-->*OFFICIAL: Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge*<--

I'll look some more but if you have one could u throw it up please so I can try it?

 

So was it worth going from the Dell 167.45 drivers to the NBF Mobileforce 169.09 M6 tweaked drivers... After fighting with the OS and the installer for another 2.5 hours I now have a 8699 3Dmark06 score. So now I will go back to the Dell 167.45 drivers.

 

Try this:
http://www.notebookforums.com/thread206047.html

Pick from there - I'm using 169.09 even though I had faster benchmarks with the Dell 167 drivers... I can see SLI benefits from the NBF drivers... specifically crysis

 

That is what I have... I will work with them for a while and see if I can be happy with them. I am still on the same settings in the games, no real improvement, so we will see.

 

I just tried the 169.17 driver from lv2g and I get flicker on divx playback on joox.net, so I didn't wait around long enough to see if my system would freeze up like with .09. I'm sticking with NBF 169.04 till GeForce Tony comes out with the next version.

 

That may be very significant in relation to the problems some are having when using certain drivers (black screen on cold boot etc) - aswell as other less specific faults.

I know there are memory address/conflict issues when using 4gbs with Vista on certain systems and these may be more pronounced when adding SLI to the equation.

Patch KB929777 for instance, will only install on machines with 2gb physical memory, perhaps Dell (or yourself) applied this patch before upgrading the memory thus you're not experiencing the same instabilities. Probably wrong again, but I'm fast running out of plausible theories.

 

Hi to all,

After weeks fighting with the SLI issue (hangs when SLI mode was on) it seems that I have solved it. I had to format the hdd and reinstall windows vista with the dvd that comes with the laptop, installed drivers from the web (almost all but the graphics card) and let windows to install those that it want.

Windows installed 156.69 drivers, and now I'm able to switch on/off SLI without problems, and no hangs at the moment. 3Dmark06 score have reached a little lower value: 8067 ( http://service.futuremark.com/orb/resultanalyzer.jsp?projectType=14&XLID=0&UID=12599653) but it is stable al least. Another test I made before formatting was to update the wifi card driver, and during that process it hangs again... sounds like conflicts between hardware..

Now, I have another issue. In the boot screen (Intel matrix array) under the Type/Status (Vol ID) column it says "Error Ocurred(0)" in both disks, but the systems seems to work correctly. any ideas?

 

I have finally been able to replace the CD/DVD drive in my M1730. The original one was very noisy, slow and hesitant when reading files and showed a number of full disks as blank ones or ignored them totally (as if no disk was inserted at all). Well, the difference is quite apparent.

It is the third drive Dell sent me. First one DHL delivered to the same street address but in a different town and now it is considered lost or stolen. The second one was for XPS1330 Lots of wasted energy for a $52US piece of hardware one might say.

I have to admit though that Dell tech support was very good and the last two drives appeared at my doorsteps the next day. The first one possibly, too.

 

So, some friends came over to play some WC3 last night and brought their laptops, and while we were out getting food my 1730 actually ate my buddies little HP something or other and gained 0.3 GHz!!

True story

 

And somewhere, that little HP is finally running with the big chips.

 

Have you tried installing the Intel Matrix Raid software for when you are in windows? You can see/repair/etc the raid from windows which is much more user friendly than the bios screen.

On my desktop system I saved a raid array this way when it just stopped recognizing a drive from the raid10 I have... from the bios there was no option that would or could fix the problem, but from the software in windows, I could choose to reinit the one unrecognized drive and rebuild the array.... much better. Perhaps the intel software can fix the problem you are having too?

You can download it from intel's website... if Dell doesn't come with it? I haven't looked yet...

 

So i just got off the phone with dell... They are replacing my system for a new one with the same specs... I thought that after 3 delays and a faulty system they would have at least upgraded me something...

anyways...

Expected delivery 3 jan 08, Expected pickup of the faulty one, friday the 14th of december... WTF????

They must be on drugs or something as my system wont be leaving my house until the new one arrives...

 

what was wrong with it?

 

They need to credit your old one first, its not 'being on drugs' it's basic company common sense.

Anyway, some new drivers for you guys to try, the 169.21's

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/betadrivers.aspx?lang=en-us;

Use the inf from the previous release or wait for it to be put up on lv2g.

 

Its got a wobbly base, it has been seen by an engineer and it has no solution...

The thing is that, its a replacement on a faulty one... If I allready payed for it, it makes sense that i have a working computer at all times. as im sure that it will be delayed further than the 3rd...

