*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

It's better and the cores are within 5 degrees. I'm running 41 41 41 41 and in occt i runs around 80 sometimes peaking at 90 for a only a quick moment. Not perfect but better then it was. After having to install windows on the first machine since it was bunk out of the box and having to repaste just to get it running my rating of aw is around a 5. Calling Dell about anything is frustrating and I end up stressed. I get tired of them apologizing but talking circles and having to claw and fight for them to do anything. This is my forth aw and might just be my last.

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If you decide to keep it I recommend using XTU to under-volt the CPU by 0.150. I have the same BB model as you and saw similar temps. Under-volting dropped the max temp under stress testing by about 10C. I also noticed the difference between cores is less when the temp is lower. I'm keeping mine. I've had it since mid December and am quite happy with it. I do wish the temp difference was not there, but it is not so bad as to be causing issues.

 

Don't give up hope everyone. I have found out that it is indeed possible to get a great alienware that works out of the box (knock on wood). Just got my replacement (7820hk 1080p non g-sync, 1070) and I am extremely impressed. Out of the box it did 42x, 41x, 41x, 40x with a -.075v core voltage offset with temps only in the high 70s Now I just have to figure out what to do with the paste and pads I bought because I see very little reason to open it up. I thought kaby lake a joke. Either I was wrong or I hit the silicon lottery.

 

Awesome, was waiting to order a similar config until some people got their KB+1070 models and posted their experiences.

Guess I better get on that.

I just got a XPS 15 9560 in today to, pretty loaded. Cant wait to compare side by side.

 

I've actually decided to return it today and pick up another when their stock comes in on Saturday. Hopefully it's a new production run with better thermal management and not just stock they've had sitting in a warehouse for the past couple months. Plus they have a sale now so I'll get it for $1899 instead of the $1999 I paid for this one. If my replacement has the same issue, however, I think I'll just stick with it. I was hoping to avoid things like undervolting and repasting but if that's what it takes it's not a huge problem. Probably should be done regardless according to what I've been reading here.

Edit: Also, have you noticed any change in performance after undervolting? I'm pretty happy with mine as well but the pressure from the closing return window is making me reconsider.

 

I gave them a second kick at the can and they still dropped the ball. Getting a good machine should be the norm and not the exception.

 

So i just got off the phone with alienware and im pretty pissed to be honest. I called on 12/23 to replace my alienware r4 and its over a month later and i still havent received my replacement. I was told 7-10 buiness days, then i was told 1/16 ,then i was told it would ship out two days ago. Now i call today to find out why it hasnt shipped and there telling me i can no longer get a replacement. My only option now is to just return the one i have for a full refund. The reason behind this is because the r4 gtx 1080 1440p 6820hk is a "defective model" according to alienware. "Its riddled with issues and there is no model which would be better than the one i have now that they could send me" according to the rep.

I dont even know how to take that as an answer. How can they tell me the same model they have for sale on there website is so broken that they dont want to send me a new one, yet they have no problem selling the "defective model" on there website for everyone else to buy. Seems pretty ****ed up, that there telling me a product there selling is so messed up that im better off getting a refund and going somewhere else.

 

Have you tried it for a couple of hours I BF1 yet? That'll kill it

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I'd ring them up again and speak to someone else mate. That person you spoke to sounds like a Muppet and I'd get a second opinion. I've done this loads of times with support cases until I get exactly what I want. Each time you learn something new to use against the next one haha. Just say you haven't called before, half of em don't even check

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Im going to try that again tomorrow. I just couldnt get over the answer they gave me. I just dont want to do a refund because i dont want to be out a laptop along with my money being tied up. Not to mention the nearest model to the one i have now with a 1070 is even more money than i payed for my 1080. But at the same time i dont want to keep something that im not 100% happy with.

Honestly id be happy if they would just send me a beefed up 1070 model or just compensate me a bit for a difference. But from the phone call i just had they dont seem to want to even work with me.

 

PM me on the NBR discord server.
https://discord.gg/WYmeK
I want to talk to you and possibly help you.

