Alienware M17 *OFFICIAL* Owner's Lounge

cool thanks

MXM slots are for nivida cards what about the ATI version of the m17 alienware do that have slots 2

 

http://blog.laptopmag.com/ati-debuts-mobility-radeon-hd-4000-series/atislide7

Ok.. so if this is true, then we should double the performance of the 3870s? Cause, unless I'm reading this wrong.. that's what they're saying. This is a graphic from someones earlier post about CES revealing the 4870s..

 

hard to say E, can't seem to find any other sources to confirm or deny. (you know, actual users putting it to the test) and since those users are right here, it could be a minute before it can actually be proven.... but if so...looks like you'll be buying that upgrade sooner than later.

 

I'm ready to break 30k 3dmarks Hopefully a lot sooner than later

EDIT. 89.6 GBPs?! Holy..crap.
http://blog.laptopmag.com/wpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/atislide9.jpg

 

yeah, but did you check how the card was shaped?
they one with dual gpus

 

I'll check that in a second.. hey, you should check the Gateway forum. iAtA bricked his 6860 with the 7811 BIOS. You may wanna offer him a hand.

Yeah..that would never fit in here. I'd stick with the 4870s in Crossfire Oh, and I dont even see a crossfire link on that board. And being that I'm a skeptical person, it looks like that card is photoshopped..if ya look at the right half of the card, those connectors just dont look quite right. But, then again - I'm sure it's legit.

 

wonder what machine it fits in. because that would seem to be a 4870x2

what thread?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=340173

It's definately a 4870x2 - Possibly a machine no one has heard of yet?

 

I am note quite sure but is there a difference in performance between a 4870x2 and 2x4870 CrossfireX?

And in the m17 ... if you put the "second" card from AW in ... do you have a 3870x2 or 2x3870?

Greetings
Julian

 

yes.
one is dual gpus on one card and the other is crossfire using two cards with one gpu on each card.

 

I would say the crossfire option performs better.. and likely produces more manageable heat. If you look at the picture johnksss posted, the heatsink would have to cover both chips, and the module between.. doesn't leave a lot of room for airflow. I'm just assuming about the heat, but performance wise.. 2 cards in crossfire should perform better than one card with 2 GPUs.

 

that's how the gtx280 lost in sli to the 4870x2 isn't it? lol

 

Eh.. good point. But, that's cause ATI rocks. lol..did I really just say that?!

 

Since I am in love with the m17 ... I agree you ... on my desktop I still have a 8800GTX

It's always hard to compare 2 different gpus^^ may be 2x4870 would overkill the gtx280 SLI ...

Greetings
Julian

 

really nothing wrong with ati except their mobile drivers...lol

 

oh ... don't talk about that ... ...

halfe a year ago Nvidia was top ... now ATI is @ the front again ... (desktop and maybe notebooks too^^)

Greetings
Julian

 

ATI *could* be at the top, if they actually gave us drivers! Thanks for rubbing it in john

 

E-wrecked ... you remember ... one scored nearly 50% better in Vantage after using your driver ...

Maybe you should phone AMD and ask for a job

Greetings
Julian

 

i just called AW, they dont know when the mobile 4870s in crossfireX will be available for order through AW. anybody have an idea how much this upgrade will cost me?

 

I think most people are still wondering if the M17 will be compatiable with the 4870's still not 100% assured

 

yeah, well ati already fell off. they are no longer leading the pack and it's a gtx280 setup that over took it. every where accept of course...3dmark06 at 1280x1024.

you know what i mean buddy. they should be giving you some compensation for making thier product perform better that it had been! technically speaking.

 

No compensation necessary.. I did it first off for the challenge, and to fix my res issues. And heck, just glad it works for everyone else.

 

ok...how about complimentary 4800's...i bet your azz wont turn that down...lol

 

I'll take 4 please. I can fit 'em all in here, I promise.

 

bad news, i went to ati.com and take a look at these pics, one is the mobile 3850 (which should be similar to the 3870), and the other is the 4800 series mobile gpu. look at the connector to the pci-express slot. the slit on the 3800 series is off to the side, the slit on the 4800 series is smack in the middle... ; ; not looking good at all. i want these cards on my m17 bad.

 

Well..at least the 4870 has a crossfire connector. And, as someone pointed out in the other thread..it also depends on the ODM. Not all cards are alike. Some will be MXMIV, some MXMIII, it really depends on the requirements and the ODMs needs. It would make sense to allow for upgrades, then again..it also makes sense not to.

 

ouch!!

that's gotta hurt!

 

oh btw E, when you removed the gpus on your ocz what type of thermal conductor did it come with stock. i just got off the phone with AW about that and they said the m17s come stock with thermal pads on the gpus and...i dont remember what he said about the cpu but some kind of thermal paste/grease. i'm still very interested in applying AS5 to the gpus and cpu on this thing so i know these bad boys are being optimally cooled. but the tech was saying that on this configuration, the thermal pads are best with the crossfirex 3870. hmmmm...

