Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, Take 2

Please stop frying your card. You cannot, repeat cannot control the fans. That little app, that is how many years old now - will kill your GPUs if you try to override the card's thermal BIOS settings. Basically the app and the card are fighting constantly for control of the fans.

Sorry ruby, but its the truth. Let the card BIOS do its job, don't make it worse. Uninstall that dead app. If you don't trust me on this your card will fry.

 

really? then wat program should i use? if i dont use it my fans NEVER EVER seems to go to high till it hits like 80-90 degrees and it only comes on a few seconds.

 

The "program" to use is an X9000 CPU. Get one from ebay, stuff it in, then crank up to 3.4GHz to enjoy the full fan blast at faster, cooler yet reliable and stable performance for your M1730. The only way to so called "control" your GPU fans.

Expect temperatures to drop to just a mere 70s max. Get AS5, ICD7 or MX2s and you will achieve lower temps. I suggest checking your vents and heatsinks exterminate any dust bunnies lurking in your m1730. Trust me, a little bit of effort cleaning it is worth.

 

Ruby - what driver are you using? Fans should come on around 70.

 

I have always religiously cleaned my Beast. Once a week the canned air and vacuum cleaner, wipe down my desk etc and clean around and behind the desk. When I pulled the Beast apart on the weekend there was dustbunnies trapped up near the HDD the vents from the GPU were no where near clogged but there was crap in there. The only way to clean it is to pull it apart.

 

im on 190.40 win7 x64.. the fans come on at 70 but its low not high. when gaming the fans never go to high either until it hits 80-90.

its been tat way ever since i got my system and all the cards(so far changed 4 times) behave that way the mother boards get changed together with the cards so i dont think theres anything wrong with the motherboard controllers either..

i get the same temps after cleaning the vents and fans

 

Is your system on a stand or raised up? Ensure the system has acess to free airflow.

If you are overclocking the GPUs back it down to the default clocks.

If you have disabled PowerMizer via a registry tweak, restore it. PowerMizer is your friend.

As Human mentioned above, 'Get AS5, ICD7 or MX2s and you will achieve lower temps' - this is good advice. If you feel comfortable replacing the OEM thermal pad with aftermarket thermal paste, you should do this. Look for one that does not require a 'curing' period.

If the temps continue to remain high, its time to have Dell replace the cards again.

 

How can you see the temperature of your cpu or videocard anyway?
Never looked into it, but fortuneatly i dont have many cooling issues. Only once a month or so

 

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

 

Rubyboy79,
Regarding getting in touch with the higher-ups.

The trick isn't to argue with the grunts about M17x. Don't even bring up that idea. Simply tell the little grunt, "Thank you for your time, unfortunately, I am not satisfied with this course, so put me through to your manager, right now, or have them call me back at the earliest."

They can say yes or no to the M17x, but they can't prevent you from speaking to their superiors. And even those superiors can't stop you from asking to speak with their managers, if it gets that far.

 

I`m going to do another fan cleanup this week or whenever I`ll receive the AS5 (or is anything else better at this point?! ) and that should make the system temps even lower.
Also thinking about getting an X9000 from eBay, should be cheaper now. What do I have to keep an eye out for when getting the X9000? certain series or something ?

 

eleron I think the Q174 series of X9000 CPU´s are good. I will get myself one hopefully soon

 

Yea, that`s what I remembered also. But I will not pay more than 350$ for it...

 

The prices have dropped a bit from when I bought mine... you've got a good chance to grab one at that price range.

And, here's a strange question. After my first week at school, I've found out that all of my classes have available power outlets. This means I'm thinking about taking my M1730 with me to my college classes. Yes, I'm that insane. But, I need some help with this, mostly with the Nvidia control panel.

I already know that I can boot the M1730 up with the Media Direct button(Since I don't have that partition it boots to Windows, with only one GPU operational). What I'm trying to do is to keep a profile that underclocks the cards to their absolute minimum in order to save power and reduce heat as much as possible. I'm not sure I'll be able to get away with having the fans full blast on my overclock, but I also want to make sure I'm keeping temps within reasonable spec.

