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

according to your signature you have the 6970? you dont need to install this driver....the stock dell ATI drivers include it.....if you then want to update to a reference driver from ATI, do not uninstall the stock driver..install over the top and you will retain the intel functionality.

 

Why is the Dell 150w adapter listed as supporting the MX 17 R3? Just ordered one of these open box and it said it's coming with a 240w adapter. Seems like a substantial power difference.

 

Hi guys;
this is my first time I bought alienware m17x r3 AMD 6970M and I am very happy with it but I notice that I get uncomfortable heat around power button and on media controllers during gaming. I am asking whether is that normal for Alienware m17x r3. Thank you for your kind help.

 

i dont notice that on mine

 

Do I have to call Dell about this heat?

 

They will not be able to do anything for you most likely. Made sure the fan is working on that side?

 

The fan on that side is working fine and it is kicking when I play crysis2 or any game . In addition I use cooler master sf-19 under my laptop. When I switch to integrated graphic I get no heat while AMD graphic I get heat.

 

Anything? Or does everyone have the 240w adapter?

 

i can verify that the size of the adapter will fit, but at the very least it will charge your system VERY slow....what you rally have to look at tis the amperage....the larger brick is 3.5, the smaller is like half of that.

 

double post

 

I'm having the same issue as well. Is there any known fixed to this

 

Call Dell. There support is awesome. I had a different issue and they were on site within 48hours fixing it.

 

hey guys, amd has just released a high-end notebook gpu which is hd6990m. when i look at the spec, it seems slower than the gtx580m because it has lower clock speed. However, amd claims that the hd6990m is 20% faster than the gtx580m. Amd's claim is too bias and the gtx580m is $300 more expensive, that makes me still believe the gtx580m is still a faster gpu, it must me a reason why the gtx580m costs more. Which gpu do you guys think is the faster one? please help me out, im so confused between the two.

 

Price does not dictate what is faster....most benchmarks are leaning toward the 6990 being slightly faster.....but some people just prefer nvidia over AMD...i did until i replaced my 460 with a 6970.....right now AMD seems to have the edge with manual graphics switching over optimus (which is a disaster). you are right saying that the $300 difference is crazy though...it makes no sense.

 

Notebook Check shows the 580m to be about 6-7% slower than the 6990m

AMD Radeon HD 6990M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

Great to hear!

 

hello folks,
I have a question! How many LCD monitors can I attach to my m17x r3 laptop without buying any extra hardware (for example: triplehead2go or usb-to-hdmi cards or else) ??
I want to connect 2 extra LCD monitors (1980x1020 each) to my m17x r3.
So, in total, I will have 3 monitors:
LCD1 (1920x1080) + M17x R3's own LCD (1920x080) + LCD2 (1920x1080)
Is it possible to do that on my m17x r3 without any extra hardware??

My m17x r3 has Nvidia GTX460M (1.5GB DDR5) graphics card and here is the list of video output ports on it:
1 HDMI out
1 VGA out
1 Mini DisplayPort out

Thank you very much!

 

Pretty sure that with the GTX 460m you are limited to 2 outputs. If you had the 6970m then I think you could do 3 outputs (which I have working on my M18x)

 

which 3 output ports are you using on your m18x??
I think I should be able to use 1 HDMI out for 1 external LCD monitor and 1 Mini DP out for another external LCD monitor but I don't have a chance to try this config. Anyone tried that with an m17x r3??

 

Not talking about ports but rather, display pipelines in the chip itself

The 6970m can output to 3 displays simultaneously while the GTX 460m can only do 2

For my 3, I have the 2 externals as well as the built in laptop display. So I am using internal connection, mini displayport, hdmi

 

So, you are using 1 LCD monitor connected to your mini DP port and another LCD monitor connected to your HDMI port and you are also using your laptop screen, it makes 3 monitors in total.

And how can you be so sure that GTX460m can not do what 6970m does??
Because my alienware m17x r3 also has an HDMI out + mini DP out + VGA out ?!?

 

Because the 6970m and all other cards in its families are designed to drive up to 6 displays at once and utilize features like eyefinity.

Nvidia has surround but it only works in SLI as you need one of the display pipelines from that 2nd GPU since they are only designed for 2 displays per GPU. No clue if you can drive 3 monitors using SLI in the M18x

 

somebody please help me with the corrupted mouse (after flash video playback) error

problem is if i upgrade ontop of the Dell default ATI driver gorup...i loose FN brightness and switching

 

You're not being very specific about the corrupted mouse issue. Is it like the issue in my picasa page, where your mouse cursor turns into a bunch of lines, sorta like a sheet of notebook paper? This has been happening to me a bit when watching a youtube video and I fullscreen.

 

Does anyone actually have a m17x with gtx580m+3D??

someplaces i read yes, others no.

googling this also gives varied results.

i talked to a rep. he said 3d+580m+60hz screen. ??
i told him that it was not possible to have 3d with 60hz then few minutes later, he emails sorry but no 3d.
but then i notice that in the quote that i asked from him, it is given 3d glasses included but nowhere does it say 120hz screen or 3d or not.

so does anyone ACTUALLY OWN m17x with 3d+gtx580m??

quite possible that this question has been asked before. if so, i am sorry. but this thread is way too long, and i am using a samsung wave to read this site. take my word for it, not a pleasant experience.

 

yes i own it. almost wish i didnt. but i do

 

why would you wish that?
what are the problems you are facing?
also what are your specs and how much did it cost you?

on paper it sounds very nice to have a 120Hz screen and the fastest mobile gpu.

 

dell has gimped it with some intrusive throttling. which makes the oc headroom tiny.

 

Hi folks. I have been lurking around here, and I finally bought my R3! Just dropping by to say hi.

 

hi, I was wondering if you guys know if the 6990 would be bottlenecked by a 2630qm?

 

I am getting delivered the 3d 120hz LCD + GTX 580m on Tuesday. Will let you know how that goes.

 

My M17x R3 (using 460M) is freezed when I active 3D Vision, so i have to reset. Any solutions to this issue please?
Thank you
I tried driver 269 from Dell and nVi 280.19 beta, still freeze.

 

Did you call Dell?

 

I've been pretty happy with my R3 so far. Beyond a few software issues, nothing has cropped up and the performance has been top notch. I have noticed, the first time a sound is played when their hasn't been one previously, the speakers are a little slow to actually make the sound, usually by a half second-ish. It doesn't happen if sound is continuous, like music, only when new sound is being played and it was silent before. For example, if I was listening to an audiobook or something and it immediately began with the word "the" I wouldn't hear the enunciation of the "t" only the "he."

Has anyone else had similar issues? It seems like this is a software/driver issue but I'm all up to date, according to Dell. Any thoughts?

 

yeah i have that

 

Anyone have any solutions, or am I just stuck with this moderate nuisance until I get a new rig?

 

you really care?

 

The audio is normal for most high end stereo equipment as well. I have written off as normal.

 

..........

 

my bluetooth device isnt working,when i try yo add new divice,it take forever to scan for new device,cant send,cant receive

 

Does anyone know what is P-state clocking and is there any bios mods for 3920xm and 7970m?

 

what type of bios mods are you looking for?