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

Kryonaut has been the best non-conductive thermal paste that I have used (and I've used a lot). It's within 2-4C of conductonaut in my testing (on both laptops and desktops). It does however seem like there may be bad batches out there.

 

thx, I ordered 2 tubes because @Mr. Fox told me "2 are better than one"

 

It would be great if those who updated to 1.5.4 and are experiencing a performance drop would be able to do the same tests as @captn.ko did or either install the factory backup with original drivers and make sure to block windows updates. I have been also experiencing a performance loss in Division 2 but I'm still in BIOS 1.5.0. It may be due to the latests Nvidia drivers or even the latests patches from Microsoft to mitigate the newest Intel security flaws (MDS and so on).

 

I thank you for your detailed reply. It will be of great help to me for future references.

Gelid GC extreme should be delivered to me by the end of the day and I'll do a complete repaste tomorrow and report back with my findings here.

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

Yes. My CPU is a new one. I sold the one that came from Dell and bought a new one which has excellent undervolt capability. It's delidded with Conductonaut between IHS and dye + 17w/mk thermal pads all around it. My previous CPU didn't like to go anywhere under -115mV on stock clocks. Forget 5 GHz across all cores. On this one, it's running rock stable at 5GHz across all cores with -95mV undervolt! Temps are in mid 90's with occasional thermal throttling during benchmarks but it's stable in mid 80's to early 90's in games. On stock clocks and -165mV undervolt, the max it reaches is mid 70s during gaming. I keep it at 5GHz for regular work as it boosts parallel computing speeds between virtual machines however I've found that performance is better at stock clocks with max undervolt for gaming.

 

I have had very good results with the Phobya Nanogrease Extreme. It works well in all scenarios, but it is an excellent alternative to ICD on laptops with sloppy fitting heat sinks due to its viscous consistency. It's not as thick as ICD, but much thicker than most other thermal pastes. Besides having a better thermal rating than most, it is also less susceptible to "pump out" issues. That is the biggest problem I have had with Kryonaut, NT-H1, Gelid GC Extreme and some of the other decent thermal pastes. They are too thin and runny, don't stay where you put them on a laptop and end up not working well over time.

I have it on my 2080 Ti right now.

 

Before you take the heat sink apart, tilt the laptop and see across underneath the heat sink to see whether it's actually making contact with the pads at all.

 

I have some Conductonaut right now and used it on my Sager 9873, but I'm not ready to void my 3 year warranty on my Alienware.

I may give this a try. It is probably worth exploring.

 

do as you please, it's your system. I've installed Liquid Ultra on my system and will swap it with Conductonaut this weekend when I have time. The warranty is only void if you damage something yourself. These machines are geared towards enthusiasts so upgrading them and changing the thermal paste will not void your warranty. If that was the case, then even installing Kryonaut would void your warranty since you changed the factory thermal paste.

 

Yes, you should. It is not that expensive either. Please post your results for everyone else.

You can tell that it stays put not only based on the long term cooling effectiveness, but also when you go to take the laptop apart later. ICD and Phobya Nanogrease Extreme both tend to "cement" the heat sink to the CPU and GPU, whereas with the other pastes the heat sink doesn't stick at all. After 6 months of running with ICD or Phobya you have to carefully pry the heat sink off because it is stuck so well. Slipping my fingertips between the heat sink and PCB will pop it loose without too much effort, but you don't want to grab the heat sink by the radiators and yank on it because it sticks well enough that you will bend the heat pipes if you're not careful about it.

 

Not worth it. The bottle neck is the cooler here, not the TIM. The only place you want Conductonaut in this case is between the dye and the IHS.

 

While I don't disagree with your theory (and hence why I put this on my Sager and my Asus Zephyrus 1st Gen), I recall seeing information on this thread (could be mis-remembering) that if they caught you using LM and I have Dell on-site techs coming out to repair I could be voided. I could even see this getting weird if Dell techs remove the Heatsink / Fan and then some of the LM spills on the board and they fry it. Lots of finger pointing would ensue I'm sure.

