Alienware M17x R4 Pre-Order Configuration Questions... Ask HERE

1. The new $200 savings offer? lol I was kind of mad when I saw that but I got a great deal anyway. If you are saving by taking that deal, then most certainly take it, sir!

2. I didn't know about Allan's thread, but I did see Bill's post! If so, go through Bill asap before he gets too many quotes!

3. Regular SSDs like the Crucial M4 do have mSATA versions that you can pick from if so you choose. SSDs... its hard to figure out how much you need in terms of capacity because they are so expensive.. I am using a 120GB SanDisk Extreme right now and I find this capacity is perfect for me - I have Windows on it, besides all my other apps like my graphic design apps which consume a fair amount of space. I also use this drive for saving all my work, but that's it. It gives me lots of breathing room but its not so much that I feel like I'm wasting disk space. Thus, 120GB is great if you know you will use it up. 64GB is also a good, affordable option if you know you aren't gonna use all the 120GB. 32GB, on the other hand, is too low in my opinion and will leave you with barely any free space.

Do what I'm doing - add the SSD aftermarket. I ordered the standard HDD. Fresh windows install on the SSD is what everyone has been doing SSDs are expensive, but nowhere as expensive as Dell is asking for them Trust me, its very easy adding a third party SSD - there are so many suggestions on this forum - look for a drive like the Crucial M4, Samsung 830 or an Intel SSD (more expensive, better performer), these are drives that have proved themselves time and again

And yes, only the programs on the SSD will run faster, but certain programs which may have a cache on the SSD during working will also obviously benefit from the extra read/write speeds

 

Hurray! Alright, I'll definitely send a PM to Bill now that I know a bit more about the components, and feel more comfortable forgoing the Dell SSD secondary drive. (And with this, my fifth post, I should be able to PM on the boards soon!)

Starting as soon as I hear back from the Dell reps on this site, it'll be time to start the phone call nonsense. :x Wish me luck!

Edit: er.... rather, I'll PM Rachid as soon as my account is able to, after the 11pm upgrade! ^_^

 

Good Luck! Keep us posted on how it goes. I'm planning on buying my alienware in a couple weeks so I would love to know how your experience goes and hopefully it will help me out with my purchase

 

Good luck to you both and may you be happy with your purchases, hope it goes well! I'll be posting here when mine arrives after this unusually long building period

 

I'm also hoping to order an M17x in the near future with the i7-3610QM, 7970M, and 1080p screen. I was wanting to stick with an nvidia card, but the evidence in this thread has changed that. I'll also be adding a 256GB M4 shortly afterwards.

 

That's precisely what I'm doing, sir saves me some $$ and doesn't compromise on performance at all!

 

This question would rather be a "post-configuration" one, but i don't think it's worth opening a new thread for it.

My Alienware comes preconfigured with 2x hdd and no msata. Is it worth to get a 60\80gb intel msata for boot\important programs, or is it better to go straight for a full sized ssd?

 

In my opinion, ssd's are so cheap now that its a shame not to buy them. The 256gb M4 is on sale still for 174 and a samsung 630 256gb is 200 - all which is well under 1gb/1$

 

lol here in australia i have to pay that price for a 128gb xP

 

I have the 256gb M4 in my work laptop, and the 128gb M4 in my desktop at home. I don't think I could go back

 

No doubt. Once you go SSD you can't go back!

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX Using Tapatalk 2

 

I need advice , is it better to get the standard gtx 660 and upgrade to a 680m later on ? i want the 3d version , thats the reason i need to go nvida ?
or would an upgrade to the 675 and sell it later be a better option ?

 

can you hold off like 2 more weeks when the 680m will be available? they said it will be in the m17x and m18x by end of june.

 

yeah suppose there is no rush , just wonder what dell uk will charge as an upgrade ? , and it hasnt been confirmed for the UK yet has it ?

 

I think end of june conformation was for US, but UK usually get at same time so its worth to wait. Price will be approx £450 or £500 on top.

 

so nearly double the price of the 7970m?

 

Do you think it's a good thing to upgrade to nvidia 3d card to get the 120zz screen then sell the card and put a 7970 with the 120hz screen? What do you think is it possible?