Any ideas?

Edit: I will be propping the back up with a couple of erasers I have. One of the reasons I'm lugging the M1730 to my classes is that there's an ongoing class project to research several PCs and 'buying' one based on your research. Several people were asking me questions about the M17x, so I've decided to bring its older brother in to show people how big these suckers really are.

 

Hi everybody.
It's been a while since I was in here, so I may be a bit rusty on the whole "whats new with the M1730". However, I've been thinking about upgrading my GFX-card to the newest, since my two 8700m GT's are beginning to struggle to hold on.
I see that the M1730 is being sold with 2 9800M GT's with 512mb VRAM (is that per card, or alltogether?).
But I see that there is also an 9800M GTX (also available in SLi) on notebookcheck.net (and also a GeForce GTX 280M) . 2 questions then:
1. Where do I go on the dell website to look for upgrade possibilities for my laptop?
2. Does anybody know if/when the 9800M GTX's will be out for the M1730?

I'm sorry if this is a repost, but I havn't had time to read all 242 pages of this thread

 

9800M GTX was available few months ago, some folks got that cards in they're M1730's. The bad news is that since M1730 was discontinued, 9800M GTX isn't sold anymore by Dell (it was a small stock anyway).
9800M GT is identical with 8800M GTX (it has only a different name) and it has 512MB per GPU, so it has a total of 1GB.

 

You should call/chat Dell for the 9800m GTX. I was offered one(9800M GTX Sli) several weeks back as an upgrade. The $2000.00+ price was laughable, but they did have them and could install within next business day.

 

Well after 2 MB replacements, my 1730 is back in prime condition. Original one was replaced due to no sound on right side. Then it was replaced because of high chip set, CPU and GPU temps after initial replacement. Now it looks like everything is back or better in temp performance. After several 4-5hrs gaming sessions. These are my temp results:

 

Yeah though I don´t hear much about any benchmarks with those 9800m GTX SLI.

Well I passed my old 3D Mark 06 record. Now I managed to get 11127, not bad for a 2.4GHz C2D

 

Uh, Mangus, Hiklkoo's got plenty benchmarks with his 9800m GTX.

There's a theoretical 10% difference, but in 3dMark scores, it's about the same. Both Hikkoo and Ernstig have broken the 15k barrier in 3dMark. I'm comparing his results to Ernstig's because they both use X9000 CPUs, and have tweaked their operating systems for the tests. Ditto for Crysis - 1-3 FPS difference at all 'high' in DX10, with Ernstig winning out on a few of his tests by a single FPS, and Hikkoo winning out in others by a similar margin. It only shows that our GPUs are too strong for the weaker, bottle-neck from the CPUs. Actually, I don't wanna' start something there, but I recently beat both of their benchmarks in Crysis; 35 average FPS FTW! Heh.

Anyway, I have news about my case. I'm most likely getting a full refund. The offer's on the table for me, I just have to decide whether I'll be taking this offer. Truth be told, I probably will.

. . .

 

I got the XPS 1730 when it first came. Been happy, but I have had my fair share of issues. I am actually on my second 1730 after DELL sent me a second one. This one worked great and then the issues started again.

My screen would randomly turn a different color. Blue, green, white, purple. A solid color and the computer was unresponsive. Then just went to a black screen when I booted. Dell put in a new video card.

Thought the problem was fixed, then couple of days later I got computer lockups and my screen would turn a solid color.

Called DELL again and got the reinstall windows. Sure I will play nice, so I installed windows vista 64 yesterday and all the drivers. Thought everything was fine, but I woke up and the computer was locked up. So this afternoon I restarted and it worked fine for a bit then got a computer lockup with a solid white screen. Anyone seen this?

I know Dell will fix my computer, but i worry that when my computer warrenty runs out this beast of a machine is going to keep having problems?

 

Sad that the M1730 is discontinued. Does anybody have any knowledge about aquiring the GFX-cards by yourself, and then installing them yourself instead of dell?
Fx. is it possible to get a hold of two GeForce 280M GTX's and then installing them by yourself. Your just a 9800M GTX. I'm not spending 2000$ on them through dell, thats for sure.

