*OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R3 Owner's Lounge

You're welcome! Just make sure to get NVME drives haha.

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Just a unfortunate mistake is what I was just told! Deceptive business practice for sure.

 

dell has now added an option for AMD rx 470 for alienware 15 r3! Would it be better over the gtx 1060?

 

I should have my 6820hk/1070 AW15 arriving tomorrow, we will see.

No it won't.

 

Guys, Im heaving problem with my new Alienware 15 r3
Nvidea 1060
i7
128SSD + 1TB
16GB RAM
I just bought it hoping to have a good perfomance in-game
But for some reason my computer is having random fps drops in all games I played, and playing CSGO, suddenly it freezes.
Does anyone here have a clue why?

 

Nice. Let me know what temps you get out of the box most especially on demanding games.

 

It could be that Optimus is confused about switching between the Nvidia dedicated graphics and the Intel HD 530 graphics. Do these fps drops still happen if you reboot into the dGPU-only mode (FN + F7)? I don't have any suggestions for fixing it, though, apart from the obvious driver reinstallation.

What would you consider demanding games? Would Witcher 3 be included?

 

Yes. Witcher 3 is the litmus test. Can you test?


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100% Agree. To get the most out of these machines, a repaste is a must. For those wanting something to run straight out of the box, even though you may find a laptop that will, that will only be temporary when in a year or so that factory gunk dries up..

It's just one of those things. A repaste IMO is mandatory. This is not to discount the fact that OEM's should get on the ball to provide a good working solution out of the box, but honestly if I'm buying a sports car there's practicality in changing out the oil to ensure longevity with the engine.

To be fair, Dell took action after we've made known of the issue and started to use real paste instead of a pathetic stamp so kudos there. A lot of the new systems are reporting decent temps...*cough* although that's largely due to the capped power limits out of the box, but hey...for someone that just wants to game....it'll work...

I'd highly recommend getting at least a Samsung EVO over any other SSD's out there. Samsung's TLC flash is superior to even MLC's of other brands. Then there is the integrity of the actual chips themselves that need to be taken into account. ie... Not all Flash memory is created equal and the best you're going to get is Samsung and/or SKHynix which is the 2nd largest chip manufacturer in the World next to Samsung. These are also found in almost all the top tier computers. Apple uses only Samsung and/or SKHynix. Our AW's use SKHynix and Samsung for some of the GPU's.

 

So I just got my Alienware 15 R3 and temp/screen wise, it's great. Only problem is the wifi. The laptop keeps connecting and disconnecting, or is very slow. Is this a common problem, can someone help with this?

 

Hi! I'm newbie of AW.
I played Mafia 3 and use HWiNFO for monitoring temp. After play for 30 minutes.

Core0 = 94c
Core1= 87c
Core2=85c
Core3=93c

Undervolting can help temp down or its normal?

And I mention about cooling fan of left-side of laptop. Direction of airflow is blow out at the side of laptop not back-side, its normal?






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Finally got to test the one I ordered on 12/18 and got 12/29. Temps are better running OCCT and Valley at the same time for 30 mins. 73/68/72/66. Not bad. GPU temp was fine. Sat at 3.1ghz the entire time on all cores. HOWEVER light bleed on the IPS screen still sucks. They havent fixed jack there in my opinion. Barely better than the last IPS I had. Bezel separation also still exists although its better on this sample and changes the light bleed with pressure along the bottom part of the bezel. This screen also seems to have a bit of a screendoor effect Most notable on blues/reds for me which I could live with, color and brightness seem good otherwise(this picture stinks though, but shows the bleed bottom corners mostly).

I tried, I really did. Sorry Dell, you lose. 6700/1070 combo.

 

Can anybody post stable overclock values for the 1070?

 

When underclocking with Intel XTU, do you have to always keep the program running in the background for it to work?

 

My replacement has light bleed, but it is not severe and I don't even notice it anymore. So that makes it not as big an issue for me, but I am really happy with everything else. The screen looks much better calibrated and pre-calibration there was a strong green shift. I am still not happy about the poor Adobe RGB range of 77%. So, idk the light bleed is only really noticeable with a fully black screen, but the ARGB color accuracy frustrates me more. You have to remember that all IPS panels will have some light bleed. As long as it does not ruin the content and washes out everything, then it us up to you whether or not you can over look that.

 

Every silicon is different. There is no one size fits all with overclocking. Trial and error my friend.

