How far Alienware has gone backwards

Well what ever works for you. I bought my 980m for US$715 delivered with 1 year's warranty and offset it by selling my old 780m. It worked out to a US$365 upgrade which is very reasonable in my books.

 

To be fair electronics prices in UK have been crazy all the time, we are getting ripped off everytime

Just do a simple conversion from USD prices to GBP + VAT, then you'll get the full picture on how much we are getting ripped off

I would love a Clevo but the price for a i7, 16GB, 512GB SSD + 1TB HDD, GTX980M model is insanely expensive, hence I have to settle down with a refurbished AW17. If only there's refurbished Clevo laptops easily available....

 

$365 is certainly more reasonable for an upgrade and one that would have made me rethink about purchasing an MXM laptop if that were the case. Alas prices continue to rise and customers continue to support it.

Unfortunately I no longer want to take the risk of selling second hand components for fear of dealing with difficult customers as well as investing more of my personal time into completing those transactions in order to help pay for a future upgrade.

In essence time is becoming a more valuable commodity to me and these powerful slimmer Alienwares are ideal for a solid package with minimum hassle. I don't plan on selling any more of my computing equipment again and will simply use until it either breaks or will pass it down to family when I upgrade later.

 

It is not that simple. The circuitry mus the able to handle for example 330watt for example. If it was made for 240watt, the circuitry would become too hot and catch fire.

For that to happen evrything needs to be overengineered for its purpose.

 

if the circuitry isn't strong enough, it's a trash laptop

 

Bigger circuitry means a larger power section thus making a laptop big and bulky. A lot of people dont want that. Doesnt make it trash but not the laptop for your needs.

 

a laptop should have a strong enough vrm array and power brick to handle all the possible power draw from the components, including overclock

if it's underpowered, it's trash and ill-designed

 

With max overclocked i7 and Gtx980m + rest of the hardware on the laptop, a 240W is all too flimsy. I ruined 2 x 240W due to weak PSU under bench but the motherboard components is still intact after a lot of benching. If OEM's use components on the motherboard that can barely handle hardware with stock power or a bit over... No thanks! Components on motherboard should hold even with a lot of benching all day. Not being underpowered because of OEM's want to cut costs. Maybe they understand that their products shouldnt be used overclocked, even they know people push hardware to the limits.

Edit. There was a reason Dell pushed out 180w psu for their most expencive maxed systems!! This wasn't because the engineers don't do the job properly !!

 

My system doesnt use more than 200 with an OCed 980m. So for my system 240watt is more than adequate. Just depends the system.

 

Probably because of the fully locked 6700Hq and not so high Oc on 980m. I have seen single 980m can push +200w in bench with Max Overclock. If I remember.. That was @Mr. Fox

Edit. LOL A new bench with +200w on a single OC'd 980m http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/clevo-overclockers-lounge.788975/page-396#post-10292811

 

I have a 200mhz overclock on my 980m. No idea how much watt it pulls. No overvolt.

 

How much is the power draw without graphics? Because I think the graphics maybe use +125w without overvolt.

 

Just be careful since you can't replace that one. I've had a total of four 980M cards die on me. Not a very durable product due to low quality components. Hopefully, we won't see a repeat of poor QC with Pascal, but I'm not going to hold my breath on that. The insanely brutal prices we allow them to rape us for on NVIDIA GPUs they SHOULD BE top shelf on everything and near bulletproof like NVIDIA GPUs used to be. Definitely not the case any more, unfortunately.

The last 980M that died on me was just a couple of weeks ago. I had to get it fixed. A phase driver blew out. But, it's fixed and back in business again. In fact, that 209W draw on Sky Diver was the card that died.

 

Yeah. The so called bench for weaker graphics push the system harder than the girly Firestrike

 

Sky Diver is a really great benchmark. I think it's better than Fire Strike as well. But, I also see over 200W with 3DMark 11 and Fire Strike with that same overclock. I just posted the screen shot after running Sky Diver.

