*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

All newer Alienware gamingBooks is BGA!! All DELL models use BGA hardware now.

 

thx Papusan but that refers to CPUs more so than MXMs. Is there not a single Dell/Alienware that shipped with an MXM 1070n?

 

These are my temps after repaste and thermal pads,
again specs are
i7 7820hk
1440p 120hz
32gb 2400 ddr4 (alienware optioned)
512gb nvme m.2 (alienware optioned)

It is a bit better than yesterday's out of box temps *OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

I was a bit afraid that I may have put too much conductonaut when applying, than i thinned it out. Got me thinking maybe I didn't put enough, i didn't get thise crazy low temps like others have stated. But seems like the game stuttering has settled down over night. Played a few minutes of warthunder, nier, and overwatch, and it only stuttered a lil bit in overwatch, as opposed to stuttering in all games. but temps maxing out at 84c now, i dont think its throttling down stutter?

 

Everything is BGA!! Everything is welded on the MB. Times have changed!!

 

What tools did you use/need? Did you use a plastic or nylon spudger? Magnetic tip screwdriver, are all there just 2 different sized screws? What kind of thermal pads did you get? I haven't seen a link for tools and thermal pads used. I already have Arctic MX-4 thermal paste and their thermal paste remover.

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Thx Papusan, the search continues

 

i used conductonaut and the qtip that is supplied to spread. For the thermal pads i used the recommended pads listed in the repaste guide. For tools, just a #1 phillips screwdriver, surprised i didnt loose a screw! i put them in a container, and the lengths isnt too hard to figure out, especially since you can reference back to the pictures to determine the color of screws (if they are black or not). I didnt have a plastic pic/spreader, but an old credit card makes a good spreader when splitting the case.

 

ok i want to say putting a FPS cap in overwatch seems to have solved my stuttering.. going to try some more. 80fps cap makes the game solid. I wonder why that is.

 

I understand your hatred for BGA, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I respect your knowledge of computers... but whether the Alienware is BGA or not doesn't mean anything besides having high repair costs. If this guy replied with the single sentence saying "yeah BGA sucks cuz you have ot replace the whole board to fix the CPU or GPU" that would be good information. But iunlock and others have shown that their benchmark points, overclocks and temps can match those of desktop CPU and GPU.This guy calls himself a enthusiast in that post but he is spewing nonsense.

Besides, how does BGA = thicker...? I mean, the MSI Stealth, Razer Blade, these Alienware, the Auros and Gigabyte, all use BGA right? Oddly the Clevo and Eurocome use desktop CPU's and they're either twice as thick or about 50% thicker than the alienware's... Idk who FrankAzor is but not only is his opinion just factually wrong, but its stupid too

 

@illuMinniti as far as i know frank azor is the current "boss" of alienware. and he actually didn't say that bga means thicker but the opposite

 

i think we need to end the discussion on BGA vs socket bla bla bla.. manufacturers are moving into this direction, fueled by intel. performance is not as horrific as what many people here pointed out to be, in fact it performs as it should. it's now a fact of life, so quit whining and just get on with it.

 

Guys I have a question regarding the highest end config of AW 17 R4 with the UHD screen. Apparently that is the one I am getting in exchange for my previous AW. Can anyone here confirm if it still have light bleed issues?

Secondly, do you guys think an OC 7820HK (to 44x) + GTX 1080 would not be enough to drive 60+ FPS in UHD resolution? I am talking about games like Witcher 3 and Andromeda. I know it's enough for Overwatch, Diablo 3 etc.

 

@RussellA that depends on the graphics settings. i'm pretty sure that the GTX 1080 + the 7820HK can not handle the witcher 3 @ UHD max settings with 60fps not even with high OCs

 

You are right. I should've specified that.
I am talking about Medium-High settings. I do not care about max. Games nowadays look great even at medium!

 

I really doubt you can get games like Witcher over 60fps at 4k. I think the 1080ti can barely get 55-60 and it's like 30% more powerful than the 1080. You're better off with the QHD screen and the GTX 1080. 4k gaming isn't there yet on laptops unless you're spending well over $4,000 on one with 1080's SLI. If you want to game in 4k, build a beastly rig with a 1080ti.

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Has anyone tried overclocking their graphics card in these?

Got an extra 72 mhz per voltage on my 1070 and its rock solid. Although I have no idea if the actual frequencies in game are higher. Could maybe push it to 100-150 before it would be unstable if its anything like my 980m.

