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Both monitors where calibrated with the same Spyder 3 Pro calibrator The Dell monitor with sRGB profile selected, at 100% brightness, 50% contrast Dell with Adobe RGB profile selected, 75% Brightness Dell monitor with Adobe RGB profile, 30% Brightness I will stick with the 30% brightness since its not straining my eyes and the colors are very similar between the two screens. UPDATE Final settings are here http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m17x/286-dell-u2410-vs-alienware-m17x-r2-rgb-led-1200p.html#post2340 -note- Unfortunately I have borrowed my camera to someone else and I had to take pictures with my cellphone which sucks big time... the colors are completely different than those on the pics... anyways it's better than nothing. First chance I will have, I will upload better quality pics.

Hello, i want to give my Alienware M17X R1 a new Graphic card, now i have choosen a good graphic card, which fits for me with all stats. My problem is now, that on the page of the seller is written, that the graphic card matches with the M17X R!, but i am not sure if this is realy like this. I am talking about the following graphic card: New Nvidia GeForce GTX 675M 2GB DDR5 MXM 3.0 Type B for Alienware MSI | eBay Hope anyone can help me with this

Hi all I decided to upgrade my M15X. Current configuration: DDR3 SDRAM 4.096 MB @ 1.333 MHz 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX260M 500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 720QM Im looking for nVidia gtx 670M and gtx675M, but no idea what works better on my laptop, I was read some issues about power supply (75W or 100W), about throttling and about incompatibilities. Im reading your posts, and get more and more doubts, can somebody help me? Thank you so much!

Well a thread on another forum questioned people why they are AW fanatics which prompted a reply from me. Then I thought, "hey why not create a thread where AW owners can give feedback as to why they love Alienware notebooks?!" so here it is! Give us your reason as to why you love Alienware and keep coming back for more...here's mine: Let me chime in on why Alienware is by far the best notebook gaming brand in the universe: Next business day service (I'll expand on this more below) Excellent build quality Top of the line cooling (will discuss this further) Bios Overclocking (M17x + M18x) Design Appeal Extras (e.g. alienfx, wireless hdmi, msata drive, hdmi in) NBD Service As far as NBD service I'll give you an example of how Dell recently helped me out: My palm rest's touchpad was malfunctioning, I e-mailed one of the several excellent AW reps that are available on the T|I forums, told him my problem and the next day my new palm rest was waiting for me at home. Few days later, I noticed my media panel lights were having issues and again, Dell overnighted a new media panel cover. However, it turns out the panel was perfectly fine, the ribbon cable was the culprit, so again I e-mailed the Dell rep and the next day a replacement ribbon cable was there and my system is good as new. That's one story, another is that I previously had AMD 6990M Xfire in my M18x and was extremely frustrated with the AMD drivers. I pinged a Dell rep. about it and 2 weeks later had a brand new M18x + 580M SLI delivered to my doorstep WITH a return label to send back the other system. I have a challenge for everyone out there: Find me a gaming notebook maker that can match this level of service. I can back up my claims with screenshots of the work orders so if you claim you got the same service from another gaming notebook maker, back it up. I'm sure there's tons of other Alienware users that have similar stories as mine. Cooling As I mentioned, Alienware has exceedingly good cooling design built into their notebooks. While some other brand notebook owners are seeing high temperatures on their GPUs and resorting to modding their systems, Alienware owners don't have to bother. As another personal anecdote, I have a 4 GB 680M in my system and can run it at 1200+ core and 2500+ mhz memory and the hottest it gets is 84C at 100% utilization and that's in super hot Phoenix, AZ weather! As with any brand, Alienware also has its down sides and the biggest one is their GPU throttling scheme. With their recent 680M release, they have an algorithm built in that throttles the GPU after a certain power/temp threshold is crossed and thus overclocking is limited with the Dell 680M. IMO this sort of aggressive throttling is unnecessary given the excellent cooling built into their systems. But with everything taken into account, I'd still pick an Alienware system over any of its competitors.

