*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R5 Owner's Lounge

I got it without an OS because I have my own corporate licenses, so I did all the UV, OC, etc. I don't play FC5, but it never gets particularly hot playing Siege Six with or without UV.

 

I suggest to try FC5. It's like a gold standard for temps checking. And for comparison reasons too.

I cannot comment if I do not see that.

 

I recently grew a pair and repasted my 8950hk and 1080 with Kryonaut, and I will be applying LM once my Fujipoly pads arrive.

Can anyone tell me, what are their highest clock speeds (across all 6 cores) & UV settings? I'm running 45x across all 6 with an UV of 0.140mv in XTU with around 85c on "performance" fan setting in ACC.

 

I run 46x across all with a Prime95 and Cinebench stable -175uv. Any more speed and it eventually becomes unstable due to power limitations. Thermally I'm fine.

 

Got fans and heatsink replaced and nothing. Next step is the mobo, I guess.
I have 60 days left under warranty. Would anyone recommend extending it? It is laughably expensive, but it’s even more so when you’re NOT under warranty. And I haven’t been having the greatest luck lately.

I’d like to get this boiling hot piece of **** fully repasted, but watching the Dell technician ripping apart my computer just to get access to the heatsink was enough to turn me off of that idea. Would it be a good idea to get it repasted by someone else?

I still have my R4 at home. Honestly, should I keep the R4, which rarely went above 75, or the R5, which frequently goes above 98? Are the extra cores really worth it?

 

I also fight for a better price for warranty and have 2 months left of it and to deal with DELL, so I started sooner before being pushed to buy for high price. After 2 days of e-mail negotiations the price for 2 year premium was already lowered by 38%. This is the first laptop ever I am extending my warranty for....

If I did not have a problem with Bios flash requiring motherboard exchange already, I wouldn't bother to buy warranty extension and trust DELL that they really check their Bioses good before putting them as 'recommended or crucial to flash'.

Getting laptop re-pasted/re-padded is best done by yourself, if you are comfortable with doing it. Even if it takes a long time to do, all information/tools is on the net.

I think regarding gaming >>> the graphics matters the most for games. Then, when there are 8 cores and RTX 2060-2080 and new heatsinks at the end of year, it will be all different ballgame.

 

What Cinebench R15 score you get with 46x ? From what I know the power limits is put to 110w for the Alienwares which mean you should be able to run +-48x within stated power limit.

 

Thanks for the info!
They want me to send in my computer to be gutted again, so I’m going to do that while I’m covered and see what happens.
Could I ask what email you were using to negotiate with them on the price? I’ve only been able to find the phone number, and they were pretty stiff on the price. 300 for a year. They’re probably more lenient when you’re not on the phone with them. :/

 

1522 is the latest CB I got at 46x. With a -185uv I max out the 110 watt power limit. Can't raise the power limit because the BIOS is locked.

 

@foehns I called and was offered very high price (100%). Then I sent a message on DELL Facebook, they replied promptly with e-mail with the same price as with calling (100%). Then I opened a support ticket (had to run DELL diagnostics first to open it). After this I was given 38% lower quote (62%). All this within 48 hours.

I recommend go for more options and give them time to re-consider.

 

You inspired me to grow my own pair, it was a bit terrifying, but the results are amazing. My Kryonaut isn't even cured yet, and i'm getting ~73 under sustained loads at stock speeds/voltages (I was in the 90+ camp before).

It amazes me that what would probably cost dell $10 or less upfront (instead of the terrible stamp-putty they put on the CPU) would have made this entire generation of R5's with i9-8950HK's overclock better/last longer/make customers happier...

 

@gregmattersen Wow! I’m really wanting to try this for myself but I have no clue where to start. Was there a specific guide you followed? Even being under 90 degrees on full load would make me happy. I can’t run Subnautica at anything under 96 degrees.

I really just want to know what’s the best stuff to use, and the safest way to go about getting the best results. I’m a real beginner. :’)

 

It probably depends on the salesperson you get connected to, which is why trying multiple channels might help. I initiated a request through dell.com while viewing my products/warranties, got a call back, told the guy I would think about the original extension quote, then he called the next day w/ a 1 year extension for $100 (33% less than original 150 quote), and 2 year for $250 with a $100 dell gift card thrown in. Alienware amplifier here I come.

