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

Good stuff man but yea like above stated, I would change the card to the 7970m. Its a much better card AND cheaper. Dont ask me why they price the 675m higher than the 7970m. You will get 50% better gaming performance with the 7970/680m.

 

Well damn I should have asked before I ordered. Now that I know that about the 7970 Ill order that firsure if the 675 isnt up to par.

 

You can always call and change it. You will save yourself 50 bucks and have a card twice as powerful.

 

to use optical out you need the adapter that was hidden in the accessories box. Once you find it just plug it into the s/p dif jack and you should be good to go as far as I know.

hmm strange never had that issue before. Maybe you should try re-installing command center and seeing if the issue persists. Hope this helps!!

 

Thats a good point, I know they havent strted building it yet.

 

When you receive your laptop it will come with a NICE suede pouch of whichever color you selected. Its perfect for protecting it from scratches while its in your backpack or in any bag. No need to buy some plastic shell

 

I don't think I got one

I'll have to give that a try.

 

Dell dropped the SP/DIF adaptor (along with the hat and nice padded alienhead sticker), on the R4. Got them with my r3 - BOO Dell

 

Hi, just an FYI but if you're US armed forces Dell have some huge discounts just for you .

I believe there is even a dedicated site for ordering.

Good luck with your new purchase

 

You can order through AAFES like I did. I saved between 25-50% on what some others paid for my system. The only problem is you have to be living in the US to purchase through AAFES right now. Because of the whole lithium-ion battery deal, the USPS won't ship overseas right now. They are trying to work out a deal with the USPS to help with getting systems to members overseas.

 

I would not recommend using the SP/DIF adapter that Dell included with the R3s. A lot of users have stated that it is just slightly bigger than it needs to be, and have broken the little lock ring (or something similar) which causes sound issues with the system. Eventually most had to get their motherboards replaced. It is recommended to use an aftermarket adapter.

 

Good info +. I wondered what it was when I first got my R3 since it wasn't on the box parts list. Now I know why it didn't fit into the socket - wasn't going to force it

 

Ok that is good to know. I guess if I want it I can just buy a usb adapter or something.

 

This is the 'dongle' for optical link. Cables 4 ALL Digital Toslink TO Digital 3.5mm JACK: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

 

Thanks for the input! I will probably use the pouch for scratch protection but I am hoping to find something that can actually handle a sharp impact. I saw something in London Drugs for 15" laptops but will have to keep looking. Cheers!

 

Apologies...forum search is not functioning.

Can someone confirm that both primary & secondary SATA ports are configured at 6Gb/s...regardless of HD options ordered?

Best,
Bill

 

Yes, both bays on the M17x R4 run at 6 Gb/s speeds. Though, your drive has to be a 6 Gb/s drive to take advantage of those speeds.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX Using Tapatalk 2

 

Twin 520 SSDs migrating from an XPS...just wanted to be certain.

I'd prefer to have the 3D LCD with the 7970M, but online ordering forces choice of a GTX 6xxM.

I'm a newb to 3D laptop tech. The 7970M appears to have native support of 3D. So is this simply a marketing ploy or has Dell modified the 7970M? Otherwise, should just require proper AMD software...or am I misunderstanding?

Best,
Bill

 

It has to do with the way Nvidia and AMD cards work, and how they are routed on the MXM slot/motherboard. I can't quite remember the specifics right now. Basically, the 120 Hz screen will only work with Nvidia cards. There is no way to change this, as the laptop will not POST if you have an AMD card and the 120 Hz display.

However, that does not mean the 7970M will not do 3D. If you hook your laptop up to a 3D display, it will work. I'm not sure what software you need, though.

Hope this helps.


Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX Using Tapatalk 2

 

Alienware M17X R4 with Soft Touch - Direct
3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3720QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.6GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
6GB DDR3 at 1600MHz
English Keyboard, 101 Key, M17X R4
17.3-inch WideFHD1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
2GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M
32GB mSATA caching SSD
500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Custom Nameplate
Personalized Nameplate Trigger
AlienFX Color, Mars Red
Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
Stealth Black with Soft Touch Finish
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software
Intel 2230 Wireless-N
Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
Alienware Documentation
Placement, M17X R4
Shipping Material, M17X R4 - Black
NO VIRUS PROTECTION REQUESTED
Resource DVD, M17X R4
Windows 7 OS Label, Alienware Notebooks
DataSafe Local BackUp
PC Restore
DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
Camera Software 2.X, Factory Install
Dell Support Center Software 3.0
Quickset, M17X R4
90WHr 9-Cell Primary Battery
Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year7
1 Year Limited Warranty
No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware
Warranty Support, Initial Year
Alienhead Chrome Blue

Woot X2 should be shipping soon. Should have by end of next week.

