Just got 2 M17x's, have a few questions

This is my first post here, with many more to come I'm thinking. I've never really been into pc gaming, but my gf plays wow on a budget laptop (p6100 processor lol) that I purchased last year for Internet browsing and not much else. Now, with wow lagging like hell and it being tax season, I've decided to get her an m17x, and one for myself of course. I got her an r3 with the 6870 from the outlet Store. I'm in the process of getting an r2 with crossfire 5870s and the rgb screen. I'm paying about 1125 for mine and about 1225 for hers. I think the 6870 will be enough power for her, and I believe I'm correct in thinking my crossfire 5870s will be more powerful, even though it only has the 720 processor. I see a lot of mods on here to upgrade cpu to 920 and dual 6990s, which I'm sure I'll want to do eventually. I guess my questions are, how will her r3 play wow? Max settings and frame rate? And will the 720 in mine bottleneck performance. Sorry if I'm not being very specific, I guess I'm just looking for some input. Thanks in advance for any input

Sent from my Sensation using Tapatalk

 

For your gf, the 6870 is the lowest performing card there fitted into the R3, but it should be plenty just for WoW, considering my former 460m(the lowest version of nvidia available for the R3) was able to run any dx9 games at 60 fps.

On the R2, you should be fine without hitting too many noticeable bottlenecks. And I promise people will tell you to do the upgrades you mentioned

Welcome to the Alienware Club.

P.S. Out of curiosity, did you get the 1920x1200 resolution RGBLED one?

 

Thank you for the reply, and yes I'm getting the 1200p rgbled, I hear it's phenomenal

Sent from my Sensation using Tapatalk

 

Yes it is. You'll love it

 

So after literally a month of drama with dell, the wife and I both have our m17x's. The wife's r3 has already had the mobo, gpu, wifi card, and heatsinks replaced by a tech because she kept having blue screens. They are now on their way tomorrow to replace her gpu again because it idles at about 90 degrees Celsius and regularly hits over 100 since the technician came. My r2, after having the mobo, lcd, hinge, and both 5870s replaced seems to be working alright, but with so so gameplay. I play wow, just started a month ago, and am getting 25-60ish fps running Dells latest drivers. My question is should I be expecting more performance, should I update drivers from amds website, I've heard some people have had issues, or basically is there anything else that I should be doing that I'm unaware of. I'm still new to pc gaming, so thank you all on advance...

Sent from my Sensation using Tapatalk

 

Definitely update with drivers from amd's site. I got much, MUCH better performance from doing that. Am using 12.2 right now.

I got it here. (Windows 7 64bit version)
ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver

My system is pretty much the same as yours. Dual crossfirex 5870ms and i7-720 processor.

I get 60 fps almost all the time in WoW, running on max, except for shadows, which I tuned down to about 2/5 of the bar since I get crappy fps in Dalaran, and that's the only way to smoothen things out. (I'm still on WotLK, so I can't comment on Cataclysm).

***NOTE*** Uninstall ALL video drivers before installing the new ones. You can use driver sweeper for that. Grab that and ccleaner.

Here's how to do it.
1. Turn off Crossfirex (You don't have to do this, but I get a black screen that lasted forever when I did step 2 so it's advisable)
2. Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Uninstall Dell's video driver
3. Restart in safe mode (Keep pressing F8 as your computer boots up)
4. Launch driver sweeper and remove all traces of Dell's video driver
5. Launch ccleaner and run it. Fix any registry errors while you are at it.
6. Restart normally.
7. Install AMD's video driver.
8. Install AMD's Catalyst Application Profile (just google amd cap. I'm using 12.2CAP1 atm)
9. Restart normally.
10. Enable crossfirex if you haven't already.
11. Enjoy!

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Just to be sure. I can just install these over my current drivers right?

Sent from my Sensation using Tapatalk

 

The RGB is gorgeous. You won't be disappointed...until you "upgrade" to a newer laptop. Pretty much all screens lack vividness/vibrance when compared to the R2's RGB.

 

My gf hates her 1600 x 900 WLED screen now after seeing mine, this screen is easily the best I've ever seen. Now I know what all the fuss about this screen was lol.

