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

Hello,
I am newbie here,i just happy that i got my AW R3 last night.
But not only happy right now cause i lil bit worries about GPU or CPU throttle since my former laptop Asus N43S throttling and i cant understand why the hell my laptop was throttling is and also this is my first gaming laptop so i dont understand how to keep this alien healthy.

I am from Indonesia and in my country,there are no dell support center.like the other nation had

Enough my **** talking,
i just had a couple of question that piss me off last night


1.What should i do for avoiding GPU or CPU throttle?

2.And if my AW R3 throttling,what the proper action that should i do?

3.what should i do for checking my AW R3 ?,
since my AW R3 arrive last night
I dont install anything for my laptop and this laptop had a 7 day guarantee.so i will happy if you had proper instructions to checking anything on this laptop

Thanks for your answer guys,i will appreciated any help from all pro AW R3 users in this forum

 

I saw this on Amazon UK as well. Does it fit the 17 R3 well? I'm using a stack of coins currently to act as a stand

Don't quite understand your post here. Is your 17 R3 currently facing throttling or are you asking for tips on how to prevent throttling from happening?

 

Yes, it works pretty well. It also fits a laptop bigger than the AW17.

 

Well, check for light bleed. Run stress tests and keep an eye on the temps, if you get anything over 90C you would need a repaste or send it back as you might experience some throttling in the future.

To be honest I think everyone one should do a re-paste in the AW17. I already got the new paste, I'm getting prepared to tear it down and repaste, it's complex for who never opened a laptop this complex before.

 

I actually have the same laptop as you, N43SM. The magic key to avoid throttle is disable BD prochot in throttlestop

You can download Prema's vbios -> https://biosmods.wordpress.com/aw1x-r3/
Avoid GPU throttle and open up the OC limitation (use nvinspector to overclock)
Flash it under safe mode and you'll be ok

Make sure you have proper ventilation, a cheap cooling pad will do. Or just simply lifting the rear of the laptop up.

Throttlestop can be used for undervolting / overclocking the CPU if you want. Though you'll need to invest some time and patience when doing so.

Check for
1. Scratches / surface imperfection
2. LCD light bleed (view a 100% black image)
3. Dead pixel
4. Run OCCT and Heaven (4K Ultra, maximum tessellation) and see your temps


If you want, we can invite you to the Skype Alienware group for further assistance.

 

Don't quite understand your post here. Is your 17 R3 currently facing throttling or are you asking for tips on how to prevent throttling from happening?[/QUOTE]

yes bro,tips for avoiding that

 

If you click on my sig where it says, "6820HK...." it'll link you to a thread that includes a lot of pictures and on the OP you'll find the link to the repaste thread guide as well.

Cheers

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BIG THANKS for your tips bro, i will test that premas's vbios too and will report it as fast as i can
Thank you

 

But in the end I suggest you return it and get your money back. Pascal is right around the corner and you don't want to waste money on a Maxwell machine.

 

Lately I have been hearing cracking like sounds when opening the lid of my 17 r3 and on the left of the palmrest edge when I put my hand on it. Anyone else having the same problem or is it only me?

 

No. Is this coming from the speaker? Try unplugging all of your USB devices from the left side, and try it with and without the power brick connected.

The 17 R3 has a design flaw in which electrical noise on the left-side USB ports gets amplified by the speaker system. LED lights on connected USB devices are especially noisy.

 

Dell cancelled my order twice and left me hanging without a reason. It was quite annoying to say the least.

 

No its coming from the plastic itself I think its the base. I never experienced this flaw you mentioned.

 

Outlet orders?

 

This is not a design flaw. this is a one off case. If havent heard any electrical noise from the usb ports ever with these machines.

 

Another person on this forum noted it before I did (he had a USB HDD plugged into a left side USB port), and I was able to confirm it with two separate 17 R3's because my first one had a bad GPU.

In my case it's a Logitech G502 gaming mouse. If I plug it into a left side USB port and turn the LEDs to full brightness, I can hear noise from the speakers.

 

Hmm...that's odd. I too use a G502 plugged into the left USB port, yet nothing (no noise).

If this was a huge issue, I think we would have a flood of users reporting it by now. Perhaps it's an isolated issue. Only two people?

Do you perhaps have other cables around the laptop or a lot of EMF interference where the AW is located?

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Hello,
Newbie here,i just got my AW 17 R2 with GTX 980m and 16 GB ram.
just want to ask here,
-what bios version and OS version are you using right now?
-are A06 and windows 10 is the most stabilize for AW 17 R2?
-and also i got 180W PSU that's i think wont enought,so i decided to try 330W PSU so it's safe to use 330W PSU ? or 240W its more wise choice ?

Thank you very much for answering my question

 

I use a g502 and I dont hear it and didnt hear it on other models I used.

Tried all USB ports. The thing is both you guys never recorded the noise. You might say it is coming from the USB and the mouse while the other was talking about coil noise that come from some laptops. I have a slight coil noise that comes from the GPU while being under full gaming load. Barely audible. But I can imagine someone else mistakes it for the problem you had. Still it is not a widespread issue that you state. SO dont call it a production/design problem.