 

My graphics card is the 8700 and that isnt listed on the website? Is the 8700 and 8600 the same thing?

 

Does anyone know why NVIDIA does not include 8700M GT card in the Product pull down window on the "NVIDIA driver download" page? Shall I use the driver for 8800GT then? Or, perhaps 169.21 is not intended for 8700M GT, especially in Sli configuration, at all?

 

I totally agree with you about needing a working computer at all times but dell basically said to me 'screw you, return the laptop and then we will refund the money to allow to order something else.'

Tbh, I did expect that response anyway so I'm just waiting till I get my new one.

Just choose any 8 series, you're going to be changing the .inf file anyway.

Ah yes, single threaded applications running on the new Santa Rosa chips will make the cpu overclock itself slightly for a small boost, it immediately disables this on two threads being worked on though.

 

doesnt work anyways, says cannnot find compatible driver or something like that..

 

the thing is that, this is a replacement for a replacement from a precision m90... which means, they cannot return any money... Thats why for me it makes no sense that if I payed for a working computer, which it broke and they replaced it with a faulty one, that I should at least, AT LEAST!!!XD, be able to keep this one for the time being...

It makes no sense...

 

Heh , my m1730 was a free 'upgrade' from a faulty m1710. Had it replaced 4 times and none of them worked properly. I didn't get a cross ship then either.

 

did you get upgraded somehow?

For the first delay i got processor and hd upgrade from t7300 to t7500 and from 80 to 120 7200... on the second delay i got 1 extra year of complete care, and on the third delay i got 2 more years of warranty... I was hoping new upgrades in this new order... I guess I will just have to pray for a new delay xDDD

 

Yeah, I went from a t2600 to a t7600, 120gb 5400rpm to a 7200rpm and the 7900gtx was upgraded to a 7950gtx, still none of it worked.

Tbh, I have better things to do than spend time trying to get laptops to work properly/ get some good performance, so I've decided to leave major gaming + cad to the desktop and light games/cad to my laptop.

 

hey...i ordered a XPS M1730 on 12/06 n est. ship date is on 12/17, and the specs are as follows..

Mobile Intel 2.8GHz,EX, 4MB, 800 FSB Merom
Smoke Gray
4GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
17 UltraSharp TrueLife Wide screen WUXGA
NVIDIA G84 in SLI
640G (2x 320) 5400RPM High Performance SATA HDD
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit Edition English
2X Blu-ray AND DVD+/-RW
Intel 4965 WLAN (802.11a/g/n) Mini Card
AGEIA PhysX Physics Accelerator
Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme Processor .

wat do guys think?

oh and its currently in production

also...what kinda backpack should i get? i wanted to get the swiss gear one that fits 17" laptops..but dont kno if the M1730 will fit it..any suggestions?

 

yeah im having trouble getting a backpack for the 1730 so i started a thread in the accessories section. So far its basically just been free advertising for mobile edge

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=196126

 

Anyone know where I can buy the adapter that goes from the s-video port to a video output of some sort WITH SDPIF? In the owner's manual on page 80 and 81 is the specific one I'm looking for... I've found it on Dell's site - but it estimates 1-2 weeks shipping and that's past my return period - if it doesn't work out how I want it too - I plan to return the laptop - anyone have a faster ordering site?

Thanks in advance!

 

This is what you get if you order a m1730 in the UK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyrlnIoEq4A

So far CS;S avg fps 175. On stock drivers.

 

Ok i'm not gettin any where near that fps on my CSS...what are ur settings config? On css what res. are you using...I was expecting to be able to use the highest res for that game on my computer...but it does not seem the case unless my drivers are not the best ones....well let me know thanks
peace

 

I spent over 3k on this computer. I had fine ping and in fire fights it lags up just a tiny bit but thats enough to get me killed I should be gettin better fps and better performance/great smoothness from this computer on CS:S. Please someone help me fix this problem
=p

 

@SMcGuffie06: What are your system specs? I will look for my copy of CS:S and load it up tonight... I'll let you know what performance I get.

Also - for anyone else running vista 32bit - Intel has 8.3.x chipset drivers out for our laptops... made a HUGE PCMark05 difference on my system... plus a LOT less problems in general. AND I can OC my GPU to 750/1500/850 without any problems or lockups now. FYI...

 

FYI - here's the link from Intel's site:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/T8C...utol.exe&PrdMap=&strOSs=&OSFullName=&lang=eng

 

thanks for the link gleep52 - i was going to ask you for it. What are you using to oc your gfx card?

