*OFFICIAL* Alienware M17x R3/R4 Owner's Lounge Thread

Looks like it's pretty close to a 1000% return on investment! (in terms of the amount you spent on the warranty)

 

There's also a limit in the US to the total amount of years that you can add a warranty to the PC.

 

Yeah same here, actually I think it is one year less in the UK at 3 years but not sure

 

While I do have plans to renew the warranty when its up. I would still like my 45 days back

 

And I would think you are entitled to it. The warranty is NBD to start the repair or 'reasonable' delays to that. No way is 45 days reasonable. Time to ask, then demand IMO

 

Don't wait until it expires because you may need to pay a recertification fee.

 

I was waiting till I got the new machine to see if I like the new design.... if I like the new one, I will keep it, if I dont like it, I may sell it.

I just got the box today with the new machine... Sofar I like everything but one thing... I dont like the lcd, I hate matte finished lcds.

Im going to install titanfall tonight and see how it runs, if all works great then I may just look into new screens.

 

Yeah, I also hate a matte screen for gaming. Just doesn't cut it for me .

When I first got this panel I was all annoyed about the terrible reflections in almost all light conditions - but it's not a compromise machine - it's for gaming! And that is always better in low light, with higher contrast than matte .

I've seen a couple of good threads on getting the 120hz panel for the AW 17 working for a reasonable cost (I think I've seen you there?), and although it's got Lightboost anti-glare technology, it is getting good reviews. It's a glossy panel so no loss of definition there.

Good luck .

 

Just started titanfall download, 2-3 hours I should be able to test the system out.

I love my works unfiltered network 4gb down in 20 minutes.

 

And..... titanfall download done.

I should probably move over to the aw17 lounge soon

 

Well... I dont think I like the new keyboard now
Its much more solid, but the feel is just off a bit. Not sure what it is about it, but it just doesnt feel right. I am thinking that since the keys are flat compaired to the old keyboard.

 

Yeah, but I try to not post much in that thread - not being an owner and all....

Shame, the KB design was another thing that put me off upgrading. Looks cheap and generic to me. Along with all the penny pinching; loosing the AW power button and the media bar for example it's just another expensive laptop with little identity (apart from the lid light). Even dropped the AW mouse mat, padded sticker (which is a great phone protector), SP/Dif adaptor and a hat with the R3. Silly stuff really but it adds to the 'boutique' brand.

My R4 always draws comments, three today! I don't expect the same for the AW17 and although performance is top priority, looks go a long way when you can get other machines to the same or even better specs.

Guess a different market is being targeted: ex-console gamers with a decent disposable income, looking for a single box portable solution to improve their gaming experience. And does not need a PC builder to get it right?

You sure have invested in the brand up to now - looks like you may be moving on . It's only the warranty that will keep me an AW purchaser - unless the AW17 R2 (yes, that is what dell call the next one I believe) is a killer machine

 

Well, I still have a course of action.
Since Im not too keen with the new model, I can sell it for at least 1800$.

I am going to give it a month to see if I can get used to it.

Using that money, I can find my self a m18xr2. Looking at them, seems I can get a refurb with 660s for about what I can sell off the 17 for. Or I can just find a used m18xr2 for under 1500.
I can also find my self some 680s for a pretty low price.

There are alot of things that I do really like about the new models though... im torn...
I bet I could use my logitech g13 to game since im not a fan of the keyboard.


Edit:
Im going to take a bunch of side by side shots this weekend of the new 17 and the m17xr4... just in case anyone else wants to know what the 2 loook like next to each other.

 

Yeah, you have a lot of options and it may grow on you :thumbsup:

 

So I have an M17x R4, and two problems with it:
1: Occasionally the fps will drop, and unplugging, waiting 5-10 secs, and re-plugging the power supply into the laptop will fix it, is the machine drawing too much power?
It has an AMD 7970m, and an i7 3630QM.
2: This doesn't happen often, but occasionally audio outputs being used can make a screeching noise and cut out, a reboot will fix the issue, but without reboot, sound doesn't work at all.

 

Hi man, I don't know much about AMD recently, but this is exactly what I've seen with my NV card with a lot of the recent drivers, and it is a power throttle that gets reset by re-plugging the PSU. The sound problem points to it being what is known as a TDR error. This is a timeout on the video card and it causes, among other things, the screeching, or 'popping' sound. This is a windows problem since MS made updates for win8 and win8 compatibility on win7 (the HAL). A finger pointing exercise that has lasted about a year so far. The last time this happened was with the release of Vista. back then both OEM's were having card resets and time outs at the same rate.

