The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    M11xR1 Assist for new owner

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by morghulkale, Aug 11, 2011.

  1. morghulkale

    morghulkale Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Ok guys, Im coming to you...the experts and such to hopefully help me out on a few issues. I've tried going through the forum here but there is soooo much info and its so widely spread out that its hard to understand in some cases or keep track of....

    So here goes, I received an alienware M11xR1 earlier this year as a gift (probably one of the last ones made right before the R3 came out).
    Inter Core 2 Duo SU7300 (currently at 1.7ghz)
    4gb Ram
    1gb nvidia gt 335
    etc....

    As soon as I received it I did the "official" OC and have left it since

    What are the best suggestions to get the most out of my system? Let me note a few things though;

    1. I've tried to upgrade it to 8gb using mem sticks with the exact same specs as the dell memory and it wont take more than 6gb..(can anyone help me with that? DELL tech suppost just said that..."We cant confirm support of third party vendors" That didn't make any sense.

    2. The following link has a dell rep stating that the CPU is NOT soldered to the board (is it maybe he's wrong, is it maybe mine is a "newer" R1, any thoughts?
    m11x CPU upgrade? - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community

    3.Should I wipe the hard drive and install a factory clean version on WIN7? What are the pros and cons of that?

    4 I've read somewhere about vmod OC'ing the GPU....does anyone have the link to the thread for that...i cant find it again, and the nvidia software that lets you do that.

    5. Any thoughts on going discrete card only and using the newer nvidia drivers?


    Ive read a lot and all you guys are amazing in the amount of knowledge you have, and just hope you guys wont mind helping me out.

    Another note, I'm not too fond of the idea of the pin modding, but maybe some of you guys can give me your thoughts on it. I know there are some other R1 owners out there that are probably asking these same questions...

    Again thanks to any and all.....
     
    morghulkale, Aug 11, 2011
    #1
  2. ejohnson

    ejohnson Is that lemon zest?

    Reputations:
    827
    Messages:
    2,278
    Likes Received:
    104
    Trophy Points:
    81
    1. I've tried to upgrade it to 8gb using mem sticks with the exact same specs as the dell memory and it wont take more than 6gb..(can anyone help me with that? DELL tech suppost just said that..."We cant confirm support of third party vendors" That didn't make any sense.
    Dell will not support something they did not install, but turn off OC and try the ram again. Some ram doesnt work with the m11x for some reason.

    2. The following link has a dell rep stating that the CPU is NOT soldered to the board (is it maybe he's wrong, is it maybe mine is a "newer" R1, any thoughts?
    m11x CPU upgrade? - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community
    The CPU is and aalways has been soldered. He made that statement very early in the run and didnt have all the info.

    3.Should I wipe the hard drive and install a factory clean version on WIN7? What are the pros and cons of that?
    Thats up to you, the factory install is pretty good, not too much bloat in there.
     
    ejohnson, Aug 12, 2011
    #2