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

I can tell you what dell AW support told me when I asked about using a dell monitor.

To get resolution above 1920x1080 you need to use the laptop miniport socket NOT hdmi. Since the monitor you are asking about has a miniport then it's just a miniport cable. No need for a miniport to DVI but this should work just as well.

Quote: 'Resolution will then be monitor and video card dependent'.

 

Will the 7970M be powerful enough to drive the monitor and run games at the same time? From what I just read, HDMI can only support the 1920 x 1080 resolution. The dvi or display port should be able to provide the 2560 x 1600 resolution but there seems to be quite a number of complaints about the monitor not coming out of sleep when using the display port. Dang it!

 

Damn it.

Just saw on Origin:

Pre-Order Medal of Honor: Warfighter... and get guaranteed access to Battlefield 4 (whenever it comes out)

Warfighter close by... jesus Battlefield 4..... all these just making me wonder whether I should pick SLI over 120Hz 3D aarghhh

 

Eurocom has a quad gpu laptop, maybe you should check that out

 

My personal opinion from 15+ years of PC gaming experience: trying to future proof rarely works, and is never worth it.

With Battlefield 4, you are looking at a game that EA says may release sometime between April 2013 and March 2014. That's a pretty large window, and I'd bet on it ending up on the back end of that. The price difference between my M17x with 7970M and a M18x with SLI 680Ms is $1410. A lot can change between now and March 2014, so why spend that money today, when you can get more for it in 2014? For not much more than that, you could a whole new laptop. With new CPU, new GPU, new OS, new everything. Now, if you can justify needing SLI right now, that's a different story.

Again, just my personal opinion. It's not my place to tell you how to spend your money.

 

Well SLI 680m's will definitely be able to handle Battlefield 4 two years from now. Not so sure about the single 680m...

With Crysis 3, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Battlefield 4, the next Elder Scrolls, Metro: Last Light..... So many graphically intense games coming out either soon or within the next 2 years. 680m might perfectly run TODAY's games at Ultra at 60+fps. But the thing is right now I don't need SLI, but if in the future if I do (which I will), SLI will not be a viable upgrade :S

However giving up size/weight, 120Hz screen, and 3D isn't exactly all jolly hmmm why couldn't there just be an m17x with SLI and 3D. arghh..

 

Oh yeah, I agree with all of that. I guess my point is that $1400 will buy more performance in two years than it will now, so instead of spending it now, when I don't need it, I'd rather wait and spend it then, when I do. Using desktop parts as an example, 2 years ago $499 got you a GTX 480, while today, $499 will get you a GTX 680.

 

Well tbh I do have a decent budget at the moment, so if I can get maxed out specs which will do FINE 2-3 years from now... I don't mind spending it and having to worry about a simple GPU upgrade 3-4 years from now.

Look at gameplay with the M18x with 6970m's in Crossfire, they can still run today's games maxed out no problem whatsoever. And after them the 6990m, 580m, 7970m, 675m, 680m...

SLI is a pretty viable option for future-proofing, and mobile GPU's are looking pretty good at the moment. I'm confident that 680m in SLI will run games 3 years from now just fine, with all of Nvidia's great driver support. And until probably 4 years from now I'd be able to enjoy PhysX, tesselation, great drivers, and maxing out every game... it's a pretty good reason to spend that extra cash.

A single 680m would need to be upgraded a lot sooner than SLI's... But I've had my eyes set on 120Hz + 3D now, but I'd hate to buy a beast gaming laptop then in the near future have to turn Battlefield 4 settings to medium or who knows what :S

 

As the M17x R2 has HDMI input, does that cause the battery to drain even quicker? and does using the HDMI cause create alot amounts of heat around the area and the screen? Just out of curiosity...

 

excuse me, anyone has gtx 680m game play video?? i search youtube but there is only 2mins max payne 3 video

 

Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M (Battlefield 3 test) - YouTube
Sager NP9150 (680M) - Battlefield 3 Multiplayer (Ultra Settings) - YouTube
this guy posted a couple vids:
Kanaal van sjellebie - YouTube
and this guy:
welcome! - YouTube

your welcome

I don't think HDMI causes the battery to drain quicker or produce heat... I see no reason why it would do that, it's just the screen showing external input nothing special.

 

Thanks for clearing that up! Ooh you have a very similar setup of the r4 I'm looking at getting except no SSd.. Whats the battery like if you use it?