 

Exactly! Been trying to say this to people...
People hear "light bleed" and they think there is a defect in the panel causing the light to look like this.
Where as this can happen, the large majority of the time its tension on the edges of the panel from the bezel etc.

 

Yup, I wasn't going to mention those rare cases of actual pinched pouches in the LCD wrapping as it's pretty rare.

@sawood711 will be covered with both now, a replacement LCD and someone to come on site and adjust the retaining clips for the panel - hopefully he gets a talented tech to service the fix

 

So I just received my Alienware 17 today, 7820HK, GTX 1070, FHD, 16gb RAM. These are my first impressions.

The good things first. It's really pretty, just like every reviewer said, very clean lines, and it's just nice to look at the understated color and design of the chassis without all the red accents and flare of the other brands. Really solid build quality. Also, battery life is fantastic; I booted up at 4PM, it's 9PM now and still 30% power remaining from surfing the net, playing music, etc running on Intel. After reading all the reviews, something that I really expected was lightbleed, so I had prepared to accept a modest amount; but much to my surprise, there is absolutely none. The screen is immaculate. I mean, I went into the bathroom and turn off the lights, and can't see even the slightest lightbleed in total darkness. That's a huge relief, considering some of the nightmare stories I've read. And lastly, the keyboard is luxurious. The extra key travel is wonderful, it's buttery soft, instead of the hard stop from the chicklet keys, a real pleasure to type on.

Now for the bad, so far.

1) As nice as the keyboard is, those macro keys on the left are going to drive me crazy. When I'm looking for the CTRL or ESC keys, I don't have the peace of mind to press them w/out looking. I know it's only been a few hours since I've had this, but I don't believe I'll ever get used to that. This was unexpected, and seriously one of the reasons I'm thinking of returning it. But maybe that's not exactly a "bad" so much as a preference.

2) The touchpad is wonky. When I use two fingers to scroll, it works fine in one direction, but it glitches in the other. I'll start scrolling, it'll respond at first, then it starts to jump and stutter towards the opposite direction, and from then on it actually starts going in the opposite direction from my scrolling direction. If I scroll quickly, there's no problem. But when I'm reading text, and need that tighter control, the scroll fights back. That's also a serious reason for me to return this. I'm going to contact support tomorrow, if they don't know how to fix this, or if they send a tech who can't fix it, this is a deal breaker. It's just another thing to drive me crazy.

3) The speakers, just like I read in posts and reviews, crackle. It's not a lot, but now that I'm aware of it, it's a distraction. I played some Youtube tracks on my crappy old laptop, and it runs clean; playing the same track on the Alienware, it crackles at fix times. Not to mention I've never had forward-facing speakers, I definitely prefer speakers on top. The forwards speakers sounds boxy, filtered. Another thing for the tech to look at.

4) The Killer 1435 card has lost connection once so far, for a period of ~10 minutes. During that period, there was nothing I could do to reconnect. I can easily see this becoming a serious problem. I know they've had driver issues, but I figured I'd get the 1435 instead of paying $20 more for the 1535, since I was expecting to buy the Intel 8260 anyway. So it's not that much of a problem, but together with all the rest... it adds up.

5) Also, it runs warm from just doing regular web browsing. I've had it on my lap for an hour or so, and the heat builds up enough to be uncomfortable. Not anywhere near what I'd call "hot," but uncomfortably warm.

6) The strangest thing is when I use the left CTRL key and the number pad, it blares some weird sound effects. This person has the same problem, he posted on Youtube:



This is just too bizarre. Please tell me there's an easy fix for this. It was funny at first, and then it got annoying real fast. This is just imbecility. Who thought to include these sound effects?

7) The Caps Lock and Numlock indicator lights are really hard to see when it's daytime, when in a room, not even outside.


These are some other things I really don't appreciate (though they might be a Windows 10 problem):

8) The touchpad gestures don't seem to be programmable. Am I stuck with the preset gestures? Really annoying not to be able to use it the way it suits me. Even my crappy Toshiba has programmable gestures.

9) The Fn + sound/brightness function is really slow. If I hold the key, it takes more than 10 seconds for the brightness to shift from end to end; same for sound. You have to hold Fn and tap the keys rapidly to get it to move faster. It works flawlessly on my crappy old laptop running Windows 8. This seems like something so basic, why couldn't they get this right?

