*OFFICIAL* Alienware 18 Owner's Lounge Thread

Yes, that's correct. The new low voltage memory is backward compatible, but the old memory is not forward compatible. I am using DDR3L in my M18xR2 by choice because it had the specs I wanted, but you do not have the option of choosing which type to use on the Haswell machines.

 

So guys the m18 comes with maxwel 860's?
Cause im interested to buy one?
How much powerful are 2 860's?
any benches?
thanks!!!

 

It is safe to say that just ONE 860 will allow you to run most of the new games out there (with the exception of X-Plane 10.25) in High Settings and still get a nice score of over 40 FPS.

 

Hi folks,

I am looking into 2 options for AW18:

1. 4930MX, 16GB @ 1600MHz RAM, dual 780m
2. 4900MQ, 32GB @ 1600MHz RAM, dual 780m

The price difference between the two is coming down to $280.

I primarily want a gaming machine but would like to tinker a little with the overclocking. Won't be chasing numbers though.

Any suggestions which one I should get out of the two? I note the new AW laptopns on dell's website no longer have the MX processor (4910MQ is their top of the line option at present).

Many thanks!

 

Instead of the second option go for the dual 880M's

Sent from my Note 3 SM-N9005 using Civz ROM 2.8 with kernel 1.9

 

Don't have the 880m option

 

From XoticPC?

Sent from my Note 3 SM-N9005 using Civz ROM 2.8 with kernel 1.9

 

No, Kepler 860M. Maxwell 860M is only available as a crappy BGA (soldered to motherboard) option. Alienware 18 doesn't use BGA garbage... takes good old MXM modules like a proper performance machine. Don't buy anything with the CPU or GPU(s) soldered to the motherboard.

 

Hey guys,
I'm thinking to get the new AW18. I was gonna get the lowest version which is around $2k but it doesnt have the Bluray. Talked to the tech and asked them if I can just upgrade the Bluray only. They said no and told me in order to get the AW18 with Bluray, I have to get the different version which is around $3.5k. Can someone confirm me if this is true? Thanks

 

That would be correct. The configurations are in structured tiers which cannot be altered, unless the option to upgrade a specific component is visible - indicated by the presence of a drop down menu for that component. If you didn't want to 'jump' to a tier that included a bluray, you could always look to buy one 'after market' and install it yourself - that would probably be the cheapest way around your dilemma.

 

XOTIC definitely offers 880m mine is being built

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Really glad you went to that option

Sent from my Note 3 SM-N9005 using Civz ROM 2.8 with Kernel SneakyKat 2.1

 

Thanks for the replied

Also, can anyone tell me if the "Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 860M graphics with 4GB total (2x 2GB) GDDR5 - NVIDIA SLI® Enabled" and "4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-4710MQ processor (6MB Cache, up to 3.5GHz w/ Turbo Boost)" can HANDLE Battlefield 4 or similar games? Or should I upgrade it to the higher version which has "4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4810MQ processor (Quad Core, 6MB Cache, up 3.8GHz)" instead and the differences is about $250. Is it worth it? I use this laptop mostly for school and gaming. So I'm not looking for something super crazy.
Sorry this is my first AW product and I'm still pretty new at it.

 

I wouldn't pay for the CPU bump myself. 2x860m is pretty powerful, I think you'll be ok.

 

A question, on the AW18 if you where to choose from GTX 860M SLI and the GTX 770M SLI what would you choose ? As I understood they are both Kepler ?

 

I was looking at XoticPC... looks like you can add a BluRay drive to the base unit for $100.

 

In a word, yes. If I can run it on the Asus in my signature with the 660m overclocked, you should have no issues running it on a 860m SLI setup. :thumbsup:

 

I am recommending to all my friends who where considering the i7-4710 to spend a few hundred dollars more to future proof it and add resell value wo added $1000 bump in price for the next tier up. Its the best bang for the buck when buying from Dell. Dell has a DVD Blue ray player that is a portable unit if you want to buy through Dell instead of XOTICpc. Buffalo Technology Media Station BDXL Portable Blu-Ray Writer - BRXL-PC6U2B : Storage: Hard Drives & Storage Media | Dell XOTIC does offer the i7-4910 for a bump in price of $425 when going from the 4700 so that is what I would go with if you want a increase is speed for cpu intensive school projects. The only downside it takes a little longer to build a custom unit, so you have to figure how soon do you need it.

