Alright so I got my M17X R4 today and I'll be starting my build here soon.
I dubbed it a "Super M17X R4" because it has advanced upgrades that you can't get stock from Alienware.com
Its basically a stock HD7970M 1080P M17X R4 Nebula Red with an SSD from XoticPC installed, and my personal graphics artwork applied to the lid(Art by me, Vinyl application done by XoticPC)
Nothing super fancy like some of the guys's nice rigs around here hey its a stretch for a laptop.
Heres my concept art to real world imgur thread with photos from XoticPC: http://imgur.com/a/VcQiR
The "super" upgrade that I'm doing
Base build
i7 3630QM
HD7970M
750GB HDD
1080P 60HZ Screen
XoticPC upgrade
64GB Crucial M4 mSATA SSD for OS
Custom artwork Vinyl(120$ had to do a 2nd print)
Total machine price from at unboxing: $2103
My Parts list
12 GB DDR3 Dual Channel Kingston HyperX RAM
(Kingston HyperX 2x4gb 1866mhz Memory Modules
Kingston HyperX 2x2gb 1866mhz Memory Modules, 6GB per channel.)
Kingston SSDnow! V+200 60GB SSD
Intel Centrino 6250 Multiband WifiCard+WiDi compatable+WiMAX technology
Artic MX-2 Thermal Compound
EDIT: Hardware upgrade done.
"Soft Mods"
Xotic PC did a clean install of Windows 7 HP for me but They were missing some drivers so I'm catching theme as I go along.
Debating whether I should just drop in a clean install myself before doing all the software level mods.
(^Lol did this last night, done)
Login Tweaks wallpaper
Windows Manabí OS-Tan Windows 7 theme modified with my own changes(Done)
Intel SRT Technology(to be used with the 60GB SSD)(Done)
Windows OS Symbolic Links creation for SSD theory operation(see below)(done)
Downsampling custom monitor resolution: 2160 x 1215(+15)(2.62 megapixels)<--starting with this will probably move up to 2208 x 1242(+18)(2.74megapixels) to emulate eyefinity workload.
Hardware Mods
ArticMX-2 applied.(done)
Minor TDP increased "overclock" on the CPU(locked CPU but Turbo boost TDP can be changed.(debating if I need to do this, probably not)
HD 7970M "superclock" (just a small but effective overclock)
Here's what went into the system.
So before anyone asks about my storage solution set up here "Why 2 SSDs?"
One is for OS, the mSATA, its specifically for OS, Drivers, Communicators, and browsers. If something of that sort doesn't fall under that category I simply do not want it to be on that mSATA SSD, I want to keep it clean and as quick booting as possible
This SSD will be separate to operation of user applications and games.
However the 750GB SSD will be paired in raid operation with the 60GB SSD which will cash and pin programs from the 750GB HDD to give me maximum storage and performance ratio.
It's going to be a pain to set up all the symbolic links and moving around system files to keep files off the SSD but keeping everything operating to perfection is an absolute must for me.
I'm stoked to see this M17X R4 finally arrive, because It will handle every game I play without issues and will later on be able to support a 720P eyefinity set up which I plan on saving up money for.
I'll be doing an unboxing and overview video, along with an upgrading video as well.
But I have some questions about overclocking the GPU, I know the CPU is limited and i have to rely on the turbo boost increase to allow any form of "overclocking" but im not too worried about the CPU but more or less worried about the HD 7970M.
I've never used AMD graphics before, but since GCN 7000 series is better for high resolutions and multi screen performance, as well as my workstation projects and programs I desided to hang up my green and black for a red tshirt and wanted to get something that would fit my value and resources..
I'm curious on the difficulty of overclocking and tweaking the GPU to achieve and acceptable overclock to support the higher resolutions for downsampling, eyefinity and games in general.
Its an R4 so is there any advice for overclocking the HD7970M?
I don't want to push it hard, I just want to see a good 3dMark11 score pop up, and have acceptable frame rates at high to max@1080P.
And great frame rates on downsampled games from earlier years.
Here's my 3dMark stock with the 13.6beta drivers
Can anyone show me how to directly download driver builds from AMD, i dont want to use their automatic crap.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6683977
After all the hardware is installed and running, and full windows updates.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6688658
This will be my 4th Alienware, and my 3rd Alienware laptop, and I'm stoked to see it come to life.
I hope you guys enjoy my presentation, because I'm absolutely stoked. :thumb:
Checklist:
Hardware upgrades: Done!
File system managed: complete!
Overclocking: This is next
Downsample Resolutions: coming soon.
