New to AW, just ordered an m17x

Hey all, I'm a new alienware customer.

A few days ago ordered the m17x with this setup:

Display: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD
Operating System: Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium - English
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme X9000 2.8GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz)
Graphics Processor : Dual 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8800M GTX – SLI
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 2048MB
System Drive: RAID 0 500GB 7200 RPM SATA (2 x 250GB)
CD/DVD/RW: 2x Dual Layer Blu-ray Disc Writer (BD-RE, DVD±RW, CD-RW)
Smart Bay: 200GB 7,200RPM (8MB Cache) Smart Bay
Sound Hardware: Intel® High-Definition Audio with surround sound.
connectivity: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card

First of all, what do you think of my system, do you think it will run well on all games? This is a big upgrade for me after using the same PC for 8 years, but i'm a gaming enthusiast when I have free time!

Secondly, if you have any tips/advice for things I should do when I receive my laptop, that would be great

And lastly, I hear the 9800GT was made available today, do you guys recommend changing my order, or staying with the 8800GTX?...I here there's little difference.

Currently in phase 3, and I'm extremely impressed with the customer service.

Ciao.

 

Very little difference between the two video cards. Though, getting 9800GTs may speed up your order, as many people have run into backorder problems with the 8800 GTX.
You'll definately be able to run all games well. Good Choice with the M17x, it's a great machine.

 

They're basically the same so unless your 8800M GTXs are on back order (call and find out, most reliable way) you have no reason to switch really. Those specs look expensive but very solid indeed. You should have no problem running every game on native resolution with high-max settings.

Also, note that the phase page online isn't very accurate. Calling is.

Let us know when you're order arrives and what you think of it.

 

You could save a few hundred dollars if you just order 1 Gb of RAM and just change it yourself

 

If you ordered a new M17x here is the email you will get if you select the 8800m GTX version. As they no longer have the 8800m GTX's in stock.

 

Oh cool, I'll be expecting that email in the next few days i guess..i kinda wanted the 880GTX....but if they're almost the same I guess it dont matter.

 

there has been a lot of speculation flying around about the 2 cards. it was reported on here a few months ago that they were in fact the same card.
im running a single 9800GT with 3Dmark06 scores of 9229 but it does vary between user. if you have been upgraded to the dual card in the m17x then you will have one fast notebook when you receive it and should be looking at scores around the 13-14,000

 

that's a shade optimistic methinks... i don't think anyone with SLI'd 8800s and the X9000 hit over 12.8k or so, and seeing how the 9800m-gt is basically the same card, i'd expect similar results.

 

im only going by the scores ive seen dotted around so far.

hi whizzo,long time no see, hows you doing.

 

just grand. was on holiday for a week in berlin, moving on to mallorca next tuesday borrowed a friend's iphone for emails etc, but couldn't be bothered check back here on that little screen (i won't even mention the f*cked up spell check thingy )...

where've you seen 14k 3dmark scores? only lappy i can think of with that sort of power is the sager np9262...

 

hope you had a great time on holiday. your always moving around,lucky you
i think i boo booed on the scores. your correct as always on the above. it was th 9262. ive been doing the 3D survey and i was getting confused with my numbers.

(^^^for Justice25) a more realistic score would be around the 10,000 mark

 

hey, everyone needs a break every now and then

as of now, the sager np 9262 is the only notebook with the 9800m-gtx i think. with the m17x, X9000 and SLI'd 8800s should get around 12k. the m15x (with a single 8800) hits 10k.

 

im only getting 9229 on my nexus

 

You wont be able to use the full 4 gigs of ram, just incase you don't know that.

AW still only uses the 32-bit OS, not the 64-bit.

Just thought i'd inform, if the ram really matters that much to you.

 

really? well, my scores vary too. also, disk fragmentation and choice of drivers play a big role. when i got my machine, i was getting 10k, now, with other drivers (better for gaming ), i'm getting 9.5k or so.

in the end, it's more about gaming performance i guess.

