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

got mine 2 days ago

spec is

2720qm
8gb ram
128gb m4
750gb 7200rpm
6970m
1080p
6300
bluray
375 bluetooth

i replaced my desktop for portability, i was pleased to see it matches if not beats the performance of my i7 950 in my prev rig. i only had 6gb ram too, also, i had the ud7 so i had a marvel controller so its nice to see i get great read and writes, over all very happy. Id like to go to a m18x though, i really wish they had put a pci slot on the m17x r3.

 

what do you guys think of two of these in the m17x r3?
Buy the OCZ Vertex Plus 120GB 2.5 SATA II SSD at TigerDirect.ca

 

The vertex plus is not an ssd I would recommend. Reliability issues. Plus you don't want to run an ssd in raid because it disables trim. I would get a single ssd and a larger data storage drive.

 

agreed. you would be faster, more reliable, and have more space going with something like a crucial m4 128gb and a 750gb hdd

 

Looks the the m4 is pretty expensive. I am trying to buy 4+ in bulk (in Canada). Can you guys refer me to an inexpensive reliable ssd? Thanks

 

Check here for recommendations at various price points. Best SSDs For The Money: October 2011 : Best SSDs For The Money: October Updates.

 

Can any owners advise me on the heat produced by the 560 vs. 6990? I know it is kind of silly to worry about heat but I'm sick of burning my hand/leg on my current Dell Studio. I'd like a good balance of heat vs. performance. I'll appreciate any replies. Thanks!

 

I just purchased what I think is a really good deal on outlet:

Alienware M17x R3 Laptop
Processor: Intel Core i7 2860QM 2.5GHz (3.6GHz w/Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)
Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth Module
Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate
9 Cell Battery
2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M
16 GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4X4GB)
Soft Touch Stealth Black
Internal 60GHz WirelessHD Transmitter
Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO
210W/240W switchable Slim 3P A/C Adapter
320 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
320 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
17.3 inch Wide FHD (1920 x 1080 60Hz) WLED Display

and 3 year complete care...

Not bad for ~$2700

I just hope its not really messed up some how :/

 

After applying new thermal paste and pads, my 6990 tops out at 72C under full load. Stock it was around 80C. I'd consider anything under 85C safe for this card, but obviously lower is better. The best I've seen from other users is around 68C.

I don't know about the 560M, but it has significantly lower performance than the 6990M. Between those two, I would go for the 6990M without even considering heat (which isn't an issue with any card in this laptop). The M17x R3 is very well ventilated.

 

Greetings to fellow Alienware owners! I have joined the club just a few hours ago! Today I received a M17xR3 with the following specs:

CPU Intel Core i7 - 2630QM 2.0GHz - Turbo Boost 2.90Ghz, 6MB Cache
RAM 8192MB (2x4096MB) DDR3 1333MHz
HDD 1.5TB (2x750GB) 7200rpm, RAID 0 Hybrid
VGA AMD Radeon HD 6990M 2GB
Monitor 17.3" WLED FHD (1920x1080) LED Display
Optical Drive DVD+/-RW DL Drive
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit GR/EN

I am truly impressed by this laptop both by its appearance and performance! Looking forward to learning many useful stuff from the members of this forum!

 

Joined this "owners group" last week and I couldn't be happier !

This is a "work" laptop, and finally got rid of my desktop to get this beauty

The performance just blows me away, but that was expected. What I did not expect was the excellent battery life I can get out of it. I am usually able to work 4.5 hours before needing power, with wifi & bluetooth.

 

Yupppp. Glad you're enjoying it too They need to make more lappies like the R3.

 

Greetings fellow m17x'ers! So glad to be apart of this illustrious club! I can't say enough about my m17x. It is a thing of beauty! Like a perfectly tuned symphony playing in perfect harmony. Ok... Let's just say I'm very happy with my purchase.

Just wanted to share, if you are looking for a cool skin for your laptop, Decalrus now has them for the M17x R3, and first generation M17x's too. Anyone have experience on thier skins? Any good or just cheap trash?

Look forward to getting to know you folks. Been lurking here since I first starting contemplating this laptop. It is not a disappointment.

Cheers!

