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

amazing post sir, obviously Dell would be in a mess lol, since majority of people dont care for that much details, big company only after majority of money =)

that been said, youre completely right they just say "3x SSD at 6gbps 256gb in raid 0" which doesnt really mean much but i would say im 99% sure it means the 3 harddrive slots in the caddy. as to raid with the msata is something i would like to know too.

interesting enough though msata for samsung and crucial 256gb SSDs are of the same/similar speed of its 2.5" factor ssd.

 

Tbh this will be a cheap blow to all those that requires triple ssd raid :/ if true that is...

 

Sure will. The ability to raid three SSD's at Sata III 6gbps was one of the factors that may have swayed me to upgrade sooner but as it stands now, there is no chance I would even bother.

 

Did Dell misinform the buyers? or Dell knows something that we don't... either or, Dell needs to address this.

 

izpirikitik, I don't recall seeing any advertisements or claims that the Alienware M18x supports a RAID0 array of three SSD drives operating at 6GB/s. If they did not make such statements, there is nothing they need to correct. It is what it is. Sometimes we tend to make assumptions and complain when our assumptions are not accurate. I find myself doing that sometimes and have to stop and do a reality check.

Like it or not, it's still a major improvement having the capacity for more drives than before. I cannot afford to spend megabucks on 3 512GB SSD drives, so there would be no way I would sacrifice drive space for the 3 SSD array using smaller drives anyhow. With 480GB SSD RAID0 and 750GB HDD I am OK, but don't have a surplus of drive space to use indiscriminately.

There are probably a lot of people that would be satisfied to have a 2 SSD array and a large data drive, plus mSATA, and not have to use resort to adding a drive using an aftermarket caddy and using an external optical drive like I did with the M18x R1.

 

I don't know if its just me or what.. but it is being advertised and posted on Dell's Website as:

Triple Drive Options
1.5TB SSD RAID 0 (3x 512GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD) [Add $2,300.00 or $69.00/month1]

I'd assume that by Paying an additional $2,300.00, I would get 3 x 512GB 6GB/s SSDs in Raid 0.

It didn't have any disclaimers. Right off the bat, I'll think that i'd get that speed.

 

Exactly.

Just had a look at Dell US and the option to have 3 SSD's in Raid 0 is clearly displaying alongside the price that its Sata III 6gbps.....obviously we now know that this wont be the case when raiding x3 Sata III SSD's in the caddy as they will all default to Sata II 3gbps because of the middle port speed.

From what I can see, its either one of two things:

i) Dell have made a mistake on the website (which would not be uncommon) which is falsy misleading customers to believe they will indeed get a raid functioning at Sata III speeds.

ii) Again, a mistake by Dell - possibly that the Raid Array is made up of x2 2.5" SSD's & a 256gb mSata and NOT x3 2.5" SSD's. - edit: that can't be as I don't think there is a 500gb mSata drive available to configure a 1.5tb Raid Array, which means Dell indeed are saying that the triple drive Raid 0 options are purely between 2.5" drives and do not include the mSata at all.....

Either way, its misleading an upsetting for those who do want x3 SSD's in Raid 0.

The plot thickens!

 

You're correct. The way it reads, anyone ordering that way should expect their 3 SSD RAID0 array to run at SATA-3 6GB/s. If someone orders it and it does not live up to the configuration performance represented, then it would be grounds to return it for a refund within the 21 day return period. It may be that the drives are rated for that speed and that is what they intend, but that is not clearly stated.

Perhaps an assumption (based on the labeling printed on the interposer) that one of the three ports only runs at a slower SATA-2 3GB/s speed is not accurate. It would be nice if 3 SSD array at 6GB/s is for real. It needs to be worded differently on the order configuration page if it is not accurate. I am going to send a PM to our Dell/Alienware reps to have them look at this post so they can clarify it for us and update anything in print or online that is not accurate.



Edit: PM sent to a group of them. It's Sunday. Bill B. is on vacation. They may need to confirm information and get an "authorized" response that is technically accurate, so don't expect an answer for a day or two, LOL.

 

Thanks for being on top of everything Mr. Fox.. +1 Rep

 

I may be wrong but I believe the mSATA is 6Gb/s.. so the 3 SSD in raid 0 at 6Gb/s option may mean that 1 of the drives are mSATA??

 

Not sure but I believe mSATA is a lot slower than conventional SSDs.