 

Congrats on the new system!!

 

It does. Thank you ^ 2

 

Thanks, I know the 660m isnt the best for gaming but two systems we could only do so much. The desktops only have 550ti in them and the previous cards were 9800gt, I think the 660m should serve us well for swtor and eq2

 

should run SWTOR fine. When I had my 460m installed it ran it maxxed out fine. With all the new options though, maybe a thing or two needs to get turned down. Heck even my 6990m gets bogged down to >30fps on either fleet sometimes.

 

if not mistaken though anything over 32fps the eye doesnt see?

 

Hmm my wireless internet seems to be slow ever since I made my ssd the boot drive. I did speedtest on my desktop and my laptop.

Desktop: Down: 22.5mbps Up: 3.8mbps
Laptop: Down 2.2mbps Up: .98mbps

I never checked before but I noticed downloading stuff has been slow ever since I started using my SSD. Any suggestions?

I tried on my brothers laptop now too. Download speed was 17.5mbps and upload was 3.9mbps. Something has to be up with my wireless driver or something.

Edit: Reinstalled the killer driver and now my speeds seem to be where they should.

 

My laptop finally shipped so I will have a 680M to test with. Just wanted to know what hard drive setup should I use:


Setup 1: 256gb MSATA and 2x 750gb in raid 0

Setup 2: 512gb Samsung 830 SSD and 750gb HD

 

The second setup if i were you. And later on when they decide to release 512Gb msata drive I would get one and put in raid 0 array

 

Great system either way but if I were you I would go down to the 3610qm and then go up to the 7970m. Isnt it like a 50 dollar difference then? Just my opinion as you wont see a noticable difference between processors but the 7970m is twice as powerful as the 660m. Congrats man!

I have no idea why people say this. You can CLEARLY see the difference between 30fps and 60fps.

 

The eye does not work in "frames". The optic nerve transmits a constant flow of information. The best frame rate for something is completely dependent on what it is that is being watched. While it is true that a high FPS is a good thing, too high of an FPS is also a bad thing as it means that the processor is overworking itself for nothing which is why the FPS can be capped in some games.

 

Hey guys, I'm planning to buy an OCZ Vertex 4 128 GB. My OS is in the primary drive, I'm planning to put my 7200 RPM hard drive in the secondary drive and put the SSD in the primary slot.

Now my questions are:

Is 128 GB enough for Windows OS and some most used programs?

Is it hard to clone windows OS?

I never opened my Alienware, is it hard to replace the HDDs?

When buying the SSD, do I have to buy a tray or something or just the SSD itself?

 

1. I have a 128gb SSD as well and so far its been working great and I haven't filled it up yet.

2. I wouldn't advise doing a clone of the hard drive. It would be better to do a clean installation so windows can optimize itself for the SSD.

3. To service the hard drives all you have to do is remove the battery, take out the two screws that hold the bottom cover on, then slide the cover off and you have easy access to the hard drive bays.

4. The m17x comes with a secondary caddy so as long as you buy a standard 2.5 inch drive you should be fine.

Hope this answers your questions

 

I couldnt have went that route just based on financing alone. Credit limit with Dell was only 4K and the two systems was like very few dollars below that. I got what I could for what I had. When I looked up the 660m it seemed as it would play eq2 and swtor fairly well. I know the 9800GT isnt as good as the 660m but the 660m isnt as good as our current 550ti but even with the 9800gt I played eq2 with decently high settings. Although it did run more off CPU than GPU for the graphics anyway so with that being said the extra processing power there would come in handy. With that being said though are the vid cards mxm in these systems so if one day we wanted to replace them?

 

Thanks bigtonyman. That was spot-on. One last thing though, let's say I bought Windows 7 Ultimate, if I install it, won't the Alienware applications be gone? Like the Alienfusion or AlienFX?

 

yup the current alienware M17x and M18x use MXM cards so you can upgrade in the future if wanted. I personally went from a 460m to a 6990m and had some minor issues, but it all worked out in the end.

you can always reinstall using the provided recovery disk if you want, but if you did do a clean install of windows 7 ultimate, all you would have to do is go to the Dell website and you could redownload all the required drivers and programs that came with your system and you would be set to go.

