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

Hi STARION6,

If you're already running on the 500GB Samsung, fully configured and all apps running, then I would just copy that with Macrium Reflect. That will save time on reinstalling and configuring, and the 500GB Volume will go straight on the RAID with minimal adjustment, again drag and drop the partitions you want, the first 3 are the minimum but I dropped the 2 restore partitions because I don't bother with restore points (same as in the advice on the links I posted).

 

For those with the 4k screen, there are lots of free 4k images here, use as wallpaper or download several to use with the screensaver.

https://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/downloads/date/hdtv/4k_uhdtv/

 

Hello, JerseyBoy!
My 500GB is storage only! My OS in the 256GB 950 Pro! So should I re-install the OEM HDD or go another way?

 

Hi STARION6,

Did you clone the OS from the HDD to the 950? If so then yes put the HDD back in to set up RAID.

If not, grab the Alienware OS image http://www.dell.com/support/home/uk/en/ukdhs1/Drivers/OSISO

Put the image on a bootable USB formatted as 'UEFI only' with Rufus. This will allow it to boot from USB with UEFI and Secure Boot enabled, as you need those settings to be able to see the RAID set. Once you have put the image onto the USB, add the unpacked INTEL RST driver to it, as you'll need to add that to see the RAID set.

I usually prefer a clean Windows image but there were bits of AW software missing and then the OS wouldn't accept the activation code from the processor, so getting the OEM instalation is a lot less hassle if you can't do a cloning of it.

 

Hello JerseyBoy! Thank you for your advice! Actually, I did a clean windows install using ISO image on 16GB USB stick. I have done this a few times but never had a problem with activation code. At least for the US model, it must be in the bios or something else! I believe my mistake was not to install the INTEL RST driver during the process so my bios are not seeing my 950 Pro nor is my INTEL RST. However my Samsung Magician software works perfect.
You are correct when you say bits of AW software are missing: Lost my original Alienware background wallpaper and have not been able to get it back!

 

Actually, Windows 10 was even able to self-activate after a reinstall even on my Acer Aspire Revo AR3610 nettop that I use as a home theater PC, although I may have logged into a Microsoft account on both installs just in case. Probably Windows 10 reports any unique identifiers it can find from your system configuration (NIC MACs etc.) to Microsoft and stores it in a giant database.

 

Hi STARION6 / HunterZ0,

As far as I know the activation code is held in the UEFI firmware chip on the motherboard. I used ShowKeyPlus to see the activation code and product details, the code I had was for a version ending in AAOEM so is the OEM copy, the one I downloaded didn't like the activation code, I downloaded Win10 Single Language but maybe should have gone with multi language?

It's all very nice having a clean Win10 install but then you have to work out what's missing. It's easier to start with the OEM install and bin things you decide you don't need.

 

That's probably true for the 17 R3, but I wanted to mention that Microsoft makes activation as painless as possible on non-UEFI PCs as well.

After doing a clean install and installing all the drivers from my 17 R3's support page (or from OEM sources in some cases, like nVidia), the only thing that was missing was Dell SupportAssist (which I think I uninstalled due to issues anyway). The support page even has a recommended installation order. Dell has done a pretty good job with the 17 R3 of providing drivers and not including bloatware.

 

Hi HunterZ0,

Yes that's true what you say about Microsoft, but I didn't fancy sitting on a long phone call explaining the ins and outs of what I had done and why, costing me who knows how much just so they would give me a new code, so I just went for cloning instead, no software to install (it was about 1.5GB including the downloads from Intel and Nvidea) so no worries about which order to install them in.

I'm not sure if I'll take anything off, although I've been through the Services and disabled those not required, and taken unnecessary services off the network connections, that's the kind of tidying up that's worth doing.

 

I just follow the SSD review advice not to clone into an SSD but to do a clean install!

I agree with you HunterZ0!

 

I give you credit JerseyBoy! You really know your stuff with PC's and Software!

 

Hi STARION6,

If you prefer a clean install you might as well go for the OEM install on USB, that way all the AW software should be installed, you won't need to sit there separately installing the drivers and apps.

 

I tried installing from Dell's recovery image, and I couldn't tell the difference between it and a Microsoft install.

 

Hi HunterZ0,

That's odd, I thought it had all the drivers and apps included, it's a bit pointless offering it if you still have to install all the drivers and apps manually?

 

Yeah. I'd like to know if anyone else experienced the same thing.

I believe I got the ISO via a link on my 17 R3's drivers page that goes here: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/OSISO/

 

This was good advice. Install older drivers / Aw software in a bang. A great clean installation

 

Hi JerseyBoy! I can tell you I did one install into my 850 Evo before I purchased my 950 Pro. I used a windows recovery USB which I created from my AW original HHD, That one had the OS image plus the Dell drivers! Like HunterZ0 said, the OS image from AW does not contain drivers, thus, a manual install of the drivers from the Dell site is needed!

 

Hi STARION6,

Well that is a lazy way to offer owners an OEM restore! It would take one member of staff just a few hours to install the drivers and apps, then create a new image for owners to download.

