**OFFICIAL** Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, *Part 4*

Hey, I have a Gateway P-7805u FX with X9100, I'm thinking of changing to an XPS 1730, what would you tell me? screen resolution and VGA are worth?

out other details, so I know the chipset PM965 only accept memory clocked at up to 667 against 1066 of my current gateway, this difference is significant?
could put the X9100 in it?
the 8800M GTX SLi is much better than the 9800M GTS?

Thanks to those who answer

 

X9100 won't work on the M1730, the X9000 is the best CPU you can put on this particular notebook.

The 8800M GTX SLI is much better than a single 9800M GTS, even a single 8800M GTX is better.

Also, about the RAM, there is little to no difference from DDR3 to DDR2, so don't worry about that. Actually a low-latency DDR2 would be better.

 

Tried flashing my 8800m gtx sli to 9800m gt sli and i bricked it also stupidly didnt back up old bios! Has anyone got a 8800m gtx sli bios they would kindly share with me so i can attemp to blind flash my crds back to life?

Thanks

 

@alfizzle
People have posted BIOS for 8800M GTX here before. Search this and previous threads.

 

I never thought of the latency factor between the DDR2 and DDR3 RAMs. Hell, I remember getting very smooth performance with the DDR2s on my M1730. A shame that the general thermal setup and GPU issues kept holding the system back from achieving potential longevity.

As for the performance difference between the 9800m GTS and the 8800m GTX. Most certainly -- 8800m GTX/9800m GT are the superior ones compared to the 9800/8800m GTS given that you have 96 CUDA cores versus 64. How much of a superiority is more a subject of further debate and also subject to various software since certain games and software that aren't very shader intensive will at times perform almost as well -- and better -- on a lower count of shaders running at a higher frequency. . . but the general idea still holds true that the 8800m GTX would be the superior of the two.

 

Hey guys, I just had the strangest problem with my M1730.

I accidentally unplugged the power adapter from the wall while the laptop was on. I came back like two hours later and the laptop's shut down of course. But now when I plug the adapter back into the wall, or to a surge protector, or even to a UPS, the blue light doesn't turn on.

Whenever I unplug the adapter (unplug the power cord from it I mean), the blue light flashes once for a brief instant and that's it.

Any ideas? These adapters aren't covered under warranty are they?

It's just so strange to me that the adapter could die if it's plugged into the laptop but not the wall and the laptop fully discharges the battery.

I tried different power cords as well.

 

@raad11

There is a good chance it could be covered by the warranty. Worth a shot. There are some on ebay as well.

I'm no expert in power supplies/adapters, but it sounds like a hardware failure or loose connection to me.

 

Sounds like the power brick is dead, similar thing happened to about 1.5 years ago. If you're still in warranty, they'll change it.

And VLC did the trick, apparently.

What games are you guys playing lately? drivers/chipsets?

 

eleron glad wasnt your cards
Intel's Chipset v9.2.0.1030 installed in The Beast
first tried BF3 with 275.33 (win7 64) an SLI didnt work so had to install 285.62 for it to work. @ 3.2GHZ 1.25v, Bios set to 3.2 to keep fans continously on 100% ,1680x1050,
BF3 video settings
Terrain Quality setting problem no high or ultra option to select. plays smooth on gpu default clks but im only half way through game.
somtimes notice annoying odd shaped shadow glitch on walls an couple times flashing shadows.hope next gpu driver fixes this or a BF3 update ...gpus max temp 62C after about 2 hrs playing (room temp 21C)

with above settings got avg 32 FPS Going Hunting Bench Test > went to TomsHardware site about benching it.
set Fraps to stop bench after 90 sec > to start bench pressed Benchmark Hotkey as soon as that pilot carring the helment says "Hawkins" near begining of Level , bench CSV files created by Fraps v3.4.7 View attachment BF3 Fraps bench-GH.zip

 

Saw a trailer, BF3 looks awesome. Gotta try it.

