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

Well krwxmann all i can say is your luck some people been ordered and still havent got theirs

 

Evening All. My wife has just ordered me a refurbished XPS M1730. Got a great deal on it so I dont care if it is refurbished as long as it works. Looking forward to discussing all the tips, tricks and performance aspects of this awesome looking machine. Nice to have a place like this to look to for help and guidance.

Dell XPS m1730 Crimson Red
17" WUXGA TrueLife Technology
Intel Core 2 Duo X7900 Extreme 2.8GHz
4GB DDR2 RAM @ 667 Mhz
Dual 8700m GT SLI 512mb
200GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
Ageia PhysX Card
Genuine Windows Vista Business

 

You got the 8800gtx for $400.00AU!?!?!

Holy crap, nice work mate. If I'd kept my old machine, which cost me $2600AU with defence discount, then I could have put the 8800's in for a total of $3000 and saved $600! Oh well, I got a better machine now anyway.

I think Dell Australia are still in a muddle over the pricing since the 8800gtx was released. I got an awesome deal on mine, its often good to hit 'em when they're having problems with their website

 

Ifti, any graphical difference with the new 8800GTX card in your games or just better game performance?

 

I called and asked to upgrade tonight - first they told me it's not shipping except with new systems, then they transferred me to sales, they told me it is not available at all - even in new systems until march 1st... then I called back and talked to someone else in sales, who said I could purchase it but only if I purchased a ram upgrade... I figured sure I might do that IF they'd sell me the card, and he said he couldn't find it in the system - so I gave him (just like the other guy) the xm888 code and then he said it was $2000 (US)... so I said no thanks, then he tries to keep selling me the memory upgrade... I said if he can't sell me the video card for a practical price, I'm not wasting any money right now.

**Sighs** I'm gonna call my dell business rep tomorrow and find out what the big deal is... I think too many people are trying to return or upgrade their laptops for free personally - and I can't blame them. I look forward to getting the 8800s someday Sooner than later I hope

 

Does anyone know the spare parts number for the US area? I want to call and see if they sell it non-sales style

 

Spare parts people are worst people you want to talk to.

I called to upgrade my CPU on my M90 few months back. T7600 was about 4-500 on Ebay or other websites, and they were trying to charge me 900 for it for a refurb.

Just wait til dell issues a upgrade program like they promised, or return the system and order another.

 

Just FYI - after ordering the Zalman cooler, I haven't had a system crash/freeze since. Prior, my system was locking up randomly... I highly recommend this thing !

 

Zerg, do you have a link to where you purchased your Zalman cooler from?

Im assuming its a US based company? Do they ship worldwide?

 

I ordered mine from zipzoomfly.com
https://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10007400

Looks like the price has gone down $15 bucks since I purchased not too long ago

The don't process international orders, according to this cnet review

http://shopper.cnet.com/4011-5_9-238986.html

 

Amsterdam,
Nl 02/21/2008 6:04 A.m. Out For Delivery
02/21/2008 6:03 A.m. Import Scan


:d

 

Thats exactly what I was after - the ability to see temps on the LCD display while in game!

Welcome.
Get some 8800's in the beast straight away
I dont suppose you can get a refurb with the 8800's in yet since they are too new. Im sure you'll be happy with the system anyways - enough to wait for the upgrade program, if you're interested that is....

It seems to just be better games performance - much better. Then again, some games couldnt be run at high settings with the 8700, whereas they can (easily it seems) with the 8800's. The lappy has run everything Ive thrown at it so far, and I know theres no messing about. I install a game, whack all the settings up to high, and play! Then again, I havent tried Crysis just yet, but TBH, it doesnt interest me that much for the moment. I'll wait for Assassins Creed.....

Still trying to look for somewhere that sells these and actually has them in stock! I wanna get one!!! I wouldnt even mind buying internationally as long as they ship to the UK at the moment!!

 

hey Krwzmann, when did you place your order, as my ETA is 4th March. Mine stills says in Pre-Production as of 12 Feb, LOL

 

Hi all. Hey ifti. Just got the upgrade for £436.00 inc vat. Got 20% off discount . Engy coming tomorrow to fit it then i look forward to benchmarking you and going that little bit faster.

 

Thanks for the welcome ifti. I am indeed watching the upgrade scenario closely for the 8800s. Just need to get my new system in and peruse the new operating system and see how fast it runs. Then I will definitely look into the upgrade for the cards. Just hoping they are not asking an arm and a leg for the cards and install. Maybe someday laptops will be easy to pop in and out a graphics card like you can with a desktop. Now that will be the day these sytems have truly arrived.

Hasn't anyone realized yet that it is gamers that fuel the market. The never ending quest for the best frame rate and highest resolution.

 

TBH thats not a bad price. I always said that if I went for the upgrade program I would happily pay around £400. I thought it would be much higher. So that price includes installation etc as well? How did you manage the discount, and how did you get the card in the first place??!! Has the upgrade program finally started??

