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

Throttlestop for CPU and MSI afterburner for GPU.

 

Fresh news...

A tech was supposed to do an oSS repair on Fri. 05/04, they called me on Friday to tell me i've to wait till Mon. 08/04..

Got no news today so i decided to call them and guess what... as i ordered on HIDevolution (U.S computer) and i live in France they need to order a U.S motherboard for my computer to do an oSS repair...

They're supposed to call me back when they got ETA about the motherboard... but at least they got the graphic card in stock...

The tech support guy was unable to answer when i asked why did they need to order an U.S motherboard (as a E.U motherboard is supposed to do the same job...)...

And ... i also asked to cancel the motherboard for the oSS repair as there's a huge chance that the problem IS the graphic card they told me they can't as it'll probably require a new order and a new long wait for my repair...

And ... i can't get a refund because they quite told me i need to see this with HIDevolution...

Feels like i'm going mad...

 

Most NVMe ssds start throttle speed around 70C. With heavy ssd workload you will get less performance. The problem is the NVMe controller. The nand not so much. I would test with only pads matching the controller on the fancy heatsink. Maybe the controller temp will decrease further beacuse Nand doesn't throw heat over on the heatsink..

For hose who want to try... Run ATTO Disk Benchmark 3 rounds back to back and with Hwinfo in the background. The benchmarks test have a nice graph there you can see if your ssd show throttling at some time.

Edit. Samsung have just released new "Samsung Magician" toool... For those interested.

There is still none who know how it will be under that fancy passive cooled heatsink. All they know is that above keyboard (around the small vents) it's damn hot. Right above the graphics.

 

I have something to add here maybe other members can test it also. On the original bios i indeed felt like it was super hot near the power button. I actually hurt myself a little bit because i held it to long. My fingertip was red after. This weekend when i was playing the division 2 for almost 2 hours my curiousity got the best of me and i put my finger down on the same place again and it wasn't even hot. Maybe the bios did something or the division is not that demanding as anthem is. Have to test it with anthem when i get home.

 

Thanks.

What CPU and GPU are you running? Trying to replicate your settings.

Thanks

 

Did you delide your CPU with succes?

Hows it running compared to originally?

What thermal compound do you use between cpu IHS and heatsink?

Changing the hight a bit didnt affect anything when you mounted it?

 

Gentlemen my order has been sent, I confirm that in Italy there are no bags and backpacks dedicated to area-51m, I am sad

 

sorry to hear that. what does HID have to say about this? have u tried contacting HID?

 

Europa does not have the 51m backpack yet. I am expecting to arrive it in the shop at some point.

 

• Yes : I used a Rockit Cool 89 with their solder remover paste and polish.
  
• It's definitly cooler. I'd say 10°C less when playing demanding games. For example with Anthem : I was at 92-93°C average before delid and now I'm around 80°C.
  
• I used conductonaut.
• The copper IHS is the same height as the original one. I didn't sand the DIE. So no.

 

I'm filling a request right now, i was waiting after Dell oSS answer

 

So......I tested the Dual PSU on an A51M and it only showed 330W in the bios. And also gave the usual error that you only have 1 adapter installed. I tested firestrike and the frames proved that it would not allow for more than what is programmed for the barrel. So in the end. First trial was a fail.

 

i9-9900K and RTX 2080. I think I have good silicon. Results can vary a lot for CPU voltage especially. I would try 1.15v @ 4.6 GHz and go down from there.

 

People quick question.
So I took out my samsung 970 Pro as is out of the Area 51M when it died. If the new one arrives. You reckon I should Just put it in like that? Do you think there are in terms of software any fundamental changes? Of course I will run dell support center to updated to the latest firmwares/drives/bios, that should be fine right?
Or should I mirror what I will get in the new laptop and re-install all my stuff?
(FYI I definitely don't want to clean install)

 

Get the vindicator 2. Better build quality and protection than Elite backpack. And dont worry about fitting, Area51m fits very nicely with some room to spare.

 

Well my area 51m FINALLY shipped and should arrive tomorrow. Gonna get my 13r3 oled that was my main laptop and the aurora that's just kinda sitting around that I got cheap when video cards were ultra expensive (I got it and used the 1080 in it for dual 1080s....) and get them ready to sell

 

Dell was supposed to call me for an ETA of the missing part (oSS repair) : got no call, i called them back, i've to wait tomorrow to know how long i'm supposed to wait to get a repair...

Sent an email to HIDevolution tech support (localtime ~10am) i'll wait but i got no hope from them, if i have to pay to send the machine even 2 weeks later that's not an option for me...

I would NOT recommend anyone here to buy this machine without any further informations of Dell if the problem with the RTX 2080 is not correctly identified...

Both Dell technical and client services are awful, they don't take into consideration the price of the laptop (4000+ $) or the fact that the problem occurred after two weeks..

I owned the Alienware 17 R5 with all the heat problems going with, sold it, bought the Area 51m... and now i got this... great...

When i think i still got my Alienware M17X and it's still working.... damn... quality dropped so much...

