M17 General Information Thread

Frankly, the way things are going lately with the mobile cards....unless you play games like Crysis or Metro2033 all the time, you don't need a desktop anymore

 

so ive sold my m17 and i wanted to do some runs just to see where i could get before i ship this thing out tomoorw.
heres my first run tonight with 3dmark06
specs
qx9300(es) @ 3.21
4gb 1333 ram
dual ati 3870 @ 715 & 999

 

With your cpu that high, you should be well into 16k really.....

this was done at barely over 3 GHz flat by me when I had this system

ORB - Compare

 

gonna match your specs, see what it pulls, what driver were you using?

 

I believe that was 9.6

Did it back in July before I got my M17x. Did ALOT of tweaking to get there haha

You can see all the clocks and stuff I did in the description

 

just tried the same clocks with the cpu@ 3.4 the atis @ 745 & 1060 and BSOD....hmm im using 10.2 maybe i should load 9.9 or something i seemsed to get better bench marks outta that one

 

3.4 on the QX9300 is pretty high....are you using zFactors BIOS and XTU? Mandrake was able to get over 18k out of his doing some insane overclocking on his QX9300 (as high as 4.0 GHz - not recommended unless you have extreme cooling)

 

True.....I just want the big Alienware monitor. Im not big on running games through the TV.
Yeah I found my best stock 3Dmark results were in 9.6 also.

Good luck.

 

yeah i have xtu & .29....i ran it @3.06 & the same clocks on the ati cards and it ran @ 11789..?!... it was really choppy in parts of the run...i got 2 fans on it now and a zalman 1000 cooler under it its standing temp @ 3.4ghz is 49 deg so far. i doubt ill want to get that crazy since i sold it, the guy wanted me to try and get the highest score i can get but i dont wanna fry it. im goona try the 10.4 drivers and see what happens

 

ok working on my m17 (upgrading to 4gigs of ram from 3) just installed windows 7. Would kind of like another hard drive in it possibly do I just drop one in that is the same size and then install the driver?

Also want to know which bios I am running and where to get the latest

 

Ya I had to fight against the dreaded quad core stutter with mine when I had it. I was using zfactors 0.28

 

i keep getting cpu scores of 2300 now...grrr

 

that sounds like the stuttering, at that clock speed you should be able to pull off around 4800

 

Welp, selling my M17 with the 4850's and waiting till the m17RX2 gets the CF 5870's in. Was a good laptop at the time but nothing beats the new M17's I7

 

hmmm cant get it out of the 16000s. if i match your specs then add the 3.567 ghz i ran it 6 times and got 6 different score sthe highest being 16459. most of them being in the mid 13s though with super low cpu scores aka stutter. ill is this thing though it has been good to me in the short time ive had it but i suffer from the gotta have the latest tech bug so i move on......

 

the stutter got to me too....that and the low vantage scores of the 3870s, compared to GTX 280m's

the .29 bios supposedly fixed all the stutter though I thought?

 

The most I got was 15709, couldn't break 16k even though the cpu was oc'd to 3.5

 

I managed to push my whitebook (didn't have an official M17) further than anyone else could at that clock speed. Wish I had known about XTU back then.....anyways, seemed I had a dud of a CPU, thus the low speed (my first and only ES). I have learned SO much about benching since then....wish I had a second chance with that laptop haha

At 3 GHz you should be able to get to 16k or so

 

you want B14 and you can download it here;

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/426562-official-alienware-m17-drivers-page.html

 

Anyone have any good ideas for cleaning the m17's keyboard? it's pretty tight, but where I live, it's dust central and I'm really wanting to clean it out or at least make it cleaner than it is now.

Thanks,

 

I use artist vinyl paint brushes to clean my laptop keyboard

Works wonders when you want to get dust,hair, etc off your laptop

 

any one know where i can aquire a OEM qx9300 without having to tradin some part of my anatomy?

 

In all seriousness you're better off trying to get an x9100 instead of the qx9300 for your M17. You may not suffer stuttering now, but if you do once you put the qx9300 in you'll regret it for sure.

 

If dell replaces my M17x with an R2, I will shoot you a pm since mine will be for sell

 

@Marvie my m17 was stable with AW bios and is stable with moo's bios i can overclock my q9000 to 2.3 and keep it stuter free with fine tuning of the voltage so i'm preatty sure i can fit a QX9300 in it and find a way to keep it stable if i don't i'll just sell it back
also i don't wan to downgrade to a dual core no mather how fast it is cause i'm a heavy multitasker and 2 cores prob won't keep up

@scook thanks

 

looking to do some work on my m17:
first thing is a memory upgrade

next is a new lcd (mine was cracked by some idiot)

and finally I want to possibly upgrade the hard drive setup adding another drive for raid. Possible? Cost?

 

I think all of that is possivle and you will find for all of this/that (sry my english xD) a guid here

I for me self added a second HDD and created a Raid setup ... it's quite easy ...

The other two things you want to do are not that hard to do but it's still "some work" and you should be a bit used to use (my english again ) a screwdriver.

so far good luck

Greetings
Julian

edit:

just found this two links for you
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-m9750-other-flextronics-arima-notebooks.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/349044-how-disable-raid-0-m17.html

both form the first page of this thread

 

Whats ur config & how much are you selling it for ?