Im not much of an overclocker etc TBH. I tend to just stick to the recommended levels and stick on a decent driver and thats it. Looking at your current 3DMark06 score with your 8700's, it looks like you like to squeeze what you can out of the system, and seems like you know what you are doing to get there!! Im sure you will score higher then me, since mine is just a base score using the stock driver. Anyone tweaking their system and overclocking should aim for much higher.

Anyways, Im interested in what you do when you do get the 8800 though. Will be good to see how high you can get with these monsters! I think the highest Ive seen is the 14,000 score someone posted a page or two back, with just the CPU OC'd to 3.4 - I wonder how much more you can squeeze by OC'ing the 8800 GPU - but Im too scared to try myself! lol

As Dazzy shows above, he picked the card up from Dell for a good price IMO. Maybe they are starting to upgarde??!!

Also, just so you know, this laptop ispretty upgradable. You can actualy just pop the card out and stick a new one in, similar to a desktop. You dont hav ethe flexibility of choosing cards etc and are limited in that sense, but this laptop is a lot more flexible in its upgradability then other laptops.

Take a look at my videos here - video 6&7 show the graphics card upgarde....

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=206068

 

Company of heors has just arrived, but gotta take the wife shoppin

Will let you know whats its like later....
So far I have installed the following......

All running at 1920x1200

Gears Of War
Settings: ALL MAX
60-62FPS

NFS Pro Street
Settings: ALL MAX
58-63FPS

Bioshock
Settings: ALL MAX
40-45FPS
Drop res to 1440x900 - 75-81FPS

 

holy crap that is awesome.... Dazzy... how did u get this upgrade please please give me details

also, what discount is that? i wonder if i could pull the armed forces thread lol

 

Well done Dazzy

 

Nice work Dazzy!

 

I just set a notification for when the Zalman cooling pad comes in stock. Ill be glad to let yall know when that is but if they dont ship internationally im guessing it wont help many of yall.

 

Just rung Dell UK Upgrades to ask about the 8800s - the upgrade isnt available to anyone for another two to three months apparently - the guy even had the cheek to say :

"You can have it now - but it wont be delivered for about 3 months" I tried to explain the concept of "having" something to him but I think it was a bit much for his tiny brain....

 

This is the best 3dMark result I have been able to attain.
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii151/gsharp229/3dMark06_0221.jpg
If you guys run 3dMark please let me know or post results, so I can compare. I am about 2100 less than ifti and thought it might be closer,
so I wanted to see some other results. This score is on a clean install and very limited startup and processes

 

Hmmm, that's less impressive than ifti's

I guess you're using the same drivers etc.

 

Well I assume your talkin to the overseas people wherever their at that can barely speak english and know even less about the product their dealing with. I know what its like I had the same problem dealing with my prostar laptop. (biggest mistake ever if anyone was thinking about prostar)

You cant blame them its the way they were taught by their government. They say they can have anything they want as long as the government stays in control of what they do with it.

 

I am going to install gears later today but wow....over 60 frames consistently on max?....I wish i had that card

 

Howd you do it?

 

my express card remote isn't working......anyone know why? I think I have the little battery in right?

 

Ok ill explain all. It all started by me not being able to get the free upgrade due a techs error in my last machine. So the tech i spoke to mentioned "Out Of Warranty" Department.
The number for them is: 0870 3536031.

Mention: You want to purchase a part. Part number: "XM888". They shouldnt have a problem selling you this. The original price for me was £538.93p but i said it was too expensive then the sales rep gave me 20% off. This was his max he could goto and i got it for £435.93p. Then i got a call at 4pm today.

Hi mr "XXX". Its about your engineer call tomorrow. Im afraid the card you purchased is out of stock and we dont have an eta and expect them in sometime next week. Sorry about this but its the same for all new orders with new machines aswell. We will contact you next week as soon as possible.Thanks for choosing dell.

So everyone who got there machines this week your lucky gits!

Lemme know how you all get on!

 

Hi Dazzy, funny you should say that I have been on the phone to Dell asking why my machine has been in pre-production for over a week now (sound familiar ) and they told me it was a hold up on the processors, so now the GPus as wekk, be lucky if we get them by Christmas at this rate. I am going to keep bugging!

 

Must away now, but got a call just now we are to have a conference call about the computers tomorrow. Will let you know what happens, if it does.

 

Funny thing you should say that snake because there short on the X7900 CPUS so ive heard aswell.

 

It's all bollocks lads - I tell you - when mine was being built they came back with all sorts of stories about no X7900s not being available for the next 12 months and all sorts of other crap (even confirmed crap by managers I spoke to as well) - then all of a sudden the delivery company are ringing me and its on a truck - about 2 weeks ahead of predicted date it came in the end - so I wouldnt take any of it too seriously - it's all smoke and mirrors.


cheers for posting though daz - there are some who would spin a load of bs and say they had had it fitted and were running benches as we speak.

