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

Just to add to Robbo's concise reply, The worst that can happen? The machine refuses to recognise the PSU so it drops to battery clocks, it may or may not still charge though.

 

Ok... looks like it's time. I bought Dying Light and was planning to play it last night...

I finally finished the download, was ready to play and found out that my Alienware m17x R3 does not meet the minimum requirements to play the game. So I can't play it...

Oh how quickly the mighty stumble... I love my laptop... and now... looks like it's finally time to buy a new one. Or wait until I finish playing all the other games I never finished playing that still work great on the laptop.

 

(or buy a 680M or 780M and upgrade your R3 - threads here on NBR and TechInferno describing the process).

 

AC:Unity told me my GPU did not meet the minimum requirements. Wrong! Plays great and looks great with it almost fully cranked (720 res and FXAA) 45~70+ FPS, and an overclock .

Research the 680m 0r 780m in the R3 (as Robbo says) and think about it. It will get your machine up and kicking again .

 

Yeah, will do. I'll have to look at it going from a AMD GPU to an NVidia GPU. But if that works, that gives my laptop some new legs.

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

you could always grab a 7970m, or another amd variant and throw it in there.

 

True, very true. Except I have seen of many AMD upgrade threads. Everyone here seems to have gotten the NVidia GPU instead of the AMD whenever I look at the upgrade threads. Then again, I wasn't really searching in earnest before. But thanks for the suggestion. By going with AMD, I shouldn't, in theory, have to find whatever different bracket that Nvidia GPUs would need that is different than AMD.

Ok... on to advance searches and Google!

 

680M will give you a lot more performance though, but only if you flash svl7's unlocked vBIOS & overclock. 680M also seem more reliable with lower failure rates. I personally would choose the 680M or 780M in your shoes.

 

Hey guys. I have a question.

I can't seem to update to the latest drivers directly from the Nvidia website. (The system just crashes and I have to restore is back).

It wasnt a bother for me up until now as the driver I currently have is a year old. Is there any way I can install the latest driver not from the dell website without having the system crash?

Thanks in advance.

Alienware M17X R4
i7 3160qm
660m

 

Hi, depends at what point it crashes? It should work, are you selecting Express or Custom - if you get that far? Do you have any hardware monitoring utilities like MSIAfterburner or HWInfo? These can interfere.

Lastly, strip out all the NV settings and folders using DDU http://www.wagnardmobile.com/DDU/. Warning though, if the problem is a failing card you might end up worse, make sure you have a copy of the original driver from Dell (and see if it will re-install without crashing?)

 

Argghh, my "A" key came off my keyboard today playing Titanfall! I put it back on but it came off again. I tried swapping it with a mechanism from another key that I don't use, but I had also tried slightly bending the metal hooks that hold the key before trying the swap. End result is that my "A" key is back on, but I don't know how long for, and it's a bit wonky. Anyone got any tips or any ideas? I've looked up replacement keyboards from ebay and to get a UK variant they're about £44. I suppose I could buy a new key, but that's not gonna be any better than swapping the mechanisms like I've tried. I'm thinking I'll hang on & see if my slightly botch job stays fixed! But, in the meantime anyone got some advice & tips on this subject, and perhaps reliable methods for removing keys and the clip mechanisms?

 

Look closely and you'll see it hook behind 2x2 extended hooks on the keyboard itself, 2 each for the outer U-shape and 2 for the inner O-shape. You didn't have to bend any of the hooks, and would suggest to bend it back; the " A" is a bit of heavy-use key, better have it in place properly. Do this carefully though; there's a risk of metal fatigue.

For future reference; insert knife or small+flat screwdriver between both plastic scissor shapes near either of their pivot points (where they snap together in the middle). Pry U-shape loose by moving it outward, so it becomes separated from the O-shape. Pull U-shape towards you so it'll unhook and next do the same for the O-shape, except pushing away from you. Reinserting is easier; clip both back together and hook it whilst laying flat, O-section first (so move top>bottom) and snap U-section simply by pushing down.

 

Thanks t456, I think I know what you mean by your description of how to remove and replace the plastic scissor mechanism, and I'll be sure to try that next time.

The layout is a little different in this R3 it seems - there's only 1x2 hook for the outer plastic scissor (at the top of the key), and then x1 long wide hook for the internal scissor, with the long wide hook being at the bottom of the key closest to you; but the main point to your message is that I need to pry the two scissors apart to remove them without damage. One thing I'm not certain on is how to put the scissor mechanism back in without damage. Given the differences I've described which is the end that gets hooked first - the internal scissor with the x1 long wide hook, and then I just press down at the top of the key to click it into place - or is it the other way around? Might be different considering the design is a bit different to your description? (I got them back in by general manhandling - wasn't particularly elegant & probably caused a little damage.)