 

If you close Intel XTU, its effect will remain, so you do not need to keep the program open. However, I've found that you do need to open Intel XTU at least once every time you boot up your computer.

I read at one point that only the 4k IPS panel was having light bleed issues, but I'm not sure if that's true. Is this the 4k or the 1080p panel?

I'm the guy who received a 1060 instead of a 1070, so I apologize that I will be unable to test a 1070 model until my replacement arrives around January 18th.

 

Not normal, try undervolt to see if temps are good or you can contact dell support to get the heatsink fixed.

Try +52 core and +400 meme to start.

 

I had the same issue. You can try dGPU-only mode as @Philosobyte recommended. Another option is to select dGPU for 3D in NVIDIA Control Panel (by default it is set to automatic).

 

Is there a noticeable difference in a real life ordinary usage (not in benchmarks) between NVME and fast SATA SSD?

 

My opinion:

NVME is blisteringly fast, but you won't really notice it in real world applications. ANY SSD will show drastic improvement over a hard drive. For most every day users, the extra money spend on NVME isn't really worth it.

If you like bragging rights, or cutting another 2 seconds off of an already fast load time, go NVME. I'd rather get a larger capacity, even if somewhat slower, SATA SSD. At least that way I can fit more apps and games onto it.

 

Dell is replacing my day 1 brand new AW15 that broke down a month later w/ a refurb AW15 that probably won't have the fixed heat sink. After a month and a half in the shop.

Will never get another AW product after this, ever nope.

 

A little light bleed I could deal with but if you look at my pic, its about 35-40% of the screen. Ugh. I hate having to send this thing back again.

 

My AW15 with 6820hk/1070/1080p IPS just showed up. Hardware is correct and there is zero lightbleed, but that's as far as I've gone, I'll report temps later tonight when I can get some solid sit down time with it.

 

i did a post on that issue about real world differences of NVME SSD and SATA SSD around page 140 of this thread. There are some links there so you can research for yourself. NVME is more for the enterprise computing world, and not gaming. SATA 3 6Gb is fine for a laptop. ALL HDD will be much slower. But going from HDD to SSD is still the best money spent for performance.gain. On another note, the 1070 GPU is also about 40% faster than the 1060, so upgrading to the 1070 would also be a good idea. That is the main reason I went for this laptop. Three available M.2 slots for SSD expansion, a built in G-Sync monitor at 120hz for great frame rates, and an available Pascal 1070 GPU. The other main benefit is that even when the 1070 seems slow in a couple years, I can use the proprietary adapter to connect to an external GPU! and use the integrated HDMI 2.0 port to get great frame rates with any huge external monitor or TV.

Last week I bought a 29 inch 21:9 LG monitor for ultrawide gaming, but then swapped it out for a 34 inch 120hz Vizio TV with HDMI 2.0 I also hooked up an external Creative SoundBlaster with 5:1 surround speakers. Watching movies on this laptop are also now freaking awesome!

I never did get used to the right shifted keyboard on this thing, so I bought a solid Logitech wireless mouse and keyboard combo. I can now sit back and game in comfort. (does anyone even use those 5 silly gaming keys to the left of the keyboard?)

 

The only thing I use them for is another refresh page button and the top 3 to change my battery power modes.

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Hello everyone,

You got me scared there with all those thermal issues.

I am planning on buying a 15" inch R3 with the i7 6820HK, 16go RAM, 256gb SSD / 1to HDD and the UHD(3 840 x 2 160) IGZO screen.

I always had MSI laptop's until now and was very satisfied.

I was looking into this model because of the gtx1070 / thunderbolt 3 & graphics adapter (which would allow me to upgrade everything, even the GPU).

My use would be:

- Heavy gaming (long sessions on Ultra settings: BF1, Watchdogs 2, Witcher 3, Deus Ex: MD, you get the point...)
- Virtualization/software developpment (multiple VMs running Linux, developping softwares, etc.)

I would use the laptop on the go probably at 1440p for gaming and most of the time at home plugged into a FHD TV and a 26" 1900x1200 screen.
Mainly it would be plugged into the AC and sometimes on battery while moving around.

Is this a bad laptop for what I want to do (I don't want it to burn while gaming...)?

And if it is good, are the 6820HK and UHD screen a good choice or should I forget about it and go with another screen and the 6700HQ?

Thanks in advance for your help as I don't want to invest 2200€ in an already broken unit... (I also have the MSI GT73vr in mind)

P.S: I will probably have some CPU/GPU overclocking fun, not right off the bat but later on which from what I read would require repasting (never done it on a laptop)

Cheers!

