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    *OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by BatBoy, May 4, 2011.

  1. tala16

    tala16 Notebook Guru

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    my friends sell his rams NEW Hynix 4GB PC3-12800S 1600mhz that was immediately pulled out from a Alienware m17x R3. It has less than 2 minutes of use and is considered as brand new unit.
    Below are the specs:
    [​IMG]
    MT/s = DDR3-1600
    Grade = -PB
    tCK (ns) = 1.25
    CAS Latency (tCK) = 11
    tRCD (ns) = 13.75
    tRP (ns) = 13.75
    tRAS (ns) = 35
    tRC (ns) = 48.75
    CL-tRCD-tRP = 11-11-11

    My m18x also have 8gb 1600mhz form DELL. However i confuse if i install that Ram( my friend's Ram ), it'll be fit with my m18x or not ? Will il get 16gb Ram after i install ? 50$ for 8gb is that a big deal ?
     
  2. Axisofevil35

    Axisofevil35 Notebook Enthusiast

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  3. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    This memory should be compatible with your M18x. There are a total of 4 DIMM slots and how much memory you will end up with will depend on whether you have any open slots at the moment. If your 8GB setup is 2x4 with 2 open slots adding these 2x4 DIMMs will give you 16GB. If you currently have 2GB DIMMs filling each of the 4 slots, replacing 2 of them with these modules will give you a total of 12GB.

    You can purchase 8GB (2x4) of DDR3-1600 RAM for essentially the same price online. Newegg.com is selling equivalent memory in the $45-$50 price range.

    If you need an easy guide to get to the RAM under the keyboard, you will find that here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/583324-ram-upgrade-m18x-pics.html
     
  4. tala16

    tala16 Notebook Guru

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    @mr Fox.thanks for reply.if i install 8gb form his Ram, i will get total 16gb ?
     
  5. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    I tried to explain that in my post above. The answer will depend on how many DIMMs you have in your system that make up the 8GB you have at this time.

    If you now have 2 DIMM @ 4GB each and 2 empty DIMM slots, yes. You will end up having 16GB if you add the 2 sticks of 4GB RAM to the empty slots. (4+4+4+4=16)

    If you now have 4 DIMM @ 2GB each and no empty DIMM slots, no. If you remove 2 of the 4 sticks and replace those with the 2 sticks of 4GB you will end up having 12GB of RAM. (2+2+4+4=12)

    I hope this is easier to understand.
     
  6. tala16

    tala16 Notebook Guru

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    hi Mr.Fox.
    i understood that u talked about DIMM slots, i just confuse about Ram's m17x vs Ram's m18x.. i hope this memory should be compatible with my M18x.
     
  7. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    It should be exactly the same memory with no compatibility problems. It's non-ECC DDR3 1600, correct? As it was pulled from the M17x R3 it should be no issue at all.
     
  8. totalzero00

    totalzero00 Newbie

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    Hello Gents,

    So this is my first high performance laptop ever and my 2nd high performance gaming machine. My first I built 4 years ago when 150 GB HDDs where the cream of the crop and Bioware was just starting to come out of its gaming shell with awesome games.

    So I have a Mx18 but its the little brother of the series. Meaning yes I only have the 2670 CPU at 2.2 GHz. Now has anyone tried overclocking this yet? And if so could anyone give me a step by step tutorial on how to do it myself? I have never overclocked a system before and from what I have been reading on the net not only are the new quad core cpus a little tricking but with the turbo boost ability it just makes things a little more confusing if you have never done it before. So I was wondering if someone could give this overclocking noob a bone?

    I bought a 3 fan cooling pad for the system and I am already monitoring the CPU temps....(all at a steady 104 F)

    Also, I just emailed alienware about upgrading this to be like its bigger brothers on the line myself when I get the cash to do so and was wondering if anyone has looked inside of theirs yet and think if its possible. One reason why I picked this particular machine was because of its size and laptops seem to have come along way nowadays to where they are mobile PCs in every since of the word almost. As long as you're willing to pay and spend time of course. So sorry for the long post. Hoping Bat Boy will answer. His posts kinda inspired me and I wanted to ask him directly but I'm willing to take anyones advice. Happy Gaming Gents!
     
