980m 8GB

Jeff - So my order has moved into Production . . . . with the same part number 490-BCZG - where did you get the W15RD and YRFN8 as I'd like to quickly submit something saying hey - wrong part number!!

Radioactive - what was the part number on your order?


Thanks!


Farson

 

Farson,

How did you know what items you have in your exchange order? I don't see my exchange order anywhere.

Also, here is the link to the person who talked about the model numbers:
http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19664839/20855848#20855848

Not 100% sure he is correct though.

Jeff.

 

Yep, my (should be 8gb) 4gb part number is 490-BCZG.

 

I'd like to hear from someone who got the 8GB, what was their part number

 

Jeff

I received an e-mail this morning telling me that my replacement system went into production and gave me a order and customer number to input on a page. That took me to the standard order summary page where I see my new order is in production and I was able to expand the product details.

Yeah - I agree - that's why I asked Radioactive to post their part number.


Farson

 

Still waiting to hear back from Dell. What are the options people have been offered? Will they just send a tech round to change the motherboard? Don't really want to have to return mine as it's already my second and it has the LG screen with minimal light bleed.

 

Re-reading that, I may have been wrong. Those are 5 digit codes, I think those are not the same as the 4 digit codes.

I am also slightly worried my exchange will be a 4GB unit again

 

People keep mentioning light bleed but I'm not even sure what it is . . . either I don't notice it or as I gamer it doesn't bother me.


Farson

 

Jeff

That's why we need the part number from Radioactive Beaver!!

Where oh where are you Radioactive!!


Farson

 

Farson,

Yours is probably good. Light bleed means that lights from the sides of the display "bleed" through to on the screen or are hot spots.

Here's an example of an AW 15 R2 w/ light bleed:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachments/wp_20150121_20_31_53_pro-jpg.120115/

I've had 2 17's and both had, what I would call, minimal to no bleed. This new one has basically none, and if the new one has 8GB but light bleed issues, I'm sending the 8GB back and keeping the 4GB. I'd rather have a nice screen than 8GB if I had to choose.

Jeff.

PS. I called and they confirmed again my exchange should be 8GB and I got my order number and it also shows the same item number I am hopeful that it truly is the 8GB version.

 

Off the phone with Dell. Promising, minimal hassle so far. About 30 min, mostly listening to muzak. Called customer service, got redirected to premium AW tech support who quickly confirmed the issue, no need to remotely log in (that I know of) etc, lots of muzak, redirected to AW customer support who were curious how I found about this but asked no further questions and basically offered to do the full exchange in about 12 WDs.

The exchange will work as follows:
1. I will receive the new machine, get a chance to inspect it - if there is anything wrong, I can return the replacement
2. If happy, will get a collection for the old machine

(in other words, it's not going to be an instantaneous swap)

They said it will take them a day or 2 to put the new order together, so will report back on progress or lack of thereof next week

Regarding the stutter issue, I played 3 games:
* CS:GO (obviously no sweat)
* Crysis 2 - temporary halt every few seconds during the intro scene, kind of like what people reported, but it's Crysis you know. Highest settings ofc. Perfect gameplay
* PS2 - the game which destroys my yorkfield+780 4GB desktop on medium. Pretty smooth on highest, no stuttering

No overclocking, I don't think the fans ever bothered to kick in. Switched to level 1 CPU overclock now.

Now the screen downgrade potential is a valid concern. I'm very happy with my FHD model. What's the tool to find out the panel details?

 

2. If happy, will get a collection for the old machine

What does that mean? I believe they send a label to return the other machine with, however, they told me I will just need to call if I want to return the new machine to get a new label.

 

If you download hwinfo64 http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php it will tell you under the display tab.

 

I think that's pretty much it - they won't collect the old machine at the time of replacement machine delivery, and I will be able to reject the new machine if I'm not happy.

They also said I will soon receive an email with a reference number - still waiting for that, and that there may be delays in getting this new order put together due to the particular person handling my case going on holiday (a bit weird) - so it remains to be seen if the whole thing wasn't just to stall me until I'm past the 14 days return window

Just logged into my account to check the section showing support queries and saw in this instead lol:

"There has been an error in rendering the page."

 

Thanks, LG Philips LGD04B9 - this probably explains my satisfaction I guess no way to pre-emptively verify the panel type at the order stage... Well, we'll see how it goes I guess.

 

i wonder if there are multiple vendors for the UHD screen?

 

It is also 490-BCZG on my invoice.

 

Thanks for clarifying. I guess they messed up internally. I am more hopeful they will get me the correct order.

I got an email w/ a new order number, it looks like a new order in there system. They better not charge me when it ships tho! My new one is "In Production", it took about 24 hours to get that email, FYI.

 

When your games are stuttering, what are the cpu temps like? Also, which cpu are you using?

 

No stuttering, but did get a desktop crash on OC3 settings (with Fans Performance off). That mode is suspect.

 

Tried again - laptop crashed promptly in OC3 mode. OC2 is fine. Not the end of the world (OC2=3.9Ghz), but I guess it's another reason to RMA.

 

I've heard OC2/OC3 are basically unstable... I could be wrong. I'm not big into OC, but I have yet to hear an OC3 user running stable.

 

Mines quit stable on the OC3 setting. http://www.3dmark.com/fs/6843250

I havent really been overclocking the 980m, just testing that the CPU was stable and a small OC on the 980.

 

I also started getting Intel driver crashes on OC2. Driver update (from Dell) made no difference. Will try dialling down to OC1...

 

how are you guys oc'ing the 980?

 

I don't intend to OC the GPU (bad past experiences I guess), but can see people using MSI Afterburner app for that.

 

So my replacement 15r2 shipped and is scheduled to be delivered by eod tomorrow . . . . I think that was quick considering I just started the replacement process just last what? I think Thursday . . .