 

If I remember correctly so can Sky Diver use up to 15/20w more than Firestrike. Sky Diver push also processor harder. See also the review of Sky 9 with stock clocks in the forum. I don't remember, but Htwingnut' review

 

Not durable in the sense of what exactly? Overclocking?
I'm guessing all four 980m's that died were overclocked.

It's pretty common knowledge that laptop mobile GPU's are not meant to be overclocked. The additional heat generated and further demand for power are simply not worth the physical health of the laptop. We are working with much smaller dimensions than desktop towers, ergo the potential negatives resulting from overclock changes are much more prominent as a result.

I will never OC the 980m on my Alienware 15 - I don't care if there's possible performance to be gained. There's also possibility that it will destroy my GPU and in turn my computer.

If OC'ing is your thing, you should be using a desktop.

 

I understand Very well that you don't want Overclock the hardware in your specific machine But overclocking of laptop hardware isn't a big problem if your machine has decent cooling!! And graphics and processor in my P870 is meant for Overclocking With fully permission from the laptop vendor. Can Dell offer this to you? And yeah... The laptop hardware in our Beast overclocked can beat same graphics card (980) in desktops

 

Again your system is much larger than the Alienware 15 R1 and is considerably more expensive. It has desktop components inside therefore will perform differently.

That's like me stating that Macbooks suck because they don't perform as well as Alienwares despite being priced similarly. They are aimed at different customers therefore their value is based on the individual.

Stating that the Alienware 15 R1 can't overclock due to it's cooling solution is not accurate. It's a smaller system that packs enormous power for it's size and offers a gaming experience that few 15inch laptops can match.
It's not meant to overclock because it's not designed that way.

The Clevo is. However you are paying more for that. I'm estimating quite comfortably I could pick up both my Alienware 15 R1 AND an even more powerful desktop for less price than the Clevo you have mentioned.

 

FTFY

Ahh the great fallacy that laptops aren't meant to be overclocked. Why do you think Alienware previously sold XM processors? Or others manufacturers had overclocked out of the box machines?

The short answer is they had quality hardware capable of cooling it and a PSU that allowed it.
It doesn't make a difference if it's a laptop or a desktop. If either machine is

1) built with quality components
2) kept cool

Then it doesn't make a difference. If either is lacking then there's always problems.

There's a reason why new Alienware's came with anemic PSUs is they are severely lacking number's 1 & 2. It is what it is and it's actually fine if you don't want to overclock. But please don't try feed me "overclocking is for desktops". That's just sympathising to laptop's that made comprises in quality for profit and/or aesthetics. As I said, it is what it is but I ain't taking a bite of that defeatist pie.

 

Previous AW models was in the upper end in overclocking. Why? Because of the cooling they offered. The best in the industry!! Take a look back in older Aw threads here and other forums and you maybe understand. Thise days is gone now!! Mr. Azor throwed all power enthusiasts with the bath water when they changed direction. No flagship and no known hardcore power enthusiasts will front their gaming laptop line and image any more!!
Ps. You said it self... New individuals buy AW now. A correctly visions!!

 

XM processors possessed highers speeds yes, however I, like many, was never going to fall into that "must have" trap for benchmark number chasing purposes. They were also bigger "laptops" then and as such had bigger cooling solutions - That's not something to boast about.....it would be damn well expected.

It's the topic of rightful debate that these processors simply were not worth the absolutely massive premium cost attached to them. For the vast majority of users an XM processor coupled with the best GPU would rarely see performance improvements of note over the standard i7's processors in terms of gaming. i5's could even comfortably keep up. A few Fps here and there doesn't count I'm afraid because of one factor - The cost was simply not worth it.... yet again. Seems to be a very common trend here.

By all means, no one is stopping you from forking out premiums to have the absolute top end gear. Just refrain from then turning around and laughing at those with "lesser" systems 'behind' you as we've already had a damn good chuckle observing just how much money you blew on something that really doesn't offer much more and will inevitably lose it's value just as quick as you spent your hard earned savings on it.

