*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

16+8 will get you more amount of RAM but dual channel performance isn't guaranteed. Do they have same specs but differ in RAM capacity only?

 

Yeah, I could almost smell single stick. You need equal size sticks.
And don’t forget nothing will be faster than the weak link (see... clock speed - timings).

 

i got to check but I am sure there are both 2400mhz, timings I would not know.

 

Hello! I need help. I need to get the 4k display of my Alienware 7r4 . Does anyone know where I can buy it? I searched Amazon and eBay, but I'm not sure it's the right one.

Dell part number: 8CJK2
AU Optronics b173zan01 .0
LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY, 17.3UHD, AG, EDP1.3, AU OPTRONICS CORP
17.3 inch UHD (3840 x 2160) IP S Anti-Glare 300-nits Display

 

Hi guys,
I have a very strange problem with my 17 R4. I build this system from parts, I first got the motherboard from ebay, it was from a QHD gsync model with gtx1070 and 6700hq. Then I bought the new version of the QHD screen (B173QTN01.4) and all the parts keyboard,chassis, cables etc. The laptop was working excellent but someday I noticed that g-sync wasnt available in the nvidia control panel. I also confirmed that wasnt available in games. I re-installed the nvidia drivers with ddu cleaner but still wasnt available. Then i thought why not update the bios? It was an old one (1.0.8). So I downloaded the latest bios from dell website (1.2.3) and installed it. After the first boot when the laptop loaded the nvidia driver the screen turned black with the backlight also turned off. I connected an hdmi and I had signal in the external monitor. Only the internal screen is not working and only when there is a driver installed. If I boot in safe mode I get signal. Then I thought I must return to the previous bios but no luck. I get an error now says 1.2.3 version is protected and cant downgrade. So any suggestions?
Anyone know why I didnt had g-sync available? all the parts are compatible (motherboard - QHD cable - QHD screen).
What can I do now? Also there is no warranty of course.

 

Yeah, this looks like the solution.

 

Never ran this, so are these scores good?
https://imgur.com/a/AsWms

 

From Cpu-Monkey.com
Take a look and decide for yourself. Fully locked down low entry 7700HQ perform a higher CBR15 score than your higher clocked 7820Hk (Your score... Cinebench R15 - 750cb).

 

The only thing I can think is that windows is only giving me a balance mode and I changed the slider bar to max performance. Is there a way to change it to high performance?

 

notebookreview.com/threads/windows-10

 

Just seeing balanced and power saver.

 

Even with performance mode and fan mode on i Can only get 752 and 891 with tier 3 overclock

 

Run Cinebench R15 and put up Hwinfo as a pict in spoiler and post results. Same for wPRIME. Run as admin, select 8 threads in advanced options and click 1024M benchmark. Both stock and oc'd.

Spoiler: Hwinfo64 setup

 

Change process priority of CB R15 in task manager to realtime and see if it helps.

 

I talk about apples vs. apples and not Apples vs. Oranges (review sites don't change priority in task manager, bruh). See scores in link from Cpu-Monkey.com

 

BTW, I hate Apple Macbook Pros.
If changing the priority improves CB scores then it means there's more room for optimising W10.

 

See Apple MacBook Pro with 7700hq is only 18 points from reaching same score in Cinebench R15 as an higher clocked 7820Hk in Alienware 17R4 (732cb vs. 750cb).

 

so the ram i have in there is 2133mhz is that what is causing it?

 

That might be. Switch to better speeds like 2400MHz or more from Gskill/Crucial/Kingston.

 

FYI Cinebench R15 CPU scaling... Ram influence: On the 6700K system dual channel 3200 to single channel 2133 only varied scores 1.5% or so. As you can see ram performance doesn't significantly impact things much.

Doesn't make the big difference. He should rather buy the second/last memory stick

 

Well, that's pretty dang sad. If they didn't have such a crappy GPU in the CrapBook Pro it might be a better option for those willing to settle for overpriced BGA junk. That stupidly huge buttonless clickpad piece of garbage certainly is butt-ugly. No keyboard number pad also sucks. Besides the chintzy CPU, both of those serious design flaws would get it scratched off my list.

