*OFFICIAL* Alienware M17x Owners Lounge - Part 2

I'll be interested frankly to see the actual numbers when this hits and judge the impact of spending another 2,000£ vs just keeping your current computer. Frankly with the same GPU's offered I have trouble justifying such a massive upgrade, I see forum users with QX9300 maxed out configs preordering the i7 and it just doesn't make sense to me.. at least wait out the next generation and use your device before blowing cash on what will yeild marginal performance upgrades with no real functionality upgrade.

The RGB LED screen will be very nice but frankly if you have an M17x and a job + life I don't know why you would go through the hassle / stress of upgrading your 4 month old pc.

/rant off.

That said I'll be jealous but hopefully can brag about better battery life

 

I am totally with this view. However, this is a matter of how much money you have and how seriously you take your machine.

I would never spend that much. Even £2000 on a brand new laptop. Sorry, I have other priorities and waste money in a lot of other ways.

RGB LED? Couldn't care less. Yes, it is nice. But, it could be far worse - DSTN LCD. lawl. I was groomed to appreciate and enjoy the screen on my M1730, and this is no different.

I got warranty, and if something goes wrong late, I'll try to gun for a better replacement, but as of now, I am happy. However, no way in hell would I pay that much for a machine upgrade that--with even newer GPUs--will hardly be so much better. I still think the M1730 had great potential, but just lost support - with the right upgrades, it can still compete with the real-world-gaming potential of the M17x with nvidia cards.


Also, this whole hype about DX11. I would take--any day--a 512-bit DX10 card that could run Crysis ultra high at over 60 FPS over a weaker card that'll do DX11. That to me, is a real upgrade. The day something like that shows up, then I'll consider spending, but newer API support? Please.

-FIN-

 

I agree.
I feel my laptop is still one of the best around and even if I admit I am tempted to sell and buy the new m17x I think I will not, based on the assumption 4870cf will not be much of improvement over my sli 8800gtx.
Will the 5870cf make me change my mind? I'll wait for real gaming benchmarks first..

BTW overall the i7 + DDR3 ram + LED screen is a good improvement over my set up but given that for gaming purposes gpu is the thing that matters more I believe I do the right thing keeping my monster..

that's my 2 cents.

 

Well, the one thing that holds 8800m GTX back, in comparison to a lot of the newer cards, is the 512MB VRAM.

I actually got a hold of a 9800m GTX and installed it in my own M1730. I can tell you, thanks to the added texture memory, a lot of the DX10 games were suddenly running smooth. It was amazing to run Magnus' config in DX10 mode at almost the same pace as DX9. This is why I believe a 4870CF would actually accomplish results that a bottle-necked 512MB card just won't manage.

I would say a maxed out M1730 is still nice, but the defective nature of the GPUs and the equally uncompromising cooling design, became too much of a gamble.

As for CPU. It's always wise to keep in mind that for dual card solutions to work their best, you will need a fast CPU. Doesn't matter how many cores you have, but you will need the MHz and the resolution to get that SLi bar to pump out its maximum.

The refresh is no doubt a great machine, but how much greater than a potential M17x with QX9300 and all of its bells and whistles, is the real factor. For some, it'll be a modest step-up, but worth the price since they can afford and enjoy being on the very edge of the cutting-edge. For others, it'll just be trivial, because they'll be content with their older machines and already be playing their games, maxed out, without any real issues. Even M1730 users can pull this off with a few tweaks, and perhaps a few modest upgrades.

 

M17xR2 users are gunna smoke Core2Duo on benchmarking especially with the ability to control RAM and VCORE voltages. But Battery life will not be great and chances are M17xR1 with the same GPU's will deliver performance on par in real world gaming. we'll see though.

 

Yeah, if you are a benchrunner it's gonna suck not having an R2. Phew, I'm safe.

It is a very nice machine. But I am definitely not into dropping more $ to watch 3DMark run smoother. My next PC upgrade will be in about 4 years. I had a Toshiba Satellite from 2004 (I think) before upgrading to this one. It literally broke apart. Imagine what will be out there when we upgrade to the next one in relatively the same amount of time. lol

 

If they had something like even a single desktop 5970 Radeon - matching power - I'd be sold. Now that thing is powerful! Theoretically 5 teraflops.

