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

HAVING A MAJOR ISSUE WITH MICROPHONE! PLZ (((

Dell XPS 1730
Originally: Vista ultimate

Reformatted to windowsxp, downloaded the audio drivers. My sound works fine, but no mic. How do you install drivers for mic? do you need some chipset driver stuff or something?

Do you use digital mic? or just microphone? line in?

I have tested this using onboard mic, and an external mic plugged into mic port.


any suggestions would be great. wondering what the difference is now that im on XP vs. my old vista build

 

That will really suck if they do the same thing again... WTF am I going to do with SLI 8700m cards if I have 8800m GTXs in my system and I doubt they will sell because the 1730 will probably be the only system they work in and the owners will either have the 8700m GT SLI or 8800m GTX SLI

 

That's just how it is though. We buy soon, enjoy(?) more, and pay more.

 

Hey
I'm wiping my computer and setting up a raid, how much of a noticeable proformance increase would i see?
i watch that video on youtube that one of you mentioned and was wondering what the driver was called and where i can get it (the one you need when you install vista)
Cheers

 

oh another question- the owners manual mentions a 1066fsb intel 45nm core 2 duo processor with a l2 cache of 6mb, does anyone know what that is about? cause i thought the best cpu these laptops could take was the x7900??

 

Where does it say that? Maybe it can support newer CPUs... which would be a very good thing

 

For general desktop use and loading games it will be a small but still noticeable gain, for games that have large maps etc. to load, you will see quite a speedup.
These systems should support penryn (45nm) which fits in with the 6mb l2 and 1066 bus.

 

Sounds like they had the Penryn chip in mind...

 

Someone posted earlier that the M1730 already has the 8800's in the latest notebooks tested by game informer. I would expect them in the next week or two, upgrading to them may be a different story.

There's no way that they'll wait 2 months before releasing these cards when every other competitor has been selling them for a week or more. There's just too much money to be lost.

 

in the specifications section on page171 of the owners manual that came with it

 

You probably wont notice any difference whatsoever. TBH, raid 0 only shows itself when moving around very large files, around 2GB or greater. So unless you're doing high end video or audio work I doubt you will see any change at all.

It certainly does not make games or applications load quick or run any better. You might load some benchmark program and get a high synthetic reading but in real world performance it does squat. Raid 0 is another one of those gimmicky things to sucker people in I am afraid.

Raid 1 (mirroring) however IS very good and desirable on a laptop as with all the carrying and banging about some laptops take, drives can fail and you have a nice full clone it this happens.

ten

 

So you dont think raid 0 is worth bothering with?
raid 1 would be pretty pointless for me as i'm backing up all the files that i dont want to lose on my external so might as well make full 400gb of my two drives.
Oh and ten, hows your Creative X-Fi Notebook Express Card going from you i was looking at getting one?
Thanks for your help

 

Personally I say no. I have tested raid 0 on this laptop and my home desktop machine and it did NADA for everyday use (games, internet, normal apps.)

The only time I saw it make a difference was in my audio work when I was using very large files in a big project. Other than that though it did nothing, so no I would not recommend it.

If you can be bothered and have the time maybe try it to see if it makes your usage any better, but remember if one of the drives fails you loose everything! 2x 7200k drives non-raided give more than adequate performance for today.

ten

 

The x-fi notebook is OK if you're gonna be using it for 5.1. If you're just going to use it for stereo outputs then you may as well stick with the onboard as its really no different. Also I just read recently that the EAX on the notebook card is software emulated and doesn't have a dedicated chip like the desktop models....DOH!

ten

 

I got a set of Logitech Z-5500 so probably would be quite good to use with them with but trying decide whether it would be better than just using the caox adaptor, although might pay to they release one with the dedicated chip if they release one
cheers

 

The RAID 0 peformance increase isnt that great. I only done it so that both my discs would be seen as one in Windows, and I could partition up how I like.
Also whenever I tried 2 seperate discs, Windows would always lose one on every reboot, and I would have to go into device manager and rescan my discs to get my second drive back!! lol. Not sure why that happened, but I decided to stick with RAID in the end, since my important docs are backed up to my external drive anyways.

