Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, Take 2

Honestly - remote diagnostics is an awesome theory on paper. Plus it's straight-up cool how it works to begin with. But, I will concede that everytime I've had someone use it, they've gone the extra mile to eff something up of mine. When my old graphics got burnt on my inspiron, I had a tech guy start navigating to my Half life 2 directory and DELETING MY DAY OF DEFEAT FOLDER1!!!!!!!11oneoe I was so pissed. I stopped the connection. I said, "what the hell are you doing?!" He said, 'sorry sir but the Steam folder is the one that pops up under the nv_disp errors you keep getting on the BSOD screen for the log', I said, "no Sh*t, that's the only game folder on the entire computer - of course I'm going to get BSOD's playing my game on all high settings with a 256 mb card."

Sometimes Dell guys don't know what they're doing. But every so often you get a guy who actually owns an XPS himself and games too and you can strike a chord of empathy with the techies. Few and far between my friends..

 

I love watching them read popup windows with the mouse cursor. That's when you know the person in India really knows what they're doing.

One time some woman was trying to uninstall/reinstall video drivers (when I had problem #2). She downloaded the drivers for the 8700 since Dell has no drivers listed for 64-bit Vista 8800's (!). I opened up a word document and told her I have 8800's and to at least use the 9800 drivers since the card is much more similar to the 8800. I had to do this because she put me on hold while she wasted 30 minutes doing something I already did 10 times.

 

On the two occasions they insisted on doing it on my system, I have taken control as soon as the connection is made and opened up notepad and let them know that I am monitoring. I also will override them by grabbing the mouse and bringing notepad to the front if I see something is amiss. I'll type it out on screen for them. I do this since I am usually put on hold while they remote in...

Try this:

via the in-game options -

 

Let me have a stab here,

Thinking back over the past 3 GPU failures they have always been when i've not overclocked the cpu (so the fans are not running fast).

I have in the past overclocked to 3.2 and noticed that the gpu temps. never go above 42c idle (fans on full) and 72c when at load.

In the past i have noticed that when running the cpu at stock the gpu temps. rise and fall constantly from 42 at start, then steadily rise to 74 (that's when the gpu fans kick in)

I don't think it's healthy for the gpu temps to constantly rise and fall in that way whilst idle. I think the gpu fans should stay at a reasonable speed to keep them at a constant temp, disregarding games as they kick in anyway.

So that said I have the option to overclock my cpu to 3.2 so the fans stay on all the time and keep the temps at a stable number, yeah it's noisy but it keeps everything at a constant temp.

I wish others without the X9000 cpu had the option to control the fans.

I will do this when I get my replacement.

Thoughts chaps?

 

What settings are you using? because that's way too low fps wise.

Turn AA off. you don't need it at 1920 x 1200.

 

Yeah, 1920x1200 for most PC games look almost jag-free and better than the console versions with Anti-Aliasing, and I am not talking about 'upscaled' resolution either, but actual games with native 1920x1080p or true AA support.

But, I'm much like Evil_Ras, if I can have 1200p, and AA, I go for both, just for the kicks. It's like a bloody p*****g contest. Lawl.

You're right though, Chief. AA is just not needed at such a high-res.

 

LOL @ communication through Notepad

 

Yeah - I love it... Type in all caps:

HEY - WAIT A MINUTE. WHAT ARE YOU DOING. THATS NOT CORRECT. WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO DO THAT? THAT WILL NOT FIX THE ISSUE NOR DOES IT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT. PLEASE COME BACK TO THE CALL SO WE CAN DISCUSS. I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING AT.

LOL

 

Being a past desktop pc gamer I can't have any game running at less than 60 fps so in that sense i try to run every game with at least that amount of frames per second.

If a game runs any slower then I won't play it (like crysis) , i know it's a bit anal but it just does my head in.

Am I on my own with this? I just couldn't play a game that was running at 27-33 fps.

Oh BTW my battery has died on me, I need that M1730 replacement SOON!

 

Or how about

HEY DON'T GO THERE THAT'S MY SECRET MIDGET P0RN STASH!

 

LOL @ Zath...

 

Lmao 10char

 

communication through Notepad, that's hilarious!

From high tech to low tech.

You could also try communing with spirits or smoke signals, perhaps snail mail?

Tools are only as good as the people that use them.

So easy a caveman can do it!

What does that make dell tech support?

Is dell tech support devolving?

 

Possibly into a pygmy marmoset?

Sorry for keeping that going, but you all are now making me ROFL. Geez. Next thing we'll see a comment about Sunjay;s excellent customer care ethic.

