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

Im jus kiddin

Nah Im buying another system for my boss, but have bought a lower spec laptop to keep the cost down, and stuck the 8800gtx card in it. Hopefully if all goes well it will get ordered tomorrow, as our budget is quite tight at the moment!

If all is well, when it arrives, he'll let me swap the card with my own laptop, since he isnt using it for anything that majorly intensive like gaming etc.

Just fingers crossed to make sure everything fits etc and the mainboard hasnt changed. I doubt it has since they wouldnt offer an upgrade program otherwise. Just hope it doesnt have a majorly long lead time to get the bloody thing now!

 

What about drivers, ifti? Let's hope Dell will have them out on their web site soon.

It would probably be safer to exchange the entire computer with your boss. Or at least get some info from Dell regarding graphic cards swapping. The SLi configuration seems especially temperamental.

 

Im assuming for now they are sending the drivers with the systems on disc. They cant provide the card with no drivers etc, and need to have some kind of drivers installed on the system for the card to work out of the box etc.

Im not exchanging the entire system. Not only do I have mine set up in RAID with everything installed as I want etc, but I also have a max spec system, whereas the one he is getting is the lowest spec!

Once I have the 8800 card in it, its pretty much max spec'd

 

I wouldn't bother with dell provided drivers anyway.
Just get drivers from www.laptopvideo2go.com.
They modify the INF files from standard Nvidia drivers to work with mobile devices as well, and they work really well. This way you get the most current drivers w/o waiting for dell to release them.
Once they're available for purchase, I'll probably grab the SLI 8800GTX and do this myself.

 

If money is not an issue, than go for X7900...you`ll get some boost in performance + you can overclock it, if you need to get more performance.
If it is an ussue, than keep T7700 or take a look at T7800. But to be honest, that will give you an increase in performance only in programms, which use CPU a lot, such as video decoding, Maya and so on....you will see minimal difference in games, which doesn`t worth 600 euroes...

There should be no big difference with a heat between T7700 and X7900, unless it`s overclocked.

 

I just got word from the manager... thought he said

and I dont quite understand that part... does he mean that he allready ordered one for me?

 

Got a question about Integrated "Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio".
I was prietty sure, that it was a sound card, but then i mentioned "sound software" written above it. So what is it actually and does it worth getting?

 

That topic came up before in this thread.

Its not worth getting, in fact I think you can get it for free somewhere.

Have a look back in this thread, I can't remember the page but it was somewhere around Oct '07

 

I dont like using drivers from there, since most of them are not WHQL certified once the .inf file has been modified. Therefore my BluRay drive wont be able to play BluRay movies - which I do use.

I think the supplied drivers will do me for now, they are probably better then what you get with the 8700 anyways! Once Nvidia release the drivers, probably Beta, for the 8800m then I will change to them. I cant see them taking too long to release some kind of Beta driver.

As far as Im concerned, if the games I want to play run well on high settings as intended, or as they should, then Im not too bothered with keeping up with drivers. I only tend to change drivers when I get a game that doesnt run well until I upgrade.

 

Ive just gotta sit tight and wait to hear from the finance office at work to inform me that the order has been placed...............fingers crossed........

 

They release WHQL drivers as well.
You just have to look for them on the site.

Does anyone have the part # for the new 8800M GTX upgrade?

 

Nope. Even if you have the part number, they will not sell you the card. Ive tried.
The excuses I heard included:

1. The card is not available to purchase alone.
2. The card is not upgradable.
3. The M1730 does not have a removable card, in fact its built onto the motherboard itself.
4. Upgrades will never be available for the M1730.
5. Tech Support may state you need to pay extra for the card, and will pass you to sales. Sales state it is a Field Replcable Unit and pass you back to tech support. The circle continues.
6. The card can only be purchased in a new laptop.