 

Yes, the nVidia options have always been more expensive than the AMD options. The bonus to the 680M is that you can eliminate Optimus/PowerPlay by getting a 120 Hz screen that supports 3D.

 

The 7970m will not work with the 120Hz screen.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX Using Tapatalk 2

 

I just got my order placed! I got a call from Dell this evening after PM'ing Rachid. Here's what I got:

i7-3610 CPU
6gb RAM
500gb HDD
AMD 7970m GPU
1080p screen
Killer wifi card
Orion laptop backpack
1 year accidental damage

As configured on the site, this totals to about $2068. Before tax, they quoted me $1778, which is a 14% discount. Not too bad I'd say! PM me if you want the contact info for the Dell rep.

I'm going to upgrade the RAM and the HDD to an SSD in the near future.

 

The mSATA slot apparently runs drives @ SATA II speeds so you're going to be losing some speed there sir. If that's not an issue, go for it because it gives you 3 drives in total!

 

Hi All!

I am considering to purchase my first Alienware laptop and I need help to make the final decision.

Right now I have a desktop, gigabyte 560gtx ti oc 1gb, core 2 quad 2,33ghz q8200, 4x1gb 800hz kingston ram, asus p5q se2 motherboard and 2 non SSD hard drives. This is a 3,5 years old config with a GPU update in the meanwhile.

Thing is that I am leaving my hometown to study in Madrid for a half or 1 year and I would like to keep on gaming there. When I get home I wanna use my laptop as a desktop replacement that should be much faster than my current one as well. I would like to connect my laptop to my monitor at home and use like that.

I checked other laptops as well but to me the others like Samsung's new gaming one seems week for a desktop replacement and laptops like Sager feel like a brick to me (and also not available to Europe). So my choice would be the m17x r4. Question is, how strong would this config be to run games on high/max like WoW, Battlefield 3, Dead Space 2 and future titles like Dead Space 3, Res Evil 6 etc. (obviously with enjoyable 40-60fps)

3720QM
2x4gb 1600hz ram
7970M
120gb ssd + 750 or 1tb sata hdd
full HD display (not 3D)

One thing I can't decide on is the 3610QM vs 3720QM. I heard 3720QM is basically only better with virtual device stuff and benchmarks and gaming wise it isn't important. The difference would be around 150euros, still I feel cheap for spending 2100~ euros on a nice rig and not buying a stronger processor. Would the 3720QM make difference in processor heavy games like WoW?

Another concern for me is that I heard that the fans are too loud. Right now I am used to a 30-35db system because my above mentioned gpu is really silent. Would the r4's noise bug me too much?

Finally I heard some bad stuff about the screen that it is too reflecting and you really need a dark room for it.

Thanks a lot for the help. Spending 2100euros on a rig like this would be a very big financial thing for me so I absolutely need to make sure that I would not regret it. As I read this new ivy bridge and GPU generation comes pretty close to desktop performance and building a desktop like this would cost around 1300-1400euros with everything so the price difference is not that big.

Looking forward to your opinions!

 

The biggest plus (that I didn't consider when I purchased) is getting rid of that pesky internal GPU

Have you tried hammering a dell rep for confirmation that UK will get it at the same time as the US?

Edit: I watched my R4 go through Kazakhstan on it's way from China (UPS 5 countries in 4 days!) so I don't see any reason for the UK not to be able to offer it at the same time.

 

cheers guys the uk seem to get very bad offers and discounts from dell , the reps dont seem to want to move on price ;(

 

The same here, I'm looking to order a new M17X this week, doesn't appear to be any savings. Is this new card going to be better than AMD's so worth the wait until it's released in the UK?

 

I don't think the 680M will be worth the wait. Chances are it will be slightly more powerful, but if they follow the price plan of the past, then it will be twice the price of the 7970M. If you can wait, give it a few weeks to see what the actual benches are and what the price will be.

