New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Questions for m9700 owners.

post #1 of 25
6/9/07 at 10:03am
Thread Starter 
Im planning on purchasing the m9700 in a few days once alienware switches the color back to silver, im not paying $99 for it and i dont like the current color, green. My first question is, is it possible to overclock the proccessor using the stock motherboard bios that alienware puts. im planning on getting the 2.0Ghz for $50 extra, and if I can overclock it to 2.2Ghz that would save me $100. Next, alienware is now using the v2.0 alienrespawn and it comes for free on the hardrive so they say, well is there a way to put that recovery partition onto a dvd and save myself another $50?
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 25
6/9/07 at 11:29am
You can't overclock through the bios, it is locked. In my opinion, this is a safety thing for AW, because people would be oc their machines to insane levels in these laptops which could eventually lead to overheating and failures, which if the machines are under warranty, AW has to fix them.

There are lots of programs that you can use to oc your cpu however. I have the ML44, but I found that I couldn't really overclock much at all, just a few hundreths. Anything over that and mine would destabilize and lock up the machine. I just uninstalled and ran with out the oc and I really don't notice any difference.

However, I can't speak for the 2.0ghz...
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 25
6/9/07 at 11:45am
Has anyone at Alienware told you they will be switching the silver back to the default color? This may be a matter of current supply - and they've priced them accordingly, so you may not get an option to get the silver without paying $99 (and hey, there's nothing wrong with Cyborg Green!!!)

Respawn is an option. You don't need to buy it. Once you get your system, you can make your own image of the disk (I know you could use Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost before - not sure if they are still available or if they work with Vista). Without respawn, you just use the OS disks to reinstall, should you need to.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 25
6/9/07 at 12:44pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the feedback, and yes shazza I did call alienware and the next schedualed color is the saucer silver and Im happy with that. Alienware also told me that I could make my own copy of the respawn disk so that saves me $50. But my last question is, is the 2.2Ghz processor worth the extra $150 or should I just stick with the 2.0Ghz. I am kinda short on money and $2000 is my limit.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 25
6/9/07 at 12:47pm
Thread Starter 
Heres what Im looking at
[1] Aurora™ m9700

Processor: AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile ML37 2.0GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium - Without Remote Control or TV Tuner
Chassis: 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD with Clearview Technology - Cyborg Green
Motherboard: Alienware® NVIDIA® Mobile SLi Chipset
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR SO-DIMM at 400MHz - 2 x 512MB
System Drive: Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 160GB (80GB x 2) Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 5,400 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Optical Drive: 8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW w/ Nero Software
Video/Graphics Card: 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
Sound Card: High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Wireless Network Card: Internal 802.11b/g WiFi Card
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth® Device
Primary Battery: Alienware® m9700 12-cell Lithium-Ion Smart Battery Pack
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $100 Value - FREE!
Free Alienware® T-Shirt: Free Alienware® T-Shirt - Black

[1] Student & Faculty Offer; 5% Instant Savings
[1] Special Financing Offer; No Interest for 12 Months! - Valid only with the Alienware Credit Card

SubTotal: $1,859.00
Shipping: $50.00
Discount: $92.95
Tax: $118.04
Order Total: $1,934.09
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 25
6/9/07 at 12:48pm
Thread Starter 
Or this with the 2.2ghz processor
[1] Aurora™ m9700

Processor: AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile ML40 2.2GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium - Without Remote Control or TV Tuner
Chassis: 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD with Clearview Technology - Cyborg Green
Motherboard: Alienware® NVIDIA® Mobile SLi Chipset
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR SO-DIMM at 400MHz - 2 x 512MB
System Drive: Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 160GB (80GB x 2) Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 5,400 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Optical Drive: 8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW w/ Nero Software
Video/Graphics Card: 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
Sound Card: High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Wireless Network Card: Internal 802.11b/g WiFi Card
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth® Device
Primary Battery: Alienware® m9700 12-cell Lithium-Ion Smart Battery Pack
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $100 Value - FREE!
Free Alienware® T-Shirt: Free Alienware® T-Shirt - Black

[1] Special Financing Offer; No Interest for 12 Months! - Valid only with the Alienware Credit Card
[1] Student & Faculty Offer; 5% Instant Savings

SubTotal: $1,959.00
Shipping: $50.00
Discount: $97.95
Tax: $124.22
Order Total: $2,035.27
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 25
6/9/07 at 1:25pm
I don't think you're going to see huge difference between the 2.0 and 2.2 GHz. If it's squeezing your budget too much, go for the 2.0. You can also get just one Hard Drive for now, and add the other later (but it is kind of fun having two hard drives in a notebook).

Congrats on your pending purchase.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 25
6/9/07 at 2:58pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you shazza, I would consider a single drive but the 80gb standard is not enough for me and the next option is the 160gb 5400rpm, but the raid0 80gb 5400rpm X2 is $20 less. so i decided to take the raid0, and i think ill got with the 2.2ghz, since i will be using this laptop until its last dying breath. Thanks for all the feedback guys I really appreciate it!
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 25
6/9/07 at 5:48pm
Shazza is right, you won't see a huge difference between the cpu's except when it comes to benchmark suites. With SLI, a 2.0G should see about 9300-9400 in 3dMark05, while a 2.4G will see close to 10,000. I'm not sure about non-SLI scores... Won't affect game fps as much though.