 

sva: The best you can do is the 9800M GTX SLI. 8700, 8800, 9800M - thats it.

You can check ebay to save money. Keep in mind, with ebay you don't have the warranty and every card on ebay is going to be a used or dell labeled replacement part (aka refurbished).

 

The beast is back... again...

Motherboard replacement and RAM seems to have solved the problem... for now!

The RAM chips were made in China (Samsung), replacing a Korean-made set of chips. Whether or not that's important we'll see.

 

@ Kade, good to hear you will get youre full refund.
any thoughts about the new system?
Today a engineer wil come to replace my screen and gpu....this will be my very last repair, I swear to God after that i accept no more excuses from Dell.

 

what probblem are you facing with your system? how long have you had it for?

 

Well, in reference to Kade Storm's post... I'm going to second the opinion that the M1730 is really limited by CPU/chipset. I know it's never going to happen, but if a QX9300 would actually work in the M1730, we'd be seeing very similar numbers to what the M17x guys are getting.

And, I was crazy enough to drag the Beast to school last night, and was actually VERY impressed at how easy it was to use. Loved the extra screen real estate, and my temps never went above 61C. Keep in mind that this was with both GPUs running, SLi enabled, and running overclocked as per my sig. Wow.

 

Can anyone tell me what power the Cryo LX takes ?

I need to run it off a mains adapter, their is no manual that comes with a Cryo LX and no spec etc, all you get is a piece of paper showing you the cooler and where the USB lead and USB power lead goes, the download manual is the same which is very basic.

Ive bought a UNIVERSAL UK MAINS POWER - ADAPTER 3V-12V AC/DC 500mA, i take it that this will be ok for the Cryo LX ? Do you just set it to 12V ?

Its this one on the link

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....37529&_sacat=See-All-Categories&_fvi=1&_rdc=1

 

Dell - Hell yes realy !!
Today the engineer replaced my lcd screen and a gpu.
Replaced and gone...
I start the computer and the screen was very dark, everytime now i have to use the fn key with brightness key.
Also the colors are the same fluo green and very bright colours.
It is a refurbished LG screen.

i'm finished with this whole situation, can somebody give me a emailadress of a higher placed person from Dell Belgium please?
In the hope he read my mail and answer.
I really understand now why people get frustrated with that support from Dell.

 

Evening all,

I have been reading this forum for some time, I own a M1730 aswell, got it swapped for my M1710 I bought 2 years ago.

Now, after 6 months, the system is repaired 5 times, 3x new GFX cards ( 8800m GTX ) because of overheating issues ( temps over 120 degrees ).
New fans - 2x. New Mobo - 2x. New heatsinks - 2x. Techician broke buttons from my keyboard. Replaced that, but broke it again... ( not yet repaired).

Every time I started the system, when the technician was preparing to leave, I ran World of Warcraft, and everytime, lots of artifacts and 2 dead GFX after just 5 minutes.

Called Dell ( the Dutch and and British ones ). And they just told me another repair was planned to replace even more parts. I declined after the 5 repairs, and asked my money back, or a new swap for something else. M1730 is broken for 9 weeks now, I can see the Dell logo on start up, with alot of artifacts, and then crashes.

The British Support manager ( Laladente Paikray ) promissed me a Alienware M17x. But after contacting the Dutch support the next day, they had to break that promise. The Dutch Dell doesn't have the rights to replace any XPS laptop with a new Alienware. Laladente doesn't want to talk to me anymore after the promissed M17x.

But since my laptop didnt work, they promissed me to get an answer as quick as possible, promissed me call backs the next day. They never did call me back untill now.

When I called them yesterday, after 3 weeks after the promissed call back, I got word the department which talks about replacements still didnt have answered. The guy who helped me told me it was taking too long, and would come up with something himself.

I got a call from him today, he wants to swap my M1730... Not for an Alienware.. but a Studio XPS 16.