 

Btw, in case anyone is interested... now that I've had my 9700/2070 system for a while I've noticed a few things (probably normal).

I have been under-volting my CPU and it's been very stable, but the temps are starting to creep up now (either I'm playing longer or the hardware is breaking in / adjusting based on the factory paste). Anthem is around 82-83C max now, whereas I had previously been able to keep in the 70's.

I'm hearing / noticing more coil whine at lower fan profiles for some reason. It's not always constant, and doesn't bother me... but as others in these threads have noticed (and with most laptops in this class), it's there occasionally.

Has anyone else noticed just how hot the power bricks get when under load? Damn! I went to move my laptop after a gaming session and they were really hot. Perhaps I shouldn't stack them like I've been doing... ; ).

 

I feel like I've answered this before... I have an 8700/2070 51m and it has been amazing so far. Temps still steady regardless of how much I throw at it. My previous m15 (not a typo, the thin and light laptop) had a similar issue, where I was able to undervolt it initially to get decent temps with factory paste. However, as I used it more and more, the temps kept creeping upwards. So I took it apart and repasted it. When repasting, I noticed a section of the cpu which had no paste on it at all. After repasting, half of the cores maintained outstanding temps while the other half remained in the high 90s. I tried repasting a few times with varying levels of tightness and evening out the heatsink, no improvement. Sent it back and ordered a 51m with the 15% off coupon on a 51m with 8gb ram and the 1tb sshd which I upgraded myself.

 

Only my 180watt gets hot to the touch, the 330 one is very cool.

 

Thanks for your answers. Just wondering- was the 10°C less from the delid alone... or did you also re-paste which might have contributed as well?

 

Sorry double post

 

Yes and I put some kryonaut beneath the heatsink. I also put Phobya Nanogrease on 2 parts that seem to be designed to make contact with HS.

 

Yep, I remember your mentioning that. I'm hoping mine will plateau and be ok. It's otherwise runs very well and I've been very pleased.

 

Yes! Pretty sure mine is the same... it's just that I stack the 180 on top of the 330.. so they both were hot by extension. ; )

 

How did you get throttlestop to work? I couldn't get XTU to work cause it was clashing with the alienware software despite me uninstalling it.

 

I wonder if that thermal paste will melt off? Also your ram is in slot 1 and 3.

 

You only need to disable overclock in Command Center apparently. XTU is finicky though. Throttlestop doesn't seem to have any issues. I also start it via task scheduler

 

I asked myself the same question...

I think once mine is repaired i'll be using the same M2 drives without reinstalling everything because :

- I've already spent to much time with the setup i've already started (Games, Settings, Development setup (Visual Studio, etc...))
- There shouldn't be any reason why you couldn't do that : Only some hardware id's are supposed to change, but it's the same hardware (even if for me they're changing both the graphic card, the motherboard and the keyboard (US QWERTY to FR AZERTY)

I'll only be updating MB Bios and GC 200w vBios.

Things that makes me hesitate on this way :

- If drivers behave badly
- If Windows somehow notice a change with the motherboard and fail with the activation process
- If i somehow loose my settings with the hardware change
- If the drivers require different tuning because of the hardware changes (i OCd to 5.1 Ghz ... not a big thing...)

 

Are you testing this one a 9700K/2070 model?

I think @captn.ko was the one that said both of his 330w show up as 660w?

I'll test this later as well.

 

That's because I had removed the 2 others in order to open the CPU lever.

 

Okay, finally arrived this morning. Just got back from work about an hour ago, have had very, very little time.

I'll post much more detailed first impressions later - but I'm trying to run as much as I can before a work happy hour I need to go to at 4pm (about an hour). So, super, super brief impressions on the 9900/2080/256/16 LW GS 144 Model:

- System is way lighter than I expected
- Screen isn't as good as 4K or OLED or my MBP, but it's arguably the best 1080p display I've ever used in a laptop. Totally fine on first impressions.
- Build quality is great - ZERO flex (less than my MBP, maybe), big step up from Razer Blade. Keyboard is excellent. TP is too small. White is gonna show grease and fingerprints like a crazy.
- Dell QC sucks. Lots of dust already on the unit. Type-C usb hole doesn't line up perfectly with the port. Little rubber bottom thingy on right bottom of screen is a tad loose. Left and right mouse click have like a 2% variation in clickiness. Truly, nothing huge at all. Totally ignorable. But noticed all this in 30 minutes, and kinda crazy on a $4,000 machine.
-Fans on performance mode are loud, for sure, but far from annoying. I'm extra sensitive to fan noise, and it's there - zero doubt - but it has a nice, consistent hum that isn't obnoxious and won't pic up on your mic, for example.

I ran timespy 100% stock. Base ram. No OC or anything whatsoever. Performance fans (so loudest). Zero undervolt. Factory image. Not sure if I need to go manually get the 200W vbios update? Anyway, scores seem a bit low but temps seem real solid... thoughts?

 

Happy to see you finally got your 51m. Mine had some weird dust/spiderweb type stuff in it too which worried me for how well it would work, but it was fine.

