new AW17 questions/new to the forum

hey all, so I am relatively new the this forum, but I am not new to alienware/pc's in general. I just received my AW17 replacement laptop for my old R3. my specs are, 750GBx2 raid0, 64GB msata, GTX 770m, 16GB ram, 60HZ screen, i7 4800. currently I am waiting for dell to send me a 780m(should be here Friday) I managed to talk them into sending me one free. in the mean time ive been playing around with this 770m. its not a bad card. I have one major question and that is, why cant I update my video drivers? im stuck on 311.48. I tried 326.41 and 326.19. both with and without modded ini files from laptopvideo2go.com. In the past(with my 580m) I never had any issues with installing drivers. the issues im having, NVidia driver tells me it found compatible hardware, but when I hit install it just says installer failed. I know plently of people are having driver issues(or had issues) I read around the AW 17 owners lounge so I saw lots of issues there. whats the fix ? simple fix? any help would be great !

 

Out of curiosity how did you get the 780m free XD? and sorry about your bad luck with the video card.

 

It's all good I got the new drivers installed. The free 780. All it took was one call to the Alienware customer service. Not tech support. He then transferred me to "gaming tech support". Not the regular tech support. It was a little bit if complaining little bit of begging and I brought up how the 770m has a 192bit memory bus and my 580m had a 256bit memory bus. He right away spoke to he manager and got it approved right away. He agreed with me that the 770m is weak and I should have a. 780m. I guess I got a little lucky too?

 

Welcome to the Alienware Section!!! Hope the swap goes well,

 

You can try the latest beta from nvidia, it'll work without modded INF, but you'll have random black screen at boot

You have to wait for next WHQL driver.

 

ok thanks! So far all is well. Except I'm getting not only a 780m but a motherboard replacement already. My hdmi in/out port doesn't work. At all. What a headache

 

No offence, but obviously neither of you knew what you were talking about.....

This is yet another classic example of Dell/Alienware not knowing what comparable is. Good for you, but as for 770m being 'poor' or 'weak' or 'not comparable to a 580m' is just pure nonsense. Just because it is 192 bus vs 256 on the 580m? - that's just a pathetic comparison/reason to give you a FREE 780m.

What about the other relevant facts such as: the 770m is 28nm vs 40nm, has 960 unified pipeline count vs 384 for the 580m, 3gb vRam vs 2gb on the 580m, 3540 million transistors vs 1950 million on the 580m....oh, not to mention the benchmark results such as 3dMark11 pGPU for the 770m being avg. 5041 vs 3131 on the 580m......

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M

Take Max Payne 3 as a comparison, and see the performance hike with a 770m over a 580m......37.1fps on Ultra vs 24.6fps for the 580m. I would not call that 'weak'....

Lucky? - I'd say so....seems like Dell/Alienware hand out upgraded parts with minimal effort/zero knowledge, coupled with a 'give-away' attitude in certain locations....

Still, nice that you got it......

 

I said what I said in hoping I could get the 780. In my opinion the 770 is weak in comparison to the 780. I'm aware it benchmarks higher and so was the tech. He still got approval for me to get the 780. I agree the 770 is better then my 580...stock for stock anyways. at the end of the day it doesn't really matter. My 780 is on it's way. Forgive me for bashing the 770.

 

I really don't know why you felt that you should get a 780m in the first place .....sorry, it's just not comparable at all coming from a 580m, and anyone could tell you that. All I am saying (yet again) is that Dell obviously have ZERO idea about how to compare hardware. Going off one specification, such as memory bus, is not a good way to make an accurate comparison. It's completely fine to 'bash' the 770m if you had a 780m, but coming from a 580m.....please

And I beg to differ - it DOES matter. For every 'unnecessary upgrade' that Dell hand out like confetti, there is someone, somewhere getting shafted. I'm not having a dig at you personally, because you are only doing what anyone would do - trying to get the best you can, and you lucked out. However, I am continually amazed by Dell's completely random 'acts of kindness' (or maybe I should call them stupidity) when it boils down to 'like for like' comparisons. All they have done in your instance is look at the larger 256 bus and thought "Yeah, that's not comparable - let's toss this guy a 780m instead" which is just absurd....