I did make a mistake to initially bend the metal hooks rather than just simply replacing the scissor mechanism, and I found out that I had to bend them back to their original shape to even get the new scissor mechanism to seat properly. It's hard to bend them back to exactly where they were before so it's resulted in the bottom right of the key being slightly sunken & the top left of the key being slightly raised. It's operating fine for now, and it's not affecting my typing. Will be interesting to see if it comes loose again during Titanfall abuse - I use it as the sprint key and I often find myself manically repeatedly tapping that key!! If it comes off again I'll try to bend the hooks more accurately back to their original position.

 

Glance at a shallow angle at any keyboard and you'll know at once whether the user is/was a gamer. " A", " S", " D", ' left shift' and ' left alt' are all glossy. Alt even has a depression ... not sure about the game, however ... UT2004 jump .

 

Haha! I'm an EDSF gamer though - puts the space bar in better proximity to left thumb! These M17xR3 keyboards are very resistant though it seems, mine aren't glossy at all - only problem was during playing Titanfall I felt something stuck to my little finger which I tried to shake off, only to look down and see it was my "A" key lying flung on the floor!

There is some ghosting on M17xR3 keyboards, not all key combos are recognised, which is not great for a gaming laptop - that could be better.

 

Hi,

Thank you for the reply. The install goes through up until the last part of installation. Then the screen starts to flash a few times and then crashes and asks to be recovered. I don't think its a problem with the card but I might be wrong.

Anyway, Alienware does allow me to install drivers directly from the Nvidia site rather than downloading them from the dell site right?

Thanks.

Edit - I just select express and no, I dont have any hardware monitoring software installed.

 

Yes, you can download drivers directly from NVidia - that's what I do, better than using the old old drivers on the Dell website. Try a different driver from NVidia, see what happens.

 

Right, that sounds like it is crashing at the point the new driver is being loaded. Can you recover or are you stuck?

Try selecting custom and then clean. Hopefully it's not hardware. What card/machine is this?

 

Hey guys,

Thank you for replying.

I was able to get the driver (347.25) updated last night, I uninstalled the previous one, cleared all nvidia files and it was all good.

I was playing a game today, maybe like after an hour or so my system automatically restarted and now does not display the nvidia GPU anywhere (niether in device manager nor in BIOS). I re flashed the BIOS, performed a hard reset but I still cant find my GPU listed.

Hoping the new driver did not fry it. Please let me know if there is any fix for this.

Thank you.

System : M17X r4, GPU : 660m

 

Oh dear, that is not good. It sounds like a failing card. The driver didn't actually burn out the card but it can trigger failure in a weak card. I've not seen a 660m fail though so it's not common.

I'd try a reseat of the card and clean the contacts as a last resort.

On the plus side a new 680m is fully plug and play (R4) and on offer right now, but will hit the funds . http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nvidia-Ge...-clevo-Alienware-upgrademonkey-/131419695091?

A big performance boost .

 

Thanks for the reply, I dont think I can make a new purchase any time soon. This card is relatively new (I paid dell for a service, new card and motherboard for a previous problem last June). I guess I've got to try and reset it. Anything other than that that can solve the problem?

Thank you

 

That's a shame, it is still an awesome gaming rig with the 680m. What are your local warranty lengths normally? I'm thinking that you had 90 days on the repair? Dell may give one-year so you can ask (nicely) if they can help since you only recently had major surgery. The extended warranty is something I recommend to everyone that asks simply because hi-end components have a higher failure rate .

There are a couple of things but they are really grabbing at straws

Restore it to factory. I know you have already re-installed win but even later drivers can be enough to push a faulty card over the edge. The 580m is the worst card I have ever seen for longevity, I had 3 fail on me and dozens of others had the same. We found that an older driver (314.22) would get a little more life out of it, but it still died eventually. That driver may not work for you unless the 660m was on-sale at the time of release?

Another 'out-there' fix is to bake the card. When every other avenue has been exhausted, the card is baked in an oven and this has been said to work for some. You'll need to research that for temps and length. IMO it could just as easily kill it altogether as fix it, but your call.

With the card not showing up in the BIOS these are really unlikely to help I'm afraid but no reason not to try (apart from the bake, I'm just regurgitating what I have seen others try).