Thats all I can think of for now.
Good luck with your call though, if thats what you intend to do. Remember to get back to us and give us the excuse so I can add to my list

Personally I hear the cards are on back order. New orders for the M1730 are taking a LONG time to ship and are subject to long delays due to the unavailability of the card - not enough to meet demand. Hence it makes sense to get new systems out to new customers, and worry about the upgrade program once supply has increased - enought to cover the demand. For the moment their priority is to make more money by selling more laptops to new customers. We already have the laptop, so they can make us wait knowing that we will want to upgrade whenever it finally happens anyway.

Thats my theory anyway. In basic terms, they have us by the balls.



In regards to the WHQL drivers - yes they do release them, but its rare. I dont think they have any for the 8800 yet anyway, not WHQL ones.
Also the only other concern I have, is that they modify desktop drivers, hence I feel the temperature at which the fans kick in to cool the GPU's is different. Desktops withstand more heat since they are in a more open space then laptop GPUs. Laptop GPU fans need to kick in earlier, and by modifying a desktop graphics card driver, they wont do that.
Well thats what I thought anyways.

 

That's funny.
I have not yet been told any of those.
I know it's upgradeable as I already have the removal/install instructions to do it. Those were provided to me by dell themselves.

Parts has told me that the card will be available, but they're not sure when, but they don't have the part yet or the part number.
Sales told me that the upgrade will be an option as well.
Tech support gave me the documents on how to install the card and said it would be available.

No one has said the upgrade would not be an option.
No one has said the part would not be available. Dell would be stupid not to sell this upgrade.

So I'll keep persisting. I have 2 friends that work at dell. Neither of them work in sales anymore, but they do know people.

 

Uhhh..
Released on 1/15:
169.61 WHQL for XP 32 bit:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17290
169.61 WHQL for Vista 32 bit:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17288

The 64 bit versions are there as well...

 

The fact that whoever spoke to claiming the GPU's are integrated shows his/her ignorance. This isn't M1330, tell the retard to check out his/her company's service manual.

 

Thanks, money is not a too big issue as it will cost me around 325 euroes upgrading from T7700 to X7900 - but of course it has got to be worthwhile.

Lastability is important for me though, and that the CPU will not become a bottleneck to 8800GTX SLI in any way.

Will there be a noticable performance increase in multi-tasking, startup time of programs and performance speed in general with the X7900?

 

Various things are CPU dependant.

Ripping DVD or audio etc... to mp3
3d modelling
Compiling

Somethings can be disk bound

Programs loading etc..

Some games can be cpu bound, but most will be GPU bound with a mobile GPU

I went for the x7900 as I don't want to wait for anything on a top of the line laptop.

I also figure it will "last longer" but that will all be relative

I think the thermal differences are 35w v 44w between the T7700 and the x7900

Cheers

 

That's pretty much all I have heard too. I rippped in to XPS tech support when he told me it was integrated.

Although I don't understand the "engineering" problem that the XPS program lead said there was with the upgrade. It's a simple card swap and working out drivers (which should be done). If they don't have the supply to meet demands start putting cards on back order to at least make your customers happy. Right now Dell is royally screwing the pooch by not telling the techs or the CS reps anything and just letting them make up stuff. I'm pretty close to using it against them to get a refund and purchase a discounted system with an 8800.

 

^^^
Completely agree. We all know that the card is upgradable and that there will be an upgrade program - it just seems like Dell sales and tech support arent properly informed of this. Ive heard so much crap from them Ive given up.
At one point I even told them that I had opened the laptop and know 100% that the card can be upgraded, but the sales woman refused to believe me!

 

Hmm isn´t it just the demand for 8800m GTX in SLI that is needed for the new computers so to speak that doesn´t allow the upgrade program yet?

 

The ZM-NC1000 is for up to 15.4" laptops (too short for the XPS M1730)
The ZM-NC2000 fits the XPS M1730 perfectly, and is recommended for 17-20" laptops.

