*OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

The video cards was what i was concerned with when I was looking. I'm just trying to make sure I can squeeze the most performance for the longest amount of time. That's why I figured I'd get your guys' opinions. Just didn't know if it was worth downgrading the other components to get Xfire, or if Xfire was even a good idea.

 

Ah, Gotcha. Compatibility mode not working for the app?

I usually find that unless its a game, i just upgrade the app, for best results. (Of course, you know that too.) If its a game title, i just see if GOG has it in and buy it pre-patched for Windows 7. usually run better anyways.

 

Hello, I come from Kazakhstan, I try to transform M17x R2 into M18x, I wait a long time for M18x PSU, finally I realize that I would like a widescreen and that RGB is nice but widescreen Very Nice!

So I scour ebay for months, looking for best deal. I almost win auction for black one with 2960xm, 580 SLI, and 16 GB Ram for $3200.

It is ok because over weekend I find out here that Dell Outlet had sale!

I call and purchase last one this morning (very sorry).

Details:
Factory Refurbished, 2 year warranty
2960XM
580 SLI
16 GB RAM
Single 500 GB 7200 RPM HD
Killer Wireless
Color: Nebula Red

For $2612 before taxes ($2800 shipping and taxes to California)

Very Excite!

Now my neighbor will be jealous! I get step, he purchase step, I get radio he save and get radio, I get M18x he not have M18x!!!

Now I must learn how to overclock and what is this I hear about dual heat-sink for CPU?

 

Yours should come with the dual pipe heat sink since yours comes with a 2960xm.

 

Really?! Ok thank you for saving me some time, was about to look this up. Will be doing a repaste anyway. I'm going through the benchmark thread here for information on overclocking the CPU and GPU's, any recommendations?

What are the best video drivers out now?

 

The newest NVIDIA drivers (296.10) seem to be running well:
Graphics Driver - Verde 296.10 Driver - GeForce

 

Thanks again blink!

 

SWTOR runs in admin mode, a lot of stuff that doesn't (vent, keyboard drivers etc) can't be accessed (hot keys etc) unless they run in admin mode as well. I would assume the volume buttons are having this issue as well.

 

Hi,

I have Ver A05 Bios installed on my M18X.

I was looking through the bios and I noticed on the first page that the intergrated graphics is not detected. Is this normal?

Thanks

MP

 

I did not want to create a new thread about this so, I thought I would ask here. I never use crossfire in my M18x 1 6970m is good enough for me, but I enabled crossfire today, just to see what fps I would get in metro 2033, and the performance was good, but I noticed that the second card runs hotter at idle, and hotter at load, for example sometimes randomly, the primary card will be running at 49c idle, and the secondary card will be running at 55c, should I call Dell, and have someone come out and re paste the cards?

 

Believe so, it only shows I/G if you've selected it via Fn-F7, and then it won't show the 580Ms

 

the only thing gamers want in m18x primarily is the dual gpu set up, its either you really want the performance bump or if you're contented with a single gpu is your choice. aside from the dual gpu you also get an anodized aluminum chassis (you know when you see one) which is also a good plus. macro keys is also a new feature, whereas literally are hotkeys if you want to press and go in applications, media and games. the other things are mostly basic with m17x r3 (except the 3d part).

 

The activity you describe is fairly normal. One card will normally get warmer than the other "in turns"....when I had AMD cards, I would often notice (even idling) that the secondary would get up to 63c whilst the primary was low 40's...the secondary fan would then kick in to cool it down and the primary would then cycle up to 63c whilst the secondary was low 40's....primary fan would then kick in and the whole process starts again...in cycles - each card taking a turn to get hot enough for the fan to kick in and cool it down.

I think as long as the cards cool themselves and they dont get any hotter than that whislt idling, its perfectly normal.

You could open two gpuz windows (one for each card) and monitor them at idle and under load...if the secondary is significantly hotter under load - say more than 5-10c, you could always look at repasting....i.e if you are gaming and the primary hits 70c while the secondary is hitting 80c + , I would say thats not normal and repasting may be required.

 

Yes... no cause for concern. Your IGP will only be detected when it is active. When it is not active, only the discreet graphics cards are detected. When you switch to IGP, then the discreet graphics cards become invisible. This is by design.

