*Official* Alienware Launch Discussion Thread

On what? I thought that what you posted was correct. I merely added more information.

Probably so. But, if you were trying to upgrade to a smaller SSD, the Respawn operation may fail. So, if you were moving from a 750GB HHD up to a 1TB HDD, I think it might work fine. But replacing the 750GB HDD with a 256GB or 512GB SSD may not work. With the latest version of Windows 7 Alienware Respawn this actually worked for me several times, but I tried doing this with the Windows 8 version and it told me the drive was too small. The new destination disk needs to be the same size or larger. The ability to restore to a smaller than original disk is a missing feature. Hopefully, they will add that feature to the next Windows 8 version update for Alienware Respawn.

 

Hey guys here is a benchmark with 3dmark11.




I have to say this thing is amazing! The look and feel of the keyboard are awesome and I just love it. Its not too heavy but it is pretty stout! Which I think
Is a good thing.

Screen is amazing and the lights are pretty as well.

AW 17 , 4700m I7 3.4ghz tb, 780m Nvidia, 1920x1080 fhd!

 

The sticker location

 

What are the temps like?

You have the same build as me. I cancelled and reordered on saturday adding the 780M instead of my original 770M. Went into production today so dells EDD of the 25th might actually be half accurate!

 

Once again the GPU score is very low. Lower than GTX 680M.
Whats wrong with these cards in the new Alienware 17?

 

P6238? Oh dear. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

 

Wonder if it has to do with the unsupported driver?

 

Hey guys, so I cancelled my order for the Clevo P370SM, and yet again I was thinking about getting an Alienware 17 (since they don't sell the 18 in the Netherlands). I have got a question though: If I manualy add my own aftermarket SSD in this laptop, will it void my warranty yes or no?

 

Imarik, can you install HWmonitor and post temperatures?

Try pressing Fn + F5 and running 3dmark11 again. The low score could be an Optimus bug.

@1nstance: Adding an SSD will not void your warranty unless it damages your system.

 

Did they give you any indication on how long that process would take. Im on the same boat, and waiting for it to ship

 

Second time I ran 3dmark11 I got a 6658.

 

Nothing is wrong with them. They just need an optimized vBIOS to run better than all of the modded 680M cards. Hardly any GPUs get insanely high benchmark scores running with a stock vBIOS.

Go into the NVIDIA Control Panel and set it up so it uses your discrete graphic as the primary display adapter. Also turn off "adaptive" and "quality" features and shift all of the emphasis to performance. That will not produce results like a tweaked vBIOS, but it should improve your score.

With a single 780M paired with an Extreme CPU you should be able to get around 10k on 3DMark11 with an optimized vBIOS, but probably not even close to that with stock vBIOS. A single 770M paired with a QM CPU it should max out around 6k on 3DMark11. You can search for comparable results with specific CPU and GPU here.

Maybe if I have time after work I will post a video with instructions on how to set up the NVIDIA Control Panel for the new Alienware 17 for those that are not sure how to do it.

 

Thanks for the reply mate.

 

Not much but here's an Unboxing Video for the Alienware 17 I did this morning. Nothing special but here it is.
Alienware 17 Unboxing - YouTube

 

Checked my order status today and it shows I have three cancelled orders and two in production with EDD of 22 July. ?
Chatted with a rep and one was shipped this morning and i should have it by the 10th. The is other shipping soon. They're exactly the same specs. Wondering if I should cancel the second one or let it finish building and sell it. I got a pretty good deal on it.

 

Second run 6658.

 

Look's good

 

What is your selling price?

 

You really think there's nothing wrong with that score? A GTX 780m @ stock should deliver at least 7700 points in 3DMark 11 according to numerous Posts in the GTX 780m thread already mentioned - that GFX score is even below 6000!

In fact, this score is not any bit better than what I get with my GTX 680m @ stock! For comparison, this is a screenshot of my M17x R4 with an unlocked BIOS and the GPU running @ 1006/2350 MHz - it is waaay ahead.