Well, I wouldn't be sold if it cost too much. But that would be something I'd be aiming at for real-world gaming.

 

You've been on the G73 thread right? It's no desktop 5970 but the closest in a notebook.

 

Yes, I am not in the least bit impressed. It's hardly twice as powerful as the current cards, theoretically, down to the flops and gigatexel output. It's nice, but it's not what I am talking about just yet.

Do not take this wrong either, because it is massive for a notebook. But I'll say the same about most of the current cards - 4870s, 280s, 260s. Keep in mind, I speak strictly of real world gaming. The progress of these mobile cards is absolutely meaningless in comparison to the desktop 5970 and others alike. Even the last-gen Nvidia desktop 285s have more FLOPs under the hood. One cannot expect to compete with the sheer bandwidth of these cards. This is what I meant when I stated that I'd take a DX10 card capable of handling polygons and textures of Crysis at 60 frames per second and at 1200p over a fast, but not so strong, typical mobile DX11 card. There's a trend with these cards at the moment, and that revolution has yet to take place.

Desktop cards will continue to be in a whole other league thanks to their greater bandwidth and almost--relatively speaking--godly capacity when compared to mobile cards.

 

Manufactures are still limited by the design of notebooks including the power source for the GPUs to be able to push it too far. Assuming your ok with that information you can still do a lot of gaming with these systems.

 

Of course.

I did not say they have a choice at the moment. I simply state what will honestly 'wow' me.

As for what can game. Well, if that is the question, then I am perfectly happy and content with a pair of overclocked 1GB 9800m GTXs backed by an overclocked X9000. Lovely. Especially given that most games over the last couple of generations have been largely amped-up console ports. Unfortunately, the M1730 is a bit of a liability, and I am not happy about possibly letting it go for crap. So my older, crappier M17x will have to get the job done, and I am sure it will do a fine job. Haven't had any complaints just yet, aside from the dodgy issues with A03.

This is why I wouldn't jump at the chance to get mobility 5870s - they're 10-30% better than 4870s, which is great, but probably not worth the price that Dell will charge here in Europe. Plus, I think I'd be very happy with just a pair of 4870s, or 280s (kinda' hating Nvidia right now). I'd wait for something that might be beyond that threshold. Perhaps in a new system, and at a time when games truly do demand massive hardware to run at just 1200p.

 

getting a bit out of touch aren't we?
1 desktop card alone (gts250/260/275/285/295/4600/4700/4800/5600/5700/5800/5900 series) out powers any single laptop out...so just how do you think they are going to put the exact same in a laptop?

i think they will have to do a bit more studying of that alien technology, before that becomes a reality.

 

Anyone know why I all of the sudden have an extra 60+ gigs of space when the other day I only had 3 gigs? I definitely did not delete anything.

 

I must be mistaken. I was reading this thread, and thought that most people, like myself, actually take the time to read a statement before jumping the gun.

My bad for assuming that some higher beings would be able to comprehend a whole statement where a person might say what they think would be 'amazing' and not confuse it with what they think would be realistic. Especially when the same person clarifies further that such an amazing concept is probably not possible.

I don't think I am out of touch at all. Rather I think you are out of touch with what I am saying, good sir. And that has nothing to do with the quality or sub-par complexity of my statements, but rather, because you jumped the gun. I've done it a few times myself, but c'mon.

Simple:
Did I say such a thing exists? NO!
Did I say such a thing is possible? NO!
Did I say that I will absolutely kill for another laptop card that'll be approx. 30% better than what we already have? NO!
Did I say I want such a card enough to invest thousand-plus? NO!

Did I not clarify that while something nearly twice or three times as powerful isn't viable, it still sounds amazing a concept, and a true upgrade from these small increments of 10%, 20% or even 30%( not to be confused with the english word, 'possible')? WHY, YES! ZOMG! So it was an opinion about what would be cool, and not a statement about what can and cannot be done in a realistic gaming laptop-build scenario.

