Alienware M17 *OFFICIAL* Owner's Lounge

Yes it is.

 

yea i found it and activated it with the key...thx man +rep
grats welcome to the green team!

 

No problem.

 

more than likely...crossfire wasn't enabled or maybe turned off...(speculation)
and if room temp is low..your gpus will also stay cooler. along with just being turned on as well. or brought back out of sleep or hibernation.

 

the problem with that is, no matter what i'm doing (benchmarking, games, surfing the net, idle, etc) one is always 10degC cooler than the other. yes i am using a cooler and i always have my window opened w/another small fan next to the window blowing cold winter air towards the m17, but i've opened the bay underneath the laptop and saw how the 2 gpus are seated and their vents, and both should be able to be cooled w/ a notebook cooler equally.

when you say crossfirex may not be enabled...thats kinda scary but i'm sure its on since my benchmark scores are all well over the range they should be on to ensure that crossfirex is enabled.

 

only ideas and not accusations..*LOL*

try disabling one card and watch the temps on it vs the temps on the active card. run a quick game or a benchmark. then jump out and see what it gives for temps on both cards. make sure you have hwmonitor running in the background. also gpu set to the 3rd tab to watch for any possible changes in gpu speed.

 

heres a screen shot of hwmonitor cpu-z and gpu-z
notice how it says crossfirex enabled, but "unsure on vista 64"

 

now click the sensor tab and what does it say for each gpu?

 

Try running ATITools and see the temperature change.

 

here are gpus 1 and 2

 

Ati tools seem to only run with 1 gpu, i was running test artifact and the gpu with higher temperatures almost got up to 20degC higher than the other.

 

hummmm, only thing i can think of is it is using the master card to render your desktop content stuff while the other sits back and watches...and durring gaming, it stays about 5 to 10 c's behind because it was cooler from the start.

does it ever change between cards? meaning the card on top gets to be 10c's hotter than the one on bottom?

 

i dont think so, i usually have HWmonitor up and i see the same s*** everytime, the same one always 10degC cooler than the other. never seen them switch or anything. heres a pic of the temps while ati tool was running

 

Both my GPUs temp rises when I use ATITool.

 

then the only thing your probably really left with is switching the cards around. this will tell you for sure if it's a card thing or a motherboard/software thing. (meaning how content is rendered) remember..you get very high 3dmark06 scores @ 1280x1024... as for everything else...it seems to not excel like that. and from what E found out, when modding the inf file. it netted him double the frame rate in far cry 2 along with better performance all around.

all this stuff you guys do now is trial and error to get to the bottom of how to make the system do what it was meant to do...seems if you sit back and wait....that might be a lengthy process.... they said the new drivers would be out about 3 weeks ago...everyone is still waiting....

 

well, first of all i keep getting an error from atitools when i load it saying "cannot load kernel". i just got done reading something about it, but requires me to turn off driver signatures. i'll mess with that later, anyways...
what were you saying about what E did? did he switch the cards around? and he netted higher scores? thats interesting, i was reading somewhere that crossfirex is somehow configured to where u cant do that. each gpu has it's own bios or something like that. and PLUS, like i said earlier i opened the bottom of the m17 and took a look at the gpus and...wow it doesn't look too easy to remove and replace them gpus.

 

not quite what i was saying....

meant more about finding out about temps. (not sure about master and slave bios stuff)

and he has taken that thing almost completely apart already.. lol

and you can put what ever bios on what ever card you want, if they are the same cards. not sure if you try to put the master bios on the secondary card though. if that's how ati cards work.

i think e has a guide for it as well somewhere around here..

 

hmmm i wonder how hard it is to switch gpus around...would it mess anything up like crossfirex or anything? i'm curious about improvement gains by doing it.

 

just wait it out and see what e or ichime have to say...they ahve switched them around if im not mistaken. ichime even tried a gtx in there as well and said it worked. think he did 2 as a matter of fact. not sure if sli worked though.

 

i know theres a special crossfirex connector for these cards. i wonder if it would serve as an sli connector between them or if it would be incompatible.

 

Guys, here is some facts for you.

- 1 GPU is always about 5 degree higher than the other even both is used at the same time.
- Only 1 GPU is used for any 3D in Window mode.
- Only full screen 3D can use both GPUs.
- If only 1 GPU is used, both GPU will raise in temperature due to share same heatsink, but 1 is way lower than the other.


If you have problem with your GPU, can you repeat your problem again? I missed it, and don't want to go through the pages to find your problem.

