Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
After taking a look at your config I see you have the 3d version. The gt overclock option is available to those who have the iGpu on as well
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Ah, then it may be iGPU related, just never heard of it
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Installing AMD drivers was quite the headache...I had tried the drivers from dells website, the ones directly from AMDs website and then the Win8 preview ones posted somewhere in this subforum. Every time I installed them they absolutely refused to work...kept on giving me the error that no driver was installed, so then I installed 13.6 beta2 that I downloaded from AMD and installed on top of them the preview drivers. Now everything works as it should
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The dell documentation on 8 beeps is wrong! 8 beeps is video sub-system failure and can be in any part from the GPU through to the display. Do you have a 3D model, this makes a huge difference in trouble shooting it
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I got Vengeance® 1500 Dolby 7.1 USB Gaming Headset, awesome fake 7.1/5.1 dolby surround with an external DAC in the volume control- somehow I can actually identify behind me. I read up on it and it's some sort of varible microsecond delay introduced to simulate the delay your ear causes with sound from behind. Of course, like with all sound and video stuff, totally subjective. But I have heard from a couple of other users that were impressed, and reasonable price
I also heard good reports on the xonar, I almost got one then someone else recommended the corsair headset so I rolled the dice
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Just to backup Robbo, any NV card can be made to work but the best you can get and retain 3D is a 580m. The 120hz will work fine but no stereoscopic option in the driver. I got a second pair of glasses from ebay. Takes a bit of searching as usually it's the full kit they want to sell but NV did sell the glasses separate. Still not cheap though, around £70-£80. They will be 3d vision 2 glasses but they work just fine on the R3 as I got mine when I had an R3 to see if they were better - they were.
I strongly advise getting the glasses first and trying it out before deciding on a GPU. I think it's awesome, totally sold on it after I got my first one. Frame rates will be pi** poor in 3D with the 460 but you will see the quality and what it adds to games - test it on batman AC for full effect. If it's not to your taste, sell the glasses on ebay and get a 680. Takes a small amount of wotk on an r3 but there are plenty of threads here on NBR telling you what to do.
Edit: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/672230-m17x-r3-680m-compatability.html it's a biggie
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Hi, just put it in the spare slot and change the boot order in the BIOS. If you have an R3 then there is a chance it will operate at SATAII but I tested this a lot and although benchmarks were lower it was totally unnoticeable in use.
If you start swapping around you will have problems, meaning you will have to delete the cache and recreate it. And do not change the bios over to AICH, this will disable the caching ability completely and is not recoverable without a full reinstall of windows.
Good Luck.
Edit: Doh! msata = R4, no sata problems
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Nah, any other glasses are just poo(r) in their standard of delivery and NV use their own standard
Don't assume that if you have seen hi-def 3D TV or PS3 you know what 3D looks like. It is a very poor representation of what can be achieved with a full 60hz frame-by-frame per-eye and full 1080 resolution. Even the big broadcasters are dropping it. They say poor take up - I say poor implementation by them causes people to not be impressed. 12hz per eye and resolution of 50% at 1080, come on guys even the best TV in the world has trouble making that source look good
Oops, sorry guys, went into rant mode, 3dtv is horrible (and I did buy a good one just to see if it could be improved with software)... -
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LOL, surely the army gave you a good enough physique to carry around a few extra pounds! Need something to keep you buff for the ladies
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Which games? It is very game dependent, almost all are compatible and most of the latest titles (not FC3), and one excellent old one, portal series (best ever), are pretty good. maybe I can tell you which will give the best first impression. You need a good one to judge all the others by
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Probably quite a bit but I have yet to see a game that has prompted me to upgrade. If the extra cash is not a problem then get a 680, it was not available when I got my R4. And I do have the cash already set aside to do it.
May take a little work to get the best out of a 675 but I'm here to help (PM)
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Thanks for the response guys
The difference between both the systems is quite a bit.. I am actually getting these off dell outlet so no options to customise.. Just have to get whatever is available.. I am tempted towards the 680m since the model with 675 doesn't have a full HD display (1600*900).. And there aren't machines with 780 yet..
A bit concerned about the legibility of the glossy screen in sunlight.. I have an xps 15 with the rgb led 1080p display.. I love the display..
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You're welcome. Best go for the 680 then, the 900 display is quite a bit poorer so I read. The glossy screen, even just in artificial light is the worst feature of the R4, but I put up with it for the better quality playing games in the dark.
