*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R2/R3 Benchmark Thread

I ordered Jan 23rd. I went with the 4710. I was in order processing state until today. I called them two days ago asking why my account was still in pre processing and they told me they were verifying payment so it was on hold. They told me they had to manually send a request to get it authorized since it was on hold. So they e-mailed someone and said they'd call me back in 3-5 hours. They never called me. So i called again a day later and got angry with them and they told me they tried to call (I had no missed calls or voicemails). So I told them to stop lying and I know the laptop was authorized because two agents told me it was. So they told me they can forward me to the person that can help me with it that is dealing with my "case". So I talked to her and told her if this is how it is going to be, I'm cancelling the order if its not through in the next 24 hours.

She called me back 45 minutes later and told me it was put through. I logged in online and saw it go to pre production. Then I checked 45 mins later, it was in production. I guess you gotta light a fire under their butts or they do nothing.

 

He was most likely using the 180watt adapter so there wasn't enough power to go to the cpu, gpu and other components leading to a lower combined score but a high separate score.

The score of graphics would be high because you would be using approximately 110-125 watts for the graphic and the rest for the other components while for a combined score you would be using 110-125 watts for the graphic plus 47 watts for the cpu which would leave you you with 23-8 watts for the whole system including ram and ssd's, this won't be sufficient so the graphic card would most likely underclock leading to a lower combined score.

Hope that was helpful.
Please comment if I stated diverging wrong

 

Lol!! You've been getting the same runaround as I have been apparently. I've been thru the "verifying payment" crap... Despite it being financed thru dell. I've been told there was a parts shortage on the ssd. Then there was a shortage on the 4980 processor. They've had to cancel 3 orders because they couldn't figure out what was wrong and keeping it from moving to production....yes I'm on my 4th order since 1/7 lol. Production has been expedited and shipping upgraded to next day...but what the crap do we have to do to get it to production?!?!?!?!

Anyway, thanks for the info!

 

I don't think you should believe the parts shortage thing. From what I read they just make up a "shortage of ____" when you ask what takes so long. I tried to get my shipping upgraded but they told me they only have one method of shipment in Canada so my order will just be "Expedited" to be built.

Seriously, if you want this quickly, you must have to call daily or soemthing and constantly keep them on the ball. If they act like they are better than you, keep them in check by saying you'll cancel it or send it back when you get it. They always bend over backwards when you say that lol

 

I run my i7-4930mx in Alienware 17 with a wattage of 115w under Xtu bench with processor temperature of 90 degrees Celsius. How would the temperature been with equivalent wattage or lower on the new joke box laptop from Dellienware ? Would the laptop exploded or melt ? Either exploding the laptop or processor will be throttled Down to (2.4 -2.8ghz) with a score of max 600-700 Marks in Xtu bench or just turn off ... Possible the processor manages 55-65 watts before the explosion due to the weak thin processor heatsink..

 

Cool, good videos to show the power draw. The only thing I'd say if you're drawing comparisons with 'ultrabook gaming', then your overclocked CPU is at 4.1Ghz, which will draw a good chunk of power, whereas those thin & lights are only gonna be running 35-45W of power through the CPU during those tests. So, I don't think it's quite apples to apples. But I do agree 180W adapter is not enough for an i7 + 980M - and there'd be no way in hell it would be able to charge the battery & game at the same time either, saying nothing for the throttling due to reduced power too.

 

If you run tests that Notebookcheck testing all notebooks(not overclocked), comes this 180w power supply to be too weak. All the tests they've done indicate a power consumption of +210W . Therefore, Notebookcheck have complained of such power supplies. Can not understand that Dellienware have not learned by other's mistakes ..

 

Look a little closer at that last video and benchmark link/screen shot. That is a thin and light jokebook with the welded-on CPU overclocked to 4.1GHz. It simply has a 330W AC adapter plugged in to give it what it needs to breathe. The BIOS sees it and uses it correctly, just like the Ranger 17 does. Even with no CPU overclock and the GPU running with no overclock, there is still more than 180W being gobbled up by that cute 4GB BGA 980M that they have grafted onto the motherboard. It the BGA vBIOS gets unlocked with adjustable sliders and voltage, without the +135 core clock ball and chain, it's going to all but exhaust that 330W AC adapter as well. Even 240W is woefully inadequate for a fully liberated 980M. Dual 330W is just barely enough for 980M SLI on a true enthusiast machine with all the stops pulled out. Johnksss is sucking over 700W from his beast. I'm excited that I will be experiencing that same problem real soon.

 

welded-on CPU. This was new..HaHa

 

Haha, you're right, you keep catching me out with these little details this morning! (A17 R2!)

 

Could somebody who has received the AW17 R2 confirm what kind of memory it has/uses?

I'm assuming 204-pin DDR3 1600.

1.35v?

