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

Your laptop will be fine, 675m is a fine videocard only its not the top.
And I geuss you will need to do a step down where other laptops can go "some" higher.
But its not a difference of day of night.
I geuss if you would choose the 7970m you have like 40 - 50% more performance for the same like money (dont know exact prices now).
In my eyes a error in your buying but still ok.

I edit: i geuss more like 30% performance

 

is it possibe to change the GPU on ur own ? i mean i am definitely not letting Dell to touch my laptop anymore , who knows how long they will take , maybe 2 months next time !!!!!

 

yes sure, that's easy, just search for it, there enough tuterials.

But still 675 is not bad, you'll be fine

 

when you said 7970 gives 30% more in performance , i hit my head to the wall ~

 

PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmarks - High End Video Cards

Its a nice site for general performance, it's not always correct.

I go to sleep, tomorrow morning working.

 

You could definitely do that! What I did was remove my Alienware provided HDDs, put them in a box, and purchased an extra 500GB HDD (I dont need anythign beyond 500GB). I went with that type of setup. That way if anything happens I just put the stock ones back in and ship it back.

I've played MOST games, the system is more than capable of "handling" these games, they 'em on a GTX 675... So do NOT be wary of your current setup rig, it's more than enough heh....

Trust me, 30% performance is just that, you picked a very good and solid card either way. Even with a 30% performance boost, it's within my gut feeling that I would have stuck with the Nvidia video card anyways. I've had them for years with no problems at all (not to bash on any ATI owners, as ATI makes fine cards too!).

 

Wooohooo you make me feel much better.....can't wait for Monday my R4 is coming ROARRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

hey guys, i just installed my ssd.

So currently i have 2 OS.

one in my ssd and one in my hdd. I have a question now, why do i have a recovery drive? and when i open it there is nothing inside, yet space is being used up. (6.45gb free of 14.1gb but the drive contains no files)

Anyone know what is going on?

I have another question.

As you install drivers, it will unzip it into a dell folder. After installing the drivers, can I delete all the unzip files in the dell folder? or do I have to keep it?

Thanks

 

The recovery drive is just how Dell partitioned the original hard drive. There are hidden files on there. It is pretty small compared to the whole size of the hard drive and it needs to be there for the original hard drive to boot without your SSD so I wouldn't mess with it unless you get really tight for space later and decide that you don't want to have the option to boot the old drive. You should be able to delete the drivers in the dell unzip folder as the needed files actually get installed into another spot when you run the setup programs. I usually keep a copy of the zipped versions of the drivers on the standard hard drive in case I need access to them and then they don't take up space on my SSD.

 

Hey everyone, just wanna say its would be nice if someone would make a step-by-step thread about installing windows 8 on M17x R3 with the amd/intel graphics card. that's all folks

 

Thanks for clearing up my doubts!

 

It isn't too bad Windows 8 Migrates all your drivers pretty well. Just install like you would any other OS and then update via Dell website or Windows Update & factory drivers (ATI, Intel, etc etc.).

Glad you got all that sorted out

 

Question:
I had some static electricity jump from me to the my ear buds a few times. So me being me (really paranoid) I went to make sure everything is okay. Everything sounds fine but I cant remember if it did this before: It seems when I wake Windows from sleep or start-up, I get this second of light static through my ear buds and headphones through port 1 (has the picture of the headphones). When I plug it in to port 2 (has the picture of the gaming headset) this static is absent.

So...
Do you experience this?

Is it normal?

Did I mess something up?

 

Does the touchpad work for all of the swiping gestures and stuff for the charms etc.?

 

i have a simple question

i always format my laptops and install my own windows 7, or anyway a clean windows 7 install without backup etc, so format a real 100%.

is this a problem with a m17x? because i aint wanna brick it and normal its easy and have no problems, will i have problems somehow with the m17x?

else when i receive it the first thing i do is formatting.


sjoerd

 

You can perform a format and clean install with the Dell provided Windows disc for the Alienware M17x. No backups needed.

 

Ok, i just upgraded my windows 7 to windows 8 on my m17x r3. Its just incredible how everything went smooth. The install finished in 15 minutes, and I didnt have to install any drivers at all. And all my files were saved. The first thing I did after that was to install a new start menu, called "pokki", it looks even nicer then the old windows 7 start menu and has all the functions. I tested Starcraft 2 and Civ5, there were in a folder called |windows.old|, and both work fine, no fps drops, nothing. I cant believe that microsoft managed to make a new OS, that doesn't require a full clean install in order to work properly.
The only problem I encountered is that I cant find my CCC for my 6990m card. In the device manager both the intel card and the amd card are shown, but the function fn+f7 for card switch is not working, so for the time being I'm stuck only on the amd card, which is not so bad. Probably there will be dell drivers released later.

