OFFICIAL: Alienware M17x R3 / R4 - Owners Lounge

[deadbydawn]

Oh yeah nice Deadbydawn! Cool nice cpu overclock and not bad gpu overclock either. How you enjoying 7970m. Temps look great. Im grabbing Max Payne 3 tonight cant wait to try some of that action too. I was shocked to learn it is or is one of the largest install size games out right now at about 35gb. Thats crazy lol.

Paranoid Galaxy S3 on Tapatalk 2

Thanks! I like this overclock, i also use it on my 14x. The gpu i just overcloked a little. It's not neccessary, as the card is a beast anyways, but i figured with the temps running the card in stock, i might as well just add some oc... and the temps still are nothing even close to worrying haha

so did you put your hands on mp3 yet?

yeah, max payne is a huuge-ass install! crazy! i will, sure as h3ll, uninstall it as soon as i finished it. i tend to leave games i really like on the system...as i replay a lot. but this one is sucking up so much space, c r a z y

[mw86]

Thanks! I like this overclock, i also use it on my 14x. The gpu i just overcloked a little. It's not neccessary, as the card is a beast anyways, but i figured with the temps running the card in stock, i might as well just add some oc... and the temps still are nothing even close to worrying haha

so did you put your hands on mp3 yet?

yeah, max payne is a huuge-ass install! crazy! i will, sure as h3ll, uninstall it as soon as i finished it. i tend to leave games i really like on the system...as i replay a lot. but this one is sucking up so much space, c r a z y

Yeah i am loving Max Payne 3 got it just recently. I am in love with the graphics. Plus some of those bullet time shots are epic. Max Payne 3 has brought some revolutionary graphics I think. Yeah 35gb is just crazy. I read its over what was the biggest game out there... WarCrack oh I mean Warcraft. Ever since seeing WoW freakout I call it War Crack. Im working my way down from a high overclock. So far on about 970-1250 on my 7970m's. Im using 1.05v on that is that what you are using? It may not be stable and may need little lower. So far been trying out all i can on my system. Dishonored i loaded but haven't tried, Max Payne 3, Mass Effect 3, Witcher 2, Skyrim, BF3, Metro 2033, Borderlands 2, Crysis 2, Diablo3, Dirt3 and Dirt Showdown all as of recently. Trying to get a good feel for these 7970m. Hopefully the driver Brian posted about the new 12.11 Wonder Driver hopefully performance and stability were priority and not just performance.

Paranoid Galaxy S3 on Tapatalk 2

[bigtonyman]

Yeah i am loving Max Payne 3 got it just recently. I am in love with the graphics. Plus some of those bullet time shots are epic. Max Payne 3 has brought some revolutionary graphics I think. Yeah 35gb is just crazy. I read its over what was the biggest game out there... WarCrack oh I mean Warcraft. Ever since seeing WoW freakout I call it War Crack. Im working my way down from a high overclock. So far on about 970-1250 on my 7970m's. Im using 1.05v on that is that what you are using? It may not be stable and may need little lower. So far been trying out all i can on my system. Dishonored i loaded but haven't tried, Max Payne 3, Mass Effect 3, Witcher 2, Skyrim, BF3, Metro 2033, Borderlands 2, Crysis 2, Diablo3, Dirt3 and Dirt Showdown all as of recently. Trying to get a good feel for these 7970m. Hopefully the driver Brian posted about the new 12.11 Wonder Driver hopefully performance and stability were priority and not just performance.

Paranoid Galaxy S3 on Tapatalk 2

heard that there has been a decent improvement on single 7970m setups. Not sure about Crossfire setups though.

[deadbydawn]

Yeah i am loving Max Payne 3 got it just recently. I am in love with the graphics. Plus some of those bullet time shots are epic. Max Payne 3 has brought some revolutionary graphics I think. Yeah 35gb is just crazy. I read its over what was the biggest game out there... WarCrack oh I mean Warcraft. Ever since seeing WoW freakout I call it War Crack. Im working my way down from a high overclock. So far on about 970-1250 on my 7970m's. Im using 1.05v on that is that what you are using? It may not be stable and may need little lower. So far been trying out all i can on my system. Dishonored i loaded but haven't tried, Max Payne 3, Mass Effect 3, Witcher 2, Skyrim, BF3, Metro 2033, Borderlands 2, Crysis 2, Diablo3, Dirt3 and Dirt Showdown all as of recently. Trying to get a good feel for these 7970m. Hopefully the driver Brian posted about the new 12.11 Wonder Driver hopefully performance and stability were priority and not just performance.

