*Official* Alienware Launch Discussion Thread

Thanks, just worried my order will just fall in limbo. I have seen stories like that here.

 

I'm still in pre prod from 6-11-13. So its fine at the moment but i too am curious! I think they don't have some of the parts.

 

As I said before, I'm sure they do. They're backed up from the 2012 sale and there are a ton of people ordering the new models. When I ordered a couple months ago it took like 5 days get out of pre-production and now they're at LEAST 10x more busy. Just give it some time.

 

I read this too. As much as I want 32, I think I'll wait for Kingston to release the matching modules. Matching voltages is not exactly what I want to do with my brand new Alienware.

 

My gut is telling me Dell may have underclocked the 780Ms. Multiple benchmarks on multiple sites are showing a trend of reduced GPU performance compared with the 680M, and M17x's 1-2 years old. This is not just 3DMark, if you look at this site's review it extends to many of the games and system performance benchmarks.

I know Dell underclocked the 460Ms (still fighting that in my M15x, since unlocking it has led to my system throttling). Any information on this would be welcome... I refuse to consider a purchase until I know what is up.

 

Kinsington Sells DDR3L on newegg.com ... but they don't call it that because it is a new product with no image yet. The key is seeing that the voltage is 1.35

Newegg.com - Kingston 8GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model KVR16LS11/8

 

Funny thing, I was just looking at this. I guess I didn't look close enough, thanks for pointing that out.

 

Quick vBios flash should fix all of that with ease, but we won't know for sure till some users get the system and report back.

 

They probably did. The GTX 780M at the clocks on notebook check is a 120W chip.

The GTX 765M is a 60-65W chip and its exactly half of a 780M

 

It's already out: Kingston DDR3 16GB RAM Memory Module KHX16LS9P1K2/16 | HyperX LoVo RAM

Just contact Kingston direct in your own country

 

Isn't the TrueLife screen on the 18 a form of glossy? If not, what is the difference between matte, er, Anti-Glare, and TrueLife? Forgive the newbie for the stupid questions.

 

Truelife is a mixture of both glossy and matte, basically: Dell TrueLife™ LCD Screens - What is it? True matte screens tend to have a more aggresive AG coating that refracts light more, hence less reflections. Glossy panels don't have AG coating, therefore reflect light very easily. Truelife is an attempt at finding a "middle ground", if you like.

 

Kingston HyperX Model KHX16LS9P1K2/16 Laptop Memory - Newegg.com should be better due to lower cl (9 vs 11)

 

Well I sure as hell hope they improved the embedded power regulators then. Using the vBios flash to "fix" my 460M resulted in my laptop throttling every 15 seconds when playing Skyrim, ME3 or hell, just about anything :/

That is kind of funny about the TDP... So the 780M is 15-20% faster than the 680M, and also consumes 20% more power? If Dell has under-clocked, then it I don't see how it is an "upgrade" to the 680M?

 

Do we know if the modules being shipped are 9 or 11? For some reason I think they will be 11 (cause bigger profit margin).

 

So, another question, is the ram cl11 or cl9? Thanks

 

Also remember chances are graphic switching will be disabled on the 3D screen meaning battery life will probably be half of what it was on the normal screens. At least thats the ways its been on previous Alienware systems. 3D=no optimus.

 

overclocking hasn't been a serious issue on the earlier revisions like the 580m, 460m in the r3, and the 680m, so I don't see why the 780m would change anything,

probably fixed that as the intergrated haswell gpu can do 120hz?? Just going off info that I remember reading somewhere so I could easily be wrong.

 

I think that the integrated graphics is disabled because of a compatibility problem with Optimus/Enduro and 3D. So, I would be very surprised if that is the case. I am sure one of our Social Media friends can answer that.

I am guessing that one probably needs to decide what is most important... battery life or 3D/eye candy. If you seldom travel and don't often find a need to run without an AC adapter connected to the wall outlet, then opt for the better 120Hz screen even if you don't really care about 3D. If you're buying the machine for mostly entertainment and gaming pleasure, battery life might be irrelevant.

 

do you have the reps name or email, im trying to get a good deal on similar spec can you PM me the reps name or details thanks pal.

 

Sure I can do, but it was really the first person that picked up the phone. I had to employ quite a lot of haggling tactics before I got that discount.
Steviejone's rep would be much better, he will give you the best price possible without having to haggle; maybe better than 12%

Either way I will PM you the details of the rep that gave me that discount, but again, I would really recommend you try steviejone's rep first.


EDIT
It seems that there is no option to send PMs to your account..

