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

Anyody want to know anything else before I send this back? Figured I'd check...Just decided that it wasn't worth the upgrade from my m17xr4.

 

It's here! Apparently July 22nd meant earlier today. So far so good. 780 has triple pipes, 4800 has dual pipes. Strangely, it appears as though I have 4x4GB RAM modules, which might be annoying in the future. However, my biggest annoyance has been trying to move to this SSD boot/750 + cache storage system. I'm currently having some serious trouble getting the SSD install to recognize the HDD setup.

 

Did you make any bios changes?

 

Not beyond boot order. I should say that first order of business is to actually get the basic drivers installed on the SSD. I don't even have Internet yet. Well, as I'm typing this I get the Broadcom installed, go figure. I will update again when the rest of the drivers are installed.

 

Is is just me or does everyone make the screen sound like it looks like something you would get on a gameboy color?! It can't possibly be that bad. Can it?

 

Cool, just I've seen people switch access mode and turn off the RAID bios - messes with pre-existing cached drives sometimes. Hope it all goes well

 

So is everyone getting there systems early?

 

I was really not expecting it to show up 2 weeks early. In fact, I wasn't really prepared to receive it (which, indecently, is probably why this whole driver install thing is taking literally all day). I think my early date has something to do with the 4x4 modules instead of the 2x8.

 

When did you order it?

 

June 20something? Can't remember the exact date. Also, don't do what I did and create two boot volumes. I'm going to take a break and come at this from a different angle.

 

I ordered mine yesterday and got a 24/7 delivery date... today I looked AW page and their estimated dispatched day also got down a day. I think they managed to get production line working or found enough Haswell units (as this was causing the delays based on another user).

I got the 4700MQ model, with plans to get an SSD inside it, but I decided to change my order (if possible) to the 4800MQ and use the 64Gbs for the 750Gb cache, while still adding an SSD... What do you recommend to do?

How is the screen?

 

I just looked this up. The quad-play is an Alienware 18 option, not a 17 option. I still don't know if the mSATA port is SATA III or not.

 

So far everything is great, I haven't done a real-world tests yet, but I expect my configuration will do quite well when I finish this damn OS implant. I've done it a million times and never had this much trouble. Does anyone know if the caching drive somehow messes with standard formatting procedures?

 

From the looks of it so far those with 680m may as well wait for the Maxwell chipset GTX 880m.

 

Is there an official list of drivers that we need to have installed? I just want to be sure I covered everything.

 

Received mine today, 12 days earlier than estimated ship date. Loving it so far, but its confusing trying to figure out whether I am on integrated or discrete. The only reason I figured I was on integrated was when skyrim booted up for the first time and it auto setted everything to lowest settings. I immediately hit f5, reboot, and then it auto setted to ultra high settings.

 

There should be a setting in the Nvidia control panel which allows you to choose the mode (integrated or discrete) you want for a particular program. How long did it take for you to order? I placed mine on July 1 with an EDD of Jul 19. Waiting is the hardest part.

 

I had the same problem too. I couldn't tell if I was running on the integrated or the discrete GPU. I found out that you can tell my right clicking on the desktop and see if there are options for Intel as well as Nvidia. If you only see Nvidia, then your running in discrete.

 

Ordered on Julne 27th. Waiting is def the hardest part, i was supposed to receive mine on the 22nd but somehow I got lucky.

 

Driver install fixed my problems. Ran a complete format of the 750, everything is running smoothly now. I will try to post some performance related stuff soon.

 

I got mine earlier today before I went to work and didn't get anytime to spend with it until 10 hours later. So far I've only messed around with Starcraft which this thing destroys. I was a little confused at first about telling which graphics card it was using compared to my laptop. I ended up just opening Alienadrenaline when I went in game to see which card was being used. Once I'm done playing around I'm going to probably do a fresh install of Windows 7 and reload all the drivers and what not, then look into running some benchmarks and how it compares to everyone elses scores and looking into all the tweaks and changes to get it running properly, then load all my games on and start having fun.

I love this thing though, it feels so solid, the keyboard feels amazing, way better than the one on my m11x, the trackpad feels great and I love the extra lighting on it. I can't wait until my day off to finally start playing around with it and see the true potential of it. It's kind of ting on my desktop right now as it is and I haven't even gotten to unlock the graphics card yet not to mention I don't even have a 1080p monitor to use with my desktop. I'm very happy that I invested my money into this laptop as it will last me for years and just be able to be upgraded further down the road.

