*OFFICIAL* "All Powerful" M17x-R2 Edition Owner's Lounge - Part 2

I went with the 620.

It has the same (and sometimes better) performance than the 720, yet the 620 is 32nm and will run cooler.

Most apps and games don't handle 2 cores correctly let alone 4. lol

 

That was exactly my point when Moo was playing his usual "devil's advocate" tune, hehe.

 

If you are going to do normal tasks and games then the 620 is fine, but for folks like myself who also use it as a work system (Photoshop, VMs, etc.) the 720 would the way to go, which is what I did.

 

Here is another interesting read on the Arrandale lineup 11 pages

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mobile-core-i5-arrandale,2522-2.html

 

Can you compare the two? Do you also have/had a 620M?

 

I don't have a 620 to compare it to, sorry. I did bench my system about 2 months ago and was told that my i7 720QM performed as well as the QX9300.

 

Sorry to burst your bubble (? lol) but I have seen benchmarks that included multiple threads and the 620 was equal to the 720.

Certain benchmarks, and not only single threaded but multi-threaded too, showed that the 620 outperformed the 720.

The one area that all the quad core parts are faster than Arrandale is the RAM. Throuhgput and performance is better on the quads as the memory controller is on-die.

The new 32nm Arrandales have the MEM controller built into the GPU die. Still fast but not quite as fast as the on- cpu-die controller

 

I don't doubt that 720QM is enough for your tasks, but to make 620M insufficient or less powerful you need to run apps that effectively utilize more than 4 threads.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=455347&highlight=620

There are more of these 720 vs 620 threads in the Hardware/Accessories forum.

 

Quoting IntelUser on perf b/w the 620 and 720 after reviewing the benchmarks:

"Cinebench R10 32-bit
21.9%/1.9%(Single/Multi) advantage for i7 620M
Equal in WPrime
12.8% advantage to Core i7 720QM in FPU SinJulia
14.4% advantage to Core i7 620M in CPU Zlib

In multi-threaded apps the Core i7 620M was on par, or faster than Core i7 720QM.
In single and lightly threaded apps, there was no contest, the
Core i7 620M wins by miles. There's no reason to opt for Core i7 720QM."

 

Thanks for the link and summary. 620M all the way.
+1 rep to Sleey0

 

I just wish that Dell used the HM55 chipset so we could actually use the Intel HD graphics.

Could probably squeeze out 2.5 hours maybe 3 with it enabled and the 4870's disabled.

 

Oh, I never said that the 720 was faster than the 620, but when you've got 4 VMs running at the same time having 4 cores instead of 2 makes a difference, lol. As I said before it all depends what you plan on doing with your system that should be the deciding factor in what you get. I multitask like crazy and having to run VMs all the time is why I chose the 720.

 

Yeah if Dell had gone down that road with the HM55 i am sure a huge percentage of buyers of the R-2 would have chose that option.Nevertheless the i7 620M is a tasty proc.

 

Yes, PM55 probably costs a few bucks less.
But do you think we would need a BIOS update to make use of the integrated or could it be somehow worked around?

 

You are going to be disappointed with the R2 as there is no VTd support.

 

This question is not M17X related.
I intend to try and enable the integrated on my W510, after swapping the 720 with 520M. The chipset allows it, the question is whether or not I need a BIOS update, as surely Lenovo wouldn't approve my actions.

One of the reasons I abandoned the M17X-R2 as a working machine. My R1 was fine at VT.

 

Nagshead confirmed it will be available in A03 bios

 

Some good news at last!
Will the A03 also make the screen matte?

 

I am not holding my breath.

I sure hope so. I wouldn't purchase a system with only the hope of it being added, though. Too much risk.

I mean, if VT is a must-have for your system I would either wait for A03 to make sure or buy something else.

 

sleey0

i thought you liked your clevo, did you return it?

 

VT-x would be nice already. I will welcome it with open arms if it becomes available.

About the processors, it really depends what you do with your computer. Benchmarks are nice, but really, what will you be doing? I can understand the 620m can perform better, but definitely not in everything. For example, I know for a fact Mathematica 7 runs faster on the 720QM then on the 620M because that's what my buddy has and we run the algorithms parallel and the 720QM is indeed faster. Not that it makes much of a difference, but we do use the program a lot. So for me, the 720 was a better choice.

For anything else, either one is fine. The difference is really not a big deal.

A bigger deal is the RGB LED. Lol.

 

Well, after 2 tecchs at alienware, they are sending 2 new vid cards and a crossover cable, and a tech to replace them....