Seems pretty safe. The worst that could happen is the card is unstable and the driver resets since the power and voltage limits cannot be changed.

Wouldn't want to push the power limits on the 1070 anyway. Battery already drains while playing and last time I got around the power limits on an alienware laptop it proved that they were in place for a reason.

Still free getting some free mhz though. I think. Or at least saving energy. Boost 3.0 is weird.

 

@RussellA Well if you put the settings on medium i'm positive that it will handle the 60fps easily (even at high settings it should work)

 

If you're not playing at ultra or max settings, is 4k worth it?

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I'm having issues with my new 7th Gen 1080 17R4. When I got it a couple weeks ago, the CPU temps were great. For the minute or so I ran OCCT, it never went over 73C. However, recently the temperatures are terrible. They spike to 95-100C after a few seconds when I run it, and the test cancels out (It stops if over 85). It also does this during gaming and music production tasks, causing unpleasant glitching in both.

What would be the best method of getting this taken care of? Perhaps there is a quick fix you folks can recommend. I bought the warranty, so I might open a ticket soon. I tweeted AlienwareTech as well.

 

I think the only real lasting fix is a repaste and and changing the thermal pads so the heatsink sits evenly for good contact from what I understand. I was really hoping they learned from the sky lake 17 R4. My 17 R4 with the GTX 1080 should be arriving by the 26th-3rd so I guess I'll find out.

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You're right that Witcher 3 in 4k would probably run on medium, but regarding your point about ultra or max settings, well at 4k, anti-aliasing and similar settings bring negligible differences. And ultra/max settings normally set these to max regardless of the resolution being played at.

So I would say, yes it is worth it. (Getting my laptop tomorrow so will put my hypothesis to test)

 

I understand, and I'm likely going to do this after I get a replacement unit (hopefully). However, I would imagine if there was something wrong with the heatsink, it would have materialized after the first OCCT test. I am thinking about doing a full system reset to see if perhaps a messed up install of a device driver or something, but I'll wait to do that until after Alienware give me info. Does anyone else have any other ideas as to why the CPU would suddenly begin to suck when it previously was awesome?

 

Frank Azor - Mr. Azor or just @Alienware-Frank https://twitter.com/azorfrank

Yeah, He can try push the unlocked Kaby i7 BGA well over 5.0-5.2GHz Or validate 5.4GHz Yeah, I know

Spoiler: Or validate +5.4GHz

 

He got 5.2Ghz on stock BIOS, 5.4 was with modded BIOS'. Either way you are comparing a laptop that is 0.58inches thicker. If you want a desktop sized laptop, that Clevo is perfect. But I bet even the 15's could hit 4.5+Ghz @1inch height, since we are not being limited by temps. The dude probably received a binned chip from Intel/iBUYPOWER too, or kept buying chips to get that high. If I cared enough to search and find the average overclock desktop users can get on a 7700K, it would also hover around the 4.5-4.7 that has been achieved on the BGA 7820HK.

At the end of the day, I and many others have chose these Alienware for size, price, durability and looks. And when comparing that to this guys Clevo, it still wins in all categories. Why? Run any videogame available now or in the next couple years - whether its a 7700HQ or a 5.4Ghz 7700K, the CPU is still going to work and run the game fine. We aren't entering our Notebooks into overclocking competitions or buying chips over and over and over to get the highest overclock to market a company, we are playing games at the same settings as the Clevo. Cuz at the end of the day, the game's will be bottlenecked by the GPU and not CPU.

Hell the argument is laughable when you look at benchmarks and compare it to Clevo... look at iunlocks GTX1070 overclock benchmarks and they almost match the Clevo 1080s... that is on a BGA notebook. So at the end of the day if you wanna pay about 500$+ for potentially more Ghz on the CPU (you're gonna have to add costs of buying and returning CPUs), choose Clevo. If you want to save hundreds and get a better looking, more durable, thinner and cooler (temps and looks) laptop, choose Alienware.

I mean the facts are all here, BGA has comparable performance to non BGA. Idk how BGA was in the past, but the past stays in the past. This is technology, technology is always changing.

Oh, and good thing FrankAzor is just a face lol

 

Fans come on? Dirty heatsinks?

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The fans ramp up. The high temperature spike is almost instantaneous, so the fans are not on. Eventually they get up to speed and the CPU starts to cool. But it goes from like 45C to 85-90C in seconds.

