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

It will be quite hard. I may have to create a resolution profile for 60-75Hz so it does even less. As for the images for color management, I have yet to sit at any PC for days due to 6 straight nights of work. (still at work)

What you can do for color management though, look at Ultra Male’s thread for LG display calibration and uncheck the boxes he says to check instead. Thats basically it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I suppose these temps are without any heat sinks? Because if there are heat sinks installed then these temps are still a little too high.

 

As a guess looks like it downloads RTX drivers and your RTX is broken.

 

I think Dell is slowing switching to Insyde BIOS platform just like XPS lineups. Even insyde Tools are too good old to get correct dump or features working on BIOS. They are dated 2014-15 and might not work flawlessly.
Best option is to contact Svet or Prema or LordZog who have good knowledge on both AMI and Insyde BIOS platform tools.

 

This is very good and means that the 2080 (with a little bit thottling) does not get hotter than the 2070 with maximum 115w... (the 2070 is also throttling in many games with high load, because of the very low TDP).

Than I can upgrade to a 2080 and still use quiet fan profile (with little throttling).

Upgrade-process: buy a new area 51m with 2080 and sold the actual one with 2070...
Currently there is no other way. And I don`t want to wait...
UPDATE: Now I can only buy the 2080

edit: I have a question: why does your 2080 reduce perfomance (1600-1650 MHz at 0,75-0,8v or similar) without reaching (76 degrees) the target temp of 87 degrees? (you are using a AWCC-OC-profile, because the target temp from quiet-fan-profil is 75 degrees).

 

Nope. No AWCC Profile. The fans react slow. Thats why the 2080 reach 76 degree before the fans start spinning faster.

 

@captn.ko

Very nice!
That means: If you would use a AWCC-OC-profile, you could have more power (0,8-0,9v and 1700-1900 MHz) with quiet fan profile.... (but than 80-87 degrees).
Conclusion: quiet fans are possible with only a little bit throttling. Perfect for me. I`m not interested in stock clock/voltages (with higher fan rpms) or overclocking.

edit: 1600-1650 MHz with stock settings / without OC-profile / quiet-fan-profile is already good for me. With an optimized afterburner-curve, I can get even more, if I want.

 

I think your intel MEI FW is corrupted causing black screen when reboot whilst shutdown works perfectly. The issue is called SPI write bug or something. I solved the same issue on a Lenovo laptop using Linux development-kernel when it was caused by Windows upgrade process from v1703-1709. Usually it can be fixed by re-applying BIOS with newer MEI with DATA partition uninitialized.
Its better to send A51m for service.

 

They are temps of my drives after Hidevolution's thermal upgrades using Dell's heat sinks sadly. I know it's a bit on the higher side but you need to factor in that my ambient room temperature is 37C. My wife hates using AC and there's nothing I can do about that.
Imagine this system running at full throttle with both CPU and GPU running over 75C and the drives at 45C while gaming and the system fans blowing out hot air into the atmosphere where the ambient temps is 35C+
That's my gaming life in a nutshell.

See the attached image: this is after 2 hours of Metro Exodus at Ultra with RTX (high preset) and DLSS on!

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

So, let me get this straight, you sold your old 2070 based system and ordered a 2080 based laptop just so that you can run your games on "Silent profile" ?

Congrats on your new system. Let us know how she runs.

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

With my actual 2070 I run the games also at silent profile. Quiet fans are very important for me. For that I like to give away some performance (a optimized afterburner-curve, 1650-1700 MHz @0,8 for example). Result: a silent (much quieter!) notebook and "only" (ok for me) 12-15% gpu-perfomance-loss.
(with this procedure you should always buy the best hardware, in order to still have enough gpu-power )

edit: 12-15% gpu-perfomance-loss = > 25% power consupption / heat

 

wouldn't this help to bypass the locked bios ? https://www.win-raid.com/t3908f16-G...rror-BIOS-Lock-Asus-Other-Mod-BIOS-Flash.html it's written for Asus, but probably could also be done on a Dell based machine.

 

Nope that's we thought. Falkentyne modded my Bios to remove the lock configs and I sent him screenies to check/verify and all were green, suddenly during flashing BIOS it failed saying Unsigned ROM and Image not loaded.

 

Hey Guys, it seems my 9700K is running at 4.8Ghz ALL the time while using TS. How you I get it down-clock automatically when not needed through ThrottleStop?

 

Try Speedshift value of 80.

 

I tried a value of 80, saved the setting and left it at desktop for 5 mins, still it is at 47@all cores all the time. I must be missing something here... My GPU downclocks almost immediately after I quit a game.

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

Check your Active Windows Power Profile Settings => Advanced => CPU Performance (or whatever it's called now in Win10), and set Min to 0% (Zero%) and Max to 100%, that should do it.

