*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 Ranger (2013) Owner's Lounge Thread

im at work right now but when i get home ill post some screen shots and whatnot. this morning i installed the new nvidia drivers(326.80) then applied my overclock. core was close to 1200mhz if i remember correctly, vram was at 3050mhz, also had the card overvolted to 1.075v(i believe). ill get more accurate numbers when i get home i dont fully remember what i had everything at but it was fully stable and didnt crash. max temp on the gpu was 81c(had the laptop on my cooling pad).

 

Wow, that's a really fantastic score, the highest I've seen - I thought over 10,000 was good for those cards so I don't know how you managed to get another nearly 5000 on top of that!! I would have thought that wouldn't have been possible with even the 1200Mhz core clock that you stated. I thought people with a 1060Mhz core were getting about 10,000, so it seems strange you got such a high score with only 1200Mhz, but you got the result, so I'm at a loss to explain! The temperatures were also pretty good for that overclock I would have thought. Yes, I would have thought you would have needed 1400Mhz on the core (probably not possible due to wattage limitations of MXM slot!) to get that score, like a previous poster thought. Amazing!

 

After much thought I have finally ordered my first Alienware laptop! Can't wait (but it'll be a month till it's ready so I guess I'll have to).

I went for the 3D screen and just to add another perspective on the issue. I wanted the 3D to be able to show models in 3D to others at work and possibly at conferences and I am hoping that the 120Hz has some genuine benefit in smooth viewing for regular use too. For home and work I will be plugging into an external monitor, which I hope will eventually be a high res IPS (I may try to wait for UHD if prices fall fast enough). So the question is where do you want 3D how important is it and what kind of set up will you be using most. I wouldn't say 150 euros (minus some discount) is a lot of money for a 120Hz screen and the 3D vision glasses, last time I was thinking of buying this kind of setup the premium for a laptop with 3D was at least 300 euros. So I would agree that it's the external monitor you buy that's important, since you will most likely use that most of the time. For me I would rather have a really nice monitor for working on and a decent 3D monitor for occasional use, but if you really care about 3D an external 3D monitor may be the way to go. The loss of optimus certainly weighed heavy on me for a while, but my current rig manages about 10 minutes on battery so a couple hours is pretty deluxe in comparison.

Just a note on the Philips screwdriver issue Voltran had, unfortunately there is a fair amount of variation in screwdriver sizes claiming to be #0 or #1. I noticed this a couple months back unscrewing my girlfriends Zenbook which required Torx #5. The first one I bought worked fine for 9/10 screws, then I had one which wouldn't budge. I ripped a bit of the threading before noticing that the screwdriver was not very snug. So I went out and bought a couple more from other vendors just to be sure. Sure enough it made a huge difference and the screw came out like butter with the tightest fitting screwdriver. So go out and get yourself another (couple) screwdrivers and see if it helps. A screwdriver which does not move at all when pushed into the groove is perfect and should get even the tightest screw out. Tip: expensive screwdrivers tend to be better.

 

Yea I was very suprised with that score. I am very happy with the performance of my 780m. Thing is a complete beast!! Took some trial and error to get the card tuned and tweaked like that but it was well worth it. For anyone doubting the power of the 780m...don't. It's awesome!

 

@tgotovac

It would be great if you could shed some light on what you did you achieve that score.

Thx in advance.

 

Will do. Soon as I get home from work.

 

Am I missing something? It looks like he got 8,700, not over 10,000. Which is in line of what should be expected with a decent overclock. He certainly has great stability and potential considering his score and the poor 780m drivers from nVidia.

 

It's Fire Strike, not 3dmark 11.

 

My raw graphics score is 14700 which is over 10000. That's the number he was talking about.

 

Ok, I see it now, there is a problem with your test results. There is a problem with your combined score. 2078 is to low. It says you got a FPS of 9.67 on the combined test. Maybe it was using the iGPU for some reason on that test? And on Graphics test 2 you got 43783.4 FPS... which shouldn't ever happen even on IBM's super computer. Could be a runtime error.

 

It may very well be a run time error. Or maybe 3dmark itself has issues. I've noticed it does have glitches. what I am happy about is that my overclock was stable. No crashing no overheating no artifacts.

 

I have just received the new Alienware M17, I notice every time when I press on the power button, I hear my LED 3D screen has a click sound, I don't know is this normal or not.

I wish to ask do you guys have the same thing happen in your LED screen?

 

Haha, I thought that was 3DMark11 at first, which would have been a difficult result to achieve, but as ThatOldGuy says your graphics score for Firestrke is impossible! Even if your overclock was stable, there's something very screwy going on with your 3DMark run there, who knows perhaps related to the stability of your overclock. Did you run the test more than once, was it reproducible? What are your GPU overclock settings? And what are your 3DMark11 scores?

