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

i still hope alienware comes with a good solution (this system is still in warranty, and if they would just send me a gpu.. i dont care wich one, as long as its nvidia, and similar or faster than the 675m..)

i just pime'd the living crap out of my system.. after re-pasting everything 2 weeks ago..
think temps are okay like this?

 

temps look fine to me.

 

I wish i had tho's temps, mine is 80-90 at full load.

 

when you opt for the 3d display option on alienware configurations, it also includes a 'licence' to view and play in 3d
i think that just putting a 3d display and changing the connector wont work, it may ask you to buy/activate a licence
correct me if i am wrong

 

Hey all, I'm looking to buy a laptop early next month and while I was initially set on the MSI GT70 20C model, I've been looking at the M17x R4 and R5 models and quite impressed so far. Looking at the R4 review and comparing it to the GT70, it seems that the R4 actually performs slightly better in the FPS department.. I don't quite understand how as the 770m should really be outperforming the 7970m shouldn't it? Either way, what's performance like on Battlefield 4? Can it run on all settings on high with a 40+ FPS on average? Also what's the battery life like on the R4 for keeping myself busy while travelling? As far as I understand, the ivy bridge processors aren't as well optimized as haswell for laptops and consume more power.

 

Close man . The licenced part is for using a 3dTV. They call it '3D TV Play'. It is built into the driver and activates when an nvidia 3d emitter is detected. It is also available from NV as a separate licence (buy) to unlock it.

Basically, it should just work for your needs (only requiring a modified driver), but only someone that has done it can say for sure

 

i got a 120hz 3d screen already with my 675m..
will upgrade to 770m.. will buy it monday, also a replacement 675m will come on monday

 

Cool! Unless you need the cash keep the 675 so if you need warranty support you can put it back in.

Good luck.

 

monday i receive brand new 675m+heatsink and fan assembly, under warranty.
if this solves the problem on my machine, i am sure is the gpu, and have a brandnew 770+675m.
and spare heatsink assembly.

if it doesnt solve it, i will change the motherboard (also on monday in house)

so yeah, i will keep t new 675m really looking forward to upgrade gpu (i think i also put in 16gb ram)
i also will custom vbios it, and push it to the maximum overclock cooling can handle

 

Sounds good! I should think the maximum overclock you will achieve won't be limited by the cooling though - cooling on Alienwares is really good, especially for 75W GPUs. Maximum overclock is likely to be limited by how brave or fool hardy you might be in passing more voltage through the card to achieve a stable overclock and also the luck of the draw as to whether your particular chip happens to be a good overclocker . I'd recommend not going over 1.05V.

From what I've seen in the forums if you push to 1.05V, then I would estimate you'd end up with a core anywhere from 1000Mhz through to 1124Mhz and maybe beyond.

(Do take time to do a good job with the padding & pasting though, because this is the biggest factor to make sure you end up with good temperatures).

 

I have a problem with my audio drivers or device or whatever. There's no audio and there's an X next to the speaker icon on the taskbar. It only happens when I either unplug my laptop and turn it on, or put it to sleep, unplug the charger, then resume the laptop. Simply put, it only happens when my laptop is unplugged. The only temporary fix I know of is pressing the switchable graphics button and restart it a few times. I cannot fix this problem just by restarting.

Also there's a driver problem with my 7970m GPU while running with the Intel HD4000. Works fine by itself.

 

I would try re-installing the drivers. Uninstall sound drivers - install sound drivers. Then I'd uinstall the 7970M drivers, and the intel graphics drivers. Install intel graphics drivers - install 7970M drivers.

 

I had that issue and it was easily fixed by reinstalling the sound card drivers.

 

Well, Dell came through again for me! I was dusting my baby and one of the keycaps popped off! Couldn't for the life of me get it back (and I had a couple of others try). Called it in, all he said was the engineer will be asked to check for physical damage as it will be a chargeable call if it is obvious I did it. Should get a call later today to arrange the engineer - sweet.

I also asked about a 680m upgrade just for giggles, they have dropped the price quite a bit. Down from £1100.00 at the start of the year to £750.00. Both prices include the heatsink and the engineer to fit. He would supply just the parts if I wanted but it would not then be part of the whole machine warranty needing me to put the old one back if there are problems - fair enough

 

Haha, DON'T DO IT, DON'T GET THE 680m FOR £750!!! Haha, I know you were just doing it for giggles!

 

I'm still happy with the performance of my 675m. I thought the latest batman would be the trigger but no - best FPS of any recent game, even in 3D fully cranked settings! AC IV is poor without dropping down a couple of settings but since the 3D is terrible on that one (shame on you Ubisoft, AC Revelations was great) it's OK and I'm sure patches will come along that improve the FPS...

