*OFFICIAL* Alienware 13 R1/R2 Owner's Lounge

Nice to see. I've just ordered mine today after a lot of thought. Should be coming on the 20th so I may upload some benchmarks of it because there is a big lack of benchmarks for the GTX 965M with a ULV CPU.

 

I think you missed the question. There are 2 965Ms an older one and a new one that was just released. It has TI version. The new 965M is much faster than the old. I believe the question was around whether this laptop has the new 965M TI not the old

 

It should be the newer one as the BIOS refers to the 2016 version, not the 2015 version.

 

I asked an Alienware rep and he said it should be the new one. Hence why I went for it. I'll double check when I receive the unit.

 

I am just waiting for OLED wish they would HTFU.

 

Anything comparable to the Alienware 13?

 

Maybe some Sager/Clevo laptops. Nothing with the same size and price range as far as I am aware of. Aorus, Razer etc options are priced much higher.

 

I am looking on Alienware's site and all the Nvidias are 960M, even the highest priced model. Hmm, I ordered mine a week or so ago and it should be coming soon, should I have waited? I don't do such heavy gaming, and am upgrading from an M11x R3 that's in my sig.

 

Hello all.
Does anyone know what the difference is between the (Old) 2GB GTX960M and the (New) 4GB GTX960M? Is it a different card or just VBIOS upgrade/Mod

 

What a shame :|

I believe it's the same, just different memory capacity. Unless the new one have more cores.

@Alienware-L_Porras

 

Different card (as it has different VRAM chips), different vBIOS that's stored in the main BIOS.

 

Thank you for the information Also, it's the 14th and my 13 hasn't shipped yet. I know it's 2 day shipping and for it to be on schedule it should ship today since mail doesn't move on Sunday. If it doesn't ship today should I chat them and ask what's going on?

 

Thanks for the info - Dam I was hoping for a simple upgrade via VBIOS mod, ohh well....

 

Well, this sucks. My first leap of faith to Alienware is not going well.

Just spoke to a Dell Spokesman who told me my order has been delayed until 11/05/2016 which is nearly a month away. Kinda sucks cause I was hoping to take the laptop with me to Paris this Friday. Also warning: a lot of people are having trouble with the 13 r2 orders right now. A post on Tom's Hardware has people discussing it. Might be because they are adding new versions with OLED screens?

Either way, now just to consider whether to refund or be patient and wait :-/

 

Alienware's history has been when machines start getting back ordered like this it's because a refresh is coming or the model is discontinued.

 

http://notebook.pconline.com.cn/778/7783564.html

Some performance benchmarks on the GTX 965M in the Alienware 13. Getting mine next week monday so I'll put up some gaming benchmarks then to see how it pairs with a ULV CPU.

Looks like a pretty nice performance boost I'd say.

 

First time poster here. I read through this whole forum I apreciate everyone's contribution. I just got my alienware 13 yesterday. i7 5500u, 16 GB ram, 3200 x 1800 screen, gtx 960m, 256 SSD drive not sure If its m2 but it's a Toshiba. Any one else get Toshiba ssd? I got it for $929 no tax and free shipping from an amazon seller like new condition. Made in June 2015 so it's r1 with the mini display port. It's really nice laptop I'll get the GA and gtx 960 4 gb later unless u guys think the 970 would be worth it? I would of loved to have oled screen and gtx 965m or 4 gb gtx 960m but I got deal deal and good specs. Warrenty til September 2016 too not bad. Hope this thread picks up some steam again when oled 13 or r3 version comes out. Also I had a 13 i5 4210u with 1366 x 768 screen and returned it right away horrible screen and not so great processor.

