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

Right-click taskbar CCC icon > GPU Card (5870 or 4870) > CrossFireX Settings > Show CrossFireX Status Icon.

Don't know about your second issue. I haven't experienced it.

 

Thanks man. After I re-mage my drive I do that. +rep

 

Crossfire was disabled for me when I installed 10.12s, had to completely wipe ATI off my system and start over to get it working again.

To see the emblem, right click on the ATI icon in your tray by the clock and select the first adapter shown and go down to the crossfire options

 

Hmm, I have it (CCC) set in msconfig to boot but not getting the icon. And I don't see the option when I open it ia start menu. Maybe I just have an old version

 

when you right click no the desktop can you launch CCC? If so does the red ATI logo appear in the system tray?

 

I can open it like that, but the icon still doesn't appear in the tray. I might tinker with some stuff to see if I can get that working. At the moment benching some SSD tweaks

 

Right-click on the Desktop > Open CCC > Options > Preferences > Enable System Tray Menu

 

quick dumb question. how do u disable displays on the new ccc that comes with the 10.12 drivers? cant find it for nuts. cant right click on the displays to disable them. the help file isnt helpful either.

 

Sweet, that solved it. Now it shows me as having 3 5870's No wonder my benches are pretty decent. And All this time I thought I only had two

On a side note, finally used JBBs tweak for the SSD RAID setup. Not too shabby. Still would be much better if the 4K issues were resolved. I thought these numbers were good till I looked back at Scooks Sandforce RAID 0 setup Still havn't messed with stamatisx's tweak yet.

Pretweak:


Post tweak

 

It's pretty easy, see this post that has a zip file
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...5-chipsets-stamatisx-tweak-4.html#post6806822

 

Definately going to look into that this week when I get some more time, should be on Monday, No work, but the fiance will be working . I've read some things (not read as much as I'd like due to time constraints) about disabling turbo mode? What was that about? I'll dig into that aspect monday as well probably.




On to another topic. Do they make USB 3.0 express cards? I'm thinking that might speed up my imaging process. After tweaking things, I like to make a back up so next time I don't have to go through all the tweaking. That way I can have a fresh start with everything set following a secure erase. Especially since TRIM is not RAID compatible.

Another question. Do the make express cards for sound? Like a sound card? I'm thinking that would be nice to get better sound quality out of the system.

Just been thinking of ways that I can further upgrade my system any suggestions? It's already a pretty sweet setup.

 

yes. yes. yes. {smilies are broken for me right now}

you might want to look into an esata enclosure. i have a vantec usb2/esata enclosure with a seagate 500gb (7200) drive. sequential speeds (since you'd be using it to read and write images) are 32/24 with usb and 88/84 with esata: 275% in read and 350% in write.

 

I am sure you can find a USB 3.0 card for pci express and just find the one you like and how big you want it. For the sound card i would get a USB DAC like U-dac 2. Crutcfield has a good price on it and free shipping.




NuForce uDAC-2 (Black) USB digital-to-analog converter/headphone amplifier at Crutchfield.com

Use coupon code "3A825"
I am sure they make a USB 3.0 pci express you just need to find what you like.

 

Hi everyone, I just downloaded avatar 1080p of 20.9gb and runs at 24frames/seconds. My problem is when i run the movie with windows media player and vlan player, during the major scenes, the video was lagging, the frames drops here and there. I was wondering whether is there any way i could rectify this problem. Thanks for the help guys! =)
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M17x-R2 :: i7 720QM|1920x1200 RGB|Dual Xfire 5870s|2 X 500GB 7200RPM Raid 0|8GB DDR3 1333MHz| Thanks to Chief-running new WHQL VBIOS and AMDs 10.10 8.782 =)

 

^^ buy coreavc decoder for about 10$ and it'll run anything you throw at it smoothly

 

Mfractal, thanks for the reply, i just bought coreavc decoder and downloaded it! =) but again, how do i know its running in the background when i play my hd movies? Still finding the lag when i play those movies. Not sure wether coreavc decoder is playing in the background or not. =( by the way, coreavc 2.0 comes with haali media splitter?does it have any relations with avc 2.0?
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M17x-R2 :: i7 720QM|1920x1200 RGB|Dual Xfire 5870s|2 X 500GB 7200RPM Raid 0|8GB DDR3 1333MHz| Thanks to Chief-running new WHQL VBIOS and AMDs 10.10 8.782 =)

 

Use vlc, media player will not use core codec.
Basically once you installed it it is activated automatically for supported encodings. I played 1080p of avatar on a much much less powerful comp without hiccups so if you shouldn't experience any issues at all with the m17x.
I think that it shows a little taskbar icon with it's active. At least there is an option in settings to activate it. That's how you'll know when it's in use.