10) Similarly to #9, the arrow keys on a word processor take forever to move the cursor; and ditto for the backspace key.

11) Pressing Alt + Tab to switch between windows doesn't work if one of those windows is a full-screen Youtube video. That full-screen window won't show up.

SUMMARY

I had an epiphany when I was examining this laptop. Why are we paying for a product with the hopes that we don't get a bad one? Shouldn't that be something we can take for granted? That it just works? I'm right on the edge of returning this. In my previous posts, I vacillated between the Alienware 17, the GT73VR, and the Sager NP9873; I decided not to get the Alienware, but then they popped the 10% off sale, which of course happened only after they raised the price the day before. But still, it was the refreshed Kaby Lake, with 10% off, member discount, cash back rewards from my credit card, and getting rid of the 1 year premium support, I got this for under $2K USD, including taxes; and that includes the Dell rewards and the free expedited shipping. I figured there was no harm in trying it out, since Dell has the great no-hassle 30 day return policy. I may just do that, if they can't fix these issues. Ultimately, I decided that a performance desktop-replacement comes with big trade offs; so now I'm thinking of just getting a regular desktop workstation for performance; but I still need a laptop for everyday stuff, and was hoping the Alienware would be a cheap and good workhorse with avg performance. But price be damned, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

I already went into this purchase unappreciative of the limited I/O, and the jerking around of the prices, and the QC problems everyone's been having. I know some of the problems I noted seem small, but combined with everything else... I can't ever remember buying such a conflicted product. There's nothing so frustrating as tech that doesn't work as it's supposed to. I think it speaks to the shrinking PC market, I was surprised just how few choices there were for features that I thought were pretty standard. The selection of laptops is so narrow that I was even drawn to consider an enthusiast performance product like the Sager NP9873. I hope Dell can resolve all the problems I have, I'm so tired of looking for a laptop now. I want to be done with it. Are you guys seeing the same problems with yours? And was there a fix?

 

That's just brutal. If Dell doesn't make up its mind to be a big boy and take care of all the customers they wronged, this thing is going to turn into a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 for them. Dell has already harmed the Alienware brand. Think about people being forced to use a crappy product EVERY DAY, what's that going to do to their brand perception? I don't know what they could do to set it right for you, but hope they do you some justice, man.

 

Says the link expired, dont think i read your post quick enough.

 

Sorry lol
https://discord.gg/cFUYbgY

 

Sent you a message.

 

Is Che-mei's panel better than Auo though? Both of my Che-mei panel can only be overclocked to ~65hz before glitching so I didn't bother, was under the impression that Auo or LG's panel are better. It also has 6bit colour like your Auo, not sure if the LG panel is any different though...

 

Im hoping something happens. I just got to good of a deal on my r4 to be returning it so thats definitely not happening. It would actually cost me $400 more for the 1070 version right now then i paid for my 1080. Im honestly just shocked that doing a return and buying a new model is there solution. That would be like me buying a brand new mustang and my tranny goes so i call up the dealership and ford tells me "heres your money back now go out to the lot and pick out a new focus at sticker price". Thats just not how business works, and im shocked that a company like dell would think that is right. I posted something on reddit about it and i actually had a few people say tell told them the same thing about there exchanges too.

I honestly just feel like im just in some kind of waiting room, and every time i go up the counter to make sure they didnt forget about me they tell me not worry someone will be right with, but yet im still here.

 

I purchased the Alienware 17 R4 with 6820HK, 512GB SSD, 1TB HDD, 32GB RAM, QHD 120hz G-Sync Display, Killer 1535 (should have gone with the Intel, but...), NVIDIA GTX 1080...

From the start, pushing the little "Alien" to turn the system on wouldn't always work. I'd press it and the display wouldn't fire up, but the TRON lights would come on and I could hear the fans come on...
I'd have to try to turn it on several times and it would eventually boot up properly. After a few days, it would turn on more reliably, but the power button would flash (1) blue and (3) reds...