Comprende? Muy bueno! (Yeah, the Spanish sucks. . . but let me be unrealistic for once.)

No, just toning down the sarcasm and allowing other people to express an opinion and not pulling it way out of context will allow the whole thing to make a hell of a lot more sense.

No offence, buddy. You're cool in my books, but that was a bit too much.

Anyway, back on topic.

A card, capable of pushing at least some more polygons than the 5870, but with just DX10 support, is still something I would prefer over a weaker DX11 card. 30% is certainly better, and nice, but if it is expensive by my standards, then I'd prefer to hold out for something stronger.

 

it was more a laugh it off sort of thing, but you took it completely out of context.

people in treads always get bent out of shape when you post an opinion or a reply to one.....

you basically asked why they are behind and i basically gave you your answer. and since no mobile card is as powerful as a desktop card..it will never ever be up to par against it's 1st & 2nd, gen cards..unless your running two mobiles to one far lower specked desktop card.
i would hardly call dx11 meaning less and considering ati is still out doing nvidia on on AA (which is where they really need to focus on as well - personal opinion)

and this 30 percent...
from where? before the 4870s we're unlocked or after? im asking. because their numbers aren't going off of what people like mandrake found out...they are going off their stock as is numbers. and the 4870 numbers we're far lower....so once the 5870s get unlocked...their numbers will go up as well...just not on dx11 max res and max settings with AA/AF

again...not here to argue...
lets recap..to get that top knotch performance..you need watts/volts/cooling....just not gonna happen any time soon...people are already complaining about size...
and about the alien comment..that's another reality..where do you think we got part of the ideas off the tech we got now? it sure wasn't from here. you have to keep an open mind...if not...then you type these mini novels trying to belittle someone...too funny...that might matter to someone who cares about that sort of thing...rotflmao! i don't.

 

Guys, vote in this M17X poll please. i'm interested in seeing your opinions

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=451608

 

So many points that don't hold any context to what I was stating.

First off, I am not going to highlight or bold parts of your post, because that'll only give volume to something that means nothing.

Point 1:
I didn't ask 'why they aren't better than x'. I stated that 30% isn not enough. Don't be putting words and questions in my mouth, buddy. Unfortunately, with these assumptions and exorbitantly long posts, I am finding it -very- hard to believe that you are grasping much of what I am stating.

Point 2:
And that 30% I referred to was stock versus stock, going by actual specifications of EACH card on AMD's website, minus the theoretical TFLOPs, which rarely show fruition in real world gaming. Overlcock a 4870 and you might close that gap by a mild percentage, and overclock the 5870 and you'll defeat that gain and perhaps even widen that original gap. So. . . you'll get the same, maybe more. . . couldn't care less! Read these words again: "I. Couldn't. Care. Less." There is no way you are going to turn a 500 MHz card into a 1000 MHz card, so maybe after unlocking, overclocking, ice-blasting, it'll be 40%? Maybe 45% more than an uber overclocked 4870?! COOL?! Nice, but why should I be forced to hail this as the next Jesus Christo? Sheesh. Maybe you should accept the idea that I won't be interested in that much gain. Just accept it.

And speaking of bent out of shape; please, we both know that the pot cannot call the kettle black.

Now until and unless you are interested in getting back on topic, I suggest that we avoid addressing each other on the topic. I am clearly not interested in pursuing this dialogue where the word 'context' can be beaten into meaning whatever it can mean.

So that initial post was a gag at my expense? Cool. And yet your follow-up reply was nothing short of a massively irrelevant critical breakdown. Doesn't lend credibility to the gag-factor because usually when people are just busting balls about something trivial, they play it cool. You've clearly taken some kind of exception to my statements. So let it go; I'll let you have the laugh. Ha! Ha!

How foolish of me to expect 285 Desktop Cards in a laptop, even though I never demanded such a thing or made any claim that it was possible. And even more shame on me for not getting down on my knees and worshipping the god-power of 30% or 40% gain, when I am more than satisfied with current hardware, and only hold further intrigue for something that will yield a new standard in real-world gaming performance. [END]

 

hummm, seems a mod deleted a bunch of stuff.
if your going to delete...then delete it all and not part of it.

now,like i said before

forget it dude. this isn't debate school
mini novels for FTL

 

I tried reading and understanding what you guys are saying but my A.D.D. kicked in.