 

Did you see pic previously uploaded mrfox? Weird but must be something to do with how they refurb motherboards

 

I'm not sure what pic you are referring to.

 

The M17x R3 is a decent laptop, but it's not as good as the M18x. Two 6990M in CF is more powerful than one GTX 580M. The M18x build quality is superior to the R3 as well. If you ever owned an M17x R2 or M18x, moving from the R3 to the M18x probably would be considered a "no brainer" upgrade choice. I can no longer entertain the idea of owning a plastic chassis single GPU "gaming laptop" any more. Some folks have experienced no problems with AMD 6900M series cards. Unfortunately, I am not one of them and cannot express with confidence that your experience with the AMD cards will be positive. In spite of how things went, I would still be willing to take my chances with the M18x and 6990M CrossFire rather than go with the R3 and a single GTX 580M.

 

I like mine just fine. Performance is stellar.

 

For those that have not been around the forum long enough to know what I am referring to, let me explain. I'm not bashing AMD, and I still own their products. The AMD CrossFire setup always provided very good performance for me on the M18x. The troubles I ran into was not performance, but reliability. I experienced repeated hardware malfunction and failure. After my third CrossFire setup it was time to try something different. The hardware failures were also occurring during a time that AMD was pumping out absolutely horrid drivers month after month.

I have been an ATI graphics user for many, many years and never had any major troubles before... crummy drivers now and then, but never any hardware failures before the 6900 series. The ATI CrossFire setup in my M17x R2 is still working great.

 

Hi guys, I am considering upgrading to an M18x after having buzzing problems with my M17x R3.

I am considering a 6990m CrossfireX setup, and a 26 70QM CPU. I have my own SSD + 1TB HDD to add myself.
I just have a few questions:

1. Regarding the CPU: I know games are mostly GPU dependant nowadays, and I have been so far satisfied with the performance of my old 26 30QM in my M17xR3. However will the 26 70QM bottleneck the CF 6990M setup in the M18x whilst gaming? I am not concerned with programming, transcoding, AutoCAD, or anything of that nature but I am just worried that I won't be able to utilise the full power of the Crossfire setup whilst gaming due to the CPU.

2. Regarding reliability, I know there have been many problems with CF 6990m setups such as thermal shutdowns, fan problems, not running at full clocks, etc. I read that BIOS A05 fixed these problems, I was wondering if that has sorted it out completely? I saw the thread regarding problems with the CF 6990m but I am not sure if the problems stated by that thread have actually been fixed. My M18x will be brand new and built to spec so maybe there has been a recent hardware revision since then?
The people that say they have problems with their CF 6990m setup, is that even with BIOS A05?
With regards to software such as drivers, formatting, troubleshooting, I am very proficient and know what I am doing which meant I had no problems with my M17xR3 single-6990m, so hopefully I wont have any problems in that aspect for the M18x. I format my laptop/desktop regularly lol.

3. This is my first dual GPU PC (ever), am I right in assuming that if a game does not like a crossfire setup I can just switch to use just a single GPU (turn slave card off) and it will work just fine? Or are crossfire-based drivers always going to be a problem (for those problematic games) whether or not I turn off the slave card?

4. How long does the battery last on the iGPU? (On my M17xR3 I get about 3:30hrs on the Intel HD 3000 iGPU). I obviously never run the dGPU when on battery, its pointless.

5. I know that 4GB RAM is enough nowadays, and that RAM speed differences are not really noticed, but nevertheless have people noticed an increase in performance in upgrading the total number of RAM? I don't use photoshop or video editing or anything, just gaming and watching 1080p .mkv movies so I probably will get told there is no need, especially since I will have in total 4GB GDDR5 in the CF setup while gaming, but I thought I may as well ask this.

Thanks!

 

Oh ok sounds good to me.

 

Looks like I'll be joining you guys soon. I am selling my M17x r3, because I just bought a M18x from the outlet!

