M18xR2 Pre-Order Configuration Questions... Ask HERE

That seems like a cracking deal to me. 2 yrs warranty is a nice bonus to have as well. The only thing I'd check is if it is "scratch and dent" - if minor cosmetic damage bothers you, it might have some, afaik.

I'd go for 680m's if your wallet will allow, for the gpu's. AMD drivers aren't the most reliable in the world and actually, I would say that the 680m's are better in terms of an "overall experience". As for cpu, if you are gonna do anything cpu intensive, then upgrading it would probably be worth looking at.....for gaming, you would be fine with pretty much any of them.

 

I think the dual 680's may be out of my budget a bit. Would 1 680 be my best option and then add a second one down the road?

 

That's a definite option. The easiest things to upgrade after purchase are memory and hard drives. If you can cut back on those at point of configuration, you might be able to save enough to allow you to stretch to the 680m Sli. It's probably cheaper in the long run to order Sli at the outset - aftermarket gpu's *can* run close to $1000 for one 680m if you look on Ebay and also, they won't be covered under you main machine warranty - possibly even only a 3 mth warranty from the reseller.

Dual 7970m's is a very powerful setup and at a great price but I have lost count of the people I have seen complain about this and that with AMD - wether that's driver support or the product itself. I don't see anywhere near as many headaches or complaints from owners of Nvidia based machines....and I'm not an advocate or fanboy of either, that's just how I see it on the forums.

 

Ok all, after researching this ''Monster'' for the last 6 months and based off reviews and advise from a lot of you and waiting for Black Friday, I finally purchased what I think is a great deal. I started with the almost maxed out deal which they have going on there main page but one thing I didn't like was the HDD setup they had in the configuration which was 2TB raid 0 (2x 1TB sata 3gbs 5400 rpm). I am not gaming on 5400 HDD's I told them and raid 0 because if one drive fails I will lose everything. After he talked with his supervisor I got a 256gb SSD in replace which I am happy to fit next to my 512gb SSD and 2TB sata drive (holds my movies and pictures etc)

After a bit more negotiating further discounts to lower the price more than the current $455 offer I ended up with

i7-3840QM
32GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M - SLI Enabled
256GB Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s
Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming and Video and Bluetooth 4.0
ZyXEL AeroBeam WHD6215-R Wireless HD Receiver with internal 60ghz WirelessHD Transmitter
3 Year Extended Warrenty (a must have)
Plus the regular stuff you get with every system etc.


I was quoted $4,423 a month ago and turned it down.
This quote is $3,937 which has 16gb more memory (32gb total), a 256gb SSD instead of 512gb sata drive and includes the ZyXEL AeroBeam WHD6215-R Wireless HD Receiver with internal 60ghz WirelessHD Transmitter ($198) as a bonus.
Also a $201 gift card (Those reading this ''DON'T'' ever forget to ask for the %5 gift card as it is almost a free bee)

I was on the phone almost 2 hrs and negotiated 3 different prices and configurations and I'm happy with what I ordered and the price. I didn't want to go over $3,500 but with the added gift card I got pretty close to my budget. I think I might use the 256gb SSD and load windows 8 pro on it as a dual boot and see if I like it.

Now begins the waiting or should I say dreaming period haha
Delivery date is 12/05/12

 

M18x
Operating System Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit
Processor 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
Memory 12GB (2 X 2GB, 2 X 4GB) Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
Video Card 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M
Hard Drive 256GB SSD SATA 6Gb/s
Wireless Networking Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 4.0

I was wondering if that was good enough for now? Anyone have a similar setup can tell me if that can handle some of the games out today? I am not like a crazy crazy gamer like BF3 or anything, just the occasional blizzard games,and Steam games.

I wanted to go with the 675m SLI but i read some thread on here that the 680m single is just as good? the price on the website was the same for both so i went with that and i hope i didnt make the wrong decision (couldn't afford the 680m SLI -_-)

Hearing anything would be great! thanks for the help!