 

haha +1 rep

 

Given that I pretty much have a 9800 GX2 in my laptop, I am pretty happy...lol

When fully overclocked and such it is about equal to a GTX 275 or a 4890 if anyone wants a good laptop to desktop comparison

 

i was starting to GET a.d.d from tring to explain...haha

but as much as we want current desktop performance in a laptop...just not a reality at the moment. the tech isn't there just yet...getting closer of course, but just not quite there...as you guys have found out from benching....if the laptop isn't below a certain temp...it will not perform above par.


edit:
you know something the mobile cards can do and the desktop ones can't?

double themselves...7k single card 14k dual card and 6k single card 12k dual

 

we do have pretty good scaling haha

but who is to say that if we go up to comparable frequencies of the desktop cards our scaling wont level out as well?

 

can only deal with the here and now....else we spark another long azz debate...lol

but seriously...that is a hard question to ask....
if we could (really)volt mod, then you would probably find your true answer.
edit:
could also be why you can't get to much above 12.2 gpu...seems maybe nvidia has a better lock on their voltage..(more speculations of course)

 

has anyone actually got your audio ports to work in 5.1 or quad mode on win 7 64 bit?

despite all the settings and latest drivers, whenever i enable quad or 5.1 on windows and then in the idt control panel, there will only be sound output on the front speakers and none on the woofers or rear speakers. in games, sound comes out of the rear but none from the woofer and front.

the problems been there ever since i got the laptop but i never really had time to call dell up..

 

really???? desktop can't do that. do run and show us....

 

1 5970 will do 30 to 33k gpu but two will do about 50k gpu

 

I have a 5.1 setup and all it takes is plug in the jack. I don't need to enable 5.1 in Windows or whatsoever. Plug and play. Simple as that.

You may want to do a clean install OS, then install drivers in the correct consequence. Then do not touch anything besides plug in the jacks.

Sometimes simple solution works.

 

dont you need to change your windows setting to set the output to 5.1? if you dont and it stays at stereo the output wont really be 5.1 even if you have all the speakers connected.

 

No I don't. I don't even know what 5.1 in Windows sound settings you are talking about.

And I do know my sound is correctly setup as 5.1. It's surround sound 5.1. Not full room stereo lol.

When I plug all the 3 jacks of my Logitech G51 (no need for the last pink jack) IDT Audio Control Panel recognizes it as shown below:



Are you sure your source files have 5.1 audio? If yes you may want to try different media player or playing a game. Playing a game is the best way to test it.

 

in windows you can go to control panel -> sound then select configure then youll get to a place where you can choose stereo, quad or 5.1..

when i plug in 3 jacks sometimes the idt audio control panel recognises it, sometimes it doesnt but sure as hell no sound comes out from all of it, only the front.

yes my music files have 5.1 audio. they worked fine with my old xps 1730. even in games when i enable 5.1 or quad, sound only comes out from the rear speakers. the front and woofer is dead

 

Could be intermittent contact on the audio jacks. You know what that means - a call to Dell and a replaced mobo. Though first maybe you could spray some compressed air into it...

 

Hi guys my m17x will arrive within a few days. Unfortunately I only ordered it with one HD 4870 video card. The CPU is not the best either just a core 2 dual T9700. The CPU I think would do just fine, but is it possible to install another HD 4870? Any answer would help me ease my worries.

 

I have just checked my Sound settings. It's 5.1.

Does your other input holes than the green one ever work? If you plug in the green jack into 'em do you got the sound? Test it to see if some of your input holes are malfunctioned.

 

Few Questions

Im looking to get the m17x now that it has the Core i7

1) is it better to get it with
Intel® Core™ i7 920XM 2.0GHz (3.2GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
or
Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)

Which is better for Gaming

2) Will the m17x get the US 3.0 anytime soon
or will we be able to upgrade that in our system even if we get it now ?

