Alienware 18 (what to install for windows 10?

I know it's in beta but I did a fresh install of windows 10 (after backing up everything).

My question is what dRivers if any do I need to install from the dell website?

I found out by trial and error in order to install command center I hAd to use the windows 8.1 version. Windows 7 version gave me errors . Other then that device manager was all good, and no explanation marks. I instaed My own nvidia drivers . all my equipment seems to work fine. The only iSsue I'm running into is installing the Intel rapid storage technology.

Is that something I even need with windows 10? Maybe they have something similar built in?

 

Do you need to instal Intel rapid storage technology? It depends. Seems its main purpose is relating to raid arrays. If you are not using a raid array for storage, I wouldn't bother.

I run windows 8.1 on my Alienware 18 and didn't have it installed for a few months after a forced fresh format (read: my msata hard drive failed after 4 months from new and it was replaced under warranty) and didn't notice any issues. I have since installed it and there is no noticeable difference.

On a side note, (sorry to hijack thread) I tried windows 10 beta and it all went fine until I installed the video drivers (I have the 2 x m290x cards) and then I got black screen. Couldn't get it to display after that, so I had to go back to 8.1. If anyone is aware of a solution to this, please let me know.

 

Well @thegh0sts has been experiencing similar issues with 980M. It certainly appears that Windows 10 is a mess, and it looks like, ready or not, AMD and NVIDIA are both going to inherit some extra duties to help clean up Micro$haft's mess. Since we are only a few weeks away from final release, it's kind of scary that they haven't done a better job at getting their act together. The best solution right now is to not use Windows 10.

 

The 10147 build seems to be working as expected. I did a cold boot this morning and it worked like a charm. Clearly the public 10130 build is broken.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

Well, is that an older build? If so, that's not a good sign and they are misguided. Just like newer NVIDIA drivers (those released after 345.20) causing my 780M SLI to throttle severely is a bad sign. Repeatedly screwing up and getting progressively worse is something they need to be ashamed of. The earlier Windows 10 builds I tested worked OK, but performance was worse than Windows 8.X (which is worse than Windows 7) and I saw no point is continuing to use an OS that was inferior. Repeated failure and growing incompetence warrants our full attention, and don't forget that one popular definition of insanity. It's difficult enough to understand any basis for a portion of the public's attraction to an OS that lowers performance, but one that just doesn't work right is a horse of a different color.

 

build 10147 is a newer build and appears to be more stable than build 10130.

if you can find it give build 10147 a go. i am using the nvidia 353.17 betas.

 

Did you do any Windows 8.1 benchmarks with 980M so you would have something objective to measure against before deciding which OS is better?

I am waiting for the final version of Windows 10. I plan to do some Windows 7 vs. Windows 8 vs. Windows 10 benchmarks like I did before. I actually did this with the Windows 10 preview months ago and gave Micro$haft the data showing how they are getting progressively worse at what they do instead of better.

If newer always meant better, we would/should all be sporting BGA Alienware 15 and 17 R2 jokebooks instead of upgrading end of life hardware to keep the superior legacy machines kicking.

 

i have rough numbers but i wasn't going talking about performance but more on overall system stability. i'll have to do some testing later on.

 

• Ok after some research they are fixing the Intel Rapid storage bug. It can actually be fixed by a simple work Around of disabling windows.net 4.5 or whatever the hell it's called . Then installation of rapid storage will go fine. Then re able the .net function. I'm saying .net because I'm at work and can't remember the right word. Either way they are fixing it in the next update.

I know a lot of people here hate windows . I myself felt windows 7 was my favorite version but so far windows 10 hasn't been that bad. It's like windows 7 with a splSh of windows 8 if that's your thing . It connected to my Xbox one Easily. Haven't figured out how to stream Xbox one games to my of get though which wOuld be cool.