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

Yeah,
I did my reasearch and even though I can afford it I actually chose the m1730 over the m17x , Asus 17" gamer notebooks etc.

Especially with Dell outlet and their recent 20% off on all refurb laptops (made my m1730, 8800 SLI, 4GB, t9300, and 320GB-raid0 just over $600 with free shipping) there was just nothing that could beat the m1730 to me. Though I think the AMAZING quality of the screen was the winner for me, looks just fantastic at native 1900x1200!

Looking forward to playing with a working one

 

Any nhancer profile for it?

Also, how do you do it, start nhancer, load a specific profile manually, or does it load by itself?

 

@eleron911 Yes I posted the Nhancer profile on page 420. I always have Nhancer autostart when Windows loads up. As for profiles I just test, test and test. For example Homefront I did my research and saw that it was Unreal 3 engine, so that made it easy to just use my Medal of Honor Tier One profile for it. Else it´s just tweaking and trying different settings and benchmark and see where it lands

All profiles loads automatically when Nhancer loads up So I just make a specific profile and choose the .exe file so that specific game uses that specific SLI profile.

@Danlar I agree the screen on the M1730 is really good, I like the overall build quality of it. I would like to have any M17x though, however with Nvidia GPU´s, preferably GTX 460m in SLI I could probably do some magic with The only thing I miss with the M1730 is the Quad Core CPU.

I am actually considering getting 9800m GTX SLI GPU´s for my XPS M1730.

 

Well the media button seems to boot the laptop when the power button doesn't work, so it looks like the GPU is the issue. So, next thing is replacing the GPU. So where will I find a replacement 512mb 9800gt SLI'd for the m1730?

I notice eBay has a few 8700's but they're obviously going to be a significant downgrade. What will I be looking at spending?

Thanks in advance

 

@Danlar I agree the screen on the M1730 is really good, I like the overall build quality of it. I would like to have any M17x though, however with Nvidia GPU´s, preferably GTX 460m in SLI I could probably do some magic with The only thing I miss with the M1730 is the Quad Core CPU.

I am actually considering getting 9800m GTX SLI GPU´s for my XPS M1730.[/QUOTE]

If you are, I would keep an eye on the dell outlet. A few weeks ago (Yes Im sad I didnt grab it) there was a m1730 w X9000, Blue Ray, 500GB HD and 9800 GTX SLI for $1.150 available, with 20% off coupon that would have been a worthwhile purchase JUST for the 9800 GTX cards, and you could have resold it on Ebay basically getting the 9800 GTX SLI for free!

 

Do youself a favor and look for cheap 8800m GTX SLI instead od 9800GT, same card just rebrand. OR go for 9800 GTX SLI, but they are pretty damn expensive.

I would say you can find 8800 GTX SLI for around $350 or so maybe while 9800 GTX SLI kits run around $800+

 

Does anyone know if the A09 bios recognizes the 9800m GT? I am eager to try a flash to 9800m GT, though I only have the A09 bios due to no functional battery.

 

Why would you need a functional battery to flash your bios? Also. If you DO need a functional battery I might have one to trade + a little $ though you can get a battery for cheap on ebay at like $30.

D

 

Yes, though it seems like the bios flash needs a battery. Or maybe there is a way to force flash it anyway. I know it refuses to flash in windows if I don´t have any battery installed.

 

That's odd. Well if you were in the US I could just send you my battery for a few days and you could use that but alas. A little expensive to do that to Europe

 

Magnus A09 supports 9800GT, i had it like that for years

 

So magnus, what do you reckon from this thread regarding setfsb overclocking of t9300? Something to try out?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...o-tool-v1-0-oc-your-cpu-automatically-69.html

 

Nah, ill reply for mag
Theres no chipset driver embedded into SetFSB for our xps m1730 therefore we cant oc the stock cpus, the best you can do is using DualIDa for a speed bump on the clock.

 

Bear in mind that nhancer works only with old drivers, like 197.xx that Mag is using.

With newer ones, like 265.xx or 266.xx you need nvidia inspector. Then simply open Mag profiles with notepad and look for the Bits he's using, this taking into account that nvidia doesnt have any profile for a specified game.

