*OFFICIAL* M17xR3 Owner's Lounge Thread - Part 2

Quick question I bought my r3 with the basic single 320(why pay for the upgrade when i can doit myself on the cheap.) already configured the raid settings in BIOS but unsure how to proceed further. anybody got the walkthrough on what I need to do to get the raid 0 stripe I wanted working?(just need the basic walkthrough for the system to configure the hardware raid 0 I will handle drivers and so forth)

 

Also my 460m idles between 40 and 45c.and running sc2 on top settings barely pushes50- 65c with an OCCASSIONAL spike towards 72. has never run higher then 72c and thats sitting in miami summer, OUTSIDE on my balcony running on max performance settings. I find it helps to make sure the vents are not being blocked by your legs. 460m max SAFE temps are about 120c so i dont think anything under 85c should be a problem anyway.

 

Hey guys just gonna introduce my self. Been a long time reader just signed up. Umm just got the M17x R3 (I think you can see the specs on the bottom of this post) to replace my aging.... I dont really know the name of the laptop im using right now oh wait it's a dell inspiron 1525 i got 2nd hand, was gonna wait for the M18x but I decided I was gonna need the dual gpu and I needed a semi portable gaming laptop for school. Sorry for the long post and thanks for all the info on this forum that helped me pick my laptop.

 

I really can't see any specs (put it in your signature).

And welcome!

 

Can't have a signature until you reach 5 posts.

 

Lol I didn't even notice he was on his first post haha, which av8.. you're only 1 post away from signature land

 

This should do it. Also just ordered a R3

 

Might as well put your specs in, and enjoy the power

 

(Incoming) Alienware m17x r3 2720qm (soon to be 2920 xm hopefully), 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6970M, 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED, everything else basic (just ordered 2 packs of 8gb kingston hyperx 1600mhz ram(4x4gb sticks) and will add 2 ssd's in raid 0 when funds are available)

hows it look guys

 

So I'm having an issue where after I switch over from the IGP back to the 6970m and put the battery profile to high performance, I load up Rift and I'm getting about 50% less performance than the last time.

I think this may be an issue with the switchable graphics? Anything I can do about this?

 

So far so good with my r3. Only prob so far is the media key poking out a bit but I'll fix that as soon as my hyperx ram comes in. I'm still tempted to get a m18x but I will most likely just wait until aw comes with the new ivy bridge processors in the future.

 

Are you on battery or AC adapter? I have found after switching from IGP to dedicated I need to restart, then the clocks will be 680/900 instead of 400/800.

 

Can you post a link please? Thanks.

Welcome. +1 for being a niceguy and nice enough to type a lengthy introduction for us to become familiar with you. Please have fun posting/reading, and feel free to ask us any questions while you sprout gray hairs and wrinkles while waiting on your lappy

 

Did anyone face the mouse cursor distortion problem before? When I surfing internet, the cursor suddenlly went distorted, head and tail went separately, look like a square box with 1 or 2 horizontal line and funny color. Need to do a reboot in order to make the cursor become normal. It's not happen always, so far happen once since I bought my laptop till now. Any suggestion?

 

Thanks and I have a question I think my sales rep didnt write my shipping address wrong, Im having it sent to where I work and it's in a mall complex but when I got a confirmation email yesterday saying my m17x was in production it only had the address of the mall but not the store I work in even though I told them specifically to send it to my store, can I call them back to check and if they dont have my store written down can I still add it to my shipping address? (I dont want to lose a 2 grand laptop just because I got the address wrong )

 

YouTube - Alienware M17X R3 Swapping RAM - Easy guide on changing RAM on the M17X R3

 

I believe dookie was describing exactly that in his review and M17xR3 defect thread.

 

Have you called them and tried ? seriousely, I understand its really simple to ask something here, but why not just call them and ask ? rather than asking here if you can do something ?

 

That's an nvidia driver issue
I can't remember what I used to do to fix that on my xps, but it was something like...
right click on desktop, bring cursor to like top right corner while right click menu is still open(so it seems off screen) then make a left click selection box back onto the screen

or....
hold right click from anywhere to top right corner, then release, then left click somewhere.

Some random voodoo like that always fixed the problem, lol.

 

yea sorry about that I did call before but nobody was there also called fedex too but they just said to call dell and I just called again got in contact with someone and they said would call me back about it

 

So I've had my R3 a few days now and overall, I think it's the best laptop I've ever owned, and I've owned a LOT including the R2.

