Alienware 15 R1 CPU ISSUE *WARNING*

i have a 19 minutes witcher 3 gameplay without throttling in any kind

 

@judal57 @Papusan this is my cpu stress test result, now imagine gpu being used 99% alongside cpu, so overall power issue i believe, 70 - 90 % power limit throttling, 5-15% current limit throttling, even though stock max VID for 3.4 is 1.175.. which is insane high, i managed to keep the temps down with new paste, but the power issue, ive no clue. may be u got a golden cpu judal57, im sorry man im just telling you the truth, this is my 2nd replaced system with 2nd replaced refubished mobo..

 

thats nice temperature, is this 4720hq ?? thats one perfect line on stress test, neat.. could you give me more info on the version of Intel Thermal dynamic platform drivers, Intel management Interface Engine, Chipset Driver, and Intel IGPU driver and BIOS/PSU.. seems like there is one difference, i have my processor GPU running at 1200mhz all time, where urs is 600mhz.. kinda weird, are you on balanced mode ?

 

i have a 4710HQ and i unninstall the thermal dynamic plataform ... let me check some things

edit: i made a repaste with liquid ultra

 

This happened to me once and it came down to the Intel Managment Interface Engine Drivers... I will try and find out which ones I had but when I installed certain ones it would do this.
Are you using the ones on the USA Dell download section? Even if they are older use the suggested ones on the Dell site. Sometimes they are out of date yes.. but some drivers are actually listed there because they are the optimal ones.

Also on a side note which may or may not help your issue. The BIOS A06 includes MEI 9.1.30.1008. This MEI has been known to crash. (you will not see this happening and it will just result lower performance)
This Post from Lord Zog explains what Im referring to and yes the file is safe...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aw15-r1-aw17-r2-bios-a06.781507/page-7#post-10092882

Another thing to try is the Prema Mod vBios.. I have a feeling you may have already tried this but figured I would mention anyways.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-15-r2-17-r2-and-r3-performance-vbios.780158/

My setup is exactly as mentioned above and at one point when configuring the above I experienced that problem which is now resolved.

 

Take a look to see if anything helps http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/early-2015-throttling-some-info-id-like-to-share.787044/
Use also @Lord Zog ↑↑↑ firmware. I think a better Me firmvare can make your processor run more normal with Gpu during high load.

 

Hey thanks for atleast posting some info u know, but yes ive tried stock IME drivers from DELL us site, alongside Zog's Firmware, that dint help, it still showerd power throttle.. im fresh installing windows 10 again, to ignore some drivers and gonna check with Throttlestop..

 

Imo you shouldn't need throttle stop. It helps lock the clocks and kind of over clock sort of. However if you are trying to use it to get a condition you should already have with out it, then it's just a bandaid and not fixing anything. If the drivers or bios etc doesn't fix it then perhaps you have a faulty PSU or motherboard.

The only other thing I would suggest is comparing Intel extreme tuning specs listed with someone else.

Sent from my SM-N910T3 using Tapatalk

 

@Papusan @judal57 @Ashtrix @DeeX
Ok, finally some relief, after trying out tons of drivers/settings, today i installed windows 10 fresh copy, done with windows update, these are the drivers i've installed

Intel Chipset Driver INF from intel
Intel Management Engine Interface from dell (yes windows 10 update installs some newer version but i uninstalled that in safemode and used the one came on DELL site)
Intel thermal platform drivers ( i ignored )
Nvidia and Intel Latest drivers from Official Sites
Bios A06 reflash inside windows once again, and update to Zogg's IME firmware after that

once done with all the basic setup, set my laptop on HPF mode, opened up HWINFO fan control, XTU, and throttlestop 8 beta from unclewebbs signature,

Yes at first it was showing the same power throttle with the settings @orancanoren tried, there was no luck for me, but instead i tried diff settings, everything inside throttlestop,
First set my multi all to 34x, and go to Turbo FIVR control and set active cores all to 34, after that i ticked unlock voltage adjustables, adjusted my VCCIN to 2.0 instead of 1.8.. then move to TPL box, and set my pp0 Limit to 100, and untick the box named PP0 power limit, applied and check the stress test on XTU, power throttle ranged around 75-90%, not 100% this time, the last breaking moment, when i went back to FIVR and changed to voltage offset to -100mv, Boom 0 throttle, i tested for 30mins with XTU stress test alongside throttlestop on and Fans set to 5000 (prefire RPM) and temps max of 82c. one last thing left is to test games, need to see if stays at certain clock speed even with gpu load.. im downloading my games. will let you know guys, in that mean time someone forward this results to unclewebb if u can..