 

Well..the pads cover the plastic transistors..those are fine. I actually trimmed those thermal pads down to allow better airflow. Just left enough to fully cover the transistors. The thermal paste they use to cover the GPU itself, I cleaned the heatsinks and GPUs of and replaced with AS5. Make sure to use some rubbing alcohol, and it can't hurt to do a little buffing of the heatsink where it contacts the GPU. I took a bit of AS5, and a paper towel, and used it to buff the sink just a bit. then wiped it clean with some alcohol..then a fresh THIN layer of AS5. CPU, same thing. I actually sanded and polished my CPU heatsink. Took some 2000 grit paper and wet sanded to a nice shine, then polished with some Plastix, then made sure to clean all the chemicals off with some alcohol. Once again, new AS5. The CPU, that's your call.. the GPUs, I recommend replacing the thermal paste. I spent a good hour or two making sure it was done properly on the GPUs.

 

yea sounds good, but are your temps any lower? and is the crossfirex cable easy to take take off/put back on?

 

...and at 8xAA @ 2560x1600

 

So have qwe had any confirmation that the Mobile 4870's will fit in the M17? The reason I ask is i would get the M17 over the ASUS because all the other parts are superior in the M17. Now this also leads me to ask that the ASUS article said the 4870s and the MOBO on it support ddr5 memory. When they release 4g sticks, I will replace the 4g in the M17 with up to 8 but can it take higher than DDR3?

 

I sent an email to AW to confirm if the m17 GPU will be able to upgrade to 4870's, I bet their answer will be alot of "we don't know" they said before that it "Should" but at this point we have no idea, unless someone knows something I don't

 

Any confirmation as to the highest amount of memeory and what type the M17 can take?

 

I know from sb in a german forum, that it will!

He ordered a second 3870 and build it in a week ago and the technic guy toled him, that the 4870 will come soon and will fit in ... (price is may be around 600€ but with no warranty he said ...)

Greetings
Julian

 

I am not quite sure but I think sb said something about 6GB?

Greetings
Julian

 

The M17 I assume comes with 2 slots for memory, and can be bought with 2 sticks of 2 correct? Any idea if they make higher than 2 on a single stick for mobile?

 

Good question ... but this "6gb" can also only be what the mainboar would support ... sry I don't know ... I even don't know if 6gb is right^^ (just heard it)

Greetings
Julian

 

With the new Ripley cases being offered, what have you chosen if you has the choice? I know some got stuck with the Skullcap design. I personally like the simple flat black Ripley.

 

I send my back (2 week option and I had little problems) and ordered a new one some days ago ... but I fell in love with the skullcap so I bought it again

Greetings
Julian

 

What problems were u having with yours?

 

off topic
nah, they fell off that as well. and that's with 4 gpus running against 3. (like you guys always say...drivers work wonders.. )
we shall what happens when they build up an i7 machine though..but as of today...they hold one title.

 

4 gpus on the 4870x2 in Crosffire = 2g Video memmory correct? Because isnt the 4870 a 512 and the x2 is a 1g, if thats the case even with 4 gpus u only have 2 g vid mem but the 280 is a 1g card so 3 280s = 3 g vid mem. And then again Ati Driver support isn't as mature as nvidia.

 

you can only use the video memory off of one card. ichime went in to that in great detail if i remember correctly. but you can use almost all the video memory if you run dual monitors in non sli/xfire mode (speculation of course)

 

So then whats the point of the mutiple cards if ur only using one monitor? Also doesn't it depend on the application and if it is set up to use mutiple gpus?

 

sli/crossfire is the point.
you'll have to read up on one only the memory from one card...
and if you have a system with dual gpus and disable one, you will have your answer...but if you don't have a dual card system. it's using 2 cards to render content to one monitor. technically it's suppose to be...the more cards and gpus the better.

ichime:
andreyang tested them both. he didn't test the upper resolutions though. and the 4870's are kicking butt down there in the 1280x1024 and lower range...but when under vista. which uses more gpu processing power...nvidia is running away.

i for the life of me..can not understand why nvidia doesn't excel at @1280x1024 though
http://www.xtremesystems.org/FORUMS/showthread.php?t=213732

 

Sorry I misunderstood your previous post.

 

not a problem..i was just dreading on the lengthy explanation is all..lol
when im tired...im short on typing skills..

 

Oh. I thought you were talking about single graphics card vs single graphics card. Quad crossfire (or crossfire with more than 2 GPU cores) scales poorly compared to SLi.

But now that you mentioned drivers, you should look at the improvements Catalyst 9.1 is making, namely with the 4xxx cards. I'm sure the 185.xx drivers will also show solid improvement as at this point, it's really a drivers race amongst the two companies.

 

Well, for cards like these, 1280x1024 won't really matter, but this seems to be the case with nVidia GPUs with a 256bit or greater memory bus.

Interestingly enough, these guys tested both cards at low and high resolutions and played around with the AA settings. It seems that with no AA, the GTX 295 is the stronger card. When AA is turned on to 4x-8x, the GTX 295 still does better, but at low resolutions. At higher resolutions with AA turned on, the ATi card starts to pull ahead in most of the games tested. (note: 3dmark Vantage scores are bloated due to quad core vs dual core)

Maybe the Mobility 48xx's strength over the 8800M GTX/9800M GT and 9800M GTX might be the AA, as the powerpoint from ATi I posted earlier in another thread doesn't show much improvement as many were expecting in the games listed.