*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

Replacing the pads as recommended in my repaste guide is very much for that reason... In addressing the overheating issue of the vrm's.

This has been a known issue from the beginning. It's nothing new.

* Replace the pads accordingly with taking into account the tolerance levels.

::iunlock::

 

So yeah... I decided to take a look inside and found out that this laptop actually might have been repadded before I got it. As it is a refurb it might have been the previous user, or Dell did this after it was returned? Either way it is done poorly and does not do the job.

Here you can see there is a very thick additional pad added.




And here it seems there is a big gap above the Vmemory, the gap closes as I press down on the radiator.




This seems problematic, it is the VRM if I remember correctly. I see that it is not designed to have a factory installed pad there, but it may be possible to glue something to the arm above it and replace the existing pad with a wider one that would reach to this unit?




Custom heatsing paint, thermal paste color?



And finally, as I opened it up I noticed this. I don't think this is right for a certified refurb.

It is the "bad" one apparently, Sunon. The temps really are amazing that is true, after heavy gaming session (with a cheap cooling pad) the OC @ 4.1 GHz 7820HK tops at 80C but usually stays high 70's. Same with the 1080, stays between 70-80C all the time (no OC, max clock at about 1850 MHz).

I really don't want to have to turn to Dell with this waiting for repairs or sending it back to them. It also seems that replacing the mobo will not help. It is a heatsink / thermal pad issue. But removing the heatsink and doing a proper repad/repaste would void my warranty probably, am I right? I have read that it should not but that is really suspicious, repaste/repad is a quite serious interference with basically almost a full ssytem disassembly.

 

The sunon is actually the good one (there are 2 versions of it though and it's not clear which you have).

Given your temps thou, the heatsink is clearly doing its job well with stock paste. If you repasted you will likely see a further drop in temps.

You could try changing the pads but the stuttering is likely to be electrical and, depending where you live Alienware will send an engineer to your home and replace the mobo on site.

You could send alienware support your images and ask that they send an engineer to replace the pads.

 

I removed mine but kept them safe, you can do it carefully so you can put it back on it needs be. I returned two before this one and both stickers I had on the back and was no issue. Other retailers may be different though so may be worth checking first

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@iunlock
Hey, can you add me on discord please? Sent a friend request and really need to get the repaste/pads done.

@iunlock forgot to add my discord name. Izzo#0469 id like to either hire you or mobius to do the repaste/repad. Please dm me on discord and I sent mobius 1 a msg on there already.

 

Can someone look at these stats and tell me if I should just send this back to Dell or should I send it to Iunlock to repad/repaste?

I played GTA5 for an hour on "default" settings (not maxed out) 120hz @ 1440p.

 

Send it to @iunlock
Even on GTA V maxed out on my 15 r2 at FHD, max CPU and GPU temps are below 65C.

 

Dell makes an official heatsink but for some odd reason they only include it with the 1 TB SSD models. I contacted them for the part number and they ended up sending me one for free. They may do the same for you.

Here's the part number: JV98R

 

@iunlock, @Mobius 1, @Pete Light, @alexnvidia
Guys, which BIOS are you using currently on AW 17 R4 (7820HK 4.3-4.5 OC + GTX1080)? Any improvements with fan profiles? Are RPM caps increased\decreased in new versions?

 

I only use max fan mode so I don't really pay attention to fan curve change lol.

 

Your gpu temp is 67c max and you have a gtx1080 - that is a great temp. No issues there.

Cpu a little high but only spikes. Avg temp ok. If that bothers you contact alienware and ask for a repaste but really your laptop is ok and your gpu temp is amazing. You could undevolt you cpu that would reduce your cpu temps by upto -10c

Don't send it to someone on here 1) you have a warranty and dell would take care of it for free -
2) you could do it yourself, but why would you?

Your laptop is fine - For stock paste - specially your gpu

What heatsink do you have ? You can check by taking the back cover off.

 

1.1.8 and no they're still a bit crappy. Mine idles at 2.1 - 2.5k which is a bit annoying but I can berely hear it and I wear headphones anyway

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Hey, your results are fairly typical if a little above average for a 7820HK, this one is definitely a keeper for sure. Your GPU temp and core differentials for the CPU are impressive for a stock unit however you're results are currently skewed because the power limits are being triggered, starving your CPU from running at 4 GHz all the time.
For a true and next test, can you reboot into BIOS, restore to default settings, then go in again and enable CPU performance mode, go straight to customisation in the overclock setting and set all values to 0 except for the bottom two power limits which should be 240000, then run the same test again?
This is for us to accurately determine how much of the power limit throttling is going on so the temps are an accurate reflection of that sustained clock speed (which they aren't at the moment). It seems not so much so far but let's make sure before passing any judgements

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i always use the latest BIOS. Fan profiles remained the same, buggy as usual. Switch on OC mode, fans are locked to a minimal 2K RPM with or without load and it ramps up from there onwards. maxed out at 4.2K or so RPM.

