*OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R3 Owner's Lounge

I just got my replacement approved today. It'd be nice if mine was nicer spec, but I'm not counting on it.

 

Well I just encountered an issue with mine. Noticed some sort of burn in on the 4K panel.... I'm a little ticked off right now

https://goo.gl/photos/FUTWoFDBFMi9mYft5

 

Whoa, what do you think caused that??

 

Your guess is as good as mine... Currently on the phone with Dell

Update:
And got shuffled around for over an hour then... Disconnected....

 

Duplicate Post

 

My order went in 11/28 with an edd 12/12. Order tracking page says "confirmed" and estimated shipping 12/7-12/12. I click on purchase id and it says "your complete order has been shipped" but the blue bar above shipped is not filled in.

It has a tracking number and that takes me to fedex which says label created and will be updated when it begins to travel.

Any ideas on where it might be? Is this typical?


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It means what it says. It's somewhere between packed up and ready to leave Dell with a shipping label attached or it has been picked up by FedEx truck and is on its way to another FedEx for sorting to take it out on another truck

 

Alright, facing an issue. GTA V not going about 30fps on GTX 1070. What could be the problem ?

Update: Reinstalling Nvidia driver fixed it. Weird

 

Just called, took about 45 mins sadly but other than that was ok. First call the lady told me I had to confirm the issue with KnowHow support and the guy I was forwarded to was pretty nice. Told me there was no reason why I was forwarded as issue like light bleeding they can't confirm on their end over phone and was happy to just forward me back to online support and get refund sorted. Will be collected on Monday.

Luckily ordering online means you can return it within 14 days with no reason after opening it. Pretty much the only reason I don't shop in store for expensive electrical items anymore.

 

you getting a replacement or just refund? be interested to know are you sticking with the AW15?

 

Personally I've got a replacement on the way for crazy high temps.

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Getting a refund, I've bought Aero 14 to see how it is. Should arrive tomorrow, cost more but smaller so better for me.

 

Has much less cooling potential and worse build quality.
AW is the best choice if you don't mind fixing the unit up or sending it to me.

 

Yea I just don't want to get delayed anymore and get stuck on confirmed like I've seen others get.

It already got "lost" after my initial order date 11/8 and then resubmitted 11/29.

Now it sits still says "confirmed" on one page but shipped on another but the tracking number is just a label and no actual ship.


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I haven't been very impressed with the 15 R3 (despite being a loyal alienware fan for years), so thinking about trying out a different gaming laptop. What do you guys think of the Aorus X5 V6? Look's pretty damn amazing, although unsure of the build quality.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16834725037

 

Well, you have a trade off in cooling. On the Alienware 15 it is uneven, but you can fix it yourself if you put the time and effort in (or pay someone else). But you may run into other Alienware QC problems too

On the Aorus temps will climb quickly, and will be expected to stay hotter, even with a repaste due to thinner chassis, and not as good layout. Should still be ok for normal use though.

However, cpu intensive tasks might run into throttling

"Stress Test
We stress the notebook on its default overclocked settings and on its maximum fan speed to identify for any throttling or stability issues. The CPU throttles slightly to 3.1 GHz down from its 3.2 GHz multi-core maximum when subjected to Prime95 stress, so the system is unable to maintain maximum Turbo Boost speeds for extended periods. Core temperature can be seen rising to about 86 C during the first few moments of stress before throttling down clock rates for a more reserved 74 C range. Meanwhile, running FurMark will see the GPU plateauing at about 77 C."

from: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Aorus-X5-v6-Notebook-Review.179321.0.html

Build quality is decent, but not good enough to justify the premium they charge over the completion. Alienware and Asus feel a little better/ less fragile IMHO

Also the "blocked Ports" bother the hell out of me... if you are not going to put it in, change the freaking chassis design!

Apart from that, the Aorus logo is hideous... Looks like an Eagle with a bicep sticking out of its neck to challenge people to a round of old fashioned fisty-cuffs

 

If I wanted to swap displays from say a FHD to UHD, are the video connectors the same for each panel? Or would they be different?

Are the motherboard connections also the same situation?

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I always thought the Aorus logo is a bird's head with a big magnum dong.

