M17 (pre dell) new owner with questions

Hi all

Apologies if these questions have been asked before. I've gone through quite a few pages of posts on here as well as other forums.

I have just bought a M17 r1 (pre dell) from Ebay. The person I've bought from has no real computer knowledge so couldn't list any specs so i'm assuming just the basics. He has confirmed its all working fine other than the battery not holding a charge and cosmetically is in good condition. I'm not too concerned if a few things need to be changed out as I'm planning to upgrade most of the system anyway. That and I've only paid £50 for it, seems him not having any spec info helped me keep the price low.

So onto the questions.

1. CPU. From what I've read when it comes to CPU the qx9300 would be top of the line for this laptop, is that right?
2. Screen. if needs be can i simply switch out to the higher resolution screen or are the connections different?
3. OS. No doubt it will arrive with Vista installed as this was the standard. Other than the 3870 crossfire issue, see question 4, are there any other issues with upgrading to windows 7?
4. GPU. Saved the best for last. I've read a lot about the 3870 crossfire issues though not sure if the most recent drivers solve this as all the threads i saw were a few years old. I know an upgrade option is the 4850 again in crossfire if I can find the bridge. If I don't mind using a single card, I play a lot of older games that don't make use of SLI/Crossfire, whats my best option? I've read a couple of posts about a single 4870 or even one post about fx3700m.

If it helps at all most of the gaming I do, as mentioned above, would be on older titles, newest being the likes of oblivion and dragon age, with some 3d work but again my version of Lightwave is pretty old and even the newest version can run on an x1600. Not concerned about the core 2 processor for the 3d work as I would be doing final renders on my wifes I7 macbook pro anyway.

Again apologies if all this has been covered before just looking for some up to date info/non broken links.

Thanks

P.S. I should be receiving the laptop tomorrow, depending on royal mail of course, so can update with full spec etc once I know more.

 

Hello and welcome to the Alienware family.

1. Yes your best bet is the QX9300 since it can be overclocked with a unlocked BIOS.
2. If with high res you mean the 1920x1200, yes you can. I believe that ztronics have them.
3. No there are no other issue, you can even install Windows 8 (I have mine with it) and if you have the crossfire issue you can download the program that I created to help with your crossfire issue. NOTE: This issue is not in every laptop. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...y-systems/735021-fps-helper-software-amd.html
4. I have the 3870 since I bought it without any issue, other than Windows 7+ low FPS. You can get the 4850, but they are impossible to find.

I play Oblivion, Skyrim and many more new games with the 3870 crossfire. So you shouldn't have any issue.

 

Thanks Rotary that's a big help.

What version drivers are you using for your 3870s ?

sorry just noticed your link confirms version 13.1 and 13.9

 

Yes. I have only got low FPS from 13.1+, but as how I said above not every laptop have the issue, so you could get the issue with other driver or simple not have it.

If you have any other question feel free to ask.

 

looking into a few parts that may need changing at some point. does this laptop take the same battery as the m9750? seen a few sites saying it works for both but as they aren't cheap thought is confirm it first.

thanks

 

The last time I bought mine was from Ztronics, try with them.

 

thanks i'll have a look.

laptop finally arrived today. had a quick look over and seems fine apart from one USB port doesn't seem to work. he had used respawn to reset everything so once windows updates ill test it all properly.

 

In case that you need any stock driver I created a thread with all the drivers and it includes the Windows Vista installation ISO.

 

yeah i have that bookmarked incase I need it.

well all was mostly as I expected. vista, 4gb ram and 3870 x2. HDD is only 100gb so that will need to be switched out. I'll no doubt put windows 7 on there too. battery is dead as expected but no rush to replace that yet.

then there is the unexpected parts. it already has the 1920x1200 screen and the biggest surprise a blueray drive.

overall a good buy id say. so plans are:

windows 7
up the ram to 8gb
a small SSD for os and apps + a 1tb HDD
New battery so far seem to be £100 and ztronics don't sell them anymore
replace the US keyboard
upgrade to a quad core CPU
last and most likely never to happen switch to 4850 x2

 

with regards to the gpu I may try to find some bench marks for 3870 x2 vs a single 4870 as I see that's an option too

 

I posted mine from my single 4850. Please note my CPU is bottlenecking overall performance but you can see the GPU scores from Vantage

 

If you are sure that you have the pre Dell version, you can't use a 4870, that one is for the Dell version. The best GPU for the pre Dell version is the 4850

 

Ah ok. I'll just an eye out for some 4850s then.

The battery is already proving an issue. Dozens of websites list the part number but 90% are out of stock and the rest are charging a fortune.

 

You can buy on eBay chinese version, very cheap. They have greatly improved in quality over past 2 years and plus they come with 6-12 month guarantee. I've bought one for my Dell inspirion and it works great.

 

I think this program intends to close alienware fusion service in the "component services" menu. That probably was the cause of your FPS issues.

 

What program are you talking about?

 

The service is called Alien Fusion Service. Go to component services and stop it manually so that it doesn't start up with Windows.

 

That's not the issue, because if you do a clean install of Win 7, without any Alienware goodies, you still have the possibility to have the FPS issue. At least I did.

 

Quick additional question.

I currently have the B14 bios. Is the .29 one better and if so what changes does it make?

 

I only use the .29 to be able to overclock the CPU. It have many more options unlocked where you can play with your bios.

 

thanks Rotary I'll wait till I upgrade my CPU then.

Tried running Vantage last night and was getting 2-4 fps constantly. I'm using the legacy drivers, 13.9, for my 3870s. I see from another thread you had similar issues. My win 7 is a clean install but I read you had better luck when you upgraded instead? I also tried your fixer program but was getting the same FPS. I may try the original drivers through win 7 and see if it improves at all.

Are you still using win 8 or did you just go back to Vista? If you are still on 8 how are your vantage scores now?

 

I got low fps for windows 7+ so I always use the program that I made. I'm right now using Windows 8.1 and my scores are almost the same as the ones in my signature. With vista I got better results, but the OS is slower.

Also you should check in device manager if both GPU are recognized.

 

was it a clean install of 8 or upgrade?

Thought of that one and both are recognised. I'll try the old drivers first and see if it helps. I'd rather not have to reinstall vista as the certificate on the base is pretty faded.

 

It was a clean 8 install then upgrade to 8.1.You should make a partition and try the vista one, then see if you got the FPS you want. If you do then it's the new drivers.

I have been getting low FPS since Windows 7 and the only way to solve it was with the program that I created. If you need any help using it feel free to contact me anytime.

 

got a fresh install of 8.1 on there but now it wont even let me install the drivers. it keeps wanting to use the standard windows drivers. did you have that problem?

 

After a lot of time on google I managed to get the drivers on just no catalyst control centre. Is your fixer simply a case of run the exe and that's it?

 

Yes, just run it.