*OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

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[DEV_1211&SUBSYS_51021558] NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M

 

May not work if you want SLI enabled.

 

Did you try it first to find out?

 

Hey, my NVIDIA Alien-brothers... I think there is a solution for your driver issue that I touched on the other day about modding the INF files. If you have not already found, click on over to this new thread... drivers and INF modding instructions are posted. I sure do hope this helps you guys.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/598532-verde-280-19-beta-driver.html

 

Hey NVIDIA 580M guys... you can download this from Dell Support now.

Here is a direct link: ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/video/R308308.exe

 

Well, the ones on the Dell website are the 269.03 model, while the ones we can install now from Nvidia are the 280.19...i'll stick with the Nvidia ones

 

Is Dell making them available for download on the M18x 580M SLi a new thing? I thought just the other day everyone was saying they were not available and looking for a work-around since nothing was available. Maybe I misunderstood.

At any rate, I am very happy you guys have found a solution in a newer driver. I was excited for you to have them available for download without having to mod an INF file to force the install.

 

I'm sure this has been asked and answered multiple times already, but just to be sure I've got this right, in this thread you've found a workaround that lets you download NVIDIA drivers for the M18x 580m SLI without disabling SLI?

 

Yup, it works on 460M SLI and 580M SLI

 

Didn't work the first time after a clean uninstall of the previous drivers in terms of having SLI enabled. But after leaving them in the 2nd time, it worked. I'm finally relieved.

 

I made some alterations to the backplate on my M18x and thought I'd share a photo of the results. I took a knife and gently 'pryed' the mesh upward to pop off the rivets that held it in place. Lowered my temps by 4-5ºc across the board. I'm excited to see the results when I get my ICD 24 carat and the quad-pipe heat sink.

 

That's really nice Did the same with my Dell L502x, it has just one fan hole though and got 2C temp drop across the board) Also if you use cooling pad - such mod makes the air go straight to the fans without breaking at the dust filters... Thanks, +1 rep!

 

^ I can see how that could bevery useful, but are the filters not useful for keeping grime and other rubbish out of the system?

 

Mine sits on a cooling pad 24/7. The mesh doesn't prevent dust from getting in, and it's easily cleaned with a can of compressed air.

 

Yea if you NEVER move it I can see that being a good mod, but otherwise soemthing like a staple or paper clip -could- be thrown in ... and that -could- fry your system.

 

Hi,
Has anybody here tested OCZ Vertex 3 or any new SATA III SSD on alienware laptop to see if they work well?

 

Mine works perfectly fine (Crucial m4 256gb) in terms of performance. Currently trying to figure out why Ghost isn't working in terms of copying hard drives (trying to clone the original Hard Drive with Win 7 Enterprise). But when I did a fresh install with Windows 7 Home to test it out initially, it worked fine.

 

Bunch of appreciate bro,

And regarding the current cost for "16GB 1600mhz RAM",do you guys think it is wise to buy them from dell or just order them from the manufacturer?
Is this part what dell puts on the rigs?
Kingston KHX1600C9D3K2/8G 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM (kit of 2)

 

Newegg.com - Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 HyperX Plug n Play Laptop Memory Model KHX1600C9S3P1K2/8G

Buy two of those sets for your 16gb. A word of caution though. If you want to run 4 sticks or in dual channel, you will have to remove the keyboard. I had a bit of trouble doing this since you pretty much have to pry the top off your laptop. It is doable and worth your time to save the extra cash. Are you running multiple VM's to actually use the 16gb of ram?

 

Yeah,you're right.It's bad since I have to do this soon as I get the laptop,out of the box.And I'm worried that I might do something wrong.esp,when dealing with the keyboard.
Anyway,thanks for the links pal.Seems we can save a lot on buying from newegg!

 

The only thing that can go wrong is the plastic frame around the keyboard, popping it up can be tricky. Don't rush and you should be fine

 

Download the service manual from support.dell.com on the driver's page and you'll do fine. As Aikimox pointed out, don't rush. Go slow and gentle the first time and the next time it will be a breeze. For the keyboard bezel/frame, use a soft plastic pick tool and gradually work your way around the outside edge a little at a time. Keep the screws separated and keep track of where they belong, as there are 2 or 3 lengths. I had mine apart within 24 hours of delivery and I had it down to the motherboard within about 20 minutes following the steps in the service manual as though I were some sort of noob. It was painless and damage free.

