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

Yep, you don't really need to overclock your CPU for gaming, the GPU is the limiting factor most of the time. That 970M is a good GPU, I would have bought one for my laptop, but it's not compatible.

 

Can anyone look at the manufacturer for their integrated webcam?

My windows 10 did an update and now I have a few devices not working, one being the webcam. There is no supplied driver from Dell and I can't tell who the manufacturer is to see if they have a driver. Windows 10 can't seem to find it on its own unfortunately, damn windows update!

 

battlefield 4
without gpu OC 65fps


with gpu OC 78 fps

13 fps gain

 

Wow that's some fat gains! I think OC tends to work better for older games. What driver version do you use and what program are you using to overclock? Friend of mine has the 970m and says afterburner sliders freak out when trying to o/c on latest drivers.

 

i am using MSI afterburner and the last NVIDIA driver 361.43 (also have the Vbios of premamod.com )

 

Three different tools show me three different readings of core clock and memory clock.

core and memory clocks before:

GPU-Z: 1037.8 MHz, 1252.8 MHz
3D mark: 540 MHz, 1253 MHz
MSI Afterburner: 540 MHz, 2505 MHz

And when I increase core clock by 135 and memory clock by 202 in afterburner, the readings show:

core and memory clocks after:

GPUZ- 1172.3 MHz, 1353.9 MHz
3D mark - 675 MHz, 1354 MHz
MSI Afterburner - 540 MHz , 2707 MHz

Is my coreclock stuck at 540 MHz or is it working fine? How to determine which one is accurate?

 

That's very interesting...I'm curious as well ...

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

Question on the premamod, I notice on the site it has a download for the 4gb version of the 980. I wonder if it'll work for the 8gb version also.

 

I want to overclock 980m and can you tell me where to download that bios and how to install it. Also what good and bad about that bios . Tnx and sry for tarzan english.

 

Like has already been mentioned before in this thread: the sensor readings from the graphs in GPUz are the actual frequencies that are seen on the GPU during gameplay, they're the ones to take note of. The frequencies reported by the other tools are most likely the base frequency, and not the actual boost frequency you will see during gaming.

 

I anyways installed windows 10 using recovery media, yet, nothing is installed! And surprisingly, the windows build is older than MS media creation tool!

I should ask, is there any way to "reinstall" windows using recovery media? Because all I think I did was reset the system

Thanks

 

I have never used the recovery media but I am fairly certain there is an option to format and re install. When you put in recovery media and select to boot to that drive on start up there isn't an option?

 

Just got mine today. Any optimization things I should do? Bought amy amp with 980ti too

 

Hello, I am facing these random freezes where screen becomes unresponsive to mouse clicks. But I am able to navigate via keyboard.



I suspect this is happening after system updates.

There are also minor cursor lags when opening or closing some applications.

I also hear occasional sounds from laptop(Not sure where they are coming from)

Is anyone facing the same or know how to solve this?

 

Does it work? I bought a 980ti with an amp and the damn thing just went into a never ending boot loop.

 

I just got my amp yesterday and installed a Gigabyte 980ti G1 Gaming in it. Plugged it in to the computer and started it up. The computer booted to the Alienware splash screen for a second then rebooted again, this time it went all the way to the windows. In windows it was running on the Intel graphics, after about 1 or 2 minutes I got a notice from windows saying a new display driver had been installed and to reboot the computer. When I rebooted the computer it booted straight to windows and I was running on the 980ti.

I would say that is about as plug and play as you can get. After reading thru this thread and some of other peoples experiences, it sounds like Dell has the AMP working great now, as long as you are using a supported graphics card.

I would say that the boot loop might be from switching from the dgpu to the egpu. I have noticed that when I switch from dgpu to egpu and from egpu to dgpu that there is a reboot from splash screen each time. I believe that this is the computer bios turning the dgpu on and off.