Unless better results start pouring in very soon, I have to assume AW has somehow crippled their 780m - other versions of the card that produce higher scores should not have any better driver support yet either, mind you! I'll give it a few more days, then I'll cancel my order for a new AW17 and stick with what I got

 

Welp my machine is having loads of GPU issues and when I tried the FN + F5 for testing my computer rebooted with the screen totally pixalated and now its not working at all.

 

So, you're doing that with the 680M vBIOS that came from Dell, or an unlocked vBIOS from svl7?

And, yes. I am saying that score is normal for a stock (crippled) NVIDIA vBIOS. The examples in our threads are typically overclocked systems with modded vBIOS. Even without an overclock, a modded vBIOS will improve the results.

As I said, a single 780M with an optimized/modded vBIOS will pull around 10k on 3DMark11. That will be with an overclock run by someone with experience. Here is a link to a run with a 10,522 GPU score. (The overall score will suffer with a non-Extreme CPU.)

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6769967

 

Anyone know about updated drives for the GTX780m yet? I tried the ones from Nvidia but it does not work.

 

That´s what I was thinking about.

Clevo and MSI cards got higher scores than this.

http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-MSI-GT70H-80M4811B-Notebook.93289.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Schenker-XMG-P703-Clevo-P177SM-Notebook.91789.0.html

 

So I fixed the pixilation stuff by loading up the default bios settings and now I am constantly getting nvlddmkm.sys errors and the machine keeps rebooting. I know calling Alienware will not fix anything, any ideas on what I should do??

 

Some of you guys are so full of nonsense. Making statements about a benchmark score based on the example of one person trying to become familiar with a new system is way beyond silly. If he has not set up the NVIDIA Control Panel correctly, or even running with the wrong Windows power profile it will make a difference. Expecting to take a system out of the box, turn it on, and magically pull a show-stopping benchmark score without any kind of tuning or adjustment is unreasonable.

Those Clevo and MSI scores are not very good either, and not that much higher. I would not recommend offering those as example of what 780M is capable of, because those are poor examples.

Try these instead...

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6748739

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6769967

 

Of course, that score is with svl7's magic bios . II don't expect a GTX780m @stock to beat that score, mind you (that's not possible given the tech specs), but I do expect it to perform substantially better than a GTX 680m @stock, with the higher clocks and shader count.

This is a *very* disappointing score. Perhaps the energy savings profile is not set to high performance?

 

Does MSI or Clevo with a 680m or 780m require tweaking before it can get a respectable 3DMark11 P score?
For example the benchmarks done by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M - NotebookCheck.net Tech. I always presumed they performed the tests out of box.

According to notebookcheck 3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720:
MSI GT70 with 4700MQ/780m => P7127
Clevo P157SM with 4700MQ/780m => P7737

3DMark 11 - Performance GPU 1280x720:
MSI GT70 with 4700MQ/780m => P7427
Clevo P157SM with 4700MQ/780m => P7913

 

Could you check whether the vbios even allows for the "standard" (+135 MHz) overclock? I'm asking because any core oc was disabled in the first incarnation of the 680m vbios provided by Dell (they later rectified this, at least),

 

Go back and read guys. I don't know Imarik or what his experience level is, but expecting someone to open a box and pull a 7K 3DMark11 score on a new system they are just getting acquainted with is unrealistic. NVIDIA Control Panel settings, using the wrong Windows power profile and other things could easily take a hit of 1K or more on the results. Give him time to play with it for a few days and you'll most likely be seeing run of the mill 780M benchmark results like those on Notebookcheck. Maybe even better if he has special benching talents.

Beyond getting used to his new system... it has already been proven more than once that a stock 780M will get beat by a 680M with a modded vBIOS. The 780M is incapable of running better with a stock vBIOS than an optimized 680M. The GPUs are crippled from the manufacturer. Those Clevo and MSI scores are seriously crippled, too. I don't consider the results on Notebookcheck to be respectable scores. They fall way too short on what 780M can do.