There is a certain amount of risk that a user accepts when working with components. If this were a desktop or something that I'm on the hook for, there wouldn't be any question of using LM. When I paid for 3 years of in-home service and then to have that wiped out all in the name of getting a few more MHz out of a CPU, that's not a risk I'm willing to take. I'm not here to judge your personal decision if you (or anyone else for that matter) chooses to take on that risk. I did in the past with mixed results.

I just overnighted some from Performance PCs so I'll have a look at this tomorrow and see how it goes.

 

All right, same problem here.
At this point, Dell just pissed me off..
Why the hell does this machine have so many issues?

 

I been working on a temporary solution if there is one? Rage 2 I avg around 85c, So I went back to OC controls with Alienware and shut off afterburner for now, and set the temp from 87 stock to 77. So Far yes it down clocks about 200 or so but not unplayable like 500 was.

At 70c it will start down clocking slowly, at 78c boom your at 500 until it gets back to 77. Still playing around but wish they would just release a new bios as my system was flawless before 1.5.4

 

I think there is no turning back. I‘m pretty sure dell doing this throttling trick intentionally to avoid constant current draw to completely avoid burning. But as we can see, huge downgrade in performance. Use TDP downwards is also a load adjustment method.
Then you will never be able to burn down your area51m in such low performance so they can just avoid the warranty
Nicely done dell

 

just got g502 LS, i think it overclocks my 51m to 5.5ghz all cores

 

How does a mouse overclock your CPU?

 

Need some expansion advice please
Finally, after my first order a month ago, Dell ran out of parts and cancelled but my second order will be arriving around the weekend... very excited! Should be on an aeroplane from China to Europe now. I ordered the 9900k + 2070 this time and will use it for heavy (CPU) rendering in architectural 3D software.

I'll immediately replace the RAM and add a secondary M.2.Are these good products and will they fit?

https://www.alternate.nl/ADATA/SX8200-Pro-1-TB-SSD/html/product/1497739?lk=15414
https://www.coolblue.nl/product/770496/corsair-vengeance-lpx-32gb-ddr4-dimm-3000-mhz-15-2x16gb.html

 

I don't know if it's a demanding title but I play for hours at tomb raider croft edition with maximum graphics settings with max fans without problems: 9900K @ 4.8GHz all core -170mV max 60 degrees, rtx2080 @ 1950MHz @ 0.950V max 69 degrees. I'm happy!

 

so i decided to play with balanced profile,so as to get the gpu hotter than 70, and thats when mine throttled at 75, i always use full speed so max is 70.

i guess a new bios is coming soon, except this is dells answer , by limping the power

emotional overclock...... its a joke

 

The question is... Due what we have senn from smoke and burn out... I hope Dell or Dell tech don't put the blame on (your) Liquid metal applications when or if you run into smoke and burned down components.

This doesn't match.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...m-owners-lounge.826831/page-945#post-10903529


Was meant for the others in this thread as well (I post info for all). Beacause I can understand some being confused what temp they should be able to get with an average undervolt or better at stock clocks/oc'd.

 

for me at -100mv 5ghz all cores, max temp with avx using CB is 90+, AVX chews thru this chip, if u want less than 90, Avx 4.7ghz with -100 or lower that ur chip can handle

 

This sounds like they changed the Thermal limit of the GPU from 86 to 76 to avoid the burn out. If this is the case, I'm done with this machine. I pray to God that this is not the case.

I'm not planning on moving out of BIOS 1.5 anytime soon.

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

Totally agree. I bought this machine for its specifications/performance and the comments from people around this forum. If they are going to solve the burn issue by crippling down the performance instead of actually fixing the problematic hardware them I'm done too. I just hope this is not the case and the next bios update fixes this nonsense.

 

Granted 86c is quite toasty for Nvidia GPU's these days. They would burn out eventually with those temps. Even basic reference boards dont cross 80c in destkops.

