*OFFICIAL* Alienware 13 R3 Owner's Lounge

Ummm...where did you read that "the card" throttles at 82? Both CPU and GPU have a Tmax of 100C. That's the only time you should see throttling, and usually Intel and the AW BIOS will just disable turbo on the core that's throttling momentarily if a core reaches 100C - which is pretty much unnoticeable impact to performance.

 

From what I've read, Doom is a very optimized game, so I don't think it would be too demanding vs BF1 for example. The biggest impact to temps will be a proper repaste + undervolt 9/10 times. Pair that with a lifted laptop cooling pad + 65-70C ambient room temp, and you should be seeing optimal temps. Even better if you run an AGA since that would disable to the dGPU, which allows the heat sink to be reserved for just the 6700HQ.

 

Off reddit referencing 1080, etc (similar engineering), and it was mostly related to personal owners testing their desktop pascal GPUs (which are essentially in laptops now). Could be wrong though. Either way I'd never let either GPU or CPU blow past 90 for any point in time. Nvidia official max temp is 94.

sources:
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/10series/geforce-gtx-1070/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/4tju34/when_does_the_gtx1080_start_to_thermal_throttle/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/4wuof8/how_come_the_default_temp_limit_with_pascal_is/

 

Thanks for the links---I seem to remember GPUs throttle earlier than CPUs. Although I havent seen GPUs in any of these new AW's hitting antying in the 90s, since most folks have been complaining about the CPU. I do know the 6700HQ can reach 100C before it will throttle, although AW may do something else at the BIOS level before that point (probably power limit related). I would say that I agree, I like things below 90, but it's not "unsafe" if you run a machine at it's thermal limit. It's really about performance and acoustics, not safety of the product!

 

Do you have the AGA? If so, what card in it? How are acoustics compared to running a game on the AW13 itself versus when plugged into the AGA? And by acoustics, I mean both the laptop itself and the fan noise coming from the AGA? I'm curious as to how to spend my Dell 10% rewards card. I've bought additional AC adapters used off a seller on Amazon who sells Delta manufactured 180W power supplies (versus Flextronics), so I don't know what else I would use that credit for. I'm sure I could buy something, but I'm considering the AGA if for nothing else than to lower acoustics.

 

Yep, bought one when it was going for $159.99 USD (back up to $199.99 now). I'm running the EVGA GTX 1070 SC (stock boosts up to 1979~ while my bro's goes past 2k). Did the numbers and going from the 1060 > 1070 is around a 50% increase in performance, which was worth it to me. I debated the 1080, but results were 50% increase in price from 1070 with around a 20%~ increase in performance. 1070 ended up being the best price/performance option for me.

1. I'm not running either CPU/Fan performance mode, and the fan noise is 100% acceptable to me (think of sitting in a university classroom with other students acceptable). I don't have the decibel measurements, but it's very reasonable (especially compared to my M14x R2 jet fans). When running with the AGA, I can barely even hear the 13 if at all, even when I lean in tilting my head trying to look for it. I can hear my AGA but it quickly blends into background/ambience (much less noise compared to my desktop I used to own 8-10 years ago lol). It also sits right next to my 13 / keyboard. Based on my research and users reporting how unbearably loud it could be, I was anticipating on buying a noctua fan and modifying the stock fan on the AGA myself to tackle the acoustics, but discovered noise levels were fine to me -- even when it ramps up during stress tests (god bless EVGA).

If you're interested in better performance when you're docked in at home, I'd highly recommend the AGA if you've got spare cash to buy a 1070/1080. You'll get noticeably better thermal performance in your 13 while having the flexibility of running most triple A titles on ultra 1080 60 fps. You won't have an issue with the microstuttering unoptimized optimus crap either if you're running an external monitor.

 

I think I'm gonna crack open the laptop today after work to do a repaste. Seems like it's the best thing to do in my situation. I don't really have many demanding games to test it out though. I think Fallout 4 may be my most intensive game but I was using a friend's copy, so my most intensive game may be Slime Rancher at the moment.

 

I don't think you're going to go any lower than a certain threshold. From what I've seen here repaste gives almost the same temps as undervolting 0.175, you just get more even temperatures between all the cores. I doubt repaste and undervolting is gonna get you so much lower than just either of the two.
This laptop has very good cooling, it's too bad they just ruined with that terrible paste job.

