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

Everything is stock.
Both power bricks plugged in, fans set to balanced.

Things I changed:
Nvidia control panel graphic card power management from optimal to adaptive.
My Control Panel Power Options is set to Custom, with the Intel Graphics Power Plan set to max power & Processing Power Management set to 100% when Plugged in.

I also disabled Prefetch & disabled indexing to speed up my hard drive.

Everything else is untouched.

 

Easy there cowboy lol! It runs HOT and I am not going to risk blowing it up without making sure that the thermal job is well done. I am not diving into any benchmarks yet. Once I get liquid metal and thermal pads re-done with my own hands and possibly liquid metal on the GPU as well, I'll post some benchmark results here. But that could take a week as some of the goodies needed for the job are still in transit with fedex. Waiting sucks!

 

The "balanced" fan profile is not good. The fans ramp up WAY slow and it could damage things considerably. I'd suggest that always switch to performance mode when pushing things hard and deal with the fan noise with a head set because you cannot expect good thermals without sacrificing some silent moments with those fans.

 

Has anyone messed around with the Battery Charge Config in the BIOS?

Just wondering what option is the best for optimal power, and for a machine that is only used while plugged in.

The options are Adaptive (default), standard, Express charge, and primarily AC use. It would make sense to use the last one, but I'm not exactly sure what it does.

 

It controls how the battery charging circuitry operates depending upon your usage patterns. If you keep it plugged into the wall, the last option is what you should go with as it prevents prolonged charging once the battery is full.

 

Alright thank you. Have you tried these options out?

 

Yes, I personally use the last option as well. It is supposed to give the most longevity to your battery which could otherwise be reduced due to just sitting without use and getting charged all the time.

 

long story short, if u want things done right, do it yourself. I never let any of those monkeys touch any of my alienware laptops.

 

Believe me, I tried. Even before setting up the tech visit, I said "I've had bad experiences with these guys and dont trust them, mainly "guys name!" and said if you're not going to let me do it myself, do not send this guy. They said they would send a senior tech, but yeah.. they sent the lowest of the low.

Maybe they'll listen next time...

Edit: But yeah, I would suggest anyone that needs a repair to ask to have the part sent to you so you can do it yourself. If you're not familiar with it, look at the service manual or ask here for help. This is by far the easiest machine I've had to tear down. Took me like 30 mins max to swap the DGFF out, including cleaning the thermal paste off and reapplying.

 

what i would suggest is ask the tech so stand and watch while you do it yourself. or deal with them privately to let them take the credit while you sort out your own machine. obviously the best way is to make dell ship you the parts and you do it yourself but i can understand that's not always possible.

 

Forsure. I wish they were more willing to send the parts out and let customers do the repairs. No one will take better care of your machine than yourself.

I'm sure after this last incident they wont have a problem just sending me the part though. At least I hope. In any case, I know this guy will never show up at my door again.

 

so generalized that's just wrong. It depends on your settings. If we talk about max OC 5.2Ghz Benches, then yes, at least performance is needed. Otherwise the temps jump to 100 in a second. But if we talk about gaming, then no, performance is not needed. Even silent is pretty usable.

Division 2, silent profile, C states on, Speedstep on, 5ghz Allcore boost:


With balanced Profile i can run every game with 4,7ghz and 1900-2000mhz GPU without exceeding 80 degree (BFV) on CPU/GPU. BFV is the most CPU demanding game out there. With 5ghz the i9 consumes 120w+ average with 140w+ peak! Every other game barely hits 100w peak load. And BFV uses AVX. So if BFV has good temps, every other game will run even cooler on CPU side.

BFV ->[email protected] - Average ~73 (peak 80-82 before fans spin up)
BFV ->GPU -> Average ~74 (peak 79 before fans spin up)

every other game:
55-70 CPU and 70-79 GPU

With slight UC (underclocking) to 4.5ghz my i9 averages ~65 degree in BFV and <60 in other games. All with balanced profile. CPU is delidded (minus 5-8 degree).

 

i9 9900k @ stock 4,7ghz allcore turbo
CB R15 ~ 1950-2050
CB R20 ~ 4750-4900

 

I think this varies from hardware to hardware and isn't just "plain wrong" as you suggested. It's always better to be safe than sorry, especially with a bad hardware batch still floating around in the market and a lot of people aren't even doing their own thermal work redone at home.

 

My i9 9900K is turboing 4.92 GHz stock but immediately thermal throttles - like within 5 seconds. I hope after a solid delid and a major undervolt I'll be able to tame that beast considerably and put out some stellar benchmark numbers.

