*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R2/R3 Owner's Lounge

Well, besides average paste (why oh why doesn't Dell just use great paste by default?) and that 4980... they did change it to a 4870, yes?

 

Dell downgraded the most powerful processor i their new Aw line . Everything does not improve if there is a new upgrade. All OEM manufacturers use garbage paste. Always a good idea to buy a good paste and apply yourself.

 

Weird. The day the 17R3 went live on the Dell USA website, they had i7-5700HQs. Now they're all listed with i7-4720HQs...

Anyway, glad I sold my 17R2 and got a Dominator GT72.

 

It isn't significantly thicker. The R1 also has an optical drive. The R1 manages to be cooler, quieter while having an optical drive and not being much thicker. Also is built far more solidly.

They dropped the ball with the R2, there's no sugar-coating it.

 

About half an inch thicker, which is significant enough. Take away another half an inch from the R2, and you'd get a throttlebo... sorry, I meant ultrabook. An internal optical drive is an epic waste of space, what's wrong with external? I'd rather they focus on more airflow / battery.

 

The problem to Aw17R2 is the cooling solution that Dell chose. Not an optimal solution I mean. Better with separate heasink / pipes for cpu and gpu. Dell chose its solution due to G / A. Dell hopes/thought was that processor could be cooled more and have an small overclock on processor when dGPU was disconnected. The problem shows up when CPU and GPU be used without the G/A connected. Dell forgot that a high end gaming laptop should also function as a portable gaming computer .

 

Having owned both, I can safely say that I hardly noticed the extra thickness. You can see comparative pics in my review (check my sig). A matter of opinion I guess.



However, with the R1, you at least got something in return for its extra thickness.

1) Better build quality
2) Much easier to service/upgrade
3) Optical drive
4) Cooler & quieter

Now what about the R2?

1) While it is thinner, its not "thin enough". Most reviews (both professional and amateur) complain about its size. While Dell trimmed it relative to the R1, it is still over some sort of "thickness limit". Either you make a machine about as thin as the Clevo P650SE or thinner, or just make it big as hell. I'm not sure exactly where this limit lies, but I think the Clevo P650Se is a good indicator.
2) Build quality is better than most laptops out there, but worse than the R1
3) No optical drive
4) Only two RAM slots
5) Runs hotter & louder than many machines that are thinner
6) It is harder to upgrade/service than many thinner notebooks (though to be fair, machines such as the ASUS ROG line aren't any better in this regard)

In other words, while the R2 is thinner than the R1, it is still thicker and heavier than most other laptops out there (though such machines as the ROG G751 and MSI Dominator are bigger). And it doesn't offer any real advantages for its extra heft. The ASUS G751 at least is virtually silent under load, and stays cool to boot. The MSI GT80 Titan is massive, but you get a 18.4" IPS display, SLI GTX980M, optical drive and a mechanical keyboard in exchange for its heft.

The R2 offers nothing in return for its extra size/weight relative to other recent laptops beside better build quality. Oh, and a better keyboard. The keyboards on Alienware machines are definitely among the best currently available on gaming laptops.

I agree. The only time I ever used the DVD drive on my R1 was to do fresh installs of Windows. That's it. Now that you can get an 8GB USB 3.0 flash drive that is many times faster than a DVD for about $5, I don't see the point in an integrated optical drive. At least you usually have the option of buying a caddy and using it as an extra 2.5" bay.

 

Well, I thought the grass would be greener... Just got my MSI GT72 Dominator from XoticPC. The GT72 is nice, but I could tell almost immediately after flipping the screen open that the build quality of the AW17R2 is much better than the MSI.

As soon as I flipped the GT72's screen open, I hear that creaking plastic noise you get with cheaply built things. There's also a spot above the right side of the keyboard where the plastic looks "discolored" like some kind of cleaning material or solvent was spilled on it and not wiped up immediately. I tried cleaning it off with a very lightly damp cloth, but it wouldn't go away.

Otherwise, no overheating issue or issue with lots of heat coming off of the keyboard, both of which I experienced with the AW17R2.

 

I don't understand MSI/sager/clevo and other high-end laptop manufacturers. Alienware is making great looking laptops which feels $2000+ while others look like $300 plastic garbage. I strongly considered other brands than Alienware since I have read about the throttling issue before but others looked.. well not great. So I decided to go with alienware thinking my laptop won't suffer from throttling issue, you could say that I gambled but I lost Now I'm stuck with this machine and I wish I got the MSI GT80 titan or Asus g751jy.