I called Dell, and they told me that it was a CMOS battery problem and that they'd send me a new system board. When I go the replacement system board, the CMOS battery connector was crooked, and I called Dell to let them know that the connector didn't look right, they said it was just cosmetic and "wouldn't be a problem"...

I applied the Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal, re-pasted the pads, closed up the system, and guess what? When I turn the system on, I get the same (1) blue and (3) red flashes, which constantly alternate while the system is turned on. I opened up the system, and went to check the CMOS battery connector, and one of the pins for the CMOS connector isn't even soldered properly onto the board...
Gave Dell a call and told them that their replacement board had the same issue as the other one (CMOS battery failure)... They told me I'd have to send in the system, because I'd probably screwed up the MB replacement and they wouldn't send a tech out to replace the MB (yes, they did tell me that I could do my own MB replacement, but if something went wrong I'd have to depot repair it).
I told them that since I was within my initial 30 days, I wanted a system exchange, and the tech said he'd see what he could do...
I got an e-mail a couple days later telling me that the system exchange had been approved and that I'd be receiving an e-mail within a couple of days to confirm this.
A couple more days later I see the system exchange dispatch notification under my support request section of Dell... A couple days after that I see a second exchange dispatch notification...

Soon after the second exchange dispatch notification, I get an e-mail from a Dell agent offering the following:
Alienware 17 R4 7820HK, 1TB SSD, 1TB HDD, 32GB RAM, UHD Display, Killer 1535, NVIDIA GTX 1070...

I replied that I purchased the laptop as a gaming device and that I wanted the 1080 video card. He said that the 1080 card isn't available right now, and he'd keep the ticket open and check back with me every couple of weeks or so and let me know when the card was available...

The laptop seems to work ok and doesn't have the problem with it turning on that it had with the other MB, but the power button flashes with the (1) blue and (3) red indications...

How can Dell say that my configured system isn't available when they're selling the same system on their website? Did they mean to say that they have my configured system available to people who are willing to pay $3K+ for the system but they don't have any available as system exchanges?

Any ideas on how to proceed? Just wait at Dell's mercy until they feel they have a system exchange available?

Thank you in advance for your suggestions...

 

Listen up.

If you placed an order this month for the 6820HK with the GTX 1080 and QHD display, your order is dead.

It will be declined and you must place a new order. The 7820HK with the GTX 1080 and UHD display is the only configuration for that bracket.

My order was delayed 3 times and this was the reason why. Marketing should be updating the site shortly.

In regards to the QHD display issues, guys they decided to dump it and go with UHD only... I really wanted the 5ms display even though it's TN.

 

Oh god, please don't tell me that's true...
I placed my order on the 20th of January and it is marked as 'in pre-production'... (6820HK / GTX1080 / QHD Panel)

If I am an not getting what I bought, I expect to receive the same unit but with the 7820HK instead.

 

They are going to cancel the order.

I ordered on the 3rd of Jan. and it's been pushed back three times - including being over a month on the last update.

 

Unless I'm mistaken, @speedsweep ordered his aw17 from France... so perhaps not. I think there are 1080gtx allocations for specific countries since the most of the european dell websites list the 1080gtx as available and shipped 5-10 business days.

I placed my order a couple of days before you and have an estimated 09/02 shipped date at the latest (still in preproduction)

Also, I received an email from dell support assuring me that all laptops are new and not refurbished ("Toutes les machines sont neuves . On ne vend pas de produits reconditionné")... take that as you will...

 

Nothing other than a quieter fan due to the lower temps. Undervolting is fairly painless. It does not affect performance unless you go too low. There is a point with every CPU where you'll start to get stability issues. Going down 0.150 seems to be a fairly safe number from what I've been reading. I've seen some posts were people have got down lower. It depends of your particular CPU how low you can go before it starts crashing. For me I don't have the need to get as low as I can go so I stuck with the fairly safe value.

 

Well my Alienware 17 only lasted a few days and dell one replace it.. I guess that's what I get for buying refurb they said I can only send it back . And all the others are so much more money


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I overclocked my auo 1080p to 75hrtz, no problem, not sure if it goes higher as didn't try. The auo panel seems grainy to me, and has like a bit of a yellow tint, main issue is bad light bleed in the left corner, I've asked for a replacement or to adjust the screen besel. Maybe someone who has the lgphillips 1080p can confirm if it's 6 or 8 bit colour output? I've previously attached an image of the auo screens details.

