M17x "All Powerful" General Information Thread

whoopie dooo

yea they are now ....

any which way you DON'T BASE YOUR Decision off that because you can get another one next day shipping .... you will have the hd caddy before your system ......

so really you can go ahead and spend the extra because of it i don't care i was just stating a fact. Sometimes in life things are not 100% and you have to deal with them

 

Okay thanks.

 

You are correct.
I was ready to cough up the money since i need to hook up another drive. I did asked my rep on the phone about it, however a week later i am still waiting on the call back. So I called AW techy, mind you 2 transfers and 3 minutes later in the middle of the day ( to me it is a great service) i asked tech. and I got the same thing. I told him that i have a second HDD, from old laptop that i need to connect, and since I have a bay, I would rather do that vs external enclosure/usb. The guy, mind you polite and right to the point, told me i should have cage installed already or included with the laptop, if i need assistance with putting the drive just give him a call and he would walk through. If i need the cage, inter. and screws, just call him and they would send it out. SO he hopes i will enjoy my new laptop when i get it (thursday)
I was happy with my first interaction/answer.:yes:

 

We just lost the option to have a WUXGA screen, anyone have an idea why or if this will change?

 

I just went to dell.com and it still showed the option for WUXGA.

 

I mean in my country sorry >>> Belgium

 

Ouch. Sorry to hear that.

 

I'm ordering once windows 7 is the standard OS so i still have a few months, maybe there available by then. Fingers crossed

 

I can't imagine them still having any availability problems in a few months time, you should be fine.

 

Hey folks-

Am in the process of ordering a new machine (ie, doing it today) and was just checking out all the content here before doing so- and am glad I did now.

I keep reading references to a guide to OC'ing the 8600 by Moo- is that for this machine and if it does work, that makes me very happy as I am trying desperately to keep costs down (college student- what do you expect?) and saving the few hundred on a proc that I can always upgrade myself later would be ideal if I knew I could OC the one that I *will* be getting...

Thanks for all the help you all have been so far, and I look forward to spending a lot more time on the forum from now on!

 

yea its for this laptop

i have mine @ 3.0 ghz 24/7 and 3.25 during benching

 

Okay- so just got off the phone, ordering is done! Only hitch came from the character limit on the nameplate...for some reason sticking "Praetorian" on it in between my actual name was just a bit too much!

Am excited. Now just have to wait a month...

Thanks for all the help, folks, and Moo, I fully intend on getting mine up to 3.00 Ghz for a while until upgrading it. Will more than likely be wandering aimlessly around the forums looking for help when that time comes.

 

why ?

i created a Video how to do it

 

I meant the OC'ing, not the upgrading. Already watched both your videos just for the pleasure of it.

 

i have showed how to do that as well

 

so im wondering if a $300 gpu will make that much of a difference? do most actually use both gpu's (sli)? would it be cheaper to get the single 260m and buy one aftermarket? if so, where are they sold? i cant find them anywhere online... thanks gurus

 

what cpu's are you comparing?

as far as gpu's, id get the sli config installed. at the aftermarket cost and issues that can arrise from install, your better off having the sli completed with the unit.

 

i plan on just getting the p8600 (good enuf for now) and upgrade later... i've heard from some that most games don't fully use dual gpu's... and i've already ask a similar question that moo answered but it could just be a matter of opinion... i want to know if it is a fact.. more importantly is it worth $300 to upgrade now rather than wait until most games use sli (or xfire)? im just looking for ways to cut cost while still getting a great upgradable laptop that lasts for at least 4 years.

 

NO SLI is worth is and to get another GPU will be 500 for the card and prolly 150-250 for the heatsink

GET SLI 260's


People are retarded and always go games don't support SLI when actually more games support SLI then not ( i am refering to actual big name games .....not indie etc and even then you can force SLI)

 

hey moo, what about the screen? i've heard people saying they're gonna run out of screens soon... is the 1440x900 that much better than 1920x1200? i will be gaming and playing movies but is it a big diff?

