Alienware M17 *OFFICIAL* Owner's Lounge

so..it showed overdrive in the options?

 

i do have ddr3 1333 memory, i need to change my timings on the ram however. Also, the drivers that came with my notebook are dated july 2008, im sure these arent alienwares latest drivers

 

yep. I couldn't change anything because the CCC window took up my entire screen and then some.

 

ok.. so I need to use havedisk method? Then install CCC?

 

Does OCing effect game play or just overall performance?

 

Overclocking makes everything faster, unless of course you load your OC'ed profiles&settings only for gaming.

 

yeah. I uninstalled everything, then used the inf from the mobility modded 9.1 folder for the have disk method, then installed catalyst.

 

giving it a go right now.. *shrugs* not sure what's gonna happen.

 

ok..mob modded and used have disk method - Gonna now try to install CCC.

 

is crossfire in the m17 always enabled or is there a way to turn it on or off

 

It's always enabled. You can turn it off, but why would ya?

ichime, no dice.. it installed CCC fine - but no overdrive here. Eh, oh well.. back to 8.10 for OC'ing

 

can i have a link to the 8.10 drivers? or do i have to do the whole mobility modder thing?

 

to save that few extra minutes on battery life...what else...

 

Technically you can't, but you can turn off multi GPU scaling by disabling Catalyst A.I under Catalyst A.I in CCC

 

Did you clean out the registry first?

 

yeah.. driversweeper supposedly cleaned it out. I'm fine without it.. Gonna stick with ol' Faithful AMD GPU tool.

 

Hmm. I'll try again on mine when I get back. Maybe it was a fluke, but I remember windows said something about incompatible driver for device, hence setting my resolution to default VGA.

 

Got an error on startup, no taskmanager process or task whatsoever, no problems caused from it, but it just sits there on top of any windows, if i click " Unload" it goes away. Nothing seems to explicitly cause it...any info or similar occurrences??? - See PIC... I would like to make this go away but since it causes no problem its not a huge worry...

Just noticed, the FN + F# keys usually show a small transparent pic whenever u press them, such as the brightness increment picture, after i hit unload, these pictures go away but the functions still work...maybe onto something...

 

odd..must be an AW thang. I wouldn't understand.

 

the OSD (On-Screen Display) utility failed to load. it's happened to me sometimes. won't break anything, and a reboot should resolve the issue if you desperately need the icons showing up.

 

i now know alienware can count backward....

as my progress in getting new laptop is going backwards 54343

so i sent email as they told things were on backorder, so i told well leave them bits out ill put em in later.......

all of a sudden i just got email saying we already have the bits and now its in another Q... to get something else done to it....

 

anyone can give me the link for latest overclockable m17 gpu drivers?

 

m17 ain't overclockable, not without the OCZ BIOS... which will void your warranty. your call.

 

hmmm i thought with driver 8.10 or earlier u could OC the 3870's with amd gpu clock tool or something

 

you want to go all the way back to 8.10 just so you can overclock? you'd think the performance gain from OCing would be negated by the older drivers

 

hmmm so if i wanted the latest drivers..how would i go about getting them? would i need to do mobility modder?

 

Yes, that would be the thing to do. But, I think the best drivers are the ones that are on the alienware website - download drivers. I also may be a tad bit Naïve in saying that.

My Question: will the OCZ Whitebook motherboard drivers work for the M17? Would All the XP drivers work as well? Where could I find these drivers? Link please.

+rep for answering all questions

 

on alienwares default drivers....amd gpu clock tools allows overclocking...it works good for me...benchies coming up soon

 

my score is worse with any overclock, and gpu-z shows its being overclocked...i think my cpu is a major bottleneck....im waiting for a cheap qx9300 or qx9400 when its out

 

you think ur cpu is a bottleneck..
ha look at mine

 

I believe Rob from RK computers was mentioning something regarding XP drivers for the Whitebook. Here's a link to the driver page for the Whitebook (the RKC-1756):

http://www.rkcomputer.net/rkcnotebooks/index.php?l=page_view&p=ocz_drivers

And seeing that the Whitebook's motherboard is basically the same as the M17 (minus the BIOS, which can be reflashed to the OCZ version and maybe the display port), as well as the GPU, OCZ drivers should work with no issues on the M17. I would be more certain of this if it were an M17 reflashed with the OCZ BIOS, but some devices may work with the M17 BIOS too.

 

ok cpu is now stable at 2.85ghz....ram is at 1200mhz 8-7-7-18. GPU's are completely stock..i ran it again and got 13,737

 

I got my QX9300 for $550 on ebay, though it's an ES chip.

But you'll still have diminishing performance with OC'd GPUs. We tried this back in the OCZ section when the first batch of whitebooks were being shipped. We don't know why, could possibly be due to low voltage for the cores and thus, more random fps drops, but it's a work in progress. Maybe there will be a vBIOS for the cards out there that allows for better overclocks.

On a mildly related note, do any M17 owners have or have access to a device that can measure power consumption and if so, could you measure your M17's power consumption at load and idle?

 

yea im gonna use this t9400 up and when i get dual 4870's will i prolly get a qx9300 on ebay since those cards will def need a quad

 

brilliant...

 

E-! they stole my thread!!!!!!!

US ON THE AW side of the planet wanted to say congtaz to you its so rgghhhhh could be all the adreniline from the basketgball game i just got done with lol i cant type im so tired ...senior night whooo

 

Just one more year for me... one more year...