 

I got 1 gram of Grizzly Kryonaut, it was a good amount for both the CPU and GPU : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011F7W3LU/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I also got Arctic - Thermal Pad 145 x 145 x 1.5 mm to replace some thermal pads, but I'm not convinced it was necessary, it seemed very similar to the original pads, and all of the original pads looked like they were making good contact: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UYTU6Z6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The guide I followed was this one:

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

(guide is for the 17R4 but is so similar it was good for my needs. I previously found a Youtube re-paste tutorial for the 8950/1080 R5, but that guide above was enough for me.)

Go slow, be careful, take lots of pictures, I took one of each ribbon connector just to be triple sure I put them back in correctly. A youtube guide might be worth watching just to see how the different ribbon connectors work. I had a couple of near-misses (almost stripped a CPU/GPU heatsink screw, which would have sucked, caused by trying to go too fast)

Oh, I also skipped the PCH heatsink part of the guide, those got super hot on the R4's, but mine shows 50-55 max in HWInfo, so I wasn't too worried.

 

Thank you so much!! Bookmarking this for later

 

You should have more than enough headroom for higher clocks and better score within the max 110w power limit cap. Seen others with higher clocks and within Dell's locked power 110w limits and with less undervolt than what you run. I'm not sure whats up with that you run into the power limit with 46x.

 

@Papusan it is the same TDP as desktop counterpart ??

 

Then there is something wrong here, I have had two AW17s so far and both reached over 100C on the PCH, as reported by HWinfo. However measuring the IC temp directly showed much lower temps (at least -30C if I remember correctly).

Try Subnautica.

 

The GTX 1080 can pull a variable amount of power, and thus generate variable heat, and I have found that it throttles itself under the exact same tests, from 180W down to 150W, depending on the heat of VRMs as a guess, but it can be just the GPU deciding for some reason.

The net effect is that this variable amount of heat directly affects the CPU, as the heatsinks are tied to each other, and therefore affects all tests.

 

I talk about max Power limit Dell put in for their unlocked processors (110w). But I mean it's lowered with latest bios version. Up to the notebook OEMs put what's fit the cooling they have designed. I don't know or better say can't remember Alienware's 6 cores turbo boost clocks for their 50x overclock profile.

Edit. Maybe some of you can put up correct clocks speed for all overclock profiles (6 core boost clocks)

I still talk about the processors Power limits. Shouldn't be affected by the rest of hardeware as eg Gpu. Or they have put in max Power cap for the whole power draw in the system as they did for their last Alienware 18. Add in a second PSU won't help.

 

FC5 is for free and quranteed to cause high temps. By the way, if you guys are satisfied with kryonaut, you would be impressed with Conductonaut. But you can still reach high temps even with LM without UV.

I tried subnautica. Without UV, it can cause high temp spikes like FC5. With -100mV, temps hardly reach 90C at 3820x2160. Again this is with -100mV, LM and 3820x2160

I wonder if people stating the temps with Subnautica use UV or not.

 

I used IXU to get 4.6ghz stable @4.6ghz max core 84c with undervolt of -160mv these results seem very low to what I should be getting any explanation?

 

You need to raise the power limits. Maybe put in a search in the thread for solutions.

All too low. Should be more like +1550cb. Could you post XTU settings? And what seeings is used in bios? Smell like too low power limits.

Btw. 50x -0.122mV undervolt

 

I do get power limt error yet I set turbo to max but it still sits at 106w here's all my settings.

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Can't see much from XTU. And 106w for 46x with your undervolt (-0.160m)is all too much power from what I can see. When you run the bench shoot screenshoot in the middle of the test of Voltage and power consumption (Hwinfo64).

46x and -0.213mV

 

Score I got for 46x is 1386 CB I still think it's low

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Its all too low even for stock clocks (4.3GHz all cores) as well. You see clock drop in the test? Disable AV software and run High Performance in Win Power plan (this means clocks should stay 46x all time and never drop). You could as well post pict of your voltage settings from HWMONITOR.

And use Windows own screenshoot tools.

Edit. You could as well try with lower overclock. Same undervolt but with 44x and 45x sall cores to see if you have a power Limit problem.

 

My CPU will go to 109w then power limit I have turbo boost on IXU on 150w max still getting 1379cb score on 4.6ghz

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The power limit is 110W (when CPU performance and thermal performance is selected in BIOS) so you normally start getting power throttle at 109W. Thats for all R5s. XTU does not really increase the power limits more than what the bios says. Even if you have it set to boot without CPU and thermal performance in BIOS (so power limits as low as 45W), XTU does not increase it to 110W.