While the R2, to this day, remains one of the best built laptops I've ever come across and with an unrivaled RGB LED panel, I had a literal TON of issues with mine. Many of which stemmed from the Xfire 4870's, some just involved throttling.

Now the R3, a step back in build quality? Perhaps, but the soft touch finish is actually VERY aesthetically pleasing (imo), is very comfortable to use and hold, and is much, MUCH lighter. Together with the battery life, I'm able to actually be mobile with my gaming monster which is something I could never do with the R2. It also feels like they upgraded the keyboard, and they definitely upgraded the trackpad. It's a pleasure to use and super responsive.

Not to mention the 6970m is the same or better (for the most part) than the xfire 5870's without the potential problems of two video cards.

Once again, my only niggling complaint is the screen which I find to be nothing more than "adequate."

Overall, best laptop I've ever owned. Very satisfied. Now the question is whether or not I can part with my Envy 14 (Radiance) to pick up the m14x.

 

Thanks for sharing, I'm glad you and plenty others have mostly good things to say. It all keeps pumping me up!!! Haha, another 2 weeks or so for mine.

 

Nice to hear some positive remarks for the R3. I have owned quite a few laptops myself as well: Thinkpad T43, T60, Asus W3J, Toshiba Satellite, Macbook Pro, HP Envy 14, and several Dell Latitudes. This is by far my favorite. I never owned an R2, so I cannot compare the build quality there, but this feels like a solid, quality laptop to me.

 

The M17x-R3 is indeed a well designed notebook for it's market. The build quality however left me a bit underwhelmed when I owned one. Initially, I loved the R3 and figured I'd hold on to it because of the exact same reasons you mentioned. However, as time passed, the substantial quality drop (versus R2) was becoming more and more prominent in my day to day use of it. Notably, the soft touch felt like it would peel away, the keyboard felt hollow and the lid was extremely cheap where I could see it bend with a little bit of pressure (speedygonzalez also noticed this before returning his R3).

I understand why Dell chose to make a lighter M17x and it makes perfect sense, I probably wouldn't change much about it's design apart from a sturdier lid (maybe make it anodized) and better plating underneath the keyboard (it still has plenty of flex). The display is fine, it's no RGB LED but it's bright enough and has good enough colors once adjusted. Of course there are better choices out there and Dell could eventually offer those at a premium. Another feature that's missing is a subwoofer which the R3 needs badly.

For my needs, the M18x will probably be the perfect computer because it takes the best of R2 and R3 and combines them: Soft touch palm rest, anodized chasis, dual 6970M, large display (I felt the R3 display was on the small side), subwoofer and CPU OC'ing. I still don't understand Dell's reason for removing the configurable alien head color from all their new AW laptops.

Dell has done a great job of addressing all the market segments this generation and hopefully they see a lot of sales from it.

 

This is dookie's original post about his mouse pointer problem. I believe his both R3s had 6970, though.

 

TBH, and this is just me, cant wait to bench the m18 vs my Sager system, non OC vs non OC

 

hi guys, Just a quick question. is it possible to turn optimus and the nvidia GPU completely off and just run the laptop off the IGP? This way the runtime should be similar to the ATI/AMD card equipped laptops right?

 

Got my laptop and it's awesome. I have one question did you guys got the screws and screwdriver with it?

Also does anyone know exact screwdriver will work? I'm going to buy it online so I wanted to make sure I got the right one.

 

I believe you need a Phillips head and Flat head screwdriver according to the owner's manual. Not exactly sure they size, but I just bought a screwdriver that has multiple bits.

 

Anybody seen any R3s up on the Dell Outlet site?

 

Yea, going to get one from a shop.




By the way anyone having problem with registering there 3d kit in nvidia site. My part number is giving me error in the site saying the 3rd box format is wrong.

 

Hey guys just ordered a new alienware. Can i get some feedback on the setup for this pc. It seems to me like it will conqure anything i throw at it.

Any feedback will be appreciated, Thanks.


