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

I just ordered an m17x r4 like 20 minutes ago as well! *high five*
Unfortunately I have no advice for accessories.. Enjoy the computer!

 

Congrats on the new machine!! I'm sure you will be very happy with it.

At the moment I current have a razer orochi as my gaming mouse and the Everki Beacon as backpack. Both have worked great so far. Looking at getting a decent 1080p external monitor for gaming and such as I only have the 900p panel. Also might look at grabbing a nice gaming keyboard as well we shall see. Just have no clue whats good in the keyboard area.

 

Thank you.

As for the keyboard, I have the SideWinder X6 and I really like what it has to offer but it's major downfall is the ghosting.

 

is my signature working?
ahh yeahh!

 

I use fraps and afterburner they get the same reading: )

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

Does anyone have the alienware TactX mouse? I was wondering how long the USB cable is on it.... might have to go wireless..

 

I can recommend the m8000x laser gaming mouse from gigabyte its not to expensive and has a high dpi (6000), as well as I find it comfortable in my hand, it has mouse 4 and 5 programmable buttons for gaming.
Keyboard, depends what you want, if you use programmable keys like your macro keys I would recommend the Logitech g510 otherwise the razer lycosa is an awesome keyboard!
As for a backpack you can't go wrong with a decent 17inch targus bag.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

Sure! I will get them next week and give it a try with my l702x, as I just noticed it supports 5.1 sound! lol

 

Hi, all! I've been looking at keyboards, etc., too and wonder whether anyone's tried any of the TactX accessories offered in the Alienware Gearshop at Dell.

I'm expecting a promotional gift card to arrive some time after my laptop is delivered, and I think it'll be nearly enough to buy both the TactX keyboard and mouse.

Is the TactX gear any good?

 

Get the Blackwidow Ultimate! It's amazing!

 

I am about to get my hands on my M17x on Monday - the weekend could not be any longer 0_0

 

I'm completely at a loss then. Sorry

I changed to fraps from afterburner to get accurate stats in MP3 so I'm guessing FRAPs does not have the same issue. In desperation I'd try Precision X latest version just to eliminate it but prob not what is going on.

Maybe it's a higgs boson particle behind the screen causing a time dilation

 

Haha lol ya.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

My new Razer Imperator 2012 6400DPI Dual-Sensor mouse really kicks ar$3 !!

 

For those 7970m users, It appears that AMD has released the official drivers for the card
Link : AMD Catalystâ„¢ Mobility Display Driver

 

I have that same mouse, and it's pretty good and comes with a mousepad. I like the changeable grips and I would recommend buying it.

I'm not sure on the other stuff though.

I know that feel bro, I'm gettin mine Tuesday

 

can only speak about a couple of headsets. depends on what you are using them for. The AW tactX surround headset is OK but is NOT surround in any way. You do get the alienhead branding to compliment your kit. Looks pretty cool with the AW hat - oh, just remembered, Dell dropped the hat (and the nice padded alienhead phone sticker) from the R4 package.

I got AW headset simply as it was a freebie offer when I purchased.

I went for the Corsair 1500 (More hi-tech than gamer look) to try out 'proper' Dolby Headphone (TM) support. I think the 7.1 surround works well in games and they have a 10cm larger driver so better bass. It also replaced the cra**y IDT chip (USB connection) I had in my R3. I would probably have tried different ones if i'd got the R4 with the creative chip at the time. YMMV.

 

what is the latest driver for 6990m

modded or not ..??

 

12.7 BETA i believe.

 

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My current laptop (Gateway P-7811fx) has a feature that allows screen dimming or brightening very easily by holding down the function key and using the up or down arrows to brighten and dim, respectively. This comes in handy when in low-light situations and you don't want a really bright screen.

Does the Alienware have a similar way to accomplish this just as easily?

 

Yep. Fn+f4 and fn+f5.

 

Most laptops nowadays have that function actually. Fn + F#.

 

Cool. Thanks for the quick replies. I was just sitting here and used that feature and thought "I hope that is as easy to do on my new laptop." Haha. Should have known not to doubt Alienware!

 

When I put in my SSD will everything I need to install be on the discs that are included or will I have to look on dell for stuff?

 

Hey guys new to this whole forum thing... anyway my problem is this.
got a brand new M17x R4 and everything on it is great, EXEPT for when my wife kicks me off the tv and i want to play xbox on my laptop.

HDMI in works for video (sort of) the display looks like the video is left justified and in the top corner, cutting off a lot of the picture to the right and bottom, almost like i have resolution problems. have already messed with the xbox resolution still cant make the image fit on the screen and cant find where i would adjust it on my computer keeping im mind that screen resolution dosn't work for hdmi in. also have no sound though i know that is a setting on the computer as my hdmi lets me have sound on the tv i still cant find it.

Any help would be great considering dell doesn't support allienware tech problems and alienware tries to charge you for it!!!

 

You're confused?? Me too .

