*OFFICIAL* M17x R3 Owner's Lounge Thread - Part 3

I got accidental warranty added last month till apirl 2013 for $160. not a bad deal IMO considering what I have had replaced already

 

seriously?!! this is indeed a good deal, I guess I will add too, how did you do it bigtony, just call dell??

 

I got the same screen as you and I've been going back and forth on whether or not to send it back and upgrade the screen ever since. When I have this on my desk it's driving a massive Apple Cinema display, which does a fantastic job of pointing out that any screen on anything else sucks. But then I sit on the couch for a few hours and realize that I'm no squinting or straining so what the hell am I worried about.

I'll probably stick with the 16:9 screen and save the money for bigger impact upgrades like SSD's, etc. The M17 gets more use connected to an awesome monitor than it does disconnected anyways.

 

actually I had some "cosmetic" issues that they wouldn't repair unless I bought the additional warranty. But yea All I think you need to do is call and they should hook you up

its not a terrible screen, but I can tell the difference between my current LG panel and the old AU panel that it used to have till dell replaced it. The LG seems to be much more vibrant. all in all, I think I'm just gonna wait till next year and buy the following revision(hopefully an R5!) instead of messing with a new screen.

 

hi was wondering if anyone here had ever had any problems with their m17x. I might be getting one in the upcoming months so i just want to know before I buy it.

 

Just read through all the posts in this section of notebookreview and you'll get a feeling for people's experiences with the machine.

 

Looks like i'm getting my 6990m back. hope I get it to work this time

 

Good luck!

 

Is DPC latency an issue with the R3 and GTX 580M? Can I get a few R3 owners to check this and advise? http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...using-dell-beta-nvidia-reference-drivers.html

If it's common on both platforms we would want Dell/Alienware to look at fixing it on both. Would appreciate posting the info on the above thread if it is a problem.

 

Froogle, you have a diablo 3 beta key right? can you invite me please to the beta??? I am dying to play over here

 

One thing i would like to know, does the M17x R3 have HDMI-in if so does that mean i can run an xbox using the screen?

 

yes, I'm using it to play my PS3 right now!

 

So my m17xr3 should be here by Friday. I was wondering if it's possible to replace the screen with a 3d screen? Or would it be easier and cheaper to just use an external 3d monitor that I can plug it into?

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Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket using Tapatalk

 

its doable but it takes a bit of work. I take it you bought a model with either the 580m or the 560m? those are the only graphics cards that the screen works with

 

No I have the 6970, but if I was gonna get the 3d screen, I'd switch to a 580m. Is there a guide that can show how to do it?

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Sent from my SGS2 Skyrocket using Tapatalk

 

I ordered the m17x yesterday
Today I found out about the 580 throttling and SSD sata 3 issues
Are those problems still around?
i will cancel the order if it is, its not acceptable to have these problems on an expencive laptop like this

These are the specs and price, they discounted about 300 USD or so after I pushed them

Is there anything that I should modify etc?

1 Alienware M17x Soft Touch Nebula Red
1 Intel Core i7 2760QM 2.4GHz (3.5GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
1 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
1 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
1 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 120Hz WLED w/ NVIDIA 3D Vision Bundle
1 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M
1 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
1 Custom Nameplate
1 Personalized Nameplate Trigger
1 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
1 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
1 DataSafe Local BackUp
1 PC Restore
1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
1 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
1 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
1 Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
1 Roxio Creator Starter,No Media
1 Power DVD 9.6, 3D
1 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
1 Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology
1 NO VIRUS PROTECTION REQUESTED
1 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year
1 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
1 Accidental Damage Service, 1 Year
1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
1 Soft Contracts Service Hardware Agreement for Alienware
1 Soft Contracts Consumer Accidental Damage Agreement for Alienware
1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
1 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
1 Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare
1 Thank you for choosing Dell
Subtotal: $2,206.05

 

Looks to me like you got closer to $450 off. That's a very good deal. Personally, I wouldn't bother with 3D, but if you want it, then sure. Everything else looks great though.

