OFFICIAL: Alienware M17x R3 / R4 - Owners Lounge

[Thumper_23]

This has probably been asked and answered but do you guys think the new Nvidia and AMD series graphics card will work in an HM67 chipset?

[Brian]

This has probably been asked and answered but do you guys think the new Nvidia and AMD series graphics card will work in an HM67 chipset?

I don't see why not. They're still MXM 3.0 backward compatible.

[mw86]

Have been messing around with VMware and created 2 virtual machines and had both up and running and was seriously impressed that overall the machine didn't really feel like I was pushing it to hard. Have had my R3 for about 3 months now and still finding that is has more power then any of my personal machines ever dreamed of having.

tell me about it these things are real beasts. Nice what kind of VM OS did you load? Yeah ive been impressed with VM technology even last gen cpus

[mw86]

I don't see why not. They're still MXM 3.0 backward compatible.

Sweet 680M could be one beast if they do it right

[Staff Sargent]

I just loaded a win 7 and win 2000 server, just practice for school. Nothing serious right now until school start up for me. Then not sure what OS I will have to load since its a cyber security course so things could get interesting.

[mw86]

Sweet Staff Sargent that sounds awesome. I've only tried XP in a VM so far. I have a tower iwth ubuntu, xp and win7 maybe i'll see how win7 runs via vm and Linux not Ubuntu havent been happy with it...

[Staff Sargent]

well I know my alien can handle what ever i need to do, have not messed with unix or linux much besides besides basic user stuff and what ever linux distro Back track is. when I get the software package from ITT tech will start a post about the stuff I am doing and the VM stuff they have me do. I know i have to do some type of video recording of stuff I do and will post links to my youtube if people are interested. Won't be starting for another month while my grants get sorted out.

[mw86]

im looking forward to it SSG

[Rania!!]

Hello to all....i am new to this forum and the reason i am writing is because i am interesting in buying an Allienware M17x R3 and i would like to know if i can order one from USA online store and have it delivered to Greece or UK????? Furthermore i wanted to ask if its so common to have a problem with the order??!!!

THANK U

Edited April 10, 2012 by Rania!!

[svl7]

Hi Rania, welcome to T|I! Yes, there are ways to order from the US, but it involves some work and patience.

Here's good write-up regarding the ordering process for non-US citizens:

http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware/31-how-order-alienware-us-non-us-citizens.html

[Michael]

Welcome to TI Rania! Make sure you follow all the steps in the guide svl7 linked to as dell seemed to get even more anal about overseas orders. Pm me if you are having trouble ordering.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5

[bigtonyman]

Some folks with the 580m on nbr have flashed their 580m's to a 675m. Guess that proves that the 675m is just a rebadge.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using tapatalk 2

[Michael]

Did it improve anything?

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5

[svl7]

Yeah, I'm also wondering about any improvements. I quickly looked at the VBIOS, and it is quite a bit different.

[bigtonyman]

Haven't seen anything yet, but I'll keep my eyes out and see what happens. Makes me wish I had a 580m

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using tapatalk 2

[mw86]

Hmmm SVL7 if you find it looks kind of Kosher and SVL7 approved I'd flash mine to 675M and give a impression and some test runs for everyone. Maybe they improved the architecture a lot and maybe benefit more from the latest 300 drivers. But do 675m cards look quite different then 580m DELL > DELL? could it cause malfunction do to changed external hardware that's not on the chip?

[bigtonyman]

Geocake and widezu haven't had any issues yet, but that's with a single card system. A guy on nbr that's got a replacement M18x coming is gonna flash his current machine before he sends it back. I'll let you guys know what happens.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using tapatalk 2

[mw86]

I hope it makes use of the latest drivers better and runs more efficient... dont know what to expect if it works Thanks

[Staff Sargent]

hey people, well been doing a lot to my R3, re-pasted the GPU and dropped the temps about 10c and am using trixx to OC to 800/1175 which gives me a steady 50-70 FPS in BG3 with temps no higher then 74c on the shader temp which always seem to be the highest in monitoring software. Also found out the logitech software for the G300 gaming mouse breaks the software that does the graphics switching. Also still running the factory installed drivers. Not sure I want to test the new ones just yet but will at some point.

I also used windows image creator to create a VHD file of my system, with windows ultimate you can boot from a VHD file but with some editing of boot files, which at some point I am going to set up so I can have a test setup and my normal working system. then I can test drivers or what ever and if things don't work out a simple restart and select the regular system and I am back without hassles like I have had. I would image the HVD files could be run in a virtual pc also just don't think testing drivers would be as affective.

[bigtonyman]

Thats pretty sweet dude, that testing system is pretty awesome. I might have to try it sometime.

[Staff Sargent]

will have to make a post on how I create the system image with everything installed. Then the steps need to mount the file like a real drive for testing. Creating it is pretty easy, theres an option on the left side of the backup app built into windows 7. Mounting that image and making it bootable is a little more tricky but for testing its worth it to me. my VHD file is 79.5GB in size and that's 90% of my software and 2 games. So you need space if you have a lot of stuff. Oh yeah and all my personal files are in there too.

[mw86]

will have to make a post on how I create the system image with everything installed. Then the steps need to mount the file like a real drive for testing. Creating it is pretty easy, theres an option on the left side of the backup app built into windows 7. Mounting that image and making it bootable is a little more tricky but for testing its worth it to me. my VHD file is 79.5GB in size and that's 90% of my software and 2 games. So you need space if you have a lot of stuff. Oh yeah and all my personal files are in there too.

sweet Staff Sargent early on on my first Alienware (m17xR2) I tried similar and its great to be able to recover without repeating every process you did to get all installed. One technique I read about is use the "shrink volume" command

control panel > system and security > administrative tools > computer management > storage > disk management (local) > right click a drive and hit "shrink volume"

by doing this you aren't backing up free space and also make it easier if you end up restoring onto a drive smaller then the original (who knows) so 1 it saves time and 2 it saves space when done just right click and hit "extend Volume" same with after you did a restore... once restored use that "extend volume" command to make it use as much free raw space on your new or replacement hard drive as you want.

[mav]

So what you guys say against the R2? Was it a worth buy/ upgrade? Or does the new extreme Prozessors gave you the kick to buy this R3?

[Thumper_23]

Well I bit the bullet and ordered an R4.Specs are 3820Qm,6Gb 1600,AMD 7970,500Gb HD.I sold my r3 and the 2960Xm seperately.I kept the Corsair Vengeance 1866MHz and the Corsair Performance Pro 256Gb SSD.Thinking about getting a 3920XM ES but I read that they run very hot when OC'd so I'll have to give it some serious thought.ETA 6/1

[GeoCake]

You should have bought it with the cheapest Ivy if you plan to go Ivy XM in the future. Chances are the 3920XM will not be overclockable for a long time. Even if the R4 does get an unlocked bios how can you adjust the multipliers?

Only Intel XTU 2.1 can adjust them, and it probably won't even support Ivy since it is an old version. Maybe it will, I dunno. Here are some of my bench records with the 7970M (I don't need to push 'cause no competition yet hehehe).

AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P25806 3DMarks

AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P6847 3DMarks

AMD Radeon HD 7970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,Alienware M17xR3 score: P7658 3DMarks (Tessellation off, it's an AMD card, why not).