 

I found a simple way on the UK web site to get 10% off. Just create your build and save your cart (you'll need to create a dell.com account). A couple of days later you get a 10% off coupon to complete your purchase, and it works for any build you might like to make after you get it. I did this 3 times in Jan of this year and worked every time

 

As long as you don't mind lugging it around, or plan on doing that much, the M17x is great. The config you've picked out is basically the best config people should be getting. Now about the processors; this has been discussed extensively on the forums and if you browse you'll see what I mean when I say this - the 3610qm is awesome. Simple. It makes little to no difference in gaming to have the 3720 or 3820 - the only place where you might get a 4-5fps jump is in games like StarCraft II when there are like a million units on the screen, and that is it. StarCraft II runs at around 100fps on max settings anyway (with the 3610) so what does a 4-5 fps jump once in a while even make a difference here?

The only reasons to go for the 3720/3820 are if you like benchmarking and want nicer scores, if you are into hardcore video editing, etc. Its not something you need to consider for gaming... save the $$, buy a nice SSD // upgrade your warranty // buy games // maybe even a good gaming mouse + mousepad. The 3610 is pretty damn fast if you compare it to today's standard - faster than extreme edition 2nd gen processors like the 2920XM even. It'll get your work done with ease for at least four-five years.

As far as I know, the M17x is not very loud, better still if you use a cooling pad, which is highly recommended. The screen is reflective but what you've been hearing is mildly exaggerated. Its troublesome when you have light sources right behind you - all other times its fine (most certainly do not require a dark room!). Outdoor usage is a chore though, understandably.

And yup, you're spot on, with the ivy bridge processors and the 7970m (and soon the gtx 680m) the M17x is easily on the same level as high end desktops.

Agreed, the only people for whom the gtx 680m is an option to seriously consider, is guys for whom (a) money is no object (b) 3D is required (c) nvidia fanboys (I was one!) (d) 10-15% perf. increase over a gpu that already handles almost any game on ultra.

But we're yet to see what happens... if it sells only marginally higher than the 7970m - well that would be spectacular marketing by nvidia indeed. Even so, I'm pretty sure people will, as always, follow the crowd and get that card anyway, so nvidia will get their money lol

 

hi i'm new here. i have discuss with my reps and the only option i can get for a non SSD HD is 2TB 5400rpm Raid0. I need some advise for upgrading the HD on my own. FYI I already own a Seagate Momentus XT 750GB.

Option 1: replace a 1TB 5400rpm with Momentus XT (added this option cuz i dont have to spend extra money)
does the performance will improve with a 7200rpm over 5400rpm Raid0?

Option 2: 2 Momentus XT with Raid0 (i have to buy an extra HD)
Is it hard to configure HDs into Raid0?

Option 3: 1 SSD(boot), secondary will be either 5400rpm HD or the 720rpm HD
will it perform better than Option 2?

Or mSATA will be better than those option?
Also, which SSD(128/256 GB) is better? Samsung or Crucial? My budget for an extra hard disk is about $150 or less. Sorry i know nothing about SSD.

 

Hey guys just a few questions (upgrading from an M17x R2).

These are my specs that I have already ordered.
i7-3610QM
8GB 1600MHz RAM
750GB 7200RPM HDD
Killer 3x3 Wireless card
HD 7970M GPU.

1) I want to buy and install an SSD, is there already a bracket for a second drive even if I only ordered one drive? So that I can easily install an SSD as the main drive, re-format and keep the HDD drive as a storage drive?

2) Are there any guides to SSD installs that I should be aware of? Such as things to do before installing one to improve performance or anything else that I should be aware of?

3) Is the 3x3 MIMO card a good upgrade over the stock card?

4) Anything else I should be aware of? I see most of the guides on these forums relate to the R3. Any "starter" guides of common things to look out for such as bad drivers or anything like that.

5) How good does the 7970 perform in games for people who already have it?

6) I decided it was not worth paying a few hundred more for the upgraded processor. Is the 3610QM is a pretty good processor anyway and would be a pretty good upgrade from the i7-740QM that I have now?

If anyone can answer all or some of these questions that would be great!

Thanks guys, I'll be around here a fair bit. These forums were so good for me in sorting out my issues with My (current) M17x R2 model with drivers and so on.

 

Nice system. Enjoy.

 

jiaheng13
your first option is useless .. either way the raid 0 will be as slow as the slowest hd (in your case the 5400 rpm)

your second option will be better than the raid 0 of the two 5400's but still just the double speed of a mechanical driver ..

third option is the real deal .. you will get the advantage of the SSD (way faster than any mechanical device) and you will get the space (also the hybrid speed of the momentus) but that won't be a raid 0 .. just a drive for the system and apps and another for storage ..

