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

Yeah, I could possibly be more canny.

Well Ebay is probably a stronger thing here than in the US, in general we are less suspicious of Ebay and Craigs List is just not a used thing at all.

In general once I own a laptop I own it to death. This is partly due to not wanting hassle, it is partly not wanting the hassle of sorting through the mass of crappy data and reset the laptop. However I reckon I will be going to NAS and keeping the next laptop relatively clean, so moving on the hardware and upgrading more might (and should) be the way I go.

 

I actually reckon if we were neighbours our expectations and outlook would be very similar. The only reason that I am, like, totally Ultra about all this now is because I am about to commit to the purchase and the Asus G74sx is so... rubbish (stuttering and low fps). But this might be due to some kind of damage, or driver issues (I have tried clean installs, etc), maybe even OS upgrading. But I still have to take that experience into account as I move forward...

 

Yeah, our outlooks are inevitably colored by our own experiences, and rightfully so! I hope whatever you decide on will last longer than you expect.

 

Guys I have a question! I am thinking of buying a second Samsung 950 pro 256GB to install in my 17r3 and to set up Raid 0 for the two. Has anyone here done this successfully and any tips and how to get it done? Will the fact that slot one is X4 and slot two X2 reduce performance?

 

I wouldn't recommend it for regular sata ssds, let alone pcie ones. My experience had shown there is zero real life difference you will notice. My boot times were actually slower on my gs60 so I ended up reverting back.

 

Both work work at speed of slowest connection. So both at x2. That's at best, you still have normal raid loss's to take into account as well.

I've seen it done a few times, with read/write speeds barely better than single, 4k a tad better. Not worth the risk of raid for me.

Plus, 950 heat up quick and use more power than most, having two to barely work faster than 1,mmm.

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Thank you for the input! Not a very good idea it seems!

 

Yea, I mean if the 950's weren't blazing fast, it 'might' be a good idea for some. But the fact they are single handily great, there's not much making them better.

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You are right! There is no need to go for extreme benchmark scores. I will invest in upgrading my memory instead!

 

I take it people have heard about new pascal mobile GPUs coming down the pipe from Nvidia:

http://wccftech.com/nvidia-pascal-gpus-geforce-mobility-june-2016/

AMD will also have new mobile cards. I wonder how long it will be before Alienware have them?

Just got my 17 R3 so I'm a little regretful about the timing, but I did buy the amplifier as well. Hopefully the new cards can perform well with that. VR is really driving things forward.

 

Hi guys, I was just browsing the manual for my Alienware 17 r3 and came across this info about the battery:

8 cell lithium-ion 92 WHr
300 discharge/charge cycles

Wha?! 300 discharge cycles?

I've already mowed through 15 charge cycles in the month I've owned it. Has anyone looked into a reliable backup battery backup/replacement? I don't want to be SOL in a 18 months once this doesn't hold a charge like it used to. This laptop holds the best charge I've ever experienced in a laptop. It's strangely sad to think that some day in the near future I'll be tethered to the AC adapter...

All of the batteries I've been able to find on Amazon and Ebay are for the 17xr3, not our newer 17r3 models.

Any advice you have is greatly appreciated, thank you!!

 

FInd the battery parts number and search with that. I found plenty for my AW15.

 

My review on the r3 here, if anyone is interested: http://www.ultrabookreview.com/10190-dell-alienware-17-r3-review/

 

Hey rinneh, how do you think I should do this? take the laptop completely apart? Or just continue to google it as I have been doing?

 

Google a disassembly and check on the photos. You need to remove the palmrest on your laptop to be able to check this for yourself. Might be just too much effort. YOu also can mail www.parts-people.com they are very hellpful and stock various Alienware batteries.

 

Pretty good review.

One thing that should be mentioned going forward is that VR is not an option for Optimus laptops like this one... but that this laptop can support it with an Amplifier. I have a DK2 and confirmed that the laptop without amplifier does not work (in direct mode). I have the amplifier as well but I am holding off buying a card until June or July.

Can you clarify the amplifier "version" being different on this laptop than from the 17 R2? Are you referring to pcie 3.0 x4? I'm not sure what you meant.

A benefit of the amplifier, besides the speed boost, is moving heat production off of the laptop. This will help prevent any possible cpu throttling due to heat and improve long term wear of components.

I agree the sound for a laptop is really nice. I have the 1080p screen, but even that is also quite nice. The look of the laptop is as good as I can expect from a gaming laptop. I have not seen the Razer in person so that may have an edge in that department. I was hoping for a chiclet keyboard but this is fine. Good key feedback.

