*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R5 Owner's Lounge

I wasn't on the forum, nor did I chose the i9 8950hk. It was the only option the had to give me after replacing my i7 so many times. Since the 8950 is the current k precessor it's what I got stuck with. After 4 full replacements and countless repairs I just said to hell with it. Sent it back and ordered my desktop and will find another laptop that's not built with the worst quality control I've ever seen.

I have a clevo provided by my job (I picked it cause I didn't want a MacBook pro) and it's never given a single problem at much less the cost. So I'm thinking if ordering one for myself.

They really need to work on making sure the products they ship actually work.

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So after several hours trying to fix some problems, now I can get 4.3 stable without thermal throttling anywhere, before I was getting thermal throttling and power throttling on Far Cry 5, now I can play at 4.3 stable on Ultra and QHD without problems... But in XTU BENCHMARK (not stress tests) and Prime95 now I'm getting Power Throttling... CINEBENCH and Unigine works flawlessly. I'm using XTU for UV -175 can't do more because of Core Cache, but if I use ThrottleStop I can go higher UV but no matter what I will have power throttling on Games and any benchmarks... Here is the my new Cinebench score:

I don't know how to avoid the power throttling on Prime95 and XTU benchmark.

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I am thinking of buying an R5 but I am a little concerned about the throttling that some people are experiencing but as a lot of people don't have their computers in their sigs it is hard to know if I am potentially going to be affected so I thought I would ask the community. The configuration I am looking at is an i7-8750H, GTX 1060 and the QHD screen and I intend to buy a Graphics Amp so that when I am home I can game.

 

You won't need to worry about thermal issues with that config in the way others are having to deal with it. The i9 and 1080 put out much more heat and that's primarily what you see people trying to address in this thread. The i9 is the big issue.

 

Exactly! I have the i9 and I don't have thermal issues anymore, I'm at 4.3Ghz 6 cores all day stable, right now my problem is power limit throttling, because of Alienware locking this, on some Benchmarks, not in real life/Daily use.

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I had the i7 with 1080, it wasn't bad after just repasting with cryonaut. It was other issues I had with them. The i9 1080 wasn't over heating after repasting, but they had to replace the motherboard and that removed my thermal pad fix. Long story short the vrms would over heat, but the CPU and GPU wouldn't. I could have redone the thermal pads again, but I was fed up.

I don't think heat will be an issue with that setup, but I would stress test the machine as soon as you have it.

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Thanks guys. I appreciate the feedback.

 

Has anyone re-padded their 17"R5? If so can you remember the pad thickness required? If not then I will probably just buy a couple sheets each of Fujipoly Ultra Extreme in 0.5 and 1.0 mm.

 

Get some of each. They can be different. Just because one needed .5 doesn't mean they all do. This is the same reason not everyone experiences issues with their machines out of the box.

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Good idea and thanks.

 

What SSD Make / Model is everyone getting for 512GB and 1 TB? I noticed that's not even an option for the 17r5 now but the 1 TB PCIe SSD is still available on some other Alienware models. My 17r3 is being replaced - wondering if I should just keep my dual Samsung PM951s and put them in the new r5.

 

I remember there are two power limit throttles, one is a straight forward one, when you exceed the limits set by the BIOS / XTU, typically 110W if you boot with "performance", and the other power throttle appears when you reach over 93C for a few seconds, instead of a thermal throttle, you get power throttle, which can be at any wattage, can be at 30W, can be at 70W, depends on how hot things are. You will still get a thermal throttle if the CPU goes to 99C+.

I had this on the previous laptop (I am on my 3rd now) and the CPU would drop to 800MHz even though CPU and GPU were in the 70s-80s. The VRMs below the GPU would reach 104C and then this severe throttle would cut in.

The motherboard layout and heatsink above are a complex 3D shape and it is impossible to tell the right thickness, you need, Dell need to use soft and compressible pads to allow for these differences. Otherwise, if the thermal pads are normal (ie not jelly like), you try to make sure one VRM is with good contact and then that thermal pad lifts the heatsink ever so slightly but some other VRM/CPU then will suffer.

The motherboard is very flexible. The "base" where the motherboard sits on is also very flexible and to make things worse there is a large cut out for the keyboard making the whole assembly very precarious. It is like a multi layer sandwich. First you have the top frame (what you rest your hands on) which as you can see has a huge cutout for the keyboard, so it flexes. Then you have the keyboard occupying the centre space but it is very, very flexible. Behind the keyboard there is a stiffener plate and heatshield, but it is also very, very thin steel and it flexes very badly. On top of this you mount the motherboard and on top of that the heatsink. Actually the only solid / rigid item in the whole assembly is the heatsink! The rest is putty. As a result you cannot even force the heatsink down on the motherboard by extra force, because there is nothing to mount it on. The motherboard has a steel stiffener band incorporated in the PCB designed to provide something rigid on which to bolt down the heatsink but it is laughable, it's like trying to jack a car up from the side mirror! If I were asked to fix this I would insert a 1.5mm aluminium alloy plate over the keyboard (under the mother board) to provide the rigid base we need to put the motherboard on it and the heatsink, and the heatsink would also require many more bolts to hold it down from all places since the VRMs and the VRAMs are quite a distance from the GPU and there are no tensioner bolts near them.

 

I have stated this many times before, and this is also a message from other people. stop asking others for pad thicknesses, they are various heatsink revisions because they use various manufacturers and all have different tolerances. Test and measure yourself. Only then you can guarantee a good result. For example when I followed iUnlocks guide and thicknesses I had bad results. Because my heatsink was totally different.

 

I Need some help. I just bought this and will not let me play WOW. I get to signin screen and get booted. Works fine on old laptop so there is something on new alienware causing issue, any ideas?

 

Hello all,

Thought I would provide an update on what performance I am getting.

I had my mobo replaced to get back to bios 1.16 from 1.21 that was causing problems for me.