Farson

 

Farson,

Wow, that is quick. Keep us informed if it's the correct GPU and the condition of the display. Mines still "In production", but I'm not expecting it anytime soon.

 

you'll need a modded BIOS to be flashed in order to even unlock it in the first place. by the way the latest systems are designed you need to go through the system BIOS in order to access the vBIOS. it's not possible to OC with a stock BIOS. older models like mine don't need to go through the system BIOS but directly to the GPU's vBIOS - another reason why MXM cards are far superior to BGA.

AB is useless because it has no voltage control. it's either precision x (which has caused issues with busted displays) or nvidia inspector (which has a clunky UI but feature packed).

 

I seem to be ablet o do a 101 mhz overclock though with afterburner? on my alienware 15

 

Wow, that's amazing. Is it shipping from China? Did the original?

i haven't heard a thing since Friday. Calling again today.

 

Has anyone got a replacement from a UK contact, we are being told here that we have to wait until they sort the factory out. So frustrating

 

Well, Dell just offered me 10% off to keep the laptop. Is 4gb vram really going to be an issue in a few years? That's £180 back, so it seems like a good deal but I'd rather pay it and have a future proof laptop. What would you guys do?

 

At least you have been told what resembles the truth. I've been told a person in India is going to be my sole representative and she can't process my request promptly because of her upcoming holidays lol

 

Brilliant. Can see quite a few orders have the replacement being sent. Not sure if the UK have been getting replacements yet.

 

I did manage to upgrade the memory to 32gb though with no issues. If it had the correct graphics card it would be a beast of a machine

 

I'd assume none reported here.

 

Great, planning to do that as well. What modules did you have luck with?

 

Nice. All I got offered so fat was a bit of BS. I'm going to press for the 8GB though since

a) it was one of the USPs of this machine
b) I'm a dev and will likely need the RAM

What's the alternative timeline/offer?

 

All they offered me was a 10% refund to keep it or return for a full refund.
I have replied asking if receiving the laptop I actually ordered is an option. Seems strange they wouldn't offer me a replacement.
Ideally I'd like them to send a tech round and just change the motherboard as i'm happy with the laptop otherwise.
Another part of me is just thinking of returning it and getting another Aorus. I had an X3 and it was a great little laptop. Plus, I'm getting cpu temps into the mid 90's which is worrying.

 

They offered me a replacement in January after the holidays when i'm back - however - i have nothing in writing, and considering i'll be back in the UK i think i'll call dell now and agree the plan for this.

I'm also wondering if i should just keep this machine and press for an additional discount, however i'm hoping for a bit better UHD screen even if i'm getting used to it + the backlight bleed (it could be worse!)..

My gut feel right now will be, go for the replacement machine now as the only option. chance for a better screen + the 8gb which was part of my order is the way to go imo (all in for trhe specs below i paid 1900£, with 1 year accident damage)

 

Personally, if it had backlight bleeding, I would go for the replacement. Worst case you can send that new unit back if it's worse. However, I doubt they'd give you a discount after that.

They only offered me 100 off, which I didn't take cause it was the price of the card basically (not really a discount if you think about it). However, if the discount was better and the unit is good, I'd probably opt for that.

 

Asked, but got no reply? Not that I'm terribly surprised at this point , but was that over email or did they hang up or tell you they need to think about it?
Email doesn't actually sound like a bad idea, at least things would be in writing.

 

Yeah, it was email. Can't figure out why they would just offer me a refund and not a replacement. Maybe they don't want my £2000?

 

Hi Farson,

I had some significant backlight bleeding on my UHD screen for the 17 R3. It manifests on dark scenes where the backlight is non-uniformly lit around the edges, causing parts of the screen to wash out due to the excessive brightness. I actually had a system exchange due to the amount of backlight bleed. My replacement system is much better. Bottom line, is if you don't notice it, don't' worry about it

 

I had the same experience with the Alienware Sales Rep. I simply could not believe it. I explained to him that I waited 3 weeks for the damned pc to come, a week before my trip where i was counting on bringing it, and they made a mistake not me - i paid and was a good customer, patient.. it was their mistake and is this normal for dell? is this how you treat customers? Please help me understand - because I don't know why i should be out of both cash and the laptop while i wait for you to cook me a new one.

He couldnt answer and apologised and said he would order me a new machine after I called him back. Now that I am typing this up I've realised that I better give him a ring this week and get something in writing or some sort of order in process because I would much rather not wait another month.. that being said, i'm putting miles on this PC and i'm not exactly in a hurry.

I really wish dell didn't give us reasons to get lost in their warranty hell - it seems that 6 years since I last experienced this they haven't changed a bit.

Its a very nice laptop though.

 

there's an artificial limit of 134MHz or 135MHz and if you want to go further you need to unlock it. your OC is within allowed margin by nvidia, any higher overclocks will require you to manage the GPU's voltage and AB is useless because it doesn't have power voltage control (yes, i have tried).

 

alright well i'll max out that 100 mhz and leave it at that. Have an amplifier on the way from dell soon so i'll do my overclocking on a desktop card.

 

Great news! it's reporting 8gb dedicated!!!

Temps just idle seem awesome right now . . . in the low 30's according to hwinfo . . . LOW! My AW18 idle in the mid 40's when absolutely nothing is going on . . . I can't believe the temps on this right now. Running updates and then will run a Firestrike 3DMark at stock drivers then install GEForce Experience and latest drivers.

Any way I can check on the MXM without opening her up? I don't want to mess with anything with temps like this! if they stay like this lol.


Farson

 

That's good news! It's not MXM, no need to open her up.

Just out of curiosity, my replacement order is showing N/A for delivery date, did yours show a delivery date during the "In Production" period? I'm wondering if mine is going to take a long time again