Alienware 18 with 980M SLI by HIDevolution

Pieces are good to have if you need them later. I have lots of pieces in the closet "just in case" I need them someday. As long as I keep them, it is unlikely I will ever need them.

 

Yeah, I sold most of the main components of my oldest AW (2920MX and 580M SLi) and I gave my AW 675M SLi (so she can play Farmwille 2 on facebook) to my gf so I only have the 680M SLi and the 780M SLi AW left..and I really only the AW 780M SLi, or....I mainly use my 570WM if my Desktop PC is out of reach. But Im thinking of selling both the AW 680M and 780M to get money for the 980M's for the 570WM, dont wanna spent another 2000-3000 dollars out of the pocket for a new GPU upgrade nightmare.

 

Well testing has shown the P570WM (any revision) will work with the 980M at least. I think with a dell bios they will work in alienware machines.

 

If I already owned a P570WM I wouldn't bother upgrading my Alienware machines. If no vBIOS is available to facilitate a 980M SLI upgrade on my M18xR2 in the next 90 days I will most likely move on to something else and my interest in Alienware products will officially end. If I find myself <del>having to abandon the brand</del> in a position of being abandoned by the brand, I will probably keep the M18xR1 to use as a tool for fixing MXM cards that are soft-bricked and get rid of everything else.

 

Same here. I feel abandoned by the brand too. I guess lots of people feel the same.
Many friends of mine in Korean Alienware Forum are letting go alienware for sale and buying p375sm-a (4900mq, 980m sli) already.
I am gonna wait for some time to see if we can make a change since 780m sli with 3940xm would do good enough performance for world of warcraft and league of legends.

 

And if I change my laptop brand, it would not be p570wm, rather p375sm-a.
P570wm 's CPU is notorious for high temp and I dont think I'd need 6 core other than bench.
P375sm-a would do very similar performance as AW18 and even better on GPU performance since AW17 and AW18's PCi-E is stuck at 2.0 or behave like 2.0.

 

I'd buy Clevo SLI machines too if it wasn't for their notorious reputation as leaf blowers

Doesnt look we will get the 980M/970M cards to work in an Alienware M18/AW18 until we get hold of a Dell vbios or some BIOS update. Which looks like gonna take a good while.

We are basically screwed

 

Look at the bright side.
we're getting more of our money's worth out of our existing gpu cards that we currently own.
Seems by the time dell comes out with the new cards nvidia will be getting close to releasing the 1080m.

 

For those who have the nerves to wait another 3 months after Alienware finally release GTX 980M yes. But it will be bad publicity for Alienware as a brand to take so long and get their 980M cards beaten only 3 months after. There will be angry customers and there will be comparisons made against other brands.

Not difficult for someone with 780M SLI to wait til 980MX but for us without notebooks, its not funny.

 

I know it's bs for alienware to treat their customers this way and it's not good business practice whatsoever. Everyone is frustated and upset with them. I'm frekn pissed and frustrated just like everyone else I was just trying to lighten up the situation. I didn't mean for it to be funny I was just stating a fact.

 

Check out this Mini ITX Fox! X99 / 5960, water cooled, and GTX 980 SLI!!!

Building the Ultimate mATX SLI PC with Intel's 5960X and Nvidia's GTX 980 - GameSpot

You could use the Mini D instead of an Air 240:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66780NJNb7Q&list=PLknCNmc8uMa4w2kK5ybqLWss2tS3I2VNo

You would have about 50% of your existing mobility, and about 75% when Oculus Rift becomes a reality and you can transport that instead of a monitor in your trunk.....

I think its time to move on from Dell.....

 

Lots of really nice mtx/ itx option out now. I was about to do anotger massive build like my recent build. I think I'm going to do a sick matx system instead...

 

Yeah I would love to pair the hardware in that Gamespot article with the Mini-D instead of an Air 240...Kinda short on funds right now though.