Good luck.

 

680m is still a relevant fast card. Its a great backup if all fails also. I am OCD about having spares and extreme OCD kicks in wanting a backup for my backup. it coasts me so much money with my disease. Yeah yeah I called it a disease. Im going to see if I can get disability for it. LOL jk of course.. Well about the disability part..

 

Too funny man . I was advised by a professional to stop building desktops and benchmarking. I feel for you...

 

Uh-oh, in that case don't let the GA mods on your A17 R2 lead you too far down that road then! ;-)

 

Thanks, a bit late for that, I already have a parts list and costs!

It's the benching that really is my nemesis. Pages and pages of notes of every setting change and the impact. I look back on them now and all I recognise is a tick for good and a frown for bad, Haha.

 

Does anyone have any experience they would lke to share with the game Dying Light via Steam?

I am looking to purchase and wondering how the 7970M will go, which drivers would be best to use (my AW hasn't been OC) and how it goes with Steam Big Picture and xbox 360 controller support

quick update - loaded last night and started with approx 30-45 fps. Then made a couple of fixes that have been recommended (vs off, reduce view distance, texture and shadow set to medium) and am now getting 35 - 40 fps for the cut scenes and in game approx 45 - 60 fps. GPU temps sit at around 60 degrees. Steam Big Picture and xbox 360 controller support is all good.

Relatively happy but keen for any tips?

M17xR4 Nebula Red | AMD HD7970M | 16GB RAM | 250GB 840 Evo SSD | UE Cooler | 14.12 AMD Catalyst Omega | Win7 |

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to put a mail to the dell services (Yes it was a 3 month warranty thing). Hoping they would fix this. Thanks for the help.

 

Good luck, let me know how it goes.

 

Just got a mail back from them. They said they don't support the hardware anymore. So I guess I'm stuck with this. Thanks for all the help guys, keep being awesome.

 

And another AW customer gets a **** off and have a nice day. I am going to be so glad to find a community that has the real support of it's OEM, not platitudes and hollow promises .

 

Hello fr34k,
Sorry to hear you had that response.
Send me your service tag via PM, and let me see if I can help out in any other way.

 

Just saw that Nvidia no longer supports overclocking on their mobile products. What s the point of even buying a "gaming" notebook anymore???? Just as locked as the $300 machines. Was thinking about buying a new one soon for my trip in may too. Maybe not now. Sorry rant over.

Source

 

I know, it's insane! I just now found out about this, and I've posted over in the Geforce forums to register my disgust at NVidia! I won't be buying NVidia in a laptop again if they continue down this road, overclockability was one of the plus points of NVidia GPUs, and especially their laptop GPUs; they're removing one of their key assets, a terrible business & consumer decision! I'll be going AMD next time if NVidia don't bring back overclocking and if AMD can remain offering similar value performance ratios.

(Same trend as the recently more locked down products that Alienware have been offering!! So, put crudely & simply: Alienware + NVidia = ****sh*t!!)

 

plus side is you can just run older drivers for now till someone find a hack

 

Well, on my Kepler card the overclock function is not broken at all with the later drivers, it's just for Maxwell cards that overclocking is blocked. They better not restrict this on the Kepler cards too, otherwise I'll probably feel motivated to lead a hate campaign! lol!

 

this about sums up my thoughts on mobile gaming these days. "Sad to see the mobile gaming mentality that was around when i bought my Alienware in 2011 so drastically disappear in less than a year."

Edit: Same rage going on over at OCN lol

 

I wouldnt be so sure we won't find a future 'upgrade' screws us as well. Right now all they want to do is stop the 9xx cards overloading the new AW's (underhand deal between dell/NV, or lawyers exchanging letters).

I wonder how the specialist builders think about this? Screws with their sales, unless they come up with their own hack, which NV would love to happen, no liability on them!

 

I just think it's a short sighted move by NVidia - they're removing one of their core assets they've got with their GPUs - excellent overclockability & performance. They need to see the bigger picture of product/brand loyality over the shorter term financial gains with the negative moves they've made with blocking overclocking.

 

I really don't see this lasting long. There is already a ton of backlash and I only see it getting worse . Plus I see modified drivers getting released at some point that fix all of this crap for us power Users.

