*OFFICIAL* M18x R1/R2 Owner's Lounge Thread

well, one thing's certain: I was a Lenovo/IBM fanboy and wouldn't switch for anything, but last year I was curious enough to want a change, and Dell's ease of warranty switch + finding the right customer representative (which can be a nightmare!) are very rewarding. funnily enough only 1 out of 5 customer reps managed to tie up all the loose ends to my questions, but all that matters to me that at the end of the day the problem is solved. Dell have no idea how much it means to have an easily transferable global warranty... one of the reasons why I switched from Lenovo to Dell. Asus' global service isn't top-notch either, while MSI's is simply horrible

by the way, is the M18x R2 made from anodized aluminium like the R1? I hope they haven't switched over to plastic, I fell in love with aluminium cases and wouldn't switch for anything. fingerprints and dirt are a nightmare on plastic casings

 

Aluminum build on the R2. I agree with you. You got to love the aluminum!

 

Woot my m18x r2 arrived this morning

Now just gotta install the ssd into it. Gotta install the OS onto it tho, then my games.. hmm this is gonna take awhile

 

Hello guys, strange thing happen today while booting up my alienware... i got a dos message that read the following:

"Warning: A 255W AC Power adapter has been detected, which i less than the recommended 330W adapter or orginally shipped. The battery may not charge. The system will adjust the performance to match the power available. Please connect a Dell 330W AC adapter or greater for the best system performance"

I had the m18x for almost an year now and never had this error pop up should i be concerned? Did i had the wrong AC adapter this whole time?? I have a i72720 and 6990 xfire. Anyway i can manually check what adapter i have?

 

That's just a mistake in the BIOS or your AC adapter is bad. If the problem goes away, no worries. If it continues, you probably need to replace it. If you have had it almost a year, then it has to be a 330W unit or it would not have worked for a year. It would not have worked on Day 1, much less a year later.

 

Hey guys, just got my new m18xr2 and I want to try a little overclocking of the 7970's. I installed and unlocked afterburner but when I change my clocks the system crashes when running a 3dmark11 after 20 secs. I'm running the 12.6 beta. I cant even get a 900/1300 over clock with out it crashing. Any one have a idea why?? When I leave the clocks stock, no problems.

 

900/1300 could be too much for your card, although maybe different for others, and also 7970 without OC should run most game on ultra already. why OC lol

 

You right! No need to overclock right now. Just loaded crysis 2 with direct x11 and high res on an it runs at a solid 60 fps. Super happy with them. Just want to see what they can do maxed in 3d mark11. It looks like everyelse can clock alot high then 900/1300. Just don't know if I'm doing something wrong.

 

Remember some are using overvolt too.

 

As already pointed out, there are variances between video cards. Some overclock better than others. But, 900/1300 is barely any change above stock speeds. Over-volting doesn't help a great deal with 7970M and can actually cause a decline in performance. This could still be due to the lack of good driver support. Freezing and black screens during benchmark runs may be the driver crashing. Bottom line is that the 7970M doesn't handle overclocking well, at least not at the moment. The results are very inconsistent from one hour to the next. Let's hope that better drivers or a vBIOS update will take care of it or these will end up being a boring set of GPUs that only offer consistent performance and behavior running stock speeds.

 

I sure hope it is the drivers for now. I don't need them overclocked now but may in the future. Thanks for your input Mr. Fox.

 

The power adapter should have a label on it that looks something like this:



The "OUTPUT" field, circled in red, will give you the voltage and amperage the device will output. In the case of the aforementioned adapter, which belongs to my boss's M18x R1 with crossfire 6990m GPUs, it comes out to 329.55 watts of power, which rounds up to 330 watts.

A 240 watt power adapter (the other common power supply, used normally in non-dual GPU/non-extreme CPU setups) should be closer to 12.5 amps (the voltage will stay the same).

 

Hi all. Just awaiting delivery of mine, with a 7970 xfire.

Can anyone else with the same set up tell me how Crysis 2 runs? I've seen/read that it manages 60fps + on ultra, but every vid I've seen has evidence of occasional slowdown, when turning corners etc - which is exactly what I had with the first Crysis on my 5850 fire setup.

