Anyone with original 7970M's still going strong? Looks like I'm no longer in the running..

Thank you Mr fox for the reply and I am truly happy with deal. My case was a special case as always and dell really did not offer much of a solution. Either send laptop R1 to depot and hope they fix it or send a tech to my house. If I accept the specs then they will do a system exchange. It was a no brainer to do a system exchange.

The original problem was the computer was randomly surging and shutting down along with rebooting and no blue screen. We have already done multiple motherboards, video cards and still the same issue. I am tempted to flip the 18 brand new and get an R2 with 680m sli from outlet with extended warranty. I am perfectly fine using my M14x until then. I will miss the flashy alienware design of the r1 and r2. I would never buy the 18 with my money and rather spend my $$$ on a souped up R2.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Mine was doing this last night after pushing it with skyrim mods of all things. I thought I had broken it since it shut itself off multiple times before I could get back into windows. I did a power drain a CMOS clear and that was the last of it (touch wood).

 

I kinda think it has to do with the USB port board like the daughter card. I have had issues where USB will stop working and only thing that will make those ports work again is a reboot. After them doing 3 service calls in home and 1 depot repair. I have no trust in repairs and would rather start over with a fresh factory build. I am currently looking at dell outlet for m18x r2 with high end specs and planning on using the 30% off. I might take advantage of the dell gift card promo where you get $75 gift card when you buy a $400 gift card along with amex $50 off $599.

I really want to like the 18 that they are replacing mine with but I have this feeling that it is a much cheaper version of the original R1 and R2. Yet the price is just as high to somehow make you think it is just as good. I personally prefer the classic M18x R1 and R2 since it reminds me of the M15x, M17x and the M11x I have had. All the Alienware designs have been similar except the new styles which reminds me of the Dell Latitude series (Business Professional). I could care less about having a laptop that is politically correct and prefer the in your face flashy hardcore alienware design.


Genuine Alienware M18x HDMI USB SD Reader Board 0TPK3N TPK3N LS 6571P | eBay

 

Good news, everyone! We have a delivery.. scheduled around 12/03/13 . There's a fair bit of update since the last time I posted in this thread so here's a recap for those interested:

- M18x R2 exchanged for AW 18 (like new condition)
- Initially downgraded from 3820QM to 4700MQ and 7970M CFX to 765M SLI
- Approved for complementary upgrade to 4930MX and 780M SLI
- 4930MX installed, 780M's on back order (or so I assumed)

Recent development:
- Computer bricked when I enabled OC in BIOS (when I changed Extreme Edition from Disabled to BIOS, all I noticed was that the Flex VID was weird at something like 1000 so I just dialed up back to 0 and left the multipliers at 41, confirmed and.. bricked)
- Technical support said the engineering department was interested in the failure given its common occurrence of late, offered a "System Capture" which he explained was a system exchange with the old machine returned to the engineers. Said he would make sure I retain the bumped up specs and that the process is streamlined cf. regular exchange.
- The very next day, local mobile tech called to schedule the installation of the 780M's. (Oh the irony.. He even had a trainee with him, just to be told that they'd be working on a dead machine. The guys were in good spirits though knowing that 1. nothing can get broken any further and 2. they still get paid by the clock Dell didn't give them the 100W heatsinks to replace the 75W ones that came with the 765M's despite my best efforts to remind them at first, but that doesn't matter to me now.. Will just leave a note when I return the system.)
- It turned out Dell is building me a brand new machine. Just got the order number and found out about the following upgrades:
1. 7970M CFX to 780M SLI
2. 3820QM to 4930MX
3. 500 GB HDD to 750 GB HDD + 80 GB mSATA SSD
4. DVD-RW to BD ROM
5. 6 GB DDR3 1600MHz to 16 GB DDR3L 1600MHZ

 

You shoukd write an epic bard's tale of all the events lol. Good luck with the next one.