 

oh i dont have problems with my s*** at all, but people keep bringing up concerns about how low my other gpu is compared to the other 10+degC difference almost at all times whether or not both gpus are being utilized. my notebook performance doesn't give me any doubt that crossfirex is enabled on my system, BUT i still am curious about the whole switching gpus around to see if any performance gains can be achieved.

 

I hope we will be able to upgrade the CPU to 2.9 & Ati 4870 cards on this Laptop Latter

 

I was gonna jump on a new m17 But looking at Intel's and ATI's roadmaps new m17's owners will be crying 10 months from now when their brand spanking new m17's will be all but obsolete thanks to Capella, or mobile Core i7's which will destroy anything or an 3DMark06 scores people are posting. Mainly because of ATI's roadmap to have 4870's mobile and on 55nm or 45nm dies in time for mobile Core i7's


can you imagine a mobile 45nm or 32nm Core i7 with a mobile 4870 on a 45nm or 55nm Die.

The performance and efficiency will be crazy. I am big on energy efficiency, thats my next Laptop. Hopefully DELL or Alienware makes it.

The day I placed my m17 or and canceled my m17 order were both on the same day, both made me very happy. But canceling it made me happier.

 

Well.. That i7 rig you purchase, it will be obsolete 6 months after you drop all that cash. Oh, and if you'd like you can wait out that 6 months too only to find that regardless of what you buy it is going to be outdated in 6-9 months max. That's the reality of it, play the waiting game and you always lose. Spend the money, at least you'll enjoy it.

 

Yup, the day you place your order on brand new Core i7 will be the day you cancel it as well. Some new core i8 or whatever it is called will be around the corner. So it's all good for you, because you will be happy every time you order and cancel on the same day. At least you are going to be happy every 6 to 9 months in the cycle.

 

No Core i7 will be a significant change. Nothing like Santa Rosa to Monteviniea or anything paltry like that.

It should be blowing away benchmarks. And is.

Core 2 Quad and better performance at 45nm or 32nm with low watt use and cool temps. Not sure what the final TDP will be.

Regardless, It will crush. I am writting down peoples 3Dmark scores.

But theres always the waiting game yeah then PCI Express 3.0 will be on its heels yada yada.

I am impressed with my DELL 1737 and being here in Miami I have seen Alienware's operations up close, been at a few launch parties thrown by Alienware he locally. And they will be my next Laptop.

I like their Boutique brand atmosphere and community. Wish their unboxing and packaging could be stepped up with better design.

It seems like they have only gotten stronger since the DELL merger.

And mainly because my buddies at TigerDirect corporate all give me heck because I am not part of their Alienware club yet. TigerDirect.com (think Newegg but with an Actual store you can walk into, its a techies dream. (That the Alienware guys frequent because were are down the road) TigerDirect is also based HQ'ed here in Miami.


http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/product-compint-0001277212-page.html

plus if I ever need support or have a mobo GPU meltdown I can just drive 10 minutes and have them handle it. I like their Boutique personal atmosphere.

Always good to have the companys direct HQ's number non 1 (800) to get results asap. ask for Nelson Gonsalez or email him directly it gets deligated down to more junior staff but you get things done in 1 call.

http://www.notebookforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=13209&d=1173068122 been here a few times got some cool swag. Not me in picture just for reference.

 

If you want your laptop and want it now, you might as well have gone with the M17. I just bought the same from a different retailer, knowing full well I'll probably be picking up the i7 after a couple of refresh's. That is unless Clevo decides to refresh the d90 in i7 form. In that case, I'll pick up the i7 in a year.

 

It really doesn't matter who you know or who you can call.. Technology outdates itself every 6-9 months. What's to say intel tries out the AMD technology, and then says screw it?!

 

Yes it does.

 

i called alienware to get some parts for a customer of mine and wow was aw rude and basically blew me off. they insisted i had to have him call himself and he did .. then they told him (after telling me they would sell them to him if he porvided them owner info and his system info they needed) he HAD TO send his system in and it would take at least 2-4 weeks. all i know is aw was very rude on the phone to both me and my customer

 

Actually that info makes buying the M17 even a better deal since this i7 will drive the price down on the Core2-Quad chips. Then it looks like you can upgrade to the mobile 4870 which should run the latest games for at least three years.

