Brian

NOTE: Dell has released the official vbios + flasher which I would recommend using if you do not want to do a manual dos flash: ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/video/R281544.exe ------------------------------------------ THE FOLLOWING IS THE DOS METHOD OF FLASHING THE NEW 5870M VBIOS INDIVIDUALLY ON EACH VIDEO CARD. THIS MINIMIZES THE RISK OF BRICKING YOUR VIDEO CARDS: Important points to note before updating the 5870m beta vbios: 1) This VBIOS is ONLY for the 5870 cards and works with single or crossfire confingurations. There is currently no update needed for the 4870 cards. 2) This VBIOS will flash your card to the latest revision. 3) You MUST load the 8.763 video driver stack BEFORE flashing your VBIOS. If you flash before you load the newer video drivers, the result will be endless BSODs. Safe mode or VGA mode will work around this… Once you have the new VBIOS, you can’t use the 8.6xx driver stack any more. 4) It is recommended you download and install the 10.8a Crossfire Applications Profile along with the Dell 8.763 driver release. By using the manual dos flashing method rather than flashing within Windows, you reduce the risk of bricking your cards. Furthermore, you will now have the ability to revert back to the old shipping vbios should you desire. Step 1: Download all the following files as they will be needed throughout this guide. 1. Download the HP USB Key Utility: HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - v2.1.8 Download - EXTREME Overclocking 2. Download the Windows 98 system files: Windows 98 System Files Download - EXTREME Overclocking 3. Download Atiflash files: techPowerUp! :: Download ATIFlash 3.79 4. Download the new Dell beta vbios files from here: Dell 5870m beta vbios Step 2: Creating a Bootable USB Drive to Flash to GPU 1. Install the HP USB Key Utility 2. Launch the HP USB Key Utility and do the following: - Insert your USB thumb drive. - Select File system as "FAT32" - Select Format Option as "Create a DOS bootable Disk..." - Checkmark the box that says, "Quick Format" - Locate the directory you extracted the Win98 files. - Format the USB key using the the Win98 files. 3. Copy the extracted files from the DellBetaVbios.rar file onto your usb key. Step 3: Flashing Your GPU's vBios to the new beta vBios 1. Make sure your usb is plugged in and system is on AC power. 2. Reboot. 3. Press F12 at the Alienware Logo screen. 4. Select "Boot from USB" 5. At the Command Prompt, type in "atiflash -p 0 dellb0.rom” (without the quotes) to flash the master card. Then after it has been flashed, type, “atiflash –p 1 dellb1.rom” (without the quotes) to flash the secondary/slave card. Once the flash process has completed, you may remove the USB key and reboot

X7200 is out of my budget for right now. I will likely pick up an M18x when it's released however. We have a guest contributor writing an R3 article for us, it likely won't be the type of article where the hardware is exploited/modded since it's not my system but it will be a worthwhile read.

As I mentioned in the APA steam group announcement, Tech|Inferno is now the home base of the APA steam group! Every member is invited to come join us. For those that don't know about the All Powerful Alienware steam group, here's a direct link: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/allpowerfulaw

Hi freedom, welcome back dude. Seeing some familiar faces here so stick around and enjoy.

Welcome NH glad to have you aboard. This isn't another NBR so you won't have overzealous admins/mods acting like overlords here. Just sit back, relax and enjoy.

No doubt I wish reviews would have touched on that early on. Or things like throttling that happened with the M15x etc. When we get new hardware to review, we're going to pick it apart for any flaws it has no matter what brand it may be. And I agree, unless the M18x has 6970M Xfire or 485M SLI, I won't be interested. BTW did you hear about the R2 bios being cracked by TheWiz? He might be able to give us new GPU support.

Sup ash, long time no see! Welcome to the new forum, how do you like our new home? BTW I added your cooling mod to the M17x section.

LMAO the crib one was awesome. +1 for drunk midgets in electrified cribs, sounds like something the Jack Ass crew would do.