 

desktop Ks don't even go above 350...

but I do agree someone needs to have their head cut off for pricing XMs at $1000

 

Hahaha - that "cut off" remark was brilliant.

 

One thing you forgot with the nice with Xm/Mx processors in older Aw laptops..., Dell used same heatsink regardless if you purchased Extreme processors or the more limited Mq versions. This means better cooling for the lower end cpu's. A lot of overclockers pushed the processor up +140w in bench. Of course Dell used better cooling in previous models. Slimer/flimsy shared heatsink/pipes in the new thin models can't compare vs the older very good cooling!!

 

Strawman argument.. you said it's 'common knowledge' laptops aren't meant to be overclocked. I gave you contrary evidence. Now you've dig deep and come up short you'd prefer to talk about price? Shift the goal posts much?

 

No I haven't shifted the goal posts. If you cannot recognize the indisputable fact that price and performance are interlinked with performance gains decreasing as the prices increases then there's not much I can do to help.
Not only that but overclocking the XM processors would not provide the sort of measurable performance increase that justify the cost of purchase. Otherwise it would have been deemed a necessary upgrade for most - It wasn't. So even with "overclocking" as an option in previous generations, it was not received as essential for a brilliant mobile gaming experience.

They didn't sell the volumes necessary for the company to match other manufacturers hence why Alienware have embraced the new market of sleeker designs packing enormous amounts of power. It's what the masses demand at competitive prices and is what will keep the company strong.

It seems that quite a few folk on here just have problems understanding that a company will do what's best for it and not for you. It's called the real world.

 

errrm, sorry but, whats so sleek about Alienwares, they are just as bulky. I mean no doubt they have probably the best build quality out there, but nothing sleek about them. And at the same time, they dont really pack all that much "power". For the same price (or sometimes less) you can get better machines.
And Alienware systems is not what keeps the company strong, its the main stream dell systems and the business class products that does.

 

Yeah. The Alienware section from Dell is one of the smaller of the gaming brand. Dell missed this part in their portfolio and purchase the brand so they could offer the whole computer line!!
And Aw17 Echo is barely lighter than a Clevo P870

 

Sleeker when compared to their previous designs. Please actually research this.

Just look at the difference between the Alienware 17 and the R2 that followed.
And the power bricks supplied have been reduced in size too supporting the more power efficient components that also provide a better game experience than the previous gen.

The 180w adapter is the largest I wish to use at the moment as it fits nicely in my business leather case. The power adapter size of larger systems never used to irritate me until I became aware of how small other systems adapters were getting. Granted they don't have to power the same sort of internals, but power efficiency is just as important for future development.

Alienware are selling well - Dell are not going to purchase a subsidiary if it would lose them money long term. That's a sure fire way to go out of business quick.

 

Makes sense.















/s

 

Then I hope you don't purchase their rebadged line. Dell found in the end out that the flimsy sleek 180w psu wasn't the correctly size for i7 and 980m!! Have you missed that part? A lot of threads in this and other forums talk about the 180w Psu Gate and battery's who burn out after 13-14 months.

 

The 180w adapter is serving me just grand.

No problems whatsoever - I'm running the i7 4720HQ AND Gtx 980m.

 

This is actually perfect when you think about it. Alienware was boutique brand that catered to niche client. Dell bought them out and in the process tried to turn Alienware into a corporate machine. Alienware still tried to stick to its root in the start and offer quality products that were capable of hitting impressive number in benchmarks and games.

Slowly Dell took over and got rid of what Alienware was truly about from the beginning. They are simply using the brand name Alienware and slapping that tag on slight upgraded dells and calling it Alienware. The brand is very strong because of the history with gamers and overclockers. Now all they need is that brand reputation and they can pump out millions of machines to naive people.

