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

There are 16gb DDR4 modules and one of the features of DDR4 is the memory capacity doubled with skylake,,,,look at the clevos what was 32gb max is now 64gb max. It should be no different with the Alienware my guess is that they dont offer 32gb right now because of supply issues. Someone on the forum placed a single 16gb ddr3 module in the alienware 13 and it worked so I see no reason why ddr4 16gb shouldnt work. And there are 16gb modules available right now from edge memory and transcend.

https://www.cdw.com/shop/search/Mem...ddr4 memory&pfm=gln&searchscope=all&sr=1&ln=1

 

Well, I stand corrected as to the availability of 16GB modules. I'm not sure what you mean by

Skylake didn't double memory capacity. There has always been the ability to use large amounts of memory with various laptops. Asus and MSI have offered laptops with as much as 64GB of memory for years. Perhaps you mean Skylake has made it possible to use more than 8GB per memory slot? But even that would be incorrect as there have been 12GB/16GB laptop modules forever. But as far back as Alienware has been making laptops the memory banks have only supported 8GB per slot. And any Alienware laptop model that offered 32GB of memory had 4 memory slots populated with 8GB of memory each. Why Alienware doesn't support more than 8GB per memory slot is a question that only they can answer. The 17 R3 has 2 slots; 8GB per slot x 2 slots equals 16GB. As for someone sticking a 16GB stick into their Alienware 13 and being able to use it, you should go ahead and buy some of the 16GB DDR4 modules, install them, see if they work and report back. I for 1 wouldn't mind upgrading to 32GB of memory.

 

Read this published by crucial memory, the density of a single DDR4 module has increased by 300% from DDR3. What this means is on a single module you can fit 16GB natively and affordably. I am aware of 16GB DDR3 sodimm modules but they are few and far between and extremely expensive. I agree with you that someone whould buy 2 x 16GB DDR4 modules to see if the AW 17 R3 would support it. I only need 16gb so will prob go with the 16GB kingston 8gbx2 kit as its slightly cheaper option.

http://www.crucial.com/wcsstore/CrucialSAS/pdf/product-flyer/crucial-ddr4-infographic-en.pdf

 

Hello guys.

I planning on upgrading my 17R2 SSD drive over HDD. Im looking for the EVO 850 SSD SATA III.

Will it fit my 17R2? Or do I have to get the M2 one.

Thank you.

 

Yes it can replace your HDD, but why not just get large capacity SSD to run OS on and keep HDD?

 

A new BIOS was released for the 17 R3 which now includes support for the 950 Pro so that it shows up in the BIOS.
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us...alienware-17-r3&languageCode=EN&categoryId=BI

 

Perfect Timing! Just getting my laptop in today!

 

Is there a size difference between R2 and R3? Or is it they used the same chassis?

 

Hi!
Currently I'm working on project to turn k3100m/k4100M into k5100m/GTX 880m without hardware mod and I'll be very appreciative if you help with some stuff I'm looking for people with gtx 780/870/880 or quadro K3/4/5100M. All you need to do:

1. Download GPU-Z and save the vBIOS.
2. Download RWEverything, in top corner select "Access-->PCI". Then windows should appear - select device called "nVidia Corporation VGA Controller". After, save the info to binary with Shift+F2 combination.
3. Share this two files with me

Best Regards,
Valentine.

 

I'm just going to say this now, but the 17 R2 and 17 R3 never came / comes with a GTX 780m, GTX 870m, or GTX 880m. Only GTX 970m and GTX 980m.
You're not going to get much help here, but the other owner threads (17 R1, 18) should be off more helped (and I see that you posted in those threads).

 

Yeah, I know. But I hope this thread viewed by not only 17 R2+ owners

 

I have the 17r2 4710hq 980m. Is anyone having any issue with gpu load dropping from 99% to 40-50s when gaming on a 2560x1440 screen? Or even just a 144hz screen? I never had this issue on my old 1080p screen but now it happens almost every ten minutes and last for a couple minutes at a time

 

Hello people. Sorry for my english.
The problem with LEDs under the speakers on the Alienware 17 R2. They firing only when the computer after a long downtime. A few minutes after the complete download of Windows 8.1 goes out right diode, even after 20-40 seconds and goes out the left. And not firing during the entire operation. In the command center I try do all, but this 2 leds still no firing. If I turn off the computer and within 10 minutes on again anyway no firing. But if after a couple of hours to download it again, then again and firing faded out as described above. What's this? It must be so? Computer is new. a06. Bios Windows rearranged everything well. Maybe he starting very hot and contact waste? Or is it a glitch progamny BIOS?