Anyway, I wish you luck with getting everything sorted!! :thumbsup:

 

haha i fully agree with you but the amount of issues i had with my R3...maybe they did it to be nice(giving me the free 780m?) i mean 12 on site repairs on my R3...everything from keyboard to video card to motherboard multiple times.I even had to send it to depot once and still i had issues. the 770m is a good upgrade but i tried for a 780m like you said who wouldnt at least give it a shot. i brought the memory bus up knowing it was a cheap shot as the 770m is clearly better then the 580m i had. i didnt bring that up seriously thinking they would give me a 780m based on that spec difference. i mean...when they send a tech out to replace your heatsink on your gpu...then the second he leaves you fire up heaven benchmark and not 5 minutes in it throttles right away...thats a little frustrating. in all honesty they probably sent me the 780m based just off the bad experience i had with my R3. So far ive been enjoying my AW17(will enjoy more when my 780m gets here), but my new AW17 also has a dead HDMI in/out port. new motherboard for it monday. thats very annoying.

 

Well, adding your 'experience' to it gives it more perspective, and I can see why the upgrade was offered. From that point, I can wholeheartedly agree that you deserved something better for your troubles.

 

yea maybe i should have mentioned my experience before haha. now you see why i got the 780m! hope after the motherboard is replaced monday, and my 780m comes tomorrow, i have no more issues! i will however be extending my warranty.

 

Of course he deserved it but again brother Stevie ( being my relative ) you and I stand united, dell knows next to nothing about relative performance of a system. Benchmarks, transistors, clock speed, shader count ALL play a roll in the gpu performance. Not to mention the 192bit is a factor of dell comparison to the others listed above. Dell today or has been always, a company for a profit. While there is no harm in that, when support is needed for valid reasons... It mostly never gets handled correctly. For good or worse. It was great he got the 780m and woohoo! But should he of? By performance no. And if that's all they based it on then again as said many times we have a dim future of the "company" man not doing us right.

 

I was under the impression that "comparable" meant more where the hardware sits in the lineup compared to the original as well. If the 580m was the top video card when he bought the old machine (not sure it was, playing Devil's Advocate here) then he should have gotten the top card on the replacement as well. Otherwise they could easily replace a top cost machine from one generation with the bottom cost machine of a later generation and say "it's comparable in speed". Depending of course on what speed improvements were made and/or how many generations have passed (with 4 year warranties you can easily skip a few).

 

If you think of it this way, if someone has a 4 yr old machine with 1st gen cpu etc, WHY should they get a brand new state of the art, all singing all dancing replacement just because they bought top of the line four years ago??? - I'm sorry, technology moves extremely rapidly, and saying that you get the best NOW for the best FOUR years ago is just BS.

It also opens the flood gates to people with accidental damage insurance making false claims to get the newest hardware without having to pay out for it...."oops!, I spilled coke all over my four year old machine...Dell, can I have the latest and greatest, please? - after all, I am entitled to it, because I bought top of the line years ago....per-lease!!..."

Sorry, but "replacement" machines should simply be an avenue to give you BACK a working version of what you HAD that was not working, and as close to what you had bought, performance wise, from current available technology if older technology is no longer available.....specifications should not benefit those individuals, unless there is extreme cases where they have gone through 'Dell Hell' with multiple botch jobs etc....

If you trashed your car, the insurer would pay out book/list price at the time of accident going off how old your car was....they wouldnt turn around and give you a brand new car.....

This whole "I had the top card back in the day" argument is nonsense. It is so flawed to think like that, it is unbelievable....no one should benefit from a warranty claim unless they have gone through abnormal circumstances...and then, it should be up to Dell.

As far as skipping generations go, this is where it is KEY to have staff that can accurately compare such differences. Heck, if we can do it as users, why do Dell have such a hard time telling what it comparable to what.....for me, they thought a 3630qm was comparable to a 2960xm & a single 675m was comparable to Dual 6990m's........their knowledge and training sucks...BIG time...I really cannot understand people who think that just because they had a top end component from years ago, that means they should get the same several years later on down the line....it's just ridiculous....

 

No, that's not it at all. Stevie is correct in his post, it's supposed to be comparable to the specs itself, not where it stood in the lineup. For example, I have a 580m and I would settle for a 770m because that's comparable. I would settle for a 680m, because that's comparable. A 765m and a 660m are not comparable, because the 580 out performs it.

Since the 770 and the 680 are better than the 580 and there's nothing in between that's exactly equal, they have to step it up. A 580 to a 780 is a great upgrade, but regardless of all the trouble the OP has been through, he weaseled his way out to get a 780. Had he said that he feels he deserves a 780 for his troubles (and I agree with that) then that would have been better, but to say the 770 is "poor" is just not true in the least.

 

hey guys i didnt mean to cause any trouble or problems when i posted originally. sorry that i have. Dell must have clearly felt bad for me due to the number of issues i had with my R3 so when i asked for the 780m they approved it. i will admit yes i asked for a 780m, the tech spoke to his manager and he approved it. i did a little begging yes but i didnt lose my temper and get angry. i took a shot at it and got very lucky. if they had said no, i would have stuck with the 770m as yes it is better then my 580m. when i said the 770m was weak i was comparing it to the 780m. sorry for causing an argument here.