 

@Papusan @Alienware-L_Porras @Ashtrix @DeeX @judal57 so this is not a solution, running with throttlestop gives me input lags on few games, and moroever its a 4month old laptop, i dont want to use a refurbished mobo with some kinda weird throttling, can someone help me forward this issue to alienware team, since we now know its related to CPU core VID and Current AMP issues, they surely have to accept the replacement or give me another set of motherboard.. the local dell tech support dint even reply to my findings, alienware team please do something.

 

@VICKYGAMEBOY Did you talk to the manager of the support team ?
& From my personal experience with Alienware support in India I can say Bangalore team is better and versed well with knowledge. Ask the person from where they are before describing the situation. You can talk your way through the manager only and once he/she approves you can get a replacement machine quote. And I feel sorry for your purchase end up like that, new Alienware corp is totally different.

Spoiler: Last resort

IF you have accidental protection on the machine just break it, they will replace you
(Note - this is the last measure and when you can't use this laptop anymore with that TS, despite getting stability and performance issues. Abuse the system, we are paying for it and when we are not getting equivalent services as they promised they are breaking the rules. So we automatically gain the same rights on this grounds)

 

FYI i live in bangalore, and DELL HQ is 10mins from my home, the reason why i went there to visit tech support guys in real to show the issue, the problem is this was my replacement system which i got in november, i had to wait for 1month, and when this replaced system have this issue and also few refurb mobo changes, they are not believing, from their pov its just they gave me 1 new system, 2 refurb mobo, but still unsolved, must be customer bluffing, but what if alienware team internally forwards this message to dell support team bangalore, which is HQ, so that i dont have to run to and fro..

 

You mean you visited Dell service center or Dell HQ ? And you are thinking that Alienware support is forwarding the issue to Dell ?. I cannot understand that...and about HQ I don't think they can do anything, the sales and support team for Latitude, XPS and Alienware systems takes care of these machines.

But even after numerous attempts to fix and not yet resolved, this is some weird thing going on, But you should have the Dell service receipt right, I had got numerous receipts when my old M15x was plagued with issues and got servicing multiple times, that should serve you as a proof or any email conversations also could help you out if they are not believing (omg, seems like the whole customer service dept is also watered down, the warranty policy & customer support of dell itself is the best in the world and now that's also past).

 

no i went to dell complex. where the whole latitude, alienware tech support team sits, and yeah service center on that building as well, i thot alienware US could forward some kinda awareness message to Dell India, so that they understand this issue, rather than me trying to explain, which is not in their text books, i have every single single receipt with me, the service guy wrote, service done, replaced motherboard, fans checkd, EPSA test no errors, which is routine process, Yes dell is still better comparing lenevo or msi, but again im afraid the quality/service quality is getting worse.. @Alienware-L_Porras he told me he wil internally forward this issue to indian social media team, but so far i havnt recieved any update, even a small mail from us tech team saying this issue is there, and the only solution is replacement or another refurbished mobo, so basically ill have good terms to backme up..

 

@Alienware-L_Porras @Alienware-Wasserman Guys any update regarding my case issue, did u guys manage to forward my issues to indian social media team ?? or give me a solution, tomorrow if im calling the same dell support people, how am i suppose to explain them that even this 2nd refurbished motherboard having throttling issues, after twhat they said " for us the cpu is working as intended may be for ur satifaction we will send u another refurbished mobo, if problem exist even after that, in that case sorry we wont be able to help you, you have to figure out a way on ur own" or buy a higher end cpu if u think this cpu is not running at full speed, shame on them to write a mail to me like that..

 

@Papusan another bad news, i was playing game for 3 hours, all of a sudden my system shutdown with some kinda coil noise, i tried to power it on, then i heard 3 beep sounds, turned off and tried many times, after a while it started making 4 beeps, checked power cables, ram, etc, all works fine, i tried that ram on another laptop, it works fine. i have to call the most annoying tech support again..