 

Well it does say coming soon

Hm if you are getting the 120Hz version, it only runs on the discrete GPU (680m)... and never uses Optimus. You'll have to Google that to find out, but I'm pretty sure the battery life is at least long enough to watch a movie. Some reviews say 2 hours, some say 4 hours, some say 1 hour... but I believe with the newer power efficiency of the Ivy Bridge CPU's, and the 680m, you won't be disappointed.

 

Didn't actually notice that, sorry. Thanks for the headsets up thoug, I'd just use the battery if I was too move it around the house or take itrounf a mates house so it's better than 45minutes!

 

thanks you but i meant it is on AW cause the vga just 2gb ram on AW. Btw, is it enough to play all the highend game with maximum settings^^

 

the vram doesn't matter at all. 2GB is more than enough. 4GB is a marketing ploy although it has no real world benefits.

And yes it can play all games on highest settings you might not be able to turn on Ubersampling on Witcher 2... or max out AA and AF on Metro 2033... But with minor tweaks yes you can play every single current game maxed out no problem.

 

It will definitely last that long, but be careful. How do you envision carrying it off to someone else's house? I wouldn't throw it in a backpack, with it running, for any length of time at all. The heat generated needs a way to escape, it will cause damage.

Yep, what he said. You can expect the same results from any of the 680M videos.

 

It shouldn't produce a lot of heat while idle, but yeah definitely should always turn something like that off before putting in a bag stupid not to

 

225-2945
1 Alienware M17X R4 with Soft Touch - Direct $2,299.31 $2,299.31
317-9745
1 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3720QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.6GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
317-9739
1 6GB DDR3 at 1600MHz
331-6912
1 English Keyboard, 101 Key, M17X R4
320-3277
1 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 120Hz NVIDIA 3D Vision Bundle
320-9376
1 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M
342-4414
1 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
331-6859
1 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
421-7439
1 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
421-5789
1 Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
318-2316
1 Stealth Black with Soft Touch Finish with 3D Display
410-0548
1 Adobe Acrobat Reader
318-2005
1 Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
318-0424
1 Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software
430-4710
1 Intel 2230 Wireless-N
331-7193
1 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
331-6865
1 Alienware Documentation
331-6868
1 Placement, M17X R4
331-6867
1 Shipping Material, M17X R4 - Black
461-8389
1 NO VIRUS PROTECTION REQUESTED
331-6909
1 Resource DVD, M17X R4
331-8045
1 Windows 7 OS Label, Alienware Notebooks
420-9691
1 DataSafe Local BackUp
420-9956
1 PC Restore
421-0092
1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
421-3874
1 Camera Software 2.X, Factory Install
421-4289
1 Dell Support Center Software 3.0
421-7440
1 Quickset, M17X R4
312-1334
1 90WHr 9-Cell Primary Battery
995-6083
1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
995-6103
1 In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year
950-3337
1 1 Year Limited Warranty
950-9797
1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
421-1723
1 Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware
994-3730
1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
331-1349 1 Standard Nameplate
469-2456 1 $200 Dell Promo e-Gift Card - Arrives in 10-20 days via email, carries a 90 Day Exp. Terms at Dell.com/giftcard
* -DISCOUNT/COUPON APPL
600-0002 1 State Environmental Fee for display 15 inches, less than 35 inches
A5750525 1 Your Dell Advantage benefits have been applied

The processor is supposed to be a 3610QM. I can get it for $2207. Dell will also give me a $330 gift card ($200 +$110). Is this a good price? 3610QM is the way to go for games and adobe products right? Thanks in advance

 

3610QM sucks. Do not get it. 3720QM minimum.

And if I were you I would upgrade your hard drive to at least a 7,200rpm Hybrid drive (with the mSATA cache)

Otherwise system looks fantastic. But upgrade the RAM later to at least 8GB

EDIT:
some benchmarks for the CPU's on here:
Core i7-3610QM Vs i7-3720QM | Compare Processors

differences:
Intel i7-3610QM vs Intel i7-3720QM in Processors (CPUs)

The processor clock speed drop from the 3720qm is far greater than the differences between the other models... its clearly just the lowest end one. Why stick with it, and the internal GPU is worse on them. However that doesnt matter for 120Hz models.

 

From what most have said, the 3610QM is not a bad CPU. You just wont be able to OC it. As far as gaming and adobe, the 3610 should be enough. But if you can fit it in your budget, go for the 3720 or higher.

 

The 3610 is 0.3Ghz slower and has a fairly lower igpu frequency (+ yeah cant be OC'd)... the difference between the 3720 and the 3610..... is basically as big as the difference between the 3920xm and the 3720qm..

All the other models differ from each other by 0.1Ghz ... but the 3610qm randomly drops by 0.3... you're buying an Alienware, and I think you shouldn't stick with the crappiest and clearly lowest when for a minor price increase you can get a significant jump up on the processor.