 

For the record I am being sent a new 240 watt psu for my 17r2 but I also have bad news as well. My escalated issue to the engineering team was met with the response as follows: The Alienware 17 was designed to provide it's level of performance with a 180 watt psu. While it will work with a higher watt psu, that is not how the system was designed. I was initially told that there was nothing that they could do for me. When I was forwarded to the supervisor for my rating of the service I received, I gave them a poor score indicating that they should be the customer advocate, and they should not let the engineering team dictate to me what performance I should be happy with. I informed them that without this issue addressed I would be 100% returning the system. He asked what would make me satisfied today, and I said nothing less than a new 240 watt psu. However, if anyone orders this system up front without specifically stating they do not want a 180 watt psu, they will have to fight this fight in order to get the performance this system should provide for the money we are spending.

 

O dear, this sounds bad! The only hope is that we can promote the fact that the machine has poor performance 'by design'. Is that what they want us to believe?

I've ordered up a 330w PSU anyway since I won't be able to get that out of AW, and I'm reliably informed that my CPU selection alongside the 980m will pull more than 240w . I'll test that out and post results.

I Shouldn't have to spend on a brand new top-of-the-line system - come on Dell! Really?

 

I think it depends on who you get. I had no fight over being promised mine. Maybe we should post some complaints on the Alienware facebook page?

From the results of Mr.Fox's youtube video, I'd almost think if you wanted to significantly overclock the 980m, you'd almost need a 330W PSU, since it climbs pretty close to 240W of use in the video.

Anyone interested here, ask Alienware General manager:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...al-manager-frank-azor-anything-on-awa.770195/

 

Good thing I'm too poor to afford anything more than the base configuration with the GTX 970M.

So if you want the 980M, you essentially have to fight to get them to send you a 240W PSU. That's just silly.

This just makes the ROG G751JY look better and better for anybody looking for a GTX 980M machine.

If I hadn't gotten such a good deal, I might just have gone with the ASUS.

 

The memory that was included with My 17 R2 is Kingston KN2M64-ETB which are 204 pin PC-12800 1600Mhz 1.35 volt

 

Thanks. I was curious because Dell support told me it was DDR3L running at 1.5v. Which didn't really make sense.

 

Yeah, it's underpowered and throttling. Call dell and they should (by now) be fully aware of the problem and ship you a better PSU. I've just got a 330w off amazon in prep for my machine's arrival.

 

double post again! arg...

 

I will finally have some time this weekend to do some game testing. I want to try out some shadow play recording. Will afterburner show up on shadow play recordings? Any requests?, I will do bf4, crysis 3, and metro last light for sure.

 

Cool, look forward to it. AB OSD should show up, I've not tried it...

 

Yes, it does. I use RTSS to feed OSD with HWiNFO64 data on all of my YouTube videos.

 

Quoting from the "ask Frank Azor anything thread"
http://na.alienwarearena.com/forums...nware-s-general-manager-frank-azor-anything/2

1. Why include a 180w charger/PSU on the 15 and 17 R2 with wither the GTX 980m or the R9 m295x? In the past, Alienware has shipped 240w PSU with the 17" model that came with a 100w GPU, so this new decision is weird.
   1. It makes no difference to your performance as long as the system is rated to run within 180W. If we shipped a 240W when all you need is a 180W then you'd have a heavier and bigger AC adapter than necessary with no benefit.

So I am guessing if you didnt get a 240w PSU by now, were out of luck

 

Hmm, I wrote to my rep this morning. All previous emails were answered same day. Nothing yet. Guess I'll find out when it arrives...

 

I pm'd Frank Azor a copy of this thread on AlienwareArena. I hope he reads it.

 

Thanks man.

I keep thinking, is he saying 'as designed'? I was worried that once senior management got involved it was going to get messy.

For most of us it's simple. They messed up with the power needed to run at full speed and simply need to replace it.

BUT, if the machine is drawing more that 180w and they supply a bigger adaptor then just about all the certifications (look how many logos a PSU has) are void and the machine is 'operating out-of-spec'.

Even the 'skin temps' tests need to be redone.

The makings of another PR disaster...

 

Alright guys, Frank answered my PM on alienware arena. Huge respect for him and his response:

I wrote to him:

He responded:

 

That's sound uh, like "yeah we don't give a ****"

 

I received my 240 today. I will also provide comparison results Btw both adapters in real world gaming with video evidence

 

@bnosam, that's cool that you're able to chat with Frank Azor on this topic. It sounds to me from his response that he wants more info from you, and that they are currently trying to validate the claims that people are making in the forums, this is the passage of his that I'm specifically referring to:
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"However, we understand the concerns the community is having and we've looked at people's benchmarking scores and from various sources that conflict each other. This does not mean we've dismissed the claims or data. We're working diligently with our performance team to replicate the results and see what can be found so that we can all communicate back with each other to clear up assumptions or work towards a better solution together.

If we're wrong, we're wrong. We want to provide the best experience to all our customers. Let us know the scenarios and paces you want to put your system through. We're listening and engaging with you all to provide the best experience across the board."
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So I think he wants you to tell him the tests & situations that show this greater than 180W load. If you haven't done so already, let him know the specifics of the tests & machine settings, etc, so that they can replicate.

