*OFFICIAL* "All Powerful" M17xR2 Edition Owner's Lounge - Part 3

Result

3dmark06:19657 Specs: 920xm, 5870CF

This is stock with the 5% OC in the bios. Stock GPU's.
Temps were on the CPU: 82, 79, 78, 76

how do you OC the CPU's on the 920s without TS? Where do you make the adjustments?

edit: Stereo, my idle temps are 38-42ish. Gaming is about 67-75ish. Heavy CPU games like source go higher than the GPU games like Crysis. CS:S/L4D the temps go to about 75-80. 3dmark06 is more CPU intensive than GPU now and therefore my 82 on one core is a result of that. I can't seem to get 3dmark11 to work as I get a "keyboard stopped responding error" or something. I unticked the box "scan for hardware" but that didn't help. Hopefully this gets patched or someone else knows a workaround.

 

hey, R2 owners, tell me something please: which is easier:

A) have DUAL CF 5870, but
upgrade a low i7 cpu to 920xm
B) have a 920xm
but only 1 5870 and upgrade to DUAL CF?
?

 

Get the extra 5970M, a much better upgrade.

A 740QM should be good enough, if that's what you mean by low. That's the lowest Alienware offers.

 

START with dual 5870s CF... Reason being getting the RIGHT SLAVE CARD from Dell can take months of headaches and calls to DELL!!! They kept sending me the wrong cards... with the slave heatsink on it! It was a complete nightmare! Even had replacement unit sent to me just so they can get it right! n with my luck, one of the cards was faulty, so i had to go through the whole thing again! took almost 2 months to get CF working properly!!

920xm's on the other hand... are available freely everywhere... such as ebay ... and you can pickup an ES/QS off ebay for cheap

So don't make my mistake... go for the CF 5870s right off the bat!

 

you know im getting to look at the options atm... the other option is to get fully loaded but with 900p screen and i saw screens on ebay...
so basically what u guys all pointing out is get CF and 920 xm can be bought. I just saw the video and dont think its that easy... dunno...

 

RGB is very important and an essential feature. Can someone respond to my post above about my system btw?

 

ya but i was pointing out i saw custom screens on ebay, wondered if is it possible to swap 900p for 1200p

BTW can any1 interprit:
CROSSFIRE 1gb 5870
and DUAL CROSSFIRE 2gb 5870
these are different things??? cause i also see something like 1 GB ATI Radeon HD 5870.. site is mess


*Update*

For $2300 I got saved an order (exclusively )
Description
125V Power Cord
210W/240W switchable Slim 3P A/C Adapter
5.1 Channel Audio
64BIT Operating System
Alienware M17x R2 Laptop
Processor: Intel Core i7-920 Processor (8MB L3 Cache, 1MB L2 Cache, 2.66GHz)
8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
256 GB Solid State Drive Ultra Performance
8X DVD +/- RW Optical Drive
Crossfire 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5870
Dell Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini-Card
Shipping Material
Accessory Kit
Information
Label
Notebook Keyboard
Information
AUTO-UPDATES,ON
Information
Information
Information
Hard Drive Bracket
Software
Service Software
Cyberlink Power DVD 8.0
Software
Operating System DVD
Alienware AVATAR 7
Cyberlink
Image Restore Software
Operating System DVD
Command Center
Software
17 inch UltraSharp WUXGA (1920x1200) LCD Display
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
Space Black
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module
9 Cell Primary Battery

so if i don't get R3 Im getting this. one thing though... I REALLY like lunar silver :/// ....

 

dual is just redundant. There is 4 cpus i think quad CF but only found in desktops and hardly useful. Dual CF is just poorly written. 1 GB 5870 is a single card. Each one is 1 gig. I don't know about you but I wouldn't want to hassle swapping screens. Like most said, CF is the way to go. You are likely to not run into any slave issues or anything like that. A cpu swap is easier because it is very easy to find a CPU on ebay. Honestly, very few games run better on the 920. The 740 is still very capable. Most games are still single threaded to my knowledge. Crysis doesnt even benefit much. I hear BFBC 2 does benefit from 4 cores at higher frequency though..maybe metro 2033 as well. but most games are gpu bound and therefore 2 5870s is about the best right now.