I dubbed it a "Super M17X R4" because it has advanced upgrades that you can't get stock from Alienware.com
Its basically a stock HD7970M 1080P M17X R4 Nebula Red with an SSD from XoticPC installed, and my personal graphics artwork applied to the lid(Art by me, Vinyl application done by XoticPC)
Nothing super fancy like some of the guys's nice rigs around here hey its a stretch for a laptop.
Heres my concept art to real world imgur thread with photos from XoticPC: http://imgur.com/a/VcQiR
The "super" upgrade that I'm doing
Base build
i7 3630QM
HD7970M
750GB HDD
1080P 60HZ Screen
XoticPC upgrade
64GB Crucial M4 mSATA SSD for OS
Custom artwork Vinyl(120$ had to do a 2nd print)
Total machine price from at unboxing: $2103
My Parts list
12 GB DDR3 Dual Channel Kingston HyperX RAM
(Kingston HyperX 2x4gb 1866mhz Memory Modules
Kingston HyperX 2x2gb 1866mhz Memory Modules, 6GB per channel.)
Kingston SSDnow! V+200 60GB SSD
Intel Centrino 6250 Multiband WifiCard+WiDi compatable+WiMAX technology
Artic MX-2 Thermal Compound
EDIT: Hardware upgrade done.
"Soft Mods"
Xotic PC did a clean install of Windows 7 HP for me but They were missing some drivers so I'm catching theme as I go along.
Debating whether I should just drop in a clean install myself before doing all the software level mods.
(^Lol did this last night, done)
Login Tweaks wallpaper
Windows Manabí OS-Tan Windows 7 theme modified with my own changes(Done)
Intel SRT Technology(to be used with the 60GB SSD)(Done)
Windows OS Symbolic Links creation for SSD theory operation(see below)(done)
Downsampling custom monitor resolution: 2160 x 1215(+15)(2.62 megapixels)<--starting with this will probably move up to 2208 x 1242(+18)(2.74megapixels) to emulate eyefinity workload.
Hardware Mods
ArticMX-2 applied.(done)
Minor TDP increased "overclock" on the CPU(locked CPU but Turbo boost TDP can be changed.(debating if I need to do this, probably not)
HD 7970M "superclock" (just a small but effective overclock)
Here's what went into the system.
So before anyone asks about my storage solution set up here "Why 2 SSDs?"
One is for OS, the mSATA, its specifically for OS, Drivers, Communicators, and browsers. If something of that sort doesn't fall under that category I simply do not want it to be on that mSATA SSD, I want to keep it clean and as quick booting as possible
This SSD will be separate to operation of user applications and games.
However the 750GB SSD will be paired in raid operation with the 60GB SSD which will cash and pin programs from the 750GB HDD to give me maximum storage and performance ratio.
It's going to be a pain to set up all the symbolic links and moving around system files to keep files off the SSD but keeping everything operating to perfection is an absolute must for me.
I'm stoked to see this M17X R4 finally arrive, because It will handle every game I play without issues and will later on be able to support a 720P eyefinity set up which I plan on saving up money for.
I'll be doing an unboxing and overview video, along with an upgrading video as well.
But I have some questions about overclocking the GPU, I know the CPU is limited and i have to rely on the turbo boost increase to allow any form of "overclocking" but im not too worried about the CPU but more or less worried about the HD 7970M.
I've never used AMD graphics before, but since GCN 7000 series is better for high resolutions and multi screen performance, as well as my workstation projects and programs I desided to hang up my green and black for a red tshirt and wanted to get something that would fit my value and resources..
I'm curious on the difficulty of overclocking and tweaking the GPU to achieve and acceptable overclock to support the higher resolutions for downsampling, eyefinity and games in general.
Its an R4 so is there any advice for overclocking the HD7970M?
I don't want to push it hard, I just want to see a good 3dMark11 score pop up, and have acceptable frame rates at high to max@1080P.
And great frame rates on downsampled games from earlier years.
Here's my 3dMark stock with the 13.6beta drivers
Can anyone show me how to directly download driver builds from AMD, i dont want to use their automatic crap.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6683977
After all the hardware is installed and running, and full windows updates.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/6688658
This will be my 4th Alienware, and my 3rd Alienware laptop, and I'm stoked to see it come to life.
I hope you guys enjoy my presentation, because I'm absolutely stoked. :thumb:
Checklist:
Hardware upgrades: Done!
File system managed: complete!
Overclocking: This is next
Downsample Resolutions: coming soon.
Last edited:
