OFFICIAL: Alienware M18x Owners Lounge

[Brian]

LOL Brian, you spend more time acquiring and swapping laptops from/with Dell than using them.

Hope the new lid is fine.

LOL yeah I do but its worth it in the end. Started with a refurb from outlet that had 6970s and a 2630qm processor and ended up with a new one with 2760qm + dual 580M SLi.

[mw86]

Brian how them 580s treating ya at this point? I'm glad you have you M18x just how you want it now.

[Brian]

Just purchased an Intel Core i7 2920xm ES off eBay. I had $20 of ebay bucks so it only cost me $280! Pretty damn good deal for an xm ES or not. This is the one: eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

[mw86]

That's great [MENTION=5]Brian K.[/MENTION] I hope you get it quickly. I can't wait to hop on gtalk and help you make it just the way you want. For everyday clocks the most logical is 4.4-4.5 max full 8thread over lock using 0flex to 10flex... Common long watt limit that's safe is 80 watt like in the stock bios but I found I can run int at 4.4ghz 8thread... Using 300amp max stock is 97 and 97watt long limit. Which in my experience not many have their CPU configured in a way you can run 4.4 8t in all apps out there without throttling down... Especially once you go toward 4.5 and have to add more volts (flex) the speed drops anyway under such a load. I'll make video to show this kind of over lock. I know I said I'd do one on bios I will still but it will take a little time once system is back. So looking forward to you getting your new CPU let me know ya got it we have a hang session in order =) Michael will get one but OEM as soon as one of us or Michael himself finds the OEM version cheaper than $700... Cheers congrats Brian you are going to love this thing.

[Brian]

Thanks marc, hopefully its problem free. The guy shipped it out already and I also contacted a friend of mine at Dell yesterday and he overnighted me the dual pipe heatsink which will be here tomorrow so good times await!

[mw86]

That's great news Brian these are sad chips on single pipe heatsink even non xm benefit fro. the dual pipe heatsink. Aikimox eventually was gonna have that quad pipe one, somewhat recently he mentioned testing soon or something. I want to hop on BF3. I'm going to break my Vertex 3 max Iops out hadn't even used em been here 4-5 months.... didn't want to bsod one to many and hurt them lol

[Brian]

Check out these beauties I got today from Dell. One is a single pipe CPU heatsink and the other is the dual pipe one. The dual pipe one is considerably heavier and it appears like the fins are also made of copper though I've read from others that took it apart that its simply painted. The dual pipe cpu sink does feel different when I touch it compared to the aluminum single pipe one so who knows, it may indeed be pure copper.

EDIT: temporarily removed pics to add watermark.

Edited January 6, 2012 by Brian

[svl7]

Beautiful pics, Galaxy Note ftw!!

[mw86]

To my knowledge and handling of that heatsink myself compare it to those gpu heatsinks and you know the whole fin section is in fact copper some of the edges of the fin may be aluminum as I also noticed a lightness on the outer parts of those fins. But I'm almost certain the entire fin section is all copper.

Edited January 9, 2012 by mw86

[johnksss]

Seen a few oem's under 700 bucks on ebay...

2920xm cpu | eBay

[mw86]

Yes Brian even found a few in the $600-$500 range if your real lucky and look all over they are there.

[Brian]

I've got an offer for an OEM at $580 and QS for $500. I think I'll opt for the QS since its a fairly good price after I hopefully get a refund.

[mw86]

Good luck Brian I hope you get your refund too, the QS should handle great.

[joeny]

Hey everyone! I am new here and saw Brians post and it hit home for me,I have a replacement single gpu 560m m18x and I had alot of issues and 8 replacements on another laptop so I was limited on m18x upgrades or I wouldve never taken a single 560 m18x.The whole purpose i think of having the beast is the sli right? Anyway I'm trying now to get them to upgrade me to sli580s I had issues for a year so they were pretty good,I'm waiting to hear back from my rep who i met from Bill b also.Support 1st tried telling me sli 580gtx doesn't make a big difference in games like bf3 etc?!?!LOL I tried to explain scaling and new games and there are benchmarks everywhere showing sometimes over 100% better performance.Congrats Brian k your the reason I posted here.What do you guys think?Thanks.

[Brian]

Hey everyone! I am new here and saw Brians post and it hit home for me,I have a replacement single gpu 560m m18x and I had alot of issues and 8 replacements on another laptop so I was limited on m18x upgrades or I wouldve never taken a single 560 m18x.The whole purpose i think of having the beast is the sli right? Anyway I'm trying now to get them to upgrade me to sli580s I had issues for a year so they were pretty good,I'm waiting to hear back from my rep who i met from Bill b also.Support 1st tried telling me sli 580gtx doesn't make a big difference in games like bf3 etc?!?!LOL I tried to explain scaling and new games and there are benchmarks everywhere showing sometimes over 100% better performance.Congrats Brian k your the reason I posted here.What do you guys think?Thanks.