 

I think you'd want to track GPU & CPU temperatures to make sure you're not getting any thermal throttling, and also track GPU & CPU clocks so you can see if there's any clock throttling. If you don't have any temperature & throttling issues then I'd uninstall the NVidia drivers, use DDU to clean out all remnants of the drivers, and then reinstall the latest NVidia drivers - just to rule out a faulty installation.

Maybe your power brick is running out of juice, you could use a Kill-A-Watt monitor to see how many Watts the brick was pulling from the wall (those 180W power bricks are not really up to the task of supplying a 980M & i7 CPU) - you could even see if you can get a free upgrade to a 240W brick - supposed to be possible if you speak to Tech Support, Alienware promised it in this thread.

 

I have the 240 watt power brick. I've also monitored gpu and cpu at the same time to see if there was any thermal throttling. My cpu is well within normal temperatures. I even undervolted the clock and cache to keep them low and I haven't had any of the cpu clock throttling that a lot of people have issues with. My GPU gets a max 74 when playing but the gpu load drop will happen even if the temps are at 70. It seems to only have to do with the GPU. This problem only happens when playing in 2k and 120hz. I'll definitely take your advice on the driver clean uninstall install and see how it goes.

 

@t1000s--

Keep working with the command center or AlienFX. Maybe there is an update? I had some issues with this also, the problem seemed to be with AlienFX.

 

Last week I have got a new AW 17 R3. It is working fine and absolutely stable when it booted. But sometimes when I try to power it on the AlienFX lighting is shown but the screen stays black. I have to shut it down again and to power it on again to get it working as expected. Is anyone experiencing the same problem? Of course all drivers and the UEFI are up to date.

 

Hey guys yesterday after upgrading to windows 10 from 8.1, i went on dell's website and looked for driver updates. Found 3, namely 1 for intel graphics, 1 for killer lan and 1 for A06 bios.
After installing the first 2, I rebooted the laptop and installed the new bios.
My laptop froze on this screen below

The laptop wouldnt respond for nearly 2 hours, even my clock froze, cursor wouldnt move and would not want to power off.
After nearly 2 hours of wait, it went to a blue creen saying it encountered an error and restarted with a black screen. Now only the keyboard lights up and the screen stays black.
Please help guys

 

I tried connecting it to an external display, that is my tv via hdmi, but nothing comes up on the tv screen, says no signal.
Pleaseeee help me :'(

 

Don't know if this has been asked but is anyone else having problems with their headphone in not working? I had to uninstall the Recon 3Di drivers and that allowed them to work when they are plugged in but as soon as I unplug them my internal speakers don't work and would require a reboot.

Forgot to mention Windows 10 FTW

 

So i was able to figure out it was a cpu throttle issue. Cpu was throttling down to 800mghz and yes I know there are tons of comments about this. I had never experienced this when playing on the normal display but I guess upgrading to a 2k 144hz screen made this problem exist. I did a **** ton of research and was able to actually get rid of the problem though. Throttlestop 8.0 is a wonderful thing. I undervolted my offset core and cache voltage to -70. Set multiplier to 36t, unchecked c1e, and bd prochot. Set my cores at 36,34,33,33 and unchecked overclock. I am now able to game without any cpu throttle and can slightly overclock my 980m without any issue. Gpu temps are steady at 68-70 and cpu at 78-80. Running max fans in hwinfo64 is a must though

 

That's good that you fixed it, although if anything CPU throttling should be worse on a smaller screen due to the higher fps you're achieving - the higher the fps then the harder the CPU works & the more likely it is to throttle due to thermal or power constraints.

 

Hi All, sorry for my bad english
Please test crystal disk who owns a Samsung PM951 512Gb, i need screenshot tnx

 

Hey if anyone here is still stuck with a mechanical hdd there is a good deal on the Samsung m2 from newegg. You get the 500gb m2 ssd and assassins creed syndicate for 157 shipped http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16820147399

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What BIOS version do you have? A04 I think it is, (the 1 before A06) gets rid of the 800MHZ CPU throttle after resume from sleep. A06 may be best though.

A06 still has some issue if it's throttled on battery power, it needs 100% CPU utilization in order to unthrottle itself, which I detailed in post#1743. Anybody have that issue too?

