m18x to get GTX 560m and 'other exciting GPU options' in June

That's why I would recommend ordering from a reseller who can and will test the components, upgrade the thermal compound (GPU and CPU) and make sure you won't be getting a lemon.

 

Only cheap skates complain about top of the line...AKA BLEEDING EDGE. Do you see this guy complaining about the price of the upgrade.

 

LOL......yeah

 

Yeah and what FPS does he get on his MacAirFrisbeeLightBook?

 

and now hd6990m driver appear on p150/170hm vga driver download page......

 

And welcome to the tech world. If you are always waiting for the next best thing you would never buy anything.

 

Guess my post got deleted..lol

I understand the fun of bleeding edge tech, I just think at some point there is a limit, and it becomes outrageous. $880 bucks to upgrade from dual ATI cards to the SLI 580M seems high. Sure I would order it if i had the extra cash, but I think this is a case of high pricing...

I'd buy the XM processor before I would the SLI 580m. Personal preference.

 

I really wouldn't have guessed what with your user name and all......

What does annoy me is just how quickly outdated the offered gpu's have been. 460's and 6970's and now 580's and 6990's. Granted, the 460 is a midrange option.

Then again, same thing happened with the m1730 I had. Arrived with 8700gt sli, a few weeks later, 8800 gtx sli.

 

whats funny is the already mentioned mid range HD7000 series. : /

 

The only thing that gets on my nerves ever so slightly is the fact that when you are placing an order with Dell, you ask about these things...well, at least I do. I ask several times...anything new on the horizon....next few weeks??....(of course, I dont expect the reps to have a crystal ball and look 6 mths down the line).....When you get told "No, nothing sir, place your order with confidence" it kinda pisses me off that less than a month later, new options are available.

Its hard to believe that Dell do not know these offerings arent gonna be available and in the same breath, I also know that they want to make money on current offerings.

I couldnt care less about GTX 580m Sli cos its stupid money.....what WILL me off is if and surely when they pop 6990m crossfire up in the forseeable....

But, Im not gonna whine on about it...c'est la vie.....Im still gonna be happy with my 6970's as they are amongst the very elite of gpu's anyway....

 

After working in sales for a while I can answer that. Even if we do know there is something on the horizon, we were never allowed to even drop a hint about it. If we did and it got back to management, we got a ******ing.

That said, there are some assistants that don't and couldn't care about spec other than trying to get you to get a more expensive one for their commission.

 

Oh yeah, I know mate....worked in sales for over 15 years.....thank god I dont anymore

That's why Im not moaning more than I have to lol, its just the way it is....

 

Hi I am kinda new with tech specks but is the 580m even faster? Notebook check says that the 6970m=960@680MHz while the 580m=768@620MHz. 580m has better shader and memory speed thoe. So would the 6970m's be faster in some games? Because I want to have as people have been saying "the bleeding edge". Sure the 580m's are expensive but this is going to be my everything computer and I want it to play todays heavy games no problem. Sure the 580m's might only give a extra 5-10fps but in some cases that can change a game from lagging to playable. So basically what I am asking is the 580m sli going to be faster then the 6970m crossfire 95% of the time? Thanks!

 

Just browsing and came across this article on Dell Forums/Alienware Club

Alienware Laptop Video Card List

The article was dated Nov 2010 so I dont know if the article has been edited since to add more info but at the very bottom, shows both GTX580m and AMD 6990m (aka Blackcomb XTX).....

Just a matter of time before we see the 6990's......probably sooner rather than later as drivers are already popping up here and there.....

 

Yes, there are steady rumors of the 6990M coming but after seeing the drivers I have very little doubts.

 

Well Aiki, that list was compiled by Dell...it shows M18x with XTX....so its a certainty really....just waiting now I guess...

 

Hey fellas, did you notice those temps on GTX580M under notebookjournal.de for Clevo P150HM

 

That's insane. Something is totally wrong there either with the paste, heatsink or drivers/vBIOS. Maybe fan controls need to be adjusted as well.

 

I dont get it... will the 6990's be offered as a single card or XF?

How much better performance will it get over XF5870's and over XF 6970s?

I might JUST upgrade if the difference is a bit more significant... Looking to push more FPS in Witcher 2 & SC2.

My Graphics cards are already outdated :'(

NEED UPGRADE!!