 

My replacement unit is out for delievery and I plan to run some benchmarks like SPECviewperf 11 which will stress the video card in a different manner than regular gaming benchmarks. I am testing the 6970m versus 770m as far as productivity and design rendering FPS. I have already noticed with memory bandwidth, bus width, shaders, and ROP that 6970m has the lead. As a gaming card the 770m is much better and as a productivity card the 6970m is better.

http://www.spec.org/gwpg/downloadindex.html

 

Decided to list up the Alienware 18 since it is still brand new and picked up a nice refurbished M18x R2 BEAST for a steal. I told you that I would only be spending my hard earned money on the classy alienware design. I had the lady at the dell outlet make me an offer I could not refuse and then sweeten it up even further. This will be a nice investment with 4 yr warranty. Dell I am going no where and you will have to deal with me for a very long long time...MWAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAH

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...16gb-bluray-laptop-7-free-games-upgrades.html

Item Number Quantity Item Description
Y5G3F 1 Base,Notebook,Configure To Order,M18XR2
VP83H 1 Module,Assembly,Base,Alienware,M18XR2
995JJ 1 Module,Adapter,Delta - Ac Adapt,330W,3P,World Wide,Alienware
F928P 1 Module,Cord,Power,15A,3M,C13,United States
JY579 1 Module,Information,Software, Alienware,ALIENFX,Blue
TG4MT 1 Module,Software,W7HP64SP1,English,Dao/Bcc
V627F 1 Module,Processor,IVB,I7-3840QM,2.8,AMLK
FYMGW 1 Module,Dual In-Line Memory Module,16GB,4X4G,1600MHZ,Double Data Rate
D6GG7 1 MOD,SSD,256G,S3,#1,7MM, Samsung PM830
8DCX6 1 MOD,SSD,256G,S3,#2,7MM,Samsung PM830
96FCH 1 Module,Card,Graphics,GTX680M, DUAL SLI
H9XM4 1 Module,Card (Circuit),Network,KILLER,Alienware,World Wide
929-0223 1 Premium Phone Support, 3 Year Extended
950-7447 1 4 Year Limited Warranty
Y9YJD 1 Module,Documentation,AW SERI/WSI,DAO/BCC
8CT07 1 Module,Shipping Material,System,ANW NB,M18X
W3HMK 1 Module,Label,Microsoft,Notebook,Windows7
V9KPP 1 Module,Label,Intel,No Bios,CI72
21VR0 1 Module,Information,Artwork,NAME-PLT,Custom,M18X
2FDNJ 1 Module,Information,Audio,M18X
RW2FT 1 Service Install Module,Software,KILLER,Wireless Fidelity,A/V MLK
W753G 1 Module,Information,Direct Ship,Compal,TSINGMA
1CVJ3 1 Service Install Module,Software,380,Boot,Alienware
M3T3T 1 Module,Software,W7HP64SP1,Digital Video Disk Drive,MUL17,Alienware
GV0CP 1 Module,Software,WINDOWS-LIVE,WAVE4,Consumer
6JY27 1 Module,Software,Soft Contracts,Qualxserve,Alienware
P6XPR 1 Module,Software,CRRS,Multiple User Interface
YG2GN 1 Module,Software,Alienware,COMMANDCNTR,M18XR2
XM544 1 Module,Software,PC-RESTORE Transactional Line Of Business
M239M 1 Module,Software,LTG DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
4WYVT 1 Module,Software,Quick Fix Engineering,WIN7SP1,No Bios
Y4M1H 1 Module,Software,BROWSER-SEARCH,Artwork
NVN98 1 Module,Software,Soft Contracts,Consumer,CARE,Alienware
R8GHP 1 Service Install Module,Software,Alienware,M18XR2
38TR2 1 Module,Liquid Crystal Display,18.4FHD,White Light Emitted Diode,M18XR2
K68JV 1 Module,Dvd+/-Rw,Hitachi Lg Data Storage,BARE,Alienware
2J4FR 1 Module,Software,Certificate Of Authenticity,W7HP64,Alienware
DV88G 1 Module,Cover,HUG-UP,Black,M18XR2
3XT2R 1 Module,Card,Network,DW380,CSMB,World Wide
49N4V 1 Module,Information,Cam,Integrated,Manufactured In China,Asset Recovery Business
M3GVR 1 Module,Software,OFC-2013,Multiple User Interface,Factory Install
PJGG2 1 Module,Battery,Primary,97WHR,12C,SIMPLO
G71MJ 1 Module,Keyboard,Alienware,101,ENG-US,AV MLK
F52YT 1 Module,Keyboard,Alienware,6,ADDL,WW,AVGR
421-1723 1 Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware
954-1690 1 Premium Phone Support, Initial Year
995-6083 1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
995-6093 1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Extended Year(s)
995-6103 1 In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year
995-6153 1 In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, 3 Year Extended
3E476 1 Information,Equipment
11725 1 Warranty Longer of 90 Days or Remainder of System Warranty/ Svc Contract. 21 Day Return. Parts may be Reconditioned.
375-6061 1 Thank you, Dell Outlet