 

Let's not forget paying can put a pain in the rear also Enjoy the machine man.

 

So you recommend 4800MQ over 4700MQ?

 

Yeah, does it fly well?! Na, that would be a little wreckless...sorry, I mean reckless! And, besides, that's normally only reserved for Apple products!

 

I can't say yet in real-world performance, but in terms of ARK specs, absolutely.

On another note I've run into a weird issue with the clouds in Just Cause 2 (which it blows through on max even with the issue) and BF3 is installing now. If someone wants UE3 specs I could install Mass Effect 3 as well, but I should be able to post some real numbers tomorrow.

 

Depends what you use your laptop for. If it's just gaming, then any of the CPU options available are fine, because the bottleneck in games will be the GPU's on these laptops in almost all instances. If you use your CPU maxed out for other purposes, then the upgrade would be worth it, but you probably wouldn't be asking this question if you were in the business of doing that, so 4700MQ is better, spend the money on something else.

 

Yes please,
1) If you have a good camera plz take pics of the screen (maybe with same wallpaper) like @mmolteratx did with his 3D screen http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ial-alienware-17-owners-lounge-thread-40.html. Although I hate 3D his screen looks really vibrant.
2) Is the sound produced from the audio ports (not speakers) good? Because @Dusk Star said there are back round noises on them.
3) Is the wifi reliable? Because Dusk Star said it's not reliable with stock drivers. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...l-alienware-launch-discussion-thread-225.html
4) Is internet via the Ethernet port reliable? http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...l-alienware-launch-discussion-thread-225.html
5) How you liking the overall build quality?

Thx

 

Just I am a tad dried the last few weeks, I am using my SandyBridge 2.2Ghz i7 (don't remember the model) maxed frequently, but with the Haswell upgrades in architecture I am hoping that will not be the case. Dunno... I will need an SSD as well.

 

Ah, I see, if you're maxing out your SandyBridge i7 at the moment, then I would get the better of the 2 CPUs, because overall CPU performance has not increased much since SandyBridge, it's effectively the same architecture with a few tweaks.

 

Ahh ok... I will give them a call and upgrade.

If your problem is like a graphics spike(s), then it is drivers related... I used to have them all the time in my ATI 4850x2

 

I was reading about a 10% improvement between SandBridge and Ivy Bridge and then another between Ivy and Haswell, that is why... I will give them a call then! I hope they accept it.

 

I get the same noise through my audio ports. It's an annoying hiss. Haven't tried it with external speakers yet though, just headphones. Wi-fi is also slower than it should be for me, but it varies. Haven't tried the Ethernet port yet, but overall build is great. I did open it up and it looked like some idiot slipped and hit his/her screwdriver all over an area about 1 square inch.

 

Yeah, it sounds like you're after as much CPU performance as possible, so I hope that phone call works out for you.

There have been small improvements since SandyBridge, but no big step changes. If you're curious about comparisons between all mobile CPU chips in terms of benchmark performance then take a look at this link:

Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist - NotebookCheck.net Tech

 

Thanks for the link! Being with a Mac, due to my work, for the last 3-4 years really got me off the PC scene!

 

Is there much difference between I7-4900MQ and the I7-4930MX processors?

 

Final verdict:

Crap GTX780m is not even stable at +100/+200 MHz oc, AW17 is going back on Monday.

 

Wow! It's always nice to get free performance from overclocking, and that is some real poor overclocking! What notebook were you coming from? A 680M?

 

Probably quite a bit of money! EDIT: $500 dollars to be precise from Intel's point of view, so I shudder to think the difference that Dell might charge! EDIT 2: Can you even order it from Dell with a 4930MX? I don't think you can in the UK.

 

It will cost 300 more, so no SSD until September or so I hope the cache performance is good enough until then. Plus 5 more days on the delivery schedule.

 

Life is hard sometimes! ;-)


I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

 

I recevied my AW17 yesterday (780M, i7-4800MQ). I have a few questions / concerns that I'm hoping you guys can help with.

1) Optimus mode caused some problems for me with FutureMark 2011, due to the dropping back to desktop between the tests (its caused the benchmark to abort before the final test). Because of this - and also as I will always run this laptop on mains power I decided to FN+F5 and turn off the integrated GPU. Is there any disadvantage to not running Optimus that I should be aware of?