If you've owned an M17x R2 and disassembled it before, expect this to be nowhere nearly as quick. The construction of the M18x is not as easy to rip apart and while they look remarkably similar cosmetically on the exterior, the actual chassis design is not even close to being similar.

 

Ahh, finally got Norton Ghost to work. WEI for disk performance jumps from 5.6 to 8.0.

 

How did using a drive cloning program do this? Please explain for us.

 

By cloning my original drive on my 500GB Momentus XT (about 90GB used) to a Crucial m4 256GB?

 

Ok, thanks. That makes sense now. I was having a hard time figuring out how a disk cloning utility would improve performance. It was installation of the SSD drive that made the difference, not Ghost. I probably missed a prior post and did not have any context to draw from.

 

if by chance someone has or has had the clevo d900c sli, how loud is this m18x dual gpu compared to that clevo?

 

Haha, yea, I made a mention of it on an earlier page. I would be shocked if it didn't make a difference swapping in the SSD since I'd be downgrading on storage.

I would highly recommend that people using Ghost to clone their Alienware HD's to uninstall ReSpawn before transferring to a smaller SSD.

 

I am more curious as to how you got a rating of 8.0 WEI only goes upto 7.9 AFAIK

 

I'm too busy this weekend to totally enjoy this thing, but lordy, the M18x is some kind of fantastic, is all I can say.

From what I've had a few minutes to read online, NV will support the 580/560 sli with Verde drivers, they just aren't updated with that support yet. Other threads can direct you to the 280.xx beta mods that can get those working, but the 269.07 on the Dell site have behaved well enough for the moment. But I haven't gamed at all, *sigh*, there is no time.

Screen is "liveable" to "decent". A touch of digital vibrance bumped it up a notch so I'm really enjoying looking at it. Sadly I have to have this machine on one side of me and work machine on the other. But when I have moments to play with it, the m18x is a bunch of fun.

 

What "touch of digital vibrance" are you referring to? I'd like to get the most out of my screen once I receive it.

 

Nvidia driver option called Digital Vibrance.
AMD has something similar called Saturation.

Increases color "pop" enhancing contrast and colors on the screen. NOT good for photo work, but good for many other things you use a PC for.

 

Whoops, typo on my part. It's at 7.9.

 

If any of you with AMD GPUs are having issues with Aero crashing, please take a look at this post. I would appreciate feedback on the documents and any testing you're willing to do to stop the problem on your system.

Windows 7 Aero Crash Cure (AMD GPU CrossFireX) - Downloadable Instructions

Here are my latest benchmark scores...
Vantage: P22764 | 3DMark06: 22425 | 3DMark11 P6700

These benchmarks are using the tweak linked above and those that have followed my scores will recognize they are as good or better than running unmodded Dell and AMD Catalyst packages.

| |

 

Just wanted to chime in that my M18x finally arrived a few days ago. I must say it was worth the wait. Superb machine! No build issues or dead pixels. Going through the tweaking stages now and messing with some slight OC'ing.

 

Congrats, pixelcloak! Excited for you, and I agree... superb machine!

 

My friend had a m18x too and his x key cracked into two pieces when he was typing some work. i hope yours wouldn't! LOl

 

whats the best cooler u can get for the m18x? opinions are welcome!

 

I am sure you'll get some answers (and lots of them) as people find your question. I find that I don't need one, but a bunch of guys are using them. I hear the NZXT Cryo LX is the best, hands down. It's also rather expensive.

 

I find my CoolerMaster NotePal U3 pretty good......

 

Just checking in, because I GOT MY SYSTEM!!! I'm really happy. No quality control issues I can see thus far (crosses fingers). NICE system. Same time I opened the hoarded goodies I have been slowly collecting. A Logitech G19, G700 and G930 as well as a Roccate Sota mousepad. Already installed a WD 750GB Scorpio Black for my games. So far I am a man in very tall cotton.

