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

Congrats bud on the new beast. Now push that sucka and see what scores you can dish out.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 running Resurrection Remix

 

Hi Man, glad to see you're enjoying your new Alien . I don't have the switchable graphics but since your post has rolled over with no reply I'll try to advise

That keypress is a firmware switch (toggle) between the igpu and the Dgpu. I've seen it used to force the external GPU when a game uses the igpu instead and I think it's a 'hangover' from before Optimus switched over automatically . Usually, If a game refuses to use the dgpu, then in the NV control panel you can 'whitelist' the game in a profile to force it.

To get the 680 only all the time I believe you need to use an unlocked bios to access the ability to disable the igpu completely - although battery life is certainly compromised.

Anyone with this setup feel free to correct me about how it works and when to use

 

I don't know specifically how to use the GTX 680m constantly on my machine (I'm on W8 with UEFI Fast/Secure boot) so I can't do it since my vBIOS isn't compatible (I cba changing it since I dont want to run in GTX 680m only mode).
There is an unlocked BIOS at techinferno if your interested, but to be honest, the optimus mode works pretty good from my experience.
Battery life drops from around 5 hours to 3 from what i've seen. Kinda one reason why I chose the nvidia card over the ati was beause the automatic switching works.

 

Exactly the reason I haven't gone to win8 yet. I got the discounted U/G but after reading all the threads on it, it offers me nothing in performance, a few issues, and an interface that is going to drive me nuts for months

Until NV or Dell release a vbios that has UEFI access, fast boot is not available for me - at least that is how I read it

 

I think there is a vBIOS they have released on the newer build cards to support it, but they havent rolled it out to everyone techinferno has it to download if you wanted to try it. It will allow UEFI/fast/secure boot as its verified. Not 100% sure about the 675m but the 680m/660m has had an updated vbios.

I wouldn't install windows 8 unless all the BIOS features worked for your machine. I got a pretty bogo standard config so it wasn't too hard to migrate to windows 8. Only issue has been the killer network driver/manager dropping connections but I seem to have sorted those connection issues for now. I like the 10 second boot time though now, hope you get to have it soon!

 

Thanks man, good to know .

I thought there would soon be user-modded vbios', or as you say, dell testing them on new builds but not releasing them for the general public. Problem with that is that I then need to find one that has my clock speeds (matched P0 and P1) as well . They will turn up I'm sure but right now I'm just 'watching'

On top of that I'm still pondering an upgrade to the 680 and that should be straightforward but you never know with this stuff, (Dell or other make?). I have the cash put aside but as this gpu still rocks in all my games it's hard to justify the hassle

 

This is correct. I've flashed the newer M17x R4 vBIOS for the 7970M and all BIOS issues have been eliminated. Have a read here. Newer vBIOS is also available for the GTX 660M and 680M here.
I've also already contacted two Dell reps so far regarding this issue, imploring them to make this officially available. I have yet to receive a positive response. You guys are best off flashing the way I did by following the links above.

 

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it. Optimus has been working without a hitch so far, so I don't need to use only the 680m at this point, but it would be a nice feature to have. I'm going to wait and see if there is an easier way for A10 BIOS owners to flash an unlocked BIOS before I try anything. Supposedly you can do a blindflash to AO5, then you can flash to A10 unlocked. Unfortunately a bunch of the guys on Techinferno have bricked their mobos while trying, so I'm not comfortable trying it at this point.

First priority at this point is getting my 1866mhz RAM installed, then running more benchmarks. Here's another benchmark (stock voltage, I think I was at +200/+450) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3740QM Processor,Alienware M17xR4 score: P7800 3DMarks

 

A wise decision IMO. I've see two users here brick their R4's after a blind flash to an earlier bios release. And not just the usual beeping, try again, but completely dead machines. Mobo replacement!! Put me right off using the blindflash unless there is no other option.

 

Wait, what are you talking about? The Secure/Fast Boot problem for Windows 8 in the BIOS? You don't need the unlocked BIOS for that. BIOS != vBIOS. What do you need the unlocked BIOS for anyway? I'm not using it either.

 

The way I read it, it was just to disable the iGPU and not have to bother with it?