Every machine that is built by Alienware ends up being crippled in some how shape or form. It might be an issue with bios, drivers, support on site or on the phone, parts availability/cost, component quality, or anything I missed previously. I sold my laptop since I no longer require an Alienware 18 beast. I still have my trusty m14x r2 which I recently just upgraded with raid ssd, fresh battery and 16gb ram.

I recently purchased in the last 2 week an Alienware Area 51 r2 and this thing is a BEAST. The issue is here and there Alienware will give people the shaft. The motherboard is very poor quality and ram compatibility is HORRIBLE. CPU cooler is a JOKE. They skipped out on the third fan and instead offer it as part you can buy. Installing the part leads to headaches due to fan headers. The alignments of the panels is not flush and has too much play. I bought mine from the outlet and it should have been labeled scratch/dent but was instead labeled certified refurbished. I got Alienware to replace one really bad panel and had to accept the other 2 panels. The hard drive was labeled as 6k rpm but in reality was 5.4k. Another example of how the customer gets shafted because Alienware is just thinking about their pockets and not your experience. Same thing when they get rid of hats, mouse pads, better packaging, leather bounded manuals and other accessories. Now you just get a mediocre machine with a label on it like BEATS. Seriously just like buying BEATS audio and thinking you have the cream of the crop.

You have to be careful and make sure Dell does not try to pull a fast one on you. I know what I got and how much I paid for it. I spoke to some of the OG members and they agree I got an awesome price and paid parts value for only 3 components (CPU/GPU-sli) and got the rest for free. I am still trying to decide If I want to keep it and deal with Dell/Alienware or build my own. Here is the benchmark of it overclocked.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/13109237?

They will make billions selling mediocre machines and people will snatch them up. Here and there you can get a real good deal but make sure to read all the reviews and know what quality of components/engineering is going into it. Alienware is no longer the boutique brand with high end machines. They are focused on mass market and margins.

TL;DR: Go away

 

I'm trying to educate as many as possible to stay away from the creepy Alienware brand, MSI is the new Alienware here and Clevo offers true enthusiast level hardware with the flawless godsend Prema Mod and what we have here ? Nothing Alienware screwed up the Fan profiles on the Ranger / Viking machines and the Fans with suepr absurdly low CFM the Ranger has the GPU fan at 1.65CFM while the M17x R4 had the 11.4 CFM and the CPU fan is 1.x CFM while the R4 Voyagers sits at a nice 6CFM and you can even mod the M14x R2 fan onto Voyager and Ranger with a hefty 11.4CFM fan. With echos nothing is possible even replacing a battery needs a full teardown LMAO.

"The reason Dell did that is their contract with Alienware as upto only a few years after the purchase that the Alienware people would design the laptops and then Dell would take over them slowly" - This is a fact & Accompanied by the purchase of the Dell's public shares and finishing the projected corporate behavior of Dell by fully private and I suspect this is the main reason the BGA Intel filth rose since Dell was in quite good position and maybe the key corporations collaborated for this mass genocide.

The by-product was the crippled Haswell machines with retarded Secure Flash locked BIOS (Avenger / Voyager enjoy the great Svl7 sBIOS mods for maximum throughput and limitless functionality until things went south) and ultra noob fantables which don't spin fast enough until temps are ramped, Later on so many people tried many petitions at Ideastorm about this finicky shizz and even the OC profiles jacked too much voltage causing issues and failures, upon these piled up complaints Dell took half-measure for the retarded tables with Ranger machine thorough a last sBIOS update. Still many things are there causing the purpose of the oiginal Alienware Intended vision thrown out of the window, Azor was with Alienware since the inception he just got blinded by the cash influx and the retarded consumers who doesn't care shiz about teh real balls to walls scenario. And now here we are the true colors of the contract A.k.a the Echo lineup they messed with the PSU gate and the haswell retarded BGA Echo gen 1 release and tool another iteration to fix the mess they made, and now they use Aptio AM BIOS but who cares to modify a gimped machine ? & GA ? that lockbox is cripped with low pcie speeds and useless. Period.