3) Can we play the PS3 on m17x cos it has HDMI
(wonder if its only outgoing or can be used as a monitor too)
or is there a gadget we can attach to play PS3 on it ?

4) are there any New Better Graphic Cards coming in the next 3/4 months ?

5) is it Better to get SSD in Raid 0 for gaming performance


Thank you
God Bless

 

Check the Alienware forum. There's ane entire thread devoted to the updated M17x. There's another thread devoted entirely to your processor question.

 

Please Please Give Links

 

Off Topic:
What is this I am hearing about posts being deleted, and claims that 'all should be deleted'? What happened?

Off Topic: (again):
A.D.D.?! Meh. I think I'd favour dementia due to repeated statements and explanations that were just not needed. But moving on. . .

On Topic:
Scook's got a decent comparison point. These current cards at a good clock can be compared to the 9800 GX2. Not bad. This is why I'd wait a bit longer for something even more powerful, or wait for these up coming ones to get cheaper and justify a small but appreciated increase in performance. Keep in mind, this is just a money question.

Double the scaling? Are you sure? Can laptops really do double?

I can only asnwer question 3. No, I don't believe you can run a PS3 on your laptop. It's only HDMI out. Correct me if I am wrong. This is where I could use an explanation, by the way.

 

New DX11 cards will come out on the market very soon. We're waiting for the top notch ones, the ATI HD58xx series. Nivida's DX11 entry level cards will probably come at the same time, but nothing that can match ATI (Initially scheduled for a November 2009 launch but was pushed back until CES in Jan 2010.)

Dell sales reps have been reported to say the 5 series might be available in march (HD 5870). But the exact date is not public yet. I am in pain myself, figuring out if I want to wait or not before ordering...

 

Thank you that is very Helpful

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=451062

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=420148

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=450902

 

god bless you

 

the mx17 has already proven this...

 

Well not quite John, has anyone done extensive testing with a single card? As much as we have with SLI? lol

Moo was saying he got a GPU score over 7000 on a single GTX 260m wasn't he? Sorry if that is wrong

 

i have, with every machine i owned.
did it with a 9800m gt and the 9800m gtx and of course all my desktop cards.

not sure about mr moo...the last i remember was him doing 6.3 to 6.4 on a single card gtx 260m


let me make a correction..
so far, there are 2 cards that can double their scores in vantage gpu only (while housed in a m17x) 280m and a 4870m or 2 280m's and 2 4870m's for double.

is this a better explanation?

and i ran a test on a single 9800 gt (over clocked)
http://service.futuremark.com/resultComparison.action?compareResultId=1712033&compareResultType=19

and don has...

 

yes they all work when i set the settings to stereo only and the idt audio control panel plugs to all headphones. the moment i change one of them to something else the sounds screw up.

what os, driver and bios are you running?

 

sillyhoney, how did you solve your 5.1 problem in this thread?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=431531

did just reinstalling win 7 do the trick? i have a relatively fresh install of win 7 home premium and the problem is still there.

on idt audio control panel's test speakers, all speakers have sound but in wmp and most games the rear speakers dont have sound and in some games only the rear speakers have sound but the front does not have any sound

 

I see. So you're speaking of GPU scores being doubled in Vantage.

Well, that is true, I guess, and probably the better way to calculate the isolated GPU performance rather than the overall benchmark score.

 

it was one of the post that got deleted as well.
basically it said
the 280m and the 4870m scaled from 6k single to 12k dual gpu (280m) and 7k single to 14k dual gpu (4870m) in vantage gpu only....with links and stuff.
or better put..the fps we're pretty close to being double.

 

Even the FPS? Nice.

What about a run through Crysis? Someone should try that properly, if they haven't already. It doesn't favour any one GPU brand, and is just a power hungry application. This was the only time that I actually saw GPU performance double with FPS when using SLi. (Of course, it doesn't mean that one can overclock a GPU to twice its original stock power.) Heh.

Anyway, I got a decent deal on a three-year warranty extension for this M17x, which is new but with just one year on its contract.