*OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

Looks like you got a nice performance boost by using the lated Nvidia drivers!

 

I was initially worried that the values were subpar to similar 580M SLI configs but it would seem that you need the 280.19 or later drivers to be able to get 6k+ on the 3DMark11 results.

I have just updated to the very latest driver - 280.26 but there is no noticeable difference in the 3DMark11 results.

 

i just hit the top key and the lights for it come back on.

 

Is it just me, or does the lunar black on the m18x look more like a very dark chocolate, definitely not as graphite black as the m17x r2 or r3? Maybe I got a "special" version ?

God, I wish they would have offered lunar silver in the m18x.

 

Mine is def like a grey ... gun metalish ...

 

Yeah. It's definitely more like a gunmetal grey. I also wasn't expecting it to be as metallic as it is (not in a bad way or anything)...it reminds me a lot of an automotive paint job.

 

Well, I've got mine. It's awesome and all, but I'm a bit disappointed with the build quality. It has several issues:

-Nameplate is a bit dinged up
-Bottom plastic covering has a nick on it
-They realllly botched up the webcam, the eye is not centered for one, and the plastic surrounding it is not cut perfectly (it looks like $*&%)
-The plastic surrounding the speaker grills is a bit scratched up
-The brushed aluminum where the power button has a minor scratch; it also creaks a bit when I push down on the Alien Command Center button

If I ask for a replacement, will it come with a new custom nameplate, or will it come with the basic "M18x"?

Maybe I'm just too picky, but all of this is really bothering me and is detracting from the satisfaction of finally owning an Alienware...

 

wow.
send it back and reorder is your only choice.

another 3 to 4 weeks.

 

what top key?

i am also finding out now that the macro key lights simply will not turn on after shutting down the alien fx lights with fn-f11 unless i reboot.

 

Just ordered mine yesterday, waiting for it now.

 

Had my m18x for two weeks and I still love it.

It's my baby.

I was very fortunate to have no dings, dents, creaking noises, dead pixels, or any other build imperfections. Only problem I've had is that my video cards don't overclock at all. But I'm okay with it.

 

Anyone ready to do a "for-real" clean install with an unbranded Microsoft version of Windows 7 versus the Alienware OS disc? If so, you can download the SP1 ISO from Digital River. Be sure to use the eicfg removal tool to make it an "all version" so you can use it on any Windows 7 system.

 

After going dark, if the macro key lights dont come on, just press the top macro key (above macro no.1 labelled 'X' and your lights will com back on and you can scroll through the various colours/macro sets.

 

let me just ask this, i really don't know..

why is it on the device manager, AMD 6900M is the card recognized?

 

It's due to the information in the driver INF file telling Windows what to call it. If you use the original Dell version of the driver they will be seen as 6970. This is common with reference drivers. Reference drivers work on a "family" of hardware that includes multiple models in a series.

 

it worked!!

 

Told ya!

10char

 

i7 2960xm on ebay INTEL i7 2960XM extreme 3.7GHZ fastest laptop CPU! | eBay

 

Holy cowabunga!!! - how the hell did that get there lol......

 

Question to the M18x owners; is the PCMCIA dummy card inserted in the slot snug? The one I have has a lot of vertical room (about 1/8 of an inch) ?

 

Same here but I don't consider it an issue at all.

 

I was just wondering. Thanks for the reply.

 

Funny how the 2960 shows up after a bios update that supports new CPUs!

 

Yep, but there's really no point in the 2960 if you got the 2920. You can't push it beyond 4GHz on all cores without heat issues

 

I had mine 91C running at 4.5. Do you know what is the max allowable temp.? 100C?

 

It will throttle @ 97+ but 91C is above the recommended for sure. I'd say, under 85C in Prime95 is recommended.

 

Thank you Aikimox!

 

I don't mean to be making a big deal about it, though I'm not sure why no one has yet, but the lack of a 120hz screen is driving me nuts. I never realized how terrible a 60hz screen can be in comparison to a 120hz one. I have to use vsync on every game to avoid screen tearing, even Crysis!

Does everyone use an external monitor, or do you just deal with the fact that you have to live off of vsync for a playable experience?

I'm honestly considering returning the M18x in hope that the R2 will at least come with a 120hz screen. Honestly, I could even make do with a lesser quality screen (I think the current screen looks just fine) for a 120hz screen. I got a great deal on this though so I don't want to return it.

 

You would need 120fps to avoid screen tearing and multi-gpu microstutters with a 120 hertz monitor, as apposed to needing only 60. I would rather have a 30 hertz so i wouldn't need to push such hogh framerates. Vsync is the only frame synching mechanism available for multi-gpu solutions.

 

Hmm, I was under the impression that as long as the FPS of a game was under the refresh rate of the screen, screen tearing would not occur. It is only when you breach the 60 FPS mark with the M18x that you experience the tearing, which is why vsync would be needed to stay at 60 or under. If I'm right there then I would have thought that as long as your frames were 120 or less there would be no screen tearing with a 120hz screen and if the FPS was over 120, you could use vsync to hover around 120 which would not impact performance. I may be completely mislead though...

 

No screen tearing occurs whenever the source framerates do not match up to the screen refresh. Simple as.
On another note, is anyone willing to trade me a 580m for two 6990m's? I have a 6990m and may be getting another one in a M17x R3 deal but I really am after the nvidia card due to some of my applications that use cuda. So anyone want to part with just one 580m in exchange for two 6990m's?

