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Updates. Both 3 heatpipes one and 4 heatpipes one weren't fitting but... I noticed that I was using the M6700 hinges... So I replaced them with the M6800 hinges and now everything fits on both heatsinks... So the problem is resolved. Palmrest fits, closed. Volume board works. 3 heatpipes, one of the heatpipe looks like it's damaged but it actually does conduct thermal quickly (touched it) and yes it can throttle a 150W to 130W then stay at 130W, so it's a 130W heatsink for me. The 4 heatpipes one is a 150W heatsink.

Did Dell Command Update find and install the latest BIOS 2.6.1? I don't use that updater, always manually checking and installing updates.

M17xR4 does not have the TDP bug of the AW17 R1 (m17xR5) and the AW 18 R1 (m18xR3). I am referring to the eDP 120hz 3D panel. The RXT 3000/5000 should work fine with 60hz panel using Optimus. RTX 5000 should work fine at full power too. Wonder if core is getting too hot

Yeah, I continue to look and it will take something major to pry this free Alienware 18 out of my hands because it runs so quiet and only comes to life under gaming/heavy loads and even then it is quieter than the previous MSI. I was wondering how the newer Raider did under load conditions and when pressed. How were the CPU/GPU temps? Memory temps look absolutely dismal. I'm sure under those conditions it was extremely loud. On paper, it looks ideal with a 285hx, 5090, 1600p but if it uses anything close to the same fans as the previous iteration.....yikes. You know they always say couples who WoW together......Does the media center have it on display to see or is it hidden away behind a panel? I contemplated picking up the Midnight darker edition for a build out they look so cool for the wife who immediately loved the darker version for her case. She passed her 5 year anniversary back in September (she started playing during the pandemic out of sheer boredom) playing WoW and is officially more hardcore than I am. She routinely clears ALL the content weekly and that is with working a full time job too. Weekends she is locked into Azzeroth with laser focus lol...she gets up before I do, so I make her cafe con leche the night before and place it on her timer warming pad so she's able to get up and rock and roll the Saturday and Sunday mornings...

Thanks. I was aware of sfc but wasn't aware of dsim which spent a long time at 62.3% which, the internet tells me, meant it was downloading an update. The computer has now successfully been through the full virus scan. More worrying, however, was an unexpected shutdown yesterday when I left the computer for a a couple of hours. It should have been sleeping but was off when I returned. The system log shows nothing helpful so I wait to see if it was a one-off incident.

Various recent notebookcheck reports about the 2026 LG grams: https://www.notebookcheck.net/LG-releases-new-14-inch-laptops-before-global-launch.1231070.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/LG-releases-new-14-inch-laptops-with-Intel-Panther-Lake.1260806.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/LG-Gram-Book-15-sacrifices-processor-performance-for-a-much-quieter-fan.1239295.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/Less-than-1-2-kg-LG-releases-lightweight-new-16-inch-laptop-with-120-Hz-OLED-display.1260808.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/LG-gram-Pro-AI-2026-16Z90U.1240959.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/LG-releases-new-17-inch-laptop-with-Intel-Panther-Lake-and-32-GB-RAM.1260807.0.html

Actually the DELL with LG IPS was tested with 120hz fixed refresh rate on notebookcheck - seems they test all notebooks that way. On Hardware Canucks it got a crazy 43 hours battery life: https://www.notebookcheck.net/43-hours-battery-life-Dell-XPS-14-2026-lasts-almost-3x-longer-vs-MacBook-Air-15-M5-in-web-browsing-test.1262947.0.html The full system runs on 1.8w approx for browsing with VRR activated doing actual work, 1.5w on idle. It really shows that Intel dialled panther lake. Older notebooks are simply so bad because Windows is absolute crap. Linux systems simply face the problem of non optimized drivers and therefore don't fare (much) better than windows. But I guess with 1-120hz VRR display and a CPU like panther lake that doesn't let the OS decide the power management anymore - we really now reach the point were it will be hard to improve for low work tasks. Yes at high load Intel still got loads of work vs ARM based chips. LG will however also come out with OLED 1-120hz displays, I guess they will be even better than their IPS 1-120hz is now. OLED is in principal simply better as it needs less light to be bright. It's just about optimizing the electronics. I actually don't understand why notebookcheck doesn't use VRR enabled on their battery tests. Makes them pretty worthless now with advanced displays (at 20hz it's already bad, at 1hz just not usable anymore). I guess they need to improve their protocol - get a robot moving the mouse, typing from tyime to time on the actual keyboard - and moving the screen. That way the refresh rate will really get appropriate. Actually that's another plus for OLED - I guess they could manage to only update parts of the display that change - while I don't think that's possible for LCD - but I could be wrong. Meaning when typing only refresh the portion of the display that changes - while keeping the rest unrefreshed or only once per second.

"Empowered" LMAO.

Microsoft is no longer a company that sells operating systems to PC owners, it entices users onto its platform to monetize them. https://www.pcworld.com/article/3102428/want-me-to-trust-windows-11-again-bring-back-local-accounts.html

News! Only 10 flexcables are left! It's on ebay! I dropped the price. It's very cheap for something custom and not mass-produced. So I can make a newer version later 🙂 The TAOBAO listing that's selling the RTX 4090 MXM isn't from ZRT but from X-vsion! So don't buy from them if you want the ZRT variants!