 

Hopefully Dell / Alienware gets its **** together before it releases Skylake models. Thinking about returning this GT72 and waiting for those...

 

What irritates me is all laptops have issues. None are perfect.

I liked the phenomenal cooling of the GT72, its nice G-SYNC screen, that fact it stayed quiet even under load, and the speakers. But it isn't as solidly built as the Alienware.

Most of that applies to the ASUS G751, though it is more solidly build than the GT72. But the ASUS isn't as easy to upgrade/modify as the MSI. Whisper quiet and cool though.

I still don't understand how the AW17 R2 produces so much keyboard heat, when its predecessor the R1 didn't, and its contemporaries (GT72, G751) don't either.

However, beyond the lesser build quality and inferior keyboard, I'd say the GT72 trumps the AW.

 

There is the AGA, where you add-on a Titan X to instant-win any current single-GPU laptop. Same applies vs the GT80/AW18 with a future desktop card. At that point, the heat and noise issue becomes moot... except on laptop, which brings us back to a repaste, and the next point:

And I think you're on to something here Papusan. When they put an i7 4980hq into this chassis, they were probably thinking CPU + AGA. Turns out people actually stress out the laptop, so... 4870hq it was

 

Does using a laptop cooler solve the issue of throttling?

 

In my own experienced, nothing can cooldown your laptop fast enough to void throttle issue. The only way that work for me so far is using Hwinfo. And I hope A06 will make something different since it is beta now.

 

Do you get thermal throttling?

 

Which is safe ordering thru phone or chat? Ive been chatting now wid custom rep and got a good deal, but the thing is he wont email me a qoute. How will i know what i'm paying for (specs)? Eventhough he has my number,email n infos. I know this is off topic here sorry

 

Just found out gtx 990m will be coming out in the nex few months. Asus gx700 also came out wew, with a dock amplifier/WATERcooling in one answer to aliens amplifier.

 

I just checked out the GX700 and that thing looks awesome!

 

Hi all .Do I understand right, so AW 17 R2/3 does not support G-SYNC technology? If not - so why? Is that possible to provide it in updates with Skylake?

 

From the day using Hwinfo I didn't experience any throttling. Just make the fan spin maximum. You may need to lift the bottom higher for air flow more efficiently (I use Cooler Master U2 without fan for the lift up). When fan spin hard I can feel cool air at the bottom when take a look at it. It pulls air from the bottom.

 

No I don't get thermal throttling, I also use HWiNFO. My throttling is power throttling. I'll try to solve that with a 240W PSU.

 

Yeah also the g752, it has a dust release cooling system. Wow maybe no more disasemmbly to clean the fans?

 

I actually think that buying one of these is better than buying an alienware 18. That is a watercooling and a GPU docking station right? It's not very portable but you can set the dock to where you use the laptop most or maybe take it with you if you're moving the laptop for a week. Also since the laptop is watercooled and considering there is an unlocked CPU avalible you can simply OC the CPU you can get a high-end desktop performance. I wonder what's the price.

 

If you are on A05 with 180W psu and still meet the power throttling, I think you may request dell to send a free 240W psu for you.

 

Asus wasn't detailed when they revealed the docking station. It may be just a cooling dock or a gpu/cooling dock. My guess is, if its just a cooling dock and not the latter the gx700 laptop will carry the gtx 990m ( desktop equivalent of gtx980).- hence the cooling dock to help it cool and unlock more the gpu inside d laptop.

 

That thing is huge, I hope they also include an external GPU connection. I will get another laptop next year so I am looking forward to that.

 

Anybody tried the new bios yet (A05)? I'm thinking about using HWiNFO when the fan profiles are not improved but the thing is, to which sensor should I set each fan and how much?

 

When can we expect reviews for the 17 R3 or 15 R2?

Both models just came out in my country(Japan)

I don't know if i should still hope and hold out for the 18 Maxwell to be released here or just take a dive on a 17 R3 and buy a 980ti for it.

 

just ordered the alienware 17 R3 and on the itemized order form from dell it says I7-6820HK 8MB cache dynamically overclocked to 4.4 GHz

 

A05 has been out for a while, but you can try out a Beta A06. It's supposed to improve the fan tables.

 

Anyone seen this

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19647040/20819366#20819366

I thought these batteries where supposed to be Li Ion???