 

There's no need for you to apologise - you've done nothing wrong! . Feelings run high when dealing with replacements, and some people, including myself, have not had such good treatment. Still, there is no reason whatsoever for you not to be chuffed to bits, and I am chuffed for you, too.....it's more so frustration aimed at how Dell deal with these things, so there is no ill feeling towards anyone who manages to get a good outcome - after all, we all want that, right? - just seems that Dell are very inconsistent in their approach to these things, which does bring about a degree of animosity - but I would bet my last penny that no one wishes you any the less than what you got. Myself included.

 

ok thanks. Just wanted to make sure I didn't cause any problems here.

 

The levels of fairness and equal treatment of customers are what's users like me and Stevie are after, we arnt trying to hurt anyone's feelings just inform the community on the hardships that alot of us have faced and then reading how their are "good" stories of how one customer got above and beyond what they wanted just because .. The rep didn't know a damn thing. It's just equality and knowledge of our products is what we are after.

 

You didn't

Exactly this.

 

I've also had mixed dealings with Alienware support, but have always ended being taken care of. Hope you stay around the forums stevie as you're very knowledgeable and have helped a lot of people out.

 

Thanks, Tony. Dunno how much help I'll be without an Alien......she just got picked up about an hour ago

 

I for one will be sorry to see you go but your logic, as always, is good.

I made the mistake of asking a couple of questions over in the new m17x owners lounge. Not being an 'owner' I barely got a response . Oh well, I un-subscribed and will stick to my 'own people' in future. My OCD makes it impossible not to respond to a cry for help if I see one I think I can provide some positive input to

Onwards and upwards! Hopefully Dell with come out with something in the future that piques your interest

 

Hahaha - I'm subscribed all over the place .....I've got 27 pages of subscriptions just in case someone posts up on one of them that might need help on that particular subject - it's also very useful as a resource tool, and just like you Micky, I find it hard not to 'hop on' and post a reply if I think I can be of assistance. That's one of the addictive things about owning (or having owned) an Alienware....always plenty of people who ask for help and it's fun to be able to reply and get some satisfaction from knowing you helped someone out, regardless of what it was with.

As for another product from Dell....hmmmm. As much as I love the hardware and Alienware machines themselves, the service (I feel) has let me down quite a lot - and really has put a nail in the coffin lid for me. Still, never say never.....I just very much doubt it will be any time soon.

 

Fully understand. If when I get out of hospital I have problems with getting this one fixed (only safe mode ATM), I'll be spending my dosh elsewhere. I already have it ready and waiting as i was going to get a new M17x. But sooo disappointed in what they come up with I would only get one if it is offered down the road sometime.

I have had the screen replaced and this one is faulty, the 'alienware' LED has crapped out and only a couple of colours work, mostly it just looks kinda murky. Being colour blind it's not an issue at all but if I feel the need to get the screen replaced that should put me in a different category .

I watched all the crap they did with you and only hope it does not happen to me with this GPU failure

Then it will be new NBR section for me also - and I do like the look of the config offered by schenker

 

I hope it doesn't, too, mate - fingers crossed!

I think I'm just going to back off computing for some time....I probably have more pressing stuff to blow £4,000 on, instead of a laptop! LOL.

 

Yeah take a break and blow it on something different.

I think I may need a MB as well now. It has started to do weird things and sometimes on a restart the keyboard does not respond! Damn, if it dies altogether I think I will go mad!!!

Argggggggg....

Oh, and sorry to the OP for the hijack

 

Might just do that, Micky....you got a back-up?? - I thank my lucky stars for my little Z830 right now....she might not have an XM cpu or dual gpu's, but she's goin' strong like a trojan!!

Oh, and yeah....sorry OP!

 

I do have a backup on my second drive and another one on an external drive at home so a total disaster shouldn't take too long to recover from. And I have an old dell D430 indoors that I can ask my dad to bring in, only he's a little old and frail so a 1 hour trip to the hospital is asking a lot!

I'm sure the OP won't mind, we have been polite and as a newbie I would think it is interesting to see some of the people that hang here?

Haha, 'like a trojan'? Has a totally different meaning in the States, think dunky

 

Haha yea guys don't worry about it it's all good. Keep posting away if you wish

 

I hear ya man, One way or another My r3 is about to become my backup machine here in a few months. Think I'm going to build a custom tower to play with this time around. Haven't played with desktops in a while. And I've got a Nexus 7 2013 edition on the way for on the go.

Hope you get your Machine fixed Bro!

 

Thanks brother, me too!