Paranoid Galaxy S3 on Tapatalk 2

yeah the graphics are really nice and i like the overall feel of the game but yeah, the installsize is just epic! lol, warcrack...the only thing i like to look at about this game is some if the actionfigures. they have really nice ones. but i can't stand the game and most of the players...i have a few guys i know who play it. and if i'd line'em all up you'd be able to tell right away which ones of them are playing warcrack haha ^^

i'm actually just using an afterburner oc, no voltmod or anything i'm about to try those new drivers today hopefully. but i'm kinda unsure, at the moment the system is running really stable. and i just know....if i touch it, it will sure as hell go for the 50/50 probabilty that afterwards it will be unstabler ;-)

[svl7]

Sup guys?

Can users who only recently got their R4 please check what vbios version is on their video card? No matter which GPU is in the system.

I'm wondering whether AW already updated the vbios in the most recently built systems.

Please let me know, thanks!

[bigtonyman]

System is running perfect right now. Tempted to maybe get my hands on either a 2920xm or a 2860qm for my folding activities and such, but its hard to justify the upgrade as I'm seriously looking at buying an M17x r5 next year. To many options!

[DawnFalcon]

svl7, i can help but I have no clue how to check my vbios, I have a R4 with 7970m.

If I am not wrong the 7970m have a under utilization issue, does anyone else's 7970m under utilize? (Right now I am stuck around 60~70%)

[bigtonyman]

have you tried turning enduro off?

[DawnFalcon]

have you tried turning enduro off?

Ummm, I did, before when I was on 12.7 haven't try it on 12.11 yet. But whenever I try to turn Enduro off the screen gets messed up and a message pops up saying "missing display drivers" or something close to that

[trigger25sg]

I was thinking of upgrading my m17xr4 gpu after having upgraded my msi gt60 to gtx680m, i knew its only 7970m or 680m for my alienware. Question is i was heavily tempted to buy another gtx680m for my alienware but i heard latest drivers from 7970m really pumped up the performance and its a lot cheaper than nvidia. anyone can confirm this? how much do you get for 7970m on 3dmark 11 stock clocks?

[Arai]

The latest drivers do bump up 3DMark 11 scores a lot yes.

I've tried a couple of drivers so far, and they only keep getting better (beta or not).

To be honest I'm quite content with the 7970 I can play pretty much everything I want at 1080p.

[trigger25sg]

Okies thanks for the info, that was the assurance i needed to buy 1 7970m from eurocom.

[mw86]

The latest drivers do bump up 3DMark 11 scores a lot yes.

I've tried a couple of drivers so far, and they only keep getting better (beta or not).

To be honest I'm quite content with the 7970 I can play pretty much everything I want at 1080p.

This is very true. Other than a random bsod from 12.11 beta 8 possibly only in the vram because it only happened with a vram overclock and didnt happen on beta 4 i think. They are doing great reining in the performance and stability will come as certain beta of 12.11 have been fully stable. I cant wait to try either beta 9 or whql version. In any case performance keeps ramping up. 12.8 runs stable and great for me if i just stick to core for now.

Nice Deadbydawn 920 core stock volt seems great so far for me too.

Paranoid Galaxy S3 on Tapatalk 2

[ehau]

Sup guys?

Can users who only recently got their R4 please check what vbios version is on their video card? No matter which GPU is in the system.

I'm wondering whether AW already updated the vbios in the most recently built systems.

Please let me know, thanks!

I flashed my vBios last night at work and found out my 7970M in my M17x R4 came with vBios 015.022.xxxx.xxxx by default.

If you need those xxxx let me know as the file is currently at work.

[svl7]

M17x R4 users who (for whatever reason ) want to use fast boot / secure boot and have issues with getting it to work with the dedicated GPU should check out this thread:

http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware/2658-%5Bm14x-r2%5D-%5Bm17x-r4%5D-%5Bm18x-r2%5D-uefi-fast-boot-secure-boot-gpu-issues.html#post35913

Cheers!

[failwheeldrive]

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!

[navydragon]

Hey Guys, currently my M17X r# does not fully recognize my 16GB HyperX 1866 RAMS, it only reads it as 8GB, 2x4GB modules, even reports it this way in BIOS. It runs in full 1866 Speeds no prob, it's just that i am missing 8GB of my RAM...

And do note that I was using this kit previously with my SAGER 8130 with no problems.. Any Ideas? does the M17x only supports 1866 rams of up to 4gb modules? Thanks.

