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

What is it that you need to know?

 

I just wrote up a guide. The link is in my sig

 

Thanks for that

 

No, problem and thanks for the rep.

 

Thanks for the overclocking guide! I will definitely be reading and using that in the near future. However, the guide I was asking for was more of a basic start to finish of how to set up your laptop to peak performance right after taking it out of the box.

Here is the link to the post I made previously:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=463228&page=173


I know people don't tend to have a lot of time on their hands, but if anyone is capable I'll rep u as much as I can..

 

You mentioned, maximum gaming performance. To get the performance, overclocking the 920XM, is not going to do much difference.
Reinstall windows, on the second partition, for daul-booting the OS that came from dell and a new OS, that you can customize to your liking.
I am assuming you have two hard drives in your system. So do a clean install of windows on the second hard disk(or partition). To do that insert the windows disk into the system. Puch the power button, keep clicking on f12 until you enter the the boot menu, where you can select the device to boot from. Choose the CD/DVD drive from the option, if i remember correctly, it is third. It will then start booting from the drive. Follow the on screen intruction carefully, upon reaching the screen where you select the partition to install windows on, select the empty second hard drive(or partition). Windows should then start installing, which will take a while. You will then be prompted to select the options for your system.

After installing windows, install all the drivers from the resource DVD. Download the latest graohics driver from the ati website(google it). After installing the drivers, go to the start menu, and type in msconfig. When it loads up, go to the startup tab, and disable any programs that you do not need to startup. Run disk cleanup and the defragmenter, right click on the drive you installed the operating system on, you should see disk cleanup right away, so run it. Under the tools tab you can see defragmentor, run that too. All of these features and tweaks can be googled, and you can find alot more. To get the best CPU usage, boot up the system, click f2, go to advanced, and go down to Perfromance options, and select CPU Overclocking frequency, set it to 5%, click on ESC twice and go to the last tab and select save and exit. This should be good for the cpu, as for the gpu use the ocing guide. If i did not get, exactly what you wanted , i apologize.

 

No, you absolutely did. My main concern though is this: Not everyone is as skilled at scanning through information and collecting it into a list of necessary fixes in order to make this machine run like it should.

I was hoping there could be a link that we can click that takes you through like a M17x-R2 for dummies page that holds your hand and walks you through what to do step by step. If you don't agree this would help, it's probably because your knowledge far exceeds that of the average computer user.

I know how to do most of these things, but I just received my laptop and I really don't have the time to sit down and spend hours going through all the fixes and links that this most valuable thread contains. I was hoping i could just scroll down a list from 1-50 or something and be ready to go an hour later.

I work 7 days a week, 13 hours a day, and I don't have the time
Some people just need the confidence of a guide to get them started on making their laptop faster.

 

Also, by faster I mean set up correctly to ensure there are no hardware issues. Basically, the guide would help people figure out on the first day whether or not they need to send it back before the 21 days are up.

Those guides for dummies books they sell in the library are actually a hot commodity. You'd be surprised

 

If what i wrote above, does not help, i will try and make a thread, like you stated, but i doubt, i can write it up today. I think i might post it around this week, but just to make sure, what i wrote above is heading it the right direction?

 

If you want to make sure that the device is running properly, just run 3dmark06! It will more than likely spot any CPU or GPU errors.

 

Yes, your post above was pretty much SPOT on. I just wanted it broken down to separate steps like your overclocking guide.

Also, you're right about running 3dmark06, but by running everyone through the same setup process, you can eliminate problems much easier because everyone is working from the same starting point.

I can foresee the guide having a lot of additions and amendments because there are different/better ways to do certain things, but that's what I think will be so helpful in a thread of its own.

I don't expect you will be able to complete this today, but sometime within the next couple days, a start to the thread would be amazing.. After a week or so I can imagine it will have pictures and colors and everything

 

Alot of the tweaks to get the best performance include editing what services startup and editing registries, these are somewhat advanced things to do and can trash your install of windows if done improperly. Although I understand your desire to attain maximum performance, that does come at the cost of being knowledgeable so that you do not compromise your laptop. You could easily change a setting by accident and render the machine not functioning until you at least reformat.

 

While playing with the registry and services, it might improve performance but it is highly not recommended for a basic user to do anything without the knowing what he is doing, one wrong edit, can crash the OS or worse. I will write up the basics.

 

Sounds like how I do most of my learning. Trial and error. Pretty much the main reason I have a separate HDD for benching and testing No guts, no glory.

 

While some are willing to take that risk, others are not. Was simply a caution

 

And a good one at that.

 

Although I do agree with you that only advanced users should mess around with start up processes and registry keys, I also believe that anything you can do yourself, someone else can do.

In other words, if you write out a guide well enough, someone can follow those same steps to increase system performance without compromising the unit.

Half the things I learn and do to my computers are through online tutorials. That being said, I still am only concerned right now with setting up the basics from start to finish with easily accessible links all in one place. Hopefully the guide will include a reformat, BIOS flash, specific driver updates, hardware stress tests, and misc. fixes/tweaks.