 

I got my AW 13 R2 a couple weeks ago and even then it got pushed back but only by a couple days. Perhaps it's them moving the new shipments of the OLED screens in like others have suggested. The 1366x768 screen for me is not too bad! I mean, it's the only quality I've had, even my m11x r3 had it and I really, honestly see no need for a higher res screen for my needs. The laptop is running everything like a boss, Crysis 3 on high settings from 30-45 FPS which is not half bad for the hardware in it. 8GB Ram, 960m i76500u. The battery (esp) with a lower res screen lasts really long as well for me. Also, is the new AW 13 going to not have an ULV processor? I'll post some benchmarks on this post when I can.

EDIT: When I open the lid, sometimes I hear a "click" sound from the top of the case, right above the webcam... I noticed on the bottom smaller cover, there are pressure lock points for the panel to keep in place. Could this be similar to what is near the webcam and it could just be clicking in and out?

 

Hey man! I have no idea on how i can send you a PM, i have a question about the AW 13 R2 (960m) and i had hope you can help me! Let me know! Thanks in advance

 

Hi! Me again! After playing around with my fixed Alienware 13 (R1), I've been wondering where I could buy a cable and a caddy to change my m2 drive (256gb) with one Samsung ssd I got already (512gb).. If any of you have something like this to sell or know where I could buy it, it would be very kind to tell me where I've checked around eBay and there is only one thing that could do the job but I'm not 100% sure. Thanks in advance and sorry for my English!

 

I think frys electronics may sell those. Haven't been there in some time though

 

You can ask here. Maybe it may help someone else.
Although if you're hoping for a custom vBIOS, then contact Prema for that.

Is your Samsung SSD the 850 Pro or something similar (a 2.5" drive)? The M.2 caddy has two M.2 slots.
You could contact Dell's Parts and Accessories Department to see if they have what you're looking for.

 

I over clocked the gtx 960m 135 mhz thru Nvidia inspector and Temps are still fine. It's worth it for the performance boost I can play wolfenstein new order now 1080p medium settings at 60 fps. Also I can play gta v at around 40 to 50 fps on medium settings at 3200 x 1800 looks great. I just use a cheap cooling pad and it seems to keep Temps down about 5 to 7 degrees.

 

Thanks for your quick answer. Yup, it's the 850 Pro (2.5")

 

Thanks, I'll take a look!

 

As far as I know, I think you only need the SATA cable to the motherboard. I could be wrong if there's an actual 2.5" bay.
Again, maybe the department I mentioned has it. It would be great if any of us knew its part number to make things on your end easier.

 

So if I were to install my Samsung 850 evo into my 13r2 I'd just need to use the included connector?

 

Which 850 EVO? 2.5" or M.2?

 

Something like this?

 

Yes, that should work.

 

Just received my Alienware 13 with the GTX 965M. It's great and runs well. I haven't gone through everything yet so I will put up some benchmarks once I've had time.

I do have one issue though. The latest Nvidia drivers can't detect my GPU even though it appears on Device Manager and I'm using it to play games (which run pretty well). The Alienware drivers work perfectly as well. Has anyone else had this issue with Alienware laptops?

 

Most likely the official Nvidia drivers don't have its ID. That was the case for the GTX 860m on the 13 R1 with Broadwell CPUs for some time. You can mod the drivers to include the GTX 965m ID, though.
Please upload a pic of its GPU-Z information and the BIOS version you are on (HWInfo can help, but you could take a picture of your BIOS screen and edit out your service tag through Microsoft Paint or something).

 

That would be great!
My GPU-Z:

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/16/04/30/q4j.png

My BIOS version according to System information:

http://puu.sh/oAGEf/b1ce4b83dc.png

 

1.2.12? I would see if you can drop to 1.2.8 or 1.2.7 as they're better BIOS versions that 1.2.12. However, that's up to you.
At least the GPU-Z screenshot is confirmation that the GTX 965m is the 2016 edition. However, I'm disappointed Alienware hasn't fixed the internal PCIe version.

 

Wow available with gtx 965m that's awesome wish mine had that I could play games a little better in 3200 x 1800 res. Gtx 960m will do for now til I can get the graphics amplifier. Is it worth it to get gtx 970 with the i7 5500u or would a gtx 960 make more sense considering the cpu bottleneck that happens

 

Depends the game how cpu intensive it is. But in general you lose 15% compared to a faster cpu in general.

