*OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R3 Owner's Lounge

4 ain't bad. The records is 10 Motherboard swap from Alienware included 3 or 4 notebook replacement.

 

He got 3 new mobos this year. Its a Guiness record.

 

Amazing. I have never seen any notebook owners had to replace 13 Motherboard. @VICKYGAMEBOY should really register this world record

 

I've got 4 mobos in 35 days

 

Well i just replaced my board 2 weeks back, so ive no clue, could be more or less, but yes BGA afterall, even for a small defect have to give up on the board.. sometimes its a good board with decent VIDs and sometimes its the other way around with volts more thn the desktop 6700K lol, 1.275V.. it should be 1.1v max..

 

WR holder Vickygameboy and they are still counting until 15 r2 is EOL or dead completely.

Why not sell it and invest your time/money elsewhere.
Honestly, what do you do with your PC anyway? Do you MIL test it or what?

 

sell ?? i wont get anything worth, specially here in our country, no one will buy lol.. u know the mindset.. i rather keep changing parts until the warranty runs out.. and keep it new as much as possible. haha.. then sent it to my collectors desk.. like my 14 and 11x.. BTW new ryzen 2 cpus are good.. cant wait for laptop counterpart.. Intel 6 Core is tempting, but say no to Intel ME btw thanks for the ISO.. i get no notification these days for inbox msgs.. ill test it out this week..

 

I was quoted Rs. 15000 after 3 months to exchange with 15 r3. I never believed it anyway. Do note, I bought 15 r2 mere months before 15 r3 arrived.
I am not going to buy Intel BGA and will invest with LGA.

 

15000rs for upgrade.. actually i would say its worth.. considering the new hardware u get.. if i still get upgrade option for that price.. i would def go for it. btw who quoted you such price DELL ??

 

@Vasudev wait you mean you get 15000 for ur old laptop or do you have pay extra 15k on top of ur old laptop to get new 15 r3 lol..

 

Yes 15k for trading in old laptop in their exchange program. 2500 USD to 300 USD in a matter of 3 months.
Indeed, I could have bought new 15 r3 simply without price reduction of 15k. I'm glad I chose AW 15 r2.

 

the reason why i kept all my old laptops.. old mobiles etc.. this BGA recycle will only give us negative value.. and yet we will see another rebrand 15 R4 soon with 6core intel.. without any design upgrades.. same crappy thermal systems and same old crappy BIOS etc etc..

 

Which brainless complacent morons who designed the Thermal components for Alienware should get a new job.
How can they not understand the imbalance of a three prong screw points for the CPU is simply unbelievable.
As there are two separate fans at the back corners thus enable two separate heatsinks, one for GPU and one for CPU, this would alleviate any tension/ stress between the heatsinks.

So it's possible to improve temperature through repad and repaste plus sanding of the heatsink copper plates BUT BUT BUT the heatsink has another fundamental DESIGN FLAW, the FINS are too CLOSELY COMPACTED together, resulting in far too easy accumulation of fluff, blocking the airflow being expelled resulting in necessary frequent disassembly to remove this fluff from the fins (you wont be able to see the fluff as it is right inside by the fan module, it wont show on the back grill).
It can be detected by fan noise and more frequent/higher fan speed as the system gets hotter more easily due to blockage.

I estimate 3-4 Months of constant game play before it is necessary to service the heatsink for fluff, which is far too frequent, once a year would be more understandable/acceptable.

A simple solution is for DELL to cut the current heatsink into two parts, ENLARGE THE GAPS BETWEEN THE HEATSINK FINS by removing a few fins and modify the BIOS for separate GPU CPU thermal control.

The Alienware 15 R3 is a great gaming machine but HOT (temperature) and NOISEY.

Until DELL has sorted these THERMAL DESIGN FLAWS, it may be best to refrain from purchasing future Alienware laptops.

