*NEW* M17xR3 Available for order... details and discussion here

I really dont see how R3 can support sli or xfire with only 2 system fans....end of story.....unless the upgrade option involves Dell supplying you with a hacksaw and a 3rd fan to go with your new sli/xfire setup.

 

Gabe, the R3 will not support dual gpu configuration. Its a documentation error, just like the info on the website.

-Ash

 

GabeZ is there a service manual available yet for the R3 ?..

 

Hi Steve,
I've just confirmed the error in the documentation. It will be corrected so that fellow DCSE technicians won't be confused. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the system beyond technician information.

Quadzilla - Yes, the official service manual became available yesterday.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

Any chance for a link to the service manual?

-Ash

 

Thanks Gabe, much appreciated.

 

We are about to order the R3 soon but we can not decide on the color.

I was thinking black because the keyboard color scheme with match with all.

But my husband wants to get the red (which I do think looks cool too) but I just don't see purple, yellow or green going well with that red.

Any thoughts?

Oh! Anyone know the bluray player speed for the r3?

 

Well, from my perspective, i obviously love red which is why i went Nebula Red on my R2....once the system is open, its all black anyway....ive messed about with all the colours and they all look great. If you go red, the only bits of red you will see when using it are the very thin bits of exterior trim.

I also think that when the lid is closed, the red differentiates my laptop from any other as its such a gorgeous red. I dont know how the red of the R3 compares to the anodized aluminium paint job on my R2, im imagining its pretty good tho, just not anodized aluminium.

hope that helps!

 

It's not on the website yet. Any links?

 

A question came to my mind, is the r3 with 4 dimm slots but come with only 2 loaded when customize or the 4gb ram option gives a different laptop with only 2 dimm? Other words can I buy 2 cheap 2Gb Ram bar and make it easily 8 Gb ram?

 

Here's a link to the manuals guys I'm gonna look it over in a second just to see what the internals look like and hopefully put to rest the slight doubt of Sli/Xfire:

Documentation

 

Yeah guys I just checked out the pics through the full manual, unless Dellienware plans on duct taping the 2nd card to the outside Sli/Xfire hopes are officially dead. No space anywhere in that computer for a 2nd gpu.

 

You will get four slots for four memory sticks afaik. If you order with 4gb, likely it will be 2x2gb sticks and 2 empty slots. You can use them how you wish.....as far as i know, up to a max of 32gb = an 8gb stick in each slot.

Maybe someone can confirm the best way to get an 8gb setup....wether its 4 x 2gb sticks in all four slots or 2x4gb sticks in 2 slots.....i just dont know that one -maybe the case that the ram will perform better as 2 x 4gb as opposed to four 2gb sticks....in which case, you would be advised to get two 4gb sticks to replace the ones it ships with and then sell the original ram.

 

i'm kinda sick of hearing this



this setup is colling dual 4870 and works well but they only didn't chose to go this way

 

Im no expert and apologise that im not familiar with how older systems work....from that pic of yours, it looks like you have one fan cooling both the gpu's? - is that right? - if thats the case, it may well be the case also that the cards proposed for the R3 (if dual config was applicable) require alot more cooling that your 4870's eh? - thats why its a no-go - cant see two 460m's being cooled sufficiently with one fan, maybe thats why Dell didnt utilise that cooling config - what dya think?

 

Hi Stevie,
If I'm correct, that particular picture of an older system shows two video cards and a bridge being cooled by a single fan.

M9750?

Thanks,
Gabe

 

older system that doesn't have 4 dimm slows for sure.

 

It is an M17. And it was designed to cool two 3870m which were like 40W each and even they ran hot.....

 

If it is an Area 51, an article here states about overheating issues with it concerning gpu's.....obvioulsy one reason not to go down that route again....learn from past errors and dont repeat them eh? - i could be wrong but that maybe accounts for the non-possibility of dual gpu's on the R3 if the R3 uses that kinda cooling system?? http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/462357-m9750-overheat-problem.html

Im imagining that Dell knew those problem areas and decided to not offer sli/xf on the R3 but to give cpu and gpu a dedicated cooling fan to avoid ANY overheating issues.

What dya think? - to me , that sounds like a valid explanation as to why no sli/xf action will happen on the R3 and im sure Dell (for its sake and its customers) doesnt want any overheating issues whatsoever with this new rig.

 

On the bright side, it does confirm 2 hdd bays at least lol

 

the 4870 are desktop gpu card slamed into a laptop desktop top tier card and there are 2 of them being cooled by this

now make a calculation 2x 4870 is 2x 800 stream processor on a 65 nm process
2x 5870 is 2x 800 stream processor on a 40 nm process so basicaly it consume less and produce less heat so it could work in that exact system

now in gpu processing power the 5870>460 so if the 460 can't be cooled by this setup i'm going to laugh a LONG time to the face of nvidia's fanboy

 

I noticed in the manual this:

17.3 inch HD+ WLED
17.3 inch FHD WLED
17.3 inch FHD 120 Hz WLED
17.3 inch FHD 120 Hz WLED with nVidia 3D vision support

Hopefully i can get a 120 Hz screen without paying for the Nvidia 3d vision and having to get a 460M, because on the config page i can't select the 120Hz screen without selecting the 460M first. I want to have the 120Hz with a 6970M once it becomes available.