 

just pulled the trigger


Item Number Quantity Item Description
225-0888 1 Alienware M18x - Nebula Red Anodized Aluminum
317-6855 1 Intel Core i7 2720QM 2.2GHz (3.3GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
317-6851 1 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (2DIMMS)
331-2428 1 Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapter
320-2269 1 18.4-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 WLED
320-2318 1 Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M NVIDIA SLI Enabled
342-2626 1 320GB 7,200RPM HDD
330-6106 1 Personalized Nameplate Trigger
331-2426 1 Custom Nameplate
313-8792 1 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
421-5099 1 Alienware Command Center, M18X
420-9691 1 DataSafe Local BackUp
420-9956 1 PC Restore
421-0092 1 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
421-5789 1 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
410-0548 1 Adobe Acrobat Reader
318-0842 1 Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner, DVD+-RW, CD-RW
421-1305 1 Roxio Creator Starter
318-0770 1 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
430-4332 1 Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming and Video
469-0549 1 Bluetooth 3.0
953-9080 1 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
953-9100 1 Third Party At Home Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year
994-3700 1 Accidental Damage Service, 1 Year
950-9797 1 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
421-1719 1 Soft Contracts Consumer Accidental Damage Agreement for Alienware
421-1723 1 Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware
994-3730 1 Warranty Support, Initial Year
421-1360 1 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
330-5090 1 Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare
463-0742 1 Special Pricing Applied
* AW evilGear Thorpenator
Subtotal: $2,942.25
Shipping and Handling: $0.00
Sales Tax: $176.54
Total: $3,118.79


Seagate Constellation.2 ST91000640NS 1TB 7200 RPM 2.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Enterprise-class Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822148710


Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 HyperX Plug n Play Laptop Memory Model KHX1600C9S3P1K2/8G
Item #: N82E16820104257

i want to get an ssd but am completely ignorant on them looking to spend about 200 any suggestions?

 

Congrats on the purchase buddy!
Now for the wait time to begin!

Cheers.

 

Yeah, it's the 920xm/940xm scenario all over again.

 

those seagate constellation drives are 12.5mm in height and they may not fit the hard drive caddy, carefull! you want 9.5mm high laptop drives to ensure it fits.

 

you are right. but i believe there is the general chance of screen tearing whenever the frame rate does not match the refresh rate as well. the other problem, like i previously mentioned, was multi-gpu micro stutter and stutter in general. games may not exhibit fuild frame output even if your frame rate is considered fluid. the only mechanism to smooth out the game play is verticl sync. the higher the refresh rate of the monitor the higher the frame rates you would need to enforce the frame limiter. what graphically intensive game out there do you honestly think can be played at 120fps? probably not a single one.

so if you really hate screen tearing then ensure you are hitting 60fps or greater and enable vsync. with 120 hertz you will need to double that frame rate so you either reduce graphical settings or hope there is no tearing.

 

Very Interesting Find. Did you notice the disclaimer? Its says 65 chipset only. Don't we all have 67?

 

does 6990m support eyefinity? if so, is this laptop capable of doing this since it has 3 display outputs, dispay port, vga, hdmi?

 

Eyefinity will definitely work. But I haven't heard that much success from using 3 external monitors. I could have sworn a few people have managed to get all 3 working at once. But the vast majority seemed to be only to get 2 exterior and the internal.

 

yes must be a typo I was more shocked by the price

 

To all M18x owners:

I am currently looking to purchase an M18x and would like to ask if I would be able to add a second HDD for the system if I purchase it with a single drive configuration. Would all the parts (aside from the drive itself) be available and ready for upgrade?

 

It's all in there.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

Hello,

I plan to buy a m18x and I wanted to know if some of you know if Alienware provides a next version of the m18x with a 3D screen 120Hz?

Another question, Optimus work there with SLI? If so is it allow a lot more autonomy in web using ?

What I foresee as m18x:
CPU: The most powerful
GPU: Not sure, between an SLI or crossfire
RAM: 16Gb HyperX 1600
DISK: 2x 256GB SSD Intel 510 (Not in RAID)
NETWORK: Intel 6300N

 

right now optimus does not work. i think it would require a motherboard revision. both gpu offerings now require a reboot to toggle the I/D GFX modes.

 

Thank you ARGH, your answer is very useful.

 

If you wish to have Optimus and decent graphics, you may consider the Precision M6600/M4600.

 

Hi!

I'm thinking about getting one of these monsters....

I would have to pay it in 36 months, but I owuld take it as an adittional "rent"

the specs would be:

Base Alienware M18x Nebula Red
OS Windows® 7 Professional original 64 bits,
RAM 16384MB (4x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
Video Card Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD® Radeon™ HD 6990M CrossFireX™
HDD Hybrid SSD Momentus XT de 500 GB
Blu-Ray ROM Combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read and write) Drive
Integrated High-Definition 5.1 Performance Audio Powered by Klipsch®
Wireless Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 - EUR
Standard Warranty 1 year Next Business Day Hardware Support included with your PC
Bluetooth Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth
Processor Intel® Core™ i7 2820QM (2,30Ghz, 6MB, 4C) <- It says 6 MB of Cache but I know it has 8. In spain we can't get the 2920 XM
Camera Cámara de alta definición de 3,0 megapíxeles integrada
Avatar Alienhead 3D
AutoMatic Updates AutoMatic updates - On
Wallpapers Alienware 3D Wallpaper
AlienFx Colour Mars Red
LCD 47 cm(18.4") Wide FHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD
Hidden NamePlate Engraving Generic Name Plate Engraving

what do you guys think?


Any dead pixel risk? you guys got any?

Which cooler to get?

 

less ram (buy ram elsewhere) and more warranty

 

I have a desktop PC with an AMD Phenom II x4 95 BE and a EVGA SC GTX 580.

Will the m18x with the 2820QM and dual 6990's perform better with games?