Now I can again reliably get ~1400 in CB. Please note I don't do anything special like killing background applications, disabling WD, running CB as administrator or with higher priority I just run CB

I have also not re pasted or re padded. My method is as follows:

• Uninstall all Dell/Alienware garbage
• Set BIOS settings to OC1 and fan performance
• Reinstall Alienware command center and overclock controls. These must be installed for some reason
• Run AWCC and re apply led colours
• Kill AWCC and disable AWCC service in System configuration. Also disable XTU service
• Run Throttlestop and set all cores to 4.3ghz with approx 143.6mV undervolt
• Set TS to start on user logon in task scheduler with 30s delay
• Restart, wait, and run CB

If you are getting low (~1200) scores in CB, please try with my method. Also if you are running latest BIOS please try and let me know.
I am still occasionally having bios forget I am running in OC1 and have to set it again which apparently latest BIOS fixes....

My machine also is running hot with stock paste and pads. I am reluctant to fix this in case I have other issue and dell CS make a fuss
Have been considering a Sager/Clevo chassis but are very $$$$ where I am due to shipping + tax

 

Sad times.
Very sad times in Alienware camp.
RMA motherboard to downgrade Bios. Even worse than RMA motherboard to win low VID BGA soldered cpu lottery...

Even on MSI vomitbooks @Papusan you can at least flash back to older bioses. There was one version (10D or 30D) where if you had an older version, you would brick the system trying to go higher (newer) via UEFI and had to use command prompt/DOS tool to upgrade, but that was MSI programming incompetence at work.

And Prema modded systems (even LGA Clevos without a Prema Bios) never have these problems.

 

What with all software who get gains from higher clock speed (if they don’t taxing all 6 cores)? You use only software which use all cores simultaneously all time?

 

Man, I haven't been back here for a week, but everything echoes my issues! I am now 16 days into my 30 day return period (it IS 30 days, right? Not 14 days like some say - this is in U.S.A., I realize other countries might be different). I never thought I would consider returning this. I've spent so long setting up my daw software. I've spent much longer trying to fix PROBLEMS.

List of issues that bug me:

1. WiFi - Wasted 10 hours researching, reinstalling, re-configuring, etc., my Killer 1550 WiFi card. As others have said, this thing will NOT stay alive more than 24 hours. Will not work without a restart - ipconfig /release then /renew doesn't do a thing, switching Wifi networks nada, Sleep then Wake, nothing. This seems to be a problem a LOT of people have. Then when re-installing, I cannot even download the Killer Control Center from the Microsoft Store (but other downloads from the Store work fine, it's just Killer that doesn't). I thought I had it fixed with the driver re-install and no Control Center though, and also the power stuff I turned off, but nope - had to reboot this morning to get it to work again! I refuse to purchase a $26 Intel wireless card and tear this machine apart again to make that work.

2. Soft spots in keyboard/trackpad - as someone else stated, there must be a large void under the keybed. I just noticed this tonight; the sound that my brightness keys, F9 and F10, make when being pressed, are more of a clack than a thud. I have observed that F7-F10 do this, as well as the 7, 8, and 9 top row numerical keys. It might be a little nitpicky, but I did verify I can see the row of keys move down a bit when pressing those keys normally. Also, the sound they make is so different, it makes it very noticeable. It seems like different other keys also make different degrees of hollowness in their sounds, but at least they all feel firm.

2.b. I noticed that, if I use a firmer tap on the trackpad, it moves/"clicks" a little. Not a good click (this is a non-clickable trackpad after all). It sounds cheap like the trackpad is either loose or will loose up more. I have to tap the lightest of my range of potential taps/double taps to avoid it. I can see the gap between the pad surface and the top deck increase when I do a regular tap so it's definitely moving. Perhaps nothing to be done on this though since the trackpad's parts are below it. But I have to say - Macbooks have never had this issue, just a clean click in the old style and a solid pseudo-click via haptics in the Force touchpads; and even my lower end Lenovo Thinkpad, which DOES have a built in click, and in all other ways does not track that well (but two finger scroll works everywhere like it should, see next point), feels very solid, no give at all when tapping no matter how hard.

3. Two finger scroll will not work on hover-over-pane in any file explorer window - no matter what combo I tried of Dell drivers vs Lenovo precision driver vs. Alienware control surface, I could never get two finger scroll to work in the Windows file explorer interface (this includes file Explorer as well as any upload/download file windows) - it works if I select the left or right pane manually first, but it will not scroll the pane I hover over. It works in Outlook though. Instead, in the file explorer, it will continue to scroll the last-selected pane. My two other mice/trackballs scroll the one they are hovered over just fine, so this is not a file-explorer-specific issue. I wasted probably 5-7 hours TWICE trying to fix this before I just gave up. (I don't like to give up on things that should be simple fixes.)

4. Tobii eye tracking - I knew some people didn't like it. I figured at least if it let me log in that would be fine (which it does). However, the red dots do get old, they're fairly bright and distracting. Not only that, but even if I wanted to use the look to point feature, it seems to stop working a few hours after each reboot, although the look to focus in task switcher still works, etc. I would just disable it but then I would lose Windows Hello to login. One of the things I was looking forward to! (vs. Sager which doesn't have IR camera for Hello, just a thumbprint reader) Not only that, but it seems to use up 3-7% of CPU all the time in Task Manager!

5. In my testing of the function keys, I realized that, if you turn off Alien FX, and then T-Pad, it can be very trick getting your T-pad to come back on at all, or at minimum, back on with lights on. I found that I had to re-enable the lighting, then turn T-Pad off and on, to get the trackpad working again with the lights. Other times, I could not get the track pad working, until I tried turning it off and on many times. Now, I don't even care to turn the touch pad off. But hey, they put that option there - shouldn't it work? And why the hell couldn't they put a brightness control hotkey? Even something to make it dim vs. bright would have been enough.

6. The big issue - I won't even know until I have everything re-installed (potentially 20-30 more hours work) how this machine holds up under load. I am "ok" with the temperatures seen in gameplay. But it's not optimal. I was willing to let it go, but after re-watching Sager reviews on how the guy ran his overclocked without the CPU or GPU going above the low-mid 70 range, I don't know... I feel like I am paying for the specs list but will never get the actual power.