 

Hi just a few questions, has anyone seen the new Alienware 17 with a 1600x900p screen .
I am asking because I have the possibility of getting one with a GTX770m for under 350euros, brand new sealed in the box, yes I know it is a steal, not sure I would want to go under 1080p though, how good (or bad) is the screen going to be? contrast, brightness? viewing angles? is 900p enough for a 17icher? not going to be using this for anything other than gaming, watching movies and web browsing .
I need some replies asap, will reward rep in thanks for those who can answer this swiftly .

 

At that price you would be silly not to buy it even if the screen is terrible. You could always sell it on for a profit and put it towards a 1080p version if it is that bad.

I have seen the new 900p screen but the old r3/4 screen was nasty, like your average acer screen

 

Can you define nasty? right now I am on a 720p screen on a DELL Inspiron 15R, the screen is actually quite nice, can I expect it to be better or worse?

 

Well I was gonna get a 17 with a 900p screen but I jumped for the 1080p screen, the 1080p panel just looks stunning when watching movies or playing games. I think the 900p panel would be the same or worse, I've been to my local computer store who sells alienwares with 900p screen and to me, it really doesn't look too different just that the 1080p does look sharper but I think the 900p screen will be fine for your needs.

 

Just get it! You can sell it for over $1600 if you never open the box. And if you do try it out, you can sell it for like $1500 used. About the screen, it won't be like the old r3/r4 screens witch were blah, but made terrible by Dell putting that glossy mirror over the already glossy screen. It will be your average screen, maybe slightly better than your 15R's

 

I'm watching this through a 1600x900 screen on the M17xR3. There are pros & cons. The Pros: excellent resolution for gaming with a card like the 770M to get good frames per second (saves rendering 1.4 times as many pixels compared to a 1920x1080 screen, so close to similar performance as a 780M for a 1920x1080 screen). Cons: potentially more jaggies, but I don't notice it much on mine, and potentially less colour quality but that really comes down to how good the 900p screen is on the A17 (on the M17xR3 I've got a 74% sRGB coverage which is not great, but looks OK to me). And more work space for office apps, etc on a 1920x1080 screen if your eyes are good enough.

 

Thank you for all the imput everyone, and thanks to Robbo99999 for his very helpfull post, will rep you when I can rep again .

 

Has anyone else experienced an issue in power-saving mode in optimus (326.29)? What did you do? When the display resumes from off state, the screen then alternates between black and then current screen for about 5 times. It is kind of annoying

Edit:
Also tried the Dell 311.48 drivers, it did not work.

 

Try the 326.80 drivers; I've had no issues with them so far. 326.49 had issues with dual monitors, 326.29 hated Borderlands 2, and 311.48 wouldn't play Tomb Raider - good to finally get a driver that works!

 

Every time mine starts up I also hear a clicking noise also I don't have the 3D panel. But it sounds like the click is the optical drive or around that.

 

I compared a few Precision m6700 configuration pages to those for the Alienware m17x r4, m18x r2, 17 and 18, and it seems like Alienware buyers are getting less for the same prices or higher. Alienwares have custom designs that are not really custom and a bit more gaming performance, and Precisions have the superior warranty with cheaper extensions, spill-resistant keyboards, slightly better cooling, Mil Spec testing, 100% AdobeRGB IPS screen and gorilla glass options, freer customization, battery slice and security hardware, and other add-ons of workstations. Only the m6700 Covet Edition is pricier than an Alienware with components that cost the same. I assume that the order of prices for which Dell gets its components is the same as the order of prices on Ebay: for example, Dell buys a Quadro K4000m for the same price as a GTX 680m, because their costs on Ebay are about the same.

Does this bother anyone else?

Note: I don't remember the launch prices of the m6700 configurations, so the m6800 might be better for comparison.

 

Hey guys quick question, got a little gripe on the sound, its not the sound of the laptop itself, but instead when you use the FN+f7/f8 for volume up and down, it seems a bit excessive to up the volume by ten at a time. It goes 10 to 20 to 30 etc. Is there a setting to change this? Or is this handled from the alienware sound manager?

 

Just FYI, the K4000m is in no way comparable to the GTX 680m. The card your looking for is the K5000m, which is a slightly down-clocked 680m... and you have to pay with your first born child to get a K5000m over a 680m (I don't think Dell offers the K5000m either). The K4000 is also Fermi based and not friendly to overclocking.

Not that the precisions aren't excellent systems; just the prof. cards are for different purposes, and its not recommended for a serious gamer unless they need both worlds (Professional Cuda cores but also gaming potential).

 

I don't know about windows 7, but I know windows 8 has the volume adjust by 2% each press (Which increases if you hit the button quickly - so 2 5 times, then 10% each press).

Much nicer looking OSD, too - instead of the bulky center popup, it's in the upper-left corner and changes with your start screen color. Not sure if that's stock just what win8 does, but I really like it!

 

Thanks man! Silly me, upon reformatting, I remembered that I installed the HD4600 drivers in non-optimus mode. Took a while to figure this out. I uninstalled the 326.29 driver in non-optimus and uninstalled the HD4600 in optimus mode; then I installed the 4600 driver and 326.29 in optimus mode, switched to non-optimus mode and reinstalled the 326.29.