  9. lnoton

    lnoton Notebook Consultant

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    Any idea if I can get a replacement control centre surround from Dell?

    Clip damaged when I pulled it off to replace RAM and it doesnt sit flush anymore at the back right. Just wondering if it is something I can get Dell to send out to me. If it's more than like £15 I'm probably not fussed.

    Ideas?
     
  10. joegreen1967

    joegreen1967 Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks again Mr Fox,I was wondering the same thing,you pretty much answered my question also.Thanks. :)
     
  11. japalax

    japalax Notebook Enthusiast

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    That's right, instead of £1080 for 2, it's now £620, also check out the duel hard drive option 256gb ssd + 750gb 7200 rpm for £285 yay :D.
     

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  12. iPhantomhives

    iPhantomhives Click the image to change your avatar.

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  13. steviejones133

    steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    spotted that too today on the UK site....about time that the price dropped here...also, that HDD/SSD combo option has to be a mistake as they want to charge alot more for just the 256gb SSD without the 750gb HDD secondary drive....

    [​IMG]
    Also, 33% off a 3 yr warranty, good time to buy in the UK....
     
  14. lnoton

    lnoton Notebook Consultant

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    Yup. Just one broke. And I still have it. Might give this a go then, hoping I don't need to rip the whole thing off again, just lift it up and stick it back on, then clip it down when dry.
     
  15. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    If you have the better warranty that includes accidental damage coverage, that might be considered accidental damage. It was not broken on purpose. I would call and ask.
     
  16. killaz05

    killaz05 Notebook Evangelist

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    So far so good on my new alienware. My first one was with 6990 in CFX but it seems that something was seriously wrong with it. My new one with the 580s destroy my previous one.
     
  17. Xeneize

    Xeneize Notebook Deity

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  18. MAITAI

    MAITAI Notebook Geek

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    Xeneize, Hola. My m18x 580m arrived today. Question for you or whomever.
    Does anyone use addtionial nvidia tuner besides the main one. (like radeon pro for AMD).
     
  19. Xeneize

    Xeneize Notebook Deity

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    Congratz bud!!

    There are three OC I use:

    Nvidia Inspector
    EVGA Precision
    MSI Afterburner

    You at least want Inspector and one of the other two.... As Inspector really allows you to do the Mr. Fox Throttling fix by manipulating the P* states.

    Of the other two, I prefer EVGA... but that's just personal preference.

    You are also going to want to download GPU-Z.
     
  20. MAITAI

    MAITAI Notebook Geek

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    besides info what benefits are gpu-z? also what setting do you use for sli rendering mode?
     
  21. Xeneize

    Xeneize Notebook Deity

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    Just info really, but good for benching, the sensor info is very good IMO.

    As far as SLI rendering, unless a rare bug, I typically leave Nvidia Recommended, I have used FAFR1 but on older games (Witcher) due to a light bug, other than that the default one works like a charm.... in fact there's almost nothing you need to tweak to play games other than Vsync (if the tearing bothers you), which some games seem to leave out of their GFX options.
     
  22. reaversedge

    reaversedge Notebook Evangelist

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    guys with m18x (and preferrably with 580m sli) what settings do you use in Batman:Arkham Asylum? do you use sli with it and what details do you set it so that you have fluid gameplay? i had B:AA installed recently and my fps are like crap running on single 580m. my drivers are already 290.36
     
  23. Xeneize

    Xeneize Notebook Deity

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    Put simply, I max out everything (I mean everything to the very top) and play at 2560x1440..... so do the math. That's at DX9 and SLI.
     
  24. joegreen1967

    joegreen1967 Notebook Evangelist

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    Same here Killaz,so far so good.Im keeping my fingers crossed I dont want any more issues,seems alot were do to amd issues.Good luck.And the 580s are monsters!
     