7. I am still pissed on two things about the sales process:
a. The Dell sales rep lied to me and said I had to buy warranty coverage at time of sale otherwise the 5 year coverage would not be available later (from what I've read, this is not true - like any other computer seller, you can add it on later in the first year; why would I buy it now even if it was discounted a bit? I might choose to sell in that first year, or maybe I would use the first year coverage and hate the service so much that there's no way I'd pay to extend.)
b. I tried to get the no-interest credit, but the credit "team" was such a disaster - I gave my work phone as one of my numbers, and because they couldn't verify me by calling and having me picking up THAT number (it was a Friday night when I ordered), they had to send me a letter. Except I am traveling and would not get said letter for 2-3 months. After calling back and talking to three different people, all of whom sounded like robots (speaking from cue sheets, etc.), and then calling a fourth time and trying to re-apply, only to explain my hours wasted, frustration, etc., to get a fourth "robot" who asked me over and over again, "I am operator - how can I direct your call?" -- four times after telling said "operator" that I wanted to apply for financing again on an Alienware laptop, and them not getting it, I said politely, "you know, I don't think Dell or Alienware are for me". Now I wish I'd stuck with that gut feeling and not gone ahead and paid cash.

Now on the other hand - I think I would only consider Sager or maybe Origin. Negatives on those:

1. All-plastic case - looks very cheap from what I can see in pictures and videos. Alienware looked the part when I opened it. (but these loose parts of keyboard/touchpad and various things not working have cheapened my impression of it greatly) But I know plastic can be touch too. RC cars are often plastic chassis/bottom pan and they can take a real beating. Plus it's not like it's plastic all the way through, right.

2. Thickness/even more weight - 10 pounds is already a lot. Would be nice to stay in this form factor. 50% thicker and, I believe, 2 pounds more - not ideal.

3. No option for QHD screen - I really like having a native resolution that is good for both gaming and desktop use without interpolation. I do still do a 112% scaling in Windows, but at least if DPI scaling doesn't work, I can still see it. (unlike 4K where it would be unusable) (I am not sure, maybe Sager has QHD, and Origin doesn't - I know I was surprised one of them didn't have that option, only 1080 or 4k.)

4. Keyboard looks generic - however, I think the Sager actually has a mechanical keyboard? So it might come off nicer. I might be mixing it up with the MSI though! In pictures, the Sager keyboard just looks ugly. I hate how the arrow keys are pushed into the numpad making the 0/Insert key on the Numpad a regular key. That key is used in many audio programs as a stop/return to start shortcut, so it is nice having it be a double-width key. Furthermore, I am left-handed, so my whole "WASD" is on the numpad. I like having the regular arrow keys completely to the left of the numpad as then those are very useful for my thumb to use. I guess I could get used to the other layout, but again, that Clevo keyboard looks like a $300-500 laptop keyboard - not something that costs 10x that.

5. Wait time - I think their build time is even more. 3 or 4 weeks, Origin can take even longer if you do custom design for lid.

6. Warranty - they don't seem to offer more than one year warranty. Although I guess they are always willing to fix it, too. I've read these stories in this thread about people being on their SIXTH machine and things still not working - thanks, but no thanks.

7. By default they also include Killer 1550 WiFi - so would that even work? Funny that as a $15 "upgrade", they offer Intel 9260 WiFi! Killer was supposed to be the upgrade in the old days, wasn't it... it can achieve higher throughput. But if it stops working once a day, it's useless (for me anyway). At least they offer the "upgrade" option.

8. Total cost - people usually say Alienware is expensive, but getting the top-of-the-line Sager with the 32 GB Ram, 512 SSD, and the various items for longer pixel warranty, better paste, etc., and it's getting up towards or at $4,000; this Alienware was $2,900 before the warranty was added on. I would think the desktop CPU would be a wash (or should be less expensive, since the case is bigger). This purchase wiped my account out, literally, with the warranty added. Could barely cover a Sager, and then I wouldn't have as lenient a return policy, I am guessing.

Side note - When I was a server admin, I always preferred Compaq servers to Dell for many reasons. Dell always seemed over-sold, Compaq seemed to give you what you paid for. Depended on the server series, but Compaq always seemed a bit more eloquent in their design; things fit better, didn't fall off or feel cheap, etc. This is one reason I never considered a Dell laptop even though people rave about them. It was hard for me to accept going with Alienware being a Dell brand, but all the good reviews swayed me. But now more and more, I feel like I am typing this on a "Dell". (you known what I mean)

OTHER alternative - go back to the dark side. Funny how PCs were the dark side to me, but now Macs are. Anyway, yeah - Macs pissed me off so much with their lack of keyboards on all new laptops (I don't call that no-travel surface a keyboard that they insist on using to make it thinner). Plus my last one took a month before they sent me a new one due to the charging plug burning out. (and it's soldered to the motherboard - probably if it was connected to the case, the solder joint wouldn't have loosened) But at least they did send a new one. No questions or remote sessions like I hear Dell requires. The one other time I used AppleCare, they replaced my DVD drive overnight - dropped it off at 11 PM in Manhattan when that first store was 24 hours, got it back next afternoon. The other thing I hate is how they are making their computers, all their computers, into throw-away items like the phones are. But, on the other hand, if it "just works", and it's still worth 30% of original cost after three years, and it truly is easy to migrate to a new one (which it is - I've done it four times on Mac, so easy - unlike Windows, where everything needs to be pretty much re-installed) - is it that wrong that you're paying a certainly monthly amount to have your computer completely warrantied and working? No different from leasing a new car every two years or buying and trading in every three. It will cost a bit more than keeping the same car for 10 years, but you will never have a huge service bill or outage (unless some bad builds come out, which they do - bad tranny designs, etc.). But I also got sick of the de facto Apple layout for everything, the way the red/green/yellow window buttons look and work (so small compared to Windows' window controls and harder to click, to be honest), the way windows minimize to the right and not to their host application icon in the taskbar, the way they decided to get rid of Spaces and the original Expose and I had to use a third party app to make it work like that again, etc., etc. But overall, I do have to say, I wasted so much less time configuring the computer or its settings or hardware with my Macbooks.