 

Can't believe it.... I just can't believe it..... it's been only less than 3 month since I bought it, Now the GPU suddenly disappear.... !!?!!

Yesterday, my Rig still perfectly normal and charm. Always check the temperature before shutdown this things and still less than 70 degress.

this morning I power on like usuall but the resolution drop to 640x480 at logon screen. Weird..... then some notification about "your AMD Driver is not function properly...etc". Man, my first thought is my 11.10 preview 2 driver have some crash or something. Decide to Uninstall the driver back to stock, but it cannot install, not responding or something. try to do some system restore and still the same....

I almost freak out when start to check my device manager. There's no Display in there... !! holy Cr*p. try to restart and check the bios..... yup, there's no discrete graphics detected on my system.....

man, just when Battlefield 3 released next week & this thing is happen.... it's really frustrating....

 

Can you share a link for the skins? Would it stick right on top of our rubberized finish?

 

after 6 months of use, my m17x r3 first failure, 6970m broke, while playing Sim City 4!! (I think its from 2004), cant believe it. And I'm in Serbia, I'll probably wait the repairs to complete for 2-3 weeks.

 

After the unfortunate demise of my original R1, I have joined the glorious R3 club.

The soft touch is actually really nicer than I expected, the screen is lightyears ahead of the R1, and overall it's a screamin' demon.

Nebula Red (I really do love it. I regretted not going with red on my R1 since day-1 but learned to live with it.)

2670QM
4gb 1600mhz DDR3
500gb 7200rpm
6870m 1gb
DVD+RW

I am having a tech upgrade to the 6990m after November 4th when the cards are off back-order.

I am trying to figure out what I am going to upgrade soonish. Most likely swap out the ram to 2x4gb modules, and either an SSD or the Momentus XT hybrid.

I am holding out for the newly announced OCZ Octane drives and/or the 750gb Momentus XT (the one with 8gb NAND).

This thing is pretty nice out of the box, but Alienware sure does have a way with over pricing simple upgrades like HDDs and Ram

It should be All Powerful before christmas. Right now it's just All Powerful-ish.

I hope Alienware looks at what Razer is doing, and releases something similar with their next revision. I would hate to leave my favorite brand.

 

How much does it cost for a tech to replace the card for you?

 

I am having it done due to a warranty replacement issue. I couldn't quote you the actual cost, but I will ask the tech what it usually would cost when I see him in a week or so.

 

Much love to you, brah. Any questions about R3 feel free to PM any of us.

 

Have you got any idea how much the 6970m should be OCed to gain the stock performance of 6990m?

 

Kinda wanna know this too, since we can use Sapphire Trixx to do it once to try it out

 

I'm guessing that overclocking the 6970M to about 775/950 or 780/1000 should yield about the same graphics performance as a 6990M at 715/900, but will vary some depending on the test or game and the extent to which CPU performance contributes to GPU output.

 

Would we even notice a huge fps difference in games like Crysis2 on max settings?

 

Huge, no. Noticible, yes. It is a 15-20% overclock I think, so you should see a comparable frame rate increase. If you were getting 30 FPS before, you might be getting 35 FPS now, for example.

 

That's not thattttt noticeable

 

Just bought my Alienware m17x R3. Speakers aren't working, tech comes tomorrow to fix that. 3D glasses got left out by accident, they're sending me replacement. Upgraded the 320GB x 2 drives to 160GB Intel X25-M G2 SSD & WD Caviar Blue 750GB 7200RPM HDD from a previous build.

refurbished Alienware m17x R3
Intel Core i7 2820QM cpu
Nvidia GTX 580m gpu
16 GB DDR3 1333MHz
Blu-Ray player
Killer 1103 Wireless "N"
1920 x 1080, 120Hz LCD, 3D
320GB HDD x2
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
$1661 (pre-tax)
$49 one-year accidental damage coverage
$65 Alienware Orion back pack

Saving enough money on a tricked-out Alienware m17x R3 to also buy an Alienware m11x R3? Priceless.

 

im jealous lol.. good luck with your system

 

I figured I'd post this here instead of making a new thread. I am specing out a m17x right now (time to get rid of the m15x). Thinking of going with the following:

i7 2670QM
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (change myself)
2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M
500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s (change myself)
1080p 60Hz

The question I have is that if i only get one HDD will it still come with the other hdd cage with no hdd inside, so that i can add my own HDD? Or will i need to find the cage online?

