Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, *Part 3*

I've been waiting a week now since I was told I'm getting a systems exchange. {tap tap tap}

In looking over the specs between R1 and R2, I think the way to try and make sure you get an R2 is to ask for ATI video cards. I've been on Team Green for the past 6-7 years and, frankly, am getting rather tired with the GPU fails. Time to switch and try Team Red for awhile. At least, that's my strategy and I'm sticking to it (I really am frustrated with Nvidia)...

Correct me if I'm wrong but the basis of this is that the R1 has the NVidia chipset and video cards; R2 has the Intel chipset and Video cards.

 

Yes, definitely go with the Intel chipset if you can. The way of the future.

 

at this point its just waiting, not too worried since im getting a better machine no matter what happens. Just hope the R2 is the machine they chose should know by tomorrow.

 

Hi Magnus,

I have tried this but when i launch the game and click on continue it shows the load screen for a few seconds and the bombs out back to windows. I have using drivers 197.16. Could this be causing the issue?

Thanks

 

my M1730 got fried, kinda low end version with 2,4 ghz core 2, 4 gb ram and sli 8700m gt.
it took the smokey part of beeing smokey grey seriously after 6 months.

getting and M17x-R2 with i5 2,4 ghz, 4 gb ram and dual 4870 back.
nice deal i might say
specs in sig as well what i'll recieve and add ssd and other drive myself

in production atm.

 

Hmm Mezza try the 197.15 drivers instead from laptopvideo2go.

 

All I can say on this matter is... Name and Shame! I would pin this technician's name 'on the wall for all to see! Did he even bother to look at his job sheet?

 

No, I spoke to the first tech and she gave me the order number last week. Well They tried to give me a R1 system that was not equal to the system i currently have. I pushed and finally got them to give me what I deserved. They cancelled my first order last night around 10 pm and I got a call today around 3 with the new specs.

 

Just wondering if it's worth the trouble to upgrade my rig with a 9800M GTX (K650M).
I still can't figure out if the performance increase is visible or is it like throwing away money.

Also is there something to say about the failures of the 8800M GTX compared to the 9800M GTX. Are they both having heat issues?

 

as far as i know all m1730 graphics have heat issues, my m1730 got smoked with 8700m gt sli cards due heat. got myself a nice replacement m17x-r2 system. m1730 too much problems.

 

Basically if don't have the X9000 to run overclocked you will have heat issues like so many people have had. I have had mine for over 2 years now and I got the X9000 with it to keep it overclocked 3.4Ghz and undervolted to 1.2375V core, this way I have the fans running at full blast all the time and so far I have had zero issues with my beast just because of the way I run it.

 

Not all XPS M1730 have issues, I have had XPS M1730 for over 2 years with zero issues with the GPU´s.

I have the first batch of these, since I ordered mine exactly the time they released the 8800m GTX GPU´s for the M1730

 

ernstig01 well the 9800m GTX has the 112 shaders and 1GB of memory.

Kade Storm ran tests with the 9800m GTX SLI and games like GTA IV and such runs better. In fact most games should run better at 1920x1200 with the 1GB of Video Memory.

 

Excellent hint.
When you let your fans run at full blast you'll probably stay out of heat issues. Only you have to get used to the noise and clean the fans often.

Do you use also something like a notebook cooler?

I have my XPS M1730 almost 2 years now without issues. Also regular maintenance is the key to success.

 

Don't bother. You'd be paying $600.00 for 4 FPS MAX.

 

That 'trick' didn't do it for me. I always cleaned my fans to keep the temps low and in one year it died.

 

ernstig no notebook cooler here Just regular maintenance also my 8800m GTX SLI has been overclocked from since over 2 years back

I have the notebook propped up in the back by two duplo lego pieces though

Either that or it´s just plain luck, however seeing most XPS M1730 people here has got an kickass Alienware in return instead so I have 1 more year good to go on my warranty. I think I will extend it though.

 

Still I doubt if it's worth the trouble and money. I would like to squeeze maximum performance possible out of this beast, but if it'll cost EUR 450,- else I don't know.

In a normal situation I would say bad luck, but with these large numbers...

 

Magnus72 I use these spacers to lift the back a little. Works great. When done you can stick them together like a ball and put in your backpack.

 

How do they adhere? I'm intrigued.

 

Probably suction cup style... not a bad idea really.

I remember some of the earlier Dell lappies had two retractable style 'legs'. I miss that design feature. It provided an inch of additional space to the rear of the system.

 

Still alive too , bought in April 2008 .

 

ernstig I have small rubbers underneath the front of the laptop, so all in all the whole laptop if lifted to give good airflow.

