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    Mx17r4 heat issue? Or..maybe not? And other things

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Tsori, Nov 23, 2012.

  1. Tsori

    Tsori Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ok so I got my r4 yesterday, everything seems fine.

    Spend 5 hours downloading gw2, it auto selects all the highest settings and plays fine. Coming from a touchy card (4870) in a rig with heat issues I get jumpy when anything gets to hot. So after 10 or so mins the heat is really blasting from the back and the strip above the keyboard is very warm.

    Is this normal?

    Secondly can anyone tell me a trusted software for monitoring the temps? It's my first nvidea, so I'm used to the temp monitor in CCC, which the nvidea control panel doesn't have=P

    Should I even need to keep an eye on temps?

    It seemed to run fine,, few drops in fps but nothing major. Game says its generally running between 54 and 70 fps. Is this normal for gw2 highest settings on a 680m?


    Finally, Optimus with the non-3d 680m, how do I tell if its working? Battery life seemed awful ( around an hour and half) just sat on desktop. However since gw2 is set to use the nvidea card in the control menu I'm guessing that since the downloader client was running it had switched to the discreet?


    Just trying to make sure the laptops running as it should before getting too attatched



    Oh one more thing . Can't mx17 have its alien head on the cover change color? All i could find was a thread for a mx11
     
    Tsori, Nov 23, 2012
    #1
  2. ratchetnclank

    ratchetnclank Notebook Deity

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    Yes GW2 is very cpu and gpu intensive so it generates a lot of heat.


    Monitor temps with hwinfo 64.

    GW2 client uses a lot of cpu even when downloading so i guess optimus wasn't working for that executable.
     
    ratchetnclank, Nov 23, 2012
    #2
  3. DDDenniZZZ

    DDDenniZZZ Notebook Deity

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    Yeha monitor temps, GPU-Z aint bad too but only for gpu, but doesnt require install.
    Alienhead cannot change colour on lid, its powered by the led backlight of screen so its going to be white.
    Personally I get a battery life of 4-5 hours, optimus on, I have same GPU as you the 680m. I am using windows 8 though myself.

    On the nvidia control panel, go to same bar as file, go to view I think and there should be a option to show a taskbar icon indicating when the nvidia GPU is being used and can tell you which apps are using it. Like the steam client fires up the nvidia gpu, even though it doesnt really need it, steam games run on the gpu though.
     
    DDDenniZZZ, Nov 23, 2012
    #3
  4. mikecacho

    mikecacho Notebook Evangelist

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    to give you rough temp values that are considered normal for your r4, CPU: 78-84C, GPU 63-67, these are temps that you should see underload.
     
    mikecacho, Nov 23, 2012
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  5. Alienware-Luis_Pardo

    Alienware-Luis_Pardo Guest

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    Alienware-Luis_Pardo, Nov 23, 2012
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  6. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    The alien head on the back on the LCD lid? That should be changeable in Control Center. If you're talking about the power button led color, that should be tied to the battery status but it should also be changeable...or at least I've seen my friend change those led zone colors on his R3.
     
    radji, Nov 23, 2012
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  7. CryoBolt

    CryoBolt Notebook Consultant

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    The alien head back on the LCD doesn't change color. It is lit by the back light of the LCD, which is white.

    Sent from my SGH-T999
     
    CryoBolt, Nov 23, 2012
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  8. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    What, really? :err: Must've been a shortcoming in the R4s.
     
    radji, Nov 23, 2012
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  9. martin541

    martin541 Notebook Consultant

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    i think its a joke to be honest it wouldn't cost dell very much to do this around an extra 80P in manufacturing costs
     
    martin541, Nov 23, 2012
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  10. Tsori

    Tsori Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ahh brilliant, GPU temp doesnt top over 62 (thank you coolmaster U3 ;]) CPU max 72.. thats over 30 mins of gaming.. guess im just being paranoid :p
     
    Tsori, Nov 23, 2012
    #10
  11. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    Especially since all the previous revisions could have the Alien head color customized.
     
    radji, Nov 23, 2012
    #11