1 225-0536 Alienware M17x Soft-Touch, Stealth Black
1 317-6115 Intel Core i7 2820QM 2.3GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
1 317-6119 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (4DIMMS)
1 331-1347 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
1 320-1932 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 120Hz WLED w/ NVIDIA 3D Vision Bundle
1 320-1938 1.5GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M
1 342-2218 320GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
1 313-8792 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
1 421-4655 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp
1 420-9956 Vista PC Restore
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
1 318-0396 Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
1 421-4541 Roxio Creator Starter,No Media
1 421-4550 Power DVD 9.6, 3D
1 318-0424 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
1 430-4019 Wireless 802.11 g/n
1 330-6348 Automatic Updates: On
1 939-0320 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year
1 939-0340 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty
1 950-9797 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
1 421-1721 Soft Contracts Service Hardware Agreement for Alienware
1 994-3730 Warranty Support, Initial Year
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks
1 421-1360 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
1 331-1349 Standard Nameplate
1 600-0002 State Environmental Fee for display 15 inches, less than 35 inches
price ~ $2500.00

 

aside from maybe the memory (which you can purchase later/cheaper from etailers such as newegg/etc.) and perhaps the processor (2720QM should prove almost equally capable while $aving you a little), that is a sweet spec'd rig that should bring you lots of 3D enjoyment!~

 

Yup both have 6970. Haven't had time to really play with the replacement. Will try to make some time tomorrow nite. There's another thread in the 17x section where another dude got what I got too (or at least the situation was similar). To see the problem I have, visit the picasa page in my sig.

 

So I played around a bit more with the laptop last night and everything still seems perfect, except for one minor thing. When I crank the volume up, I hear a type of rattling or possibly static noise coming from the left speaker. Not sure if I somehow did that but you should be able to crank the volume up all the way on these things right? Was just playing music in the bedroom and noticed it. Hate to think I have to place a service call already and potentially get my machine molested by a tech that may/may not mess it up.

 

If it rattles or you get static, then you have poor speakers, cuz my first one doesnt do that, even while bumping sports or hip hop at 100%. It even sounds good too at 100%. I usually have volume at 15% though, cuz I'm fairly quiet and don't like loud music. The replacement (2nd) comp can't even go past 50% without rattling/staticky.

 

No need. I like the speakers just the way they are. Second one is going back for sure.

 

Can never go wrong with the DT770

 

Hi everyone, I'm kinda new here. But can you all help me with this...
I'm receiving my m17x r3 in a few days time. I was wondering what I should do when I received the laptop.

Things like which part of the laptop should I check?
What to do with the battery, should I recharge it first or discharge it completely?
Is it ok for me to keep the battery in the laptop and charge it even when it is fully charged?

Thanks.

 

Do you think this is worth having Dell come out and address? I'm a little worried that some tech is going to come out and muck up my machine before I've even had it a week. For any kind of serious music experience, I'll probably use a headset or earbuds, but I'll likely have it fixed eventually. Just not sure how much of a priority it is right now.

 

Just watch him/her like a hawk. If you're anal / perfectionist like me, don't be shy; record it!

 

my replacement r3 has a very tolerant i7-2720QM!
So far I have it at 104.56 bclk with no issues

edit:
104.70
104.84
105.06! Going to stop here for now and toss in my hyperx, ssd, and reinstall windows

 

Hey- how does it look though? Is it brand new looking with plastic on everything, etc.?

 

Didn't even realize, but no plastic.


I just killed the HDD that came with it though lol!
Ubuntu showed it as misaligned by 512kb when I went to secure erase my vertex 2 (forgot to do it before sending back first r3). It was really obvious that something was wrong with it.

tried to secure erase the hdd and it just sits there forever
Can't even unlock it :/

 

Try booting, and then add the hard drive after booted. That is what I have to do to secure erase on my desktop. That why you bypass the lock

 

ok I'll try hotplugging then
How long should secure erase via hdparm take?

I can't unlock it for some reason (but like you said, hotplugging should bypass the lock I guess!)


edit:
and it looks brand new even without the plastic. No issues as far as I can tell - other than the misaligned HDD
the space for boot drive (port 0) seems smaller than my last r3. Had to jimmy the HDD to get it out.

 

Or, you can just let the tech do his/her job and not sweat it. I have had Dell out to work on both my AW's (only own one now though, and several times to work on our systems at work and have NEVER had a issue with their work, seriousely, for every one issue you read about here on these forums, they perform THOUSANDS of no problem tech calls....

 

Sorry had to seriousely LOL at this, if Linsux says it it MUST be true eh

 

it was true, because so did 2 other apps.

I personally lol'd at locking the hdd and not being able to unlock it tho.