 

Wow! Didn't expect M1730 to run BF3 so well. From your settings screenshot, Ambient Occlusion and Antialiasing (hope I'm spelling it correctly) are system hogs. Did you try setting them to low, or off. Could give you enough performance boost to run it at native resolution

I'm swamped with work at the moment, have no time to check the game out for myself unfortunately. Does the game run in DX10 or DX9 mode on the laptop?

 

Darn, doesn't run on XP. Gotta get the uni to get me a 7 copy...

 

also DX9 no support

thanks DDT5 did what ya suggested turned both A OCCLUSION an A POST off
Avg 31.4 fps on native with Going Hunting bench > Fraps CSV files View attachment GH19-custm15.zip
playable on native could also oc gpus to get even higher fps


rather keep on default gpu clks, drop to 1680x1050 to now get a nice avg 37.8 fps > Fraps CSV files View attachment GH21-custm12.zip
Video settings

on 1680x1050 cant notice any real difference in image quality compared to native

ALSO noticed with cpu no difference to avg fps on 3.6
on 2.8 get 0.5 fps less > Crysis is like that to

 

Yeah, this is just one of those games. . .

But glad to hear that you're getting so much performance from the game at reputable settings. Impressive.

 

Is anyone running Skyrim on their beast? I'm trying to decide whether to purchase it for PC or PS3...

 

Picked it up. It runs great on the beast at high settings. You have to make sure you get the latest Nvidia driver for SLI to work in it though. Bonus points for getting the current beta driver which has an improved Skyrim profile.

 

Beta Bonus for sure.. ive installed 285.79 by selecting custom option + Nvidia's clean install option...

thanks, now with beta suprised get even more perf in BF3
DX10 shadow glitchs on walls appear to be fixed but not sure yet about the flashing.

Going Hunting Fraps bench
cpu 3.2, gpus default clks,
All high except T Q medium, A Deferred off, A Post off , motionblur on 50%, AF 16x, A Occlusion off

1920x1200 avg= 36.8 Fraps CSV files View attachment GH1-28579custm15.zip
1680x1050 avg= 46.1 Fraps CSV files View attachment GH4-28579custm12.zip

EDIT:
BF3 + beta 285.79 Damm....flashing prob still there on Hardrock And Hard Place Fight Through Valley
heaps of grey flashing glitchs in sky + lol there a jeep that drives around with no driver
Also flashing near beginning COMRADES > tried lowering settings an didnt fix.

Mission COMRADES somtimes @ very beginning Driver(KIRIL) an front passenger(VLADIMIR) are both invisble lol then cant finish mission because VLADIMIR wont
reapper but KIRIL does so tried "Replay Missions" option then kept rebooting BF3 until both dudes ar visible in car.
also selecting the "Restart Mission" in game menu creates the prob to.

 

Looking in getting Dell XPS M1730, seems like a great system. Wondering if a separate mouse is needed for better control.

Will it work with Logitech Wireless Mouse M305 ?

 

@cebalrai
That's great news! Will pick that game up as soon as I have some spare time.

@compluv3
Unless you are getting a very good deal, I wouldn't recommend getting the system. At this point it is nearly 4 years old.

Any windows compatible mouse would work with it. As long as you have that receiver that comes with the mouse, it''s work on this laptop.

 

Running Skyrim at settings somewhere between high and ultra with 2xAA, I'm getting 60 fps in dungeons and buildings and about 40-50 fps outside. If I'm in a detailed outside area such as the game's one of the game's huge valleys where objects are everywhere, my fps will drop to 25-30 or so.

One thing to note though is that I'm using a mod that draws trees/shrubs/grass further into the distance and better shadows close-up, so that probably gives me a little fps hit. I was running 4xAA but on a 1080p monitor I feel like I don't need it as much to I went back to 2xAA. One other thing I did was install a mod that allows the game to use more than 2 GB of RAM. Not sure if it helped or not.

People are saying on forums that the game has annoying crash bugs. But I'm six hours in and have had no crashes at all. Apparently the game is rather CPU limited due to shadows or some other effects. But it only uses 2 cores so our beasts aren't losing out too badly. I did go ahead and overclock my CPU for the first time to 3.0 ghz. Anything over that and the fan is too annoying even with earphones.