I'm hoping someone can tell me that both Crysis and Crysis 2 run flawlessly, with not a stumble or hiccup to be had…

 

I have an exchange for my m18x that have a dead pixel. I called through dell custom service to know when I will get my new machine and they told me that I HAVE to return mine first.

I heard some people here that had to get an exhange and they received their new machine before sending their defective one.

Someone that had to do an exchange tell me if he had to return his first?

Thanks.

 

Call and get a different person - you should be able to have it cross-shipped, but you may need to provide a CC or something so they can bill you in case you do not send the other back. I did this with my M14x debacle last year - so you should be able to, as well.

 

Sorry, I don't quite understand?

 

You should be able to keep the one you have until they ship the new one to you I would call back and have it arranged to do it that way, make sure to get a dispatch number so you can track the progress. If you are still within your 21 days you can do a return then reorder.

 

My new m18x came...

16GB RAM
i7-3820QM
2x7970M Crossfire
256GB SSD

Good lord is it solid. Very high production quality. I should write a review.

It's been about 4 years since my previous computer purchase. What benchmarks are all the kids running these days?

 

Absolutely its a beast you have there! Be sure to post this over in the owners lounge!

 

Congrats on your beast! - built like a Sherman tank, aren't they?

For benchmarking, you will find all a bencher would want over here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...alienware-m18x-benchmark-thread-part-2-a.html

Loads of different benches to run, scores to post and general fun to be had!

 

@ Postal Painmaker - Hi, I'm not quite sure if it's my Browser messing up, but your first reply just had a thumbnail to 3DM11 benchmarks, and your second is just a quote of my post with no reply!?

Do you know the answer to my question?

Thanks

 

Don't know what's going in with the tap talk app I'm using. Hope you get this. Crysis 2 runs at a solid 60 fps for me with no overclock. I'm using the 12.6 beta drivers. The thumbnail is my stock 3dmark 11 score if 10200.

@ Regaltang. The only time crysis 2 dips below 60 fps for me is when I reach a check point in the game and it saves. That is with high resolution textures and direct x11 running on ultra settings.

 

just pulled the trigger on an M18X R2 from hidevolution! Slightly more expensive than the other resellers, but they gave me the option of paying via international CC and fuss free DHL shipping.

I never thought I would be one of those spending $1000 more than my budget for an alienware, but the m18x r2 refresh was too good to resist with the crossfire 7970m's! Plus the ungradeability of the laptop should hold me in good stead should I need to swap components out.

So....Diablo 3 at 200fps, anyone?

 

That is pretty much word for word exactly what I wanted to hear. Cheers!

Roll on July 2nd.

 

HID have finally taken delivery of my laptop, so I should have my M18x in half a week. Can't wait!

 

wow I am kinda mad. So I see they certified the m17x for the 7970's, and the M18xR2 but NOT for the original 18x. I thought this beast was supposed to be the Flagship. What a bummer.

 

Hello everyone, I'm a new Alienware owner (M18x R1 and Aurora R3 *I think :/)

M18x R1:

Spoiler

Intel Core i7-2630QM @ 2.00 GHz
32GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 664 MHz
2x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M 2GB SLI
2x Seagate 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB 6GB/S SATA 3GB/s RAID 0
Samsung 184HT - 18.4" 1920x1080 60Hz
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 620
Blu-Ray DVD-RW
3 Year Warranty

Aurora R3:

Spoiler

*Haven't tested output levels yet*
Intel Core i5-2300 @ 2.80 GHz
16GB Dual-Channel DDR3
2x Radeon HD 5670 1GB SLI
1TB 7200 RPM HDD
Alienware High Performance Liquid Cooling
24x RW/DVD Combo Drive
Cosmic Black Chasis
3 Year Warranty

After browsing around the net, I stumbled onto this forum which has been amazing so far, I've read a lot of the information on show and it's definitely helped me get my M18x into shape (I still haven't even really used the Aurora yet )

The ironic thing is up until now, I've only ever owned a below average performance system and I would never have dreamed of actually getting a gaming laptop let alone Alienware (due to expenses), however I was at a customs clearance auction a week ago and completely unawares to me, I get blindsided by these two monsters put up for auction.

