*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

I've been looking for thermal pads but I'm in the UK and the Fujipoly ones seem hard to get here.

Does anyone have an alternative that they've bought in the UK?


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It's rebranded to Alphacool in EU.

 

Perhaps it is but the cover plastics are much more finicky to deal with than the Fujipoly ones. That said, their customer reps are excellent. Also, one of their resellers (aquatuning I think?) uses a very sturdy and thought out packaging to avoid any deformation during shipping. They certainly earn my highest vote of confidence.

 

Fujipoly brand havent the best one (14w/mk) Only rebranded Alphacool have this size pads.

 

Hi Everyone, Just a newbie posting about his first alienware laptop. I always wanted a alienware gaming laptop growing up but was very hesitatnt about it as it now owned and build by Dell, and I have had bad luck with dell computers. But I got a great deal that I couldn't pass up.

After returning my ASUS GL702VS from my Bestbuy dealing with poor thermal issues, CPU would rise over 93 to 95C gaming with BF1, Battlefront and Doom. I didn't pay attention as the games all ran smoothly but the laptop was very hot, at the top of the frame, hot to touch..as I didn't felt safe nor didn't think that this device would last more than a year with temps as these. So when I went back to Bestbuy to return it, I was planning to get the only laptop that had a 1070 gtx chip, which was the alienware model: 7700hq, 16gig of ram, M.2SSD+HD, gsync display and was 300 dollar more. But when they had the only one left, it was last gen model with 6700hq processor and cheaper by 600 dollars...costing a total of 1200; so for me it was a deal to do.

Now testing it for thermal throttling playing bf1, bioshock infinite and doom, all my games play smoothly to my surprise as I have researched the issue with thermal throttling and poor paste quality and mounting flaws with the R4 17...but using HWINFO CPUMONITORING, gaming for about 2 hours sessions each time, my temps never went higher than 83C and all my cores were between 2-5c difference each...but odly enough with RIVATUNER, my temps range between 85-90C so Im not too sure which one to trust, and digging deeper and checking on the mounting, my laptop was one of the lucky ones that was revised by Dell of using actual thermal paste (not the thermal stamp iunlock shows) and smaller pads for a better and actual contact from the heatsink to the thermal pasting.

Now as I have no problem actually gutting and doing a repasting with better quality thermal pasting such with LM or Grizzly Conductant...should I actually do this or don't bother? Yeah my fans run when the games are going but It doesn't bother me cause I know there doing its job but should I be worried? With my ASUS I was running temps around 93-95C and hot to touch laptop top bezel, but this alienware model does not feel hot, but slightly warm.

Sorry for the long post but all in all I love this laptop and I am happy with it so far...but would like some input.

 

Sometimes MSI AB picks up more temps than HWINFO, but temps looks good. If your temps get worse during daily usage consider a repaste with TG Kryonaut first, well you will see a drop in temps of 10c on idle and full load. Do the repad also since the temps will drop considerably with repaste and repad using @iunlock guide.
You could use ThrottleStop or XTU to undervolt to decrease the temps by 5-7C.

 

Thanks for the reply sir. Yeah I will try to test it out with OCC and go from there. I will have to wait till payday to purchase repasting supplies and such to be exactly how iunlock recommends...have you tried LM pasting? I'm not to confortable doing LM as I always has been a thermal grease type of repaster lol.

 

If its hitting 90c I recommend a repaste. As the system ages the paste may drop in performance and the fans will get some dust in them. Getting it to 80c or less could extend life. You can undervolt alot with these cpus -150mV is common. I can do -137mV with mine (6700hq). If you repaste, repad, use a laptop cooler, and undervolt you could drop max temps by 20c or more. And thats just with kryonaut.

Have you turned on the cpu performance option in the bios? For me bios 1.0.9 has always provided the best performance but it locks cores to the 4 core max 3.1ghz and it will drain your battery if it needs to. Also there are reports of it messing up and you have to jump the bios clr pins to recover the system. Other bioses like 1.0.8 are more stable and will not drain the battery to my knowledge.

Congrats on the new system. The external build quality is great on these and they are pretty nice all around once you set them up and cool them down. 1200 is not bad at all for what you got.

 

More likely the software tax the Cpu harder.