I did find a UK supplier that will supply the 680m, with a Dell vbios AND the heatsink for £450 so that is where I will probably go - eventually

 

Yep, Arkham Origins runs really well with PhysX too - 100% GPU usage, so seems really well optimised for a PhysX game (more so than Arkham City). I wasn't sure if I'd be able to run it with everything maxed out, but I can (as long as only x2 MSAA) and get over 40 fps most of the time. I've only just started it, but it did dip to 35 fps during the fight against croc right at the beginning - I'm hoping that's the most taxing part of the game!

Bought Arkham Origins for £16 from here:

Gocdkeys | Search best CD-Key prices at online stores!

If I was you, I'd hang on until Maxwell hits, probably twice as fast as Kepler, and not that long to wait I reckon.

 

That's a great price you got there! Funny you mention the crock fight as the most strenuous part of the game. A TON of people over in the NV forums (probably damaged GPU's) have their system BSOD at that point!

I'm seeing 60-80FPS with the same AA and all else maxed out which makes 3D super smooth (drop to 35-45FPS). It was AC that got me into the 3D as it is perfect and this one just improves on it with better FPS . You should see what dropping down the res to 1600x900 does. I cannot see any difference in-game but this hikes an extra ~30% FPS as well, then I see it cap at 120FPS occasionally!

Now of course I'm stuck with only the 680 as an option to keep 3D.

Metro LL is also a great 3D title and with the AlienFx tie-in as well lights-out gaming is totally immersive. I'm probably going to hold off until the next AW17 and replace it then

 

I'm pleased that the crock fight is the most strenuous part of the game! I'm already on 1600x900, because that's the native res of my screen. You're getting some fantastic fps there, how do you have PhysX set?

 

I should have looked at your sig . PhysX is maxed - I like the extra stuff you get to see and the way smoke billows out of the way when you run through it - great effect!

The FPS I am getting is way better than any other game and I've no idea why . I'm lucky to see 35FPS in AC IV and I've already dropped down a couple of settings...

 

Wow, I don't know how you can be getting such good fps at PhysX High, combined with 3D Vision (which halves your fps), combined with 1080p. It says on the Geforce website for the game that you need a desktop GTX 670 to run it maxed out, and they're not even condsidering the 3D Vision there! Here's the link:

Batman: Arkham Origins Graphics & Performance Guide | GeForce

Did you not see like 15 fps during the crock fight at your maxed out settings? I can understand you getting good fps in other sections of the game, because it's just the crock fight (so far) where it dipped to substantially lower fps.

 

It is weird but in a good way! In 3D the FPS runs around 35-45FPS, I wasn't clear - sorry. And I am running the same res as you, I thought I was in 1080i but had already dropped it down a notch.

I do recall it 'dragging' a little at the end of the crock fight but I didn't have the OSD turned on at that time. I hotkey it off once I get going as it might have an impact? I'm just upset they removed the in-game benchmark . The only way for good comparisons between us all when looking at a specific game.

 

Yeah, I agree, I would like to run that benchmark, but it was removed before I bought the game! I read in some forums that apparently they'll be bringing the benchmark back, but don't know when, or if that's true or not.

Well, you're certainly getting some good playable performance with that 675M regardless, so it really does look like it might tide you over till Maxwell! Last I heard, Maxwell is coming in 2014, with a die shrink coming towards the end of the year - might be old info though. Not long to wait!

 

580m/675m/6990m level of card has lasted longer than I thought it would. Pretty impressed with what these little cards can still do.

 

Very true. I haven't seen any games that use a decent amount of tessellation yet though...

 

Yep, so far tessellation seems a little overrated in my opinion. The only obvious effect of tessellation that seems to 'matter', and that I notice quite easily when gaming is maybe rounding off the tops of peoples heads - but they have to be bald for a start to notice that effect!! Haha, in Metro Last Light tessellation does add some depth to switches on consoles, makes them stand up & not look flat - thank goodness those switches look realistic, can't stand those flat & lifeless console switches!!

 

What I looked at is the heaven4 benchmark for an example of just what tessellation can do. Toggle it on and off, the difference is quite considerable. Walls, cobblestone floors, etc. all jump out from a flat picture. Can't imagine how much power you'd need for that level in a game as you can see the hit on the GPU is hard.

 

Yep, it has quite a good effect in Heaven Benchmark. When I test my overclocks I always use the Extreme Tessellation setting. I get good fps at that setting, I'd be pleased if games could use that degree of tessellation. Certainly more interesting than tessellated switches in consoles!