So I ended up buying BOTH Alienware desktop and laptop systems over the course of the weekend! I'm absolutely smitten to say the least, and so far I've played around with the M18x and really tested it's gaming and photo editing performance, it's a complete tenfold upgrade from the years of living in lagville so to speak

Although I like to consider myself quite knowledgeable when it comes to machines, rigs and systems, I still know absolutely nothing about getting the most out of my M18x - so hopefully I will pick up a thing or two from the more seasoned Alienware veterans here

A few odd questions I have though:

1: I've noticed after having it on for nearly the whole day, during highly intensive benchmarks, it became quite laggy and the fans didn't seem to turn up like earlier. So I switch it off for 5 minutes, turn it back on and it seems to be fine - is this the throttling issue I've read about?

2: It seems my CPU is rather lacking in comparison to my other components, should I consider overclocking it? If so, what would you recommend as a safe value?

3: Do I have to worry about heat issues in the long run? Should I turn it off and let it cool halfway through the day?

4: Finally, I'd like to ask what you fine gentlemen would do in my situation - I know it sounds silly, but perhaps I'm forgetting to do something or not using my M18x R1 to it's full potential!

Thanks for helping and reading my long, drawn out and hopefully non-boring introduction

 

I do not own an AW myself but I can answer a couple of your questions

Q2: The 2630QM is a decent processor, and it shouldn't have any problem at all to work well with 580 SLI. It's very hard for a sandy bridge processor not to be able to cope up with mobile GPU's demands. Most of the time it's the other way round i.e. the CPU is bottle-necked by the GPUs. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in this

Q3: My XPS really likes to get hot after a couple of hours of Skyrim at Med settings, but I never turn it off, only let it sleep when I'm not using it, which is pretty rare. Considering the AW's fans are more powerful and better than mine, even though the AW consumes considerably more power, you shouldn't worry about giving it breaks and all that... it should be up to the task with no problem do consider giving the poor thing a break though if you plan on taxing it to the full with high-setting games for 6 hours +! Just a matter of conserving the components, since laptops still do not have a water-cooling based system

4. About that, I'll let others answer, as well as with regards to no.1 Tried to help you as well as I could

 

What drives should I use for my 7970m xfire! 12.6 beta?

 

I just got my m18x r2 two days ago. I've noticed that the top left half edge of the glass the covers my screen doesn't sit flush along the plastic bezel, like I can push it back to align with the bezel but the pressure will just force it forward... is this a cause for concern?

Is this enough reason to get a replacement? Will they give me a replacement over a detail such as this? Or will they want to send someone to come fix it?

 

That's not right. I would call dell right away. They probably will send a tech. I would think any cosmetic defect is cause for a replacement. As far as I know you have ten days to return it if your not happy with it.

 

Anyone know of a good #IRC for Alienware Laptops ?

 

My guess is the display lid was not properly install and simply needs to be put back in place where it belongs. Probably not a cause for replacement if it is only a matter of putting it back together correctly.

 

just bought a crucial M4 256Gb 7mm SSD. it was either putting it in the middle on a SATA2 port or on the bottom on an SATA3 port. this is my second SSD (first one was 64Gb boot drive that came with the AW M18X) i must say im very very happy with the load times with games. they way i loaded it was port 0 and 2 - raid drives, port 1 ssd. so now i have 64gb boot drive, 256gb Crucial M4 games drive, 2x750gb WD black raid0 application drive and 1TB WD blue backup drive. still waiting on the optical drive caddy to arrive so i can remove optical and put the 1TB in. god there so many configuration i could do with this machine. one happy camper!

 

Hey, mate! I wanna order optical bay too. Which one did you order? Are there any guides available on the subject?

 

yeh mate there is a guide on here
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...e-using-optical-bay-caddy-36.html#post7012621
i bought mine on ebay

Mr.Fox also has some info
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...cial-m18x-r1-r2-owners-lounge-thread-11.html#

 

If it was me I'd put the M4 on a sata 3 port and load the OS onto it.
It'll be faster that way for sure. And no need to worry about having one 750gb WD black on sata 2 and the other on sata 3 since anyway they cant go faster then sata 2. After that since you alrdy have it I'd use the 64gb msata to speed up the raid 0 with the WD black drives.

 

yup i got the M4 on the sata3 port. i was thinking of using the 64gb as cache but im tossing whether i want to do another format
64gb was just too small. AW/Dell should give us the option for atleast 128gb msata.