So Alienware should be gearing up to introduce us to their new redesigned lineup this June. A Chinese website has some leaked images, video and specs of these new models, here they are: Changes No express card and possibly no eSata. Keyboard has been changed and should be similar to the island style one found in Clevo notebooks and others. This should also affect how AlienFx looks and functions compared to previous models. New lid design with light strips. New base is more blockier in design, old speaker grills are gone and now the front is flat with some speaker lines. Touchpad lights up completely. Cooling? Remains to be seen, will update as we get more info. Option of IPS FHD display in all 3 models. Aluminum build for all 3 models though some parts will undoubtedly be plastic - we'll see and update. Videos: <embed src="http://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XNTY0ODIxNzky/v.swf" allowfullscreen="true" quality="high" width="480" height="400" align="middle" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> Pictures:​ <ignore_js_op style="word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, SimSun, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </ignore_js_op><ignore_js_op style="word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, SimSun, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></ignore_js_op><ignore_js_op style="word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, SimSun, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></ignore_js_op><ignore_js_op style="word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, SimSun, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></ignore_js_op><ignore_js_op style="word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, SimSun, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></ignore_js_op><ignore_js_op style="word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, SimSun, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></ignore_js_op><ignore_js_op style="word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, SimSun, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></ignore_js_op><ignore_js_op style="word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, SimSun, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></ignore_js_op><ignore_js_op style="word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, SimSun, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></ignore_js_op><ignore_js_op style="word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, SimSun, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></ignore_js_op><ignore_js_op style="word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, SimSun, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></ignore_js_op><ignore_js_op style="word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Tahoma, Helvetica, SimSun, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></ignore_js_op>

Hey everybody, I installed a gtx 660m in my M15x and after finally installing the drivers, it works! But there is something weird about it. Here is a picture of what I mean: Laptop Forums and Notebook Computer Discussion Can someone tell me what's going on!!! (note: I can only overclock the memory not the core clock)

This cooling mod was originally performed by Ashterfere and is being reproduced here:

This is a weird quirk that has stumped me for a long time and I've found nothing through my own extensive research (thanks Intel for your "confidential" PDF collection!) System is M17x R4 running A10 BIOS; Similar behavior seen on M14x R2. Installing RAM faster than original 1600MHz (verified w/ Crucial 1866MHz and Kingston 2133MHz) causes the base speed of the iGPU to idle below the advertised 650MHz. On 3740qm CPU it ran at 350MHz and with 3920xm it runs at 400MHz. It still ramps up as high as 1300MHz as needed for performance but uses a hell of a lot less power at idle - so I really want this behavior! With these power savings, I'm able to run my M17x on battery for nearly 6 hours! Really! Everything works great if I boot on AC power, even if I then switch to battery, even sleep/hibernate. The issue is that if the system is booted from a cold start or rebooted while on battery, the iGPU does its advertised 650MHz (which I do not want) and draws 2+ watts of power from the battery, even to do nothing. It stays like that until the AC adapter is plugged in, at which time it immediately switches down to 400MHz (verified w/ 2 separate 240w adapters.) With the desired behavior - running at 400MHz - iGPU only draws ~0.1 watts at idle doing nothing. It might sound silly but I really want those two watts of power savings ALL THE TIME, which I lose if I'm running on battery and I have to reboot for whatever reason. Can anyone explain this behavior? Has anyone else experienced it? It's not a huge issue but it has perplexed me for so long and I cannot find anything on the topic. I do know that downgrading back to A05 BIOS made my original 3740qm's iGPU run at the lower speed all the time, even when booted on battery, so I'm assuming that would work with this CPU too but I'd like to actually understand what's going on here - and if there's another way to control it. I'd like to be able to force it manually. I have tried lowering the iGPU clock multiplier in both Intel XTU and in BIOS (via the GT overclocking section) but it gets ignored.

hey all, I completed the AMD 7970M upgrade in January 2013, and it went perfect! but today i had my motherboard replaced under warranty due to the Ethernet port not working, after having a mix up with Alienware and about 3 faulty motherboards fitted i now have one that allows the computer to start, and also has a working Ethernet connection! But, there is always a BUT! when i play games which i used to get 60-80 fps during a high load battle and about 120 fps just standing around (World of Warcraft) i now get 6 - 15 fps in major city's and 20-30 fps being stationary! i have re seated and re pasted the GPU but this has not helped, any ideas what the reason to this may be? neither the GPU or CPU temps are high, but the grames have droped by 75% since the new motherboard has been installed! NovaBench 322 FPS with Geforce Graphics Card 907 FPS with AMD 7970M These results where on 08/01/13 when the new card was fitted (before / after) Now i run the benchmark again and i am only getting 219 FPS... what has happened? also, Alienware are now informing me that due to the change of graphics card the whole laptop is warranty void? i thought this was not the case with Alieware? Many thanks for your time to reply to this issue! Jake

Which one would you choose and why?