I have built probably 10 or 11 computers also in my lifetime so I've seen a full range. (and that doesn't include office IT support and server management)

I wonder if anyone will actually read all of this. I just go so pissed off earlier seeing that my wifi still stopped working, and now the loose keys and touchpad.

If anyone else has tried any other brand vs Alienware recently (especially Sager or Origin), and has any feedback on the touch and feel of the overall build and the keyboard and touchpad, I'd really appreciate your input. For everyone else, maybe some of my additional gripes will help warn you. I might end up keeping this machine, I don't know. I really shouldn't have to waste time fixing it though, and complaining about it on here, I know that.

 

To add to my post above - I don't think Sager has a mechanical keyboard. So there's that. I have to assume it's not very good. I was thinking of MSI for the mechanical keyboard, most likely. (just don't like how MSI looks overall and thus didn't consider, also I think there was something else about them and the latencyMon tool not getting good results for audio work in someone's review that scared me, but then again, Dell XPS has those issues with LatencyMon too)

Also, I forgot, I could also consider a bigger Lenovo workstation. I just wanted something that felt a bit more "fun". I like the lights on the Alienware, for example. Also, didn't feel the Quadro graphics that the Lenovo P71 comes with are that great for gaming or video work, more for CAD. Could be wrong on that. No QHD screen either. On the other hand, I would know the keyboard would work great. Hopefully the touchpad would be better than their lower level ThinkPads, but to be honest, might not be either. (I think Alienware has the best feel - Macbooks feel a bit TOO glassy to me, and Lenovo and most other laptops feel too plasticy.) Alienware feels like a rougher glass, so it's not too squeaky clean feeling, but doesn't make it too much friction to move your finger either. I guess when I started shopping, I took Lenovo off the list because it seemed not as worth it for the same price range as these gaming machines are. If it was say $2,200 instead of the same as this or even more, I probably would have just gone with that.

 

I got an SM961 in the one I received two weeks ago. 512 GB I was worried too because I saw that someone had gotten some no-name brand in theirs that wasn't even a class 50 SSD, but I almost think they chose the default and not the upgraded option. (I did the upgrade to "class 50", 512 GB, no secondary drive.) I ran the benchmark and it's pretty good. Perhaps the latest Samsung could be 20-30% faster in certain tests, but this one is no slouch. Perfectly fine as a system drive as far as I'm concerned. I have a 960 Evo 2 TB as my second drive (that one I got myself of course).

 

That’s a good sign for me then, thanks!

Would you mind posting some screen shots of Crystal DiskMark when you get a chance? Want to compare to my SM951s




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Oh, another gripe - last week the Dell Support Assist program ran. It didn't even ask me. It just gave me a summary that it changed 300+ registry settings, deleted all my temporary files, and detected and deleted FOUR viruses. Yet nowhere in its history or log can I see WHAT viruses it found. Nor is it possible it found any, the machine is new, Windows Defender found nothing, and I've only installed legitimate audio software and Steam/games. Probably some cookie files or something that it's trumping as a virus to sound good/effective. Still, did not make me happy that I didn't get a warning to cancel it otherwise I would have removed it right away. Now I feel like this install of Windows is always going to be "tainted" by whatever it decided to change.

 

Yeah, that’s kind of sketchy. The lack of logs would seriously irritate me.

I only keep that installed when I have an active case with Dell and then I remove it as soon as I can. THANKFULLY I don’t have to use that junk on Dell Servers - their server management tools are much better.


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Sure thing, just ran it again. I forget the specifics, but I think I remember that the Q32 Sequential was very good, almost as good as the best they have, but the Q1 4Kb was maybe only half as much as their fastest drive. I was also reading about Optane SSDs though recently, so I might be getting it mixed up with that (the Optane is very good at small non-sequential reads which is why Intel is hyping it to boost HDD performance, even though its sequential times are much slower than the regular mainstream SSD drives). I think the Samsung latest-gen Evo/Pros were still faster though also, but not double (on the 4k non-sequential).

 

Before the week flies by, and since I don't really expect anyone to read my longer rant - can anyone who has owned or at least used/had hands on a Sager, Origin, or MSI in the past year (or two), and has also used Alienware 17 R4 or R5, comment on their comparison thoughts? Will there be other things I am unhappy about with those systems vs. this Alienware? (such as keyboard, trackpad, look, fit & finish, but perhaps also other things I am not thinking about) At this point I feel like I am 80% going to keep this one anyway due to the fear of the unknown and the time I've spent setting this one up (installing two drives, software, debugging, etc.)

I've searched as much as possible but there's not that many comparisons besides some YouTube reviews, and I find those are usually not based on long-term use. (these are expensive machines so it's not like people would normally have two unless they just switched, I would think) I know the one British YouTube reviewer did compare the R4 vs Sager and due to overheating he observed, went with Sager and still likes it; but also stated in video's comments since then, that he would have really liked to keep the Alienware too.

If I end up keeping it, yeah, I'll cave and buy the Intel wireless card and replace the Killer most likely. (still bugs me that I paid to upgrade to the Killer 1550 from the 1450 or whatever the default option is, mostly because I wanted Bluetooth 5.0 and not 4.3 for more future-proofing) Hopefully most of my other observations will fade away. Maybe I can see a way to add support to the keyboard when I open it up again. (how ridiculous that I have to consider such a thing, though - adding support to my keyboard - I have never seen a keyboard in ANY laptop move like this one does - if I put one finger on the 0 key and press the 7, 8, or 9 keys, I feel it deflect - I assume this is the same for everyone)

Then again, knowing I will be getting a factory-overclocked and well-pasted unit with ability to replace the CPU and trusting that the maximum CPU speed is there when I have a big audio/video project several months down the line - that is worth considering switching to Sager for.

Really wish I had the funds to just buy both from the start and return the one I didn't like... not sure Sager really lets you return that easily though.

 

Yeah, so that smokes my 951s in my R3 but it’s further complicated by how tricky it is to configure them just right. The speed is extremely variable based on the driver, order of driver install, bios version, bios config, and so on. It’s seriously irritating to the point that I had given up previously and just put them in a RAID-0 but on the R3 that means leaving a lot of bandwidth on the table.