 

You will be fine. There is a fix for the 580 throttling, and I haven't really heard about the SSD issue. Admittedly, I haven't been following any threads discussing it either, though.

Besides that, you've got a good bit of time to evaluate the system. If you don't like it, I believe you can send it back with no questions asked. You need to make sure you do that within that window.

 

does the throttling apply to all 580m cards or is it an issue with some of them?

 

78C throttle is I guess an issue of all, I never hit 78C but the latest drivers brought me to 76C!

I never experienced throttle so far and it has been a month and half, don't know if everybody is scratching their head on this..

 

I am kinda disappointed

 

Just wanted to let the m17x r-3 people know that you can sign up for the Planetside 2 beta starting today. This game looks really good

 

Graz, are you running with the power throttle fix?

you may not be thermal throttling, but the power throttle kicks in at about 65-67c so you are throttling, but just not as much if you're running the A01 dell vbios

and if you are using the widezu or similar power throttle fix, then you won't be power throttling at all...but unfortunately, there currently is no fix for the thermal throttle. you just have to keep the Gpu cool

 

So this throttling issue is a problem in all 580m cards?
ATI users complain of bad drivers and Nvidia of throttling, i will talk to dell and see might cancel it all together

 

Nothing wrong with drivers at all tbh, if you're running supported hardware you shouldn't get any problems

 

I heard there is a new heat sink for m17x after november, can anyone with a newer laptop confirm or deny this if he still has throttle issues

 

Almost all the users you see complaining about AMD drivers are running Crossfire configurations. you won't see many complaints in single gpu setups

Throttling is an issue on all nvidia cards in Alienwares...i.e., 460m/560m/580m. it is more prevalent in 580's because this card runs the hottest of the bunch and its very rare in 460m's because this card runs cold

 

so the new heat sinks wont help?

 

How fast are the processors in reality? 2.4 GHz with up to 3.5 turbo boost means nothing to me. Is it a 2.4 Ghz processor that can run up to 3.5 all the time or a 3.5 GHz processor that runs at 2.4 GHz to save energy or something? I plan on plan on playing morrowind with some texture mods which means that I "need" as fast a processor is possible (single-threading = slow frame rate if you're super far from 4 GHz...). If these sandy bridges can't run that quickly I might wait for the ivy's...

Worth the upgrade to a 120 Hz screen? I will *never* use the 3D feature, but I could see myself turning off v-sync very happily...

And I'm a fairly clumsy individual so I planned on getting the accidental damage protection... but I'd like to know if anyone has experience with Dell on this. I'm used to the HP one where I; called them up told them it was broken; they expedite a box;I expedited it back; within 6 days I have a brand-new (or refurbished, it looked new) laptop. Is Dell comparable? Worth the $420?

 

Get the best CPU and GPU you can afford. Sandy bridge is a great cpu and dell makes it easy to overclock. If you don't use 3d then I wouldn't recommend buying it. Other users say the screen is brighter but its all about personal preferance. Skimp on the hdd and the memory, upgrading them your self is easy and can be done for cheap later on.

 

I have a 580...

I ordered in December and just got my unit....

Appears to work ok.... No throttling....

 

Can you give me more details please

Can you try furmark or something similar and see if it throttles

I called dell and asked them to remove the 6990 and the 3d screen, thry said that will cost 100$ more because i had discounts etc
So now i am thinking about it

 

Is the slot-loading ODD compatible with those small disc thingies? I got a mini disc thing with my Intel SSD and it contains the installation instructions and warranty info and I'm afraid to stick it in. Can someone confirm whether or not it will work?

 

I haven't been game enough to try the mini-CD but I can confirm that the Intel 310 and 520 series SSD work fine without whatever is on those disks.

 

Hey guys! Im working on the throttle issue with my gtx580m but in the meantime I was just wondering besides gpu and cpu overclocking, what did you people do to your R3 to get maximum performance for gaming?

 

That's all really nothing else apart from update to the newest nvidia drivers.

 

thanks widezu69 for all your help... my other post kinda got forgotten about, about the throttling... i was asking if it is safe to overclock my cpu which is a i7 2670qm... and if it is would i follow your guide about your XM processor with t he same setting how exactly does that work for a less powerful processor like mine?

