Forced to Forfeit....Dammit

[Barrold713]

Apologies to kolosm but I have to forfeit my games in Round 3 of the Beyond the Fringe tournament.

My computer lost both video cards and when the technician sent to replace them and put in a new motherboard (all under warranty thankfully) it did not come back up.

Now I have to ship the dang thing out for repair and it will not be back before the 30th.

I am really disappointed because both of the games were close and well fought matches.

The computer is supposed to be repaired and returned before the holiday tournament.

BDH

[Pixel]

That stinks. Losing two GFX cards plus the motherboard sounds like a major malfunction.

[Barrold713]

I think the tech Dell sent might have contributed. It was only after the dude came and replaced everything that it would not boot up.
When the 980Ms both died, I was surprised the integrated video card was capable of playing FoG2 at all. It was at a lower resolution and a bit slowed but it was definitely playable in a pinch.
I have an order in with IBUYPOWER for a desktop but that will not be here until Dec 12th or so. It will be awesome though.
BDH

[Igorputski]

Sounds like a disaster out of the box; two video cards? I'm running a system that's 9 years old as well as the equipment inside it like hard drives and video card. PowerColor is the way to go if you're looking for value video cards. Just stay away from Pony; worst video card ever made.

Ibuypower is the way to go if buying a new computer. I've been really happy with my system an amazed everything has lasted this long. Even the power supply which usually I had to replace a couple of times before on my previous computers.

I'm using an Asus monitor that's trodding right along with the rest listed above. This has been the best system ever for computer gaming. It's kinda like the energizer bunny; just keeps on ticking.

I am now in a wait an see situation to buying a new computer and equipment. I'm calling it the Maytag of computer systems.

I also know waiting on repairs is a boring mental anguish situation. No one should have to go without their computer for a day. Thas why I have 3; two just waiting for their chance. lol Ones an old XP though an the other an old dual core and has Win7 on it.

[Barrold713]

Sounds like a disaster out of the box; two video cards? I'm running a system that's 9 years old as well as the equipment inside it like hard drives and video card. PowerColor is the way to go if you're looking for value video cards. Just stay away from Pony; worst video card ever made.

Ibuypower is the way to go if buying a new computer. I've been really happy with my system an amazed everything has lasted this long. Even the power supply which usually I had to replace a couple of times before on my previous computers.

I'm using an Asus monitor that's trodding right along with the rest listed above. This has been the best system ever for computer gaming. It's kinda like the energizer bunny; just keeps on ticking.

I am now in a wait an see situation to buying a new computer and equipment. I'm calling it the Maytag of computer systems.

I also know waiting on repairs is a boring mental anguish situation. No one should have to go without their computer for a day. Thas why I have 3; two just waiting for their chance. lol Ones an old XP though an the other an old dual core and has Win7 on it.

Thanks for the sympathy.
My gaming lifestyle had provided the "need" for a laptop and so I had purchased an Alienware 18. The original one died unceremoniously and was replaced under warranty with the maxed out version which came with two 980M cards in SLI. It played pretty much anything on ultra settings on my 3440x1440 ultra-wide external monitor.
Right now I am weighing the Christmas offers IBP and CyberPowerPC are offering. I like to future proof when I buy so when I jump into the purchasing pool I try to pick a sweet spot with some extra key performance components.
Hopefully I will have my laptop back by Tuesday and settle on a replacement desktop soon afterward so I can take part of the big holiday tournament with no delay.
Cheers!
BDH

[Patrick Ward]

I'm still running a Cyberpower (UK) Pc after ahout 10 years. Well, technically, its a bit like Triggers broom in that the only original bit is the motherboard and case.

[grumblefish]

I upgraded my old MSI laptop recently, was showing its age and FOG 2 didn't run very well.

When I registered the new laptop, I saw the date that I registered my old one... 5 years ago! These things last!

[Barrold713]

Other than running rather warm, I really can't say anything bad about the Alienware 18...niche machine that it is of course and not having to pay for all the capability it provides because it was a warranty replacement deal.
I am looking to see what would be a fair price to sell it once it is returned from Dell. They are replacing both video cards AND the motherboard at the repair center. I am leaning towards the CyberpowerPC.com desktop as the replacement. It would be nice to defer the cost by selling the laptop once it is returned.
I feel like I am babbling on but that is because I don't have a PC to play FoG2 currently so I must beg your indulgence.

[Patrick Ward]

It's been a while since I bought from Cyberpower but it didn't take long before I ditched the water cooling. This was a while back so it was the early systems that were essentially modified fish tank pumps. It was just too much hassle to clean and maintain. New ones are apparantly much better but I've stuck to a regular fan ever since. You'll only accept ionized water flooding your case once ...

[Barrold713]

My laptop affectionately named "Da Grease" returns today with new GPUs and a new motherboard. I am getting a Cooler Master U2 cooling pad tomorrow to help control the temps better.
I am looking forward to getting back into the game and buying Immortal Fire as soon as I can get up and running. I also will not be delayed in the Holiday tournament which is a relief. The decision to get a desktop machine to replace it is pending....I might wait for sales and pick up pieces for a bit and build one exactly as I want. Cheers!

