*OFFICIAL* Alienware Area-51M R1 Owner's Lounge

Yes that's correct.
They're using the wrong values for GT loadline though. GT loadline should be 3.1 mOhms for both. But the PDF doesn't specify a min. It only says max 1.6 (for IA cores), 3.1 (GT cores) for 8 core S processors (LGA).

 

It's a metal plate that passively cools yes. That is still substantially better than no cooling at all. I believe it has been confirmed the 2060 and 2070 do not have a plate covering them, pretty wild considering the costs of those models are still extremely high.

This is another good point. Those cards may not even have the power delivery headroom. Considering how Dell generally doesn't overbuild anything.​

 

HIDevolution has the best quality control and thermal paste application and cooling mods all us enthusiasts here know that. You get what you pay for and I certainly wouldn't take ANY chances when it comes to this particular Alienware! If I was buying it, I would only accept perfection with rigorous stress testing and cooling mods to mitigate any overheating issues.

Additionally, HIDevolution offers delidded CPUs which can bring temps down by upto 10-20C and that is a no brainer when it comes to desktop CPUs in a laptop.

At the end of the day, it's up to you as you can only afford what you can afford *no pun intended*

 

9700K/9900K already use solder, bruh.

But yeah, HIDevolution offers amazing services.

 

What do you mean already uses solder? you mean its delidded from the factory?

 

Nope, but Intel has started use solder instead for their usual paste under Lid. Delidded with Liquid metal will net you about 4-8C lower temp.

 

Just a small tidbit that might be useful in the OP, at least for the 144hz/tobii/gsync/1080p display, it supports HDR Streaming video. I did a couple comparisons and was impressed at the difference. You can't get HDR in game, but for streaming content it is nice.

Lenovo touts "Dolby Vision HDR" with the y740, yet has the exact same capabilities. I'm surprised Dell doesn't do the same.

 

Go into the BIOS and enable CPU Perfromance mode and then try again.

 

PCWorld agrees with Notebookcheck and I trust both of those sites more than Dave2D. About the only bigger shills on YouTube are Hardware Canucks.

 

I'd go with 860 Evo 4TB just for the space. 970 pro for max reliability as primary drive.

I'm gonna have to stop you right there (btw like the Naruto reference, kinda miss that Anime).

Locked BIOS...yes you win there, nothing we can do. Keep in mind a Clevo comes with a "locked" bios as well. You need a Prema mod to fully appreciate a Clevo.

Outdated PSU design? No...even Clevo "officially" still uses dual PSU design. The Eurocom PSU is nice though, I kinda wish more people adopted it but there are regulatory issues. This is why we've seen 2x330w so much. Clevo uses a adapter to convert 2 PSU to 1 port. AW has 2 ports in the laptop which is very nice.

Insignificant OC potential? AW has some of the highest performing 2080s here. We've seen people hit 30K+ graphics score...Even @Johnksss is using the 200w AW vBIOS to further improve his performance. Me and @captn.ko have hit 5.1Ghz already on the laptop. He's even done a 5.2Ghz CB run. I've done a 5.3Ghz CPU-Z validation. AW increased power limits for CPU in 1.3.0 BIOS (although they need to increase current because we hit current limit at 5.2GHZ+)

You don't need a delid, I can run 4.7Ghz stock with -100mV perfectly on stock Dell paste. No throttling. Can't wait to see how it performs soon with a repaste alone.

/End rant

For GPU score @Rocktaze has a good one: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/18701555

I can confirm. Balanced profile does NOT affect clocks at all. What they do is keep the fans from spinning hard until system is at 80C+ on GPU. This causes clocks to throttle harder because of nVidia's stupid GPU boost technology.

Just wait a bit. There's rumors of a 10-core Intel CPU maybe around July. That's when you'd really wanna upgrade.

Intel used to use "solder" on their CPUs which is much better than thermal paste between IHS & die. After 3rd gen Ivy Bridge I think, they started using thermal paste. Deliding became very popular because it could reduce temps up to 20C. Now Intel has finally gone back to solder on mainstream (Z390 etc). However, deliding and properly cleaning up the solder etc has shown at least 4C improvement still.

 

So what does this mean overall? The CPU will be using wrong voltages and we have to manually fix it?

 

Anyone with a 9700k and 2070 config been able to get the CPU to run at 5.0Ghz stable and good temps? I've been trying to get that all day and can't get it at all. Every time I tried so far it has crashed my computer. I have tried using Throttlestop, XTU, Alienware command center, nothing. Highest I am able to get is 4.8 and is very stable with temps between 55-70 under load. 4.9 I did get up to but I didn't finish testing it yet. From what I can tell so far temps were a bit high and didn’t seem 100% stable just yet. Not sure if I am doing something wrong. Any suggestions or tips?