 

thank you all for help,
dave, do u think it is possible to somehow change space black to lunar silver? and wht u think of cfg i got upstairs?

 

Are you buying an outlet m17x or a new one? If your gettin an outlet one dell does not change the configuration of them at all. I ordered an outlet m17x r2 and wanted a processor upgrade and was denied. Once you get the system you can swap the black aluminum parts for silver ones. I have the part numbers if you beed them but check ebay if you want to got hat route. The chassis for the m17x buying parts seperatley is about $200. Hope this helps.

 

this is certified refurbished one i think it's maxed out in terms of specs, why would i need more?. $200 for pannel a & pannel b????

 

Leo JUMP on that system. It is almost the same as the one I got but you have more ram and a faster HD. You get the best processor, the best CF system, the BEST screen. I paid about 1800 US for that system but without the ram upgrade and the SSD HD. I did get the lunar silver and it is nice but honestly I think the black tends to look pretty slick too. That system is the best system for gaming AW has. People paid 4k+ on systems configured like that. You will be a very happy camper.

I was actually waiting for the R3 with 6970 but the deals on the R2's are insane (and I needed a system now). Games will play smooth.

Plus in a few years when the new consoles hit market, you will not play max settings on either the m17x r2 or it's successor as new consoles typically rival the best desktops of THAT year.

That is a great system.

 

see i don't have time to wait too.
and i needed the damn HDMI IN exactly for console ... so yea my first option is still to "steal" off somebody an R3 that was shipped with flawed mb, but i dont have time at all, so if no luck with that in couple days (till dell refunds me r3 cost that didnt ship) i will be stickin with this r2

 

Well good luck with what you decide but the system you have the option to get is a powerhouse. I guess u should decide if you can live without hdmi in. The RGB and CF with the amazing build quality is a real consideration. I was a first gen adopter of the m15x and it had a lot of issues to contend with. This R2 is ironed out really well. You can always look at other vendors.

 

honestly... like 3 things why purchase an alienware:
1) can get it fast at this moment (is critical)
2) is upgradable (well, at least in general)
3) looks amazing.
i dunno... what else is out there? clevo? sager? they ran out of one CPUs, the others are on backorder, i dunno i guess i did research but couldnt find anything matching, correct me if wrong

 

Anyone else find something odd with this? Like ppl have said the outlet site is a mess.. and often has typos... might want to look into this...

it appears to have the i7 920 DESKTOP cpu lol which is 2.66ghz ...

the mobile one is the 920XM cpu @ 2.0ghz (3.2 turbo)

However... i'm thinking ... considering the price... that it's really the i7-620M Processor (which is a dual-core with HT @ 2.66 GHz)... and they just got the 6 mixed up with a 9?

Not sure... but i'd double check before you are utterly disappointed upon receiving your lappy... thinking it was coming with an extreme quad.. and shows up with a dual-core :s

 

it is the 920xm, dell is just incapable of proof reading their own website....

 

wow... for that cheap? i'd buy 5 and flip them lol

 

then you are left with a shell of a laptop....have to buy another cpu to sell it and then you will be lucky to break even since why would anyone buy your laptop when they could get a comparable one off the outlet

dell knows what they are doing

 

^^^^ i'll be honest... i did not understand that bit at ALL LOL... sorry bro..maybe its just me???

 

If you buy the laptop to sell just the cpu you have the rest of a laptop leftover. You then need to purchase a new cpu to put in that laptop so you can sell it off (assuming you do not want a bunch of parts lying around losing value). At that point you will have to lower the price on the laptop to sell it with the new cpu as you are competing against the dell outlet from where you originally got the laptop. Once everything is said and done, you would almost certainly end up losing money

Dell knows this and can take advantage of it to get rid of outlet laptops they would otherwise be stuck with.

 

Oh yes now i get it... and you are absolutely right...

i was just saying (half jokingly) that if 5 M17x's spec'd like that were available at the outlet store for that price... i'd buy them all, and resell them for like 2,800-3000$ which they would still fly at... pocketing at least 5bills a pop lol... 2,300 got you a i7 720 M15x with 4gb ram and a gtx 260m about a year ago... ok those weer brand new and this is a refurb but still...sheesh... tech moves quick huh..