That being said, the CPU's of today are honestly all pretty good... and it would take a lot to see them bottlenecking what else your system can do or gaming. But my Macbook's Core 2 Duo is at 2.4Ghz..... the i7 Ivy Bridge 3610qm is at 2.3Ghz (ofc it has some turbo boost), but still thats how low end of a processor it is... lower base frequency than a 5 year old core 2 duo. You wouldn't regret knowing later that you got a better CPU... just my 2 cents.

 

i love your Order Seem Like We Both Have Same Idea Getting 3720

Ailenware Still Running Promo 15% Off

 

Hello Everyone,

I am helping my brother purchase a M17x and am having trouble deciding which configuration would be best. Any input would really help. All of them have the 1080p display and these are Canadian dollars using the best coupons I can find.

1.
i7-3610QM
HD 7970m
6gb mem
500gb 7200 rpm hdd
$1799.99

2.
i7-3610QM
HD 7970m
8gb mem
1tb 5400 rpm hdd
$1849.99

3.
i7-3610QM
GTX 675m
16gb mem
2x 500gb 7200rpm hdd in raid 0
$1849.99

 

Don't bother with the 675m. The 7970 is going to seriously outperform it.

The only other config differentiation you're showing is HDD options. Those are generally left as after-market upgrades.

WHAT are your friend's needs?

Take a look at this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/669327-alienware-sales-assistance-thread-redux.html
It has 2 AW reps whose sole purpose here is to connect us with a sales person who can get us the best deal possible.

I just got a quote for my m17xr4 rig and am very pleased with it. Just a few $ cheaper than current online sale, but TWO eGiftCards that are going to total a couple of hundred bucks. I'm placing my order next week.

 

Definitely between 1 and 2. depends what he wants, is a 7200rpm drive a must? seems 2gb extra ram and twice the storage capacity for $50 extra is a good deal.

Person

 

I was thinking it was between 1 and 2 myself because of the 7970m, but thought I would throw in the third option just in case haha. He will mainly be using the laptop for gaming. Am I correct in my thinking that the 5400rpm drive will only affect his loading times and not his fps while in the game? I know he can always throw in a ssd for $100 bucks after, but this is already a stretch of his budget.

thanks

 

Def need the 7970 then. No, the HDD should not affect FPS, only load times.

 

I would personally recommend option 1. Most games don't go over 4GB RAM so having 6GB of RAM is still good. And a 1TB HDD with 5400RPM is not the greatest of combination.

 

I bought a m17x 2 months ago that had the 660m. I hated it so I return it. I already have a 256GB vertex 4 . I think I'm going to go with the the 3720QM. Do you think I can get a better deal? That price is for the 3610QM. The rep says it will cost $150 if I wanted the 3720QM.

 

oh, come on. You're ignoring the fact the the core 2 duo neither has hyper threading nor turbo boost. The c2d may run at 2.4, but only at two cores. The 3610, at 100%, will be running 2.3 on 8 threads. That's remarkably better performance despite the paltry specs.

 

I'm sure l'll be plenty happy with the 3610, 6gb ram and 7970 gpu. nce prices drop down on CPU's the I'll upgrade to a 3820 or better and beef up the ram. Never been on the bleeding edge of tech, no need to start now.

 

Yes I'm not retarded I was just using it as a reference point to demonstrate how bad the 3610 'sounds' in comparison to a 5 year old crappy CPU.

Very true. You will not notice any real life difference between the CPU's, and 6GB RAM is plenty enough for now, also the cheapest/easiest the upgrade in the future. Sounds like a solid system, enjoy

 

is there a considerable diff from the 3610 and the 3820 ?

 

There is but the way it will affect you depends on what your doing with your system.

 

No...just no. Nothing you said here is true. The 3610qm is more than enough processor for 99% of the population. Unless you are doing considerable amounts of video editing/encoding, intensive CAD, or hosting a bunch of VMs, it's not going to make a bit of difference. Or, as your link pointed out, if you need to compute Pi to 2,000,000 places 3 seconds faster.

"ofc it has some turbo boost"

Do you even know what that means? Turbo boost is a power saving feature. Period. When under load, the processor clocks up to various speeds, depending on how many cores are being used. The only time it is running at 2.3Ghz is when it is idle, to save power. If it is doing ANYTHING AT ALL, it will clock between 3.3Ghz and 3.1Ghz. The slowest it will run under load, with all four cores being utilized, is 3.1Ghz.