 

Well it's so far so good with the HyperX Impact 32GB of DDR4 at 2400. The laptop did a beep-beep-beep when I first installed the Memory and I was concerned it might have an issue, but I took it out and booted with the old Memory in, no issues there. Then I put the HyperX back in and held the power button down for 3 seconds, as I read somewhere that this does some kind of reset on certain Motherboards. Anyway, the laptop booted up OK this time and advised Memory had been changed, I pressed F1 to continue and the memory was picked up (it's PnP apparently) and configured itself to the correct settings.

 

Looks great! I really like the close timings on those RAM sticks.

Plan to run any benches? Very curious to see...

Cheers.

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

Aren't you supposed to go into the BIOS and check the timing/XMP settings before trying to fully boot, or are modern firmwares smart enough to detect a RAM change and pick a default XMP profile?

 

Hi iunlock,

Benchmarks, sure

I'm going on holiday on Wednesday for 6 days, once I get back I'll be trying my SSD cooling solution and doing new benchmarks

 

Hi HunterZ0,

I had a look but couldn't see any in the BIOS that could be changed. Seems the Plug and Play works fine in this case.

 

Prema released a vbios for the 17r3 980m 8gb gpu if anyone is interested. https://biosmods.wordpress.com/aw1x-r3/

 

Is there a ui after it's installed or something? I'm curious what the sliders control and where they are controlled from.

 

You can control the sliders using afterburner or investigator. Right now you are only allowed to do 135 on the clock and 300 or something on the memory. This allows for further overclocking and also allows for more minute voltage control. I used the updated vbios when I had a r2 with 980m 4gb and had fairly significant gains on my firestrike score

 

You mean "NVidia Inspector" rather than "Investigator" I think. Last time I checked NVidia Inspector offers more options for tweaking the GPU (when it comes to mobile GPUs & modified vBIOS) than Afterburner, I'd recommend NVidia Inspector.

 

Cool, thanks! I'm most interested in the thermal slider. This thing is plenty cool enough but sometimes I like to turn up the fans to make it super cool. I just hate using hwinfo because it gets glitchy going back to auto unless I reboot. I'll have to check it out.

 

Yea sorry inspector

 

No worries, I just pointed that out so other people reading it would be able to find the right program, I also think it allows for tweaking of more variables when it comes to mobile GPUs when running a modified vBIOS's (NVidia Inspector). Voltage, Thermal Throttling Limits, Power Throttling Limits, and of course core & memory clocks - those are all the variables that NVidia Inspector allows.

 

Yea it does. I have very rarely used afterburner but I do not think you can control voltage or thermal with it. Could be wrong though as I only use inspector

 

Is it worth installing the Prema vBIOS mod even if I don't plan to overclock my GPU?

 

I would say so, but thats up to you. For you it would just disable power throttle, which you may not have any to begin with, and add thermal protection

 

Some can help the man? @rinneh You said there was not any problems with the keyboard if you gaming on newer AW models. Do you have an explanation to this? Should he try to get the keyboard swapped with a new one on warranty one more time? Or should he buy a proper gaming keyboard to his gaming laptop?
https://eu.alienwarearena.com/forums/thread/126384/technical-support-1/alienware-17-r3-key-ghosting

 

If all of the keys work on their own, then I don't see how that kind of behavior could result from a manufacturing defect. It's more likely a design defect.

You can always plug in an external USB keyboard if needed.

 

You should lend the guy 3500 so he can buy a Clevo since you're trying to be helpful. Do you actually help anyone at this point, or do you just try to antagonize people for no reason mr. pussy crusher?

 

My nickname is under my Avatar. Pussy-Crusher is more the nickname for my BGA Killer laptop. Unfortunately I have no money to lend as I am pensioner, so it's better he gets a little help from those who have the same model.

Edit: It looks like he already got assistance...

 

Ahhh, I see Pussy Crusher owner, I apologize. I figured since you were not able to offer any technical advice on the problem, perhaps you were able to offer financial assistance to rectify the situation. Good to see that he got his assistance.

 

I don't think he antagonizes people for no reason. He is part of the anti bga party and wants you to know that his computer is dominant over our peasant ones

 

I guess that's true. I mean, he did name his laptop the Pussy Crusher and all. It thoroughly intimidates me. Or makes me softly chuckle.

 

Dell is now hosting a v2 recovery image of Win10 x64 Home for 17 R3. It is larger in size (7.1GB now, ~6GB previously). Hopefully this one has Alienware specific drivers/programs preinstalled, or it may just be an updated version of Windows, I don't know. Is there any way to know what's changed, like a changelog or something?

 

hey anybody know whats the max rpm for CPU and GPU fans of a 17R3?

 

I've read somewhere they tested OK at 5000rpm, but don't take my word for it

 

Where can I find a link to that at?

 

Use your service tag on Dell support page and you will find it.

 

Which one are you talking about I have 3 options to download?

 

"Windows 10 Home 64-Bit for Dell" The middle one for me.

 

Huh, my refurb system originally came with windows 10 pro, would suck that I have to use home with this image that we don't even know includes drivers or not.

 

If you have a pro licence, it'll only activate as pro and vice versa. It should happen automatically. If not, you'll need to install pro manually and install the drivers yourself.

 

Ah so that's how it works? Thought you would need to download a pro specific image. That's good to know then.