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

Nope, they were done with nothing else running. I havn't tried it with wPrime vs No wPrime. Didn't think about it.

 

Hi all I haven't been to these forums for ages since my M17x R1 was relatively trouble free till recently. Unfortunately its now dead and I have a replacement r2 with 740qm and 5870cf on the way.

I just wanted to ask anyone who has had a r2 with blu ray delivered recently what verson of power dvd did it ship with? I'm asking because I recently bought the Avatar BD directors cut and it wouldn't play on power dvd version 8. $40 movie + $4k laptop + $2k tv and I can't watch it cos I'm a pirate aarrgghhh!!!

The dell rep also suggested swapping over my blu ray burner from my r1 to the new r2 as blu ray burners aren't an option on the r2's for some reason. I'm not sure if I want this as I'd prefer for a tech not to dissasemble my new laptop unless totally necessary. Any opinions?

Finally I'd like to say to anyone reading for the love of god extend your warrantly as much as possible this is my second gaming laptop and I swear these things last about 8 months tops. I have used a cryo lx cooler and monitored temps and it still broke!! Hopefully I'll have more luck with ATI as notebook nvidia cards are very unreliable

 

I got a blu-ray burner with my system R2. Took it out for room for another HDD, but I think it should play on the power dvd. I don't have it so I can't say for sure. You should be able to upgrade PowerDVD I would think. I would definately swap the blu-ray drives though, and let a dell teh do it so it remains covered in your warranty. Worst that can happen is they send out a new system.

 

Thanks

I was thinking about asking them for an external BD RE drive as a replacement but a swap is probably a better idea. I have noticed that for some weird reason my BD RE drive can't read burned BD Disks.

I wasn't sure if it was the drive or the disks they work ok in a Ps 3 and other BD RE drives?

I'f be interested to know if anyone else has had problems with that particular movie (Avatar Directors Cut), I saw online that people were having issues with other BD drives.

Can't wait to get the replacement I'm so sick of using a dual core

 

What kind of 'burned BD Disks' are not being recognized?

 

I got a Bluray Burner with my R2 delivered 20/12/2010 & PowerDVD 9.5

 

Cool thats good news Dan, I hope that version works with Avatar. I was using Power DVD 8. I must say the copy protection measures on BD movies are a pain, for some dumb reason HDMI sound won't work on my tv when watching a BD movie, sound works ok through the headphone jacks though? All my movies are originals and either Region A, C or no region (I have at least 30)

@ Batboy, the drive didn't even recognise a blank blu ray disk so im not sure if it needs a firmware update or something? I'm not sure what the brand of the disk was. I basically just want to be able to back up files onto BD RE or BD RW disks. If you know of any software that can read or write to BD Disks I would be really greatful.

 

Sounds like a problem a couple of us noticed on the HP threads here.... With HP we use the HP DVD Media Smart Player. I had the same issue just last week when I purchased my first Bluray movie, Batman The Dark Knight! *yes the movie rocks!*

Anyway, I saw the movie realizing the sound was not coming from the TV, I was like, What the heck? Then I Googled it and found on HP.com the answer...with thier player you have to do something in the settings regarding sound output.... so if you use Power DVD 8 see if it has special settings for sounds, otherwise maybe just use another program to play your Blurays. Good luck.

KJ

 

My R1 came with PowerDVD 8 and it has played all my BluRay movies just fine so far (including Avatar). I find that when I had a pirated PowerDVD it would not play blu rays. So on my I use the included PowerDVD 8 and on the desktop just ponied up the $100 for PowerDVD 10.

