OFFICIAL: Alienware M18x Owners Lounge

[JCrichton]

Will I be the only one buying a 2920XM through dell?

I am. But that's mostly because I have a load of refund money to do so from my M17x-R2. If I was buying it with "new money" I would have to think about value = price/performance.

I imagine the responses from others will be something like it's easy to do if you know what you are doing.

[mw86]

Well I'm in the exact boat you are in so good to see I won't be theonly one buying M18 from Dell with the 2920XM... Like you said I'm sure I'll here about how easy it should be to set their 4ghz Overclock... but I'm hoping someone will tell me they know it's just setting a multiplier in the bios or something...

[StamatisX]

Yeah I doubt it will be something special they will do to OC up to 4GHz... it is another marketing trick to increase their income...

[Michael]

Alienware landing page updated with M18x just now!

http://www.alienware.com/Landings/laptops.aspx

[kune]

I can't believe it.

base + xfire 6970 is $200 cheaper in Canada than USA.

System is cheaper all around in Canada actually, unless you get it fully loaded with 4 year accidental care.

[Guest bifnewman]

If you are going to get a 2920xm at all, I would get it through Dell. all the prices on ebay are $1000+ and it will be covered under warranty if you go through dell.

[Ashtefere]

Second this, cant find it cheap anywhere.

In fact, im actually considering the 2820qm, as I really dont want the loud fan noise from overclocking the CPU that will no doubt occur with that tiny little heatpipe.

Maybe I will upgrade the CPU much, much later third party.

-Ash

[e46justice]

2720 seems to be the sweet spot with price vs performance. Will leave the xm for something to look forward too later.

[Guest turcsikg]

Helló

I have a question.

m17x R3 has a single 2GB 6970. The m18x dual 6970 has 2x1 GB, or 2x2GB 6970?

If m18x has 2x1GB 6970, it is better the m17x 1x2GB 6970?

Edited May 7, 2011 by turcsikg

[wbabt007]

Helló

I have a question.

m17x R3 has a single 2GB 6970. The m18x dual 6970 has 2x1 GB, or 2x2GB 6970?

If m18x has 2x1GB 6970, it is better the m17x 1x2GB 6970?

The m18x-R1 has 2 HD6970m with 2Gig Per card on Crossfire configuration for a total of 4 Gig.

[Jimbo]

Even if it did have 2x1gb it would be faster, Vram is overrated and 1gb is a fair bit anyway.

[StamatisX]

The m18x-R1 has 2 HD6970m with 2Gig Per card on Crossfire configuration for a total of 4 Gig.

In CFX or SLI unfortunately you can't sum the vram of the cards, it will use only that of one card, ie 2GB (even though you have 2 cards with 2GB each)

[e46justice]

So with twice the memory bandwidth... wait a min... so the second card exports too the first cards memory buffer than out to the display or is the information sent to the first cards memory buffer than parsed to the second card to do work and both send back to the display separately?

wow and here i thought i knew how this worked. up until 5 mins ago i thought

-Information is sent too both cards

-Cards render frames sequentially

-frames are displayed in order rendered

that doesn't appear to be the case if only one cards vram is used, and so if the other cards vram isnt used than it may have twice the memory bandwidth in theory it just only uses one leg of it?

[StamatisX]

Actually you are using both legs, they just divide the workload, it's that the same data are copied to both cards and that's why in SLI/CFX you have only as much available memory as one card has.

[wbabt007]

Actually you are using both legs, they just divide the workload, it's that the same data are copied to both cards and that's why in SLI/CFX you have only as much available memory as one card has.

Nice explanation, first time that I truly understand the concept. So is like using raid 1 where 2 drives act like one, but one being in the background ready to kick in if other one fails?

Edited May 7, 2011 by wbabt007

[Brian]

Nice explanation, first time that I truly understand the concept. So is like using raid 1 where 2 drives act like one, but one being in the background ready to kick in if other one fails?

Take a look at this, it's one of the methods Crossfire employs: Alternate frame rendering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Also the subject of microstuttering may be interesting to read up on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_stuttering

[retali8]

Is anyone buying a laptop cooling pad for their M18x?

[wbabt007]

Is anyone buying a laptop cooling pad for their M18x?

Yes, I was thinking about buying this baby out, but I haven't seen pricing yet, and that's not very encouraging. NotePal Infinite EVO, link attached.

NotePal Infinite EVO - Cooler Master

[rawhide85]

Yes, I was thinking about buying this baby out, but I haven't seen pricing yet, and that's not very encouraging. NotePal Infinite EVO, link attached.

NotePal Infinite EVO - Cooler Master

wbabt007- I am going with this one (NotePal U2) which is also from CoolerMaster. I like that the fans can be placed right under the laptop fans for better air flow where it is needed most.

NotePal U2 - Cooler Master

[e46justice]

I used to use a VHS tape to prop up my laptop. It was topgun. Topgun was pretty cool so I figure it worked better than taped re runs of the price is right. Wait... Wat.....

[mw86]

Guys you peaked my interest then I found this. Perfect for any Dual GPU desktop replacement such as M18x could be perfect... just line up all three fans with laptops three fans. NotePal U3 - Cooler Master

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-NotePal-Notebook-R9-NBC-8PCK-G/dp/B003ZMF27G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1305166674&sr=8-1

Or the Thermaltake Massive23 LX Laptop Notebook Cooler Oversized 230mm Blue LED Fan

http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Massive23-Notebook-Oversized-CLN0015/dp/B003ZUXXWO/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1305166674&sr=8-6

Edited May 12, 2011 by mw86

[e46justice]

can we get significantly better overclocks with something like this i have no experiance overclocking laptops, but it looks promising.

[StamatisX]

significantly better just with a cooler no, with a retention mod yes, a combination will be even better of course.

[mw86]

significantly better just with a cooler no, with a retention mod yes, a combination will be even better of course.

Very true... none of those techniques alone will make a huge difference... but combined you should see some great improvement.

[littleone562]

This thing is honestly built like a tank, so solid.