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

Nothing needs to be done, but I recommend you check your drivers (make sure they're up to date). Then make a backup of your system using "AlienRespawn" to either a USB or discs. After that, you should be set to game. As you don't have dual graphics, you don't need to worry about Crossfire.

Congratulations on the new system. Post in the Alienware M17x section next time. We'll help you out there.

 

Thanks for the reply,
I was wondering if this one would do and considering the price being low is it any good?
Samsung Blu Ray Combo 3D Player BD ROM DVD RW Slot in SATA Drive TS TB23 TB23L | eBay

 

Anyone know maybe MSI Afterburner is working well with 7970m?

 

They should be different.

 

Hhhhmmm... what do u mean "make a backup of your system to a USB"? What for? Should I make that before or after getting the latest drivers?

Also, somebody told me to reinstall the OS & check if BIOS is up to date. Should I do that too?

 

Hi guys.

A friend of mind managed to get an R4 on the outlet recently. It arrived yesterday (tuesday) and is likely brand new. However, he's just found out that it has the 660M when it was supposed to come with the 675M GPU. He's asked me to ask you guys if Dell will replace the card or if he'll need to send it back for a refund, which he really doesn't want to do as he's been after one for ages without luck. It's a really nice spec for a £1k so would be a shame if the GPU can't be replaced.

 

Hi, I think you are out of luck with an upgrade. The outlet sells builds as-is and they obviously got the spec wrong. I think all they will offer is a refund but worth a call, maybe they will reduce the price and give him some leeway to upgrade

 

Thanks Mick. I'll get him to phone Dell and see what happens. Hopefully they'll offer him a discount. He really doesn't want to return it as he's been after one for a LOOOOONG time. I'll let you know what Dell come back with for future reference.

 

They should take it back especially since its the wrong spec. Otherwise they could send someone out to install a new GPU. I would even haggle for a HD7970M since its about on par with the 680M.

 

Works just fine, if you want to OC, you'll need to unlock it. SlickDude80 has a great tut how.

 

Thanks, do post their response

 

I followed his guide. Whenever I apply new clocks on Afterburner 2.2.3, the sliders revert to 0.

 

Hey guys!!

I've been having some BSODs recently.. something to do with memory. I would highly appreciate it if anybody could go to my thread and post some thoughts

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/710058-multiple-bsods-help-please-m17x-r4.html

 

Guys, what does "make a backup of your system to a USB" mean? & what is it for? Should I make that before or after getting the latest drivers?

Also, somebody told me to reinstall the OS & check if BIOS is up to date. Should I do that too?

 

The USB stick backup is an option in Alienrespawn to create an off-line factory backup in case of serious problems. You'll need a 8Gb stick or you can use R/W DVD's. Do it before any changes to be safe.

You should not need to re-install the OS. They come pretty clean and the BIOS is usually the latest as they install it at build time. These machines do not sit on shelves waiting to be sold

 

Thanks mate.

 

Well, you're doing something wrong. Are you sure you're on dGPU only (Fn+F7), if you're not, that's where I see clocks at 0 for the dGPU because it's off.

 

^_^ loving my 3D dGPU only model

 

Thanks, I made it! Now, I can OC anytime (independently from which fn+f7 settings going). Btw, I cant use 1500Mhz core / 1000Mhz memory for a long time, bcuz Im getting bluescreen, but 1350/925 working fine. Anyone else has any experience?

 

I've had my M17x R4 for a couple of weeks now and have to say, what an incredible machine! Lovin' this thing. It is just fast and powerful. I use it for work, but recently started playing Max Payne 3 on it. Graphics look amazing. Came from a Dell Studio laptop. No comparison.

 

Don't even start. I came from a Macbook

 

Ha. Makes us appreciate these machines even more.

 

My m17x-r4 came in yesterday! I stayed up til 1am playing with it lol I have to say, this thing is AMAZING!

 

Glad your enjoying it welcome to the club too.

 

Nice :thumbsup:

What game was keeping you up all night?

 

Mine is scheduled to show up next Wednesday (unfortunately while I am on a business trip, but back the next day - I may just be sick that next day. cough cough. )
512 GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD scheduled to show up the day before (to add to the 750 GB HD + 64 GD mSata SSD cache.)

I guess this weekend I'll start getting ready, e.g. finding the serial numbers and install exes for all the programs on my current Dell M1710 that will need to be moved over to the new machine, reading up on how to best install my new SSD on the machine, finding my box for MS Office so I can uninstall it from my M1710 and install it on the new M17x, finding some high capacity flash drives to help move things from the M1710, to the M17x, etc.

And then this time next week I can be one of the cool kids in the club here with a tiny sig with my new M17x config.

 

Hi

First time Alienware laptop owner here, heck first time gaming laptop owner. Just got a used m17x r4 with 7970m. Was wondering what was the best driver for the 7970m? Thanks

 

Catalyst 13.2 Beta 7 driver

 

Oh no! My M17x that was scheduled to be delivered March 5 - just got an email, delayed to March 8th. There is not an emoticon that shows enough sad to match my feelings (so I'll just use )

 

Thanks Prasad

 

I Looooooved New Vegas. Played it for months, and it was fun that whole time. You can't walk 5 feet in that world without running across something interesting. Soooooo well done.

 

I'm having some serious sound problems today. I had a windows update and now I get no speakers or headphones are plugged in. So I have no sound and nothing happens when I plug in headphones.

I guess switching from discrete to integrated graphics fixed it. I was really freaking out.

 

My 7970m lasted five days. I'm impressed.

 

Whoa, what happened? Bear in mind there's always some bad chips! (I had a TNT have smoke come out of it back in the day lol)

 

Well, it's not dead, but it performs as if I'm running on battery. It doesn't even heat up after I launch a benchmark or game.

At least I planned to replace this m17x earlier.

 

did you do anything weird with it? how about the driver? Fn+F7?

 

No overclocking or overvolting, and I leave Enduro off. I have the same issue with 13.1 WHQL and 13.2 Beta 7, so I think it's a hardware problem. The "weirdest" thing I have done is run FurMark and Prime at once for fifteen minutes.

Edit: I don't know what the problem was, but the 7970m seems to be working properly now.

 

So...

Who's getting TOMB RAIDER ?

 

Pre-loaded and waiting

 

I'm buying it today SO EXCITED

 

Yeah, it does look good - lets hope the many years in prod come through. I only bought it because Bioshock went back a month, I was intending to get TR after finishing that

 

MickyD add me on Steam: MrNagasaki

We'll try out some Tomb Raider multiplayer for fun some day

 

Count me in.....

 

Already done tho I'm not too good on MP games, I'll give it a go : same steam tag.

 

Well if you look at Tomb Raider MP gameplay it's not so skill based and competitive it's more about fun, there's traps and cool team based game modes

 

Does sound cool, 2 days and counting....

 

By the time I get home from work tomorrow I'll be able to play So pumped

 

does the switching between iGpu and dGpu still work if I were to replace the 7970m with a 680m? Or would it be totally disabled, if I were to such a upgrade? thanks

 

Hey Micky, I apologise for the late reply due to the amount of uni coursework that has been bugging me lately!
I did not remove my GPU card but instead contacted tech support. However, the beeping sounds stopped just before I got in contact with the tech support and they told me that they would only send a technician once the beeping starts again.
Just a few days ago, the beeping happened again but stopped the next day. I just contacted tech support through email but do you have any idea what is wrong, bad connection maybe?

 

yup, you would need to wipe the AMD drivers off the system and install Nvidia drivers, then Optimus should be up and running for ya.