 

it is plain wrong if you generalize it. You have to differentiate the use case, but you sad ,,balanced profile is rubbish, temps are only good with performance fan. Good temps need loud fans,, and that ist not correct proof above. In our german AW forum the majority of owner use balanced profile too, with good temps.

we know that A51m died during idle...so it looks like the problem is not temp related. The Component fails, or not. Thats it.

5ghz should be 1 or 2 core load stock. Allcore load is 4,7ghz. If it boosts to 5ghz allcore you have OC active.[/QUOTE]

 

[/QUOTE]
What I noticed during 2 days of use is that the balanced profile is a little "lethargic" so to speak in terms of ramping the fans up. My CPU was thermal throttling at 100 degrees and the fans were still crawling until I went in and switched over to Performance mode. I suspect that Dell considers 100 degrees celcius on CPU as "within spec" temperature and fans don't go up to 100% instantaneously as there is thermal throttling which I do not like. AT ALL! I prefer my CPU chilling at least 15-20 degrees below throttle point under load and that's something that so far I could not achieve here even under performance mode. I have my delid tools coming in this weekend and I'll tear that junk solder blob apart from the CPU and possibly grind the dye down by 0.1-0.2 mm and either replace with a copper ihs with Liquid metal or go direct dye if that's still doable. I hope temps will be better than. If not, I'll buy a new 9900K from silicon lottery that has been thermally tested and stable at 5.2 GHz with better temps without water cooling and sell the one that I currently have.

Regarding component failure, the DGFF mosfets fried up because a lot of people were abusing it with furmark and there was no decent thermal pad job done on those severely hot components which ended up in total failure. I am not sure what type of people we have in this forum but generally, if you beat the hell out of one component by giving it mad amounts of power, you are essentially over straining the entire power circuitry and later down the line, something WILL fail and that may or may not be under load conditions. I have played with enough computers in the last 30 years to know this for a fact. You just don't abuse a machine and expect it to work the same unless you are lucky haha!

 

Me. I love the sound of my M18x. A51m is lacking the low end. I may install a subwoofer like I did for my M18x.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/msi-gt72s-subwoofer-installation-m18xr2.821387/

That's cute....but 3 times heavier than Area-51m? Doesn't sound like much of a subwoofer to me. Mine weighs 105 lbs (~48kg) and is 1000W RMS.

Spoiler

However at the end of the day..my M18xR2 has a "subwoofer" even though it's small and barely powerful compared to my SVS Ultra SB13.

It makes a HUGE difference in the listening experience. I prefer listening to music on my M18xR2 than my Area-51m because of the low end being missing.

I can definitely hear the difference, so it does have a subwoofer imo.

 

MSI GT75 Titan has by far what I call THE BEST speakers out there right now! I noticed that there is plenty of room for bigger speakers inside the area 51m. Just wonder why Dell didn't make use of all that space and put in bigger and better speakers instead of these cramped small ones. But let's be honest, I never admired those good MSI speakers after listening to them once on the day when I was testing it after buying new lol. I rocked a headphone always on that thing so speakers on these laptops are a little less needed as far as I am concerned, especially if you are gaming only. But use case can be different for everyone.

P.S., Anyone looking to have loud speakers should check out Anker's bluetooth speaker brick for 20 bucks. That thing can solve your problem without feeling bad about your laptop hahaha

 

I don't think the Gt73/75 subwoofer will fit inside the Area-51m. I hate using headphones so for me it's either laptop speakers when I'm not home or my 5.1 set-up at home.

Clevo P870DM3 has the nicest loudness in a laptop
M18x series has best bass in a laptop

I have not owned MSI GT73/75 series only the 16L3 so can't comment but I can tell that would probably win in everything if I tried one.

Area-51m has good sound , just needs a little sub to fill in the lower end.

I don't like having "add-ons" as solutions. I wouldn't carry a bluetooth speaker but would rather add in a mini subwoofer to the Area-51m. Maybe later down the road I'll do it and make a tutorial.

I guess me, @Johnksss @Mr. Fox @Prema @iunlock @Papusan @captn.ko @Rocktaze and all others I didn't mention were lucky. We've been overclocking our machines (not just the Area-51m) like crazy for awhile now. My M18x is running an OC 24/7 and is still running strong.

Lots of people here had their machines die under normal use. Straight up gaming with very good temps. This isn't a furmark or temp issue at all.

