Just bought an M17x R4

Snagged this off eBay for $1075 to add to my Alienware collection. I have the M18x R2 and M15x and wanted a M17x R4.

Alienware M17x-R4

i7-3940XM
16GB
GTX980M
500 SSD
1TB HDD
330W adapter
Red

Looks like it has a lot of upgrades already. I don't know if it has the 120Hz screen or not.

 

Damn that's a steal considering the 980m alone would be like 700$

 

Yes, I thought it was a good buy considering what was in it.

 

So you're the one I was bidding against!

jk I only bid $930 so I could see how high it got to

I don't think it had a 120hz screen

 

Oh man... I hate that I bid against a NBR member, but I guess it is going to happen.

I will let you know about the screen. 120Hz would be cool.

 

Haha I aint trippin homie, I honestly bid once just so I could see how high it got, that if it was under $1k I would bid for it and part it out.

The M17x R4 is still my favorite laptop among all the ones I've owned. I've had the AW17, M18x R2, AW18, P770ZM, P750ZM, P870DM, X7200, various Asus/MSI garbage.

Out of all those, M17x R4 still has a soft spot for me. If I see one that is well taken care of, chances are I'd hit it up and build it back to what I had (3940xm + 980m), which still performed super amazing. I had a 120hz screen on my Nebula Red one, ran everything so well, even had the M14x fan in it to cool the CPU super well.

I see you yourself have a wonderful collection of laptops, so I'm sure you know how the 17 R4 feels compared to other machines! Will never be able to find a keyboard just as good as that one. Currently I'm using a P750ZM, and I wish the keys were more chiclet style like the X7200

 

Thanks man.

I don't have the R4 yet, but I am looking forward to getting it!

Sent from my overpriced Galaxy S6 Edge +

 

Picked it up from the UPS Store on Saturday. Haven't had much time to mess with it yet.

Sent from my overpriced Galaxy S6 Edge +

 

Now I'm waiting for the throttle to fully get cured in the Alienware M18x R2 I'd get one...

 

@deadsmiley congrats on the R4, with your specs you'll be able to put new/BGA junk to shame.
Two causes prevented me from getting the M18x R2, Dell Canada had only the 675M SLI (which is just a rebadged 580M Fermi crap!!) and the R4 had the excellent 680M.
Other reason is the M18x came with a 60Hz display, shame really considering all the performance that gets capped above 60fps. I'm a fps junkie, I got used to the 120 display -> I loathe playing on external displays.

 

Thanks! I haven't done much with it as of yet except guinea pig it out to Swick for BIOS testing. It has the 60Hz screen so I can run it without a dedicated card, which I am told we need at the moment.

 

So... I got tired of this thing sitting around unused (with a 980M no less). So I took a hard look at that thermal pads. Replaced them and started up the laptop. I had forgotten where I was at with this thing so here it is in a nutshell.

Win 7 Pro installed with UEFI and Legacy support.
Crucial 500GB mSATA
Raid 0 on the 256GB Samsung 830's
980M
16 GB RAM

I modified my inf file for the latest nvidia drivers which others have reported to have no issues. I am using switchable graphics because this is the only way I can currently run it with Win 7.

This thing is the fastest machine I own and I haven't touched overclocking it. The GPU core is at full boost during Firestrike runs and while gaming. w00t!

 

Glad everything is working out for you! That's the upside regarding the 60Hz display/Optimus is being able to run Win7.
I started thinking about getting an M18 R2 and dropping two 980Ms, then I remember my lovely R4 which is truly more than enough for current games Maybe the next year or the one after or the one after.

 

I am finding that in Mechwarrior Online I have to overclock the CPU to get the GPU even close to full utilization. I am sure it is different depending on the game.

 

@deadsmiley can confirm that the 17xR4 with latest svl7 unlock bios cannot feed more than 68w to cpu as @D2 Ultima said?

 

As far as I know, it should be a motherboard limitation. I sent @TomJGX on a quest to unlock it beyond 68W once and he came back negative even with unlocked BIOS.

 

I am on 11 unlocked. Not sure how to measure just the CPU watts. I know that for some reason I can't get XTU to work on my system. Throttlestop works, but I am not as familiar with that.

 

Are M17x R4's in that high of demand, even with a 2012 creation date? Heck I have often considered getting rid of mine just cause of the issues I have had with Dell and warranties. I figured most would only pay a few hundred, so I couldn't understand the ones I saw on ebay going for over $1000.

 

You can put 980m and 3940xm in the laptop, I believe that's the main reason

 

They are the last true single GPU alienwares ever built and are still immensly powerful when paired with a 3920/3940XM and a 980M

 

Yep. This thing runs very strong.