 

Hey everyone, I ordered a 17R2 and a 17R3 yesterday during the ongoing Black Friday sales, and intend on choosing one of them depending on my impressions and advice I get from online.

1. Alienware 17 R2 (" Dell Outlet New" ordered from the Dell Outlet) (same configuration as this Amazon link)

* 2.5GHz i7-4710HQ
* 8GB DDR3L SDRAM
* 1TB SATA HD
* GeForce GTX 970M 3GB
* 17.3-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS-Panel Anti-Glare 300-nits Display
Final price with tax: $882


2. Alienware 17 R3 (ordered from Alienware website, it's the last configuration on the far right)

* i7-6820HK
* 8GB Dual Channel DDR4
* 256GB PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA
* GeForce GTX 980M with 4GB GDDR5
* UHD (3840 x 2160) IGZO IPS Anti-Glare 400-nits Display
Final price with tax: $2022

Other than the obvious significant hardware upgrades, do you guys think that there were noteworthy issues (i.e., heat issues mentioned earlier in this thread) in the R2 that were fixed in the R3? From what I understand, the price I got the R2 at was quite good, so I guess I'm really just wondering if that substantially lower price justifies me keeping the outdated machine with worse specs (and potentially I could use the money I save to upgrade laptops sometime down the line).

Thanks for any advice!

 

I'd get the R2, that's a really good deal, it's less than half the price of the R3 but the performance is not that far away from the R3 either. The CPU is perfectly adequate for gaming on the R2, but I would probably buy an SSD and put it in the R2 myself. I would also flash a modified vBIOS (a Prema vBIOS) to the 970M and that would allow for large amounts of overclocking on the 970M - allowing you to get 980M performance (because 970M would run very cool in the R2). Considering the low price of the R2 I wouldn't myself be scared of overclocking & overvolting the 970M, because GPU life is unlikely to be decreased greatly as long as you have good low temperatures below 80 degC - and besides you're saving £1200 dollars so you can upgrade sooner to your next laptop, and by overclocking you're getting maximum value out of your system right from the get go. (Before embarking on the flashing of the vBIOS/overclocking/overvolting make sure you've researched it all & know what you're doing, not the other way round!)

 

Keep the R3! It's a better choice due to the newer silicone; PCIe SSD support, DDR4 memory, Skylake processor, etc. Not to mention that the R2 is now a prior generation design that offers none of the advantages of the newer version.

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It's true the R3 has all those things, but they don't help gaming performance in any meaningful way, and also they don't really help everyday performance much either (for the average person and how they use their pc).

 

You must be joking! It's truly your contention that a faster SSD interface, more efficient CPU, and faster memory don't help gaming or everyday computing? I'll just leave these links here....

http://www.pcgamer.com/the-differences-between-ddr3-and-ddr4-ram/

http://techreport.com/review/28032/a-fresh-look-at-storage-performance-with-pcie-ssds

http://www.pcgamer.com/intel-skylake-i7-6700k-tested-a-smart-upgrade-despite-small-gaming-gains/

And even if these things didn't help much, why buy last generations technology when the current generation costs the same and future proofs your system for a bit longer? Skylake, PCIe, and DDR4 are here to stay for years to come whereas Haswell/Broadwell/DDR3/SATA are going the way of the dinosaur? It makes absolutely no sense not to upgrade!


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It doesn't cost the same, he's saving $1200 by buying the R2.

Your first link you gave was comparing DDR3 & DDR4 RAM - they conclude that "the difference was negligible".

Your second link was comparing PCIe SSD's with standard SATA SSD's - boot time was best case 3 secs faster with PCIe, and application and game loading was about 0.2sec quicker - as you can see there's no practical advantage there.

Your third link talks about Skylake CPU's - they say if you're coming from Haswell (ie the R2), then they say: "No. You're looking at virtually no CPU performance increase..."

So, you can see that even the links you provided show that there is no real practical advantages to the "upgrades" associated with the R3: DDR4, PCIe SSD, and Skylake. So, I still think he's better off saving $1200 and getting the R3.

 

Dude spare me your nonsense! There's a performance increase with the new silicone. It may not be a great increase but it is an increase. And there are efficiency gains on top of speed gains. Buying an R2 at this point isn't a smart move no matter the cost short of it being free!

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Uh, I dont know about you but there is an ELEVEN HUNDRED DOLLAR difference between those two laptops.

He literally could have two of those R2 for less than the price of the R3.

The upgrades are not nearly enough to justify the $1100.

