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

Try to run metro 2033 then. That game kills my laptop. Really would like to play it w/ decent fps and good settings, but I think my system just can't handle it.

 

Interesting enough, Magnus has a video of Metro 2033 on youtube. Runs decent from what I saw.

 

Biggest problem w/ the game is the huge dip in fps for me.

 

oh 40-45 minutes?
i feel like it doesnt take me that long... but maybe the minutes just seem to fly when im doing that.


my regrets on having only that to comment on.
im slipping out of the softworld, guys... all but semiconductors have lost their meaning...

 

Well, I know what you mean, I rarely game nowadays, too damn busy with my PH.D and stuff

 

Actually I have barely no dips at all no more with Metro 2033, running on Vista 64. Very High settings is unplayable at 1920x1200 but High settings is very playable. Do you have the right SLI profile for it Achilles?

 

Right SLI profile? Not sure what you mean by that. I have the latest official nvidia driver (25x.xx), and even tried ocing it, but the dip is still there.

Im barely making it w/ same resolution as yours with medium settings. As far as SLI settings, SLI on, and physix stuff tried on auto/gpu1/gpu2/cpu, but didnt see much of difference. Its pretty sad that our PPU card dont even work with the new drivers.

 

Overclock the CPU with throttlestop, at 2.6GHz I noticed a boost in most games and also having my GPU´s overclocked to 640/1600/950. I run Metro 2033 with PhysX off since this really bogged the game down.

 

Thanks bud. Trying to read up on throttlestop, but not sure how to set the multiplier more than the default of 13. Is there a quick easy kill guide for M1730 owners? My EIST is grayed out on throttlestop 2.55. Does that mean I can't OC the cpu?

And what did you mean when you had physx off? In game only? or did I miss something?

Thanks.

 

Yes in game only. Well for Throttlestop I have even managed to get it to start automatically when Windows boots up, by editing the registry

 

so with throttle stop, disable speedstep/intel stuff in bios, and I think the max multiplier is 13 correct?

CPU-z fluctuates up to close to 2.6ghz, and I'm assuming this is max I can get out of my system?

Thanks and rep+

 

Yes max is 2.6 on a 2.4GHz CPU. Disable Speedstep is correct.

 

13x is when its on IDA mode. 200Mhz is the highest you can achieve for IDA mode, as Core 2 processors "overclock" up to a max of 200Mhz, on single core. Dual IDA mode on TS will make both cores clock up by 200Mhz.

 

So then how does the X9000 gain 400-600 Mhz?

 

ThrottleStop has two types of functions: Dual IDA mode and Unlock Multiplier function, in this case the X9000 will work; TS will enable the Unlock Multi. option if you have an Extreme Core 2 CPU. You can therefore overclock as high as you want, depending on the CPU and its VID and multiplier settings - and stability - and heat.

 

Hi Guys.

Had my M1730 for nearly a year now all has been well untill 2 days ago.

I keep getting this error (blue screen)

Hardware Malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
NMI: Parity check / Memory parity error
*The system has halted*

I rebooted the system and checked the device manager. My graphics card drivers had the exclamation mark next to it. I un-installed the driver rebooted and re-installed the driver again. My system now says i have a 3d video controller (with no driver installed) and a standard VGA driver. Any ideas?

TIA

 

Probably GPU dying/dead buddy.

 

I'm afraid so too. It's the all known issue of this beast.

 

If less than a year you're still covered by warranty get on to Dell ASAP.

 

Blu Ray - Mata BD-CMB UJ 220

Guys, I bought my XPS m1730 in Jan 2008 and it came with the above blu ray drive. Recently it's started to go wrong with failed disc burns always referenceing power calibration errors. Looked around at some sites and fixes suggest:
1. clean drive;
2. try different media;
3. update firmware; and
4. replace drive.

Now I've done 1 and 2 to no avail, don't want to do 4 for a device that is only 2 years or so old, and having trouble with number 3.

Dell no longer list any drive updates for my device on their system.

Does anyone have a firmware update for this drive be it dell branded or manufacturer default, or could point me in the right directio to try and solve this?

 

Hi
I have a 4 year warrany so no rush

 

Called Dell and they agree the graphics cards are dead. They are sending a replacement out on Monday, strange as I thought there were no more 9800M GTX graphics cards. When I got mine, this system was only available for a month due to the shortage of the 9800Mgtx

 

Oh also does anyone know where I uninstall the Dell remote assist? I dont like things like that on my pc but I had to install it for Dell warranty support.

 

Well shouldn´t you get a system replacement then? 9800m GTX ALI is still faster than 8800m GTX SLI and I personally wouldnt like to downgrade my system.

 

I dont know what replacement they are comming with, the tech support guy said it was a 9800GTX but I thought there were none of these around?

 

I guess you will fine out in about 24 hours .

Oh and make sure you have long enough warranty on this beast!!. I only have about 160 days left and will have to renew it soon.