 

If you ask for support or you let them service your laptop, get rid of Xtu or any other OC software. They can say this software can be the culprit for problems. And you lose everything.

 

Yeah, but anyway i spoke to the tech support manager today after having call with level 1-2 team for 30mins, his manager went through my case studies, and told me whats their internal reports, i told them thats not true, he was kind to me, and told me replacement wont happen cuz of company policies, but he will def send me a board again, tomorrow ill get board, will check and update u guys, ive ordered IC diamond 7, but it will take 10 days to arrive here, its getting dispatched from california... i realy hope this mobo runs at corect voltage / current amps..

 

Oh god, they don't want to replace...Seems like the Alienware is 100% dead now.
Good luck for the new mobo.

 

Yes dude, they told me its highly impossible, but all i can do is either get u a new motherboard, which after sometime they said we tried but we coudlnt get, so we wil send u another refurb motherboard.. lets see.. this is my 3rd mobo, hoping to see some miracle, if not RIP my 2015 R1 edition alienware

 

@Papusan @Ashtrix @DeeX
Update : I got a refurb motherboard yesterday, i was testing VID, around 1.100, temps were hot idle around 58-60c, may be because i let DELL use their thermal compound, i was testing for 30mins after technician left, then all of a sudden my system keeps shutting down whenever i press buttons on left of my keyboard, it was like short circuit, called the technician immediatly and told him to have a look, he tried to reassemble the entire unit, and he kept trying after few mins, the refurb mobo got shortcircuited, and now im waiting for my 4th refurb mobo in 1month time.. @Alienware-L_Porras why dont u guys try to get me a replacement, or atleast a new mobo.. did u guys even try to escalate the issue to Indian Social Media team ?? so that when im talking to the manager next time i can refer them, if yes please let me know..

 

This is geting ridiculous, 4th replacement...really feel sorry your problems.
And the Dell technicians in India are *trash*, Better you do the job.

And I guess we cannot even send the laptops to dell for servicing now, I had my M15x sent to Bangalore long back but later they told me that policy was gone. But ask them, since this failure of multiple replacements of parts is really hell. Please try to talk your way out from the manager *only*, I know its hard...but seems like that's the best thing to do. Bug them !! take a day off and beat them to pulp.

As a last resort check your warranty for accidental damage protection, If nothing solves the issue break the laptop and call them.

 

they clearly know the issue still exist even after replacing 2-3 refurbished motherboard, most of the tech team doesnt even understand what is cpu throttling, yeah it seems they dint get any training regarding this, and about the manager thing, he is the one who told me to try this time with refurb mobo, even the technician who came to fix is kinda upset, saying he never seen one had to go through such, ill talk to the manager today and tell him to send me a new motherboard if nothing works, and yeah i still have accidental damage warranty till august.. even if i break im afraid they are gonna send me all refurbished parts again.. damn bro.. i have no hope left now.. expecting some kinda miracle to happen..

 

This is getting more and more ridiculous . The more I read about this crap, the more warnings against BGA should have been posted all over the web. I have expected this results with Dell's tech and the laptop, so I'M not surprised over your problems with Dell and the quality over this junk machine... Ask about refund and buy something else(Fast as possible). A replacement machine is not good enough. Not even the new thin rebadged models. You never know what will be your next problem child.
Other problems, LOL http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...2-owners-lounge.770311/page-277#post-10210132

 

another refurbished motherboard installed, voltages are better than previous one. VID around 1.050 - 1.075.. idle temps around 56-60c, using A05 bios which came default with the refurb board.. im gonna let it run for 3 - 5 hours in idle mode, later run some benchmarks..

 

Flash bios A0 or 06. These have the best fan profile of all bios versions. Remember Dell sucks when it comes to making good fan profiles in their gaming laptops. Dell's opinion is that it is better with nice and hot hardware than a laptop that makes noise in use.

 

Yeah individually ive tested each one of them, the best is A00, after that A06, the only reason i dint bother to update to A06 is the MEI issues, right now i was installing games, cpu usage went to 85% and my temps max 87C with power limit throttle popping up on XTU, but core speed never went below 3.3ghz, only cache ratio went 3.1ghz.. ill try some games, then a06 bios..

