M17 arrival!

Hi guys,

Just got mine - posting from it as we speak, as a matter of fact, as the windows update runs in the backround (thought alienware was supposed to give me a completely updated system, why is Vista installing 33 updates?? Oh, well....)

So far, I'm happy.... mostly.

There is a slight bow to the keyboard along the right edge of the number pad. So slight, almost unnoticeable, and the keys work fine. So slight, in fact, that my (normally very observant) wife didn't even see it until I pointed it out.

But... the thing is, I feel like I've bought a new ferrari and found a scratch in the paint... Kinda ruined that good feeling I normally get when taking a computer out of the box for the first time.

I'll probably eventually get around to removing and reinstalling the keyboard to see if it'll lay flat (and I want to stress - we're talking about maybe a millimeter or two here)...

Other than that, seems fine so far. I'll probably post some initial reactions once I get everthing installed and have some time to play with it.

Vista update, drivers, configuration, program installation... so much to do before it's ready to rock!

 

don't worry 'bout it, if the problem persist after a fresh reinstall , you're under warranty and AW should send you another keyboard
BTW nice config

 

Told ya you'd get yours before me

 

Don't worry about it and have fun, congrats on your new system!

 

I would turn off aero, it lagged my system.

 

seriously? that is strange. I use aero and it never lags...

 

I've got aero and a ton of stuff from Window blinds including Deskscapes running without any lag. Just switch to a non-moving wallpaper before gaming.

Congrats to ya Jeffereyac!

 

Congrats on your new system.

-poliuy: How can a high end laptop be lagging from Aero?

 

I could see Aero lagging if you still only have 2gbs of ram.

 

nope not here

 

Yea I onlu got 2 for right now

 

Aside from the sleep issue your M17 should kick abundant a$$.

 

If only it could run empire total war on ultra high without lagging =/. But at least it plays Left 4 dead on full settings without

 

What kind of FPS/Settings are u getting with Empire? Curious because my Asus plays Crysis better than Empire :-/

 

I ran ultra high settings. at 1440x900, im getting about 25-29 fps. Crysis runs better for whatever reason, but the real reason its not getting a better FPS is because of the low CPU speed. The processor is trying to run all these complex calculations, and it needs da speed to do it faster. I'm running at 2.4, so I'm guessing 2.6 or higher will run it well.

 

OK, I don't have any good fps info (not equipped to measure) but I ran dawn of war II at high settings for a while to put the system under load to get some temp numbers. Temp seemed to peak on the main card at 85, a little less on the secondary card, with the CPU cores peaking at 63 and 62.

Not thrilled with 85 peak, as I was hoping for a cooler system (especially right at start) but those cards do put out some heat, so I guess I'll just have to be careful and keep the vents and heatsinks clean...

Oh, also ran with a x-brand cooler for a while (the one alienware sells) - didn't seem to have any effect on the GPU, but the CPU was a little cooler.

Am I right in thinking that 85 is a little warm, but not in the danger range?

 

well it is a little warm, mine is around 76 in full. But not too much.

 

I'm not sure what the safe range is but I get up the high 70's and I've got the same CPU/GPU combination as you.

As soon as I can get som Arctic Silver I'm going to use it. From what I've see that should lower temps 5 to 10 degrees C.

 

Make sure you guys prop up the back, that helps with air flow

 

Yep, had the back propped up on the x-brand cooler, even when the cooler wasn't running. I'm actually a little worried - it does seem a touch warm, and I'd hate to have troube with heat right away.

I was running DoWII at ultra-settings, so that should have been a pretty good test for a load, but still.

 

I saw somewhere in this forum where some people are drilling more holes in the bottom plate with good results. I think they drilled them where the filter cloth is, not sure.

 

The other thing I might try is the 9.1 drivers - have the stock alienware ones right now, and I read somewhere on here that the 9.1's actually achieved lower temps (I was skeptical, but it may be that they allow the card to not work as hard, perhaps? I dunno....) Would drivers have an effect on the temps?

 

I don't know if the drivers will make the temps drop cause I installed the 9.1 drivers about 5 minutes after I got my puter. They work really well for gaming though.

 

Where can you find the temp on the M17?

 

I downloaded cpuid off of the link in the m17 tips/tricks site, but there are also several other programs here on the site that allow you to monitor temps... Look in the thread on m17 tips, first post - got some good stuff in there

EDIT: It's in the M17 general information thread (stickied), and then the tips/tricks link in the first post there...

 

Hardware Monitor is another good free one too.

 

oops... I meant hardware monitor, forgot what I had downloaded...

 

is it normal for the fan speed to max out at 30%? i ran GTA IV and other games and the fan speed on the GPU never goes above 30%. this is from GPU-Z

 

that never changes its read incorrectly trust me you'll hear the difference between 0 and 100 %

 

Yep, GPU fan control/monitoring is disabled in the card BIOS, so third party programs will either fail to report it, or report it incorrectly.

 

congrats! man i cant wait for mine to get here lol...im in Africa so it is suppose to take 4-8 weeks...i put it on 2nd day shipping Lol...

 

had the same keyboard glue issue with mine, AW replaced it with a new one promptly. give them a cal

 

Your keyboard came apart also? woah... lol

 

I wondered that with my M15x - 41 updates had to be installed that repeatedly failed, rolled back etc until I installed them one by one.

Ho hum 3 hours wasted just on that.....

A