*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

No, it shouldn't as he, at least according to his sig, has a GTX1080 which means GSync which mean no Intel Graphics. Thank you Dell for forcing us to GSync

 

Oh! thanks for clarifying ... I didn't catch that ...

 

5% after 2 months daily use. Never unplugged the thing. Battery drains to 94-95% maybe one out of 3 or 4 times that I play a game for a half hour or so. BIOS 1.0.9 because it gives me the best cpu performance despite effectively being locked at 3.1ghz.

 

Check Wh rating of your battery in Hwinfo. Dell uses high capacity battery instead of advertised capacity. My 15 r2 has a 96Wh battery and I noticed a wear of 4.6% and then suddenly to 7%. So now, the current capacity is 89Wh, realistically a drop of 3%. Keep observing the wear levels periodically.

 

1.2% wear level after 2 months daily use for me. I use the laptop on battery almost every 2 days. Bios version : 1.0.9

 

How good is the 120hz screen against the 4K? I do some gaming but mainly movies on the go.

 

Get the 4K


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I mean the 1440P 120hz screen just to clarify.

 

Same answer.

 

Pretty solid skin on my baby!

http://imgur.com/a/FWjwy

 

That looks wicked. Very clean.

 

Or maybe like a lot of cleaning


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I disagree

If you're gaming focused /an enthusiast I'd say go QHD 120Hz G-Sync

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If you dont care about for the fantastic viewpoints of a game like the witcher 3 or if you wish for a washed up gta iv look when playing gta v, then yeah go the the TN 120hz... I would say it depends on what kind of games you typically play. Obviously, go for the TN if you mostly play first person shooter, and dont mind staring at an unexceptional display in your everyday task activities.

 

How does Grizzly Kyronaut perform? How does it compare to LM?

Hey guys,

So I decided to repaste my stock 17R4 (#3 unit) with Grizzly Kyronaut to see what it can do and the results will surprise you. My main goal was to collect data on the temps over extreme usage. (OC, Benches, Extensive Gaming etc...)

First of all, this unit was one of the early batches so the heat sink was just a nightmare. It didn't suffer from the horrific 20C+ temp differential even when it was stock, but still, as you can see the temps are terrible, but wait, according to dell (anyone have that link to that Dell page?) 100C is within reason. *Barf* Seriously right?

Secondly, it did take some work to get it right, although it was okay after reassembling it again the first time, by my OCD wanted it as perfect as possible without having to head to the shop like I usually do to balance the heat sink, so this was all done just on my desk at home.

I've just finished up so I'll post a lot more data later, but for now, here are some screenies as an appetizer.

Interesting note, but not surprising:

+ The GPU actually runs cooler (so far) than LM by about 3C-4C. Again, so far... - My GPU on my LM'ed 17R4 after heavy gaming peaks at 57C.

+ I did a little PCH mod and the temps have dropped ~8C as well. (I've used a 1.5mm copper shim with fujipoly 11.0's to hold it in place and with a little tweaking the under black cover sits perfectly on top of it to hold it in place. It's nice and snug and it won't go anywhere.)

+ The CPU temps seem to be very close to LM...Before I make any official statement let me run some more tests and I'll report back.

_________________________________

BEFORE: After Playing Overwatch


AFTER: Playing Overwatch


AFTER: Fire Strike Stress Test


wPrime: First Run right after reassembly.


CUSTOM PCH MOD: So far it's dropped the temps ~8-10C. It's still early so I'll more a more concrete temp data shortly...


Disclaimer: You may be thinking...with these temps using traditional paste, we could be onto something here eh? Well, it's going to take a lot more than just repasting. The whole process has to be treated like you're doing LM + HS mod / fix + etc...

 

Thanks

I thought the 1070 wasn't fast enough to game on the 4K screen. I assume i can easily drop the resolution if I need to?

 

I think the 4K screen would be more suited for me. I dont game a huge amount. Worried the 1070 wont have enough grunt.

