DaneGRClose

That sucks man, I've been through the Dellienware nightmare a few times so I feel what you're going through. I'm to the point now that if possible I deal with just one tech manager that I have a direct line for and they just ship me the parts as they know the techs in my area are morons to say the least. They've now replaced 3 systems due to the "techs" here in Utah. Nice to see you're getting an M18x though, I'm sure it'll be awesome. On the BCLK editing it's built right into the bios, Alienware has it sitting there even more open than the overclocking in the M11xR2(editable FSB in increments of 1mhz). The nice thing is if you were really inclined to push it you could fry your CPU using that and it's still warrantied as Alienware has openly said anything overclocked in the bios that they provide access to is still under warranty I'm just hoping my replacement rig ends up being better with a BCLK change than the current one.

Ok cool, I wasn't actually worried about it but thanks for confirming that. I was actually kind of hoping Dell was dumb enough to send a QS chip lol, would have been major bargaining power.

Wow, you got luckier than I did with my current rig, mine won't push past 100.20 and stay stable. And yes I mean 100.20 not 102.00. Can you look at one other thing for me kune? In your bios on the main page there's a line that says "Sandy Bridge Version..." can you tell me what yours says, mine says QS and I'm hoping that's not QS as in QS/ES. If Dell sent a QS chip to me they're going to have some major problems.

It wasn't over 100.5 it was over 105, are you currently set at 103.4 or 100.34?

mw86- Thanks man, it's just too bad that these 6970's are starting to look like they aren't ever going to be a true benching card without the voltages. What the heck happened to your R2 by the way? Deceased? Kune- Yeah but it's minimal to say the least, the problem I have is I can't go beyond 100.20 and remain stable and I can't even boot beyond 100.40. Based on the info I've seen the way SB is designed the BCLK isn't a good way to overclock them, a lot of the stuff I've seen states that much over 105.00 you have a high risk of frying the chip. Basically I don't think we're gonna get OCing options on these SB chips that's very viable other than possibly an unlocked multiplier. Thanks! Funny thing is someone over at NBR complained about that and a mod deleted my location.

The voltages aren't able to be raised at this point on the 6970m, my current rig is throwing the same issues that when I go over a certain point my scores start dropping pretty drastically by hundreds of points for every 5-10mhz. On a side note here's about as good as this rig is gonna get without LN2 lol.

Here you go Brian, this card is an absolute monster. If we can find a way to change voltages and add some a/c I think this could be a 15k single card :D Score: p14,931 GPU: 14,222 CPU: 17,555

LOL this is gonna be a public Face--->Palm moment but yes I even touched the screen lol. No they refuse to give me a new build, don't know why at this point. I now have to wait until tomorrow to contact the original manager who approved it as she didn't notate what screen they agreed to and they didn't have a part number on Wednesday to order the 1080/60hz panel "supposedly". Mine are running pretty good at 1080p but the strange thing is if I run at 900p on the internal panel it runs about 8-10 degrees higher. What kind of temps have you been getting on the 6970? I get about 50-75 on it at 1080p and 60-85 at 900p.

Yeah I will later tonight, Dell still hasn't sent me the right screen so I only had a limited time to jack the lcd from my kids and wife lol. Nice sig by the way, I started to think the 900p screen Dell screwed up and sent now had a bug in it lol!

Here's my latest from my R3 with the 6970m/2630qm with a modest overclock on the GPU: p14,368 GPU: 13,590 CPU: 17,347

Does it not work in the R2, the R3, or all around? And do you think this may just be an issue of better support for the card on RBE?

If it comes down to that I'll just tell them to send me a new computer lol. Don't want a totally frankensteined computer if I don't get an extra benefit from it(6970m+120hz). The only thing I can think that could cause a problem in the bios is if they have the bios detect the actual dGPU to enable or disable the IGP. If Dell did that they need to shoot the engineer that did. If it's not bios related it has to be hardware problems, either routing of the GPU and screen combo or I have a bunk card. I'm getting a new one tomorrow so we'll see if it's the card or not.

I'm starting to think it's gotta be either the bios or connector, I just don't see why there would be two connectors on the board if there wasn't something with the routing on different configs. Thanks Brian.

I'm wondering if any of the non-3d owners can do me a favor? Can you pull your keyboard off and take a picture of the right side of the mobo under the keyboard where the lcd cable connects to the mobo? I'm wondering if there is different routing on the 3d and non-3d versions and it would help greatly! Thanks!!!

Uh yeah inap/iloveboobs I'll be in touch soon on those You make some awesome freakin decals man!

So one thing I've wanted to ask the guys that have the 6970 in hand is if the GPU runs at full clocks while on battery? If it doesn't and it drops the clocks like the Nvidia card can you at least overclock it using Afterburner, Precision, RivaTuner, etc? Or is that locked out on the AMD card too?

Yeah I noticed that and had to adjust the display color settings to put it back to semi-normal, try plugging something into the HDMI in and it gets really bad on stock settings. Looks like a friggin smurf was murdered on your screen lol.

Look like promising specs for a 14". The 17" XPS 3D only has the GT 555m as the top offering, looks like a good step up in specs for not much added size over the 11x. Now let's hope they can achieve battery life like the M11xR1 or better

I know someone who has a few in hand, pm me for more info.

Nice find Aikimox! Looks like a good thing for both the 18x and the 14x

Yup gotta agree here, M15x=M17xR3, M17xR2=M18x. I doubt they're planning on cutting the 11x so the 14x is just an addition.

Welcome to TI dookie! I have to agree that if Alienware can shove some good hardware in the 14" frame and not gimp it on battery and running full speed on battery that it will be a huge market for them.

I'm glad there's now an option to the insanity over "there", it's sad when good standing forum members post on subjects with pretty substantial evidence to the proof of that topic and it gets closed. I really have to wonder if Dell or Alienware have started to make threats reguarding advertising or something to that effect as I see no reason why they would close so many threads, it all started getting even worse about the time that the R3 info leaked and Dell started to make public threats. No matter what happens over there it's nice to have a place to have discussions on what the future of performance notebooks hold so thanks Brian and the other founders As far as the carbon fiber goes it's very possible, the only concern I could see is if it has a rubber coating making a mold to make the case with could remove and ruin the original rubber coating. I looked into making the case for the R2 and that wouldn't be too difficult, there's a company that sells the molding equipment, fiber sheets, resin, etc and the cost to make a full external case would be approximately $150-200 for an R2 so I'd imagine it would be about the same for an M18x and cheaper for the other models.

Yeah no kidding, I provided proof on that thread by Dell posting the model number and it still got closed. I personally don't think it's anything to do with BB he's usually pretty cool CPJ on the other hand is gonna be the "big headed, power trip" downfall of nbr.

I don't remember the heatsinks on the R2 unfortunately, it's just a standard AW heatsink with a copper pad surrounded by I would guess aluminum, copper heat pipes and I would guess aluminum fins. Almost the same exact type of a heatsink the M15x carries.