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

It's not a "Dell" thing it's an "intel" chipset is in charge" thing. You can't connect the display directly to the dGPU and still have an iGPU, and if they removed the iGPU they are removing the share of buyers that are only casual gamers and still care about battery life.

Alienware is a "gaming laptop for everybody" company now, not a "gamers only" company.

 

Still dealing with my excessively low pcmark score. Cinebench is normal so I think I can rule the cpu out. My ram timings seem pretty lousy though. 15-15-15-36. Is that what you all have? Maybe this is the norm for ddr4?

 

Although I definitely see where wanting only raw performance from a $2000+ gaming laptop. I bought my AW17R3 as a 17" 4k, vm/editing/workstation machine, with great battery life. Without the battery life, I wouldn't have even considered this laptop.
If you look at the Asus G751's now with the gsync screens, that's all 100% dGPU. Battery life 3 hours of minimal screen and no usage, and 1-2 hours of light usage.

 

Everyone has that DDR4 has loose timings compared to DDR3.

 

Here is detailed info on the RAM in my first 17 R3, which was exchanged due to a defective GPU:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/posts/10164431/

 

Thanks. Ok So now I'm stumped. Pcmark is just over 2800 and I have no idea why. I've tried everything I can think of software wise. It's not the ram, and probably not the CPU. Any other thoughts as to what it might be?

 

After three botched motherboard replacement I was finally approved for a system exchange. I was informed that this process takes a week and system configuration would be emailed within 2-3 days. It has now been 2 weeks and I have yet to receive a system configuration and the god damn exchange manager keeps responding to my emails with some bull **** computer generated responses. **** alienware

 

It took me at least 3 weeks to get my replacement. Dell is very, very slow.

 

Why does something wrong keep happening ? After couple weeks, now my new AW keeps blue screen about DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (iaStorA.sys)
i tried the newest version of Inter rapid storage from Dell, but it did not work. Do I have bad SSD or is it just about driver ? Anybody knows how to fix this error ? Please help.

 

Could be a bad chipset.

Did you switch BIOS mode from RAID to AHCI?

What do you mean the newest driver did not work?

Edit: It could also be a bad SSD. Is it an SSD from Dell, or aftermarket?

 

Or you know, put fn f7 like the old alienware laptops to completely disable iGPU

Oh wait, that requires more money and effort for alienware!

I'm running 13-13-13-24 1T for 2400 on my x99. Does the 17R2/3 have manual memory timing adjustment?

 

I'm pretty sure you can only change the voltage and view XMP profiles.

 

Shame...

I guess you'll have to stick to higher latency ram, or buy a low latency kit.

 

Hey guys! I need some input. Hopefully some people in here might have an answer to my situation. So I changed my bios back to raid and my 950 pro is now visible in the bios and Intel rapid storage, but Samsung magician is telling me to be in AHCI mode for optimal performance. Ran benchmarks and sure enough my scores dropped in Raid mode. If I go back to AHCI scores go up but the 950 is no longer visible in the bios or the Intel rapid storage! Any suggestions or solutions?

 

Sometimes it is required to (re)install the OS while in the preferred mode in order to get desired behavior.

I'm not sure about the BIOS visibility though.

 

I am a bit weary of a clean install as if I can't connect with online to the Dell site with Wi Fi I will not be able to install drivers. I mean in the old days Dell provided us with a drivers CD, now they give us zip!

 

HunterZo, how did you install drivers after your 850 clean windows install?

 

I downloaded the recovery image from Dell's web site (although I didn't notice any difference from the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft's site) and used Rufus to burn it a USB stick.

After booting the USB stick and installing Windows to the 850 Evo, I had networking support out of the box (I *think* wifi worked, but I may have had to connect an Ethernet cable?). I then used Microsoft Edge browser to visit the Dell support page for my service tag and download all of the drivers.