 

The connecting surface is some kind of silicone material. It doesn't feel sticky at all. Totally flat, not like a suction cup. It attracts dust easily, but you can flush it quick under the faucet without any problem.

 

I use these and they work great.
http://www.laptopdesk.net/laptop-legs.html?productid=laptop-legs&channelid=BCOME

 

Chiming in on reliability: My M1730(with the sig below) was pieced together by myself from a standard M1730... I've had the M1730 for a total of about two years, but I've been running on the 8800M/X9000 overclocked setup for about a year now.

I've had no issues with my video cards so far, but I will admit that the M1730 has been replaced with my T400 as my primary system... it just doesn't see that much use anymore. I'm starting to wonder if the video card failures are a product of pure misfortune, or if there is some sort of pattern such as people who heavily use their machines versus those that don't game as often or use their M1730 primarily for other uses. I fit into the latter category, I'm sure. However, I have run my cards up into the 90s a few times and have experienced no ill effects.

I do use a Zalman NC2000 cooler with my M1730 every time I use it.

 

My warranty is out at the end of June. I called Dell today to see if they have an update on what my M1730 will be replaced with. They still don't know ("please be assured it will be as good as or better")...

But the funny bit was when he said, "You'll be getting a new laptop and, oh, by the way, I see your warranty is expiring soon, would you like to extend it while I have you on the phone now?"

I don't use a lego, I have an old hockey puck shaped travel phone speaker that I use when I travel. At home, it sits on the top of an in-out paper holder. Temps rarely go above 80C but I've been through a few sets of 8800GTXs...

 

They didn't work too well for me. I think the warmth {ahem} of the laptop softened the adhesive and they would pop off when I would stuff the laptop into the backpack bag.

After a few times, the adhesive got all covered with dust and carpet lint that they stopped sticking and I gave up. They're sitting on my desk now, adhesive-less, laughing at me...

 

I've Used to use 2 AA battery cases that propped the rear up and did the trick to keep the air flow better,
However member "Mjon13" referred these, i got ordered 2 sets for my M1730 and Asus G72gx I'm Pleased they work great!

they are peel and stick self adhesive tape backing.

http://www.laptopdesk.net/laptop-leg...hannelid=BCOME
(Laptop Legs)


I have my M1730 OCed so it runs cool not to have be cool soo the self stick is holding pretty well for me..

They are very similar to the built in ones that compaq had on their earlier designs I had a 1200XL back in WIN 98 days... lol AMD K6s@ 500MHz lol

 

Those _are_ the ones I'm talking about (click his link and you'll see).

Glad they're working well for you.

Never had a Compaq laptop, used to work on them in the 90s. Presarios? they had the trackball on the monitor and the buttons on the topside of the case. heck, i remember when laptops were called "portables" ...

 

The spacers I use are called: PWX PLATINUM Postball. I bought 2 of them 2 years ago at http://www.pwx.cc/.
The ones I got they don't sell anymore.

 

How can you live with the noise of the fans. I run only overclocked while gaming. I use headphones or my Creative sound system loud to drown it.

 

How?

Dude, I have a -much harder- time getting through the daily news reports than I do with a room full of overclocked M1730s.

Perhaps I've been in the heavy metal scene too long to be bothered by the mere noise of a puny little fan. Perception - gotta' admire how much it tears us all apart.

 

Mine lasted a couple months before they started falling off. I replaced the original tape with Scotch Indoor/Outdoor mounting Tape. When my 1730 died a month ago it was a pain to get the feet off even after 6 months and the last 2 weeks of use I had GPU temps of 95+ while gaming. I guess I should change my comment from the last page to, they worked great for lifting the back and they were convenient but the stock tape failed and didn't help keep the GPUs from failing.

 

Aha! so the truth comes out...

I guess I'll have to hit the hardware store and pick some of that tape up for the M17x replacement because I found them nice and convenient as well... If I can even get that honker into my current laptop bag (doubtful)...

 

The noise from the fans is not that bad and it has never bothered me really, but most of the time I use it I use my Logitech USB headset and not due to the fan noise but so I will not bother my wife when I play and while she watches some tv program or soap opera. LOL

 

I recently installed Win 7 Ultimate x64 and I have a few items that I cannot seem to get the correct drivers or the correct install procedures.

1. Intel Turbo Flash Cache Module - I have tried the drivers from http://xpsm1730.blogspot.com/2009/07/driver-updates.html
as well as drivers INVM110CD & IGPS304b_x64 and those do not work either.

2. I have downloaded the latest G19 Logitech Game Display software but I still cannot get the system monitor to work. Other items work such as the clock, etc.