 

thanks again for all the replies. as for the XOTICpc. is that website owned by Dell or third party company? it seems like they have more customization when it comes down to options and other stuffs. have any of you guys here order from XOTICpc before? any feedbacks?

 

XoticPC is a very well known reseller. I wouldn't hesitate to order from them if they have something you're looking for.

They have representatives on this board too. I've ordered from them myself before, no problems.

 

6ish weeks until i can order my 18, Man can't wait.

 

saving up?

 

Tax return time, i get 2600 back + some savings = bam new M18, To replace my dying m17x r3 which is 3 years old now

Curious though is it an IPS display or PLS display, And has anyone tried overclocking the display, My R3 can get to 85hz no frame dropping.

 

Looking forward to delivery of my new Beast to replace my old Dragon

Ordered the new Alienware 18 with Dual R290X with 4GB mem per card and 16gb system memory,, SSD boot drive and intel 4710MQ processor

Seems like no one else here bought it with AMD option so very curious how it performs compared to the Nvidia versions

 

Congratulation on the purchase. I am curious as well. Once you get it and have a day or two to become acquainted with the new beast, please post 3DMark11, Vantage, Fire Strike, Heaven and Valley benchmark results in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...e-m18xr1-r2-18-benchmark-thread-part-3-a.html

Stock and overclocked results would be nice, but if you're only comfortable with stock that would be fine.

What CPU did you get?

 

Please do join in on the benching fun. You'd be the first to bench those particular cards and we'd love to have a squizz

 

Just used the Dell mystery coupon for 15% off plus Dell Advantage for an extra 4% off to get a mid-tiered AW18 i7-4810 256mSATA boot, 16GB DDR3, 860's (880's cost $1200 extra) and a 3 year warranty for $2649 before taxes and discount and $2145 after discount before taxes. It is to be used as a backup trading computer, not so much for gaming. The mystery coupon I got had to be used before June 2nd.

 

hallo ,,, do someone know what memory dimms go right for m18 ,,, 1866mhz ? 1,35v

 

That's correct. Maximum supported speed is 1866mhz, although 2133 modules will work, they will default to the lower speed. You need low voltage 1.35v modules, but I believe that some standard voltage modules such as HyperX can run at either 1.5v or 1.35v. To be 100% sure, you want to look at 1866mhz 1.35v memory.....

 

thanks steviej you have an idea of what brand or model can be fitted

 

There may well be other modules available, however, a quick search on NewEgg selecting 2x4gb and 2x8gb, 1866mhz, 204pin and 1.35v results in the following:

Newegg.com - Accessories, All Laptop Accessories, Laptop Memory, 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM, 8GB (2 x 4GB), 16GB (2 x 8G), DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000), 1.35V

 

1866 cl10 !! g.skill ! have someone experience or tested this dimms ? G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Laptop Memory Model F3-1866C10D-8GRSL - Newegg.com

 

I've no experience of it myself, but I'm sure others have tried it! - this may be of use though:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-18-m18x/730115-let-s-talk-ram.html

 

hi the only memory i found here in switzerland is the patriot viper 4 GB SO-DIMM DDR3 - 1866MHz - (PV34G186LC0S) - Patriot Viper3 CL10 1,35v

 

If you are looking specifically for the G.Skill memory, if you visit the Manufacturer's web site (any manufacturer, for that matter) and look for "Where to buy", they generally provide lists by Country. For you, in Switzerland, G.Skill come up with these two as resellers:

https://www.digitec.ch/

STEG computer & electronics: Online-Shop für PCs & Heimelektronik

(Source: http://www.gskill.com/en/wheretobuy/list/ch)

 

yes i know this web shops but they have nothing , i found the patriot viper low voltage on toppreise.ch , found out that there isnt possibiliti to buy g.skill from the internet whitout a credit cart ( why you need it when buying from out of my country 20% tax ) and so i decided to buy 2x4gb

 

Fair enough I guess - my other suggestion would have been eBay resellers....

