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

Just updated to the 200 w vbios. Figured if it's going to burn out better do it sooner than later.

Still can't seem to figure out how to get my division 2 key. I registered on Tobii and it's saying not connected and I have no idea how to get my serial number.

 

Took me a lil time to do the adjustments on After Burner, what do you think of this ? :

 

Lol I’m with you man I did all the tobii signing up thing and could not figure it out for the life of me. I had to ship my laptop to dells repair tho, so now I’m hoping there will be an easy answer when it gets back before it’s to late. For the not connected issue I did do a update to tobii and that went away. Good luck let me know how it goes

 

Great. Should significantly reduce the stress on your GPU

 

Alright, I'll try it when it arrives. May as well.

 

I would like to know this, too.

 

I would imagine that you can claim it as it is tied to the Tobii hardware model number which will be different. I am planning to even if i need to setup another Tobii account, which you shouldnt have to do.

 

@mattcube64

1. change your bios from RAID to AHCI and put the "old" SSD - it will work (is the same exact hardware)
2. if you want to reinstall - just do it but is a waste of time if you ask me if you already have one SSD with a install that is relatively fresh and also is already configured for your needs.
3. The division 2 is not tagged to your uplay account ? why would you redeem that again ? just download the uplay client and login to your account (PS: if you do the pint nr 1 .. you already have that on your old SSD you don't need to do anything - just 5 min SSD swap)

 

I have:

Spoiler

 

Thanks for this! I had not seen this yet.

 

That's what I was thinking, but will logging into Windows upon set up log me into Tobii? I think I'll try and claim it again before installing the new ssd just incase. It would be nice if I could get a second copy!

 

Hey enthusiasts. Anyone out here running a direct dye 9900K in their area 51m? I am getting mine this week and thinking of removing the IHS altogether and going direct dye.

 

Not sure the heatsink would make contact with the direct die mod.

 

I'm going to be using a direct dye mounting bracket that I bought from der8auer's amazon store instead of using the stock motherboard socket. I'll be giving it a shot anyway and if it works, I'll stick to that. Just wanted to know if somebody out here has already done it as I once saw in comments that somebody here had a delidded cpu.

 

Would need a repad most likely.

 

I intend to replace the thermal pads anyway across the entire motherboard with FujiPoly extreme ones. Anything other than that will be figured out during the experiment I guess since it seems nobody out here has done it so far.

 

hey everyone ive got the 51m 9700k/2080 all standard except for 32gb of hyper x ram every time i run the support assist and do the system check it fails and says theres a problem anyone else get this or is it just cause i changed them ram

 

Try re-seating the ram into the ram slots. If it is not seated in properly or there is a tiny dust particle sitting between the ram metal contacts and the connector pins then it will play such funky tricks at random. I'd use a pressurized air can and spray compressed air into the ram slots to get rid of any junk that might have fallen in there.

 

I just talked to Dell support guys on Twitter and they are saying that Dell could enable support for RAM speeds higher than 2400 MHz going forward via a Bios update. I think if enough of us ping them and request the same thing, we could get this update sooner rather than later. I'd really like to make my 4 GHz Ram modules work at the max speeds that they are capable of.

 

And exceedingly easy to scratch. I suggest a skin, like https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Laptop-Carbon-fiber-Sticker-Cover-for-Alienware-17-R5-AW17R5-17-3-2018-release/113322159201

 

thanks ill try that today

 

Might have to do some DIY to get the heatsink to sit flush, but I'd be interested in knowing if it works.

 

I think this may have been answered quite a few pages back, but does anyone remember what size pads are needed for the 51m? I'd like to swap them out for higher rated pads at some point.

Also curious how much to buy. I see they typically come in a small strip, like 1x5 or something, I just want to know how many of each I would need as they're quite expensive for such a small pad. I'd imagine I would need atleast a couple of each, but I'm not sure and would like to find out before I start purchasing them.

 

F

From my experience, it's always better to buy more than you need instead of getting stuck because you lacked enough thermal pad needed to cover half of the last remaining chip. This is one of those things that I like to buy generously and in all different sizes. 1mm and 0.5mm both. I generally buy both and stick the thinner one in first and tighten the heat sink back as a test to see if the fit leaves a mark on the thermal pad which indicates that it's a good fit. If there is no mark then probably a thicker pad is needed and i'd replace it with a 1mm pad instead. This is one thing that I'd NOT want to compromise on in any way and having 2-3 packs extra lying around in the drawer is always good as in the future, when you decide to pull the cpu out for a repaste, some of the dried up thermal pads will break off and you'll need to replace them.