 

This. Plus I don't know why people keep insisting on this "15%" faster number. It's showing anywhere from 15-30+ % faster and averaging about 25% on a pre-release driver. When the 6970 was replaced by the 6990 which promised 20%% faster; people were jumping up and down. People have been spoiled by the 580 ---> 680 increase. A mature driver, coupled with the games coming out later 2013-2014 will DEFINITELY show 30% faster at stock speeds. That's just reality of having more shaders and most importantly; more bandwidth. Let's save the "overclocking" thing till they actually are...well...overclocked. The 580m was a tweaked 485 and it did just fine

 

Oh god I hope the 780m isn't underclocked. It doesn't really make sense overclocking the CPU and underclocking the GPU. We still need an Alienware rep to see what's up with this ASAP!

EDIT: Spoke with someone, they said they're not underclocked but it was a live chat so take that with a grain of salt.

 

That's probably just another silly rumor being perpetuated by trolls and worrywarts. Based on what we have seen from 580M forward, there is not much reason to get too worked up about it. What we can count on is that it will work the way NVIDIA intends for it to, even if it's not what we would like. The OEMs ship the GPUs with the vBIOS that NVIDIA provides to them.

Even if it is underclocked or gimped by power-saving crap, it won't matter that much in the grand scheme of things. Enthusiasts (with tons of help of talented individuals like svl7) will fix it with vBIOS tweaks. As long as it is a solid GPU and not a flakey engineering abortion things will be fine. We already have examples here in our forums of M18x R1/R2 systems that have been upgraded with 780M and 780M SLI and I am not seeing a basis for worry.

 

yea weird man cant access me PM`s. could you email me the details cheers.

 

Well in reviews of the r2 (680m) vs the 18 (780m) the r2 has 201 FPS in World of Warcraft and the 18 has 168.

This isn't looking too good...

We need an Alienware rep to answer this.

Are the 780m's underclocked or what?

 

just sent you a PM prankie boy

 

If you want a quote from my chap, just send me a PM too, with contact details and spec details that you want. I'm sure he can help.

 

You have to consider the source. Most reviewers open the box, turn it on, and run it. Most of their results need to be taken with a grain of salt. The have a limited amount of time to work with, too. The M18x R2 with 680M SLI is a mature system with more than a year of driver optimization and opportunities for user tweaks. If what is posted in reviews had been performed by someone with time and talent to tune things, I think the results would be different.

Go back a year and see what the reviews were saying about 680M when it was a new product and you'll see that it wasn't running in top form back then. This is a common trend with new products and things are going exactly as I would expect them to. It will look different (better) in 30, 60 and 90 days down the road.

The same can be said about 7970M CF. It took more than 6 months before it worked reasonably well... not even close to what it is today.

 

Yeah I understand but consider I just paid $5,000 for one so I'd like to be 101% sure!

 

Does this mean Optimus will now work with 120hz screens? Because that was my main issue with them!

 

Here is a link to the specs: GeForce GTX 780M | Specifications - NVIDIA provides the vBIOS to Dell, so it will employ NVIDIA specs and should have the same core and memory clocks as all other stock GTX 780M GPUs no matter what brand of laptop. It should match their posted specs as a reference design. GTX 780M SLI is the top of the food chain and you can't buy a more potent mobile GPU, so you have ordered the best of the best in new tech.

 

Hi guys, as the title states I wanted to order a new alienware but i can't get a stand alone ssd configured. I know what you guys are going to say, that buy it yourself and it will be cheaper, and I agree but here's my rational. I'm spending almost 5k on a laptop! it should come with a SSD if i want it to, why would you spend that amount of money and have everything decked out and put a conventional hardrive or an msata in it? Am I missing something here? Alienware wake up.

 

Its easy to do yourself, just get the base HDD and swap it out with a SSD from newegg or ebay. Cheaper this way too

 

Go with this option...

"512GB mSATA Boot + 750GB SATA"

That 512 is a Samsung SSD and I doubt you'll notice any difference at all. You could just get the top model that's $5,199 and ditch your blu-ray/dvd and get 1TB of SSD but that's really unnecessary. You really only need an SSD for Windows, it won't help games ect.

 

I understand that this is doable. But I too am confused with why the SSDs are so high on Alienware... And if I order an SSD online and just pop it in myself, is there an inexpensive way to transfer all of the alienware programs+windows 8?

 

Its easy, MickyD1234 went over it earlier n this thread Pg 37 at bottom: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/721403-official-alienware-launch-discussion-thread-37.html

 

I've been around the block with computers and gaming (and life). You have nothing to worry about. Honestly, there are games the older AMD 6970 BEAT the 6990 in. Is it possible a game or two just happens to run better on another card? Yup. Is the 680m likely better than the 780m? Nope. Why? That would be HORRIBLE for Nvidia. They wouldn't sell any enthusiast systems for the next year or so.

