*OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R3 Owner's Lounge

Looking at this page:

www.dell.com/support/article/se/sv/sedhs1/sln146534/configuring-nvidia-optimus-and-amd-switchable-graphics-for-high-performance-on-your-alienware-system?lang=en

It claims support for Optimus, and surprisingly, that GSync models should have it but AFAIK, Gsync and Optimus are not compatible. Anyone happen to really know? If I recall correctly, only the 120 hz FHD panel really has GSync, so the other ones should be Optimus compatible, right?

Any reliable numbers what to expect with regards with runtimes etc for a 1070 in low performance mode compared to the Intel GPU? Mainly interested in a laptop for work and a laptop that has HDMI 2.0.

 

After reading through these forums and some others, I realize now that because I have a Gsync screen, the computer will never use the iGPU, instead, always using the GTX1070. I am struggling to even get 2 hours from the computer when on battery performing simple tasks like web surfing, Word, and email. I notice the computer is ALWAYS warm.
I downloaded Battery Bar to see what the battery discharge rate is while unplugged, and performing the functions above, the battery is discharging at 46,883 mW. So at this rate, it is dead in 1.75 - 2 hours. This draw seems awfully high for just normal "idle" work. This is on a balanced power plan at 30% brightness.

So, need some suggestions on how get more usage time from the computer when on battery. I have downloaded Throttle Stop but I am not sure what the proper settings to use would be. Is there any settings/program that can lower the power consumption rate of the GPU when not gaming?

Ideally, I want to be able to configure the computer for maximum battery life when unplugged and maximum performance when plugged in for gaming.

Any help is much appreciated!

System Spec:
Intel i7 7700HQ Kabby Lake
16gb memory
GTX 1070 8gb
Intel iGPU (not used at all apparently)
256 SSD/ 1 TB
Gsync Display
99 Wh battery

 

I've asked Dell to clarify which Optimus options that there really are. Will post here once I get a reply.

 

Wow. That's quite the power draw. I haven't looked hard at my consumption numbers (haven't had the need to) but I'm seeing north of 5 hours with exact same laptop as you. I would recommend going into the advance power management features and setting the max processor percentage to 65% and leaving minimum at 5%. You'll notice the computer does run slower (CPU frequency locks in around 700 to 1000 KHz) but it shouldn't hurt workflow in word processing, web surfing, or emails. If you don't do it already, undervolting the CPU and GPU can help with power management as well. The Kaby lakes are touchy; I can't get a stable undervolt less than -.115mv on the offset without it crashing.

 

I suspect that TN panel at 120hz is also a huge powerhog. Next to that, it keeps the gpu at an higher power state.

 

As always Display is a major power hog. Use this tool to keep dGPU in low power mode https://github.com/jobeid/TrayPwrD3

 

I'm curious, what Nvidia drivers are you using? On a whim, I download the Dell "official" nvidia GTX1070 drivers from their website and installed. Using the same power profile as used previously, my overall power draw has now shrank to 14k -16k mW. I can get it down to around 10k-12k by shutting off the AlienFX lights and using Throttlestop.

This makes me think that using drivers other than what Dell has approved is changing power consumption requirements when the dGPU is idle.

 

Hmm i wonder if that works. Because on the desktop cards. 1440P in 165hz caused the GPU never to go into lower power mode. Nvidia gpu's need quite a bit of resources to keep displays running vs AMD solutions.

The one annoying flaw with multi monitorsetups and high refresh rate monitors in combination with Nvidia GPU's.

 

I'll double check when I get home but I'm using the most current one from Nvidia; whenever GeForce Experience tells me there is a new one, I usually install it.

 

Have not forgotten my promise but also have not received a reply from Dell yet...

 

I see nothing in the description of that software to indicate it has some kind of low power mode compatible with GSync? Haven't tried it myself though

 

I don't have GSYNC but this SW forces the dGPU to use P0 or P5 state.