Samsung 830 has the highest random read speed which is the most critical when it comes to faster operating system .. but that difference you won't feel with any other ssd ..

mSata is just sata 2 which is not as fast nor spacious as the sata3 SSD's (samsung, m4 ..etc)

 

You're a champion +rep. Thank you so much for such detailed and easy to understand answers. First thing I did with my R2 was mess around with graphic drivers to stop it from BSOD and disabling graphic switching with fn+f7 so I guess I'm well aware of the problems.

From what I know with crossfire you have to stick to the dell drivers (I didn't anyway...) but I'm happy that the 7970 is better than my CF 5870's as I can use the generic drivers more easily because lets face it, the Dell drivers suck.

Thanks again.

To ask another question about a SSD, I don't want to pay huge money. I only use 90GB in my current 256GB SSD with no secondary drive so a 128GB SSD will be enough for me (or 120GB). Is there any particular SSD you recommend and I should be getting a Sata III for maximum performance is that right?

 

The Crucial M4 and the Samsung 830 (both SATA III) are the choices of many forum members because of the combination of practical speed, reliability and value. The SSD market is constantly evolving, and the speed crown is moving to newer drives like the Plextor M3 Pro, Patriot Wildfire, Corsair Performance Pro, IBM 520, Vertex 4 and the like. But that has led in turn to dramatically reduced prices for for the older models. The 256GB M4 is now available for about $200, with the 128GB version around $125. The 830 is slightly more, but not much. The thing to understand is that in real world application, performance differences are much less than might be assumed from raw benchmark results, and virtually all SSD's represent an astounding increase in speed and responsiveness over any HDD(s) in any configuration. You might take a look at this: Best SSDs For The Money: May 2012. I think I would go with a Samsung 830 if I were in the market today, but it is hard to go wrong with any of the major brands (other than those using the first generation Sandforce controllers).

 

Hi everyone,

Great forum, I've learned alot by browsing through the various threads here. I'm going to be getting a 20% discount from my firm on my purchase of the AW laptop, I have decided to go with the combination below:

i7-3820 QM 3.7 GHZ
6 GB DDR3 @ 1600mhz
AMD Radeon 7970
500gb + 32gb SATA SSD
17.3 inch 1920x 1080
Blue ray drive/reader
intel centrino 2230 w/ bluetooth 4
3 year basic service plan

My aim is to have my laptop be reasonably future proof, I'm not a serious gamer on my computer but will play the occasional game, so the going with the most powerful video card gives me that flexibility for the next few years. I went with the fastest processor speed again for this reason. A couple of questions

1) I know RAM is overprice with dell so I would want to do aftermarket upgrades, would that be possible with the M17x?

2) The same goes for the hard drive, if I wanted a solid state drive later would I be able to upgrade to an aftermarket one?

An comments and feedback would be much appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

Very nice system. Upgrading memory and adding an SSD are both remarkably easy, with illustrated instructions included in the Owner's Manual. If you can operate a Phillip's head screwdriver, you have all the expertise that is required.

You might consider upgrading the wireless network card to the Killer 1103. It represents a significant improvement. Killer Wireless-N 1103 Review: Can Qualcomm Take On Centrino? : Killer Wireless: Is It Able To Usurp Intel's Centrino?.

 

Thanks a lot for the information. Funnily enough I was going to choose between the M4 and 830 anyway but now this has confirmed it. Time to browse eBay

Just a question, what do you think of the OCZ Vertex 3 SSD 120gb? Someone is selling one second hand in my area for $120, the retail price is $220.

There's also a 120 OCZ Agility 3 still sealed for $95. For reference the cheapest 830 or M4 SSD I can find delivered is $150 (not even on sale in retail here). Do you think it's worth paying $55 more or should I buy the Agility and save the money as the difference will probably not be noticeable anyway.

 

Hey guys can xmp be activated on the stock r4 8gb memory? Or do i need kingston hyperx for that?