 

Hmm, just had a crazy but unlikely thought. I already have a Titan X hooked up to a kraken bracket hooked up to a corsair H75 AIO water cooler. Is there anyway to shove that into the amp (of course removing the fan already inside the amp) or maybe have it ghetto style with the radiator part hanging out?

 

I bought the msi 980 ti and installed it in the amp. Turned my computer on and everything worked great. So i decided to benchmark and I got a driver failure bsod. After that happened I was unable to start the computer with the amp plugged in (the boot loop). I finally decided to just reset my bios and it worked again....... Until I played a game for 5 minutes and got another driver failure bsod followed by the boot loop with the amp plugged in. Decided to just take the card back and get my money back. Was way too much of a hassle, and yes I tried everything I could think of and read every single thread in the amp forums.

 

Yeah that's a bummer. I played Fallout for a couple hours last night and had no problems.

 

Finally got my replacement laptop. Has the right specs: Core i7-6820HK, GTX 980M 8GB, Windows 10 Pro, 128GB m.2 Samsung SSD.

Only problem I noticed so far is that there's a little bit of backlight bleed near the left end of the bottom side, just about where the search bar is on the taskbar in Windows 10. It's only noticeable when the screen is fairly dark, including with the blue smoke Windows 10 logo wallpaper. I think at this point I'll live with it (at least there are no stuck pixels!), provided the GPU works when I put it through its paces tomorrow.

I also noticed that Windows 10 takes a LONG time to boot up (2 minutes?) from the stock Samsung 128GB SSD, compared to the near-instant (<10 seconds) of the 2.5" SATA 500GB Samsung 850 EVO that I put in my defective laptop when I first got it. Online benchmarks show that the stock 128GB SSD has less than half the score of the 850 EVO . I also noticed that Samsung's Magician software doesn't recognize it as a supported SSD, so I can't use RAPID mode on it. I guess this means I'll be migrating the contents over to the 850 EVO and using the stock 128GB m.2 drive as secondary (maybe I'll buy an m.2-SATA adapter and put it in my HTPC for fast booting).

Finally, I noticed an issue that turns out to be present on both 17 R3 laptops: when I have the DPI LEDs enabled on my Logitech G502 Proteus Core wired USB mouse and it is plugged into a left-side USB port, a tone can be heard from the speakers while sound is playing (and shortly after), even if I mute the speakers. This corroborates a report in another thread here from someone who experienced similar issues when plugging a USB HDD into the left side ports (but not the right side ones). I guess Dell/Klipsch/Creative did a bad job of shielding the sound hardware from USB line noise . I may try putting a USB hub in the middle, but the only thing I have handy right now is a Logitech G15 keyboard (newer model) which ironically doesn't supply enough power to the Logitech G502 mouse!

TODO list:
- Backup anything I want to save from the 850 EVO in my defective laptop.
- Replace 850 EVO in defective laptop with stock 1TB SATA.
- Replace 1TB SATA in new laptop with 850 EVO.
- Migrate Windows from stock SSD to 850 EVO.
- Stress test GTX 980M GPU, including 3DMark and Fallout 4 (and maybe DX:HR since the defective laptop died quick on that too).
- Factory reset defective laptop.
- Return defective laptop (Dell screwed up and didn't send a return label with the new one, but made up for it by proactively emailing me a copy).
- Finally enjoy new laptop after almost 2 months?

 

I have that little backlight bleed too at the same spot. But it is not much noticeable.

That SSD is probably PM951 which is the reason for the low speed.
Read: 600 Write: 150 according to here: http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/products/flash-storage/client-ssd/MZVLV128HCGR?ia=831

For slower boot time, Uninstall everything related to kionix from control panel as well as device manager and tick the check mark to remove the driver when asked in the device manager. Then reinstall the driver provided from the dell website.

Samsung magician works for me only in AHCI mode. You might want to try that. First check safe mode from msconfig. Enter AHCI mode in bios and boot into safe mode. Install samsung nvme driver latest version 1.1.Then uncheck safe mode(msconfig from run). And restart again in AHCI and see if magician recognises it.