I hope you guys can look at both setups , my current one.. and the one I'm getting, and I hope you can tell me if this is an upgrade or a downgrade.

Current M1730

T8300 - 2.40 ghz
4gb - 667mhz Ram
Win7 64bit ( beta )
Nvidia 8800m GTX SLi
120GB HD 7200rpm
1920x1200 resolution with Truelife.
17''

Swap to:

Studio XPS 16
T9600 - 2.80 ghz
4 or 6gb - 1066 mhz ram
Win vista 64 ( with free upgrade to Win7 )
Ati Radeon 4670 1024mb ( Could also be a 4870 1024mb ) This is a major downgrade imo.
500GB HD 7200rpm
1920x1080 resolution with RGB-led.
16''

I payed 2135 euro for my old M1710. M1730 would have costed me 2214 euros according to internet at that time.

According the guy who helped me, this setup costs 2515,19 euros. But the real question is, what gfx card will I get, the 4670 ( according to the Dell site ) is a big downgrade in performance, so is the 4870, but getting closer.

Whatever videocard I might get, ( will send an email asking which GFX card I'll get ) is this a good swap, is there any increased performance for me when I compare it to my 6 months old M1730.

I hope you guys understand this, if you need more info, ask.

Araghius

 

Everything's better except for the video cards.

Why did you buy your 1710? Why did you accept an "upgrade" to a 1730? If you're a gamer, it's because you wanted the dual video cards and SLi capabilities. Dell is unable to match that on the Studio 16.

Otherwise... yeah it looks nice on paper. I'd recommend checking out the Studio 16 thread(s) and seeing what people are saying about it. You'd hate to "upgrade" again and find out it was the wrong decision.

If you do end up going for the Studio 16, tell them you want the upgraded hdd, maximum RAM, and an upgraded processor because they can't provide 2 video cards. Never know, might work...

 

when i compare the videocards its a downgrade, correct me if i'm wrong also the xps m1730 is a 17" the xps16 a 16",.....
Driversupport for Ati is very bad.

i'm also in a battle with Dell now, but don't give up, we have our rights!

 

Rubyboy79,
I've had the machine malfunction since it was bought. I got artifacts regularly since December 2008.

- In early April 2009, the GPUs died. Dell replaced these very quickly.

- The GPUs malfunctioned again in late April 2009, and Dell replaced, yet again.

- The GPUs died in early-to-middle of May. Dell replaced these, and the technician snapped the keyboard backlight socket on the motherboard. He immediately called Dell and complained that this happened because the machine had been opened too many times. He then advised me to seriously consider my case, and mentioned something about Dell's 'three-strike-policy'. He came back a few days later to replace the motherboard.

- GPUs died again, right at the end of May - colours were messed up and artifacts were all over the screen. They took over one-week-period and swapped the GPUs again.

- GPUs died with constant BSODs in late June. Dell offered to replace, and I--in short--told 'em not to waste my time.

- Early, August, Dell replaced my system with a new system after a month-full of diagnostics and discussions.

- System was guaranteed to be new and at least of the same spec. Truth: System was damaged both inside and outside, and it was seriously downgraded with older cheaper parts. They removed my next-gen intel wifi card for some unbranded crap. What's worse, they gave me a DVD-RW as a replacement for my Blu-RAY RW.

- Made a massive presentation e-mail, along with a power-point presentation. Fired it off to the corporates.

- I got a call from their 'Customer Services Manager', and she was eager to provide me a compenstated, and much more beefed up M1730. I pushed for the M17x. She tried, but here in EU, they still don't have direct dealings with Alienware as two separate teams handle Dell and Alienware, respectively. So she offered me a full refund, with hopes that I'll use the money to reinvest in the M17x, which she said would be the better move on my part, and that 'Dell fully supports this move' and that it just wouldn't be possible for them to make the unit a replacement, so they'd rather have me take a full refund and reinvest. In a nutshell, I would have to first take the full refund, which they openly offered, and then purchase again.

