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OFFICIAL: Alienware M18x Owners Lounge


Brian

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Wauw what a difference! Running around 60 FPS on high now (ultra textures)!

Great, you got it figured out. I'm running on 11.10 v3 as well but just keep in mind you won't have any brightness controls with it. BTW, are you seeing your GPU 1 get really hot on a cold boot (e.g. first time you start the computer after its been shut down)? Seems a lot of people with 6990s have this problem and it requires a system reboot to reset the thermal sensors.

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Great, you got it figured out. I'm running on 11.10 v3 as well but just keep in mind you won't have any brightness controls with it. BTW, are you seeing your GPU 1 get really hot on a cold boot (e.g. first time you start the computer after its been shut down)? Seems a lot of people with 6990s have this problem and it requires a system reboot to reset the thermal sensors.

You or someone can confirm that if after a repaste even by the vram that the temps are similarly higher in those circumstances. I know my cards were suffering under normal dell standards. The vram esp on both cards the temps on overclocked speeds were outrageous at >95C and stock came close to 90s in furmark. I am using 3dclocks fulltime via a vbios flash using rbe but i did repaste the cpu, gpus and their vram in fact i replaced all the thermal pads there with ICD24 it needed a lot as the pads in 1 or 2 spots take up a lot of space....

post-34-14494991940106_thumb.png

I see an improvement in 3d apps since both cards never drop to powersaver and don't have to cycle back and forth... but even 2d apps are more responsive. I use fans at max at system start via task scheduler and hwinfo.

You can set HWinfo to run fans automatically Mumak said:

1. If you put "OpenFanCtrlMin=1" at the end of HWiNFO32.INI (or HWiNFO64.INI respectively) that should automatically activate the fan control window in minimized mode too

2. Please check using task manager if it's still active

You can start it at start up via Task Scheduler and setting HWinfo to start at logon as a "basic task" and set open with highest privileges.

Alienware Fan Control

always save you main vbios for restoration if needed.

I used to flash via the dos boot drive method that i used from 5870's on R2 and it doesn;t detect the cards when i hit the commands to flash them it seems to not detect 6970m like this.. now. so i use Rbe (get it here : RBE - Radeon BIOS editor ) load your card 1 vbios save it after setting the power profiles up and open vbios 2 and do the same and save them. you can extract vbios with gpuz and Svl7 recommends dos method of extraction but I only got gpuz to be successful for me. But SVl7's method is safer... i used to use it on 5870 but they seem to not be detected as i mentioned. So load in rbe with load button card 0 or the primary vbios file you can say... and hit flash button at bottom. Here you will need to install the Atiflash extension program that can be downloded here (Download Winflash 2.0.1.2 | techPowerUp) then select the option to browse or search to find the winflash executable. it will look like this

post-34-14494991940845_thumb.png

hit analyze and don't be doing anything in the background as it will be accessing the vbios in windows.

You will see this now if on 6970m different numbers maybe on other cards

post-34-14494991941693_thumb.png

now hit card 0 and hit flash bios again have nothing going on in the backround. When its done it will say done would you like to restart hit the option for no and then hit the X on the flash window now that card 0 or primary is done. Hit load on main Rbe window and load the secondary card vbios or 1 and proceed to flash button again. This time i believe you dont ven need to load winflash etc as long as you keep rbe open between flashes... you shouldn't need to hit analyze again to see the cards but if so hit it so it lists the cards. now select card 1 or the second card listed...and hit flash bios now again do nothing in background and when it finishes this time hit restart.

i used saphire trixx after flashing and then set the option disable ulps, synchronize clocks and start at system-start. This fixes a prob where card 1 locks to 100/200 while other is at overclock speeds... so restart. Now go to settings in trixx and unselect run at system start and close trixx as you wont need it again... check speeds and you should see 3dclocks at idle and at all times.

also make sure power options ATI says this

post-34-14494991942578_thumb.png

tutorial here: Tutorial on how to use RBE (Radeon BIOS Editor) | techPowerUp

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Just did a benchmark run with a clean install on the new M18x. Using 11.10 drivers (no brightness control, wtf?) and default settings except I have the CPU tdp changed via bios + used AMD overdrive to push the GPUs to 740/1000:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2629[/ATTACH]

Can someone tell me how I can get AMD overdrive? Or is that not possible in crossfire? I don't have this option in Catalyst CS

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  • 2 weeks later...
Can someone tell me how I can get AMD overdrive? Or is that not possible in crossfire? I don't have this option in Catalyst CS

its discussed here or rather there is a link to a guide here: http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m18x/1270-need-guide-6970-enabling-overdrive-undervolting-your-m18x.html Hi aardshok yes overdrive is available but must be unhidden/unlocked you need to change registry and edit and flash the vbios using rbe editor.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest Cepheid_Soul

Every tech forum I've looked at comparing DDR3 speeds and fps shows no significant increase in framerate with different RAM speeds. I wouldn't spend the money. The testers went as far as to game with DDR2 vs DDR3 and it still showed no drop in FPS at most, the differences in game frame rates between DDR2 800 and DDR3 1600 was 3fps.

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other system response is improved though.... best upgrade is lower latency ram second best is ram running at higher speeds but the latenies will show more improvement no matter what over speed unless maybe 1000mhz faster...

for now and even Ivy bridge mobile max official support is still 1600mhz.

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yeah for some reason my best performing chip was the 2720 too but i think ts will help bring it up some.but so far so good i guess, haven't had the chance to play any games yet but hyperX' this build seems excellent. the only thing i hate about the 18x is that dam big ass psu, dell did gave me some 1600 ram too which is nice. i prolly sell my hyperX's to buy a new backpack since this won't fit my old lappy.

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ok we get it, you have a gf. hahahaha alright let me see if i can hustle the bag from dell first before buying one. btw how many monitors can the 18x run at the same time. i have 1 connected atm but want another one too, so that would make 3 screens including the 18x screen.

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That's a sick setup you got, I thought you were getting red though? Not sure about the temp difference but as long as card 2 is running cooler it doesn't matter much.

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I love boobs nice setup. Glad your settling in now with the M18x. Its huge right. I got the backpack to fits a kitchen sink and the m18x... Ha ha lol no but it does fit the m18x and my rather large notebook cooler Zalmon nc-3000u.

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nice setup dan.

@ brian, i just never like the color red for some reason. but you know me it will have a sexy paint job real soon, heheh prolly order a set of the casing soon, just need to pick a color.

Added after 6 minutes:

I love boobs nice setup. Glad your settling in now with the M18x. Its huge right. I got the backpack to fits a kitchen sink and the m18x... Ha ha lol no but it does fit the m18x and my rather large notebook cooler Zalmon nc-3000u.

hahah, actually its does fit my old bag, but its real snug. but that dam power brick is huge and the power cord itself is so thick and rigid(insert your own penis jokes), i did swap over to the thinner r3 cord and it look fine so i may keep it like that, prolly have to buy another psu just so i won't have to carry it around.

is everyone's power cord the same, really thick? i can take a pic and post it.

Edited by iloveb00bs
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