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

RGB all the way and order a blueray too!

 

i had a bluray in the m1730 and a 1920x1200 screen so im expecting both, i will get a full specs when the order is generated on support.dell.com then i can call and talk about the hardware.

 

all negotionable. don't get yourself shorted out.

 

if you had an extreme cpu (x9000 or x7800) get them to give you an extreme cpu in return (920xm)

 

Indeed. Sometimes even if you didn't start with one, I was told (Without asking even) that they are sorry that they no longer offer Nvidia GPUs with the new systems, so instead he could offer to upgrade my Processor and Ram in lieu of an Nvidia card. When I saw the specs a the next day I had to do a double take when I saw a 920XM and 8GB of 1333. He had a single card in there, and the only thing I asked at that point was for a dual card system like I originally had which he was able to get approval for.

T8300 -> 920XM
8800mGTX SLI -> 4870 cf
1920x1200 CFL -> 1920x1200 RGB
2GB 667 -> 8GB 1333

I kind of felt bad, but they told me that they have been out of stock with 8800M GTX and 9800M GTX cards since last year and didn't expect any in until June or July at the earliest. They did offer me 8700M SLI to replace my 8800 GTX SLI, but there's a huge discrepancy between the 8700 and 8800 IMHO.

 

I have a OCV Vertex Limited (OCZ Vertex LE (Limited Edition) OCZSSD2-1VTXLE100G 2.5" 100GB SATA II) in my desktop.

It's considerably faster than the 128GB SSD that came with my AW

I didn't try it in my AW, but it's SATA II - so i'd assume the performance is similar.

I tested an OCZ 60GB SSD in both and the speeds were identical

 

How did you get such a good deal. any coupon to use?? I am also looking to buy one M17X with RGB LED.

 

Xenn0X,

how did you get a EDD? I cant seem to get one... for a replacement

 

The samsung ssds AW is using generally suck at 4k speeds (which is where most of the OS and program activity are) - that would explain the jump in performance you are seeing

 

So if Dell offered to give you a free upgrade to a 128gb ssd over a 250gb would you take it even if the 4k speeds suck?

 

the ssd still beats a magnetic disk - so yes

 

Amen.

/10char

 

Thanks...

 

i recieved invoice with the order on it and together with an edd. can track my order online too.

Yeah baby my precious has been send!

 

The Sammy SSD's aren't as bad as people make them out to be.

In fact, they must be the most reliable along with the Intel's or all of these OEM's wouldn't have chosen Samsung as the supplier for SSD's.

 

well they tend to be cheaper (Price), that helps the oem side of life out

they also have good read/write numbers which people like seeing (even if it is at 8MB not 4k)

 

All i can say. I have both notebooks next to each other and the screen is amazing.. super bright and crisp... I am in love with this one compared to ccfl on the r1... so worth the wait.. gonna get wow installed on it and see how it is.. I am sure I will be pleased. BTW noticed that the bios splash screen alien head has color compared to the r1 white one.

 

Wow the r2 included the 2nd hdd bracket and interposer.. sweet. Got an extra.. even though system only had 1 hdd shipped in it

 

I know i mentioned it before but this screen is awesome and really has no bleed whatsoever.. I wish I would have had this originally on the R1.. It makes a difference.. Just trying to find this what this last item is in Device manager that is unknown device.. I have run all the dell driver installs that I can think of and its still there.. Any of you have that happen? Installed, chispet, 10.3 preview drivers, bt, wireless, gigabit network, idt, touchpad, media card reader....

 

I found it.. ST Micro accelerometer.. must have missed that somehow...

 

that would be the freefall sensor - they are built into the chassis and not the hard drive

 

has the new 4870 drivers come out yet ?

 

There is a 10.5 beta, been using it for a while and I can't complain, all the games I play run fine and they are optimized better than 10.3 for bc2.

 

My R2 usually wakes up from hibernate/sleep to a black screen (it wakes correctly maybe 1 of 8 times). Is anybody else experiencing the problem or has any clues on how to fix it?

Edit: It appears the Free Fall Sensor/Accelerometer driver was to blame. Uninstalling it fixed the issue

 

It is usually video driver related. Have u tried uninstalling and reinstalling it?

 

i'm getting my M17Xr2 probably this week. will clean install windows 7 but what u guys recommend?
10.3 drivers + crossfire patch or 10.5b+patch

 

i've installed 10.5 beta with the patches on a clean windows installation and never looked back. i am really happy with the state of ati's driver releases right now

 

Have a link to those 10.5 drivers ?

