*OFFICIAL* M14x R2 Owner's Lounge Thread - READ BEFORE POSTING

I'll double check my settings to make sure everything is maxed, but on the surface level everything is. Ill take a look and report back.

 

did anyone notice , those 32 , 64 gb msata are come with SATA lll speed , I was amused.

 

It is really nice. New mSATA are as fast as 2.5" SSD, but are at least 2 times as expensive.

 

in that case , those future laptop able to slot like 10 msata lol.

4 or 5 of em = size of a 2.5" ssd....

 

37FPS on max setting 1080P in BF3 on m14X R2 is total BS you can get about 19-25fps on ultra at 1600x900 so hows increasing the resolution going to give you nearly a 75% increase in FPS i do not know.

ALSO ONCE AGAIN 2GB GPU IS POINTLESS!!!!!!!!!

if a game needs over 2gb to run it sure as hell wont be running very well on the 650m.

 

Hi I've got a question. The original m14x had probably one of the best keyboards on the market, have they changed it at all in the r2 model? Also, has anybody found any reviews? Thanks!

 

So I just ordered my first Alienware laptop and am excited to get it. In the past I've messed around with custom video card drivers, or finding ways around the 'mobility' restrictions... But I'm pretty out-dated now...

So, for all those fanatics out there. Would you mind posting your recomendations for what to do with your new Alienware? Items like:
- Drivers
- Hardware Mods
- Cooling Tweaks
- Programs to Run / Install
- BIOS / Firmware updates
- etc...

Thanks!

 

But, but, but... MakakiloMoke said 2Gb is so worth getting for, you know... gaming... and stuff...

 

That is big ($) difference..

 

It has the same keyboard

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How to enter bios, what key on R2?

 

Hi d2daanny thanks for the info! That's good news! Can't wait until i get the money to order one of these babies!

 

F2

[10 char]

 

Drivers:

As I said here, Intel drivers are not the latest ones. You can let Intel.com detect your hardware and tell you which one to update. In my case, I updated Intel HD Graphics and Intel Wi-Fi (but I manually downloaded the driver-only one, as Dell installs the software+driver one).​

Hardware Mods:

I am not such a hardware tweaking guy so I've got no advice for you, sorry.​

Cooling Tweaks

The cooling does an incredible job, and I've never hit 70 degrees (I play Diablo III)​

Programs to Run / Install

I suggest uninstalling McAfee and replace it with Microsoft Security Essentials. I also suggest to install MSI Afterburner if you want to overclock your GT 650M (nVidia tools can't overclock the core as of right now)​

BIOS / Firmware updates

There's an update to the Bios (A02) to download on Dell's web site. I've not installed it yet and I don't know what it fixes.​

etc...

I experienced some slowdowns in Diablo III (maxed out @ 900p) so I overclocked the card to 880/1203 (+135 core/+405 mem) and now it's fluid as possible. Maybe you can go even further (only memory as core is already maxed out).​

 

I've been hearing mixed things about overclocking the R2... Last I read was that you can with MSI.

What are recommendations for overclocking as far as tools , settings, etc...?

Also, so what's the deal with video card drivers? Use Dell's drivers, go to Nvidia and get latest? Is there something special to do to get better performance w/ drivers?

Thanks!

 

lots of talk about whether or not 2GB of VRAM is worthwhile or not. I don't spend much time gaming. I ordered mine for video editing Using PP and AE. I know that both programs (especially AE) can make good use of the additional VRAM. I'm not sure about how much of a difference this makes in practice, but in theory it should be useful. So to address everyone who says that 2GB of VRAM is useless, it's not. It is useful for video editing purposes.

 

I didn't try to go higher than 880/1203 (I took these values from this thread). The WEI score jumped from 7.1 to 7.2, and I don't need more power for Diablo III.

I've tested nVidia System Tools 6.08 (the latest version), but it was not able to overclock the Core, only the Memory. So I went for MSI Afterburner, which was used by the guy who benchmarked the GT 650M.

As for video card drivers, nVidia does not provide drivers for the GT 650M. You must stick with Dell drivers for now.

If you've got other questions, feel free to ask it, this forum is designed for it

 

Can someone post the full model number on the 6250 wireless card in their M14x R2?? I want to purchase one online for now until I can get my hands on a Killer 1202.. thanks in advance!

 

MW04C WiMAX/WiFi, Half Mini Card, Intel Link 6250
X9JDY WLAN, WiFi, Half Mini Card, Intel Link 6205

So far I know it fix unable to shutdown also F12 in bios unable to switch boot priority.

 

2GB is not worth it by the time you have turned textures or other setting so high it might need more than 1GB the core speed and all the other parts prob wont be able to give a decent FPS anyway.

this card also has a 128bit bus width which you are going to hit long before getting past 1GB of ram.

Some people just think higher price + bigger numbers = Best.

and dell is just hoping people like that will come along.

 

For 60 bucks, not too worried about it.

 

gta 4 EASILY passes 1gb vram.. im sure other games do too. not to mention what gta 5 will need

proof:
Alienware m14x R2 - GTA 4 - 1080 and 900 - YouTube

 

All is about "worthy & money" , If you think its worth & have the money , just go for 2gb vram. If you think its not worth it and not necessary or out of pocket money just keep 1gb vram.

Please don't compare with bf3 ultra setting 1080p with GT650m...because it does not make sense at all , its GT650m overall.

Same as memory ram , most system don't use over 4gb , why some people are getting 8gb , 12gb 16gb or 32gb rams....

CPU does the same....

