My recent M18x purchase, some questions...

I recently purchased the following M18x from the UK Outlet

Alienware M18x : Stealth Black
Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
Graphics: Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6970M CrossfireX
500 GB 2.5inch 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Data Burst Cache SATA II Hybrid
16 GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz Memory (4 DIMMs)
Display: 18.4in Widescreen Full High Definition (1920X1080) WLED LCD
Additional Hard Drive : 500 GB 2.5inch SATA II Hybrid Hard Drive
Wireless : Killer Wireless-N 1103
Processor: Intel Core i7-2720QM (2.20GHz, 6MB cache, Quad Core)

And it arrived on 17/10/2011 - sadly the escape key was broken (it got stuck every time you pressed it) but Dell have arranged for a technician to come out and replace that on the spot, which is nice.

This isn't my issue however, they only sent a 240w AC Adapter instead of the 330w, I have played around on the laptop and installed some games, and for example Deus Ex : HR - it will run, however there is horrible lag in the menu system and really low FPS in game, and I am wondering if that can be attributed to the power supply and not the rest of the laptop? The 240w can't even charge and allow use of the laptop at the same time...

I had trouble with the graphics driver as the ones from the AMD site suggested that I did not have a compatible display adapter - so I had to use the ones from the Dell support site, even after trying the DriverSweeper method mentioned on here.

Edit -- Crossfire is showing as enabled in my CCC

Bit paranoid there might be something wrong with my laptop.

 

The ones from the AMD site don't recognize our cards, unfortunately.
Catalyst 11.9 WHQL
Make sure you download the 'mobility' version. I'm running these flawlessly at the moment. As for your escape key, you can re-seat the keyboard and the plastic bezel around it. The key is probably getting stuck under the bezel because it wasn't attached properly. Simple fix - I'd be happy to walk you through it if you want. The adapter should be more than enough to power your entire system - although I'd complain to tech support about it and they'll send the 330w one out to you. Some of the avid overclockers on this site have measured power draw and even under heavy overclocking they barely drew 300 watts (4.5Ghz cpu overclock and 800+mhz overclock on 580m SLI). Leave everything at stock for the moment and it should be fine. Your lag problem is probably driver related. Do a clean uninstall, and run driversweeper before installing the 11.9 WHQL drivers. If the problem was power related, the system would bluescreen or shut off when it ran out of power to draw.

 

Thanks for the quick response, the escape key itself is actually broken (the actual key mechanism is broke, it only goes one way until you reset it) so I've already got a new keyboard on its way under the warranty, and the technician is bringing the 330w Adapter with him..

Thanks a lot for the clarification on the driver issue from the AMD site, and again for the link to download the most suitable drivers.

I will be setting off for work shortly, will be unable to test until this evening - but based on the system I have, I assume Deus Ex should run at the highest settings almost flawlessly at 1080p?

 

Deus Ex isn't extremely demanding. You should max it out easily with silky smooth framerates.
Catalyst Application Profiles
Install 11.9 CAP 2 to be sure you have proper crossfire support for that game.

For the time being, you could take another key off that you aren't currently using (something the same size as the escape key), and swap them so you have that working.

 

Thanks a lot for your help, I will report back this evening with my findings!

+rep for you

 

Just checked in GPUZ and it shows I have 1120 shaders - I thought that was the amount the 6990's had?

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/11/10/19/bq8.png

 

Yea the 6970's are no longer available from Dell. You have 6990m Crossfire.

 

Also you may be having the same intermittent fan problem alot of us who just recieved M18X's are having. When I run Furmark to see if my fans are working it will stutter pretty bad if they are not even before it hits 80*.

Do yourself a favor, download furmark and do the burn in test in 1920x1080 and watch the temp of the cards. When they hit 82* you should hear the fans on the back of the system on the left especially spin up really high. If you temps hit 90*+ then end the run. Restart your laptop and try again if the fans dont work and see if they work after a restart.

 

I'll give that a try later on, can't wait for me to be able to Play without a hitch, will update you later.