 

The 6820hk and the 1070 can do 4k gaming at ultra/high settings in the games you mentioned. I just did a play test on mine and was getting between 40-50 FPS in BF1 at 4k ultra. Never dipped below 40. Regarding the issues and overclocking. It may be hit or miss, but the newer orders seem to be better.

See these below posts:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/index.php?posts/10421508

http://forum.notebookreview.com/index.php?posts/10421882

In regards to virtualization the 6870hk would be slightly better. I think this laptop is not a bad laptop. Build quality is great, but QC leaves a little to be desired.


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Thanks for your answer, I feel a bit reassured.

Regarding the screen, I don't really plan on using 4k for gaming (mostly 1080p or 1440p). I never had such a UHD screen and I was wondering if the image quality would be the same as a native 1080p screen or would it look like if I played at 720p on a 1080p monitor? (blurry).

Could you be so kind a post an example? Let's say a screenshot of BF1 or the Witcher 3 for example at 4k and at 1080p? I am really wondering of it looks.

Aslo what do you think about G-Sync vs Optimus? The 4k version has Optimus if I am not mistaken which gives apparently 6h hours battery life on non-gaming tasks which would be perfect when I am coding/using VMs but does G-Sync really brings stability while gaming (don't forget that my 2 external screens are a 1080p TV and a 19200x1200 26" screen).

Thanks again and sorry for all those questions but as it is a big investment for me, I really don't want to regret it! ^^

 

I am not so sure that would be beneficial to you. There are several factors that will affect the outcome of the screenshots. If you are not looking at the 4K image on a 4K monitor/TV. You would literally see no/little difference, due to your display not being able to display the pixels. Also, compression comes into play and other factors. The best thing for you to do is try and see this in person. I can give you my opinion, but honestly 4K on such a small screen would be difficult for some/most people to notice the difference anyway I just happen to be able to see the difference. When I tried switching between 4K and 1080p there was an increase in sharpness, slightly more detail in the images, more of the image, and less aliasing. 1080p looked more zoomed in and not blurry, but less detailed and aliasing (edge of the pixels) was slightly more pronounced. It still looked good in 1080p, but I preferred the image quality, detail, and sharpness of 4K. I also, don't play competitive shooters with all the eye candy so the benefits are nice, but I reduce certain world settings and detail. That way the player I want to shoot stands out more and I am not repeatedly shot in the face due to staring at eye candy. I don't own Witcher 3, but I can buy it since it is on sale on Steam and let you know. It was on my list of games to buy anyway.

G-Sync is negligible imo. It has it's benefits, at framerates and framerate drops 35 and above and is better than traditional VSYNC for input lag (associated with VSYNC) and screen tearing, however, it's not some revolutionary difference that will change your life. If you are playing a high paced game and that game has rapid increases and decreases in framerates the benefits of GSYNC vs VSYNC is negligible. The benefits of GSYNC don't really outweigh the benefits of increased Battery life on a laptop, which is much more important to me. It doesn't matter if it is an Alienware or an Inspiron, I want a system that can last longer when I am not pushing it and using it for less intensive tasks, rather than a laptop with slightly better handling of screen tearing and less input lag. Just my 2 cents.

 

Well after getting a delayed shipment notice again I canceled my order, really was looking forward to this laptop but was having second guesses with all the thermal issues. Oh well DELL you lost another customer due to your very unreliable shipment notices.
Not sure what the delay,Dell never messaged me back to me after multiple emails which sort of pissed me off .
120hz screen-GTX 1070-6700HQ.

 

It's strange, i ordered exactly the same config the 12/16, and it has been sent the 12/27.
I got it tomorrow normally

For sure i'll let you know during this week how it is going

 

Hey guys, just wanted to get some input on what drivers you are finding are working best for the GTX 1070. Installed the latest ones 376.33 and am finding my games are dropping frames and stuttering quite a bit. Playing AC IV - Black Flag and finding that it will stutter from 60 frames to near 30 pretty often now

 

That's great man!
Funny thing is I ordered a couple of weeks before you, I might wait for Kaby Lake and try again but would love to see your temps and fan noise impressions when gaming.
On paper the specs are great but from my experience DELL's customer service really sucks, still interested but I'm looking at other options too.

 

I get tessellation artifacts using the new drivers and if I turn on hair works in the Witcher 3. Little black triangles and if I run Heaven they are blue triangles. Only happened in those 2 though. This does not happen using the drivers on the Dell site though. So I am leaning towards this being a driver issue. Idk though.