 

With respect to drivers, I used the latest 8800 GTX desktop drivers on my sli 8700M's.

You can force the driver install. I had zero issues (no errors, no bugs, no nothing, working 100% perfect in every way). Temps were 62 idle, 65 under full load after playing bioshock for 4+ hrs. Ambiant temperature in my apartment is ~25C, which I would presume is higher then most as I'm always complaining to my wife it's too damn hot.

Scored 8750ish on 3dmark06, which indicates to me that they're performing pretty well.

 

I took the option in my laptop. For 20 bucks I really don't care if it's hardware or software or if I may be able to get someting similar free somehwere. Fact is, it works, sounds good, and I liked it. I re-ordered my laptop with it again. 4000 dollar laptops and people are worried about a 20 dollar upgrade....lol

edit: also would like to add that people are paying $400 for a $50 ram upgrade (2GB to 4GB) but thinking twice about this. Sorry, I just find that funny.

 

But it isn't an upgrade, just a bloated, expensive, software DSP.

And 4gb actually has some benefits over 2gb, In the UK it's a £70 upgrade, £60-70 to do it 3rd party. Not ~£200.

 

In the news... Nvidia to buy Ageia

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206104490

 

$400 here in Canada and they keep the original 2x1GB sticks. Absolutely ridiculous. I bought 4GB performance memory for $105 and it took roughly 20 seconds to install it myself.

Still my point is people throw 300 away, why not throw 20 away?

 

Sound Blaster HD Software Edition:

http://support.us.dell.com/support/d...&fileid=153776

http://support.us.dell.com/support/d...&fileid=206071

These are the supposed free installs that people have been linking, but they don't work without keys and without the original installed program.

So to those that keep saying it's free, please provide proof as I've tried googling, reading forums, everything. I can't find this free upgrade that people are talking about. It certainly does sound like you could illegally obtain a copy as it's software, but there's no freeware version of this software.

Point I'm making is you can't get this free. You can't even purchase it after the fact. It must be purchased along with your system since it's a dell only product and creative will not sell it to you directly.

Just thought i'd clear up this rumor that's it's a bogus upgrade. What it essential does is enable EAX sound and provides a new layer of audio control that emulates a sound card. I tested it out on my first laptop and thought it was pretty cool, definetly worth the 20 bucks.

 

do you know the part number for your network card mate - i'd like to change mine for one that does wireless N really.

And it also pisses me off that my spec with the 8800s is now cheaper than when I ordered mine - early takeup sucked a bit but I needed the machine for work. As for XP - it's easy to format the machine and build it dual boot - thats what I did, XP for gaming, and Vista for work - works fine...

 

Wonder what Kermit did to get banned!

 

Perhaps for impersonating a celebrity frog?

On another note, My freezups have continued unabated... so I finally gave up on SLI, and my system appears stable now. I can't burn videos to disc nearly as fast, but prefer a stable system over anything else.

Technically, I have SLI enabled, but am using the Single GPU option

 

Wow, i just BSOD with the 169.61 driver... maybe as payback for talking bad about Kermit LOL

 

how did you get on with 169.09 Zerg - that release has been nothing but rock solid for me...try using driver clener pro to get rid of the existing one maybe?

 

I think my best experience in the 169.x category was with 169.04. I might go back to that eventually, but I'm sitting tight with 169.32 at the moment with SLI enabled / single GPU mode

 

I don't know the part number, but I'll try and find it when I get home.

I've got XP, Vista x64 and Kubuntu triple-booted. Vista is getting a little more use than XP and Linux. The multi-monitor options with the 169.28 drivers under Vista work absolutely perfectly. I either get dual screen (with my external monitor) or if I close the laptop lid, the external monitor becomes primary display (shows the taskbar) or the reverse happens if I have the laptop open and switch off the external display.

Shame it can't switch between SLI and multi-monitor without a reboot though.

 

anyone know if they are going to offer the single 8800gtx card?