PS : Sorry , English is not my 1st Language.

 

That is on high res.!
This is a 14' laptop and everyone says 2gb is useful if you want full hd gaming or multiple screen setups with very high graphics.!
What new thng are you saying here??

 

I play various games like Diablo 3 on an external monitor. I usually play it in the highest res i can (1920x1080 in this case or somewhat lower). It usually runs pretty smooth. All I have is the 3610qm and the 2Gb upgrade.

 

Notebookcheck already got M14x R2 review but in German.

It looks like R2 has LG panel instead of Samsung (R1). As the Samsung, this R2 LG panel has above average brightness, contrast and viewing angle but again low colour reproduction (about 40% gamut)

This really a deal breaker for me. I want at least 72% gamut LCD for my next new laptop

 

Lame. If you are offering a little screen, at least make it a good little screen.

 

my desktop gpu is 1GB and plays BF3 at ultra, so how is a 2GB less powerful card going to play it any better? (and thats at 1080p)

what i mostly get is that 90% of alienware users buy it cause they think its the best pc you can own and actually dont know anything about pc hardware or how it works.

 

he does 900 after showing the 1080p, watch the whole video. I watch it and the proof is there for me. and that game is a couple years old. i myself have used all of my 1.5gb on my R1 with gta4. if this was an upgradable card, i'd probably go with the lower, but since i cant change it, i'm going to go with the one that is more future proof.

 

My desktop GeForce 560Ti can burn through any game on the market on max settings.. with 1GB.

More memory will not make a notebook-grade GPU better.

Also there is no such thing as "futureproof". As time goes on, the amount of memory your GPU has will become irrelevant, because the rest of the specs will start failing to keep up.

It's like buying a compact car and putting a huge turbocharger on the engine. You're not going to make it run any faster (because it's still the engine of a compact car, not a sports car), and you're certainly not going to make it keep up with bigger cars over time.

 

Can I confirm with you guys that the latest 650m drivers are the 296.16?

Seems weird that the 555 is getting updates while we aren't

 

We might need to wait for dell to updates.

 

Dont feel wierd about it!
555 has been around for quite a time now and nvidia most probably would have found many bugs and some performance tweakes to put in new drivers but 650m is very recent and as a matter of fact m14x r2 is one of its debut stages!

So dont worry, as time passes nvidia is sure to update it to remove new found bugs and some performance/ power consumption tweaks!

 

just go to laptopvideo2go and download the latest drivers with the updated INF file. Works fine. Just got my m14xr2 and im running 301.42

 

any differences?

 

hey dude, whatever makes you happy. i scored a deal so i ended up getting the 2gb cheaper than the stock 1gb on dell's site.

 

@eats7,

How is the Killer Wireless-N? Im thinking of buying the M14x R2 with the Killer Wireless-N since it's only a $30 upgrade. You think it's worth it? Does it come with the wireless HD? Can I just let windows do the management, instead of the software it comes with?

Thanks in advance

 

I have the 1102 right now, which i bought for 45 bucks, and it picks up access points from the next street over, so i'd say it's pretty good. but no it doesnt have the wireless hd, intel wireless cards have it though. the software for it is totally optional you don't even need it, i hardly use it. for 30 bucks id say its a deal cuz it's the 1202 which is an upgrade from an 1102(not sure what the difference between em are though.)

 

Does anyone with the R2 play Skyrim, Dragon Age, Amalur, and Guild Wars (90% of my gaming)? If you can, I'd like to hear what your settings, FPS, etc is (with and without OC'ing would be awesome) like. Thanks!

 

Guys, I made a poster-like image on how Alienware can improve the M14x even further. I just need some people to spread this around:

 

The battery life is already good for gaming laptop. If anything I'd rather they get rid of the optical drive and instead use that space to put in a bigger graphics card.

 

Bear in mind one of the reasons Dell stated that they're discontinuing the m11x is because they said people preferred having optical drives. I doubt they're going anywhere on the m14x any time soon.

 

a bigger GPU should be nearly impossible as CPU und GPU are sharing the heatsink, the cooling is quite limited for the M14x barebone.

 

Hi, well after reading a ton of threads on gaming notebooks I think the m14x r2 is probably the best! A lot of people with otherwise slick fast notebooks (other brands) seem to be having a lot of problems, so I decided on the m14x, will be placing my order soon!

 

My M14XR2 kicked the bucket. Motherboard is dead. Called Alienware support and a tech will be replacing my motherboard in the next couple of days.

-update-: tech came and replaced the motherboard. everything is like new now!

 

Soon to be new M14XR2 owner here! Very excited that this is my first real gaming laptop.. can't wait!

 

r2 is my first gaming laptop too you'll love it. But I would recommend getting a cooling pad, Im getting mine tomorrow. but for now I just use pen caps under the back to kinda raise it up to breath alittle better. eeek..

 

Is anybody else having trouble running diablo 3 on max settings? I'm trying to run it on max but it's very very choppy . I believe I have the Optimus technology with the intel 4000 and 650m , I've read a few places that people have had trouble . any input would be awesome

 

My graphics card never gets above 65 Celsius but the Core package sometimes has a max on 81 or 82 after i play about 4 hours of SWTOR, is that normal? That is on a notebook cooler btw.

 

Any of you have problems with BSODs?

I saw this on the Dell twitter.
http://support.dell.com/support/top...us&docid=472612&dgc=SM&cid=248066&lid=4318013

Its strange because I get BSODs in AHCI but not RAID mode. (I only have one drive.) Anyone else experiencing this?

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