*OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R3 Owner's Lounge

Dont do that with these low pressure heat sinks.
For one they have low pressure and for two with the lack of the fourth tension arm you are going to want to be sure the spread is even and that cannot be guaranteed with that funky pressure.
Usually the method you mention is done on a desktop where high pressure heatsinks are used.

 

I believe the SSD's supplied by Dell are Toshiba. Are they NVME?

 

Yes, although the performance is not great. From memory it was about 1600MB/s read, 600MB/s write (256GB model). Would be worth having someone else confirm with AS SSD or something though.

 

Does Hwinfo report all the data parameters about the drive- i.e. capacity, geometry, transfer modes, etc.

 

agreed mine shipped with a Toshiba 256 1597 read 559 write

i put in a Samsung (because i had one spare) pm961 1tb over 3000 read and 1500 write approximate

just to say though there is NO noticeable difference in normal use boot and game load time pretty much identical if i hadn't had the Samsung i would have been satisfied with Toshiba drive.

 

What's your ssd's temperatures? My Toshiba 256 GB get hotter around 65-70C while working, and 70-73C while gaming. I don't think this is normal, but I'm not very familiar with this things.

 

now i have changed it over i don't know, the Samsung is OEM and running off the win 10 embedded drivers i think so HWinfo and monitor show no temps.
I didn't check the Toshiba as it was only in for a couple hours.

My samsung in my desktop runs into the low 70's and its never been a problem

 

This is the method I have used for years without issue on laptops. There is more tension than you think, also the heatsink continues to compress and spread the TIM over time - the majority of which happens on heatsink installation but it should improve over time.

 

test

 

Sorry about the last post! I received my Alienware 15 R3 on Wed evening and have had issues with Windows not installing or doing a factory reset! The original ssd will not do a factory reset due to a screwed up Windows or messed up partitions! However it will install Windows 8.1 but still will not upgrade to Windows 10! I have installed a Samsung 950 Pro with windows 10 but get errors with the audio drivers! (invalid memory stuff) I was wondering if anyone has an iso of the whole hard drive (partitions) from the factory so I may wipe the entire drive and start from scratch!

 

Just got an update from Dell saying that my order is delayed. Apparently, they are running short of supply of key components (including 6820hk) and despite the order having been placed more than a week back, it still says "Pre-Production". I am not sure what to do now since I am due to head out of the country next week. I am planning to try and squeeze some discounts from Dell for this mess but if not, I would most likely cancel the order for now.

 

Just ordered this, is it a good deal? £1511 / $1950 I guess without 20% VAT it'd be $1560

Alienware 15 / i7-6700HQ / 16GB DDR4 / GTX1060 6GB / 256GB SSD+1TB

 

Hi all, about to pull the trigger on a 15R3 purchase, curious to know if this is a good deal or not, and if any component choices are dubious. Help greatly appreciated:

Intel® Core™ i7-6820HK (Quad-Core, 8MB Cache, Dynamically Overclocked up to 4.1GHz )
Windows 10 Home 64bit English
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 with 8GB GDDR5
15.6 inch UHD (3840 x 2160) IGZO IPS Anti-Glare 300-nits Display
16GB DDR4 at 2667MHz (2x8GB)
256GB PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)
Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1
4 Years Premium Support

$2270 (does not include 5% cashback or ebates but does include MPP discount)

 

Looks pretty solid to me

 

Just ordered a 512 GB 960 Pro - out of stock on amazon but should be nice once it comes in.

 

Whats recommended thermal paste that doesn't cost a bomb and noob friendly?

This good and enough for both GPU/CPU?
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/thermal-grizzly-conductonaut-thermal-paste-1g-th-021-tg.html

I guess a little dot drop in middle then use swob to spread it?

 

This is liquid metal and is not noob friendly. I would stick with TuniqTX-4, Gelid Extreme, Kryonaut, or something similar. Avoid conductive pastes and liquid metal. Also, do not use a swab to spread it.

 

Why is it not noob friendly? I'm also curious.

I used arctic silver or something back in the day but it's been many years since I built a desktop. It was easy enough. Is that still good stuff?


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I mean the cost is the cost. There's no "good deal" or not. If the upgrades are worth the price to you it's worth it.

I know they keep adverting Black Friday etc sales but it's all marketing. I've run the same system build through during multiple sales since October and the same specs are always the same price. Sales just alter the pre customization model to advertise a better price.

Fwiw my system is the same but with the 120 hz display and 1 year premium/1 year accidental and it's 2050 or something.


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Similar to mine same spec I paid £1521 I think got it delivered next day from currys

 

Your not a noob then , lol

There's a lot better than AS out now

LM thermal interface is just way more tricky to apply is all and you only need to touch a tiny resistor or similar and your laptop is finished basically. It's like liquid goes all over the place and not a great place to start for a first attempt.

Not saying you can't do it and maybe just as well, you need to follow proper precautions and insulate the area around the die either using heat resistant insulation tape and or nail varnish on the resistors next to the die

Thermal grizzly kryonuaght is pretty good though and that's non conductive I've just had great results

My cores don't go above 81 at all when gaming

 

Yea fair enough I don't want to risk getting something a place where it shouldn't and frying the pc. Lol. I have confidence but not that much and I don't care about an extra degree or 2.

Just something adequate and safe just in case will do haha


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My disappointing experience with Dell:

I got a 15R3 delivered a few weeks ago which ended up having thermal issues. After testing it for a few days, I finally got annoyed with it and sent it back and bought a replacement which got delivered today (for an excellent price). On opening, the computer was perfect with some minor panel light bleed but excellent thermals (Stayed under 70C when running OCCT). But after using it for an hour the bezel started to split from the panel by about an inch. By the time I finished my call with tech support an hour later, the bezel had split by another another inch and keeps getting worse (3 inches now).

