*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

If you place the good pads with the good size at the right place, the screw order shouldn't matter. Take your time and inspect every pad before applying conductonaut.

 

The pads are best placed on the heatsink or better placed on each component of the motherboard. understand what I say?

 

If they stick place them on heatsink, if they don't place them on components.

 

q: does modding the PCH have any issues with the CPU temp. before modding there was only 3 degree difference but after its jumping to 6 degrees. I posted a picture of the results before but no one answered. So now I am thinking that might be the issue.

 

The fujipoly pads have a slight stick on both sides.

 

No, there shouldn't be any issues after installation of HS on the PCH. Though it may happen if you don't cut the HS enough (~3.8-4mm is good for me), then it will be pressing the lower side of the mobo, and this may lead to an additional unevenness of contact between CPU and its HS.

 

does the qhd v2 have ips?

 

No, only TN

 

i guess ips 120hz would be too costly for oem

 

Hey a new bios came out on the 14th of june. Has anyone tried out bios 1.1.7?

 

Edit: performance is worse it was a fluke


Um guys. Performance seems to be ALOT higher with BIOS S1.1.7_K1.1.6 for me in overwatch.

I'm on a 6700hq 1070 and i have -140mV on core and speed shift enabled on throttlestop with a 0 (high performance) setting.

Before I would dip close to and sometimes below 144fps in most fights. Now I am pushing like 200-240fps in most fights. It is not gpu related. I have always played on lowest settings and don't ever go above 50% gpu usage.

Also THERE WAS NO BATTERY DRAIN during the game I just played.

Have only tested in one game but early indications are ALL GOOD.

 

correct

more like impossible since nobody makes ips 120hz qhd for laptops

 

Did AW ever get that Vbios update sorted out? I heard about the fix, but nothing about if they fixed the update or not...

 

There are only 2 vbios versions as far as I know, both for GTX 1080. Old one has TDP limit of ~160W and new 'overclocked' one ~180W (average).

 

So....hey guys.
Nice to meet you all.

Just got my (replacement) 17 R4
(1070, 7700HQ, 16gb, 128+1tb, 120hz 2k panel)

Initial one that overheated like crazy ( 98C after 30 mins in Uniengine).was an open box from BB, so Dell tried to fix it 3 times. First time they changed heatpipes and fan, broken an LED light jack.Second time, field tech just came and short-circuited it dead....so they decided after ~15 more days to issue a replacement.
I know...crappy luck,and idiot techs.

Replacement's here, heating's still there (95C Uniengine extreme after 30 mins).

Read the forum a bit, undervolted the CPU to -0.120V. Now it peaks at 90.

What do you guys recommend? Should I try and go lower?Should I leave it as is?
Or should I man up and repaste it?
Any other fun thing I have to look out for?

(laptop's service tag says it's buit in 2017)

 

Bought a desk lock, but it doesn't fit? Anyone else got that issue?

Sent from my LG-VS995 using Tapatalk

 

You need desk lock for Noble Lock port

 

Late reply but to answer your question? I generally will always buy games off of Steam; download the Steam client for your computer and browse/shop their store. There are also other game clients where you can buy other games ... GOG.com ... Origin, etc ... I mostly stick with Steam though as it's the most supported and has the greatest user base...

 

Ok awesome, I did see and look at a few of those. The only thing I was thinking about with downloading from one of those sites and buying the CD in a store is does it use more space on the computer to download from the site rather then putting a CD in everytime I would want to play? And also give or take how many games can you have on your computer before space runs out?

 

I updated my 6820k Alienware BIOS to the latest one and now the BIOS version displayed is Skylake and the BIOS identifies the Chipsets as Skylake choosers.

Should I be concerned that Skylake stuff was flashed over Kaby Lake?

The one thing I noticed immediately was Intel XTU defaults all clock speeds to 3.2, when I turned performance mode on in BIOS IntelXTU crashes and sets the defaults again so something is conflicting. Clearly someone messed up bad in coding the BIOS update to identify the proper architecture.

Can anyone else with a Kaby Lake with the latest BIOS confirm whether their BIOS displays Skylake information?

 

If you have a 6820 that = Skylake. Am I missing something?

 

I made a mistake, that's embarrassing. Just worried since updating the Intel Dynamic Platform & Thermal Management my CPU temps have risen, my PCH is sitting at 90c quite often the m2 drive overheats all day everyday and even the ram DIMMs hang out around 85.


Mind you, Liquid Metal and pads on my unit.

