M17xR3 - Owner Answered Frequently Asked Questions *READ BEFORE POSTING*

A spec of wiggle in mine (powercord that is) but we just meant that there is a tunnel of sorts for the cord so as not to pull out so easily like other lappy's...

 

TY J, mine has just a little wiggle also, I just thought u guys meant it was also very firmly in there (like it wouldnt wiggle at all). Dont want to deal with power jack breaking problems in the future haha...

 

Just FYI, to hold myself off I just bought a 23" ASUS 3D monitor + GTX 580, so you all probably won't see me until I get mine

 

Couple of questions:

1.) Can anyone confirm if the webcam is actually 3mp?

2.) Does the R3 have a subwoofer?

 

I ordered an R3 with a single HD 320 GB standard and left the other slot open for an SSD or a matched HD for RAID – still thinking bout that one. I also ordered the BluRay reader.

Since the chip set supports 2 SATA III drives and several SATA II drives, are the 2 hard drive slots hard wired for the SATA III and the eSATA and Optic Drive wired for SATA II?

 

Exactly. At least that is my take on it

 

That's exactly how it is wired, I've posted this before but here you go:
Port 0=HDD 1(SATA III)
Port 1=HDD 2(SATA III)
Port 2=ODD(SATA II)
Port 3=Esata(SATA II)
Not sure if ports 4 and 5 are used for anything but those have been confirmed by me on my R3.

 

Thank you Dane. I knew this information was somewhere, but I have reached a point where I don't even know where to look and had little success in searching the threads.

I can't wait for when I actually get my R3 ( two months or less?) and I need to find all of the information that has been presented so far.

 

I can personally verify all of that info after using the chipset program from gigabyte and connecting/disconnecting various items from each port, still no idea on the 4/5 ports though. It's an awesome rig, just wish more people could have gotten their hands on them before they were pulled

 

Now that you mention it…

I wonder:
A) How many people here actually have an R3 in their possession now?
B) How many people here have returned an R3?
C) How many people here have ordered an R3 and are waiting for it?

 

I've ordered one and I decided to wait on it.

 

Answer: A x 2

 

Cant seem to find a thread which instructs how to OC the 460m or the SB cpu...Can someone direct me?

 

460m: download any number of programs - the easiest probably being MSI Afterburner (slide the bars and press apply)

CPU: You can only OC the cpu bclk like 5% before it starts to destroy your hardware. read: You can't oc the cpu.

 

Does that guide work for the 460m: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6961104-post1336.html ?

"read: You can't oc the cpu." Is that read present-tense or past-tense? LOLz. Prolly won't OC the cpu, but out of curiosity, what prog can we use with the SB cpus? Is it supported by SetFSB?

Also, what OC'ing options are available in the default(included) BIOS?

 

You can not overclock any non k series sandy bridge cpu's on an H series mobo. At all. Ever.
Actually, you can't even OC a k series cpu on H series mobo.

m17x r3 uses HM67
to oc, we would need QM67

I hate to quote wikipedia, but here;

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge#Overclocking

 

So whyd you say we could OC the cpu earlier? CONFUSEDEDED

 

You can up the bclk, but that can/will destroy your hardware (including mobo, ram, and gpu) if you take it past +5%. There are warnings all over the webnetz that you should not touch the bclk on sandy bridge.
So, yes, I said you can OC the cpu because you technically can.
...But doing so will most likely destroy your hardware, so don't do it unless you enjoy paying thousands of dollars for pretty paper weights.

 

Ah, ic. And doing so is done through the BIOS? Also, in Mandrake's thread, he posted a pic showing this: http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5254/memoryoc.jpg.. Is that the CPU's 4 cores, or something else? And is that done through a dell program, or something else?

 

here, Linus will explain it to you
Linus of NCIX explains sandy bridge chipset differences
This does not cover mobile chipsets (ie HM67), but HM67 = H67, but mobile - hence the added 'M'
Listen to what he says from 1:40 - 1:51

 

That's interesting. Thanks! Again, prolly won't be OCing so watevs.

I just dled the user manual for the R3, and it says it supposed 1333 ram. What ram does it come with by default, and can we buy 1600 ram?

 

If you read the cpu specs on ark.intel.com you will notice that the memory controller on 2720 and above cpus natively support ddr3 at up to 1600mhz.

If you are getting a 2630, you'll need xmp ram to get your 1600 (which is why i have hyperx). In theory, you could run 2000 on any sandy bridge via xmp - it's just that I'm pretty sure no one's making ram like this for laptops.

 

Does the BIOS allow you to push it past this 'limit' you mentioned?

 

mmm see below batboy, I initially said yes, but am now not sure and don't want to be guinea pig

 

I will be getting the 2720, so 1600 woohoo! What's the default memory that it comes with (brand, speed)?

What does "limit" mean? Does that mean till it crashes/freezes? Or does that mean limit meaning it exceeds the 80degrees that everyone talks about when referring to temps to watch out for?

 

default
modded
EDIT: nevermind, that's not more than +5% lol

I'll change my answer to "probably"
I don't really want to find out

 

Actually, I should clarify and thanks for answering in your PM, I meant can you change it using the BIOS to push it past 5%. For some reason, I was thinking the BIOS supported this tweaking even on the non-K cpu. My bad. Thanks for clarifying. I guess thats why we need a R3 owner to do up a thread on OC (what can be done, how-to, etc.).