 

The users stating the 8800's will be out in the next 1 or 2 weeks - is that just guessing?

IMO I think that they can easily get the hardware in, but are still playing with the SLI drivers....

 

All
Vista Update ! (21/1/2008)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...bc-ddbb-4744-8437-76a470dcfb93&DisplayLang=en

"Brief Description
Install this update to improve the graphics performance for multiple Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) scenarios on a system running Windows Vista."

Lets see what this does!

 

Cool, try it and let us know. I'm at work so can't try it!

 

Same here, will stick it on later

 

This update has been out for a while, unless they updated it which is weird because the version number is the same as the one ive had for about 2 months.

Oh and its in sp1 already...

ten

 

When we get a new laptop today will it come
All updated & Installed ? for Vista

does vista have Service pack 1 ?
Hate to update for I format my laptop often

 

No, it will come with the retail version of vista. No updates whatsoever. You will find this out when you first load the machine and it says "30 updates to install"

Also, sp1 isnt officially released yet as its still RC or beta whatever so it wont come with that either

ten

 

Thank you
But when SP1 is releaed & the people who then get the laptop it should come all installed for them correct ?

 

I just tried this update and I get the message that this update does not apply to my system. I have recieved the same meessage on other hotfixes in the past. Maybe this is for desktop GPUs? Anyone apply it successfully to a M1730?

 

@ LordVader, yes thats correct but it wont be right away.

@ Gadget. That means you already have that fix installed. Sometimes the updates you get from Windows update are these exact same hot fixes. Like I mentioned, this fix has been out for a while now, most people will already have it installed.

ten

 

Dear Kermit & Co, the xpsm1730 is pretty far from OK. We were promised a BEAST and the ULTIMATE gaming trip .... all of us has spend hours on fixing problems - that should not have been there in the first place. A high-end product gone bad ... if you ask me. The M1730 is as big as a house and still only medium performance .... and why not 2 x 512 8700M GTs insted of the 2 x 256 - just don't get it.

And to make matters worse - their support really do not know ANYTHING about the M1730 - their high-end product ... come on - I whould rather wait for 3 hours on hold to Get Premium Support - insted of a level 1 support guy - sweet sure but NOT Premium in any way.

All the SLI issues, crappy display, performance in games etc etc etc. - really stupid of DELL not to test the product a little more before releasing it.

The result has been a LOT of returned M1730's - just take a look at this forum - it's raining BEASTs @ DELL. So sad....

PS. Sorry for my english - "I'm Scandinavian - everything is what it is".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRJiRxCnDSY (fast forward 50 sec)

 

Hi all, this is my first post here and I just recieved my xps 1730 today.

I've had a couple of freezes due to overheating. I've run nvidia's ntune and watched the temp. behaviour through out the standard nvidia tests and it feels as if the fans kick in a bit later than they should. So I was wondering if there is an driver update that anone recommends that would have a better effect on the gpu's temp.

Also can anyone one tell me what is like the acceptable and max range for the gpus temp.

Thanx.



---------------------------
2.8GHz, 2GB memory. 320x2 RAID Performance.

 

Free is prolly caused by the driver.

Goto nvidia.com, and pick mobile driver to download and install, see what happens.

 

My experience with the Dell XPS 1730:

Problem: Constant shut-downs because of overheating.
Solution: Use a notebook cooler

Problem: Erratic keyboard repeat operation.
Solution: Disable Dell Media Direct

Problem: Screen flickering and crashes when using SLI.
Solution: Don’t use SLI and wait for Dell video driver update.

Problem: XPS1730 with Win XP won’t properly display shades of yellow.
Solution: Upgrade to Vista or avoid looking at anything yellow.

Problem: Lower cost Sager np9262 runs Crysis three times faster than the XPS 1730
Solution: Return the XPS 1730 and buy the Sager.

I did!

PS... I did like the lighted keyboard though.

 

Strange. I NEVER had over heating problem or shutting down because of overheat.

My guess is Sager heats up even more since it uses desktop components, but I couldn't tell ya.

I guess you had a defect. Enjoy the Sager.