Definitely looking forward to my R5!.


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I was on mobile earlier and missed the first part of your message. The no questions asked return period is 14 days - basically if you're having issues with your system you should just return it because the process of a service call and so on will make it so that you go past that limited time frame. I would call TODAY to start the return process and hopefully they will let it slide on being slightly out of it (maybe on account of them being closed for the weekend?). If you push and are persistent people have had luck in the past with going slightly over the return period - and i'd say you have a good shot of that wit the issues you're having.

Also, there is a QHD option - maybe it was temporarily removed due to supply issues?

It's funny you mention Compaq - I grew up when my dad worked at Compaq and then HP. I've always been a die hard Compaq-now-HP guy because it's truly a cut above the rest. Dell is cheap and it is painfully obvious - I'm a Windows server engineer for a consolidated group of government agencies and it's almost all Dell sh!t now (with some old ass IBM and some old ass-and-newer HP here and there). THe rate of failures on the Dell servers is atrocious - I could go on and on and on as this is a massive pain in my neck but I digress from the topic at hand.

It sounds like in general your ordering process was messed up. You didn't get the config you wanted and I'm guessing you didn't get to use a good coupon code and/or they didn't offer you a discount). On top of that you didn't get the desired finance option. All wrapped up I would think your best bet is to just return the damned thing and start over assuming you want to stick wit Alienware. Unfortunately Dell has really dragged down the quality when they took Alienware mass market and started cutting corners but there are still some great things about the Alienware devices. For me I was going to go a different route but I get a Dell Partner discount and that is hard to beat! (25% iirc)

 

Thanks for your input on my thoughts... darn, thought I had another two weeks without worry to return. I'll think about it today.

On the QHD, I meant, I don't think Sager (maybe not Origin either?) is available with QHD; I just checked again on Sager and it's not. To be honest, that was the first thing that made me re-consider AW, the fact that it's one of the few where you can get a QHD. It is also probably the most likely reason for me keeping it, I really like the resolution without going to 4K. (Even Macbook "retina" is not 4K, I always thought it was but I was looking it up last week as a comparison and it's 1600 or 1800 vertical I believe.) I really do believe QHD is the best for gaming right now. (funny thing is, I haven't played games in several years - now that I have this machine, I've been playing many hours every day, all in the name of "stress testing" )

I did haggle the salesman down as much as I thought I could... it was probably about 15% off the online quote (the week after they offered a 13% coupon online anyway, but my price had still been better than that). So I did get what I ordered (again I think the QHD reference got misapplied to this computer, but I meant competitors like Sager).

Thanks for the shared experience on the Compaq stuff. I was wondering if it was just me as I wrote that, good to see I wasn't totally crazy! Dell usually won due to their financing, of course. I remember the iLo or whatever Compaq's external remote restart/flash utility was called was always more reliable than Dell's DRAC, I'd be dialing the datacenter as I tried to connect to the DRAC usually, since I wouldn't expect it to work for a reboot.

 

The iLos and iDRACS have both come a long way but as it was in your time the Compaq was, and still is, more reliable. If customers realized the higher rate of failure going in on Dell and could do a cost/benefit analysis the bean counters would quickly realize you pay much more for the Dell in the long run. Basically you've got to have Dells on a 3-year hardware refresh cycle to minimize hardware failures because after that I've noticed a huge uptick. Even after two years.

Anyways, I misread on the QHD - in a hurry to get to bed as I have an early morning. The QHD is a good balance for gaming but the 1080 is no slouch and can run 4k gaming. The problem I see mentioned frequently on this forum for the Alienware has to do with banding and other issues specifically with that QHD panel. There's an active thread about replacing the screen on your own and a lot of folks have done so on their dime. That said, the 4k IPS panel is a beauty! My R3 just had the 4k screen replaced with the IPS out of the R4/R5 generation and WOW...I was stunned as soon as Windows booted up. I couldn't believe my luck they finally sent me not only a good screen with no backlight bleeding but their gorgeous IPS panel to boot. Just food for thought if you're not playing AAA titles / don't mind turning down the graphics a bit. And, of course, there is always the Graphics Amp where you could stick one of the new Turing GPUs but you'd take a big performance hit if you're using that to game on the built in screen because it's got to sling the data both ways through only 4 lanes instead of having all traffic going to the Amp and from there an attached screen.

You *could* always buy the Sager / whatever with the 4K and downgrade panels to a QHD if you really wanted to and then either keep that screen for safe keeping in case you change your mind or just sell it to someone else for $150 or whatever. Here's that thread I referenced - you'll see the QHD screen doesn't get a whole lot of love. The AU Optronics B173ZAN01.2 UHD 4K IPS screen is extremely well rated, bright, but matte finish from Dell. (I prefer glossy myself since I don't typically use the laptop in bright environments but that's not the case for others of course). There are some posters that switched from the factory Matte to the IPS panel on their own dime. I may be doing the same myself once I get my new R5 from Dell.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ome-uhd-display-alienware-r4-tutorial.800153/

 

Well, if it runs everything else it must be the game. Kill the WTF directory and run WoW again.

Yes hugely overpriced. And NO company representation in any country you care to look. You always buy from resellers and you are at their mercy at all times.

Yes there is and it is easily fixable with adding some thin (0.5mm) tape or paper to prop up the weak areas, especially the area around the ESC/F1 and F8. They are "weak" because there should be more supports on the top row but there are only three. If you ever open it and take a look it becomes immediately obvious.

Yes! This is a new problem. I have been considering asking for this laptop too to be replaced (number 3 so far). However they will most likely ask a technician to come in and replace the keyboard. Which is great, except you have to remove the heatsink and the motherboard in order to access the keyboard, and I do not want any random techie opening up my laptop and repasting it (which you must do to access the keyboard).

Yes. I have zapped the disks and have installed Windows 10 from bootable SD card downloaded directly from Microsoft. No bloatware for me.

Not true, old wife's tale, sour grapes etc. This 4K screen *is* the way forward.