 

Might was well return it. I think Dell internally knows there's problem with 2080 DGFF going dead. That's why they haven't charged your credit card.

 

As per HIDevolution, their contact inside Dell says that Dell has fixed the 2080 packages in the new shipments and this is primarily the reason behind recent shipment delays. I hope Dell was able to fix the problem with these cards.

 

Care to ask them what exactly they did to fix the issue?

Maybe @Ted@HIDevolution knows?

 

Well... it seems like i'm the unlucky guy here...

The repair didn't last.... a whole day...

After the repair and the change of the graphic card + motherboard the computer ran without any problem... I let my computer on a 3 hours FurMark benchmark... this morning my computer was still running and fine....

I woke up my daughter and just during that time i came back on my computer to see that it shut down in the exact same way :

- Couldn't turn it back on
- One of the power supply has the light off
- The same (light) smell of burned component on the vents

I'm on call with Dell right now they're talking about changing the power supplies / connectors or i don't know TF...

 

Maybe applied firmware level fixes to limit TDP to 100W on 2080. Normal end users won't even notice it and maybe @ssj92 your feedback to push VR limit might come as fix in new update w/ downgraded GPU performance.
Hardware level fixes will take a long time since you need to replace entire mobo with new revision and its quite limited.

 

Thanks for the response. I do agree, it is better to have more, but I dont want THAT much more, because it's quite expensive.

Would a 60x50mm pad be enough? I understand I'll need 1mm and .5mm or atleast I think. In any case I can stack them if needed. If it's enough, I'll just buy one .5mm sheet and one 1mm sheet.

 

For single use 50mmx50mmx0.5/1.0/1.5mm should suffice for one PC. Gelid or arctic pads should do just fine.

 

Ok i'm good to sent the machine back to Dell, a carrier will pick up my machine tomorrow, approximate wait : 2 weeks...

The Premium Support guy told me i could keep the additionnal components (those from HIDevolution (RAM) and mine (2x Samsung NVME + 1 SSD SATA) in the machine, they need it to test...

He also told me he checked internally with other quality services about the problem with the RTX 2080 but from what he sayed the repair should've fixed my problem...

Got not other options... good luck to those receiving their computer... hope you're not facing the same problem with a 4000$+ computer...

 

As you can see above... Expect different answers
Btw. Not many Notebook MB allow your ram run at 4000MHz

Why on earth run Furmark? How many have warned about this tool? You don't have a desktop card with the better cooling. On top... Maybe a ticking bomb.

 

Furmark for 3 hours? Do yourself a favour and when you get your new machine, uninstall Furmark and never look at it again...

 

Have seen many run Furmark equal long or much longer without problems in many notebooks (No matter how idiotic it is). But do this with the DGFF graphics as it is with the Area-51m... Yeah, You sit on a .....


Edit. This is for sure, many many of the Area-51m owners out there will run Furmark now and in the future. And we will see many more cases as showed. Not all out there know about the blown Dell graphics cards. Good luck buying a used Area-51m later without warranty.

 

Nope. According to Dell support, the physical components have been changed on the boards.

 

Dude, I've seen Nvidia founder's edition cards getting destroyed by FurMark even when the temps are WAY below 50 degrees. That piece of code is a GPU destroyer, especially if it is overclocked within an inch of it's life! I'd stay far away from it. I myself killed 2 GPUs with it in the past and one of them was a 1080 TI founder's edition with a thermaltake water cooler on it.

 

My 2080 has a different part number - BEYV. At least according to the invoice, I haven't opened it up to look at the physical card yet.

 

If so... When will they (Azor or Umar) publish the changes? There is several thousands units already sold before the so called fix as you say. Will they fix those? Or wait until they go up in smoke and then take it on home support? What if they (the old batch as you really say) go up in smoke after the warranty expire? Some have only the shortest warranty. People should really get/got finally answers on this. About time tweet Azor, Umar or Ernie. Hiding info like this ain't nice. But again... Who will trust Dell support?