 

Hi
I bought a DELL official refurb M18X - good spec, it arrived after 10 days but was defective on arrival? - stated that systems are fully refurbished and checked before despatch = total rubbish.

DELL only offered a repair even though the laptop was only out of the box for 4 hours. After 10 days of it being sent away finally got to speak to someone at DELL to say what was going on. They said 4 weeks to get it fixed!!
Really unhappy about that but had to cite sale of goods act to get a refund.

I decided to give them another chance and went for a brand new M18X R2. This one arrived one week later but after loading my photo editing software and a game from steam it went wrong.
Played Empire total war and 10 minutes and the laptop powered down and refused to switch back on again. Tech support unable to help and said they would send an engineer to my house with replacement board and GPU cards. Tech said most probably a defect on the motherboard. When I asked more questions I was told that accepting the engineer option would invalidate my option for a refund so I had little choice but to return it and get a refund to be on the safe side.

Ok - so from first order = 5 weeks of anticipation/excitement but sadly resulting in utter disappointment. DELL have serious quality control issues that need addressing. The systems are in no way tested before shipping so you take a chance on it being 'ok'.

Sad to say that I will certainly not be taking a chance on another M18X, I would have in the back of my mind "how long will this one be ok, what about after the warranty expires??"

I hope my poor experience is the exception as most happy buyers never feel the need to share their positive purchase experience.

But, be wary of customer service who do not offer refunds or replacements in the first instance but repairs first and in doing so you may be agreeing to getting no refund or replacement if it does not work out.

For me the money is back in the bank and I am sticking with my desktop - it works.

Regards
Glen

 

My estimated delivery date was 2nd July - but I've just logged on and it says 'shipped' already!?

Anyone know if it could hang on 'shipped' and still drag on until July or does this mean I should be receiving it early!? I'm in th UK.

Thanks

 

If it says shipped then, yes you will receive it early, approximately on comin Monday. congrats XD

 

Yeeehaaah.

 

I'm not sure about the CPU myself, but thank you for the tips on cooling - I definitely intend to extend the life of my laptop by giving it some R&R

 

Anybody with the mSATA cache drives having any issues? I am having nothing but problems with my desktop using an SSD as a cache. If I upgrade to an R2 want to know that the caching option is worthwhile.

 

I have been oc'ing for 20 years..i know bios and cmos settings like the back of my hand...how ever it just doesnt seem to be the same on this M18x r2...there are no settings that can be changed as i said they default no matter what i do...the multi is listed and so is bck clock however it wount let me select or change anything...if i attempt to get the multi to 27 as it should be after save and exit bios it defaults to multi of 12...so I get a 1.1Ghz cpu...why would i have paid for the extra speed for the 3820 to get 1.1Ghz..i dont see what im doing wrong or what i'm missing? Anyhow i had tech support look at it and they set up an exchange with a supposed return label...I recived the wrong machine and i called cust care...I told them i did NOT even receive a return label and that this is the wrong machine, now i have 2 m18x r2's...both clocked at 1.1 Ghz from cpu-z...cust care said they dont care and i cant have another exchange and i told them feverently they sent me the wrong machine...next thing i notice is a pop up in my email saying the orders were cancelled with two rma's to send both units back...I was still on phone with cust care and they said too bad we are not authorized to give another exchange despite the fact i got someone else's machine...and they forced upon me a cancellation, therefore I had to go to drop off point to return both machines...she said thats final...now I have nothing...typing this on desktop...real shame!!!

 

Hi Guys,
I recently purchased a m18x r2. I just wanted to post here to let you all know that I really appriciate alot of the members enthusiasm here. Alot of your feedback and knowledge influenced my decision and consequently I think I'v made an excellent choice.
I ordered through Hidevolution since it was cheaper than buying locally here in Japan. Its been the longest 2 weeks of my life so far.

Specs are
i7-3610QM
CrossFireX AMD Radeon HD 7970M
8GB Dual Channel XMP DDR3 at 1866MHz -
500GB 7,200 RPM Storage + 64GB mSATA Boot

 

I saw an M18x R2 unboxing video on youtube and it seems like the R2 doesn't have that leather bound manual. The cap is also gone, but my concern is more for the leather bound manual since it is a flagship model. It would be a shame if they really removed it entirely.

Can any R2 owners confirm this?

 

They removed the manual, the hat, the sticker.