 

where did the 5870 spring from??? lol....and i didnt say that ONE 460m couldnt be cooled, i just said that cooling two of them with one fan would be suicide for the cards.....

 

yeah that setup will DEFINITELY do wonders for Crossfire 6970's for sure!!!

 

Gotta hold off then i reckon eh?

I think ANYONE who thinks that the R3 will sufficiently cool a dual card setup using one fan is bonkers.....unless you want to fry eggs on your laptop and toast your cards beyond recognition.

 

If you guys look at the user manual, it states the bios has this option:

Discrete Graphics 1
Displays the primary discrete graphics.
Discrete Graphics 2
Displays the secondary discrete graphics.

Now looking at the internals of the R3, it's obvious you can't fit another graphics card in there unless it's a 2 in 1 solution. Chipset is HM67(edited post because originally I said PM67 which it is not).

Edit: Here's some overclocking options:

Performance Options Sub-Menu
Override Turbo settings
Allows you to override CPU turbo mode settings.
Long Duration Power Limit
Allows you to set the turbo mode power limit 1 value in watts.
Long Duration Time Window
Allows you to set the turbo mode time 1 value in seconds.
Set Short Duration Power Limit
Allows you to enable or disable short duration power limit.
Short Duration Power Limit Options
Allows you to set the turbo mode power limit 2 value in watts.
Memory Overclocking
Memory Override Support
Allows you to enable or disable the memory override option support.
Disabled: The memory override support is disabled. ••
Enabled: Displays additional memory override support ••options.
Memory Voltage
Allows you to increase memory voltage

Dimensions and weight:
Computer Model
Alienware M17x-R3
Dimensions
Height
Front
44.5 mm (1.75 inches)
Back
45.0 mm (1.77 inches)
Width
410.0 mm (16.14 inches)
Depth
304.0 mm (11.97 inches)
Weight with 9-cell battery and optical drive (starting at)
4.26 kg (9.40 lb) <---------Much lighter than the R2. This makes it a very good mobile 17" notebook.
NOTE: The weight of your laptop will vary depending on the configuration ordered and the manufacturing variability.

Chipset info:

Processor and System Chipset
Processor
Intel Core i5••
Intel Core i7••
L2 cache
256 KB
L3 cache
up to 8 MB
Bus clock
100 MHz
System chipset
Mobile Intel HM67 Express Chipset <------Not PM67!
SDRAM bus width
one or two 64-bit channels of DDR3 memory up to 1333 MHz
Processor address bus width
32 bits
Processor data width
64 bits
BIOS SPI Flash Memory
32 Mbit
Graphics bus
PCIe x16 bus

Hard Drives:
Hard-Drive Storage
Interface
SATA 2.0 (3Gb/s) or SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s)•• <---Say hello to very fast 4k r/w with SSD hopefully!
Solid-State Drive (SSD)••
Number of storage drives
two
Hard drive
two 2.5 inch SATA 2.0 (3Gb/s) or SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) ••hard drives
one solid-state drive

I've attached a photo of the underside of the M17x-R3.

 

Brian, I had a quick look at the service manual and there is no way on earth you can squeeze a 2nd gpu in that thing is there! - given that a single 6970 is still not fully on par with xf 5870, its no solution to a better R2 in my book....im deffo holding off on changing (not that i was gonna anyway as i have only had my beast for 6mths now)

The only really good thing that R3 brought was SB...and a few other minor bits.

Rock on M18x.....bring it on Dell, show us dual card action lol

 

Definitely never going to have a Dual GPU in there even a 2 - 1 seems improbable

 

didnt Ash say the 6970 was a monster gpu, like massive? - how the heck is that even gonna fit in there !

 

The 2 cards that I think would change the R3 into a definite competitor in the top end sector would be 1-the GTX 485m, as long as Dell did a good job on the cooling it should be very possible 2-6970 which I think is a no brainer at this point unless Dell majorly majorly screws up. Either way as long as the rig has good performance based on current specs, is reliable, and pushes at least 4 hours of battery life on normal daily usage I will be a very happy camper.

And on a side note, the 2 in 1 solution is something I hope to god never happens in this rig. I don't remember a single 2in1 gpu rig that Dell has ever made that didn't have overheating issues.

 

Why all the talk about xfire or sli? I thought someone said it was confirmed not to have it.

 

I'm just not sure what kind of business sense it would make. It would be pretty nice, but still 1900x1080 and no RGB. I'm just thinking it's going to be a rumor like the M13x I'll get it though if it supports 3 HDDs

 

Folks, you have a thread for the 18x rumor talk - use it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/546636-m18x-news-article-looks-bogus.html

As for the 17xR3, as Joker mentioned - review the service manual and the owners manual on support.dell.com. Its very clear it does not have a 2nd GPU slot nor does the documentation (specs) suggest it. Its a single GPU design. That being said, lets drop the back and forth on 'Does it support a 2nd GPU????' as there is no reason to speculate any further. Review the documentation yourself -

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/Alw_M17xR3/

Also, if you want to discuss Asus vs AW head over to Off Topic or use the WNSIB section of NBR.