 

just got my hdtune results for my seagate 7200.4 500GB HDD. Do these results look good for the speed of this drive?

 

wowza, 77mb average transfer rate is pretty sweet. heck, that's close to some SSDs...

 

its suppose to get 80mb average transfer rate.....guess it wont be pinpoint exact

 

Ordered on Saturday and about to be phase 6

[1] M17

Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3870 - CrossFireX™ Enabled!
Processor: Intel® Core™2 T9400 2.53GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Design & Display: Black Skullcap Design
Chassis: 17-Inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD (1200p) with Clearview Technology
Keyboard Options: Illuminated Keyboard – Alienware Exclusive Design - Astral Blue
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1
Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Internal Digital / Analog (ATSC) TV Tuner with Adapter
Memory: 4GB« Dual Channel DDR3 SO-DIMM at 1066MHz – 2 x 2048MB

System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 160GB 7,200RPM (8MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection
Optical Drives : 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW)
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® Ultimate N 5300 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card with MIMO Technology
The World's First 450 Mbps Wi-Fi Adapter!
Sound Card : Internal High-Definition Audio with Surround Sound
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Onsite Service and 24/7 Toll-Free Phone Support
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mesh Cap
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mobile Binder
Alienware Extras: Owner Identification Card
Alienware Extras: M17 Protective Cloth Sleeve
Alienware Extras: M17 Keyboard Diagram Overlay
Avatar: Alienhead 3D
Window Style: Default Window Style
Mouse Pointers: Standard Mouse Pointers
Power Plan: Standard Power Plan
Automatic Updates: Automatic Updates On
Time Zones: (GMT - 5.00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

 

contgratz almost the same as mine you coulda saved alotta money getting the ram yourself like 130 dollars

 

what he said. ouch.

 

Ordered mine today:

Design & Display: Black Skullcap Design
Display: 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD (1200p) with Clearview Technology
Graphics Processor : Dual 512MB ATI® Mobility Radeon™ HD 3870 – CrossFireX™ Enabled!
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9600 2.8GHz (6MB Cache 1066MHz FSB)
Fingerprint Reader: Integrated Biometric Fingerprint Reader
Keyboard Options: Illuminated Keyboard - English
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SO-DIMM at 1067MHz - 2 x 2048MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 500GB 7200RPM SATA with Free Fall Protection
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit - English
Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Without Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
Optical Drives: 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW)
Wireless Network Card: Internal Realtek Wireless LAN b/g Mini Card
Sound Hardware: Internal High-Definition Audio with Surround Sound
Warranty: AlienCare 1-Year Free Phone 24/7 and Collect & Return
AlienContact: Added Bonus with any AlienSupport Selection
AlienContact - Remote Alienware Support
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mobile Binder
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Owner Identification Card
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mesh Cap
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Sticker
Alienware Extras: M17 Keyboard Diagram Overlay
Alienware Extras: M17 Protective Cloth Sleeve

Still phase 1 obviously .

 

Very solid configuration. Though, you coulda saved some $$$ on the RAM by installing 4GB yourself. Also, the OEM RAM that AW installs looks pretty cheap; some brand called 'ELPIDA' written on the actual chips. They're pretty much robbing us when it comes to RAM.

By in any case, a good rig.

 

There should be a sticky thread that flashes in huge text at the top of these forums warning people to not go with AW provided upgrades. I ordered my m17 with 2GB ram and a 160GB HDD. The same day I ordered 4GB DDR3 from newegg and a 500GB drive that totaled $235 shipped. I saved $140 by doing this. My newegg order should be here tomorrow and my laptop just went into phase nine so it works out perfect.

 

Hello

I can buy this machine for $1724

however, I want to know if after a few months, I could send this machine via FedEx, and upgrade to CrossFireX

Or do I need to buy the machine with CrossFireX from the very beginning?

It would be nice if I could send my machine like in 2-3 months, and I will be able to upgrade from

ATI Mobility Radeon 3870 to 3870 X2 CrossFireX

And I will just pay the $250 + shipping

Has anybody done that before?

anyway, thanks for the info

I hope I can install WinXP and play Crysis at medium and GTA IV at medium, both games at 1680x1050

well, Crysis maybe at 1440x900
and GTA IV at 1680x1050, medium

I really hope it works

Basically I want to play Empire Total War, browse the web... so 1920x1200 is really nice

I also want a good processor for games like Crysis and GTA

If I am not able to fully play Crysis on this machine that's ok, but GTA IV for sure I want to be able to play it, since I'm around 40% in that game

I also want to do retro gaming and play Civilization IV

My mom will be playing Purple Place and Solitarie, and she'll be browing the web as well


my mom really likes videogames, but 99.9% of the time it's solitarie

I hate that game, I always lose

 

If at all possible, initially get it with 2x3870's and a good CPU. Everything else you can upgrade yourself. Or if you can hold out a little longer, and save some cash while doing so, wait for the 4870's to come for it and do it big.

 

I would say wait for the 4870
I got the Top configuration still having issues
Random shutdowns
Blur Screens, need to forveful shutdown

& AW customer service is useless

wait & see how it turns out

 

I want to know if I select the 2.16 Ghz chip, will I be able to run Crysis, GTA?

It would be awesome to run GTA IV on a notebook, however, I think that GTA IV will run only with descent FPS (especially when it's at night, or when it rains) if I chose the 2.53Ghz with 6MB cache

same with Crysis

those 2 games with a 2.0Ghz processor really struggle