- The full refund implies exactly what it is meant to imply, a full refund of the original price paid back in the Summer of 2008, meaning that I could afford one of the newer laptops today. I already received the official refund price in e-mail, and it's good.

Bpat,
Thank you for the good gesture. I only hope that you can acquire a similar result.

New system is up in the air. I could go Alienware M17x. But for the price, I'll get the Q9000; Blu-Ray Burner; 280m SLi; 2x320 GB RAID-0; 4GB RAM; 4-year-complete-care. You guys are already well-versed with Dell's support and history. It has--without a shadow of a doubt--its perks, but it also has a f'n butt-load plethora of crap! You have to have tenacity and intestinal fortitude to fight 'em.

Now for roughly the same price--down a few--I can get a Kobalt Comanche SLi, which is Sager, essentially. The Comanche SLi: QX9300; Blu-Ray Burner; 280m SLi; 2x320 Raid-0; 4GB RAM; X-Fi soundcard; sub-woofer; 3-year collect and return, which here in UK, is considered top-notch. The warranty offers the same benefits as a Dell warranty - same consumer laws and right - and can be extended for the same original price (Currently 70 pounds for three years). Only thing you lack is the 'complete care' option. Now the support and warranty for these guys is of particular benefit to people here in UK, because the actual shop/engineering area is located near London, and all the stuff is done there by a small and closely-knit team of individuals that take a personal interest in each case. In fact, you even get feedback from Neil and Andrew, their two primary heads of operation. From what I've read, these machines don't have as many problems, and the support is all UK-based and very swift. IF machine goes bad, they come to pick it up themselves, and get it fixed up quickly before returning it right back. Not to mention, the Comanche SLi offers the same newer chipset used in the M17x, and it's been running much longer, with more upgrade and updates, unlike Dell who scraped the M1730 altogether. There's actual Comanche users who had the 8800m GTX and older dual-core CPUs, but now they can now move up to the newer, faster chips, including the quad-core and 280m SLi on the same machine.

However, it's still a debacle. I am still a sucker for the Alienware design. I can only afford the bottom-end quad-core for this machine, and the M17x is at this point, having notorious stuttering, performance, and stability issues with quad-cores because of something that is most likely bios-related. I hope they fix this problem. Where I'll go is still up in the air, but this lounge is mine! So yeah!

Important Edit:
Wait, I got that bit about this being an older system, completely wrong.

The Comanche SLi with the quad-core and the 280m SLi is a newer system using mobile dual and quad cpus. Although it has been around before the M17x. The 8800m models were using an older Sager/Clevo concept but with desktop CPUs.

 

Kade - get the sager. JUst do it.

 

I bought the M1710 because there wasnt any better laptop sold by Dell at that time. The 7950 GTX broke down, and they didnt have a new one for 12 weeks, and decided to swap it for the M1730.

They already upgraded the CPU to the best. standard is 2.4ghz I think. And I think that guy who helped me said 6 gb ram.

But still, both gfx cards is lower on the list of GFX cards according to:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

4670 = nr 29
4870 = nr 12
8800m GTX = nr 9.

 

looking at the comanche, i'd go for it too, bigger screen and it looks quite nice imo

 

Guys, thanks for your inputs.

I have to make a decision within the coming 12-hours, as it means I could have both systems collected on the same day. And as you know, the quicker the collection, the quicker the refund.

Keep in mind, the reason why I must decide quickly: If I go for the M17x, then Dell's willing to offer me vouchers of the full refund. Alternatively, I can have the money transferred into any account of my choice.

EDIT:
Wait, I got that bit wrong.

The Comanche SLi with the quad-cores is a newer system. Although it has been around before the M17x. The 8800m models were using an older Sager/Clevo concept but with desktop CPUs.

To Araghius,
Dude, do -not- accept the Studio. Granted you're getting a better CPU and more RAM, but these are weaker elements to the gaming laptop. Initially, your paid a decent price for an M1710 that failed. This was rightfully replaced with the M1730, which should've delivered. What they're offering you in return is 'less' than what you had invested and intended to use.