 

Definitely have iunlock repaste it. And don't listen to the guy who said "Don't send it to people here." He doesn't know what he's talking about, nor has he been around long enough to know the hard work the honest people do to fix dell's mess.

And as for whether that system is a 'keeper' or not, well, the vcore is very high for 4 ghz. 1.250v is VERY high for 4 ghz if that's being reported accurately. 4 ghz should require 1.0v or 1.05v. So you would have to test lowering the voltage first.

 

I followed your instructions, see results below:

 

Yep perfect that's exactly what I was expecting. Higher temps with thermal throttling kicking in when power limits are properly unlocked. Nothing to worry about you have a completely normal unit, in fact, in my opinion you have an above average unit that I'd love to see hardware modded to reach it's potential!
In its current form it's acceptable for gaming with stock clocks and stock oc profiles. If you want to overclock then you'll need a repaste to be completely sure everything is hunky dory

Your core differential isn't much and your GPU temperature is excellent! Send it to team LHz if I was you!

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Thank you very much for taking the time to analyze and respond. you definitely gave me peace of mind. I will look into modding it (is that what iunlock does?). ill look into LHz as well. im new to this so i appreciate your expertise.

 

Your laptop is in great condition - you can undervolt to lower the cpu temps.

Alternatively ask Dell to look at it as part of your warranty for Free -

Their service in the uk is great and certainly no point paying a third party to do it. Unfortunately there is a few promoting repaste services on here.

Modding it will invalidate your warranty.

Have peace of mind that your gpu 1080 has 1 of the best stock temps out the box. .)

 

i'm very impressed about the way this cpu overclocks, just ran a test (intel cpu stress test) for 15 minutes, and my cpu did not throttle, or even hit a powerlimit. 4.8 Ghz, i'm coming soon !

also my cpu behaviour has changed due creators update, i'm no longer able to lock te cpu to the frequency i want. (xtu and throttlestop) because M$ introduced a slider instead of performance profiles, now windows decides (in combination with speed shift) at what frequency my cpu runs.

so in OCCT and Prime95 even though i'm using 100% of all my threads, it will not boost to the speed i set my cpu at. only in XTU (CPU stress test) it boosts to the speed i gave my cpu.

Can somebody else confirm (it could be my windows is corrupted like how some people are missing features and apps after performing the update) so far everything else (except tobii) seems to be working fine. temperatures did drop while gaming though so happy bout that

 

Either Downgrade to Creators update v1703 or Anniversary Update v1607.

 

it dropped my temps and as far as i can see with gaming it has made my fps more consistent. apart from tobii and my frequency not being able to lock, it's not a big deal. it can run 4.4 or 4.5 but now it is application depended not user. so i'm not downgrading, i'm looking for a way to improve. not degrade. a few days ago i posted a benchmark with 4.4 on all cores it throttled and it got up to 88 degrees. just now i've put a 100 mhz extra on my cpu and 100 v core (for 4.5 and 4.6 oc) and it only got 1 degree warmer, thats a improvement ! (and it now starts to throttle at 4.6 instead of 4.5, but it only throttles on 1 core the rest is hot but no throttling.) for stock paste/pads i think i've got a winner now. reaching 4.8 could be achieved alot easier in creators update then anniversary but i think it can very per person. so not downgrading, just looking for optimazations

 

It isn't as polished like people say but future update would improve it.

 

Same behavior if you test with Aida64 stability test as my guide as well?

@Vasudev What changes have to be done in Crematory Fall Edition for maxed power? What a Morons!! More and more a phone OS for desktops although Redmond Morons skip the mobile OS.

 

I don't intend to upgrade to FCU. BTW being on Insider preview, the mobile OS is more stable than Public releases.
Maybe in a few days I'll test FCU on VM, I bet it will be faster on VM than on real Host machine because of their magic trick.
I'll check out services.msc in FCU and get everyone posted about performance improvements in W10 Bloatware free edition thread.