 

Yeah I'd pick 680M over 770M and 3840 over 4800 any day Sneaky move, faiz!

Out of curiosity, why is it that your new replacement AW 18 has no Dell warranty at all? Couldn't you have extended it online to boost the resale value, unless it's actually expired? Just a thought..

 

My old system was pretty much out of warranty and dell realized the system extension they sold me a year ago was never suppose to be sold in the first place. They decided to do a system exchange and give me a full refund on the extended warranty they sold me and transfer no warranty to the new system. Now I have a brand new 18 with no warranty from dell. I will have warranty through square trade if I decide to purchase that or the buyer wants to buy that. I prefer the M18x R2 personally and the 680m sli was just icing on the cake. The 3840qm along with raid ssd samsung 256gb sealed the deal. Once dell started offering 15% off and then 10% additional on top of outlet sale prices. I had no choice but to flip the brand new laptop and put that $$$ towards the M18x R2. My heart is still set on the older classic design along with having triple drives, and 4 yr warranty versus no warranty. Not having to pay tax was a nice benefit as well and really made it easy to say YES to the m18x r2. I personally think the new 18 is too boring and the loss of features is too hard not to notice.

 

I couldn't resist....

 

You won't be sorry !!! Nice price too!

 

I noticed earlier today dell outlet had 25% off any alienware for black friday deals and glad I picked up my unit when I did. I never broke down the discounts but in the end dell gave me 15% off for using my DPA account since outlet had no coupon and she got an exception from her supervisor. The rep I spoke to gave me 10% if I used my own card or 15% for using my dell dpa. I noticed the sale price and called to cancel my order since I was still experiencing a 10% higher cost and dell customer order return specialist offered to match the 10% if I leave the order as is and keep the laptop. My original price was $2298 - 344.7 (15% exception on DELL DPA) - $230 (10% dell return department matching dell outlet black friday discount) = $1723.30 for the laptop :GEEK:. That was a slick deal for dual SSD, 680m sli, and 3840qm . I did not have to wait till the coupon went live and instead got the same 25% doing it my way but receive an awesome laptop. Warranty was additional and the cost came out to $125 per year

 

The second replacement has finally arrived, straight from the factory as FedEx tracking revealed. I can't wait to jump into it but there's just a little housekeeping to do..

Does anyone know how to make use of the mSATA cache drive as a regular drive? Right now I'm not detecting it in Windows at all..

Oh congrats to faiz for the slick deals. Who knows what machine you'd end up with before 11/2017?

 

Yeh you need to load up control centre I think it was. Just type in search for intel program. Load that up and turn off acceleration caching mode for the M-sata drive. Then you can go into drive management and initialize it as a normal drive and format it.

Cheers.

 

Thanks man and you enjoy your beast as well. I worked with the seller of my XM chip and he was able to find a buyer who was willing to pay $25 more for the chip and we cancelled the transaction since it benefits both of us. I found out his chip was made in China, Brand new but made in 05/25/12. I found another seller of mine while waiting to hear back from some of my contacts over seas in UK and CHINA who I typically buy chips from. I was able to negotiate a price of $323.73 for a brand new XM chip made 08/1/13 and made in USA. I am sure I will be extremely happy with this laptop with overclocked CPU and GPU. With the 4 yr warranty, I look forward to some of the new model GPU that will be released in the next couple years. If I have any issues and after multiple repairs on the current unit. I am sure Dell will offer to exchange it out with Maxwell or Volta Alienware 18 notebook. The kepler refresh with 780m is not something to get all giddy about and I am looking forward to real hardware changes with Maxwell or Volta series GPU.