Thanks.

 

Also, you can look back at my earlier post for some pertinent information about the R3: http://forum.notebookreview.com/7048254-post328.html As batboy mentioned, all this info is readily available in the service and user manuals.

 

It looks like the bios will have some features Dell will not take advantage of like dual graphics cards.
I wonder what new options besides better graphics and processors Dell will surprise us with after the initial release.

 

Well to start with.... hopefully the touchpad and speakers are improved, stealth mode and battery charging is fixed.

 

Alright, I think I might have an idea for whats going on here.

See the position of the hard disk next to the GPU in that pic?

If I recall, the "monster card" picture I saw (pretty sure it was on engadget) had a strange positioning of the PCIE finger. Looks like the reason is readily apparent here.

If you were to remove the hard disk directly touching the GPU, you could fit the double length GPU there.

In fact, there isnt even a divider between the two pieces of hardware.

So:

HD6870 = 2xHDD
HD6970 = 1xHDD

Id bet money on it.

-Ash

 

LOL, a fully functioning laptop out of the box would be nice.

 

I'm personally happy that the charging cable attaches on the back now lol.... Maybe it's always been that way? I'm not sure... but I thinkk its going to be better for when I got it at my desk so none of my friends come and trip over the wire LOL. Actually, I really really wish they did something like apple's magsafe for something this expensive. But on a more important note.... Do ya'll think the 460m along with the 2820 i7 would play most of todays games maxxed out? black ops... crysis... alot of racing games (GRID or DIRT 2, maybe even hot pursuit which brings my current computer to its knees)

 

The more I read and look at images of this R3, I can't help but reminisce that this system seems so much like the Dell XPS m1710, but with WAY improved specs. My point is that it's single GPU, but dual HDD and like 4 dimms, but it's 17 inches, quite thin as I almost feel it's fairly similar height to the m1710. But it just seems very familiar. I'm sure some of the XPS m1710 previous owners might agree with me here. This is actually all great news, because for many, the M1710 was the best XPS machine of the entire lineup

 

First, the 4850s (NOT 4870s) were 55nm, 2nd they were not as power hungry as the 4870s (hard designed into the MXM board), 3rd it is not the desktop core, if it was you would be able to get it up to around 900 MHz It is a much reduced power version

And that is MORE than enough cooling for the GTX 460m....it actually looks like the best GPU cooling I have seen on an Alienware so far (the M15x used to hold that crown)

 

Looks like they already removed the R2

Also, amusingly, they have the options for the M15x priced so poorly that it makes a comparable spec'd M17x R3 look like a deal (at least in my eyes)

 

When I pull the site up the R2 isn't gone, they just changed it so when you click on the M17x it brings up 2 links on the next page the R3 or the Classic <--LOL! Leave it to Dell to make the R2(which will still currently stomp the R3) sound like an old mans computer

 

You're right...couldn't find that page

 

It's a wonder anybody can find anything on that website with the way it's looked the last few days, it took me a good 20-30 refreshes to get the page to come up good enough that I could place a friggin order. At least it makes sense in a way now, not ideal, but navigable.

 

LOL yeah classic my foot. The description of the "Classic" says it all though: "The most powerful 17" gaming laptop in the universe" (even if this is no longer true due to x7200). They should just revise it and say, "The most powerful 17" mobile gaming laptop in the universe" since the x7200 uses a desktop processor.

Oh and the R3 description? "Come out to prey" (sounds like bad engrish as if they meant to say come out to PLAY) haha. Well this confirms 100% that Dell is not marketing R3 as their flagship gaming notebook. To be quite honest, if I had a nice SB desktop already, I'd buy the R3 because of it's light 9lbs weight and multimedia features. It seems like a very good mobile 17" notebook, especially when taking optimus battery life into account.

 

I think it's gonna fit what I need/want but I do have to admit that the marketing tactics are pretty ridiculous. "Come out to prey" sounds a bit more like "buy an expensive computer only to get eaten by older ones(you're the prey)" aka the "Classic" lol.

 

the 4850 and 4870 where the same board they only changed the connector from MXM 2.1 to MXM 3.0 and the clock diference was only 50 mhz wich in my case is gone

and the only thing i'm saying is that it's possible to have a single fan cooling 2 gpu it's only not a practical solution thus the new m17x could have been a 2 gpu system but it's not

it's nice to see that alienware transitioned to hm65 for the switchable graphic
what would be nice next would be a CFX/sli setup with switchable graphic now that would be a technological powes that would impress me

 

This is what we were all saying the whole time lol

I only ruled it out since the fan was not centered.

OT though, All in all the M17x R3 is actually an attractive laptop to me. I will admit I am spoiled and used to dual GPUs but for single GPU it would easily more than keep me happy. If the M15x could be had for around $1k with the FHD screen and a GTX 460m I would probably buy that on the spot. The M17x is just too much for a toy right now (I already have my M17x and my monster desktop)

 

manuals for m17xR3 are up!

Alienware: Online Documentation