2) After I had switched off the integrated GPU I booted Metro Last Light again (previously I had tested this game for 30mins without problem with Optimus on). This time however when I got to the realtime tunnel menu in the game, everything was chugging along at 4fps. My other games (e. Bioshock Infinite) work just fine after switching off the integrated GPU. I'm not sure if this problem with Metro is due to Optimus being switched off, or maybe due to the config of the game, as it was first booted when Optimus was running (so maybe the game was expecting a different HW config). I've uninstalled Metro now and am reinstalling to see if that fixes the problem. Has anyone else experience this issue (or something similar).

3) I'm a bit concerned reading about the low temp throttle point of the 780m. Checking my temps I can see that after approx 30mins of gaming my 780m seems to reach the low 70's (with an ambient room temp of 25c), so I've not hit the throttle point yet - although maybe I will when I game for longer in one sitting. Do you think this is a "fixable" problem for Dell? - as I cannot believe they would release such a machine that is potentially so fundamentally crippled.

4) I have the non-3D 1920x1080 screen. In very dark games I do notice that the backlight seems to be a bit uneven. Its not so much bleeding around the edge, but there seems to be a vertical strip in the middle part of the screen that is slightly lighter than the rest (almost like the backlight is split into two parts. Its quite faint, but its there. Not sure if anyone else has noticed similar? I do have the brightness at max so this will enhance any lighting defects of course.

Overall I have to say I'm very impressed with the system, barring the points above. I'm just a bit of a perfectionist, especially when I spend this sort of money on a bleeding edge system. My previous gaming laptop was an MSI 570M - but I decided not to get the updated MSI as my current model was having overheating issues with the CPU (hitting 100c thermal throttle in games within 30mins). Heres hoping that this Alienware is the one to keep!

 

You have no idea how I am, when I buy stuff for myself. I can give reasonable advices to other people -worked as a technology consultant, before moving to soft development- but when it comes to my own stuff, I can't decide!

The main reason I went for it is the CPU improvement and hopefully the mSata cache for my back drive -I will save some money by getting 128Gbs over a 256Gbs drive. I still save like £150 from instant rebate and then around 200 more from EEP discount.

Thanks or your support!

 

I'm sticking with my M17x R4, GTX680m oced to 1006/2350MHz rock solid, beats the AW17 easily, so no point in "upgrading".

 

Another 3DMak11 score on 3D AW 17 (stock drivers and VBIOS):
Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz,Alienware Alienware 17

 

Yep, definitely a good call!

 

Question about optimus....Normally my desktop gives me options for both intel and nvidia settings and in device manager both show up. When I hit fn f5 to try and switch to just the 780m, the computer restarts and when it comes back on I feel like it is only using the integrated card. Aero gets disabled and no cards show up in device manager, if i right click the desktop I dont get any nvidia or intel options, and if i try to open the nvidia control panel manually it tells me no nvidia card is detected in my system.

 

You can't disable the iGPU, just set the global GPU to nvidia in the control panel and you're good to go.

If a game is still giving you trouble you can always add it to the whitelist.

 

Luis any chance we will be getting some updates on drivers for the GTX780m and a bios update to help out with the coolilng profiles??

 

Silly question maybe, but how exactly do I set the global GPU to be the Nvidia one.

I thought that FN+F5 would be enough? After doing that the Intel GPU does not even show up in device manager any more, only the Nvidia one.

EDIT: Having done FN+F5, it is no longer possible to select a global card, as the iGPU is no longer showing. Therefore all games etc MUST be using the Nvidia GPU. This makes my problem with Metro even more frustrating, as I see no reason why it would suddenly start having this low FPS problem.

 

This is a little bit frustrating. I am trying to installed the modded vbios for the 780m and it is not working for me. When in optimus mode, I set the 780 to the preferred global card instead of "Auto" so it should only be using that card, when I try installing the vbios it tells me no nvidia adapters detected. When I hit fn+f5, the computer restarts with no aero, "Display adapters" is not even an option in device manager let alone showing a card, when I open GPUz it is entirely blank as if it didn't load and does not show any cards, and if I try to open 3dmark like that it tells me no adapters were detected. Is there something I am doing wrong here? Do I need to be flashing it from outside of windows?