bluehorizon.dm

I updated my M14X R1 last sunday and everything worked fine, I had no issues in in making the online purchase/upgrade. I neither had problems about the drivers or the alien fx suite. Under the hood, I think it's the best os Microsoft relesed so far, whether you may or may not like the interface (to me that's a matter of taste). I also noticed performance improvements, 8 is faster than 7 in almost every task; even steam takes less gime to get opened. I didn't have time to make benchs but my feeling is that even games run better (not talking strictly about FPS but as an overall sensation, considering loading times too). At work I noticed with my colleagues that 8 is capable to handle shared volumes much better than 7, with much less time in connectig-mounting-handling the remote fs; battery life got a good improvement too. The Hyper V service has to be mentioned too. Repeat, under the hood is the best ms os so far.

Thanks svl7, I read in a previous post (fom Ninjahunter) that it seems that the more you increase the GPU clock the more you have to low down the ram speed. I'll try 800/1050...

I've installed the svl7 A08 unlocked bios, I must admit that this guy did a very good job! I was able to push the GPU core over the 820MHz, temps are pretty good (71-72C both GPU and CPU without turbo: 2630qm's turbo is to me the major issue in keeping the system cool enough). The only thing I have to check out is that after about an hour of playing Risen 2 at 803/1066 Windows gave me a BSOD with nvlddmkm.sys error (page fault in nonpaged area); I'd investigate if this issue is OC related or merely driver related (I just installed the 307.21 drivers). Has somebody had this issue before?

Hi, repasting the M14X is a must, whether you use the IC Diamond or Arctic Silver (as I did). The gain in temps it's quite important, in my case I passed from 85-89 on CPU with turbo and 75 on GPU to 78-82 CPU with turbo and 69-71 on GPU. Same values with the GPU clocked at 740/900. As I took apart my M14X three times already, the only thing I recommend the most is TAKE CARE ABOUT THE WIFI LED PLUG!!! On the motherboard side, this little thing is very sensitive: to me happened that the rightmost pin angled (because in pulling off the connector it tents to slide to the left) and - obviously - the caps led and the wifi led didn't work anymore. As I thought that it was the led piece not working any more, it took me about two weeks to realize that was the pin of the mobo connector out of place, so I managed to gently fix it with a little needle (an hell of a work). To avoid breaking your nerves (and almost kill your wives and parents), mind this

I'd like to higlight a thing Unreal wrote: the LCD panels that Dell ships with the AWs are quite horrible. I had to change mine a couple of weeks ago so I ordered a genuine part... Well, the original was a 1600x900 one that apart of not being amazing about colors etc. decided to slowly melt its backlights. I decided to switch back for a 1366x768 mainly for working purposes (it fits better for me) and surprise! It's awful!!! The colors are something of gray-shaded in comparison of many other panels I have seen, even in cheaper models (I personally like the asus ones). And that's a shame.

In fact it's possible: I read someone contacted Dell support and for about 600 bucks they gave him the new mobo... I guess he had still an active support contract or guarantee. Here's the post: Can you replace motherboard of r2 m14x and put it into r1? - Alienware Arena Forums

Hi guys, did the link posted by Kev solved that issue? It's a couple of days that i experience the same behaviuor, since my M14X is my working piece I didn't do anything (I cant afford to loose my work); should I give it a try?

Guys, I'd like to thank you all for this very useful post!!! And thanks to svl7! The only question I have: has someone considered the impact of overvolting the GPU over the AC/DC adapter and the battery? I noticed that my adapter gets fairly hot after a couple of hours of gaming... I was wondering if an higher demand of power could damage it.

Personally I agree with some other posts here telling that PC games aren't optimized at all. I have been an happy M14X owner almost from the day one, I think that's an amazing and very powerful machine, it can do almost everything, but I always find something "weird" behaviour in-game: the last i can mention is Risen 2, where I experience drop of FPS in less complex sceneries (ie village at night pointing the character toward a blank wall) while in other cases (more complex scenes to be rendered, ie jungle at daylight with lightbeams, shadows etc.) this issue doesn't show up. Same for other games, same situations....