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

sweet mine shipped today! im excited.

 

Well, I succumbed to the back-to-school-itis and purchased an M17x-R2 from Dell Outlet. So I'm part of the Alienware club again. Yay

 

Ok, now I am eyeing the OCZ Vertex 2 EX (120GB)

what is the best memory I can get for my M17x R2 (i7-920xm processor)?
is 1333 the fastest available?

I will probably buy it from Newegg, so if there are any good brands / values you could recommend?

 

Welcome back

What specs?

 

1333MHz is the fastest for your M17X, as this is the speed of the FSB. However, there's other specs you might wanna look at, like the CAS Latency and so, which I'm unfortunately not familiar with. Maybe someone else could enlighten you on this. Kingston Hyper-X I think is your best choice performance-wise. Note also that in your M17X's BIOS, you can boost the voltage fed in the RAM, which accelerate it's I/Os. Finally, put two modules of the same capacity/manufacturer if you wanna fully benefit from the Dual Channel - Double Data Rate feature.

 

Thanks - it looks like (at least at newegg), you cannot get 8GB in that model.

I was looking at GSkill which I think is a good brand:
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Laptop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBSQ

 

Looks good to me.

Note the CAS is 9; the lower this number, the fastest the RAM's response if I'm not mistaken.

eYe

 

i7 620m, 4870s in crossfire, 320gb HD, 6gb of ram, dvd/blu-ray combo drive, WUXGA LED screen. All wrapped in a Nebula Red shell for $1700 + tax. I think I got a good deal.

 

That's weird all of the memory that is CAS 7 or 5 is only speed 1066 and none at 1333 (at least at newegg, all 1333 has a CAS of 9). It seems counterintuitive, no?

 

I would take that deal

Nice machine! Gives you some REAL 4870s to play with now, not that W90 stuff (even though still GDDR3 )

 

Get the Hyper-X Cas 7 1333 kit. It is the best for these machines and is what I have (note my various records in overclocking and benching.....) The price difference is not big either

This stuff:
Newegg.com - Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory Model KHX1333C7S3K2/4G

Although finding it seems to have gotten harder I think I saw some in the marketplace

 

Yeah, haha. I probably won't be doing any benchmarking as I'm already 1 generation of GPUs behind; that and the fact that everyone seems to know how to overvolt the cards and such.

There was also one m17x in the outlet similar specc'd to what I got, but it had a single 5870 and two 500 gig hard drives. It was $60 more, but I decided on this one with the prospect of upgrading the GPUs in the future. If MXM 3.0 is truly the future, I can hopefully skip over the 5870s and get the next gen high-end.

 

Thanks, I will stick with 8GB, they don't have any CAS 7 8GB 1333 I take it?

Only reason I need 8GB is I work with some large DB's and large data sets.

 

no, there is no cas 7 ddr3-1333 8gb kits

 

you know, I gotta ask. when I got my R2, there was like a small scratch and a very small chip alog a piece of the plastic. Should I even sweat it? Or am I being too anal?

The machine itself works PERFECT!

 

see if they will send you a replacement part for you to replace yourself

if they do not and want to do a tech or have you send it in don't bother

 

its on the palm rest part in lower right corner where it meets the metal chassis...

 

my wife jsut smacked me... I think I should just stop being anal... haha cheers!

 

just take a picture as proof for them and get them to send you a new palmrest.

then you got a spare as well

 

guys if i buy two single 5870s (part number C8245) and use the crossfire cable from the 4870s shall hey work in crossfire? i think they have crossfire input dont they?

 

no, they won't work.. sorry

 

how can you be so sure? i know people who bought their machine with single 5870 (part number as stated beore) and then just bought the secondary 5870 (which i think its the same gpu with crossfire cable on it)

 

i am trying to search the forum to find a quote for you but can't right now.. but i am sure i read that this can't be done, slave card is different than the master.
With 4870s even the location of the CF connector is in a different place on the card so they are physically different, not sure about 5870 though/

 

ok if you find it please write it here. i forgot to say i gonna use the heatsink of the second 4870 as well. if you really change direction from left to right, the place of the crossfire input is right.

and all those because Dell doesnt sell the RKV546

 

It will work fine...... When you have 2 masters you just have to enable crossfire in CCC yourself because the driver will see 2 4870s and not 1 4870x2. The CF connector is in the EXACT same location on your 2 4870s....one of them is rotated 180 degrees dude....

The CF connector/cable is the same and it will work perfectly. The heatsinks are also the exact same and will be compatible.

The slave and master cards are identical except for the VBIOS on them......I have been running my cards both flashed to master since I got the machine - did the same with my GTX 280m's.....