 

@Vasudev @Papusan @iunlock @judal57

New Model with Cryotech 2.0 Vapor chamber + Black Color back.. lets see how the new system performs.. typical ads tho..

 

"And finally we f--k everything up again by letting morons with no training assemble the units, use tooth paste for cooling and close down the QC department. Brought to you by Dellienware."

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Say hello and welcome to the new TRIPOD heatsink for the refrehed Alienware Coffee lake models The 3rd leg is now moved a notch to the right vs. 1 gen Tripod. Now more like how it is on Alienware 13

 

When the correct pads are used the so called tripod is hardly an issues and the thermals are decent. Pretty much any laptop now uses a shared heatsink. 1 heatsink+fan is not enough for a gpu and 1heatsink+fan is often too much for the cpu. They know what they are doing. Also making the gaps larger between the fins means less cooling performance. By the way the fins are spaced similarly to other laptops as well. Just clean your room once a week or so.

The only downside of the current chassis is that those damn plastic clips that hardly have a purpose snap off too easily when opening up the machine for a repaste (only for the 15inch version, the 17 has a different design for those tabs).

 

Just to confirm what you said about the dust:

I cleaned the side heatsink before taking this shot.

 

Fire up Heaven or add Stress Gpu in Aida64 and it will be damn I'm sure the chips won't run 3.98GHz and 85°C. The TRIPOD cooling will never work with Dell adverticed 5.0GHz when the i9-8950Hk can't even hold stock 4.3GHz on all cores. The new re designed Tripod heatsink is clearly saved by the bigger 6 core cpu die.

 

Its just one video from one users of which we do not know if he did his repaste well enough.

Also the 5ghz is only for 1 core. not all 6. Pulling almost 100watt. Hell I wont expect any laptop to handle that really well, 6cores 5ghz would be an enormous powerdraw. The 45watt TDP is only for the base clock this time and Intel is playing with numbers.

All Coffee lake laptops up till now cant hold the boost clocks for a long period of time. Too high powerdraw in all cases.

 

Yeah, I know Dell prefer put max overclock for 1 single core. But remember they also put higher clocks for all the rest of the cores as well.
i9-8950Hk run stock (4.3 GHz with 6 cores). I can't imagine Dell will put only stock clocks for the rest of the cores in their different OC profiles.

 

Hard to say. For some reason I feel the coffee lake generation is a bit of a fad. They use the same Kaby lake cores, add 2 more, but claim they run at comparable speeds and TDP. But once you start benching they hit the 100watt and even the I7 6core versions cant hold their boost for longer than 30 seconds (Aero15, Zephyrus). So it looks nice in those Cinebench results but a sustained load and its not that much faster even while it should be much faster with those 2 extra cores. But there isnt much data to go on yet. But the powerdraw doesnt bode well for laptops I think.

 

Yeah, I have said this long time ago... The new 6 core H Coffee lake BGA processors will behave exactly as the ULV 8th gen Processors in prolonged workflow. The increased powerdraw will stop it from working correctly as the LGA brothers. Intel put only a guideline but it is up to the OEMS now how they will handle the higher peak power. Firmware/software will always be preferred before better cooling.

 

I think for this Alienware should go back to 2 separate machines. The AW15R3/R4 AW17R4/R5 are basically the same. Just some bigger fans, but the motherboards are universal for both screensizes. So there is quite some space within the 17inch version which is not used at all. If they would just design a motherboard for the ground up for the 17inch alone and use that extra space for an enormous heatsink and powerdelivery system you can offer both a very high performance 17inch laptop that makes the most out of the space available in this fairly thin package and a good 15inch laptop without a CPU that is too much for any thinner laptop. Now you have basically 2 of the same laptops which doesnt make the most out of space available and thus compromises the 17inch version.

I still think these are great machines, and i knwo that it is more cost effective. But it would silence a lot of the critics if they make the most out of what would be possible. It also would cater better to various users. I need some portability so I chose for the 15inch. If i wanted the absolute best I would go for a 17 if there was a real benefit, but I need the portability of the 15. Cant have it all.