This is an MS technical document where they are trying to fix it for both AMD and NVidia: TDR changes in Windows 8 (Windows Drivers) . It says win 8 but 7 was patched to comply with the new procedure calls.

You can check out the latency with a program (free) called latencyMon: Resplendence Software - LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

This should show if this is your problem. The DPC latency needs to be below 500 for good operation and the latest NV drivers have (finally!) fixed this and I see numbers below 100 now , but at 600 mine was working fine.

If you have not updated the driver, and I understand it's a real pain on AMD, you should try that first. Otherwise you could be chasing this for a long time as many things can help but only a driver can fix it properly.

If you are unlucky enough to see this problem and it's not the video driver then a re-install of windows is probably the only chance of a fix - and I know what a pain that is so I don't advise it to anyone unless I haven't seen any other solution.

Good Luck

 

Anyone knows if the hdmi out for the r4 supports 120Hz gaming to an external monitor? I'm thinking of getting a 120Hz monitor for gaming and I want to know if the games can even run at that rate to the monitor.

Running on a 7970m with i7 37XX.

 

its hdmi 1.2a output on the r4,
heck, i think i read somewhere that it just gives 24fps on full hd

for 3d i would suggest you to use display port

 

Actually the HDMI is 1.4, and mini DP is 1.2. I'm pretty sure HDMI can handle at least 60fps FHD, otherwise there be no reason to choose HDMI over DP.


Here's a question for the hardware modders out there:

Anyone tried creating a piece of clear plastic or acrylic and putting on on top on the track pad? The piece is designed in such a way that it diffuses the track pad light throughout the the piece, creating an effect similar to the newer Alienware laptop line. The whole track pad would light up and not just the border. I want to know if that's possible, cause I really want to try it myself.

 

The max for HDMI is 60 fps @ 60mhz, so a good enough reason to use DP over HDMI where you can.

And the TV's 'smoothing' technology (if you have a 3D TV) fills in the gaps up to a max of 60 fps from a 24mhz source

Those cheating numbers (200mhz display for example) 3D TV OM's publish as Mhz are just a trick of the smoothing technology.

 

All I'm saying is DP would be more prevalent if HDMI does support 60Hz. One of the few reasons to choose DP over HDMI is higher bandwidth (from what I understand). So unless my hardware can even utilize that it's best just to get which is more convenient.

So if I want at least a 120Hz monitor and have a 120Hz going to it, then I suppose I should get a monitor with a dual link DVI or a DP in? And because the alienware laptops doesn't have a DVI, I should only really be worrying about the DP, right? I opted for the ASUS vg248qe as it seems to be top rated all around. The BenQ is cheaper with similar specs, but doesn't have a DP, only HDMI or dual DVI. There's also the AOC g2460pqu alternative as well. More expensive than the other two, but does have extra USBs, which I'm in need of. Anyone recommend the ASUS over the AOC, or vice versa? BenQ is out of the question (no DP).

All of these monitors are TN panels, which doesn't have as good of a color accuracy/production nor the viewing angle compared to IPS display, albeit cheaper as well. What I would give for a 120-144Hz, 2560x1440 min, 24"-28" IPS monitor.

 

I have tested HDMI and fooling around with it the best I could achieve was 60hz. I also believe this bandwidth restriction is part of the HDMI standard - but I'm listening if anyone else wants to put me right.

As to the DP, the underlying technology is dual link DVI with added sound channels, so converter cables work just fine. DP - DVI-D gives you more options on monitor choices and DP supports any DVI-D only monitor.

HTH

 

I've been reading around, and some say HDMI does support 120Hz so long as the bandwidth limit is not reach out whatever...who knows?

All I want to know is can the M17x R4 output 120Hz from either the HDMI or DP?

Secondly, anyone successfully overclock their display to past 60Hz?

 

I have no idea about your 120Hz questions, but I can answer your last one. My max stable overclock for my panel on my M17xR3 is 78Hz - just Create a Custom Resolution in the NVidia Control Panel and keep increasing the Hz until the display craps out, back down to your previous max stable. Intel Integrated GPU has to be disabled in order to do that though. Ah, just noticed you have AMD, I think you can use a third party program to overclock your display. I googled it, yes, here's the link to the program that I remember seeing one time:
Custom Resolution Utility (CRU)

 

I am certain DP outputs 120hz connected to an external 120hz monitor but I never managed it over HDMI, but that could have been the kit I was testing with - i.e. the HDMI intput may not 'do' 120 hz??