 

It's noteworthy that Dell are offering single and dual 8700's, but only dual 8800's. They are likely trying their hardest to deplete stock of the obsolete 8700's.

Factor in the overwhelming market demand for dual 8800's (and their short supply!) and the logical conclusion is that Dell will offer single 8800's only when they have depleted the 8700's (or almost so).

Bless them, they spent so much time getting dual 8800's to actually work reliably

 

lol, true....i am deciding to get this notebook or the m15x.......i am leaning towards the m15x only because of the size

 

Try these, I check online about everyday with CS via chat. no luck so far.
1GBNV88[320-6384]
The CS has been pretty good with trying to find the part also. Several times that have ask in detail about the part, upgrade and a description to try and find any listing in the parts DB.

 

Short question guys, would the coming X9000 CPU be a noticeable upgrade from todays X7900 CPU?
I know it is a Penryn but it seems to have the same clockspeed (2.8Ghz), other differences worth noting?

 

It would likely be more power effiecient and would produce less heat, which will probably mean it will be faster than the x7900 but it shouldn't be a huge difference.

 

ok, I have heard some notebook resellers say it is 'much better' than the X7900, can't see how this is the case if the only performance differance is power efficiency and some heat dissipation - would be interesting to know how much faster (%) one could count on between these two.

 

Hard to say without benchmarks but if the desktop chips are anything to go by the difference is minimal....5-10% or so at the same clockspeed.

ten

 

If it's the same clock speed but with lower thermal output, it would theoretically overclock better.

However, it's the first (retail) stepping of the particular CPU, so results could be disappointing, wonderful, or completely inconclusive!

 

some info here, not too much tho:

http://www.macrumors.com/2007/12/02/upcoming-mobile-intel-penryn-prototype-previewed/

Another topic here on that as well:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=193860

Might not be too much performance increase, only the L2 cache as the visible difference performancewise.

Might not be much of a difference in the XPS judging at first glance.

 

Im pretty sure Dell wont allow upgrades to CPU's though - unless you could buy the part yourself, but judging by their lack of knowledge about the 8800 upgrade, I wouldnt hold your breath!

The difference in CPU speed would be minimal IMO. Not worth the extra money. I wont be interested in upgrading. My current CPU is just fine.

 

Hey guyz any news on xps m1730 comming to india???????

 

It is pretty sure the X9000 will be available in the XPS m1730 soon, of course the question about upgrade program vs. only served in new machines is within the normal scope of Dell uncertainty

But if the differences in general are very small when comparing X7900 / X9000 when this is not interesting as the price will definately be more for the X9000.

 

I believe the front side bus chips speed on the M1730 is limited to 667MHz (the Intel chipset used): the X9000 has an 800 MHz bus speed, but unless you replace your motherboard, you're not going to get that ~15% bus speed benefit.

Given that the die shrink in itself won't increase performance too much (will it?) I don't think there's any point to considering an upgrade... at all... there will possibly be a motherboard rev that ups the bus to 800 MHz, but that's one impractical retrofit.

On the subject of CPUs.... has anyone noticed that dell.ca has their X7900 pricing in line with the rest of the world now? what was at $300 upgrade from the T7700 is now $600?

My M1730 was $3250 after all the discounts etc., and the exact same build is over $4000 now (well, the 120 gig 7200 drive is gone, the 160 gig is the minimum... but that won't account for $700 price difference.)

It's very rare to purchase high tech then have the price go UP a whole bunch after. The price I got it for will probably not be seen again until the X7900 is the entry level CPU.

 

Is the current mainboard capable of 800MHz speeds at all? I mean even with a BIOs update?
The only thing holdin gmy system back a little is the RAM speed......I'd love to be able to use 800MHz RAM...

 

The Front Side Bus of the M1730/i965 chipset is 800 mhz. The RAM/memory is what is limited to 667 mhz.