  25. steviejones133

    steviejones133 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    I havent got the game yet but was gonna be one that I wanted. I read that the patch for DX11 is live but is this STILL not working????

    http://store.steampowered.com/news/6939/
     
  26. Xeneize

    Xeneize Notebook Deity

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    Yeah patch is out, much better, still way off....
     
  27. reaversedge

    reaversedge Notebook Evangelist

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    yeah, dx11 is really a pain, imo i saw a youtube video comparing dx9 and dx11, and idk why dx11 is that bad if there are minimal difference imo. this is really strange, in arkham asylum its easy peasy all max settings, in arkham city i had to disable dx11 support, other than that all are max. idk if you guys have noticed any significant graphic jump from dx9 to dx11 in arkham city.

    i just got an unofficial patch somewhere. i applied it and didn't helped much, although the staggering start up loading time is reduced, other than that at max settings all in all with dx11 enabled is locked 30fps :(

    here quoted at B:AC thread i found

     
  28. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Bugs with technology are common, especially with new game releases. The bugs usually get worked out.
    When it comes to DX9 versus DX11, a picture is worth a thousand words.

    DirectX 9
    [​IMG]

    DirectX 11
    [​IMG]

    DirectX 11 visual enhancements are striking, but they can also be more demanding on the graphics cards that support it. What is really cool is that all of the video cards offered in the M18x support DX11. There are not many dual-GPU laptops that can make this claim to fame.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 6, 2015
  29. joegreen1967

    joegreen1967 Notebook Evangelist

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    Nice example Mr Fox...That almost looks like a console vs pc,big difference and nicer lighting.Imagine in a few years how good games are going to be.Maybe Photo realistic, with fluid game play.
     
  30. reaversedge

    reaversedge Notebook Evangelist

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    i know about this dx11 application in general, but i was really wondering is how they used it in BAC (or i haven't made a better look, physx was awesome btw) i just hope that they would give a good patch fix later when using dx11 in BAC.
     
  31. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    I would be very shocked if there are not at least a couple of patches for BAC, and doubt it will be a long time. It's pretty uncommon for version 1.0 to be the end of the road on any software.

    Not to be a pain now, but further discussion specific to this game title probably would be best placed over here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/628080-batman-arkham-city.html
     
  32. totalzero00

    totalzero00 Newbie

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    Just wondering if anyone had a post like this already with a step by step walkthrough so I could do it. From what I've been reading you cant really OC the CPU because its locked by the BIOS but you can pretty much raise the stock numbers a tid bit. Also if anyone else has any tweaks they could recommend that I do for my system I would appreciate it.
     
  33. inap

    inap .........................

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    just got my new 18x 2 days ago, man i love it. the only thing i hate is the big power brick, dude that friggin huge, hahah
    also the power cord itself is super thick, is everyone's the same? i swap it over to a thinner cord which still works.
     
  34. joegreen1967

    joegreen1967 Notebook Evangelist

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    Yeah inap,everything about this is huge! I fit my m14 and m11x on the top,just to see.lol,This things a beast!
     
  35. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    No, you can set the turbo power limits to the maximums and set your base clock a bit higher and that's it. Setting base clock at 104 is stable for most systems. There is very little you can do without an XM CPU and the tweaks mentioned above do not make a huge difference. They do help a little bit, but don't expect a lot.

    Awesome... love mine, too. Congratulations. :)

    I also switched the removable cord to an extra desktop power cable I had in my junk box. It's about half the diameter. I don't mind the size of the power brick, but the massive cords are pretty unwieldy. I wind them in a circle and use velcro ties to carry the brick in my backpack and that's about a tidy as you can get. The AC adapter reminds me of the 240W brick that came with the XPS M1730.
     
  36. inap

    inap .........................

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    thanks mr.fox
    yeah i'm used to massive power bricks by now but the cord the sent it with was just too hard to handle and crazy long. now i just need to save me some bucks for an xm and i'm set.
     
