m11x r1 Question concerning drivers and tweaks

Hi

I havn't used my Alienware for quite a while and I figured that my drivers probably need an upgrade. I was also wondering if there are any common tweaks to further improve my laptops performance.

I havn't updated my drivers since I first bought my laptop (drivers are from 28th Dec. 2009) and noticed that there has only been two drivers released from Dell since, the latest one is nearly a year old (16th March 2011). Is it recommended that I use Dells' drivers or can I use Nvidias'? I tried installing the latest drivers from Nvidia (24th Nov. 2011), but noticed that I couldn't switch graphic cards, in fact I wasn't able to use the GT 335M at all, this meant that I had to restore the default drivers.

I'm not really concerned with using the built in Intel GPU, I'm happy with just having the 335M activated since I don't really need the battery time. So is there any newer drivers that allows this? I read somewhere on these forums that there were some beta optimus drivers for the m11x r1, is this an option?

Finally I wonder if there are any tweaks that are easy to apply to the m11x. I havn't overclocked anything before, but I don't think I would have a problem with it if I had some instructions.

Any helpful comments and links would help.

Thanks!

/Bronie

 

If you want to use more recent drivers than the ones from Dell you have to set the graphics to "discrete" in the bios. Then you can install the more recent ones from Nvidia.

There is a hacked optimus driver that does work for some (285.62 I believe is the version), but it does not always work for everyone (I got it to work), and it is glitchy when you do get it working. For example, when I close the lid randomly the computer bluescreens and restarts. I know it's doing it because I'll hear the windows startup sound a minute or two after I set the system down. It doesn't happen every time, but enough that it's annoying if I've just closed the lid to set it down for a while.

 

I have tried the newest drivers whenever they come out but I really dont see a point anymore, The dell 197.xx drivers have always served me well and game performance is exactly the same for me weather I use the 197.xx from dell or the new ones from nvidia.