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Send @AlienwareTech a message on twitter. They were pretty helpful for me. I sent my same config unit back to repair and it got delayed because a part was on backorder. Presumably the heatsink or the LCD because that's what they replaced for me.

Originally it was delayed to 12/27 but then it was delayed again until 12/29 and it was shipped back to me 12/29 currently in transit. Fwiw.


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Quick question about ordering this laptop. Is there a huge thermal increase from jumping from the 6700HQ to the 6820HK? My number one deciding factor is keeping thermal issues low.

You also can't seem to pair the 6820HK with the 1080p 120hz screen sadly. Is it worth sacrificing the 120hz screen to get the 4k screen + 6820hk? I prefer 1080p because I know the GTX 1070 won't really be powerful enough for 4k gaming at 60fps.

I am also going to order the graphics amplifier, so I wanted the 6820hk for the processor boost + longitivtiy. How much better is the 6820HK?

edit: Also, is the Graphics Amplifier worth $160? The GTX 1070 should be good for awhile. Do you think I can pick one up second hand two-three years down the line or will it be scarce and hard to get?

 

The 1070 can totally play games at 4K at 60 FPS or higher. Just depends on the game and what settings you use. Considering that the 6820HK is an unlocked processor it has the potential to run much better than the 6700HQ, but it depends on if you are going to overclock or not. I posted some CPU temps stock, stock with an undervolt, and overclocked to 4.1 GHZ with/without an undervolt here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/index.php?posts/10421508 & here http://forum.notebookreview.com/index.php?posts/10421882.

 

You can wait on buying a graphics amplifier. I can't speak to its performance as I don't have one, but there is a dedicated thread for owners. The price is really good vs the competition (Razer Core), which is $3-400. I will most likely pick one up when/if it goes on sale, or if they will discontinue it.

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If I had the choice again I would of went with an IPS screen mostly for colour reproduction reasons as well as battery life. Instead of the 120hz Gsync panel. But the smoothness is not negligible in my experience. If there is the slightest stutter or frame rate drop you will notice it right away. Otherwise it is an incredibly smooth experience in games and video. Where you really notice the high refresh rate is in high definition video and Gsync doesn't miss a beat while playing FPS games

 

too bad to hear the color reproduction isnt that great. It is pretty good in the desktop 27inch screen from the same manufacturer. There the color range is quite large and after tuning the gamme the contrasts as well. Just slightly less good viewing angles when you move your head up.

 

Today I just wired about custom key. In normal the top key for change profile 1,2,3 but my AW 1st key of custom key is switch profile like the top key too. Anybody have issue like me?

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Continuing on my previous questions and the ones from espncommentator, how long should I expect this laptop to last for gaming at Ultra settings?
My previous MSI lasted around one and a half year gaming at Ultra, then I had to tune down the settings and I really hope this one will last longer...
I really plan it to be a long time investment and that's why I am leaning towards this one because of the AGA and the Thunderbolt 3 port which would (I hope) allow me to upgrade to next gen GPUs in a few years without being bottle-necked by the CPU mostly and still being able to run the next games that will come out at Ultra settings.

 

Do we have any benchmarks that support a 40% increase between the 1060 and 1070? I was not aware it was nearly that large of a difference? How about the increase to a 1080?

 

Has anyone found a good half height M.2 SSD to go into slot 1? I think that's a 2242 slot, and the others are 2280, but i am finding it difficult to find anything but MSATA SSD in that form factor.

 

Hi mate

I bought this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016W1PP5K/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Works perfectly.

Sadly 2242 only go up to 512GB but it worked so no complaints.


I now have 2 1TB m2 sticks, the 512 m.2 and a 1tb SSD 2.5 in mine

 

It's amazing how far GPU's have come.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Nvidia...-1080-SLI-GTX-1070-and-GTX-1060.171566.0.html

 

That's quite impressive to see. I can't wait for my 15R3 to arrive. Last I checked with Dell, they told me that it should ship tomorrow and arrive by January 11th (only 21 days after they originally estimated.. )

 

Can those of you who have 6700hq run Cinebench R15 and log max temp and max cpu package power. Use Hwinfo64, Hwmonitor or another preferred monitor software CINEBENCH_R15.03
Do the same with wPRIME v1.5 if you have time. Run as adm and select 8 threads. Post the results in the thread, Thanks.

 

If someone doesn't get it before me, I can try to do it later today.

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