 

a single 6990M will be close XF5870M and about 10-15% more powerful than 6970M, based on rumors...

 

Wrong thread lol

 

Quick question does the amd 6970M support 3D out to externall 3D capable screens?

 

yes it does with 3rd party software Gabbo ... and from what I have read it functions quite well. The software is $50.

 

How well does it function in comparison with nvidia.
Could u tell me the name of the 3rd party software you're talking about.

Thanks for your help im just gettin the facts straight before i spend alot of money on this thing.

 

The nvidia 3d implementation is a million times better than the amd 'attempt'. nvidia actually put effort into it.

You'll either need a hdmi 1.4 display/tv (for 3dplay- frame packing 720p60/1080p24) or a dp to dual link dvi (for 3dvision- true 1080p 120hz) a 3dvision capable monitor and some nvidia 3dvision glasses.

Best way is via 3dvision over a dual link interface, not cheap on these machines due to the DP to dual link dvi converter, however.

 

Thanks for the fast response so were not just paying $800 extra for a 15% increase in performance only. Because that was the impression i was getting from this thread. I am a fan of 3D movies i do not currently own a 3D display but eventually i will get one and would like the option to play games / movies on it now i'm swaying towards the 580M's again. (sigh)

Anyone willing to argue the point i'm considering either i need to know actual pros and cons besides the 15% gain or price surly there's more to it then just 10% to 15% gain from the SLI over the CF.

Thanks again.

Forgot to add because you can upgrade the gpu its possible to buy the 6970M's now and then 3/4 months later upgrade to the 580M's probably at a much lesser price. Is this correct??

 

Quick post here (aswell as there are a few threads discussing new gpu's)

For those in the UK, 580m sli and 6990xf are available to order as of right now. They arent live on the website yet but my rep can manually configure and order with either config. Prices appx as follows:

580m sli = £1,075.00
6990m xf = £480.00

There ya go.....if any one wants to use my rep to order, shoot me a PM and I will hook you up. - he will do you a good deal too.....

 

Ok, well it's way past June and plenty of other notebooks have the 560M. Even Nvidia's website now lists the 560M as the now-current offering.

I haven't had any lucking finding out when AW will finally be putting in the 560M, even though I'm ready to buy an M18X the moment I can get one in it. Anyone else find out anything? Both Alienware and Nvidia put out press releases that the 560M was coming, so I don't think the 460M is going to stay forever.

 

why are you so obsessed with the 560m it is a very very marginal improvement over the 460m and a slight overclock of the latter puts them on power, what you really need are 2x 580m's

 

Just been told by my UK rep that 560m is available for to configure for both M17 and M18 as of now. This is for the UK market so not sure about other regions.....

 

And to be stuck with the Dell drivers? No thx...

 

Exactly Necro.

AW POLICY at this point is that drivers for Nvidia 580M SLI comes ONLY from them. Nvidia site rejects you on the 275.33 WHQL driver and says, "refer back to vendor for this device". We all know that in a year or less, AW will be selling the R2 and you won't see a driver update ever for this machine, or maybe 1 a year if you are lucky.

Seems the Nvidia may be exiting the GPU driver business. I'll let you know what Nvidia has to say about this when, or even if I hear back from them.

 

Well, I can understand this as we know that Dell tend to NOT offer any driver updates.....ever! and being stuck with that option tends to make the Nvidia cards NOT a very good option....especially the 580m Sli for that kind of money to be stuck with Dell "performance" drivers.......not good news.

Anyway, I thought I would post up the news I had anyway....some people may find it interesting from a "price point" view.....

 

GTX560m does use a new chip, the GF116 instead of the GF106, it's slightly more power efficient and hits higher clocks more easily.

 

FXi, man, you got into every thread with this. It is NOT Dell policy, come on. Nvidia do not yet have the card in their exisiting driver releases, but unfortunately like everyone else you are going to have to be more patient. Of course they are going to include the card in the future though. In fact when you select the 580M on the Australian site, the info panel states explicitly, "NVIDIA Verde drivers deliver performance optimizations for the life of your GeForce GPU directly from NVIDIA.com."

You are overreacting. I agree that the system should have come with a driver you could reinstall, but why not look into what might be done to get a copy of that if you need to reinstall right now? Could another user who has gotten the 580Ms possibly help?