As long as it doesn't violate the warranty, I might attempt a thermal repaste despite what the support folks say. If it fixes it, great. If it doesn't, at least I started the replacement process.

 

Seems there is a new bios out, worth a try

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What did they say? We can't repaste if we want a replacement?

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I'll let you know when I hear something. I've a few different things on this site, and the warranty wording seems ambiguous. That being said, the support youtube channel has videos on how to disassemble down to the motherboard. Why would they show us how to do that if it voided the warranty? So adding thermal paste at that level should be okay, I think.

 

A new BIOS have just been released S1.0.14_K1.0.9 with "CPU and thermal performance enhancement."

Ideas: a BIOS update or disabled CPU Performance? CPU performance mode boost my CPU fan max speed from 4200 to 4800 rpm and GPU somewhere from 4300 to 4800 (at least this is how it work for me with bios S1.0.9, for S1.0.12 rpm were stuck at 4200rpm in both modes). Windows power plan? If a power saver plan was enabled CPU clock will be capped and will produce less heat. Something blocking your fan intake or exhaust?

EDIT: Dang @hypertek was even faster than me lol

 

Well nvidia stopped making reference MXM cards. So this shows that the industry is going in that direction.
That means it is now up to the ODMs to design their own MXM cards. Because of thisthey have been making them with different form factors from each ODM and different from generation to generation of their own systems.
Why does this matter? Because that means the next gen cards probably wont fit.
Is there a benefit to MXM still? Yes of course, they seem to be more solid when it comes to their power delivery (VRM) but at the cost of a giant laptop.
However the whole "I can upgrade when the new gen graphics cards come out." days are gone.
Also the repair benefit of MXM is really not that relevant either because of the above mentioned.
Because the ODMs make their own MXM cards all the MXM cards of the same GPU are all different, you are then forced to buy their MXM cards in the event you need to repair one.
As one can imagine that means the cost is insane for a single MXM card. (1080 is like $1200)

In addition Intel is also going this route. All mobile based Intel processors going forward are all BGA from Intel.
My point of these facts is this is not a Dell thing. Both Intel and Nvidia are going the way of BGA for mobile units and Dell/Alienware is simply following the direction of the industry.
It is my prediction that as the years pass you will see less and less socketed/MXM options.

With that said I also don't see the big deal. My R4 hits 200w+ on the GPU and my CPU can sustain 4.6Ghz stable all staying in the mid to high 70C(s).
I have even hit a benching clock of 4.7Ghz with some stability, I just wouldn't rock it as my DD as its pretty much at the silicon / voltage threshold.

If one is worried about repair costs get a warranty at point of sale. My warranty didn't cost that much and its valid for 4 years.
My mobo breaks they overnight me a new one at no cost. (most brands you have to mail your laptop in for repair)
There, problem solved.

Disclaimer: These are not fanboy statements. We have had our hands on most brands of gaming laptops on the market. We end up with AW because of the "whole package"
The looks, the build quality, the warranty, and the performance are all well rounded. All laptops out right now have their own fair share of problems and shortcomings.

 

Do you foresee that even Desktop CPU become soldered to M/B? Is that possible?

 

wow folks, excellent with Dell I wanted to share . I complained about the lines in my QHD (they didn't bother me but wanted to test them hehe). After following a few simple steps and providing them with a photo they dispatched a new screen and engineer to come and replace it the next working day! He rang me at 8.30am, arrived at mine for 8.45 andreplaced the screen real well ( no way I could've done that any better) and was gone by 9.15! Very impressive Dell!!!

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CPU ID hw monitor is useless. You cannot tell for sure if it's throttling, use hwinfo as per previous post if you want to get some help fixing stuttering, Pete

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Because the CPU and GPU don't have to work so hard so less temps...

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BF1, assetto corsa, RE7, dirt rally, black ops 3 and many many of my other games run at ultra and 4K at 60 FPS no problem...

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Yeah I can get +210/700 out of my GTX1080 rock solid, a nice 10-20% increase in game. It will push further but it's only stable enough for short benchmarks. ALL voltages on all alienware 17 and 15s are locked with no plans to increase. TDP has been increased in latest vBIOS in the GTX1080 though

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Yes because I run all mine at max ultra

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I had this but it was only after a repaste and after I unlocked the BIOS and registry limits/settings to unleash the full power of the CPU did I then discover one of my cores spiking to 90s

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And what was the ambient temperature for this test?