Anyone know where I can get 32bit network lan drivers for this beast ?

 

support.dell.com

 

you would lose crossfire if they went the HM55 route to enable the IGP of arrandale as HM55 only supports one discrete card

this is why the M17x R1 is really unique amongst laptops, IGP as well as CF/SLI

 

What about the HM57? None of the HM series supports CF or SLI?

 

They could choose the QM57/QS57.

 

I've had my R2 for nearly 2 months now and know that. Not a big deal since it's coming in A03. It's fine with the 32bit OS VMs I need to run and I've got a Remote Desktop setup to a system that I can host 64bit VMs on as a workaround for now.

I upgraded from a Dell Inspiron 9300 that choked on 2 VMs and barely played WoW, either way this system is a HUGE improvement and I've been happy with it.

 

It should support.
Quote:
..."Offers up to 2.5GT/s for fast access to peripheral devices and networking with up to 8 PCI Express* 2.0 x1 ports, configurable as x2 and x4 depending on motherboard designs"...
More money for R&D, support and more ground for issues => no IGP option IMHO.

 

Ha! I didn't even notice - all of my VMs are 32-bit (for work) so i didn't even think to check!

Nice to know it's coming.

I'm coming off of a Dell 630, so having a 820, 6GB 1333 and (2) SSDs makes a world of difference for running 2-4 VMs...

 

TWO!? I only got to replace the secondary card, but it's being replaced twice, so maybe that counts as two? Just not at the same time.

Oh well.

I will be reporting back in the M17x Flickering Thread.

 

Not that simple Aikimox, the chipset (mostly BIOS) has to be enabled to allow communication between the PCI-e ports directly, regardless of the number of lanes available

those difference sizes are just for different peripherals like sounds cards, ethernet, firewire, RAID etc

 

They are only replaceing my secondary card too. Really hope it solves the problem. I hope the tech brings an extra cf cable too.

 

I think the secondary always comes with a CF cable. My first replacement came with the cable. Dunno about the second replacement yet.

 

RGB LED is money in the damn bank, if you pass up on that you'll kick yourself in the .

Is it the best laptop? Hell yes! This thing smokes.

 

A single 5870m is certainly NOT faster than dual 4870s. It's about 30-50% slower depending on the game and settings used. I've compared my stock settings with benchmarks done on the G73 and they were consistently in the 30-50% faster range. So if you extrapolate that at stock clocks, the 5870m is about 15-20% faster than a single 4870m as expected. The advantage of the 5870m is that it draws less power and the core can be OC'd to 800+ mhz. The maximum a 4870m can OC is in the 650-670 mhz range. So a fully overclocked 4870m vs 800+ mhz 5870m puts the performance gap in the 20% range in games I believe (performance doesn't scale linearly with core clock increases alone).

So to answer your question: You can wait or you can get the dual 4870s + RGB LED now and still have the fastest, best built, best looking system on earth. Either way you win because Alienware is the best you can get.

 

Damn, you sold me, I'm done I got one, I'll have it by the end of April hopefully.

 

maybe joker should be a dell sales rep

 

I know yall dont like talkin to guys like me with the lower end model but.....How do you think the 540m performs? Compared to the 620 what do you think?

 

I am sure performance is very similar.

The difference in clock speeds is small and the 620 has slightly more cache.

 

Yep, I'm surprised with the 520M/540M performance. Quite impressive for the mainstream CPUs.

 

Can't wait to see what Sandy Bridge ushers in.

Intel is on a roll and I don't see it stopping anytime soon lol

 

I remember when 500 mhz was crazy. My boss was telling me about 1000 mhz pentium coming and I couldnt believe it lol. My first computer was a Vic20. Had like 3k of ram lmao. I used to make retarded games in basic. Then I discovered chicks and cars. Now Im back to loving computers.

 

I just made my first fresh install on my m17x-r2, but I can't seem to find the Windows 7 theme that was originally installed. Anyone knows where I can find it?

 

That last turn was sooooo wrong!

 

If you didn't back up your AW wallpapers and avatars you can download them from the link in my sig.

I am not sure which theme you are referring to so can't help there. lol

 

Were you looking at model-t's and kirstie alley? Get the best of both worlds: a female alienware.

 

Hmmm i can't seem to Uninstall the Dell drivers for the 4870....Any ideas?

 

When uninstalling check the "remove the driver software" box.

 

I cant find the Uninstalling software on it to remove it...It isnt in the Program files and in control panel all it has is "Repair software"