Any ideas?

I wanted to also lower the voltage going to my CPU, what software are you guys using to do that?

 

So i got Borderlands on installed through Steam while they were selling it for 50% off.

Was wondering if the performance that Im getting matches that of other M1730 users.

I haven't been keeping track of framerate numbers since atm Im on a new Vista 64 OS install and I havent gotten round to getting a program to do that.

But basically it seems like SLI doesnt do much for this game. As I try playing at 1920x1200 resolution with everything turned on and I get frames that feel like they dip below 30 with some stuttering. If I turn settings down I still get stuttering.

If I lower the resolution I still seem to get some stuttering.

The only thing that seems to impact performance for me is Dynamic Shadows. Even still though, I just cant seem to get Borderlands to run smoothly on my laptop regardless of the settings I am using.

If you guys have the same kinda performance issues with the game, have any of you come round to optimizing it? I mean what the heck, Cell Shaded graphics shouldnt be killing the laptop when I can play CODMW2 with 60 frames or Crysis running smoothly around 30, etc.

Btw Im currently using the 197.15 drivers that Magnus suggested. Overall they arent too bad

 

RMCLock - http://cpu.rightmark.org/download.shtml

 

I downloaded and installed RMClock and when I launched it I get this error, "Cannot install or load RTCore64 driver. Make sureyour're loading this application from not a read-only medium and/or a network driver and that you're logged on with Administrator rights."

I right clicked and ran as administrator and still got the same error message.

 

For 64-bit systems you need to download an extra file and copy it to the folder. All the instructions including the file are in this guide.

 

Thank you very much for the information! That is a wonderful guide and the RMClock is working now! Thanks again!

 

Pin360 I did tweak Borderlands and it ran pretty good on my XPS M1730. I agree that the dynamic shadows takes a GPU hit.

However try the config I put in this thread some time ago and see if it helps.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=430312

I did include a Borderlands Nhancer Profile too which you can import into Nhanncer.

Also look on page 3 of that thread I uploaded another zip file. Try that one.

 

Magnus72 - Man you are our gaming tweak master guru.
Gave you +1 rep point which is very well deserved.

 

Thank you very much Magnus!

I dont spend too much time around here on the forums, but I am familiar with some of the tweaks you do based on your youtube videos.

I am very lucky, as are the rest of us M1730 users, to have you with the same laptop as us. I will give this a try and post back with my results.

Do you think Borderlands runs the way it does simply because its not an optimized game for SLI? Or does the game hit my CPU harder than I think and an x9000 would benefit the game greatly?

I don't have nHancer, but Ill be grabbing it now so I can try your SLI profile tweaks. I assume the latest nHancer is the way to go, yes?. Will be grabbing that now.



EDIT:

Alright well, I tried your nHancer profile, as well as the tweaked ini files.
Unfortunately I seem to be suffering from another issue. The game runs smooth, very smooth when it wants to run. But for some reason at certain parts everything comes to a crawl and Im not sure why. If Im looking in a certain direction and when there are enemies coming to attack me, or if im using the shop and I look at the item of the day, or try selling something... huge slow down.

I'll try a few other things... also, I noticed that even though Depth of Field, Ambient Occlusion, and Flare outs were turned on, they didnt have any affect in game. Meaning they were still off. Not sure if this was how it was meant to be, or if I did something wrong. It's probably something I didnt do right to cause these slow downs.

 

X9000 won't make much of a difference to Borderlands - trust me!

It is the draw distance and scale of the game that seems to impose such a force on the GPUs. Now with the right SLi profile, which is tricky, the SLi should work smoothly. I know it took me a good 4 runs on nhancer to land the correct profile.

Before that, I was running the game fully maxed in settings but at 1280x800p with a single GPU. Looked and ran much better than the console-counterparts.

 

Yes Kade is right it´s the SLI profile, I haven´t patche the game yet so patching might help solve the SLI issue. However running the game in SLI single mode helps solve that issue.

Thanks for the rep point jesse Have you tried my GTA IV tweak yet?

 

No I have not reinstalled GTA IV since I installed Win7 x64 but I may installed it later and try your tweak. Thanks!!

 

jesse here is how smooth GTA IV now runs when I have tweaked it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtM-wxwvmqE

 

Magnus,
Do you close all programs before playing?
I notice if I leave Opera on (with 56 tabs open lol ) it affects the game a bit...

And the commandline.txt just won`t set the options to high, I have to do it manually. Which got me thinking...maybe it doesn`t set anything else in the commandline...
You're starting the game with the shortcut, right ? which has that comspec start thingy before the file location ?