*OFFICIAL* Alienware M17x R1/R2 Owner's Lounge Thread - Part 1

Hey guys, I just sold my M14X (I loved it but craved more power) this week and got a sweet deal on an M17X-R2! I paid $1160 for it. What do you guys think?

Specs:
i7-720QM
5870x2 Crossfire
1920x1200 RGBLED
8GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD
Blu-Ray
Intel 6300
275 Days Warranty

I am really excited to get it, I've never had a crossfire/SLI setup before and I have really high expectations. For those who own the 5870x2 Crossfire setup, can you comment on the gaming performance? Will it be able to handle BF3 at 1920x1200 at high-max settings?

So excited to become an M17X owner! I've owned Sager, Dell, and Asus gaming laptops in the past and always viewed Alienware as an overpriced brand for the same, if not worse performance (which might still be true) but when buying used, the price really isn't so bad. The style and build quality of Alienware has blown me away and the warranty is by far the best I have EVER had on any product I have purchased. The overall experience=well worth it.

 

Congrats on the purchase Agent, I hope you'll love it as much as I love mine. I definitely agree with you, Alienware have possibly the best styling and build quality of any laptop in my opinion.

Looks like we have a pretty similar setup and mine handles BF3 beautifully with a mix of High/Ultra settings, even better since the last patch. I have my GPUs overclocked to 800/1000MHz and with most of the settings cranked, aside from AA, I get between 50-60fps pretty much all of the time.

I'm not sure how much my CPU helps with it but it is always an upgrade option if you feel you need MOAR POWER!!!!

 

Congrats on the purchase

My last config i7 820qm + cf 5870m @ 820/1200 in BF3 I played med/high settings without AA/AF and had ~70fps. It never dropped below 55fps.
Next I played with sync on (for me it looks better with cf settings)

1.1-1.15v is safe. I tested it on M6500 for a long time.

Do you know what to do to have the possibility to change the gpu v. in trixx using non dell drivers?

 

I'm all of a sudden having problems with my R2 system and I'm hopping someone in here can help me out or at least point me into the right direction.

It's hard for me to exactly say what my problem is although I feel it's a Bios Issue. I'll describe my problem for you and if you read through all of this I'll thank you right now in Advanced , lol. Anyways, Originally I would start up Windows and wait till loadup (AFter it says Welcome with the blue Background in 7 and loading circle) The screen would just flash as it couldn't loadup my desktop after a failed sleep more. I figured I ruined my OS partition however I could bootup in safe mode/network so I was able to retrieve my important files. All of that didn't really bother me as I just re installed windows onto my SSD drive which was for the better anyways.

Now I have a problem where I can't even startup my R2 system anymore. I was orginally using the 5% overclock bios mod, but in fear of things not working I've re-flashed back to default. Anyways I can never restart my PC. In order to restart my PC I have to unplug the system and remove the battery and then it'll boot up. But so long as the battery is in my system I am unable to restart the system (Alienhead picture will never come up it just sits there for mins) Yes, I've been patient gave it 10 mins with no results.

I fear that the system is dying, lol, any suggestions/ideas? Thanks.....

 

I would try starting it without the battery and reflashing again. Or pull the CMOS battery and see if that helps. Maybe you have a bad battery if the system will start without it but not with it.

Is there anyway to run a diagnostics on the battery?

Also try reflashing the bios through dos.

Oh, another idea just occured, run a memory diagnostic. Check you bios setting and make sure that you havn't increased the RAM voltage as others have had issues with this. Example.

 

No the system does start with the battery, but again I have to Remove it once release all charges from the system then it starts up.

 

Check the memory modules and also swap out the SSD for a normal HDD. SSDs are sometimes touchy, and RAM can cause a whole mess of issues. After removing or eliminating those issues I would see what you can boot from USB stick (a WinPE version or a Lynux variant), or boot a diagnostic CD and see what is says about ram, GPU, etc. It could be the bios, could be the GPU, but you will need to test. Good luck!

 

Just a quick question.
How do you get rid of touchpad residue?
I got some oily finger prints in the left click.
I tried using some LCD cleaning solution but it doesn't seem to work.
Any clue?

 

If you can't 'remove' it, then probably it just got shiny, just like keys on some keyboards.