 

hey man.do you think I should disable my integrated graphics card? does disabling It gives me a performance boost? and should I update my bios to the latest version? I'm still at the stock bios when I received the laptop. does the bios affect performance of the laptop as well?

 

I think it makes sense to update to the latest BIOS, but have a check in forums and on the Dell website as to what the changes are & if you want those changes. Disabling integrated graphics? I'm not sure, I didn't know there was an option to do that in the BIOS of the R2/R3 - historically you can get a small performance boost by disabling integrated graphics, and if your laptop is anything like mine then you'll be able to overclock the screen after disabling integrated graphics - I'm running at 78Hz (increased from the stock 60Hz), which means that my screen is now capable of showing 78fps faithfully. (You overclock the screen by going into the NVidia Control Panel and creating a custom resolution with the higher refresh rate - can only overclock the screen when integrated graphics has been totally disabled.)

 

It claims to be a CM871 in BIOS and Windows device manager. EDIT: This has much worse specs: http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/products/flash-storage/client-ssd/MZ7LF128HCHP?ia=831

On the subject of hard drives, the stock 1TB SATA is a different manufacturer in my replacement laptop; I can't remember what was in the defective one, but it wasn't the HGST that's in the replacement because I've never heard of that company.

I already switched to AHCI mode because I remembered that issue. The NVMe driver says it supports only the 950 PRO.


So anyway, I got all the hard drives swapped around and used Clonezilla to clone the 128GB SSD contents to the 500GB 850 EVO. Unfortunately it refuses to boot (well, it only gives the option to boot from the 128GB), so I'm just going to wipe the 850 EVO and install to it from the Dell recovery image (provided I can get the stupid thing to download all the way - it crapped out at 3 out of 6GB).

 

There used to be a limit on the maximum allowable file size you could download in Chrome, something like 2GB, but I don't know if that's changed recently, this happened to me a couple of years ago - I used Firefox to download the large file successfully (I don't think Firefox has much of a limitation (if any) on file size downloads).

 

Meanwhile, try to see if Macrium reflect free works. It worked for me(copied all partitions successfully) when I cloned 1 TB to 950 pro.
Also try setting the boot mode to RAID and see if it boots.

 

I swapped the 128 m2 for a 950 pro, for whatever reason the bios set to raid, and even reinstalling windows fresh onto 950 after turning bios off raid hasn't led to a successful ACHI boot. So my bios is still stuck to raid, which shows in bios and boots off windows, except fact that the 950 drivers don't work except on ACHI and Samsung magician software also doesn't see on raid only on ACHI. So at the moment, and after sticking idk 12 hours into it, I'd say keep bios to raid and you shouldn't have boot problems.

 

No problems with AHCI here. My problem was that I couldn't prevent Windows 10 from booting the 128GB SSD, because the BIOS doesn't let you set boot order for individual drives, and I also suspect that UEFI may be trying to outsmart me. This is why I decided to try a fresh Dell recovery image install on the 850 EVO without the 128GB SSD installed.

Apparently Dell failed in building their recovery image though, because it doesn't pre-install *anything* Dell-related, even SupportAssist which came on the 128GB SSD (is SupportAssist any good, or just bloatware?). I may as well have installed from a Microsoft-provided ISO. It doesn't set up Dell recovery partitions or anything (just the Microsoft one). Oh well?

At any rate, I got Windows 10 Pro installed to the 850 EVO, but when I let it reboot to update the OS version, it sat there for at least a couple hours in the single-digit percentage complete range (40-49% of the copying files task). Best guess is that I rebooted before installing Dell drivers (it wasn't a partition alignment issue, as I checked that after the fact). I finally had to force power-off and reinstall (again), then installed various Intel drivers plus Samsung Magician, which unfortunately broke the install so that it goes to a blank BSOD on startup and then shuts down (grr). I've now done a to re-re-reinstall and will install drivers before rebooting. If all else fails, I guess I can go back to trying to clone the 128GB SSD in a way that works.

