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

Here is what I was thinking...



Software & Services
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 2820QM 2.3GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
MEMORY 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (4DIMMS)
VIDEO CARD 1.5GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M
HARD DRIVE 1.5TB Raid 0 (2x 750GB 7,200RPM) edit
LCD PANEL 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 120Hz WLED w/ NVIDIA 3D Vision Bundle
WIRELESS CARD Intel® Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology
SYSTEM COLOR Alienware M17x, Soft Touch Nebula Red
My Software & Accessories
PERSONALIZED PLATE Personalized Plate (Sean C. Kanaley)
PRE-INSTALLED GAMES Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed
ALIENFX COLOR Terra Green edit
OS CUSTOMIZATION Alien Schematic
Personalize
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 3 Year Advanced Service Plan
My Accessories

 

Currently, The 6970m is ranked as 2nd single gpu and the 460m is on the 12th spot in notebookcheck.com. So it is really powerful.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

 

I would still do the 6970m (it IS that much better) and upgrade the ram yourself (4GB dimms are getting cheap now). Might as well get yourself an Orion backpack and maybe a keyboard and mouse? The TactX stuff is pretty nice. Maybe a headset too haha

 

The one attached to the 'look and feel' thread actually is the bottom text version. I've attached both to this post and to the 'restore look and feel' guide.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/7269387-post347.html

 

Ditto.

What app are you using to change color temp? I don't see that option in either the Intel or Nvidia apps.

 

The thing is, that GTX 460M is more than capable of producing enough frames on high resolution with mid-high details in almost any game with a few exceptions. We have come to a point where GPUs like 6970M, Crossfire and SLI solutions are butter on the bacon. These GPUs are mainly for people who want to play everything on Max and 1080p and people who like benchmarking.
I am not saying that 6970M is a "bad" choice but you have to ask yourself what you will be doing with the laptop.

Shure you can think that if you buy these super GPUs, your laptop is future
proof, but i think that for the casual gamer the GTX 460M is more than enough.
If only AMD offered 3D like Nvidia does, 6970M and such would be a must, because the 460M struggles to get high FPS in many games in 3D mode.

 

AMD does offer 3D just only through HDMI 1.4a currently and using 3rd part drivers.....

I would get the 6970m for its much better performance.....and that will matter alot further down the lifespan of the laptop (also resale value when it is time to part with it)

 

Are you saying that AMD will only output 3D to external screens and HDTV with 120Hz and above? Why not on a 120Hz laptop screen?

 

Actually currently ATI 3DHD is limited to 24fps (48 with both sets of screens) due to bandwidth

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/radeon-barts-3d-hdmi-hd3d,12403.html

 

You're the bestest


Anyway, should I be mildly hardware-concerned that my 460M is slowly accepting lower and lower OC without crashes in games? Last week I was playing DA2 at 880/something/1500 and now I crash at anything above 830/something/1450

Bought a Razer Mamba and G700 today (thought i had a 700 before but it was an M705 or something). Hard to decide which to keep!

 

I have seen hardware be less tolerant of OC before. Things like temperatures and drivers can play into it alot.

 

Not really, 6970m is amazing purchase if you want to play maxed out 1080p with Some AA, even though average frames might get 30 in the GTX460 it will drop sometimes to 15-20 as minimum frames which is very annoying

I prefer to play at 46 frames at average with 30~ FPS as minimum over 28 frame as average with drops to 15-17 fps
Plus 6970 will future proof you few years more over GTX460m

 

Read what i wrote again. I said mid to high details, not ultra details in 1080p
GTX 460M is more than capable for the average user.

 

Guys, I have the r3 with the specs listed in my sig..For some reason I have a crappy graphic in Shogun Total War 2..I thought 6970 should be able to handle it

 

You sure you aren't running it on IGP? I was wondering why all of a sudden my frame rate dropped and everything felt sluggish in need for speed. Then I recalled that while i was in the meeting, i switched to integrated to last through 3-hour session and forgot to switch back. (right-click on desktop and select "configure switchable graphics" or just hit Fn+F7)

 

It's on high performance and it was also plugged in..I wonder what's wrong..Soo much lag inside the Shogun Total War 2..couldn't even scroll the map..