 

Welll guys after having mine for about 4 days my box cam so I can finally ship it out to the repair center. Wish me a fast turnaround time.

 

That I don't know, sorry.

 

Ladies and gentlemen.... she has shipped

Dark side of the moon
2080
9900
32gb ram
2tb SSD

Should be arriving tomorrow morning. After so so so so many delays. Originally ordered March 10th reordered March 15th because of a mistake on their end. Many complaints later and this might just be the moment. Fingers crossed

 

Mine has also shipped after how many delays, ordered on march 11th. 9700k with 2070. I am in Canada so hopefully fellow Canadians will get an update too

 

Dell's new disgusting changes show now up in full bloom
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...otebookcheck-net.808983/page-18#post-10893548

 

I don't know why everyone is ragging on dell. Essentially every single thin and light has issues cooling their 8750h and especially the 8950k. Honestly the only person to blame is the consumer for being stupid enough to purchase an 8950k in a thin or light. This happened with every single apple, gigabyte, previous alienwares, razer blade, and asus laptops. Hell even the thicker laptops has issues cooling the 8950k.

 

There is a contingency of folks who think that running AIDA64 for 30+ minutes and having occasional thermal throttling is indicative of the machine being unable to handle thermals.

In reality, tests like AIDA64 and Furmark are only the worst conditions. The best way to check for real thermal performance is to set up monitoring and play games. If rendering is your thing, do that and monitor. In these tests, the Area-51m performed very well.

Hell, I had an AIDA64 test for over 30 minutes where I lowered the turbos by 200mhz per core and I never exceeded 90C with stock pads/paste.

Outside of the systems that have cooked themselves - so few in number reported that we are having a difficulty drawing conclusions - the Area-51m has been shown to handle thermals VERY well. The systems dying are likely to be a different design flaw other than simple thermals, but we can't know since the people who have cooked systems aren't able to provide any thermal data either. In addition, it rarely hits power limit throttling. Many of the Thin+Lights hit power limit throttling after the thermal issues have been handled.

I've used a plethora of laptops in the last few years. When I had the Area-51m, it was the best in terms of cooling of any laptop I've used in recent memory. The Y740 is lauded for its cooling, but with fans on full blast it hit thermal throttling just as fast as anything else in AIDA64.

I have issues with the Area-51m - the reason I no longer have it. Thermals is not my issue.

 

That's almost verbatim my story as well, from 3 weeks back or so. Same seller, same cooling mods, same temps, same result (dead laptop, burned smell from vent). Only differences are that mine was a 9700K, and I was playing a different game. Bummer -- I'm so sorry to hear that.

 

I guess right now I'm trying to decide between the 2070 and 2080 with the 8700. But I'm seeing refurb 1080s with i7 six core laptops running for around 1500 usd versus a new 2070 with 8700 new Alienware 51m for $2500 USD. I mean a 1080 gtx is pretty darn close to a 2080 gtx right? I've seen benches where at 4k these guys are about the same, but at 1080p the 2080 has usually a 20% advantage on average.

 

Not sure what he did but my goal was to boot using only one barrell and have 660W to the OS. And that test failed. It only showed 330W and ran like 240W max. Probably less than that. fps was maxing at like 30.

 

wait and see if HID can help u with this. quick question, did you transfer the warranty to france before you claimed for warranty? when they checked in the system, the laptop owner is actually HID, not you. that might be the reason why dell is being a pain in the axx.

 

the only way around this is to trick the machine by plugging in a fake barrel on one port which only transmit the signal for a 180W PSU, while the other being whatever PSU (330x2) but still transmitting signal for one 330W. the laptop will only go open throttle when the right psu signal conditions are met

 

Which is a big waste of time...

And more than likely will still not work unless this fake barrell can also tell the bios it's rated at x amount of watts. If it doesn't do that, it still will not work.

I'm waiting on my $250 dollar Eurocom Dell/Alienware adapter for my 780W PSU to show up now...

 

Can still be a power cap on one connector intake.

 

the thing is, the identification chip takes care of all that. i recently did a mod for my very old M17xR2 which had the same annoying center pin PSU. the original PSU is a 240W which needs the identification center pin to transmit the signal to the laptop in order for the bios to go full throttle. but because i modded my laptop, upgraded the GPU, OC the CPU and GPU etc, im pulling more than 240W which caused the original PSU to trip.

anyway, long story short, i pulled out the identification chip from the original 240W PSU, created a PCB, soldered the chip and wiring to an external spoof dongle. now i am using a 330W PSU, plugged to the 240W spoof dongle and the laptop is able to pull over 260W in some occasions. and in BIOS, it's still detected as 240W PSU so the laptop is happy. no error messages, full throttle.

the credit goes to @Nospheratu . the electrical diagram is provided by "iamsolidstate" and @Nospheratu packaged it into a dongle. absolute genius both of them

 

@Papusan good logic.

I thought the custom PSU had a splitter for 2 power inputs.

 

that we can only speculate until being tested.