 

MickyD, they just released a 3GB patch for Arkham Origins, benchmark now works & is accessible through the Graphics Options Menu.


Results at all Max Graphics Settings (with the exceptions listed below)
600Mhz (stock clocks on both core & VRAM) x2MSAA: avg 27, min 21
850Mhz (undervolted 0.875V) x2 MSAA: avg 41, min 30
1006 Mhz, x2 MSAA: avg 45, min 31
1124 Mhz, x2 MSAA: avg 47, min 32

1006 Mhz, FXAA (low): avg 51, min 32
1006 Mhz, no AA: avg 52, min 32

1124 Mhz, no AA: avg 54, min31

Don't like FXAA though, makes the textures slightly blurry, going to stick on x2 MSAA given what I've seen here. Also looks like 1006Mhz overclock is the sweet-spot for performance too; if I had a bit more memory bandwidth then I think I could make more use of the 1124Mhz core.

Benchmark seems pretty representative of game performance for me, apart from minimum fps seems a little more severe in the benchmark.

 

Thanks man, I'll play with that tonight, just taking a break from AC IV right now, not a bad game as long as you like the previous stuff. Very typical sandbox game but fun.

I've also noticed that out-of-focus effect but the FPS increase is what I am chasing for 3D - I have a new favourite 3D game now

 

I've been playing BF4 and league of legends. nothing to exciting for me.

 

Anyone know where I can get an Intel N 6300 wireless adapter that works for alienware/dell laptops for a good price, ~20-25 USD? I prefer to get it somewhere in the US as returning things to China is a pain. I got the card before but it seems to be a Lenovo/IBM only card and had to sell it. And I currently have a Killer N 1103 and it's always been having issues no matter what driver I install, whether it be Killer's, Dell's, Atheros, or just Microsoft's generic ones.

 

Have you tried ebay or amazon? Those are the two places I would check.

 

I did, but they either don't specify whether it works with my system or not. Or whether it will only work on certain machines. The one I had did not work with my system and I've read certain cards from Lenovo only works with their machines.

If some can tell me a model number that would be nice. A link would be better.

 

Going to be picking up my R4 tonight and plan on installing the trial version of Windows 8 to finally give that a try, the problem I'm having is looking on the alienware website drivers bit, there isn't an option to select windows 8 as my operating system, is there another website or something I'm missing which has the windows 8 drivers?

 

Are you sure?
I installed Windows 8 (and now 8.1) on my R4 and picked up the drivers from Dell. Maybe they removed it or something.

If you like, PM me and I will dropbox the drivers for you.

 

Hi guys need some help
just installed my new OCZ vector to replace the vertex 2
after installing windows 7 on the vector when booting it comes up with 2 windows 7 boot
erased the drive again and installed it again and the same thing happens
any ideias whats wrong?
also put the old drive back in the vertex 2 and now shows 2 windows 7 as well..... think i done something wrong here

 

Hi, At a guess it is seeing another windows boot sector on the HDD. Take out the HDD and see what happens.

Do both options to boot work?

I noticed that on my rig it came from the factory with the machine's primary boot sector on the HDD although the machine booted fine to the SSD. I tried to change it over in disk manager to the SSD and it no longer booted at all! Had to run windows repair off the CD twice to fix it

I did end up with a dual boot once when making a bad choice when installing windows some time ago as well...

Edit: Just remembered, you can also go into the advanced boot options in windows and set it to default to the one you want and turn off the dual boot, Can't remember where it is but it is there

 

hello,

i had a question regarding thermal pads for the 680m because i cannot find the answer anywhere .

On this moment i bough phobya 1,5mm thickness strips, these strips you can squiz quite good i heard.
Are these any good or are those to thick?
I am worried becuase next week i will get my 680m.
I arranged all kind of parts that where needed, my only concern are the thermal pads becuase i don't want to do it wrong.
Thisi for a m17x r4.

I hope someone can help me out here,
Thank you

Senshin

 

Hello,
Hi, i have been having boot problems with my R4 and I think it is the crucial M4 SSD causing it, in setup it says it is not detected and in the legacy boot it says that it is disabled it has been like this for the last 2months or so. After talking to support from hidevolution I was told tto try reinstalling windows but I have to wait until I can back up my HDD to give that a try, any other help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sorted for some reason my secondary drive was causing that dual boot ... Still don't know why cause all I have there is music and games ....
So drive out and vector ssd working


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Need you knowledge on this one

Replacing my vertex 2 128gb with a vector 256gb sata3

Do I need to install the rapid storage driver ?