Where did you buy your R4? Your last statement is wrong unless there is something I am missing...

Anything not on the resource CD, like pre-installed stuff will be in 'my Dell downloads' on the Dell site. You have to use IE (wot?? In this day??, sorry, Dell dig!) or the 'register my service tag' activex component fails to run.

But, everything you need is already on the resource CD, just might be out of date a little.

Good luck with your project

 

First of all, Alienware doesn't charge for tech support...There's something wrong there.
I'm not sure about the problem with the image, but for the sound, right click on the volume icon in the system tray and click "recording devices". Then go through all the options for HDMI In and see if there's a bad setting somewhere in there.

 

Can anyone who has the 3rd generation i7 in their machine try GTA SA with the Intel HD 4000 and tell me the frame rate that they get? I'm interested in learning just how much can be done on the integrated graphics.

 

PHP:

Dell should support it from what I know, just to clarify does your sound work?

 

finally, after almost 2 months of waiting, my m17x r4 is here, plus i got a $70 additional discounts from my reseller for a very late delivery.

anyway everything runs great so far, linked my benchmarking in my sig.
both 3dmark benches actually had no problem recognizing the 7970M while in switchable mode, but during games, none of my games was able to use the 7970m (d3, bf3, ffxiv).
so i fn+f7, reboot and my screen goes to 640x480 res and theres a pop up notification basically saying theres no driver for the 7970M >.<
fn+f7 again to switchable and downloaded the latest driver + some windows update.
rebooted via fn+f7 again, thinking to finalize the win update and then later install the driver, but to my amazement, now the screen is 1920x1080 with the march 7 amd driver installed, could the windows update actually did the driver install?
so i postponed the latest amd driver installation and do away with some of the benches, and running games, and so far so good, no complaints here with the old driver.
btw what software did you guys use to measure game's fps?
thank you.

 

Good stuff, I'm guessing that once windows 'saw' the 7970, it downloaded the WDM driver for it. You would see it in the installed updates list for windows update.

You've got a few of options for FPS. FRAPS will give you just on-screeen FPS, MSI afterburner or EVGA precision X will give you extra GPU related information like temps as well as FPS. For the ultimate on-screen info including CPU stuff you can use HWInfo in conjunction with AB or precision-x.

All freebies unless you want to do video recording with FRAPS

 

sound now works. just need to fit video to screen.

dell does not "support alienware at this time" and alienware support links send me to dell support

yeah i've googled everything i could but all i see are ways to use laptops if you only have one hdmi port. the reason i signed up for this forum was because there is nothing out for M17x r4 on youtube/google/ask/yahoo/ etc...
if i could just find a way to adjust my resolution to fit my screen i would be set.

i built my laptop on their site and ordered it early june got it around the 20th

the website that i've gone to quotes tech support help "as low as $$$" and
seeing as i dropped almost 2000 on it i dont want to more money away.
but i could be looking in the wrong places. the links just run me around from alienware to dell and back and charge to talk to someone from what i can see.
just wanted to ask the guys who are experts on this tech for a solution ya know...

hey thanks for that volume fix! that was driving me crazy
just pasted your response to wordpad in case i forget it!

 

Sounds like you're going to the support area for old pre-Dell Alienwares (the "Hive"). Just call 1-800-254-3692 and tell them your sound (or whatever) isn't working, and you need help. No fees or other costs involved if the warranty is in force.

 

yeah called them up and got transfered to the gaming hotline but they wanted to charge me to talk to them. i bought it last month and its still under warranty. but they said that gaming related problems are not covered and to look in the catylist controll center for an external video controll and that was all they could do for me...not helpful cause that doesn't exist in my cat controll

 

(considering I'm running win 8) and have 6990m on m17x r3:
I instal the dell driver (v 8.8.51.2) and the switchable graphics are flawless and so the ccc ..

whenever I try to install any other update over that, the switchable grphics don't work neither the ccc, and the gpuz can't give a number for the driver version!!

how can I get the latest driver version for working for my 6990 ?? and how to follow up with the updates (As it's all about the 7970)??

how can get the switchable graphics and ccc to work, or check my driver version after installing AMD updates ??

 

The wait is finally over and I can now fully join the M17x R4 club the beast has arrived LOL

 

Removed. Missed earlier info

 

Congratulations... enjoy!

 

Thanks maizy. Just going through installation of SSD and Win.. this is going to be a loong night

 

Hey Guys,

Just did a clean install and it looks like I'm missing BCM20702A0 driver under Other Devices, Any idea what that is???

also I'm noticing the laptop gets hot under the alienware power button, what is that?

 

Broadcom Bluetooth,

My guess is that it is the Dell Wireless 380 Bluetooth Module if you have the M17x R4. The driver can be found here: http://www.dell.com/support/drivers...eFormats?DriverId=74WX4&c=us&l=en&cs=19&s=dhs

 

Is it possible to change your warranty after you get the laptop? I'm thinking about changing to the 1 year advanced plan. I should have my laptop next Monday.