The conclusion is that it is safe to install windows 8 on a m17x r3 laptop with amd/intel card.

 

I would appreciate that if you feel like doing it. I am always tempted by new shiny things and am curious how I would like Windows 8. It definitely seems to be touch oriented but if the touchpad works well for swiping etc., I would probably try it out as I use the touchpad most of the time on my couch. It also helps a lot that I can get Windows 8 for $15

 

I have an alienware M17xR4 and am currently having overheating issues. I was just wondering what the easiest way to fix this would be i have been looking for cooling mats but so far nothing that is practical with the size and placement of fans if someone could help i would be very great full.

 

What kind of overheating issues?
The easiest way would be to prop up the back with some soda bottle caps. Second would be a cooling pad and finally repasting the CPU and GPU. All three are very easy.

 

To all the people who upgraded to Windows 8 and used the .iso, can you please tell me if that .iso was bootable? I noticed it IS but not in UEFI mode, even when the DVD contains the 'efi' folder. Any ideas?

 

I have to do a clean install after the failed upgrade (attempting repairs bs) and the flash drive I used to install work fine.

Anyone have a problem trying to download the new drivers from dell? other than synaptics, everything else is not available.

 

Before clicking download file via browser, change the 'false' to 'true' at the end of the URL.

Ex:
Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States] -> Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

 

how did you get that link man? mine doesnt have anything with true/false on them no matter how much I tinkle with it.

 

Check the browser URI field after getting to a driver page but not the download request page itself.

 

nvm, turn out there is one more page

 

Downclock :thumbsup: lol jk

I'd say cooling pad and prop up the back a bit like jwimsett said. Where are your temps at?

 

With so many people having trouble with W8 drivers, I may hold off my W8 upgrade infinitely, until MS release W8 SP1. Anybody with me? :O

 

Early birds get the first worm -
In that case I'm with you and wait until I can catch the best worm. I have enough time and a pretty rock solid and fast system.
Cheers

 

My system is running great right now, no problems to be had other than a graphics card issue that was easily fixed by reinstalling drivers. Not sure what problems other people are having.

 

I don't know what's going on anymore, GTX 680M getting a 2800 mark in 3dmark11. Tried reinstalling, installing win7 drivers, installing win8 drivers, using different drivers, it just doesn't work. Windows 8 is driving me crazy.

 

Hey, bigotny is your card a 6990m? Can you tell me is the fn+f7 function working for you? (the switchable graphics). And is your CCC working? I have problems switching to the intel card, because the fn+f7 command wont work, or any other way too.

 

Please, I don't want repeat this post but I need your help with the creative sound card and the usb tablemike (a speechware microphone) using Dragon NaturallySpeaking because I think to buy an Alienware M17x-R4.

Code:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/accessories/692549-creative-soundblaster-usb-9-1-tablemike.html

Thanks!

 

Lemme tell all y'all a little story. It was back in 2006. My (ex) shop manager just got a new laptop. A nice Toshiba Satellite. It came pre-loaded with Windows Vista Starter. Every evening for the first week, I worked to try and get the system to boot as even from initial startup we got BSODs. We returned the system to Best Buy and they were more than happy to give us a replacement Satellite (which was surprising). Right there in the store the support rep opened up the new/replacement notebook and started it up....BSOD. Tried it again with a third replacement, this time a Sony Viao. Same BSOD. !? We finally figured out it was actually Vista Starter which was causing the BSOD so Best Buy issued us a refund and my shop manager had to spend $150 more on a different Toshiba Satellite that came loaded with Vista Home Premium. Now Vista Home Premium had its fair share of bugs, but not like Vista Starter. It wasn't until Vista's first service pack came out that all the bugs in Vista were worked out. Now I'm not saying that Windows 8 will have the same headaches that Vista saddled me with, but I am much more careful when I go looking at a new OS.

 

that is some pure bad luck! I'm glad you got a full rcahs refund though, BB is pretty hard on that kidna stuff, at least in FL. They usually issue store credit and take 10% restocking fee =\

 

Well the whole graphics switching for me has never really worked to well even in windows 7. I reinstalled the newest AMD drivers over the dell drivers, swapped GPU's and my screen went black and the system refused to even boot back into windows. Had to disable the IGPU through the bios to fix it and just installed the newest AMD driver since graphics switching is such a mess right now. never thought I would say this, but these driver issues make me really miss Nvidia optimus. I know i'll be going with a M17x R5 with a Nvidia GPU for sure this time so I don't have to deal with glitchy AMD drivers.