 

Hey guys. i have a m1730 and i havent upgraded it since i bought it 4 years ago.
recently i have been getting errors with my graphic driver. when i play a game or something it stops responding and resets which takes me out of the game. i have tried many solutions yet have no come to a answer. i have updated the driver to the latest one, i have taken the driver back to the original form, nothing seems to work.

also i have downloaded skyrim, brilliant game btw, defiantly gonna buy it. however the downloaded version doesnt seem to go well with my laptop. it keeps freezing and the graphics are medium to low standard. i have no idea why. i am ready to upgrade my graphic card but dunno if the graphic card i possess is strong enough to take on the game or is it just the downloaded version. my graphic card is geforce nvidia 8700m gt.
intel core 2 duo cpu t8300 2.4ghz
4gig ram
win 7 64bit
any other information needed

any reply would be helpful

 

Whats the latest bios version for the 9800m gtx sli? i currently have

gpu 1: 62.92.7E.00.14

gpu 2: 62.92.7E.00.15

on dells site the latest one is: 62.92.7E.00.0A/62.92.7E.00.0B is this newer than what i have at the moment?

thanks

 

no its not newer... mine 62.92.7E.00.OC + OD an is latest.
have a look HERE about what digits mean

@aliyasar
im assuming ya have a single 8700mGT not SLI 8700mGT, correct?
wondering if its a heat issue, inside system are the internal heatsink fins totally clean from killer dust?
what gpu temps are getting ?
probably gpu gone faulty.

 

so 62.92.7E.00.0A/62.92.7E.00.0B on dells site is not newer than the bios i currently have?..

also what do you guys use to oc the 9800m gtx i tried afterburner but the clocks are not stable even at 550/1375/850 also cant change the voltage in afterburner.

thanks.

 

It runs very good in 1920/1200 with high/high/med settings ( when all max - only 20-24 fps on my no OCed confing - t8300 8800gtx) . Little , ocasionaly slowdowns when reading new areas , and in the Cities - I can live with that . Works very fine , but It looks like sli mode does not work properly . I mean - no fps benefit ( even a little drop i noticed ) . I tried on 285,79 beta driver with sli profile included for this game .
Btw - did not expect as so good game - 25 hours of gameplay ( not big part of area explored , and I still want more and more .

 

Oh Skyrim runs good at even ultra settings for me 1920x1200 and FXAA enabled. Though I run it in all high settings now and FXAA and framerate indoors is very very good and outdoors anything from 35-50+ fps with these settings. SLI works really well for me with the 270.73 Quadro Drivers for Win 7 for Skyrim and all other games.

Even in Rage I don´t have any fps drop all settings maxed and 2xAA, 16xAF @ 1920x1200.

 

SLI works fine. The reason there's not an apparent fps increase is because Skyrim is cpu-limited. Sadly the designers put shadows on the CPU which is incredibly taxing. Try turning shadows from ultra to med, to off and you'll see a huge fps difference. I think I have my shadows set to high, as ultra causes too much of a fps decrease - I would recommend trying the same thing with your beast. I also recommend trying a modest OC on your cpu if the t8300 can do it. That's what Skyrim is waiting on.

The Bethesda software forums are full of angry users with $400 video cards stuck on 55 fps and having only 40% gpu usage. I hope there's a patch that puts shadows on the gpu where they belong. This is one of the problems with console ports...

 

i dont really know, i usually keep up to date with the bios in the dell website, any idea why my laptop isnt working at the optimum performable???

 

okay then, could figure out have single or dual gpu installed > switch off XPSm1730 > flip XPS upside down on cloth so not to scratch lid, now click on this link Ripfires XPS M1730 Disassembly Guide > look directly under step 7 Pic of Ripfire's XPS upside down > upper right you can see Ripfires two gpu's fan alloy casing under the chassis air intake vents.
also to the upper left corner is one cpu fan.

carefully look through your chassis air intake vents, how many fans can see? 3 or 2?
("3" fans= 1 cpu fan + 1 fan for 1st gpu + 1 fan for 2nd gpu = SLI capable ..
....OR.... "2" fans = 1 cpu fan + 1 gpu fan)

if see "3" fans then go to Device Manager > under Display adapters check if both 8700m's are recognized > if can only see one then the other gpu is dead.

