9800M GT Discontinued??

iam currently having problems with my M15X. well what should i say its the famous nvlddmkm.sys error. iam using windows vista ultimate x64. well i cant play any game for more than 5-10 mins(sometimes even 2mins), the screen goes black and the games sound keep playing in loops eventually taking me to the desktop and the error message(balloon) pops up in the notification area saying "disply driver nvlddmkm.sys has stopped responding and has successfully recovered"...

okey now here is the thing. i called alienware(uk) regarding this issue and they told me it is mostly because i have a faulty graphics card. well my card it 9800M GT. and they said they dont have it on stock and would ship me something else for the time being. they arent sure what they will send though. later when i was browsing through some forum i happen to read a comment saying that the 9800m gt is discontinued. is it true?? so what do you guys think i will be getting as a replacement??? can i demand for a better graphics if they dont have 9800mgt any more?? any experience??

please comment...

 

Is your laptop under warranty?

 

yea it is... i bought it early this year. and no i dont want to send the entire system over... he(help desk agent) told me outright that it would take 2months to get the damn thing back. so he suggested that its better if i send the graphics card alone. i will take 2 weeks it seems.

 

they will prolly ship you a ATI 3870

but i would DEMAND that thehy ship you somethi as powerful and not a step back



the ATI is 10-15 % slower.

 

which card do you think i should demand for then??

 

>.> I would just take the 3870, it might be slightly weaker, but at least you will get it in a decent amount of time, or wait for them to track down a 9800m gt. Any other option is not even half as fast as the 9800m gt or 3870. Not only that, but I haven't heard of anyone with a 3870 in the m15x thats had any problems as opposed to those with nvida cards.

Its probably also worth mentioning, that nvidia now has dx 10.1 cards in the works and more games should be released soon that support dx10.1. Add that on top of it being a 55nm card runs cooler and uses less power, I see no reason not to get it.

 

hmm but when i think of it ...while ordering i could have saved few £'s if i had gone for 3870 instead of 9800..
what about anything higher??

 

is your 9800gt at stock speeds? I only get that error when overclocking and the card is unstable

 

yes it is... but still what is your stock speed?

 

well I have different cards...but stock for me is 583/1450/950

Your clocks will be different though

 

See if they will credit you back the difference in price then.

 

hmmmm. Id try for a single gtx 260. the difference should be negligible.

 

Alienware does not offer a gtx 260 that uses a 2.1 connector.

 

You could buy a 2.1 260 from rjtech, but not sure about the heatsink (you'd have to do some custom modding for sure).

 

9800m gt heat sink works with a 260

 

the heatsink is dictated by the MXM spec, the spec includes mounting holes and board layout

Any MXM 2.1 card will work with any MXM 2.1 heatsink

If going the RJTech route, might as well get the GTX280m....(or the 9800m gtx since it is essentially the same as the GTX 260m but cheaper)

 

If his system is under warranty why would he spend $500 on a replacement video card from a third party?
Just go with the Hd3870 and ask for a credit/partial refund on the price difference between the 9800M and it.

 

well what is the present price difference between 3870 and 9800m gt?
and do you guys really think 280m gtx will work without any problem? iam referring to the heat issue. wont it burn a hole in my laptop??

 

Was the m15x ever offered with a GTX 260M? If not then I would strongly recommend against installing one.

How are you so sure your graphics card is faulty, oneabove? Sounds like you are having a driver issue. Go to MyHive and download the latest Nvidia drivers. After you download the new ones:
1. Uninstall the old ones via the Control Panel
2. Boot into Safe Mode and run Driver Sweeper: http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/
3. Reboot into Windows and install the new drivers
4. Reboot and done

Also, be sure to check your temperatures. The card should not be over 90*C. Download HWMonitor and run it:
http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php
It will tell you your graphics card temperatures.

 

People have gotten the GTX280m from the sager working in an m15x

 

Can you post a link?

 

but is it safe for long term use?? coz i read somewhere a few months ago about some one trying out 9800m gtx and commenting that the heat sink is very small. and it gets really hot.... does any one who tried out 260/280m GTX finding any artifacts after few hours of play???

@chaz
i have tried almost everything to fix it... even reinstalled windows. took out the gcard and put back in, and now just for the sake of it i tried what u said but no use... and sometimes in the game there will be artifacts... and day by day the things are getting worse.. ie the game crashes as soon as i start playing... so i dont see any other reason why this would happen other than a bad gcard...

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=384642

The laptop only seemed to run really hot after he overclocked it. >.> if I recall correctly, the m15x doesn't really run any cooler with the 9800m gt.

 

i read through 20 pages of that thread and the hdmi not working is a bummer. and i think at present 9800m gt is still better... atleast untill the proper drivers are out for 280 to work with m15x properly.

 

There is hardly any chance at all of there being drivers for the 280 and m15x being released because Alienware dont support it and therefore if it is not officially supported why would nVidia make drivers to make it work?

 

New M25x is releasing and i dont think they will support the old m15x andthe 9800 m gt anymore.

 

care to elaborate on where you came up with M25x....?

since the rest of the world has not heard this

 

okey guys i just go a call from alienware. They are offering me the same graphics card now (9800m gt). good that i have my warrenty... i am thinking of extending it for 2 more years now..104 pounds for 1 year and ~150pounds for 2 years and 204 for 3 years....

 

warranties are always good if you know you will be keeping the notebook that long

I am extending mine this summer when I got more in the bank

 

i guess the w/ warranty, and them saying they'll replace the 9800m gt, you have no probs.

I for one did have the same issue. I checked everything... used multiple drivers, bios'etc. Nothing worked.

So I baked my gpu. It worked. I had an earlier version 8800m gtx (the same card) and I figured i had one that had the 'microfractures' in the sodder due to heating and cooling cycles. So in the future when it doesnt work... just know there are options

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=385973&page=10

 

M25x is a refresh of the new m17x, coming february '10

 

guys just wanted to ask one more thing. as i didnt have a visa/mastercard i used another one which was not a uk card (UAE one, which is MASTER CARD) for warranty extension. when selecting billing details i selected UAE. and the price dropped from 190pounds to 183euro. i just now got the confirmation mailsaying "Thank you for upgrading your Alienware warranty.

Alienware has received your order for the following warranty plan:
3-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support with Collect and Return

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you for choosing Alienware. "

why was the price reduced?? it says collect and 3 year return included. i am in uk.

what do you guys think??

 

meaning the 9800M are still available for some time and not discontinued... or so it seems...

 

and again....

source? proof? evidence?

because it sure sounds like you are making this up

 

seconded ..... it actually sounds retarded ....... a 25 inch laptop ?

 

I guess he hasn't made the correlation between model number and screen size yet.....