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

I'm all for it mate Are you designing the custom pad in solid works? I've been working on my own design as well...perhaps we can brainstorm and combine the concepts....I'll PM...

It would be great to see higher OC numbers with usable temps...it still amazes me on how the 6820HK can hang with its big brother 6700K, at half the TDP....



Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

Hi iunlock,

It's all in my head plus the drawing I posted on here

I'm looked at thin plywood, now looking at aluminium wire mesh as a base for a sculpted design

 

Nice! I remember seeing your design...I think going with aluminum as a base material would be good ...

Looking forward to the progression of all this....

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

For the laptop pad I have ordered 2 rolls of aluminium modelling mesh, one fine (holes 1mm x 2mm) and one medium (holes 2.5mm x 4mm), both 500mm wide by 3m long. I'll select the best one for the job once I have them in my hands.

I am looking at shaping this and then covering it with Modroc plaster of Paris modelling bandage. I would buy some extra plaster of Paris to ensure a very smooth finish before painting.

 

Interesting, looking forward to seeing what kind of results you end up with! The cooling efficiency, plus the design & how it looks.

 

subbed!!

''My design:
Putting high pressure extractor fans at the back of the cooling pad should pull much more air through the cooling system, reducing temperatures meaningfully. This would be the most efficient cooling method even if the laptop was only on its feet, because the increased pressure enables a lot more air to be sucked through the system.

Pull works far better than push ever will in this case. People may think their cheap cooler is helping but just propping up the laptop would achieve the same result. Suction through the back has to be the way to get serious cooling working, but it will require high pressure fans.''


i believe this actually could work very well...... if the rear vents are completely sealed so as to create as much negative pressure as possible between the fins

i was toying with removing the metal grates from the back of my AW15 .... they create unneeded turbulence..... with higher pressure dust should have a harder time of latching on too

 

Hi I have the Alienware 17 R3 4k Screen 6820HK 980M 4GB... What type of battery life do you guys have? I'm only achieving between 2.5 and 3 hours.

 

That's about what I get, it's no macbook when it comes to battery life . I leave mine plugged in on my desk all day.

 

Battery life while doing what exactly? I only have a 970m, but usually get 4-7 hours of typical day use. Some heavy, some medium, and half light use.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

Im getting thise while browsing with brigthness half way.

 

4k Screen eat more of the battery. One of the drawbacks with 4K .

 

Hi ScaniaV82299,

That's a bit odd. All the reviews I've read say their testing achieved way above that for that type of use. I would contact Dell and see if they (or you) can run battery tests. They might just send you a new battery if it's a known issue.

Look at the battery benchmarks on these two reviews.

http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/alienware-17

http://laptopmedia.com/review/alien...-gaming-notebook-no-matter-what/#battery-life

 

Hi skunk1,

My cooling pad will have vents down the side and no gap underneath the edges, the vents will be covered in filter material so the amount of dust that gets sucked in should be negligible.

 

you got any mock ups yet mate...??

i wonder.........

if i was to design a cooling pad, calibrated specifically for the laptop vents on the rear.... then give it to these guys

http://3dprintdirect.co.uk/?gclid=CM2SzoPm7csCFY8y0wod6ZIPgA

(dependent on price of course)..... if measured correctly it could be a real snug fit on the exhaust area... then i could have it bellow out to an opening designed for 3x Noctua 120mm 3000rpm monsters.. SERIOUS SUCTION!!!!

then maybe add one of these to the underside to power it.....

https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=L&...=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=14892218887

standard vent grills and possibly standard fans could be removed..???? who knows possibilities are endless...

i do know the 6820hk is a VERY capable clocker........ just gotta get rid of that heat lol

 

Ten pages later and still nobody has tested a standard Coolermaster U3 (or similar) compared to proping up the back, and compared to laying flat. And really, is the dust entry concern realistic?

And Jersey, I'm guessing your mock up will have to wait at least until you actually take delivery of your computer, right?

 

Hi skunk1,

No mock-ups, I'm going straight into it

I like the 3d printing idea but for the first one I'm much more of a DIY geek! Last thing I built was a Tetris design table using glass mosaic tiles. here's a couple of pictures of it from when I finished it, hence in the garage where I made it. Seats up to 8 people.

 

Hello everyone,

So I recently purchased the AW17 R3 from Amazon (GTX 970m, i7-6700hq) and I have been having some trouble with the performance of the laptop.

I am not getting the type of performance that I expected, and have seen in benchmarks and reviews. In 3D Mark11, I only get a score of 6600 (when I should be, from what I can tell, be getting closer to 9000). I used Speedfan, HWInfo and MSI Afterburner to check the temperatures, and I think I may have gotten a bad unit (not a 100% sure though). My GTX 970M runs really hot, on idle i believe it is at high 40s/low 50's C, but when at load (say benchmark or playing BF4, Witcher 3) it hits 85-87C and therefore the GPU seems to be throttling down. I get, on Ultra frame rates of around 30/40 on BF4, high 20s/low 30s in the Witcher 3 (hairworks off), Rome 2 benchmark gives me a score of around 30FPS, and etc. The CPU runs cool though (20/30C on idle, and around 40C on load). I have the 180W PSU if that helps.