 

my 1080ti is going strong with 87-90 for 3yrs now

 

Some people reported burning even when watching videos or on idle, so I don't know if crippling down the performance will actually fix the problem.
Also take into account that cooling capabilities cannot be compared with a desktop, and also there is a big difference between 87 and 74 degrees cap.

 

There are always exceptions, but in general Nvidia chip designs arent too great when it comes to surviving the heat cycle stress. Not like how Intel CPU's can handle the heat.

Sounds like a really bad batch of mosfets or a fundamental VRM/power delivery design flaw.

 

If like to say towards a bad batch.... it would explain the switch up on the actual mosfet chip make ans models

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk

 

HID reported that the stronger MOSFETS have been burning too. I just hope it's not a design flaw

 

@VoodooChild @nkc @Fire Tiger

Alienware Area-51m Drivers -30-May

Download

Note: some drivers were stolen from the new Alienware m15 like the Intel Management Engine Driver, IRST, and Integrated Solution Sensor Driver, they work perfectly on our laptops. Most Intel drivers are cross compatible with many laptops.

 

Well just got another delay. Original order was April 25 and now Ship date of June 26th. I am getting less enthusiastic about the system as time goes on because it looks like the way it has being handled publicly is less than good. I mean they might be working in the background frantically to figure stuff out but between what is happening to people here plus else where it just does not sound good. I know that by the time I get mine at this point it could be fine but if they haven't figured stuff out and still don't have some fixes and features like manly computer burning up at an alarming rate but also better alienware control center, memory control, maybe even better cpu power controls. But if they can't then they have way more issues then they are willing to let public ever know. So I am up in the air at this point. Do I just cancel my order and wait to see what happens or do I keep it and let it ship to me at the end of June and if it has issues then return in the 30 day window? I love the idea of this laptop and there is not a whole lot like it out there. So it;s not like I can jump ship to something else. Also like other have said in here the warranty and parts service for dell is a lot better than most other company's. Also just so people know I have the 9900k and 2080. To all the people that do have an Area 51m and or getting one soon please keep the information coming I am extremely grateful to all that keep giving to this community. Thanks

 

Thanks for this brother, you are doing god's work here.
Can please share your Alienware Wallpapers link here as well? I lost all of mine after the clean up.

I finally have some time to spend with this system tonight. I will open her up and do a repaste with Gelid and do a clean install as well. I am avoiding the new BIOS for now.

 

Gracias Boss, i await new bios, though its not a deal breaker since my temps are 70 at max but its not everyday one wants to hear wind turbines

 

My swap is still on ETA June 28 :/... Dell told me the Estimated Date was supposed to change because they had a "logistical problem" (yeah... "logistical..."), but it still the same :



That's now two months without a working Area 51m...

 

@nkc

Alienware Wallpapers

 

Ok well here is stronger does mean anything well they say that or when u quote that. What does stronger even mean? High voltage, high amps, Higher amperage gate through, input output, percentage of power efficiency, Efficiency of materials and design of the particular mosfet?

Basically you or HID telling us dell swapped put for stronger midgets really just means NULL. Sorry to sound like jerk but there is alot more to do a circuit than a a single chip. It could be a single cap on the other side of the main motherboard causing this issue do to the ripple leakage was not calculated enough and it turns out the ripple is creating to much EMI/RFI next to and actual IC chop that could manage anything but power delivery.. you got a flir cam and an 5 grand oscilloscope and etc.? Then we can find out the real cause. But for not dell gave an iOS update to clock everything down till the and investigate the cause of the issue. P.s mosfet don't typical burn out or.burn the neighboring components via heat issue. It is more of a neighboring issue. The are design the send the heat in the pcb it self. Hence the reason they didn't even cover them chips up to bring with. It it would be completely backwards. It could just be the SMD cap next to the that particular mosfet that got to hot and the thing popped causing the mosfet to over heat and burn itself and more components around. The cap could cause the thing to freaking have a legitimate electric arch over the skin of the pcb. The point is that we don't know and dell doesnt know. Them releasing the bios update to clock thing downproves it. From a business perspective it all comes together. They are no smarter on how to deal with issues everyone on this forum. The community of this forum has proven that more than once to dell and other company everywhere.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk

 

I would keep the order. If you are going to receive the laptop by the end of June (+30 days return window) you will have until the end of July to make your mind. That's a long time and many things could happen (good or bad), so you have plenty of time.