I've cranked things up in a couple of games (Elite Dangerous and the Vanishing of Ethan Carter) and there was no issue. Going to do some detailed measurements when I get time.

I love that they have m.2 slots (support for nvme). I put a m.2 950 pro in mine and the speed is pretty crazy.

 

Yeah, I was going to ask about that here - thanks for reminding me. I inquired about purchasing one online(model 2kxy4) and the details said the amplifier was compatible with the r2. I confirmed through the reseller and they said it wouldn't work with the r3 and there was a newer version out. Is there any truth to that? They suggested I needed the 452bbrg model.

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The different docks for different aw17's have a different connecting cable.

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I have the Z01G model. Just received it and have not tried it out yet. Here's a pic of the cable connector



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I'm not convinced on the sound; I think it may be a downgrade from my XPS M1730. It seems kind of quiet and muddy (even at a volume level of 50) unless you turn on the Creative enhancements (which are designed to cover up bad speakers by altering the sound from what the game developers intended)..The subwoofer feels like a bit of a gimmick, as I can feel it more than hear it. There's also a design critical flaw in that USB line noise introduced on the left-side ports is amplified by the speakers while other sound is playing (confirmed by myself on two 17R3's and by at least 2 other posters on this forum).. Last and least, it doesn't support digital or 5.1 analog audio connections as far as I know (both of which I think were supported by my XPS M1730).

Regarding Razer, I wouldn't buy a laptop from them unless someone first convinced me that their build quality is better than that of their mice!

 

Their build quality is probably one of the best in the industry besides Apple. Every laptop I've seen from them has been really high quality. Their problem is they charge 980m/4k ips prices for a 960m/fhd tn.

 

Yeah but on the long run it isnt as durable, creaking plastic screen hinge covers, dying battery packs and they run far too hot so I dont think they can last for more years reliably when being used under load daily. Already a lot of complaints in the Razer subforum, which doesnt say a lot perse since people complain faster than posting their good experiences. But there is a panel. 90c+ under load doesnt portray good build quality and shows bad design. Gigabyte has the same issues with the P34 series

 

Razer has dropped in quality in the past few years. It was surprising to see the lack of QC on their newer products. I was quite disappointed.

90C is unexceptable no matter how you look at it. Some things like poor QC and Engineering can not be justified.

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

I think anybody buying a thin gaming laptop expects to see sound 90C. Otherwise they are misinformed. Making a thin laptop isn't a bad design, it's designing towards a niche. There's really no way around it and the thinner they are, the more cooling issues they will have. Regardless, there is a very large market for them and people are buying.

As for build quality, I'm not talking about qc issues. Everybody has qc issues, including Dell and even Apple. I'm talking about ergonomics and structure, which I consider Razer to be pretty good at. Their keyboards always worked well, they round all the sharp corners, and the track pads are above average. And when I close the lid and pick it up, there's little or no flex and no gap between the palm rest and screen. These are qualities I look for when addressing build quality.

As for creaking plastic parts, I have no idea what laptop those people are using. The last two Razer laptops I've handled were all metal and glass. Maybe they are talking about the first one?

 

I handled the 2015 model but I didnt decide to buy it after all the troubles I came across and the temperatures it runs at. Regarding the plastic, I mean that plastic cap that covers the hinges, it always feels like that part is not really secure and when you touch it it cracks often, a bit similar to the unibody macbook cracked plastic screen hinges issue.

Thin is nice, but not if it comes with no durability to speak off. I have nothing against BGA systems, hell I am using one. But it is a total difference in a system like the Razer Blade, the solder balls inside the flipchips will be damaged fairly quickly and thus render those systems useless. The thermal stress off going constantly from room temperature all the way up to 95c back to room temperature on a regular basis is a real chipkiller. They should have made a 15inch version which also has 2mm more thickness for good cooling and enough space between the CPU/GPU and battery for it too be really reliable and a stunning machine. Now it is in my opinion just flawed and overpriced for the reliability you get. Money isnt the issue for me, but if i spend that much amount of money I want a perfect machine. Not one big throttling compromise.

 

Yeah, I just jumped off the thin wagon actually. I think in a couple years I might get back on but who knows. I had my GS60 about 18 months though, and while it was light and thin, it came at a price. For starters, even after repasting, my temps were 80-85C. The battery and speakers were also so small and were pretty much garbage. I dealt with it a while but I'm better off having a nice gaming laptop and an Ultrabook for travel, rather than combining the two. This is all after trying out them all too: Razer Blade, GS40, Aorus x3+, P35X. All of them have the same issues, but I will admit the RB stuck out in terms of durability when comparing them all. But you're right though, compared to much larger, heavier machines there isn't much of a comparison in terms of build quality.