 

Hey guys, long time lurker, signed up cause I have a m17x now (1st laptop :]). However I a question. I have the dell beta drivers and my cpu OCed at 2.93GHz. For the past couple of days my computer has been locking up and freezing. First it started when I was encoding a video file, and now it just happens randomly. What could be my problem?

 

Well, if it were me I'd be replacing the beta drivers. My system seems very happy at 2.93 GHz - even running BOINC (100% CPU usage) for hours at a time.

 

alright, reverted back to the old drivers. Let's see how this goes

 

I hope that fixes it. Maybe you overclocked too far.

 

It's probably just the processor... mine doesn't BSOD very often either... but it just won't clock up to 3.06 properly I run it at 2.93 no sweat... although I often don't even need to overclock it in my encoding or games becuase this computer is so powerful!

 

T9600, sli 260M, and 1920 screen is the best bang-for-the-buck config.

 

upgrade to the newest BIOS to OC futthur

 

If he's already having problems with overclocking, it's not a good idea to try more OC, even with a new bios.

My intelligent advice: Don't OC anymore, it's not worth it. You would hardly see a difference anyway, especially for gaming.

 

EARTH TO ANGELIC

QX9300 did not OC well before. With the new bios its more stable

SO flash to the new BIOS and post in the qx9300 overclockign thread as this place isn't very suiteing

 

EARTH TO MOO.

Overclocking the processor isn't going to help his gaming much anyway. Be lucky if he gets an extra 1 FPS.

Just be careful overclocking.

 

i agree it won't

unless its GTA 4 or Prototype to the ever more increasing console ports

 

Even then I doubt you'd see a difference. Except a slight bump in 3D Mark.

Anyway, serious question. Im curious how cool this beast has been after it's been OC'ed (and before!). Is it holding up well? I wouldn't OC if it's getting too hot.

 

O yea thats only .3 ghz overclock

and no overheating even running 3.06 according to members


3dmark 06 is crap and needs to die

the Cooling in the machine is great and to get temps for a maxed out system contact mandrake and quadzilla

 

I'm glad to hear the cooling system is very well done. Gives me faith in Alienware.

Im seriously surprised OC'ing the CPU gave Maximus such a huge bump. That doesn't seem right. Maybe those games use the CPU more than I thought.

 

after i get my M17x, is there anything im required to upgrade?

 

i finally think im ready to order. Right now, Stock everything except upgraded screen, and 1Tb raid 0. Is this okay? Thoughts?

 

You don't game too mutch but what HD movies?

Greetings
Julian

 

Yea exactly, Probably only going to play a few games. Besides, i feel the 1gb card will be pretty good.

 

it is trust me, i haven't played a game on it that it can't handle

 

Thanks moo! So you only have 1 card then instead of SLI?

 

yup college is a killer

 

Well reverting back to the old video drivers seemed to work. Though once in awhile the screen turns black, then white, then back to normal.

Also, anyone else's DVD drive leave a mark on their discs when they eject them?

 

so is 1 gpu good enough for most games (im sure i will upgrade later)? Also if I do get 1 GB instead of SLI, with the money i save, should I get a q9000 or is the p8700 almost as good? (I plan to upgrade to qx9300 or even i7, if i can, but not anytime soon)

 

i dont think you can go to the i7....something about different sockets....

 

ya i wasn't too sure either but i do plan on upgrading to qx9300... but is the q9000 that much better than p8700?

 

whoops... i mean p8600....

 

Which is better can be subjective here based on use.. The P8600 can OC higher but any apps with quad support will run better on the q9000. The only way to know for sure is to run side by side tests on a per app basis.

 

hmm... well i think ima get the 8600 and use the saved money from the single gpu to get a 256gb ssd. that will do some good right?

 

I think you would see a bigger performance difference with the SSD. I would do that also.

 

okies - added Axman's bios recovery thread....