If it does, and the performance isnt grand, then try to use the bits used into mag profiles.

 

Tried on my desktop, lower FPS registered is 59, max 170 lol. Average is around 70fps.

Qx9650 @ 4ghz, HD5850 2Gb vapor-x @ 950/1230
Game settings are 1080p, All Maxed, AA On, Vsync off.

 

Yup, youll'be fine with A09 mag. Just stick to my guide (but theres no need, you're experienced like me in flashing) and once flashed and installed, simply get the bios iso from dell and update the cards.

There you go, a fully working updated 9800m GT for free

 

my k650 rev.02 (9800m GTX) came at 450 euro. Its not that cheap but not that pricey.

Well a 9800m GT/8800 will be a HUGE jump in performance compared to an 8700, while the 98k GTX is a bit of jump due to more cuda cores and higher vram. But framerates are there.

 

KingPin you should get higher framerate than that in Dead Space 2 on your desktop

Well give it a try on your XPS M1730 instead

 

You think?
Im getting an average of 70-75 fps, althought most of the times gets very higher, like in the 170s.
It may be a thing related to Ati drivers, dont forget
1080p maxed out with AA.

 

Yes though I ran with 1200p maxed out on the XPS M1730 and I average at around 90 fps with framerates rarely dropping below 100 fps with spikes all the way up to 200 fps

Usually I am around 120 fps most of the time Seriously give it a try on the XPSM 1730, I am not kidding you will be pretty amazed

 

Right, missed that, sorry

Worse thing is, I`m using 266.66 right now and I don`t even have the option for external monitor, I force it with fn+F7 on the laptop.

Also, NFS HP 2010 runs terribly when maxxed out, which is odd.

I`ll get that inspector thingy and see how it works...

Ok, so with the inspector I need new profiles.

What is the best pre 2xx driver?

 

I will try it trust me, but heres two breaking news:

first, my first run with DS2 was messed up because i was using RadeonPro to tweak the AA level. So i was using MLAA and therefore my benchmark reported max 170, avg 75, low 59.

Guess what: ive closed radeonpro and used the normal game "vanilla", heres the new benchmarks:

Chapter 2 - Max 235 - Low 95 - Avg 175.

I think that its sorted out

Hey btw i sold my current rig (case+cpu+mobo+ram) @ 300 euros, and im getting this:

CORE i5 2500 3.3Ghz Sandy Bridge Sckt 1155
ASUS P8P67
AEROCOOL CASE VX9 PRO (no ali)
CORSAIR 6GB KIT XMS3 CLASSIC DDR3-1600 CL7 TRI-CH

540 Euro So....lets see...300 from my old rig, the sandy bridge upgrade will cost me 140 euro.

And then its time to bench! Ill keep you posted when ill build my new rig, yay!

 

266.66? Those are just for GTX570 Ti, and hacked, no point to use them. Stick to 266.58.

Also, NFSHP runs crap in Sli due to GPU usage problem BUT ONLY UNDER WINDOWS 7, in XP it stays on 45-50 all the time.
If you want better performance with NFS, load using nvidia inspector the profile i uploaded. Its a custom made profile, it should help alot.

Open nvidia inspector, click the small wrench icon to go into profiles, then use the icon with the green arrow pointing down, and load my profile. See if it helps

http://rapidshare.com/files/442892216/nfshp2010.nip

 

Nice upgrade, Sandybridge is really nice CPU´s

Yes that sorted out Dead Space 2.

 

Hmm I wonder if it helps to change the Device ID to the same as the 9800m GT before you flash the GPU´s. You can change that in nibitor.

 

But But, your desktop is faster than mine

 

I recommend this. I think (though my card was prob wonky anyway) that this was one of the complaints nvflash had when I tried to flash the second card. Something about incompatible device id 1c19 vs 1c18 or so.

 

Yes I was very near now to flash them Changing the Device ID nvflash didn´t complain at all. However I don´t know if changing the Device ID has any side effects yet.

 

Yeah but but check my post above, the fps actually are quite higher than these posted. I was using ReadeonPro with MLAA hence the destroyed performance.

About Nvflash dev id, no issues. It complaint here too when i flashed my cards, but just use an override switch/command like i posted in the thread and youre sorted out.