[svl7]

Try reseating the modules or switching slots.

[navydragon]

Try reseating the modules or switching slots.

I've already tried it, reseated them, even put them on the slots under the keyboard, but still with the same results. Forgot to mention I also tried it on my M17X R2, same thing, also reads it as 4GB modules instead of 8GB..

[Sharadeos]

Have you tried to set the clocks down to 1600? There could be a compatibility issue with Alienware M17x R2/R3 laptops running 8gb 1866 sodimms.

[thop1544]

The new M17x R4 laptops are definitely shipping with this new ???.022.???.??? vBIOS on 7970m parts. I just bricked a fresh one from Dell, after trying to flash the modded 940/1350 vBIOS (version .017) which worked perfectly well on an older card of mine. I have a stock vBIOS dump I made (with ATIFlash) from the new card first, if anyone needs it.

It will probably be possible to mess with these vBIOS files in the future, right? This (brand new) part from Dell did seem a bit unstable even before flashing, so maybe that's the reason I can't boot it with one of the older vBIOS files flashed? It seems strange there would be a problem if I didn't have a bad part to begin with. I'll probably just return this and use my Asus full time again otherwise, it's been my brother's dev box lately but he won't mind...

The R4 is stuck with its iGPU for now, at least. Maybe Dell will let me buy/trade in/etc. for a GTX 680m or something. This will be my 3rd 7970m replacement, and only the 2nd 7970m I've tried flashing; working chips of these seem hard for me to get.

[failwheeldrive]

Hey Guys, currently my M17X r# does not fully recognize my 16GB HyperX 1866 RAMS, it only reads it as 8GB, 2x4GB modules, even reports it this way in BIOS. It runs in full 1866 Speeds no prob, it's just that i am missing 8GB of my RAM...

And do note that I was using this kit previously with my SAGER 8130 with no problems.. Any Ideas? does the M17x only supports 1866 rams of up to 4gb modules? Thanks.

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 - - -

The new M17x R4 laptops are definitely shipping with this new ???.022.???.??? vBIOS on 7970m parts. I just bricked a fresh one from Dell, after trying to flash the modded 940/1350 vBIOS (version .017) which worked perfectly well on an older card of mine. I have a stock vBIOS dump I made (with ATIFlash) from the new card first, if anyone needs it.

It will probably be possible to mess with these vBIOS files in the future, right? This (brand new) part from Dell did seem a bit unstable even before flashing, so maybe that's the reason I can't boot it with one of the older vBIOS files flashed? It seems strange there would be a problem if I didn't have a bad part to begin with. I'll probably just return this and use my Asus full time again otherwise, it's been my brother's dev box lately but he won't mind...

The R4 is stuck with its iGPU for now, at least. Maybe Dell will let me buy/trade in/etc. for a GTX 680m or something. This will be my 3rd 7970m replacement, and only the 2nd 7970m I've tried flashing; working chips of these seem hard for me to get.

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.

[Cleber]

I am on a new m17x r4 and i began play with the alien Fx, i like the red color and i have a theme to put that. So sunddenly after some use i'd seen that the alien power button is stucked in blue light. Don't matter what i can do, always get blue and only orange in battery. Some info about that?

[failwheeldrive]

I am on a new m17x r4 and i began play with the alien Fx, i like the red color and i have a theme to put that. So sunddenly after some use i'd seen that the alien power button is stucked in blue light. Don't matter what i can do, always get blue and only orange in battery. Some info about that?

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.

[dave1343]

The new M17x R4 laptops are definitely shipping with this new ???.022.???.??? vBIOS on 7970m parts. I just bricked a fresh one from Dell, after trying to flash the modded 940/1350 vBIOS (version .017) which worked perfectly well on an older card of mine. I have a stock vBIOS dump I made (with ATIFlash) from the new card first, if anyone needs it.

It will probably be possible to mess with these vBIOS files in the future, right? This (brand new) part from Dell did seem a bit unstable even before flashing, so maybe that's the reason I can't boot it with one of the older vBIOS files flashed? It seems strange there would be a problem if I didn't have a bad part to begin with. I'll probably just return this and use my Asus full time again otherwise, it's been my brother's dev box lately but he won't mind...

The R4 is stuck with its iGPU for now, at least. Maybe Dell will let me buy/trade in/etc. for a GTX 680m or something. This will be my 3rd 7970m replacement, and only the 2nd 7970m I've tried flashing; working chips of these seem hard for me to get.

I ordered my m17x on the 16th January and I have flashed my 7970m no problem.

May have been a bad ROM?