, memory, ODD) a lot harder in the AW17 than in the GT70? Is it officially allowed by DELL?
ONCE YOU OPENED THE BACK COVER, YOU HAVE ACCESS TO MOST OF THE PARTS TO REPLACE THEM, EXCEPT 1 MSATA CONNECTOR AND 2 MEMORY SLOTS. IN ORDER TO GET THERE YOU HAVE TO REMOVE ALL THE SCREWS FROM THE BACK AND SLOWLY PRY OFF THE KEYBOARD / MOUSE ETC., THEN YOU HAVE ALL THE ACCESS.

 

I had an MSI GE70 (17.3" laptop) and the sound was nothing compared to the AW17. However, with external speakers, the sound was similar (in regards to the sound card and its quality).

 

Yes, I know GE70 is nothing compared to GT series (believe me). But GT series speakers are amazing, just like the keyboard. I think those are one of the plus points MSI offers that are great and lets not judge them, their systems are built quite good. But yes, Alienware is one of the best system out there because everything that is built inside is balanced, there are no plus or minus. What they have done with their new built design, they paid attention to people's grumbling and they did put something together: people wanted aluminum (there you go, they added some to the surface), overall that plastic cheap feeling is all gone and the machine feels really solid, better screen quality, extreme CPU available in bigger brothers etc..

I think most of the fox out there (Sorry Mr. Fox, I was not referring to you ), are spending most of the time admiring their beast more then doing anything else. If you pay attention to each part / each corner / each detail of those systems, you can make out that someone really worked on the esthetic design, knowing that their cooling solution was implemented and quite stable for some years already...

 

Well that's not true at all, you can put your fan at 100% with Hwinfo64. You can't control the CPU fan but if you put 100% for GPU, the CPU fan will work better. But very noisy
While gaming, my gpu fan never reach 100% noise was correct for gaming, my max temp while gaming with gpu is 62degre and for CPU 72 . Normal mode for me is GPU 46 and CPU 47 without noise

 

<<<< Now you are taking about meddling with the machine to put the fans at 100%. Keep in mind that not many people are aware of this or want to mess with the system. However, most of people with alienware computers even if they are 'babies' on computers, they learn in time and become aware of tips and tricks, especially with the help of everyone on this and other forums.

 

I would just leave the fans work on their own, there is no need to set them manually to 100%. That could also decrease the fan's lifetime.

 

yep, that's true but in my case i prefer to let people know about some trick than nothing. In the new alienware, its not needed to use it because the cooling is very good but in my old r3 with gtx485m, for every game, i was forced to avoid throttling and even after more than a year, fan are still working good. But that old gpu is burned.