 

I'm talking about disabling the igpu to run off the 680m. Apparently you need an ulocked BIOS to do that, and people with A08+ BIOS are bricking their mobos while trying to use an unlocked BIOS.

I know what a vbios is, I'm using a modded one now lol.

 

Hah, alright. Well, that problem doesn't exist with the 7970M so I wouldn't have known.

 

overclocking and other fun stuff (if your into that kind of thing).

 

Ofcourse, but there's always Intel XTU for that.

 

Yea that's true. Does it keep things set if you decide to reformat your machine though? or do you have to go back and tweak everything? Just curious is all.

 

All changes made are reflected in the BIOS, so from my experiences, the changes were all retained.

 

Hey guys, I just made an interesting discovery. You know how I said before that pressing fn+f7 and rebooting caused the laptop to run only off the igpu? I randomly tried it again with a modded vbios, and now it's running off the 680m only! I didn't realize that was a feature of svl7's modded vbios. Pretty cool!

Anyway, could a M17x r4 owner with a 680m share their idle gpu temps with me? I'm just wondering because yesterday they were around 40C, and now it's in the mid 50s (whether I'm using Optimus or running only on the 680m.) I have power settings in Nvidia Inspector set to Adaptive, so I didn't think it should be running this warm. It's idling at 135Mhz core and 324mhz memory, which I think is normal. Max temps during gaming are only around 65C, so why is it idling so warm?

 

it's because of the fan table I believe. The fans won't ramp up till you get into the 50's.

 

Interesting, didn't consider that. Does it sound safe to you then, as long as peak temps are so low?

 

yea it seems ok. If you want you can create a custom fan table in HWINFO64, but It's kind of a hassle with very little gain. I'm guessing you don't wanna know how high my idle temps are with my card if your worried about yours.

 

Haha are they really higher? Tell me, it'll make stop me from worrying that my temps are too high

My 7970m idled in the low 30s, but it would shoot up to the 80s as soon as I started gaming The 680m runs so cool I'm just surprised that it idles so much higher. It's only a 10 degree difference between idle and full load lol.

 

My 7970m idles in my AW at 50 and games at 65-70

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Thanks man, glad to hear my temps are normal.

 

My 6990m idles at 60C and gets up to 80C when gaming (probably due to my 75w heatsink). My old 460m ran pretty cool though, stayed around 60C-62C when gaming and around 50C on idle. Hopefully the new heatsink someone is graciously sending me will help my card run cooler.

 

Not too bad, 80C won't hurt anything The heatsink should help lower temps considerably though.

off topic, but I ran 3DMark11 at 1000/2400 and 1.05v NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3740QM Processor,Alienware M17xR4 score: P8216 3DMarks

8500 Graphics score and the 680m is barely breaking a sweat Max temp was only 74C. Looks like I'll be hitting 8500 after all!

 

Hey guys just wondering if anyone knows if when I get a brand new laptop from AW it hasn't come setup yet right? So I was thinking if I put a ssd in it from when I open the box will it still go though the normal setup or do I have to do a fresh install?

Thanks in advance

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You have to do a fresh install of windows on the ssd if you want to use it as your boot drive (which is your best option, you will benefit most from the ssd's increased performance if you use it for your OS and programs, and use the stock hdd for storage.

 

Ok thanks dude I was hoping it was gonna be easier I hate installing windows

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When you receive your AW laptop, windows has actually been installed on the harddrive, when you boot for the first time you do the first setup like name and so on. So you will have to format and do a fresh reinstall.

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Don't worry, it's not difficult. I've done it twice in the last two days

Just take out the stock hdd, install the ssd, put the windows installation disc in the drive, and press f12 when you turn the laptop on to access the boot menu. Choose the dvd drive to boot from and follow the directions to install windows on the ssd. After you do that, you can start installing the drivers off the utility disc. Install the chipset driver first, and you can find a list of the proper order to install the drivers on the dell website (just make sure you do the chipset driver first, that's the most important step.)

Also, before installing the ssd and installing windows, you should probably make sure your sata option is set to AHCI in the BIOS.

 

Once you do it a few times, it becomes relatively easy, especially if you make up a USB drive or a folder on an external Hard drive with the drivers ready to go. I can be up in running from putting the install disk to having my machine completely where I want it in an hour or two now.