 

Nice hardware, but I don't want a mini anything. I want an E-ATX board like the X99 Rampage Extreme Black Edition on an open rack or a massive full height/dual width tower on wheels. Probably want the open rack so tinkering with LN2 and DICE pot cooling will be easier. If I go back to desktop it will probably be either dual Titan-Z or 3x or 4x 980 SLI... as they say, "Go big, or go home." I have a laptop that has set a number of world records and I want nothing less than a desktop capable of setting some world records, or least be right on their heels. I don't really want another "nice gaming machine" for a desktop. The Alienware 18 is a "nice gaming machine" but it's not a good overclocking Über-beast. I don't want any more stuff like that. I only want machines that run in full beast mode.

I'm holding out for 980M SLI for the M18xR2 to see what happens first. I won't need a desktop to offer mobility. I will still have my trusty M18xR2 for that even if 780M SLI is as far as it goes. Still kicks the teeth out of almost everything else in a laptop without the 980M SLI.

 

GTX980-4Way 3DMark11 세계 1위 시감입니다. / 시스템감상

You need this.
Someone just beat Johnksss.

 

That's some serious kit. I would likely go to dual chip single card itx with mine but still keep water cooling. Minimal but still crazy fast.

 

Brothers - if anyone is updating to 980's and has some decent SLi 8xx (or even SLi 7xx) green-team hardware that I can drop into my M18x R2 (to replace my SLi 675M's), please drop me the good news in a PM or email. Thanks for your time

 

I hate that nobody is working to get the 980M/970M to work in AW18 and I hate that we might not get Dell vbios for these cards until freaking 2015.

HID and Eurocom are both unable to make them work. I should be rocking an AW18 with 970M SLI now

So freaking messed up :cry:

 

Did they say exactly why it's not working or "it's just not working"?

 

They didn't say why.
As of now, Alienware 17 with Clevo 980M only works with Optimus Enabled. Alienware 18 goes in an endless reboot loop with GTX 970M SLI according to one user. I wonder if its the BIOS checking for Optimus since AW18 doesn't support it and if the vbios have Optimus in the code, it doesn't do the approval/handshake and reboots.
godfata have tried GTX 980M on older M18x machine and the newest AW18 and neither work. He have tried two types of Clevo vbios.

HID are selling AW18 with GTX 980M SLI but its misleading because they haven't got them to work together. HID just respond " check back in a week" every time someone ask about progress. Eurocom say there is some obstacles to overcome and "its gonna take some time" to get 980M and AW18 to work.

 

Hummmm. Thanks.
Does godfafa_kr have a work log on testing somewhere I can look at?

 

Not exactly a work log but he was pretty active here
Going to test clevo 980m in alienware m17x R4, m18x R2, AW17

He is also a member of this forum

 

I completed the top Mr. Fox took me 20 mins with knifeless tape:thumbsup:

 

I find all these vendors majorly dishonest to continue selling 980m SLI packages when they are proven not to work.

 

Totally agree with you mate

 

It's utterly greedy they are still selling 980M SLi machines that don't work.

 

Hey Mr. Fox. Any specific reason why you tout the, "M18xR2" versus the newest 2014 version of the Alienware 18? In other words, prior to me purchasing a newer Alienware 18, should I consider instead upgrading the GPU's of the previous version M18xR2 because this might be an overall better package than the newer 2014 version ? I appreciate you considering my question and advising me further...

 

Hey Mr. Fox. Any specific reason why you tout the, "M18xR2" versus the newest 2014 version of the Alienware 18? In other words, prior to me purchasing a newer Alienware 18, should I consider instead upgrading the GPU's of the previous version M18xR2 because this might be an overall better package than the newer 2014 version ? I appreciate you considering my question and advising me further...

 

Because you can unlock cpu overclocking more completely and can mod a dual brick power supply to supply more power which is required for heavy overclocking.

 

Meaker said it really well. The Alienware 18 is a good machine that is shackled by artificial performance limitations. It could have been extremely awesome, but it's stuck in third place behind the P570WM3 and M18xR2. It runs neck-and-neck with the M18xR2 right up the the point it slams against the brick wall (single 330W AC adapter). It's a real shame they hobbled it like that, but it is what it is. Perfect for gaming, but just downright worthless for benching.