 

I hear microsoft is allowing upgrade from any windows 7 installation to windows 8 professional/ultimate for like 40 bucks. All the ALIEN_____ apps can be installed manually after.

 

Oh, I have the recovery disk! Thank goodness. Can I use the recovery disk that came with my M18X before to my new M17X?

 

I hate to say it but going through AAFES wouldn't save any money. After I read that I was like "damn I didn't think of that!" So I went to price it that way instead of through Dell. I actually paid less going through Dell then I did AAFES. Would have been nice though I so would have called in. Dell didnt give huge discounts though. I bought two almost identical systems. The only difference being my wifes will have a blu ray player in it. It was just under 4K for the pair. I think the between the multi system discount and military discount I saved like $100.

 

I got the setup in my sig for 1928 USD with tax included. So you should be able to get a 7970 at least in yours just drop the processor. Plus I got the Xbox gift card and the 5 percent gift card. I did it as a student but you should still be able to get nice deals with military just call in.

Also if you are using dell credit card then they give additional discounts with that.

 

I got the system in my sig for 1740 including shipping/tax. You should be able to get 2 systems like this, even INCLUDING bluray drives for just under 4k. Also you should save MORE money using dells preferred credit. You need a different rep.

edit: like above I also got the $200 gift card, the 5% back gift card and upgraded to next business day shipping.

 

Guess I should have had a different rep then. We will receive the 5% cash back gift card. He didn't give us much of anything really like I said. Maybe $100. Too late now though as we ordered them on the 8th. Not going to cancel the order as we need them before the end of the month and they already arent suppose to be here til the 23rd.

 

How did you get yours for 1740?!?

 

What did you pay for yours? I spent $1,790 on the same configuration as you.

 

Guess I'm not vary good at haggling haha I paid 2300 for mine and about only thing diffrent is I got the 3720QM

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

Does anyone read THIS thread?

Its easily the first thing you should read when looking into buying a Dell or Alienware computer. The laptop in my sig priced out online was $2100 before tax or shipping, so I ended up saving around $600.

 

It's all about who you talk to. The first three times I called I was told that there was nothing they could do for me and that the price listed on the website was the best that it was going to get.

Finally, I decided to try using a representative that someone here had said got them a good deal who offered me and extremely good price without any bargaining and free next day shipping. I probably could have brought down the price on mine a little more but there was really no reason to.

 

Yep, thats all you need is a referral from someone on here with a good rep. I got lucky and the first person I called gave me a great deal without hassle. I still have that reps info if anyone needs it.

 

for anyone that own the R3 with 6990m inside..... which driver version that you're using now ?? It's been too long until I realize that I still on my 12.2 preview driver. Anyone have reccommend ?? how about 12.7 beta driver ??

 

Hey, everyone! Just getting signed up to the site and figured I'd start here. I ordered an m17x R4 on July 5th (meaning, I'm still waiting to recieve it as of this posting, lol) as an upgrade from an m11x R2 that I purchased when they first came out. After what I ordered from Dell as a base config and the things I purchased from Newegg to upgrade, here's what my system will be comprised of:

CPU: Intel i7-3820QM
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 680M
RAM: 32GB (4 8GB sticks of CORSAIR Vengeance DDR3 1600)
SSD 1 (mSATA): 60GB (Dedicated OS drive)
SSD 2: 256GB
HDD: 750GB
Optical: BR-ROM/DVD+-RW/CD-RW
Wireless: Killer
Display: 1920x1080 WLED

For those wondering, the 32GB of RAM will primarily serve for my music endeavors and VM needs. I'm so excited for this thing to get here, it's ridiculous. lol. When it finally arrives, the very first thing I'm going to do is install Dolphin Emu on it immediately and finally see what it's like to play Wii and GC games on a system that can handle it!

Lastly, I noticed that not too many people out there have ordered a unit with a 680M, so I'd be happy to have mine serve as a test bed for benchmarking or other requests (within reason, naturally). Anyway, I'm super-excited to get the system and I'm also very glad to have found such an active Alienware forum filled with a mature crowd (or so it seems so far)!

 

Mine wont get here until the 23rd estimated. Luckily Ill have my Nexus 7 here shortly to play with til it arrives lol. I love new toys. Traded my old HP laptop today for two laptop chairs lol. Not a bad deal since I wasnt going to do anything with it anyway and it has no HD.