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

I wouldn't say it's a Clevo or a Dell card since someone bought the same card and dropped it in his M17x-R3 with no issues. I have a strange feeling that this might work in an M15x as is. I guess Dell was more restrictive with the M17x systems in particular, or it could just be the chipset (PM55 vs HM55).

 

Yes all drivers and CAP are up to date, this has been an issue with any driver ive used though. Will RadeonPro act differently than CCC's triple buffering which i already have enabled?

 

Can you get into windows to run GPU-z? Should show the vendor

 

GUYS! Need urgent help!!!
Tell me pls if can i assign a hotkey to my KB? i know asus g73 has cool feature Fn+NumEnter = calculator. i rly need that one as i use calc a lot. any ideas?

 

I'll get on that this weekend.

 

You have to make your own:


I will show you how to do this in one swift step. Click on Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to Calculator and Right-Click on the Calculator shortcut. A window called "Calculator Properties" will display. At the top of this window there are 3 Tabs, General, Shortcut and Compatibility. If the Shortcut Tab is not currently the active one click on it to make it active. In the "Shortcut Key" field the word "None" will be displayed. To create a shortcut for the Calculator Program, click with the mouse next to the word "None" in order for the cursor to flash in that field. On the keyboard press "Ctrl" and "Alt" simultaneously and then press "C" . Click on OK to apply your changes. Next time you need the Calculator just press "Ctrl" and "Alt" with your left hand fingers simultaneously and then press "C" with one of your right hand fingers.

 

+rep!!!
THO i made it to cntrl+alt+ num0 ,seems easier to adapt
thanks!!!

 

Ok for those of you who are Crysis fans I have good news. I was able to get the demo and the beta version of Crysis 2 to work on the R2. The good news is I had the settings maxed out (Hardcore in game options), and getting about 60 -65 fps during game play. The bad news, the beta does not support ATI cards for in game videos. Every time a game video loads the game crashes. According to every forum and discussion group I read this is a software issue with Crytek and ATI.

On another note with the beta, it did not matter if Xfire was enabled or not. I still got the 60fps during game play. I guess Crytek wasn't kidding when they said the new cryengine was going to do more with less. By the way I am using stock alienware/dell drivers and ATI 10.1 drivers and my sig has the specs.

 

played demo on gamer (higher than hardcore) on 1200p... got 32-50fps, no problems playing vids or anything... got 5870s xfire...

 

not sure if you are saying this but Hardcore is the highest settings & gamer is the lowest.
I can play mine with advanced settings and get avg 55fps but this is a nvidia optimised game

 

So just thought i would post to let everyone know, the issues i was having with my crossfire stutters seem to be fixed or at least not as prominent after i opened the machine up and made sure the crossfire cable and cards were in tight.

 

That's great news, cheeseborger! How many days has it been now?

 

The demo plays flawlessly and i get no stuttering on videos or game play. The beta however, has slight stuttering in game play and with ati cards, the videos crash. The beta graphics on hardcore look way better than gamer, but everything is still in development the only thing thats constant is change.

 

It shows Dell under GPU-Z (I think that just shows the motherboard maker), but when I extracted the BIOS, it said Clevo under subvendor. I tried to reflash it with a changed subvendor id (Dell), but that didn't help. It seems like the fan info is totally different from the Clevo fan info (which is why I couldn't open fan settings on Dell's 5870 BIOS but was available in Clevo's 6970 BIOS).

When someone gets their R3 with the 6970M, I'll ask them if they can extract the VBIOS for me.

 

since i fixed it? or are you wondering how many days i had the issue?

 

So if i were wanting to sell my laptop and upgrade to a different pc would anyone have a good price/place t sell it? its crossfire 4870's, 4gb ram, i5 520m, and 2x320gb raid 0 drives, 1920x1200 res screen.

 

Those specs could probably get you about $1300....unfortunately laptops depreciate like nobodies business......

Dell outlet can get you dual 5870s, a 740qm, and RGBLED for about $1900-$2200 usually

 

Right now you can snag one for a lot less due to the coupon, if you're going to sell it at least wait until that's gone.

 

Okay, sorry if this has been asked a bazillion times, but short story is I've been off forums for a while due to craptastic NZ internet, which hit me like a 2x4 after being used to stuff in the States and Germany.