 

GTX 560M is the only single GPU option. I wouldn't say GTX 480-485M-level performance is a marginal improvement. Besides, it's a newer chip, current gen stuff. Why buy a year old chip for the same price if the new one is out and is faster?

Don't want or need 580Ms or SLi. Especially for an extra $1200. This is not for a full-time hardcore gaming rig. The 560M will suit me just fine.

 

Alienwhere is not the only person obsessed with geforce 560 gtx. i have been waiting patiently for 560 update as well for same reason. i would have gone for 580 if it wasnt available in sli but unfortunately that option is only available for 17m and i would prefer m18x.

 

Did you not see the thread I posted earlier today here about the 560m being available in the UK as a single gpu option for the M18x? - that what you been waiting for???? - if so, the wait is officially over......

 

He might be in the US as well. We're still waiting over here...

 

Nah, he is in the UK.....I kinda know him.....lets just hope he sees my posts as its what he's been waiting for. I think! (PM sent btw Hardcore)

 

Yeah my new box is coming with a 560M (MSI G683R barebones).

 

Correct. I've been wanting to buy an M17x since June but I decided to wait a bit since the 460m is clearly at the end of its life and the 560m was around the corner. Plus for some of us, the 580m is just too expensive.

 

hey steve, got ur pm dude, thanks a lot. 560m is coming on specs sheet for 17 inch but not on m18x. ur rep told me we can get it with m18x as well though. price is still same which was expected. at the min 17 inch prices r not avilable on alienware uk website. lookslike those ppl r doing some serious pricing updates on their website

 

The prices arent on the website fella - the cost of the 560m in the M17x R3 is the same as the 460m - NOTHING - as its the base card by default (or will be when live on the website). As you know, my rep can configure this to order as of now so if you want a single 560m in either 18x or 17x, it should be a no cost option for both....

 

Well the 560M is officially out on the UK site for the M17X, the M18X should follow in short order. Funny enough, the 560M replaced the 6870M instead of the 460M, and so now the 460M is a more expensive upgrade. Crazy.

Dell US still has no clue about anything related to the 560M. Sad.

 

Way to go Dell - now there is no AMD option at all for those who want an m17x with AMD instead of Nvidia..... maybe its a typo and will get rectified but its crazy to think that only Nvidia gpu's will be offered on any platform.

 

They still have the 6990M.

Japan has the best M18X option spread...sort of. 460M/560M/580M SLi or 6870M/6970M/6990M CF. But only 460M for a single GPU. (Plus the 2720QM is the base CPU)

Their M17X only offers AMD graphics...1GB 6870M, 2GB 6870M, or 2GB 6990M. No Nvidia GPU at all.

They do some really strange things in different markets. I'm pretty sure they do things like the 560M delays and release difficulties just to screw with people.

 

August and still no word in the US on the 560M...

 

Hi all,

I ordered an M18X factory OC and they sent a non factory OCed one to me. After a lengthy discussion with customer support they agreed to take the system back and I placed another order for another M18x. The first one hasn't been collected yet though they have guaranteed they will refund me, so I'm already $14,000 down and the second system is also turbo boost to 3.4GHz. Apparently this issue has caused Dell to escalate it to upper management, but while they're figuring out what the problem in their production line is, could someone please direct me to the complete BIOS settings (this thread is massive and the settings in the beginning aren't complete) I need to get to a 4.0GHz overclock? My proc is extreme and I can control the number ahead of each indicidual core (upto 60 if I remember correctly). Any help here would be great. Cheers.

Also any idea what 3dmark11 score i should be getting? I'm currently around 5700 which is too low for my specs. I heard a rumor 3dmark11 does NOT take advantage of SLI, and that Nvidia must update their drivers?

M18X 2920XM
16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM (4x4GB)
Dual 240GB SSD RAID-0
Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M SLI
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit

 

Chances are that there have been nothing wrong with any of your systems. I would put money on the "problem" being quite simply that Dell havent set your cpu to factory level 3 overclock in bios. (Basically, thats all Factory OC is on the 2920xm - Dell select option 3 for you in bios)

You can manually Overclock the cpu in bios, if you want, by oveclocking the BCLK and mulitipliers (x45 max on each core)

You can easily go into bios (F2 at startup) and check this for yourself.