*OFFICIAL* "All Powerful" M15x Owners Lounge - Part 4

so is it true what everyone is saying that the two cards are identical, with the clocks only 75mhz higher on the core+ shader for the 5870? seems like theres a catch...? Has anyone acheived the same overclock as a 5870 with a 5850?

(plus, where do i see the charts in the benchmark thread for the top benchies? like 1st, 2nd, 3rd.. etc..? thanks )

 

the only difference is the 5870 can oc much higher than the 5850.

and here is the link for top scores:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6188302-post182.html

 

Hey guys quick question about the memory on the M15x. On the Canadian Alienware website you can pick 4gb of ram 2x2 or just 4gb single. I guess my first question would be is there any performance difference between the two? And I'm most likely upgrading my ram right away when I finally buy my M15x with something from newegg so is there any 4gb ram that anyone recommends? Hopefully sub- 200$. I'm not sure what's compatible and what isn't (200pin vs 204pin ). I just like the idea of having 6 or 8gb of ram for the future

 

dual channel memory is 15% faster than single channel memory... so 2x2gb would be faster than a single 4gb stick.... but if your planning to upgrade.... go with the single... as you wont even notice that 15% increase of dual channel memory in most everyday programs+ tasks..

And inap... so what oc did u achieve with your 5870m then? and there aren't any 5850m benchies done... *sigh* ohwell i still rly want the 5850.... only cuz i might be able to get it for free

 

yeah i would got single stick if your planning to upgrade.

i think in the last 10 pages should be a few 5850 benches. on a good day i can push 950 on the core. max stable is around 935 for the core for me for benching. and memory normally i just oc it to 1100, i can ppush it abit more but don't see a real difference in scores.

btw mandrake just demolish every high score on the boards, hahahha

 

but if he flashes the card to the 5870 nominal voltages, the 5850 will be a real 5870, no?

 

In theory yes...i've been reading up on it... and basically it comes down to luck.... apparently they use the same components to make both cards.... but the 5870 gets the ones which scored the highest on quality control... so that it can handle the higher voltages/heat....however... there are components left over that would've gone into 5870s, but dont because there ar emore 5850s made than 5870s.... so essentially... some 5850s out there have the exact same components as their big brother...only with a downclocked core and flashed to lower voltages....

So its really a game of charlie and the chocolate factory in a sense... who can pick out the golden keys ... fingers crossed

 

i won't be a real 5870 because the real one can oc higher. but under normal condition such as gaming you will see no difference between the 2 at the same clocks. the highest i've seen the 5850 oc'ed to is 850 core, which is really good already, but i don't think that would be stable enough for gaming, and he did fry his card because he gamed at those clocks.

btw my M15x case is officially getting powder coated, just drop it off, should have it back some time next week. and only $40, sweet.

 

but yea ... how many of those units are in circulation.. one may never know... so i'd go along and agree with inap...that they won't be able to oc as high as their big brother... but theres always that chance that you just might end up with... one of those goldens keys hehehehe

 

hahahh hope you get your golden key bro.lol everyday gaming you won't see any difference, just only in benching because if higher clock. 5850 with 5870 clock are awesomly stable.

 

yea me too! but after getting a pretty good 260m, i dont think ill get lucky twice! Man one thing i loved about the 260 is how much i could've oc'd it. I knwo i didnt post in the benchmark thread...( cuz i hate doin benchies...yes im impatient).. but on my gpu score in vantage i was getting ~6300 towards the end... first time i ran it stock i think i got ~4200... pretty friggin good imo. ahh but theyre old news now and no1 cares bout 'em hahaha

and i hope its stable its only 75mhz!!! LOL

EDIT: just called dell cuz they were supposed to call me like 2 hrs ago with a follow-up on my issue...and the rep took the time to go find the guy who was supposed to call me... she came back 20mins later and told me hes in the lab doin sum tests and isnt done yet... and is going to call me when he is! should be a couple of hours she said... im actually surprised they're really looking into the throttling issue and doin sum tests.. unless that was all bs.. which it might be..

 

I still find it weird how dell manages its information. Here in europe they keep telling me that there is a bios update scheduled (they know of the problem) and that there is nothing they can do. Tomorrow I have a "date" with the supervisor

 

yea well... dells reps are inconsistent phone call to phone call within the same country... so u could imagine halfway across the globe! LOL

 

My M15x is now in my state...should be delivered tomorrow!

 

Wow, it must depend on who i talk to because they refuse to send me the parts unless it is with an onsite technician. Is there anyone in particular that you spoke to?

I'd MUCH rather do it all myself and cut out the onsite techs entirely.

 

Good luck sleeping tonight. Tell yourself you'll go to bed early so it'll get here faster but it's all just a lie, lol.

 

My sentiments precisely.

 

man oh man is that wait brutal.

But is it ever worth it

 

Yup. I gotta do the wait ALL over again...

It's worth the wait though, i know. I'm doing it twice now.

XD

 

I just saw some unboxing videos... The packaging and included baseball cap/mousepad is rather gratifying!

 

lollll.. i remeber loooking through dozens of unboxing vids!!