330W A/C Adapter
Powercord,125Volt,15Amp,10 Foot
Alienware M18x Space Black Anodized Aluminum
Processor: Intel Core i7-2760QM Processor (2.4 GHz,w/Turbo Boost,6MB Cache)
16 GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4X4GB)
320 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
6X Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M SLI Enabled
Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO
Internal 60GHz WirelessHD Transmitter
18.4 inch Wide FHD (1920 x 1080) WLED Display
Genuine Windows 7 Professional
Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth Module
12 Cell Battery

Got it with 2 years Complete Care and next day shipping for $2,459.02 after taxes

I talked to brother Fox before buying it, and we both agree this was too good of a deal to pass up. I'M SO HAPPY

Now to sell the M17x r3.... lol

 

this fox

 

Nice! Very happy for you. That's quite a beast you've ordered.

You should offer your R3 for sale in the NBR Marketplace.

That might work. Windows XP does not do well with switching systems once installed. I have had some issues trying to do that in the past. If you don't install any drivers whatsoever, just barebones Windows XP, then put the drive in the M18x it might work. If that does not blue screen, then you can try installing drivers for the M18x hardware devices... assuming you can find Windows XP drivers for the M18x hardware.

I have used Windows 7 XP mode, but never tried a native XP installation on my M18x. Let me do some searching and see if I can find any info that may be helpful for you.

Edit: Brother Unityole, is your BIOS set to RAID? If so, you will need to obtain Intel F6 drivers. It just occurred to me that this may be what is causing the BSOD when you are attempting to install Windows XP. See this link for instructions and visit the Intel Download Center for F6 drivers.

Wow, that's crazy, Brother Dan. What in the world caused that? Did they give you any clues why? I don't think I have ever seen that before, but I would love to know the cause of it.

 

No I didn't tell them as they had sent two motherboards on two different services one wouldn't allow service tag entry and the other was in this mode? Both had Sata 3gb/s issue. Also three CPU heatsinks and none had that thermal pad at the back which I had put on myself. They are going to have some overheating m18x without this. I have replaced nearly all parts in this now and DPC and sata issues still there hence now getting replacement when they email me.

 

I got may replacement the other day and everything is working pretty fine, except when I want to over clock. I seem to be only able to clock to 100.45 after that the computer freezes in the bios for a minute then shuts down and I have to turn it on, then I find is back to where is was.

Any solution?

My last with exact same setting was able to go to 104.00

 

Have you tried increasing bclk in small increments and applying immediately - repeat and see how far she goes without issue...

 

Im a little unsure what you mean, but if your talking about the setting underneath the BUS CLOCK menu I did try going up very gradually, like in 10s.

 

Thanks for the Context.

I'm not really loyal to either vendor, (or any vendor). I have had GPUs from Cirrus Logic, S3, NVidia, ATI.. Just what ever gives me the best bang for the buck. Its funny to note.. I had the Original Radeon Card way back when it came out. But in my primary machine since then, its been mostly Nvidia, GF2, GF4, 7900, 8800, 270.. But now back to 6990s. (Not to mention tons of IGPs and lower end cards from both makers) Of all of them.. the only two that were disappointments were the i740 from intel and the S3 Verge.

I have a feeling that AMD had some issues with Silicon during the spin-off of Global Foundries. Were your chips from that timeframe?

 

It was the beginning of third quarter through fourth quarter of last year, so not that long ago that things were going very poorly with AMD cards in the M18x.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...d-re-dell-aw-conference-call.html#post8030512

 

is with alienware and liquid cooling, this stuff is insane.

Asetek Demonstrates Liquid Cooling For Laptop And All-In-One PCs - Asetek, Inc.

i assume liquid cooling we need to change the water AND clean the fan right? and also if internal cooling system breaks even a tiny bit, its all over

 

There is a thread for discussion on that topic: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/652499-alienware-liquid-cooled-laptop-asetek.html

 

I just recieved my M18x yesterday. It is an Outlet unit and it looks brand new. Only thing I want to do to it at the moment is get a SSD. I have one in my work laptop and love the way it boots up so fast.

 

I am not sure if this is helpful or clear but I did have a similar problem with sound on my first M18x it just wouldn't go very loud. The top sound keys did work but at 100% it only sounded like it was operating at about 50%

When I checked the volume indicator in the bottom right task bar though I saw that it actually was only at 50% even though the top buttons told me it was 100%.