Can anyone figure out what's wrong with my system?

 

im definitely planning on playing video games as well as my virtual technology porgram, so I need a very powerful GPU. It's replacing my current GTX 280m sli's

 

I dont really even understand, the new M17x isnt sli capable right?

EDIT: also why can't I configure a system with an 1900x1200 like my current system... and why is the 120hz screen not an option? becuase its nvidia enabled im assuming?

Lastly, I do not believe they will refund me any unused credit so I need to match as closely to my original system cost of 3,350 as possible

 

R3 isn't SLI capable. The best screen is the 1080p one. No 1200p. 120hz is just for the 3d bundle. Sorry.

 

yea, I want to get 3d with the 6970.... I was told the 6970 supported 3d as well?

 

You can't do that. You cant buy the r3 with amd gpu + the 120hz screen.

 

Sad day, well ok but does the 6970 support 3D at all?

 

Im not that sure. But even if it does, There's no support for it in the r3 as of now.

 

God it almost seems as if they took a few steps back from the powerhouse that the R1 and R2 were... Dropped SLI? Any news on when they are switching up to the Nvidia 480/485m series and the latest ATI card/s?

 

Its not a step backwards. It offers equal, and sometimes even better performance (lets not pretend crossfire scaling issues don't exist) on a single chip is a big deal.

Is it worth upgrading from the R2? No. Is it worth picking over the R2 if you don't already own it? Hell yes.

 

Valid point... I just don't really understand why they wouldn't offer the option of a 120hz screen on a far superior GPU?

 

I honestly don't know, my guess is, it has something to do with the 3d.

I would like to remind you tho you can't use/switch to your IGP if you have a 120hz screen.

I'm still waiting for someone who will install a 6970m on a m17x r3 with 3d before I jump and buy one 6970m card XD

 

How is it a step -back- from R2? Just because it isn`t crossfire doesn`t make it to a less powerhouse. The 6970M is pretty much equal in performance as 5870M CF, but have the benefit that it draw less wattage. And from what i have heard, R3 is also quieter than R2 due to having 1 less fan.

6970M DO support 3D, only problem is that the only way to output 3D is through HDMI. Which means you can only use it to output 3D on a flatscreen or external screen from what i have gathered. Why they cannot make it work on a laptop screen i don`t know, since the 120 Hz screen is directly hooked to the Nvidia GPU and not rerouted through IGP (that is why you cannot use IGP with 120 Hz).

I do agree that the 6970M could perform very well in 3D mode though.

 

I would say it is on the cards so to speak, here's what I think

Dell got a special deal on the 6970 but had to agree not to release it with the 485m, ask yourselves guys honestly, if the 3D bundle had been available with the Nvidia 485m how many of you that opted for the 6790 would have ? excluding those that want 3-4 hrs from the battery I'd say none.

It will come - too many reviews are critcle of this and it is a weakness especially for 3D games, plus Dells competitors are offering it so I can't see how they can avoid it, I'd expect to see it as an option in the next 6 months once all the other bugs have been ironed out and the system is stable

 

I recommend you guys stay away from comparing the r1/r2 to the r3 otherwise this thread might get closed and this is a good thread to have.

 

This sounds like it would be perfect for you still biscuits, you only lose $3

And the 6970m should easily beat the GTX 280m ALWAYS (unless you need PhysX). As mentioned, you are also getting a much quieter laptop as well as good battery life from the IGP (which is completely disabled if you have a 120Hz screen)

 

Anyone else having problems with the IDT control panel not working? It gives an error about not being able to find the .startup file and I've uninstalled it, removed all traces of audio codecs in the control panel and yet after installing the IDT driver, I get the same problem! Pretty frustrating because I want to configure the audio for this R3 but the damn panel won't work.

 

I think that's an issue with the newer audio drivers
maybe try the driver from CD and see if you get the same error. If CD version is the same, I can send you mine from first batch or r3s.

 

Yo, did you figure it out? Is there anything that needs to be ticked/unticked in your CCC?

 

Thanks cook.. but like I said I'll have to confirm wether or not they will give me a new plan... if not should I opt for the 16gb ram?