 

Historically, mSATA drives were quite slow, similar to ordinary HDD, but it seems the newest generation are as fast as ordinary SSD.

Here's an example: Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Atlas Series MKNSSDAT240GB-DX mSATA 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

As usual, the new tech carries a totally asinine price tag. And, they don't seem to be available in plentiful quantities.

 

Yes, the new mSata drives such as the Samsung PM830 256gb reviewed by The SSD Review indeed show that they are capable of 6gbps Sata III.

One of the points I noticed before from my Tom's link was that raiding a SSD and mSata drive may or may not be possible dpepending on controllers. From Dell's web configurator info, it shows for example, a 1.5tb raid being made up of x3 SSD's as there is no mention of mSata being included in the array.

If we CAN raid a normal SSD with the mSata, its all good. From what I have read, the mSata on the R2 is Sata III capable - so in theory, if its possible to setup a raid (controllers permitting) between the mSata and the normal SSD's in the caddy, it would be the same end result as raiding x3 normal drives.....(he says rather hopingly....LOL)

 

Damn! is Alienware using Intel mSATA drives?

I'm interested now.

 

The caddy would hold 3 HDD's fine, the only thing causing a problem for space is whatever goes in the primary Sata 3 space, my SSD is a little bit bigger than spec but still fits with a bit of determination putting the back panel on, normal 2.5" hdd's wwould have fit even easier.

 

im going in circles thinking about this if i shold place an order on the R2 right now lol, or waiting for a sales to come up, or the 7990m or possible 3960xm just like the 2960xm.

theres just so many things =/

 

7970 and 3920XM is an easy decision if you have the money.

 

Hello fellow Alienware M18x R2 brothers. I am lucky enough to receive my system tomorrow. I bought the system but really have no idea what the system will be like. Can someone suggest an intro game for me to start? Other things I can do to really get the broad view of its power. Thanks in advance.

Here is what I ordered:2nd Generation Intel Core i7-2670QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.1GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0) (Bill at Dell said they would upgrade this to 3rd gen soon), SLI 2GB GDDR5 Nvidia GeForce GTX 675M, 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz, 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s, 32GB mSATA caching SSD, Intel 2230 Wireless-N, and a Personalized Nameplate

I ordered on April 23rd too. Per Bill at Dell, my system will be fixed and shipped in the very nesr future. Bill told me that he knew of one other person that had the April 23rd order date issue. So we are kinda related in a weird way.

 

hi Powee, welcome to M18xR2 owners!

as for games, to be honest any of the new game should run on 675m SLI just fine, no need to worry about games =)

and good for you got a personalized nameplate, i wish i have one of those but im from canada so i dont =(

good for you sir, that dell alienware has one of the best customer service. this is probably one solution will most likely to happen. you get to keep your machine for as long as it takes for them to send u the new replacement =)

 

You can get Personalized Nameplates in Canada? Just go to Dell and act like you are buying on and make a nameplate. Then save the nameplate as a jpg.

 

to really show it off get games like battlefeild 3, metro2033, crysis 2 and witcher 2

and for an awsome game get...........SKYRIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

name plate only offers in the US, no where else.

 

Thats a great shame =/

 

Hello everyone first post here. After some consideration I am ordering the following set up.
Alienware M18X

CPU 3rd Gen i7-3820
OS Windows 7 Ultimate
Memory 8GB dual channel XMP DDR3 1866MHz
Hard drives 512GB SSD Raid 0 (2x256GB SATA)
Video Card Dual 2GB GGDR5 NVIDIA Gforce GTX675M
Optical Slot loading Blue Ray reader

I could not bring myself to spend and extra 800 for the i7-3920 is it possible to overclock the i7-3820 to the same performance level of the faster CPU?

Thank you in advance for your comments.

 

Congrats on the purchase - very nice specs indeed, I am sure you will enjoy your new beast!

As for getting the 3820 to match the 3920 extreme, I dont think you will be able to do that....if Sanybridge is any comparison regarding OC'ing the cpu's, the 2960xm can be pushed hard up to 5ghz but the 2860 won't be able to get near that. If its the same kinda setup with Ivy, only the extreme chips will hold the ability to really be pushed to the very limits as the bios offers the potential to many options not available for non-xm cpu's.

The other thing to consider, and again, if past configuration is anything to go by, its only the extreme cpu that gets the additional benefit of a more efficient heatsink. In the R1, only the extreme chip was supplied with a dual piped heatsink to allow it to be cooled alot more because of its extreme nature - the rest of the SB line up only came with single piped heatsinks meaning that OC-ing them was always going to be limited somewhat to cooling.

