*OFFICIAL* Alienware M17x Owners Lounge - Part 2

The previous M17x owner's thread was getting too large and slowing down forum search, so this is the new thread.

Link to original M17x owner's thread

NotebookReview.com Official M17x Review

M17x Benchmark Thread - Part 3

Remember to keep all comments/discussion related to the M17x. If you have something else to add (comments about someone's avatar and other trivial things), then go to the Side Topics forum.

Thank you.

 

i can't believe this thread is already at 1000 pages. what was on this thread?

 

All these years and the M17x thread was the only one large enough for a part 2!

I can't wait for some folks to start showing the 4870's around here!!!

 

^^You and me both! im counting down the days!

 

Guys, having a bit issue here I think and I'd like your help. Although my laptop runs very cool here are the two screenshots I took with the HWMonitor. Aren't these numbers too high? And this is on idle. Am I doing something wrong? Again the laptop itself and around the fan is very cool.

 

Temps look good to me .

 

Phew! Thanks

 

The m1730 thread beat this one to part2 by a couple months. However now that many of them (myself included) are now M17x owners, we'll get to part 3 first

 

@ sleepy0

Na the M1730 got a take 2 reboot. Or are you talking about only in the AW section?
Lets hope this take 2 has a better fate than the XPS one

 

I meant all these years in the AW forum, not the entire site.

 

What Quad said, but did you fix the misleading HWMonitor readings? Go to the hwmonitorw.ini file and modify it to say CPU_0_TJMAX=105.0 Otherwise you will not get correct readings on your processor.

 

^No, I didn't know that. Where is this .ini file tho?

 

War, where did you get that info to change the ini? OMG! this is my 500th post!

 

When you open HWMonitor an .ini file will be created next to where the .exe is. Edit that .ini in Notepad to what I said.

I think BatBoy had that info, I don't remember.

 

The .ini file is located in the same directory as the hwmonitor.exe.

 

Is this ini fix only for certain processors or the M17x or anyone that uses HWMonitor? I've never heard of doing this before....

 

Its basically for everyone - as long as they have an intel processor, regardless of machine.

HWMonitor assigns a TJMAX value of 100. The TJMAX for the C2Duo's offered with the M17x is 105. So, the temp reading will actually be off. The Q9000 has a TJMAX of 100. The QX9300 I believe is 105 (I recall seeing it somewhere just cant remember where). When I did my initial research into this I used this as a TJMAX lookup:

http://processorfinder.intel.com/Default.aspx

The HWMonitorPro page has a FAQ at the bottom. They have the following FAQ listed:

In the end, does it have to be done? Nope. Just my preference. Everyone should make their own call.

 

So for my x9100 is the TJMAX value 105 as well, since it shows here that the Thermal Specification is 105C?

 

Yep. That would be it.

This all started when I found temp differences between different apps. I have always used HWMonitor and decided to check out some of the others. I noticed HWMonitor had a .ini file and decided to open it up - that's when I found the TJMAX entry.

 

I guess we M17x owners really love talking about our machine if we need a 2nd thread lol

 

So I threw Windows7 on last night. Didn't get a ton of time with it because the install took so freaking long... but so far it seems ok. Loaded up Sins of a Solar Empire and noticed no noticeable difference in performance - maybe a slight bump but that's it...

 

nice find batboy, but now all my temps show 5 higher lol

 

everyone calls you sleepy xDDD

 

Hahaha well just switch it back then and pretend there 5 degrees lower, problem solved .

 

Or clean the bottom of the laptop. Right now I'm cruising at 33 and 30 for the cores.

 

Is the ATI 4870m only available in North America and Europe? Australia doesn't have the 4870m option yet

 

You could try ringing them but I would say if it's not on the website it isn't available yet.

 

This might be a retarded question, but I MUST ask. Is there a different phone # for Alienware tech support? Or do I just call the normal XPS/Dell numbers I've been using? I wonder if I can just confuse the hell out of them and get them to replace my defunct 1730 with an m17x.

 

Alienware M17, Area-51 m15x, M9750 or below: Call Alienware.
XPS 1730 is a Dell product, and so is the M17x, and M15x, so call Dell. Others have had success getting their XPS 1730 swapped out for an M17x.

 

Okay so there isn't a subdivision of Dell dedicated to just Alienware support?

 

Nope. You're dealing with our same ol' buddies Hank.

 

I have been bounced from Alienware to Dell back to Alienware again. Alienware has at least accepted the buck and from what I understand are working to get my issue resolved.

So call 866-287-6727 (Alienware)

 

Stupid noob question. I have never benchhmarked my computers. I have an ETA of 10/15 on my M17x with the Crossfire Dual 4870's. Can anybody provide me some guidance on how to benchmark?

 

There are plenty of threads here on this. Try searching the forum.

The Official M17x Benchmarks Thread should get you started.

 

Thanks, I will post some results after I get it in.

 

Belive me my friend, were all waiting for ours to arrive

 

Your ETA seems a lot sooner than others. What stage is your system in when you call the number?

 

He should be boxing or very close with that eta!! I am so jealous!!

 

Wow, he really splurged on the ram

 

I don't know what stage it is in. I have been just checking online. All it says on line is in production.

If anyone is interested Newegg has the G.Skill 4gb 1333MHZ sticks on sale for 210 each.

 

I didn't get the ram from Dell.

 

^^^^Ahh I see

 

I'm going to do more memory testing myself when my M17x comes in but I'll stick with 4GB. 2GB is already enough for what I do.

 

When can we expect the first bench of the M17X with the ATI cards?

Scores to beat:

Mandrake:

Vantage GPU: 12002
3DMark06: 17531

 

^^Hopefully DELL ships them out to their waiting custmers soon, so you and everyone else can find out.

 

I am starting to think Mandrake's scores won't be beat.

 

OMG part II? Cool...

 

My best scores are in my sig. Those are old.

 

Thought you guys would get a kick out of this since I just finished uploading some scans of an another article on SSD's, and this was on the next page:







This is from this month's (October) edition of PCWorld magazine. Looks like the m17X is still at the top of the heap.

 

hey, ive been living with this since i got my m17x but id like to find out why.

ive noticed that tabbing between fullscreen games have been slower than my previous xps1730. tabbing FROM the game to desktop, is fine and as quick as ever but tabbing BACK into the full screen game(any game at all really.. from warcraft 3 to street fighter 4) takes a hell load longer than on my previous laptop.

the games i run are at native resolution and i have disabled my 9400. anyone knows the reason for the slow tab times? im on 186.82 and ive tried 186.91 and some others but there is no difference.