 

Guys,
Im looking at a M1730 with SLI 9800M GT. Its a nice price, and comes with 4-year warranty. A few quick questions:

-Are there any screens used on the M1730 that are agreed to be crappy (i can ask the guy the model #)
-How does the 9800M GT SLI at 1920x compare to a single GTX260M at 1680x ?
-What do you think the chances are of the 9800Ms dying in the next 4 years, and me getting a brand new M17X are ? Has this happened to anyone yet?

Much appreciated

 

I was looking for 8800M and X9000, could you tell me how much did it cost for you? And the main question - where did you find it?

 

Batboy, that's just wrong.

Seriously, everyone knows that marmosets can't type!

Apparently dell support tech does indeed have claws, this is what makes them wander aimlessly around your computer when they remote in. Unfortunately dell does not supply their techs with "Claw Grip" style mice making them woefully inaccurate.

 

1. I have/had the Samsung which has been fine. The LG if memory serves is nice, but the colors are brighter. I prefer the Sammie.

2. Not applicable since you cant get the M1730 with a 260M. If you are considering the M17x, go with the M17x and pass on the M1730. The M17x is current whereas the M1730 has end of life technology.

3. Chances are very good since you will have a 4 year warranty. Nothing 100% though.

 

Well the GPU query is just a general comparison of some different systems im looking at, and the max res I would be running them. But it wasnt that important a query anyway, I have a rough idea of the answer
I wasnt comparing to the M17X, I couldn't afford one of those in a million years with the prices over here

Much obliged for the other responses.

 

2 9800gt will walk all over a single Gtx260

 

Yes, but the question was 1920x vs 1680x respectively, which would end up with higher FPS? Is the extra power enough to compensate for the extra res? Just a hypothetical q anway, not so important, more curiosity.

 

@ all L4D fans!

Cheers guys! just whacked on AA as never used it! Will switch it off!

 

Dude, fundamental and foremost benefit of SLi - higher res and higher aa. So when comparing a dual card solution with a stronger single gpu solution - at lower resolutions, the single might come close, but at higher resolutions, the SLi will most likely win out, even if your single GPU is almost twice as powerful. The real benefit behind why signficantly weaker SLi cards do 'better' at higher resolutions is all in the bandwidth as you have two 256-bit cards doing the work. Of course, if you have a single powerful GPU with 512-bit bandwidth, then you could argue otherwise. At this point though, even a dual 8800m GTS will yield stronger results at a higher resolution.

So in short, the answer to your query:

1920 - 2 x 9800GT wins.
1680 - 2 x 9800GT still wins.

Overall, M17x wins because you can upgrade and it's more current and relevant. You should either save up for this one, or work an upgrade programme so you can eventually get 280 in SLi.

 

That wasn't my query, I know that 2x9800 is more powerful at equal res. My query was 2x9800 at 1920x versus 1x260M at 1680x.
But never mind, I don't need an answer any more, I am too tired to explain it again, and maybe my english is not good enough

And M17x was not part of my question, I am not considering it in the slightest.

Thanks

 

Oh. My bad.

I apologise, but I must still answer, because now I am compelled to correct myself.

Yeah, if you speak of most shader-intensive modern games, then it would still be the 2 x 9800, because 1680x1050 is still a very high resolution and too close to 1920. 260m will certainly do better at 1680 than it would at 1920, but even a 2 x 9800 at 1920 will--in most intensive games--win out against the single 260m at 1680. If the 260m was taken down to 1440x900, then you might have 'em even, or the 260 doing just slightly better. Anything graphic intensive above 1440x900 will burden a 256-bit card. Also to note: On older games (pre-2006), I think you'll actually get better results with the 260m at 1680 vs. 2 x 9800m GT at 1920 or even 1680, which most would attribute to shoddy SLi support.

 

I think i`ll step through the door and say hello now that ive got an M1730 on order which should be here next week.

Is their anything i need to know to tweak my laptop when it arrives apart from get rid of the pre installed junk that most laptops come with lol, any settings i need to do etc and anything you feel i need to know ?

 

@the stig

Got mine on tuesday. Remove macafee. watch out for the 3 hours of continual updates and reboots it will do! Reinstall your sound card ( mine had wrong drivers) touchpad (also wrong). Uninstall the nvidia drivers and either install the latest 186 ones from dell, or i would highly recommend the 190/40 drivers batboy posted a few pages back! getting good fps in l4d!

Get fraps for your gamepanel too! Its really handy! And if you want to fit another HDD, you need 4 lil caddy screws.

 

@Evil Ras Why removing Mc Affee?
I have 3years full security.

 

I too would remove Mcafees.

