Enjoying the new toy......runs FSX but OC an i5?

Loaded FSX which is a beast to run on any machine and it ran great. Had a couple shut downs but I also had all settings maxxed. I have not OC's the Gpu or GPU There is an OC in the BIOs for the i5 but it is my understanding that the I5 processor OCs when it needs to and unless I want the machine to run at 1.6 all the time there is no reason to OC the GPU in the BIOs...Is this correct?

The LCD hinges are really stiff on this guy. Don't know if thats a good thing or bad..LOL

 

The Core I processors don't OC in the normal sense. What it does is called Turbo Boost. If you google Turbo Boost you'll see the difference . Feel free to ask any questions if you don't understand it exactly. The OC in the bios changes the fsb speed instead.

Turbo Boost is not the reason for the shut downs. If you read about it, you'll see it's made to only "boost" when it's under certain thresholds, including temperature. Really, there is no reason for working hardware to shut down (unless it's because of the software). You might want to try something cpu/gpu intensive to see if it's the game or the computer, and if it's the computer, you should call Dell and tell them.

 

Hmmm..Thanks. I think I will OC a little and run FSX again. I don't have any other PC games. I actually did not buy this to game on. After deciding (after a couple of bad M15x and M17X refurbs) I don't need a gaming notebook having a desktop and the PS3 Wii etc.

I was shopping for a Netbook and stumbled on the refurb M11X with a coupon. It cost me about $150 more than the Netbook I was looking at so I bought it. FSX is a game i would enjoy messing with while watching TV as well as browsing (which is it's primary purpose) but because of it's "power" I can use it for remote multi-track recording (which it does very well) Overall I am very happy and if I get a year or two out of it thats all I can expect for the money. By then these things will be running at 30000000Mhz LOL

I was wondering if OCing it would make it even faster. I am guessing the answer is definitely LOL..

I can say I have never had a machine that needed so many Hard stops and restarts. seems my mouse cursor would open programs then not work at all at times...Press and hold the little head/restart and all is good again..Not worth calling dell about .....yet.

 

They should loosen up and settle in fairly quickly. Mine was like that out-of-the-box as well.

 

Regardless of what you paid for it, I wouldn't consider having to force it to shutdown more than once or twice normal or something to live with. You shouldn't have to be doing that at all on a properly functioning M11x.

 

I agree but I am sure it's not hardware related. Dell will want me to go back to Win Home and I upgraded to Win ultimate for Bit Locker. I don;t want to reinstall their OS and recovery.
Doing a Google search I found the issue with the mouse not working on the task bar or in programs is solved by using Control Alt Delete to open the task bar. Happens on other brands as well.

mouse doesn't work on taskbar - Google Search

Hardware is all good. Just some SW glitches. All this crapware like alien-sense and the Command Control lighting SW probably mucks up the works and doesn't help either. I could do without all that. I will probably dump those processes first. I do like the back lighting but I think deleting Command Center will negate all the FN commands as well......Hell I am just happy to have a really powerful machine at a"Netbook" price I would not pay much more for this PC and certainly not over $1000. Too many other choices with far better processors and GPUs for not much more. I love this thing though.....In this case small is great!

 

Really? Dell requires that customers revert back to whatever flavor of 7 shipped on their notebook before they'll start going through their troubleshooting for dummies binder? Wow, that's ridiculous.

AlienSense is a resource hog that, once you've gotten past the, "hmmm. ok..." factor should probably be disabled. Nix the following for that:

FATrayAlert
FAService

AlienFusion is completely not useful and has been reported to cause problems with display dimming. Win7's own power plan management is more than sufficient. Disable it by nixing:

Alienware Fusion Service

I've recently been looking into TrueCrypt. Seems to be a lot more flexible than BitLocker from the comparative reviews I've been reading. The overhead should be pretty minimal with either due to the Core i AES acceleration.

Glad you're enjoying you new toy. Got a great deal on it.

 

Isn't that the first thing phone service wants people to do? LOL reinstall the OS? Especially if one changed it. Easy way out.....

True Crypt....LOL I tried that three times..Great open source program but waaaaaay over my head. Thats what I like about Bit Locker even though it may not be Military strong, I don't need to mount hidden drives. The whole mounting drives to avoid having to use a gaming CD escaped me as well. I have a NOCD fix for FSX. Bitlocker can be used on USB drives easy enough as well.

So if what I am reading from what you wrote I can disable or uninstall Command Center and keep the use of FN keys or just prevent those services and processes from starting up?........

 

You can uninstall CC if you like. There is an alternative for AlienFX (which is really the only CC component I think has any value) called AlienFX Lite. AlienTouch and AlienFusion are frivolous replacements for things that are already installed and work better.

Your Fn key functionality is provided via the Alienware OSD application that is a stand alone application/service independent of CC. The latest version of it requires that you have the latest BIOS installed.

 

Thanks...rep added. I will look up AlienFX lite and uninstall Alien FX. So ou are saying I can uninstall CC and install Alien lite and have the back lighting without all the extra stuff? I have A03 BIOs which I believe is the latest. as well as the latest OSD version.