 

Honestly that what i thought. Every other laptop config has seen a upgrade to kaby lake yet the r4 1080 version remains the same. They went and jacked the price of it up almost 1K since i bought mine, it almost seems to me like they dont want people to buy it. I figured its going to be replaced by a kaby lake version at some point and its not ready. So instead of removing it they just kept it there so they still have a 1080 laptop in the mix figuring the people who actually buy it will just wait. I posted over on the alienware subreddit about them refusing my exchange and a few people responded saying there dealing with the same thing on there exchanges or purchases. It pretty messed up there selling a laptop they dont have.

I am curious how you know this though? is that config listed somewhere?

 

I've got the AUO display as well and I agree that it seems a bit grainy if you tend to hover over your monitor.

What I don't understand is that HWinfo says the panel is AU Optronics B173HW01 V0 (ID: AUO109D). Isn't that a TN display?

 

Hi guys I have received my laptop 6820HK GTX1080. I am getting these temps after 1 hour of Battlefield 1 with CPU OC level 3. What do you guys think. Also I have experienced the battery was drained about 4% in an hour during this session. Is it normal?
http://imgur.com/a/MVuZk

 

I would try running hwinfo64 so you can see the averages. I mean they dont look horrible considering its at 4.0 but it all depends on how long you stayed at that high.

 

Hmm, my first 17R4 that I returned for poor thermals also had a very noticeable grainy screen(like cheap matte phone screen protectors that I used to apply, heh). Having used a Clevo machine with matte display prior to getting the Alienware, I remember being shocked at how poor quality the Alienware panel was when I first received it, don't remember it having a yellow tint though. I got a panel replacement after I complained about light bleed and the new one was much better with no grain at all and it was also overclockable to a stable 100hz, unfortunately I did not take note of which manufacturer that panel was from.

The Chi-Mei panels on my new machine also has no grain at all, only thing is that they cannot be overclocked past 65hz, but then I'd rather have a clear panel that cannot be overclocked than an overclockable panel with grainy display, seems like the LG will be the best of both worlds?

Light bleeds on the panel are mostly caused by the bezel being overly tight, but it will be a good chance to request for a panel swap if you are unhappy with your current panel. Dell/Alienware are usually willing to send out a new panel when you complain about light bleed, for me at least...

 

Best Buy has the AW17 R4 on sale for $1499.. $300 off is pretty good!

 

Question for you all ...

Does one necessarily *have* to install the Intel Dynamic Platform & Thermal Framework Driver softs? I haven't installed it but just today did and I'm not sure if it's something I really need or not.

???

 

I pulled the trigger... the wait begins. Hope i get one with decent thermals.

7820hk / 1070 / 4K model with an AGA.

 

None need it http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-376#post-10114423

 

Best of luck ... the "lottery" is worth it for the build quality alone.

 

No you do not. In fact I solved a problem related to severe throttling that was "system firmware" controlled according to the windows log by: Doing a fresh windows install and NOT installing the thermal framework drivers. This was on the alienware 17 r2.

 

DUDE!!!! You just described my problem!!!

Two times now over the past two months, after leaving my machine "locked" (not sleeping, not hibernating) ... I've returned to it to find the screen blank and the fans blowing full blast. After restarting and avoiding all the system restore crap, I investigated the Windows Event Log (which I am very familiar with and have used for years since NT) and found the same thing you describe ... in fact, the exact error messages I received is as follows:

"The speed of processor 5 in group 0 is being limited by system firmware. The processor has been in this reduced performance state for 8 seconds since the last report."

...

Once I rebooted, Windows "auto repair" wanted me to restore from a restore point but I just canceled out and rebooted and things worked fine.

So WTF?

Admittedly, I'm still running the original bios for this machine .. Bios v. 1.0.2 ... (AW17 6700HQ/GTX1070) ... and only because I've found later bios versions do not let my CPU run at it's spec'd limits ...

