Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
23 Posts
0
92584
Alienware M17X All Powerfull IS IT REALLY???
My story so far..........
I have bought a maxxed out Alienware M17x, nearly £4000.00 paid, three weeks into the system and this is the result, it has major problems and flaws, and Alienware/Dell have confirmed this machine is not all powerfull as it is advertised or made to be or at least at this moment in time it is not, not sure why they are selling it as I am on the verge of wanting to return it for either a proper working replacement or a full refund.
My system has the Vista 64bit, Dual Geforce 280M cards, QX9300 Quad Core 2 Extreme 2.53ghz , 1TB 7200rpm HDD in Raid & 1200p resolution on the screen with 4GB DDR3 ram (opted for 4 rather than 8GB at the moment, as I intended to wait for prices to drop, everything else maxxed out with all options).
Problems so far : (Which Alienware/Dell have acknowledged as follows, Have emails to prove this from Dell/Alienware Reps)
1. Dual Geforce 280M graphics cards do not work properly in SLI mode appears to be a driver issue and fault, the onboard integrated card kicks in when in boost mode with one of the Geforce 280M cards hitting 70C + on temperature, whilst the second 280M sits idle at 35-45C. My benchmarks graphics test cannot hit more than 8-9 fps under DirectX9, forget DirectX10 benchmarking so far cannot get the system to do anything properly in DX10 mode just a blank screen, although when running dxdiag.exe the system reports upto date with DirectX10. Microsoft FSX cannot achieve more than 5-9 fps in boost SLI mode when maxxed out on settings (see other users on You Tube with similar maxxed out settings on other systems with Ati Crossfire and or desktop systems using the same Geforce 280/295 graphics cards in SLI mode). According to the norm with the setup working properly, one should be able to achieve at least 25-30 fps easily with capacity to hit the 60's with further testing and tweaks.
2. The quad core 2 extreme QX9300 chip tends to push all the workload onto one core running at 80+% again temps hitting the 70C's whilst the other three sit at 15% workload and temps of 35-45C. There is some flaw which is causing this and it is pointless having all this power and not being able to utilise it properly.
3. HDD, due to having carried out some changes i.e. disable GPU's in BIOS under Alienware instructions to alter the hybrid SLI mode so that one can manually control the save and boost modes i.e. integrated GPU and Dual Geforce 280M mode, the machine began to suffer blue screen crashes, after having gone through approximately 20 odd crashes I reverted back to the enable GPU's in bios settings. The HDD's since are knocking so loud that one can hear it across a noisy room. I believe the crashes have damaged one or both of the hard drives somehow and in order to reduce the sound, I had to go into Vista settings and disable "Superfetch", this reduced the knocking sound but as soon as the hard drive is accessed the knocking is there, again not sure how long this will carry on for before a failure occurs.
4. Alienware/Dell at this moment in time are working on the solutions but do not have one to give to customers so for those like me having paid out a fortune for something that is supposed to be the most powerful laptop in the world are left with a machine that just is the most expensive desktop led lightshow on earth, that is fact, I can give them that credit. At least I have managed to get it to flow slowly through all the rainbow colours across the lit keyboard. 4 weeks in and I have not been able to use the machine at all as intended apart from surf the web looking for solutions. I dont think the Alienware reps know what to say and so far no one can advise what status I hold, I may have to complain to the Credit Card company to seek some form of compensation, either I have been sent a dud of a machine or Alienware/Dell need to let the consumers know the reality.
Anyone wanting to know more, I am more than happy to comment and take things further specially if there are other M17X purchasers out there. Just my input to add to all the hype around this machine which I admit I fell for...................
WhiteHatMatt
1 Message
0
November 12th, 2009 10:00
Well my story so far..... long time ago in a far away galaxy, I decided to buy a M1730.. $5400 before tax... three exchanges two repairs i got an exchange for an alienware M17x. LOL I recieved it yesterday pluged it in and turned it on.. and poof motherboard toast lol! not even one day od owning. ahh so now i just shiped it out to depot and am waiting to here back... i figure that it will be the same as my first unit less than a year ago.. 3-4 months of fighting for a working system any dell reps reading this here is my service request number 121360978. any one else have this proplem or is my expensive brick situation one of a kind?
freestylaruk
23 Posts
0
November 13th, 2009 01:00
My oh my, I had decided not to reply to this thread anymore since I had returned my M17X for a full refund due to the many months of no use and nothing but problems, but my email showed a few replies so I just had to respond.