Thank you so much I will be doing this tonight and will update, thanks again for the detailed steps

Sent from my Sensation using Tapatalk

 

"Thanks for the quick reply. Just to be sure. I can just install these over my current drivers right?"

I would usually say 'no' but I read a thread from 2010
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/625194-no-crossfire-option-ccc-2.html
a few moments ago so I'm not entirely sure now.

Can someone clarify?

 

Hmmm, now I'm not sure what to do either lol...

Sent from my Sensation using Tapatalk

 

Installed the drivers you linked over my current dell drivers last night, and all seems well so far. Thank you for the help. I noticed you also have the 720qm processor, and was wondering if you've oc'ed it and if it helped performance at all. I was thinking about flashing the modded bios, and I'm just curious if it's worth it. Thank you in advance

Sent from my Sensation using Tapatalk

 

If you really want a boost in performance, get one of the 920xm cpus(ES or OEM) in there. These babies, combined with throttlestop, really up the ante. I originally ordered mine with the 720 cpu but after seeing everyone else's benchmarks with the 920, I had to upgrade

I still play a relatively old mmorpg, Anarchy Online, and its graphics is more CPU dependent than GPU(due to the old graphics engine), and I've run 8 game clients simultaneously without any issues or lag.

And yes, the screen is beautiful! AND its 1920x1200, which seems to be hard to find nowadays.

 

Just wanted to point out, that I read all the way through this, and I noticed something. Jiggaman508 got married! Congrats! lol

Evidence: GF in first post, wife a month later. I'm weird, I know.

 

I immediately saw that maybe 15 minutes ago but decided to read through the thread first (between multiple phone calls)...you posted before I did!

Congrats!

 

In his defense, he could be newly married and the first post being a slip of the tongue (finger) as I did that the first few weeks too. Of course, the first time I introduced her as my girlfriend after we were married, things got uncomfortable..but eh well.

 

Ahh...true. Been so long since I've been married, I forgot about that possibility (been married 17 years).

 

You guys crack me up lol, we're getting married later this summer, is it weird I call her my wife already??

On a side note, I played my first 25 man raid today on my laptop and the framerate dropped significantly. I had to drop settings to low for it to be playable. My gf/wife lol played the same raid perfectly smooth on ultra?? Am I supposed to be expecting more or is this normal? I'm a little disappointed by this, I'm thinking my cpu is bottlenecking but am curious to see what you guys think

My specs, M17x r2, 1200p rgb, i7 720qm oc'ed 5%, xfire 5870, 2 raid 0 300 gb SATA drives, 12.2 drivers

Her specs, M17x r3. 900 x 1600 WLED, i7 2720, single 6870, 750 SATA HDD, latest dell drivers..

Any input, advice, or suggestions are greatly appreciated thank you in advance

Sent from my Sensation using Tapatalk

 

alright, so here's some more info. i ran furmark to see what kinda results i would get, and as soon as both gpus got to max load and my fans kicked on high, the charger stopped working. I have to unplug and replug the charger in after a minute or so and then the end turns blue again??? I used the wifes charger, and sure as hell, it worked?? I purchased this off ebay, am out of warranty, and after two months of literal hell, i'm ready to find the man i bought it from and have a few, ahem, words with him. i will never buy another laptop from anyone except the manufacturer, and now i'm just hoping you guys can point me in the right direction here. Please help

 

You might want to see if you can transfer ownership with Dell/Alienware and extend the warranty. There is a chance you can do that online at support.dell.com using the service tag without even talking to anyone. Have you already tried?

 

So after playing on this laptop for a while, i still don't think it's performing the way it should be, so naturally I want to reinstall windows. Only problem is, the dvd drive doesn't work.... My question is what's the best way to go about this? I read you can copy an iso to a usb stick and install windows that way, is this a good idea? I would just replace the dvd drive, but I've already put too much money into this, and am on a tight budget right now. Any suggestions welcome, and again, I appreciate your time

Edit: Is there a way to restore to factory image? And would that help any?? Thanks again

 

Any advice on this? Just don't wanna do anything wrong, since I'm out of warranty, and this is my first gaming rig. Thanks again in advance

Sent from my Sensation using Tapatalk