I playtest on CS:S nigh on every night - I rebuilt my M1730 with XP and Vista dual boot, all I did in terms of GFX drivers was upgrade to 169.09 - I play matches in a lot lower res because thats what ive been used to for years and years now, but in terms of testing the anti cheat product we develop - I run it in native res - the fps is good generally above 150 and always above 100 during firefights - on a listen server on nuke with all on high I got over 200 fps - again, if im playing competively on xp with a good config that can go up to over 400:

http://www.xraygaming.com/xac/scree...af438ed850e07a000a5d26c9eb7579/0000141969.jpg

screenshots are 35% quality res so dont take anything away from the gfx in the shot - the screenie is purely for fps display purposes

EDITED to say - I cant wait for the 8800 GTX for this thing - it's going to be blistering!

 

In 32-Bit? Cool.

 

Yup in 32bit... 64bit performance was 74xx however... I really wish bluray drivers worked in 64bit.... but every nvidia driver I tried in 64bit said I couldn't playback bluray since my drivers were incompatible

 

I have a 2.4 ghz...120gb 7200rpm....2gb ram...umm i updated my grphics driver to idk what driver...i havent updated any other drivers for anything....i didnt know that even exsisted i thought u buy a computer and its ready to go...i'm not good with computer but i love games and counter strike source im very good at it i play competively or used to but i will start again once i fix my fps problem...

as for config idk which i should use....or how to setup my computer for the best performace...any suggestion would be neat

EDIT ps, my fps rarely hit 100 but would dip down in the 40's and average 50-60....i love this game i want smoothnes...

 

Which Chipset are you running? I am running Intel Crestline-PM PM965

 

Same as you bud - the the link above by intel covers all the 900 series chipsets... ie PM965 mobile express and the like...

 

help me fix my computer someone! i'm sick of it being stupid on counter strike source!

 

what settings are you using in counter strike source?
It runs well on my system with everything on high, HDR on full, no AA and 16X AF at 1920x1200 with colour correction and v-sync. It pretty much stays at 60fps but occassionaly drop to 40fps for a few seconds but it is perfectly playable, as are all of the other source engine based games including Team fortress 2 and Portal, with all settings on their highest values except AA (I dont think you need AA at 1920x1200)

 

I'm with Wogstaa on this one - Set it up the same way he mentioned and it runs the demo stress test thing at 198 fps... when I play the game - I do not see any lag or stutter at all... however if you have it set to trilinear, and not anything else (even 16x AF is tons better) you'll see that stutter for a split second when you turn full screen...

If I remember right - Trilinear came out in the old ATI days when they used to be top dog... I believe it runs better on ATI cards with Trilinear than nvidia... binlinear and 16x AF is 1fps difference to the stress test for me... ONE... how cool is that?

Try downloading and installing the link I put above from intel's site... it'll work on 32bit or 64bit apparently... that updates your motherboard chipset - which should help your overall througput.

The stutter you're referring too (I THINK) is when the textures have to redraw on more than 50% of the screen and one or more textures have not been loaded into memory yet... that's what it used to be in the old days anyway...

 

I literally got it out of the box, and it was the first app I installed. Mine is the T7500, 2gb ram. UK spec, so its twin 8700m with SLi enabled. And its Vista 32bit business installed.

I've learned from bitter experience from XP64bit, that Microsoft deemed 64bit only for business type applications. Support for 64bit drivers is terrible. Sorry. (Only HL2 seems to embrace 64bit)

Sorry

Nothing more...

 

Hey,

I was just on the wikipedia site and some one had posted info about a 8800M GTX Ultra.

Personally I think its complete fiction. But to be sure I pose the question -

Has anyone heard of such a card ???


Like I say - I think its fiction not least of all because according the post (accessible in the history) it was released in Nov!!! LOL

 

I would think it is referring to 8800m ultra, which would be faster than the GTX. Judging by the price of the laptops now and the predicted price of the 8800m GTX I dont think they would release such a card yet

 

Wrong, very wrong. Support for 64 bit systems is very good.
Graphics drivers are released supporting all versions at release and many other companies are following suit. There is massive amounts of support and drivers for 64 bit os' so I don't know where you got that idea from.

8800m gtx ultra doesn't fit with the naming scheme, the clock rates and numbers are all over the place, it has 'supposedly' already been released and supports dx10.1 which no nvidia card currently does.

Looks fake to me.