So far I personally haven't had any crazy issues like that other than the graphics card issues, but it's AMD's fault more than anyone else since it was happening in windows 7 too. As to windows 8 itself, each to their own, everyone has their own preferences. Windows 8 has been working great for me, but I wouldn't have paid full price for it that's for sure.

 

So does Windows 8 let you use the trackpad for gestures and swiping etc.?

 

quite frankly I haven't tried messing with that yet, been to busy, ill try it out here soon though and see what happens.

 

Cool thanks, was just curious as I thought that would be pretty cool functionality.

 

A friend of mine installed W8 on his HP Probook. He was trying to use Remote desktop but there 2 versions of Remote desktop. One is the original W7 Remote desktop and the other is Metro version. They are different programs and if he runs them both, they show up as 2 different processes on his task manager.... Luckily, his Probook is pretty fast. But I think it's kinda absurd.

 

Hey everyone,

Whenever I see max CPU and GPU temps on these systems, it seems like the CPU stays pretty low even on load.

So I was wondering if someone could direct me to where I can find information on overclocking Ivy Bridge.. I have the 3840QM

 

Good morning folks,

It's my first time on these forums so please be nice

I posted this on an Alienware forum elsewhere aswell, but didn't really get much luck so I was wondering if you guys could maybe shed some light on my problems?

I've recently installed some additional RAM into my lappy, upgrading from 8gb to 24gb to assist with my design work. I used the Crucial scanner on their website, and double checked their recommendation by cracking open the lappy itself and checking the Dell installed RAM. I matched completely the types of RAM to the already installed RAM, only difference obviously being that the new ones were 16gb in total. Since then when playing World of Warcraft, my lappy has been, what I can only describe as, 'bottlenecking. Every now and then the game will stop for about 5-10 seconds, and then almost go in fast forward to catch up with itself. It's like a 'kaboom-everything-happens-at-once' and then it's fine for about 30mins again.

Now I can't believe for the life of me that it's the new RAM that's doing this? It tests fine, it's listed as having 24gb (only 16gb usable due to having 7 home ed) and general laptop usage is fine. I've completely deleted and re-installed the drivers for my Gcard from Nvidia, I've completely deleted and re-installed the drivers for the network card. So I'm at a bit of a loss. Short of wiping the lappy clean, I'm not sure what else I can do.

Oh, one more thing. If I do a speed test through the Killer Network utilities programme from start menu, it says I have 13mb download and 0.9mb upload speed. If I go to Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test direct and run a speed test, my laptop gets 'stuck' on the upload test. The laptop seems to keep internet connection, but no web page will upload, not even google homepage. After about 10seconds or so this seems to clear and everything is back to normal again.

I'm quite familiar with computers, and have built up and taken apart PC's in the past. But this is kinda baffleing me. Does anyone have any ideas on what this could be?

I also ran 3d Mark last night on the performance settings, and I 'think' my lappy scored either 3575 or 5375. If I'm honest, it was really late when I got around to it and I really don't remember what score I got. But from scouting around this morning it seems that this score (in either case) is low for my set up?

I'd really appreciate it if anyone has any advice on what could be the issue or what I keep getting this bottlenecking as it's starting to cause me some real headaches now!

Cheers in advance,

Matt

 

Hey again guys. I just wanted to ask a noob question. The laptop I have came with a 64GB Samsung 830 mSATA SSD Boot Drive and so I would have thought the OS was on there, but I just realised after all these weeks of owning it that it's on the other drive, the 500gb HDD. Is this correct? I just added my old SSD to the Alienware and it boots so much faster which would definitely suggest to me that the 64gb MSata drive has nothing to do with the OS and isn't doing anything other than being empty. Is it the same with others who have this setup or should the OS be on the MSata? Also, my Bios is A02 so needs to be updated. Is it best to update one at a time or just to go to the newest BIOS available? Thanks for anyone who can help me out.

 

Hi, the msata drive will be configured as a cache drive for the mechanical drive and you do not see it in the OS. It is a 'learning' system and will cache files as they are frequently accessed from the HD.

This is for setting it up but shows what is going on and how to look at what you have Chipset Software — Intel® Smart Response Technology User Guide