 

There isn't much information about 120Hz support for HDMI, but I'll find out when I get my monitor. The general consensus is that HDMI doesn't support 1080p at 120Hz.

 

I did manage to get 60hz @1080p which is normally only 24hz (60hz at 720p). This was using the built in 3d driver in Crysis 3

Good luck, you could make a lot of people very happy

 

The smoothing tech is known as frame interpolation where it analyzes the differences between frames and generates frames from that information add those frames and creates the illusion of smooth more life like movement.

Sent from my One using Tapatalk

 

And also unacceptable input latency on an external TV! What you see is microseconds behind real time. You don't see it when watching a movie since the communications is 'out only' but it can't cope with reading a controller quickly enough. At 720p it is OK but 1080i, awful and unplayable

 

As for my Asus vg248qe gaming monitor, the Intel graphics setting only allows up to 60Hz refresh rate via HDMI, while it supports up to 144Hz via DP. Resolution for both is 1080 Full HD.

 

@ejohnson looking forward to your comparison shots. I'm looking to get an outlet 18 r2 or 17 r4. I'm a Fireman and would have to packup the 18 every third day and that is leaning me towards the 17.

Sent from my SM-N900A running DynamicKat Xtreme v1.3 by @bri315317

 

@ejohnson - Just wondering if you ever had a chance to do the side by sides? Thank you for your time.

Sent from my SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

Anyone having problems with Google Chromecast with the HDMI input on their system. Got picture issues with mine. I know that both the HDMIs inputs from my monitor and my R4 work (tried it with a PS3). The Chromecast works with my monitor, but does not work well with the R4's HDMI input. The picture is showing, but with a pink tint to it.

 

Hello all, I'm really interested in getting an r4 soon. I found one on Craigs List and would like your opinion. I am of course going to give it a thorough inspection prior to purchase. What steps would you recommend I take to ensure I am getting a stable system and not a refurb or lemon. I will start with researching the computer id / service tag and checking the configuration and service history. When I finally get the computer in hand to check it out, what quick steps can I take or programs can I run to achieve this? The price is very good and it comes with the original box so it doesn't seem to be "hot". Any help would be most appreciated.

Sent from my SM-N900A running DynamicKat v3.2 by @bri315317

 

I have a M17x R5 with16gb ram and 4700qm copy amd r9 290x gpu what's the best upgrade I can do to this

 

M18 with 4930MX, 32GB RAM, 880M sli! I don't think there's much worth upgrading anything in it, maybe the CPU, but you don't need any more than a 4700MQ for gaming really. An SSD drive would be good if you don't already have one though.

 

Thanks for the tip I can play battlefield 4 on ultra settings at a good frame rate but you know if you have a lot of power you always want more and I am hungry for more. Any more ideas maybe I can put the windows 7 on the msata and install games on a ssd at the moment I have a 500gb hardrive with 8gb catch.

 

You can put your Windows on any drive you like if it's big enough I reckon, whatever configuration you want to use. Always good to have the OS on an SSD though, which is why I mentioned it as one of your possible upgrade options (unless it's already on an SSD). Games don't benefit from an SSD in terms of performance unless they are open world games which rely on streaming rather than loading screens. Examples of such games that can benefit are: Batman Arkham City/Arkham Origins, Borderlands, Far Cry 3, Fallout New Vegas, Rage, to name a few. In these situations an SSD can prevent stuttering.

 

How well is Watch_Dogs running for you guys? I've having problems with the bloom effects and lighting using the 7970m with high settings. It's not too bad, as they problems disappear after several seconds. But it does affect game-play at times. For example, the bloom effect with hinder me from seeing where I'm driving and usually cause me to crash.

Game tends to lag as well when driving at high speeds. Then again I do have texture quality set to max and they do recommend 3GB of VRAM...

 

From what i heard this game was done preferably for Nv(they paid extra to developers) and its features so think here is the problem hidden in the first place(AMD sent protest to Nv for such way of doing things) faster or later think there might be war or lawyers involved

 

guys I urgently need some help with an audio problem: whenever I plug in my headphones, the sound keeps playing from the speaker, although the soundblaster control panel detects that I plugged in a headphone. I tried updating the drivers, however when when I do so I get no sound whatsoever even though everything seems to work fine. I tried uninstalling everything that has anything to do with audio like the creative soundblaster drivers and the nvidia HD audio drivers, which leads to the same result when I install the drivers again; no sound. When I play a video, I get an error message about no connectible audio filters, which made me think it could be a codec problem, even though its a longshot. I uninstalled my codec pack with no improvements. I had no choice but to use system restore to revert everything back so I could at least use the speakers. Another thing is that before doing any of the above, I tried configuring the sound settings from the control panel, however I couldn't change any setting like disabling or enabling a playback device, or changing the quality of the sound and so on.