 

Yeah that's one of the biggest things that turned me off of AW because if I get 4 gigs, I want 4 gigs. lol I know it's not a big deal to some, but I feel AW should state it on the website like xoticpc.com does instead of just saying "some" systems may not be able to read all 4 gigs... or something to that extent in the fine print.

Edit: oops, whizzo, i thought you responded to me, then i read your full post. lol but my above statement still stands

 

yeah, i know about the 3Gb limitation. maybe at some point i'll upgrade to 64bit OS so i can use all of my RAM, but as of now, i get by just fine

 

I've never seen my RAM get used past 79% anyway. Using all 4 gigs would make scores look better though.

 

Just an update on this....alienware say they will let you know when they don't have a part, well they didn't.

I was in pase 4 for a few days, phoned up and was told there was no 200gb smartbay available until the 8th of October, so i upgraded to the 500Gb.

Now back in phase 2, hoping nothing else delays it.

 

I agree with Ennea, My RAM seems to be maxed at 60% useage so far, even when gaming. It seems that once you've disabled indexing and recovery/shadow copy your RAM isn't all used.

As far as scores go, I have the same set-up you're getting Justice25 and the highest i've been able to get with newer graphics drivers is 12, 653 and that was using 177.98 drivers. 176.10 are slightly lower but still above 12K

By the way, welcome to NBR (",)

OB

P.S. If you read my Care & Maintenance Guide, you'll find some good tips on cooling etc.

 

btw, mark from K|N has got his OCZ Whitebook (Nagamaki) to achieve a 15100 3dmark06 score with crossfire 3870s.

And about the spell check thing, its annoying as hell. i was typing joe, and the iphone suggested "up' for "jo". pathetic.

 

Never got this, they are building mine with the 8800 GTX, I wonder why

 

Don't worry about it at all. The 8800M GTX = 9800M GT in performance.

 

You know I actually had some faith in Alienware, that they were being honest with me.

But guess what, the 8800 GTX had been reserved for my order and was in stock, now this morning it is magically out of stock, another week and a half before I can even move into production.

Thinking of cancelling now, who's to say another part might not go "out of stock" next week.

 

Try PMing Alienware-Armando or Alienware-James about it.

 

I felt the same way when they told me the GTX went out of stock the week after they had it "reserved" for me too. Just give it a few days. Production is pretty fast once they do have the parts.

..and yeah, Ennea is right. You might want to PM Alienware-Armando or Alienware-James about it.

 

when my computer was clean with x9000 at 3.2 (2.8 stock) and 8800m GTX SLI i got a 3D marks of 13,895

 

SP1*(sorry typo) for 32 bit vista allows for 4.16 gigs of RAM to be utilized

 

Justice25,
Congrats on your purchase. Had my M17 since July and very happy with it. Pretty much same specs as yours. Once i updated drivers plays all games quite well.

 

Thanks I'll try PM'ing them...

LOL, just noticed on the alienware UK website, that now they are out of screens, they need 21 days to ship them in and the soonest ship date is the 10th of November.

I'm moving country on the 7th, so if this affects my order, I 100% have to cancel.

Edit: I'm in the UK, so I guess armando and James can't help me

 

CANCELLED

Not a happy customer.

Changing to Kobalt computers who I have only heard good things about, and they have the best dedicated customer support here in the UK.

They can also offer me 64bit, 9800 GTX SLI, a quad core processor and much more for a much lower price. and delievered in 10 days.

Sorry alienware, but you shouldn't have messed me around.

 

Confirmed cancellation this morning, and placed my order with kobalt last night.

Just a heads up to people in the UK, and the UK only, you're gonna have to wait a long time for an m17x....they have no screens left, and the soonest you can receive it is mid-november.

I don't think the stock situation is so bad in the states, but they are really struggling to maintain stock levels here in the UK.