If you were one of the thousands that tried to get Metro2033 for free from nVidia and found your key subsequently deactivated, nVidia has a new offer. They're e-mailing everyone a "sorry for deactivating your free game" message along with a $5.00 off coupon code when you pre-order Homefront and receive Metro2033 for free. I went for it, figured Homefront is a steamworks game so I'll just use the key they give me on steam when it's released. I did the same for Metro2033 and it worked great. Front page post with pics: nVidia offering 10% off coupon for Homefront + free game | Tech|Inferno

So why'd you sell the X7200?

If you get that M18x for a discounted price then you'll be way ahead of the game. Of course, with the the M17x-R2 bios now unlocked, we might see some new GPU support there.

Haha so what happened to the discount? Hopefully they let you hold on to it for the new new fixed (we promise) version of the R3.

Haha would be nice if they gave us some M18x news. So did you get your R3 yet?

Well we were experimenting, you should have seen the red flashy theme we had for the main site Well we're pretty much done, just optimizing and filling our main site with content and then launching later this week. Welcome to the forum.

Dun dun dun... I guess they wanted Tech|Inferno to teach them how to do a cooling mod for their R1/R2? LOL!!! There's going to be some more M17x articles featured on the front page along with a review of Asus G73 soon! The official launch of the page and forum isn't until Friday so those of you that are here right now are by special invitation...don't you feel special?

https://picasaweb.google.com/109631313223265896524/RGBLEDVsWLED#slideshow/5443905378279244610 This was done without calibrating either monitor. Thoughts? It's a shame Dell got rid of RGB LED so quickly for the Studio XPS 16.

Any plans to purchase the M14x if it should be released? I'm seriously considering it, especially now that the TI staff is busy with web dev most of the day. Carrying the M17x from room to room isn't fun, esp. with it sitting on top of a pad haha.

I keep pinging different people I know for some info. but they either don't know or are tight lipped. I think Dell even got to that Eric guy because he hasn't updated his blog in a while.

Yup, I can say a reliable source that worked with Dell PM'd me at *the place that shall not be named lol* and said M14x was a sure thing. I don't think he'd have a reason to just come out of the blue and b.s. me like that. So I'm hoping we see an M14x on the AW side, a 13.4" for XPS to take on MB Air and perhaps an M18x to fill our dual card aluminum toting desires. Thanks for the best wishes - be sure to bring along anyone else you see fit..the more the merrier.

Hey viking, welcome to TI! I'm not sure if AW will pick up a 13.4" design though it's entirely possible. The adamo would make more sense as an XPS though.

Nice guide mfractal! I can see this being very useful for people outside the US, especially those in Europe that have to pay exorbitant prices for computers and other electronics vs the US.

Michael Dell wipes his ass with 6970s and eats 485M's for breakfast...much like Chuck Norris.

Sure does and it has a built in update feature for the program + skins.