 

Then someone should present this Problem to Mr. Azor asap to give them a Chance to fix it

Best would be to give us the chance to set the LLC in the Bios. That would be perfect.

 

Once I bought a brand new VCR, immediately it had a fault, had to send it away and waited over a month before they'd fix the fault, I was without a VCR for a month but they had my money.

Maybe you should have asked for some sort of compensation, at least the 14/30 day refund period and the 12-month warranty, both of which are counting down while you do not even have a laptop!

 

So Dell premium support was less than useless as expected and couldn't give me any help or answers on my system, I will need to wait until Monday for management to decide whether they will ship me a new one or send this one in for repair. Basically it was DOA if it only lasted a few hours...It doesn't POST and just flashes 2 red led followed by 7 blue then 3 continuous loud beeps. Connecting it to an external monitor does nothing either. I suspect the video card is kaput. Very disappointing for such an expensive system.

 

Not good, Shutdown is not a replacement for Sleep. You close the lid you want the damn thing to stop dead - only with Sleep can you possibly do that. With Shutdown, Windows will try to close down your apps and then you get dialogs "do you want to save this and that" and even with the lid closed the laptop stays up waiting, and sometimes with loud fans all night, or even inside the bag.

I think that yours is a pretty cut'n dry case - it is DoA! Immediate replacement sent out to you asap, or better, immediate refund, so you do not lose out on the warranty and refund periods. A replacement is a bad choice simply because by the time you receive it, your refund period will have expired and will have also lost a month of your warranty. A "repair" is not simply a bad choice - it is a terrible idea.

 

This is very eye opening. Especially the pointer on regulatory issues regarding PSUs. Damn.

It seems you're the guys doing OC right then. That's some mighty impressive stats.

 

Windows 8.1 proof of concept



Ubuntu won't boot, this is the closest I can get

 

For Ubuntu live media, set boot options on startup as shown.

Here are the options you want:

acpi_osi=! acpi_osi='Windows 2009' blacklist=nouveau quiet splash

That should be between the commas.

 

guys whats the best way to clone my os drive / image it for retrieval at a later date, i want a back up of it before i start installing new stuff, laptop arrived and powers up so far so good.

claimed my div 2 key, but dont wanna do much else until i make a image of my os drive for back up purposes

 

Dell blocks Linux installation on few early revisions and latest update usually has no blocks. Even adding ACPI_OSI workarounds Dell consumer PCs boot to black screen or have kernel panics these days(I haven't seen a kernel panic ever in my 5-6 yrs of Linux usage)

I think W8.1 is already hijacked to show or install Win 10 once you connect it to the internet!

Use Macrium reflect to do a complete imaging of your Dell OS.

 

Try Macrium Reflect.

Or you can use the Windows in-built backup utility, now designated as "Backup and restore (Windows 7)".

 

Sounds plausible. However, consider that Dell takes Linux support quite seriously.

You may also try to use this ACPI_OSI string https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/10283727/ in the patch therein, as its' already merged into all recent kernels.

 

fwupdmgr and other firmware updation will work. Thunderbolt 3 on skylake isn't even detected anymore but on Linux its detected.

 

Hi guys !
Got mine yesterday (9900 / 2080). So far so good : Swapped RAM & SSD, Win10 clean install in proper AHCI mode on my 970 EVO. Everything works fine. But I think my 2080 is underperforming a bit : I only get 20k graphic score in firestrike. I'm stock but with the new VBIOS. Perf mode activated, full power in NVidia control panel too. OC via BIOS @5.0GHz for CPU (24K physics score).

What do you think ? Is it normal or was I expecting too much ?

Thanks

 

So after playing with this laptop for awhile and always using both 330w + 180w power adapters, This F'n laptop keep showing me from Alienware command center notification that a "Undersized AC adapter has been detected" With little brief warning how it can slow the speeds of the laptop down. Please tell me some one has had this issue and how did you make it go away. This only happened after a few updates that came out yesterday.

The warning goes off maybe after 3-5 mins

 

You should be getting about 28k in firestrike. Do you have both adapters plugged in? Have you adjusted your power options?

 

You can disable this warning in the bios

 

Yes : 510W, I ckecked in BIOS. Power options are maxed out. I don't understand...