 

Seems so, check out the teardown video. At about 1:58 it shows the empty cage installed.

Alienware M17x R3 complete teardown / review - Hidevolution.com - YouTube

 

The cage is included. In new models, an interposer is also included for use with a second HDD/SSD. In refurbs, the interposer is apparently supposed to be included, but more often is not but will be provided upon request.

 

Excellent, thx all. I should be joining the m17x r3 club soon.

 

Proud new owner of an R3. First time ever owning an alienware computer.

1 225-0536 Alienware M17x Soft-Touch, Stealth Black
1 317-8448 Intel Core i7 2760QM 2.4GHz (3.5GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
1 317-8466 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
1 331-1347 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
1 320-1933 17.3-inch WideFHD1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
1 320-2795 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M
1 342-2221 256GB Solid State Drive
1 331-1350 Custom Nameplate
1 330-6106 Personalized Nameplate Trigger
1 313-8792 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
1 421-4655 Alienware Command Center Software, M17X
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp
1 420-9956 PC Restore
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
1 421-5789 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
1 318-0395 Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
1 421-4541 Roxio Creator Starter,No Media
1 318-0424 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
1 430-4330 Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming and Video
1 410-3942 Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student, English
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
1 994-3700 Accidental Damage Service, 1 Year
1 950-9797 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
1 421-1721 Soft Contracts Service Hardware Agreement for Alienware
1 421-1719 Soft Contracts Consumer Accidental Damage 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
1 421-1574 Alienhead Chrome Blue
1 421-1593 Alienhead Chrome Blue
1 430-4022 Internal 60GHz WirelessHD Transmitter
1 330-5090 Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare

 

very nice system, i believe it will serve you very well

 

I hope this doesn't sound like a dumb question, but is it possible to have xFire 6990m in an r3? If so where would it fit? Thanks

 

You answered your own question. There inst anywhere for it to fit. Well - unless someone attempted to put 2 cores on a single MXM card, in which case there still probably wouldn't be enough power or cooling.

 

You would need an R2 to get xfire as the R3 has only 1 slot for a discreet graphics card.

 

Maybe if you custom made your own motherboard that copies the default r3 bios, yet has a 2nd mxm board on it, Maybe.

Otherwise, its impossible to implement a 2nd card in single gpu system.

The R3 is like the "Budget" m17x out of the 3.

 

Ordered mine yesterday

210-34925 Alienware M17xR3 : Base Nebula Red 1 S
213-14319 Processor : Intel Core i7 Processor 2670QM (2.20Ghz, 6MB, 4C) 1 S
230-11837 Display : 17.3in WideFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD 1 S
319-10631 Camera : Integrated 3.0 Mega Pixel HD Camera 1 S
340-24210 Resource DVD : Alienware M17xR3 1 S
340-24203 Ship Accessory : English Docs 1 S
370-15259 Memory : 4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel 1 S
400-21831 Hard Drive : 750GB Serial ATA (7200RPM) 1 S
429-15640 Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including software 1 S
450-16348 Power Supply : Alienware 240W AC Adapter 1 S
450-13573 Power Cord : Euro 250V 1 S
451-11606 Battery : Primary 9-cell 93W/HR LI-ION 1 S
490-13096 Graphics : 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M 1 S
545-10007 Gaming Software : Steam Gaming forum and download application 1 S
555-13552 Bluetooth : European Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth Card 1 S
555-14006 Wireless : Europe Killer Wireless-N 1103 1 S
583-14358 Keyboard : Internal French Azerty Keyboard 1 S
619-32221 Operating System : English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64 BIT) 1 S
640-12302 Software : Datasafe Local 2.0 Basic 1 S
640-12352 Software : Dell Support Center 3.0 1 S
644-10029 Avatar : Alien Schematic 1 S
650-12454 No Software Anti-Virus 1 S
654-10009 TimeZone : (GMT + 00.00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London 1 S
656-10016 AlienFX Colour : Mars Red 1 S
657-10008 Name Plate Engraving : Generic 1 S

Total was 2.165,07€.