Update: Usually switching the CPU Performance in the Advanced settings of the Active Power plan takes effect immediately, but you can also switch to another power plan then back into the one you just edited, or reboot, in case the change isn't becoming active immediately.

 

And you are on Balanced Windows 10 power plan?

edit: hmscott was faster.

 

On desktops, disabling Ring down bin will stop the CPU from downclocking because the cache is forced to a fixed ratio.
Pretty sure Throttlestop does something similar if you set min and max cache ratio to the same value.

 

I'm using high performance power plan and followed what hmscott suggested but the clocks still stay at 4.7. Just to confirm, I've set Speed Shift EPP to 80 and changed the minimum processor state to 0% for my power plan.

Now, I'm trying balanced power plan with min processor state set to 0% , still no change...


Edit:
A restart was all it needed. Now, its downclocking like it should. Damn Windows power plans!

Should I be using balanced or high power for everyday use?

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

This sounds interesting. Can you explain this further in more simpler English please? Truly appreciated. Thank you

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

Yup, sorry, forgot to put that in my "instructions", reboot - or I think simply switching between another Power profile and back to the one you just edited would work too... something to try "next time".

There are lots of individual settings under Advanced for each power plan, and so what I do is to start with the High Power plan, then disable all the power saving options in all the settings, and I do usually run with CPU Performance Min/Max 0/100 - and by hand change the Min to 100 when I want to benchmark. I don't need the CPU running at full clock all the time in day to day use.

For me my Balanced looks the same as my High Performance, and Power Saving is the one where I turn on all the power saving options, and sometimes I'll even Set CPU Performance to 0/99, which disables Turbo (99% or less), and maybe adjust other settings to reduce CPU / GPU load.

There is a similar *always high* GPU setting for Nvidia in the 3D Settings Global/App for Power Management Mode - set to Adaptive for the GPU to downclock, Prefer Maximum Performance for high clock after the first 3D app triggers it.

 

Power plans are becoming thing of the past once you use Speedshift or similar techs. I always use Balanced power profile and adjust EPP values to my preferences.

 

By Default the Balanced Power Plan Min CPU Performance is 0, so that's why you are seeing the CPU clock downclock.

If you started with the High Performance Power Plan, it defaults to Min of 100%, so you'd likely not downclock the CPU.

Give it a try, leave your EPP values the same, and change the CPU Min Perf to 100, and I guess, reboot.

 

I use Balanced power profile and switch EPP to 0 to keep my CPU performing at max clocks say 3.5GHz on single and 3.1GHz on full 4 core active on EPP.

 

Hello Guys,

It seems like I'll have to wait some more to receive my Swapped unit as the logistic problem with the RTX2080 is still there (ETA June 28th) as the Alienware Community Manager told me.

Ironically there's not waiting when it's time to pick up their machine...

Anyway... I need some updates about what happened as I barely followed this topic these last days :

- What's up with the 1.5.x BIOS that seemed to be responsible for throttling when ~76°C cap is passed ?
- What's up with the 180W Graphic Bios ?

When I'll receive my swapped unit, I want to spend the month to diagnose my unit, I'm planning to install the latest bios version (If it's not already the case) The latest graphic bios version (180W or 200W ?), pass all the updates / drivers, go undervolt with ThrottleStop & AfterBurner to see if in game I can see the throttling of the latest bios (as we're not sure of this is happening right ?)

 

damn, they locked it down pretty good.

 

Anyone know if you can flash 180W then go back to 200W on 2080?

LOL so they went from 190W>200W>180W? Wow....I'll be keeping my 200W files.

Looks like I will downgrade to 1.3.2 and keep 200W BIOS until my laptop dies.

SO 1.5.4 > 1.5.0 is possible?

Then 1.5.0 > 1.3.2 is not? @captn.ko

EDIT: NVM I'll be downgrading to 1.3.2 and stay there. Best performance was from that firmware for me anyways.

 

What if Dell later will offer memory support for Area-51m that matches Intel's specs for their 8th and 9th gen processors (2666MHz)? Lets say they will come up with new OC tool that needs to speak with latest firmware. What then... Faster memory but lower Cpu performance. More like the choice between Pest and cholera. Maybe the faster ram speed can offset some of the lower Cpu performance you'll get with newest sBios

 

I have 2133Mhz RAM, it won't affect me.

 

This means you'll have to run slower ram speed than those one or two soldered ram sticks Dell welded on the Motherboard for the new M15/17 R2 They can at least run equal Intel's specs for memory.