 

Hi guys, I'm writing for a freeze problem that I had Yesterday. I was palying Witcher 3 and after 50 mins of game, during a combat the game freezed. Mouse and keyboard dind't work anymore and after 10 second the notebook turned off and restarted by itself. I don't think was a temps issue because after 30 min max temp was 84C and in 20 mins I don't think the temp can rise to 100C (I usually check temps and after 2 hours they are max 2C higher than they was after 30 mins).No blue screens, no errors. Only game blocked and a "vibration sound". After the restart Win 10 finished an update. After that update I try played again and after 5 mins max temps was 98C. I immediatly stopped the game and opened XTU and no more undervolt. The value was 0 (-0.150 before). I undervolted again and palyed for about 1 hours. No more freeze and temps under 90C. (88max). Any suggests? I'm a little bit concerned.

 

Check c:\windows\minidump for crash dumps.
Also check event viewer (Run->Eventvwr.msc)->system logs, for what happened when the crash happened.
Something will be there.
Either a BSOD that didn't trigger a BSOD, or a video driver crash. Kernel power errors mean absolutely nothing except "system powered off suddenly" so ignore those.

You can also now download windbg (finally) from microsoft without downloading the entire SDK. Just find the link and select windbg only. You can also get the symbols while you're at it. No need for all that pay to use blue screen viewer adware type programs.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/debugger-download-tools

 

I have had it happen twice now where I put the laptop to sleep before going to bed, when I wake up it is powered on, unresponsive with a black screen, and required a hard power off (hold down power button until everything goes black). This is after updating the bios to 1.2.1. The laptop was not hot like the CPU was hung crunching something but the back of the laptop was warm, it clearly was not in a low power state. Any one else seen anything similar?

 

Hello. I was wondering if someone can help me out, please.

I have the M15x R3 with the 4k screen Model: SHP1450

But due to FPS drops when gaming, I wanted to replace my 4k screen with a regular 1080p 60hz screen? Can I get purchase this screen and do it myself?

This is the one I'm looking at

https://www.laptopscreen.com/English/model/Dell/ALIENWARE+15+R3/?hash=372650

Would this work?

Thanks!

 

Why not just set game resolutions to 1080.

 

And you probably won't. Looking at sales material on the Dell/Alienware site, there is nothing to indicate that Optimus and Gsync do not work together. There is no disclaimer during customization or otherwise that notifies the buyer when making the Gsync option. To me, this is false advertisement. Not having Optimus is a huge downfall to those wanting to use the laptop unplugged for more than 2-3 hours (yet Dell says as much as 8 hours).

 

Hey guys, i'm planning to buy an alienware 15 R3 1060 but i'm concerned about the fan noise. I don't mind at all a big sound when playing big games but i plan to take it to class and play some light games( hearthstone) and browse on it. So i'd like to know when doing light tasks how's the fan noise. Thank you

 

Hi guys Just received my AW 15 R3 with I7 7820HK, GTX 1070 and FHD 120Hz Display. I have to say I was quite worried about the temps, but it really looks like dell got them under control now! I'm looking at CPU temps in the mid 80's (clocked at 4.2ghz undervolted by 0.075v). though there is still some difference of +/- 8-10 degrees difference on the cores. GPU temps in the 50's. both temps are on Full load on both CPU and GPU. I really love the machine! Very powerfull and even very quiet under normal productivity. amazing

 

In general during normal use and very light gaming the fans almost do not turn on at all.

 

This.

I was borrowing my wife's (my old) Razer Blade last night and was amazed at how much quieter the AW 15 is.

 

Hi all,

I had a AW15R2 with severe system issues ultimately having DELL replace this with a refurb AW15R3 with below configuration (Dec 2017) -
> Windows 10 Pro; i7-7820HK, 1TB SATA; 512GB PCIe M.2 NVMe; 32GB DDR4; NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB; 15.6 inch FHD; Killer 1535.

I have 3 queries -

1. Noticing issues on boot and other system performance, I found that the OS was installed on the HDD rather than the SSD. The SSD is on the SSD#1 slot and is NVMe (Samsung). I have been trying to install the OS again via the MS ISO and bootable USB created via RUFUS. I have already opened and unplugged the 1TB HDD. Although I did the BIOS switch, it didn't work and gave me the "Cannot install to GPT disk" issue.

