Alienware's M17x: Mobility Radeon HD 5870 CrossFire Is A Go

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Benchmark Results: DiRT 2 And S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat

We’ve noticed Alienware’s better use of CPU performance potential and Eurocom’s slightly newer graphics driver before, but DiRT 2 is the first game to show a significant deficit due to the older driver. Both systems are completely playable at 1920x1080, fortunately.

Crank up the visuals, add anti-aliasing, and watch as both notebooks continue to push smooth frame rates at 1080p.

Eurocom’s improved driver doesn’t appear to make much difference in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. A frame rate minimum (from our test notes) of 17-18 FPS for both Alienware and Eurocom at our highest test setting would prompt us to drop AA in order to keep the super-high details.

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Summary
  1. Better, Stronger, Faster?
  2. M17x Features
  3. The Belly Of The Beast
  4. Test Settings
  5. Benchmark Results: Synthetics
  6. Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
  7. Benchmark Results: Productivity
  8. Benchmark Results: Modern Warfare 2 And Crysis
  9. Benchmark Results: DiRT 2 And S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat
  10. Battery Life, Energy, And Efficiency
  11. The (Not So) New Champion!
About the author
Thomas Soderstrom

Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.

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  • scook9
    One huge facet of this laptop that was completely not mentioned is the RGBLED screen. Outside of the IPS DreamColor screens offered by HP in their Elitebooks this is easily THE SINGLE BEST SCREEN on a laptop (pretty much, ever). Screen quality should always be included in reviews because the screen is what you look at the whole time regardless of other hardware.

    unclewebbWhen you review a product like this, why not go over to the Notebook Review forums and ask the experts there about the M17x R2? The Core i7 Extreme mobile processors are absolute beasts when they have been unlocked and fully overclocked. The turbo throttling that is common to the Core i7 mobile CPUs when loaded can easily be corrected by raising the turbo TDP/TDC values for a simple yet significant increase in performance. Do your readers a favor and show everyone what the M17x is really capable of. With the help of a program called ThrottleStop, you can completely transform the performance of these CPUs.

    I tried to tell you in the forums, people here are not rational about notebooks like we are lol. I could show them that I bench my M17x at 4 GHz on a quad core and they would still be unimpressed and tell me I am stupid because it is huge and has no battery life and I wasted all my money

    hotsacomanHmmm. Overpriced.

    Compared to what? The Clevo was more.

    TheStealthyOneAlienware? No thanks.Although you definitely are paying a superflous price premium, you're at least getting power (the same can't be said for MACs.)

    How superfluous was it? This entire laptop uses less power than a Desktop 5870 (by itself, not counting screen, motherboard, drives, ram, cpu, etc). Don't expect it to cost the same. Do I even need to mention the portability?

    americanherosandwichOutdated within a year.

    And what desktop is not? That statement means nothing in the computer world and you should know that.

    Shame this will get thumbed down so no one will see it :(
  • wintermint
    wasabiman123I smell a comeback hehe


    Fixed... wtf is wrong with you..
    • Other Comments
  • Anonymous
    Hmmm. Overpriced.
  • wintermint
    wasabiman123I smell a comeback hehe


    Fixed... wtf is wrong with you..
  • unclewebb
    When you review a product like this, why not go over to the Notebook Review forums and ask the experts there about the M17x R2? The Core i7 Extreme mobile processors are absolute beasts when they have been unlocked and fully overclocked. The turbo throttling that is common to the Core i7 mobile CPUs when loaded can easily be corrected by raising the turbo TDP/TDC values for a simple yet significant increase in performance. Do your readers a favor and show everyone what the M17x is really capable of. With the help of a program called ThrottleStop, you can completely transform the performance of these CPUs.
  • gorillateets
    It'd be nice if Tom's would review some of the more midrange gaming laptops from around $750-$1000. I got a great deal on an Asus G60 with respectable specs and can run any modern game at decent settings. Who here can really throw down that much cash on a laptop? Either way, nice review.
  • Crashman
    gorillateetsIt'd be nice if Tom's would review some of the more midrange gaming laptops from around $750-$1000. I got a great deal on an Asus G60 with respectable specs and can run any modern game at decent settings. Who here can really throw down that much cash on a laptop? Either way, nice review.