 

Just remember guys the 'm' chip maktet is tiny in comparison to the desktop models. Almost exclusively it's the OEM's that order them, so they control what they want NV to supply. Ba*****s

 

Never thought I'd say this, but I might just buy a razer blade and call it a day since they are nice and small and don't seem to be plauged by the issues people with the Alienwares and Sagers are having with the power supply. Anyway, I'm probably being delusional as its past my bedtime. Better get some sleep before I say something even more scandalous lol.

 

I'm thinking someone needs to replace your mouthwash with gas, haha. Rest well man.

 

Well after one day with my new machine I thought I'd post the results here for anyone looking to move on from Dell.

Eurocom were very easy to deal with. Answered a couple of questions I asked and responded within 30mins (6am Sat local) so I put this one together and asked about any freebies. I got an upgrade to 1866 mem, upgrade to 7200 HDD, and premium paste. After ordering I got an extra 330w PSU and adapter for dual use, and display calibration (supplied on cdrom) thrown into the deal.

4 days to build and test, 3 days shipping.

Packaging excellent. Looks are subdued compared to the R4 but it does have a more robust keyboard (I've had 2 replaced for the keycaps popping off on my R4). Four lighting zones and a decent pallet. No illumination on the touchpad though. The rear looks nice and aggressive. With chrome effect around the grills and two large LED's

Pressing around there was no flex except for maybe the center of the lid, which is solid on the R4

http://www.eurocom.com/ec/images(253)ec

Fingerprint reader works well but they usually do when new. Nice touch when benching is fan control. Instead of waiting until around 86c for the fan to get loud there is a hot-key to switch to full.

Run a few benches:

Skydiver
http://www.3dmark.com/sd/2809312

3DMark 11
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/9445686

Cloud Gate
http://www.3dmark.com/cg/2533215

Firestrike:
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/4092510

Vantage:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/5224449

And some in-game ones, all at maximum available settings.

Batman AO 81fps

Hitman Absolution 80fps

Thief 92fps

F12012 125fps

Metro LL 61fps

Bioshock Inf 158fps

Not too shabby and temps are good. In-game high 60's ~low 70's on the GPU's and a max of 84c when benching. CPU maxes around 85c when stressed.

The fans are quiet enough to not interfere with gaming but once you hit 85c it will become quite audible. The audio it is easily as good as the R4, probably a bit better. The sub-woofer and the position/angle of the speakers makes for decent listening sitting in front of it.

120hz Glossy Panel. Superb. Rock steady and the contrast is great, I'd say better than the R4 120hz glossy.

I had a quick look in the BIOS but it's pretty bare. No CPU or overclocking options at all. I guess I could use XTU but ATM the CPU is way down my list, as is flashing the 980m's.

I had planned to do a full review but now I just want to get back to some gaming. The games look so good I'm going to be doing a lot of second play-through's!

Ask away if you have any specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

 

Congratulations, excellent system MickyD, 4 times the graphics score of my machine on your 135Mhz overclocked benchmark!! You really don't have to worry about not being able to play the latest games at decent frames. What's holding it back from +100fps on games like Batman AO and Metro LL? Is the CPU limiting? (Having said that, Metro LL at max settings is all about the GPU I guess.)

 

Thanks, I doubt I need to unlock the vbios as at +135 boost I get a stable 1260mhz most of the time and only some tests had it fluctuating back to around 1200mhz.

I deliberately selected settings you would never use normally, like TresFX in TR. With just that off I get 135fps average. In fact I only have to drop one setting down (that is invisible to me anyway) to go over 100fps in all of them.

I thought it easier for comparison testing I maxed-out everything. The benches are around 100% over the 680m OC'd, But as you know results from that machine are unreliable .

The games all look so pretty, yes a satisfied customer for sure!

 

glad you're happy with your new machine bro!!! What the deal with cooling? Seems to have a funky cooling system. Guess it works though since the temps are so low. I'm Still looking for a new machine I'll like. Probably gonna be a little sager or something. Really don't wanna give Nvidia a ton of my money if I can help it.

 

Thanks, the auto fan table does not ramp up until around 86c so for gaming that's fine, nice and quiet. When benching it's just easier to switch it on full blast from the get-go as it takes a lot longer to get up there then.

Tough to know what to get right now, I just rolled the dice, being fed-up with AW's pathetic eco offerings. The cash has been burning a hole in my pocket for over a year!

 

I hear ya there. No way I'm going with alienware this gen at the very least, and if they continue down the trail they are on now, maybe forever. Just happy I had the opportunity to own my r3. Its been a great machine for the past 4 years now.

 

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/5947659?

Is that good results for 980m in a m17x-r4 ? Anyone know ?