 

Thanks, I really appreciate your thoughts on this...if I may be so bold and if you could, what about disabling Core Parking? Specifically, if my intentions are to only use something like this plugged-in, does disabling Core Parking increase performance, and if so, would that add more stress to an already seemingly meager power supply ? ...or does disabling Core Parking not improve performance in any measurable way, cause to void warranty and therefore, not worth taking that step via the bios ?

 

Disabling core parking is something I always do. It improves performance slightly, but every little bit counts. I have not found any downside to this. It does not induce enough stress that I have ever noticed and it does not void your warranty. It's a simple registry tweak, in principle not remarkably different in complexity or scope than opening up Device Manager and killing all of the "Allow Windows to turn off this device to save power" nonsense you can find.

I also enable HPET and that gives a little bit of a performance nudge as well. Here's a link with more about that. [ LINK]

 

Any news with tha 980m in AWs.....

 

Nope, not at this time... Other than what you have already experienced with the failed aftermarket upgrade attempt.

If and when Alienware eventually decides to support the latest and greatest GPU, I'm sure they won't keep it a secret. I'm sure we'll be merging a plethora of redundant threads covering the same topic like there's no tomorrow, LOL.

 

Whats the most powerfull crossfire/sli config a m18x can handle at the moment

 

GTX 780M SLI is the most powerful GPU combo that actually functions correctly.

880M SLI should be better, but the product is defective and does not work correctly for anyone, regardless of what brand of machine it has been installed on. Unfortunately, that's all they offer right now in a new machine and 780M SLI is no longer an option. Best bet is to upgrade what you have, or buy a used machine with 780M SLI already installed... or just wait to see if what they do next is actually something to be excited about. If not, you may want to consider other options.

As far as CrossFire goes, the M18xR2 with 7970M CrossFire is the highest level of performance available from AMD. R9 M290X is just a rebranded 7970M, so nothing remarkable has been produced by AMD for almost 3 years now.

 

Ahh cool good to know. I got the m18x r2 crossfire 7970m and pretty happy with the power of it. Would be nice to hopefully one day have sli 980m's when it all gets sorted. Does one card work non sli? As a single 980m should out perform most duel configurations at the moment

 

From what I have read, yes, if the computer you are putting the 980m runs with the card installed.

 

A single 980M is only about 10 FPS behind 880M SLi in most games (except for like, tomb raider which scales at 90%). In MSi and ASUS laptops the card runs so cool it's got plenty of headroom for an Overclock, to which can then beat the 880M SLi.

 

GTX 980M is good, and two of them would be twice as nice. But, that's a bad comparison since 880M (single or SLI) is totally messed up.

 

Eurocom's "Razor" laptop guy says the 980M gtx's are compatible with the 17's and the m17x-R4 but NOT working with the 18's or the previous generation m18x-r2's. I have asked for clarification mind you. But he just said this today.


editted cause mistaken quoted wrong guy.

 

Is the 880M that crap that it's SLi is somehow effected? Or is it just a bad card because of how hot it gets? 980M so far looks to be 10C cooler, not taking into account brand cooling. When (if ever) Alienware releases 900M based machines, I'd be keen to see temperatures. Hopefully Alienware doesn't impose ridiculous temperatures limits, or the 980Ms some how get toasty.

Also, wouldn't it be a good comparison as the 880M being SO crap, the 980M is a huge improvement?

Poor 880M, when I think of them I think of the poor things suffering from being burned alive lol.

 

My 880m works great since the recent drivers. Motnhs ago I saw certain things happen, that confused me, like it would get slow and fast and stuff, but that hasn't happened in ages in any game I can think of. I think whatever the issues were with them, drivers fixed.

course I only run mine at 0.975V max, not 1v or 0.8-0.87

 

I am pretty sure you can buy generic pads..
http://www.amazon.com/Generic-15x15...8&qid=1416283464&sr=1-2&keywords=thermal+pads

 

Would be nice to get two of these working for that price

 

Thats the route Im going

 

Did the picture work? Anyways its a 970m for $450

 

Its because of AW18 and M18x does not have Optimus. AW17 and M17x R4 doesnt work without Optimus either.
Thankfully SVL will get a 980M very soon and he will fix this mess

 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=111493685951


Someone got it working in a 18.. new model though

 

Lol... If I was given $1 every time someone linked back to Hidevolution I'd be rich.