 

Well, since he stated "I do some gaming but mainly movies on the go."....4K

 

So you guys modded half the AWs in here but not your own until know?

Thanks for all the work and time you put into this, much appreciated.

 

It seems like it eh? But I own multiple units and this 17R4 is 1 of 3. Actually 1 of 4.

It's quite possible that our units were the very first to get LM'ed... Remember the first 17R4 release with the 1070?


::iunlock::

 

can anyone confirm if dell is still shipping the toshiba ssd s into aw17 or has it switched to SK Hynix ssds?? //as per recent review in notebookcheck.

 

Does anyone have the original realtek drivers that shipped with the Alienware 17 R4? Or know what are good realtek drivers on the Dell website?

I updated my audio drivers last week. I think other people have too. Of course, the drivers didn't work and I lost my audio. Reading through other threads, they were able to roll back their driver and everything was ok. I didn't find those threads until it was too late. I have applied driver after driver with no luck. I either have loud popping, left speaker will only work, or both speakers will work but the right sounds blown. It depends on the driver I have installed. The sound was great prior to updating my audio drivers.

I have spent all day trying to fix the driver issue. I even reinstalled windows 10 on my laptop and reinstalled all drivers over again, but still having the same issue. I have even installed and reinstalled the AW sound center.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

In the Alienware 17 they are shipping Toshiba m.2 ssds including kaby lake revision.

Notebookcheck reviewed the Aw15.

 

Do the Kaby Lake 17r4 models without the "g-sync enabled" designation on the website (like the UHD display) still support optimus like the skylakes, did? Or do they just NOT support g-sync, without supporting optimus either?

I'm asking because it seems very weird that they would discontinue optimus on the 15r3 Kaby Lake models ( https://mobile.twitter.com/AzorFrank/status/832998655745544193) but keep it for the less portable 17 r4.

Real bummer about the 15 dropping switchable graphics. The 17 seems like it will be too big and heavy to be portable even with optimus.

 

The a17 kaby lake does have Optimus with switchable performance gpu.

 

Does anyone know how the PCIe lanes are split up for GPU, M.2, AGA etc? I'd hate to load up on NVMe storage only to have it not function fully when done.

 

Thanks for the answer. Weird choice by Dell to offer optimus on the 17 but not the 15.

 

Hmm, can only be due to monitor they are using I guess.

I like the options for 3 key reasons:-

1) Optimus is useful 5-7 hours battery nice
2) ability to down sample 2880 x 1620 - which is great for a sharper image and low-no antianilising in games.
Also downsampling seems to work better then nvidia dsr, which seems to blur images a little.
3) more control of monitor colours / tones in nvidia control panel

 

This must be a new feature i was never able to downsample with optimus before. Im almost sceptical of your claims that you can. If you are downsampling the best resolution is always x4 the total pixels or x2 for each dimension. Otherwise the virtual pixels overlap multiple real pixels and the result is less than ideal. Also nvida has an option to blur the image when downsampling which in my opinion should never ever be used and is by default on.

 

I was highlighting what I like about the a17 flexibility to have both Optimus mode and also just switch an just use the Performance gpu.
I wasn't saying you can downsample in Optimus mode - (which you can't).

So what pixels would you recommend to downsample on a 17.3 screen? I use downsampling as it dosent blur the image and looks nicer then nvidia dsr, in mho.

 

mine came with SK Hynix PC300

 

Always 4 times the normal pixels of your screen so for 1920x1080 you downsample 3840x2160. And for 2560x1440 you downsample 5120x2880. If you use the right resolution and make sure you set the DSR - smoothness setting to 0% you will get a nice image. The DSR- smoothness setting is what blurs it.

 

So, I'm new here, but have been reading this page since Sept. Finally but the bullet and ordered a 6820/1080 1440 screen at the beginning of Jan, anyways long story short, I can't even run OCCT for more than a minute with out getting maximum core heat reached like 97-98 degrees, I really don't want alienware touching my computer and I did all the bios and graphics updates.. what are my options? attempt a repaste myself? Ugh...