 

Yes I have my warranty until february 2011, so I definitely will renew it. Well if it´s a 9800m GTX then that will be fine, I thought you meant they were replacing it with a 8800m GTX SLI.

 

I just got M11x R2 for a replacement for my M1330, which only had about 60 days of warranty left. Spent about $550 to extend the warranty another 5 yrs.

Shorter warranty offers were much more expensive than the 5 yr one, close to about 170 bucks per yr instead of what I paid for for 5.

My M1730 doesnt seem like it's going to go down any time soon though.

 

I hope in 2 years when my warranty will expire, I can extend it for a nice price.

It's a well hidden secret when the clock stops ticking for your GPU.

 

Nah seems my M1730 is stable too. I have had it overclocked since I bought it. Damn I even overvolted it earlier but the GPU´s still run at full speed It´s still a very nice laptop and I am quite sure with my overclocked GPU´s and tweaked operating system I could beat those ATI fanboys that has the G73. That is with an X9000 overclocked to 3.8Ghz Seen those users on the forum? Talk about snobbish people who thinks their laptop is the best out there, even when there is M17x kicking it´s behind and Sagers/Clevos.

I have never seen any XPS M1730 user behave like that when the XPS M1730 was new. Immature people to say the least.

You can´t say a positive thing about the 480m GTX without being called right away a Nvidia fanboy, hilarious.

 

They will extend the warranty up to 5 yr max on a system I think, but things may have changed since times are tough .

 

So has anyone had their 9800M GTX's successfully replaced in here?

 

Anyone know if Dell has any 8800m GTX or would they replace say if mine breaks with a 9800m GTX SLI?

 

Magnus ....probably give ya G2 9800mGT's.... lol...could hound em for a brand new gen1 9800mgtx's , amazinnn what done with your beast

blazer666 ya got beast around sametime as me, so yours Gen1 9800mgtx's, well dell will probably put in new G2 9800mgtx's or refurbished G2 , ask tech when comes with cards if refurbish or new.
Nvidia are covering the costs of new gpu replacements because of fault in some cards built before (day?) july 08. Nvidia switched to new solder type last week in july 08 HERE
think mine 15 july 08.. crap just missed out

what dont understand is why dell replaced cards built before july 08 with refurbished crap when nvidia is covering the costs.. well unless there was a shortage because of all the replacements nvidia was doing

 

I just started getting this error on my almost 3 year old m1730.

Luckily, since this is my "work" computer, and I'm the CIO of the company, I've renewed my warranty to the max and I'm covered.

My thinking is that since I have a $50,000 credit limit on my Dell business account with $50,000 available (buying power), I'm going to press them for a system replacement (possibly a m17x?) because they've had to send a tech to replace something on this laptop 4 times in the last 2 years.... including the mobo, LCD, video cards, and the optical drive.

So, wish me luck, I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

 

Ok. I wish you luck.

 

It looks like Dell only has the K650M to offer right now.
Here's someone who got his 8800M GTX replaced by a 9800M GTX:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/426693-xps-m1730-problems-dell-replacement-issues-163.html#post6450153

Now it's the right time for my GPU's to die.

 

It sure is I would like to get hang of those 9800m GTX. I mean they are essentially desktop 8800 GT in SLI, not bad at all.

 

ever looked at how big the card is?

grab a low profile cooler and you could fit a desktop 8800gt in sli!

 

Yes I have looked at how big the card is, it´s the same size as my 8800m GTX. Looks essentially like a desktop card

 

Dell man is comming tomorrow, will update on the result.

 

guys, having some issues (not sure it's the SSD but..) can someone confirm Intel X25-M 160gb working inside a M1730 ?

 

x-25m 160 works in me beast > so far with vista64 or XP32.
OS installed? FW update? G1 or G2 160 both should work in XPSm1730.

 

it's G2 drive, windows 7x64,fw - 02HD.

 

Dell man has now left I have a new graphics card installed and working (9800M GTX)

 

sweet

Has anyone ever opted for upgrades or downgrades with Dell service people and gotten a decent deal?

 

FW is upto date , guessing driver issue, hope not xps
is that the only SSD in xps >other drive slot empty

was installing 32 Win7 on Hitachi HD in slot 0 an is marked on side of HD caddy(for NO RAID) an had vista OS in other Hitachi HD in slot 1 an after installed win7 created 2 small partitions on Vista64 HD in slot 1.....WTH! usually leave slot 1 empty for NO RAID when install clean os, wont do that again.

Slot 0 (marked on side of HD caddy) = primary HDrive

 

Well first impressions are good with this New 9800GTX card. It is the A2 Version and I have been running GPU-Z for the last few hours, I have played BF2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2. My temp has not exceeded 70c ! and idle is 65c that is amazing as my old A1 9800 ran at 85-90c on load and 75c idle, so there is some improvement between the 2 models. Very impressed so far.

 

Finally, the beast is back.
Got my damn power brick, got excited again

 

happy to hear all is good again eleron

Is there anybody here with 8gigs of memory inside the beast ?

I need the model and mark of the memory that is 100% working inside it.