Joining The Family - M17x R2 - Just Purchased!

I just purchased the R2 from the outlet for $911 pretax.

I would really like to, but I don't have much time to read through hundreds of pages worth of thread so I will list my question here. Thank you for looking at my posting.

This is my spec and I would like to know if there is any know issues like drivers or just about any concerns that are not resolved with the latest bios. Please let me know if I should be aware of anything.

Nebula Red
i7 720qm
8gb ram 1333mhz
4870m CF
250gh 7200rpm
1200p WUXGA, not the RGB one
Bluray


Again, thank you for reading my post and please let me know if I should be aware of anything...

Does anyone have experience of purchasing scratch and dent for alienware? Will there be a "surprise" element?

 

Hello and Welcome .

Its a very nice machine.

Here are a few links for you to look at, I think they are the more important one.

Latest Driver Lists, and vbios flashing Guide
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/520251-latest-drivers-checklist-m17x-r2-hd5870-september-2010-incl-vbios-flash-guide.html

Sorry I see you have the 4870's, have a look here any way or do a search, sorry don't know much about them.

[PHOTOGUIDE] Cleaning/Replacing Thermal Compunds (GPU+CPU) on M17x-R2
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/509377-photoguide-cleaning-replacing-thermal-compunds-gpu-cpu-m17x-r2.html

((Unfortunatly He's moved it to his forum but it a good guide, follow the link to Tech|Inferno and look for it, its under Alienware m17x))

M17x R2 HD5870m full internal cooling mod - huge improvement!!!
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/507962-m17x-r2-full-internal-cooling-mod-huge-improvement.html

And if you really want:
Welcome to the M17XR2 Overclocking guide!

But then you probably need:
M17x R2 A10 BIOS MOD VF1 RELEASED
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/555010-first-m17xr2-bios-mod-need-suggestions-future-mods.html

But the first one is the most important one, the next two are good if you experiencing heating problems and also to give good internal cleaning.

There were talk of other issues but they were not consistent across all the M17x R2's.

One main thing was when you close the lid and put the laptop into standby, then there were issues like screen brightness adjustments would not work and some other graphics glitches, so I've disabled that option in windows and never really experienced that problem:

Have a look here for more info:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/544810-m17xr2-s3-resume-loss-brightness-control-via-fn-keys-bsod-issues.html

Well there that should get you started

 

Thank you very much for the long guide!

A quick question:

Is there any reason/benefit to flash the vbios for graphics card?? I mean I can oc without it, but is there specific reason why people do it?

Thanks again!

 

Nice purchase! and welcome to the family

have also a look here http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...6970m-your-m17x-r2-single-gpu-crossfirex.html

R2 is a really upgradable machine

 

im just going to see if i can get 5870 cf. i will just get a new laptop once ivy bridge comes out and is available on the outlet. i think the lappy is good enough until then. im thinkin of keepin this, to add to the collection of classy laptops along with my Dell Adamo 13. in five yrs from now, maybe some collector migiht want it

 

Are you sure you didn't get the RGB screen? Thats the best part of the R2. the screen being RGB and the 16:10 aspect ratio are the reasons Im sticking with the R2 and invested so much in it.

 

Im pretty sure it isnt RGB as it didnt directly state it..

MW24N Module,Liquid Crystal Display,17WUXGA,Samsung,M17X10

This is what it says on order status..

I am fine without RGB one I dont think my eyes will be sensitive enough to tell a huge difference.

The non RGB 1200p is still pretty good though right??

 

afaik samsung screens are the RGB ones. (?)

 

I just googled and there was a thread withthe guy with the same part number. His was also CCFL

It seems like my model is one of the first R2 available since when it just came out it offered CCFL 1200p until bit later they only offered RGB for 1200p...

But like 1200p CCFL should still look stunning right???

 

It does, yes!

@CptXabaras the DualCCFL is also a Samsung panel

 

Yes, for the 5870 flashing the bios let you install the AMD/ATI drivers, resulting in some performance benefits.

What you should look into later is upgrading the CPU to either a 920xm or 940xm, this will greatly improve the performance of the machine, and it is not very expensive.

Unfortunately the new CPU will generate more heat.

Check this link:
Intel Core 2 Duo series, Intel Core i7 series items in Shirley's CPU store on eBay!

I order two 940xm's from him and they arrived in 3 days and worked amazingly.

But you'll just have to monitor the CPU temps and make sure you re-pasted the CPU properly, see previously given guide.

Very Nice machine and with new CPU, still one of the Best (My opinion )

 

I also ordered Alienware M17x R2

My spec
Space Black
Intel Core i7-820QM
17 inch UltraSharp WUXGA (1920x1200) RGB LED Display
4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
500 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Crossfire 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5870

I have 8gb ram and 920xm oem waiting at home so I hope it will be nice config.
Now I have M6500. It's the best laptop I ever had. Hope M17x R2 will be better. I'm wondering if 1920x1200 is not too much for dual 5870m. Now I play in WXGA+ res. with one 5870m (7820m) and it's perfect.