Dell has released a new vbios revision for the 580m http://support.dell.com/support/download...eid=478843 *ISO image of GTX580 A01 Vbios 70.24.2B.00.06* *The flash utility will ask for user input to override PCI Subsystem ID. This is normal. Press y whenever prompted to complete the Vbios flash.* *ISO image of production GTX560M Vbios. Burn image to CD and reboot system. Press F12 to choose CD/DVD drive. When promoted, press Y.* OLD vbios version version 70.24.2B.00.04 had 3 entries core:50.5MHz shader:101MHz(bumped shader:270MHz) memory:67.5MHz --------------- core:73.5MHz shader:147MHz(bumped shader:270MHz) memory:162MHz --------------- core:620MHz shader:1240MHz(bumped shader:1289MHz) memory:750MHz New vbios version 70.24.2B.00.06, has 4 entries: new entry is marked in bold core:50.5MHz shader:101MHz(bumped shader:270MHz) memory:67.5MHz --------------- core:73.5MHz shader:147MHz(bumped shader:270MHz) memory:162MHz --------------- core:475MHz shader:950MHz(bumped shader:950MHz) memory:750MHz --------------- core:620MHz shader:1240MHz(bumped shader:1289MHz) memory:750MHz. Thanks to Saltius from notebookreview and Barcode for posting this at Bios-Mods! Barcode is trying to see if this vbios can be manipulated here: DELL M18X A03 BIOS THROTTLE REMOVAL GTX580M SLI

Well we've done it, the M18x-R1 just crossed the 9k GPU barrier with a SINGLE video card! Major props to @svl7 for his vbios, to nVidia for building Kepler (what an amazing GPU) and to Alienware for designing some awesome cooling, without any of the aforementioned this wouldn't be possible.

Hey Guys.. It may Sound Stupid or Crazy to Install Mac OSX and Ubuntu on an Alienware.. But I Want to .. I dont have any Experience with VirtualBox. but i have seen ppl running MAC OSX and UBUNTU at the same time via Virtual Box.. i need a Someone who can Guide me through the Process.. if you have some Tutorial Specifically for this Purpose than please post the link.. All The Advice and Suggestion and Comments are appreciated

As you may or may not know, enabling IGP via FN+F7 does not work when a Clevo 680M is used in the M18x. However, when an unlocked bios is used, you can go into the advanced menu section, then video configuration and force IGP as the primary display (rather than PEG). Once the system reboots, it'll be in IGP mode BUT and I can't stress this enough, DO NOT press FN+F7 to switch back to discrete else your system will go into an endless loop. If that happens, you have to take out the 680M and blind flash the system with a recovery usb. So save yourself the trouble and don't press FN+F7. To re-enable the PEG, just turn it back on as primary in the bios and reboot. I've been playing with the PowerXpress settings but none seem to be able to work with regards to FN+F7, I figured dynamic would do it but apparently not. UPDATE: The PARTIAL fix is very simple Download the unlocked A05 M18x-R1 Bios Boot into the Bios, go to advanced-->video configuration and change the display from PEG to SG (switchable graphics). Keep PowerXpress as FIXED MUX. Reboot and now you will be able to use FN+F7 to switch between discrete and IGP. NOTE: You will again need to set SG in the bios after using FN+F7 one time since it resets back to PEG. Thanks to @johnksss for the SG tip.

