*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

Throttling has been a major issue since at least the 17 r2. I can testify. I went through 4 mobos and they all had the issue even with repaste. Untill enough people get screwed and start asking if their new computer's chips will actually push the performance that they should, dell and other sellers will keep selling these like hotcakes. All they have to do is say the top 1 core turbo speed of the cpu and the model of the gpu and people will buy it whether it works or not. But gaming laptops are just becoming mainstream now. After some time people will learn that they have to ask if their laptop actually works online and after that point only will they be able to buy a good computer without a significant chance of lower than advertised performance.

 

Anyone else here getting really bad power limit / TDP throttling? My AW17 r4 with GTX1080 and 6820HK seem to be unable to maintain proper TDP. I've messed with throttlestop, XTU, and BIOS and set PL1 and 2 to 999999 in BIOS and turbo limits to unlimited on XTU. Currently running CPU at 4.1 and GPU at 2Ghz but no matter what, I still get TDP dips on both CPU and GPU, causing the GPU utilization to drop to 0% and system freezes for 1 to 2 seconds making all games unplayable. CPU package TDP goes from 46w down to 26W every few seconds and GPU goes from 180w down to 60-80W. Temps are around 78-80 with 86 max on CPU and 69-70 with 74 max on GPU. XTU shows no throttling but does show the TDP dips. Currently running BIOS 1.0.12 but ive tried all other previous ones with same issue. GTX1080 has been updated with new Vbios and still throttles. Could it be a faulty power jack/power supply?

 

I have weird issue with USB Type-C on the back. Any (Repeat ANY) device I connect disconnects after a short while with USB Device Malfunctioned message whereas those devices work absolutely fine in Side USB-C, and both USB-A ports!?

Its really bugging me out as I can't connect my hub at the back.

My USB selective suspension is disabled and all devices have 'Allow Windows to turn device off to save power' unchecked!

Anyone else have this issue with Type-C at the back of your A17R4?

Edit: The device works perfectly fine at full USB 3 speeds until the error comes ~ 30 secs to few hours!

 

I would recommend you get it checked by Dell. I've gotten two support requests easily handled by pinging Alienware Support on Twitter.

 

could be embedded controller throttling for total system power limit at those speeds. check windows log

 

I have seen many more cases with ssd overheating in the new AW models. Yet another reason to avoid Dell's overpriced SSD's (as we discussed earlier ). Quite rare that new SSD fails aka heat problems. Dell should research other SSD models who actually work in the new AW Echo models. SSD's with +80 during idle is bad.

Throttle Gate aka 0.78 GHz is still unresolved. And how many owners don't know they have the problem?

 

has anyone run a dpc latency checking program on their r4s? I get fairly high constant latency on mine at just above the 1000us mark. I was just wondering what others have experienced?

 

This would be interesting to see...

 

Edit: have you tested it using latencymon ? i remember reading something about DPC Latency checker being inaccurate due to timing issues with variable TSC or some junk on windows 8 thereafter...sorry i cant be more specific.

 

I've only checked with DPC Latency Checker.

 

....>.<
@Papusan ,... I think I might have a system that's throttling... :'(
I have only had this laptop for 4 days now (i7-6820HK, 32gB, GTX1080, 120hz QHD), but every time I play BF1 (max settings), game plays fine for approximately 20 minutes or so, then suddenly it's like I get a huge slow-down and the game drops to 17-19fps (sometimes 12fps) - basically unplayable - this continues for anywhere between 5 to 10 minutes, and it's just simply unplayable. Then after this time period, it seems to return to normal, for at least another 20 minutes or so of game play...

So I ran HWInfo on it during gameplay and sure enough the lag stutter happened. After gaming (about 20 minutes later), when I checked the CPU speeds, the min recorded was 797.3MHz for all CPU Cores and Ring Clock (and 99.6MHz Bus Clock), with the PCH Temp at 82.5deg Celsius as max temp...

Should I be asking for a refund...? Is there more I can do to determine whether it's something else...?

 

Probably the best you can do. Just remember the Dell timeline for refund. You are screwed after 30 days. Some countries maybe less. I don't know.

Edit: What's your ssd's temperature? See SSD's gets boiled in ALIENWARE

 

No good news on my side, I seem to average 1500us...

I use an asynchronous DAC, wireless mouse, and a usb 3 hub... not willing to disable any of the aforementioned devices, anything else I can do?