Why don't you just download the free 3dmark? That would be enough to simulate a gpu intensive game.

 

So the acoustics with AW13 + AGA are significantly quieter than the AW13 by itself under load; that's good to hear!

I guess I could compare fan noise on the AW13 + AGA to how my AW13 sounded running OCCT or XTU CPU stress tests for 15 minutes. At least the laptop part of the acoustics, but I had heard things about fans on the 92MM front end, as well as PSU backend to be "too loud" for the AGA. I have a ridiculous over speced (750 watt) seasonic PSU sitting around, and I'm sure a cheap 92MM upgrade is easy enough to do, especially with a custom PSU installed should that be a real issue.

Do you still have to use the 180 Watt AC Adapter? Is the AGA plugin process still something that requires a full reboot of the system, or can you hot swap these days? I know TB3 GPU docks are supposed to be hot swappable, but I haven't done a ton of research on this. As the price of the 1070 comes down to that golden $375 level, it is attractive.

 

Yep exactly, the AGA + 13 is quieter under load vs a fan performance mode 13/15. It could be my imagination but I imagine it has to do with the pitch. The AGA has a deeper fan sound as opposed to a high pitched whirl.

You have to keep the power brick plugged in. To get your AGA started, you boot up your 13. It may power up, briefly shutdown, and power back up again. Uninstall any current nvidia drivers, and reinstall your laptop's dGPU mobile drivers (e.g., GTX 1060 mobile, not desktop). Restart your PC and your AGA's eGPU will be enabled. You can only shutdown and restart while connected to the AGA -- sleep is disabled.

If you try to hot swap, you'll get blue screened. Proper process for deactivating your AGA is to shut down, wait til both AGA and 13 is off then disconnect the Amp connector from your laptop. Or you can try FN+F1, follow those commands or press the button on the AGA connector behind your laptop and follow those commands. I personally shutdown and disconnect.

A really nice side benefit I didn't think about when buying an AGA are 4 extra USB ports . No more cables firing out from all sides of your laptop now. Cable management is boss

 

I actually have the advanced version of 3DMark from Steam, but I guess I wanted a more realistic test from real games. I plan on running all of my benchmark programs after my repaste so I'll update the thread with my results. Is the pea method the safest bet? I used to do spread method but I'm reading that it's not the best?

 

iunlock says it doesn't matter. He personally uses the spread method and garners any excess back to the middle so it's distributed evently when you lay the heatsink back down.

mobius_1 (and many desktop owners) prefers the pea on CPU & line on GPU.

X method has been scientifically tested and proven to have the best coverage and least amount of air bubbles.

Any of the above 3 methods will work

 

Can't seems to undervolt past -0.155v now. Anything over freezes during heavy load.

With a repaste and undervolt, Temps are good at 74 GPU & 77 CPU max load. Not too bad.

Wouldn't mind fan noise slightly reducing but nothing extreme.

Oh and pea and line for me.

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Apparently all the new Kaby Lake processor options will be available on AW laptops starting 5 Jan - anybody else read that headline?

 

Including source:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/alienware-13-15-17-laptops-kaby-lake-gtx-1050,33274.html
http://www.theverge.com/circuitbrea...-13-15-17-laptop-kaby-lake-intel-cpu-ces-2017

I might pay difference to upgrade depending on much of a performance impact it will be compared to 6700HQ.

 

In regards to dying light it's the enhanced edition.
Was you playing yours on 1440p or 1080p?

Also as for battery life I do run it in cpu performance so that's prob why. But I'd rather the full power benefits rather than some of it since I want to make use of the 1060 and squeeze every bit out of it on default.
I think with the the cpu performance off in bios. I think the gpu runs closer to a 980m. I'd rather it perform bit better than a desktop 970 which pleases me...if only it was better than a 980 though lol...nearly.


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If that's true and the cost is good. I got one full day to return my current one and reorder. The 6700 has been out for ages. And it's the 1st time I've owned it was in December. Don't wanna feel like I've fell behind already even if no advantage gains.


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The highlight here of kaby lake is battery longevity since Speed Step technology has been improved and the chip draws less power. A significant benefit for laptop owners who are keen on portability

 

so i forgot i had to take apart my whole mitx build to get the m.2 out

got it in my aw13, but it has windows 8 on it. how do i format as a regular drive?