You can overclock the cpu with systool, it's not locked, but it's very unadvisable. The turion is already a fairly hot running processor and overclocking overwhelms the cooling setup. I overclocked my 2.4 to 2.55, and gained next to nothing in performance but the heat went through the roof...
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 25
6/9/07 at 5:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gtaboy69 View Post
Thank you shazza, I would consider a single drive but the 80gb standard is not enough for me and the next option is the 160gb 5400rpm, but the raid0 80gb 5400rpm X2 is $20 less. so i decided to take the raid0, and i think ill got with the 2.2ghz, since i will be using this laptop until its last dying breath. Thanks for all the feedback guys I really appreciate it!

You can get the single 80G drive, and buy a second from Newegg.com for less than AW charges for RAID. You can then setup RAID yourself or just use the second drive separately.

I'd consider going with the 2.0, a single drive, and SLI if you can swing it. SLI will improve gaming performance more than cpu speed. You can always add a second card later when you have some cash though...
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 25
6/9/07 at 7:12pm
Thread Starter 
thanks hamerhead, Ill probably get the raid0 dual 80's and go ahead with the 2.2ghz since the total price will be just above $2000 and later down the road ill get the second 7900gs 256mb card and also get a 2gb of ram. but for right now i think ill do fine. thanks for all the feedback and now all im waiting on is for alienware to change the mainstream color to saucer silver.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 25
6/10/07 at 7:49pm
Sounds good, gtaboy!

I still wanna know what's so bad about this one (I had to pay extra for this slimey green!):




(j/k - I think the silver is a better all around color, if you're not into the retro Alienware look )
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 25
6/10/07 at 8:19pm
Thread Starter 
dont get me wrong shazza, im not dissing the cyborg green, but its just that this notebook will be used in alot of places such as college, so I dont want to get something too showy thats why im a little skeptical about the green and blue a little too, but blue is my favorite color so ill let it slip. I think the silver is nice and more mainstream and not as outlandish as blue or green.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 25
6/10/07 at 8:22pm
Thread Starter 
what color does hamerhead have?
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 25
6/10/07 at 8:22pm
I agree 100%, gta ... just giving you a hard time
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 25
6/10/07 at 8:52pm
Thread Starter 
does anyone have any high-res pics of the saucer silver m9700, for some reason the reviews on this site are not working for me, im using firefox.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 25
6/10/07 at 9:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gtaboy69 View Post
what color does hamerhead have?

I have the silver.



Schwing!!!





Mugshot.





Strike a pose... vogue...





I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. Demille.





Windows XP Media Center Edition is perfect for organizing family photos...





Keyboard is full size, and fabulous... work it girl!





The obligatory lit headshot.





Glossy screen. When I first looked at the screen shut off, I saw a monkey looking back, I swear...





Really bad picture of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion playing at 1920 x 1200... Yes, my character has a helmet and armor, but no pants...



Reply
Reply
post #18 of 25
6/10/07 at 10:31pm
Thread Starter 
thank you sooooo much hamerhead, the silver is just awesome, its way better than i thought it was, even though blue is my favourite color, i WILL have to go with the silver, im just gonna have to hold off of the sli for now since you know $$$ and vista doesnt currently suport it.
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 25
6/13/07 at 11:00am
Hey guys I just bought a 9700 and here my specs

[1] Aurora™ m9700

Processor: AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile ML40 2.2GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Professional
Chassis: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology - Blue
Motherboard: Alienware® NVIDIA® Mobile SLi Chipset
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR SO-DIMM at 400MHz - 2 x 1024MB
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 100GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Optical Drive: 8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW w/ Nero Software
Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS - SLI Enabled
Sound Card: High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Wireless Network Card: Internal 802.11b/g WiFi Card w/ Airgo MIMO Technology
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth® Device
Primary Battery: Alienware® m9700 12-cell Lithium-Ion Smart Battery Pack
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
AlienRespawn: Alienware® Respawn Recovery Kit
Mobile Bags: Alienware® Odyssey Briefcase
Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $100 Value - FREE!
Free Alienware® T-Shirt: Free Alienware® T-Shirt - Black


Heres the thing

The processor doesn't stack up well when i benchmark in Sandra, and there is no second core like in a turion X2 system. How worried should i be about processor performance?

Next any recc. overclocking utilites for this chip? or any program that doesn't require me googling every value displayed... in other words easy to use.

I want to do benchmarking on my pc for different games performace, any suggestions for programs to use?

I didn't take a tv tuner but i have these buttons music dvd and tv ok fine... but when i go to add remove programs...( i normally type appwiz.cpl from the run line...easier) my function key controller is 1.3 gigs!!! what the heck.. anybody else has this?

Any thoughts on a good pcmcia tv card.. want to play my xbox360 and ps3 on my screen and i have one but it keeps stuttering the frames every couple of minutes... can't play games on that.

lastly

whens starcraft 2 coming out? lol

Laterz
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 25
6/13/07 at 11:34am
Hello there!

I have an mALX and I was asking the same O/Cing questions you where this time last year when I bought it. As people say, clocking from the BIOS is not an option. How ever I think that the mobo in the 9700 is the same as i the mALX (HH or someone can you confirm or deny this please?)

I managed to clock the turion in mine from 2.4gHz to 2.75gHz. I noticed a reasonable boost in 3Dmark and also noticed generally better loading times etc.

However it did get a bit warm, not a problem for me in my climate (UK) but maybe for you. I stepped it back to 2.6gHz and temps didn't shift much. And whats even better is that I used the 100% automatic CPU clock facility in nTune. No buggering about with stuff, just hit go and reset it if it locks up

I run it at the 2.6 overclock all the time and never had any problems.

Hope this helps (unless they dont share a mobo, in which case, bugger).
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home