check for killer dust blocking internal heatsink fins > could try shining a torch through Rear Exhaust ( got the idea from eleron911 Laptop GUIDE temps perf )
also see top Pic shined Led torch through rear Exhaust HERE. looking through Chassis air intake vents ar you able to brightly light up inside Fan Area by shinning torch through rear Exhaust?... if its dull or worse nothing will indicate killer dust prevent light rays of torch entering inside fan area (helps if do test in a area thats not well lit mean not under bright lights an use torch that shines bright)

The Beast is like a vacuum cleaner an the dust very slowly builds up an up an up an up..... against internal heatsink fins, if dont clean dust out will cause overheating issues eventually could damage gpu. if dont want to try clean an still under warranty get dell to check an clean system ASP

which latest gpu BIOS installed > R230862.exe (SLI GeForce 8700m GT)
or R230858.exe (single Siberia 8700m GT )?

Yes!... there same..... mine same as yours
last 2 digits ar irrelevant

 

In fact . 95-100% cpu usage almost all of the time . I reinstalled the game to an XP partition - I'm expecting even better performance . I tried a little last night - it looks nice on high detail 1920/1200 ( more than 30 fps , no matter where ) , but seemed to me that some stutters from time to time . It was deep in the night - I will try it today .

 

Whats the best nvidia drivers to use at the moment?

im currently using the quadro 285.38 with modded inf, but was just wondering if theres a better one.

Thanks

 

I really like the older Quadro 270.73 for Win 7. Else I still run with the old very good performers 197.15 in Win XP since these support Nhancer.

 

Finally the X9000 is arrived

BF3 1920*1200 All Ultra (disabled all AntiAlias) AVG 24fps
CPU @ 3,8
GPU @ 650/1625/950

Fraps Benchmark Data
Frames - Time (ms) - Min - Max - Avg
2881 - 119980 - 6 - 42 - 24.012

 

Welcome
I have a request for advice on the temperature. I noticed recently that one of the measurements is significantly lower than others. In a screenshot is the temperature after 3 hour session in Skyrim. Should I be concerned about this difference and whether it can be caused by? .

 

Consi please like to know temp monitor utility an version using? so can try it . dont think its reading properly on-die gpu temp

min of 6 fps? maybe stability prob on those clks, have ya tried lowering cpu or gpu clks to see if Fraps min is lot higher
also were able to get Terrain Quality on ultra? weird .... even after huge BF3 update TQ still only goes up to Medium

BF3 with beta 285.79 > GH Fraps bench min=23 , max=38 , avg= 30 on ultra @ 3.2 , gpu default clks,
settings

 

I'm using Hw32info from long time - I can not remember right now what version but the temeprature was nearly the same in every indication all of the time . I'm not sure , but I think I noticed this difference after applying A11 bios version .
And thanks very much for your answer

 

Sorry for "All Ultra" it's my fault, Terrain it's at Medium. I was too excited to be able to play BF3 with this settings ^_^

3.2 From Dell Bios or ThrottleStop? If is ThrottleStop can u give me your settings please?

Also i see that you are playing full screen, i can't because i've screen flickring with SLI when i play BF3 like some other games. When i'm at home i post driver version.

 

cooool.. thought got lucky with ultra..lol...DX11 cards get ultra for TQ but our Dx10 get medium..wth!
dam dont see flicker on native or 1680x1050 only couple flashing glitchs ive mention earlier were in post 267
started on native then end up finishing again on 1680x1050 all high(lol throw in one medium) both AA off, Ambient Occ off, Motion blur on, now dropped Anisotropic F to 4x but dont notice any thing diff from 16x, gpu's on default clks

dell Bios always set to 3.2 for all 3 fans 100% speed, then use TS to undervolt cpu to 1.25v
if have ES X9000 think they require more voltage than me OEM X9000 so might not able to match OEM 1.25v on 3.2
are using external monitor? im not....gpu driver vers using for bf3?