 

As you clearly can see... Microsoft continues develope their newest desktop OS for Trashware.

Windows 10 on Snapdragon SoCs Coming Soon Says Microsoft – Battery Is Going to Be a Huge Selling Point


Windows 10 Mobile might not receive the development love that it rightfully deserves but it looks like there is a silver lining in all of this. Microsoft has been working at a frantic pace to make sure that its Windows 10 operating system can work fluidly on Snapdragon chipsets. According to the company, Windows 10 on Qualcomm chipsets are in the final stages of development and will be arriving soon, with a lot of perks being laid out at the same time.

 

i did not test with AIDA64 yet, but i will and see what it does. ATM it performs well but i am kinda curious why it won't boost with occt and prime

 

Do I use XTU to undervolt? What are some typical safe undervolting techniques? I've never done that.

In addition, does Dell do as good a job as iunlock or Team LHz? I don't mind paying if its quality service and its less headache then going through Dell CS. I don't want Dell just slapping on some poor quality paste just to shut me up.

 

XTU is fine, but throttlestop is more lightweigt. both will get the job done. i've read that the 7820HK tends to undervolt up to -0.075 and some people can undervolt past that. it all depends on how good your silicon is. start with small steps like .-0.005 or -0.010. after going down, do a stress test for about 10/15 min. if it crashes, that's the sign that you should apply +0.005/0.010 again until your cpu survives a test without crashing. do take note that some undervolts can pass a stress test without giving a #$%^! and some can crash if you leave your laptop idle. it all comes down to how good your silicon is and how much voltage there is being used (and how) while under load. my numbers could be different than yours just because we have different programs installed within windows, so it polls the cpu different.

about the repaste, i would definitely send my laptop to Iunlock, and skip Dell CS, but that's my opinion (i've seen alot of work from the people of notebookreview, and it helped me alot ! ) and as far is i know all the revieuws about iunlock are all positive, and the numbers people post is definitely impressive. Dellienware should hire Iunlock (in my opinion) bechause he really let's you get every mhz out of your cpu. i live a bit far from him, but i would not hesistate to send my laptop to him (i would probably send it to Iunlock then the dell depot cause over there people do not care about your product, Iunlock treats these systems with respect)

 

You might want to try running speed shift on throttle stop. You can set up what multiplier range it operates in and even if it prefers performance or energy savings. Setting it up in throttlestop should bypass all the windows crap. I think windows only uses speed step but i could be wrong. Microsofts been messing everything up with updates lately. Gsync and monitor related issues have been big. Also the "speed shift -epp" setting is 0 for performance and 255 for energy savings.

 

I did the 15min stress test on the CPU and I was pretty happy with the results. Should I do 30min just to make sure? I mean the GPU, I have no issues with so do I really need to play a game to simulate a real world test to get accurate numbers?

 

Cpu in Stress test and without load from graphics doesn’t stress the TRIPOD unified HS design.

 

those temps are looking better than your first post. you could try a 30 min run and see how it performs, usually when a oc passed a test, i let it cool down first then start up a game to see how it performs. i play Flight Sim world or Flight simulator, which both are cpu intensive so i push the cpu hard, but any cpu intensive game would be fine. also take note at what papusan said. it's important to stress the cpu and the gpu to see if your heatsink can keep up with your cpu boosting. a benchmark is just to see if your undervolt/overclock setting stick, and can handle synthetic load. When you're gaming that's when the real deal is going on cause the "why? why? why?" design can not keep up sometimes with the cpu and gpu being stressed

strange enough speedshift doesn't like my bios or something else is going on, but when benching it's all ok, but as soon as it stops, my laptop would tend to lock-up. so i shifted over to XTU and found out that the value's i was using where to high. they're much lower in XTU and my temperature dropped (but could be due windows creators update). within the anniversary update (before i got my new mobo) i did use speedshift inside throttle stop to try to keep my temps in check (so it would only boost when it was neccesary). now it's showing me the same behaviour but within windows creators update. could be due the fact that the cpu now polls windows to look if it needs to boost, instead of windows telling it to boost( and how to boost). according to intel it should give you a minor boost in things like opening tabs etc. so far only XTU stress test pushes my cpu straight to 4.4. in star citizen or fsx it tends to be around 3.9 sometimes it goes to 4.4 for a sec or it ramps the speeds bit by bit, but almost never full 4.4. i'll find a way, maybe with a regedit, or within the bios settting the appropriate settings would help. have only done everything so far in XTU but will report back soon with results

 

Exactly...if I run Prime95 I dont have issues, if I run Furmark which is a GPU stress test, the GPU never passes 67 celsius, but the CPU goes to crazy 96-98 celsius with like 30% or less in usage.