 

Firestrike 1.1:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/11850351?

Also did a Sky Diver benchmark and got this:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/11850421?

Don't know why Firestrike is not recognising my system information. You can see the CPU in the Sky Diver benchmark.

Let me know if there are any other benchmarks or games that you want me to test out. So far, it's handled every intensive game I've thrown at it with even Witcher 3 playing at 1080p.

 

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/8341950/fs/7804969/fs/7713790
An overall (and probably average) 20% boost over a stock GTX 960m and 15% over an overclocked one. If you could, run a 3DMark11 benchmark please.

 

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/11213928

3DMark 11

 

And, of course, the CPU holds back the GPU, as indicated in the combined score. Nonetheless, the graphics score improvement is great.
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/11213928/3dm11/10993252/3dm11/10916435

 

I'm assuming the 965m can be OCd decently as well, right? I wouldn't think the GPU would be thermally limited in the 13s case, since the 960m doesn't run all that hot.

A nice performance boost honestly and definitely worth the +150 dell is charging.

Sent from mTalk

 

Completely forgot about temps. Thanks.
@nimbot3 Do you think you can report back the maximum temperatures after playing a game (like Witcher 3, for example)? Throttlestop can record the max temps of both the CPU and GPU.

 

Where are people buying alienware 13 with gtx 965m? All I see is gtx 960m with 4 gb option on alienware.com US. Also does anyone know when they will release oled 2560 x 1440 screen? Oled with i7 skylake and gtx 965m sounds very tempting. I don't mind going down from my 3200 x 1800 igzo screen for that.

 

There's an upgrade option. If you click "choose options" under the GTX 960m, you'll be given an option to upgrade to the GTX 965m.
In other regions, you may have to change the CPU option (even if it's the same CPU) to choose a different GPU.

 

Oh ok my bad I was looking at it in my phone. Yeah u gotta click on 3rd one games choice with i7. Wow gtx 965m 4gb for only 150 more is def worth it. Too bad the 1080 screen is only 220 nits. I'd probably do the $150 upgrade to 3200 x 1800 too with touchscreen cause u get the 400 nits brightness

 

I'm at uni but will do once I get home but I did test it with MSI Afterburner and found it went to around 77C at the most after 20 mins of playing Witcher 3 on close to max settings 1080p. The GPU was running at 99%.

I got the 220 nits model and it's not that bad IMO. I came from a laptop with 350 nits 1080p display and expected the transition to be rough but it handles the outdoor sunlight well. Can still see all the things on the screen. I'm actually using it now outdoors.

 

Well At Least the 1080p Is Matte Screen. My 3200 x 1800 is glossy but I use just indoors so reflections aren't too bad. Is it a VA panel? How do I check which panel it's a r1 with i7 5500u and gtx 960m made in June 2015. Also did anyone else with 256 gb ssd model get a Toshiba ssd drive in theres?

 

http://puu.sh/oDkkP/a49f5a9bad.png

http://puu.sh/oDkmn/d1dfca7697.png

Played Witcher 3 for 2 hours. You can see the min and max temps in the top left hand side corner. I had 0 throttling and the game maintained a respectable 30-40 frames at 1080p high settings.

EDIT: Should also probably note that I used MSI Afterburner to monitor.

 

What is the fan noise like with the 965m? I don't suppose you have used a 960m AW13 to compare have you? One of the things I loved about my old 4210 & 860m was how quiet it was

 

It is clearly audible under load if you play for a long period of time but in no way annoying or explicit. It's also usually very quiet for less intensive games. This is my first Alienware rig so I can't really compare to previous models. If the decibel meter on my phone was working correctly, I would give you an objective answer but unfortunate that it isn't.

If you aren't playing games, you can't even hear the laptop at all. It's dead silent.