 

If you use the touchpad, it's going to wear. It has a slight roughness to it aside from the honeycomb pattern. With use it's going to become more smooth and "shiney" Just the natural wear and tear. I have it on the right side of my spacebar, but I never use my touchpad, ever. I always use a mouse so there is no wear on my touchpad. Your option is to replace the touchpad panel if you want.

 

Turns out it was a ram problem actually I'm mix-matching between Samsung and another off brand 4 gb stick.

 

Has anyone successfully installed the new nvidia 295.73 drivers on an R1? It wont detect my GTX280s. Do I need a modified INF of some kind? Any help would be very appreciated.

 

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping someone will help with a couple questions I have. I'm not sure I'm posting in the proper thread or not, apologies if I'm in the wrong one.

My issue, I believe, is with one of my video cards. I have an R1 with dual GTX 280s. Just the other day, I powered up my laptop, everything was fine for about 10 minutes, then my display started flashing red/green/blue/black/white.

I restored my machine to factory settings.installed all the resource CD drivers and it boots up fine on the intergrated gpu. When I try using the hybrid graphics setting, once it switches to the 280s when Windows7 starts, the dislay cuts to black.

I'm pretty confident its one of the cards, but I'm not hearing any error beeps or seeing any caps/num/scroll light codes.

How do I tell if it's the primary or slave card that is affected? If I pull one card and the other is working, should expect to see or hear anything?

Thanks in advance.

 

That sounds like a dying GPU. Trying disabling one of them in Device Manager. You can pull them physically, but you may not need to do that to identify which card is bad. There are many R1 experts on our forum, so I am sure you will get some additional advice. My Alienware experience started with the R2, so I know a lot less about R1-specific quirks than the R1 gurus. (The AMD-powered R2 did not have an IGP.)

 

What are your thoughts on a good mobile broadband card for my M17x R1? I think it makes more sense to go with a 4g plan than my current 10Mbps [if I'm lucky] plan with Road Runner.

 

Finally got to do a little gaming on my R2. I'm playing Unreal Tournament 3 right now online. Didn't think people would still be online with this game since I first got it in 2008. Man, I've never played such a fast paced FPS. This is crazy! I'm getting waxed left and right and it's so fast paced. I may like this more than BF3 I never really played this game much over the years. Sad that I'm starting 5 years after getting it

 

UT3 is one of the most awesome games ever, IMHO. Love it! It was ahead of its time.

 

IT definately was ahead of it's time. I updated with the lastest 300+MB patch and it looks great! Many, many more features that can be customized now. Especially when it comes to graphics. This may be played more often now

 

Unreal Tournament is an all time favorite of mine. I didn't think anyone played anymore. I keep waiting for them to announce a new one but still no confirmations have been given. Good to see you guys still flying the flag.

 

Wildride. I didn't think anyone played anymore either. I purchased the game when it first came out in 2008 I think. Never played it much. I hopped online the other night as I was bored. To my dismay, there were still lots of active servers and games going on online. If you have it, It's definately worth installing and playing online. I updated it and it has a new skin that looks great. Carbon Fiber look to it.


On another note. I loved playing Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit online. Seems that game online is dead

 

UT3 was an awesome game. I might have to take it out of retirement as well...It is a really good one for LAN's as well.

If you want fast pace, you could never beat Quake 3. That game was epically intense. Q3DM6 FTW!!

 

You know I never got into UT3, during the time I was knee deep in crysis and battlefield 2142. I may have to give this a try and see how it plays with a m17x. With that being said, if you want a blast from the past, I'm still playing Duke Nukem 3D (dosbox DRM-free).

 

Duke Nukem! I was playing that on an old mac when I was in middle school or early high school!

UT3 Plays crazy good on the M17x R2. I was playing it on a single 5870 a while back when I had a dead card and was waiting for my RMAed 6990s to get in. And it runs in crossfire to. So you can imagine how well a crossfire compatible game, released in 2007, plays on my R2 I love it. HEADSHOT!!!

 

Please look at this temps



What do you think?
It's too high in my opinion. Maybe cooler is not well installed?

 

Wow 96C is high, thats to close to boiling for my taste. Is this the temp with over clocking? What is your temps when at stock settings? What kind of cooler are you using?

 

At idle it's below 50C
These temps are after oc but on stock voltage.

Without OC max temerature is ~86-90C. Also too much I think.

I mean a standard cooling system in R2.