Not only does the 780m have more cores, it has more bandwidth. As I stated previously, it is not just about the OC that produces better gameplay experiences. Bandwidth plays a factor. Just wait until a game like BF4 comes out and the mature drivers that are going to be optimized for the 780m (with priority over all other drivers). The increase will be sufficient. I wasn't even planning an upgrade until Maxwell but I honestly think these cards will indeed be about 30% better (stock and OC) than the 680m. You just bought a system that will last as the new consoles are so gimped in power, you will have 1080p (which is quickly turning into 1024x768) for a good 4 years. Right now, your system can shoot out 1600p no sweat.

So don't fret, you have bought the best system money can buy. Enjoy this privilege as that money is many people's rent for a year, or the price of a nice motorcycle. It's a lavish vacation. Your computer is a monster; a freak of nature. Look at the vents! it's meant to breathe fire and spit it out ferociously! This thing screams extreme and you will soon see it. If you don't like it..return it and buy an m18x R2. It would be a really neat trick for these fully featured 1536 core cards with ridiculous bandwidth to be an inferior product. As of now, these cards in SLI are a bit more powerful (in ways) to a desktop 780m. Enough early game testing has shown that. A desktop 780 is OVERKILL for a 1080p monitor and most reviews bench at 1600p. So again, this setup will destroy games for years at native resolution...and native resolution is the ONLY way to play.

TLDR?

BRB.

Fin.

 

Lol. Thanks for taking the time to write that all out. I know it's more powerful ect. I'm no computer noob, I've been PC gaming since the 80s. I just like to be 1000% sure about everything when I spend 5 grand.

 

Hey guys,

So I just called Dell and I managed to get a price of $2,000 on a system worth $2,200. I'm happy I was able to get almost 10% (9.1% to be exact )( 18% if you count the eGift card) off on a just released system. I also managed to get a $200 Dell eGift card as well as 2nd day shipping. The sales rep I talked to easily took off the $200 and applied the shipping and gift card without even mentioning them. I'm extremely satisfied.

My configuration is as follows:

4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ processor (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz)

16GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz

17.3" WLED FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare Display

750GB SATA 3Gb/s (7,200 RPM)

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780M with 4GB GDDR5

Basically the $1999 system with upgraded 780M video card lol.

I DID NOT order yet as I told them I will talk to them again tomorrow to make the final transaction. So before then, is this a good deal or should I try to do better?

Thanks.

 

That's pretty damn good. Is the 18 too big for ya? I would have tried pricing one of those as well.

 

I'm sorry, but I've been around the block before and was frustrated by the GPU implementation on my M15X. Just because you say it will be fine does not make it so. I can't explain how many hours I spent dicking around with Throttlestop and vBios tweaks only to give up with my 260M, then to buy a 460M and have the same problems - THEN have them discontinue the damn thing.

Seeing as how I still own/use the laptop and am still interested in buying another Alienware, I'm obviously not a troll. But - I am VERY concerned about the Elephant in the room that nobody wants to acknowledge.

These review sites also reviewed the older revisions of the M17X, so they obviously have more experience than just opening it up, turning it on and letting it run... and even if that is all they did - why the low numbers? We should expect performance better than this out of the box.

 

It's because the 120hz panel dell chose on earlier models is not multisync so cannot sync with a 60hz signal. The igpu (and AMD cards) start up in VGA compatibility during POST (@60hz) and the display fails POST. NV cards have the VGA microcode on them so that they can start up with a 120hz signal at boot, hence dell had to disable the iGPU for the 120hz models or the machine will not POST.

If the new models have a multi-sync 120hz panel then optimus is back on the table

 

Easy, I don't think anyone was trying to offend. I think it is a valid question. I have not noticed any on my unit. Will ping a buddy in engineering and hopefully get a response in the morning. Will get you a proper answer.

 

Can you confirm that the 780m on the 18 are shipped at stock speed and not under clocked or altered in any way?

 

i honestly don't like where this is going with alienware.

now you must choose the last option to be able to upgrade to highest CPU possible and configuration on Dell US/Canada are different (not surprised) but looks to me how Dell is pushing everyone to get 16GB of ram where I only want 2/4GB and then upgrade that part myself.

at least the HDD part is still fine, for now. feels like windows 8 to me MS trying to force us into it. forcing the upgrade, and leave the rest of the option not accessible to 4930mx is not cool imo, definitely a step down and would push me towards clevo.

 

The last 2 options actually.

They're doing this for extra profit and to limit people to upgrading themselves. It lowers the overall costs of their products but does suck for people who want to upgrade it themselves.

 

Definitely not trying to offend. I was very specific with the comment " Based on what we have seen from 580M forward" precisely because there were issues with 260M and 460M. Your frustration with that situation is justified, even though it was a few GPU generations back from where we are today.

 

Just a quick question: If I buy a base model Alienware 14' (the $1349 one with 1080p display) will that ship earlier? And if it comes with 750gb HD, can I add in an additional SSD or do I need to swap it out?

 

Unaltered base models ship faster.