" Alienware brand is not boutique anymore who caters and cares for Enthusiasts and users". It's a dead horse that rotting from inside and IT will die sooner or later their lack of innovation and the shift in the vision is enough, look at MSI they atleast cater to the MXM GPU boards and now since the demand is less as the people are more steered towards the " Slim and powerful" Kool-aid, resulting the BGA influx NGreedia stopping (Pascal) MXM reference PCBs and MSI blew the shiz now with the custom MXM like ASUS which is Pure B$.

So all in all we need choice not the lockdown. We people who care about choice will vote for the modularity with Clevo (which used to work with Alienware long back and now beats the Alienwares, MSI, ASUSes to pulp when it comes to power and perf, feature set)

Laptops are not meant to be overclocked ? how about the OC profiles in the BIOS of the Alienwares ? (broken turd voltages and OCing is not like just push a button and boom we are in the future it needs precision, practice and patience)

Summing all these things I find nothing but regression so goodbye Alienware and BGA filth. Sooo many have left the mothership, now only a few leftout with legacy of the machines which carry true DNA. And if anyone didn't read the previous posts, please look at casse-ole's posts regarding the nasty bullcrap abominations of the new aurora and area 51.

 

Benchmark Titan sli

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/13109237?


If I wanted to buy a laptop today the ones I would look at brand new is Clevo/Sager. If you wanted to buy used Alienware I would look at m18x r2 and mod it to BEAST status.

 

Oh, c'mon now. That's just pure baloney, bro. Let's lay off the whacky tabbacky with that kind of crazy talk, shall we? Somebody might actually believe it for no reason other than because it was posted in a forum or something crazy like that. This is only common knowledge myth among those silly enough to believe such a fantasy. As far as I'm concerned, a laptop that can't be overclocked is a pile of trash, same as a desktop that can't be overclock... worthless as the tits on a boar. What is starting to actually become common knowledge is the fact that GTX 980M are sub-par and made with cheap components, plagued by lousy QC. Once they are "fixed" they're pretty decent. I've been overclocking MXM cards for years and the only ones that have been a problem with premature failures have been the worthless garbage made by AMD and now 980M. 970M is no better either, and may be worse. I have one and it's a piece of junk. And, I have seen examples of those giving up the ghost by people that are just gamer-boys that never overclock.

Now, I will acknowledge that BGA turdbooks probably are not meant to be overclocked. That's just common sense, and since they are gimped by design it seems clear the intent was that they not be. But, even so... that doesn't mean they can't be. Personally, I have zero interest in running any computer at stock clocks all the time. Might as well watch paint dry. If I owned a turdbook, I'd still overclock it as much as I could. That's just the right thing to do.

 

Aren't those AW17R3's with the 6820HK meant to be overclocked? They even advertise it as "up to 4.1ghz" on stock paste. Heavier than the P670RG with the same specs and the Alienware is only 0.25 lbs lighter than P771DM.
http://ark.intel.com/products/88969/Intel-Core-i7-6820HK-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_60-GHz
2.7 to 3.6 are the defaults

 

Yeah but on a damn 1 single core!!! With the fancy word <Dynamically overclocked up to...> I thought I didn't needed a special way to Overclock Skylake Up to 4.1 GHz on 1 core if you are lucky in the BGA silicon lottery!! I hope you don't need to change motherboard because of faulty parts. But some are lucky twice

 

So you sold your MXM system which apparently is being touted as gods gift to "Serious gamers" yet you kept your M14x which is a soldered BGA system....... Irony much......

Mr Fox, as a moderator you are certainly putting on a poor show.
These new Alienware systems are NOT turdbooks. They are exceptionally well made products and as such have received critical acclaim on the majority of reviews.
You, like many of the "old timers" on this site are providing, to be frank, a butt-hurt opinion, disguised as factual information.