 

That's really weird as I have much lower results then I should have

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Take a look on the results from @captn.ko http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...5-owners-lounge.815492/page-123#post-10757884

Compare power consumption with what you get. And re-read my previous posts. Start with stock and Max Undervolt, test and compare. Then raise clocks with Max Undervolt and compare once again.

For example... stock clocks and max undervolt = +-75w Cpu Package Power in Cinebench R15 Benchmark.

What bios version, what load % in task manager with idle clocks (something stealing clock cycles?). Disabled AV while testing? You have put High performance in Win power plan? Tested ThrottleStop instead of XTU? And so on.

More than enough you can to start with.

 

I've tried AV off closed all background apps that can be closed yet I'm only getting 1404 with 4.5ghz overclock no power limt. Do you know what windows build you're on as I'm on latest windows 10 build. I'm losing around 70-100 points.


This is 4.1ghz but it never hits 4.1ghz it's lower it's at 4,087.0mhz to 4,090.0mhz
This happens with any clock speed as you see I also had 4.6ghz did the same thing weird this?

 

The performance is really screwed up But this has nothing to do with BCLK clockIt's called spread spectrum (Stock BIOS let you loose up to 0.5Mhz per 100Mhz). The fluctions/lower bus clock is normal with an stock bios.
You can overclock the BCLK a bit if you want bus clock be near the 100Mhz (if Dell allow it with their locked bios). But as I said... Won't do a ****y.

Neither is it the Windows 10 version you use. All Win 10 versions and builds I have been on perform equal.

Re-read my previous posts and try to understand what I post or just wait for others with same model can give you some advices. Either ****ed up bios, You use another firmware version vs. the others who haven't equal screwed up results, power limits - Amps - Voltage not be put, or plain wrong settings. Start from scratch and re-read the thread.

Edit. Have you checked processes (Cpu usage) in task manager? Idle speed.

 

Its normal on Dell Aptio 5 BCLK is nearly around 99.78 MHz and not 100MHz. Spread spectrum is disabled on BIOS.

 

You still lose minimum 0.22MHz per 100Mhz. But this isn't his problem.

 

Hahaaa. Dell engineers will laugh saying 0.22MHz is insignificant amount but for enthuasiasts/OCDs those near precise values change the entire gameplay or even top the benchmark score list. I say 10 points higher in CB for 100MHz BCLK is really critical achievement.

 

The average will be less. More important to stop Micro$haft's trash OS behaviour. Or kill the OEM's useless - bloatware. You see... 1404cb In Cinebench with 4.5ghz overclock is bad, very bad. More like scores from below 42x on all 6 cores.

 

More likely a firmware bug or throttling/crippling made by Dell.

 

Seems that way for my case. I get great temps yet my performance is horrible. My CPU usage before starting CB is 2-4% due to windows. I tried everything yet I still get 70-100 points lost.

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For that, switch the CB process from Normal priority to Real time under details tab in Task Mgr. None of your devices may work and system will appear to be not responding or maybe in hung state, don't worry its safe. You might gain a lot of cb score.

 

You sir are a life saver real time and got 1557 maybe CB doesn't like me. That gave me like 150+ ty

(4.7ghz)



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One thing for sure it will run a lot hotter if it could work as intended.

Edit. Run also with normal priority.

This will only hide/cover the main problem. The overclock with normal priority perform worse in benchmarks than stock clocks.

 

I get 1562 consently after putting it into real time. I'm not sure what causing me to lose performance but without real time I get 1424.. I don't know why

 

Maybe delete Cinebench software and put up new setup. Should be only 10-15 points difference vs. what you should get from normal priority. Could be corrupted CBR-15 setup.

 

I know, I've tried to remove CB then reinstall yet it's still the same performance I'm really confused

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You are a true benchmarker!!! Maybe background services are holding it back a bit. Have you tried Black Viper's guide to eliminate unnecessary services?

http://www.blackviper.com/service-configurations/black-vipers-windows-10-service-configurations/

 

With WinPE or WINE you can easily get some better scores!

 

Indeed it works. Newer W10 prefer giving priority to applications rather than benchmarks. I still feel the score is little lower for 47x on 6c/12t chip. You might be limited by firmware.

 

Well, at lest it's not 1424 I would like to see if it's just CB or if benchmarks also have a lower score then they should would be interesting. I have no reference to go by tho.

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Applicable for any benchmarks if you want to see max performance/score if HWBOT allows those optimizations.