It is a resource hog. There are free otions that work better. My recommendation would be Trend Micro or NOD32. Trend for overall internet security NOD for Virus only.

 

Where were those power settings for the 190.40 drivers? Thought I saw a post about how to set those and where to find them? Thanks in advance for any help/info!


Later - Mike

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5171597&postcount=1830

 

Batboy has that link permanently in his clipboard...

Heck, switching off AA has made a world of difference to the FPS btw! couldnt test L4d as the servers were boring last night! But Fallout3 was capped constantly at 60fps! so happy! Will always turn off vertical sync and AA noiw!

 

@Evil, we'll have to get a game going bud. Hopefully we can pull in two more peeps and run one of the new mod campaigns... lol.

Be sure to hit up l4dmods.com for custom content.

 

Aye, death aboard 6.1 is epic! Dam it not bad either. Slowly getting them down.

steam - evilras

But no showing off with your alienware when it comes...

 

i have a ripped copy of l4d can i still get in on that.

 

doubt it clax. the VAC tends to spot the blagged copies i think. It was only £12 new when i got it off steam on 75% off weekend!

Still, wait til november and get L4D2! Its going to be EPIC!!! You should really check out the previews for it!

 

l4d2 ,bioshock2,modern warfare 2,starcraft 2,diablo 3,lot to look forward 2 playing

 

I'd say yse to all those bar diablo. never played it. But that list is why i was hoping my m1710 would break and i'd be offered an sli laptop!! modern warfare 2 is about £30 on preorder for PC.. so getting temped. Just need to see if my "clan" are getting it!

 

Are those "powermizer" settings not available on 8700s? I don't see them. Thank you.


Later - Mike

 

Well... finally got the time to install 190.40 on my machine... so far everything's going well. Ran a first 3DMark06 benchmark to receive a surprisingly low score of 9935... then realized the installation disabled SLi. So, ran it again for a much more impressive score of 13,148... a minor improvement from my previous drivers, but an improvement nonetheless.

So, what's a safe GPU overclock I can test out?

 

HI there!

After a short hour of Mass Effect, i thought i smellt something burning. So i decided to check the GPU temps. For the last 20 min my GPU had been operating at 95*C......
I almost melted the sodabottle standing by the vents.

I have done some OC before but then i've always used external vents keeping it under 65.

However at the time the system was not OC'ed, therefor not conected to any external vents.

it was standing on solid surface, and with no elevation at the back.. just plainly on a table.

Is this cause for concern? Shold i contact dell?
anyone else with similar temps?

-Anders

 

Does anyone know where the THM temperature reading (HW Monitor) is taken from? Mine has started to really start climbing, even though the CPU and GPU temps are staying pretty low.

 

I think that's the CPU temperature.

 

Okay, I'm puzzled now.

I did some further 3dmark tests

I got a higher score 11654 by turning off my undervolting.

Undervolted I got 10325



Scores increased across the board

10325 vs 11654 3DMark
4440 vs 5208 SM2.0
5605 vs 6016 HDR/SM3.0
2038 vs 2379 CPU

 

Guys there is a question does it worth to spend £100 to upgrade a CPU from t7500 to t9300? Will I feel the difference? I mean not just numbers from 3Dmark2006 And temps are important too. Any suggestions?

 

A Merom to a Penryn processor would be a slight difference... although my personal advice would be to save your money and go for an X9000.... just make sure(as I've said many times before) to get a Q174 if you're going for an ES... this is the one I'm using in my machines and have had no problems whatsoever.

Ripfire on this forum is selling genuine ones for $300USD last time I checked... I don't know the exchange rates that well but prolly 150-175 quid or so? ES ones have gone below $400 usually(I paid $500 for mine), so estimated on those 225-250 quid?

 

Thanks for this info. Going to find out the Ripfire's price

Any chance you know who sells 8800 or 9800?

 

This is the link for his FS post... hopefully nobody minds me posting it up, but this is an awesome deal... IIRC the X9000s were nearly $1000USD options on new M1730s.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=406432

Just ran a quick calculation... you're looking at 180GBP for his chip, so I was actually close on the money... wow.

 

190.40 drivers are starting to be an issue. I'm experiencing artifacts while gaming. Flickering, lines across the screen. I've been able to replacate this in several games.

Additionally my alt + tab to restore games that are minimized takes abnormally long times. It takes perhaps 10-20 seconds for the game to maximize and it wasn't doing this before.

Any ideas?

I would hate to have to revert to the original driver but it looks like I'm expericing problems again. ::sigh::

 

What's the ambient temperature? Lift the back of the laptop up like two inches.