 

Hi guys this is my specs for ordering

Alienware M18X R2 Alienware M18X R2 with Soft Touch
Windows® 7 Professional, 64bit
Processor 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3840QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.8GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
Memory 32GB (4 X 8GB) Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
Keyboard English Keyboard
WLED WideFHD (1080p) display (1920 X 1080)
Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M - SLI® Enabled
2TB RAID 0 (2x 1TB SATA 3Gb/s 5,400rpm)
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Audio Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 4.0
Adapter Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapter

TOTAL: $4,154.00
With 455$ saving I got $3,699.00
Please help should I buy it or wait for alienware's future notebooks
Thanks for your support!

 

I think you are right about spending the money now for the SLI. I was just reading they expect the 680mx out in the next few weeks, should I hold out for those hoping they will be about the same price?

 

I was going to say it may be worth holding out. The 680mx is pretty much a desktop 680 - two of them in a laptop is going to be insanely powerful. I expect that the price may be a bit more but you also might be able to get a better deal on a machine with 680m's if it's too much. Personally, I would be holding out to see....

 

This is pretty much same as my order except I no like the 5400 rpm drives and changed them. I also added the wihd receiver and transmitter for personal use.

You look good to go just don't forget to ask for the %5 gift card, its $200

 

You should be just fine with that spec for your intended use. A single 680m is around the same performance as 675M Sli or 580m Sli - seen as how the 675m and 580m are practicallly identical cards with a different number!. My 580m Sli setup runs the vast majority of games maxed out, with the odd exception so a single 680m will be on par. If you wanted to increase gaming performance down the line, simply add a second 680m and go Sli.

 

If I'm going to do it I might as well do it right. I'm not in a hurry to buy so I'll hold out and see what comes up. I appreciate your help!

 

I was going to wait for the new 680mx but decided to get the dual 680m instead while they have holiday sales and also it already running good drivers and has no flaws or issues..With new tech stuff like Windows 8 for example, there are bound to be driver issues at first and I would rather not have to deal with any of those headaches per say...

 

Hi ImHokoo thanks for your reply,
When will AW have 680MX cards should I buy the 680m SLI or wait for 680mx SLI?

 

I've kinda been told that December looks good for 680mx. That comes from my Dell rep but it may or may not be accurate. I tend to believe what he says though, he's not often far out....

 

As steveie said, we don't know when it will be put into any laptops other than Apple...Look at this thread which will give you a better idea on what is being discussed about it...Because of the unkown and the deal in front of me, I chose the deal now instead of waiting for whenever...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/693683-nvidia-gtx-680mx.html

 

Since this will be a work PC and the company is footing the bill they do not want to purchase parts 3rd party to save money. If I was purchasing this personally I would go that route. The company will purchase the gold support for 5 years so the laptop is covered. Thank you for the feedback. They seem to update frequently so I did not want to submit a quote and then find out the next best thing just came out. Initially we were going to go with the Precision laptop but it is almost twice as much. I would prefer the Precision since it will not be as loud in terms of how it looks... this is for business use. This will be used for video intensive applications, and the software prefers gaming video cards and not auto CAD type of card. I need to be able to decode 64 H.264 streams spread across 3 monitors so that is the reason for such a powerful CPU. On the gaming card side of things video ram is more important. The GPU will more than likely never see much more than 20% utilization.

I am sure many of you will be dissapointed to find that this will not be used for playing games but I will run some benchmarks for fun. Any idea when there will be a CPU update?

Thank you for your time. I cannot wait to get my new Laptop the one I am currently running is a dinosaur.

 

The 3940XM is the route to take then, and the 680M in SLI is also what you want, along with 1.5TB (3x 512GB SSD) in RAID 0 and 32GB of DDR3 RAM at 1600 MHz. If the company is paying, get the best. I believe max specifications add up to approximately $7,500 before taxes. The next CPU is planned to be released in 2013, perhaps in the summer.

Glad I could help.

 

Hey guys, I recently ordered an m17x r4 with an i7 3630, 12GB RAM, 500GB HD + 64GB SSD, 1080P Screen, Blu-Ray Reader, Killer Wifi for around $1762 before taxes. However, I recently came by another m18x deal for cyber monday. The specs are below:

i7-3630QM processor (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz w/Turbo Boost 2.0)
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
1TB RAID 1 (2x 1TB SATA 3Gb/s 5,400 RPM)
Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 7970M - CrossFireX™ Enabled
Blu-Ray

For $2299.99 before taxes.