I'm not an expert in electronics, I'm just telling what I have read from others, and those cards with the "stronger" MOSFETS seem to be the new revised parts that were supposed to fix the burn issues.

 

My 9700k and 2080 have never throttled during gaming so there are good units on the market. And i played hours of division 2, anthem, and odyssey. I’ve yet to see 80+ temps

 

Are you running everything at stock?

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

Only a -100uv on the cpu just to see if it would bsod, it doesn’t. Don’t see the need at the moment to push it as far as i can. But i am getting tempted to see how lucky i got in the silicon lottery

 

It does sound like you've some great chips on your hands..

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

But it can reduce RMA numbers and or reduce burn out in the future. Changes in firmware after some time are the normal procedure for all ODMs if they see the flaws numbers being too big. Much cheaper way do it with firmware updates than call back all sold units.

If the problems are too large to handle(Remeber... burned out Samsung phones)Lets say You are not allowed to bring your laptop on flights... This will force the company (all) to take back the products and give you refund.

 

So from what I’m reading the new BIOS throws a temp cap on the 2080 at 74c? That’s right where mine settles in with the Division 2 with performance fans. With max fans I believe it goes down to 72c. Is there a way to undervolt the GPU with Afterburner? If so, I’m not sure which options to pick.

Sounds like I need to avoid the BIOS update until I can eep my temps under 74c.

 

Yes, but they shouldn't punish all the users by limiting the capabilities or performance just because there are some defective units out there. Those defective units would better die into smoke as soon as possible and be replaced by fixed ones, if it's true that they have found and fixed the problem in new batches... But these kind of decisions (crippling the performance) are no good, they lead me to think they are unable to find or fix the problems and deciding to just prevent the problem from occurring by crippling the laptop. It's like buying a Lambo and then having the top speed capped at 120 Km/h.
Let's hope I'm wrong...

 

Is that a joke ?

Dell really did that with a bios update...

Is this a throttling that everyone here noticed since the bios update .. or is it just a collateral damage of this bios update ?

Hope I won't notice such a throttling when I receive my swaped unit (one day I hope...) because I'll have no choice but asking for a refund... I don't want to own such a laptop with that kind of limit just because of a bad design :/

C'mon ... even my AW17R5 sustained a 90°C on CPU & 85°C on GPU and is still working...

 

All (major) companies will prioritize limiting potential personal / property damage before anything else. Wouldn't you do the same if you run a company? Limiting the extent of damage is always priority 1. The way it should has to be!

 

I believe the new 74c cap is part of the BIOS update. I don't have that BIOS update installed currently so I cannot verify.

 

I've asked Azor & Umar on Twitter :

https://twitter.com/Nomadsan/status/1134221465589407745

 

I opened her up and the first impression was that it was not as breezy as my old M17xR3 was, although it wasn't that bad either. I cleaned up Hidevolution's LM application and and their Fulipoly mods and did my own paste job with with Gelid and fresh sets of fulipoly pads. Don't ask me how the old paste job was because I don't want to flame any business on a public forum. Lets just say I was not satisfied with their results and decided to do it my own way.

The results I am seeing now is promising. With a -125mV underclock on the CPU @ 4.8 Mhz (All Cores) and the GPU at .975V @ 1965Mhz with Performance fan mode, I am getting max temps of 78 and 73 respectively after 5 consecutive benchmarks run in-game. It ran at 112fps on average. The previous paste job used to throttle hard during the first run itself.

I am calling it a night now and I am satisfied with this at the moment. I will continue to tweak and test the settings tomorrow.