I've never had CF config before. Is there sth I should worry about. I read about microstuttering.

 

Welcome also...

Yes the crossfire 5870 can handle the 1920x1200 for most games.

You need to download the latest cap's for the ATI cards and this should fix the flickering, I personally only had flickering in Crysis 2 but after a driver upgrade and cap load its perfect now

You could always upgrade the graphics cards later

Enjoy the machine.

 

sorry for maybe stupid question. But I've never heard about it.
What the CAP means?

 

Sorry we all speak in jargon here

CAP = AMD Catalyst Application Profile

Its to get you games to work properly with cross fire and graphics cards.

You need to download new ones when ever new games are released and install.

Most of the time things work fine but when you get graphics glitches in a new game you need to check for New "CAPs" and see if that game is supported yet.

Follow this link:
Downloads

To the left you'll see an option for ATI Catalyst™ Application Profiles, select that and download.

 

ok Thanks

is there a list of games supported by CF?

 

Usually CF/SLi is supported in all games sooner or later, it's only a matter of time.

 

Thank you all for the reply.

I will def get the i7 extreme soon.

Hmm 5870 cf would be really nice tooo..

I just have a quick question:

According to my service tag, the warranty was not refreshed after the previous owner. So insteaad of 365 days, it shows 604 days... Which is good on my side and I would love to get some extra days that was with Dell's fault.

BUT i was wondering, the laptop is quite old and is a scratch dent model. So it has many malfunctioning right off the bat, I might get a system exchange if they approve it.. The problem is, i know the first 21 days policy, but according to the non refreshed warranty, this laptop was shipped in April 2010... SO obviously I wont get to take the advantage of the first 21 days exchange thing.

I was wondering what I could do.... LOL

 

Skip the 5870, goo straight to 6970

You bought it from Dell right? You should still have at least a 365 day warranty, sweet if you get 605 days.

You should still have the 21 day return period.

The system should run flawless, with the exception of maybe having to change drivers. Hardware wise it should be perfect, just may have some light scratches and such on it.

Youll enjoy it. In my opinion, the R2 is the best system to date in my opinion.

 

Thank you for the advise.

I dont think I can afford the 6970.. I mean I had less than $1000 to spend and this is how I got the R2. I MIGHT get extreme i7.

I never got anything from the outlet thats why I was worried. I looked over the previous support history and man this laptop had multiple issues....

My friend told me that dell might have ran out with the old 4870s... At this point I am just really hoping that something is wrong with the graphics.. So maybe they will repair with the 5870s.. just fingers crossed I guess..

So my question is i know i can return, but i was wondering if i would have 21 days exchange period as well without having the warranty get a refresh... The dilemma is that according to the support history, the last thing that happened to the laptop was system exchange on 10/2010 (and for next 10 months there is no history... What...) so they might think it is wierd... not to mention that the ship date says april/2010.

i know I already got lucky with dell's fault, but I just want to ensure that my 21 days exchange warranty is still there.. just in case.... but could there be a way for that to happen without having to refresh the waarranty?? (hence showing the right shipped date..)

 

...welcome back? I recall there was already a person "Dellienware" on here last year when I purchased my R2. Thought he worked for Alienware or something. Anyways, welcome and congrats. I still feel that aside from the M18x the R2 is one of the better Alienware models.

I was lucky enough to get my dual 4870hd's replaced for 5870hd's under warranty replacement. Must have been an accident. Either way, laptop still runs great and I love it. Good luck with your R2!

 

Thanks for the reply... Do you remember when was this??? This they just unexpectedly bring the 5870s?

THanks

 

This was back in April. My computer had completely powered off and the tech over the phone determined that one of the cards may have been affected as well so they sent a tech to my house with the Motherboard and two cards. I didn't find out they were 5870s until I realized the for some reason the display was popping up windows/images on screen faster on the desktop. I checked my system info and determined it was 5870HD cards, then I doublechecked by checking the information in CCC and confirmed yet again they were both 5870HDs.

 

I have joined family tooday as well, r2 will be shipped on tuesday, till then i must do some research . IMO, why to buy r3 ?, r2 is soo much better ....with SLI

 

Even long after I sell maxd out spec r2 I will tell everyone how this machine is incredible compared to the r3 and m18x. An aluminum outer shell doesn't make up for the non rgb 1080p screen, a cheaper keyboard with poorer backlighting, a cheaper palm rest and cheaper design overall. They must be making way more profit on the new models though.

 

So you are suggesting that the build quality and materials used for M17 R2 and M18x are radically different?? I thought it would be essentially be the same??? What are specific difference in materials use??