In fact, I scored an R2 from the Outlet with

i7-4720
16gb RAM
1tb sata HDD
1080p
And best of all, GTX 980m!

-33% - black friday code.
-2% for order over chat discount.
-2% Discover card.

For $917 AFTER TAX! Trick is to find the ones that dont mention what GPU is included, then add to cart and chat to find out the GPU.

Why buy something marginally better for over twice the cost? LOL....

Kind of like buying a new mustang GT vs getting a 2011 GT with the same 5.0 V8 for half as much. Just doesn't make financial sense unless of course, money is no object.

 

Unfortunately, you're not really in a position to talk about nonsense when you disregard the conclusions of the very threads that you linked. There's no tangible benefits by going with the R3, and certainly not for a $1200 price difference. I personally wouldn't buy an R2 or an R3, as I think the latest Alienware lines have gone to sh*t with their BGA rubbish and silly small low wattage power bricks and throttling limits - but I do think that the $882 deal he could get on the R2 is a great deal, and if I was in the market for a new laptop then that deal could sway me to buy one of the new Alienwares - excellent deal!

EDIT: I was a bit harsh, those new Alienwares aren't that bad, I'm just annoyed that they're not upgradeable anymore in the CPU & GPU department, and I believe there are ways to get around the throttling issues by using a larger power brick (240W), rather than the wimpy 180W brick that is supplied as standard.

 

I didn't disregard anything. Both links say there's an increase in performance. Obviously you missed that. They aren't great increases but they are increases. And as I said before, buying old tech is nonsense. And with that, I'm done here. Class is dismissed. Bye now!

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Now that is brilliant!

 

Those new Alienwares aren't that bad ??? You're kidding now @Robbo99999 ? You do not mean this? Dell has gone completely wrong way with these new thin models. MSI, Clevo and Asus has now begun with desktop cards. But these models are thicker and can therefore use the new graphics card from Nvidia. Clevo can even use a +200w card.

 

I'm not saying there aren't better alternatives out there, but those Alienwares with 970M and 980M are still good gaming laptops in terms of gaming performance, at least when you have the 240W power brick - to me it's the BGA and lack of upgradeability of the GPU that annoys me about the latest line up. Certainly if you can get a 980M Alienware for $900 then that's a good deal - there's no changing that.

 

I'd saved a little more for something with real performance and further upgradeability.

 

Guys please don't waste your money on Alienwares, the warranty is a joke now, Dell is private they don't care about consumers anymore after the 2014 Alienware Ranger and Viking, the new echo's are just an echo of the former Alienware M18x R2 class machines, If you observe there's no activity is here at AW NBR, even with the AW17 Ranger, Viking + maxwell is joke and despite hundreds of petitions regarding a simple BIOS unlock / Maxwell support they just say all rubbish.

The brand is officially dead. Period
Wake up !!

Please go look at Eurocom / Sager / XMG alternatives depending on your location, if you think they look ugly, then I guess you should re consider them as the new Batman 2.0 aka P7xxxDM beasts use the full fledged PREMA MOD Supreme BIOS with maximum throughput with no BGA JUNK !!, Hail 6700K + Z170 chipset + 200W- P870DM / 150-180W GTX 980 select binned chips, TRUE M.2 SSD (Not a marketing bluff unlike Mr. Frank's subordinates and the Dell's AW use to crap on...) that BIOS offers unmatched performance without any compromises - you wil be getting a full value for money beast which has extreme NBR love, also Pro OCer's, Modders.

MSI and ASUS - MSI bests ASUS interms of upgradeability, even they offer M.2 SSDs with non BGA junk, CPU is soldered though on both machines, ASUS is not mod / enthusiast friendly, unlike the desktop scenario. Even these BGA laptops are much much better over AW

Spoiler: Rant

The thing is people who buy any machines irrespective of the real configs are increasing - unlike CPU quality , heatsinks, Pcie x4 slots, user servicability, look at the real figure Win10 % is increasing despite of the privacy invading features and compromise in performance....mac's pre built configs - 100% soldered crap retailing at $xxx9.99. They don't need any consumer satisfaction all they care about is margins & profits. Unless people start to take the red pill and welcome broad minded mentality and kick the crapped out corporate marketing ploys a.k.a cool aid, Blue pill.

Samsung screwing up SSD firmwares, Alienware, Micro$lop, Amazon's scams, crApple, MPAA, EU commission wants to invade the internet with the copyright crap on HTTP itself, never ending increasing list....
/rant ends.