 

hey, I am having these problems but Dell will send this part to me FRPY8

am I getting the version that wont make the difference?

 

well this is surprising. went to play star citizen for a while and here are my results

@openglcg
@Tanner208

 

That thing is in serious need of repasting and rebalancing. Should not have 12C core temp delta with such low volts. BTW 4.2 ghz at 1.1v is very nice. Chips a keeper but it has to be repasted. I'd give it to iunlock for servicing. A LM job might even get you to 4.7 ghz (you won't be able to STRESS TEST it, but you should be able to GAME on it).

 

did you try setting speed shift - epp to 0 in throttlestop? that should get you the msot agressive performance profile

 

dont even talk about gaming on 4.7ghz. I'm locked at 3.1

 

W10 ARM version on Snapdragon works like a charm, its buttery smooth. In case of battery, W10M is very good at managing battery, almost better than Apple. iPhone 7 doing little light usage hardly lasts as long as my WP (lasts 2-4 days with WiFi turned On always) Hahaaa!!! I'm optimising Windows 10 for battery life.

 

Today I arrived at work, just like every other day, turned my 17 R4 on and I got a battery not detected warning.
It's not the first time this happened to my unit. Usually opening the cover, disconnecting the battery and pressing the power button for a few seconds fixes it but I haven't gotten around to doing it yet.
Any ideas on what can cause my battery to need a reset this often? It seems like it's more likely to happen if I use the system on battery power and let if fall bellow 20%

 

You could ask Dell to repaste so long as they agree to use kyronaut (proven to be the best non conductive thermal paste) but this won't fix the core differential issue which may get worse after repasting the heatsink and these are not professionals with experience of fixing all the problems plus they can break things (even in the UK!).

The best way for peace of mind is to have a professional like the guys from team LHz do it who are used to working specifically on this laptop and other top of the range equipment. There are many success stories and references to this on this forum so I don't know why you're so against it when it completely resolves all the known issues... They are not exactly plugging their services lol! They don't need to!

The work that team LHz do and repasting in general will not void your warranty. Please do not post if your are not sure on the issues as it misleads others,

Thanks

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Run ePSA test and find out if battery is working or not? If not, ask for battery replacement.

 

Yes as others have said, BF1, Witcher, GTA V, The Division are some of the best games to test full load

Just use Throttlestop XTU is buggy as hell

 

Hard to say. Dell often has several part numbers for the same part, just made by different manufacturers. Once you get the heatsink post a picture and I can tell you if it's the same as mine. When I got them to send me one I didn't even know the part number, I just referenced the page number in the manual and said my laptop was missing this part.

 

Modding does NOT void your warranty.

Unless you break something, your warranty will remain intact. Repasting with traditional or LM paste, adding ram, hard drives, etc is all fine and won't void anything.

That being said, if you're not comfortable with it then don't do it because if you untintentionally break something you won't be covered. Sending it to @iunlock is the safe bet if you're not sure because you're 100% guaranteed to get it back working perfect with the warranty intact.

 

I like the interface of XTU because it's simple and easy to understand but it has issues remembering your settings and I found myself going back into the app every day to reapply the undervolt.

The Dell techs are hit or miss. Alienware systems are a niche product and the techs don't see them as often as they do the Inspiron and other high volume models. I've heard enough horror stories of on site techs making things worse that I would just do it myself or pay a professional for quality work.

 

sure, will do

 

Windows 10 and throttlestop will not work together soon though from what I’m reading.

 

the death of an age

 

I'm fully sure there are no issues his gpu temp is 67c for 1080 - Don't miss quote my previous post.

What do you consider an acceptable temp for gtx1080 in an laptop ??

Repaste or modding will invalidate the warranty if you get caught - end off - get Dell to do it!

What's shameful is the fear tactics used to promote repaste service - and for laptops that don't need it.

Use your free warrantys guys and don't pay others to repaste or mod... Also if you really don't won't to use your Free dell warranty then do a bit of research and be careful and repaste yourself it can be rewarding.

As for your comment they don't plug their own services - really, anyone could just open an account on here an plug peoples services and who would know who they are...

Can't wait for the next Alienware revision - removal of tripod = few people out of business on here