If you're worried, you could always pre-download all of the drivers and burn them onto a second USB stick or USB drive. Alternatively, if you have networking issues post-install, you could use a second computer to reformat the installation USB stick/drive, download drivers, and put them on the stick/drive, then connect the stick/drive to the laptop.

 

What was your original computer and did they send you the same one back?

 

Original computer was ordered from their web site on Black Friday, and was the same as my new one (in my signature) EXCEPT for having a i7-6700HQ CPU and no Dell-provided SSD. So basically I got an upgrade.

In my case, I think the fact that I ordered the 8GB GPU with something lower than the i7-6820HK CPU meant that they had to make a custom motherboard, and that they botched the GPU install (or installed one from a bad batch). When they set up the replacement order, I think they tried to grab me a retail kit with i7-6820HK + 128GB SSD + wireless XBox 360 controller; unfortunately it had Windows 10 Home instead of Pro, however, so they had to re-do the order. Fortunately they kept all the same specs (plus the controller lol) but got the Windows edition correct, so I'm happy with the outcome (other than the time it took to resolve things).

Every step of the way took days or weeks of time time: waiting for initial order, getting the GPU issue remotely diagnosed, finding out that the i7-6700HQ + GTX 980M 8GB combo was not in stock, setting up an exchange, re-doing the exchange order, and finally waiting for the replacement. I even had to drive to FedEx to pick up the replacement because they just stuck a note on the door and left without ringing the doorbell!

The good news is that they didn't make me send the defective laptop back until the replacement one arrived, and they provided a free UPS shipping label. This meant that I was able to use the defective laptop with the nVidia GPU disabled until the replacement arrived (which wasn't too bad, as the Intel GPU is better than the nVidia 8700M GT in my old XPS M1730 laptop!). I ended up dropping off the defective laptop at a local UPS store.

 

Nice, I guess all my complaing paid off as I finally got the config for my replacement. I am going from a r2 with a 4710hq processor to a r3 with with a 6820hk . Didnt manage to get the 8gb 980m still just the 4 but im ok with that. Can I use the same m.2 ssd's with the r3?

 

M2 sata drives work just fine

 

Hi guys! quick question... anybody try gaming on battery? my 17r3 is acting weird (i think). Running GTA V would freeze the screen for a second, followed by the screen dimming automatically to 0% brightness and the peripherals disconnecting. The dGPU doesn't kick-in as well and neither do the fans rev-up. I'm on performance mode in battery settings. Any ideas what's going on here? Every thing is fine when plugged in.

 

Personally I would never try to game on battery. There are tons of options to tweak, though. I think by default it even limits you to 30 FPS on battery mode.

 

Neither do I. Accidentally discovered it when i forgot to plug it in for once. Was wondering if anybody else has seen similar behaviour while on battery or is this abnormal.

 

Its abnormal. I forgot to plug in my adapter a few times and started some Black Ops3. It would run but just with a capped framerate of 30fps because of Geforce experience settings. However I do think running everything unlocked would kill the batter real fast. The battery never can give a full 180~240watt.

 

Even unlocked, it will just throttle the gpu to a frequency where the battery can handle the load. I usually just leave it at 30 since it's at least tolerable to play at.

 

Thanks for the input.. trying to play around with the settings a bit; previously had everything turned up and disabled every battery saving feature I could find (including NVIDIA battery boost) . Any idea what "Ring: Max VR Voltage, ICC Max, PL4" indicate in Hwinfo?. It seems to turn to Yes just before the PC goes nuts.

 

they're just reasons it's throttling afaik.

 

I know the r3 doesnt have the mini display port that the r2 has but can I use a standard display port cable for the usb type c connection? I have been digging around the internet for a hour and havent been able to find any information on it

 

Thunderbolt 3 stuff is still being slowly released but try to keep an eye out for adapters like these. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B019F...+3+adapter&dpPl=1&dpID=41mnepz7xFL&ref=plSrch

Of course the prices and availability will get better over time.