I ordered trough a company and he said he could not give me any discounts. I was not happy since i at least wanted a 10% discount. After 3 price offers wich included a wrong config and telling the sales rep that home users can get discounts from coupons and a dell deal (5% and 90€) and that in the UK they have coupons that give 25% discount (thank you NBR for the link ) he went to talk to management and 10 mins later i got a new offer with 35% discount!

Price now: 1.599,05
Price i payed since i order trough a company and dont need to pay VAT: 1.321,53

Needless to say i'm quite happy

 

uk 25 % discount ?? please point me in the right direction I am going to pick one of these up for xmas

 

sorry was ment to be 15% typo.

 

Well I just ordered mine. Can't post specs as I'm on my phone, but my rep threw in 16gb of RAM for me [1600mhz] anyways,
I paid about 2500 for mine, very happy with my purchase. Can't freaking wait.

EDIT: Now that I'm home... Specs:

System Color Alienware M17x, Soft Touch Stealth Black VBLK [225-0536]
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit AW71HPE [420-9691][420-9956][421-0092][421-5789]
Processor Intel® Core™ i7 2760QM 2.4GHz (3.5GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache) I72760Q [317-8448]
Memory 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS) 16G1604 [317-8465]
A/C Adapter Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter 240W [331-1347]
Display Panel 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED WFHD60 [320-1933]
Video Card 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M N580M [320-1940]
Hard Drive 1TB Raid 0 (2x 500GB Hybrid Solid State Drives) SS1TBR0 [342-2228]
AlienFX Terra Green GREEN [313-8797][421-4655]
Adobe Reader Acrobat SW Adobe Acrobat Reader ADOBER [410-1883]
Optical Drives Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW) DVDRWRX [318-0395][421-4541]
Sound Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio IHD51 [318-0424]
Wireless Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video KW1130N [430-4330]
Security Software No Anti-Virus Software Selected NOAVR [461-8389]
Service 4 Year Advanced Plan S4CC [421-1719][421-1724][939-0320][939-0330][939-0340][939-0390][950-7447][990-4653][990-4683][994-3730]
Pre-Installed Software Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed STEAM [421-1360]
Alien Wallpaper Alienhead Flat

 

guys... i've seen a lot of truble installing the latest drivers from amd... someone then goes for the mobility modded... but... what about the embedded? i'm using the embedded and they works and install's great... here is the link:
AMD Embedded GPU and Chipset Driver for Windows XP/Vista/7
for the problems of the switchable graphics u can easily avoid unthicking during the installation the voice "catalyst control center" u still then have the dell's control center but with the newest drivers. hope it helps...

 

Brand Spanking new M17X-R3 also here! <3333 this beast, I finally wanted to replace my pro desktop
with something of classy with NO CABLES around: finally no mess in my room anymore!!!!!

i7-2720QM
8GB DDR3 1600 Kingston HyperX
Radeon HD 6870M
Blue Ray Disk
Intel SSD320 300GB SYSTEM
Seagate HDD 320GB STORAGE
HD900p
W1mbl3d0n 7 64bit home premium
UK Keyboard

Price is 2000+ Eur, but I paid it only 1200 Eur from a Dell partner )))))))))) And I was lucky it is a
"totally new" machine, not a scratched refurbished one. The dude told me they got this machine
from a customer that sent it back the day after the shipping, cause he changed idea and went
M18X.

His loss = my w1n! xDDDD

I want to replace the screen, I'll keep the 900p as spare part, or sell it in fully assembled block
(frontal glass + screen + magnesium back plate) at something around 100Eur.

I am also considering to replace the HD 6870 with 6970m, looking for some good offers. Not so
important tho, the HD6870M eats everything I put in it!

 

ok, so that I finally have this baby, how do you guys check the temp of GPU and CPU, with gadgets or MSI afterburner and so on?

 

this one, always

 

HWinfo32 or 64 works well too. I like it cuz it shows me how much cpu or gpu power's used atm.

 

got it thanks people!

 

could http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...are-diagnostics-your-m17xr3-resource-dvd.html be included in Firstpost? i think this is important information discoverd with dell reps

 

Just checked the linked thread. Nice discovery NormenKD.