    It's a tough problem because I wouldn't game on a weak GPU. Since I can't afford any notebook over $2000, I wouldn't game on a notebook. Since I wouldn't game on a notebook, I went in the opposite direction with a notebook that has integrated graphics and around eight hours of battery life. Of course, I also have desktops...
  • duk3
    Bang for buck at $4000? Not so much.
    The problem with big heavy expensive laptops is that a desktop does everything they do and better at a third of the price.
    How much are you really going to be taking a $4000 laptop out of your house?
  • braneman
    I like my m11x (i7 r2) sturdy plays most games except for the absolute bleeding edge of cpu throttled applications.
  • tacoslave
    build kickass desktop for 3k and spend 1 k on this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152207

    and laugh at people who bought this.
  • TheStealthyOne
    Alienware? No thanks.

    Although you definitely are paying a superflous price premium, you're at least getting power (the same can't be said for MACs.)
  • cinergy
    GTX 480M looks like a big whimper compared to those Radeon dualies.
  • rohitbaran
    TheStealthyOneAlienware? No thanks.Although you definitely are paying a superflous price premium, you're at least getting power (the same can't be said for MACs.)

    What do you want to say? Your second statement is way out of context of the first!
  • Anonymous
    Never but it i have the m17x r2 and dell has replaced the motherboard and both the video cards and thats only in the first one i had, they gave me a new laptop and it had the same xfire flicking problem even after the vbios update and newer drivers disable vsync and anyone that has played games on it will find out even if you don't notices it at first it will give you a headache i have tested world of war craft hawx css tf2 the only way to fix it is to disable xfire great job dell lost my business.
  • americanherosandwich
    Outdated within a year.
  • Luscious
    "...more significant “killer app” is the possible addition of a 3G ExpressCard modem."

    Dude, are you still living in 2008??? Somebody throw a MiFi at this guy's head!
  • pinkfloydminnesota
    the 1500$ asus with one 5870 still works for me
  • madass
    rohitbaranWhat do you want to say? Your second statement is way out of context of the first!


    The average $3K mac has the features of a $1.5K notebook.
  • amstech
    A 5870M is equal to a 5770.
    So, this unit is about equal to a 5870, or around there.
  • Maziar
    Great review
    Waiting for Clevo X7200 review with 2 GTX 480Ms(compared to 2 5870s)
  • mchuf
    CrashmanIt's a tough problem because I wouldn't game on a weak GPU. Since I can't afford any notebook over $2000, I wouldn't game on a notebook. Since I wouldn't game on a notebook, I went in the opposite direction with a notebook that has integrated graphics and around eight hours of battery life. Of course, I also have desktops...


    I too have the Asus G60 (the Best Buy model). And it comes with an i5, and a NVidia GTX360M. Not that shabby and I've been able to play Just Cause 2 and Metro 2033 just fine on (not too) reduced settings in DX10. I can play plenty of newer games at max settings. It's not a beast like the Alienware, but it works fine for gaming on the road. The M17X is basically a desktop replacement (that you can take from room to room). And I would rather have a desktop instead of a laptop in that price range.
  • theblade
    CrashmanIt's a tough problem because I wouldn't game on a weak GPU. Since I can't afford any notebook over $2000, I wouldn't game on a notebook. Since I wouldn't game on a notebook, I went in the opposite direction with a notebook that has integrated graphics and around eight hours of battery life. Of course, I also have desktops...


    It would be quite proper to get to that conclusion in a review of a couple midrange gaming laptops from around $750-$1000 with all the benchmarks and charts to back it up, so that it get´s clarified, you're probably right but that's what a hardware review and tech news site is for.
    It would be nice to see some numbers that will help us see just how much of a limitation would that weak GPU impose.
    Great article by the way. Keep up the good work!
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