So Scook you thinkin about an r3? or waiting on the M18x? Or running your badboy to the grave ... i'd go with option 3

 

Tech does move quick. I would be lucky to get $2k for my M17x and it is literally the fastest Core 2 laptop in the world (see sig )!....it cost me $3500

Good thing I am happy with it!

 

I feel your pain I spent a lot on my system too and would be lucky to get half of what it cost.

 

well i am lucky 1) i dont need something more from my system, 2) i am not persuaded to buy something just because its newer and 3) that i am going to keep it until i see it cant handle what i want. In a few years i guess. lool

 

Great post just wanted to say thanks for the centralized info location. Just ordered a refurbed R2 off the outlet store and am anxiously awaiting it's arival.

 

Great find, the entire case/chassis is about $200 if buying parts by themselves. The lcd panel and bottum panel shounld run you $150 if that. Bad part is these parts are the anodized aluminum ones so they can get up there.
For example here are some I found on ebay

Lcd Link:
Alienware M17X Silver LCD Back Cover P/N Y750M (B) - eBay (item 320549140304 end time Mar-12-11 14:25:27 PST)

Bottum Link:
NEW ALIENWARE M17X SILVER BOTTOM BASE Y727M - eBay (item 320637563381 end time Mar-02-11 18:05:06 PST)

I would alis write down the dell part numbers and google / shop for them and you may find them cheaper. I hope this helps

 

Edit: delete me

 

OK, off the wall question pertaining to raid0.

1) Comp 1 > 500GB drive
2) Comp 2 > 2x500GB drives in Raid0

Would I be able to take a full drive image from Comp1 and put it on Comp2 and would it boot ? I was going to use the Windows7 built in drive imaging software, the full system image option in backup.

Basically, dont wanna re-install everything, the systems are identical except for whats noted above, well, OK CPU speeds are different...

Basically, planning on moving some drives around in the 2 below systems, with a new raid0 setup in one of them, new toy on the way and I need to move stuff around.

 

It certainly might since they are so close to being identical.

As far as using an image from a non-RAID installation to reinstall to the same system after the drives are configured in RAID0, I have done that before on the XPS M1730 I had prior to my R2 and it worked just fine.

If your system information (right click Computer, go to Properties) contains any information like your Service Tag Number or Express Service Code, you may need to delete or edit that information after moving the drives or it will not match the current machine. You can find that information in the Windows registry. This would only be present in system properties if you are running the original installation from AW. If you ever nuked your installation and reinstalled from scratch using a Win7 installation disc, it's probably not in your system properties any more.

 

Thanks, I knew going from a raid0 -> non raid was a no go, wasnt sure about other way.

 

Actually, I did that before also. Here was the scenario... I had imaged my factory original RAID0 installation on the XPS M1730 to an external HDD. Later on I had problems and Dell sent me two new hard drives under warranty. I installed them, forgot to put them in RAID0 and reinstalled from the image I had created. It worked great. About a month later, I decided I wanted the RAID0 back, created a new image and then used it to reinstall after putting the drives into RAID0. Maybe I was just lucky, but it worked out fine going both ways on the same machine. That may have been because the Intel Matrix/Rapid Store software and drivers were installed under both scenarios.

That being said, you probably should install the Intel Rapid Store Technology software on the single drive system (if you haven't already) before creating a partition image from the single drive machine. If you are simply swapping them out between machines and not reimaging, then it probably does not matter.

I doubt this would work without problems if the machines had any significant hardware differences. I would expect BSOD problems if there were significant hardware differences.

 

I am impressed, useally goin from raid0 -> non raid is useally a fail from what I understand in windows. I know in AIX we can manipulate the LPP's and the image directly to make it work....

As for the INtel RST stuff, yea, I have that on both systems.

 

Maybe I was just lucky going the opposite direction.

When I have some spare time to experiment, I think I will try it on my M17x just to see what happens.