 

System not detecting my gtx 1080 at all. Just goes to integrated. Tried fn+f7 and bios. There's no 1080 listed anywhere in the bios and can't update nvidia drivers since it doesn't detect the 1080. Seeing what options you guys can give me before I contact Dell, thanks!

 

Thank you sir. Yeah I am very surprised and pleasantly happy with the build. Using some quick bench marks...Using Aida64extreme, and doing a stability test with CPU and all GPU testing for 10 mins...my core values were all ranging different but closely the same...core 0 and 2 were hitting at time 85-92C and core 1 and 3 were hitting around around 80-85. So I'll take that till Weds when I make will make that hard choice to repaste or not as all my materials will come by then. oddly enough using Intel Xtreme Utility, my CPU stress test never went up 75c so I strongly believe that the heat from the GPU is being absorbed by the CPU die. Will work on undervolting tonight and see any changes. Thanks and love Alienware!!!

 

Just got the 17r4... aaaand the USB ports are ****ed, the left lighting zone's green LEDs dont work, the middle one's blue LEDs dont work, are any of these known issues and/or can be fixed by dell support?.


Also, is it normal for the 1080p IPS screen to have so much pixel noise and be excessively warm-tinted? Whites on webpages display almost like there's old TV static behind them, something ive only ever seen in IGZO QHD displays.

 

Just got mine and upgrading the drives and ram.

7820hk
1080 gtx
1440p 120hz
32 gb hyper x 2667 cl15
512 Samsung 960 pro

Funny it feels as light as the 13" shown in pictures. Haven't had time to play with it yet

 

I went and checked all my other 1080p screens and laptops, none of them have the hideous static. Is there a proper term for it to search for possible solutions?

 

I suspect you have the auo panel? Which tends to have a warm green/yellow tint, some more then others. You can adjust the colours though using freeware programs.
The auo panel also has a hard anti clare coating. It's not the best 1080p panel, lg Phillips 1080p was the best panel but they tend to only ship with early manufactured alienware 17 r4 skylake cpus.

 

Just checked and it is an AU Optronics panel. If the display is an easy swap i might try that some other time, but the more pressing issues are the USB ports dropping connection quite often and the keyboard LEDs being broken. xx

 

Switching the panel is straight forward, you just gently take off the front bezel and undo 4 screws. I would contact alienware support re the USB - could be hardware issue but could be software driver issue too.

Was it off the outlett ?

 

If you just got it I would send that **** back....


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My AW13 has the same USB issue where it just cuts out and insta reconnects randomly (both while idle and in use). Got a copypasta reply in the thread i made though so guessing both laptops are very RIP. xx

And its a shame too, the AW13 was working so well otherwise.

Oh and no, neither were from outlet, the 13 was amazon and the 17 was direct from dell in the july sale.

 

hey there. long time lurker, first time poster. Today a became the proud owner of an AW 17 r4 (kaby lake 1080 1440p). What I have to say is: Dell looks like they fix their ****... it a refurbished, not a brand new, but i have been playing OW maxed for about 3 hours straight (lifting it on the power brick) and temps haven't gone above 75. no freeze - shuttering either.

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Hi guys,
i'm thinking of getting the Alienware 17R4... Now I don't game or do video editing, but i want a large screen laptop with a NICE SCREEN. Do you guys recommend the 4k screen for best colors and viewing angles?

What do you recommend for Dual Hard Drives and for memory? Does the 99Whr battery extend and create a "bump" compared to the smaller battery?

Any problems i should be aware of on this laptop? When do you expect Dell to refresh it?

 

Hi! The frame of the screen of my 17 r4 presses the display and makes it appear lighter in an angle (as if it were a light leak). I remove the frame and the display looks perfect, without any defect. Anyone know if there is any created a guide or post explaining how to solve this problem?

Thks in advance

 

Does anyone have the exact model number of the LG 1080p display panel? Gonna look into getting one of those if i can get the other issues fixed. The Optronics panel is really bad.

 

I think it's this model... You have to check the position of the rear connector for the flex.

Dell Alienware 17 R4 17.3 FHD (1080p) LED LCD Widescreen Matte - CV69H
Dell Part Number: CV69H, 0CV69H
LG Philips P/N: LP173WF4 SP F1

 

Looked it up on ebay, they're all 30 pin, isnt the 17r4 40pin? or is that specific to the GSync models? Or am i just mistaken?