As for sound output, you have to set HDMI as your output device then you should be ok

 

I received it today and i use nec usb 3.0 driver. no blue screens at all. only problem is i feel it hard toenter to the express card. seems that something obstracts it from easily entering the express card slot unlike my tv tuner. can you upload the driver version you use please?

my speeds are over 70mb/sec as you said

 

Sounds like yours is workingjust as mine did, although I didn't have an issue with the cord in the epress card. Thats odd. Maybe it will loosen up. If anything, my cord might be a little loose for my likeing but hasn't affected anything. Perhaps the top of your card, right above the blue piece got pressed down and leaves litte room? As for the drivers I'm using, here is a link to the most up to date drivers. Use the ery top ones, version 2.0.32.0

 

well its not loose. finally if i place it very very slowly and accurately it doesnt find so much resistance but it still does in comparsion with the tv tuner. Thanks for the driver i will try it.

finally looks like that its like e-sata without the need for external power. Howver i transferred around 400gb today on my usb 3.0 drive and the drive was disconnected many times. i believe the power cable is needed some times but not in normal terms because with extra power from usb 2.0 it never disconnected. its a 1.5TB external disk anyway (2.5 inch though)

 

What kinda of HDD are you using? For me a 7200RPM drive required extra power, but the 5400RPM didn't, so I"m sticking with a 5400RPM drive in my enclosure.

 

Hey DR.. reckon our scores are in danger of being beat with the release of the R3?

 

i think i said that before. i am using this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148616

 

Possibly 06 but that is it. Most likely you are quite safe though

 

Yea, gotta agree with scook. 06 maybe, I don't see a single card beating the Vantage score either. It will be interesting to see what Mandrake does though.

 

Oh, forgot to mention, I would just add a seperate R3 catagory for the benchmarking thread. But it begs the question, is the R3 still an "All Powerful??" On the site, the ""All Powerful is listed as Classic, and the new R3 is simply "Alienware M17x R.3" No claims of all powerful or anything.

 

Okay i gotta ask my m17x has been in 'Delivery Preparation" for 4 days... Then if i click it and it goes to the screen that shows the specs of the one I ordered it says 'In Production'...

However if I call the automated order status line it says it shipped... 1/26/2011.. and that my estimated delivery is 1/31/2011... IS ANY of this normal?

From what I found out it seems that 24 hours in Prep is normal not 4 days. I Might be slightly anxious but I am 880 miles away from home and have to make sure someone is there to sign for it -sigh- damn you ninja shipping

 

Just got my r2 yesterday, i'm an official M17x owner now, sweet.

 

Sometimes the automated line will screw up like that. It's still in production. I've had eta's that go back all the way to 2003 for a 2009 order...

 

Alienware doesn't market it as "All Powerful" so technically no. The R2 was the last of that line until M18x surfaces.

 

it's really annoying how most manufs. don't post the specs of the bare drive used in their enclosures.

The important figure is the amperage required to run the drive. If you want to know, you'll need to pop the case to see this if an email or post on the seagate forums doesn't give you an answer.

Some 7200 rpm drives don't need > .5A so they can run on one cable. Some need more juice and need a Y-cable.

 

I most probably will be adding an R3 section, since we have R1 and R2 separate. I might cull the top scores for 5 to 4 though just so the post doesn't become incredibly long and complicated. Haven't fully decided, but just thinking out loud.

Still waiting on one of the mods to make a new Thread for the official scores, but I need someone like Batboy to tell me.

 

Any news on AMD6970M Crossfires for our R2s??

 

most probably its a 5400rpm drive. dont really care. i bought it for its size and for the fact that its usb 3.0. it doesnt really matter on external drive if its 7200 rpm or 5400 rpm as its max transfer rate will be the usb 2.0 or usb 3.0 one.

i think that it needs mroe power because its 1.5tb. dont forget its the first 2.5 inch drive with 1.5 TB capacity. In any case i wont plan to open my wholy new expensive drive. :0

he question is can R2 handle CF 6970m? experts may be able to answer

 

If it's a 2GB card with ram on the top and bottom of the card, it might not work unless someone figures out a way to rig the R3 heatsink in the R2. Then there's also the bios issue. Last, if it's a 100W card, then that would draw 200W at load just for the video cards which may still work because when I OC my 5870s, they get close to 100W anyway.