Somehow the real thing still made me feel like a little schoolgirl unboxing her first barbie playhouse..LOL

 

When I got my M15x I was I was desperate to get it out of it's box for an entirely different reason. I had it delivered to my work and I work evenings so my friends had plenty of time to tamper. They didn't open it cos they knew there would be bloodshed but, well, after months of therapy I think I can share these images with everyone...

 

That's what the death ray hidden in the AlienFX configuration is for...

 

For those that play TF2 that don't know, the Engineer update is out and ready for download!

 

Sweet thanks for the heads up, gotta go home ASAP.lol

 

No problem

I'm just sad that this happens along with that patch for BFBC2 a few days ago... and i can't get in on it >_<

 

Am i the only one on here thats excited for D3? its gonna be friggin EPIC.

 

dude your not the only one. im dying to play it already and starcraft isn't out yet lol

 

we should have the*likes this* button on these forums

 

I might play SC2 only for the graphics. My friends are too good at SC1, and I don't think I can get into SC2 cause it requires WAYYY too much effort to get better...

Waiting for Diablo 3 though and will likely get back into WoW once Cataclysm comes out. On hold from WoW right now, since I just can't get into it for some reason, plus I haven't installed it on my M15x yet, and I'm so lazy to go through all the patches installing again...

 

thats why i don't play WoW as all the patches i would have to install. Also i don't need to become obsessed with another game that takes up some much of my time. funny thing i still play WC3

 

WOW! I just got my replacement system in today. That was freaking fast.

Thing is though it has completely different specs....

It has 8 gigs of ram a 9 cell battery and an i7 720qm....

Mine has 6 gigs a 6 cell and an 820qm. Should i take the best of both worlds because of their screw up or should i be honest and just keep my current specs and send the rest back? I wouldn't mind an upgrade to a 9 cell and 8 giggs but i don't want a 720qm if i paid a good amount for a 820qm.

EDIT: upon further inspection they also downgraded my screen to 900p... Should i complain or just take advantage of their ignorance?

 

switch out the parts you want and send the rest back.

 

Question is are you happy with what you got?
If the answer is NO on any piece of different hardware I would call, complain and return.
Just the fact that they downgraded the CPU would be enough for me.

 

So after much back and forth, I finally decide to get the M15x. Have no luck in bargaining even when I tell them that I also consider another model from Asus. Well whatever, I pulled the trigger and now waiting for my first gaming laptop (and the first laptop with an actual "video card" instead of the intel video card). Well, nice to join your lounge, the M15x owners. I have one question though, is there any different between the orion backpack from Dell and the one selling on Ebay?

 

just replace the screen and cpu and your good

 

Yeah DO what Tuenkamen said.
Thats pretty lame from Dell though.. >.>

 

Getting mad at my computer, the freakin GPU can't run on standard clocks..
Ugh, even when gaming the clocks are running at 380/300/700
>___________________________________________________>
I'm on the newest driver from nvidia.. Maybe I should go back to 197.95 or something.

 

yea i would revert soccer. also do a power drain with the cmos battery disconnected as well. then reattach the connector for the cmos battery and reboot and see if that helps

 

anywhere I can download old drivers?

 

is there a certain one your looking for?

 

One that works >_>

 

hahahah i have a few backed up. i got 197.16, 195.62, 195.82 and 185.85 let me know which one you would like and i will upload it.

btw talk to rep about the throttling issue, made me run a few test but waiting on call tomorrow.

 

You can also download the from the Nvidia site, just click "Beta and Archived Drivers" on the dropdown menu on their homepage, then go to your video card and they will all be listed there.

 

ahahha wow did i forget about that, thanks shazzbozz. haven't used nvidia for awhile so i'm rusty.

 

What program can I use to find out if I have throttling issues?

 

right now just gpu-z. and using the the benchmarks deex provided in the throttling page. the tech made me turn off speedstep and that somehow stop the throttle from showing up. trying to fix this so it would occur every time.

 

I got my M15x a few hours ago... It is indescribably awesome! I love its computing power (everything but the hard drive is scoring 7s in the Windows Experience Index, even the 5730, plus everything is quite snappy), design, keyboard, build quality, and good cooling! The laptop is huge, and barely fits on my lapdesk, but no problem there. The touchpad is horrible, but that's why I have the Razer Orochi... I had an AlienFX problem where I couldn't change the colors, but that resolved itself after doing the power drain trick.

Anyway, I've installed ATI Catalyst 10.6 drivers normally, and the machine occasionally acts up. The cursor randomly gets large, and I got a BSOD while playing with CyberLink YouCam, after many flashes of the screen and Windows saying "Graphics driver has failed and recovered". Should I revert to factory drivers or install Catalyst differently?

 

So you uninstalled the factory driver then downloaded and edited the cfg file to install the 10.6s or was the 5730 ok without editing the cfg file ?...

Did you run driversweeper in safe mode prior to installing the driver ?... Sometimes its a good idea to have a totally clean install...

 

I did not do any of that! I just directly downloaded installed Catalyst, and the installer said at the finish "Install completed, but some problems occured", and so I checked the log, but nothing abnormal appeared, so I continued on my way...

I feel stupid now

Thanks for your help. What should I do now?