I also read something about needing to "boot with drivers for NVMe" instructions but didn’t get enough clarity.

Kindly suggest the steps for the Windows re-installation on the NVMe.

2. Although I haven't had any time to test the system, there is a dead pixel on the center of the screen for which I am due to get a LCD replacement. I have been advised by the DELL guy to check the system completely so that any other parts (if found faulty) can be replaced during the technician visit as well. I plan to run the DELL diagnostics post the windows is installed on NVMe. But can anyone please suggest if there are other tests which can help check this.

3. Since I am browsing here for the first time, is there any known issue with H/W and/or drivers/BIOS which I need to be aware of or test to check?

Many Thanks!
Ckhurana

 

I'd check if hibernation is disabled or not? Then switch from RAID to AHCI mode using combination of BIOS and safe mode. https://triplescomputers.com/blog/u...ch-windows-10-from-raidide-to-ahci-operation/
Backup important data since we need to wipe both drives using diskpart clean option so that W10 usb media can install w/o any issues

 

Thanks for the reply Vasudev. I don't have any important data on the hdd. And nothing on the ssd so both can be wiped clean.

In the bios I have the AHCI enabled and the hdd connector disconnected. But while doing Windows setup, although the ssd is visible it cannot be chosen for installation. As I get the mentioned error (windows can only be installed on GPT partition).

Any other tips?

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

Try quick formatting the disk as GPT with Rufus. There should be an option for it. I never had to deal with that type of problem. Even windows should be able to format the disk as GPT in computer management / disk management or even in boot UEFI mode.

 

Maybe you need to use Win10 PE like Sergei Strelec Win 10 x64 and wipe both disks and convert to GPT.
I re-used Dell script and MSFT's disk partition script for setting up W10 correctly.
I have a 256GB PM951 SSD, so if you have a large capacity drive adjust the primary partition value if needed.
For C: Drive

Code:

convert gpt
create partition efi size=200
format quick fs=fat32 label="ESP"
assign letter="S"
create partition msr size=16

create partition primary size=450 id=de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac
format quick fs=ntfs label="Recovery"

assign letter="R"
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="OS"
assign letter="W"

For your HDD:

Code:

create partition msr size=16
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="DATA"

Use select disk statement to select SSD/HDD based on capacity and don't confuse while partitioning/formatting.

 

Thanks for this Vasudev. I used to have an old WinPE USB (not sure on its validity now). So will give the Win10PE a go and get this going.
Let me try and get back with the results.. Meanwhile any feedback on the other 2 Qs I posted will be appreciated!!

 

Send me a screenshot of dead pixel, I don't think Dell would replace a screen with 1 dead pixel.
As for known issue, there's core diff. issue, stick with BIOS 1.0.8 and update MEI firmware separately from Dell since newest BIOS locks downgrading.
As for the script I posted above you can run those using Win 10 USB by pressing Shift+F10 during setup. WinPE is easier though!

 

15R3 1070 here trying to limit GPU clocks to 1300mhz as its all I really need for 60fps on the game I currently play. MSI after burner will only let me underclock to 1468 and not any lower. Anyone know how to go lower? On battery power the GPU clock tops out around 1300mhz so I'm not sure why I can't lock it there.

Also its been a while since I used this laptop and my bios is on 1.1.6. With the vulnerabilities in intel CPUs which bios should I update to to make sure I'm safe. I've read things about bricked laptops on the latest bios so Im worried.

 

Turn on a framerate limiter and your GPU will only use the power it needs. You need an unlocked bios to go lower.

 

Nah. Used asus GPU tweak and I was able to lock the clocks at 1268. Locking the frame rate would be pointless as the gpu was already locked at a solid 60 using only 1300mhz but when plugged in it would pointlessly clock up to 1700 when not needed increasing temps about 5-8 degrees. I believe you only need a unlocked bios for voltage control.

 

WIth a locked bios you cant overclock & downclock only to a certain level. With the 980M for example only 135mhz max. Not sure what the limit on a 1070 is.