Alienware are going this way, because guess what? It's what is demanded.
And NO, this does NOT make these systems any lesser than Alienware's previous offerings or some sort of cheap cop out products for the uneducated masses as you all love to shout around here. The "elitist" opinion and I reluctantly use that term, because there's nothing elite about your different view, is both arrogant and highly distasteful. You are entitled to your opinion but it is NOT shared by the majority. (And no, these forums do NOT reflect the majority of Alienwares customers - They've just become this place of incessant *****ing because several of you are not happy.)

I personally think it is idiotic to lug around those monster DTR systems around on a daily basis. They are heavy and incredibly expensive to purchase, maintain and upgrade in future. And before anyone comments again regarding "Oh man, you should go to the gym" nonsense - I do. I just don't have any concerns saying that lugging around those 17inch + systems isn't particularly fun.
Yet do I mock the stupidity of lugging them around like a bag of bricks in my signature? No, because I like to believe I'm above such petty gestures.

No overclocking is NOT the right thing to do - I'm assuming that the four 980m's you overclocked were MXM versions? Aaaaaaaand they are all dead now - I find it hilarious, like at what point did it finally sink in that overclocking those wasn't safe?
Between this and the Windows 10 fiasco you had earlier on all your other machines (Which was caused by overclocking software if I'm not mistaken?), i'm beginning to think you are a glutton for punishment.

We are NEVER going to see eye to eye over this from the looks of things, however your opinion cannot go unchallenged simply because Alienware have made a shift that you don't agree with.

Guys really, if all you care about is maximum performance then shift to a desktop. You can upgrade to your hearts content and won't have to remortgage your house to pay for them either.

Laptops are a blend of portability and power. And that's exactly what these new sleeker Alienwares offer. Moreover, not everyone possesses the technical skill to upgrade the internals of a laptop, yet still wish to purchase one and have an easier option of being able to future proof their devices. Alienware have recognized this and have given them the chance to do so.

 

The

With Previous Aw models you could OC the processor up to 4.8 GHz and run all day. Can this be done with newer models with all Hq processors? Short answer.. NO!! And even with the unlocked 6820 is that not topic!!! We who benched older AW models was in the top in every benchmarks with decent max temp on our hardware!! Can newer Aw models do that? Short answer.. NO!
Why???
So we go... Why isn't newer Aw models in the top of every bench like always before? And why isn't owners of new AW models pushing their AW's in bench like older AW owners who preferred maximum power in their beast? A change? Most likely because of the hardware...
I haven't killed a damn hardware in any laptops because of my lots of benching? Why? Lucky? NO!!
But I would most likely killed the hardware very fast in the newer AW models with my benching!!
Ps. Take a look under Fox avatar.
If bench results from newer Aw models isn't like before aka in the top... Then have somethings changed. More like the title in this thread!!

 

Who would have thought locking down a system from upgrades would make some users so happy?

It's truly beyond me. How does the internal dialogue go?

Salesman: " Hey consumers, want choices to upgrade your hardware... You know... Just incase? ".

Consumer: " nah.. I prefer being locked in nice and safe... I'll buy a new one when it breaks or gets slow"

Help me understand the thought process..?

As long as I have a system I can upgrade there's nothing to be 'butthurt' about.
I'd be 'butthurt' if I bought into a overpriced ecosystem that didn't let me upgrade or fix it if something broke.

If it's for form factor the new 17 really lucked out. Who buys a 17" laptop that's conscientious about portability. They could have easily made that thing modular. But they decided to give in the exact same internals as the 15. That's called a 'screw-job' where I'm from. No?

 

HECK YA. I cashed out when I had the chance and sold for a profit. Why would I hold on to the machine until it looses value and is worth nothing? No thanks. I took my cash + profit and bought a system and took my family on a vacation to Philippines. So ya...irony much that I value my CASH instead of overpriced dellienwares. I have no need for portable BEAST and any laptop will work for me on the go. I decided to stick with my old m14x r2 and a new desktop with dual titans + extra cash from sale of laptop. TRUST ME bro...the irony net me lots of cash and sweet sweet desktop.