Apple might also sell an adapter considering they were the first to offer the port.
Edit: nm, I always assumed the Macbook had a thunderbolt port but apparently it doesn't

 

Just got my system replacement in and wow the R3 is a lot better then the R2. Only issue I have is the 512 gb ssd takes a full minute to boot up windows. Kind of odd for an ssd

 

Has anybody had any experience in upgrading their FHD screen to 4K? I would like to do this but don't know where to source the parts? Is there anyone that can help with model/part numbers? Thanks alot

 

Item number for the uhd is NW6C8. No idea where you can get one though

 

Thank you

 

Dell cheaped out on the SSDs. The 128GB Samsung m.2 SSD that came in mine doesn't really boot any faster than the 1TB SATA HDD that they ship. I clean installed to a 500GB Samsung 850 Evo and it boots in about 10 seconds.

I'm not sure what I will do with the 128GB. Maybe put it in another machine, or install Linux on it.

 

Yea I think im going to just do a clean install on my evo or possibly buy the 950 pro

 

Then there was something wrong with your install. my original 120GB SSD boots in under 10 seconds. There is a difference in knowing if a company "cheaped out" and knowing when there is an issue with your system. You clearly don't know how to tell the difference. Even the slowest of SSD's will be faster than a HDD.

 

Kionix free fall sensor is the culprit of slow boot time in the latest alienware. Try updating the driver. It should fix the bootup time. PM 951 is great. Mine boots up in about 10 seconds. That's more than sufficient from the 5 min bootup time on my old PC!

 

Can anyone clarify if the 17 R3 m.2 slots are actually pcie 3.0 x4 ? I've heard they are not. Are they SATA? Or was there a bios update recently to enable the faster mode?

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

 

Well I'm going to RMA mine since the lighting on the lid is non-functional but I wanted to check another thing with you all first. When your fan spins up and stop, does it make a light whistle or whirling noise? I've seen others post about abnormal fan noise being the norm with this model but I've never read anyone's actual description of it.

 

Yes, the interface is PCIe Gen 3x4. Dell provides Samsung PM 951 whose form factor is M.2 and interface is PCIe Gen 3x4

Samsung PM 951 512GB - http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/products/flash-storage/client-ssd/MZVLV512HCJH?ia=831

P.S. - I do not understand why people just say "They are not! They have SATA interface" before even researching about the SSD! Don't heed for such claims. Above link is your proof

 

Yeah I hear conflicting things. Ive heard only the first slot is, or that the Samsung software is using ram to speed things up (I forget the mode). It gets a bit confusing and it's too bad Alienware doesn't provide a clear spec (that I can find). Mind you I do not have the R3 yet as I am waiting on an order. I was considering buying the 256 GB Samsung 950 Pro M.2 NVM Express. Comes with a 5 year warranty which is nice.

Edit: Confirmed that NVMe-PCIE support was added in bios version 1.2.2 (A03).

 

Thanks dude. Solution worked like a charm

 

The part you guys are missing is that Dell gave me a CM871 128GB, not a PM951. Just look at the difference in benchmark scores:
http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hdd.php?hdd=SAMSUNG+SSD+CM871+M.2+2280+128GB&id=10205
http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hdd.php?hdd=Samsung+PM951+512GB+NVMe&id=10515

My 850 EVO is somewhere in the middle:
http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/hdd.php?hdd=Samsung+SSD+850+EVO+500GB&id=8742

 

Yea I would say you got screwed a little on that

 

You can call dell and they will send you screws. Thats what I did with the older R2 that had 4 m.2 slots

 

Wow that one is bad. I didn't even get a Samsung though, I got a Lite-On.

 

Yup, mine does that as well. A low pitched whistling kinda noise when its revving up or down. Seems normal enough I'd say as its not a mechanical noise, which would indicate faulty bearings or something. Unless I'm completely wrong of course!

 

I also get that slight whistling noise as the fans spin up, completely normal.