 

Haha, sounds like me trying to get ACHI working. Way to much work and wait and don't work, then retry, then windows error, etc etc......

That's why I just finally said whatever raid mode, you win.

But Dell bios is wierd for boot selection, it's like mapping a network drive folder with Explorer interface. Totally wierd.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

I don't think I need to overclock my screen since I cant even get a 60 fps lock while gaming.. hahaha.. all I want to do now is to maximize the full potential of my gtx 970m. haha/.. haven't tried updating the bios to the latest one.. can it even affect my performace if I upgraded it to the latest version?

 

You could still turn down the details to get 78fps (or whatever you would decide/(are able) to overclock your screen to). Like I said, I don't know the specifics of the latest BIOS, you'd have to check in this thread and on Dells website as to what has been changed since the last version - then it's your decision.

 

what are safe afterburner overclock numbers?

 

Hi, sorry if this has been asked before

I have an AW17R3 with windows 10 home pre-installed on Samsung PM951 256GB SSD. How can I make a bootable recovery in case my SSD failed? Alien Respawn doesn't support Windows 10.

Thanks

 

Option 1:
Use this software http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
1. create the backup of the entire SSD( i.e. all partitions) and save this image somewhere secure atleast two different locations.
2. create a Windows PE Rescue Environment disk.( http://www.macrium.com/help/v5/How_to/Rescue/Create_a_Standard_Windows_PE_Rescue_Environment.htm)
3. In case of failure, you need to restore the image from either another windows-installed-hdd or from Windows PE environment disk which you created earlier.( http://www.macrium.com/help/v5/how_to/Rescue/Rescue_a_system_with_the_Windows_PE_environment.htm)

Option 2:
Ask dell to send you recovery media.

 

Thanks .. I will try the 1st option ..

Oh and I noticed the subwoofer option in SoundBlaster Recon3Di Control panel is greyed out. Is it not compatible with Windows 10? I can't hear the low frequency sound at all.

 

Has it ever worked upon receiving the computer? If it was greyed out upon arrival, then it could be a win 10 issue. Seems lots of people are having issues getting it to work again after a fresh install.

 

If you log into Dell's support site, you will find the option to download a factory recovery ISO from the driver downloads list for your service tag. I was able to burn this to a USB stick using Rufus and install Windows 10 Pro to a blank 500GB Samsung 850 EVO SATA SSD.

The subwoofer option was greyed out for me on both my defective and replacement 17 R3, both before and after installing Windows 10 TH2. Other people on this forum have confirmed the same thing. I don't believe that the Klipsch subwoofer is connected to a discrete subwoofer port on the Recon3Di, but rather is supposed to work via a crossover in the speaker amplifier that is external to the sound chip. I can definitely feel the subwoofer at times on my replacement laptop, but I didn't notice it on my defective one. Also, the speaker system on the 17 R3 is crap: both my defective and replacement laptop pick up line noise from the left USB ports from my gaming mouse LEDs, and someone else reported the same thing when connecting an external USB HDD to their 17 R3.

Edit: There's also no option for anything better than stereo outputs, which is a bit lame. There's no excuse to not have at least a 5.1 Dolby Digital TOSLINK optical output these days.

 

Had trouble installing the latest nVidia drivers from nVidia on my 17 R3. Something about a Virtual Audio driver refusing to install.

Turns out there's a poorly-advertised hotfix version that works: http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3832

Got Fallout 4 running on it last night. Runs like a dream on Ultra-ish settings (plus tweaks and mods)! It chugs a bit on Medium-ish quality on my old overclocked 4.2GHz Core i7-860 + AMD Radeon HD5870 box, so the upgrade is very exciting.

Edit: I should mention this was after the Windows 10 TH2 update took forever to install. I let it do its thing while I went to work, so I didn't have to wait.

 

hows AW17 R3's FHD display?
is it bad as AW15 R2's ?

 

Dunno how it compares to the 15 but from what I've read its hit or miss on the 1080 screen. Some complain it's not bright enough.