 

Dead LCD according to the chart. I would open it up, do a hard reset (pull battery cable and BIOS battery, Hit power button for 10 seconds). Then check cable connection to LCD.

I would imagine it would be 2,6 if the RTX card is fried.

Still more than entitled to a refund either way

 

Check the cables of PSU on both ends and give it a test run in ePSA aka Diagnostics and see if both PSU with correct wattage are detected!

 

So they were right and setting hibernation to "never" in advanced power options worked. it just slept all night and was still in sleep mode when i woke up in the morning to turn it on. the laptop woke up and resumed just fine. that is the first time it has slept all the way through the night, i guess the computer is now sleeping better than i do.

 

Hi all! Thanks for reminding me about the ebates discount. Just ordered my 2080 9900k model!

 

I would contact dell support. It seems you are having a problem with your card. Is it overheating?

 

Heres Notebookchecks review of m51

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-Area-51m-i9-9900K-RTX-2080-Laptop-Review.414667.0.html

I have the LG Phillips 144 gsync panel and compared to the qhd in the a4/5 it’s better but I will be interested in those that have the AUO 144 gsync panel that is also shipped.

Be great if someone has both panels side by side to review/see differences - contrast on the LG panel they reviewed is poor/average - might just have been their panel thou given manufacturing differences

 

I'm having problems with my touchpad. The mouse pointer randomly jumps to another location and also when 2 finger scrolling down it jumps up a lot. This is literally the only issue I'm having with the laptop.

 

Not at all

 

somewhere in the last 579 pages of this thread someone else mentioned fixing a two finger scroll problem with a different driver.

 

Will try this later. It seems like an RTX 2080 thing.

I tried Fedra live (black screen) & Ubuntu live thus far.

All I wanna do is test to see if my Apple thunderbolt display works in Linux. It does not in windows, even though with my AW 13 R3 it was plug n play.

It won't install 10. You just need to make sure you don't install specific updates.

Can you try using something like MSI Afterburner with the OSD enabled. Check GPU usage, clock speeds, etc. while it's running firestrike.

 

Turn off your tobii eye tracking.

 

If you are using stock W8.1 settings then updates are auto downloaded behind our backs.

 

I think people tend to forget windows 8.1 was just windows 7 with the stupid start menu.

When you first set-up windows, it asks you how you would like updates (just like 7) and I selected never check for updates.

8.1 also has the original windows update program where you can choose which updates you want to install. It's not like 10.

 

I always forget that. Thanks. It seems Win 10 changed that for the worse.

 

Just ordered the 32gb 2666 Samsung ram stick from Newegg. They have a listing for about $100 cheaper than Amazon right now.

 

It's very weird... Tried DDU, even reinstalled windows. I don't get it.

 

Hi Guys,

Hope you all are doing fine!

I'm interested in buying an Alienware Area 51m but not interested in 2080 one as it is way too expensive for my liking.

I'm confused between 2060 and 2070 and haven't had any details on these two models. I was hoping if you guys can answer my question as the thread has a lot of information (but is not organized!).

1) After reading users facing issues with their laptops and poor QC from Dell, I'm a bit skeptical to buy 51m. I'm wondering if I should consider Acer Helios 500(has GTX 1070 though and not RTX) over Area 51m? Any thoughts?

2) Do the issues with heating only impacting 2080 laptops of the 6-8 cases reported here or were 2070 or 2060 laptops impacted as well?

3) Can someone provide insights if there are infrastructural differences in 2060 vs 2070 vs 2080 alienware in terms of thermal paste/thermal pads and which one seems to be the designed best?

4) Do you even recommend buying a 2060 or 2070 in Area 51m?

Thanks guys for this useful forum.
Just a tip - I know it's been only a few days since the users have started posting their issues, but if someone/thread admin can collate the issues users have been complaining about and fix them to a page, that would be really helpful.
We might even arrive at a pattern to see if only a selected batches/geographical locations were impacted!

Cheers

 

Try and reset the BIOS and Motherboard.

 

Thanks all, I'll turn off the tobi eyetracking to fix the TouchPad issues. Man it sucks, I got a new job as a software engineer and I haven't had any time to play with the laptop. I wish companies let us use our own laptops for work

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

Cant seem to get any higher than 5ghz without an eventual blue screen, even at stock it never seems to hold above 4.5 to 4.6ghz on the 9900k any tips?

Don't even know why level 3 oc is in the bios, it seems completely pointless.

Also, is anyone experiencing speakers that seem to crunch?

 

Wow these things are on backorder 1+ month?? Placed an order and est delivery is 1st week of May