New M6500 Discussion Thread

I think that's what you'll get.

Are you going to install 64-bit yourself?

 

I believe all quad-core systems use the 4 DIMM motherboard.

 

I think so too, I doubt they would put anything else.

Actually I do not require the 2 hard drives that came with the m6500, I gave those away and upgraded already to a Intel X25-M 80gb SSD and 500gb Hitachi 7200rpm 7k500

Actually not always, I know there's a few posts in this very thread were people received quad core system but with only 2 dimms, the other 2 dimm slots were missing. Now from my understanding Dell fixed the issue and the 2 dimm motherboards are strictly not used with the quad core processors but who knows.
Now my chances of getting a 4 dimm motherboard are very good, there is no denying that.

 

Prior to purchasing my M6500 a couple weeks ago, I read elsewhere that the 2 DIMM systems were not compatible with Core i7 quad chips. I am not sure what the reason is behind that.

I actually wonder if there is a bit of misinformation out there regarding systems "missing" DIMMs or if people don't realize that slots C & D are under the keyboard and not under the access panel with A & B.

If you're in the market for an even faster SSD, Newegg has a pretty good deal on the OCZ Vertex 2 120GB for $170 after rebate. I have an X25-M in my desktop and this OCZ blows that away. Keep the Hitachi. I love Hitachi hard drives... 2.5" and 3.5". Prefer them over any other brand any day.

 

Doubt the OCZ will blow it away too much, my Intel X25-M already pushes a ton of IOP's close to the Vertex 2, and I am not much for reads/writes considering the real advantage comes with IOPS. Also I don't trust OCZ rebates, seen too many flunk, anyways I got my 80gb for $159.99 @ Fry's no Rebate or anything.

 

We've heard the opposite from havoctex (Arrandales, while usable in a 4 DIMM board will only recognize 2 of them), and the large numbers of quad-cores shipped way back when core-i was new with only 2 DIMM slots available would seem to contradict your first statement.

As I posted a little earlier in the thread, debguy ordered a quad-core, and somehow got a 2 DIMM board by mistake. He definitely checked under the keyboard, since he has a picture of the missing DIMM slots (naked contact bar only).

 

Yup I remember reading about that, I think it happened to two different people if I am not mistaken.

 

Hi!

I got my M6500 yesterday after only 4 work days (!), even though I made a lot of changes in the configurator. Very impressive and everything seems great except for a few issues with the M7820 and RGBLED screen.

First of all I have not managed to get a higher refresh rates than 60Hz to the external VGA port, no matter what I configured in the windows control center and CCC. Isn't the M7820 capable of higher refresh rates than 60Hz??? I have some nice 21" CRTs that still have better color than most LCDs but need 85Hz to avoid flicker!

The second issue is that black text on white background on the internal RGBLED screen shows a slight green shadow to the right, which makes text appear greenish from a normal viewing distance. White text on a dark background shows a slight red shadow to the left instead. The external CRT (at 60Hz ) doesn't show any of these issues.

Has anybody had similar issues and been able to solve them? Thanks in advance for any ideas!

KW

 

Could be ClearType and or FontSmoothing of Windows 7.

To disable Font Smoothing: Open Start menu, type "view advanced" and choose "View advanced system settings". Click on Settings in the performance group and disable "Smooth edges of screen fonts". you might need to logoff/logon.

To disable ClearType: Open Start menu, type clear and choose "Adjust ClearType text".

 

Thanks for your fast response! I had already played a little with Clear Type, but with unclear results. Now, I turned everything off including Font Smoothing. The made the greenish effect disappear, but now it becomes more obvious that white high contrast edges on dark background cast a slight red shadow to the left of the edge. That is visible both when it comes to white text on black background, the left mouse pointer edge on dark background and windows edges on a black desktop.

I checked with my old Toshiba WUXGA 17" and it only shows the veeeeery slightest hint of such an edge effect, virtually invisible. The Dell effect looks a little like a misaligned CRT in the old days. Is there something wrong with just my screen or does everybody experience this?

Text in general didn't look good with everything turned off, so I activated Clear Type and Font Smoothing again. But it's really hard to find an acceptable setting compared to other screens (probably too the contrasty edge effect).

KW