 

yes but you will be charged more than when you purchase new.

 

Yes you can

 

(considering I'm running win 8) and have 6990m on m17x r3:
I instal the dell driver (v 8.8.51.2) and the switchable graphics are flawless and so the ccc ..

whenever I try to install any other update over that, the switchable grphics don't work neither the ccc, and the gpuz can't give a number for the driver version!!

how can I get the latest driver version for working for my 6990 ?? and how to follow up with the updates (As it's all about the 7970)??

how can get the switchable graphics and ccc to work, or check my driver version after installing AMD updates ??

 

thanks man.
but I thought r4 s with killer n cards dont have blue tooth?

 

Yeah there is some confusion as the dell wireless card has bluetooth on-board and the killer does not. Mine came with the killer wireless and dell 380 bluetooth module No no idea where it is installed

Edit: and it works! Just hooked up my iPhone and I can play music directly from it

 

There are a variety of ways to get newer Catalyst drivers installed over the stock Dell drivers for the 6990M. Although a bit of a PITA, this method works, while avoiding the blue screens that are typical of most other approaches. I am going to suggest a two-step approach, with the second step being optional. The drivers used are not particularly important, but the Catalyst 11.9’s are stable in most applications and are a safe initial choice. Assuming that the Dell drivers are installed and stable, with Switchable Graphics functioning as expected, do the following:

1. Using the unlocked A08 BIOS ( M17xR3 UNLOCKED A08 BIOS.rar), change the video configuration to make the 6990M the exclusive graphics card. (Tapping F2 at the boot screen, hit Enter to clear the setup screen and navigate to the Second Advanced top menu, scroll down to Video Configuration, change Primary Display from SG to PEG, then scroll further down to Integrated Graphic Processor, hit Enter, select IGP again and change from Enabled to Disabled. Check your settings and tap F10 and select Save Changes and exit.)
2. After the boot following the video changes, the screen will be darker. This is a natural consequence of disabling the IGP and is expected.
3. Install the Catalyst 11.9 drivers ( AMD Catalyst 11.9 Win 7 | Vista 64-bit driver download from Guru3D.com . These are 64-bit Win7; change if not using x64. Install all components (using Express is fine; if you use Custom, then select All and proceed).
4. After installation is complete reboot if not prompted.
5. Use GPU-Z or Device Manager to confirm installation. The driver ID is 8.892.2.0, and GPU-Z should also identify the drivers as Catalyst 11.9.
6. Next reboot, enter the BIOS and reverse the Video Configuration changes, i.e., change Primary Display back to SG and change IGP to Enabled. Save the changes and exit the BIOS.
7. After reboot, the screen should recover its normal brightness. Right click on the desktop to confirm that the Configure Switchable Graphics option has returned and test by switching to the IGP and back. Set the active graphics card to your preference.
8. You should now be exactly where you began, except that the 6990M drivers have been updated to 11.9. You can substitute any other AMD driver set if you prefer.
9. From this point, you can install newer versions by simply installing the new drivers over the existing drivers without having to change the video configuration.
10. The newest Catalyst Windows 8 driver is here: http://downloads.guru3d.com/AMD-Catalyst-Windows-8-Release-Driver-download-2922.html. (The newest Win 7 drivers are the 12.7 Beta set. ( AMD Catalyst 12.7 Official BETA Win XP download from Guru3D.com. The 12.7 driver ID is 8.981.2.0 (6-26-2012). All you should need to do is unpack them and run Setup to install. Although aimed primarily at Series 7000 cards, they also support the 6000M cards. I am not running Win 8 at the moment (tried the original Consumer Preview version, but removed it) but assume they will install the same as the 12.7 beta's install for me.
11. I’m sure you could go straight to the Windows 8 set or 12.7 betas from the Dell drivers by substituting them for the 11.9’s In the early steps. I’ve just haven't done it that way yet.

Good luck. This works for Win 7 installations, without blue screens or other difficulties that often accompany AMD driver installation with switchable graphics. It should also work for the Win 8's, but I obviously cannot confirm. When I was testing Win 8, drivers for Win 7 worked fine and installed the same. I doubt that has changed. If questions or issues arise, plenty of help is available here. If someone has a better way, jump in.

 

When I ordered my R4 (supposed to be here tomorrow now ) it came pre-configured with a Killer N 1103 and Bluetooth 4.0. I assume this means that they are putting a stand-alone BT adaptor in when you select the Killer N card. It is possible that BT is considered a "build-to-order" specification and depending on the specific config your your build you either get a BT adaptor or don't. The BT in the Intel Wireless card may be considered a 'Freebie' meaning that you don't get charged extra for it. I know that when I built my M15x three years ago that BT was a $20 add-on (has a Dell branded BT card in it), and the same was true for my Dell Netbook ($20 extra add-on). That could explain why some folks have the external card with the Dell adaptor and others don't. Just a thought.....

Rich S.