Get the 240watt power supply. The 330 watt is not officially supported and it might cause problems with the power delivery inside of the machine which has been rated for 240 watt and not 330 watt.

 

I can only speak for myself, but in support of your suggestion of staying away from the 330W and it potentially messing with the power delivery system that's designed for 240W; the first and last time I've plugged in a 330W into my R3, it fried and wouldn't turn on.

As you could imagine, I'm extremely gun shy now of anything but the 240W.

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Is this right 240W adaptor for me?

-spec :
INPUT: 100-240V 50-60Hz
OUTPUT: 19.5V 12.3A, 240W
Connecter size: 7.4 mm5.0 mm
-Also can use in :
DELL PRECISION
M6400, M6500, M6600
DELL ALIENWARE
M17x, M17x R3

 

I hear it while the laptop is idle, and it's directly proportional to the brightness of the LEDs on my mouse. I've set the light level to a low enough level to keep the sound from being audible during normal use.

Make sure your G502 is set to have all LEDs on maximum brightness while testing for noise. Also, the internal speaker amplifier has to be running for it to pick up noise, so you will need to set volume to non-muted and >0% (noise is not proportional to the sound volume level, but the computer can over-optimize at muted/0% by not turning the amp on). After doing this, play a short sound on your laptop to activate the amplifier, and then listen for noise that continues for a second or two after the sound ends.

I hope it's a manufacturing defect and not a design defect, or else you will hate me for helping you to notice the issue.

 

Tried everything to reproduce it, but really I dont hear any noise. Not on high or low volumes. with pulsating lights or with just full brightness. Also different colors. Really cannot reproduce it.

 

Sounds like it may be a manufacturing issue then, unless we have different internal hardware revisions.

I don't expect that Dell would be able to figure out how to repair it though.

 

I've tried exactly as you've stated and nothing. All is well here...

And no you're not hated lol...

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I could imagine that the thr cable that connects that usb board withthe rest of the maunboard might have been fsulty. Broken shielding or something. Its a separate board.

 

I have a question for anyone who has used both the 17r2 and r3, 1080p versions. I thought the 1080p screen on the 17r3 was a little bit lacking, was the r2 screen any better? Or very similar?

 

How did you find the r3 FHD screen lacking? For me it looks just fine (and this is from someone coming from a retina macbook), granted it doesn't have the resolution and colour like the 4k screen, but it's not bad either.

 

Hello,
I had Alienware 17 R2 with GTX 980m.
but its just still boxed,so here i had several question before i decided to unboxed that beast

1.What bios version is more stable?
2.Windows 8.1 and Windows 10,which more stable ? ( i heard some of windows 10 user had many many issue on this laptop)
3.which nvidia driver is most stable?
4.should i do cinabench,3dmark,and unigene?

Well that's all of my question,Thank you for any help from all of you

 

as users in this forum requested a guide on custom colours has: any one give it a go? and what level of success have you guys had?

 

Hello,

BIOS: 1.2.2 or 1.2.8 ...most stable.

Windows: Subjective, but I like W8.1 Pro. Especially with that new W10 update that permanently keeps cortana there. No thanks.

NVIDIA: Stay with the earlier drivers ~v365.xx. ...newer does not mean better.

Benches: 3DMark is good. Wprime, Cinebench, XTU, etc...run them all And post your Firestrike scores.

Cheers



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So...one of the local facebook gaming groups I had a mom joined and sold her kid's notebook because he barely used it... M17 R3 256GB SSD/1TB HD 970m 16GB RAM. She thought it had a 980m and originally wanted $1200 and kept talking herself down to $800...At $800 I had to check it out. Found out it had a 970m. Still had to jump on it. Amazing deal for $800. It's in immaculate shape. On it now. Battery life is AMAZE! Started using it at 6:10PM fully charged and It's now 9:15 PM with 1hr17mins left.

Obviously I am aware of the shortcomings of these new boards not being MXM but what's the route I can go to replace the board with the 980m. I am OK with keeping the 1080p panel but the 980m would be awesome.

EDIT: Time to update my signature again

 

Because everything is soldered onto the motherboard you have to buy a new motherboard which contains the CPU & GPU of your choice - I imagine not a cheap upgrade at all! I suppose you could offset some of that cost by selling your existing motherboard/CPU/GPU combo.

 

Only GBP 499.00 + GBP 50.00 shipping aka whole £ 549 (718.26 US Dollar) but with i7-6700Hq http://www.ebay.com/itm/Laptop-Comp...357639?hash=item281ca660c7:g:1AEAAOSwSv1Xj-xk

 

...though a MXM 980M upgrade is ~$800-$900 just for the GPU, which will be outdated and outclassed once the Pascals launch. What then for dtr owners and "would want to own enthusiasts," that flex their virtual 'c _ _ k' that's becoming more and more obsolete as we get closer to the launch of the mobile 1080's?