 

Same problem here. Audio has been a nightmare for me.
I had to roll back to the original driver, and that gets me into the panel, but it will still give you an error on startup.

 

Apparently my drivers fixed the audio problem for 5150Joker. I guess it's an issue with the newest batch of r3. I know the file currently available on support.dell.com gives the same error.
If anyone else needs them, here's the info

Code:

Title      : Audio:IDT 92HD73 Audio Driver
Version    : A00
OEM Name   : IDT
OEM Ver    : 6314
Computers  : Alienware Laptop - M17xR3
Oses       : Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium, Windows 7 64-bit Professional, Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate
Languages  : Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Chinese Hong Kong, Chinese-S, Chinese-T, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, English (UK), Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Iberian Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Created    : Mon Jan 17 00:27:35 CST 2011

Download here

 

Thanks for posting the driver. Just downloaded it! Hoping my R3 arrives this week before Thurs. Leaving for NJ

 

It did fix it for me and believe me, I tried everything prior to it. Thanks for putting those up kunekaden!

 

Biscuits, I would push for the plan arguing the dollar to dollar value of what they should be replacing, if that fails, ya I would go for the ram. Just make sure you get every dime out of them

 

Actually, this is also true for Nvidia through HDMI and AMD said they would address this when screens supports Display port 1.2

 

So my m17x is alive, but I've had a few random BSODs. The last time it happened I could not successfully reboot. I got BSOD'd before Windows even started. Tried a a restart a couple more times and BSOD persisted. I figured it was the HyperX ram so I swapped in the old ones and viola!
Now while the old RAM was in, I thought to try SSD install again, but realized that: A, I've already tried that combo; B, I've already submitted an RMA for it and shipping out tomorrow; and C, I really would rather wait for Vertex 3
But here's the kicker. I thought to put the HyperX back in and I successfully booted into Windows. I did a Windows Experience Index(which was 7.8, though other's have reported 7.9) just to do a light stress test on the laptop to see if it BSODs on me, but it didn't. So now I'm running Memtest86+ v4.20 to get solid confirmation.
I'm gonna let it run overnight, but what do you guys think? If Memtest passes, then how come swapping out the RAM for original solved my booting problem?

Memtest HyperX Info:
Settings: RAM: 797 MHz (DDR3-1594) / CAS: 9-9-9-27 / Dual Channel

Memory SPD Information:
4090 MB PC3-10600 - Kingston 9905428-040.A00LF *XMP*
''

Is this info correct? 797 supposed to be half since dual channel > 1600?
SPD just the reference RAM at PC3-10600 instead of labelled PC3-12800?

 

Did you have custom ram timings in the bios? It may have reset once you swapped out the ram.

 

Read this post if you want to use the latest Audio drivers and fix the "startup" file not found issue:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...driver-v6320-released-3-16-a.html#post7263703

 

your CPU is underclocked, which is underclocking your ram. (memory controller is on the CPU)
Up your bclk up to 100.21mhz (assuming you have bios A03, otherwise just put it to 100mhz), then hit
apply immediately, then
apply permanently (reboot), then save/exit

Then go back and re-change memory settings in bios - they reset whenever bclk is changed.

Then it should read as 800*2=1600mhz

And 10600/10666/10700/whatever (why are there so many types of 1333mhz ram anyway?) is 1333/2 = 667

 

How's everyone's R3 holding up with peeling?

 

Mine hasn't started peeling...yet.

 

No peeling here...13 days of daily use, 3-4 hrs weekdays, 6-8 hrs weekends...

 

What do you guys mean by peeling? On the palm rest or the lid?

 

No peeling, but something related?

I have been putting my r3 in the protective cloth bag/cover that comes with it every day, at least twice daily - to transport the laptop to/from work/elsewhere. I noticed this weekend that the bag is either
1. leaving black marks on the 4 upper corners of my red r3
2. rubbing the red rubberized finish off
3. Both

I'm fairly upset about it to be honest. My thought process was to use the bag to protect the notebook from damage, and this seems to have actually caused damage.

Also, The glossy finish around the......things? at the front...front grilles?
Anyway, those look quite scratched under direct glossy light