 

Probably means you cant overclock them now.. as the machine might just bsod (or the power cord fail). And I mean the video's, not the cpus.

Whats the dealio with the R3 power cords.. R2 useable?

 

Yea 6970s would be awesome... But my bet Dell purposely won't add proper support to the r2's bios as a marketing scheme to get ppl to buy the r3 and forthcoming 18x...or else why would we r2 owners upgrade to a 18x or r3 anyways?? For a couple perks like sandy ridge usb3 n hdmi in (well we don't know whT the 18x is capable of yet... And what kind of screen so it mightstill be worth it).

Point I'm tryin to make is an r2 with xfire 6970s and an overclockable 940 with TS is probably going to be a faster machine anyways... minus a few new technologies... And plus a gorgeous 1200p rgbled screen

but yea that would be sweet if Dell is dumb enough to give the r2 6970m/485m bios support .. Well just have to buy an EVEN BIGGER psu to be safe lol... Do they even have bigger than 240w? wonder what the 18x is gonna have... 300w? It's almost getting ridiculous lol

EDIT: I'm loving how those 920/940 prices are dropping day by day on eBay ... I'm waiting till they hit or come close enough to the 350$ mark again, and I'm jumping (for a 920).

Also quick question... Are they the same CPU? Just that intel raised the multipliers at the factory on the 920? Do they OC the exact same ? I'm leaning towards a 920 because of this thought

 

I was in the understanding that MXM type "B" 3.0 is a 75W maximum allowed wattage connection. The 100W thing is related to heath dissipation (?) more than power draw. So as far as the card comply with the standard, it shouldn't be a problem. Good point is the two sides memory module issue and the bios support for it.

 

LINK HERE
I don't know if this guy's blog link has been posted before, but from what I read 2 months ago till now, he's been SPOT on (mostly) with the R3 predictions.

His M18x predictions are up, but we all could have roughly guessed the same specs.

I'm just tossing up whether to sell my M17x for this beast or not. It took so much effort to get the R2...

 

Could be 100W TDP but I think they also draw more than 75W. They don't have to follow MXM 3.0b standards, that's just a guideline. As long as it can be cooled properly it should work.

 

on steam in the alienware group it was said dell are sueing this guy and want his blog taken down. lol dell so the m18x is true lol http://dell-lab.posterous.com/

 

I'm the admin of the steam group along with batboy (though the majority of the articles were posted by me)

 

awesome stuff mate also saw your review of R3 on dells site

top stuff

 

Not nessarially...they could be sueing him because he is full of fecal matter

 

I guess Dell is sueing him self,Dell News, Tips & Tricks

 

DR650SE did you notice the express card (i mean the one with the 2 USB 3.0 ports) not giving enough power just after closing some games? i mean when fans are still working fast till the system cools?

 

Is the 2GB 6970m 1 GPU or 2 on the same die? I thought the cards (ATI/NV) for the R3 were integrated with the CPU on a piece of sillicone or was that the Intel HD 3000? Has anyone speculated if the 6870m would work in the R2 instead of the 6970 atm? That X7200 power brick is HUGE at 300W! If Dell/AW were to release bios support for the new cards, could we expect a 300-330W brick?

 

Quick question my touch buttons don't respond until i press then a few times especially the volume controls half of the time. Is this software related?

 

try power draining the laptop, it usually helps.
If not - you got yourself a faulty touch panel....

 

Might also worth to reinstall the OSD app. if the drain power trick does not work...

Has worked in the past for me.

 

Just joined the Steam group, figured why not

Only good multi player game I have on there right now though is MW2 which I have not even opened yet....(got it over a year ago lol)

 

Or you might want to check your ribbon cable,it gave some problems had to reseat it,also had to remove the power sources(bat + power cable) and remove the CMOS batt. for a while, after that all works great like in day 1

 

awesome thanks all! seems to be working atm but Vol+ is still unresponsive unless i touch it flat (not point of finger) will try all those steps.

