Alienware M17 *OFFICIAL* Owner's Lounge

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=347611

here you go use these drivers the specifically designed for our cards and work perfect i use them

 

Will we have a option of upgrade higher than the 2.5 Quad
cos i already have that & still feel its slow

Im sure they will have a faster cpu soon
Hopeing we will be able to get that
& yes cant wait to get the 4870
Heee haaaaaaaaaaa

 

Thanks for the link to the e-wrecked drivers .

I guess they offer significant improvements over the default AW driver?

 

So here is what I got finally. Tell me if this set up works out!

17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200
Dual 512MB ATI Radeon HD 3870
Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53GHz
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 1067MHz
Single 500GB 7200RPM

 

looks good, but you could save some money if you did the RAM and HDD yourself.

 

Ok I pulled the trigger this morning to get my M17.
Here is what I got:
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® Ultimate (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1
Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Without Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR3 SO-DIMM at 1066MHz – 2 x 1024MB
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

I am looking to upgrade the memory to 4gig. I looked on newegg and was wondering what you guys recomend for the M17? It all looks to be the same as far as Lat and what not the only diff I see is the manufacture and price. Is there somewere else I should check? I have had bad expeiecnce with Ebay.

 

here you go: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148191

that's all you'll ever need. dirt cheap, and you won't notice the difference to 1333mhz stuff.

 

Thanks whizzo. I have heard mixed results on the Cru memory.

 

really? as far as i know, it's pretty hard to make bad RAM. factory quality control sorts out almost all of the bad stuff, and there are no moving parts that can break. also, newegg has a very good RMA service, so if you do get bad RAM (which, as mentioned before, is pretty rare), the replacement process should be fairly expedite.

 

LOL Whizzo.I work for a computer company and buy memory for servers and workstations. You would be suprised at how often we get bad memory. It is not hard. Plus some systems will not work with different ram as well. That is why i was asking about the M17 and what people recommend. I know and trust newegg as I have bought from them before. They have treated me well. Although I haven't had to return anything yet. I have heard really good things about them.

 

your cost to amount of use ratio is probably not what the average home user would come across to 'see' the amount of failures you see.

that said, i have bought memory 4 times in the past 4 years from newegg and have yet to get a faulty unit.

 

Ryujin, you are correct on the cost to usage ratio. But the fact still remains that some memory will not run on certian systems. Look at all the issues with the new macs. I have certain suppliers for only certain platforms. That is why we do qual and pilots. That is also why most company's won't cover DIY upgrades, unless ofcoarce you go through them...

 

ohhh yea

Edit i have gotten bad ram before

 

keg...
can you offer any background for why some will and will not work then?
is memory not similar in nature (or supposed to be) to plug and play devices?
almost any HDD can be used, gpu, cpu, etc...since they are based on the same architexture thus allowing upgrades....similar in nature to tires/wheels for a car...

just curious...thx

 

Ryujin,
As i am not an engineer. I can't give specifics. I just know that on certain platforms that we sell only certain memory is qualified to be used.I believe bios comes into play as some other factors. such as chip sets FYI HDd come into this as well. I am sorry I can't explain further. I wish I could. This is why most company's won't warrenty DIY upgrades that are bought from out side sources. It is not that they are cheap. It is also why OEM memory is so expensive as they have done the testing and qualing to make sure it works with that particualer platform. It is just them trying to recoup some of the cost. All memory and other comodites are not them same. That is why I was asking on this thread for the M17 for other owners that have upgraded their memory with after market to see what has worked for them.

 

How much money could I save by doing the RAM myself. I want 4 gigs total and I think that costed 200. Also the dual graphics were 250 so how much if I did it on my own. My only problem with doing stuff on my own is I am all about when I order something, I want that to work guarenteed and how can I be sure that if I install the RAM on my own that it will work right off the bat.

 

YOu could save over 100 dollars by doing it yourself.

 

Meh. I can afford it. I just dont want to bother with the extras. I want the computer shipped to me, and I want to open it, turn it on, do a few procedural measures and then get to playing. No installations and no trouble. Now if it was to save me like 300+ dollars, I might reconsider. Total was around 2800 for my laptop and one accessory (I got the briefcase w00t). I'm a little ticked thought because when I called to upgrade my order, they said it would take 5 MORE business days to get the order out. Thats some BS, especially since I ordered it on this past saturday. And also I could get on the website right now and order another computer and it would probably get here before then.

 

it is easier to cancel and re-order everytime nowadays...
if you consider they pull the items needed of the shelves to build your unit and all associated paperwork that goes with it, then you may have a little understanding of all the required paperwork to return the items you no longer want and then to allocate the upgrade to your unit and place another persons back in the queue due to your request.
it ultimately takes more time and cost to alter an order then to cancel and start over.

 

thx for trying keg.
i can understand your viewpoint, but can not agree 100% since every aftermarket item i have bought to replace others with have never failed based simply on validating and confirming min and max specs for whatever you are looking to replace and associated conflicts.
maybe murphy does not reside with me in this aspect as i have been dealt good hands with this, but he definately resides with me over other things...lol

 

That is fine I can understand were you are coming from. But this is what I do for a living and I assure you that it is the case....oh by the way I work for AW mother company. My contact is on vacation so that is why I was asking here.

 

hi all does anyone know the clock setting on setfsb for the m17

 

1066mhz, no?

 

ok but just i saw page saying you could use setfsb but you need to know the clock generator.

 

Thanks again for the link. It works perfectly!