 

I HAVE THE SAME EXACT PROBLEM. We got the same March 5th shipment. Two people with the same exact throttling problem.

FAIL.

 

Hi guy's I have a question to ask you.which is better between 17 r4 skylake or 17 r4 kabylake?. I have afraid about high temp and lcd light bleed. But in alienware outlet the skylake version is for -200€
Sorry for my bad English thanks in advance for your reply

 

make sure HWinfo with EC is disabled and delete some of the dell bloatware, one of thsoe dell apps constantly checks the system health through EC.

 

nvme drives are known to get hot and throttle. nothing compared to the usual sata drives.

 

what BIOS; 1.0.12?

 

+84C and almost idle speed? Or never below +76C. Several with same ****y. Haven't seen similar before. Not so many ssd's fail same time... And in same machine. Dell should switch ssd brand. This isn't the normal!! I haven't seen my NVMe ssd's pass 65C. But I haven't the brand Dellienware use. Oh'well

Edit: You could put up your NVMe ssd's and run Raid0 for lower load on each ssd's and gaining lower max temp, but this only hide the problems and Raid setup is more likely to fall.

 

Samsungs are knows to get quite toasty and throttle. But my crucial can also get up to 80c with just a download on, writing 10megabyte a second, still gets hot.

 

As said before. The internal design or small laptop chassis can provide such consequences. Pretty normal. But the ssd brand can also be the culprit. Some run hotter. But up around 73-80C in idle state isn't normal!!

 

If it is truly idle ofcourse, no windows update stuff on the background etc.

I would advice to try using it without the heatspreader.

On selected MSI motherboards with M2 sockets they offer heatspreaders, but they actually make the SSD's run more hot and thus acts like a heatshield. That is why I am also not a fan of some users their solutions of just sticking thermal pads on everything without actually having any thoughts behind it.

But you are right in small laptop bodies it is even more important.

 

Sry im just waking up so i might not remember everything i did. I think a major thing for me was certain network components. Go to your network adapters list and right click and go to properties. There may be elements like "killer network management" or something like that. This is analyzing and managing your network trafic and can cause latency like this. Uncheck it. Download latency mon. It will tell you what interrupts and DPCs and such are causing the most latency. Use google to lookup the names of the latency causing drivers. Then you will know what devices are likely to be causing this. You can try uninstalling them using device manager. Or even things like unplugging a usb device and seeing if that helps. When in device manager use one of the dropdown menus and select "show hidden devices". If certain devices keep reinstalling themselves (like the virtual wan devices under network adapters) there is a way you can stop them from intsalling using computer manager in mmc. Sry in not much more help right now but all of this is stuff you can lookup now that you know what to lookup. Ill msg you when im more awake.

 

Try out ATTO Should detect Ssd throttling who more used benchmarks like ASSD or DiskMark can't detect.

All depends on the HEATSPREADER MOD

Edit: Download ATTO Disk Benchmark v3.05 benchmarking utility for your SSD/HDD

 

Today I re-installed BIOS 1.0.12 and tested the machine for heavy gaming for several hours. All steady. No drops in framerate.

Core 0 & 2 = peak 83 deg C
Core 1 & 3 = peak 81 deg C
Min clock speed = 3188.3 MHz
PCH max temp = 82.5 deg C
Drive Temp max = 60 deg C (SK Hynix 512 gB PC 300 NVMe SSD)

CPU Package power = Min 5.274W (Max 41.301W)

GPU Temp max = 66 deg C


...so all seems to be stable with BIOS 1.0.12, but I DID notice the battery drain down to 94% (first caught my eye when I noticed the power button was glowing a different colour, so it could have been even lower).

...thoughts/opinions...?
@dacianbear - possibly try upgrading BIOS to 1.0.12 and see if that normalises gaming for you, then check temps to make sure they don't go much higher than what I've had...

 

Yeah, Battery draining is detected for the new AW models as well. Seen several with the problem. More of similar

Battery does drain to 95% several times a day
I expect you will find much more with more specific Google search.

 

Anyone know what the fan connector is on this laptop. I hate having to remove the whole motherboard in case of a repaste and so I'm thinking about just putting in a fan extension cable

 

Hi y'all,

I got new AW 17 with Kaby Lake today and ran most tests.

1) There is very small backlight bleeding (more like glow) on bottom - it is hard to notice under normal use.
2) I'm not fan of ugly anti-glare coating, also some Dell IPS monitors have very mild anti-glare coating, but not case with AW 17.
3) The max CPU temp is 85 C under heavy load (that's higher than my desktop rig - 63 C)
4) That's heavy for sure but CPU + GPU performance is very good, even run GTA V at all max setting.