The more thorough the guide, the less problems/questions people will have later.

 

I agree 100% about the learning part. The thing is, an experienced user knows how to fix the problem if he makes a mistake where a novice will not

 

I agree with you, but you have to keep in mind also that not all tweaks apply for everyone and for every occasion. Actually those tweaks that are universal, are very very limited.
For instance if you plan to use your computer for benchmarking all the tweaks you will do won't apply for someone with the exact same computer that has to perform everyday tasks and those tweaks won't apply for someone who wants to a bare-bone setup for performance.
There is no such kind of guide so far that I am aware of and I don't believe it will be one out soon because the possible combinations are countless. You can't cover in one guide all the possible scenarios without the user to have to go one step further and modify it again on his own.
But again a basic guide for the OS installation and a step by step drivers installation will be handy, especially for those who take their first steps with computers.

 

Agreed as well. I understand that you can tweak certain things to set up your system for a special purpose that may not work for everything. I think that the tutorial should be kept separate from the tweaking guide, but I do think certain issues need to be addressed such as what settings CCC and bios should be set at to achieve maximum hardware performance for most applications.

It's just a good feeling knowing that your system is performing as it should be in the eyes of the consumer. Not how it performs right out of the box..

 

Also setfsb is back in production and it can work on the m17x r-2 if you take the pll. I found and tell him




http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Very nice program to help trim startup functions and drivers

Try nlite to go extreme and trim the OS

 

so we might get OC'ing on the 720 and 820 soon?

 

If you purchase setfsb and get him to add the pll

 

long time no see on this side of the forums.

I talked with CodeBreaker about this and he said he was going to contact abo.

 

I think I got the right Ollie but I know where I saw it and posted a pic for others to get it

I have been so very busy. ..

 

Ollie.....that iphone for PLL?

lol

 

If he can that would be pro...

 

Andriod, but yes

 

abo said he needs the clock generator, that is the only detail, i could not tell him. the clock generator name ?

 

i think the only way to get it right now is look at the mobo and see what's the model of the pll directly on the chip...

 

Awesome, maybe codebreaker can include a side link to another guide that he or someone else can make to use those programs.

I'd love to learn how to tidy up my system.

 

Clock Generator Number is on the Mobo; You'll have to pull your laptop apart to find it.

 

On another topic, I don't plan on upgrading to another Alienware for a while since this one has pretty much everything I want. But it is inevitable that the next refresh will have at least 1 thing I would like, not die for, but still.

USB 3.0.

And I just stumbled onto this:
GM3000EX - USB 3.0 ExpressCard Host

You guys think this will work with the M17x-R2? I don't see why not. I don't know the price either. Anyway, this one is different because it sits flush inside the laptop.

 

I realized that, the only reason I asked Moo is because he previously go it.

 

SLG8SP585V,

that is it for other wishing to do anything

 

i believe it will still preform at 2.0 speeds

 

Anything going through the expresscard slot will be limited to PCIe 2.0 1x speed I believe (best case scenario)

Frankly, unless native chipset support is there for USB 3.0 I would not bother. If you need faster external storage speeds, use eSata

 

What do you guys think of Intel's Light Peak technology for the future alienware products?

I see their desire to replace all connectors with Light Peak as a little too ambitious since we all have so many peripherals that use usb, hdmi etc. Maybe it could become the standard eventually but 10GBs is not really needed for anything except huge file transfers.

 

It will matter more in the server world than the consumer world

 

How are the trackpad buttons? are they similar to the m11x or m15x?

 

I don't know if anyone else is having this problem. I made two admin accounts on my m17x and they have different lighting schemes. The problem is that now when I login to my account the lighting schemes switch back and forth every 2-3 seconds. If I turn alienFX off and then on again it stops. Anybody know how to make this stop, short of having the same lighting scheme for every account?

 

i think you're the first one to have that problem. i'd report to Dell so they know they need to fix it in the next releases.

 

love my alien! runs bad company 2 freakin smooth.
have steam version and 10.3+profile patch works perfect. no strange glitches all good. loading times are good.

 

10.5 alpha runs BFBC2 even better.

 

finished it yesterday, the game is so short

 

Does the M17x R2 support SATA-III (6GBps)? or just SATA-II (3GBps)?

When I read the "M17x Comprehensive Specs" it showed:

Drives Supported

Hard drives
Two 2.5-inch drive bays supporting:
-SATA-II or SATA-III hard drives
-Solid-state hard drives


Just wanted to know. I attached the specs pdf

THANKS!

 

Sata II.

Won't see SATA III in any laptops for a while as the desktop world has yet to fully incorporate it yet.

 

10.5 gives me all sorts of flickering that 10.3 doesnt give me

 

SATA II in laptops is about 2-3 years old now. The Thinkpad I'm typing on is about 4 years old and is SATA I. SATA III is probably a year away. Maybe when Sandy Bridge is released.

 

any idea on the DELL wireless 1520 performance?
ordered my M17x last night and the only option in Australia is wireless-n 1520. I do not see many people order this one here. so is it mean it is a poor one?