 

I managed to get GRID autosport on it. It stutters every second or so from the get go... Any ideas on that? I'm on BIOS 1.6.1 i think it said. Also noticed really severe backlight bleed but dont know how to make it show up on camera xx. This laptop just keeps getting rougher the more i look at it.

 

No, the battery is inside the chassis and is flush whether or not you have 99 or 68whr capacity model.

4K screen is best for color reproduction, you have either Sharp or AUO panel for 4K. Not sure which one is better.

There is 40 and 30 pin.

The g-sync model doesn't necessarily use a 30 pin cable.

Tried to undervolt the CPU?
What spec do you have?

 

Had CPU undervolted -125mv, same as on the 13, and game mode was on (forgot to disable). Just ran it with both of those off and still stuttering.

I have a 7700HQ and GTX1070 model.

Is it possible to send it back to dell to get a full replacement unit? So far just about everything on this computer has turned out to be like a moldy lemon in some way or another.

 

2 x 850 Evo SATA m.2? drives ...

And yes, I have the IPS 1080p panel and it overclocks like a dream; I only run it at 100hz when actually gaming on the laptop ...

 

Does the new aw 17 r4 4K 1080gtx still having heat issues?


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Some of them .. it's always best to do a repaste


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I see. So the issues are not common then, yes?


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No heat issues but I have a GPU issue. See this thread. Just received mine yesterday.

Does not appear to be driver/software related.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/17-r4-gpu-drops-to-0-usage-in-game-help.807155/

 

Wow so they're still having heat issues? Hmmm.. One would think Dell would have fixed that by now..
How difficult is it to repaste? Does it take a lot of time or skills?

Any other problems are you guys seeing?

 

hey guys, this is normal? my 17r4 is Kaby Lake, but say Skylake too... why? this is a error?

 

Skylake and Kabylake are quite similar. KabyLake allows more RAM frequency upto 2666MHz while SKL only allows 2133MHz.

 

Somewhat wrong, bruh. Intel 200-Series Chipsets aka for Kaby lake cpu's support officially DDR4 up to 2400 The new Kaby Lake-X support DDR4-2666

 

Is it okay to say Skylake? All Alienware 17r4 7820hk say Skylake? Or is it just my 17r4? I ask because before I had a 17r4 6820hk and I'm using the same ssd with Windows 10 (install the 7820hk drivers above) on my 17r4 7820hk.

 

There are two ways :
-If you remove the mobo. It takes an hour more or less once used to.
-If you remove the heatsink with fans' cover plate only. About 30-40 mn.

Juste follow this tutorial : http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...5r3-disassembly-repaste-guide-results.797373/

 

Kaby lake BGA models use same Controller Hub H (Skylake PCH-H) as in previous Skylake chipset.

 

Thks Papusan... I just read on the Intel website that the chipset cm236/238 are from the Skylake family ...

I was worried because when I checked the System configuration with my Service Tag on the Dell support website, it says my system is 6820hk (since they transferred my old support license to my new laptop, before I correctly said 7820hk).

 

Okay, next time I will use bing/google to verify the numbers. I was confused with RAM frequency from AW, it stated upto 2667MHz. Thanks @Papusan
Very sorry @QuillP.

 

A good advice for yoo bruh Don't trust anything coming from Dell/Dellienware!! Maybe YOO remember the statement that the "Limited" Edition of last AW 18 was advertised with LGA on their web sales page? Pure lies to hijack customers!!

 

its ok @Vasudev

note: new bios in Dell support

 

Okay, browsing through Dell and Razer forums simply twisted the facts.
Maybe I need to check Clevo Forums as well for more accurate truth.

 

New 17R4 owner reporting in..... I guess mine isn't so good, OCCT exceeded 85C in 20 seconds (ambient 25C)

 

Occt?

Core temps?


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Hmm, that sounds like a lot of work. I'm so on the fence with this laptop. On one hand it's a lot cheaper than MSI and Aoros etc for the same specs. On the other hand, it might have heat issues and it gets very loud (according to reviews). I shouldn't have to repast a brand new laptop.

 

Mine did not have heat issues. Heat was fine, seems like gpu issue. Having replacement sent