 

take a look at ANY NP926x review and you will see it's actually one of the coolest running high-performance notebooks on the market...even with desktop quad cpu in it.

..guess they call this achievement "good engineering", but i might be wrong..

 

I would, if I was interested in Sager.

Sager couldn't beat the price I paid so I just went w/ Dell.

 

Hey Eveyone I Just thought Id let ya guys Know that I just Beat My first game all the way through on the 1730 !! COD 4 is an Awsome Game and I was able to run it all on High with vevry good Frames! Soo With all the compaining I myself and the rest of us do about the 8800 I say we Get back to what we bought this rig for and thats Gaming! I had an amazing experience and it was all worth it!! but Yea I am playing Gears of War and Crysis which I am working on Completing as well and itd be Damn Sweet to Play All those with High Settings as Well! but Time will tell I guess when all that will happen! I have to admit it tho I would love a new Alienware!

 

I love my machine, but your Crysis statement-I gotta see to believe (I own the game as well, but it's more like mix of high/med/low @ 1200x800 which I wouldn't call high settings.)

It does run COD4 darn well though. @1900x1200.

 

1. I have yet to have a blue screen or crash due to overheating and run mine at 3.0ghz and video o/c at 750/1500/900.

2. No keyboard issues

3. No SLI issues that I have seen with any games and I run Crysis (ok), Bioshock and COD4 with no issues.

4. Who cares about XP, thats yesterday's news. It's going to get to a point where XP support is going to cease and Vista is going to be it.

5. I have yet to have found a comparable Sager for the same price I paid for my M1730. This includes warranty etc. Most Sagers I priced where 1.5-2k more than what I paid for my M1730. I'll take name brand recognition and a great warranty over 10 FPS any day. Once the 8800M is available for the 1730 this is going to be a somewhat moot argument.

And to be totally honest I hate all the LEDs. I have them all turned off.

 

I'm glad you and others had no overheating problems, and, as you say, my unit may have been defective, because the fans never did go on high, even just before I got the overheating shutdowns. In fact, I never heard the fans go higher than low until I ran the diagnostics!

As far as the Sager heating is concerned, I guess I'll have to wait until I get it to know for sure. However, I've done a little bit of homework. The "E" processor and single 8800 in the Sager consume about 110 watts, while the "T" processor and dual 8700's in the Dell consume about 125 watts, so perhaps the Sager, in that configuration, isn't as bad as you think. The quad processor in the Sager adds another 40 watts, of course, and a second 8800 might make things pretty toasty.

 

Hmn. I just applied/installed on my system though.

Not sure how I will notice the patch though.

 

well I just ran 3dmark06. 8738 with zero tweaks or overclocks. Not too shabby. This is with the base install, so all bloatware and 80+ processes running in the background.

With a clean install It would break 9k easily. I can definetly see how the XPS with 8800's would break 12k (game informer stats).

Running 100% stable with zero issues, the only thing I've done is run the vista updates (no SP1 RC yet) and took the latest drivers from nvidia.com

I must say I'm pretty impressed, my old desktop (top of the line 2.5 years ago) only scored 1990ish when I ran it a few days ago.

Ran a drive test with the SSD drive...48mb/s average transfer rate. Definetly sending that back and getting 7200's in RAID 0. I wouldn't recommend the dell SSD to anyone thinking about it. Go with the HDD's and buy/install aftermarker SSD's when the price drops.

And yes, to the previous poster asking about raid performance, raid 0 is worth it. I've noticed significant response time improvements along with faster game load times when i've used it (my desktop has dual raptors). There's a lot of raid 0 haters out there that will try to tell you different. Just as there's some people that will tell you this laptop sucks...lol

p.s. have the sharp monitor, quality seems good.

 

just read this http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=211255

I also went to http://www.sagernotebook.com/default.php and configured an identical notebook to what I ordered.

A sager that costs 2000 dollars more then what I paid for my XPS scores ~1500 more on the 3dmark06. And that's with the 8800 cards, so it won't get any better then that.