[Barrold713]

Well of course it just couldn't be simple now could it? Nope nope nope.
I set up Da Grease after unboxing it and surprise surprise...no graphics cards are detected. It still just has the Intel Haswell integrated graphics card.
After the prerequisite cursing I called Alienware premier warranty service and went through the rigamarole of confirming my spot analysis of the device manager indicating yes there are no graphics cards.
Now the options presented me are these:
Send the thing back for another cycle of repair in Houston
Have another technician come to my home and attempt repair (which turned my functional but graphic card-less laptop into a useless brick)
OR
Get some sort of replacement.
There was some sort of doubt as to whether any 18"models are left and I am really not interested in any of the current smaller models.
Maybe they will swap it with one of their desktop.
Official grumble.

[Barrold713]

News update as I know there is a hungry audience for...uh...an update on news.
The good news is that after a couple hours of phone support, we managed to get the video cards to be detected by the system. The bad news is that promptly upon starting a thermal stress test, one of them promptly gave up the ghost again.
So we are going to have one more repair attempt with a tech coming to my lovely home with new fans, heat sinks, graphics cards, and thermal paste. Should this repair not do the trick then I am left with the option of having it swapped with a likely refurbished 17" laptop model as there are no longer making the 18" model.
The best news is that the components for my desktop I am to build over my holiday vacation have started to arrive.
It will be
MasterCase Pro 6 chassis
i7-8700k CPU
Gigabyte 1080 Ti video card
16 GB Corsair Vengeance 3200 RAM
512 GB NVME SSD boot drive
2 TB 7200 HDD (waiting on a deal for this selection)
Cooler Master 240 liquid cooling
Solitaire is going to look awesome on it

[rbodleyscott]

I am left with the option of having it swapped with a likely refurbished 17" laptop model as there are no longer making the 18" model.

Which probably means they give you Customer X's "refurbished" machine.

And they give Customer X your "refurbished" machine.

A bit like the the scene in the Catch 22 film, where one of the hospital patients is all wrapped in bandages from head to toe. He has a drip going into his arm, and a catheter coming out of his...

Every few hours, a nurse comes in and swaps the bottles.

[Barrold713]

I am left with the option of having it swapped with a likely refurbished 17" laptop model as there are no longer making the 18" model.

Which probably means they give you Customer X's "refurbished" machine.

And they give Customer X your "refurbished" machine.

A bit like the the scene in the Catch 22 film, where one of the hospital patients is all wrapped in bandages from head to toe. He has a drip going into his arm, and a catheter coming out of his...

Every few hours, a nurse comes in and swaps the bottles.

Ha!
Very likely so.
If they can refurbish mine, then let me just keep it as it is still being sold on e-bay for a very good price. It is an impressive machine and I am not so immediately struck with the 17" version. Either way I am likely to sell the laptop and enjoy the benefits of the desktop. Having a house and not having to wrangle gaming space in an apartment filled with my wife's kids and a grandchild provides a big change to my gaming lifestyle!

[Barrold713]

Well the die has been cast. It turns out that there are no remaining parts available for the Alienware 18 so Dell Exchange has contacted me with the news that I will be provided the refurbished 17" model mentioned previously.

This has all been very traumatic. In fact I am blaming my barebutt spanking in the first round of the Holiday tournament at the hands of ianiow significantly upon the mental cohesion check caused by this process. It certainly was not the lack of skill I showed against his excellent generalship....nope, nope, nope.

The parts for "Da Big Grease" have been arriving all week. One change in plan was to swap out the Gigabyte 1080 Ti with the MSI Duke 1080 Ti. The specs were pretty close, I received a $10 rebate, and the color of the housing fit better with the rest of my components.

[Barrold713]

I am back to full speed!
The build of "Da Big Grease" was completed today with the installation of the 1080 Ti graphics card.
My laptop used to heat up to over 80 C without much of a load at all and I just did a stress test on the components and barely exceeded 50 C. Same thing running Battlefield 1 on ultra details and 1440p ultra-wide.
The replacement laptop Dell is going to ship will be put up for sale.
It is certainly nice but I would like to recoup the cost of the desktop build.
Here is what they offered as replacement for my 18" model:
Dell Outlet Alienware 17R4 Laptop
Intel Core 7th Generation i7-7820HK Processor (Quad Core, up to 3.90 GHz, 8MB Cache)
32GB DDR4 Non-ECC SDRAM 2400MHz (2x16GB)
1TB 2.5inch SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) + 512GB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive
NVIDIA GTX 1080 8GB
17.3 inch QHD (2560 x 1440) 120Hz TN+WVA Anti-Glare 400-nits Display + with Tobii IR Eye-tracking
Windows 10 Home 64bit English
Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1
Looking forward to Round 2 of the Holiday tournament for a chance to redeem myself!

[rbodleyscott]

gratz