 

Well good that it's working for you but the way I see it is that it is not good for the longevity of the machine that you keep it under stress unnecessarily all the time. The capacitors, the mosfets, the power drivers, all of these components have a certain average life expectancy which they run out of rather quicker when they are used up more on a more regular basis and a component failure down the line becomes that much more likely. I speak for myself here and a lot of people who are expecting to get plenty of years of life out of their machines, even after warrenty is over, so that they can make use of newer CPUs and possibly newer GPUs and be happy with their investment for many years to come. They should not be so aggressive with overclocks until they absolutely need it. I personally find it pointless to keep a CPU overclocked, balls to the wall, all the time when it's not even necessary. The most I'd do (and recommend) is to make a gaming profile and switch over to it only when gaming and switch out of it when done. Personally I also use a laptop cooler. But at the end of the day, it's your machines. It's upto you how you use them. However do keep in mind that these machines are usually made for average gamers and not professional over-clockers. Professional over-clockers usually go the tower and liquid nitrogen cooler route.

 

yeah... a 4000-5000 bucks rig for the ,,average gamer,, ? nope

the real avergae gamer use GPUs like GTX 1060 or lower and 2 -4 Cores. Talking about notebooks we talk about GTX960m, 940m, 950m, IGPU and 720m. I dont know if steam mixes 1050ti desktop and notebook.

->The A51m is pure, 100%, enthusiast niche.

steam hardware survery march 2019
gpu


CPU

no one talked about to keep the system under unnecessary stress 24/7.

Dell sets 1.3+v for stock speeds. now tell me: What System live longer? Dells stock 4.7ghz 1.3v or the OCed 5ghz 1.25v System? And i dont speak about the ,,OC,, profiles from Dell with 1.5v+...

Thats why we have Steedstep and Cstates the CPU clocks down in idle and speed up with load.

 

1: If I am a professional gamer, I'd build a monster 10-15 grand rig. This doesn't include hard drive or monitor pricing in it. I've done that before, it was fun.
2: I agree with the temps you posted. I'm getting similar (a little higher but that will be tamed once I liquid metal this cpu) temps with these games. That's the whole point. This chip is powerful enough to take care of these games without full forced overclock on all cores.
3: Speed step is no good once people here push all cores at full time overclock on all cores and keep it running that way. I have seen some who have enabled auto-apply of these extreme profiles at windows startup. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up crying foul a few months down the line.

Overall, this is a machine for power users. Not professional gamers, not old men and especially not for those who don't like a good workout every once in a while as they carry this thing around. I personally carry it around daily to work and play some games after work hours before heading back home with both power bricks. I'm considering buying a spare set of bricks to keep one in office to reduce my commute weight profile though

 

sense? none.

i dont see your point... I have 5ghz allcore boost. Cstates, and Speed step enabled. Idle 0,8ghz-4ghz... load 4-5ghz, depends on load. Why exactly is speedstep ,,no good,,?

i have a different opinion but thats ok. i leave it that way.

 

I think that there is a misunderstanding going on here. Speedstep is of extreme use but the benchmark mob likes to boast big numbers and they never really let the cpu run at free will. Boost is a separate thing. Running at full throttle all the time is different. I'm criticizing the latter.

And when you have a dual cpu motherboard with multiple graphics cards running nitrogen coolers in sli then 10 grand is quite modest. But i feel like an alien discussing such things in this forum so that's on me.

 

that doesnt damage the CPU. Load, High voltage and Temp are the factors that might damage an CPU over time together. My 5960X ran 4,7ghz for over 3 Years 24/7 with 1.35v. No Eist, No Speedstep. Full Throttle... Damage? none. Reason? with Speedstep and Eist huge Coil whine.

if i run my 9900k @5ghz 24/7 idle with 2% load and 45 degree, that CPU will run forever without any damage. As i said before:

Dell stock -> 4700mhz @ 13v+ <==> Overclocked -> 5ghz @ 1.25-1.3v

 

then you are not a prof. gamer... Then you have no idea how to build a gaming rig the right way. But you have enough money and (maybe) knowledge to built a sexy highest end enthusiast system

 

The cpu doesn't run in isolation. The power components get thermal fatigue overtime from doing this and get roasted earlier, capacitors dry up/crack, shunts get burned out. You gotta know the electronics behind the scene to understand the big picture.

 

i know this and now tell me difference between Dells stock setting and an 5ghz overlocking with the same or even lower voltage... As you said the ,,average gamer,, would not touch dells stock settings

you said an 24/7 OCd A51m might damage the mobo/CPU... I have a different optinion since we talk about the ~same voltage All i want to say is that an OC done right doesnt damage the CPU more than wrong stock settings. In many of your posts you generalize things and paint a wrong picture.

 

And what's worse is that you never see it coming because these components never have any temperature alert mechanism built in, unless it's a motherboard that's designed for over clocking like the high end asrock or Asus ones.

Dell's stock settings are too hot for this cpu. Boost set at 5 makes it throttle quite often in benchmarks. In games though that's a different story. For me, temperature is the deciding factor whether to keep or to discard a setting (peak performance is #2 because a roasted cookie is no good). Right now, I've set my boost down to 4.8 ghz with a 100 mv undervolt which brought max temp down to 97. Tonight though, I'm gong the throttlestop and afterburner route to see what more I can achieve to get a benchmark score that I can look up to as a reference after I delid and lm it.