I am running the latest bios (from yesterday, A07 I believe or 1.2.12), updated by intel chipset drives, have the latest nvidia drivers (from March 28, but tested with 2 other versions as well), and etc. I also tried using fan performance mode (through bios), and it behaves really oddly. When I am not doing anything, the fan is super loud (at full power, which is expected), but for some reason the fans slow down when running something (say on 3D Mark11, the fans will slow down when its running, and on the combined test, it becomes very quiet, almost as if it is shut off).

Is there anything I can do (other than re-pasting the thermal paste, I am not comfortable opening the laptop up and potentially voiding the warranty. Given the high idle temps not sure if HWInfo's fan setting would help much (tried running at max fan speed for just GPU and didn't make a huge difference performance wise from what I can tell, but need to do more testing).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Hi tribesdude,

Did you go for the 1080p or 4k screen?

Have you tried setting fans to performance mode in BIOS and then seeing what benchmarks you get?

 

Hello JerseyBoy, thank you for your quick reply!

I went with the 1080P screen. Yeah I have tried to set the fan to performance mode in the bios. When I ran 3D Mark11 with that (as well as a few games) I had an odd thing where on idle the fans are at full speed (and super loud haha) but when I am running something the fans actually seem to slow down (and like I said in the 3D Mark11 combined test, they go quiet, which i find odd since the fans should be running at full speed on performance mode right?). The benchmark results did improve on fan performance mode though, where i got around 7xxx score (i think like 7500, but cant remember off the top of my head for sure). But that is still below the 9000ish marks that i have seen, and frankly I would prefer not to have the fans on performance mode since they are very loud at idle.

 

That fan behaviour sounds very wrong, like there's something not setup right. If I was you I'd reset BIOS to defaults, there should be an option in the BIOS to simply select an option to return everything to defaults with one simple click (at least on my old Alienware there is) - it might reset the BIOS and fan behaviour to some kind of level of sanity!

 

Hi tribesdude,

Sounds like a call to Dell support might be the best way forward. I would find the benchmarks you're quoting so that you can point Dell to them and compare with yours.

 

Yes there seems to be a bit of a discrepancy, fortunately I am an apprentice at the Dell reseller in Malta and my colleague will order a new battery for me.

 

New drivers:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=50V1T
Dell Alienware 15R2/17R3 System BIOS
Fixes & Enhancements
[BIOS]
-Can flash bios via BIOS Flash Update in F12
-Disabled Deep Sx Policy
-Update Intel MCU to Rev.0x84
Version
Version 1.2.12, 1.2.12
Category
BIOS
Release date
31 Mar 2016
Last Updated
31 Mar 2016


http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=K32CX
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di Extras Driver

This package provides Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di Extras Driver and is supported on Alienware 15 R2/17 R3.
Fixes & Enhancements
Fixes
-None

Enhancements
-Not Applicable
Version
Version 1.1.9, A03
Category
Audio
Release date
01 Apr 2016
Last Updated
01 Apr 2016

 

Did you guys update the thunderbolt firmware?

 

I've installed all updates, including the latest BIOS that just game out. No issues.

I don't have any thunderbolt devices to test with though.

 

I would try a re-spawn and see if that might eliminate your issues! Also go with an SSD to keep your system a bit cooler as opposed to using an HHD! Also you should run a Dell Systems utility full check and see if it finds any problems with you PC.

 

We've got a 17 R3 6700HQ/16gb/970M/256gb SSD that has been getting a blue screen "Bad Pool Header" crash pretty consistently while playing games. These aren't heavily demanding games....it's happened multiple times while playing Stardew Valley and then a few other relatively low requirement games. I've done a reset of the laptop and that didn't seem to help, I've also done a memory check and it states that everything is fine.

Any ideas?

 

Are you running the latest drivers and BIOS/firmware for everything?

 

Try downloading the killer driver from their website and update the Intel Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework Driver. A lot of people are reporting that this is an issue with dell support assist

 

Hi mva5580,

Try following the guidelines here:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...l-header/48dd0612-00f5-4f6c-ba97-3f6cc34dc947

 

I just spotted a company selling the AW 17 R3 battery, which is handy if you need a spare to work away from mains power a lot. I found the list of compatible laptops rather interesting. 30% off right now. UK store.

http://www.ebatterys.co.uk/148v-92w...battery-for-dell-alienware-17-r3-p-43883.html

 

Is it easy to swap out when you need more power on the go? Like one or two clicks and you replace the battery. As it can be done with most other laptops? On my Aw17 I must loosen two screws to replaced the battery. Or the best dont use those.

 

I had this problem too. I helped to update the program SupportAssist to a new release.

 

Your SSD is currently using RAID (even if RAID isn't enabled). The iastora.sys driver is causing your issues. Change the setting for the HD's in your bios to AHCI and reinstall.
This solves your problem (even if you have to reinstall the boot drive).

I had the same problem on my daughter's 15r2. Changing the SSD to use AHCI instead of RAID solved that. If you want, you can download the bluescreen viewer and check for yourself. You'll see that most often the driver responsible for the crashes is iastora.sys.

