Aw m18x R2 Dual 980m SLI upgrade!!

@peter

Hey buddy, do you also hear high pitch sound when GPU is running at high load, like 3dmark11?

Not like 780m it sounds weird. You can hear this if you put your ear near keyboard.

 

Ill let you know in a bit. I still have my machine taken apart.

 

3DMark 11

Graphics Score: 24584 || Physics Score: 9470 || Combined Scor: 8525

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/9100903



I got to keep CPU below 4.1x4, it is really killin CPU performance.

 

10 min ago, it throttled.
5 min ago, it worked well.
now it throttles.

gpu-z log file shows that gpu core clock went all the way down to 431-444 and memory clock down to 799.

 

Nope i didnt hear any high pitch sound. Actually there is clicking sound coming from my system. But it is due to 4xHDD clicking noise.

 

Coil whine perhaps ?

 

No coil whine here either.

 

3DMark11 720p Performance GPU comparison at stock between 780m SLI, 880M SLI, R9 M290X SLI and 980M SLI.



*Notebookcheck review data of 780m SLI, 880M SLI and R9 M290X SLI for reference.

 

do you have sli 880m?

once your core clocks are up on your cpu ull easily pass where your at,ive managed 11 points off 30k graphics.

 

This one was ran at 4.0 ghz
Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3940XM,Alienware M18xR2
And this one at 4.4 ghz
Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3940XM,Alienware M18xR2

PS: Even though it looks like a decent run on both accounts...it was actually throttled down to 975-1075 on core, but held memory over clock.
PS: At stock it's only running 975-1075 and memory is holding.
Stock run.
Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3940XM,Alienware M18xR2

 

Wow! some nice scores

 

Hi, I want to know for alienware 18, which version of the clevo card 980m card should I get, the P377SM-A card or the P150SM-A card? I need the on with the X-bracket or the metal plate, as my original 780m have a x-bracket, so do I need a 980m with a x-bracket?

thanks

 

does 980m work in the m18xR1 as well?

 

Mr. Fox will test with AW18 and R1 when he gets his cards; we know it works in R2 but only with Win 8 and UEFI.

 

Works Alienware 17r5 (120mhz 3d display) properly with gtx980m now?

 

I don't think I would call it working all that well in a R2.

 

Nowadays we experience crippled windows os, graphics cards, Alienware Laptops with poorer performance than the previous model. What's next?

 

Sale and wait for better days. lol

 

The good old days come not again. It just gets worse and worse. No point in waiting for BGA garbage ..

 

I totally agree with johnksss.
I am giving up 980m. Just use 780m for a few months and wait to see what Dell will come out with.
If they come out with crappy laptops, farewell to alienware I guess.

 

Well, it's not working as well as Clevo for whatever reason, but John's and Peter's benchmarks with 980M SLI in the R2 are all substantially higher graphics scores than 780M SLI... throttle or no throttle, what's not to like about substantially higher performance? John's overclocked 4.4GHz 3DMark11 score with sucky Windows 8 is higher than any 3DMark11 score achieved with an R2, almost 4100 3DMarks higher graphics score. How is 20% graphics score increase in 3DMark11 a problem?

Compare these 3DMark11 GPU scores...

- John's R2 980M SLI / 4.4 GHz versus Q56_Monster's P570WM3 780M SLI: http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/9101947/3dm11/8865640

- John's R2 980M SLI / 4.4 GHz versus Mr. Fox best ever 780M SLI / 4.8 GHz: http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/9101947/3dm11/8291584

...add to that the fact that Windows 8 is notorious for lousy performance in 3DMark 11, especially physics score.

Fire Strike graphics scores...

- John's Best R2 780M SLI versus AlienXM's R2 980M SLI (31% increase with 980M SLI): http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/1461029/fs/3392797

Fire Strike Extreme graphics scores...

- John's Best R2 780M SLI versus godfafa's R2 980M SLI (28% increase with 980M SLI): http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/3329506/fs/2681425

C'mon now, other than it not being as powerful as a P570WM3 (as fully expected) and being screwed with Windows 8 as the only OS option (for now) I'm not seeing a good reason to avoid 980M. What am I missing here? If svl7 can mod the vBIOS (or Dell releases one in a machine refresh) that fixes the UEFI GOP only problem, I can only see things getting better from this point. These are solid increases considering the 980M is running a stock vBIOS against a modded 780M vBIOS. If we're at a 25-30% performance increase right now, what's that going to look like with optimization?

 

A work in progress.

 

We will find out in about 2 weeks. My guess is probably not, unless the R1 BIOS handles graphics differently in a way we don't know about. Otherwise, the lack of pure UEFI support will prevent it from working, at least until a vBIOS with legacy VGA support surfaces. At that point it will likely work just fine. If it does work in my M18xR1 with legacy VGA support, the 980M SLI upgrade might stay put in that machine for a while, LOL. At least I will be able to use Windows 7 instead of Windows 8.

I think their days of producing truly high performance machines are numbered. They really haven't done anything all that amazing since they released the M18xR2. They went from world class to second class with the Haswell machines. Until the Sandy-E version of the P570WM3 with 4930K and Prema's latest BIOS mod surfaced, the R2 was the baddest laptop on the planet. They're going to have to do something magical as far as extreme performance goes before I will buy another Alienware machine.

It might be a while, maybe even a good while yet, but I see a Clevo in my future as long as it has dual GPU and 6 or 8 core desktop K/X CPU specs. Otherwise, I will be sticking with the R2 as the second best laptop in the universe. I'm not going into debt to get one, so it will have to wait until I can pay cash for it. If they stop making a laptop equivalent to the P570WM3 I will switch to desktops again. I won't play the mickey mouse BGA pile of crap laptop game with any of them.