 

Very vice words from DELL. It's very difficult The sales team know what they talking about!! Forcing you to buy the best one now, or you are screwed!! But you can upgrade later. Only change the motherboard if you want more processing power later down the road. Hope you have the skills if you want upgrade later

 

For me it's only worth considering refurbished Alienwares. The prices are OK in that sense. Newly configured? Not so, much better options out there

 

Maybe ....JUST maybe.... many customers would like an Alienware with a 17inch screen with either the 1080p or 4K that's still comparatively slimmer to most other gaming offerings?

I certainly rather enjoyed my Alienware 17 but since sold it and downsized to the 15 for even easier travel purposes whilst packing the same amount of power.
Had the 15 not been available I would have happily used it as my main computer.

 

@Caladdon - I don't have time for moderation any more. I'm too busy with other things. While I respect your right, and others, to have a different view, I don't care who agrees or disagrees with my values or what their misconceptions are about BGA turdbooks and overclocking laptops. It doesn't matter what either of us think. We have lots of people in both camps. My only objection to the market being saturated with BGA turdbooks is the lack of acceptable options. I own the only new/current product laptop model on the face of the earth that I deem acceptable based on my personal interests. That is extremely sad and the industry is in the toilet as far as I am concerned. If and when that option evaporates and there's not even one acceptable option left I will no longer own anything except the extra-cheap disposable turdbooks in the $500 or less price range and move my interest to desktops. Compromise absolutely does not interest me and those who share my values, and I refuse to offer any financial or moral support for what I view as a fundamentally flawed design in so-called high performance notebooks. I will continue to rail on the sellers of trash for selling what I consider to be trash. That will never stop. It's not against Alienware specifically. My contempt for garbage includes anything and everything BGA... they're all turdbooks.

FYI - the dead 980M cards are fixed now. The weak/defective components that couldn't hold up and failed were replaced and those GPUs are now better than new. NVIDIA's incompetence and poor quality control have been addressed by end users... par for the course in today's world. Your personal belief that laptops are not meant to be overclocked is based on your frame of reference and the fact that you're OK with products that are not easily serviced or repaired. I expect stressed components to fail now and then, whether in a notebook or desktop... just goes with the territory. But, I expect what I buy to be easily serviced and not a disposable piece of trash. Hence my contempt for BGA filth.

 

@Mr. Fox

MXM GPU's shouldn't require servicing. They should just simply WORK. There is absolutely no compromise here from customers; wanting your products to work is simple common sense. Or are we going to try arguing THAT too?
Like the majority of users, yet again, we don't want to be burdened with having to repair our systems after only a few months use because as expected, the hardware suffered faults from the stress and your warranty possibly made void.

Your overclocking desires have resulted in many issues, (that you've publicly shared on these forums), with your systems despite your claims. 3 Laptops packing in after an OS update and FOUR MXM cards becoming faulty is an enormous amount of damaged components resulting from overclocking in some shape or form.
Perhaps it's easily serviced for yourself but again, the vast majority of customers don't have the skills or time to be wasted repairing GPU's chasing benchmarks, which is ultimately a futile process as the technology WILL have limits regardless of the minor performance gains via unsafe over-clocking.

Enjoy what stock cards offer and shop carefully afterwards for brilliant deals.
That's what us smart buyers do.

 

yeah, and those "ok it works" graphics card shouldn't be sold as an enthusiast product


I buy a 800$ mxm card I expect nothing but the best power delivery system to cope with an overclock

 

So basically smart buyers spend $2k+ to get something that "JUST" works. Be it worth the money spent on it or not? Oh and while we are at it, someone at Dell should really hide those Over clocking options from the BIOS, since the vast majority doesn't have time for that.
Hey man, sex is unsafe. Dont have sex, its just a minor part of life.
/s

Peace out.