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

That makes sense, I just don't know just where they would install it since the slot is already taken up with the killer card . Maybe there is an 'extra' slot I've not seen. People are being told that if they replace their dell wireless card with a killer one they lose bluetooth, but bluetooth is always there from new whatever you order AFAIK

Hmm forum software changed my acronym into words there

Edit: Forgot; good luck for tomorrow!

 

There's a small board with bluetooth function close to the multimedia panel in the R3. I guess the same thing applied to the R4.

 

That'll be it! Thanks - I'm a little wiser now +rep

 

I believe it is located under the palm rest on the left side. When I upgraded my R4 from the intel card to the killer card I kept Bluetooth. I have no idea what Dell's methodology is on this. If you order with the base intel wireless card, I would assume you will not have the 380 unless you can confirm otherwise.

Edit: If anyone was looking for it.. Pg 67. http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/Alw_M17xR4/en/OM/om_en.pdf

 

Thanks. I can only confirm that ordering a killer at the time of ordering get's you a seperate bluetooth. I had just the dell wireless in my R3 but the bluetooth on that machine never worked from new. Always gave me a 'driver failure' - I eventually tracked down a 'locked' registry entry under current_control_set/bluetooth but I think I had a rootkit stopping me editing or deleting it - I digress.
So you bought your machine with the dell wireless and then upgraded to the killer? That trashes what I saw people being told in another thread a while ago - maybe dell did leave it out originally when a dell wireless card was ordered but then added it back later because of this extra upgrade cost for the customer - hmm, that doesn't sound right either.

 

so ive owned my beautiful alie for about 3 weeks and had lots of issues with LAG its very random i can be playing a game or simply just using skype and internet, then all of a sudden the mouse goes super slow and i get jittery video/audio, i have called tech support 3 times and all they ask me to do is to do a respawn i cant respawn every time i get issues that just stupid, apart from getting them to replace hardware is there anything anyone can suggest before i lose my mind. has anyone else had the same issues ?

sorry forgot to add its a M17x R4 Space Black - i7 3720QM - 8GB Ram - 64GB Samsung SSD - 1TB Toshiba - 2GB Geforce GT 675M - 120 Hz 3d Vision

 

Is it at the same time every day? If so, maybe something like virus scan is initiating.

 

I would definitely reinstall the nvidia drivers after a clean install of windows. This will remove software out of the equation

That is a very good point...and i think it is software related too

 

Hi, i just received my M17XR4 2 days ago

i just wondering is it possible to make my dxdiag and my windows experience index detect my graphic card to HD7970 instead of Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000

i tried pressing fn+f7 but the graphic become much more worst and when i right click on the desktop the graphic configuration for the AMD doesnt show.

thanks.

 

Hi, It sounds like you have no driver installed for the 7970. That may be why the graphics get worse when you switch over?
You could try installing the driver from the dell site after switching over but since you have only had it two days i'd be inclined to call dell and let them do it. Just in case there is some other problem, you shouldn't have to 'fix' a 2 day old machine

 

Did I goof getting the 675m card? A friend is telling me the (cheaper) 7970 is a superior card and the 680m isn't a lot better than that...

I'm mostly going to be viewing/editing videos and watching blu-rays. Very little gaming...

Should I change the card, wait and get another one at a later date...? I just don't want a $3400 purchase to be regretted bc of an "inferior" part.

 

Hi Julie32,

I wouldn't say you goofed. If I remember correctly the difference in price was $50 when I configured mine, which in the grand scheme of things is not much when you are talking $3400. Since gaming isn't a concern of yours, the performance difference between the 7970M and 675M is really a moot point. There are several reasons to choose a GeForce card over an AMD, such as better driver support, nVidia PhysX support, CUDA support, etc... Plus, since it is an Alienware, you can upgrade the card later if performance does become a concern. If you were a hardcore gamer, there might be some debate between the two cards (purely from a gaming standpoint) as the 7970m is said to be up to 50% faster than the 675m in some cases. For doing design work, I am sure the 675m is probably fantastic. If you feel strongly about it, you could try and call and change your order, but that will probably add a delay. If it were me (and games were not a priority), I wouldln't bother. I would just upgrade it later if necessary. It's not like the 675m performs "poorly", it is just the 7970m performs "better" under some cases. Good luck!

Rich S.

 

everything LinkRS said is correct...

But i'm gonna be more blunt...unless you have unwavering brand loyalty and will only buy nvidia, you goofed.