 

Yes and as it seems the 9800m GT works on the A09 bios, so the A09 bios recognizes it. Would be bad if it didn´t

 

Just because it seems odd, Dell never asked me to return my laptop XPS (fried one) they are just sending out a new. So I might have lucked out and get to keep the old one

 

A10 introduced support for 9800m GTX only, so keep this in mind in the future if you want to upgrade to the GTX version.
A spare battery over ebay is really cheap, who gives if its not original, use it just for flash

@DanLar: mate it must be your lucky day lol !

 

Seems like it, just talked to dell again just to check and they are even expediting the process. I called in my claim Saturday and the computer already left 'production' status and is headed to expedited shipping. That's just fast!

Also, I guess the new one has the Intel WiFi instead of dell which I assume is a good thing? And I am getting the PhysX 128MB card, is it of any use?

 

Nah the Physx PPU is of no use today. Newer versions of the PhysX software doesn´t support it either.

 

Damn seems like Intel is recalling all motherboards for SandyBridge

 

Ha ha, the adventure continues. Seems I have TWO packages of 21lbs heading my way with fedex. I am starting to think that my second phone-call resulted in Dell sending me double replacements..

 

Lol. Lets see how it turns out, for now youre so damn lucky

 

Ok, so at this point, which is the best video driver?

I`m too confused. Don`t care about anything but performance in games...

 

Are you running Win XP eleron? If so try the 197.15 driver.

 

Yep, still on XP. Ok, I'm getting that one now. Download speed is terrible though

 

265.90q under xp beats 197.15 with the 98k gtx here, but it may be my configuration.

Check the video i posted a few pages back: with 265.90q with dirt2 maxed out under xp i got min fps 50 max avg 60.

Wasnt able to achieve it with 197.15. Plus 265.90q have the latest sli profiles (well up to nfshp 2010 at least) and runs cooler

Anyway max respect to mag and his advices, with 197.15 i was getting in dirt 2 like 35-50. Which is 10 fpa less in average and 20+ in minimum. Too much. 265.90q a clear winner

 

Hmm seems my XPS M1730 caved in Just restarted it and the screens is all black and the notebook doesn´t boot up. No picture at all, damn can it go this fast as it seems like it´s the GPU´s.

I mean the notebook boots up the the screen is all black, can´t even see the bios screen.

 

So 265.90q it is then...
I hope that unlike 266.66 it does provide the option for external monitors to be activated without requiring a restart.

Man, this could mean an upgrade is next

 

Not you mag, that sux

 

Yeah it really sucks, it has worked so great until now. However I am on the line with the technician now and it seems like there is a GPU replacement in line with another 8800m GTX. Seems like this or next week too

Damn I hope that 8800m GTX GPU is fine that I will get for replacement since my GPU´s has worked so good for so long time.

 

265.90q have no option for external monitors, I have to manually force it via the laptop after each boot.

That sucks, but oh well. Will game test later on.

Fingers crossed Mag

 

Yes fingers crossed

 

Dude, EXACTLY what happened to mine when I tried flashing 8800 GTX SLI to 9800 GT SLI. If you can solve it you are my hero and I might be able to wake up my 1730 and have two Is there a way to hard-ware wise disconnect one of the cards and run just 1?

 

Yes no luck here, technician said the GPU´s. I ran some tests like they said.

One was to see if the LCD was working or not. This by first holding down the "d" on the keyboard meanwhile you boot up. This is a check for the LCD, which could be good to remember later on.

The other one was holding down the FN key then power up the notebook, this way it runs some kind of hardware configuration check and if anything is faulty it beeps. However mine didn´t beep at all, so it isn´t the motherboard at least.

Well just hope I get a good set of 8800m GTX GPU´s. I mean it´s strange than it just didn´t work at all after my last reboot. I didn´t even dare to try to flash to the 9800m GT. So it was flashed originally but still just behaved that odd. However GPU´s can behave odd sometimes.

 

Today it must be the "everything breaks" day.
My desktop hdd has just broke and i lost almost 300gb of data and games.
Sometimes the bios sees it sometimes not, so or the mobo is dying or the hdd.
Too late to test it, ill double check tomorrow.