 

No, AW laptops doesn't even have cd/DVD drive. I have a lot of time without using one but if you buy a game in a DVD format it will try to fully install the game to the hard drive besides if you manage to run a game from an external DVD drive your loading times will probably increase(bad). You have at least 1000gb in your internal hard drive and most demanding games will consume around 60gb so don't worry about space right now.

edit: digital games versions are generally cheaper than physical DVD'S ones. They will be linked to your steam, origin, whatever account and you can manage/reinstall from there

 

Most games now are downloaded digitally, even if you buy a DVD, most games that come on steam or origin or something else in DVD format just have a basic setup and the dvd key file, and then it downloads it off their servers.

As far as a pure DVD game (without DLC) vs a steam/downloadable copy, they tend to use about the same space.
How many games can you install total? Depends on sizes of games and sizes of ur storage.

 

I am very close to finally getting one of these. After heming and hawing for a year.

I was building one closest to what I would want, but it comes to $2000. 7820k/1080p without Tobi eye(useless to me) 1070, lowest specs of hdd and ram as i want to buy my own. 1tb and 8g.

Then I see MS store has the 7th gen 7820/qhd/16g/1tb/256g for $2000.

Can I get a better deal if I talk to a rep? Is the MS store deal worth it?

 

@DarkthorZ If you are OK with CPU reaching 90C max just leave it at it is but make sure your undervolt will always work at startup also check your GPU temps.
However a good repaste properly balancing the heatsink and replacing thermal pads is the best option yet so far to decrease temps even further.

 

Thank you for the reply.
Any paste recommendations?Noctua NT-H1 for non-conductive would be my go-to from my old desktop,but not sure which has the best results.

(I hoped that since this is a 2017 build, i'd get lucky with the new pads and new paste....sadly...no such luck, it seems)

-normal voltage brings it after 2 hrs of bf1 ultra at 98/92/96/88 ...so it's hot as crap. (bios cpu mode in performance mode, latest bios)
UPDATE
-undervolting got me 87/82/84/79 ( -0.115)

ps: am i crazy or win 10 keeps freezing when alt-tabbing? and i mean hard restart kind of freeze.

 

Check out this post by iunlock, its a great for repasting

 

did you overclock?

increased thermal output from the cpu will radiate to the m.2 and other parts of the machine, try putting your m.2 on the palmrest slot

 

Guys, my tobii eye tracker simply stopped being detected by Windows and its own software. I already tried a clean driver installation and the software still do not detect the hardware. It was working fine yesterday.


Does anybody knows anything about it?

 

Can't use all M.2 slots with ssd's due overheating if you max out overclock? Even with Liquid metal?

 

Hi all, I have a small problem (well hopefully small) that I need help with.
A customer has returned a Alienware 17R4 becuase the windows desktop screen edges have "disappeared"
At the top of the windows desktop there is a 3-4mm black line/dead screen before the screen reaches the bezel, same on the left hand side. So the desktop does not extend all the way to the screen edge.

The opposite is true of the bottom and right hand side, if you move the mouse cursor to the extreme right side of desktop the cursor disappears, same thing happens when you move the cursor to the bottom of the screen.

It like the whole windows desktop needs to move about 3-4mm northwest (North being top of screen)

On desktop computers you had the ability to completely adjust the desktop with arrows in each corner via nvidia control panel, the functions available in this version (laptop) of nvidia control panel seem to be limited and the function I need is not available.

Anyone with any idea how to fix this I'd love to hear from

Alienware 17 R4
i7 6700HQ
GTX 1070M
Intel HD 530
32GB 2133MHz RAM
3840 x 2160 Display
Tobii Tracking
Win 10 Pro

 

Think the question you should be asking is, "what M.2 SSD are you using, is it the crap Toshiba that came with the Alienware or a samsung (or literally anything is better) brand SSD"

The hottest I saw a samsung 960 EVO go is about 54c

 

Hello everyone!

I ordered my first Alienware 2 days ago. I'm really excited about seeing the build quality I've heard so much about.
The ETA is 11th July.

I tried keeping it rather cheap and ordered an i7-7700HQ with a gtx 1070 and the QHD 120hz screen.

I've been reading these forums for about a week now and it seems like there is a lot of testing to be done when the laptop arrives. Although I'll probably repaste it later, I don't feel like doing it because they failed to do it right.

I've read that there could be differences in heat between the cores.
It seems you guys recommend using hwinfo64 for temp monitoring?
And OCCT for stress testing the CPU?

Then it seems there have been heat problems with Toshiba SSDs? Do you recommend using ATTO Disk benchmark to stress the SSD?

From what I've understood the problem with the QHD 120hz is fixed?