 

I followed up with a Dell rep today regarding the battery life on our sexy, sexy 17R3s. He/She says:

"For the typical user, noticeable reduction in run time generally will be observed after 18 to 24 months which is 300-500 discharge/charge cycles. Batteries are expected to last around 18-24 months until it is recommended that you replace them."

The Battery part number of the Alienware 17 R3 is 5046J and costs $89.99.

The rep confirmed that it's best to buy the battery when you need it, and not to stockpile and store them.

 

Yeah, batteries don't like just sitting on a shelf for years. Best to wait until it starts to wear.

 

The razers are regarding build quality better than Gigabyte's offerings for sure. Never had such a bad laptop as with the P34Wv4 unfortunately.

 

Yep, after bumping into you in the P34w v3 forum and having various issues myself that resulted in a replacement machine, I also jumped ship..... Kinda funny we picked the same laptop....Twice!!

Funnily the P34w v3 replacement is sat next to me, sealed and recently sold on eBay. Can't wait to be rid of this "Saga". Will be dropped off at the post office shortly!

 

Haha i know right, in my opinion really the only solid choice. I did love the diea of the P34Wv3 but after tested 3 of those in the course of 4 months and only having issues I felt I could never be happy with it. Never saw a battery degrade so fast (from 0.7% wear to in the end fluctuating from 6 to 8% in weeks) and a laptop bend while transporting it in a laptop sleeve inside of a padded laptop bag.

Very happy with the Alienware till now. Too bad of a botched replacement job from a technician but they handled it extremely well with a R2 replacement and a spec bump.

 

New drivers released by Dell:

• nVidia: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=KN7FF
• Killer Ethernet: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=3V8FP
• Intel Thunderbolt Controller: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=JM6H1
• Killer Wireless: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=RJ21G

The Killer driver version number appears ancient compared to what's available on Killer's web site.

The nVidia driver version *might* be 359.40, which is also old. I just installed 364.51 a day or two ago.

 

Hello guys. I just dont read thread about half a year.

Something change about best bios for R2 with 980 and 4980 + 240w PSU? I still use A00 bios?

 

I honestly never check the drivers at the dell siteand just download the latest from the nvidia, killer website etc.

 

That's what I've been doing too.

I've gone back and forth on the Intel GPU drivers though, because they tend to crash a lot.

 

Turn automatic driver updates off in windows 10. THis fixed a lot of my driver issues with the Intel GPU drivers. Windows constantly installed their version of the driver which made my system unstable.

 

I can see that happening given how slowly Dell releases drivers. I'm currently using manually-installed February drivers from Intel's site, and it doesn't look like they've been overwritten.

 

Anyone see this? Scroll down to the game stats (1440p) for a Razer Stealth..

http://fudzilla.com/news/graphics/40183-amd-announces-xconnect-technology-for-external-gpus

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I like it. It's kind of the reason I bought this laptop and the only reason I haven't bought the aw amplifier yet.

 

Yeah but you can bet that Dell will lock it out at BIOS level so that it doesn't encroach on the AGA sales.

Also, the performance over TB compared to the propriety AGA interface would be pretty much the same with both using 4 PCIe lanes...

 

Going to correct myself here. I got the laptop working with Oculus runtime 0.8 without needing the amp. This is just demos mind you. The performance will still likely be poor for anything remotely demanding though. Will try and see.

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I'm so glad you're here toron_dude! I've been considering the same technology this week. I've decided I'm buying the HTC Vive for the room scale capability, and have been wondering about a graphics amp for this laptop (AW 17r3) and VR. What are your thoughts on hooking this up to either the Alienware Graphics Amp or the above-linked AMD XConnect to play smoothly on the HTC Vive? My only alternative right now is a tower sporting an i5-4690K and a GTX 970... just scraping along at the the recommended specs, but enough for a good Vive experience? I just don't know! Do you know these kinds of things?

 

I have the AW Amplifier but have not used it yet. I'll stick a card in it when it's time. Currently the 17 R3 plays anything I want at 1440p. I will say that cranking the Vanishing of Ethan Carter up to max settings slows things down a bit, although I haven't measure fps. I'll try that tonight.

To play modern games with VR you're gonna need an external GPU. The AW amplifier is a fine product for this. Almost everything I've heard is good. You probably will have to shave off 10% of the performance you'd get in a desktop, but still very good. It'll be interesting to see what the performance will be with newer cards. I'm thinking asynchronous capabilities of Direct X 12 are only going to help get more out of the amplifier, but I guess we'll see.