Forgot to mention I just got my computer last tuesday.

and my firestrike score the things you guys run was only 12,400 seems low

 

TRIPOD FIX Never ending story @iunlock

 

I'm investigating something right now and will have some info I'll be posting here soon with the findings.

It sounds like he has one of the earlier batches. Wouldn't be surprised.

Dell Dell Dell... SMH.

::iunlock::

 

i myself am suffering from the same issue. OCCT shoots up to 97C on two cores @ 4GHz OC while the other two cores are relatively cooler at about 82C. When i did the repaste, i noticed my the thermal pad on the cpu side for the FETS is the modified white colored thin version, and the thermal paste used on the cpu side was indeed thermal paste. this suggest the factory revised version. can you please detail further on what to do with the tension arm?

 

@iunlock do you think I should just return it?

 

It's been reported that initially the temps from repasting with Grizzly Kyronaut aren't good - too high, so many re-paste again right away, or give up and switch to another paste. But, if you wait 24 hours or so the temps drop as Grizzly Kyronaut cures.

Did you notice this curing at all? How were your initial temps right after re-pasting with Grizzly Kyronaut vs. after 24-48 hours?

 

If yooo read my post #3945 you wold find it TRIPOD FIX

 

Yes, I'd request for an exchange.

Before you do, could you grab some info and PM it to me so that I can record this into the ongoing log we have...

Here's the info that I would need:

+ What bios version did yours come with stock?
+ What brand AND model SSD m.2 did it come with?
+ What brand of RAM?

Thanks

 

Put in also temp on ssd. I have seen high temp on ssd's used in AW models.

 

Ah yes good point. Yes, there definitely is a cure time. Absolutely there sure is...

Initial temps were actually about 4-5C higher at first, but I immediately went into some heavy testing and shortly after started my 6 hour long Fire Strike loop.

The temps right now are fantastic. I still can't believe this is traditional paste ( Grizzly Kyronaut <- For future readers lol as not all traditional paste is created equal.)

On average so far the CPU temps are in the upper 60C's while the GPU is in the upper 50C's. -

LM still has a 8-10C advantage over the overall CPU max temps. Average wise, the temps are approx. ~5C more than LM. So far....

Note: The GPU does seem to run 5-6C cooler with the Grizzly Kyronaut when playing OW. However, when it is stressed for long period of time, the LM is more sustainable as I think the nature of traditional paste kind of looses it's integrity under over the top unrealistic extreme conditions like a 6 Hour FIre Strike Combined Loop Test lol...Just thought it'd be worth noting.

For those who have missed the original post here are my gaming temps:

Ambient Temp: 22.5C

BEFORE: Stock


AFTER: Grizzly Kyronaut, HS Mod/Fix, Repad, and a ton of time balancing the stupid HS.


Temps with Liquid Metal: 4 Hours of Gaming - Overwatch

 

are u linking to iunlock's first page? cos i've read that as well, and it's not detailed enough. the pics did not show exactly where to apply the force to bend, how far you need to bend, etc. and the heatsink is actually for AW15R3, not AW17R4 which is a bit different. the 17 version has less rivets on the tripod arm.

 

Not that I wasn't planning on it, but it just occurred to me that all of these tests so are at 40x lol...we haven't even seen 36x yet.

Well let's see what stock base can do. (Note: Stock base to me is 36x across all four cores on the 6820HK)

 

I dunno I'm tempted to just send it to one of you LHZ guys to fix, I hate the idea of having to wait for an exchange and then no guarantees it's better you know... I need a computer.

Also, the SSD is Toshiba and the ram is Hyundai

 

I would like to know if there are an official announcement from AW/DELL of their new revisions.

 

Where do you live?

 

Announcement about what ?

 

Hit up Mr. Azor's posting in social media. Or from his AW deputy Umar... More official announcement than this, can't you find.