 

With something like the P570WM, it's so big and bulky, you might as well get a desktop, because I doubt anyone would carry that around much, if at all. (Two power bricks)
The benefits of a desktop as such would be that it would be significantly cheaper.

 

Johnksss, how did you get your clocks so high? Did you modify the 980m bios to get past the 135 limit? Also I'd like to know if a 4960x would work better than a 4930k with 980m? Thank you.

 

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. However, I would buy a desktop before I'd buy a Clevo. I'm not a fan of Clevo's. Raw performance isn't enough to justify purchasing an inferior product. I've never had good luck with them or any other brands. I always went the "cheap" route when I was younger and regretted every moment of it. Alienware changed the game for me (last generation) and hasn't really impressed me thus far. So, yeah, desktop gaming may very well be my next and final stop.*

*I've never purchased a gaming desktop until the Aurora R4. I wasn't impressed. If I return to desktops, I'll probably be building one.

 

@johnksss

why are you using a11 not a10?
any specific reason for that?

 

That's an impressive graphics score, lol.

 

Minus the desugn and indistinguishable looks of alienware Clevo seems to make a solid performing and reliable machine. It's hard to describe and people do t insert stand what is meant by build quality sometimes. Clevo definatly is a little lacking in that aspect however I think that is what they are going for. Someone who wants a powerhouse that doesn't look like a "gaming" pc. The fit and finish is not subpar but it is "different". The price difference reflects it also. It's not a big price difference but a couple to a few hundred comparing core to core minus the extra your paying for the premium finish etc. Plus the ability to have premo bios and other more "open" platform for modding enthusiast..

That being said if Alienware knocks it out of the park with another sli 18" I'm all over it, if not I'll be done with them. I do have a sager now to hold my wanna gotta have it now 980m sli to power my 1440p high frame rate desires when my desktop is being utilized for something else. I hope Alienware brings us non-mainstream enthusiast the powerhouse we desire with moddability...

 

Yep, modded it and flash it.

Nope. No specific reason and it makes no difference between A10 either.

Side note:
Well it does do allot better in games than in benching that's for sure. (Alienware Only)
Single 980M Maxed out.

 

Dell vBIOS whoa, was the string edited from Clevo?

 

Those are some amazing clocks. How much power you pulling from the plug?

 

That information is based on the hardware ID of machine the GPU is installed in. Likewise, a Dell GPU installed in a Clevo will read Kapok/Clevo, not Dell. It has nothing to do with the vBIOS. It has been this way for as long as I can remember.

I have Clevo 780M cards in my M18xR2 and here is what it shows.

 

These are clevo cards. I'm just testing them in my alienware.

 

I just read the tooltip, if a third party doesn't program the PCI signature, then it says something else. Never knew that. Mine says NVIDIA (10DE).

 

I was running an unlocked version of A11 for several weeks and I liked the appearance of the boot screen logo better (Alienware name instead of alien head) and I also found that A11 had no effect on performance for better or for worse. However, I did run into a random issue where the screen with the multipliers and base clock settings was occasionally causing my system to lock up and my machine would freeze when simply trying to open that BIOS menu. Resetting BIOS defaults a few times would get it "unstuck" but it was really frustrating. I went back to A10 yesterday because I was sick of running to that issue randomly.

 

Now that is interesting... Not sure if that happen to me already. Ill keep looking for it this time.

 

AND take up 5 times the space... id rather a laptop that can crush a desktop gtx980 over a desktop that can crush sli 980m tbh spce and electric bills... anyways once you build a pc you cant stop,water cooled mother board watercooled multi gpus water cooled cpu 3-6screens.... where does it end....

whats wrong with your graphics score johnksss your clocked but thats very low?
does the r2 hold them back atm?

i use w8.1 its ok i guess still get 29k though same clocks,gotta be aw hope u get a bios fix soon.

 

Bing, bing, bing!!!! Bingo, we've got a winner. WORD!

I love monster desktops, but they are not significantly cheaper if you build them right, and they are more or less nailed in one spot. Gotta love a monster laptop that can kick some serious desktop booty.

 

Here in Norway it is much cheaper for me and get a fully packed Alienware 18 than to build me a hefty gaming rig. Should I build a desktop PC that I want, it comes to cost 75% more than a full-featured new Alienware 18.

 

It doesn't, that's the beauty of it.

But seriously it's great for someone like me who enjoys tinkering with stuff, sometimes more so than actually using the computer.

 

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3940XM,Alienware M18xR2

 

Now if only we could get proper power unlock I could go after those single 980 desktop setups running at 2ghz with extreme cooling.

 

god wouldnt that be something.

 

We did unlock it. But other parts require work.

 

*waiting for Meaker's voice to pass through again saying "THIS IS MOBILE GPU!!!!" when he gets his hands on the finished vBIOS*

 

What a shame the new strategy is to gimp the whole cotton-picking Alienware laptop and then try to make up for it with a super-duper, inconvenient, space hogging, wallet-chewing eGPU. Having a beast laptop that runs like a desktop without any external influence, no gimping or other compromises just makes a wholehelluvalot more sense. I guess they're hoping people will also buy at least one Dell monitor to go along with the added expense required to purchase that geeky compromise if you want the full performance package.

"Gee, why don't I buy a laptop that can't be upgraded and only runs well when it is tethered to my desk. Yeah, that's the ticket."

 

Yep. It is surely gimped in the alienware.

 

Or those consoles they are investing in...

 

Johnksss, a 3dmark11 score of P12938 with the single 980m in your M18x R2 is great! However, your posted score shows your OS as 64-bit Windows 7 (6.1.7601).

Mr. Fox reported you using “sucky Windows 8” (see below). I did not think you could currently use Win 7 with a 980m on the M18xR2. Am I missing something?