 

Your deals keep getting better, faiz. I'm sure you'll be able to leave us Haswell users in the dust

Solved the mSATA issue. Intel Rapid Storage Technology application only told me there the status of the mSATA was "incompatible" but didn't allow me to do anything about it. I had to change the BIOS setting to RAID, then go into the Ctrl+I menu and reset the mSATA drive to a non-raid volume. (Oh of course I had to change back to AHCI. Otherwise I can't even boot up )

 

Go to the opening post in this thread and scroll down to " HELP! I screwed up big time and installed Windows with the BIOS set to AHCI instead of RAID!!! How do I fix this without having to reinstall Windows?" and you will find the solution to that dilemma.

 

Thanks for the extra tips, Brother Fox. I don't have any drives set up in RAID so I'm good with AHCI for now. Might come in handy in the future though

 

I looooooooove the 18x and my dual 7970s, currently downloading Ghosts and BF4 will report back, such a great rig!!!

 

Due to the differences in the memory bandwidth, shader cores, Render Output Processors, Bus Width, and Pixel Fill rate. Dell is sending out a pair of 780m to replace the 770m.

 

JEEBUS!!!

Now my question is that once dell takes the GTX 770m from me. Should I swap the 780m into my M18x r2 and use the 680m sli in the Alienware 18. That would be an upgrade to the GTX 770m and boost the selling price of my current GTX 770m alienware 18. I would get some upgraded cards but have to worry about warranty down the road. Decisions Decisions....

 

After all the benefits we've got thanks to the warranty, I wouldn't want to mess mine up. Best to just sell the 18 with 780M's and perhaps buy separate 780M's for the R2 down the road. 680M SLI is already limited by the power supply under some healthy OC..

 

Hello everyone, was browsing through your forums and thought I should register. My 7970m's in my m18xr1 were running for the last 2 years 2 months. Until today when one decided to die, at least that is what I believe is happening, at least a long slow painful death anyway. Sometimes I am getting 8 beeps and no boot then when I wait a while it will boot fine, then sometimes one of them wont show up in device manager and whenever I tried to do anything it would lock up my lappy. Today I opened her up to find out which one was the faulty one. Booted with the good one everytime when it was in its original spot. Then didnt boot in the faulty ones spot, then the faulty gpu doesnt boot in the good slot, so I was thinking it could also possibly be mobo related.

Anyway, reading the forum posts got me thinking I should possibly call dell, even though my warranty is up and see if I can squeeze anything out of them....

anyone been in this situation?

 

if you still got original components that came with machine as gpu's and so on, you should extend the warranty and see if your laptop will eventually fall apart and if dell will replace it for you with R2 or latest AW18

 

Let's not inflate any figures here.. The 7970M product was only launched 1 year 8 months ago (I would know because I bought it soon as it was available ). As for your method of testing, am I right to infer that you were testing each card in either GPU slot? Well the machine will not boot at all if there is no GPU in the "master" slot so even if you put only a good card into the "slave" slot, it would still appear as if the computer is dead. If memory serves, the card on the left is the master. Extending your warranty would certainly be a good idea here, if at all possible. It's a consumerist miracle that Dell lets you extend warranty retrospectively tbh..

 

I think Im with Sponge here....

I received my m18 June of 2012......with dual 7970's and thankfully mine are still running fine.

 

Ah yes, total derp moment at 12 in the morning for me. I am running dual 6990M's still having the same situation occurring though, although today I managed to fix it....a little bit, now the machine is booting without any beeps although playing games like AC4 which I used to run on high without a problem, is now laggy beyond playability.

 

Hey guys, I'm new around here and shot in the dark question but does anyone know of an easy way to remove the X bracket on the back of the gpu and swap it into another one...It's stuck on my 6990m and I ordered a 7970m but it didn't come with the bracket included. UpgradeMonkey is saying I can reuse the x bracket but I don't see how as it's held down with some pretty strong stuff. Sorry if I'm posting this in a incorrect forum but the other thread is kind of dead and no ones offering any suggestions. Thanks for any help in advance!

 

Mr. Fox (the moderator) has suggested using a hairdryer to heat up the x-brackets, softening the glue under them. I haven't had to try it myself though..

 

Use a thin screwdriver to push the pillar through the hole in the PCB, be very careful and work round each one a bit at a time.