Yes, it does allow +135 on the sliders with the stock vBIOS.

 

another reason for the low score could be core clock fluctuations, remember the 680m used to do that @stock...

 

Yep, that's right. 700M series does that some as well, but not as bad as 580M and 680M did. GPU Boost 2.0 works a lot better, but adaptive behavior is not that great for chasing numbers.

 

Please! Many thanks if so! I received a low score on the Alienware 14 too (2237) with 765M. High Performance Power Scheme, Discrete 765M enabled, and plugged in.

 

I don´t want to compare any benches with special settings in nvidia control panel.
I just set windows energy management to maximum performance and use nvidia default settings with vsync turned off.
That´s what a 3dmark score @stock means to me.

This way i get 6100 + GPU score in 3dmark11 with 680m on standard VBIOS.

 

Ouch. Scoring 3800 on my new MSI GE40 with GTX760m out of the box with +50/200 MHz oc. What's wrong with the new AWs?

 

Don't worry... you don't need to do anything. But, those are special settings if that's different than your machine came when you opened the box. Everyone has their own ideas about things and that's OK. When two or more people are doing different things, sometimes the comparisons are not very accurate. If you want to see what a GPU is actually capable of achieving, flipping a switch and waiting to see what happens next won't get the job done.

 

I doubt this, but one possibility is that these scores were on battery. My M18XR2 chokes quite badly with lots of stutter when running on battery even on "Performance" with all the battery saving stuff turned off. Another possibility is that there is something wrong with the BIOS/Optimus configuration. I'll put it this way, if the scores aren't high coming out of the box, assuming they used quality parts (I expect that given that it is an Alienware), the performance is there, and we have plenty of people around here with plenty of brain power to find how to unlock it. I am anxious to see some scores from the 18s, as I expect some SLI 780 will be beast mode.

 

The Dell 680m underperformed at "stock" too. Either Dell has not learned from that mistake or a hardware or software bug exists. Alienware knows that sales will plummet if Clevo, MSI, and ASUS perform better. Someone will find a workaround.

 

I just remembered something I read on the Verge's 14 review.

Alienware 14 review | The Verge

"For another, the Alienware 14 mysteriously has two different graphics modes: the "switchable" mode where both Intel and Nvidia graphics are active, and the "discrete" mode with only Nvidia. You need to actually restart the machine and hit Fn + F5 to swap between them. Why are there two modes when most laptops can automatically switch between the two graphics cards? Alienware says that Microsoft requires it for Windows 8, but it's also worth noting that the "switchable" mode doesn't reliably switch on my review unit.

I ended up having to run all my games in discrete mode, because no matter what I did, certain games wouldn't detect the Nvidia GPU and framerates plummeted as a result."

Could those of you with issues try restarting and using the Fn + F5 method to switch to discrete mode and give the benchmarks another try? Hopefully this won't be a permanent issue (c'mon, nVidia...) but at least your laptops will be working properly.

*goes back to waiting for his 14*

 

I tried that yesterday prior to running the tests. Clearly, I have some work cut out for me tonight. I'll post back with results for the Alienware 14 / 765M.

 

Either there is some bug with the alienware machines running 3DMark11, or Dell have screwed up bigtime with their BIOS for GTX 780M.

I have seen a review where the Alienware 17 got 6000 GPU points, as well as a user review showing the same.

For those who doesnt know, it should score 7500...

 

Sorry, no selling is allowed in the open forum. The post was deleted. If you have something for sale, it needs to be listed in the NBR Marketplace.

 

Well there were rumors of underclocking. I talked to a few Alienware reps and they told me it's not though but who knows.

It's most likely the drivers. The 780m is fairly new on the market. Give it a few more months and I'm sure Nvidia will squeeze out a lot more power out of the drivers. This happens with most new video cards.

 

The OEMs receive a vBIOS from NVIDIA and they are not permitted to modify it to change performance, power limits, etc. So, if anyone screwed up on the vBIOS it would be NVIDIA, not Dell/Alienware. If the OEM feels that changes are needed, they have to go through NVIDIA to get it done.