Sent from my overpriced Galaxy S6 Edge +

 

Hi @deadsmiley I was reading the forums and just wanted to ask you for some help regarding my AW M17xR4.
My processor is Intel Core i7 - 3720QM @ 2.60GHZ and a 16 GB RAM, with a Intel 4000 GPU and a
Nvidia GTX 675M 2GB GDDR5. My problem I believe is with my GPU, I think my Nvidia card has fried.
Im not too good with computers, so just keep in mind I ordered this from Dell factory in 2012, so im not sure if its different from the current ones being released in regards to the compatibility of the GPUs. When I spoke to Dell they told me the GTX 680M is the best GPU thats compatible with my laptop. I read on some forums, with a GPU upgrade, one has to get a new heat sink etc? Please let me know whats the best GPU thats compatible for my laptop for gaming purposes, and if I would need to get a new heat sink for it? I would prefer one that would just "plug and play" and not have to do tedious things for it to work, updating drivers and simple things are fine, but nothing too complex. I would really appreciate this as im not too educated in computers and would prefer not to purchase the wrong product. THANKS.
Pkr 0f d3th

 

to check it id boot into the dell diagnostic tool on you can find it in your boot options

http://www.dell.com/support/Article/us/en/19/446143/EN

I'm not sure AMD wise but when it come to nVidia cards
without driver mods the best GPU you can run is: 680m
with driver mods the best GPU you can run is: 980m

cards that require modded drivers id advise using @j95 's drivers from techinferno

I would also advise running @svl7 's unlocked bios once again from techinferno

easy way to check flip your laptop over & open the bottom panel if you have a three heat pipe heat sink your good

If you want a gtx9xx series speak to @woodzstack i believe he also might be able to sell you a card with a heat sink already attached
for anything else look on ebay (obviously will be second hand & require replacement of thermal pads & paste)

 

Well I am kind of new to the M17x R4. But I have read enough to know that the GTX 675M is just a rebadged 580M. These are known to die an early death. Just google GTX 675M and you will find this is very common.

The 680M is the latest nVidia card that will not require an INF file modification to get the driver to install. See nVidia lists the laptop and the cards that are available in the INF file (it's just a text file). Since the M17x R4 never came from the factory with a GTX 780M, 880M (not recommended due to high heat and general bugginess) 970M or 980M it isn't included in the INF file. However, it's super easy to fix this. I do a simple search and replace and it installs correctly. If you are on Win 8.0 or greater you will have to disable driver signing.

No new heatsink is required. I think the one you have will work fine but please double check me on that.

As far as modding the INF file goes. I chose the quick and dirty route as I was only concerned about installing it on MY laptop.

First find out the Device ID from Device Manager. Like so:

Device Manager>Display Adapters>Right Click on the adapter (it may say it's a Generic VGA device)>Properties>Details Tab>Hardware IDS>Select the second Item from the top and do a ctrl-C to copy that string.

It should look something like this:
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D7&SUBSYS_05511028

13D7 = GTX 980M

Laptop Model Code = 0551 [Alienware M17R4]
Laptop Manufacturer Code = 1028 [Dell]

I like to use 7-zip (it's free) to extract the nVidia driver package. You will find a folder called Display.Driver. This is where you will find a file called nvdmi.inf
Find and replace 0709 with 0551 in the file nvdmi.inf
This will add your machine ID to the Dell INF file and all the driver to install.

 

Yeah I do a great paste job, test it, then ship it too, only certain models - M17X-R4 is one I can do that, because how it's built. Do you alos need the triple pipe heatsink ?

Anyways - send me a PM.

 

Might have been already stated,

680M - can still use in Optimus Mode (means low demand programs will run on Intel iGPU 4000 HD - means lite gaming in most cases

Anything above 680m - in most if not all (I could be wrong I don't have above this in mine - reference http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/gtx-780m-installation-on-m17x-r4.737888/page-2) cases you will need to run off of just the Dedicated Nvidia 7xxm,8xxm,9xxm and maybe a modified motherboard/system bios if running UEFI at all. However those above me know the exact details on what will be needed if you do go with anything above 680m.

Also be aware that running on just a dedicated (the Nvidia is dedicated) will run your battery do a little faster between charges, but once again those above can help you fine tune the settings to get the maximum time out of your battery.

 

All of the nvidia GPUs can run optimus or dGPU only depending on how your BIOS is set up and what INF you install from j95. M17x R4 can run all nvidia cards, but only the 675M and 680M can run 3D mode

 

Okay I don't post anymore I am apparently wrong on what I have read or have read too much and have too many things mixed up

j/k - I try my best to post what I do know with the caveat that I might not be right but at least post what I can remember. So hopefully no harm no foul.