New M17 going straight to the shop with a question

I just got my new Alienware M17 in last week, and loved it for the first day. After the first day I began to notice something strange where while playing WoW my fps would drop and the mouse and sound would lag.

I then researched the problem and came up with a bunch of post saying the cause was the NB overheating. Eventually I called Alienware support and they suggested I send the laptop back for repair. The repair description, from what I was told will be a new heat sink and fan.

My question for you guys is do you think the repair will fix the issues stated above, or will the problem continue until I either downgrade my cpu or copper mod everything? (which I have no intention of ever doing due to voiding my warranty.)

P.S
My laptop was getting a 3dmark06 rating of 12750 do you think that is where it should be for the specs I have?

Specs
M17
qx9300
4850's x-fire
4gb ddr3 1066
256 ssd
vista 64bit

 

I think your specs should be competitive with the top notebooks on the market in the hands of an experienced benchmarker. I think it is awesome customer service and an extremely knowledgeable gesture to replace the heatsink/fan. I'm glad mine came with a quadcore heatsink/fan--my P8400 temps are near ambient even overclocked @ about 27C.

 

From the screens I've seen on here, that's a pretty low 3dmark06 rating, especially with the 4850's. I recall seeing most folks in the 14k-15k with the 3870's.

 

They cant fix the issue so dont bother sending it in honestly . Im stutter free about 99% of the time because of the copper mod . You would be wasting precious time away from the laptop hoping they can fix it . Either get a dual core or Copper mod which you said you wont. I wont sacrifice my quadcore for the rare instances it happens to me .

 

lol ill trade a p8600 for your qx9300

 

Have you actually tested your temps to see if you are actually overheating? You should possibly post your temps here and ask for second opinions before sending it in....

 

they cant fix it, its simply not possible.

We have been trying to get it fixed for along time and never have found a method that works 100% of the time

Copper modding the NB helps alot of people but if that doesnt work all you can do is buy a X9100 and use that

unfortunatley Alienware refuse to admit the problem and wont do anything about it


should have done more research before buying tbh

 

Yeah all is not lost. Just get a cheap X9100 off Ebay from a buyer called Shirleyfu and keep hold of your QX9300 for future use or just sell it.
You may lose a little money but its probably the best option.
Also, some of these "copper mods" believe it or not are not that terrifying and are quite easy but I do agree with you about voiding warranty and such.

Good luck either way,

bear in mind some guys have bought the same system and have had no stuttering so perhaps there is some hope, I know that fact would give me hope!

 

And the X9100 is a better processor for gaming at this moment in time bearing in mind most games dont support quads yet.

 

You dont really void the warranty using the copper mod providing you dont glue it to the heatsink or something, just remove it if you have to send it in and they'll be none the wiser.

 

Yeah what do you use them to keep the copper in place? Ive always wondered.

 

just abit of as 5 on either side then sandwich between the nb and the heatsink

 

As Pman said AS 5 or some other thermal paste, you dont want to break the thermal conductivity with glue!

 

do not send it as others said they can not fix it. imo dont use as5 get mx2 or ocz freeze

 

Well, I think I'm just going to hold on to the laptop and not send it in for now. But I will want to swap my cpu since my laptop is a paper weight until the heat issue is resolved. Do you think since I'm still within the whole 30 days of purchase they'll honor a request to downgrade me to the x9100?

 

I would definitely give it a go and it would be the best possible solution to your problem.

I think you should try and get the downgrade for sure. These X9100 are awesome processors and if you can get an OEM then you will be very pleased.

Definitely call Alienware and see what they say,

keep us informed.

 

they may agree to it, however they may insist on changing it themselves which would mean shipping the unit back

 

Yeah I kinda figured they would request it changed by their own hands, but tbh if i can use my laptop for more than 45 minutes at a time the time spent away will be worth every second.

 

Ok but at least try and do your best to persuade them to just ship the processor.
The processors are easily changed and we can help you with that.

Even I found it easy

 

I'd love to just have Alienware ship the x9100 to my door and I just drop it in...but I'm sure they'll obviously want the qx9300 back in their hands if I am going to request an exchange.

 

Mandrake in the For sale section has a X9100 OEM for $350.00 you could always buy that and just sell your Quad afterward. This way you could have a good working machine in no time flat >

 

even if it means you sending the QX9300 in first and waiting for them then to despatch your X9100 it will still be quicker than sending your notebook back in.

You will be happy with the X9100 and the performance it gives.

 

I would keep the quad as back up if finance permits it.

 

Wow thats a good price! for us guys in Europe that is how much we pay for an engineering sample.

 

well, tried getting AW to swap my cpu out...but the said no. They told me basically that it was the cpu I chose and i had to stick with it unless it was faulty. so for now until i can gather some cash to buy the x9100 I'm just going to say screw it and copper mod it. I'm going to the hardware store and to the local microcenter and grabbing some thermal paste. Only thing I could not find was what size piece of copper do i need for the NB?

 

wierd this problem seem to happen more with the qx9300 i my self had my m17 equiped with a q9000 for litle more than three weeks and it never stuttered (except when my overmultitasking habbit make me bottlenec the fsb)


and even when i game for hours and forget to open the back pannel (last time i burned my lap i'm not jocking)the systeme don't stutter du to heat


it is possible that they misplaced the heatsink or it has a defect (maybe there was not a mb modd on new syteme but a new eat sink that cool down the NB effectively and you got a bad one)

you could send it in and hope it work but ... considering what people say about AW service ..... i would not you might never see the machine again

wyour two best option are to look in the cooper mod to see if you feel like doing it and don't forget to take it back befor returning the think to AW if you ever need

Or buy a x9100 and go back to a dual core



EDIT OUPS didn't saw the 2 others pages sry