 

support for 64bit drivers IS terrible - Milo is right. 64bit drivers might exist, but there is no support for them if you have a problem

And yes there may be possibilities available in 64bit vista - but for example - I can games in 64bit - but when I try to playback bluray - it tells me the graphics adapter is incompatible. However, the 32bit version of the driver plays back bluray without any problems. You can blame anyone you want - point is, in 64bit - things don't work so well yet... I admit myself that this past year has dramatically enhanced the 64bit realm. I still have one of my three PCs with 64bit - that's my main system too... But if I didn't have over 3 gigs of ram, I would be running 32bit.

 

Yup, thought it was a faker just wanted to confirm it.

 

Hey everyone, looooong time reader (Since page 1), first time poster.
I'm living in Australia, and I've had my XPS M1730 for about a month now, and it has been BEAUTIFUL. Dell shipped it off to me with about 8 days wait, I was very impressed. For those interested, the specs are:
2.4 ghz Core 2
4gb RAM
2 x 200gb HDD (independent, no raid)
2 x 8700m (In SLI) (For drivers, read on)
EAX Audio (?) (The advanced sound card option)

Those are the important details, the first thing I did when I got it was install Bioshock, which ran good for a while, until I updated the drivers to 169.4, then the menu was all distorted, and various other bugs came up.
By this stage (A week in) I was getting very frustrated with Vista (32b), I'm an XP guy, and I was growing more and more frustrated with the loading time of basic things like the start menu, bootup/shutdown, and opening applications. (I reckon OS's should grow more *efficient* with time, not more *demanding*, as with Vista)
So I installed my good old XP Pro.

Happy days.

XP boots up to desktop (allowing full interactivity) within about 40 seconds, it just feels much more “efficient” now. I double click on something, and it bloody well opens straight away. I would rather have VW Bug with a V8 under the hood, than a Ferrari that (I don’t know cars very well) underperformed.
I know I miss out on DX10, but I’m easily satisfied. At the moment I’m having a blast playing my older games on ultra-high (Like GTA: San Andreas), I haven’t even bought Crysis or UT:3 yet, it’s so much more fun (it seems) to finally play those older games on awesome settings.

I should point out that now with the XP install, I have 169.4 drivers installed, and they work a treat. Bioshock has NO problems, I have not had one crash yet (Not that I did, but still), 3d mark score is now 8400-8500 or thereabouts. (Default settings)

I should also point out that out-of-the-box, with factory settings, the 3d mark score (Remember this was Vista 32b) was 4300...

I wanted to post about my positive experience; I have not had to call Dell once, and it is working a treat. I’m keeping it up to spec with defrags each week, and using the latest drivers for most of the hardware (if not all).

I wish more people remembered why we’re gamers; the *fun* of games. I find myself playing GTA:San Andreas, and old 2d games, because they’re fun. I haven’t touched Bioshock in about 2 and a half weeks (I’m about 8 hours in), because on the fun scale, it doesn’t compete with a lot of other games. And I was a big fan of system shock 2, and this is just like that with a different ‘theme’ painted over it. Down to the letter. (Plus why the hell would there be vending machines that sell items encouraging/allowing you to destroy the world around you?!?)

ANYWAY, this isn’t a game review The XPS rocks, I am very happy with it, and thanks for all your help guys!!

 

It was interesting to hear about the reload to XP. I am still enjoying Vista and since my other laptop has XP I get the best of both worlds. The other one is more for business. So far I am having a blast playing AOE3, C&C3 and Crysis. I am not on a real high resolution yet with Crysis, but still enjoying it. This system is incredible to say the least and everyone at work marvels at the full size keyboard and graphics. It was fun to take the system apart with the Tech. I think I can easily do it myself if needed. They made it almost as easy as taking apart a desktop system. I will get a WWAN card one day (when they drop the price to $30 a month) maybe in a few years.

Lesson learned... If you did not use a RAID there should be a 1gig Intel Turbo Memory card or FCM (Flash Cache Module). If you are using RAID the card will not be included and it will not work anyway... just an FYI. I noticed I did not have the card and at one time it was on my manifest. I called about it and they sent a Tech to install the card. We spent a day finding out the limits (I still have the card installed even though it will not work). It would be nice if they could get it to work with RAID one day as a secondary cache or additional memory. Who knows, maybe that is just as stupid as a coffee cup holder on a desktop computer (CD Tray).

One more thing... I did not know my Xbox 360 controller will also work on my Laptop. I saw that in the Crysis manual. I will try that later on.