I'm not even going to get into the IPC differences between Conroe and Ivy Bridge. Today's Celerons are faster.

Because surely, the way it 'sounds' is what's important, right?

Please stop spreading misinformation.

 

I'm not trying to spread misinformation, I'm trying to help someone choose a better processor so they don't regret getting the lowest end one in the future.

I know the 3610qm is fine... but while you're at it why not get a 5,400rpm hard drive and a GTX 660m. All I'm trying to say is that if you're buying one of the best portable gaming powerhouses on the planet, an Alienware, I would suggest against getting the lowest end CPU which is slower than the next best one by the largest margin.

I don't mean to spread misinformation, but as with any Alienware comes bragging rights.. I'm trying to induce a decision which someone will be happy they made later on. Of course I know turbo boost is power saving, and all the fancy details, I've done my research.

But actually... (as a small note), many games are CPU intensive and benchmarks have actually showed a noticeable improvement in fps in games such as Skyrim or GTA4, the better the processor is.

The 'misinformation' is not meant to be about performance, it's about customer satisfaction, for some people bragging rights, and in the slightest a small improvement in fps.
What I'm trying to get at is that the ONLY reason to get a 3610qm, is if your budget is that low... shouldn't buy Alienware to skimp on every spec except the GPU anyways. It's just my method to try persuade people to make their Alienware even more beast.

EDIT: And I think a small portion of why you're defending it is because you yourself have a 3610qm and 6GB of RAM... I'm sure if you had 16GB and a 3820qm, you would be recommending a higher specced Alienware (of course only if budget allows)

 

Fine, then just tell them you recommend that they get the 3720 so that they can feel more confident about whipping out their e-peen and swinging it around, instead of the nonsense you posted.

Because a 5400rpm drive and GTX 660M will make a noticeable difference in overall system performance and gameplay, respectively. A 3720 will make no difference whatsoever over a 3610.

As I said above, fine, then just tell them you recommend that they get the 3720 so that they can feel more confident about whipping out their e-peen and swinging it around, instead of the nonsense you posted. Also, if you've done the research, use it to help the people that are coming here hoping for intelligent responses.

Yes, some games run faster on some processors than others, and that has absolutely diddly squat to do with anything we are talking about. We are not talking about some processors, we are talking about 2 very specific processors. And neither of them will be bottlenecked by either the 680M or 7970M. These laptops will be GPU bound LONG before being CPU bound.

No. No improvement in fps. Again, nonsense.

No. There are very few reasons that you SHOULD upgrade, and I mentioned them in my previous post. You should not spend money just because you can.

On a side note, I went to lunch today and bought one lunch. I could have afforded two, but the first one filled me up.

No. It's because I'm educated and know what I'm talking about. Aftermarket RAM is cheap, and I may actually upgrade that. I bought this laptop for portable gaming, and the 3720 offered zero benefit over the 3610. That's why I didn't buy it. I debated the 680M because that would actually make a difference. It wasn't a matter of whether or not I could afford it, but whether or not I felt it was worth it. I could have afforded it, but decided it wasn't worth it. However, I have no problem with anyone saying someone should get the 680M instead of the 7970M because it does make a difference. Not nonsense.

So to recap, the following are acceptable reasons for upgrading to the 3720:

• More confident e-peen swingin sessions
• Heavy audio/video editing and encoding
• Intense CAD
• Hosting VMs
• Calculating Pi to 2,000,000 places

 

Kind of going a bit far with this one...

If you read my first post regarding the 3610qm, I made no such remarks about performance.

One thing I mentioned, however indifferent for this person, is that the 3720qm has a slighty better integrated gpu. Otherwise all I said is that it's 0.3Ghz slower than the next best, but the rest are only 0.1Ghz apart, making the 3610qm the odd one out.

I clearly stated my opinion. I "think" when someones buying an Alienware they shouldn't choose the lowest end option for any component.

The comparison to a Core 2 Duo is obviously not some serious statement about performance, but it's the only real life comparison I have and in no way serious.. just numbers to perhaps persuade the person to choose the slightly better CPU.

And in conclusion I said. "That being said, the CPU's of today are honestly all pretty good... and it would take a lot to see them bottlenecking what else your system can do or gaming."
And my opinion that "You wouldn't regret knowing later that you got a better CPU"

So stop pms'ing cuz what I said was not bad at all. And yes in some games a better CPU will give a few more frames in CPU intensive games.

 

Ordering one here soon. Is nvidea 680 really worth a 500$ upgrade? Or is Radeon just fine?