 

thanks for the correction.. dude..

sorry for misinforming you, i guess i got confused with those 5870 cards that come without a cf connector.

 

Always glad to help

 

exactly as i thought. one question. so not even needed to flash the slave card with slave vbios?

 

Nope. Master Master works great.

 

good now i have to find two of those. Dell US reports zero availability

 

The cards are only a couple months old. It will be a while before you can order them through spare parts unfortunately

 

do you remember how long did it take for 4870s to be really sold as spare parts? i got them on R1 because of the latency with nvidias so i didnt bother doing the same thing during those days

 

I cannot say how long it took. I also got the upgrade through customer service due to DPC latency.

 

Has anyone ever had their battery stop charging at about 50%?

It was weird my battery never seemed to charge past 50% since it first got down there; until I ran it down to 0% (auto-shutdown) and charged it back up again.

Was it just the chip inside the battery acting wonky or is the computer that smart, letting it discharge to 50% if it sees you have it plugged in all the time, because Li-Ion batteries last much longer when half discharged as opposed to being fully charged all the time?

 

i havent seen something like that referred in the forum. seems like faulty battery. contact Dell to get a new battery tomorrow

 

Still waitin on mine

i7 620 /Twin 160GB Raid 0/4Gb Ram /single 4870/ WUXGA/DVD recorder/Windows Ultimate/ Nebula Red....

$1315 delivered.......when it comes. Gotta love the outlet prices if not the machines sometimes. I returned a really sick M15X. I really wanted an M6500 though. Will send this guy back if they throw up a coupon and there is any worthy stock to choose from

Did you get the box candy?

 

Hey guys....the F5 key on my Alienware mx17x R2 broke last night. It popped out and I tried to pop it back in but it was kinda tricky. During the process the hinges of the plastic retainer on the key broke. So now I need a new F5 key. Can anybody tell me where I can find or buy one?

 

If you are still under warranty just contact Dell tech support and they will replace it for you. If not I suggest eBay..

 

No actually, I'm not. I just ordered keys from a site called laptopkey.com. The hard part is fixing them myself. I have large fingers so I end up breaking small delicate pieces of plastic

 

this happened to me on R1. one of the plastic teeth (of W button) broke and i had to glue this back using a cyanocrylic glue. it was like a surgery

 

What the hell, went shopping for a 2nd M17-R2 and the RGB screen isnt avaiable anymore ?

 

It's still there on the US site. What I did notice, and it's been a month or so since I looked, they removed the core2 nvidia models again but the i5/i7 don't appear to have changed.

 

Yea, mine stopped charging after 50%. I had to let the battery drain completely before it would begin charging, very strange but not major in my opinion. That would be kool if the comp were indeed that smart. What bios are you running? I'm still on A05 bios.

 

Well, my order ended up being cancelled due to an issue with my Paypal account. Once that clears, I'll probably buy a different M17x system as the original one didn't come with the LED screen.

 

Does anybody have problem with mafia 2 and bad company 2.. I just cant get the anilaising to work.. Everything set to max but ugly edges on houses, wires, trees and so on.. Someone noticed this and know a fix.

 

Got mine today and sent it back...........Power supply error during post..then: "NO OPERATING SYSTEM"

I guess i could have tried to fix these issues but in my opinion "CERTIFIED REFURBISHED" would lead me to believe someone actually booted into Windows before boxing and sending it out........who knows what else would have cropped up. Perhaps the issue the original owner had ........ whatever that may be.

They just released a a 20% off coupon so you will save another 5% if when you reorder. Seems to me refurbished is a crapshoot nowadays. I never had problems before. I have returned two Aliens in the last month.......At least the RMA process was painless and fast this time.

...I am going to hold off until the Business side releases a coupon and likely get a Precision M6500 if I can find one with the specs I had on the M17X. 3 year on site warranty standard and all American service centers take the tech calls. The only difference is the graphics card and the 3800 will run anything well.......and render videos faster than a gaming card. But Whats another few weeks of research...Maybe Asus or MSI or Sagar will come out with something great.

 

Got a link to that 20% coupon ?

 

Hi,
need your help and advice. I am looking for a notebook cooler for my M17x-R2 with 2 ATI 5870.

Looking forward for your recommendations.

Does this notebook cooler help that than perhaps the M17x itself does not go into the "scram-jet" cooling mode which can be quite loud??

Thx
Greets

 

there you go 9RJ5SV0QB$$GTM

One of the best coolers for the M17x is the nzxt cryo lx. It keeps idle temps 5-10 degrees lower and when under load i see about 3-5 degrees decrease in temps.

 

I have the same cooler and it works awesome! The fan placement is perfect compared to the other other coolers