That's much better than AW 17 that I bought in 2011 that end up returned due to dirty screen.

AW keyboard remind me of 2007 MacBook Pro, not chiclet keyboard.

I'm profoundly deaf so I don't care about noisy cooling fans.

 

I have the exact same battery drain issue where it drains down to 94%. I have the AW 17 R4 1080. Do you have the 1080 one or the 1070 one?

 

17R4 / GTX 1080 / 7820HK? or the current GTX 1070 w/ GTX 1080?

 

17R4 / GTX 1070 / 7700HQ / FHD IPS Screen / 16 GB RAM

 

Hmm so if my calendar and watch is correct, today is the 13th.

Regarding the 7820HK / GTX 1080 / New QHD ... I've been told from a few boots on the ground at PAX a few days ago that the launch would be toward the end of the month.

As many of you know, it looks like the European market already made theirs available on the site.

Who knows...we may wake up one morning and ....there it will be....

Hang tight.

 

@iunlock: How do you tune benchmark scores time after time.? Does the 3dmark score improve on ssd because I have it on HDD. I did optimize the OS and disabled unnecessary services. How can I improve the scores any tips will be worth a shot.

 

deleted. comment written due to frustration.

 

Yep - it's the 13th... still sixth gen.

 

OMG, I'm very frustrated at Dell Customer Service and their tech support, seriously, college students in IT majors are doing much better job than Dell tech support. I called them on videophone to explain about issue with grainy screen due to anti-glare coating, so I expected that Dell to send a technician to remove the anti-glare coating and replace with one that is mild, but tech support told me that they don't have LCD replacement anymore, so they gave me a choice - return it to Best Buy or full replacement from Dell, so I asked them if it is 100% guarantee to resolve the grainy screen, so they said no. I was OMG and SMH at Dell tech support. They told me that anti-glare coating doesn't cause grainy screen, but I tested with external monitor - it is clear as crisp on external monitor.

Also, my interpreter (live relay) have a hard time to understand with different accent (Indian and their English isn't great), so she gave me a terrible attitude at me and fed up with Dell tech support, so I just hanged on phone.

Now, I already lost the confidence with Dell and I think that they just want to exhaust the due date to return for full refund (wasting my time).

I rather to take glossy IPS screen over matte IPS screen with grainy anti-glare coating, even matte screen on my MacBook Pro looks much better than AW 17.

 

I guess it's out of their scope of work and support.. So you're a bit exaggerating. Though maybe other brands cleaned matte displays for you

 

I had a similar concern but with a third party 4k display I replaced the QHD with. My screen is much less grainy and significantly more vivid looking.

The process to remove the anti glare coating is extremely simple.. just lay wet paper towels for several hours on the display (removed from the laptop obviously) and then lift up the coating from the corner with your fingernail. The next step is to find a semi matte film coating to your liking.

Bear in mind though that removing the matte coating on the stock display might affect your warranty.

 

Not worth for me to deal with Dell and very skeptical of their tech support. If they don't have parts for out of warranty repair - basically toobad to customers.

 

What this person is going though is understandable. I have been talking with Dell Alienware Canada trying to get UHD display since the launch. except they do not understand the difference between 6820hk with 1080 and a 6820hk with the 1070. They keep trying to deter you into something else. Once recently asked if AW_Umair was a employee at dell alienware lol.