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Not the 1866, but I did test the 2133. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...aws-2133-cl11-versus-vengeance-2133-cl11.html

If it is single-rank memory, it is lower bandwidth. On that basis I would avoid it because it's too slow. See the photos and discussion here also... Single Rank Ripjaws.

 

hi i m trying to create a raid0 what i dont understand is why i have to insert thr gb of the volume i want to create ,,, it is 149gb i dont know what to do i have 750gb +80msata

 

You can't do that. You need two drives with the same specs to put them in a usable RAID0 membership. If you put two dissimilar drives in a RAID0 membership the capacity of the volume with be 2x the capacity of the smaller drive and the speed will be limited to that of the slower drive. Any amount of drive space capacity greater than 2x the smaller drive will be forfeited (inaccessible).

Ideally, what you would do in your case, with current components, is have the OS installed to the 750GB HDD and use Intel Rapid Storage Technology to create a 64GB cache acceleration setup using the mSATA SSD.

 

Mr. Fox is correct, currently your M18 is probably using the 80GBmsata to accelerate the 750GB which is quick enough for most folks (slightly slower than an SSD drive). If you want to add the 149GB SSD just add it to the extra slot in the hard drive bay and install games on that to give you a little extra speed for gaming or whatever. This is what I would recommend if you want to add some quick fast storage with the equipment you currently have.
If you try to Raid0 with your current setup, (in your case 149GB & 80GB) the Raid0 will only stripe the drive to the lowest sized drive, which means you would end up with 2x80GB=>160GB raid0 if that is the size boot drive you are looking for. The downside is you 750 GB drive will become much slower (slo…mo…) wo the mSATA acceleration and you sacrifice part of the 149GB drive to increase transfer speed thru RAID0 config. That is why you are asked to insert the GB size. Probably not what you prefer.
Another option is to upgrade and get a Samsung EVO (~250GB or bigger) with Rapid and boot off that drive to get speeds similar to Raid0 config, and junk out the 149GB. You then keep the 750GB drive accelerated with the 80GB mSATA drive. This is the least expensive upgrade option to utilize the empty hard drive slot.
The last option is what Mr Fox recommended, a better, faster, more expense upgrade, is to junk out the 750GB and 149GB drives, find out what size you want for your boot drive, say 1TB, then get two 500GB SSD’s of same type and RAID0 that to get your screamer going, downside it cost a little more and you drop the 149GB and 750 GB drives, ….speed cost money, how fast do you want to go?

 

There is no 149gb drive....well, there is, but it is currently a RAID0 between his mSata and HDD which is a big no-no - basically, what he's done is RAID0 the mSATA and the 750gb together already...... x2 80gb = 160gb, less overhead for formatting would equate to round about the 149gb RAID0 capacity he is seeing. What he needs to do is start out again from scratch - scrub the existing RAID he created and go back to using the mSata as purely a cache drive.

 

... the promised pictures

 

How strange... so your new replacement (exchange) 18 is larger than the original. Nobody else has mentioned this yet.

 

I must apologize, I just rearranged them against a wall and they are more or less the same. Something must have played a trick on my eyes when I had them on my lap (probably like having 2 girls there at the same time) LOL

My bad....

 

.....and there's me thinking Dell had released a new refresh already....'The New Alienware 18 R2 and a bit'

 

So got my beast on friday but sadly it seems whoever assembled it made a bollox of it and forgot to add the interconnect or something between the two R290X cards so bios sees two cards but 2nd card is permanently disabled so now waiting for engineer call to come and fit the missing component :-(

 

MSI is bringing on the heat this year. Alienware killer?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/753959-msi-presenting-new-gt-series-notebooks-new-design-3.html#post9677988

 

Man, that is sooooooo much like the current Alienwares......I wonder where the MSI design team come up with that?? (looks like the 'I' in 'MSI' certainly doesn't stand for 'Imagination' LOL

 

I wonder if they'll have a dual GPU model. I'd like to see that.