  37. littleone562

    littleone562 Notebook Deity

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    I think the power cord that came with it is rated for higher amps, just be careful and make sure the one you switched to isn't getting to hot or burning out.
     
  38. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    It was from a desktop PC with an equally high if not higher draw/power output, so it should not be a problem. I think the fat cord was more for wow factor than function.
     
  39. SOS4DELL

    SOS4DELL A Notebook Philosopher

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    Usually, good brand cables must have an inscription on them which states the type of cable according with standards (UL, CSA, etc.) such as " CSA TYPE XXxxxx (letters and numbers) SVT 60⁰C (or 75⁰C, or 105⁰C, etc.) 18AWGX3C" so, it's easy to determine if a particular cable will fit the requirements (safety among them)... There are more or less flexible cables in almost each type.
     
  40. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    For the benefit of any AMD-powered M18x owner(s) that has not already discovered it:


     
  41. ole!!!

    ole!!! Notebook Prophet

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    anyone still have problems with latest driver and bios? like unable to change brightness level?
     
  42. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    I'm not sure how many people missed it, but the DimScreen app that SOS4DELL told us about works excellent with the AMD cards even without the driver support. I don't need it at all with my NVIDIA powered M18x, but use it because it's a nifty app. If you have not tried it yet, you should. It's more convenient that the normal brightness controls.
     
  43. Audi4ever

    Audi4ever Notebook Evangelist

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    Pardon me if this is not the right forum to ask, but i try. Will the 2760cpu run FSX and X-plane 10 without problems. I have the i7 740 today and it does a ok job with FSX

    Thanks in advance
     
  44. kevinz

    kevinz Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey guys,
    So My m18x finally came in today!!!!!!!
    Wow what a massive laptop.. I figured since i always drive around, the weight and size wouldn't bother me much, but oh boy, its big and heavy..
    but I'm just loving it so much :)

    Question, I've installed battlefiled 3 to test out how great the gtx580m sli would be, but I'm getting like 10 fps even on low setting. I've just upgraded the driver to Latest Driver Version 285.62, but its not helping. And I just noticed that the laptop came with SLI disabled.
    Am I missing some important step? or did i just upgrade to wrong driver?

    I'm pretty newbie at this, so any tips and helps would be very appreciated!!!

    :)
     
  45. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    kevinz - hey buddy... congratulations! There's lots to love about the M18x. What you're describing sounds like you are either trying to game on the battery or the Intel HD 3000 IGP. Neither will work well with BF3. Are you plugged in with your power profile set to "High performance" mode?
     
  46. joegreen1967

    joegreen1967 Notebook Evangelist

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    Congrats! Me too! It's huge! I put my m11x on the top just to see the difference,lol,I was able to put my m14x on it and there was still room!Mr Fox is right again,I have same drivers and getting 5x better than your saying.On the discreet sli with near all maxed you should average 30 to 60 depending on dips big scenes etc being 30s,and average approx 50 or better,that seems to be the general fps with the monster machine you have.Check what Mr Fox said,alot of users make that mistake on battery,and enjoy,Its a beast! :D
     
  47. kevinz

    kevinz Notebook Enthusiast

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    That was it!!!!!!!
    Thanks guys!!! I can finally ditch my desktop with GTX240!!!
    :)
     
  48. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Ha ha! Glad it was so simple, bro. Enjoy that sick bad boy.
     
  49. joegreen1967

    joegreen1967 Notebook Evangelist

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    Always go to basics,I told ya Mr Fox was right,glad it was easy,and good job once again Mr Fox! :DAnd have fun guy's! I'm playin Crysis2 now with sibeam to my sammy 50 plasma,this thing is so cool!
     
  50. GreaseMonkey90

    GreaseMonkey90 Notebook Evangelist

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    its been more than 1 month already since i sent my m18x for the warehouse repair. right now they are still waiting for the GTX580Ms. Its really frustrating. Is it possible for me to ask for a compensation for that delay? say like a free upgrade for the i72960XM.
     
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