 

Thanks for your input. See below for a user who owns a X5 V6 and his temps. Pasted using CLLU @ 4.0GHZ. Pretty damn impressed

 

My total price was a bit over 1700 for my Alienware, and my specs are actually better (faster ram, Windows 10 Pro 64, and 3 M.2 slots for SSD). I think the Alienware is a better bargain, I also have a 4 year maintenance contract, so if anything goes wrong till 2020, I am covered. If you wait for the good coupons and deals, (Like the TENOFF they had in November, in conjunction with the Veterans deal I used) you can get a really good price for a namebrand product, with a great warranty and service you know will be around with Dell. Although Aorus is a sub company of Gigabyte Technology, it is Taiwan based so support may be an issue. At least I have never seen them listed under consumer reports. Dell and HP are listed.

 

I got my 15 R3 for 1700~ specs below:

GTX 1070
6820HK
4K Ultra
512 SSD + 1 TB
16 GB RAM 2600 MHZ
Killer 1535

Not really impressed w/the product

 

I spent 2-3 weeks looking over laptops and came to the same conclusion. Basically all of the laptops offer the same performance and nearly all brands are reliable nowadays, its not like in the past how 1-2 brands were THE MOST reliable. The conclusion I came to, was Alienware offered a nicer looking system and it had better warranty options (I wanted 4 years of accidental damage). I got the 15 R3, GTX 1070, 8GB RAM, 6700HQ, 120Hz display, no SSD, the largest battery (99 Wihm or w/e its called) and 4 years of accidental damage + tech support for 1870$ after tax. I was able to get 15% off ethically, I tried thinking of ways to get 20% off but I am not in the military. If anyone wants to know how to get 15%, PM me.

 

I am a week in now with my new 15 and can't complain. I repasted and obviously that helped a lot. Also did some basic screen calibration and that helped too. Those have been the only 2 issues I have that I have noticed. My biggest issue is coming off my Razer Blade to this beast, haven't had a full sized laptop since late 2012 - this thing feels huge lol

 

The Aorus holds 3 m.2 SSDs all of them are PCI-E. You have a lofty opinion of Dell support which is unfounded especially in light of recent events. It may be a namebrand product, but it's generic quality at best.

 

I thought my 15 R3 was a 17 when i opened it lol.

 

I just received my AW15R3 with 4k display and 1070. This might be quite the worst in terms of overheating. It reaches 97 ºC in less than 5 minutes and stays around the same throughout stress tests. 15 minutes into a game and it just. The PREMIUM dell technician spent an hour doing my same tests and said it's pretty bad but they refused to do a exchange before attempting to fix it first. There is also some screen bleeding (enough that I actually care). What should I do? Having gone through the posts, it doesn't seem there is any sort of guarantee that I'll get a better one if I reorder a new one.

 

You should repaste it....the service manual is posted online and pretty thorough with pictures. You will not void the warranty as long as you do not do any blatant damage in the process. I know it is annoying that this is needed but it is worth the effort and makes the laptop much more usable.

As for the screen, if it is bothering you that much, be patient, work through the support steps, and get it replaced. Dell is pretty willing to replace parts in my experience and the whole screen/lid assembly is likely one piece they will replace that will make the process not that bad. Maybe work on the screen first and then repaste when the tech has the whole laptop disassembled.

 

Thanks for the quick response! They said they would try to do the repasting and/or screen replacement if I send it over to them. Do you think they'll actually do a decent job in repasting?

 

Are you in the US? I cannot speak for other countries but in the US they should send a tech to your house with any needed new parts on hand. They are usually pretty savvy folks like us - the techs. Much better than anyone you will normally get in a call center over the phone. If you are nice to them they usually let you do most of the work yourself if you don't want them opening up your laptop.

That has been my experience in the past at least. The in home next business day (NBD) service is a large part of why I like Dell and recommend them to friends and family. I have even been able to get them to dispatch parts to me directly and not have to work through a tech but that will depend on who you are working with over chat/phone.

 

Cool, yeah I am in US. I'll probably do that then. I was actually thinking about returning it and get the EVGA SC17 but I feel that's just too big even though I am not gonna carry it with me a lot.

 

They trade under G.B.T. INC in US. I haven't seen any comments about warranty service/support on notebooks but they seem ok for motherboards etc.

Anyways yes if you can get coupon like 10% aw would be a good call. Maybe we'll see one near last week of Dec/first week of Jan

 

If you exchange it by a TN GSync screen is almost sure that you won't get any backlight bleed.