 

I'm running 1080P - if you are getting int he 90s on average, then something else is going on with my machine. Even at the best level, I can only get averages in the 70s. Last night I played with vsync on and it locked at 60FPS across a 90 minute play session with only an occasional dip to mid 50s. Every setting maxed except that shadow setting I mentioned.

 

Unless there is a drastic improvement in performance and/or battery life with the 7700hq I don't really see a reason to upgrade (and everything I've seen indicates that this isn't going to be the case). The price might actually go up for the 1060 model to make the 1050 ones more appealing.

 

Does CPU performance prevent the CPU from going into it's lowest power states as well?

 

I think $50 is a reasonable price hike. Any more than $100 and I'll probably ignore it.

 

Going off this comparison

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-...of-the-Core-i7-6700HQ-successor.187979.0.html

I couldn't really justify a new machine for such a small increase in performance.

Yes the 6700hq had been around for a while but I was expecting more from this generation of chips.

Less power draw is great but there's not enough here to make me want to go kaby.........
Or am I missing something?

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So far as we know you haven't missed anything and there is only a 2%-6% gain in performance. And that's not worth upgrading over by itself, at least not in my mind.

I will, however, contact Dell and see if I cannot get a discount on my current machine as incentive to keep it.

 

Yeah, I'm not too worried I have a 6700HQ. Just want to make sure my AW13 is meeting it's expected performance levels. I also will take BIOS/Driver refinement and perhaps a "quiet" mode as more enjoyable upgrades to the model I have. Plus I have an OLED screen, which apparently is on a pretty big backorder at the moment! Can't imagine returning mine after I just waited over a month to receive it, to get back into line to wait another month to receive a new unit with a small processor bump.

 

Now that's an idea
With the 12% discount plus 10% compensation refund I'm extremely happy with this little beast for the money.

Don't get if you don't ask eh

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I believe it's around a 7.69 - 8.57% increase per clock rate.

https://ark.intel.com/products/97185/Intel-Core-i7-7700HQ-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_80-GHz

https://ark.intel.com/products/88967/Intel-Core-i7-6700HQ-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz


I do agree though that waiting a potential 2-4 weeks for an exchange to possibly experience issues may not be worth it. Intel is claiming 3x more battery life while watching 4k videos on netflix/youtube so if intel can somehow work some magic to increase battery life on OLED from 3.5-4 hours to 6-7, I'll most likely be getting it

 

Not you, but Intel is missing having a competitor to actually bother. Thus, the new "tick-tock-tack" CPUs release model.

 

Wow, that would be a major increase in battery life!

But now I have 3 AC adapters around the house - one in my office with my "docking" station. One in the living room, and one in my bedroom. The only situation I'll really be off the mains for extended periods is a cross country flight, but even many of those planes have outlets these days. At least Delta has it. Sorry for those foreign forum posters. Increased battery life is awesome, but I'm getting 4.5 hours on this right now. If they made one that lasted 120 minutes UNDER LOAD, now that would be a difference maker to me.

 

Yeah, thought as much.
To be honest I'm just not that fused.

With how long it took to get my machine.
I'll be happy with this for quite some time

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I agree; in my experience --back in 2013- with AW: If you get a good copy, you treasure it and don't let it go.

However, if there is a significant improvement in the battery, it will be hard for me (and maybe others) to pick between a new AW13 or an XPS 15 9560. I only need a laptop when I am visiting my girlfriend in Paris or at conferences (tho, I got a Surface Pro 2 for that), thus not sure if I should prioritise battery or power.

 

Thus far the only benchmarks released have it at 2%, 3%, and 6% higher than the 6700hq.

That is only when streaming at 4k though, as far as I know, as they've brought codec support to that directly to the CPU. So unless you're streaming a lot of 4k or 10-bit content I don't think you'll see the same savings doing other things.

 

I'd only get the Kaby version if I can get the same deal as I did for the Skylake version. But I don't think another 20%+ discount will be coming for the Kaby lake versions, at least not during my return period.

 

Little of recent topic, but for anyone who went oled.......
For the love of God go and purchase 'Ori and the blind forest' on steam.
Truly stunning game. Looks absolutely beautiful on the oled panel!

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I don't think so. Watched the min active cpu speeds and they was down as low as 800mhz. Can't be sure but basically when doing fire strike tests. The score increased so I'm basing this of the cpu being controlled to gain better battery life. It also only marginally makes it quieter when off


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So just tried cpu performance again and it just sends my fan nuts. Temps go up at 70 at idle.
Just really doesn't work for me.

