Another R1

Been debating on a new gaming laptop. Though about getting a new 14, but since they don't have the new 8xx GPU out in them yet I decided to wait. While looking around on ebay I seen a buy it now for under 200 that had a complete R1. Though I would revisit some of the previous modding as I didn't push my original unit that hard. I plan on trying to push this little unit a little further.

It had 4gb of ram and 160 GB HD from the factory. I have dropped a Intel G2 X25 160 GB SSD into it and have 8gb of ram to swap into it. Before I turn up the heat I plan on doing a cooling mod to it. Got a lot of older threads to dig back up, read and maybe even convert to word document for future reference. Need to fix the hinge on it also, busted on the left side like mine was. Think I may fix it the same way I did mine also. ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/641407-fixing-up-m11x-r1.html ) As that fix is still holding up since 2012. (the stainless tie wire and backing off some of the tension on the hinges worked well.

Here are some of the picture of it off ebay, got to do the hinge fix later today. Waiting on the new screen to come in.










I still plan on getting a R3 later on, Just haven't found the right one yet.

 

Very nice indeed. It is really rather pleasing to see some of the old R1s alive and with us today, four years after the model was originally released. I still have mine, somewhere, and I am happy to say that it remains in A1 condition—not a scratch or any wear on it whatsoever! I stopped using it quite some time ago, you see. Your model appears to be in quite a decent condition, minus the hinge, of course. Keep us all posted on the cooling mod you have planned and all the other mods etc, etc,. :thumbsup:

 

The R1's are pretty solid machine - mine is still going strong after 4 years! You mentioned you ordered a screen - are you upgrading to the IPS?

 

I have been going back though the threads looking at the mods I liked, not sure if I am going to upgrade the screen or not yet. But I do have a original replacement ordered. For 22 bucks shipped you can't go wrong.

 

That was a tough machine indeed.

 

I have always enjoyed my other one, but I want to see how hard I can push the other one safely. The screen didn't come in, in time so I pulled the ssd and brought my old one to work with me. Going to pull my 320 GB HD and Drop the 160GB ssd in it and finish loading drivers and tweaking the OS. Sitting in Houston right now getting ready to leave the USA heading to work in Saudi. Got plenty of time to reseach all my stuff and have it ordered and waiting at the house for when I get back in 28 more days.

 

Damn I still have my R1 . Still in great shape . Had the lid/hinges replace last spring . I've got it hooked up to my TV . Just ordered a Alienware 17 last week . Been using a XPS15 for the past couple of years .

 

I am down to the two week mark at work. Been busy as hell I haven't swapped the hard drives yet and did the OS modding I wanted to do yet, but I will soon enough. We are finally jacked up on the new location and back in drilling mode now.

 

Hey there

I'm also with my r1, which i bought back in march 2010. Since then my power brick died, battery died and screen hinges was broken 5 times. Brick and battery i bought via ebay and screen was replaced by dell, now everything is ok, works like beast, last for 8 hours and etc.

I'm always taking it to my vacations, use it to manage photos. At home i'm using it as media center That's my story.

 

Anyone with a R1 they just leave overclocked all the time? Either in the bios or the pin mod? Have you liked the way it runs on the long term? Still getting good temps?

 

R1 is FAAAR away from high temp, even in overclocked mode (via soft). I'm getting about 73c on GPU same on CPU. Mine was used in overclocked mode for its whole life

 

That's good to hear. I have never overclocked my first one since I have got it. I knew it stayed really cool and that was the reason I wanted the R1 vs the R2. I wasn't sure how it was overclocked. I will have to make sure the pads/paste hasn't degraded when I get home and get that other R1 fixed all the way up.

 

I was playing Borderlands 2 with cpu and gpu OC. It was maximum 61c on both cpu and gpu and 41 on hdd. JFYI

 

If mine will stay that cool I may try the pin mod if I don't think the factory overclock is enough. Still need to pick up a spare motherboard or two to put up while they are still cheap for just incase.

 

I have an R1 in my classroom as a student machine. They love it and it gets used daily. Still awesome battery life. Lately they've been using it for rendering stop motion animation.

 

Finally back home. Just dropped 160 GB X25 Intel SSD back into it, installed the replacement screen, did my stainless steel tie wire fix to the hinge, installed 8gb of ram. It's updating windows right now to SP1. So after that it will be time to do some bench marks. Then to go into bios to overclock to see what change it made in performance and go from there. I do think I took a little too much tension out of the screen and need to pop the cover off again so I can tighten it up just a hair. But the factory tension on the hinges I do think is way too much.