The dell site says nothing, does anyone know what changes are in the A04 BIOS? I'm about to flash it momentarily. Kaldon:ambivalence: OK, I've flashed it with no problems, was there a USB Debug option in the BIOS before? I don't recall it but I never specifically looked for it. The VBIOS version is now 80.07.28.00.26 my old version was 80.07.16.00.04 My fingers are crossed that they removed the 65C thermal limit... Will be testing that next. Im also going to see if my USB 3.0 problem is fixed with external drive constantly remounting. Kal

One fine day I turned my m18x off and took it to a friend's house. When I got there and tried to boot it I noticed that it hanged on the alien face screen (with the red progress bar below, which loaded quite quickly), it gets stuck there for about 2 or 3 minutes before actually booting into something or even entering the BIOS. Started completely out of nowhere, any ideas? Thanks. EDIT: Additional info: 2820QM, 16gb Kingston Hyper-X, 6970 SLI, OCZ Vertex III 240gb plus 750gb sata

This is a modified version of the M17x R3 BIOS A10, it brings back the SATA behavior of A08 and earlier, while keeping the features of BIOS A10. A lot of users don't seem very happy with the changes Dell made to the SATA performance of BIOS A09 and up, thus I created this BIOS. Just keep in mind one thing: Dell probably didn't change the corresponding settings in the BIOS for no reason, so it's possible that certain drives may have issue with this BIOS, I don't know. According to a lot R3 users, A08 brings a clearly better SATA performance on a wide variety of drives. It's up to you to decide what you need and what you want to use. Now you have the choice. Download link for BIOS A10 with the 'SATA fix', and unlocked hidden menus: M17x R3 BIOS A10 - unlocked & 'SATA fix' Read the included READ ME for further information and instructions. Load the default settings in the BIOS setup after flashing. User at your own risk.

Aurora-R1Aurora-R2 Aurora-R3 Area-51 M11x-R1 M11x-R2 M11x-R3 M14x M15x M17x-R1 M17x-R2 M17x-R3 M18x http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware/1877-alienware-engineering-troubleshooting-guides.html http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware/1879-how-reduce-shutdown-timeouts.html http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware/1919-how-get-back-alienware-software-after-windows-reinstallation.html http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware/1908-check-status-your-order-part-replacement-depot-status.html http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware/1907-alienware-recommended-diagnostic-tools.html http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware/1900-alienware-no-sound-troubleshooting.html http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware/1890-alienware-no-boot.html http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware/1869-macro-keys-3-keys-combo.html Callouts!! Alienware Gaming Tips for Gaming Looking for drivers and updates for your Alienware System M18x computer with AMD HD6990m Video Cards shutting down or fans not spinning M18x A05 Bios Released. This BIOS solves the issue of AMD Radeon HD6990 GPU2 fan not spinning up after a cold boot. M18x Intel Wireless Card 6300 not connecting at Full Speed M18x AMD Video Card not scaling when using full screen benchmarks and gamesBattlefield 3 crashes when using an overclocked Nvidia Video Card Battlefield 3 & Rage: Textures issues and Low FPS Alienware System displays the error message: “Display driver ATIKMDAG.sys stopped responding and has recovered” How to Set Up Wireless HD in your Alienware computer Nvidia Optimus Technology Summary Dell WWAN Wireless not detected? iTunes & Bigfoot Killer Wireless-N 1102 and 1103 Wireless Card compatibility issues nVidia Notebook BETA Driver (NV) Release Date: 10/31/2011 M14X Webcam Flickering/ Blue Line M11x-R1 & R2 LCD Broken Hinges What is Alienware Respawn? How to restore your computer to factory conditions using Alienware Respawn? What is AlienContact? Youtube Product Support Videos Alienware Arena McAfee Expiration Date Issue Dell/Alienware Enhanced Diagnostics (ePSA)

Hey everyone, does our m14x still have the same standard 2.5" Sata drive that most other laptops do? I had heard that some of the drives have a 9mm height clearance and some have 12mm. I want to eventually exchange the 500GB standard that came with my Alienware for something bigger. I have a 7200RPM 640GB Seagate in my m11x, but I had nearly filled it. I could easily max out the 500GB drive. I saw a Seagate Constellation drive at 1TB/7200RPM, but it was a couple hundred dollars. I could get a standard 1TB/5200RPM drive, but how much performance would I lose on the tradeoff? Some of the users on various boards mention speed problems when using a 2nd drive on an optical caddy in place of the DVD-ROM. I have quite a lot of games, movies, as well as VST instruments and samples, so I love using the 7200 RPM drive. What do you guys suggest? Thanks in advance!

