failwheeldrive

That's odd, the fans don't run at idle on my M18x so it's completely silent during web browsing/word processing. The cooling system does get loud at load though, but I suppose that's to be expected with high powered machines. I'm not sure which processor you have,, but a triple pipe heatsink will lower temps a great deal on non-XM CPUs. I just installed mine and temps dropped around 10C across the board. Might be something you want to consider if you're concerned with longevity. I ordered it directly from Dell; only cost me $20.

Great, just wanted to make sure there wasn't a risk of nvflash messing with the process. Thanks for all your help svl7.

Valid point, and AMD mobile cards are a great value (after 13.1 that is) but I still value performance over a company's business strategy. Nvidia makes the better gaming GPU, so I plan on sticking with them for the forseeable future. I had too many issues with me old 7970m, while my last two 680m-equipped laptops have been completely stable and problem-free. They overclock a hell of a lot better as well.

Any other issues for M18x owners? How's the unlocked A10? I'm not really worried about the switchable graphics issue, as I always run on the 680s.

The stock TIM works just as well as the aftermarket brands from what I've read. Lasts longer, too. to OP, no, that asetek liquid cooling setup was just a prototype, and it was never put into production. It's unlikely that we'll ever see something like this for the M18x due to practicality concerns. The stock cooling works well enough as is.

Hey guys, I hope this isn't a completely dumb question lol. Would it be all right for me to use my thumb drive that I use for flashing my vbios to flash an unlocked BIOS, or do I need a blank bootable thumb drive for FPT and prr to work correctly? Just don't want to screw anything up since I've got nvflash and and vbios roms on my current thumb drive.

Mine doesn't change colors when I'm still in the Alienfx menu, I have to exit out and apply color changes before it changes to the new color.

I don't really understand this. I'm able to run solely off the 680m with factory specs. I did a fresh install of Windows onto an ssd and changed a few settings in the BIOS (mainly changed from RAID to AHCI) and after that the laptop wouldn't boot off the 680m when I pressed fn+f7. I did yet another fresh install, but reloaded factory BIOS settings, and now I can use fn+f7 to turn off the igpu/Optimus yet again. Weird situation. Not sure why fn+f7 doesn't work for some people (or why it stopped working for me for a while lol)

That's odd man, I just realized I'm having an issue with my 8gb HyperX as well. I changed the timing to 1867 in the BIOS but they're running at 1777 instead. I can't figure out how to get them running properly. I've heard about people running these modules at full speed before (One guy on NBR got 2133mhz HyperX to work) so I'm not sure what's going on with my M17x. - - - Updated - - - Damn that sucks man, sorry to hear. I would definitely recommend going for the 680m, I haven't had any problems flashing the vbios on my brand new M17x with 680m.

I've got the cooler master ergostand. Not sure how effective it is, but at least it's a nice notbook stand lol.

Nvidia handily beats AMD in most objective criteria, but I can't help but root for the underdog. AMD, while completely botching Enduro (until 12.11 at least) still offers extremely powerful mobile gpus at a significant discount compared to Nvidia. My choice comes down to my budget... if I have to choose between the 7970m and the similarly priced Nvidia card (675mx) AMD wins hands down. If I'm going all out and not sparing any expense, then I'm going with the 680m for its better drivers, overclocking potential, performance, and features.

I generally only use my laptops in my office and my room, where lighting conditions are ideal for glossy screens. It's not pitch black in here, but it is dim enough so I don't get any visible reflections on my screen. Glossy screens do seem to be more vivid with better colors, though there are some very high quality matte finishes on the market. If I had to use my laptop in a brightly-lit room on a regular basis, I'd probably go with a matte finish though. Fortunately, I don't, so glossy is my preference.

Thanks svl7, I'll double check to make sure, hopefully it's one less thing I'll have to work on before getting to the good stuff (overclocking, benchmarking, then gaming )

Placed my order for the M17x in my sig last night, estimated shipping date is January 25th. Can't... f***ing... wait...

Hey guys, I've been around the NBR Sager forums for a while and just upgraded to an M17x r4 from my NP9150, so I wanted to introduce myself over here on Techinferno since I knew I'd be doing quite a bit of research on the Dell 680m and vbios flashing. I'm totally new to the 680m, but I hope to get to be as comfortable with it as I was with my 7970m. I recognize a few names from NBR (ayo tony ) (svl7, you're my hero for creating the vbios guides lol) it's good to see the familiar names, even if this particular thread isn't super active. I'm really excited about my new AW (been wanting one for about a decade) but I'm a noob at this point, so let me apologize ahead of time if I annoy anyone with dumb questions lol. Thanks to everyone who has provided information on the M17x series and Nvidia cards, I'm really grateful. Take it easy guys!