The Xconnect is not out yet and it might be a while until it's ready. Probably will be similar results to the AW amplifier, although I haven't examined it too much. The Xconnect likely won't work with the current AW laptops. I'm expecting there will be a refresh of AW laptops later in the year. Not sure if AMD will be available on the AW laptops. Seems like Nvidia has had a pretty tight hold for a while. Whether you'll need AMD on the laptop for the xconnect is again something I don't know. I don't think so, but AW as a company would have to be willing to work with AMD.

I tried some more demos with Oculus last night and so far the 980m on the laptop is working well. Back to Dinosaur Island 2 was amazing. The best thing I've seen yet. Graphics were very good and everything was very smooth (on a DK2). Watch out for The Solus Project though. It made me nauseous, because of the controls I believe. Probably can be adjusted to alleviate that.

 

Wow, so it sounds like demos on the Vive and just the 980m on the laptop could be possible. I have a dedicated tower at home and I'll most likely be upgrading to the 980ti soon anyway, but good to know nonetheless! Thanks

 

Hello,

I'm thinking of buying the 17 R3... I have an m17x R3 from back in 2011, but it's not doing so well anymore.

Basically I have 3 questions...

Does getting the 980m over the 970m make that big of a difference in 1080 gaming?

Does getting the 6820HK over the 6700HQ make much difference, and would the 6700HQ with a 970m still give me decent results?

Finally, on the more powerful option (980m with 6829HK)... how's the noise level of the fans? I've heard the fans can get pretty crazy. If I don't have fan performance mode enabled in the BIOS (as apparently that causes loud fans ALL the time)... can I still game without damaging the innards? And, how's the fan noise level when gaming in that setting?

Many many thanks!!

 

Yes, if you plan to future-proof your purchase for the next 2-3 years, this will make a big difference. 970m is already struggling to run latest AAA titles (Hitman, The Division) at 1080p settings maxed, whereas 980m is above 40fps, according to NotebookCheck.

If your main purpose is gaming: 6700HQ is good enough for many years to come. Games are almost always limited by GPU, not CPU. So 6700HQ/970m will overall be on par with 6820HK/970m, with a few exceptions.

It is certainly audible, but cooling in these machines is very very good. You don't have to enable fan performance mode, I haven't and I'm yet to see my GPU go above 77C in any of the latest games at 1080p max settings. Use headphones and you're all set.

I have the 6820HK/980m setup, by the way.

 

I also have the 6820hk and 980m and can agree with what the previous guy said. I am already starting to see my 980m struggle a little when playing the division on an external monitor at 1440p. The fans are pretty loud but its a noise that is easy to drown out. Performance fan mode is kind of worthless in my opinion. There is no reason you should be running max fans all the time when the stock fan profiles handle heat just fine. As far as the cpu goes, I do agree with what the previous guy said, but keep in mind you can also add the AGA. So you can future proof your system even more with a 6820hk that can be overclocked to 4.3 ghz(from what I have read) and a desktop graphics card.

 

thanks for the responses! They were very helpful!

My main consideration with the fan noise level is not to annoy other people in the same room as me.

 

I play on it in front of my girlfriend all the time and she has yet to mention the fan noise.

 

I live in Jersey, Channel Islands, UK. I ordered a new AW 17 R3. The spec I ordered is i7-6820HK, GTX980m with 8GB, 4K screen, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD.


My order went in Monday lunchtime and last night it shipped from China, pretty good turnaround.

I paid £1582.49 as I got the VAT off (£316).

I went for the 1TB HDD as I planned to buy 2 Samsung 950 PRO 512GB to put in it instead, I have just ordered them on Amazon at £410 for the two, again I got the VAT off (£82)

The VAT savings have paid for the 950's

The 1TB Hitachi Travelstar is so slow. I checked benchmarks on userbenchmark.com where you can see the 4k speeds for that drive are dire on an AW 17 R3, so not much use as an OS drive. Other benchmarks for AW 17 R3 with 950 PRO are excellent.

I only got 8GB of RAM as I plan to get 32GB of fast RAM later on, the 8GB will do for now.

I'll be using it for processing astrophotography images, processing 4k video, controlling my telescope and Canon EOS (rebel) 750D, and gaming too. I'll be getting some VR kit later this year too.

I'll see if I can get RAID 0 working on the two 950's and post the benchmarks. I work as a server geek so I'm happy to mess around with things like that.

I read a lot of useful information on here prior to purchasing, so thanks everyone for the helpful contributions.