+rep

 

thanks i need to bump that again i have one hour till i have to go to work and i haver a c++ program due

 

Ok so I cancelled my order because I found what I think is a good deal:

Operating System: Windows Vista® Home Premium (32-bit)
Screen: 17-inch Widescreen WUXGA 1920 x 1200 with Clearview and 2.0 Megapixel Webcam with Vertical Tilt
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz (3MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Ram: 4 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 SO-DIMM @ 1066MHz (2 x 2048 MB)
Hard Drive: 160 GB SATA
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2

I will be updating the graphics to dual graphics, and probably upgrade the hard drive and processor. I want to get the T9400 for the processor hopefully. I'm getting this for 1600 dollars used. Does anyone think this is a good buy? I was paying 2800 for the alienware laptop I ordered, specs for that one are on my previous post. What do you guys think?

 

Not so sure, you can get brand new with 2G ram for $200 more, you get the warranty and can upgrade later.

 

WIC
Resolution: 1920*1200
Average fps: 26
Min fps: 9
Max fps: 74
TotalFrames: 1313
no aa
ok i still have 9.1 drivers on and crossfire was enabled. but i just did some OS tweaks and bam.
will do more testing

 

Well wouldn't I essentially be paying more money for that since I will upgrade and all that anyways? Can't I upgrade the stuff on my own? And it already has 4G on it anyways, why would I want to go back to 2G?

Forgive me if my questions are stupid, I'm not too great with computers.

 

Hi Dondadah

Now these are allright. Under Win7 with official ATI beta for Win7 I score average 32-33, although it has got a famous scalling issue. Anyway I don't care since I play at native resolution.

That makes me wonder if ATI had just simply modded their own driver. If thats the case it would be just poor.

Cheers

Luke

 

that's a high score i dont think i can beat but i'll try. Lol. not a competition but i want the most from my whitebook

 

i think i'm doing something very wrong. just ran 3dmark and got
10719
sm 2.0 4468
sm3.0 6311
cpu 1986

 

Told Ya, You should be somewheare around 12k easily.

Check Your power settings and make sure You've got all set to high performance. Also check CCC settings, maybe U've got AA or AF forced.

Cheers

Luke

Edit: Check GPU's for tape

 

ok i just defaulted everything in the ccc and my power setting is set to high performance.

 

We have the same comp and even when I'm on default settings, I hit 11,800.

 

[1] My M17®

Graphics Processor : 512MB ATI® Mobility Radeon™ HD 3870
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz (3MB Cache 1066MHz FSB)
Display: 17-inch WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD (720p)
Fingerprint Reader: Integrated Biometric Fingerprint Reader
Keyboard Options: Non-Illuminated Keyboard - English
Memory: 3GB Dual Channel DDR3 SO-DIMM at 1067MHz - 1 x 2048MB + 1 x 1024MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 160GB 7200 RPM SATA with Free Fall Protection
Operating System: Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium - English
Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Internal Digital / Analog TV Tuner with Adapter
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
Avatar: Alienhead 3D
Window Style: Default Vista Window Style
Mouse Pointers: Standard Mouse Pointers
Wallpaper: Alienhead 3D (Widescreen)
Wallpaper: Alienhead Glow (Widescreen)
Wallpaper: Alien Cyborg (Widescreen)
Power Plan: Balanced
Automatic Updates: Automatic Updates On
Time Zones: (GMT + 00.00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London

Very well, all of you have Xfire but I talked to their tech support and told me the M17 can be upgraded, as in you can replace the HDD, video card, processor in the future!

 

I think your 3DMark06 will not select 1280x720 ... it will auto select 1280x1024

Greetings
Julian

PS: look @ my sig^^

 

very good julian you notice little things like what kind of lid is on your laptop and what the resolution is in 3dmark06

 

haha ... öhm ... haha^^

The socre he got is more or less good^^ The resolution makes the big difference -.-

Greetings
Julian

 

im just messin with ya ..... that cpu ...was alot more then i thought it would be if i was to get it i would go to newegg or somewhere


is the intel 5300 wifi actually stronger then the realtek? i know G and N only broadcast so far but ....does it get better signal ? i've had 2 of the same laptops and with differnt cards and they got mixed results.....

 

Hm do you mean the T9400? Do you compare my 3DMark06 score with yours? Some times it's realy hard for me to understand you

Greetings
Julian

 

hi every1..i own an m17 and wanted to knw as to hw do we chk whether the crads are enabled in crossfire mode or not..cos the crossfire mode is not shown in the ati catalyst center..i have the latest 9.1
thnx for the help

 

the easyest way will be to run 3DMark06, one time AI enabeld and one time disabeld ... if both are nearly the same score you know CF isn't working ... normaly it is working on default

Greetings
Julian

Edit:
what scores do you get?
what CPU do you have?

 

download gpu z here and you will see this

 

or this will check and show cross fire enabled on programs that run it

 

sorry julian .....im crazy ... and i had just woke up.


1000th post and i double posted because theres no where else that feels like home to get it

ohhhh bow chica wow wow

love this forum its like a drug....


they have broken 20k in a laptop

 

guys i just don't know any more.... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220503

i still have my 30 day return limit and that asus is way more for the money and i reallllllly want it ughhhh choices

i know the m17 gonna get them but the asus has 1900 and 6 gigs of ram to go with it and built in overclocking

 

wow that does look like a good system for the money......

only thing i could point to which m17 would do better than (when 4870s turn up ) is the memory even tho its got 6 gig of ram ( you never gonna use six gig of ram in either laptop if m17 could.... m17 is ddr3 which is faster than that one as prozzie is 1066mhz but the memory is ddr2 at 800mhz so you have a bottleneck their i think. but m17 has 1066mhz memory and prozzi.

lol i hope im right as i only got this 2 weeks ago... i dont want it to be rubbish already.

 

was just looking for any news on 4870s is x2 a single card with two prozzies in it ? anyways that laptop got 20k 3dmark score. i reckon with that extra bit of memory speed we should be that.

( http://www.techpowerup.com/index.php?85620)