 

Hello everyone,

After sifting through approximately 65 pages of this thread I decided to just post and give up (i'm not lazy, just practical)... Does anyone with the 120hz/3D screen with the GTX 680M know what kind of battery life I can get doing things like taking notes using microsoft word with the screen dimmed and alien FX off? I've done some extensive searching and one guy claimed it's about 1 1/2 - 2 hours max... can anyone confirm this?

Many thanks in advance

 

Ultimately, I decided that it wasn't worth it for me. What games do you play? Maybe I can give you an idea of how they run on the 7970M. The 680M is a notch above, but ultimately, you can't go wrong with either one.

I can't confirm, since I don't have that config, but that sounds about like what I would expect.

 

Skyrim, battlefield 3, red orchestra, company of hero's, stalker, crisis 2, Bioshock, games like those.

 

I had a m17x 3D w/ 660m before returning it. 1.5-2hrs seem about right. I had it on max brightness. You could always buy another battery. That's what I'm thinking about.

 

I have Skyrim pretty heavily modded, and it runs a solid 60fps all the time. I have BF3 and Crisis 2, but I haven't installed them yet.

Here's a good video by one of our members here with some Crisis 2 detail:

Alienware M17x-R4 Crysis 2 7970m Settings Comparison 1920x1080 OC 950core 1450mem - YouTube

That's with an overclock, as well, though.

And another video from the same guy for BF3:

Alienware M17x-R4 Battlefield 3 BF3 SP & MP Gameplay 7970m OSD 1920x1080 OC 950x1550 - YouTube

The rest shouldn't be an issue. You could probably benefit from the 680M, but you have to decide if the benefit is worth the cost. The way I look at it is that I would rather have that $500 to put towards my next laptop/desktop upgrade.

 

680m:
- Kepler architecture combined with Ivy Bridge = pretty good power efficiency/power
- Get features like 3D if you want, PhysX, tesselation, TXAA etc
- Great Nvidia verde drivers
- More reliable and less issues
- Often seen to be more compatible with SOME games as AMD isn't as focused on keeping up to date

7970m:
- Practically equal performance
- A lot cheaper, and if you don't plan to get the 120Hz 3D then you end up saving a lot of money.
- More people have have problems with their card, and AMD is known for not always being as reliable as nvidia.
- Lower battery life vs. 680m
- Lots of money saved which can be used for future upgrades.

Conclusion:
680m is a better card. More power efficient, sliiightly more powerful, and the nvidia benefits such as drivers and those features
7970m performs equally well, and there's a good chance you wouldn't have issues with it, but it's possible. You would have an extra $500 or so for use in the future.

Hope this helped

Dont trust anything until you get it.

Some reviews say 4 hours, some say 3, some say 2, some say 1 and a half.

A large part of it depends on your spec. For example the 3920xm has a power draw of 55w vs the 3820qm or lower that has 45w.
Also the nvidia cards tend to have better battery life and are more power efficient. Further improved if you don't have the 3D screen because then Optimus may help.

And all down to exactly how much you use it, how dim the screen is, how much the CPU/GPU work during whatever you do.... you'll just have to find the best power saving settings that fit you, which will only improve the battery life of your system if its already power efficient by components.

In my opinion, theoretically if you got a 3720qm or any of the CPUs other than 3920xm.... and the 680m without the 120Hz 3D... and put an effort into maximizing the power efficiency options on your computer... I would GUESS it would definitely last like 2 and a half hours with light use, varies tho

But with the 3D 120Hz option you're talking about it always runs on the discrete GPU, 680m... and I think 2 hours could be a fair guess.

hope this kind of helps

 

I get around the two hours mark with windows power settings at the default battery setting. Only internet, occasional video, and documents though. The 680 is supposed to be better in this respect but I wouldn't expect a quantum leap

 

Gah it's 500$ though! That's the only part! But I do prefer nvidea over Radeon. We'll see.. Maybe this months deals will help me out.

 

You sound like me. I'm an admitted Intel/Nvidia fanboy; I just couldn't justify the price premium, and I have loyally purchased Nvidia products for my desktop since the first GeForce 256.

Leo pretty well summed it up, and PhysX and TXAA were almost enough for me to justify it.

I'll add one more piece of information, though. It seems like the Dell 680Ms are not able to be overclocked right now, if you're at all interested in that. I was able to get my 7970 from 850core/1200mem to 950core/1500mem with very little effort. Ultimately, I have been very happy with it.

 

You do have other more economical options that are very good with today's games and stay with NV. . Maybe a few bucks more for a few FPS less but you 'stay on the path'.

3D/120hz was my top priority and who knows, in a year or so's time that $500+ bucks might be for something 'special'.