Maybe (hopefully) things will collapse sooner than expected. May they all burn brightly as they turn to ashes while we lock arms and sing Hallelujah to celebrate their calamity. Huang, Nadella and Altman need to go to jail and lose everything. Crucify them.

Try running: dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth and then sfc /scannow

@poprostujakubhello, did you try and remove the GOP/UEFI partition of the Maxwell GPUs? Maybe that'll fix?

With a proper BIOS this is a really nice motherboard. Svet has provided updates with every official MSI release and added feature modules that were not even present for unlocking in the stock BIOS. I had him add a custom boot logo I created to replace the ugly MSI dragon boot logo.

Just completed my Alienware collection with this m17x r2 and was wondering a good GPU upgrade path? It doesn't have to be the best/highest upgrade, but anything thats way better than the shitty AMD ATI SLI cards that this machine came with? I seen that the the GTX 780 is the best official Dell upgrade, but anything beyond that for an unlocked bios? I have a spare 980 sitting around not being used, but i read that that card has issues with the machines display. I tried researching for good cards, but there doesn't seem to be any clear answers and this machine seems to be a pain in the ass when it comes to GPU lol. How are 880's with this machine?

You can use a 330W adapter and it will work (any Dell adapter with the right connector on the end), but it is not going to pull the full 330W. Just like how you can plug one of the Precision 240Ws into a Latitude with integrated GPU and it will "work", but it won't pull nearly 240W. Past experiments with this era of systems have shown that it doesn't really give you any "benefit" over 240W. It might be helpful if you are using one of these >100W aftermarket GPU upgrades, if there isn't something in the system that would cap the power going to the card. It would be interesting to have some comparison benchmarks.

These cards work in the M6800, just need the RTX heatsink (150W, 4 heatpipes) for them and eDP display (screen and motherboard) for better performance + backlight mod cable.

YouTube has lots of videos where the likeness and voice of real YouTube content creators are being hijacked, along with re-created content that those real people created and posted on YouTube. AI in general is an absolute mess, not to mention things such as infringements and copyright violations that are being trampled with no accountability or repercussions.

Hi, I’m having an issue with a Dell Pro Max Plus 18 and a Dell SD25TB5 dock, and I’m trying to figure out if others are experiencing the same. Setup: Laptop: Dell Pro Max Plus 18 Dock: Dell SD25TB5 (TB5) Connection: original Thunderbolt 5 cable (⚡ + 5) Monitors: 2× QHD (2560×1440), connected via DP and HDMI Problems: Display resolution issue Monitor connected via DisplayPort only runs at 1920×1080 (FHD) instead of QHD Same happens even with just one monitor connected Expected: 2560×1440 works fine on this hardware Thunderbolt not detected The dock does not appear in Thunderbolt Control Center at all Looks like the system falls back to USB-C (DP Alt Mode) instead of full Thunderbolt BSOD on wake Occasionally getting 0x0000019C (WIN32K_CRITICAL_FAILURE) when waking monitors from sleep Temporary fix (but not permanent) Performing a “flea power drain” on the dock (disconnect power, hold power button, reconnect) temporarily fixes everything After that, QHD works correctly But the issue returns after monitors go to sleep / system idles What I already checked: BIOS: Thunderbolt enabled, no restrictions USB4 PCIe tunneling enabled No “video only” limitation Latest drivers and BIOS via Dell Command Update Tested different ports and configurations Using original TB5 cable Conclusion so far: It looks like the dock is not consistently establishing a proper Thunderbolt connection and falls back to USB-C mode. The behavior suggests a firmware / compatibility issue (possibly USB4/TB stack instability). Has anyone else with this laptop + TB5 dock experienced: fallback to FHD over DP missing dock in Thunderbolt Control Center instability after sleep / wake Any confirmed fixes or firmware updates that resolve this? Thanks!

I wish I could afford those cards right now, so I would do it, I just dont have the hardware.

Cultivated (lab-grown) meat is a real thing, unfortunately. https://www.instagram.com/p/DVyrvZ-kq5f/?igsh=ZGUzMzM3NWJiOQ== FDA approves use of cloned animals for food | National Library of Medicine Too many unknowns and assumptions, and no regulation mandating disclosure is the biggest issue IMHO. People have right to know where their food is coming from and being OK to keep it a secret is not OK. ...and it's not only in the US...

I agree with you on the chatgpt thing. I wish youtube would clearly show when something was AI created but then no one would watch it....so yeah. The lab grown meat thing ...mmm... I'm from a generation that still doesn't trust microwave ovens. I would have to be VERY hungry to eat synthetic meat. Might as well tell me it's soylent green.....or MacDonalds

Sorry for the late reply. Thanks and yeah, im proud of my collection and just found a m17x r2, so now my Alienware collection is complete (The models i wanted anyway as i know theres way more, but i have no interest in those models). So this JBOD would load both those disks and the NVME?

Hey, will you test any RTX 4080 or 4090 MXM? They are far better than the best HD 8970M. I got 16000 GPU scores in TimeSpy and 305fps average in FurMark 1080p bench