 

I've just got a 330w one as well now. If my machine ever arrives the first 3 tests will be 3dmark11 on each PSU. Clean machine.

Typical company BS - he just about said the standard BS, go away reply of 'we are unable to reproduce these results'. Since everyone that has tested gets better results with the 220w PSU what else can be difficult to repro? looks like I'm going to throw mine back at them after a week of trying to burn it out!

Frank, you're a D***, it's a 10 minute test to prove or disprove. Like I said earlier he will fight to keep the 180w PSU or lose the ability to sell them without a big investment in type approvals.

 

Just a delay tactic while his guys try to figure out if they can mess with the bios/vbios and re-allocate power, or fake full performance. Gotta go with it though...

 

Yes, probably a delaying tactic, as very easy to replicate - doesn't take a rocket scientist or even a half asleep Alienware Engineer to work out & test for power limitation/performance issues! However, if he asks, you may as well give him all the reproduction settings so that they have their answer and the ball in their court.

 

I actually replied to him and linked him agian to this thread and told him all the information and "tests" he needs to go through would be on here and so on. I don't think calling Frank a "dick" and so on is helpful to our case. If he has open ears, we should be respectful to him at the very least for speaking with us.

In response to me linking him this thread he said:

So I feel like I've done my part and did everything I could do at this point lol.

 

The kindest name I could come up with. Active discussions? No, either they can or can't repro. As an international IT Director I know BS when I see it - written it a lot myself...

Edited flame...

Edit: His thread is locked now...

 

And go figure, my 240 watt psu was sent with a 180 watt cable D'OH. I guess that just fits this scenario rofl

 

The cable has a max rating on it? Probably just using the 'spare' ones and that is what the label says?. Those power cables could pull a few KW through them before they get warm .

 

No you misunderstand me, it doesn't fit. The 180 watt cable has a different fitting than the 240 watt

 

Doh, now you gotta go through it again, and I bet there is an internal communication to stop sending 240w PSU's

I'm, sure you'll update us . Good luck and thanks for sharing, much appreciated.

 

Metro 2033 240 Watt by just1tree posted Jan 30, 2015 at 7:46 PM

Metro 2033 180 Watt by just1tree posted Jan 30, 2015 at 7:46 PM

metro 2033 benches max settings

 

Just, wow!

 

AW Kahn posted on AlienWare Arena:

Can we get the guys who did the benchmarks to answer some of these questions maybe to help bring consistency across the board?

Here's his profile on here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/members/aw-khan.654926/

 

I will send him my info.

 

In the mean time, here are some metro last light benches:

Metro LL 240 Watt by just1tree posted Jan 30, 2015 at 10:06 PM

Metro LL 180 Watt by just1tree posted Jan 30, 2015 at 10:06 PM

 

These new forums are throwing me off and for some reason I can't send him a message based off your link. I will post my info here:

For those of you running scores with a 180w and 240w AC Adapter, could you send me your scores?
180 Watt score: P10102, graphics 12226, physics 7642, and combined score 5553
240 watt score: http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachments/3dmark11-240watt-psu-jpg.120148/
What version of 3D Mark 11 did you use? 3DMark 11 Basic Edition
Patch version? 1.0.132.0 (64-bit)
GPU Driver? I did update Video Driver to 347.12
BIOS? A00 - SMBios 2.8
Did you run your tests on the LCD or an external display? LCD Display
What config did you use? Performance (720p)
Did you have any background applications running like Chrome, Skype? Chrome was minimized
What OS did you use and are you fully up to date on your Windows updates? 8.1, I just got system so haven't run system updates.
Did you have the AlienFX lights on or off? BEFORE you make assumptions, AlienFX does not ruin performance. I just want to replicate your testing scheme. AlienFX lights have been left on

i can rerun tests if needed.

 

Thank you for posting that! I linked Khan to this.

BTW to PM someone on here, when you're in their profile you click Information -> Start a Conversation. PMs are called "Conversations" here.

 

Pfft... right? It took me a couple of minutes to realize how I PM someone.

Thanks for the info + Thank you bnosam for linking it to me on Alienware Arena. I'm going to pop into the lab for a bit tomorrow to test out of the suggested test parameters people have been sharing with me.

 

Awesome Let us know the results if you can so we can compare!

 

That's great that you guys are engaging with this. The detail he's asking for is a bit unnecessary though for replication purposes, because power related performance issues are SO easy to replicate & don't require all the specific info he's asking for to replicate reliably. However, if he's asked for it, I think you should give him as much info as possible.

 

Wow, that's a massive difference! Although, I'm not surprised that Metro Last Light was one that highlights the issue to such an extreme, because on my system it's the game that uses the most CPU Power (hitting all 8 threads hard with about 75% consistent usage) combined with 100% GPU load too. It's probably the most power hungry game I've played.