I feel for anyone with a poor Alienware from my own experience, in my opinion AW's are a complete waste of time and money. Realised after doing a little homework once I had decided no more M17X for me after all the problems, that it was far better to go for a bespoke build machine to get true ALL POWERFUL status, it was not hard at all, infact have already taken my new rig completely apart, twice, to tidy up wiring and watercooling and to add eye candy, controllable colour changing led lighting including UV's, internal USB hub, mini internal speakers etc. My new rig which I have had for just over a month has already hit P40491 in 3D Mark Vantage scores (Submitted to ORB see link below) is testiment to the fact that I can easily blast ANY Alienware system out of the water by miles with capacity to hit far higher, they have no claim to All Powerful status in anyway whatsoever!. So far not a single crash or freeze apart from my OC (Overclock) testing, effortless and hitting well over 100FPS on full sliders over cities in FSX with REX, Traffic X, VFR London as well as many more addons etc (got pics to prove it). Without any addons, just FSX alone with my new and now returned fully loaded M17X, I was getting a poor 4-5FPS at most 8FPS where it should have been at least 25-30 for the nearly £4k paid.
I paid far less than my M17X for the new supercomputer (£3k built, tested and delivered in person by the builder himself) yet got my hands on the best hardware available to homo sapiens thank god. Most gamers cannot dream of touching the sheer power under my fingertips. Get wise, get a Coolermaster or equivalent full tower case, a top end EVGA X58 or Asus X58 motherboard and go Quad SLi with the GTX 295's or go dual with the new ATi GPU's, go for full 12GB Ram DDR3, the best CPU on the market from intel, watercooled CPU block and radiator, a few fans, 1200W power supply and HDDs/SSD's/DVD Writer/Fan controller and you should have spare change easily for the eye candy, a Logitech G19 Keyboard and full res 25+inch 1920x1200 monitor. I personally preferred the Nvidia GTX 295's and will exchange for GTX 300's with a little top up £ or equivalent when they bring them out. So far on watercooling alone on CPU block on a Core i7 975 Extreme, clocked way past 3.3Ghz (OCed to 4.495Ghz) I got P40491 stable. I have attached 4 monitors now at full 1920x1200 resolutions 2 on each GPU, ......need I say more, all my games are loaded onto it, all my software, rips through anything lightning fast. You need just a few hours, a few screwdrivers and push into slots the hardware you have and plug in some simple cables to HDD's/B-ray DVD writer etc to save labour build costs and your done, resulting in a truly magnificent supercomputer that is futureproof, just change update hardware as time progresses.
Any questions or probs just pick up the phone and talk to the builder himself.......thats true service for you!.
Link to my 3D Mark Vantage submission http://service.futuremark.com/resultAnalyzer.action?resultId=1536986&resultType=19 - Point to note NO Alienwares to be seen on ORB anywhere in the realms of where the true ALL POWERFUL hang ;-) even Aliens fear to tread in this territory......LOL
Freestylaruk
GhostRider75RGR
3 Posts
0
January 17th, 2012 22:00
WOW this post is from 2009 and its 2012 my M17X is set up exactly as yours, the difference is I have 8 GB of Ram. So what I say my system has the identical problems as yours. Dell has sent me the current unit I have only after replacing every piece of hardware. Only to find out that did not work. The unit I have is a replacement unit., it has the same problem with the 280x cards. Dell wants to re-install the operating system of this M17x for the 3rd time. I attested, and told them absolutely not. Once a again they have throw every and all new hardware. The M17x Is in the same condition it was when I received it. If you happen to read this post or any one else battling with Dell feel free to contact me at
GhostRider75RGR
3 Posts
0
January 17th, 2012 22:00
WOW this post is from 2009 and its 2012 my M17X is set up exactly as yours, the difference is I have 8 GB of Ram. So what I say my system has the identical problems as yours. Dell has sent me the current unit I have only after replacing every piece of hardware. Only to find out that did not work. The unit I have is a replacement unit., it has the same problem with the 280x cards. Dell wants to re-install the operating system of this M17x for the 3rd time. I attested, and told them absolutely not. Once a again they have throw every and all new hardware. The M17x Is in the same condition it was when I received it. If you happen to read this post or any one else battling with Dell feel free to contact me at
Cenobitez
348 Posts
0
January 18th, 2012 06:00
Without pouring an accelerant on the fire, there is nothing any company hates more than a motivated individual who is going to make a noise and build a case along the way.
A good CS can see this a mile off, and customers like this are easier to just give them what they want to make them go away.
Know your legal rights, and use them, read the small print and know what your rights are.
There are many sites which take pleasure in whacking Dell publicly, use them, start your own thread here and document in detail what you've done, what dell have done, update it regular, it stays at the top of the forum and becomes like a coffin nail.
Update the good and the bad, keep it honest tho.
After wasting 5 days of holiday at work, having 11 hours unpaid work time, and a huge phone bill Dell have nearly restored my faith in the situation, its just a shame I had become a 'issue' to get help.