With no performance set this thing is a beast otherwise.

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Yeah 2D art is fantastic on the oled. Ori was a great game. Any eta for Cuphead?

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Looks interesting. Is there online play as well?

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How did you guys remove the wireless card?...


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Woops double post

 

Something wrong there it should only go nuts in fan mode enabled in the bios. Idling at 70c is not right. I'll edit my post and tell you my idle but I him hitting 70c whilst gaming in cpu performance on

This picture is idle when in cpu performance



This pic is it cpu performance disable as it come default. The fan was slightly on at this point.



When the fan finally stopped the strangest thing happen....it went up. It must truly be hard to cool when the fans are not spinning at all



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Both of the units I have ordered have been great. Paste is crap, but thermals have not been an issue. No battery wear issue, no wireless issues, no fan issues (not running on either performance mode), etc. Not to discount issues others are having, but consider that forums like these represent a very small % of actual users and usually the dissatisfied are the most vocal.

I will consider ordering a Kaby Lake depending on the ETA. If it would arrive within my return period then I would strongly consider it, but it would have to as the AW13 has taken over the duties of my desktop when paired with the AGA.

 

I'm in the market for a new laptop and I've been looking at this, especially with the GTX 1050 Ti as a new upgrade option. The GTX 1060 would be nice but I'd like something decent all around without costing a lot. My current desktop has a GTX 1070 and I have a Dell GSync monitor so this would be a companion system for me. That said, I have a few thoughts/questions. Hopefully someone can shed light/address them.

1. I'm not a fan of soft touch material. I had a lot of devices with them in the past and they usually do a worse job of preventing fingerprints and smudges. Is this the same issue here with all the new Alienwares? Otherwise I may look at getting a skin or something for the palm rest area.

2. CPU, I've seen the i7-6700K in a lot of other systems and they have seem to be a bit notorious for running hot (90C+). I seen people mention about undervolting and thermal repasting. So I'm wondering, is there any difference in heat and performance of the i5 vs i7 options? I looked at the Intel Ark information and it looks like they have the same TDP, and the only difference seems to be Hyper Threading and the clock speed. I don't know if the i5 would run any cooler than the i7.

3. I don't see a lot of pictures of the non-OLED displays. Are the displays like one piece? Or is there like an extended frame around the display (nonflush)?

 

So I just did a repaste and my CPU temps are waaay higher...Is it because I added too much or too little? Seems like my GPU temps are okay so far though? Idk

Edit: GPU temps are the same heh...Gonna have to re-repaste ><


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Could be either. Likely more. Or depends on your method. Pea size always worked for me but I haven't touched my unit. Satisfied with it.
But will see what kaby lake is saying in the uk in terms of price.


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Yes, the Non OLED panel has a plastic bezel and the Overall laptop is 3/10 of an inch thicker because of it.

OLED is the reason to get the AW 13. Otherwise its more cost effective to go for the AW 15.

Wouldn't be surprised if Dell made it so you couldn't get the OLED panel without the GTX 1060; they are like that sometimes unfortunately.

 

Battery wear out of the box on 12/23 was 5%, now up to 9.2%. I just spent an hour on the phone with AW tech support (after emailing yesterday and getting no callback at the designated time this evening). They had me run system diagnostics and checked battery in the bios (showing as healthy) - tech said that they cannot replace the battery because they are not showing any errors in diagnostics - despite my explaining that I'm not experiencing errors, and it's just that this kind of wear is not really acceptable for a new battery. I had generated both a battery report and used batterybarpro to show wear level for them.

Any advice for actually getting them to replace this battery? I'm within return period, but really don't want to wait on the OLED backorder, since the system is otherwise fine.

 

Just call them until you reach someone willing to help, or try chat. Threaten to return it, if they call your bluff, try again later. The battery is covered under basic warranty too. If you hit like 13% or more wear, they will have to act.

 

Fairly straightfoward...just pop the 5 screws off the back cover and the little card above two M.2 SSD slots. It has one screw like any other M.2 card. Take that screw off...there's a little antenna lead cover there as well (probably to protect the lead connections when you muck around with other internals). Then grab the two little wire (white and black) and gently pop them off the card. They are truly very small connectors so be careful. I'm not sure what the best method is to remove.

Once that is done, just gently pull the card out of the M.2 socket.