 

That's tricky, there's a few things I could suggest. I don't know if you have the R3 or the R4, but the R3 has 2 headphone jack connections, so maybe you could try the other jack and see if that works. After uninstalling audio drivers you could try using CCleaner to run the registry cleaner after uninstall, perhaps in an attempt to remove any errant registry keys that might interfere - then reinstall the audio drivers. A clean Windows install. Those are the 3 things I would suggest you could try - the last one's a bit of a pain though!

 

Its the r4, I thought about reinstalling but its just too much of hassle. The CCleaner escaped me. thanks for ur help.

 

Make sure you have the more recent 2013 dated soundblaster driver installed.

 

Can someone please help me? My M17X R3 has a severe problem with the graphics card. http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-17-m17x/756099-help-m17x-r3-dead-dying.html

 

I think my discrete graphics card is fried and I want to make the laptop stick with the integrated graphics card during POST and subsequent boot process. Is there a way to force the laptop to use the integrated gfx card? Even though I have the 3D version, I know the integrated graphics card works because I can see the intel smart storage screen with raid settings on an external display. The laptop tries to switch to discrete graphics right before POST. can someone tell me how to stop this and make it stick to integrated graphics? I'm covered under warranty but I need to get some important data off this laptop before I send it in for repairs as I don't know how long the repairs will take.
Thanks,
Mak.
Discrete graphics is GTX580M, Laptop: M17X R3, 120Hz 3D screen. 16GB Ram.

EDIT: Fn+F7 doesn't work but Fn+F6 activates the external display.

 

Your laptop cannot function using the IGP (Intel graphics GPU), because you have a 120Hz screen. Intel GPUs aren't compatible with 120Hz screens. Unfortunately, I think the only way you can get your laptop to boot up properly is to fix your dedicated GPU (your 580M). I had a problem one time with my laptop where my 560M went missing - I fixed it by unplugging my GPU, blowing out the PCie slot with a can of compressed air, and cleaning the contacts on the GPU (don't know which of those solved my problem). Could very well be that you just have a bad contact, and this is evidenced by your laptop booting up that one time after you replaced the GPU into the slot. I'd try doing what I suggest, and then if it boots up get all your critical data off the hard drive before you shut it down!

 

Everything Robbo says . Without a working nvidia gpu (they have 120hz microcode for POST) you are SOL.

Note that Dell do not require you to leave your data on the machine and you can send it in without a drive - unless they think the drive is part of the problem.

Depends on where you are but dell usually send an engineer with the part to your home so no reformat or factory default which a depot will often start with .

The 580m is basically a poor quality card. I've seen many die, I've had three myself, two 580m's in my R3 and one 675m (which is exactly the same card as the 580m) in this R4 replacement dell supplied. The last time they came with a new panel as well as the GPU and heatsink, just in case - of course the engineer just installed it all when he had it apart for the GPU

The good side to this is Dell are aware of the high failure rate so when calling they do not spend too much time trying to figure it out or interrogating you

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the info guys. So there is absolutely no way to use an external screen with the onboard graphics controller? I know now that the 120hz screen is incompatible with the intel graphics card, but what if I completely unplugged LCD ribbon cable and connected an external display? Like I said, the display shows the intel smart storage screen. It's just that after that screen and before POST, the laptop tried to switch to discrete graphics. Is there a way to completely disable the 120Hz screen and get into bios with the onboard graphics controller?

Right now, I'm in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia to be precise. I'll be getting back to little rock, AR in a little over a month.

I also got a suggestion to replace the 580m with a better card. Can dell do this for me in my warranty?

Once again, thanks a lot to all those who replied, mickyD and robbo.

 

Sure, try disconnecting all the internal cables & then using an external display - I'd be kind of surprised if that works, but it might! I think you're best off trying what I suggested, especially seeing as your computer worked for 1 boot after reseating the graphics card.

The 580M is the best card supported by your laptop officially, so when in warranty they will replace it with a 580M, but possible they might provide you with a whole new laptop if they feel that they can't fix the problem or if they don't have any 580M cards left. If they decide to give you a new laptop be very insistent about having the 120Hz screen (which you have already, you don't want a downgrade!) - this will ensure you get a 120Hz screen in your next model & it so happens that 120Hz screens are only bundled with high end GPUs = double win!! (You'll probably end up with a 780M!)