 

Dell would have had a reason for not putting in the subwoofer. I don't see much room in the 51m for a decent subwoofer, can barely fit a half ass sub between battery and 2.5" drive, and placing it further back compromises airflow imo.

But I'd bet the only reason we don't have 400nits/QHD/4k screens is so they can put out a revision and say hey look at our improved 51m.

I'm waiting till Computex next month before I order in case we get news of a new CPU socket from intel for 10nm, otherwise will just order 51m.

 

I think if those panels come out, we'll eventually be able to get our hands on them and replace ourselves. However there is a plan to make screens modular on these machines going forward which will be as simple as changing straps on a galaxy watch. I'd LOVE to see that happen!

 

I’m pretty old man myself. All I see from the younger generation is thin and light and it’s to heavy. I have been carrying around an AW18 for years and through airports all the time. I don’t care if it’s 12-15lbs of laptop. Not a professional gamer. However I refuse to play a game at mediocre settings just for decent frame rates. I don’t think twice about buying the fastest I can to make sure the games I play run at highest frame rates possilbe with good settings.

 

Same here. Scoring in at 52 i have to say...im not young anymore. I do love to game since i started CS back in 2001ish, and fast PC is mandarory. I cant, CANT enjoy play fast shoters with lag and weak GPUs and im tired of the big desktop box. Thats why im buying this baby

 

Yeah, it's ridiculous. What's funny is that a lot of the same people who have been conditioned to seek out thin and light devices are healthy teens and young adults who are in the gym lifting heavy weights- and yet they don't want to carry a few extra pounds in their backpack.

I get it for people who travel and trek on foot, but for the vast majority of people who either commute or walk from their car to the office- it just shows you the power of marketing.

Even the IT director at my job pressured me to just get a new macbook pro for video editing. I just checked the power adapter that comes with the maxed-out Macbook pro- still 87 watts lol.

 

52 is still young lol, just think you have a potential 30 to 50 years to go with pc gaming ! I’m 32 though and I do have some people in apex blame my age for losses at times lol. This is why I stay away from multiplayer games and stick to story driven games.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

In your opinion, yes. The only specs anyone has produced for a "subwoofer" in a laptop so far was actually just a woofer, said so in the manual.

btw, nice sub. I was using just the weight of the subwoofer itself without the enclosure/amp, but you probably still have me beat at over 100lbs. My back can't handle that anymore

 

I think this whole woofer vs subwoofer topic has been discussed enough. Let it go and get back on topic.

 

I'm 36. Fell in love with gaming (Accolade, Prince of Persia, Doom ) when I was 15/16 and have been doing it ever since. CS 1.6 is what got me into multiplayer and having the best fps and least amount of lag is the key for me. I travel a lot and having desktop is not really an option. Bought the last MXM laptop AW made and skipped through all the "thin and light" nonsense. I have ordered this through Xotic so let's see how this turns out to be. 9700 and 2080 should last me while me thinks.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

 

Yeah I have the same setup 9700/2080 and the only issue we will have is the CPU bottlenecking us. Already see it in many games like apex, division 2. This is due to 1080p and wanting to hit around 120 to 144 FPS


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even i9 9900k @5ghz is already limiting in 1080p XD

 

@Papusan @custom90gt

CPU Overclocked to 5 GHz with a -100mV Undervolt, just played a 20 min game of FIFA 19 and here are the temps

 

fan profile?

can you test a more demanding game? Like Division 2 or Battlefield?

 

Nice temps. My CPU is a real rock star and always runs very cool, but my GPU after a half hour or so in the division 2 starts hitting the mid 80s in temp. I run on balanced profile. I guess I could try performance to see if I can get the temps down a little more on the GPU, but mine's no where near yours in temps. My GPU is at stock still btw.

 

do you have a few more details ? ^^

maybe an HWinfo screen after playing an CPU demanding game?

 

Will do soon, fan profile during FIFA 19 was balanced

 

I will post some screen shots this evening during a gaming session. Thanks for asking. Always looking to get the most out of my machine. CPU feels fantastic but my GPU seems to heat up fairly quickly.

 

detailed info is welcome everytime We dont even know what CPU you talking about ^^

 

9900k/rtx 2080. Apologies. Typing from my phone in a work meeting

 

I was 34 when i installed a online game for the first time. CS 1.1 (i think) and 2 years later i was competing on Clanebase with a pretty good clan we did pretty well but in 2005 world of warcraft was released....and i was hoocked right away.
So...age 32 is just the beginning you will still get mutch better