Do you have your R4 yet? Are you within the exchange period? I hate how dell priced the cards leading people into a gtx 675 built on now old 40nm technology

what software are you gonna be using to edit your videos...depending on the software, the superior gpgpu functionality of the 7970m might blow the 675 out of the water in video editting too

 

Thanks for the the thoughts and help guys...

I do hate how that was presented to a noob, and I wish my rep would have stopped me! I just assumed the 675 was between the 7970 and the 680. Dumb me for assuming!!

I do not have my R4 yet, its scheduled to be here on 7/18. There is an exchange period? How do you exchange, is there a fee??

I mostly use Adobe Premier or Ulead for my video software. Would the 7970 be better enough to exchange?

 

I don't know about a exchange period, but there is a 21 day (I believe) return period. There is usually a restocking fee do 15% associated with that tough unless you're planning to upgrade. In that case they'll usually waive the 15%. I don't think this would be considered an upgrade though.

My advice would be to either call and talk to your rep, or ask one of the reps over at the sales thread:
Alienware Sales Assistance Thread, Redux - Page 30

Hope you can get the answer you're looking for

 

OMG...call up dell and change your order now!!!

Compared to the newer 680m, the 7970m is about 120% faster in Adobe Premier Pro. I assume a similar or greater difference with the 675.

The mercury engine found on the Adobe CS6 and premier products are openCL based and the 7970m is significantly stronger than nvidia 680m/675m in this regard

The resident expert in this is NBR member KCEtech1 and I'll try to paraphrase how she would answer this question:

For pro and rendering apps, get the 7970m...or if you go all out, get the quadro 5010 (which costs thousands of dollars)

 

I GOT IT CHANGED!! (now just have to wait longer for the computer... lol)

Thanks so much for the help guys! The Dell rep agreed I'll be much happier!

 

Now you are going to have to change your signature.

And then this post won't make any since.

 

lmao I JUST did that!

 

But now my other post doesn't make any since.

 

Fantastic! Enjoy the new computer Scully!

 

I plan to! Dying to have my first Alienware (and the waiting game begins again)!

Tried to rep you guys, but I don't think its of any value yet. lmao

 

No it worked...thanks for the rep

So what is the new ETA?

 

7/26... but hoping sooner! I was told they can request to expedite it, so I emailed to ask.

I was lucky I saw your post in time, mine original one would have shipped tomorrow. So, it was cancelled at the last minute!

 

It usually always comes a little earlier...I received mine about 3 days early

it's gonna be a long 2 weeks though lol

 

thanks for your reply jwimsett,SlickDude80, its defo not a virus (clean Respawn) and its very random i can have been on the computer for 10 mins or 3 hours, i have done 2 respawns one myself and one with the tech support rep, to the same thing, i contacted the tech support again yesterday for them to tell me to do yet another respawn, this is defo wierd although if it is software related then its some of alienwares own software that is doing this.

 

Kev, if doing the respawn didnt work the first time, doing it over and over isn't going to work either lol

Have you considered a clean windows 7 install? Only load windows, and drivers...nothing else. Your symptoms I have had before on desktops and the solution was always a reinstall of windows and/or vid card drivers

 

Hi guys, I have a replacement r4 coming my way, it has 1tb 7200rpm hdd. I understand there is something called msata caching drive which gives u ssd like performance with hdd storage. right?Could someone please explain to me how it works, where can I buy it, how do I install it? Also if I buy a 32gb msata, do I have to reinstall windows and drivers? Or is it just plug and play? I ploughed through all the threads but still do not understand how it works.

 

Hi, I'll try to explain it but I'm going on another persons experience (chris-thanks) and an excellent tech document he posted that explained it.

Basically, the hardware in the R4 has the feature of combing drives to appear as a single unit - RAID 0. A further feature is to set up a caching drive whereby frequently accessed files are automatically put on this caching drive. You only see a single drive letter for both the ssd caching drive and the HD together.

The caching drive can be on any port but the mstata one is an obvious choice.

Since the bios is already configured for RAID and the intel software already installed it's just a case of putting in the SSD, going into the IRST software (an icon in the task bar) and telling it you want the SSD as a caching drive. After that it all happens without any further action on your part. No need to reinstall windows. Plug and play really.