Question is- do we know yet if the 6970's will work in the R2? They MXM 3.0b (I hope I got that right) and if so, will they work on the current power supply?

Thanks for putting up with me- you fellows are champs.

 

a team of enthusiasts is working on bios mod that will probably allow new GPUs in r2, but nothing is certain yet

 

Has anyone bought a USB 3.0 express Card for the R2 yet? I'm looking for one now and I want to buy the best one. Please advise.

Nick

 

Thanks to DR650E

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/538603-official-all-powerful-m17xr2-edition-owners-lounge-part-3-a-23.html#post7050586

 

Has anyone else noticed that the 1920x1200 res monitor doesnt have any other 16:10 res settings, on desktop or in game? and is there a way to change this so i can run certain games with higher settings?

 

Hi fellow M17X'ers (my first post!)

What resolution were you playing at Captain? I just recently got hold of Crysis and play with max settings@1920x1200 and the fps is <30 always. That's with CCC running the AA@4x and AF@16x, max mipmap.

Is there any advantage to letting the game handle the AA and AF?

Does this mean Crysis 2 will run better than the first?

Also, sorry if this is a noob question... I was under the impression I could only use Dell/Alienware's Catalyst drivers - am I able to use the ones direct from ATI?

Thanks.

 

The Crysis 2 Demo runs nicer for me than Crysis does. I have most things on the highest settings and it run great.

Yes, I am running the 11.2 Catalyst drivers from AMD, as many others are, and they work very well. You do not need to use the Dell-approved drivers.

Edit: Be sure to run Driver Sweeper, reboot and run CCleaner's registry cleaning utility before installing new AMD Catalyst drivers. If you don't, you will most likely experience problems, including the new version of CCC possibly not installing. The Catalyst Installation Manager does a terrible job of cleaning up after itself.

 

Did you flash your VBIOS? If so, do the 11.2 drivers work? Because I did and I am curious if it improves performance over the DELL/AW 8.7 drivers.

 

Yes, I did. And, yes, I have seen a performance benefit with the 11.2 drivers. Not purely in benchmarks, but even more so in real-world gameplay experience.

If anyone reading this has not already done so, install the Dell drivers and flash the vBIOS first (driver first, then vBIOS). Then uninstall the Dell drivers, run Driver Sweeper, reboot, then use CCleaner registry tool. Install 11.2 as the final step in the process.

 

Thanks a lot Mr. Fox - I shall try this and report back if I find anything interesting!

 

REPORTING BACK...

[after a few failed attempts to remove display drivers... BSOD, then tried safe mode...]

Wow. What a difference drivers make, huh?! The performance gain in terms of FPS in my games is SIGNIFICANT after dumping Dell's latest stocks and installing AMD's latest offerings. I can even run CRYSIS now with ULTRA everything, x4AA x16AF with maxxed out mipmap @1920x1200, albeit with a fps that flutters around 30, often falling below... but at HIGH everything, I've gone from <30FPS to an almost constant 60!!!11

Madness.

... and you guys say CRYSIS 2 runs even better?!

Thanks Mr. Fox - you've been very, very helpful!

 

Outstanding! Thank you for letting me know that. I just gave you a +1 rep for letting me and everyone else know of your good results, and for taking time to extend the compliment. Have a good week!

 

hey do you mind if u either pm me or post here on what exact steps you took to swap out drivers? ive never really had to dl new drivers and such so this will b my first time. ive read plenty on sites on how to do so, but since it worked poerfectly for you, i would love to hear how u did it step by step, if u dont want to, lol i understand.

thanks!

 