 

Almost half the palm rest is a touchpad. And I Who hate using such idiocy

BTW. MacBook Air Turned 10 Years – Here’s How It Changed the Notebook Industry Forever

The Sleekness and Portability of the MacBook Air Came at a Cost Unfortunately but it Revealed to Other Manufacturers How to Make a Notebook "We all” know how it went" Design before performance.

 

**** me, now my macro keys wont change from blue. I can change all the colors on the wheel and they stay blue, did the uninstall and reinstall and still the same blue.

 

Could be one of the connections is loose, a broken wire somewhere in the lighting, or a bad ground for the lighting. Whenever there is an open circuit or short, AlienFX can behave weirdly like that.

 

I also had a positive experience with support, but not at first. It was literally for something very minor originally, but then I also pushed for a repaste. Since I had a hard time with the original tech support people who seemed to not care or understand, I had my case elevated to a manager. Once at the manager level, I got what I needed. I wasn't even technically overheating. I didn't have to complete any troubleshooting steps. They are legally obligated to honor any warranty support, regardless of your computer skill level. You can play as dumb as you'd like.

The technician was very nice. If anything, they push to get things done almost too fast. Had about 3 contacts in 2 days because I didn't respond fast enough.

In comparison to other companies, its the support is pretty golden imo. Last time I sent something in for repair for another company, it came back cracked, and the keyboard wasn't plugged in. Plus I had to pay for the shipping.

 

People that use their laptops for productivity

I am part of the creative industry and designers often take their stuff with them and work remotely on location etc. A macbook is easy to carrybut if you dont have a mouse with you, that trackpad is pretty good. Next to the weight probably its best feature.

Just a different machine for different purposes. The build quality on the other hand is very good, I wish to see more high performance laptop makers build laptops with the same quality chassis. Now we have only Alienware and EVGA doing the real sturdy and solid laptops. Most others just glue on thin albuminum sheets on a plastic frame, it adds no structural intregrity whatsoever.

In the end for 80% of the users out there the macbok pro offers more performance than they ever need, and most gamers prefer desktops because the higher performance for a lower price. We are a niche that want to game on laptops. The only reason why I game on a laptop and use it as my main machine is because I am abroad often and still want to be able to play games, do music production etc next to my work. If I didnt then I probably also would just had bought an Ultrabook and maybe an external GPU for when I need it.

 

I may be very clumsy or old-fashioned, so I will never be able to learn to use toucpad no matter how good it is. But that's me

That is about to change. The sale of home build or OEM build desktops shrink as a stone. For me is a Big DTR laptop (+ mouse ) a very good compromise. I can take it with me on the cabin (I have one up in the mountains as well near the sea), friends and I like to sit in the living rom home without *being put* in a corner or in a special room (office).

 

That does sound pretty nice! Having your own cabin sounds awesome!

 

I’m the same way, I travel a lot for work, the 17 is big, but not too bad. It sits at my desk at home. It keeps everything all tidy, no cables or anything to fuss with. I have a tv mouted on the wall directly behind it so I can binge Netflix while I grind in wow. I throw it in a bag and bring it to work everyday. I work by myself a quarter mile on one side of the building while everyone else is on the other side. So I have it in for noise with Netflix. And if my day is slow I play some games.

 

Just wanted to say despite all my gripes with this machine, I love the sound system. It's the best I've ever heard on a laptop, and this is including the Predator 21X and XPS 15 (with my Sound Center settings anyway). It's the only laptop where I can truly get immersed in whatever I'm watching without the need for headphones. Surprising that that tiny sub-woofer can pack such a punch! The surround sound effect is surprisingly good too, running through a Dolby TrueHD channel check and it actually felt like sound was coming from where the speakers are supposed to be. Additionally, Hi-fi audio sounds glorious when the device is set to 192kHz/24bit.