(I actually tuned my laptop into a low voltage machine, capped the boost at 3.2ghz, the GPU at 1700mhz and now it runs at 75c max for the CPU and 60c max for the GPU when both are stressed fully, far less fan noise as well, can switch in TS easily anyway because of the profile function).

 

So, no new Alien Command Center application for 15 R3 users?

 

Nope different controller chips.

 

Hi does anyone know what cables i need on my 15r3 to be able to use a 144hz gaming monitor? I see that the 15r3 only has hdmi and usb c. Considering a a xl2411 from benq and vg248q from samsung.

 

Mini display port next to the HDMI port.

 

oh wow i totally forgot about that port. anyways if i use display port to mini dp adapter it should work all the same right? these are the monitors i am eyeing
https://www.olx.ph/item/144hz-24inch-gaming-monitor-ID8kU8h.html?h=205b0c2e05
https://www.olx.ph/item/asus-monitor-144hz-vg248-ID8kWTA.html?h=205b0c2e05
reviews are really mixed but leaning towards the asus

 

The Asus is better, same panels but the OSD from Asus is better.

It should work yes on the mini display port. You can also bypass the intel GPU by pressing fn+F7

 

I dont think i have the igpu since i have the 120hz gsync display.

 

Ah then you should have zero issues.

 

Yea screw dell they promised me a return and then cancelled and then told me that they will replace it with a similar model. A week later they tell me they are not doing the exchange. I will be out 400 dollars if I just do a return plus the hassle of doing that process. I’m gonna take this higher and higher to upper management until someone gives me what was promised. Never again will I do business with these people. I keep talking to people from other countries that don’t give a **** about my situation.

 

Thanks for the vague and random contribution to the discussion. Personally, I like Dell service so much, I purchased an additional two year accidental damage coverage. They've always been professional and seemed sincere in helping me out. "More flies gathered with honey, than with vinegar." But then again, who really wants flies in the first place....?

 

Well if you look back to a few pages you would understand. No one should have to downclock their system so it shouldn’t overheat. No one should have to repast the brand new 2200 dollar system. That’s like me buying a brand new corvette and then having to replace the radiator and engine right after. It’s not vague as MANY people have issues with dellienware. If dell told you that they would replace your laptop cause it was defective and then two weeks later say that they refuse to replace it, wouldn’t you be pissed? The only way I can get a model close to my setup is if I pay 400 dollars more with the return option that they now present me with. Congrats on your two year expensive warranty cause you are gonna need it.

 

They can be helpful. I have had a laptop replaced with a higher spec of the same model due to issues and later when one of the GPUs died (was an SLI system) they gave me a 100% refund of all money paid 15 months after purchased. You just need to stay pleasant, firm, and patient and they can be reasoned with.

 

Trust me I have been pleasant. Now I’m gonna be real firm with them since I have an email stating that they will be exchanging it for something like it or better. Then calling me telling me that the margin was too high for the model above mine. Do u have any tips on who to call to complain about stuff like this?

 

Same with me, I've had 4 replacements over the year and was provided better components than what I initially purchased. Just be patient and if you hit a road block by a rep that won't do anything, call in to dell's customer's service (or order support) to go above the rep. They work in silos so you can get multiple teams and managers inquiring and sorting out your problem. In the end it was an Alienware Technical Support manager named Ariana who got Denys to approve an exchange when they sent me a refurbished one instead of new. Make sure you reference the e-mail of the exchange happening. Do not mention the phone call. Play dumb on that front because you have the exchange portion in writing which is what matters. Hope that helps.

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Hi,

Is there a procedure, or file for restoring the original Alienware "Look and Feel" after a clean install of Windows 10?

I found an older procedure for windows 7, 8, and 8.1, but none for 10.

I just installed an M.2 SSD in my new Alienware 15 R3 (2018), set up as the boot disk, using the USB procedure. I still have the original 1 TB Boot HD, so is there a core file there which I can copy over to the SSD?

