bought a new laptop and need a few questions answered

First off I want to say hello, this is my first time on this site, but I trolled it quite a bit over the past few months looking up information before buying my new laptop. I'm quite new to the world of laptops and computer gaming in general, before picking up this beast I stuck to xbox and ps3

I just bought an Alienware m18x and the specs were supposed to be as follows:

i7- 2860QM
dual 2g 6990M GPU with crossfire
8gigs of 1886MHZ memory
750 7200rpm sata

So today after loading up a few games I decided to run that 3dmark11 test that I see all you guys going on about, and I have a few questions and worries about what popped up that I'm hoping one of the more knowledgeable people on the forums could please answer for me.

The first one is my score which is:

3DMark Score
P6379
Graphics Score
6360
Physics Score
7614
Combined Score
5225

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the norm is supposed to be for my computers set up, and if that is falling into the right area.

My other questions are ones that really concern me.

1) when running the 3dmark11 the results showed my graphics cards as AMD Radeon HD 6970M / 6990M when i ordered dual 6990s. Now is this normal? Or did they some how put the wrong graphics card into my computer?

2) my ram, I ordered 8 gigs of 1886mhz and got:
Module 1
2048 MB Kingston 9 @ 667 MHz
Module 2
2048 MB Kingston 9 @ 667 MHz
Module 3
2048 MB Kingston 9 @ 667 MHz
Module 4
2048 MB Kingston 9 @ 667 MHz

again, am I reading this wrong and just simply confused, or did they put slower sticks in my computer then I had ordered?

I'd really appreciate a response, again, I'm fairly new to this so please stay away from getting overly technical, talk to me like I'm a 90 year old to has to use the phone with the really big keypad.

Please help me!

 

The 3dmark 11 Scores for 6990m crossfire look to be fine to me. However, I can't comment on the RAM. Hopefully someone else will here will know.


http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6990M-Crossfire.58862.0.html

They got 6422. So yours seem to be fairly close to that.

 

Not to be worried. Based on your score you are running in crossfire.

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

 

Thanks, and yea, I'm really more worried I got jipped on a less expensive graphics card and less expensive ram... if that's true I'll be furious...

 

You definitely have the right cards. Don't worry about that. As for the RAM, it could be as simple as your motherboard defaulting it to 1333mhz (667mhz = 1/2 1333). If that's the case, I think you can manually increase it via profiles to 1866, or possibly in the bios.

 

Alright thanks Josh, I really appreciate the help. But do you know any reasoning behind the 3dmark11 test saying I had a 6970 and a 6990 instead of saying I had 2 6990s? I bought this computer just as they transitioned to nivida 600 series in the m18xs which leads me to believe that they didn't have enough 6990s.

 

So after an hour I got off the phone with dell. Long story short, both the GPU and memory are wrong, and they are sending a technician over to my house Monday to replace them. I'm extremely glad I ran that 3dmark11 test.

 

please do yourself a favor and return that order, dell usa is now shipping with 7970m (not with %30 weaker 6990m) and buy another one with 7970m crossfire, it will be immensely more powerful at the SAME price tag (yupp you read it correct, it is cheaper at dell)

 

Where exactly do you see the available option for the m18x with crossfire 7970m?
I only see the single 7970m option for the m17x.

 

it will be available soon, they already listed m18x-r2 will offer 7970m crossfire a few days ago, maybe in a month, maybe less

BTW... LINSANITY FOREVER

 

currently with the m18x they offer dual 2g Nvidia 675m. For the exact same price i just bought this laptop at a month and a half ago, would that be a noticeable upgrade over the dual 6990s crossfire?

 

nope, don't get 675m, that is basically same (except SLi scales better than crossfire apparently), but if you return wait for a few weeks and get 7970m crossfire, you will save yourself some headaches..

 

You do not have the wrong cards. The 3DMark site reads all 6900Ms as AMD Radeon HD 6970M / 6990M, and it is not telling you that you have one of each. I just checked, and mine is displayed the exact same way.

An easier way to find out, is to open GPU-Z, then flip between the two cards. They'll be identical.

 

Alright, well dell offered to replace the cards anyways, and I know for a fact that they put in the wrong memory because he ran a program on my computer that clearly showed the memory was far slower then I had originally paid for.

 

The memory downclocks to 667 MHz automatically, when at idle. Your new memory will do the same exact thing.

 

Sounds like Dell is actually making an attempt at good customer service.

I agree with another poster here. If you have a computer to use just send it back and wait for the 7970m.

If that is your only available computer stick with it!

 

They are having trouble getting the memory for my computer, and that they would email me Monday with an update. I've decided that if the ram is not in my computer by the following Monday I would call and return it.

 

I agree with Kevin's posts. If I were you I would download GPU-Z and HWInfo64. Chances are, they are 6990Ms (1120 shaders), which would save you the hassle of having an inexperienced tech come to your house and possibly damage other parts of your computer in the process. Also have you tried going into the BIOS and changing the RAM profile?