Information originally from my Wikia site which is no longer available for use. Thus I have migrated the information to our new forum: United States Casing * Y750M - Dell Alienware m17x Silver LCD Back Cover * J226N - Dell Alienware m17x Black LCD Back Cover * Y727M - Dell Alienware m17x Silver Bottom Base Cover Assembly * J180N - Dell Alienware m17x Black Bottom Base Cover Assembly * J181N - Dell Alienware m17x Red Bottom Base Cover Assembly * 8MK45 - Center Control Power Button Cover / Hinge Cover * KGR2D - Touchpad/Palmrest * C395N - Bottom Cover Assembly RAM * W795M - MOD,DIMM,8GB,1333MHZ,DDR3,2X4G Miscellaneous * F836R - Alienhead Mousepad * N329P - Alienware Generic Nameplate Alienware m17x Motherboard * F415N - Dell Alienware m17x Laptop Motherboard (System Mainboard) * F421N - Dell Alienware m17x Mulitmedia Audio Ports USB IO Circuit Board Alienware M17x-R1 CPU * D720P - Module, Processor, Core Penryn QX9300, ANW NBK GPU * D684N - ATI RADEON MOBILITY 4870 CFX (DUAL) Hard Drive * H375M - Module, Solid State Drive, 256 S2, 2.5, RBAM, Across Line Of Business * F584N - HDD 1 Caddy Set o Y248M ASSEMBLY..., BRACKET..., HDD, SECOND..., M17X o F673N CONNECTOR..., Serial ATA..., 22P, FEMALE..., S, FEMALE..., INTERPOSER o D837T SCREW..., M3.0.5P, L3, ANW, M17X * HYT0K - Module, Bracket, HDD, FOAMKIT, M17X Optical Drive * Y329J - Module, Dvd+/-rw, Sony Nec Optiarc Inc., BARE, Alienware Wireless * C771R - Module, Card, Network, AW1510, United States * MGNNT - Module, Card, Network, 370, Foxconn, Consumer Notebook, Dell Americas Organization Keyboard * Y573P - Module, Keyboard, Alienware United States, England, M17X Dao/bcc Screen * K001R - Module, Liquid Crystal Display, 17.0 Wide Ultra Extended Graphics Array, Alienware, M17X FM Tuner * YC8XT - Module, Tuner, Software, TVT11 NTSC, Advanced Television System Committee Battery * T780J - Module, Battery, Primary, 85WHR 9C, Dynapack International Technology Corp AC Adapter * K972H - MODULE..., ADAPTER..., ALTERNATING CURRENT..., 240W/210W, DELTA - AC ADAPT..., WORLD WIDE... * N971H - MODULE..., CORD..., POWER..., 125V, 2M, C13, UNITED STATES... Software * WR9G4 - MODULE..., SOFTWARE..., W7U64, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE..., MULTI-LANGUAGE..., ANW * W871N - Module, Software, WINDOWS-LIVE Consumer * D9KVP - MODULE..., SOFTWARE..., QUICK FIX ENGINEERING..., WIN7, CNB * H919R - Module, Media, Resource Dvd, Alienware, M17X Alienware M17x-R2 Battery * W075J - Battery, Primary, 85WHR, 9C Lithium, Dynapack InternationalTechnology Corp * D582J - 9-cell Primary Battery Keyboard * 8WK6F - Keyboard, Alienware, 101, ENG-US, Personal Computer CPU * G335R - Intel Core i7 820QM * MM14W - Intel Core i7 940XM Screen * K1NFP - 17" Samsung RGBLED (1920x1200) 1200p WUXGA * 9PHFF - 17.0" UltraSharp WUXGA (1920x1200) 1200p RGBLED Display with TrueLife Hard Drive * H608T - 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive * H609T - 500GB 7200RPM 2nd SATA Hard Drive * K256M - Solid State Drive, 256GB, S2 2.5, Samsung, RBAM * 9JPNY - HD Bracket + Foamkit (should have interposer and screws) Optical Drive * TR555 - Dvd+/-Rw, 8X, Serial Ata, SLOT, Sony Nec Optiarc Inc. * CDKX3 - Slot Load Blu-ray BD-R, BD-RE / DVD+/-RW Drive with DVD+R double RAM * X830D - Dual In-Line Memory Module, 4GB1333MHZ, 512X64, 8K, 200 Wireless * 4W00N - Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology * K5Y6D - Broadcom BCM94313HMG2L half size mini PCI wireless network card (Quad mode 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N) * M960G - Bluetooth Module Video Cards * ATI Radeon 5870 Mobility o F603N - Left Fan o F605N - Right Fan o C8245 - 5870, primary - (goes on left side) o RV546 - 5870, secondary with cable and heatsinks (goes on right side) * NVidia® GeForce® GTX 285M o F2T8J - SLI™ Dual 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 285M AC Adapter * J938H - 240W AC Adapter * 5120P - Cord, Power, 125V, 6Feet, SJT..., Unshielded Documentation * WRD6T - User Manual * DW6RN - Software/etc