 

Ok people ... i've seen a lot of people reacting about FurMark here.

Not that i don't want to trust guys, i need to understand something :

I'm someone very reasonable and careful with my hardware and my computers, i'm a software engineer and a very passionate person with hardware stuff and everything...

I've used FurMark on the same tests with a lot of GC before without any problem... (notebook or not) with an Alienware 17 R5 (famous to have way more problems than the Alienware Area 51m about cooling and stability), my old M17X (which is still runing fine) and a lot of other computers.

During the test temperature and voltage were both stable and reasonable...

The 51m was stable after the test the computer died on idle doing absolutely nothing something like 5 hours later after the test...

Anyway... I've taken good notes about FurMark, never use it again...

Above all : What about the first batch of motherboard + GPU i had ? Never used FurMark on this one and still it died doing something this laptop is supposed to do very well.... : GAMING ! (Anthem, PUBG, ...).

I even undervolted the GPU with AfterBurner with the latest and stable settings...

The only thing that come to my mind right now is the 4000$ bill payed and i'll be celebrating soon the first month/anniversary of my computer on repair... :/

There's something wrong with this laptop components ... and i think Dell should warn their user to get a change / bios / firmware / whatever to get it working again !

 

Been playing with mine for the past few hours, loving the machine! As for the precautions we all should take with our 2080s (fixed/notfixed) I already went and undervolted/locked my 2080 to 987mv and 1900mhz clock and I'm getting great temps and results. I'm still tuning to see if I can undervolt lower

 

same here -
RTX 2080 -> 490-BEYV
Mobo should be 486-36450

maybe the guys who get replacement can have a look at their documents. If they get a fix one of the partnumbers should be different to first batch A51m

 

I think you've still not got an "upgrade" with the actually "fixed" version so far, only replacements from old batch. I'll beat the hell out of mine when I plop a delidded direct dye 9900k in it and game on it overnight. If it blows then I'll agree with you. But until then I can't. Plus, just like any machine, there is a break in period for electronic parts as well and it's usually not a good idea to go bananas with full load right from the start. I'll go crazy on it after at least using it "normally" for a week or so until the components have thermally stablized and all dyes have been thermally broken in.

 

Instead of Furmark, try GPU caps viewer's Rain Forest OpenGL test and also OpenCL CPU Quaternion 4D test for get exact gaming like usage. If you want to max out GPU usage, try MSAA 8x.

 

Furmark won't destroy GPU if you use drivers dated above 2015 be it Intel,AMD or nvidia, all get throttled to base clocks and if you have nvi inspector you can check that. Usually you'll see few 100MHz less or getting throttled to p8 state.

 

You're right ... none should go bananas on Over(Down)clock / Over(Down)Volt / Benchmarks & stuff...

In my case that's not what i did with my first Area 51m's batch : I've played normal without ANY tuning, then i tuned clock a lil bit higher, controlling every temps and stuff..

Anyway what's very frustrating here is that it seems like Dell don't know how to communicate or deal with this problem on repair. The guy i had on telephone kept me something like half an hour to tell me my computer needed this time to be sent on repair... but he couldn't guarantee me if i'm getting the new batch of graphic card or not.... even if he called (from what he sayed) two other services of Dell (Quality & Techncal Support)...

I'm not even sure that it'll be fixed with the good parts when i got it back ...

At this price we shouldn't be talking here about downvolting / downclocking or stuff like that, it's a 4k$/€ machine with top hardware not a random Asus / Acer at 1000$/€

It should run on stock (because i'm pretty sure that even with stock settings mine would've crashed anyway.... sooner or later) or even with a punny 50/100 Mhz overclock after weeks...

 

I'm taking good notes thanks

 

You can see it here *OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R1/R2 Owner's Lounge

 

As an insurance policy going forward, upgrade thermal pads to fujipoly extreme with 17 watt capacity across all thermal components, paying special attention to power components. If possible, go liquid metal. It will take some time but it'll be worth the hassle in the long run.

 

Did you read what @Prema said in the link I posted? Look also on the date! Talk about Furmark... New FurMark 1.20.5.0 Update today for those of yoo who prefer smoke in the gaming room I myself rather prefer Cigar smoke