 

hey all every now and then with only a 3% overclock and mirc,firefox,hardware monitor open plus alienware apps antivirus. My system completely freezes (no BSOD) numlock doesn't turn on/off and i have to do hard shutdown(hold power button) should i be worried? only happen a couple of times so far

And my service tag still doesn't work on web site grrrr is dell on holidays?

 

i bought this before three days as i am waiting for my usb 3.0 external 2.5 inch 1.5tb seagate disk

http://cgi.ebay.com/Expresscard-54-...828?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f72eb154

still waiting for it so i cant leave any feedbacks.

 

thanks mfractal, it played real good with divx plus and media classic player. What player do you recommend best for avc codec? thank you again! =)
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M17x-R2 :: i7 720QM|1920x1200 RGB|Dual Xfire 5870s|2 X 500GB 7200RPM Raid 0|8GB DDR3 1333MHz| Thanks to Chief-running new WHQL VBIOS and AMDs 10.10 8.782 =)

 

MPC and VLC are excellent. I myself mostly use bs.player.

 

thanks mfractal for the recommendation and help overall. Appreciate it!

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M17x-R2 :: i7 720QM|1920x1200 RGB|Dual Xfire 5870s|2 X 500GB 7200RPM Raid 0|8GB DDR3 1333MHz| Thanks to Chief-running new WHQL VBIOS and AMDs 10.10 8.782 =)

 

Nice find! I'm going to look into that. I like that it is neat and fully in the notebook without anything big hanging out. What would the speed differance be between USB 3.0 and esata? I have read that in some tests, eSata was faster in some instances, and USB 3.0 faster in others. I was thinking an esata enclosure since I have a 2.5" HDD that I use for my backups and images. But the down dra to that is that eSata requires eternal power correct? So that would be a win for USB 3.0 since it can run off USB power.

For this I'll probably be runninga notebook 640GB/750GB drive out of a USB 3.0 Enclosure or eSata enclosure. This way I can swap out drives since I have quite a few notebook dries laying around. So my guess is that the bottleneck would be the actual drive itself. Would that be an accurate statement?

Another question, how much differance does the extra power cable make with that USB 3.0 card? I know you don't have the card yet, but just curious. I know my external enclosure for my optical drive came wth the same thing, but I havn't seen any issues running it on just the USB 2.0 power that it connects with. What would the "extra power" gain me? I pretty much only use my system plugged in, and rarely, if ever, on battery.

 

Any luck on getting this yet? I just ordered it. I love that it sits flush inside the notebook and doesn't have an ugly thing stcking out. I also ordered a USB 3.0 Enclosure.

Faiz, Thanks, I ordered the uDAC-2, and you saved me $20. Looking forward to getting these. Be nice to save time imaging my system, not to mention better sound

 

Why not just use esata? That is what I use to image my system

You can even boot off the esata in the R1

 

I thought about going with an esata enlosure, but I'm not crazy about having to hook up esata to external power, which was the impression I was under.

This is the enclosure I ordered. I figured once cable would be a little easier.

 

Pretty sure you can get esata enclosures that power off of USB.....but that would still be a 2 cable experience

 

yeah, esata needs power but almost all of them will use the USB for power.

the vantec I have does - you just need to plug in the esata cable first.

 

Yea, the thing I like about USB 3.0 is it uses the power from the plug, so this way I add two USB 3.0 ports, nothing sticks out of the notebook, its flush, and I only need a single 3.0 cord. Though I did give esata some consideration. In the end, single cable was the deciding factor, and the fact that I work at best buy for the time being and there are more and more USB 3.0 compatabile externals coming in. I just gotta check employee pricing.