 

Repaste time

 

Hello everyone

what is the best BIOS version for M17x R1 to overclocking ?

what's the PLL should I chose in setfsb to alter the FSB ?

anyone succeed in installing a GTX570M/6970M/6990M on a M17X R1?

 

also time to change the thermalpads?

 

May as well if your going to have it disassembled. Easier to just knock it all out at once.

 

^^^Yep, might as well do the lot

 

what termalpads should I buy?

 

.5mm Kind doesn;t really make a differance. I get mine form frozencpu.com I use either the fujipoly or the EK systems pads.

 

note i may be an idiot for asking, but is there a way to upgrade the 9400m? i know its in the board

 

No, there's no way, it's part of the NB.

 

Anyone done this in an R2 on either the CPU or the GPU's?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/647377-2960xm-m17x-r3-heatsink-mods.html

Need to have a look and see but seems pretty cool

EDIT:: Oh nevermind. Seems like the R3's are all accessible from the bottom, so this mod is a little more suitable for them......

 

really? not doubting your knowledge but there is no modifcation that could make this possable

 

If it is soldered in to the motherboard (does not use a MXM slot) then you cannot upgrade it.

Does anyone know if it is possible to set up eyefinity on the R2's and to run the cards in crossfire?

If I were to run eyefinity, can I use the laptop screen as the middle, and if so, would I need to use specific outputs.

This has probably been answered somewhere else buuuuuut I am hoping someone can just answer it for me

 

how do i check the speeds of my usb ports on a r1, they seem rather slow

 

Nope .

 

Run a benchamrk tool like CrystalDiskMark with your external drive connected to a USB port.

 

Same I like UT3 as well to bad my internet isnt good enough and my friends only want to play COD at LAN parties

For some reason Im in a wallpaper sharing mood so here are some UT3 wallpapers
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/6626/splash2wp1920.jpg
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2111/ut3concept100.jpg

And to show of your RBG screen (This Wallpaper looks amazing on the R2, every other screen pales in comparison)

I assume that you want to use 3 screens (Including the laptop screen)
I mucked around with eyefinity (just with one extra screen) with my 5870s, and enabling crossfire didn't improve performance at all.
It seems that 3 additional screens isn't an option with the 6970/90 as displayport is required for one of the screens and it doesn't work (well not on my system any way)
So yeh eyefinity will work but not with crossfire unless the 6990s are different to the 5870s in that respect (I can check it out if you want when my new 6990 comes in the mail)

edit: check here, sounds like 2 or more external screens shut the laptops display off

 

Cheers Kenny.

I hooked them up and I can only get two screens, After researching it seems like one of the screen has to be a DisplayPort , or you have to have an active DisplayPort adapter....which I dont have. I am currently using a DisplayPort to DVI passive adapter...

I need to buy one and give it a crack. I hope the DisplayPort works for me!!!!!! Seems to be alright running DVI from it..

It is possible according to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LfB4lNMik8

 

ok now my right gpu fan sounds horrable

 

Hi,

I've just purchased an Alienware laptop for the first time, being a M17X.

I just have a few quick questions regarding it's features if anyone can help.

In regards to the colour keyboard is there a way to have it so each login user has a different scheme and it will automatically change upon login.

2nd similar to above, I've got the facial recognition working for my login in but how do you set it up for another user, ive tried going through advanced settings ect but can't find it.

Any help would be good!

Cheers

 

Bummer dude sounds like its time to get some new fans. If your still under warranty call dell. I just had all three fans replaced on my R2. The right fan was grinding constantly and they replaced all 3 to be safe.

If I am not mistaken, the other user has to log on to his account and do the same that you did and set up the alienFX and aliensense. Hope it helps and good luck.

 

My Active DisplayPort to DVI adapter has arrived!! Can't wait to get home and try to get Mass Effect 3 working on eyefinity

I will post back letting you know how it goes.

EDIT:: Well that really sucks. It doesn't detect displayport ffs. Strange cause it works for DVI pass through........Anyone found a fix for this? Is this the case with all the 6970/6990s??

 

hey guys, ill be buying AW soon.

may i ask, the 6990m vs the new one that will be released, is it too much different?

 

We don't actually know as no one has tested it and benched it for comparisons

I would say there should be a significant jump as always with new GPU's

 

any R1 user?

who has the nvidia MCP79 AHIC driver for Windows XP?

or where can I download it from?