780 will only be in the new model
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Batman AA may be as good as AC, which is the one I use to annoy console players when I demo 3D. Metro is very good as well but as you say, in 3D it's gonna kill your frame rates. You could just turn off all the bells and whistles just to see the 3D though.
Even drop the res to 1600, I do and cannot see any difference. The game is written in 720 I believe (as are most games these days for console porting) anyway so no sudden blocky appearance
BF3 is good if I remember right but you cannot use it in on-line as it introduces a lag that you cannot see, but the other guy gets to shoot first! -
The glossy screen is the only point I am thinking about I see they have anti glare on their 2013 line
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Yeah, and the 3D one uses a special technology to have both a glossy screen quality with an anti-glare technology: Dell TrueLife LCD Screens - What is it?
I've read good reports on it
There are anti-glare overlays but they are very subjective in how well they work as opposed to how much you loose
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First, yes the FR plumets (my 675 is just a rebadged 580) but just dropping a couple of the heavy settings like AA gets it back to playable, you wouldn't even notice if you had not seen it W/O 3D. I even drop res res down sometimes to 1600 to get a decent FR, the games these days are written in 720 so I can't even see any difference in-game, only larger menus. I have the cash for a 680 upgrade but since it still games very well with a small OC I haven't bothered.
Second, putting the 120hz in an R4 with a 680 should work fine (as long as the card had a dell vbios) but since I've not seen anyone do this I can't say for sure, only that there is no technical reason I can see that it will do do 3D.
Dell have put a 3d certification list in the main BIOS and only lists cards sold with the model which is why you are restricted to a 580 in an R3. The bios modders have not found (or it's too small a market) a way to fix the R3 to work in 3D with a 680m
I'd love you to try it though as I often see the same question asked.
Good luck and I hope you like the 3D as much as I do
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Do you have a modded vbios on it? If it does not have the correct dell ID that will cause the problem. Same as R3 users get with the 680
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Oh dear, it looks like dell have locked down the 3D config more than I thought.
I mentioned earlier the 3D certification list that is in the main BIOS restricting only cards dell sell with a particular model. Well it looks like they have included the display ID - probably why you see 'alienware 3d display' (or something similar, I an stuck in safe mode right now so cannot check) in the driver, when it works.
Seems you are stuck with the R3 and a 580 for 3D unless you can find a cheap panel assembly for an R4. They are out there somewhere as I did see a link once but I'd hate for you to try that and for some new reason it does not work. I do know the panel is different on the R4 as it's lightboost 2 and a slightly different size because when I ordered the r4 the lid was listed as a separate part number for 3D but on the R3 both were the same.
Maybe get the 580 for the R3 and see how it goes longer term and then look at a 3D panel (complete assembly) for the R4? -
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Afraid I cant help with the GPU, I know the 580m NV card is the highest that dell used so is the most pain free upgrade for an R3 from Dell but an AMD will be cheaper just might be a little more problematic with drivers (although NV have messed up big time in the last 6 months)
SSD will give you a dramatic decrease in load times but since this is only occasional in gaming it will not do much there. The main boost is to windows load times, less than 15 sec and on a new build can be a bit lower than that (10~12sec)
6 meg of ram is generally accepted as more than enough on a gaming rig so little benefit there; the reconsiderations on the game box for optimum use are accurate - unless you have a CAD program compiling in the background!
HTH and you get some good advice for the AMD path
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If you want to increase gaming performance I'd upgrade the graphics card to a 680M, or for less performance but a cheaper option then the 670MX (the one I have). They're all big gains over your 6870, and the 670MX is also a big gain if you're open to overclocking it, as it overclocks really well. If you go for a graphics card that wasn't original upgrade option from the manufacturer, then you will lose your Optimus, and just have to run off the dedicated card. If you're interested look for instructions in the notebook forums here searching for 'M17xR3 680M compatibility'. Your heat sink may or may not be compatible, but at the least you'd have to move the thermal pads around. My heatsink that I had for my GTX 560M was compatible with my 670MX, just had to move the pads around. I'm really pleased with the results of my upgrade, but if you decide to do it, make sure you research the whole process & know what you're doing before you start taking things apart!
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My thought on this is a 'it depends'. Once drivers are loaded they are in charge of what can be sent to the display, you may have to do it if the iGPU driver cannot cope but what will probably happen is that it will fall back to the stock refresh when on the iGPU or the iGPU will work fine but the discreet card has problems (unlikely). Hopefully someone that has done this can help
Good luck.
*OFFICIAL* Alienware M17x R3/R4 Owner's Lounge Thread
Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by katalin_2003, May 4, 2012.