So pleased I have 6990's!

 

Pretty sure I should be getting more than 15-30fps in 3dmark06 :-(

 

Powered by Unigine Engine

Heaven Benchmark v2.5 Basic

FPS:
28.5
Scores:
719
Min FPS:
11.7
Max FPS:
61.4
Hardware

Binary:
Windows 32bit Visual C++ 1600 Release Mar 1 2011
Operating system:
Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1) 64bit
CPU model:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2720QM CPU @ 2.20GHz
CPU flags:
2192MHz MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE41 SSE42 HTT
GPU model:
AMD Radeon HD 6900M Series 8.892.0.0 CrossFireX 2048Mb
Settings

Render:
direct3d11
Mode:
1680x1050 4xAA fullscreen
Shaders:
high
Textures:
high
Filter:
trilinear
Anisotropy:
4x
Occlusion:
enabled
Refraction:
enabled
Volumetric:
enabled
Tessellation:
normal

 

Did you ever run furmark and check to see if the temps were ok and the fans were coming on?

 

The fans were coming on, neither card went above 79* during the burn in, but the fans did get louder especially on the left hand side - both cards got to around the same temperature (within 3-5 degrees)

edit - i was convinced it was going to be relating to the 240w psu at first, but as Nichalaus said that probably wouldnt be a problem

 

I get 2617 in furmark at 1920x1080 which according to the score page is ~100-200 less than a desktop 560.

 

Good deal about the fans, its normal the left side getting loud, thats the primary card. It may be the 240W PSU limiting you. I notice my system slows way down when I have it on battery so that may be it.

 

I guess I'll have to wait till Dell replace my 240w power supply either tomorrow or friday then, I just hope there is nothing wrong, as I love my laptop!

 

Just ran Deus Ex again, GPU-Z only reports activity and temperature increases on one graphics card despite cf being enabled

 

Some games are just dumb with crossfire and need a little elbow grease to get them going. You can try Radeon PRO and force AFR2 for that game, or you can go into regedit and search with control+F and every string that says enablecrossfireautolink can be set to '1' instead of '0'. This will permanently enable crossfire.

 

In theory, I am assuming 2x 6990 should outperform my desktop 6970?

My 6970 runs all of the games I try at full settings and at 2560x1600

 

6990m = desktop 6870, so yes you should dominate a single 6970 with 6990m crossfire. The cards overclock quite well also. Even a conservative OC of 800/1000 should net you around 7.8-7.9k 3dmark 11 (level 3 bios overclock on cpu).

 

Can't wait to overclock mine! How do Dell drivers OC? are they any stable

 

Catalyst Mobility 11.9 WHQL
11.9 CAP 2 crossfire profiles

I'm assuming you're getting 6990m Xfire? You should put your system specs in your signature.

 

At the moment I only get ~30-40fps at max settings, resolution and on ultra in Dirt3, going to have to wait for the 330w power supply and see if it makes any difference (it shouldn't) and go from there.

I'm fearing the worst :-(

 

Somebody has a similar issue to mine on another forum with the 240w power supply where the cards aren't running at their full frequencies - so I have hope that when the 330w power supply arrives my machine will show it's true potential

 

Im almost 100% positive thats your issue. Someone else here on the forums said when he tried ordering he got a error messege saying crossfire not avail because of 240W PSU. It ended up being a error with the website trying to give him a 240W PSU but that says even Dell knows it wont work correctly without the 330W.

 

hi guys i new memeber here , I had my m18x last friday , mine is a gtx460 sli set up and mine has been running really slow i couldnt play company of heros its was giving me around 5 frames per second , i had to turn all the settings down to medium or low to play the other night , i have just got off the phone from the tech support and i have a 240w power brick and they are sending the 330w one to fix the problem , my desktop needed a power upgrade when i added a second card so maybe this is why ?

 

How difficult is it to remove/replace the m18x keyboard? Im not sure whether I trust the engineer based on what I've read from some people!