Do you think It's worth cancelling my order for the m17x to get the m18x? Is it worth the $500 increase in price?

 

It's most likely spring for the new CPUs, but since it's not a process change, it will likely be incremental changes to performance and features.

Be aware if using 3 drives in raid 0 you triple your chance of hard drive failure, make sure you have a good external backup if that is what you want.

 

''BIGGER'' is better in my opinion

 

is triple SSD's in raid 0 noticeably faster than 2 SSD's in raid 0?

 

Nope, most things are not noticeable to us when it comes to computers.

 

Even raid across two and a single drive is not.

 

Both systems are great, from what I've heard, read, and seen. I've personally taken an interest in the M18x because of its size and build quality, as well as the performance it unleashes. Both are definitely upgradeable, and both provide great performance. If I were in your shoes, I would get the M18x configuration. That system will be a beast and is capable of being upgraded to even better dual GPU's and a faster CPU later on, when the M17x isn't.

 

Also, raiding three drives in the R2 is not beneficial from the Sata operation point of view - all three drives would perform at the speed of the lowest counterpart in that array, which is the middle port in the caddy that only runs at Sata II 3gbps speeds. For gpu's, the 680m's are the way to go right now BUT 680mx is likely not far around the corner as it's already been announced by Nvidia and we know that the crApple iMac is to get 680mx.....will only be a matter of time before it's a configuration option inthe 18x and....well.....that's insanely powerful vs. 680m Sli - it's more or less like having two desktop 680's inside your machine.

 

I agree with Brother Dre and Brother Jones, I woudl suggest having two SSD drives so that they work at full 6GB/s and then buying 2 x WD 2Tb My Passport drives for using as storage and as a backup. that's what I have done and it works perfectly. The WD drives are also fast to access, I have watched Blu-Ray quality films and suffered no problems.

OB

 

Due to the added 50w of two cards the 680mx might require a significant motherboard and cooler redesign.

 

Quite possibly so. I read that the 680mx is rated at around 122w (ish) so a bit more than the 680m. Maybe if Dell made something like the triple pipe cpu heatsink for the gpu's, that would accomodate them without having to mess with the MB. One thing's for sure - Alienware/Dell will want them in their flagship model - you can't have the ultimate gaming laptop in the world that doesn't have the best mobile gpu solution, can ya?

 

Thanks for the replies. I just placed an order for an m18x It has an i7 3630QM, 1080p Screen, 16GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, Blu Ray, Killer Wifi, 2x Radeon 7970M in Crossfire. It came up to around $2100 before taxes.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ that seems to be a good deal to me considering base price is $1999 in the US, right?

 

Yes I believe so. I'm in Canada though, and it was a cyber monday deal. I also haggled a bit to get the price reduced. The offer was too good to be true, so I had to snag it lol. Unfortunately he gave me the space black instead of the nebula red even though I told him I wanted the red. Oh well.

 

It's not just the number of heatpipes, for that kind of heat increase you need more fin area to dissipate the heat over.

 

I agree with Meaker now that I've done my research on it, my stance has begun to change on the 680MX. The reason why it's in a desktop instead of a laptop is because laptops simply cannot handle it. The CPU, motherboard, heatsinks, etc... you name it, it has to be changed. I also spoke with a manager at Dell and he confirmed he has heard about the 680MX (from the forum), but doesn't see anything for it in Alienware systems. I would love for it to be available, but it looks less likely every day.

Anyway, we should take this discussion to the 680MX thread in the graphics section, fellas. This dude probably doesn't want us spamming his thread with nonsense.

 

We may see the new generation machines with options for super beefed up cards, but for now, the M18X in january, the 680M is likely going to be your best card

 

Wow, I was going to hold out for the 680mx's but If I can get 7970's for $1k less I might have to call and order now.

 

Well I cannot get too crazy, I can easily justify the need for the following:


3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3940XM (8MB Cache, up to 4.2GHz Overclocked)
16GB (4 X 4GB) Dual Channel DDR3 at 1866MHz
512GB SSD RAID 0 (2x 256GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD)
Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M - SLI® Enabled
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 4.0
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

I will be running 3 monitors probably 27 in I am still undecided I may opt for higher end 24's. I still need to decide how much desk space I want to give up. There is a part of me that really wants the Precision M6700 since it has a docking station, not having one will be a real pain in the @ss. I am on call every other month so i have to haul it home everyday.