This test says they are Ni Cad???

 

Does anyone think they will ever have an AW 13 with an i7 quad core?

 

I just got my new AW17 R2 on Tuesday. Called Alienware support Wednesday (DON'T CALL DELL SUPPORT - ONLY CALL ALIENWARE SUPPORT!). 240W PSU shipped today, should arrive tomorrow. Free of charge - they include a box and shipping label to return the original 180W PSU to them. So, yeah, call them. They know about the issues and will send you a 240W PSU for free.

--atomicbear

EDIT: I have the I7-4720HQ with GTX 980m NVIDIA card. My system shipped with A05 BIOS - I'm downgrading to A00 when my 240W PSU arrives. I'll benchmark before and after for you guys.

 

Is there a post here on how to set-up your AW 17 r2 rig? I know you need to download the latest drivers, for GPU, and GA GPU, prema's bios mod, XTU. I have a 4980hq, 980m and r9 fury for the GA.

 

Thats the internal motherboard battery I think. If you go to the smart battery screen you see a Toshiba made li-ion batery.

 

Same here. Is yours still in "pre-production"? Mine is since I ordered Sept 3rd.

 

Hello all. My name is Danilo and I'm from Argentina. I'm planning on getting a 17 inch Alienware soon. Can anybody tell me how can I contact Alienware sales assistant to see if I can get a discount on my laptop? Is that still possible? Thanks!

 

is there a way to check within windows the wattage of the power adapter? thank you in advance.

 

Not sure if you can check within windows, but if you look at the label on your power supply, it should list the voltage and amperage. Multiply the two together to get your wattage.

eg : 19.5v * 12.31A = 240W
19.5v * 9.23A = 180W

 

Just call them, or use the online chat. I saved $200 by doing this.

 

FYI: I ordered my AW17R2 on August 18, and it was delivered on September 9. (3 weeks and 1 day) Hope you get yours soon! The last couple days were killers for me. LOL

 

ya mine is in pre production also, my supposed ship date is 10/12 CAN't WAIT!!

 

Same here!
It look like they updated the ship dates to 11-16 business days when you order now so that's a good sign. When I ordered it was 20-30 days (and hey havent updated on my order)

 

Great customer service from alienware support. Will mail me 240w adapter and resolved my missing metal gear V game. Kudos to them. Email [email protected] with order number.

 

did you get your free Logitech headset , I got mine the other day , they are nice!

 

Yeah...Just in here to chime that nobody should ever buy these computers. They are fundamentally broken with how hot they get and the amount of throttling they do.

 

Hey guys I just wanted to give an update where I'm at with throttling and everything. I have scanned over the past several pages of this thread as well. I had my motherboard replaced by dell a month or so ago. Helped bring my temps down and I no longer throttle to 800mhz on the CPU. However my ongoing issue now (which seems to be others) is that no matter what I set throttle stop to... i'm getting throttling down to 2.8ghz and it's a power limit throttle. My temps don't even get into the 80s on the cpu and it's killing the CPU clock. Has anyone made any ground on this issue? I am on bios A00 and I do have the 240w psu for clarification.

 

I figured this was going to happen when I read the specifications on these new modern models first time(i don't need to se rewievs of those laptops first). Thinner design = worse cooling. Read Newton's law... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton's_laws_of_motion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_law Newer gaming laptops with a new mobile gtx980 / 990/1080 will be thicker than before if they "shall" manage 100W-180W variable TDP on those gpu's. How will Dellienware fix this when they desire/want that the new AW models should be thin as CrApple?

@Firebat246 Read... http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/tdp-and-power-limiting-haswell.766743/

 

Hi new to the forum, lots of info here so thanks for that and look forward to doing alot of reading. I'm a desktop gamer from WAY back, started with UT99. I have decided to give laptop gaming a go and just ordered the new Alienware 17r3 with the I7-6820HK/16gb/ 256ssd/1T 7200 and the 980m. My plan is to run and external panel off the 980m to start and then hook up the amp with a stronger card once I feel its needed, I liked this option as to me it should make the laptop last me longer and still be a decent performer. My question is this, I want to use a 120-144hz display, what is the best way to run this off of the internal 980m? With my desktops its dual link DVI but being new to laptops I am not sure how or what I need? Any help is appreciated.Thanks

 

My advice would be to cancel your order and pick something else that is thicker because these components will never run as intended when they are soldered down into a thin chassis.