I'll leave this here, FYI - http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/bga-only-is-it-true.783466/page-13#post-10145918

 

Would you buy asus ROG with i7-4720hq and GTX 980m or Alienware R3 with i7-6700hq and 970m, for the saem price of 1500$
Alienware - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA3FA3MM8146 (I already ordered this, for 1500$ during black friday sales, don't know if I made the right call!)
Asus - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232849
Differences - 970m on AW vs 980m on Asus
GSync supported on asus, not on AW
6700hq on AW vs 4720hq on asus
pcie ssd on asus vs sata ssd on AW
Asus is heavier than AW but worse battery life

Which would you choose?

Did I make a mistake buy going for the alienware? Please tell me if I should cancel my order and order the asus instead! I don't even see enough positive reviews about AW 17 R3 either

 

Your links don't show either of the products, but based on the specs you've shown I'd buy the ASUS - mainly due to the 980M, and the CPU won't affect gaming between those two, you also get the PCIe SSD as a bonus (but that's not a major factor). Oh, and G-sync on the ASUS - that's a major plus too.

 

So your opinion is to buy nothing because everything is horrible, even the operating systems.

Life is a series of compromises, deal with it and quit crying.

I would never pay full price for any laptop, especially an Alienware. But if I can get a stellar deal you better believe I will jump on it.

I'll just sell the thing a year from now(and probably make money) and get something newer. There's no need to ALWAYS have the latest and greatest.

 

No one's crying, meh..
Those are the facts my friend, those are for the people who tend to understand & that last post, that's there for a reason..

And GL with your compromised life

 

Yeah, I would have jumped on that $900 17 r2 if I hadn't just paid nearly full price for an r3--and the 30 day period just clocked over. $900 is less than six months' depreciation on my latest-and-greatest r3. In the spring sell your $900 rig for nearly what you paid for it and get the next nearly-latest thing.

 

lol.... what you are doing is akin to walking into a Chevy/Ford dealership and demanding that everyone buy a Ferrari or Lambo.

Some of us make do with what we can within limited financial restraints. Shltposting on the AW forum about clevo/msi/sager etc... is just plain retarded.

I was thinking you sounded "elitist" before and when I saw your sig just now I knew that thought was validated. figures. heh.

Anyway, im all about performance per dollar, I dont keep my laptops long and as such, most of the issues presented here are irrelevant to me.

 

Why are so many pc owners with low end hardware in their hardware sig negative to purchase real performance? Is it because the laptop become too chunky? There must be a certain thickness if the laptop shall contain a +200w Gtx980.

 

You seem to know a lot about the AW alternatives. Are there any other 17" notebooks with a 4K panel? That's really the only reason I'm considering the AW

 

Yes, they have.
I understand your 4k panel requirement but if you are into gaming I'd say go for a 1080p G-Sync panel -75Hz OC'd that should suffice for high FPS gaming. Still the 4K scales well with 1080P but Win8.x.x and 10 screw up the 4K scaling so better off with FHD. Just my opinion..

Why don't you try the Clevo subforum, people will help you out in a better way over me and you'll know why they are supreme over AW's for enthusiast class performance, these are bang for buck, invest in these instead of a BGA AW.

Spoiler: CLEVO Model Lineup

Batman 2.0 (Same shell as the older haswell beast- P7xxZM, I think the P7x1ZM stands for EU model with matte vents)
P77xDM is 17"
P75xDM is 15" review by mr. htwingnut

Wingman (Looks much different over the Batman series, here check it out at TechInferno, powered by a 180W GTX 980, ASUS GX700 / MSI GT80 also sport this, MSI does also have a 150 or maybe 120W SLI GTX 980 as well)
P775DM1 is 17"

Phoenix ( World's most powerful desktop laptop, only 200W GPU GTX980 computer)
P870DM is also 17" sadly there's no 18" beast from Clevo, maybe in future as a successor to the X79 P570WM.
Reviews - Mr. Fox, Matrix Leader

DM-G stands for G-Sync, All have the Z170 chipset architecture.
EDIT: All models have the 4K option FYI.

 

I dont own that laptop anymore, as you may know I bought an AW 17 R2 on the Outlet for $917 with GTX 980m and 16gb ram. for price to performance that deal is on fire and cant be beat.

Not everyone has thousands of dollars to buy the latest and greatest. To me, a GTX 980m is plenty for 1080p, I dont have or see a need for more power. The haswell i7 will be more than enough for my needs as well.