The last time nvidia card I had was the 335m. I hope this helps someone experiencing the same issue.

 

Is it worth it for my buddy to get a 4900mq for $250 (Work has some Intel deal for the cpu) and pop out his 4700mq that he has? I already told him for warranty purposes he can put back the old one if he has to send the laptop in.

 

Hey I was just wondering if anybody knows if the Alienware 17 (R5 in some countries) has GPU upgrade capabilities for later on?

 

Yep, same as all the previous 17s. Just yank out the current MXM card (not quite "yank, but you get the point) and put in a new one. I'm hoping to add a Hawaii chip to mine once they finally release...

 

Yeah, these things can be kinda finicky with how you have to install the drivers. There's a defined order for a reason

And as someone who has managed to brick an OS by installing drivers out of order... Just follow the directions, restart every time, and it'll go a lot better than having to reinstall windows again.

 

I compared the K4000m and 680m because they have similar "market prices." That said, the K4000m is probably better for gaming than the 680m is for CAD.

I guess I shouldn't complain until I see more opinions about the new Alienwares' durability and quality.

P.S. Do you work at the LHC?

 

Ok, I can see the comparison. I will be testing my AW 780m for AUTOCAD in a few weeks if your interested. As for durability, this thing is solid (but I'm not going to put it under the military test), plus I got the "Accidental Damage" warranty with it; so anything that could happen in "military spec" situations that the Dell Precision has should be covered on the AW as well. IF your on the fence between the AW and the Precision, the choice is tough... I'd wait till Dell updates to Haswell and the K4100m on the Precision before making that call

No I don't work at the LHC, but I'm a HUGE fan of it and CERN's work. (The misspelling of "SERN" is a Stien's Gate reference)

 

OK Guys, i found the anwser to this. In the run command type Msconfig, then go to startup, disable the alienware O.S.D ( on screen display ). This will prevent you going back to desktop in windows 7 while playing a game if you try to adjust the volume using FN commands. Also this solves the 10% increments in sound, so now using the FN f7/f8 you get increments of sound increase in twos, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and so on. Much better. Love my first alienware!!!!

 

I ordered on July 30, delivery date was Aug 20, then on Aug 19 Dell changed my delivery date to Oct 2 (I described that here earlier) ... but my 17 arrived today !! Only 9 days late, and in perfect condition! So far I am impressed by its heft, and the what-seems-to-me rubber coating on the handling areas. Plus the sound is the absolute best I have ever heard on a laptop. Have not played any games yet. But I HAVE customized my keyboard colors and it looks great! And to be honest, the vendor rep at the call center was very professional and kept calling me with updates. I am pleased.

 

That's awesome! I'm waiting for mine and the website says eta 8th of October The rep I spoke to said the order could be filled in just 10 days. I figured the rep would be wrong, but maybe he was right : )

 

What does Fn+F5 do?

Obviously it enables or disables the iGPU, but it does so in a way taht leaves the iGPU undetected by both Windows and the BIOS.

How does it do that?

 

I believe there is a switch (multiplexer) that controls which gpu the display is connected to.

 

What is with all the hate with Alienware, I go to another forum and someone wants an Alienware laptop and people flip out and tell them to get another brand because alienware "sucks." They don't even list why it "sucks" the only thing they do list is bad cooling which is also BS considering the cooling is one of the best for a laptop. This Alienware hate has to stop as it's really immature.

 

My CPU is hitting like 80-85 when playing bf3 maxed out on ultra. Is that normal? My GPU is around 74

 

@vortex127: Is that with factory paste? If so, that sounds OK.

I'll take a guess: the Minecraft forums.

Let the ignorant remain ignorant.

 

That's normal. You are within range of the Temp limit. (105c for CPU and 93c for GPU)

 

I got my 17 yesterday, played some Dead Space from the Humble Bundle tonight at 1920 x 1080. Nice! My Xbox 360 never looked that clear. But coming from consoles, I realized I wanted a PC game pad, so I spent some time looking at reviews on Amazon. Then I just took a chance and plugged my existing 360 controller (white, mind you) into one of the 17's USB ports. It just loaded drivers automatically and worked. Awesome!

 

Yes it is thank you both

 

I have an issue with optimus, when turning off the iGPU. The dGPU driver fails to start and when I try to launch nvidia control panel it says I don't have a graphics adapter attached to a monitor.

 

Do you have the 3D monitor?

 

Nope, just the regular 1080p TN panel.

 

Anyone getting packet loss when connected via wifi? I get 2% packet loss from my AW17, it doesn't sound like much but when playing online, especially FPS like BF3 it rubber bands quite a bit. However when hardwired I get 0% packet loss. I've also check this on my MBP and I get 0% packet loss when connected via wifi.

Im still using stock Broadcom drivers, not sure if updated drivers are available.

 

Does the discrete card show up in the bios and device manager?

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