 

there you go

 

also on page 52 of this thread

 

and in 50 other threads here

 

10.6 Alpha is leaked now at http://strags.com/

 

Yeah, I've tried clean installs (running the Catalyst uninstaller, then booting into safe mode, running driver sweeper to get rid of ATi driver remains, reboot and installing the fresh set of drivers) of various drivers (Latest from Dell site, Catalyst 10.3 preview, Catalyst 10.3a, Catalyst 10.3, Catalyst 10.3b and "Catalyst 10.5" and now "Catalyst 10.6 alpha"). Almost every time the laptop wakes to a black screen from hibernation and also sleep.
Which drivers are the people that don't have wake on hibernation problems using? Any particular install method?

Edit: Turns out the Free Fall Sensor driver was to blame. After uninstalling it, the system wakes from hibernation just fine every single time.

 

test and report!

 

Thanks..I know search function....sigh

 

I cant. CCC doesn't Install. Etc etc. Most of it won't Install and i have yet to find out why...

 

i Had no issues with just installing the preview versions from a fresh install of win7. Crossfire was there and all.. I think what messed it up in the past was driversweeper.. So far everything is amazing on this new system.. super fast compared to r1... Installing games right now so I can actually test it out.. Had to get OS, drivers, and apps done first so I could do an image of it for restore purposes.

 

Thats what I was thinking.. I was even debating to install this.. Doubt I will ever need it.. Once I get enough for the 256gb crucial true ssd i am gonna put that in here with the intel drive and that way both drives are ssd..

 

So I've seen that the majority of people use SSD's to improve load times and startup times. What else do you save on it? I'm pondering buying one, I just haven't chosen a size or brand yet.

 

Well in my R1 it definitely reduced boot times and load times with games and apps. At first i was like whatever its not that much faster.(some of this is due to not doing fresh install of windows but due to cloning the drive initially) Over the past few months I have been use to it and when I put old traditional hdd back in for the preparation of the new system I totally noticed it and frequently grew impatient waiting for it to boot and load apps.

Then once installed in my r2 with fresh install of win7.. All i can say is HOLY S***..,. This really flies now. Install on win7 was around 10 min or so.. boot times are way faster than even on r1. Installing apps/drivers.. some of them I dont even get to see the progression bar... It flashes and all i get is thanks for installing... I am completely impressed with it on the r2 with fresh install..

As many have said.. once you move to ssd, you do not want to move back.. It spoils you.. For example wow loads in 2 seconds with around 80 addons and in dalaran during peak hours.. I am not exaggerating .. On regular HDD it takes approx 15-25 seconds to load or sometimes 45 depending on how much it has to load in the zone..

 

yeah ssd is the way. temporary on an normal laptop with normal harddrive and damn this is bugging me, feels like snalespeed.
can't wait till my r2 gets here. will build in ssd and fly to the moon!

 

I see Intel x-25 being thrown around a lot. I did some searches on NewEgg and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167016
popped up on the front page; good reviews and lots of em. Is 80GB enough or too much?

 

I have the intel x25g2 160 and its awesome.. I would go more than 80gig.. Windows install and main apps will fill it up fast..

 

Agreed, at least 120 minimum. You really won't get much on a 80GB and as you watch that "...GBs free" bar go down fast, it'll kill you inside lol.

 

But +400$ for a 120GB hard drive? Man thats a big chunk of change for something like that. Wouldn't Windows 7 and say, WoW only take up close to 30GB?

 

This is my perdiciment, I want a decent sized SSD but DAMMM....spendy

 

Just got my M17x specs confirmed for my replacement, now i get to call this thread my home =). Hopefully it wont be longer then the 7-10 days they said, but seeing how its dell i really shouldn't expect it on time.


EDIT: Anyone running an m17x with close specs to mine have an idea on what kind speed increases you will get with an ssd? I was thinking of buying a couple and replacing the 7,200 rpm Raid 0 they are sending me, might be worth the money if its a substantial jump.

 

Yeah, that's the rub.

I pulled the trigger on the one in my sig even though it's one of the "slower" SSDs. I didn't do SSD on the lappy I bought last year so with this one I gotta try it considering I'm already spending thousands on the rest of the unit.

 

I got an OCZ vertex in my R2 that I moved from my desktop and I have some mixed feelings. In windows it runs about the same, but my desktop booted windows in 12 seconds (using the boottimer test) while my R2 with the same drive takes 22 seconds. Maybe its some of the alienware software, I am not sure, but 10 more seconds on a 400 dollar SSD and 2500 dollar PC is somewhat frustrating.

 

With SSDs the better drives certainly cost more. My OCZ Vertex Limited was over $400 for a 100GB drive - but it's average read/write is over 220MB/s compared to the AW (Samsung) which is closer to 160MB/s average

All the specs are on the NewEgg tech pages.. don't go cheap on the SSD, and avoid Gen 1 drives as they'll slow down the more you put on them