stock cpu is fine. 4900mq is hot at stock clocks, with laptop pad with 3 fans at full speed (at least 10c above stock's temperature at idle). i run it with slight oc, @4.0ghz all the times.

oh. nevermind haha.. aw parts are known to withstand rough conditions like this. it's been years since my r4's are running at higher clocks. all are still good so far

note: this is a lesson learned when you have all the stuff around you, but you don't actually test it yourself (taking everything for granted)

the 330W adapter actually works very well with m17x r4, without any mod. the bios detects the adapter as 330W, and the battery charging is working fine.

why use a higher-power adapter? it provides more juice to your system, especially when you overclock cpu/gpu, and put everything into full use (all hdd slots are full with ssd/hdd, including hdd caddy; ram slots are full with 4x8gb ram, etc.)

This post has been edited by horns: Nov 12 2014, 10:11 PM

yeah.. sometimes i really take things for granted. it's really a bad habit.

yes it can be purchased separately. for aw17, it depends on your configurations. it's either 180W or 240W.

still, it's better to run with more powerful one because it's not that stressful to the adapter also.

part numbers for 330W brick are Y90RR or XM3C3 (these two were said to work well without mods. i just tested XM3C3, not yet Y90RR), in case you wanna get it somewhere else. (in general, those for aw18, x51, dell workstation laptops will work)

asus sabertooth is a mainstream mobo and has z97 chip. (4790k max, for now) z97 chip doesn't support ddr4. the ones that support ddr4 is x99 chip. (5820k and up) they are already in the market for a while now.

among 5th gen cpu's, 5820k only has 24 pci-e lanes, while 5930k and up have 40. (the older 4-series all have 40 lanes) since area-51 can go up to 3x gpu, the minimal cpu is surely 5930k.

perhaps you just need to change the cmos battery?

maintenance like replacing thermal pastes will not make the warranty voided, but gpu reballing will.

from the manuals:

ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/e...e%202_en-us.pdf
ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/e...anual_en-us.pdf

like what e_mc_square said, internally m15x has 1x sata port, and 1x dvdrom drive only.

it uses pm55 chip, so the speed for both ports should be sata2. you can put in sata ssd, and it will run at upper 250MB/s max (sata2 speed) that's still better than hdd, even if it's not running at full speed.

Notes to those who wanna upgrade gpu of their m17x r4 (from 660m, 675m, 680m, etc. to 780m, 880m, maybe 980m - cannot confirm because I don't have this yet. This might apply to aw17 also): the upgrades run best if you have a 330W adapter. Previously we had reports from nbr and techinferno that throttling issues are common for 880m after upgrades. (I myself suffered the same) I think i found out the actual cause: not enough power. In my case i have every port filled up. All parts need power and 240w is not enough.

If you have base models of m17x r4, i suggest you upgrade the gpu and your adapter. The performance of the high end cards are simply much better.

In case you're wondering, it's totally fine to use it in 17 (some people modded 2x 330w into 660w to support oc for 18), and using 330w adapter has some advantages, including providing more than enough juice to the machine.

Finally i can put my 880m into good use. The temperature is good (77c max). Everything works as usual, with no throttling

Er not sure about others, but not in my case. Actually previously the gpu temperature was fine (it's similar to the above. R4 gpu heatsink jangan main-main. it's good)

Note that 880m runs fine for general use in r4 previously. It's when i put it into heavy use (play games) then throttling starts kicking in.

77c is not hot at all.

Malaysia is usually slower. For Apac region,usually australia is the first to get updates. I checked that a week ago at dell.au and found out the specs already. Need to be very patient for 980.

If it's 970 then better get from retail.

uh? not 2x titan-z meh? 3x amd radeon r9.290x is also not bad.

It's already here.

That's exactly what i suspected for aw17 with 880m. The gpu heat sink of these machines are triple-pipe, very efficient.

No I don't think it's the drivers either. I'm using the latest .75 now compared to the previous one that i tested few months ago. (I used the modded inf for .65 and it worked for .75 also)

Haha 17 has a good cooling system for gpu. Their temperatures rarely go above 80c. When you have that temperature that means it's time for maintenance.

Oh. That's good i am referring to room temperature. Your temperatures are when i use mine in air-conditioned room.

No wonder.

Hey thanks for the information. Now we have extreme cpu in aw17. Does that mean we also have triple pipe cpu heat sink for 17?

Afaik the cpu heat sink in 17 is only dual pipe.

this sucks. that means only 18 has a triple pipe cpu heat sink.

it's way easier to get the triple-pipe for gpu.

unfortunately this is the true value of technologies to consumers. it depreciates significantly in terms of dollars and cents with time.

if the 17 has a better heat sink, my plan is to put an extreme cpu into one of my r4 by the end of this year. i guess it's very unlikely to happen now :/

there are positive progresses @ti regarding clevo's 980m in aw machines

Look for sata-to-sata 12.7mm hdd caddy. I have silverstone ts09, and also another type from china @ garage sales. Both work well.

Edit: normally the sata port for ODD drive is slower sata2 only (max 300MB/s) If your hdd bay is sata3, put the ssd in hdd bay and move the hdd to hdd caddy.

This post has been edited by horns: Nov 26 2014, 05:53 PM

you need a custom bios. (the one at techinferno works) the last time i tested with one you need to run custom vbios to get more kicks also.

now running on a 880m. the same custom bios works, and it must have the 880m modded vbios also. a OS fresh install and a 330w adapter are also recommended. (for my r4 these two got rid of throttling issues)



edit: i think with less hardware parts 240w is sufficient for 780m.

This post has been edited by horns: Nov 26 2014, 08:58 PM