The temp increase would most likely be the CPU by the way it heavily influences the overall temp. The GPU's in current Alienware models already do not get hot in any way (70~75C for a fully utlized 1070GTX is even more cold than a desktop reference 1070 and on the same level as the EVGA 1070 FTW 2 cards.

 

Hi Vasudev,

So I tried the bootable tools but ran into a different issue. Long story short, I had to invoke the diskpart via Shift+F10 to partition again in GPT and make things usable. Thanks again for the help there!

I am now updating the driver etc and need to ensure all h/w is working fine. Any tests other than the DELL diagnostics which can be used? Anything you advise to check things like thermals etc?

Thanks!
Ckhurana.

 

Use Dell ePSA to test all hardware thoroughly. Dell support Assist is useless and don't install Dell stuffs like Foundation,Update service and other things. Even Dell tech support sees/ask us ePSA results.
Use HWINFO to check thermals.

 

Today my Alienware 15R3 just freaked me out. I pressed power button but it didn't respond as usual, it took some time to get in to Windows, there I found that nVidia driver was disabled, I opened Device Manager and found a yellow warning icon on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, Immediately I lifted my laptop and found that both the fans are not spinning , even in BIOS mode its not running at this moment I got worried that I will have to go through the trouble of contacting Dell India Support (already had a bad experience with that). But thankfully I tried enabling fan performance mode in BIOS, Eureka! its spinning now. Then I reinstalled BIOS(this is not required I think) and changed the fan performance mode to default disabled and now its working as normal.

I think there is some bug in BIOS(Alienware 1.2.4, 25-01-2018).

Does anyone know a good fan rpm monitoring software? I tried CPUID, HWiNFO, AIDA64, OCCT and SpeedFan but none of those shows weather the fan is spinning or not and I can't always lift my laptop to check the fan .

Update: I again noticed fan stopped spinning. Then I tried running performance intensive tool then the fan started spinning again.
I thought fans will spin always, doesn't it?

 

Below 60C its passive. Use a stand to improve airflow.

 

Ah! thank you. So, only when the processor heats above 60C the fan gets turned on, until then it remains passive. Where did you got this info? Please send me the link .

 

I thought the fan would stop once it gets below 50c.

 

In HWINFO I can see that fans start spinning after 61C is reached and stop after temp falls under 50C. If HWINFO does not show you fans (it should) then only see the temps and feel (hear) fans starting at 61 C.

In HWINFO click sensors-only at startup.

 

On newer models its at 60-65C to trigger fans. In my model, fans start to spin at 75C sustained temps when I looked into BIOS dump.

 

You're able to edit it?

 

Yes, but the modded BIOS flash failed and had to use BIOS recovery method suggested by @c69k For 2 days my PC was stuck in reboot loop saying ROM image invalid and not found error.

 

My 15R3 just showed a message after restart
The amount of system memory has changed. If you did not change your memory... To resolve this issue, try to reseat the memory".
But I haven't changed the RAM and also task manager in windows shows the same memory.
Is it an issue?

 

Clean the gold contacts of RAM using a clean cloth and put it back after few seconds. If you see that msg frequently, one of ur RAM is dying or dead and using Virtual RAM as backup.

 

There is an issue with bios 1.2.4 that causes the GPU fan to stay on full blast regardless of temp... Super super annoying.

 

Amazed of hard it is to find an answer to this question...are there any 15 R3 versions that support Optimus? Dell claims Max Q does but reviews say something else.

 

As long as you do NOT have G-Sync or a 120 Hz screen I believe the laptop does support Optimus. The Intel IGP doesn't support 120 Hz and G-Sync requires the Geforce GPU be directly connected.

 

Only the non Gsync models.

I have the FHD Optimus version myself. Have about 7 to 8 hours battery life thanks to it.

Dont buy the maxQ version, overpriced vs the 1070 and barely faster.

 

That's really low. Switch off unneeded lights and keep only keyboard light. It saves an hr or two of battery. Also, I installed powerplan switcher UWP app to automate the power plan change. I can get 7-8 hrs on iGPU and under extreme battery runtime mode where I kill most running apps and wifi I can get 11-12 hrs and 13-14 hrs on ethernet only. battery saver will help too!