Wow what a difference a sequel can make! The last game was so full of bugs upon initial release that it turned me off from it and I didn't even bother finishing the game. This third one seems relatively bug free and runs fantastic on my M18x! The gameplay has been changed to be even more relaxed and arcade like which is exactly what I've been missing. Too many games focus on realism these days that they forget why we play them in the first place--to escape from reality and enter a world that's different than ours! The music, scripted sequences and action in this game are top notch, if I had to complain it would be that the weapons are a bit too weak. It takes around 5-10 bullets to kill an enemy at times but other than that, the game has taken on a very creative twist of the GTA world and has definitely put itself above or at least equal to the GTA series. So far, based on a few hours of gameplay, I'm already leaning towards a 9/10 rating. Here's a quick video I made last night:

Dell has released an updated system bios for the M18x. The latest revision is A05 and it specifically addresses the overheating issue with 6990m video cards experienced during a "cold" boot (first boot). With this latest bios, the fans should spin up as the cards heat up and cool them down properly. Please use this thread to report your findings and experiences with A05.[ATTACH=CONFIG]2953[/ATTACH] Release Date: 12/2/2011 Version: A05 Importance: Download Type: BIOS File Format: Hard-Drive File Size: 3MB Download Links Dell Support Page: [URL]http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER00181378M/2/M18xR1_A05_W32_X64_ZPE.exe[/URL] Dell FTP direct download: [URL]ftp://ftp.dell.com/FOLDER00181378M/2/M18xR1_A05_W32_X64_ZPE.exe[/URL]

6990s are in the other M18x I have on hand. I'm typing from it right now, I'm about to run some furmark tests to see if its a motherboard issue. If it is I'll be pretty pissed but at least it'll answer some lingering questions. Test 1: HDD used: The original one with Dell software and catalyst drivers. Result: Fans come on during cold boot! Test 2: HDD used: my SSD with Catalyst 11.10 v3 + Cap 4 Result: Fans come on during cold boot! About to run a few more cold boot tests to make sure these aren't flukes. If it proves to be a defective mainboard, I'm going to call AW and try to convince them to ship me one or just ask for a new system (which might make more sense). Test 3: Final test HDD used: SSD + Catalyst 11.10 v3 + Cap 4 Result: NO COLD BOOT BUG! It's definitely the motherboard that is defective. So those of you that have the cold boot bug will need to get your mainboards replaced. I'm going to ask for a system exchange. Update: For those that have the cold boot bug, remove your bottom panel and battery and look at the motherboard near there. You will see a label that has the revision of the mainboard, mine is as follows: Revision G2 1142. I'm betting that those of you with the same problem have a Revision G. The working motherboard is a Revision E (if I remember correctly).

M17x and M15x LED Error Codes LED Error Codes Alienware™ M15x has a different keyboard status LED Layout, it is Scroll Lock, Caps Lock and Num Lock. source: Dell