You should be able to find an msata ssd on Amazon, and use the dell on-line r4 manual to see what dismantling you will need to do to install it.
HTH

 

So it's that simple? So I basically plug it into the mobo and go into windows and set it up as a caching drive? Thanks may I know if it is worth the money to do this upgrade and is there any real world performance boost like windows boot up time and game loading? Thanks

 

So the man said - i'm sure he will jump in if he sees this post

He said the performance improvement was impressive. For around £50 for 64 gb it seems very good value for money. You would see it in windows load times and opening windows mainly, since it (the caching algorithm) has to identify frequently accessed files. For a game this might require a few loads before it gets cached.

Remember though I'm going on second hand information so I will comment no further

 

I ordered my M17x r4 yesterday now for the waiting game haha
Also a small question does anyone think that the 7970m will get DX 11.1 support?

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

Ok so it's great, what brands and models do you recommend? I live in Singapore and migh not be able to grab some of the models but any recommendations would be great. I would like to know what happens if I want to remove the msata? Do I have to go into windows and set something?

Thanks

 

Can't advise on brands or models since I've never tried any - you'd need to research it or hope someone from your part of the world can say. I'd think you would be able to find locally any that look good

Don't know about removing it but all I'd expect is to have to do turn it off in the intel software before you remove it. since it's a caching drive it will only contain copies of files that already exist on the HD.

You could simply change it to a part of an array if you added a large SSD later. Your existing hd would be one drive and the two SSD's another.

You would then need to reinstall windows onto the ssd array to get the benefit though.

 

My laptop should be here tomorrow!

 

Precongrats!!! I'm sure you will love it

 

Thanks. Time couldn't be going any slower right now

 

Yes yes it could

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

i know SlickDude80, i was just doing this as that what the dell tech told me to do i know it wont fix the issues, i havent yet done a full clean install but i will do tonight to see what the difference is, the fact that the nvidia drivers are so out of date on the dell site makes me worry slightly as the ones on the nvidia site dont work, we will see how i go but if it still does the same thing im pointing towards either a faulty grfx card or cpu.

 

I have been a happy user for a full 3 days now Just run a bunch of benchmarks to see if all is good. I must say, this is my first alienware machine but now I know why people just love them. top build quality, top performance, easy upgradable, great cooling and not as loud as my previous Clevo

 

Or you could just clone it and save yourself a lot of time.

 

Yup, plenty of options at that point, even a factory restore from the hdd to the ssd .

 

After cloning, do you still need to reinstall drivers? Is there a kit for it?

 

Not sure if anyone knows this but the M17x R4 is on the outlet now..

Dell Factory Outlet

 

Hi guys,
Sorry for being a noob, but I am really lost. I have watched videos of tear downs and am absolutely terrified to install a msata. Replacing my hdd with an ssd is a better option to me but I have tons of questions.

My original config is a 1tb 7200rm hdd in raid 0 so what do I have to do if I want to install a ssd of say 256gb and keep one 500gb ssd as storage? And do I have to do a fresh install of windows and drivers or can I clone? What happens to the raid configuration after swapping out one hdd to ssd? Do I have to do something to bios? I tried searching through the forum but got very confused, help would be much appreciated.

Thank you very much.

 

Cloning is a method usually used for replacing a boot drive with a larger one.

You need cloning software - I've only used 'ghost' but I'm sure there are plenty out there and you might need a new post just asking for advice on what to use when the time comes.

You end up with the exact same windows configuration and drivers as when the image is created. low risk but be prepared to do a full base install from CD if it goes wrong

 

Ah, after more and more reading I'm guessing installing a new ssd would take more time rather than installing a caching msata ssd. Is there any specific guide as to where to install the msata?

 

Installing a regular ssd is the much simpler approach...To get to you mSata slot, you have to take the keyboard out.

To install a regular 9.5mm or 7mm SSd, you have to take the battery out and the back plastic panel off (2 screws)....that's it. you can reference either of my CPU or GPU guides to see how easy it is to get at your harddrive caddy...there are pics showing my crucial m4 in the GPU and CPU guide

Either approach, whether you go the mSata route or regular SSD route, a reinstall of windows is recommended

 

Yeah, I've always said this but the experiences of a new R4 owner of just plugging it in (msata ssd), turn on caching in IRST was revealing. Job done. Just all worked! Of course might not be typical but when he was asking about it before receiving the machine I thought it might be a very simple way to get most of the benefits of an SSD

 

Thanks for the replies guys. However I do not have the luxury of time and henc I guess would be sticking to nt doing anything. Sorry to have wasted all your time... Really wanted to have ssd performance...