 

Well, the other thread seems to be dead so I'll ask here:

My M17x config comes with the 750Gb HDD standard, so it's only a $25 upgrade to the 500Gb HDD+32Gb mSATA. I don't need the 250Gb of storage I'll be trading it for so should I get it? I plan on buying a regular 256Gb SSD regardless of the configuration but originally planned on installing my OS and everything else on the SSD (I only use ~120Gb of actual data storage and a lot of that is junk I haven't bothered deleting, that is, however, without any games). I don't really care about "overkill" since it's only 25 bucks but if my system would be significantly faster just installing everything on the SSD (since the mSATA is only SATA II) I'd forgoe it.

 

I was spending the better part of the day deciding on what SSD I wanted to get. Of course I wanted to get either the Crucial or Samsung, but since I was also planning on purchasing some Corsair Vengeance, my budget just wouldn't allow it. That's why I was a little p'ed at Newegg for cutting their promo short for the Samsung 830 128GB SSD. I then went to amazon and was going to purchase the Mushkin Enhanced Chronos 120GB and 8GB of Corsair Vengeance for $148, but then found out they wont ship to an APO address.

I then fell back on Newegg and ended up getting the RAM and also picking up Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 3 Low Profile 7mm Series VTX3LP-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD). With the promo code, it came out to be just under $94 for the SSD. My total was around $155, which was the max I wanted to spend. The RAM wasn't necessary, but I plan to go to 16GB in the near future. Newegg says shipping can take up to 4 weeks for an APO address. Hopefully that's not the case. I'm very anxious to give this SSD a shot. This will be my first SSD and I haven't read many reviews online about it. Hopefully it'll be on par with most others.

 

Nooooo go Samsung! :O

On another note; Newegg ship to UK?

 

My 256gb Samsung 830 is the best SSD drive I've had. Highly recommended.

 

Thanks Dr.nassef, that helps me a lot.

Also I wanted to upgrade the ram. I see that 2x4gb has CL9 and 2x8gb has CL10. Does this latency difference impact the performance?

Besides, I read a topic that Kingston HyperX works better in 4 slot ram compare to others. Is that true?

 

I am thinking about buying a M17x. Below is my base system config. I am unsure about adding the following options. Can you please help me to decide? What would yo choose? I am going to use this laptop mostly for gaming and also I am concerned for durability so that it does not get outdated easily

Feel free to pick more than one if you think its a good choice . I can consider to spend an extra $400 the most:
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3720QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.6GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0) [Add $150.00 or $4.00/month1]
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3820QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0) [Add $350.00 or $10.00/month1]
12GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS) [Add $50.00 or $1.00/month1]
500GB 7,200 RPM + 32GB mSATA Caching SSD [Add $75.00 or $2.00/month1]
17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED [Add $150.00 or $4.00/month1]
256GB SSD SATA 6Gb/s [Add $400.00 or $12.00/month1]


Base System Configuration: Dell Price $1,774.00
PROCESSOR 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.3GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit edit
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (2DIMMS) edit
HARD DRIVE 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s edit
VIDEO CARD 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 7970M edit
LCD PANEL 17.3-inch WideHD+ 1600 x 900 60Hz WLED edit
WIRELESS CARD Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 With Bluetooth 4.0 edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD

 

I would add the 1080p screen and the 3720QM CPU. If you plan to live with the initial configuration for some time, I'd add the 32GB caching mSATA drive, but if you plan to upgrade to a conventional SSD in the foreseeable future, it would pass on the caching SSD.

 

I went with the 64gb option so it would be it's own boot partition with plenty of room for windows 7. It made adding my own ssd a little easier. I'm running a 128 m4 for games and the 500 hdd for media so it's a 3 drive config.

 

Any reason you went for a low profile 7mm drive? They're usually used in MacBook Airs and the thin laptops that can't take the 9mm.

 

No reason. Just went with what fit in my budget. If I didn't go with the extra RAM, I probably would have purchased a Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 drive. I'm sure by the time I decide to upgrade my SSD, I'll go for something a little better.

 

I second this recommendation. Definitely get the 1080p screen. If you are not going to upgrade your processor in the near future, go for the 3720QM.

 

I know most say the 3720QM will suffice (which it will - I'm a noob), I got the 3820QM as part of the deal I got and when turbo boosted it pulls out some beastly physics scores in benchmarking tests. Depends what you can afford though. Definitely get the 1080p screen though dude.