I've noticed it's difficult finding a comprehensive guide online for overclocking and monitoring the GPU respective to the M14x so I've comprised one of my own. It's important to note that this discussion strictly involves overclocking the GPU and not the CPU. Using the built-in Turbo Mode or other CPU overclocking software is officially NOT recommended in this thread. CPU overclocking has been known to cause serious overheating and even permanent damage to the physical composition of the laptop. In addition, most who have overclocked the CPU have noted that it does not significantly increase gaming performance and is not worth the risk. What this thread is not. A place to discuss CPU overclocking or compare benchmarks. What this thread is. A comprehensive guide on overclocking and monitoring the GPU of the M14x and related discussion. Feel free to share information about different software tools and configurations you have used for overclocking and monitoring your GPU. What overclocking/monitoring software have you had experience with? What are the pros and the cons of each software tool you have used? Once I have verified your information, I will add it to the OP. Overclocking/Monitoring Guide F.A.Q. Q: What is overclocking? A: Overclocking is the process of running a computer component at a higher clock rate (more clock cycles per second) than it was designed for or was specified by the manufacturer. (Thanks wikipedia!) Q: Is overclocking safe? A: It depends on your definition of safe. Generally, it will not blow your computer up if done properly but will shorten the lifespan somewhat depending on how high you overclock it. It's usually safer to OC the GPU rather than the CPU. Overclocking the CPU is much more dangerous and is therefor not covered in this guide. Using the following tools will normally not harm your computer HOWEVER going beyond the limit of most of these tools can potentially harm your PC. That doesn't mean that there aren't cases of simple overclocking harming a GPU or PC overall. It happens but it is extremely rare. Q: But don't I have to overclock my CPU and my GPU to get MAXIMUM PWNAGE PERFORMACE?!?! A: No. It has been thoroughly tested that for gaming (which is what most of us use alienware's for), overclocking the CPU does not produce significant enough results to be worth the risk. Q: Well I want to overclock my CPU anyway! How do I do it? A: Go away. Q: Okay so I'd like to try overcocking my GPU. Where do I start? A: First off, try playing the games that you want to play on your system as is with your desired settings. In many cases, overclocking isn't even necessary and you will get great framerates with the default settings. In this instance, overclocking really isn't worth it. Q: My games aren't running at my desired speed. Let's do this! A: Okay. Check out some of the tools below and choose based on your personal preferences and suggestions people have made. You're going to want at least 2 tools. One for overclocking and monitoring your GPU and (even though you're not overclocking your CPU) a CPU monitoring tool. CPU monitoring is still very, very necessary when overclocking your GPU. If you want to use multiple tools to utilize different unique functions, feel free but generally most people want to compartmentalize the process as much as possible. Q: What do I need to look out for? A: Start off slow. Don't max out your clocks, max out in-game graphics settings and hop on Crysis 2 for 8 hours straight. Be nice to your M14X. It is a beast but it is a cute and cuddly beast. We must treat them with care. Slightly increase your settings, load your game for 10 to 20 minutes, and monitor your temperatures. Rinse and repeat until you've found your comfort zones. The preferred CPU temp is 60-80°C. 80-90° is generally doable but anything above 90° is not recommended for non-advanced users. So far for the M14X the sweet spot is 750mhz core clock, 1500mhz shader, and 1080mhz memory clock. Anything above that, enter at your own risk! Q: So what type of results should I be getting? A: Here are a few graphics to give you an idea of what overclocking should be doing for you. Q: Okay I'm feeling froggy! I want to flex my stuff and post some benchmarks. What do I do? A: Hold your horses young buck. There's a thread for that. Overclocking/Monitoring Tools Nvidia System Tools pros: All in one GPU overclocking and monitoring tool. Made my GPU manufacturer, is safe and stable, has fan controls and basic system health monitoring. cons: limited in overclocking M14X GPU Nvidia Inspector pros: GPU overclocking tool with "unlock max" which allows you to maximize overlocking performance and basic system health monitoring. cons: Can't control M14x fans. (Please verify) MSI Afterburner pros: GPU overclocking tool with built in real-time onscreen monitoring of clock, voltag, temperature, fan speed, and framerate. Has built in benchmark and screen capture tools. Great reporting system. cons: Has overclock limit for M14x and some have reported glitches. Benchmark has been known to produce unreliable results. EVGA Precision pros: GPU overclocking tool with monitoring including GPU temp and usage percentage. Can apply new clocks at startup. cons: Cannot control M14x fans. "test" tool doest work with M14x. Riva Tuner pros: cons: outdated HWiNFO pros: Has advanced system health monitoring (temperature, voltage, fan, and power) and controls fan speed. cons: ThrottleStop pros: Great tool for overclocking and monitoring CPU with multiple profile settings. cons: Core Temp pros: Simple, compact, CPU monitoring tool that displays temperature and usage for all cores simultaneously. cons: GPU-Z pros: GPU monitoring tool that displays GPU temp and clocks. cons: Kind of pointless if you're using one of the better GPU overclocking tools but for those who want separate GPU monitoring this would be the tool. (If you have used other software, feel free to mention it. I will add it to the list.) note: All the opinions regarding each software tool is pertaining to performance with the M14x and the M14x ONLY!

Eric G. (Posterous) has again provided us with an exclusive, A03 bios, to be available on Dell Support soon. Just announced - Alienware M18X (Updated) - Dell News and more Direct Link: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/M18xR1A03.EXE <!-- / message --><!-- sig --> __________________