 

I ordered a 51m on 5/25 and I plan on buying 970 evo 2TB and installing win 10 pro. What Bios and settings should I configure? 9900k, RTX 2080, reading through these posts is a bit confusing there’s so much going on. I thought I was ordering a solid machine, still feel that way but it’s wild reading all these posts. Seems like you guys are staying at certain bios builds and using a custom 2080 driver?

 

Too bad those faster RAM sticks can't even load my video editing program with one of my youtube videos. I've used up to 21GB so far LOL.

There's a fine line between performance and capacity. I bought my Area-51M with stock 8GB 2666Mhz stick so I can use my older 32GB (2x16GB) sticks from my original Clevo P870DM. No point wasting $$$ on 32GB again with 2400 or 2666mhz speeds.

First see what BIOS you get. If you get 1.3.0 to 1.5.0 , just stay there.

If you get 1.5.4 , it's best fro 1.5.0 downgrade for keep the 87C throttle point.

vBIOS doesn't matter as much if you are not benchmarking, either one will be fine.

 

I'm running BIOS 1.3.2 (downgraded from default 1.5.0 using SK's guide) and 200W vBIOS without any issues.
I don't think they'll ever release native 2666Mhz ram support for this system anyways so I will not be upgrading anytime soon.



Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

I’m looking to pick up a 51M with 9900K and 2080 sometime later this year, but I’m starting to reconsider getting a desktop with everything going on with AW. Based on previous experience with them, are we looking at the 2080s being permanently crippled?

 

Dude, a RMA is immediately needed, Dell is playing you around for nearly 2 months.
No any shortage in raw materials or products at all according to my knowledge.

 

http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER05529946M/1/Alienware_Area-51m_1.3.2.EXE

http://downloads.dell.com/published/pages/alienware-17-area51m-laptop.html

 

Yes it is still there, but they have removed it from where most people try and look for it i.e., in the old versions list on the drivers download page. I wonder why they'd do that!

 

Ok guys.

I'm chatting with Umar on Twitter.

He's asking me this :



Well I'll be gathering all the informations we have about the throttling you've noticed.

So everyone here with an updated bios to the latest version (1.5.4) please indicate :

- If you can feel a throttling after a 74, 75, 76 or whatever °c cap
- What made your computer throttle (gaming, benchmark, etc...)

And I will send it back to Umar.

Thanks

 

FS run with Bios 1.5.0 and 1.5.4

Core Temp | Core Voltage | Power | Core clock

Bios 1.5.0



Bios 1.5.4



And this is only a few seconds FS run... Imagine a longer gaming session.

 

Hmmmm 1.5.0 updated Intel ME, so we are downgrading Intel ME by going back to 1.3.2?

Thought this was dangerous? @Prema

 

I communicated this to Joe Olmsted already 2 days ago in addition to other problems with AWCC and custom fan control limitations. He reassured me that he'll work on this request as if it was his own. Let's see how long it takes for this mess to be fixed.

 

My order isn’t built and hasn’t shipped and if they don’t handle this issue I’m canceling this order.

 

I'm thinking of downgrading the vBIOS to 180W and see how it runs Metro Exodus. Even while running at .950V at 1800Mhz, my GPU reaches 85C threshold within 15 minutes of running the game. And then it becomes a throttling mess for about 2 minutes.
Currently in 200W vBIOS
Fans FULL speed
Laptop back raised about 1 inch


I'm starting to get disappointed with this system now.

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

This game is extremely graphic intensive. I got the same temp result as yours
PS: I wanna say that's the thermal perf limit of this system imo. An itx compact desktop could get throttled with the rtx2080 at 88c, there is no way for a laptop to completely handle that.

 

sure it is... i dont reach more than 82 undervolted with balanced fan profile. Even in Metro...

 

I will tell Umar but if you can anyway send me some details, game or benchmark you're using, the temperature cap to reach before it throttle, that would be nice .

I need to gather as much informations as possible, and try to give it Umar.

Same for others users on this thread, please send the details of the throttling you're facing with the 1.5.4 bios please.

 

What about the graphic usage, 98%+
graphic setting all max?

 

Keep in mind that ambient temps are also in play here. Didn't voodoo said his ambient was like 37 degrees? My system runs very cool and i think that has to do with the fact that my room does not get hotter than 21 degrees.

 

But I saw many systems died running really cool (69-75 at max load,stock voltage, balanced fan profile) including my own dead one. I'm not quite sure if there is a certain relationship between these. After all, there should not be such a great deviation in the thermal performance for one certain model

 

I was not talking about the dead units, i was talking about his temps being high in metro and that not all people have these high temps including me. I don't think thermals have anything to do with the units being dead at least not the temps that can be seen trough sensors. If you check the m15/17 forums and see that they hit 100degrees alot and still they don't die.

 

yes, sir!