 

Ok new member here, future owner of the M17X R3, Im one of those older guys thats always been into computers, built my own for years now upgrading now yearly. Had several laptops over the years but never a gaming one as my desktop always took care of that. But for years Ive always wanted an Alienware laptop since Ive first saw them. I never wanted to spend the thousands it took to get one but now I have the means and its the right time to pick up a 2011 model (Sandy Bridge). Ive always had AMD probably always will for my desktop just prefer it. This will be my first intel CPU since the Pentium II 400mhz from 1998. Currently on my desktop I use a quad X4 955 at 3.6. 8Gb DDR3, a single Asus 5870, and 2560 x 1600 res 30' Super Ips panel and play Bad Comp 2.

- My questions are can these laptops be upgraded on your own and can the parts you use come from a third party ie Newegg etc.?
- Is the 3 year warranty worth it over the 1 year?
- Do you need to get a laptop cooler to help keep these cooler than the stock fans?
- How much of a boost in performance can I expect with an i7 over my current amd quad 955.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and your input. I'm excited to get my first AW and expect good things for what 2 grand gets me.

 

Warranty, Yes, worth it because if something happens and the system is discontinued, it will be replaced by a current model. Also helps resale value if you decide to sell as the warranty is transferable. Also provides piece of mind as you may need it. And probably will for something. I've used it for faulty cables, ect and am going to get my mobo replaced when I quit being lazy (Keyboard LEDs don't work). Make sure to get at least the advanced warranty as that will cover drops and spills through the accident protection.

Cooler? Not really worth it, in my opinion as the Alieware cooling systems are plenty enough. Your system may run 1-5*C Cooler, but i doubt you will notice. I use the Crylo LX cooler. I don't really use it as a cooler, but more for a stand and it put's the system at a nice angle. Fans are also perfectly positioned, but I neer have mine running.

Upgradeable parts are generally CPU, GPU, HDD, RAM. Provided there is BIOS support through dell. They can all be upgraded later on, though third party parts won't be under warranty so hang on to your originals in case you need warranty work. But the good news is the parts should be covered by thier manufacturers.

Enjoy your system, they are definately a lot of fun! Welcome to the forum and hope to see more of you in the future. Especially looking forward to your impressions and views on the R3!



Performance boost. Not sure.

 

^^^ DR knows what he's talking about

About the performance boost... well you're comparing a desktop cpu with a laptop cpu so it's a little unfair... that being said the second gen i7's won't disappoint...if you go with the moible extreme edition i7 2920 you're looking at 3.50 GHz turbo (one core boost) or 2.5ghz when all cores are at load... that's still major punch dude... and if they overclock nicely like the 920-940xm do... you should be easily hitting the same numbers as your amd desktop cpu... ( i know some guy sthat have gotten 3.4-3.6 across the board on the 920/940xm ... and its top frequency is 3.33ghz stock whereas the i7 2920 stock is 3.5ghz... so my guess it'll OC a little higher than the 940xm... if Unclewebb manages to get throttlestop working with sandybridge

Keep in mind the i7 is more energy efficient since the cores are not always running at max freqs like your amd desktop quad is... which is key in a laptop

So in the end... you're looking at slightly less performance stock (if we are looking at the extreme edition that is...) and if it OC's as nicely as the first gen i7 mobile cpus ... about the same.. or possibly even superior performance with the right tweaking .. For most tasks i don't think you'll feel the difference... unless your encoding vids n stuff like that

 

Hey guys, i am just wondering if the r2 is compatible with the 1.5gb 460m and where is the best place to buy it, if it is ill be selling my 4870's if anyone is interested, and if it is not where can i get my hands on a 5870?

 

I would check with Dell about 5870's. As far as 460's, good luck with the bios support...