 

Only section 1. The other sections are for XM CPUs. Your CPU is locked so you could tweak your Bus Clock but not your multipliers. You'll get around a 5% increase but nothing like the OC I've got going. For that you really need a XM and even then, some people are struggling to get as stable as mine. I guess I'm just lucky.

 

Okay so would you say my processor is pointless to overclock.... lol and i dont mean to sound rude but what is the point of overclocking such a powerful processor... what exactly could that do for you

 

man, that is just too modest (i am serious, no kidding, come on, you know how to do pretty much everything in r3, that is why yours is stable )

 

only reason to really overclock the 2920/2960 at this point is to get some awesome benchmarking scores

 

Anyone know if there is a newer version than the one I got now, got it with my laptop so just was wondering...the version I have now is A00. (Got two more unknowns left! Wo0t!)

 

You aren't planning to drop your laptop are you...

 

Any input on the advantages/disadvantages of each of these selections -- I hope to use this a lot:

Internal WirelessHD Options

--Internal WirelessHD Technology - FullHD Video Transmitter [Add$99.00$74.25or$3.00/month1]

or

--ZyXEL AeroBeam WHD6215-R Wireless HD Receiver with Internal 60GHz WirelessHD Transmitter [Add$198.99$149.24or$5.00/month1]

Last time I configured an M6600 there was only I WiHD option.

 

Maybe this thread will be helpful to you...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...18x-wireless-hd-sibeam-discussion-thread.html

 

so i just got my m17x for christmas, loving the machine so far. i havent played games on pc in 8 or 9 years. used to use steam to buy games and logged into my old steam account to see half life 1&2, quake 3 arena, unreal tournament, ect still on there. i wanted to buy battlefield 3, figured it would be a good game to break in the new machine but it isnt on steam. i googled and found several digital download options for downloading games nowadays. cheapest i found was from amazon but the reviews were horrible from the hoops you have to jump through to make the game run. just wondering what everyone reccomends other than steam? should i just get a retail copy of b:3?

 

You could just use orgin, ea`s own digital game store. i used it for mutliple betas with no issues baut i havent messed with bf3 at all so there could be a catch idk.

 

I bought a refurbished Alienware M17X-R3 from a dealer online and everything works great just missing factory software. I had the warranty and service tag transferred to my name but when I go to https://smartsource.dell.com/web/main.aspx to get the webcam,roxio and and all other factory software it says my tag is already registerd.
Now, I called tech support and they said I needed to contact 1st owner and have him delete that service tag from his account before I can register mine.
I tell them I have no way of contacting that person or even know who they are that PC came from a Dell factory direct warehouse and the tech said yes he AGREES he sees when and where it shipped from. I aksed why didn't Dell reset the service tag when they had it? He said, no clue but we can't help only the 1st owner can delete the service tag so I can register it.

The only DVD that came with system was the windows 7 and no other software or drivers is on it.

Anybody out there that can help me get the factory software or do i really need it?

 

If you are talking about software like alienFX and drivers and such you can get them from the dell support site -drivers and downloads section ( http://support.dell.com). You have to either enter the model code on the bottom of the laptop or just pick it from the list, but once you do you will have access to all drivers and alienware apps.

 

That's a problem, siraltitude. It makes sense that the Service Tag is still associated with the original owner's Smartsource web account. You can only get the Roxio, CrapAfee, Webcam Central and PowerDVD software that came pre-installed on your system through that source.

Since you bought it from Dell, Alienware should be able to resolve it for you. Did you call 1-800-ALIENWARE and talk to Alienware support, or did you call Dell Support? They are not the same and Dell Support reps generally don't go out of their way to be helpful to the extent that Alienware reps do.

For assistance sorting out issues where you have not been able to secure satisfactory help from Dell/Alienware Tech Support or Customer Service, a couple of effective venues for escalation that Dell Representative Bill B. recently shared with us:

(1) on Twitter send a message to @DellCares, or

(2) use the Support link on the left side of the Dell Facebook page.​