 

Just wanted to mention a simple correction. I have an x7 v6, not x5. Didn't want people thinking the x5 temps can get that low since it doesn't have those upper fan intakes.

 

So a technician came earlier and changed the screen.
After going in HWINFO I got Monitor Name : Au Optronics B156HW01 V01 manufactured in week 0 of 2014. After checking online it turned out it's a TN panel. Viewing angles however seem good. Too bad I don't have anything to compare right now to see how it stands vs the pervious screen. Anyone has any ideas??? Should I call them back?

 

The more technicians touch it, the more chances you have it being destroyed by their incompetence.
If there is nothing wrong with it and it looks good, I'd keep it. Unless you need the superior contrast from an IPS panel; that TN is a very good one. Its 8ms response time if much better for FPS games (I think the IPS is 22ms)

You can try to get a gift card out of Dell though. Say you want to keep it, but is worth less than you originally paid for it.

 

Got my r3 today.

Has anyone gotten battle.net to install? It won't go past 8% installing and the wireless reports no downloading traffic so I know it's hung.

Also I can't get occt to run because core 0 spikes to 97 right away then comes down I guess when fans are on. Any ideas on that?






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Read http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ven-core-temps-due-to-uneven-heatsink.797477/

You could rise the temperature limit to max in OCCT settings. But you will most likely experience thermal shutdown

 

Yea I've read all about that. Not sure where to go now I can't get a game installed lol


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Well I figured out the battle.net thing but with pc at 100% and fans on full still sits 90 core 0 and 84 on core 2-3. Not a bad differential just bad temps all around. Can run occt for about 6 seconds before it turns off because of going over 95.

What's the best course of action now? Just re paste it myself?


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Lol, at least your temps are consistent. You can do a -100 to -150 undervolt and repaste. Should see a 10-20 degree improvement

 

Undervolting now. Looks promising. -100 stressed fine in xtu but temps still 90 with 3/4 cores throttling at time.

At -150 during the stress no throttling. Max temps around 85 and around 70 at end of test no shutdown.


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Repaste w/Kryonaut or Gelid and you'll have great temps. Conductonaut if you're experienced w/Liquid Metal

 

I think there's something very wrong with your laptop; it seems to be throttling back to 1.7GHz and even then it has temps in the high 90s, and that's just from CPU load. I suspect either there's no paste at all, or you've got another case of doubling up on the thermal pads causing the heatsink not to make any contact with the CPU. This isn't just a case of having high temps, there's something fundamentally wrong.

 

The 1.7 ghz that's occt not even running there's no load on the computer in the "current" state.

Intel xtu stress tests held at 3.1 for the entire 5 mins when i undervolted.

I got to -.190 and finished the 5 min stress. Temps about 85 on 3 cores, 77 on core 2. Core 2 seems to run cooler than the rest for whatever reason. The other 3 are almost the same.

No doubt something is off with the cooling. I will try to run a full occt tomorrow if the temps don't climb too much.

Ima order some kryonaut and disassemble early next week.

What should I look for? What's this doubling up of thermal pads and how to remedy this?


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Nooo I won't be using and conductive anything lolol I keep it safe. Kryo seems to be the common choice for noobs. I'm not a total noob but I would rather keep it safe as possible.


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yep, there's definitely something wrong with @Kyle English 's machine, temps don't seem that good from my opinion



double thermal pad is a QC/assembly line mistake in the factory where a thermally conductive layer of silicone pad is applied twice over the power delivery component causing abnormal contact between the heatsink and CPU/GPU

 

Hmm. I was going off the OCCT reported speed plus the average multiplier being 17x. Even looking at the graphs when you line then up it looks like when the temps jump up then the speed drops down, however I notice now that they're not the same time scale.

If it holds 3.1 for the entire 5 mins then it's ok I guess, but the temps are still high and you'd be wanting to repaste & modify the heatsink, or failing that just return it for a refund/replacement.

 

Ugh not much progress this am.

Ran occt after undervolting to -.190. Still core 0 goes to 97. Core 2 91, again diff is ok. Manually maxed fans. Only ran for about a minute then aborted.

Found my bios is 1.0.8. Should I roll it back to 1.0.2 or something?




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Probably nothing to do with BIOS, probably repasting needed or heatsink is malformed or badly mounted and making poor contact with CPU - something along those lines I would imagine.

 

Hi There! I have the same screen; Care to share the calibration settings for your panel?

TIA!