Also got The Witcher 2 and (included free system) Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Not sure what I'll play first. Thinking maybe something else even. I haven't played Portal 2... Oh the choices! Installing Steam on the second drive ATM...

 

Awesome Congrats man!

Let us know how you like the Dual 580Ms oles?

Cheers.

 

ding, where can i get my robe, slippers & sigar pls =)
but first i need to take it for a test drive

 

My laptop was delivered today. woohoo. I have the 2920xm. where does it say that it is overclocked to 4.0ghz because all I am seeing is 2.5

 

Congrats on receiving your beast! - the cpu wont run at 4ghz all of the time (unless you force it to do so by manipulating the cpu multipliers and/or bclk) - it will hit 4ghz in certain circumstances....you can download Intel's turbo boost monitor which will show when your cpu is hitting 4ghz......you can also go into bios and change multipliers and bclk so that the cpu will run at higher speeds by default.

If you try running something like Cinebench, or any other cpu intensive task, and have the Intel monitor open at the same time, it will show you what speed your cpu is running at.

If you havent already been into system bios, you will be able to "enable" cpu overclocking....presets are available going from level 1 to level 3. Level 3 being the highest factory preset for overclocking your xm cpu.

You will also be able to adjust multipliers and bclk to further increase the speed at which you cpu runs at - many people with the xm run it daily at higher speeds. Keep an eye on cpu temps while overclocking the cpu though... realtemp can do that for you to make sure your cpu doesnt burn up!

 

there was some sort of pin in the box that came with power brick and all
whats it for ?
or did they just lose something there and it accidently dropped into my box ?

 

Haha - its an adaptor so you can hook up an optical cable for sound to the SPDIF out on the left side of your laptop ports....so you can run digital sounds via optical cable. Dell just didnt really pay much attention to "packaging" or "labelling" that part so it can seem like its a bit of crap floating about doing nothing and shouldnt really be there.....

 

Once again Steve, thanks for the help.

 

No probs mate

 

Just a couple of questions regarding the M18x, mine arrived today (well technically yesterday) but as I haven't slept yet it's still today

Stealth Black, 2920XM, Win 7 Ultimate, Standard Memory - 4GB, Standard HDD - 320GB, GTX 580M SLI, Killer Wireless-N 1103, Blu-Ray Drive

I have been doing the usual:

1. Inspection of build quality. It seems that it's built well but I noticed that the screen didn't have any screen protection and had dust on it. The keyboard area would seem to have some finger smudges.

2. Check for dead/lit pixels. So far it seems to be fine (fingers crossed).

3. Test performance. It was supposed to be factory overclocked but when I checked the bios it was set to "level 1". Is this correct? I checked the overclocking thread and changed it to "level 3".

Benchmark Results

The following benchmarks were run:

3D Vantage (v1.1.0)
3D Mark 06 (v1.2.0)
3D Mark 11 (v1.0.2)

I used Hardware Monitor to check temperatures and the laptop was placed flat on a wooden table.

BIOS overclock: level 3

1. Results (3 Aug 2011) - original factory installed drivers, no other speed config changes and factory installed 4GB 1333MHz RAM

3D Vantage (v1.1.0): 24113
3D Mark 06 (v1.2.0): 24685
3D Mark 11 (v1.0.2): 5606

CPU: Highest Core - 86C, Highest Package - 87C
GPU: Highest - 76C

Room temperature*: 20C
Outside temperature**: 15C


2. Results (10 Aug 2011) - 280.19 drivers, no other speed config changes and 8GB 1866MHz RAM

3D Vantage (v1.1.0): 24244
3D Mark 06 (v1.2.0): 25296
3D Mark 11 (v1.0.2): 6110

CPU: Highest Core - 86C, Highest Package - 86C
GPU: Highest - 77C

Room temperature*: 18C
Outside temperature**: 18C

* Estimated temperature
** Based on temperature readings at Edinburgh Airport

It would seem that there is a significant improvement in the 3DMark11 scores when upgrading to the newer NVidia driver.