 

Silly question I know, and I dont want to insult you by asking, but just in case.....Are you sure SLI is on?? Thats more what I would expect from a single card TBH. Remember by default SLI is usually off.

All I did was install the 167.55 driver. From msconfig Ive disabled all Nvidia related startup items, and all other crap you dont need - from that same list. Ive disabled UAC, and then I went into 'Manage 3D' in the Nvidia control panel and did the basic tweaks.

Im thinking of clocking te CPU to 3.4, just to run 3DMark06 and see what it can get, but I dont want anything to happen to my system!! lol

Yup, never dips below, even in firefights etc. The only issue is the stuttering every now and then, but thats a bug in the game. Many people are complaining about it over on the Epic forums etc, so hopefully they will release a fix for it some time soon!
then again, they are working on GOW2 now so dont know how much more they will bother with this one!

Which program are you trying it with??

 

Ifti, thx for the benchmarks.
Could you plz try the performance in Crysis demo?

 

no point really with the crysis demo as it doesnt support sli,

im going to ring dell again myself, keep getting different stories about why its being delayed,
the rep told me it would be no more than 10 to 12 days,

may complain

 

Yes Sli is enabled, so the Sli bar indicates. I did the same as far as the startup stuff. I keep playing with the settings but thought the score should be closer.

 

Oh...didn't know that. Than there is no point What's the story with your system, scradge? Did you opt for X7900 CPU? Cause a few people on this forum said, that there might be some delay with systems with that CPU. Also been said that Dell also run out of 8800GTX! lol

 

What power plan are you using? If it says Dell Recommended change it to High Performance and see if there is a difference.

 

Your CPU might be holdinng your score back.x7900 2.8Ghz scores around 12500 in 3Dmark 06 with Sli 8800m, When its overclocked to 3.4Ghz it scores little over 14000.So I'd say your score is normal with that CPU

 

So... I just got the computer!!!! and it scores 10077 with the 169.61 SLi enabled... I must say 3dmark means **** to me XD... I just put crysis the way I had it before 1650x1080 all medium... before it was going at like 20fps or so now it was like not below 50 and almost all time above 60 XD amazing... I have to say that I oceed the card allready to 630/900 and it iddles at 70º... XDDDDD

 

Congratz sergiop! That's nice performance increase compared to 8700.

 

Meh 3Dmark 06 really needs to be updated! A better CPU seems to really be able to boost the score which sucks tbh since we want GPU benchmarks nnot CPU!

Suppose when Vintage comes out it will make our Sli 8800m GTX look **** lol Just like whenn 3Dmark 06 came out and made my 7800GTX look slow :-(

Roll on future...

 

good point and well spotted.
I didnt think of checking which CPU he had!

 

I know ive posted abotu this before, but I still cant figure out whats going on, and looks liek alot more people have there 8800m systems.

Does blue-ray work in Dell Media direct for anyone? I can only get it running on powerDVD ultra, Id really like it to run in media direct( and the mediadirect boot option) . Right now I get a No DVD / DVD-Device error(Normal DVDs run fine though)

On my 8700gt system I remember it gave me some blue-ray update notice witch i had to install before it let me play movies, but then it worked great. Now it seems I dont even get that far like im lacking a driver or some crap as it cant read the disc. (but liek i said it works in pwerdvd so my drive is working)

 

@ddt5 yeah did opt for the x7900, as it was offered to me for 200 quid less

i have been told i may get it quicker if i go for the 7700 but i do ALOT of video editing for the school i work with, and i need the power,

purchaced

x7900
400gb raid 0 7200
8800gtx sli
2 gig ram
dvd
smoke grey

i was going to opt out of the pyhsx but i figured what the hell

 

Anyone have a part number for the free fall sensored 200gb 7200rpm Hard Drive in the 1730?

 

Hi Sergiop,

How did you overclock the 880's....I tried Rivatuner and it did not work.....please help me!! I want hit 15K......

 

BluRay does work in MD.
However, it doesnt work for me when I run the movie from within MD. I need to set my autoplay options in Windows to autoplay the move in MD when I insert the disc. If I do it this way, it runs perfect.

They are just Seagate Momentus drives.
I would buy it yourself rather then from Dell, as you will probably pick it up cheaper.
Look for a Seagate Momentus 7200rpm 200GB drive.

 

Just installed Company of Heroes.

Running at 1440x900 - I dont see the need to run games at 1920x1200 on this size screen, it really makes no difference in quality at all, so Ive started running all my games in 1440x900 instead.

All settings either High or Ultra - basically the highest possible.

Runs at approx 45-50FPS.

After about an hours play I quit the game and checked my GPU temp straight away. It was at 75c. The top of the laptop - next to the LCD display above the keyboard, felt really hot!
Im gonna wait till I get my cooler before I really push my laptop into playing games harder