 

Use Throttlestop and uncheck BD PROCHOT on main page and test again to se if throttle point go up.

 

THe guy says its an M15 but I checked the part number, its a more modern laptop. But still There are plenty of issue slike this for all laptops.

 

@Papusan another sad refurb, throttles to 2.6ghz..and worst it shutdowns randomly when i press keys.. wth man, i called dell support, spoke to the higher tech manager, she felt sorry for me, but she doesnt have authority to give me another replacement system, because of their policy, in india only one time, but she told me she will try her best to find some solutions.. holy god, its been 1month..

 

You can see he have the G/A fault can occur in all other brands laptop models but what do you think about @VICKYGAMEBOY problems?

Maybe the 5-6 or 7 motherboard replacement you will receive from Dell will be useful?

 

they have no option.. their hands are tied by sales/regional higher official members, they told me they will def give me a better solution, which i believe is another refurb mobo, who knows 5 or 6 or 10th. next time ill def buy a socket type, unless they improve BGA with some kinda magic.. i just want to know about policy in norway, do they replace more than one time ?? can u confirm this for me..

 

Cant say anything about that. I had 2 R1's (1 damaged in transit tunfortunately, the box had a big hole in it and damaged the chassis) but the performance was fine and I experienced no thorttling ever even while I overclocked the 970, with 200mhz. The R2 performs great as well. There are no statistics available to us about reliability. But Dell in general is pretty reliable according to various sources I came across online. Vickygameboy only received refurb motherboards. Maybe the motherboard itself isn't even the problem but something else is wrong. BUt he is extremely unlucky with this location. Dell in EUrope is often very forthcoming when they are issues. I mean they replaced my old R1 after a screw up from a technician with a brand new R2 with a large spec bump.

If I want to find dirt on a brand I can find it anyway, this goes for every brand.

 

do u think does it have to do anything with 980m ?? i mean those throttling.. believe me or not i actually purchased a 970M with 16gb ram, but sadly they dint have stock so they gave me free upgrade to 980m with 8gb ram instead.. which is pretty good, and a free 240w adapter, the 800mhz started after they came to replace my heatsink. when changing it they also put a refurb mobo, ever since its behaving like this.. if the laptop is damaged surely even here they will replace, but the problem is only throttling and they need more than my images or videos proof, may be if intel writes them a mail. which is not possible.. but yeah dude it seems im the the unlucky guy. 1 in 100.

 

The power required for the 980M is also tthe same as the 970M. So an overclocked 970M surely would draw an equal amount of power. So it could be a wrong heatsink that cant adequatly cool it because it is assembled the wrong way. Imagine if it doesnt make good enough contact with the vrm's. That could be a problem as well.

But you are constantly received a refurb. THey are probably send back because there were issues with it. So I dont get why they re-use those boards.

 

ive been takin snapshot and serials of all those mobos, so that i dont get the same refrub again, so far 4 done.. lets see.. i dont see any thermal throttle on XTU, just power throttle, its kind of messed up.. every single time it shows different reason.. mostly power throttle or current throttle, do u think reachin 92c it will throttle back to 2.6 ?? to reduce temps.. im not sure how the themal framework drivers work on DELL boards..

 

What's the status of your ICD7 ? Use it asap should improve by huge margins, the stock dell paste comes like a hard cooked cool-aid trash.

Oh man that's unfortunate on the one time replacement. Very bad dell, very bad, tell your buddies not buy their downgraded and lesser warranty quality post 2013 Private Dell computers. That's the highest we can do against them...

Plus you cannot monitor the VRMs of the GPUs (that's why people get their VRMs fried when they overvolt/oc without proper knowledge or poor thermal padding) you have to make sure they are in contact with heatsinks, normally they do with stock thermal pads.

Temperature maxing on the GPU means the core is not getting cooled adequately, check the heatsink layout once. But I don't know how are the heatsinks in the R1 and R2 Echo models.