 

not need to do a reinstall if you boot to safe mode and install the samsung nvme driver.

 

This looks like a potential winner. 32GB 2400 CL14 RAM.

http://m.dabs.com/products/kingston...of-2--hyperx-impact-hx424s14ibk2-32-BZN9.html

Someone on Amazon used the 16GB 2133 CL13 version in the AW 17 R3 with good results. Part of their review is copied below.

"Got about 10-15fps boost in my skyforge game in 4k resolution, worth the money but I will say like I did in my crucial m.2 sata 6gb ssd review. I got about 20-25 fps boost in 4k from those ssd's in raid 0 after installing these. So all in all, I'm now running Skyforge at about 70fps on my alienware 17 r3 laptop in 4k resolution at high settings, one below ultra. I was at about 40fps before the upgrade or about 60ish at medium settings."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/reviews/B014R8JRRW/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_paging_btm_2?ie=UTF8&pageNumber=2

 

interestingly enough the top critical review for that is this.... One user asked "I installed this to new alienware m17 r3 (oct 2015) and it brought me to memory_management error (blue screen of death)". I did have the same problem. Install into new Alienware 17 R3 and BSOD. I don't know which memory should I buy for my Alienware 17 R3 now.

Not hating, just thought it was funny

 

Did those with aftermarket memory BSODs try adjusting the BIOS timings to make sure that they were appropriate for the new RAM?

 

Hi HunterZ0,

I was thinking the same.

 

Potential winner? Or wait for these http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/g-skill-ripjaws-ddr4-3000mhz-so-dimms.html

 

I don't know Skyforge, but for most games you won't see an fps boost (let alone the 20-25fps quoted here!) by installing faster RAM nor by installing SSD's of various configurations. You may reduce stuttering in open world games that constantly stream data (no loading screens) when using SSD, and fast RAM can give a few (probably not 20!) more fps in games where the GPU is not the bottleneck, but that's highly unlikely to happen when running at 4K resolution so I'm a bit dubious about those claims that guy made about the amazing effect of his RAM & SSD combo. Also he talks about going from 40 - 60 fps, so that low fps does not suggest a RAM speed limitation - this is likely to happen at high fps, in the 100fps+ arena. I'd take that 'amazing' RAM customer review with a grain of salt!

 

Hi Robbo99999,

I would expect more RAM to increase frame rates where RAM was paging to disk a lot. I posted a link before on here where applications got big gains by moving to 16GB over 4GB or 8GB.

The SSD I didn't think would make that much difference to games, as once they are loaded into RAM the disk access should not be much. Maybe he's running with a crap AV that keeps scanning the hard drive while games are running?

I don't think he's up with technology, he put in an M.2 but he didn't buy NVMe, that seems pointless to me when it's there in the slot. His SSD is 550 meg/s, the stock 951 is way faster and my 950 PRO's are 5x faster. A wasted opportunity if ever I saw one!

 

Hi Robbo99999,

Here's the link I referred to. If you get these gains on Photoshop I expect you would get similar gains on games and anything else memory intensive. That guys gains are more likely to come from going 8GB to 16GB than the speed increase of the RAM.

http://www.gavtrain.com/?p=1569

 

Another case of HyperX Impact working with the 17 R3.

http://www.newegg.com/global/in/Product/SingleProductReview.aspx?ReviewID=4501198&Item=20-104-586

 

It's here!!!!!!!!!

(Making use of the spare table, it's not going to live there)

 

THe speed of ram actually doesnt matter at all except if you run the iGPU and then memory speed becomes its bandwidth. But for games on the dGPU? It doesnt matter.

 

I see HiDevolution offer the option of HyperX Impact at 2133 or 2400 installed in the AW 17 R3. I guess that must mean it works OK.


Alienware 17 R3-HID43 - 17.3" FHD w/ nVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M

• Kingston HyperX Impact 16GB Dual Channel DDR4 at 2133MHz (2 x 8GB) - installed by HIDevolution +$160.00
• Kingston HyperX Impact 16GB Dual Channel DDR4 at 2400MHz (2 x 8GB) - installed by HIDevolution +$180.00

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...-970m-17-3-fhd.html+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

 

Why should not these work? Work on other machines.

 

8GB is currently enough RAM for almost all games out there at the moment, the only game I know of that needs more than 8GB is Batman Arkham Knight on Windows 10 where 12GB RAM is recommended by the devs to help prevent some hitching. Sure thing though - in the future over next year or two we'll start needing more than 8GB RAM, 16GB RAM is sensible in a new machine bought today I think. I'd still take his results with a grain of salt, you can't expect an increase of 20fps by just buying faster & larger RAM - certainly not in most games, or in fact any that I've ever played.

Ah yes, I think I saw this demonstrated before, actually I think you might have linked this before - I'm not surprised that Photoshop could use a lot of RAM.

Oh yeah, you got your laptop back - congrats - looking foward to seeing what kind of laptop cooler you can fashion for it!

 

I've got 2x8gb of hyperx ram. Been working fine for months. Bought 2x16gb g skill this morning. Will post results in 2 days.

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