 

@Papusan so it's been a long time since i posted anything. i repasted my laptop a few times got a new heatsink from dell and from the moment i got my new heatsink, my temps started to stabilize. so i decided to give the new heatsink a try, without the thermal pads dell put on them, i removed everything and put k5-pro on all the mosfet/finfet etc etc.. repasted yesterday for the last time (but this time with conductonaut) and core #1 rose up to 90 degrees !!! i immediately suspected that the LM was not enough (on the heatsink, the die had a nice eaven coat) so i thought maybe if i let my laptop stand for the night on a slight angle, the LM that already is put on my heatsink, can slowly move down and start to intergrate with the copper of the heatsink. so i put a lighter under my laptop to move the backside just a inch up and the next morning

 

@Papusan and voila, my temps got down massively and it never goes above 70 C. this is done with a undervolt of -90 on 4200 mhz. my ambient room temperature was 24 degrees, so there is more room for improvement. Thank you and @Falkentyne @iunlock @alexnvidia @Mobius 1 for the help, guides time and effort. i'll start to post my benchmark/gaming results soon. i'm very happy with my machine, but i still kinda find it sad that i had to go trought 2 syringes of kryonaught, i had to buy electrical tape, and Liquid Metal to repaste my laptop myself with the risk of breaking my machine. i also made a dam (for leakages) entirely out of electrical tape, and it's leakage proof (tested it on a other laptop to make sure) i can also post the pictures for that mod so people do not have to use the foam dam, but create a dam out of electrical tape. this is and will be my last alienware, and after this machine i will return to LGA no matter how big or bulky they are, selling broken machines is not the way to go. thank you again for your help papusan and everyone else !

 

Feel the same way, despite I didn't have so many repastes (3 times to adjust everything properly with this shi*y tripod HS), I'm fed up with BGA. The skin is pretty, but the guts suffer..

 

i had three heatsink before i had one that gave me a core difference of just 10 c compared to the 15+ C i had before. After i removed the thermal pads and replaced them with K5-pro my temps seemed to start to come down alot. my max went from 99 to 84, and now 69. Dellienware did react, but not appropriate enough to solve the issue. they talk about "isolated" events of people receiving broken systems after they "fixed" it (it is on the reddit Q&A somewhere. it was umar who reacted about the "isolated" events) it's just disqusting how a mutli billion dollar company can make such mistake, and still have people kissing their ass. but hey who am i ? i'm just a lost consumer spewing bullcr*p that 100c on the cpu is not normal (or is it Dell ?) and that a system that thermal throttle's while benchmarking is normal (huh since when DELL ?!!) i could'nt care much about the new systems (or the new command center) or even the new AlienFx. Alienware ****ed up big time and never ever will i buy or even look back at alienware system after this debacle. it cannot be that a cheap XPS laptop has 8 points to screw down the heatsink, while my Alienware that costs double the XPS system has only 7 points ? nahh LGA for life, frank admitted that their engineers cannot fullfill that wish (cause they prefer to push down off the shelve designs down our throat) and brags about getting full 1080 power in a laptop that cannot even keep the temps down of a HQ chip. nope nope nope i prefer to delid my cpu then having a heatsink tha't's shared, and flawed. nonetheless i'm happy that i can finally start to enjoy my 2600 euro's that i spend on this machine (at last) but this adventure, has been too much for me.

 

Well, I am really sorry that it was a sad lesson, but I am glad you guys are going to be all the wiser for it and help others avoid the same mistakes. That's how we get better and how we affect change in the face of opposition. A raging flame starts from a small ember. Grass roots effort can have meaningful and lasting effect.

Seems like that is how I learn all of my lessons, too... the hard way. But, I never forget (or forgive) the messes I had to put up with as a direct result of my own bad decisions. I've made enough that I don't want to admit. Brother @Papusan rocks. Some folks don't appreciate his passionate hatred for BGA, but it's all with the best interests of others at the core. Friends don't let friends buy BGA.

 

It's ridiculous that even now the core differential problem is still a thing.

Alienware never learns...

 

Btw if you have machine below 30 days just return it for "major bsod and thermal problem"

At least in EU/US/CAN it's possible

 

It's clear Dell screwed up heatsink design, but why LGA would be superior to BGA regarding this matter? Do we forget and forgive Intel screwing us with tooth paste under IHS, that require certain tools to repaste etc, and just chech Clevo LGA based board heatsink deaign (paper clip fix LOL)...and what about LGA future upgrades...Z270...Z370...not compatible...for me it is more important to have flawless design of the cooling system then LGA-BGA - wait what happened to PGA I remember banding those pins almost caused me heart attack
My 2¢ BGA-LGA war is not really related to flawed cooling system...