 

Thanks for the replies guys I finished installing everything now just doing my windows updates so hopefully all goes well.

Bit of a background if anyone can be bothered reading.

I was going through heaps of problems from day one when I first received my m17x in November. First day keyboard is faulty straight after opening the box whIch got replaced next day. Then not even 1 week later I was going through graphics problems so next day new graphics card was installed, which I then figured out was driver problems

Then 2 weeks ago the wireless card goes on it and the tech comes out to replace it and ends up breaking my keyboard In the process

So after finally days of arguing with dell finally got my new m17x today and am now going through the process of doing all the installs and driver updates on my ssd.

All in all a bit frustrating talking to dell tech support trying to get things resolved but once you speak to the right people things all work out. Big respect to dell for actually looking after their customers!

Sorry for the long rant haha

TL; DR faulty laptop from the start finally replaced for a brand new laptop 2 months later.

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Not that unusual it seems. Dell do follow through, even though it can be a bit of a challenge. This R4 replaced an R3 after 6 months of problems. Dell put it all straight though. New machine, fresh warranty, great. The previous 6 months were a free learning experience

Good luck with it.

 

Wow good stuff I was just happy with a replacement maybe should have asked to have the warranty start again oh well my bad haha

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I would have been happy too with just the replacement, but I had to ask since I'd had the machine for a while and basically couldn't game on it for any length of time

Of course I look back at it as a learning experience, but there were times I could have thrown it out of a window (tricky accidental damage claim! )

Happy bunny with this one though

 

Just placed my order with powernotebooks.
I made the upgrade to the nVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M, wanting the best possible card. Has anyone recently placed an order through powernotebooks for the m17x with the 680m? Just wondering what kind of production time to expect.

Alienware M17x R4: i7 3630QM || nVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M 256bit || 6GB DDR3/1600 Memory || 256GB Crucial SSD || 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED || Killer Wireless-N 1202 || Stealth Black ||

 

Ugh.. The Win 8 media centre package license expires on Jan 31 but I don't want to go to Win 8 yet.

 

I'm curious to see that if I format my laptop, if it will still accept the product key down the road.

 

Likewise. I've wondered the same.

 

I think it will if you have already installed it once before. I dont want to go to Win 8 just because of this though.

 

guess we shall see. I'm going to be slightly unhappy if It won't accept my product key in the future, but not a huge deal as I don't use media center that much anyway.

 

Quick question...I ordered the m17 r4 recently with a 256 ssd for the primary boot...no secondary drive, as I plan to purchase/install that on my own. Will a 1TB 7200 hdd work in the m17? Or does it have to be a 1TB 5400 hdd? Thanks.

 

It needs to be a XXXGB HDD/SSD which is 2.5' not 3.5'. 7200 or 5400 doesnt matter, its the size which is the main issue. The heigh of the drive needs to be 9.5mm or lower as well.

 

it would be better to get one with 7200RPM. It's noticeable in my experience.

 

try more than noticable... the performance enhancements between 5400 and 7200 is soo much smoother.

 

Let's just say, if you get a 5400-rpm hard drive I will find you... Kill you... and replace your hard drive.

Cavemen had 5400 hard drives, they shouldn't even exist anymore -.-

 

Hey guys, new Alienware M17x R4 owner here, hoping I can get two questions answered.

I'm running on an Nvidia 675m, and I get great performance while the machine is plugged in, but when it's running off the battery games like Far Cry 3, BF3 etc I notice a huge drop in frames (using fraps).

I have the Nvidia global settings set to the gfx card, and all power modes are on high, so I'm wondering why would I still be getting really bad performances while not plugged in?

The second question is in regards to Windows 8, which my system is running. I'm strongly thinking of downgrading to W7, and just need to know do I need to do anything with my RAID HDD first or would I have any issues etc?

Apologies if this is sounds very amature, I had considered myself quite a techy until I started using an alienware.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Your computer doesn't have the capability to provide the required power when running on battery to the video card to support high demand usage like games require. You will need to be plugged in if you want to play those on your system. There isn't anything wrong.

 

I was having the same problem as well mate I found that if you change from 120hz to 60hz you can play any game and it should be around 60fps. That's considering if you have the 120hz display.

Hope this helps

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