 

ICD 7 is still on transit, some issues shipping to india, but will get it, i doubt it has to do with thermals.. and i never used dell cheap thermal paste, i have artic silver 5 and MX4.. today they called me saying new motherboard is not possible, we will send another refurbished again, if that doesnt fix ill forward this case to product team, i dont know what to say, ive already spread awareness to some people regarding the echo models, and the worst part im willing to pay for R2 skylake chipset, like 200 - 300 dollars, but even that they cant do, this is insane.. i hate to say when alienware social media team replied we will escalate the issue, after that they disapeard, all i can do is wait for another board.. if they dont help, god knows whats next. this is the heatsink of R1.. im pretty sure my GPU temps were under 68c, its the cpu part alwyas goes to 90s when 80% above load, ive tried with all refurb boards, its all the same.. even with diff thermal paste.. i even checked the heatsink pressure, it was fine. i did it twice myself..

 

Improvement BGA? Are you kidding wit me? Dumbest thing I've ever heard.
At home we have 5 years free national (government) warranty. We don't need to pay extra for warranty. 3 likewise faults and we shall have a completely new comuter, tv, radio etc +++.

Artic silver 5 and MX4 is a medium quality thermal paste. Thermal paste on cpu / gpu in a desktop Pc vs laptop are two different things...

 

lol sorry bro. im not that expert with BGA, first time user, but i know about the socket types since Athlon time.. Yeah i know AS5 and MX4 are medium grade thermal paste, but i have no option, i live in a country where less overclockers/hardware freaks.. i had to order from ebay.. hey do u think i should suggest them to give me a 330W adapter.. i dont know bro.. just saying.. also ill rquest them a new heatsink and fit it my self with ICD7..

 

You should rather worry about getting back a gaming laptop that work, LOL
Yeah. ICD or Grizzly Kryonaut.

 

awww that hurts.. yeah ill try my best to get a gaming laptop.. only ICD no grizzly available.. ive even replied to kevin on aleinware arena forum.. lets see if he can do something

 

Never talk to me about BGA can be something good to have. Read under my Avatar
This is real @VICKYGAMEBOY http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/sager-clevo-overclockers-lounge.788975/page-8#post-10213362

Edit: @altecX @rinneh @skunk1 Who need gaming laptops from Dell with Skylake, as you can have much better performance from other brand(Dell will always cripple their Aw laptops... Either with fully BGA or crippled bios) But my Kunshan P870 BGA Pussy-Crushing Edition run nice and cool with socket i7 at 4.8Ghz all 4 core's http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/sager-clevo-overclockers-lounge.788975/page-11#post-10213794

 

Uhhhh, okay. I guess only on a notebook forum would I see some kind of weird trash talk like this. You're spending too much time with your laptop.

 

I dont think your laptop performs much better while gaming because the 3.6ghz cpu is by far not the limiting factor for current generation gaming......But it sure is twice as thick, much heavier and cannot run away from the power outlet. It is a nice machine. But just a desktop machine for me.

The only performance benefit in your machine is a 980 desktop card.

 

everyone gets their bad system, this time it was mine, i had no luck with 4 diff motherboard, he was right about BGA, if there is a issue whole mobo gotta be replaced, in that case socket hardware is much better, but yeah again that laptop is huge, there was another model in clevo with hardware socket but much beter thickness/weight.

 

Yes maybe I do, LOL

A laptop that has basically more powerful desktop CPU will go quieter and colder if not all power is used in gaming (eg at 40% utilization). A i7-6700Hq which is in most <BGA laptops> run at 3.1 GHz all 4 cores, while a OC'd 6700K manage fine to run OC'd @4.7 GHz. BGA processors is also used in laptops with inferior cooling.Doubt on that subject
It depends on whether the game is processor dependent or not. But usually no more than max 2 fps in mainstream games if this is all processor must do. But as I said it depends on the game and whether the processor will run other things in the background. A laptop with a weaker processor need to use more of its CPU power/utilization aka hotter and more noisy...
You also have less CPU performance headroom if the processor must do other things in the background while you gaming.

Gets their bad <system>... Even if you only have one system, but with 4 refurb motherboard you've got <4> system from Dell, LOL

 

i would have been much happier atleast if they gave me 4 system. rather than 4 refurbished mobo..

 

Had it played any role if Dell gave you 4 system, rather than 4 refurbished mobo? No, I don't think so. HaHa
Same result, or maybe a little better and throttled down to 2.9 GHz.