I simply maxed the volume slider in the taskbar while at 100% in the top and it was good ever since and adjusted correctly inside of games

 

Good advice to new users. Windows segments volume controls for separate applications, and often those volume controls do not correspond to the system volume. Its crazy..

 

Finally got my M18x yesterday. Walked in the house and there she was ready for me to open and mess with. Great Wednesday.

 

Congratulations... are you having fun yet?

 

what are your specs? still waiting for mine that was ordered on 3/3.

 

Hi All,

New owner **finally** checking in !!

I intially ordered a brand new unit from Dell;

2760
x2 580's
4gb 1333 ram
750gb HDD
6300
BDrom
3 yrs warranty

But after a few calls to Dell i lost all faith in them being able to deliver by the alloted time (im also due to go to Afghanistan in may so didnt have time to mess around). I ended up cancelling the order and buying from a seller on ebay. Eventually got this;

2670
x2 580's
16gb 1600mzh
2x 750gb
6200
BDrom
3 yrs warranty

This worked out slightly cheaper than a factory supplied one. Ive already replaced the RAM with 16gb of 1888 HyperX, waiting for my 6300 to be delivered and have a 128gb Crucial M4 to go in too. All in im very happy, machine is an absolute beast....... I love it already !

Going to test out the 580's over the weekend with a few games

Regards,

Dave.

 

Congrats Dave, welcome (officially ) to the "club"......nice it worked out a bit cheaper too!!

 

Nice! Congrats, Dave.

 

New owner checking in. Refurb system, and the price was stellar. I added the SSD. Currently reformatting and transferring files and settings from my old system.
All I can say is WOW. the build quality even put the the old m1730 to shame. And she performs maaaahvelously

 

Great to hear. Can't wait till I get mine...yeash.

 

Very nice setup, Zolutar. Welcome to the Alien way of life.

 

Quick question for you M18X owners. I currently have a M17X R3 and am seriously thinking up bumping up to the M18X.

I play lot's of WOW on the reclining sofa with the 17X R3, laptop and cooler on a pillow in my lap. I know the 18X weighs 3lbs more but do you find it terribly uncomfortable?

 

mr fox, metal chassis exist for m17x r4?

 

I'm a fairly big dude and i have a reclined back chair (IKEA POANG). The M18X is really large and the weight is not the easiest to handle for everyone. I had a Small Lapdesk, it was Plastic with a Beanbag type bottom. It bent all to heck when i was trying to balance the M18X and the mouse. After an hour or two, it was uncomfortable.

So, i shopped around and bout a small stand that is adjustable for mine. It came so i can angle it slightly upward and holds the machine well.. plus has room for a mouse. Best investment EVER! i dont worry about the weight and it slides right up to me like im at a desk.

Realspace Height Adjustable Mobile Laptop Cart 33 14 H x 23 58 W x 15 34 D BlackSilver by Office Depot

 

No, I don't find that at all. I see no reason at all that you could not use the M18x in the same manner you are using the R3. I use an ordinary lapdesk with the M18x and it's great for me. The stand that TheBluePill has looks pretty nice.

I have no idea, bro. I have not read any posts in the speculation thread in the main Alienware forum. Personally, I would not be paying a whole lot of attention to the M17x R4 unless or until I find out is has dual GPU and metal anodized chassis like the M17x R2 and M18x... not too interested in downgrading performance.

 

Mr Fox

Which lapdesk are you using?

 

I am using one like this one, and it does a fine job. It sits comfortably on my lap and fits inside my clothing suitcase for travel. I move the M18x off to the far left side and it leaves enough room to use my Razer Orochi on the right side. (Dimensions are 23"W x 15"D.) I am going to make my own lap desk like this one only a a few inches wider and with a groove for the AC adapter cable to fit into to keep it from coming unplugged. I currently put the AC adapter cable through the hole for the hand grip, leaving a loop in the cord to avoid kinking it, then slide the M18x back against the cable to "wedge" it in place. It also fits nicely on a TV tray table when I need a place to set it aside when I am not using the M18x.

I have one made like this one (only plastic) and absolutely hate it. I use it for a printer stand, because it's terrible as a lap desk... too unstable.