 

Have you seen TRIPOD heatsink design for LGA? Delidding is needed for proper overclocking. Should be done even if you run it in desktops. This is the new FOURPOD Cpu heatsink for P870TM. Delidde your processor and all is good. 206W Cpu Package Power in a Laptop.

 

Heatsink!=LGA
Heatsink!=BGA
Heatsink=Heatsink

Edit: nice idle temps
And 8700K OC'ed to 5.2 GHz with GTX1080 stress tested... draws about 380W from the "wall" And GTX alone draws up to 200W somehow +200W CPU draw is out of the equation, more like up to 170W @ 5GHz...

 

When you'e passionate, and really have your own opinnion, people sometimes cannot cope with that. i'm glad @Papusan is how he is, cause he could lie to me and say don't wory alienware will fix, but instead he pointed me the right way. This lesson was hard, painful but mostly costly ! if i could've inves this money in a LGA based machine, i'll do it all day everyday. yes they are heavier, yeas they are bulky, but it makes desktop owners **** their pants. i remember when laptops where inferior, till the desktop cpu and sli based machine came. the desktop users sounded alot different back then. and now whe've even reached the point where there is laptop watercooling available. if i would have a bulky lga machine laying around, i would self be trying to watercool it, cause that's been my goal for the last 5 years. everybody talks about how good it looks, and how slim it is, but gaming laptops should not be slim. i've never seen a tank that was designed with less armor plating, while having a lesser weapon armory and lesser speed than it's predeccesor. that's how alienware is doing it right now. building "supercars" that cannot even achieve their given electrical limited speed (how can they with a flawed heatsink) if ferarri or lamborghini would sell cars with engines that cannot reach for example 180 mph, nobody would be buying them. especially when it's advertised it should go over that speed.

 

yeah i wanted to do that, but i could not get my heart over how good it looks. just the manual tuning was a pain in the ass (i did not have alot of time) so it kinda browsing the forums and try every fix that people could come up with. from the moment i started using K5-Pro things started to get serious, so k5 will be bought for everylaptop or pc i build. same goes for conductonaut

 

well the fact that i can delid a LGA cpu, is already a win over BGA. cause if you have a flawed heatsink you have to work with what you got. but people with LGA can delid, put some chilly liquid metal in there and done relid again, and if you want you still have the option to tune/balance heatsink. but a LGA will never be build a way that it has to be balanced. if so, bring me a picture and show my a tripod LGA design. if you look good Alienware got away with this, purely cause the chip they use is a HK not a K. a LGA K chip will never ever come with a tripod heatsink cause that would not even survive a single benchmark for a minute. Every LGA laptop comes with clamps to hold down the cpu. that alone is already a big advantage over BGA, cause you won't have to worry about a cpu that has a slight angle/not making contact with the heatsink. and then the shared heatsink, also a trick that will never be able to done on a LGA chip. there is just so many things wrong with the current line-up that it's sad people defend BGA. BGA only became mainstream so intel could push more badly binned cpu's and make more money that way, then having to sell more K proccessors (cause HK is also K lol) people buying just the cpu and upgrade without making money. the HK processor i rock is a unstable 7700k that pulls way to much V to get to it's desired clockspeed compared to LGA (7700k) .and that's a fact.
there is no BGA cpu ever built that performs better than a desktop K counterpart and that's already another fact why LGA will run cooler than BGA.

everytime you buy a Intel BGA chip you buy a 2 cpu's one that does all your jobs and one that's a backdoor + you buy a flawed cpu architecture design that already runs hot under bad circumstances, and will become worst when things heat up a little. Coffee-lake is a joke so was kaby lake and so was sky-lake. there are no improvements for intel to make, just cashgrab strategies to make deals with the OEM's to screw their customers. just my 2 cents

 

I remember my warped and uneven vapor chamber on my clevo it sucked. Seems most of the guys have jumped the clevo ship also lately.