 

@kade http://www.rockdirect.com/?UID=AFFILIATEWINDOW
tell us what you think of these?
grtz

 

LMAO Bpat, steer clear of rock! We set up a seperate form (techpond.co.uk) because they shut theirs down due to the number of complaints. Then they got bought by stone, and people had their laptops away for repairs for WEEKS!

Lost all confidence in them at the mo!

 

Bpat,
I would avoid Rock. They have a notorious reputation, and have clearly gotten too big for their own good.

Although, as you can see, they use the same Sager/Clevo laptop, but cleaarly, Kobalt have them beat on price and features - I can get a Blu-Ray writer with mine, and about 300 pounds cheaper, and this isn't even counting the horrible customer support that's been associated with RockXtreme. With Rock, it's the support and company ethics that run the whole operation down - I'm sure the machine itself won't be all that bad, seeing as it is the Clevo M980NU. I'd rather get the same thing from another company that might care about the customer, and there are tons in Europe, Rock's not one of 'em.

 

Oh ok didn't know that sorry

Hope you make the right descision.
For me there is only one way left i think, i must ask help from customer rights service here in Belgium because Dell plays the game unexeptable and against their policy to defend my rights as customer.

 

Dude you have a real problem here and it's caused by your upgrade to the 1730 and that's where Dell has you over a barrel. The 16 apart from the smaller screen IS an upgrade to the 1710.... you didn't purchase an sli machine you purchased a good gaming macjhine back in 2006 or whatever.

I've said it b4 on this forum and Kade I hope you're seeing this too. Do not accept upgrades go for the refund. Legally you have the right of refund as the product wasn't of "merchantable quality". If you accept an upgrade then you may find yourself being downgraded back to your original spec's down the road.

 

. . .I already gave him my advice. Studio to me isn't an upgrade. I see what you're talking about though, Slammin'. Technically, it IS an upgrade.

However, I think you have to take each upgrade-machine as a new slate. Look at BatBoy's case. First he had an M1710, then he was moved to the M1730, and then to the M17x. He was offered the M17x because on paper, and in invoice, he now owned an M1730, and they had to offer him something equal or better, which they did not have at the time.

Anyway, this chap has two options. He can go for the refund, which I would recommend, or fight on for 'better'. But as far as his case goes, I would argue that the Studio is 'not' an upgrade, compared to the M1730 that he currently owns as a registered customer under Dell. I wouldn't resort to comparing it to the M1710 as that's old news in his case history, and the machine is long gone. Currently, his money would've earned him an M1730, so they need to continue honouring that investment.

This is why BatBoy rightfully got an M17x, starting from an M1710 - because he spent 3000+ dollars on an M1710 that failed in the middle of its warranty. This is also why I am getting a full refund of what I had initially invested in 2008, and that same money now can get me much better stuff than even the beefiest M1730.

 

Actually Kade, I have to correct you. The $$$ issue did not factor into the reason - it may have been factored in during the config, but not the actual decision to move to the M17x.

The main reason why this happened was a slew of ball-drops on Dell's part as well as a horrible service tech's conduct and skill level. In the end, Dell Management took ownership of the issue and fixed it. Initially, they were pushing me to take a refund. It wasn't an easy fix to the situation (m17x) and it did require some internal discussion.

Anyway, just wanted to point that out.

 

Right. Sorry. I got carried away.

But the point is that they offered you similar or better than what you had initially received as a replacement, never beneath on grounds that you originally had an M1710. And even more so, if you had gotten an original refund, wouldn't it still be a good amount for present market values of high-end laptops? You know, above and beyond the M1730?