Curious I was building a system yesterday and I had the option of choosing the extreme CPU and today I did not have the option. It happens on other parts from time to time as well.

J.Dre thank you for the information and please feel free to offer as much informaion and discussion as you like I do not mind.

 

Sure, no problem - you're welcome.

I just ordered that configuration, ha ha.

 

Just be aware of the ports you have available on the M18X and the screens will have to match up on their inputs. Also you wont be able to game across all 3 as far as I can tell.

 

Great spec. One thing I am not 100% on is wether or not you can actually run 3 external monitors. 2+Internal is all I have seen so far...could be wrong though....

 

Looking at the Precision I would choose the Nvidia Quadro K5000 with 4GB GDDR5 but is ECC on the video card and that does not help the software i use so I have heard i can run forceware drivers making it run more like a gaming card. That is one expensive video card I just need 4 GB of video ram for buffering video the CPU does the heavy lifting.

 

From what I gathered from this thread below, you can only run 3 externals without any adapters if you go with the 7970;s, the 680's will only run 2 external screens. It's been an area of hesitation for me as I wanted to run 3 externals as well.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/575323-m18x-multiple-monitors-7.html

 

Wow that was one confusing thread. I received so much information it is hard to tell what is what. From what I see there are 4 video outputs on the 18X.
1 Mini display port (active mini display port to DVI?) non powered
1HDMI 1.4 audio (HDMI to DVI?)
1 HDMI .3 audio (DHMI to DVI?)
1 VGA
So the main question I have is it possible for the Dual 680M's support running 3 External Monitors without using the VGA output? AMD and Nvidia really need to get to some better standards and simplify the outputs. My understanding is that the active mini display ports are good to 1920X1080 any higher and you need to use a powered active mini display port adapter, unless your monitor has a display port input. i could be wrong.

Is there a concrete answer out there???

 

No, three external monitors and the laptop monitor is not possible. From what I was told, two externals and the laptop monitor is the most you can use.

 

3 outputs, mini display port, hdmi, and vga. the second hdmi is an input.

 

Thank you for the clarification. Can I if I go with the AMD card?

 

The external ports are a little confusing.

 

It was`confirmed from a Dell rep that the nVidia solution can't do 3 external displays. AMD should be able to from what I've seen over the past year.

 

nVidia should fix that it will cost them a sale when I order to new machines in a month. That is 4 cards they could have sold.

 

Hello Forum,

I've been considering buying an Alienware m18x r2 / m17x r4 for some time and I'm now ready to pull the trigger.

Within my budget I can choose from the following two configurations:

m18x r2

Base unit with 6GB memory (will upgrade myself), Dual 7970m GPUs; i7-3630QM; 750GB HDD (will upgrade with SSDs myself) and killer wireless.

m17x r4

Base unit with 6GB memory (will upgrade myself); 680m GPU; i7-3740QM; 500GB HDD (will upgrade with SSDs myself) and killer wireless.

The m18x is £1,730.15 while the m17x is £1,676.73.

I am leaning towards the m18x because of the dual GPUs but I'm concerned the CPU may be a bottleneck?

I have also read the Clash of the Titans Thread and various others linked to it. Although I would love the dual 680m GPUs (based on performance and driver stability) I'm just not willing spend another £580 on the upgrade (I would also need to upgrade the CPU to get the most from the cards). I like to game but as long as this system can play new titles for the next 2-3 years with good to maximum settings I'm happy.

Comments and questions most welcome.

Thanks

 

the 3630qm CPU won't be a bottleneck to the AMD cards while gaming. it really depends on whether you plan to use the laptop for other CPU-intensive tasks. if you're simply aiming for gaming, then that setup should get you through quite easily. AMD have finally tidied up their game with the latest set of drivers, so you should be able to enjoy some top-notch gaming on the M18x, even for the next couple of years.

conclusion: go for the M18x R2. however, if you can maybe dig up that extra $150 or wait until you have them, the upgrade to the 3740QM processor will set aside any doubts you may have about your rig being future-proof - that processor, and all others above it, are capable of OC'ing.