 

okay back to this...would it be a bad idea to do the "AlienContact" method which links my computer through the internet to the technician @ AW? i'm sure they would be able to detect the different bios version, especially when they detect the 3.33ghz the machine is running at. if so, i wonder if i turn the multiplier back to default (2.53ghz) they would even notice the bios. the reason why i want to go to AW is that i had a question for them about how to keep my system @ full throttle just for benchmarking purposes. to eliminate the whole "warm up" process. it seems you gotta run 3dmark a few times before you start getting the more high end results. and they wanted to do the whole "AlienContact" for some reason. but if i was to do this maybe they can take a look at my system and see what i can do to keep my s*** optimized. since none of these programs i keep running into from these threads seem to work very well.

 

Hey guys can any1 tell me what Type of ram should i buy for my M17? i know is DDR3 but it has to be 1066 MHZ also? is there something else i should have in mind?

THX!

 

I would imagine that if you were to get DDR3 any faster than 1066, it would probably downclock to 1066 anyways.

 

You can get the 1333Mhz stuff (I'm using it now). It will run at 1066Mhz, but it's cheaper than the 1066 stuff by a fair margin for some reason.

 

Timings on the 1333 are probably slower that the 1066

 

i am using 1333Mhz from OCZ. It does run at 1066Mhz but works fine.

 

then you need to change you sig

 

lol.......

 

thx alot guys!! I love this forum

 

You guys remember the one who got an M17 with a Ripley lid? Well I just got an e-mail from alienware saying Ripley lids are not available for the M17

 

I don't know who get one but @ www.alienware.com there it is still avalible ...
They even chanced the pictures to show the ripley desine:

http://www.alienware.com/products/M17-notebook.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-M17&Subcode=SKU-DEFAULT

http://www.alienware.com/customize/M17-notebook.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-M17&Subcode=SKU-DEFAULT

I can not believe that they want to take it out of there assortment ... if that is true, it wouldn't be long avalible?

Greetings
Julian

 

LOL, that was me. If you scroll a couple pages back you can see the pics I posted.


I got that email too , I thought I was special.

 

anybody else get the orion messenger bag w/ your m17? i did and find it pretty ridiculous to not find any convenient room for the HUGE power supply. i mean obviously u can fit it in there but it makes the bag alot bulkier and makes it seem like the bag isn't made systems with big power supplies and/or just forgot about it when designing the bag.

 

I got the bag
its nice I like it, yes its bulky
cos the power supplies is BIG
so not much of a choice

 

i have that backpack they sell, and it fits my notebook, mousepad, mouse, power brick, and the NZXT Cyro LX comfortably, with room to spare.

 

In m17 the Heat air comes out from the Left & Back side
I dont feel any air coming out from below

do we still need a cooling fan still ?
maybe just some open space thats all

I did & it configerd itself
gave me a option & i choose Mirror

& could see my desktop on my Tv
but could not get Sound, when i was watching Movie online, sound was coming from Laptop only

& when i stat to Play Game the screen on the Tv went blank
wonder why, or is there a setting for that ?

 

i figured it out awhile back. in windows vista, under control panel, hit up Windows Mobility Center. using this program, hit the connect display button. it takes a few seconds and then gives u the options like you said earlier (mirror, etc). well you can definitely have it on mirror mode, BUT cannot watch movies in mirror mode. graphics cards can't scale both laptop and hdtv at the same time ESPECIALLY blu-ray. so when watching movies, just use the ONE DISPLAY mode, which will put the display on your HDTV and blackout your laptop. for sound, i had the same problem at first but depending on what program you're using for Bluray or DVD, i personally use Cyberlink PowerDVD 8. my M17 came with powerdvd 7, but i prefer powerdvd 8. maybe cause it's newer, but w/e. i just went to the audio tab, under options or settings and "Speaker Environment" will bring u a drop down and i selected "Use HDMI". that took care of the sound. and i mentioned in another thread, for scaling of course you can use Catalyst Control Center and there should be a scaling option. but i still think Nvidia's scaling options is much better because you can spread it out all the way to the corners. on my 32" Samsung 1080p HDTV, with CCC i had a little black on the sides i believe.

Also, dont forget to switch back your audio to "stereo" or whatever you use, when back on the laptop. otherwise you wont get any sound from your laptop.

 

Shnitz, you ever get those GPU temps in line? My system typically peaks at 82 and 80.. But, never are the 2 cards 10c apart. You can easily swap cards, it should only take about 15 minutes. Just have some fresh AS5 on hand to apply. I just read back and saw where you an' john were discussing it. Lemme know if I can help. Oh, and the BIOSes can be flashed.. I haven't tried. Don't wanna brick the rig.