Actually, I think we are still waiting for someone to post up about the heatsinks for the new cpu's and what they are like...

 

I want to see how well Ivy Bridge Mobile overclocks...

 

If needed/Could help;

I believe hidevolution.com also has custom name plates, they seem to ship world wide

 

cpu for gaming is no longer the bottleneck as long as you have enough cores for the application. so overclocking is completely pointless. overclock the gpu.

 

I'm aware of that but it doesn't prevent the fact that there are bonuses elsewhere:

SSD performance
WinRAR extraction times
Multimedia encoding
3D Rendering
3D Benchmarks
Foldering@Home

the list goes on...

 

Thank you for the feedback I had no idea there was a difference in the cooler... good to know. I may have to reconsider my order then. Purchasing has not yet processed the order. I did notice the website only had Nvidia options for the video card has dell stopped using ATI?

 

Is there any room to tweak the CPU at all? or is it just locked down completely? This may surprise you but this is not for gaming. This will be used as a workstation viewing multiple H.264 video streams in a security application and it is a very CPU intensive task.

 

Absolutely... lot's more to it than gaming. Extreme CPUs are real beasts. :yes: There's no match for the muscle.

It's like comparing a car with a turbocharged V6 that is very quick and nimble to one with a supercharged V8 that not only runs faster, but also has enough brute force to pull wheelies, LOL.

 

I just noticed that I typed Foldering @ home.

Hahahahahah

 

Foldering is more fun than folding.

 

I would agree there is a difference I was looking at the Precision M6600 but the best video card available for that one is the nvidea quadro 5020. Problem is business class cards do not work well with my software. and i needed the 4gb of video ram.

How much of an overclock could I reasonably expect with the mentioned limitations and it not being a extreme cpu?

 

You can increase BCLK, volts and amps. About 5% overclock is the most you can get from a non-Extreme CPU.

 

Thank you I will keep that in mind.

 

i loled x10 lols

 

Just bought a M18x off the Outlet, refurbed. Was ~$2200 before tax.

Red
Core i7 2860QM
4GB RAM
750GB, 7200RPM Hard-Disk
1920x1080 LCD
Killer Wireless-N
Bluetooth
GeForce GTX 580M 2GB SLI

I think I got a pretty good deal. I'm going to get a Crucial M4 256GB for it, I think.

 

An SSD to add onto it is an awesome choice! Enjoy your beast!

I'm thinking of upgrading my SSD in the near future with some of the awesome prices for 256gb ssd's on the market now

 

I like how this thing was less expensive than a lot of the M17x R2s that are available with considerably slower Radeon 5870 Crossfire or GTX 285M SLI setups. Dell's Outlet pricing makes no sense sometimes.

 

True, mines a refurb from the outlet. The outlet can be a lottery though depending on the system, whether it was a remorse return, cosmetic damaged or a repaired system. Mine had some USB issues out of the box, but Dell's warranty service took care of the problems right away. I think I am the exception to the rule though. Seems as though most have no issues.

 

soo.. any news from dell bill regards to the sata 2/3 port in the caddy? just wanna confirm it before i make my purchase lol. but tbh i would rather wait for 7990m and 3960xm, IF intel is releasing 3960xm..

 

Bill is on his vacation so no news from Bill yet, someone did PM some other reps but they'll probably take time considering this is the first day they get back due to the bank holiday.
3960xm would probs released like the others..half year refresh or so and there is very little chance of 7990m

 

Now I'm beginning to regret not getting an XM CPU.

 

Tbh a 2820 isn't that bad especially just for gaming

 

Yeah. I just have that little nagging feeling of wanting to own an XM. Too bad I couldn't afford it back then. I just spread it out over the GPU and CPU. More like get the best of both worlds with my budget.

 

If you're comfotable with it you can probably find a last gen extreme proc for around $400 or so (probably) and put it in yourself

 

what u mean by very little chance of 7990m? what about 685m?

 

I say little chance of 7990 m because judging by dells documents saying that 7970m is 100 W that means its at the max MXM 3.1 can provide so I personally don't think there would be a 7990m though the 7970m is misleading.
As for 685m I have no idea but if 680m is 100 W too then I doubt there would be a 685m.
But this is my opinion who knows nvidia and amd might have worked out how to get even more power out but I do doubt it.