 

I got a 17 r3 with a FHD screen.. just fine.. its bright enough and no discoloration.

 

The problem with the 1080p is not that it's not bright enough at the high end, but that it's too dark at the low end. Looking at the LCD test images on lagom.nl, I can't differentiate among most of the darkest row of blacks. Otherwise it's a great monitor with perfect sRGB gamma. Looks a bit strong on the green, but I'm probably used to badly-calibrated monitors.

In other news, I'm feeling like the macro keys on my 17 R3 are pretty useless. The TactX software apparently doesn't let you set the keys to auto-repeat, which sucks because I'd like to use the macro keys to simulate mashing the E key in Fallout 4 in order to quickly hoover up items. I do this all the time on a Logitech G15 keyboard...

 

I have it on my 17R3 and its good. It's advertised as 300 nits, comparing to my XPS13 (UHD) and 13R1 (FHD), I would say its just as bright. Color reproduction is comparable to the 13R1, which is good.

All in all I like the FHD and glad I got it instead of the UHD version, no scaling is great, its a pain on my UHD XPS 13.

 

I've seen this review http://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-15-R2-Notebook-Review.153808.0.html
stating it has bad response times. Can anyone confirm or deny this? I've heard some say that if you go for the 4K display you won't have those issues. Which seems a bit odd. Any input on this?

 

I haven't tested my 4K display or anything, in terms of response times. But I haven't seen flicker or anything that would represent any issues, to the eye. As for the brightness levels, the 4K screen is really bright. In my bright office, brightness is at like 50%, at home it lowers down a bit sometimes. In bed, as I type this, I have to have it on battery power and 0%, its to bright otherwise. 0% while plugged even gets a little bright. Hope this helps.

 

Just order mine today. With specs:
-17.3 inch UHD (3840 x 2160) IGZO IPS Anti-Glare 400-nits Display
-16GB Dual Channel DDR4 2133MHz (8GBx2)
-NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 980M with 8GB GDDR5
-Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1
-512GB PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)
-Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700HQ (Quad-Core, 6MB Cache, up to 3.5GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
-Premium Support, 1 Year

All for $2298.66, is it a good deal ? Or it is normal price ?

 

Brand new? Or Refurbished?

Are you in the US? Today I've noticed that they've discontinued the UHD w/ i7-6820HK model.

..and yes that's a pretty solid deal. Congrats on the new toy!

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

@sphinxx you may be able to get a better SSD for the price elsewhere, but make sure to get an m.2 drive unless you want to use up the only SATA slot in the system

On Black Friday w/employee discount program I paid about USD$1700 for 1080p screen, 16GB RAM, GTX 980M 8GB, Killer NIC+BT+Wifi, 1TB 7200RPM SATA, Core i7-6700HQ, 1 year support + accidental damage. I bought a 500GB SATA Samsung 850 EVO SSD for $150, which is half what Dell wanted for a similar sized drive. Looks like your specs are similar except for the screen.

Edit: Update on the auto-repeat keyboard macro: I gave up on TactX and used AutoHotKey to macro one of the mouse buttons on my G502 mouse. Turns out that Logitech doesn't have auto-repeat options on their mouse macros either for some reason (WTF?).

 

It's brand new. Thank you.

Whoa, how many % off is the employee discount ? Such a nice deal.

BTW, I just read 30 pages from this topic http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/980m-8gb.784889. It seems every 490-BCZG number part is 980M 4GB not 8GB. My order shows:
-1 490-BCZG NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 980M with 8GB GDDR5

Should I worry about this ? What is your number part for 980M 8GB ?

 

Something in the 10-15% range, but I managed to get it to stack with the Black Friday deals.

Both my defective laptop and its replacement had 490-BCZG parts that were 8GB. Unfortunately it was that very part that was defective, necessitating the replacement. It worked out well, though, because the replacement has a i7-6820HK CPU (and an embarrassingly slow 128GB Samsung m.2 SSD).