 

I am only talking about selling the qx9300, will have to send the laptop back to Dell with the original Q9000 in it

sorry

 

Hey, would the new Zalman NC2500 be a good cooler for the M17? I'd go for the Cryo LX but in the UK I can't really find it.

Or would the Antec 200 be better?

EDIT: Rather, would the Zalman NC3000 be a good cooler? Has a 220mm fan apparently.

 

just googling that Zalman cooler and it looks neat.....is it a new model?
I would personally go for this....also the option to add another HD for storage is a great feature.
I have the ANTEC 200 and rate it highly....it does its job well and looks amazing.

good luck.

 

Just get an SSD or even 2 in RAID......its the best upgrade for any laptop....along with RAM of course.

 

Hey, is there any way I could get a replacement keyboard for my M17? I've managed to snap the plastic lattice that holds the left CTRL and Fn keys in place (don't ask how) and now they're held in place with some rather unattractive and less practical tape. Plus, my 'C' key no longer works properly, sometimes it just doesn't respond.

Just wondering how I'd go about buying a new keyboard for it. Would AW still supply one, or would I have to look somewhere else?

 

AW may still have them in short supply, otherwise ebay would be the best place to look.

 

i disagree, unless you get them for super cheap, on my m17 honestly i hardly noticed. it was nice to know that the extra speed was there, but i spent $200 on a 60gig Hdd. i wish i would have spent that money on the T9900 at the time THAT would be the best upgrade you could put in your machine, would keep the temps down and give you wicked fast performance. i would just get 2 320 WD drives and run them in raid, the noticebale performance is negligable IMO, unless your stopwatching your boot times.

 

i think this is the right one
Alienware Area51 M17 AlienFX LED Keyboard HMB4209MAC01 - eBay (item 330438210151 end time Jun-01-10 07:16:36 PDT)

 

it's the right one but get it from alienware it's cheaper i got my replacement one from alienware like 2 month ago they should still have some in law they are suposed to still have some for replacement part of they will be forced to offer ya an upgrade to something

 

The problem with the one on eBay is that it's from the US, I'll be buying it in the UK, and I probably won't be able to for another month at least.

Would I have to call them to order one?

On a side note, I just opened my M17 up, blew the dust out of the heatsinks and tore off the fabric dust covers. They were so clogged up with dust it was unbelievable...I'm already running 5C cooler and that's just on idle Haven't tried it on load yet.

 

Wow ... I should try that as well Thank you for that tip

Greetings
Julian

 

Ya I lost those on my whitebook immediately....then took out the cross pieces over the fan inlets

that boosted airflow SO much....(mainly for CPU)

 

i carved the bottom out of my m17 and used mesh wire to replace the holes lemme see if i can find a pic, it dropped temps@ idle like 7 degrees across the board. there's anther fourm member who did it better , but the metal he used was impossible for me to find so i took another route.

heres the pic

 

I would make a custom base like that...but there's one thing standing in my way, really. My parents.

Still, I'll hopefully be getting a good cooler (Either the Antec 200 or the Zalman NC3000...probably the zalman seeming that it has a 220mm fan ) which should drop my GPU temps even further. Those temps are all I really care about seeming as the GPUs are the most likely parts to burn out and I need this thing to last me 2 more years at least. (The CPU temps are well within their limits so that will never burn out)

The only problem I'm concerned with right now, really, is the dust. I live in the Middle East, so most of you could probably imagine how much of it there is. (Literally, the fabric dust covers pretty much disintegrated in my fingers as I peeled them off because they were so clogged up with dust. And just blowing through the heatsinks let out a load more dust) The dust covers may have been clogged but they still probably helped to keep the dust out. I'm going to have to clean it out (or blow through the heatsinks, at least) a little more often.

 

I know that^^ a bit anoying, isn't it

 

Beautiful job! Right up there with DHC and the one he did

 

...how are they stopping you?... and fwiw i clean mine out once a week in all my computers, if i lived in a sandy area, i would do it every day probs

@Scook..,thanks!...yeah DHC's was way better IMHO, but i do think that the ram sinks helped a bit more, and a sheet of that metal is impossible to find in a thickness that would work under the backing.

 

order a second cover at the same time as te keyboard so you could only screww the backup one

 

Frozen CPU sells this nice modder's mesh panels

ModRight ModMesh 500mm x 500mm x 1.0mm Aluminum Mesh Panel - Black


Thickness looks about right too Image view of Mesh panels


I personally take the bottom panel off when "Playing Games"

 

im basically too lazy to remove the back just to game, or run 3d apps. i preferred to mod the cover. it would be pretty hard to screw up really if you have any experience with a dremmel tool. if i would have saw that mesh i might have used that instead, i would have rather eliminated the entire middle portion of the bottom cover, leaving only the outline of it.

 

I have been out of the M17 forum scene for a while. I have 2 x 3870's in my M17 and wondered if there are any newer graphics cards that are available. I remember the 4870's were compatible, although they were like gold dust and cost a fortune.

 

just the 4850s through Alienware but they are hard to get a hold of