 

So, the 1600Mhz is still going to work in the 2630 if you are using the kingston hyper ram right?

 

yes.
I should also point out that, according to mandrake, it is possible to use cas7 @1600 with hyperx if you have a 2720 or better.
Why? 2720+ memory controller natively support 1600, so you can manually set the frequency to 1600 in bios - but can not with 2630. If I remember his thread correctly (go take a look, it's a good read), he chose xmp profile 2 (which was profile 1 for me, but i have the 2x 4gb sets and i think he was using 2gb dimms) @ manually set 1600 and it worked. cas7 1600 makes me wish I got a 2720 :/


and @Batboy, yes, the BIOS lets you push the bclk beyond 110khz, which is more than 10%. I did it for 1 restart, just to see if it were possible....with my hdd's and ram disconnected (used an older hdd with win7 + safe mode)

 

In Mandrake's thread, where do you choose that stuff? Is it a program you dl or in the BIOS? It looks like something in windows, cuz it's got more than 1 color lolz.

 

A) I have one in my possession
B) Had considered this after the Sandybridge issue and some problems I was having with the 460M drivers, but decided against it.

I'm going to upgrade to 8GB RAM, and I have a 2720. So from what I'm reading here I need to pick up some Kingston HyperX 1600 RAM?

Thanks.

 

So it's better to just get the 2720 rather than the 2630? You can do an upgrade maybe when they will change your mobo.

 

Hmm, this makes me think that I shouldn't have gotten the 2720, cuz I prolly won't be upgrading the RAM. Is there a noticeable (read: real-life) diff between the stock ram and 1600?

 

Hey

I sold my M17x R1 with 280m Sli because of the noise it made when gaming (Jet-engine). Now I got enough to buy the R3, as I heard it wasn't as loud?

1: Compared to the 280m Sli in the R1, how load is the R3, and which graphics cards should give least amount of noise, 460m or 6870m?

2: 120hz 3D screen vs. 60hz screen; Is the image quality better on the 120hz, or is it just the 3D part? Also compared to the RGB screen on the R2, how is it?

3: Is it possible to put in another graphics card later?

Maybe I was a bit early asking, but if you guys don't know I'll just bump the thread later.

Thanks

 

1)Don't know about the noise on the 6870m but my 460m is actually pretty quiet for a gaming computer with an upper end GPU in it. Just realize any effective cooling system on a gaming computer with upper level GPU's is not going to be quiet at all, the fans spin to dissipate heat if they don't you get A)fried gpu's -or- B) bad performance.
2)The image quality isn't necessarily better but the screen has a smoother more fluid appearance due to the higher refresh rate, especially in games that run at over 60fps. Compared to the RGB screen the contrast and crispness of the colors and image in general is no where near as good.
3)As long as there is support for more GPU's down the road yes.

Now as for getting an R3 unless you're ready to wait until probably May or later you won't get one. Current orders EDD date are now late April which may change again depending on what happens with the Intel fiasco.

 

Hey Dane, you mention that current R3 orders EDD are now late April. Where do you see that? I can't even go to the order page.

 

People that still have standing orders, especially those who ordered through AAFES are having their EDD's bumped to mid to late April. I believe it was the order status discussion thread that people were posting that in.

 

Ok, that makes sense. What does not make sense though is that they don't put the R3 back for order. They could easily put it on order and announce EDD of April. At least people would be able to order and Dell would secure the sale.

 

Agreed, but this is Dell they don't do what makes sense lol.

 

Zero noticeable difference unless you run memory benchmarks all day per an article this week on www.techreport.com.

Exploring the impact of memory speed on Sandy Bridge performance

 

I have a question for you 120Hz owners... Does the system still come with Cyberlink DVD player and if so, is it the old one or are they packaging the current Cyberlink PowerDVD? If the new one, how does the DVD to 3D conversion look? I was checking out PowerDVD's site and noticed that tidbit with the current player.

The best 3D video, Blu-ray player & DVD player software ? PowerDVD 10

 

Did not come with either R3.

 

Sucks - I figured they would've packaged PowerDVD like they did with R1. Oh well. Did they include any DVD player app?

Thanks for the info.

 

I donT think they did but will double check.

I recall someone else asking about powerdvd the first day or two after the R3s were released. Maybe in mandrakes thread? Someone called Dell and they said it's absence was an over site and was sending them out.

 

No DVD player app was included in my shipment

 

I didn't know that you guys want that free dvd software. I always thought that it was a trial version anyway. I have a cool codec program that can open all kinds of video files for free. I can post it that is if batboy allows me.

 

As long as it does not violate the forum rules -

If its freeware, you can post it.

 

Thanks batboy. Yeap. It is a freeware, And i have used this for years. It doesn't contain any spyware or adware. It even include's a small player but I didn't install it cause i want to watch my movies on wmp. Download K-Lite codecpack Enjoy guys.

 

Ohhhhh a codec pack. Yeah, I have mixed feelings on those. They can really muck up playback and cause issues if you grab the wrong one. A good alternative and its a player itself, is Media Player Classic.

Media Player Classic - Home Cinema - Video Player

thanks for the link though.

 

The PowerDVD program I got with my R1 is a full license and allows Blu Ray playback. It is also PowerDVD 8. I do not know if they are still shipping 8 or the newer 10. 10 is needed for 3D playback though. The software might only be included in orders with the Blu Ray drives?