The days are numbered and the clocks ticking for dtr owners and I sure hope we get a dtr refresh from AW or other companies come Q4 of this year. However, MXM is old news...truth hurts...

I have a feeling the tides are going to soon shift for those in the dtr world that may be forced to shift to bragging about who has the faster, "custom suit case desktop with wheels" lol... Heck I'll be down to build one.

Gaming laptop companies, please get your act together...AW wake up...we need that dtr refresh....

MSI so far seems to be in the lead for some hope with their next gen. gaming laptop. If, AW doesn't wake up...it'll be very interesting to see how this all plays out...

 

The 17R3 manages 5 hours in my case with a nice cpu undervolt + turbo disabled

Mxm upgrade ~675 usd thru @woodzstack

 

Well, that's not a bad deal (I know it's 'used' though), thought it was gonna be a lot more than that! I'm quite surprised really given the current high price of MXM 980M's.

 

L

About expected but you loose 6820Hk. The problem is a very small selection of motherboards, as well as the lack of new cards + want the motherboard with the unlocked 6820Hk. Not nice if you have to choose the low end cpu if you already had the unlocked i7. The problem will come after your warranty have expired.

 

That's more then what I charge NBR members. ($885CAD- NEW)

 

Does not ship to US. Lol

EDIT: Does anyone have the DPN on that board with the 980M? I can call and see what Dell charges and can probably get some money off of it.

 

LMAO! I have to warranty this out. The network port is busted from the factory. You have to hold a cable at an angle

EDIT: What is this? They don't do onsite repairs anymore...? What the heck? Depot only?

EDIT 2: Not this crap again. Now they are saying it's registered under some company and I have to go through the ownership transfer. Last time it took nearly a month to transfer. Ridiculous. They are also saying that there's no way the port could have "Just failed" and are saying that it was physical damage and I have to order the part and install it myself...? WTF? They gave me a DPN of 42PVR ...? These ports are soldered on I don't understand how I can replace it myself makes no sense, even if I could why are they forwarding me to a third-party company to order the part and not internal sales? This is shady as heck.

EDIT 3:

Longest...call...ever...they were able to push a transfer through right now.

 

DOnt have the part number but on taobao there are a crapload of new )not used) Alienware 15R2 and Alienware 17R3 (same) available for various prices.

I came across a baord once for around 500 euro with the HK cpu and 980M. Not a bad deal if you want to upgrade.

This one for example. In the end it shows how inflated the prices of MXM boards are. A full motherboard with CPU, GPU etc costs less https://world.taobao.com/item/533950211231.htm?spm=a312a.7700714.0.0.Su9Rko#detail

 

Looked it up on bhiner since taobao is a hassle for US. Might end up ordering one. Pretty good deal IMO...Having them send me a total quote w/ shipping. Probably be around $600...Still an amazing deal even with the $800 I paid.

 

Going to hold off on the board for a bit...Just got a sick deal from sales on a 4 year extended warranty with Accidental and onsite. Tried to get sales to PM on SquareTrade and they did the best they could came out a bit above SquareTrade. Won't post exact numbers let's just say it was under $600. Going to convert my repair order to onsite now.

 

Hi guys I am having my 17 R3 replaced and will be getting one with 6820HK 980M 8GB and the 4k screen. Anything that I should keep an eye out for?

 

They do onsite... demand it. Sometimes the reps will try and push depot.

 

Be careful when you ask for onsite repairs. They do have onsite options, but when it comes to Alienware services, they DO NOT have any trainning before to work on these machines. Last year I had a battery problem and end up with a motherboard failure after the technician onsite.

And it was pretty fast, ask the box Monday morning, it came in my door on Tuesday morning, sent the device Tuesday afternoon and Thursday morning it was in my door back. I'm not saying to do not ask for the onsite tech, but consider you might get a bad tech...

 

There was no premium support purchased on it. Now having to deal with a completely different issue. On the phone they tried to claim it was accidental damage on the ethernet port. It definitely is/was not. The previous owner didn't even have a wired connection in their house. They are refusing to honor the premium warranty I bought until they receive it and the tech says it it wasn't accidental. It's going to be pretty obvious when they get it that it wasn't accidental damage but a defect from the factory.

 

I'm sorry, but Dell warranty support isn't the problem here, and you can't say what the prevous owner did or didn't do.

 

Well the same goes for the "Depot". For one unless its an inspiron or an optiplex most techs are not trained for Alienwares or boutique computers.
Dont get mislead, the "Depot" doesnt have special Dell employees that know about Alienwares. They are contractors that repair for several companies, exactly like the onsite techs.
At least the onsite techs are next business day and I can see what they are doing and hover over them.
There are countless reports of depot repairs coming back with more issues then it left with.
You got lucky with the speed of your Depot repair. Not all Depot repairs take that long.
I could do 2 or 3 onsite tech appointments before I get my laptop back from the "Depot".
Depot = No Bueno.