 

Man, you make no sense, you can delid LGA (BGA is delidded at start), BGA is badly binned LGA, BGA has backdoor and LGA don't, also mobile CPU is not meant to beat desktop CPU by performance just to give close performance with less TDP, and you also add tripod heatsink design to CPU?
None of that makes no sense, peace...

 

Well the first thing is if you cannot understand that a chip that runs hot when it is already delidded something is wrong. And like you and i know BGA is LGA chip that runs hotter, and unstabler. Also i never stated that a mobile chip should beat a desktop cpu, but it becomes another thing when you build, advertise and sell HK chips with speeds the same as their counterparts (K). if you read well, you could read that i said that the stupid tripod design on a LGA chip would not be possible cause it would not hold the temps down. For clarification, someone with a HQ chip inside of their machine, should not repaste repad and undervolt to keep the temps down. and that's how bussiness is currently going with AW. you can defend them all you like, but the fact is that when a company says that 100C is normal on the cpu, you're being screwed. i don't like being screwed that's why i lay down the facts so that people can read and make up their minds (and opinions) and something that's not just a opinion, but a fact is that LGA performs, and always will perform better then BGA. the last part about intel is about the fact that you buy 2 broken cpu's instead of 1 cpu for performance. When i buy a LGA chip, i still can run benchmarks, overclock and undervolt without taking it apart first. with BGA you buy a backdoor cpu, and another cpu that overheats when it's not even being overclocked, AAAND IS DELIDDED. you see how bad BGA looks ? cause with LGA you get alot more for the same price. if you're happy with overheating desktop-replacement laptops, be my guest. but the people that are enthousiast never would opt for a BGA. i did it because the netherlands does not have as many retailers the us has available (plus the kickass insurance). a company that produces products that are putt wel togher, does not need to have engineers come up to your house to fix something. cause that means that there is something not right (from the assembly line) and the fact that people have engineers coming to their house while having a machine that's less then a half year old, something is not right. keep buying off the shelve Alienware products. After this one i'm out ! this laptop was released in 2016, where in 2018 and it still has core imbalance problems and a chip that overheats from itself already (PHC, 6820HK/7820HK) the erra of the MX chips, that's where alienware still "shined".

why can Alienware not put a 1070 in a ranger r5 from 2013, but eurocom can ? you know why ? because Alienware knows people like you, are like Apple sheeps, and buy everyting the company releases, even though a laptop that's 5 years old still could use the pascal MXM videocards just fine ... just my 2 cents

 

I dont understand why you guys keep calling it a tripod design. the heatsink must be seen as one unit with 3 screws on the top side and 4 on the bottom. The problems are caused by a warped heatsink and or too thick thermal pads. If I remember correctly, the p870 also had uneven heatsink issues when they started a vapor chamber heatsink for the SLI gpu's. Nothing can fix uneven core temps if the the heatsink is warped and or the pads are too thick. You can also see a temp variation in your provided photo, not very severe but it is there.

I would be more if all manufacturers could assure us better quality control for heatsinks and better paste as well.

 

it's something different when you have core imbalance issue's due warped heatsink, Bad thermal paste, the wrong size thermal pads and only 7 points to screw down the heatsink. there where heatsinks that where not warped, but did not have enough pressure on the north side of the cpu, creating the problem of core imbalance. with bending the cpu arm people started to see better temps.

holding down the cpu heatsink cpu with only 3 points, is like making a wheel that's oval. it will do it's job, but barely without headroom. Why do you think from the beginning of times, the cpu in a desktop is being held down by a clamp ?, not because the mobo can be vertical.

 

Every CPU overheats if not cooled properly...you are still spreading nonsense...
Only thing I bought and returned unopened is AW 17 R4, never before have bought anything from AW or Dell (sheep, yeah sure), and I can make you tripod LGA cooler if you are paying customer...

 

@nedooo the problem here is that with Dell/Alienware poor QC and decline in general quality after switching to soldered components.

Using a 3-point screw system on the CPU only increases the possible margin of error of having an overheating CPU. Because pressure is not equal, the contact with the CPU will be much worse after taking in loose tolerances and general bad QC.


The thermal pad thickness problem is already solved by using a very thin thermal pad (choke) + soft thermal pad (mosfet) on the top of CPU power delivery vrm section.