Rumors of underclocking are exactly that. You should see that the core, memory and voltage values match what NVIDIA has published as specs.

But, that's OK because we are used to having to fix GPUs at the vBIOS level. It's expected that will be necessary, and that should come as no surprise to folks that have been into gaming and benching for a while now. I can't remember that last time I had a GPU that did what I wanted it to do with a standard vBIOS. It has been quite a while. If memory serves me correctly, running a modded vBIOS became the status quo (for me) back in the day of 5870M CF. Some where doing it before then. And, that is not unique to MXM cards... applies to desktop GPU firmware also.

NVIDIA just sent out some new vBIOS firmware updates to most of the OEMs in the last couple of weeks and it is unlikely that has been distributed by any of them.

 

If all the different manufacturers indeed share a single common vbios, then those performance differences are even harder to explain.

Could someone with a new AW use some clock monitoring software (afterburner or evta precision will do) while benching to check for core fluctuations?

 

It can't be the drivers. MSI, Clevo, heck even old alienwares with 780M score what it should...

Since VBIOS across all brands seem to perform like it should, something tells me it might be the new Alienware BIOS (system BIOS, not Vbios) screwing up

 

They don't all use the same vBIOS. But, they do use what NVIDIA provides. In theory they should all perform the same, but that is not the case. There can also be minor differences in the hardware.

If I am not mistaken, the vBIOS files might be interchangeable among a few brands now more than was true in the past. Some system have proprietary hardware that requires firmware designed to deal with it, but that seems to be more frequent with embedded chips rather than MXM modules. Some have bizarre (unwarranted) dependencies on the system BIOS, which makes mods more difficult.

The good thing is we have svl7 helping to fix what NVIDIA left in disarray. His talents are invaluable to enthusiasts.

This would be more likely than a difference in GPU or vBIOS. I totally agree that this possibility is greater.

It's not the drivers. Driver's might get better with optimization, sure... but it's not causing a variance in performance between laptop OEMs.

 

Yea, not sure how rumors like that survive. It's easy enough for any competent user to check how their GPU is operating.

Yea, modded vBIOS is standard fare for the desktop GPUs I'm used to. Never really messed around with a high end laptop GPU before though. Will screw around with it tomorrow when I get mine. Should be able to pass 10k scores relatively easy from what I've seen done with the 780M already. I certainly wouldn't worry about it being inferior to the 680M.

 

You got 2237 in Fire strike. We are talking 3d mark 11.

A GTX 765m will pull 4800P in 3d mark 11 oc'd out of the box.

 

I haven't studied the difference in lets say MSI 680M Vbios against Dell Vbios but there are extremely little differences between them. Voltage is the same, different clock stages is pretty much the same, memory amount too. System information to dseparate systems with ID is different though. Im having hard time thinking Nvidia screwed the Vbios up. If so it will be the first time in many years.

I do think its the system BIOS, making the GPU throttle when its not suppose to. That be easy to find out once owners start firing up Afterburner and log while gaming/benchmarking. All I know is that Alienware 14 owners have pretty poor 3Dmark score as well, and they use a different vbios, so I do think Dell screwed up the BIOS.

I hope that A) it is just a bug that only affect 3DMark11 and not gaming, B) if it truly force the 780M performance down, they fix it ASAP and not let owners suffer for months

 

Nice catch! Appreciate your being so observant, Kevin.

I'm not sure that NVIDIA hasn't screwed up in many years. Seems to me like they have been consistently doing that for a few years now. I guess that is open to interpretation and definition. They can certainly make mistakes in coding at a partner level (meaning the firmware they provide to one OEM may have an accidental bug that is not present on what they give to a different OEM).

But, the other observations seem plausible. Isn't the 14 GPU embedded instead of an MXM module? If so, the broader system architectural changes might better explain performance variances on that particular platform.

Alienware 14 Owner's Manual