 

Changing between raid and non raid is ok as long as the image being used was installed with raid enabled in the bios (even if on a single drive). This is due to the needed storage controller drivers.

Had a nightmare with this on my desktop and got lucky and it worked (do not know what I did that made it work though). I would recommend re-installing though, it is a frustrating path otherwise.

 

So, scook, what I should do, going from non-raid --> raid0, is in the bios just switch to raid and should be fine ?

 

Not quite. You will notice that if you switch to raid and try to boot the single drive it will BSOD EVERY time. That is because the storage mode is different. The problem comes because you need to have a bootable image to move to the raid array. If the image was installed with the bios set to non-raid you might as well just reinstall with raid enabled. It sucks but that is the only good solution I know of.

 

OK, now that sort of makes sense in the experience I had with the XPS M1730. I imaged a RAID0 partition, used that image to install to a non-RAID0 drive config. Then, I made an image of the non-RAID0 partition to use when going back to RAID0. The common thread seems to be that I started from a RAID image to begin with and all the necessary drivers were likely present and accounted for in both of the imaged partitions.

Does that seem like an plausible explanation of why that worked for me? If it's true, that would be really good to know because using a pristine image with all the drivers, games and apps installed beats the heck out of spending two days loading crap after a clean install.

 

what do you people think our chances are of AW/Dell supporting the 6970 for us in the future with bios support.

 

None whatsoever. Just like the r1 never got 5870 support.

 

So, basically, what I am trying to do id this:

I have a single 500G drive in one my systems, system A. System B will have 2 500G drives, setup in a raid0. What would I check to see if I can transfer the image from System A to System B ?

 

wwoods, I think you're just going to have to try it and see if it works or doesn't. If you notice my last reply I think the common denominator for the success I had on the XPS was that I started with an image that was a RAID0 and the second image was a descendant of the first. It may have been a failure like scook9 is describing if it were not for that. I'm not 100% certain of that, but the only way to know for sure it to try it. That's also the best way to learn... for me anyway. There's no harm or damage to come from trying.

For what it's worth, I took my M17x R2 out of RAID0 a while back and have been planning to go back to RAID0. I am planning to image my current set up, which was a clean installation in a non-RAID environment. It has the RST installed, but never was a RAID partition. So, I'll find out how that works out for me and maybe we can compare notes. I have other plans for this afternoon or I would try it right now. Maybe next weekend.

I still have an image of my factory installation so I can restore that partition in RAID0 if this fails.

 

with win 7 an vista this mostly works too, today i popped an old XPS M1730 drive in a Compaq NQ70 and vista booted up just fine
try that with XP ... :-D

 

Wow, Psyloid, that's pretty cool. You're right, that would be very unlikely to work successfully with XP. I tried that a number of times and every time it was blue screen hell using XP. I'm making a wild guess that the reason is that there are more resident drivers in Vista and Win7. But, it would also be interesting to know if that same level of stability is only possible with the x64 OS or if it works as well in the Vista and Win7 32-bit environment also. Was the drive you plopped into the NQ70 an x86 or x64 installation?

 

Yea, I am thinking youre right, just gonna have to try it and see....oh well, worse case I will have 2 independant 500G drives and not a 1TB raid0. This isnt something gonna do in the immediate future, I need to wait for my new system to come in, late Feb/early March, then explore some options.

Does anyone here have experiance with Acronis true image ? or would the windows7 image from windows backup bee good enough ?

 

Hey guys, I just ordered the Intel 120g SSD from ebay and I'm looking all over for the thread that explains how to get an SSD ready to go. Anyone have a quick link to it? Thanks!

 

i considered that but it doesnt seem to be the server congestion since it was doing fine about 5 minutes ago in another battleground/city.. im already on a private server btw and its the same at anytime. sota seems to be the only one with a problem

 

I have been happily using Acronis True Home for a few years now

The only thing I use is the Clone Disk Utility haha

 

Will AcronisTrue Home clone a running system or do you need to boot into a "rescue tyep dvd" to run it ?

 

If you are cloning the system drive a reboot is needed and It runs its own mini Linux environment. You will see, works well though. If not a system drive it just goes on in Windows.