Also what's the best dell version for the 6990m ? I tried the latest one yesterday installed fine but then a net framework error .

So I done another clean install of windows 7 sp1 and going to start to install the drivers later today again

Any tips would be appreciated



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

i bumb this becuase it's really important to me.
I can't find thw answer anywhere.

senshin

 

I upgraded to a similar GPU that you are going to be upgrading to. I bought additional 1mm pads, and double or triple stacked them in areas as necessary (some areas just needed 1mm thickness). I reused all the pads for the VRAM, and reused some of the pads on the other chips. I would think you'd be able to get away with 1.5mm pads in areas where it requires just 1mm thickness; if there are areas where it requires 2mm pads, then it might be a bit more dodgy for you because then your double-stacked pads will be 2x1.5mm so 3mm thick (1mm too thick). Just spend a good amount of time making sure you pad it up accurately, you don't want the padding to be too thick in areas because then the heatsink won't contact the GPU die properly; conversely, you don't want the pads too thin, because then the chips won't be in good contact with the heatsink.

 

I have seen here quite a few threads about the 680m pads and where they go, check out upgrademonkey or upgradeyourlaptop (i think they may be the same people) as I'm sure I saw a pic of the pads placement.

What you need is .5mm thicker than the actual clearance to allow for compression but not too much so as to hinder the pressure applied to the core area (the most important bit!). Mine had at least two different thickness's on it from the factory but doubling up 1mm pads is not a cause for concern (so I am reliably informed). There is a strip along one edge that contacts the voltage regulators (VRM's) and that is at least 2mm on mine. This is actually one of the hottest areas of the card and although these components can easily cope with 100C it's the heating of nearby components that causes concern.

Without anyone to actually say 'you need this thickness here, this thickness there' I would do what I used to do when I fitted waterblocks. First I had 3 thickness's of pads. 1mm, 1.5mm, and 2mm. Assemble the card and heatsink dry BUT put a little talc on the heatsink and a small (~4mm) ball of modeling putty on each of the component areas that need the pads (not on the core at all). Open it up and the thickness of the putty will show the actual clearance. Round it up to the nearest +.5mm and you should be good. A lot of messing around, and a vernier calliper is a useful tool for measuring the thickness of the putty.

Hopefully someone that has done it can just tell you - good luck

 

Thank you for you responses!
maybe there are quite some threads, but I can't seem to find them somehow.

I also ordered the same thermal padding and then 1mm (thanks to Robo9999999999999999), then I think I will double the 1mm strips where needed.
I think I will go work with those then and leave the 1,5mm for what it is, or maybe i can use those on the back of the gpu spreader?

I am tryed to find a upgrade kit with thermal padding only, upgrademonkey doesnt have it for me right now, i ordered the x-bracket there thought .

Somehow i can't find it, i have seen some kits in the US but I don't want to wait 1 month....
If you know a shop that has them I will order a thermal pad kit.
Then I think I will double the 1mm strips where needed.

I don't know, it really feels like the scary part, the thermal padding.....
Don't wanna ruin my card :/.
Then I think I will double the 1mm strips where needed.


Thank you guys , any more info or tips are always welcome, or some secret links I cannot find xD.

Edit: the vram, you just used single stacked 1mm for that? It gives me a something to work from




Senshin

 

Having a look around right now. This is the placement if you haven't got it already: http://www.techinferno.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/680M.jpg

Personally when I was going to get a 680m I asked dell about a new heatsink complete with fitted pads, was only £24.00 so worth thinking about. I'll edit this post if I find anything

 

I reused the existing thermal pads for the VRAM. If the VRAM chips are the same height as on your existing card then you'll be fine reusing them.

 

Thank you for that photo, I saved it on my computer, I already seen that photo somewhere but didnt save it yet, now I did .

The thermal pads i have know are completely useless becuase of my 7970M story, they are to much reused, replaced, half broken, I prefer clean ones now .

Thanks again, you don't know how much I appreciate this! (alot!!)

Senshin

 

Sure thing, you're welcome. This is what it's all about - community help

I struck out like you on exact details of the thickness placement . But a good eye is good enough with the flexibility of the pads to allow for variations.. even leaving it overnight after assembly and opening it up should show nice dents in the pads. If you use thermal paste as well you can check that almost all of it gets squeezed out of the core area. But that means clean-up time, and you have to do that with IPA to ensure no grease or contaminants . If you got the new x-bracket then you should be golden with the core area

Good luck, let us know how it goes