 

let us know how it works re: speed and if you can boot off it to reimage the system drive...

 

You are assuming that you will be able to get substantial current from the express card adapter though. I am highly skeptical that it will provide much more than the USB 2.0 500mA which is barely enough to run a normal notebook hard disk (not enough for my WD3200BEKT - needs 550mA)

 

Quite true, although the card does have a small plug for power, so I'll have to test it out. Though to image I have a 5400RPM 640GB drive.

On another note, I thought I had my SSDs tweaked out, but was told to install Intel Rapid Storage Tech. Check out the differance it made in 4K.

I'll post the link cuz I don't want to cross post

 

Not to be a debby downer....but I am highly suspect of that 612 MB/s as it would indicate you exceeded the interface capability of each SSD lol (300MB/s for SATA II)

Nice results though! I am working on tweaking my RAID on the desktop. They are sandforce drives so not necessarily the same tweaks will benefit them.

 

Is this kit compatible with the R2? I was told that it was but I keep getting random BSODs with it. I RMAed the first pair but the new pair is doing the same thing. Sometimes it will go a day or two without a BSOD and sometimes it will BSOD multiple times in a day.

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Laptop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBSQ

 

do memtest on each stick by itself

 

One question only for curiosity, how much fans contain the M17x R2?

Is the cooling good? Thanks

 

6 tests or full cycle?

 

I just did a complete pass per stick for memtest

And the M17x has 3 fans and excellent cooling

 

i've had the same kit for 9 months now running just fine. Mine is labeled as 10600 instead of 10666 but according to DDR3-1333 Speed and Latency Shootout : The New Mainstream Standard? they're the same.

You might have gotten a bad stick both times. i'd do a complete test on each stick...

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M17x has a center fan for the CPU and each GPU module has its own fan. So, if you have 1 GPU, you have 2 fans; 2 GPUs = 3 fans.

 

So do I qualify for the ALL POWERFUL group

 

Install steam and then join the group in my sig.

 

Wow, I just got my NuForce uDAC-2 in, and really this is an amazing investment. I thought I was getting good sound out of my Bose QC3, and went from the head phone jack to the uDAC to and the differance is night and day. If anyones looking at this thing, u won't regret it. Sounds amazing. The uDAC-2 Adds another demention almost to the sound. Through the headphone port, the sound really sounds flat compared to the uDAC-2, and there is really no bass pushed out of the headphone port.

 

Just wanted to post that I love my R2, this thing is a beast of a machine, and just amazing...Not sure why I didn't buy one of these years ago, I love it!!!!

 

Anyone else getting this issue

Alienware M17x laptop said to be suffering from power-related GPU issues?

 

aren't you glad you ordered it and got a slick deal on it ....now time for me to order it in the red to match the nebula red

 

no luck yet. still waiting. thus the post office sent it back to them as the seller told me and then they resent it immediately. I guess christmas rush caused problems. If you receive it first let me know

well i am pretty happy with my xi-fi pro external soundcard. I use optical output as my z5500 has optical input too. pure sound experience. rarely use headphones. whats the use of them with a soundsystem like z5500. Waiting for some earphones for my mobile now (sennheiser cx880) i may try with them.

isnt it the intel rapid storage technology driver from their website? i installed it and my ssd speeds suck with or without it. i use ocz vertex 2. except the 4k reading the read and write reported is 206mb/sec and 86mb/sec accordingly! the highest speeds as per ocz is 280 read and 270 write. all those for single ssd. so whats wrong?

i am sad i paid for a new ssd once again. this machine is an ssd disaster. maybe it good only for intel ssds?

 

Ahh yea I should get it (express card) in the next few days. Will definately do a reimage of my system with it and let you know how it goes.

Also I think anything will be the stock M17x sound out. Really makes you enjoy music and gaming even more than before

 

I recieved my express card, all I can say is MAJOR POS......drivers wont install, (that is once you figure out what drivers to use from the CD), card blue screened my system twice.....

Junk, just junk

At least wasnt a expensive mistake.........

 

Damn, I just ordered mine today from Amazon and too late to cancel.

Well, I guess I will just have to hope for the best and return to Amazon if it doesn't work.

D.

 

which one did you get?

Did you try it non-OC'd?