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Most of the games I've seen can't run on max settings at 4k like Tomb Raider, Witcher, Far Cry, and other AAA titles. They may be playable, but aren't pushing 60+ fps. Doom which is lighter than these titles does run in the 60's at 4k res and ultra settings. Overwatch, a much lighter game, will run around 100 fps at 4k. I should have specified that big AAA titles are the ones you'll have to run it at a lower resolution or lower settings.

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No that wont happen.
Mobile vs Desktop are two totally different worlds.
The market for desktops is different in nature, there is a huge part of that market that is for builders.
This is not the same for mobile devices.

 

I think you raise a lot of important points I fear will spell doom for tinkerers like us but I'm not entirely sure your opening salvo that Nvidia is no longer developing a reference is true. Zotac/PC Partner put out the only fully MXM3B compliant MXM and now Gecube seems to be on the verge of releasing one that seems to be identical to the Zotac/PC Partner unit.

 

You can see that there are two different owners of these tested machines in my post?
Just about all 7700K manage +5.0GHz. No need for binning if you want 5.0GHz. And 5.2GHz is much more common than what you think. For many of us, it is easy to fix a binned chips without elevated cost.
Could you put in 2x 200W graphics + desktop cpu performance in a 1.15 inches thick laptop chassis? And on top of it max it out with OC so it exceeds +650W? And I haven't yet seen AW 15's hit 4.5+Ghz... If it could... Can this be managed 24/7/365?

See post above... Who said people buing the same chips over and over? And most of us who overclock doesn't represent or market a company. Just take a look outside the same sub-forum.

Who said you have to pay 500$+ for potentially more GHz? And many of us can bin Our own chips. Or let other do it for us without the big expence. We have a choice... Aka we aren't stuck with soldered HW (bad binned chips).

I'm sure you've seen (caught up with) that Clevo now uses the same MMX board PCB design on all graphics cards? Adapted for use with the future new vram. And people who opt for 1060 can later buy used-new 1080 graphics. I am quite sure that a OC'd 7700K can be carried over, without being a bottleneck for long time.

Edit. As you know... 6 core chips is on it's way

 

Little (semi)success story with the dell customer support: my ssd temps (toshiba) reach up to 87°C and so it has extrem thermal throtteling (it loses about 90% of it's reading speed while it runs that hot). so i contacted the support and asked for a solution. at first i was told that these temps are ok according to dells specificationinformation and the delltech asked me to install the newest BIOS version and to run the crystaldiskbenchmark and send him the results. i posted the thing according the temperatures in this thread and someone (sry i forgot who it was but thanks a lot) posted a screenshot of the original specs of my toshiba ssd. so i looked up toshibas product catalogue, found it and sent it with the results of crystaldisk to the delltech. there were more emails, where they asked me to install this and that but after about 10 emails later (that took about 2 weeks...) they finally offered to send me a tech to swap out the ssd. i hope this will solve the problem (and i hope they give me a samsung ssd this time...)

Now i'm waiting for a call.

 

@Pete Light . Can you share the OC you've done on the CPU and GPU to get max settings on 4k?

Also, as soon as I OC my GPU, I experience battery discharge (to 94% or so) during gaming. This happened on both sky lake and kaby lake Aw 17 R4 with 1080. Do you experience anything similar?

 

I know who posted the specs But rather run ATTO Disk Benchmark several rounds with temp moitoring with your new ssd. Push your ssd's harder than other tests.

See Battery draining - Same - Battery does drain to 95% several times a day - Battery drain

 

So it was you? wasn't sure anymore but thanks a lot! it actually really helped me to get my ssd replaced.
i'll test my new ssd with the ATTO Disk Benchmark also thanks for that

 

Update 2:
Yesterday I repasted with Noctua NT-H1 and left stock pads, temps dropped to about 90ºC on CPU and while playing GTAV everything seemed fine.
Today I got new Arctic thermal pads and Grizzly Conductonaut. Repasted and replaced.
Temps got a nice drop, CPU tops at 80ºC, GPU at 75ºC, while playing Doom so I think it's pretty good. Fans are quieter too.

But the freezes continue! Playing Doom for 15 mins and I start getting 2-4 second freezes more and more frequently, I'm starting to think it may be software or the SSD, I also have to Toshiba one, haven't checked it's temps yet.

 

Nice, that gives me confidence... Although I haven't heard anyone else talking about intermittent freezes? What size thermal pads did you use? 0.5 mm, 1mm?

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