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I've owned a lot of high end gaming notebooks since the Dell Inspiron XPS Gen 2. I haven't owned a mainstream or a multimedia powerhouse notebook since then; strictly gaming notebooks. My first notebook mod was making a hybrid between an Inspiron XPS Gen 2 and the newer XPS M1710 (Gen 2 Lid, M1710 base and motherboard). That experience got me hooked on modding the other notebooks I got my hands on; from green palm-rested M9750s running Radeon 3870s in Crossfire to a OCZ Whitebook that was actually white and carried a TV tuner. Now comes the M17x-R2. In terms of functionality, specs and everything in respect to its time of introduction, this is the best gaming notebook I have ever owned. Attractive design, modular components (MXM, Mini PCI-e), amazing screen; it's hard to find a notebook that can beat the M17x in terms of the overall package today (and I think the M18x has the best shot of doing that). So now comes that time again to fully mod this machine before I send it off and upgrade to another gaming notebook in the late future. This time, I'm going all out: from changing the GPUs to reanodizing the frame (yes, reanodize it) and I've already gotten started, despite it being exam week for me. Now since most of you guys are notebook enthusiasts like me I'd like to hear your input of what I should add/upgrade to this machine. Here's a check list of what I've done so far: Keyboard/Key Replacement (darker, but more luminescent keys) Unlocked A10 BIOS V1 IR Remote And here is what I plan to do: 1) WiFi/Mini-PCI E replacement: getting rid of the Ultimate N-6300 to possibly the following: - Intel Advanced N 6230 (since it has bluetooth, it opens up the other Mini-PCI E slot for something like a TV tuner or a WiHD module) - Atheros WiFi/Bluetooth combo (similar to the 6230) - BigFoot Killer N 1103 (and deal with the loss of bluetooth and upgrade the second slot to TV tuner, WiHD module, or something else) 2) GPU Replacement: I already tested a 6970M in the system and there are still things to be worked out. Thanks' to Mumak's progressions, the 6970M in a R2 seems to be more practical. Though I got rid of my 1120 shader card, I bought an even better setup. Probably not as exciting and most can guess what it's going to be... 3) Optical Drive replacement: This system came with a boring 8x DVD burner. Time to upgrade to a Blu-ray burner. There's the 4x BD-R Panasonic UJ235A that's on ebay, or I can wait for the slot-load version of the UJ240 with 6x BD-R. I'm still looking for a Sony/NEC slot-load BD-R as I've had a better experience with that brand for optical drives 4) Body work: I thought about powdercoating or just spray painting, but something about anodized coating stands out more. So, I decided I'm going to go with that. I've already bought a spare lid and a spare bottom base that I've already stripped down so that it's just the aluminum pieces. I'll have to remove the current anodized coat using Lye and send it off to the nearest plating firm to coat it. That, or I can do it myself... I haven't decided on the color yet, but I'm leaning towards a dark sapphire blue. 5) Power: Thought about getting an extended life version of the M17x battery, still looking into that. All depends on how much of an improvement in average life and average decay they provide. Also, depending if the new 330w PSU that comes with the M18x works in older systems, that's another option. Nothing too fancy or ambitious. 6) Heatsink modification: This is probably the most ambitious of all my goals, but I know a few shops that could help me out with this. Basically my goal is to completely redesign the GPU heatsinks to make it more focused on dissipating heat through the vents. This includes adding three copper pipes for each GPU heatsink (the third to soak up the heat from the memory banks, which the current heatsink doesn't have. And if I can't make my own, I'll see what I can do to improve on the current one. So that's what I'm looking at now. What do you guys think? any suggestion of what to do/what not to do? This project should easily replace the amount of gaming I do and also reduce my daily caffeine intake. EDIT: Also, I'll use this post to document any updates on this project if you guys are interested.

Thanks wbabt007. Just got off the phone with AW support. Had to fucking teach the tech why this isn't a problem of voltages. He was claiming it's my fault cause i am using a US issued power supply (110v) in Israel (220v) when it clearly states on the power supply it's 110-240v. What a moron! When i finally convinced him of that, he didn't want to send me a motherboard, just the charger, and that's after i explained to him that the charger was already replaced and it's fine. Anyway, all is good now it seems (still waiting for a confirmation email), i convinced him to send out a mobo.

I am gonna relieve your torture and go ahead and swap out Aydin's laptop for yours. Then you can begin benching his V-tech and swap out the paste for Mx-4. I will take care of your m18x and will even do you a favor by posting up a review on TI only.