Thanks but no thanks, an overclocked XPS 1730 can perform as well as this laptop and is significantly cheaper. Not only that but even if you include a future upgrade cost for the 8800 card it'll still come in cheaper then the sager, and perform 2000 higher on 3dmark06.

I can't stress this enough to potential buyers, you aren't going to find better value then this laptop.

 

Finally my XPS M1730 has arrived, installed the 169.09 drivers right away. No issues with SLI so far, tested both Crysis and Lost Planet. Lost Planet in DX10 and with a resolution of 1440x900 ran smoothly, around 40-50fps with all settings maxed except HDR at Medium.

Now I hate Vista and imagine I can get even better framerates in XP. Crysis I tested too at 1440x900 and medium settings and had around 30fps.

I think this laptop is quite fast, you just have to configure it properly.

 

Where do you get this quadcore mobile cpu from? There is no quadcore mobile chip listed on Intels website, every mobile chip I can see is dual core only...

edit: ah right, they use desktop chips in some models....triple hds also... really would not be surprised if that had heating issues.

Btw, just fyi. Never once had a crash, bsod or overheat on my 1730 and its runs at 3.4 overclocked and both 8700s are clocked to. Stella performance and I got it for £700 less than it retails at (thats about $1400 for you yanks

ten

 

Yup, definetly a great laptop. I think people here complaining either got a lemon or really are amateur pc/laptop users.

For the price this is a fantastic notebook.

 

I am still not decided on buying the 1730 yet. I read some disturbing reviews from norwegian sites claiming a huge flexing in the center of the keypad, especially around the G,H,J letters. Has anyone feedback on the feel of the keypad? I do a lot of writing and need a good keybad so if this is the case, I need to find something else.

 

Yeah I agree with you kermit. People who think that SLI should work right out of the box without trying and trying different settings, setting up profiles must be amateurs. Actually I have the time to try different settings to get a game run as it should, even try different drivers. I assume lots of people are too lazy to do this and think it should work exceptional right out of the box.

Now I will install XP and have XP, Vista as Dual boot. I know from experience from my desktop that especially Crysis runs better in XP in DX9 than in Vista in DX9 mode, older games too like Oblivion runs better in XP. I have only had my laptop for one day, no issues so far, the screen is great and I really like the performance. Sure not on par with my desktop 8800GTX but that wasn´t expected from a laptop anyway.

Next I will try Colin McRae Dirt.

 

Keyboard seems perfectly fine and normal to me.....

 

I have just received my Ageia Physics card from Dell - no instructions on fitting, nothing. Just the card!

The card has some blue stuff on the actual chip. Like Blue pads or somet - do I leave these on? Im guessing it helps cooling?

Also, Ive checked the M1730 service manual, but theres no guide on installing this thing. Anyone else have access to a guide etc?

Thanks

 

I see the Sager has the 8800m GTX's available in SLI from the end of Feb?

Maybe this is a rough date for the M1730 as well then?? Im assuming its a driver issue or somet, and maybe Dell dont want to bring out a single configuration of the 8800 and are waiting for the SLI??......

 

Have had a ongoing issue with playing Bioshock with sli enabled, was getting good framerates but there were long freezes of 0.5 a second or more every 5-6 seconds, the cause was sli because it dissapeared when not enabled but obviously had a drop in frame rate.

So was tinkering last night with sli, heres what i found.
I enabled SLI then restarted - then fired up BShock and it had the Jerky play.
I then disabled SLI- tried BShock and smooth play but not brilliant FPS.
I then enabled SLI but didnt restart- and was then getting High FPS and smooth play!!
There seems to be a big difference in SLI performance when enabling and not restarting, but this does mean when you fire up from having SLI enabled you are going to have to disable and then re-enable to get the same performance.

Seems sli looses something when there is a restart.

Has anyone else noticed this?, i have always restarted after enabling sli just because i thought it would be more stable where in fact its the opposite.

Thoughts anyone?

 

Do you even need the chip? Most people seems to think it is a waste. I will order a 1730 as soon as it is optional not to have the Aegis installed. It was a possibility in short period in november in Norway but hasnt been possible after that. I sure would like to save 200 $ on something useless.