Precisely. Not only that but the length of the warranty is worthless - what matters is who is backing it. Will Dell you are in VERY safe hands and you can (and should) extend for years.

Again, precisely. You pay Mercedes prices to buy *insert your crappy car make here*.

 

Hi Guys.

i have a big question and maybe problems with my Alienware r17.
specs: i9; gtx1080; bios 1.1.6; used Software TS


i marked the problems i get when i increase my frequency.
I adjust my frequency with ts up and down. NO UV set yet! TDP is set at 45 and 110. I dont know why 110 but...ok should be 90. because i reset ts before. But it doesnt matter because i have the same probs with 110/110!
Problem:
Freqency drops down when i go over 4.3ghz! In this pic i set the freqency to 4.6ghz! You see the yellow marked freqency on the left side it drops down to 3.9 every 1-4seconds because the RING:"MAX VR VOLTAGE, ICCmax, PL4" and GT:MAX VR VOLTAGE, ICCmax,PL4 jumps in. I think the voltage is over 1.4v at this time and it thottles down the freqency. BUT WHY?? What is wrong? under 4.3ghz its stable, no drobs. System energy settings are set to max! i dont know if it is since the beginning...I bought this machine in july.
I also dont understand the other yellow marked throttles on the right side. Why max Turbo limit at 4.6ghz? it should be at 4.8 maybe.

Iam sure it is the core voltage what trottles my system... but why? why in idle? why with standard settings?
The think is: I can fix it a bit when i set an uv...if more and more and it gehts better and better. But this should not be the right way!?
Also when i increase the current limit it gets better but i dont want too much voltage on my cpu... It is set to 130 in the moment. i think it is set from stock to 130.

What can i do? what is the right way. And what is the max voltage on the cores? is 1.5 too much? The problem is that i only can set a max uv of 140-150mv otherwise my system crashs....
Hope you can help me... if you need more information please ask
Thank you very much

 

Equalizer
Please take my and brother @Papusan 's advice.
The *ONLY* laptop worth buying PERIOD is a P870 TM1 from HIDevolution with the vapor chamber heatsink upgrade.
Thats it. Nothing else is worth buying unless you just need to office or presentation work. And if you need that, you can just get by with a disposable $500 BGA jokebook.
It's sad times in laptop land basically. HIDevolution works hard to keep these laptops usable without them overheating. But they can only do so much. They can't fix terrible design issues.

Then if you go the $500 jokebook route so you have something you can check your emails and play internet chess club on, then you can spend the rest of the money on a nice Mini ITX build that will still run COOLER than these Alienware jokebooks. And be cheaper too. But not portable.

The MSI F7 LGA for 6/8 core CPU's that is coming out is the ONLY MSI even worth considering. Don't touch the Gt75 Titan. The cooling system is bandaid haphazard. The WT75 (workstation) and new MSI F7 (Gaming consumer version) has a MUCH better GPU cooling solution and CPU cooling solution without the GPU or CPU puking heat on each other. But that model isn't out yet. MSI could EASILY have used this new improved cooling solution for the GT75 Titan (and they should have), but they chose to save costs and skip proper design since it's BGA and they don't care about BGA. They only care about money.

If you do choose to get it (MSI F7 LGA, 6 core), check with HIDevoution if it will come with a Prema Bios. It will be rebranded as the "EVOC High Performance System" rather than Tornado F7. Don't buy this model from Eurocom. Not only will not come with a Prema Bios, Eurocom ripped off brother @Prema 's hard work and took advantage of him, which is the (short story) why they are no longer a Prema Partner.

Let me ask you a simple logical question.

Which has better CPU cooling for these 6 core laptops?
Yes, for #1: that's the GPU VRM heatsink half radiator "stacked" on top of the CPU heatsink half radiator. Yes, this also means that to repaste the CPU, the ENTIRE GPU heatplate AND VRM heatsink MUST be removed first)!

1)


Or
6 core laptop (LGA), 5 heatpipes for CPU, two FULL SIZE CPU side radiators.
2)


WHY DIDN'T MSI SIMPLY USE THIS FOR THEIR BGA 6 CORE SINGLE CARD SKU'S AND JUST USED THE "ABORTED FETUS" version for SLI configurations?

 

Because you can't access the Bios to change the IA AC DC loadlines (down to a value of 0.01 mOhms (=1) rather than 1.80 mOhms (=180).
IA AC DC Loadline will boost the CPU's VID request based on load. The higher the current requested by the CPU, the higher the VID boost.
The "baseline" VID is determined each 100 mhz step, up to the highest 1 core 'turbo ratio' supported officially by the CPU that is not "overclocking". For 7820HK, this is 3900 mhz (x39). I have no idea how this is in the BGA "Thermal Velocity Boost" systems but I think it is up to the maximum 1 core ratio without TVB. The voltage will stop automatically scaling past this at DEFAULT BASELINE VID. What you are seeing is boosted VID from IA AC DC Loadline (=1.80 mOhms). mOhms is a measurement of resistance. The higher the current, the more resistance there is, so the VID gets boosted higher.

I'm guessing that your CPU's default VID is probably 1.3v at 4600 mhz.

On the MSI BGA jokebooks, you can still access these settings (via 4 key unlock combination, or by manually unlocking Bios menus yourself with AMIBCP 5.02 and FPTW64.exe, provided you know how to manually disable "Bios Lock" by booting to RU in an EFI prompt (there is a guide for this).

Dell locked you out completely. You're screwed. You can do absolutely **NOTHING** about this except RMA. Or return for a refund and buy a Clevo P870 TM1 from HIDevolution.

Even a MSI GT75 Titan jokebook with a i9 8950HK would be better than this and even then I don't suggest you buy jokebooks. Only the upcoming LGA "MSI F7" (buy this from HIDevolution as the EVOC version, if it comes with a Prema Bios) is the only MSI i can ever recommend anymore.

 

Dell is statistically doing quite well compared to others manufacturers on the market and is just below Asus and Apple

But gaming laptops tend to be like sportscars, quite finicky if something goes wrong.