My point is there is a certain level of cool someone can keep before they explode. Once the explosion happens its not the individual's fault that it happened, its Dells. I asked for a sales rep that is not in India since I am buying from Canada I want someone IN Canada I could talk with. I did not call Dell Canada within Canadian working hours for my call to be transferred to India. Then what is the point of calling within working hours. I should be able to call them any time I want.
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03/13/2017 05:35:49AM Session Started with Agent (TIP_Marlowe P)
03/13/2017 05:35:49AM N: "2_227"
03/13/2017 05:36:02AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "Welcome to Dell US Chat! My name is Marlowe and I will be your Home System Sales Chat Expert. I can be reached at [email protected]. How may I help you with your purchase today?"
03/13/2017 05:36:05AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "hi n"
03/13/2017 05:36:39AM N: "Hello Marlowe I was wondering when I would be able to order the Alienware 17 r4 7820hk with GTX 1080"
03/13/2017 05:36:49AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "I'm glad you've chatted in today. I'll be more than willing to assist you with your concern."
03/13/2017 05:36:56AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "thank you for considering Dell N"
03/13/2017 05:37:08AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "for that config, we dont have information about that as of this moment"
03/13/2017 05:37:31AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "we cannot guarantee you on when will Dell release the ALienware 17 with GTX 1080 with 7th gen processor"
03/13/2017 05:37:48AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "the one we currently offer with GTX 1080 has 6th gen processor"
03/13/2017 05:37:53AM N: "sec."
03/13/2017 05:38:51AM N: "It was stated ton twitter by Umar that it was going to be released on the 13th"
03/13/2017 05:39:07AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "who is Umar?"
03/13/2017 05:39:10AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "is he from Dell?"
03/13/2017 05:39:57AM N: "yes"
03/13/2017 05:40:05AM N: " https://twitter.com/aw_umar?lang=en"
03/13/2017 05:41:12AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "we cannot guarantee you if he is legit"
03/13/2017 05:41:45AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "right now, the best thing we can do here is to send you an emailif we have an update for the Alienware 17 with GTX1080 and 7th gen processor"
03/13/2017 05:41:54AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "is this your email address
03/13/2017 05:42:22AM N: "ok thank you and yes"
03/13/2017 05:42:34AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "great"
03/13/2017 05:42:51AM N: "thanks you and have a good day"
03/13/2017 05:42:56AM Agent (TIP_Marlowe P): "we will keep you posted if we have any news about our ALienware 17 with those configs"
03/13/2017 05:42:59AM Session Ended

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I hope you had a laugh reading it. lol but I do understand this person. Dell Alienware should improve there sales and customer service because what they have currently is lets face it ****. Its like Apple store employee asking you who Tim Cook is and stating "we cannot garantee you if he is legit" lol

 

You should rater said https://twitter.com/AzorFrank

 

LOL!!! That's funny... I'm embarrassed that freshman guy at university who is in IT major know about computer more than representative from Dell.

I can't wait to see Michael Dell realize that his company is screwed up with angry customers that force to restructuring and fire all lousy tech support and re-training about how to deal with computer issues. Dell was great company in 1990s when tech support was mostly or all Americans.

 

There is no grainy screen issue with Skydale AW 17 after saw at different Best Buy store, so it looks like Kaby Lake AW 17 got bad batch with lousy anti-glare coating.

It seems like monitor vendor issue, especially LG but it is still Dell's fault for not checking with screen quality before order and install on laptops.

 

Hi there from Austria (Europe not the one with kangaroos ),

Just if anyone cares, here's my experience with the AW 17 R4 so far:

I ordered my R4 in early december and received it on 4th of January, but sadly had to return it due to thermal throtteling and 99°C on multiple cores during casual gaming (Witcher 3 after about 20min max settings at QHD res). Dell support didn't want to help me (even tough the technician said these temperatures may decrease the processors lifespan) and i couldn't do a repaste by myself because it would've harmed the warranty. Also the display had weird shadows on it's lower edge and the speakers crackled.

I had the GTX 1080 modell with 16GB of RAM.

On March 10th i decided to give AW another chance, especially because here in Austria the GTX 1080 modell with the i7 7820HK is already available. I hope this R4 won't be another disaster.
Delivery will be before or on April 4th. I'll keep you updated if you want.


Have a nice day and greetings from Austria,

Felix

(excuse me if i made any spelling or grammar mistakes)

 

Felix aka @mobile96: Repaste doesn't void your warranty unless you break something. I think latest iterations of AW are easily to service than earlier models. Just check SSD temp esp. if its a Toshiba PCIe SSD. Keep us posted.

 

@Vasudev yeah it was a toshiba ssd (256gb). i actually especially asked the support regarding the repaste warranty thing and according to them it will void the warranty but maybe i just missunterstood them and they meant in case i break something. actually i'm not even 100 percent sure if i could do it without breaking anything.

 

Does anyone experience like a popping noise from the speakers? it sounds like it pops from left to right randomly, with no sound to play.

 

Depends on the country. It would void warranty in the UK to repaste as well.

 

From Frank Azor on Twitter:
Our new and improved 17" QHD 120hz Gsync panel along with the 7820HK CPU are launching next Tuesday the 21st on the @Alienware 17 laptop

 

That's the *real* AW 17r4 release, the previous was customer field testing

+rep for the messenger, delivered via @Albatross