 

kade, what is the 3 strike policy the technician mentioned? after 3 replacements get a refund?

dells going to give me a confirmation by tomorrow on the m17x or a refund.. hope it turns out well or ill seriously move on to consumers affair subcourts.

the problem with dell imo is that the people making the decisions eg: customer care managements+finance have NO IDEA is an sli system and how to compare systems.

initially one of the customer care reps told me i cannot compare a low end system(xps 1730 LOL) with the alienware m17x.. luckily the tech support people agreed with me that they are the same and now they are working it out.

however, the tech guy called me yesterday saying the specs i requested for are alot higher in price than what i actually paid for my 1730

i asked for qx9300 and 280msli

i originally have a t7700 and 8800mgtxsli but with other stuff like hdds and warranty maxed out

ive seen the dell site and the difference between the prices is about 800 dollars.he says the sales people have to calculate to see which option is better. a refund or replacement but i have already offered to pay abit more for the m17x

another issue i see would be the warranty. I have purchased 3 years complete cover GUARD which includes theft for my 1730 so im not sure if the warranty would carry over or i would have to buy it all over again. that would add more money.

those who had m17x as replacement, did your warranty carry forward or did you have to buy it all over again?

 

@Kade

I put you in there because you were considering the vouchers. I know exactly what you're saying and personally agree BUT my point is we always need to look at this from their point of view to acertain our next best move. Dealing with Dell successfully means you need to cover your a$$. So ALWAYS go the refund. : )

There is another reason to go the refund and it's about our rights as consumers. If Dell upgrade you to a M17 then it doesn't teach them a big financial lesson, I want a reliable machine. I bought a 1730 because I wanted a reasonably future proof gaming machine. Not something that chews GPU's etc that I've had downtime of 1 month out of 6 waiting for parts.

Personally I hate the look of the m17, (sorry owners - no dis') it's just that it looks like a kids toy. The girls version comes with pink ponies and a slot on the top to hold the comb for when you've finished brushing it's hair, it is such a cliched gimmicky looking thing I would hate to use it in public. Hopefully my problems are fully resolved as seeing that Alienware on my desk would make me puke! Sorry rant over.... sorry if I've offended any owners

 

and actually, due to my case, i had my gfx cards, mobo,heatsinks and fans replaced 4 times in a row over 2 weeks because they kept giving me refurbished parts and either there were artifacts on my laptopscreen itself or they overheated badly(100 degrees on BOOT)

im now on refurbished cards but luckily they havent died on me yet. mobos new though

 

He mentioned that if three-strikes, and the part-replacements aren't working, then I can ask for a replacement system. Normally, Dell has practiced this by default, but things have changed in recent times. They seem more eager to dump poor-quality replacement parts into machines, at least that's been my experience.

QX9300 with 280m SLi? Wow, you're mighty ambitious. I don't know, maybe he's got the right attitude, eh, BatBoy? You can always work-down from there, because they probably won't agree to a fully maxed-out rig like that one.

Regarding the warranty, I believe BatBoy would be best qualified to answer your question. I think they offer you a new warranty package with the new replacement. Your old coverage was for your old machine. For example: I had under 3 years left on my old XPS. The new one they sent me had 4 fresh years on its warranty. So uh, yeah. I think I'll let BatBoy continue on about this subject.

EDIT - To Slammin:
Ah. I see what you're talking about. I kind of missed the point initially, sorry.

Yeah, you're spot-on with that view, dude. In fact, I'm going to send the woman another e-mail and ask for a full refund into my account. I can always order an M17x from there, if I chose to order. However, if I go for the vouchers, then I'm limited to -just- Dell products.

. . .
. . .
. . .
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
MY EYES! THEY BURN!

C'mon man! It's pretty cool. . . it's just like an XPS! And you just compared it to some barbie-meets-my-lil'-pony nightmare. . .
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
EYES! STILL BURN!

I can't even look at the M17x straight for now!

Damn it! +10CHAR!

 

im actually fine paying the full 800 for the qx9300 since i made a mistake on my 1730 on not waiting for the x9000 to reach my country before i bought it. after buying it the sales people kept telling me i cannot buy a x9000 upgrade so this time im going to get the qx9300 so i wont regret.

for the price i paid for me 1730, i could get the q9100 and the 280msli anyway so its just one step up.

i wont agree to a lower rig cos here in singapore they wont let me upgrade and i cant get parts myself here. i know theres always ebay etc but its going to be an online transaction with someone/a shop ive never seen so i dont trust it. i only use ebay for meet up transactions