Sad part is I will be traveling out of the country on work for a few months from tomorrow so stuck with having to return this one too. I had very high hopes for the AW15R3 that got pretty much ruined. 13 years a dell dedicated customer and this is what they are selling me now.

I guess I am stuck waiting until the Kaby Lake comes out hoping that they get their **** right by then.

This was a very disappointing experience and I might have build my own desktop just to avoid all the ****ty gaming laptops that everyone is selling.


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If you get Liquid metal on MB components or other places than where it should be (see pic). Avoid Liquid metal if yoy dont know what you doing or have shaky hands

 

That's where I ordered from last night since they had the 10% code which expires today

 

Sorry to hear your experience with the Alienware 15 R3. I think anybody who is still ordering an Alienware despite the horde of issues that have been reported is proof enough that Dell has got a fantastic loyal customer base but they are probably letting it all go to waste for lack of quality control.

By the way, if you have not yet returned your laptop, would it be possible to share a picture of what the bezel split looks like. I am unable to visualize what the problem/issue is actually.

 

Hi guys is still unsafety buy an Alienware 15 r3 now ?

 

Well pretty much every brand have their monday morning units out there so its not a dell specific problem. these machines are manufactured by a few manufacturers that build them by the design specified by the designer in this case dell. the chassis builder is for example compal, which is a similar company to foxconn and pegatron. its just that they sell tens or hundreds of thousands of the same model and with an indistry accepted failure rate of 5% there are users out there with a bad machine. these come together on forums like this.

 

Let me see if I can post the pics
View attachment 140584


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True but getting 2 unit and having both with problems is disappointing.


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I just got mine, what things should I be looking for issue wise?

Whats recommended to burn test the temps? Don't really have any high perf games just yet.

 

So this 3 legs cpu heatsink design is not the problem? A lot of the people with the affected new machines shown here in the forum have been here long time.

 

Scroll back a few pages. Tons of posts about issues.

Now I cant get dell to send me a damn return label. Bad units, bad support. Ugh.

I just want to get my money back to go to a brand that gives a hoot. Or at least pretends to give a hoot. This year I have ordered and rejected 4 units from Dell. And no its not me being picky.

1 AW 13" with Oled and 965m. Start a game and the system immediately overheats.
2 AW 13" with Oled and 965m. Discoloration on screen and some weird fan noise.
3 AW 15" with 1060 and IPS LCD 1080, light bleed hell, worst I have even seen on a laptop
4 AW 15" with 1070 and G-Sync(trying to avoid light bleed) screen bezel separation same as someone posted a few posts back.

Terrible, terrible, terrible.

 

Mine was identical to that i kept pushing it in and it would slowly come back out.

then i was messing about pressing in all over and near the bottom by the hinge and there was a loud "Click" and some thing must have snapped into place because the bezel now sits perfectly flush and doesn't move at all.

don't know if this may help or not?

 

Doesn't sound too good but after looking around it seems most of these gaming laptop vendors have some sort of issue. MSI with upside down motherboards which is just dumb etc

 

Mine arrives tomorrow so I will let you guys know how I get on - Will test the stock temps etc and see how the CPU performs. I have kryonaut on hand ready if needed.

 

Whenever I see a hopeful post like this (good luck!), this song starts playing in my head; with the new owner on stage crying out and the rest of us in the stadium cheering them on!!

Spoiler: Running with the Devil

 

@iunlock You were testing Bios 1.0.8 and for the moment recommended to stick with 1.0.2. I was just curious as to if a verdict had been reached regarding Bios revision 1.0.8? Thanks.

 

That gave me a good laugh thanks haha. I think the build date was November 30 or so. Wishful thinking but maybe they improved on their quality checks.


Who am I kidding this is Dell.

 

Have faith brother my R3 (new last week) after a re paste complete strip down to repair out of line hinge and fix the bezel... all is ok now lol

but look at the temps after an hour of solid gaming;
Watch dogs 2

 

spiralzz that's really impressive - which paste method did you use and did you bend the heatsink leg up slightly?

 

Grizzly kryo

Very thin, spread method (works for me)

Yes I did tweak the arm up slightly

Good luck

 

Its not a tripod heatsink if you put the other 4 legs in the equation. its a rigid system. so i suspect the heatpipes to be not fully straight for some users, this seems the be the case for iunlock as well since his gpu which does not have the tripod mount also shows uneven pressure. again it seems not every user seem to have the problem but a fair amount do. but it would be a good fix to do it like this.

 

I'll give that a try. I saw your post about that before and tried pressing but not near the hinge so much.

 

Yeah thats true, The waiting game is annoying as well. Hopefully your issues gets resolved.

 

The problem was that it was heat activated. When the laptop was off and cool, the bezel would stick back and the problem would disappear. When the computer is running, it would come off at the same spot always and in the same amount.

Also no amount of pressing got it to lock


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For those of you who placed your orders in December, is your estimated time about 2 weeks since your order date?

I thought this was curious when lots of people who ordered in November had their laptops in just a week. Then I just stumbled upon this tweet:

https://twitter.com/AzorFrank/status/805954640575598592
they are being screened for at the factory to prevent from shipping out
​

I do hope this explains the delay.

 

Guys, is there an issue with my rig ? This is my stock temp. Only set on high performance from power options.

 

Is that while running a stress test like Prime95 or OCCT?

Edit: Just saw those don't show 100% utilization, so they're idle temps. Not really useful.

 

Why do you think something is wrong? Temps seem normal.