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Download the vBIOS file and the Dell drivers for your AMD video system at support.dell.com and make note of the instructions provided by Dell for the vBIOS update.
2. Download Driver Sweeper from Phyxion.net - Driver Sweeper
3. Download CCleaner from CCleaner - Optimization and Cleaning - Free Download
4. Download the latest AMD reference drivers from AMD Graphics Drivers & Software - Download the latest drivers for your graphics products. Right now, the latest is 11.2. Be sure to grab the fully Catalyst software suite. The initial download is small (1.1MB) and it's a download manager for the much larger package.
5. Uninstall your current AMD drivers in Control Panel using the Programs and Features applet
6. Install the Dell drivers first
7. Flash the vBIOS after installing the Dell drivers. See BatBoy's excellent thread for instructions on creating a bootable USB flash drive.
8. Restart your system and make sure everything is working
9. Uninstall the drivers again (the Dell drivers you just installed)
10. Run Driver Sweeper and reboot as prompted. Important: Only put a check mark in the box for ATI/AMD software.
11. Right after the Alienhead (BIOS) logo disappears press F8 to start Windows in safe mode. (Select Safe Mode from the menu that appears.)
12. Run CCleaner's registry cleaning tool and it will remove all of the registry entries referencing the AMD drivers and software that are no longer installed.
13. Reboot again, and this time don't go into safe mode.
14. Install the drivers you downloaded from AMD.
15. Restart your system, even if you are not prompted to do so.
16. Enjoy the new drivers.
17. Optional, (but recommended,) read the excellent information on this thread started by our NBR friend, alexnvidia. Download and install CAPS3 while you are there. CAPS is application profiles that help to improve performance. After installation, there's nothing to "run"... the profiles work in the background when applications or games are launched that the profile applies to.

Hope this helps. If it's too brief for your comfort level, send me a PM with as many questions as you wish and I will elaborate where necessary.

 

dude this is awesome! thanks so much for help! +1 rep. i dont think ill have any other questions, but if i do, ill be sure to email you

 

You are very welcome!
I edited and added a few more details.

Thanks for the rep.

 

Hi. Sorry for the late reply, but I'm anything but an expert!... I just did what Mr. Fox said to, and it seems like he's answered you anyway.

Only problem I myself encountered was uninstalling my Dell display drivers [I had already flashed the vBIOS et al ages ago]... I used Add/remove program from control panel, and during the uninstall, my system blue screened... I then had to get windows to repair by restoring to a previous restore point. After that, I booted into safe mode and uninstalled the display drivers through device manager, before rebooting (normally) and using add/remove again to remove CCC and following the exact steps Mr. Fox outlined

>>> Drive Sweeper and CCleaner found pelnty of Ati/display driver entries laying around that they got rid of

Thanks again Foxxy! I'll try and see if I can rep you! I'm new to this stuff

 

So, what do you all do to keep up on drivers ? Do you use one those automated programs that scans your system and tehn tells you new drivers are avaliable, if so, which ya reccomend ?

If you dont, what do you do ?

 

hey, another quick question, lol, i totally forgot about this and did a complete system restore and just dled windows 7 only, + the intel internet driver. lol, with what i just did, how does it complicate the steps? do i do the same thing or something completely different? thanks

also,the dl for cc cleaner costs moneys now$$, 25 bucks, unless someone still has a link to a free one... but the link mr fox provided make me pay

 

Hey guys any info on this ^ would be much appreciated.

 

anyone tried da2 full game yet? seem to get lots of driver stopped working errors and bsods. tried 10.11 and 11.2 with 11.2 cap 3

 

If you look a little further down below the priority support button, you have an option to download from filehippo.com or piriform.com. CCleaner is still free.

 

Are you referring to the laptop screen? If yes, there are other resolution settings I can change to either in desktop or in game.

 

i am referring to the screen, its not that there aren't any other resolutions to choose from its that the other resolutions are 16:9 or 4:3 and they put a black bar around a portion of the screen in order to keep the proper aspect ratio. I am wondering if there is way to enable more 16:10 aspect resolutions than just the default 1920x1200.

 

I understand what you are asking, but I don't know of any way you can do that. This limitation is pretty common, and some games do not support a display's native capabilities.

 

well all games that i've played support the native 1920x1200 but just like the desktop resolution none have support for any other 16:10 res, just seems weird that a 16:10 monitor has mostly 16:9 an 4:3 resolutions to pick from

 

I am pretty sure I have set my laptop screen to 1680x1050 in windows....try setting it in windows and then launch the game?

 

Anyone know of a program to get disk SMART data off a raid array, or does the array mask it ?

 

@ scook9 i cannot even set it to that in windows it just has 1600x1200 like i said the only 16:10 res i have is 1920:1080

 

This contradicts itself, so which is it?

 

i meant to say the only 16:10 res i have is 1920x1200 through any means either through windows or ati or in a game,

 

Interesting, maybe those are the only resolutions supported by the RGB screen itself. The screen communicates with the video card/drivers and says that it has those available and thus they are all that are presented as options.