Hi Joeny, welcome to Tech|Inferno! Which of my posts are you referring to? Anyway, 1st level support always makes ludicrous claims and most of the time they don't know what they're talking about, they just read off a script. As soon as you get one of them, let them run through their usual script (or tell them you've covered your bases by telling them what you did) so that you can get passed on to a L2-L3 engineer. If you have had ongoing issues with your M18x (>3 repair jobs on it) then you're entitled to a brand new system and usually Dell issues an upgrade with it. I would definitely push for a 580M SLi setup, compared to a single 560M you're looking at far above 100% gains.

[joeny]

Hey brian,thanks for the warm welcome and your post was about the issues with replacements and 15x I read it a few months ago I hope I didnt get the wrong name It was brian k I believe,I just got an email from upper level social support I've been dealing with them for months I had 10 replacements between xps 15 and m14x,In the email the rep said he cant guarranty sli but he will do whatever I need to make my m18x perform the way it should.It cost me alot of time reguardless if dell count that or not,It's over 300 emails back & forth and all the issue and broken promises.I didnt know the m18x was a single 560 or I never would have taken it,but after a year I was tired of dealing with them.I could tell you for hours what happened,missed deliverys lies etc.I get ok performance with the single 560 on Batman and BF3 but at the m18x hi res and the new games I just know the 580 sli will destroy it.And after all I went through and Dell upper support acknowledges my hardships but after that email 5 minutes ago,Im confused how are they going to make a 560 perform like an sli 580?I am just so frustrated and was without a working pc for 7 months while paying for it to be a door stop.Sorry for rant just sick of dell bs.

[joeny]

I tried posting Brian Im new so bear with me,your post was 6990 lands,I had an xps15 then 4 replacements and 5 m14x replacements and 300 emails and a year of calls and they gave me a single 560 m18x.Its nice Im not greedy but I use my 50 inch with sibeam and the 560 is just ok at those resolutions and new games.My rep emailed me and said he cant promise sli but will make sure my problems are taken care of?I just want the same specs and sli.Thats the m18s whole draw is sli great performance.Imho.

Added after 5 minutes:

My rep is calling tomorrow because I literaly have to many emails to send so he said he wanted to speak about my many issues,there are alot Brian,but now im upset he seemed ok with sli upgrade then email says I can't promise sli or 580gtx but I will get you running well.I am just so unhappy and it is a great machine I just wouldve never gotten this monster without sli.I show all top upgrades on all my previous buys.What do you think since you had a single 560 right?then got 6990 then 580s,that seems common.Thanks

Edited January 11, 2012 by joeny

[Brian]

Joeny I started with a 6970M Crossfire system which is no slouch. From there they upgraded me to 6990 Crossfire and eventually 580M SLi. You just have to be persuasive is all I can advise you. Try to always get in contact with managers and also get in touch with @DellCares on twitter, they were helpful for me when I initially ran into problems.

[joeny]

Thank you Brian! I am waiting for a direct call since its over a year of BS. Sorry for rant but Thanks for reply,I saw a few of your posts about the return ecxhanges and sounded very familiar,I am on my 20th repair or exchange its beyond crazy now.Btw This forum rocks! thanks for helping those in need.

[Brian]

No problem, good luck with the exchange. Dell does come through for their customers, it just takes a LOT of patience

[joeny]

Yeah I know its alot of patience and most get good results,I started out with a fully loaded xps14 dell discontinued and couldnt fix,so thats how it all began.It's over a year now so patience is a non issue,I just want what they promised Brian,They told me a free warranty and an m18x.After about 3 months and latest runaround I didnt get warranty but they gave me an m18x,thats great but the single 560 bothers me.If they gave me the sli they said I would be very happy even after a year of h@@l!Thanks again for replying Brian.Ill let ya know what happens after the call.Thanks for your advice also.

[joeny]

Brian K,Hey I just got off the line with a great rep and real nice guy,he said he was sending me a new mobo,sli580gtx,and a new ssd to replace my 560gtx single.I am very happy! It took a while, but I will be ecstatic if all goes as promised.I am curious since I have only a single gpu560 and getting sli580,is there any issues like vbios or something,or is it a pnp type upgrade?I appreciate your previous help and advice,I know you changed gpus so you might know what to expect.I am changing parts myself,I have done many repairs on others,so I feel confident in doing it,but just curious since my 1st laptop sli upgrade.Thanks, Joe.

[Brian]

Its simple plug and play but be sure you are using the latest system bios (A05) to be on the safe side. Also be sure he sends you the heatsinks for the 580M cards + SLi cable.

[joeny]

Long story short,I replaced new sli whole kit,came with everything including sli cable and x brackets tim everthing.Anyway it wouldn't work I tried all help available bios,drivers,different gpus etc just code 43 on 2nd card then new mobo and done.Now it all worked out for the best Im getting a fully upgraded sli580gtx new m18x ssd in raid pretty loaded,so Dell does help they hooked me up.Just wanted to let you guy's know Dell was awesome and after 1 call to my rep and new exc no BS 1 and done.Thanks Brian K for your replies.

[mw86]

Dells fed me a line of BS and may try to send a used system as replacement i am annoyed... tommorow Wednesday they call i am going to try to say that they broke my system from Depot i dont deserve their used system mine was used by me alone and purchased brand new i shouldn't be getting used....