Is there anything else I need to check or do when I receive the laptop?

/Peter

 

I know Toshiba and LiteOn is pure junk and will boiling to death. I was the first to comment this boiling. But 90s for PCH and 85C on ram ain't good or normal. Sooner or later will the MB fail. Doomed to death.

For processor, OCCT and Heaven simultaneous(shared pipes). ATTO for ssd's. Several rounds. Hwinfo for monitoring.

 

Even AIDA64 will do.

 

Yeah, but you should check the boxes for Stress FPU and Gpu. Uncheck all the other boxes.

 

Have you tried Unigine Superposition benchmark?

 

-I just received my 120hz qhd and I see nothing wrong with it. Then again, I didnt buy it for photo editing.This TN pannel is gorgeous. So the screen I believe will be fine,don't worry.
-Heating-wise....well...if you dont wanna repaste...undervolt with Intel Extreme Utility and choose performance mode CPU in bios.
~ -0.115v or - 0.120 in the "Core" tab....and see how it stays stability-wise. I found my sweet spot (for now) at -0.115 and tested it in a 5hr session in Prey ultra . Didnt get over 91C on a core (91-87-89-85).Which is...reasonable.
I definitely see re-pasting as a necessity but...If you know someone good or have stable hands...

-If you ask the Dell technicians, they are gonna break your Mboard.Avoid sending it in.They are utter freaking idiots and don't have any spare parts yet.. (
they broke my first one TWICE just 2 days after purchase..then issued a replacement unit a month later).

 

If you're in US, ask @iunlock @Mobius 1 @DeeX @zergslayer69

 

Yeah, but this bench is boring and doesn't push the processor. Rather use 3DM or 3DM11 for the whole package.

 

Try the game its just for time pass. It doesn't stress CPU and GPU much. Even on 8k, 980m manages 20 fps on stock clocks and 40-50 fps on OC.

 

liquid metal makes it worse since heat transfer faster from die to heatsink

 

Better with cooked Cpu than boiling Ssd's. Oh'well. The nice choice between plague and cholera What's worse? Yoo can die of both

 

how do you check ram temp? Might want to swap out the ram and check if that helps.

the PCH at 90 is pretty normal (from my view for a Alienware), I had the same experience. While playing Battlefield 1 the temp just kept going up and up then it shut down. iunlock posted on he modded it and I think someone made a thread about the problem happening on the Alienware 13. I put my Alienware on a fan (coolermaster)

I am getting a custom one made with 3 desktop 120mm fans (with dust filter.) 1 fan per laptop fan and 1 for the middle to blow air into the laptop to cool the PCH (think this is a more viable option IF you cant find a 17inch laptop cooler.)

 

The PCH mod work for some. And not equal for other. See also this post The PCH lottery. But 90c on PCH chips is too high. Give a big thanks to Dell for this temp mess. This has followed all models after Dell skipped socket hardware in laptops. Remember throttling algorithms also is stuck to PCH chips. Not only intended for vrm or processor.
Regarding ram temp. You can use Hwinfo64 if your ram has a temp diode.

 

First came the CPU lottery... Then came the GPU lottery.. IN 2017 DELLIANWARE is the proud creator of the PCH lottery. and I never stated I disagreed with you, but under Dell Customer Service. that is fine (i chuckled when I read that lol)

#JustAnotherWayToImproveYourLife

Fabulous.Unique.Creating.Knowhow brought you by Dell.

So to those that are thinking to buy a New Alienware laptop. I think its a great machine, and if you put work into it (buy the following at the time of purchase, Thermal conductonat x3, a new SSD, A external GPU, it lowers the PCH temp my a ton, mod for the PCH, a laptop cooler, fujipolly thermal pads, intel wifi,. and read up on iunlock repaste guide. Review the problems on the GPU shuttering end.) it would be one of the best laptop in the market.... but i don't recommend you buying it. Wait till September October if you can, they will probably fix all this issues.

Advice wait, if you want to buy. EVEN if you find a awesome one on sale... wait for the new (2018) batch... which would probably be a fixed 2017 one with maybe +1 usb.

BTW for those that have a external GPU the PCH temp for me never exceeded 50c but lets say 55c to be safe. XD i modded external gpu (basically i took the entire top off so it can fit the EVGA FTW3, over design is a good change of pace after Alienware 17 r4)

 

I fix it for yoo The PCH lottery started early 2015!! Somehow a bit wrong Aka With the AW "Echo" models!! Regarding Dell's Premium Customer service and warranty. Read this!!

 

Is it that bad for the general gamer?
Do they always release new versions in September/October? Every year?