UPDATE 12/15/09: John from Dell spoke to engineering about this issue and unfortunately the response was a disappointing one. Here is what he posted in the thread: This is what my response was and I hope other gamers share my concern and voice their opinion with Dell as well: ----------------------------------- Download links for the programs discussed in this thread: 1. Furmark 2. GPU-Z 3. Prime 95 4. Intel Burn Test 5. HWMonitor (not mentioned but recommended anyway) 6. ThrottleStop used to set a fixed multiplier and disable clock modulation. 7. RivaTuner 2.24c (needed for throttling fix) ----------------------------------- ***DISCLAIMER: I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY SHOULD ANY DAMAGE OCCUR TO YOUR SYSTEM. TRY THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!*** Instructions for testing, please note these are general guidelines only: -Apps: Furmark, Prime95, GPU-Z (for monitoring), RealTemp (to monitor CPU frequency) and optionally RivaTuner. -Settings: Furmark: Native resolution (for me it's 1600x900), 16xAA, checkmark the stability test box, checkmark the xtreme burn button and also checkmark the post processing button. GPU-Z: Have it open with the sensor tab selected so you can monitor the clock fluctuations in real time. Also checkmark the continous refreshing box + the log to file box so you can reference it later. Prime 95: Small TFTs, 8 threads. RealTemp: Use it to measure and log CPU frequency changes (as well as view the active load). Use the logs from this program and compare them to the GPU-Z log. Once you have run the above 4 applications simultaneously at stock GPU clocks, take note if you have seen any fluctuations in GPU clocks (you will see the Furmark graph throttle like how I depicted and your GPU-Z log will also show clock changes). If there are fluctuations, you are likely witnessing throttling. Take note of the RealTemp CPU frequency log and see how it matches up with the GPU-Z log. EDIT 8/08/10: Although the above method to test for throttling does work when testing for 260M throttling, keep in mind it is an extreme form of testing and may not be reflective of real world use. To gauge if your system is throttling in day to day gaming, it would be advised to try a CPU/GPU intensive game such as Bad Company 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, StarCraft II etc. If you note throttling in those popular games, then Dell needs to be contacted. ----------------------------------- Background info.: I've posted this in the main M15x thread but I think this deserves it's own thread since it could be a potentially serious issue with the M15x design. To give some quick background information on the issue with people not familiar with it: The M15x, using stock GPU clocks or when overclocked, will throttle it's speed from the default 575/950/1350 to 3D clocks of 383/301 anytime the system is placed under heavy stress (e.g. this could happen in a game that stresses the system considerably). ----------------------------------- Original post with some changes: It seems the M15x is having similar power throttling issues as the Dell Studio XPS 1645. I did a reinstall of the drivers with 186.81/186.82/195.55 (all 3 got the same results) and used the following settings: Intel burn test: 32 threads, maximum stress level or Prime95 using a maximum of 3200 MB of memory set to custom mode and 8 threads. Furmark: 1600x900, 8xAA, stability test, post processing and xtreme burn GPU-Z for monitoring. The results will surprise you all: Overclocked settings: 620/950/1550 with the above settings except furmark was not using post processing (so even less stress was placed on the system): Notice at the beginning I kept the display brightness to zero to test if this was indeed a power issue. There were no dips in performance (no throttling) when I had it at zero. I then moved the LCD brightness to half and shortly thereafter, the throttling started. I then later moved it to full brightness and a you can see, the rate of cycling from full clock to throttle clocks occurred more frequently. At the end of the graph, I set the brightness back to zero and it was again stable at full clocks. ----------------------------------- Stock clocks with P95 + furmark (8xaa, post processing, stability, xtreme burn, 1600x900): I've included two images to show the clock cycling from stock to throttled 3d clocks: This leads me to believe it is either an AC adapter power limitation similar to what is happening to the Dell SXPS 1645, bios issue or a mainboard design flaw. Either way, stock settings under full load should not have