Umm... read your post again, carefully... ... fail?

not really in everyday task, but i'm a bencher so any lil bit counts.

2720 here: ran the 1024 wprime it stays at 30x for like 5 sec then drops to 29.5x for 90 sec or so, then drops t0 28x for a few secs then the reminder of the test is at 27.5. max temp at 85. also have my bclk at 107.

Ok, now I'm satisfied.

Michael's issue has been forwarded to AW engineering. I asked a Dell guy I know over e-mail. I'll let you guys know what they say about it.

Happy Day! Finalizing Production on one page and shipped on another. Fed Ex already has the order number in there system. Not sure how accurate the info is there though as it says "shipment information sent" but shows tomorrow as the delivery date. We will see I guess

Wow Michael so sorry this is happening to you, Specially since you waited so long for your M17x-R3. I really hope Alienware/ Dell get this issues resolved pronto. Please keep us posted.

Settings... See Screenshot but in a nutshell.. ALL HIGH, NO HBAO, NO AA/AF NO VSYNC. Dx10 Benchmark Type (Dynamic), logged while in 32 player MP match, Rush Isla Innocente. System: I7-2630qm, 555mGT @ 750/1000 driver 170.61 2011-05-15 23:17:24 - BFBC2Game Frames: 28046 - Time: 266902ms - Avg: 105.080 - Min: 44 - Max: 162 2011-05-15 23:22:29 - BFBC2Game Frames: 82908 - Time: 987159ms - Avg: 83.986 - Min: 26 - Max: 155 <--- Notice extreme server lag killed the score but still very high. A couple of quick tips to great performance out of BFBC2. 1. Check your PERFORMANCE tab of your TASKMGR. If your cpu goes above ZERO at idle then you need to optimize. 2. In your BFBC2 config file, make sure render frames ahead is set to ZERO. 3. Set DX level to 10 or 9. 4. For MP make sure network throttling is disabled. 5. Never enable HBAO... It kills performance and no real improvement. Good Luck and Happy Pew Pewing. StevenX

Here's some CollegeHumor:

Witcher2 out tomorrow - cant wait to see how it goes on the M14x -actually, I think I might bring it to work so I can load it

I checked this out for you and the only oddity I noticed was that when I pulled the charger out it stayed on "plugged in, charging" for a few seconds although the charger wasn't plugged in. I tried it on both the AMD card and the IGP and got the same exact results each time, the charger stayed lit, the battery icon said charging even though it wasn't for a few seconds then went to the normal percentage, when I plugged it back in it was instant on returning to normal. With what you're describing it sounds like your charger is bad and/or possibly the actual charging port. I know there's supposed to be an overload trip type switch in the brick so if it's reading incorrectly there or within the computer it probably stops directing the current hence the light shutting off. If you know anyone else with an alienware(M15x, 17xR1/R2/R2) I'd try your charger on their rig and see if it does the same thing, if not call AW and ask for a new charger telling them it's shutting off randomly. If I can help anymore just shoot me a pm

Great deal imo. And you can upgrade to 6770m which is ALMOST as good as 555m HP Home For those who held off and did not buy it at $850, it is now $45 cheaper. HP dv6t Quad Laptop $1149.99 - 30% off code NB6171 = $804.99 with free shipping Good upgrades to consider: 1GB GDDR5 Radeon HD 6770M Graphics $25 9-Cell Over-sized Lithium-Ion Battery (up to 9.75 hours of battery life) $21 Specs 2nd Gen (Sandy Bridge) Intel Core i7-2630QM 2GHz Quad Core Processor 6GB DDR3 Memory 640GB 7200rpm Hard Drive 15.6" 1366 x 768 LED Display 1GB Radeon HD 6490M w/ HDMI Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner WiFi N 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (up to 5.5 hours) Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 15-Month Norton Internet Security Subscription

I have no idea man, my card idles at about 50 after a repaste(no aftermarket pads yet) but it did idle a bit higher in the mid 50's with stock paste. So no you're not dreaming and you don't have a bad card. The nice part is I'm running flashed clocks at 775/1100 and the temps only go up like 2-3 degrees. I'll try that out later tonight, I've done a lot of benching today and my wife is feeling neglected lol.

Funny that you asked I was testing just that. So, with powerplay disabled the card sits at 150/100 even with furmark running. Enabled powerplay again, now on 11.5 drivers, and in 2d clocks seem to be ok on 100/150 and they jump to 680/900 as expected. So to sum up - on stock dell drivers there's a problem with PowerPlay and 2d clocks, 11.5 fixes that completely.

Fuck them!