Playing around w/it all weekend, haven't had a single issue w/the laptop. The CPU temperature went no higher than 81C under load, running the Benchmark in the Intel(R) Extreme Tuning Utility

Thanks.

 

I find that intel extreme tuning utility less demanding than running an actual game.
I thought your temps was very good till I read it was stressed by that.
Try a game or firestrike. Run hwinfo the moment before the full screen of the game or benchmark because the averages count from the moment it’s loaded so it takes idle temps into factor when you just want to know on average how it much it gets loaded.
One time I did that, dell tried it saying the averages was fine and that the maximum was just a peak. I did it the way I said after to make sure they saw how the temps where from the system from a game alone and I nearly matched the maximum. I was hitting temps of around 97c. I did make it slightly hotter as it was getting to 94 but they said that was still ok. But long story short I’ve got them to replace the motherboard and o do the exact same tests. My cores are now not around 17c different and sitting at around 84c with stock paste and no more throttling.
My laptop is essentially a brand new laptop now as I had a palmrest replaced since it he engineer made a hole in the palmrest. And I got a month left on the warranty so I’m glad it’s “as good as new”. I got ic Diamond 7 and mx-4 on hand when it wants to act up. But prob have a new laptop before then as I’m looking for Turing/ampere/Volta.


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This, it's a great stand. Using it now. Cheers for the settings too, they seem good, getting high 60s -70s playing subnautica.

My only issue (happens only when I undervolt) is that the screen sometimes won't turn on when I boot up from sleep mode. I'll probably just undervolt by slightly less and then it should stop, I've run into it before ( I previously had it at stock clocks and -0.150, reduced it to -0.145 to avoid the issue).

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Yup. I found your older post after a while. And, yes, I do need it. My original mobo I repasted with liquid metal and it made it around 50k miles (riding overland), before lm spilled out onto the board and fried it. Dell was cool enough to replace (and upgrade the gpu to a Samsung spec'd), even though it was completely my own fault. This time, I've barricaded the lm tim around the cpu, and it's traveled another 120k miles without a hiccup. Seriously, though, the warranty is expensive. But, so is dropping/mishandling your $1700 laptop, or a waitress spills coffee on it, grandkids spill chocolate milk or something and it fries, you get the picture. It's cheap insurance, (relatively speaking), and was tax deductible as a business expense.

 

What the are the temps on average 1070 users get on average during gaming WITHOUT undervolting. Just gpu and cpu.

Thanks


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They upgraded the GPU to a Samsung spec'd? Don't you mean the SSD?

 

I think he mean "GPU with Samsung memory".

 

Are there any differences between GPUs with Samsung and other manufacturers' memories?

 

Samsung's memories are more stable and OC better. That's all.

 

I had a alienware 15 r3 1070 gtx 16 gb ram for about 4 months now, and I'm starting to have some performance issues. for example while playing overwatch on high settings (which I believe should be running smoothly) I get constant freezes and its not a connection lag, I cant even move the mouse the whole laptop freeze for a second. ive tried the supportassist troubleshooting and I get "passed" on everything. done all the updates. and still getting this. any suggestions to what maybe causing this or anyone having the same problem

 

I had a alienware 15 r3 1070 gtx 16 gb ram for about 4 months now, and I'm starting to have some performance issues. for example while playing overwatch on high settings (which I believe should be running smoothly) I get constant freezes and its not a connection lag, I cant even move the mouse the whole laptop freeze for a second. ive tried the supportassist troubleshooting and I get "passed" on everything. done all the updates. and still getting this. any suggestions to what maybe causing this or anyone having the same problem

 

It is a little work but I am inclined to recommend a complete fresh install to make sure there is no junk interfering. Also make sure you are running a High Performance power plan, not low or battery saver or similar.

Also maybe try a clean wipe of GPU drivers using DDU and then fresh install them,