possible do with A11? could try newer vers if fix on-die prob

A10 win7-64, tested HWiNFO32(v3.56) with skyrim for hour all gpu temps good.
same with newer v3.90 (portable zip) HERE > like the option to run sensors-only
NOTE in Pic: renamed Fans > System = GPU#0, Fan1 = GPU#1
also no prob on-die with XPpro32

Fraps 180sec Skyrim bench on native, @ 3.2, gpu default clks, doing laps around town (Riverwood) using Daedric Battleaxe
min = 22, max = 66, Avg = 43
options used for bench

searched mod to uncap skyrim 60Fps by add iPresentInterval=0 to Skyrim.ini file

 

Hey- i cant run BF3 at all, running with 285.79 on my 9800mGTXsli (cpu=T9300)
Everything on low and its still unplayable in multiplayer.. any1 experiencing the same, or have any possible solutions?

Thanks
-Anders

 

yeah i do have a 8700mgt, i havent cleaned the inside of my laptop in a while now, i might make that a weekend job, i think it was the single, how do you check, i go to device manager but it just says nvidia 8700mgt. it doesnt really give me information if its single or sli. however when i got to nvidia control panel it does give me the option to enable the sli, which i have already done.

i have a external fan on my laptop, which cools it down, before that i did have a heating issue

 

Try to clean your 3D profile, i've had a similar issue BF3 Slow 6FPS !_!
I've create a BF3 Profile and everything goes smooth

 

Hi guys,

Been having an issue with the Bluetooth Module. Fn + F2 won't activate it, I can't instal any driver, and the radio switch only turns on the wifi.

Any idea?

 

@eleron
Is bluetooth enabled in BIOS? Can't think of anything else

 

Dunno,
Haven't checked that, but it could be. Will report later.

Thanks

 

Have you installed the driver from Dell site or you use Windows drivers? Without Dell's drivers i couldn't use BT properly.

 

Funny thing is, can't seem to find the XP driver for Bluetooth, I keep getting a 'file not found' when trying to download it.

Will check the BIOS thing and report back.

 

eleron the single file download via browser is broken for xp BT but download via Download Manager works

this me device manger that shows two 9800m GTX's
so im understanding see only "one item" under Display adapters which is "NVIDIA 8700M GT"


okay then ...to check for sure if SLI is enabled but more important is working > open Nvidia control Panel > SLI is enabled > up top left of NCP click on 3D settings > tick "Show SLI Visual indicator" test on some 3D games to see a vertical long green bar on screen. try older 3D game because gpu driver might not have SLI support for latest games.

helpful if have utility like techpowerup GPUz which gives Driver Version , Bios Version......
this pic shows SLI Visual indicator location an 2 gpu's working in SLI Mode on Halo2

because of your sli option in NCP thinking have two 8700m GT's but one gpu has issue. (so when flip over XPSm1730 you can see 3 FANS?)

 

i do have two 8700m gt on device manager.

i do have 3 fans under my laptop

what else could i do to maximise my performance,

 

sorry scratch that it works on both now, also notice they fix corrupt vista64 quickset driver lol better get it quick before goes bad again think dell play games with us

sure have a 8700m GT SLI Board Installed
if prob still happens after clean inside especially the internal heatsink fins, be gpus need replacing an need to consider MOBO may need replacing to

upgrade to a core2 Extreme cpu because in your dell Bios is a hidden cpu OC tool an only Extreme cpu can unhide it.
then can set dell Bios OC tool to 3.2 or 3.4 GHz to switch 3 fans on (3600-3700rpm)100% continous speed for best max cooling when gaming.
highest can upgrade is 9800mGTX Sli Board, cost heap bucks (+ there possibility may need another MOBO)
pity dont have warranty? because of that heat issue an now prob gaming dell would have had to replace gpus to 9800m GT SLI or 9800m GTX SLI an probably mobo at no cost
goodluck with the clean

 

Well, BT is enabled in BIOS, the BT service is started and running, but it still doesn't detect the connection. Nor does FN+F2 start it, the radio button only starts the wifi, even though quickset shows that it should start all of them...

Maybe it's physically disconnected. I'll check that tomorrow, when doing a fan cleanup.