So I'm not sure what the culprit is ... perhaps I'll un install the Intel Thermal thing and see what happens over the coming weeks. I use my AW machine daily at work and always on AC power and generally, always on the "High Performance" power management setting.

I'll post here if I find some news.

Thanks again for your comment

joel

 

I ordered on 1-6-17. Was told today that the panel is on back order. They will not give me any time frame. So I am sitting here waiting on a laptop that I have no idea when I'll get or if I'll get! 6820hk, gtx1080, QHD panel. what a pain!

Update: just checked after posting this and my order now says "your custom built item is complete". With an estimated delivery date of 2/7/17. Was originally 1/25/17. Pushed back twice now. I don't know what to believe at this point. If they are going to dump this order, I wish they'd just tell me now!!! And I sure as hell don't want a returned panel slapped on the thing! That's my fear! Anyone know what the hell is actually going on over there?

 

What BIOS are you on? If you are on 1.0.9 could you please try 1.0.8 and see if the drain happens still?

 

I have been getting info directly from the horses mouth.
There is a supply issue, they will not dump the order.
The holidays wiped out alot of the 6820HK + GTX 1080 motherboards.
I am in the exact same boat as you, mine too was pushed back twice.
Just be patient.

 

The drain happened on 1.0.8 but it did not happen on 1.0.9 altough on 1.0.9 it did not boost to 4.1 ghz even if i set it to level 3

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Battery drain with 330W psu? Have Dell's engineers this time crippled the machines with a maximum power draw from PSU? Is this true @iunlock? Either plague or cholera, depends on the firmware.

 

Use 1.0.9 and Manually OC to 4.0 or 4.1 GHz on all four cores. The OC Level 3 only boosts to 4.1Ghz for single core situations and to I believe 3.9Ghz for all four cores.

 

UPDATE:

Sorry guys, I retract my statement about bios 1.0.9. I've spoke too soon.

If you're on 1.0.9, I'd suggest that you flash out of it right away to 1.0.2.

I have had three systems on 1.0.9 while testing and ironically all three within a day or two from each other wouldn't turn on so I had to hard reset all of them! It about gave me a heart attack....

There was a similar issue with the 17R3 where a newer bios was fine for a while, then bam....it caused a lot of headaches with it not turning on and it requiring a hard reset.

Somethings not right here....it seems like flashing up (going from an older bios to a newer one) is causing some issues, whereas rolling back the bios does not seem to have any negative effects.

BIOS 1.0.2 it is... the only drawback for those who are lazy is that you have to manually load your profiles to adjust the power limits and OC settings. Takes literally seconds, not a big deal, but worth mentioning....


BIOS 1.0.9 works fine and there are no known issues that I've come across, yet?

1.0.9 holds the values you set in bios, without having to use XTU to tweak for the settings to stick.

I just go straight into using TS to tune.

Also, the fan profile on 1.0.9 are much improved. It's more aggressive in a good way and they change like they're suppose to. That was one thing annoying about the previous bios's in that the fans stayed on forever.

So far so go. No battery drain issues.[s/]

 

Notice how both of you were told different things... your orders are dead!

This is information from the actual build department. The update was already sent to marketing, so the site should reflect the configuration I mentioned.

They have motherboards because I was offered a new board and parts today, but I am sticking with a new exchange.

The display is not on back order. Frank Azor already said he was replacing the current displays because of the banding issue, but I guess they decided to dump the TN panel because the build department is not building those configurations anymore. I believe it's UHD panels from here on out for new orders.

Why is it still shown on the website and why haven't your orders been formally canceled? They haven't pushed Kaby for the gtx 1080... can't remove it from the site or else they won't have a gtx 1080 on offer. Better to leave it up, take orders, dump them, and then try to convince people to order again. This isn't new!

Notice how mine says it's complete... it's been complete for two weeks and delayed twice since then. Maybe I received bad intel and I'm wrong, but I went from executive support and got some strings pulled to get info from the build department.

 

They are stikl doing them mine was sent on the 10th of January and arrived on the 25th. It is a gtx1080 model and its New not refurbished.

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