 

I totally agree. I'm not a fan of their servers at all but they do have some areas where I can give them praise. I'm a fan of Alienware just a shame what Dell has done to the brand image - but on that same note they've also helped advance the brand. All in all life is about tradeoffs - if these were LGA sockets they would probably be a lot less desireable to many of us for a number of factors. Same if they were bigger to accommodate proper cooling - we all know how big some of MSI's creations are. It's all about tradeoffs and when you have to have tradeoffs and balance two competing design principals something always ends up coming out behind.

Thankfully the Dell Premium Support makes up for a lot of the shortcomings. There's no way I would have bought into Alienware laptops if it wasn't for that.

 

Thanks for your answer!
Puuu hard to understand but that means it is normal?
I really have this option to uv or increase the current. It is now at 130. I can set it to 150 and that kind of drops or that throttle gets less. But my voltage increase the same time.
The other think is my voltage jumps. I can not say at 4.6ghz i have 1.3v because it jumps from 1.25 up to 1.43 and back. At 1.43 the throttle jumps in.
If I increase the current up to 150 the drops are less then with 130 but the voltage increase.
And iam a bit scared how high can I go with this voltage and the current before something damaged...1.5v?1.6v? 150A? 200A?
I read something in this thread about 200A but I never read that here is someone with this kind of drops or throttling like mine??!!
What can I do. I don’t want to sent it back

 

Yes it's normal and it's by design.
This is why on desktop motherboards, this setting (Core IA AC DC loadline) is recommended to be set to the lowest non zero value (usually 1, or 0.01), to avoid issues like this (only when using ADAPTIVE Voltages).

Also on most desktop motherboards, when using STATIC voltages, the actual "CPU VCORE" is set via the static voltage, and the IA AC DC setting is then ignored (CPU VID will still boost "up" much higher than vcore but in this case, the vcore overrides the CPU VID).

Unfortunately, on all of these laptops, when using STATIC voltages, the IA AC DC loadline value still applies. So setting 1.35 static vcore with IA AC DC = 1.80 mOhms will give you 1.5v (!) at full load.

Disgusting.

These laptops don't have a 'vcore' sensor and get the voltage directly from the CPU VID. However the CPU VID can actually get badly misreported as the 'real' voltage corresponds to the value in IA AC loadline, and the "reported" VID (what you see in monitoring) corresponds to the value in IA *DC* loadline.

Setting both in AMI Bioses to 1 and 1 stops this "boost" that you see that is making you current throttle and overheat.
But Dell locked you out. And there's no way around it.

 

Funny you should mention that - it was really tough for me to pick the QHD vs UHD when I ordered. Fortunately, they are using the revision of the QHD and it no longer has banding. (I couldn't cope if I had bought when it used the previous version, for sure.) While I was waiting, I did see that the screen isn't expensive at all, seems to be about $100-120, so that was actually a positive. (I got so used to Macbooks, I didn't realize the screen was so easy to replace on these.) Thanks for that link though, that's the most succinct yet informative walkthrough of the process yet. (especially the picture of the bezel removal, I know it's just tape but worries me about scratching or flexing parts... good to see it partially out in that picture)

I was even thinking, maybe I can somehow use Velcro tape or just a lighter application of double-sided tape for the bezel, and perhaps less screws, and even switch out panels whenever I wanted! I might just wait though to see if they eventually have a 120 Hz 4k IPS screen. I did a test comparison to a 60Hz cheap TN external monitor, and I can definitely tell the 60 vs 120 difference even on mouse movement in Windows. I know others have said they don't in this thread, but I definitely notice. But yeah, at least it IS replaceable.

Funny too, I used to love glossy, wondered why anyone would really want matte unless they were working outside in the field or something... but now that I've had matte, any reflection on any glossy screen I have irritates me! (really funny that, when I got my 2006 MacBook Pro, glossy was a special $175 upgrade option only available on the 17" model - then after the next refresh, matte became the upgrade option, and then glossy-only ever since) I suppose for a desktop monitor, if I knew I could control reflections, I would still prefer glossy though for sure.

 

Thanks for confirming you noticed that on your keys. So at least it's not just on my unit. After sleeping on it, the issue isn't as bad as it seemed yesterday. Kind of like when you discover a new nick or hairline scratch on a new car, but then (sometimes) you get over it after a few days or a week. Yeah I definitely wouldn't want to risk worsening the cooling on a re-install of a new keyboard. The next time I open it up though I'll see if I can add any shims where you indicated.

True too on the service... I should have added that to my lost of cons for other brands. Although disheartening to read that some folks are on their 5th or 6th units, at least it shows Dell isn't too worried about sending those replacements out.

 

I appreciate your feedback on all the design areas where the Clevo is better for cooling. I'm still sort of considering it, at least HID has a better warranty than Sager, it looks like.

Can you speak to the quality of the keyboard though? It just doesn't look too great. Nowhere on either Sager or HID do they say much about it, so I am guessing there is nothing exceptional about the key travel/activation force. I am not trying to be sarcastic with this, but the keyboard on that looks like a "jokebook" keyboard to me. Obviously it's hard to tell, there's no way I can judge it from pictures or even videos. For example, the AW has a slight rubberized feel to it, which I really appreciate... actually very nice for games, my fingers stay locked on the keys as it were. And the way the Clevo squishes those arrow cursor keys into the shift and numpad (and loses out on the page up/page down that AW and Lenovo both have on their keyboards), I don't know how much I would dislike that.

I can live with the slight movement on the AW board as at least it's only on the very top center keys, which are not used that often. It's like with a Moog synth (music keyboard) I bought once; the highest two keys were very tight, obviously not usable, but it's close to a 100% chance that no player, even a virtuoso keys player, would ever even use those two keys, so it literally didn't matter. Since it appeared that others had the same tightness on those keys, I put it out of my mind.

Then there's also the extra thickness/weight/look-and-feel tradeoffs. I mean, I personally miss a lot of old design stuff from the 90s, I actually like retro looks in many cases, but the Clevo does look clunky.