caused the system to throttle, especially since it was not under any thermal stress. I had someone with a Sager 8690 perform the same test and he reported no throttling. Overall, I think this could potentially be bad news for everyone because the system will throttle itself when it's under maximum stress. I'll test this theory out further with Crysis Warhead and a few other games later on but if others would like to contribute, that would be great. This could also be a limitation of my own system so I'd encourage others to test and see if it happens to you. Please include your configuration details as well as driver version. Lastly, if anyone has an M17x adapter with them and does get throttling, you could plug the M17x adapter into the M15x and see if it still happens. This would give a definitive confirmation of whether or not it's an AC adapter limitation. I have an M17x adapter on order but it will not get here until Monday or Tuesday of next week. Unfortunately, I cannot use a battery test since the system defaults to 3D clocks (383/301) despite the high performance profile being set to utilize 100% GPU power when unplugged. EDIT:I have confirmed that the M17x adapter DOES NOT solve the problem. ----------------------------------- EDIT: Ran OCCT PSU test and this is what GPU-Z recorded: The spikes are when the GPU cycled to full stock speeds and the rest was when it throttled. EDIT 2: The notebook also throttles at underclocked settings! This does not bode well at all for the M15x. EDIT 3: I'm attaching GPUz and Tmonitor log files that show what happens during the cyclical throttling. --------------------------- UPDATE 12/08/09: With turbo disabled in the bios, a bit more information is shed on the throttling issue. Notice that each time the 4 cores drop below 100% load, the GPU throttles with them. At peak CPU load (100%), the GPU stays at 100% until the CPU is throttled below 100% and with it the GPU also scales back it's clocks. Normally the GPU cycles far more frequently when Turbo mode is enabled but with it disabled, the rate of the GPU throttling is much slower. Normally when Intel Burn Test is used by itself (not in conjunction with furmark), all 4 CPU cores stay pegged at 100% but when Furmark + Intel Burn Test are run together, the CPU clocks begin throttling together with the GPU clocks. This seems to further reinforce the idea that this throttling issue is power related.Click on the HD button to view the movie in 720p (in full screen) so you can see the clocks more clearly. <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cWy8rieIJI&hl=en_US&fs=1&ap=%2526fmt%3D22"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cWy8rieIJI&hl=en_US&fs=1&ap=%2526fmt%3D22" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> --------------------------- UPDATE 12/19/09: Using a beta build of ThrottleStop by unclewebb, I was able to further test how and why throttling occurs and believe it is a power issue. Specifically, when the CPU multiplier was set to 10x on an i820 processor (1333 MHz), the GPU did not throttle at stock clocks of 550/950/1350 using the furmark + prime95 synthetic benchmark. However, if the GPU clock frequency was raised beyond stock settings, it would immediately throttle during testing even with the CPU frequency at 10x. Furthermore, other users have reported real world findings and have noted the CPU does not need to be at 100% on all 4 cores, rather even 2 cores at 100% + turbo mode is sufficient to cause GPU throttling. In one users case (Arkhias), the throttling was not cyclical but rather it caused the GPU to stay throttled when he was in a busy part of a game (Dalaran in World of Warcraft). ----------------------------------- IMPORTANT UPDATE 12/21/09: Throttling Fix ***DISCLAIMER: I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY SHOULD ANY DAMAGE OCCUR TO YOUR SYSTEM. TRY THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!*** The research behind solving this throttling issue is ongoing and as such, the instructions are subject to revision. I think I've stumbled upon a temporary fix that will enable everyone with an M15x to run the system at max clocks under max CPU/GPU load. The throttling fix as of right now is a two part fix. One involves forcing the GPU to run at any clock you set via RivaTuner and the other is forcing the CPU to stay at maximum load without throttling down it's active load state. Don't look to task manager to measure the CPU load, it is not reliable. If you want a true measurement of your CPU load state, use RealTemp 3.50. With that said, here are the steps to fix the throttling: