*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R5 Owner's Lounge

Nope, they were fixing to send me the 5th replacement. After a lot of back and forth I'm sending it back today for a full refund and ordering an area 51. Mainly cause the money goes to a Dell preferred account otherwise I'd not but another Dell/Alienware. I just think it's harder for them to screw up a desktop.

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It's funny, out of the blue I noticed a red pixel on my screen tonight, the QHD - but out of curiousity, I just merely pressed it a tiny bit with my fingernail, and it went and stayed away! I am afraid to change my laptop out just to try the other screen, in case other stuff ends up bad. I am curious though - I did look up some videos, and it seems the screen is easy to replace - just pry loose the bezel, unscrew it, unplug it, and put the new one in? Did your guy have to get into the bottom of the unit and to the motherboard or something? From what I read, as long as it already has the 40 pin cable, it's good to go for either the QHD or UHD screens. (1080p screen uses 30 pin and then the cable does need changing also from the mobo on out) I was thinking of buying the UHD screen sometime just to put it in myself to compare rather than send my whole laptop in. The screen is only $100, cheaper than the upgrade to that screen with g-sync was from the factory!

Other thing I wanted to check - did you use HWINFO64 to check your temps? I was doing a test last night, and at first I thought, oh-oh, here we go - I saw max temps of 100. But then when I actually watched the current values, none of them went above 85 except for one to 91. So those max temps must have been a blip from when the CPUs first started the load. (before the fans kicked in) Just curious if you and others who say they see 95 or higher are seeing it in the current temp as you watch, or the maximum? I am assuming if the current temp is not so high while the load is underway, then there's no issue. The max readings of 100 across all six cores did worry me at first though!

 

Could somebody send me the exact sizes for thermal pads on the Alienware R5 as my cores are off by 10c I wanna get them closer together. I also want to upgrade the thermal pads but idk what ones to get any help I'd appreciate.

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@FuturisticModz

I went with Gelids, a few happy laptop people also, all got excellent results ( @rinneh and @propeldragon).
Gelids are/act like thick thermal paste formed to a sheet. Price, material, softness, availability and 12 Wm/k are all good.


If you get a pack of each: 0.5, 1 and 1.5 mm you can not go wrong. Should be all together under 30 USD/EUR.
1.5 mm might not be necessary, but better have them by hand so you do not have to stack if heat-sink makes no contact with 1mm.


After re-pad during first 24 hours give the laptop a real good warm-up (both GPU and CPU with e.g. AIDA64 with only fpu and GPUs selected) during first day, then undervolt and enjoi.
I have done this with LM on dies.

 

Any pictures/video of this process? I just bought Alphacool 14w/mK (0.5, 1, 1.5mm) and Conductonaut, because my CPU(8950HK-No UV) reaches 100C under load/tests. So if you could help with some graphic support to know what to check inside my laptop, like which thermal pads are more important to change or to check for proper contact.

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@rlucho

I used Alphacool pads 17 Wm/k in the past and they were just too hard for my laptop, they would not let the heat-sink touch dies no matter what adjustments I did.

Gelids are good for this because they adjust with heat and pressure one direction only and do not 'fire back' as DELL or other silicone based pads do, which results in no pump-out after time. First 24 hours of heat-up are crucial = heat-sink arms still make most pressure.

I have no relevant video/pictures, but the following definitely works.

I removed all DELL pads and measured their thickness. I checked if they were making good contact and found that 2 of them did not at all. So I placed proper thickness Gelid pads (with blue/very thin protective plastic film still on top) on components and made sure that there is, say healthy and proper contact with heat-sink for each pad by feel or with strong flash-light. I do this with loose heat-sink and just press above dies.

CPU pads were 0.1mm by DELL, but I used 0.5 mm Gelids knowing how well they self-adjust in the end.

After double-checking that all pads are in good contact with heat-sink, I removed blue protective film. I knew that there is initially no 100% proper contact heat-sink vs dies, there was a small gap, say 0.2 mm (felt it by pressing above dies). I used a bit more Conductonaut than normal to compensate and painted 3mm extra around on heat-sink area vs mirroring dies size, so it stays around and not run away after heat-sink gets to '0 mm' gap.

I bent heat-sink arms so they stay up by 3 mm to create more pressure. Assembled everything and ran AIDA64 (fpu and GPU) without undervolt for all night 6 hours ignoring any temperatures reported as heat-throttling was definitely present. The next day I did 2-3 more hours heavy heating running AIDA64 in background while browsing etc. Then I undervolted and in any game I can not get CPU and GPU above 70C no matter what (no throttling whatsoever) and have absolutely no core differencials = Gelids 'gave' and heat-sink settled down on dies.

After 3 weeks I checked all pads surely make contact (checked with heat-sink on and flashlight).

This works with Gelids and LM guaranteed. I never had better temperatures in my laptop after I did this.

 

If I understand well, you are using 0.5mm Gelid pads for CPU VRMs replacing the Dell soft pads?

I used Gelid on my previous system but only for GPU side pads. For CPU, I used K5 pro and LM. I could reach 110W. But on my current system, I preferred to keep all Dell pads and use Gelid thermal paste for both GPU and CPU because I did not want to use LM again on a portable machine. I also did not see any significant difference on my previous system by replacing the pads. The quality and performance of the dies thermal paste or LM makes the most difference. I can now occasionally reach 104W or more (lower limit) and the CB score/temps I am getting are really good for a thermal paste (this also depends on the CPU itself and UV level which is much much better on my last system). So, I do not feel I need to do anything else. The chances are it will become worse if I do and it won't even worth spending more time for slightly (or none) better temps. Finally, replacing only thermal paste, gives the feeling of a more out of the box system

 

For me the pads fixed all and the paste alone barely did anything.

 

Yeah that's why I bought the 14W/mK (NOT 17W/mK), because of hardness. Reading a lot, this alphacool 14W/mK give the best result because of softness and conductivity.

Thanks a lot for the answer!! Will be doing the repasted and changing thermal pads this weekend.

Hope everything works out well and get excellent results!

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yup... I just bought mine and the CPU is going crazy. I have google chrome and a documents window open and the CPU temperature goes to 88 degrees (Celcius)... like wtf. But yeah... the machine is a monster so ...

 

If you see my postings, I had a max of 100 in HWInfo64, but when I looked at the current temperatures while running Cinebench R15 over and over (about 12 times in total), only one core seemed to reach 92, the rest were all 75-85.

To be honest, if we're talking a 5% increase in performance by changing the pads, I am ok with it the way it is. The highest Cinebench score I have gotten so far is 1065. I know someone in this thread said they got to 1200. I think if I can undervolt more, I can get to 1120 or so at least. Unfortunately the Alienware control panel only allows for -100 on the undervolting.

Now if I had 100 degrees in real-time all the time it was doing any work, then yeah, I would consider that a broken cooling system.

I have the 5 year warranty, so I am not too worried about the chip burning out. Let it burn out in two to three years, then they will need to replace the whole system anyway due to new chipset/motherboard by then, right... If it was just a two or three year warranty, yeah, I'd be worried even where my temps are currently at.

It does kind of bug me that maybe I should have gotten the Origin or similar with the desktop CPU... but then I see that ugly, ugly keyboard, mediocre case design, no choice for WQHD screen, and reviews saying the fans are loud on it, and I don't see how I could like them. My fans are very acceptable on this 17 R5. I was really expecting a lot more noise during maximum GPU workload! Played Battlefield 1 for several hours yesterday and FPS never dipped below 90, usually 100+, on all Ultra settings at the WQHD native resolution. Didn't even bother plugging in any speakers or headphones, the sound from the chassis fans was imperceptible. I have reason to be worried about noise too, for audio recording, but if I am just using the CPU, plus with the option to set the fans to quiet mode, I don't think that will ever be an issue either.

Anyway all that written, just to say, I agree with you - some people freak out if CPU goes above 70, if mine want to hit the high 80s, meh, I'm fine with that. As long as it's not thermal throttling, I'm good.

 

I had a 1360 cinabench score on mine, but it couldn't game long before the GPU stated to stutter. So I sent it back for a refund and ordered an area 51 with i9 7980 xe and 1080ti. 4 non working m17s and them wanting to send a fifth one was just insane.

It arrives Friday so I'm hoping it works....

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Yes. I had core differentials only first 24 hours.

The same here.

You are welcome. I hope for you too.

Here is a link that might interest you in case that Alphacools turn out to be too hard. I really hope for you man, that this will not be the case!!! DELL stock pads were not good, Alphacool too hard so I can only recommend what 100% worked for me.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...3-owners-lounge.797884/page-709#post-10700946 post #7083

 

I got 1508 in CB at x46 (my frequencies occasionally dropped to 4.5 though so I may have to decrease UV). My new system gives me much room of UV (up to -0.211)

Maximum temps of 89C during benchmark with repaste with Gelid for CPU and MX-4 for GPU. None of Dell pads replaced.

 

That's pretty high. Cinebench is a multi-core test, right? I have to research it more, but would you mind sharing which tool you used to undervolt enough to get you there? I realized the BIOS doesn't allow the overclock parameters to be adjusted. For some reason I thought the update a few weeks ago allowed it, was misreading some forums I think.

Funny thing is, I was going to try tweaking more, and just restarted, and my score hit 1206 the first time, and then no lower than 1125 after four more runs (I guess something was using some CPU when I tested the other day). I was pretty happy - till I saw you and redneck getting much higher!

 

I use the same tool that everyone else is using and is called throttlestop. The UV you can reach depends on the CPU itself. This is the only machine (third one) that allows me this high UV. AWCC allows only -100mV undervolt. I have AWCC set to 5Ghz and -100mV but then adjust CPU frequencies and UV using TS (after OC profile has been loaded in AWCC, that is I am waiting for a few secs for AWCC to load)

 

After changing thermal pads my temperatures have been drastically changed for the better. I previously only changed the paste with some minor improvement in temps, but after changing the pads and using mostly 0.5 and some 1.0 arctic pads the difference can be felt. haven't seen temps go above 86C and there's only a core differential of about 10 degree where before there was up to a 20 degree differential between cores. I routinely get 1300-1400 and even saw a 1500 score in cinebench r15. My clocks have been steady so far without any drops and it's extremely important for me that it doesn't since this is my desktop replacement. Currently running at 4.3-4.5Ghz, after achieving better temps it's making it a hard choice whether to stay with my AW 17 r3 i7 6700HQ or keep this behemoth of a CPU.

 

Hi, so the ones around the CPU that were 1mm you changed them to 0.5mm? Do you have a picture of which ones did you change from original size? I'm using alphacool 14w/mK.

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Hi everyone.
Thank you for the very useful information you share here.
Proud owner R5 -17
CPU-8750h,GTX1070,RAM 16GB-2666
Undervolt : CPU- 157
GPU- 40
Speed shift EPP- 64
Package power :long- 60 , short- 90
2cm lift on the back
Under load temps.- 75 to 86. Average-70 to73 - Assassin's creed origins ultra settings 2-3 hrs
GPU temp- 60
Cores stable at -3980
I think I'm OK- I hope

 

Here is my custom made AW 17 R5

https://imgur.com/a/BgBVMpS

 

Nice one!

Hey, can you tell me your temps on Unigine like after 2 runs? Is just I just repasted (conductonaut), changed pads and UV , but idk if I'm getting good temps for playing... just want to compare temps with someone.

Maybe there is a guide to improve temps for gaming with ThrottleStop or something...?

In Prime95 after 9 hours I'm getting 63°C.


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Your temps are excellent. dont worry

 

What about this temps while gaming? FARCRY 5 ULTRA SETTINGS QHD:

The keyboard is hot at touch.

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i9-8950Hk should run 4.3GHz all 6 cores. Lower clocks than default = Lower Cpu temp. This is quite normal.

 

Mine is always changing, it goes up to 4.7. so this temps are ok? How do you play with the keyboard this hot?

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But Cpu clock speed shouldn't drop to 4.0GHz or below stock clocks with load. 83C ain't bad but the cpu run load on lesser cores hence you is able to see 4.7GHz. Take you time read the thread. Most likely too low power limits + Amps. Most can be found in the thread.

 

I have undervolt:

CPU Core: -250mv
CPU Cache: -120mv
Intel GPU: -40mv

Maybe to much on the Core? That UV on the CPU could be the problem with the clocks?

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Download Cinebench - MAXON | 3D FOR THE REAL WORLD Then run it with Hwinfo in the background to see if the clock speed drops below stock 4.3GHz. Post screenshoots of score, temp + clock speed.

 

Yes they drop on the second test, CPU.
On OpenGL and CPU(single core) was always 4.6 - 4.7. But in the CPU yes it went down to 3.6.

Thanks for your time on this matter! I think I need some help right?



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If the chips was able to run stock clocks on all 6 cores aka 4.3GHz you would see the Cpu hover around 100C. You have probably too low power limits as well as I stated above. + mentioned Cpu overheating.

 

And how I fix the power limits? The CPU is not overheating because never gets higher than 65 - 70 on Cinebench. And you saw my temps on Prime95 after 9 hours no more than 63.

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You need use ThrottleStop or XTU and with correct bios settings. One of the latest posts in this thread contain the needed info.

Not sure where you see 60-65C in Cinebench. Maybe in the single core test? But this test doesn’t stress the processor.

Tthis shows up to 90C as max temp probably from the CBR-15 multi core tests.

 

Yes you are right! I was watching the current temp. Then I will read more to find the info, thanks man!

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If you have AWCC installed, select fan thermal performance and use (or create) an overclock profile. Then after AWCC enables the OC profile, play with TS selecting frequencies and UV settings inside FIVR. Then run CB benchmark with selected TS settings. CB benchmark should push temps to 90s if works well. This is even with LM.

 

The temps are not critical, only the gpu is a little tad hot but not too much. But yeah the keyboard deck can get quite hot. Tgere is around 300 watts of heat in that small space.

 

Nice spread

 

Indeed the spread looks great. Unfortunately I'm returning my R5 because core 1 was at times 15-18 degrees higher than the other ones. I'ma gonna hold it out with my R3 and GTX 1080. I changed pads, paste and still couldn't get the balance right, this headache with the i9 isn't worth $2,500 to me when I have my other config working well.

 

I got rid of mine for a desktop. Now I'm in the market for another laptop that won't always let me down like that one did.

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I would say try to persist but I'm not sure it's worth it if you don't have the patience.
It took 5 laptops and hours of complaints to pretty much everyone at Dell for me to finally get a working one.
It's the i7 with cb scores of 1207/1211 consistently with no throttling and max temps of 70 whilst gaming on high/ultra.
Compared to the 90+ on previous laptops with settings on medium it is just luck of the draw but it's a nightmare dealing with Dell bearing in mind I ordered in April .. Ive finally got a decent machine.

 

Core 0 VID: 1.416v.
Core 2 VID: 1.428v.

There's your problem.

I can run 5 ghz on my jokebook with voltage that high if the Zener diodes didn't trip the VRM's to shut off.

How do you fix this problem since Azor manipulated you?

Sell your jokebook and buy a P870 TM1 from hidevolution so you can run 5 ghz at 1.35v at 75C and not throttle at all at full load.
I am not kidding.

 

I'm wondering why after a few hours my internet will stop working on windows 10. Then I must restart my pc to make it work again. My touchpad will also jump about, does anyone know a fix?

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Same with me. Strange .Everything is Up to date, but no problem with touchpad
I will try this -

 

Anyway I can lower those values?

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No.
Frank Azor locked you out.
It was technically possible on the 7th gen laptops as it was actually possible to find the IA AC DC values in a bios dump, but there was too much cancer protection against flashing a modded APTIO capsule. There were people who were capable of bypassing this but they were not on this forum. Now it's totally completely impossible.

Can't do anything except RMA The laptop for a refund and buy something decent. I already made my suggestion.
I know that's not what you want to hear and it's not "PC" but it's the truth.

 

The fact that they claim "up to 5.0ghz" is just wrong. They have them configured to never be capable of that. That CPU will never get enough power to hit 5.0 GHz.

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A undervolt will help. Or down-clock.

You can with single core speed.

 

Never could and I had multiple of them. It would get to 5.0 on one core, but as soon as it was under any load it would down clock. This makes the 5.0 clock pointless as it can't be used.

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Probably because OS tasks running in the background and fire up other cores. And you have the new "feature" Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) who decrease clock speed if temp pass a certain threshold.

Dell has drag it further... TVB, according to Intel (PDF), "opportunistically and automatically increases clock frequency by up to 200MHz if the processor is at a temperature of 50°C or lower and turbo power budget is available. But this was meant from stock 4.6GHz and up to 4.8GHz according to Intel.


See also... ♫ The Core i9 clock cycles go up. Who cares where they come down? Theregister.com

Edit. And be very careful with being first person aka the guinea pig upgrading firmware from Dell. You never know what you will get or what will hit your notebook (see the pict and follow the thread). Roll back firmware is sometimes a impossible task. You can risk further power gimping with new firmware.

 

Terminal velocity boost.

 

Marketing at work.
And people fall for it unfortunately. Even now they still do.
Brother @Papusan warned all of you before these laptops came out exactly what would happen. He posted and asked you to listen to him. But you guys still bought these laptops and now are upset tat you don't get your 5 ghz.

Even I bought cancer. I managed to tune the cancer enough so it won't get me sick, but it's still cancer. Now my next and probably final laptop will be a Clevo with a Prema Bios and i9 9900K with whatever abortion of a RTX card will be out during that time, and whoever is making the Clevo cards (MSI made the Clevo 1080) actually manages to put a non castrated bios with a decent TDP on it.

The MSI 1070 was able to handle 230W TDP 24/7 and could even go up to 300W. The MSI 1080 was even capable of more. Unfortunately TDP mods (Editing Bios) is not possible at the moment on any coffee lake 1070 or 1080 on Clevo or MSI. So we'll see what the RTX Clevo cards can do or if anyone will ever make a bios TDP modder for it.