Also, I didn't mention this in my pros/cons, but lack of IR camera for Windows Hello - I love this feature. My Lenovo being a lower end Thinkpad doesn't have it nor the thumbprint reader, so I end up leaving it unlocked for longer times than I would otherwise. Even entering a four digit pin is annoying to me. I know the Clevo has the thumbprint reader, but I've read that it can take a few times and it isn't that fast. Windows Hello, on this AW R5 anyway, takes less than a third of a second, maybe not even that long - when I open the lid, it flashes by so quickly I wondered if it was even working at first. (took many times seeing it to actually read the "Welcome" and my name)

The other negative, at least for Sager, is their build times could get out to 3+ weeks when customizing. HID says in stock for the default config, so maybe they don't take as long to customize. (I had heard of HID when starting my search process, wish I'd looked at them a bit more perhaps.)

All that said, I definitely hear you brother. Even though it costs 15-25% more for similar specs, would I be more comfortable with something that will get the maximum performance possible? Or would the negatives always irritate me? Unfortunately it's a trade off. I am leaning towards riding out with this one longer though for now. I figure even if I sell it in a year, I can still get 50%, hopefully more towards 70%, of the purchase price. I really won't know if I have performance headroom issues for a while. Gaming, I don't think there are any. (maybe my framerates are a bit lower than what others are getting, but I haven't compared with exact settings, and overall, it's not like it's choking - playing on this thing is great so far) My one true issue is the wireless, and ok, if a $30 plug-in Intel card fixes that, I can live with it. (and HID offers either the same Killer card or the Intel - I wonder if the Killer 1550 has the same issues on theirs...)

I truly wish I had the unlimited funds (and the extra lifetime) to try them all!

 

One quick question, my R5 have killer 1435, thinking about upgrading because of several issues this card is giving me (disconnecting from WiFi and being a hell to reconnect again)... Wich one will work for the upgrade, Intel 9260 or 9560? Both works? There is any better option out there? Thanks in advance!

Enviado desde mi Pixel 2 XL mediante Tapatalk

 

I have read in another forum that the 9560 (the latest one) works as a replacement. That is what I will go with myself if I swap, as it also has Bluetooth 5.0. I am still waiting on Killer support though. They gave me the full uninstall/re-install process, which I followed again to the letter, still lost connection within a day though. (although oddly enough, I could still ping google.com from command prompt - so it seems to be an issue higher up the TCP/IP stack, I wonder with the Killer control panel not even installed if it is indeed a Killer issue at this point... uggh)

 

Regarding Clevo keyboards - I don't know what possessed me, but I was searching for more video reviews, and I finally found this one... look at this part where the reviewer (who in fairness, says he likes the keys and thinks it's firm) presses on different parts of the keyboard... unless the whole computer is on a couch or other soft surface, it distinctly looks to me like the WHOLE keybed is flexing quite a bit! (in relation to the case/chassis) My AW keyboard certainly does not do that on any of the letter keys (it only moves close to that much on the F7-F10, even the 6, 7, 8, 9 keys, while having some movement, do not move that much)

It looks like it won't include the time start, but the "flex test" starts at 4:19:


So right there, if that's how the Clevo keyboard is, bending like that - I wouldn't be able to accept that.

 

Oh wow it looks like you are a real expert...thank you so mouch for your answers.

The only think I can do in the moment to hold this frequency’s is to undervolt my cpu. It helps. And the second option is to increase the current value maybe up to 200A then the frequency is stable! But the voltage increase and my max undervolting is 150mv before my system crashes.

What do you recommend to do?
-Static voltatage on cpu vid?
-What’s the max voltage for the cpu that I know how high I can go with the current value.
-What’s the highest current value I can set?

Or is it better to let the current be at 130? then only the uv will help me a bit to hold my frequency’s...

 

Rivet Networks’ (Killer) new partnership with Intel.

Read also... http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/killer-wireless-ac-1550-review.814190/

I have the P870 and the keyboard is fully acceptable. I have the AW17 from 2013/14 and the AW keyboard isn’t much better in my eyes. Not mechanical KB but still ok. Some hate it and some like it.

But I wouldn’t touch another laptop model and brand if I bought a new.

 

So the 9260 is the same killer 1550... Maybe the 9560 will be better?

I have the killer 1535 on my Razer Blade Pro 7820hk 1080 Gtx and works perfect always... No problem at all since I have that laptop, it came with it.

So maybe I should try the 9560 and in the worst case will buy a 1535.

Enviado desde mi Pixel 2 XL mediante Tapatalk

 

That's crazy, so the 1550 is the exact same as the 9560? [EDIT - I misread, the 9260...] Uggh. I really appreciate that info. Glad I decided to wait to see if I can resolve it myself or with Killer support before ordering the 9560. Maybe I will just plug in a USB Wifi adapter if all else fails, haha. (well, I am serious - just seems funny plugging in a Wifi adapter on a notebook) Weird thing is, when it works, I too (as someone in that thread comments, and I've seen elsewhere) feel like things are snappier, and I am on a pretty slow cable connection. Definitely feels more like I am plugged directly into the router.

Thanks for your other feedback too. At first I felt like this was my favorite laptop keyboard ever, but I still feel I type a bit faster/less errors on my Lenovo. Although, I definitely prefer the rubbery feel of these keys when playing a game, vs. the slippery plastic on the Lenovo and most other keyboards. Good to know you feel the Clevo keys are not far off though. (in regular keyboards, my favorite was the Logitech G-whatever; never liked the super-clicky blue switches in the mechanicals, brown or whatever the softer switches are seemed ok)

 

Killer is a hit or a miss. Same for Intel. Some get better results with one of them. Need to be tested out. Post your questions in the thread I linked.

One thing I hate with my Alienware... The weak soft coating on palm rest. The sharp edge will be scratched up easily if you aren’t damn careful.

 

I'd have to quote too many posts for reference, but let me clear one thing up. The Intel 9560 and Killer 1550i are the same, but neither will work in an Intel 9260 or Killer 1535, or earlier version, slot.

If you have a Killer 1435 you could only upgrade to the Intel 9260 or Killer 1535.

 

Hey guys will the toshiba rc100 pcie m.2 2242 ssd work with alienware 17 r5? It has the 2242 slot but idk if it will accept pcie