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

So far I really like what I see. Was expecting games hitting 90+C on CPU @ 5 Ghz when GPU is stressed, but nothing like that !!!! Looks like one shared heat-pipe is a good idea. And if it takes fans to go very loud, I would not care. Can't wait to see LM results, CPU should really benefit from it (+delidding LOL).

Or, at least the new 40 Wm/k Coolaboratory Extreme (please buy 2 tubes, it is confirmed by @Mr. Fox that one is not enough). It is conductive, but non-running.

Keep it coming owners, this is definitely the best thread.

 

yeah i will test my system today and tomorrow i will apply LM(Conductonaut). So maybe you can help me guys. Whats the best way to Undervolt CPU (throttlestop,xtu, AW CC..) and GPU (MSI Afterburner)? i will do 3D Mark tests. So no Furmark etc (i burned my 980m in AW18 with that **** and im scared now xD)

EDIT: btw. 2080 is not listed in Hwinfo...

EDIT2: Tried to undervolt GPU, but its not possible to manipulate the Curve..

 

XTU is totally fine.
I suggest to start undervolting from -0.05

 

XTU is alot easier if uou never used throttlestop before. But throttlestop is pretty easy once you watch a video on it. You can fine tune an undervolt so to speak with throttle stop though. Even still I use XTU because it's quick and gets the job done.

 

The bad thing of xtu is that settings sometimes dont stick and you have to manually load those in.

 

Pretty damn good, look also next page, 7, got my attention. I wonder if dbrand have Nebula skin for this.
https://www.aw-community.com/forum/topic/9110-alienware-area-51m-laberthread-owners-lounge/?page=6
For German translation ask @captn.ko, I’m not native What I understand that he lift a bit bottom area for a bit better temperature.

 

I usually start at 0.100 and go up by 0.01 until it crashes and then back off by 0.005 until stable again. The 8750H in the laptop I have now can run at -0.155 while just doing normal day to day, but will crash in some games. Runs all games rock-solid at -0.150, though.

 

on some laptops like Clevo and MSI, there is a setting called XTU Interface. If that is enabled, then XTU can't talk to the BIOS and permanently do the changes. If that's off, then every time you reboot you need to re-apply the settings so see in your BIOS if you have that option to enable it.

 

Is XTU interface a software or a BIOS setting to lock out XTU?

 

Okay guys... Got some Benchmarks here (most of them are XTU Benchmarks, just tried out some settings) Not much but i will continue later. Looks really good i think. G-Sync was enabled btw. (dont know if it makes much difference)

https://imgur.com/a/Li8i7xw

 

Yeah that happens alooooooot. I just manually double check it when I start my laptop. But it is good for finding your undervolt and then just use throttle stop afterwards. Probably what I'll do. Since it seems we can't do that in the bios.

 

Did you have to keep rebooting the machine when you changed voltages and clocks in xtu? It was driving me insane so now I am using throttlestop

 

Does xtu allow you to hange RAM Multi in xtu?

 

Yes, my requested 44x cannot be maintained and is being throttled down to 42x-43x during the test. However this makes the AW51m look even worse - how can my inferior AW17R5 (inferior in CPU, design, thermals, age) beat the all new AW51m ? And after all the returns and all the callouts to change heatsinks on the previous Alienwares, you would have thought that Dell would have come up with a design and assembly that does not require the user to repaste a brand new $4,000 laptop!

 

Yeah... Dont know why it is like that... Someone have an idea? I would use Throttlestop, but i dont know how to use it. xD

EDIT: Okay got it.. Watched YT-Video. Not too difficult...

 

It allows you to change the settings beehive requires a reboot then resets it to 2400

 

I believe you can also make a custom profile for cpu clocks and voltage in command centre so if you don’t get on with throttle stop you could try that

 

Come now. No one expected the Area 51m to come with good thermal paste.

 

Ah did not know about that, but the Alienwares dont have such an option. Options tend to stick. But for example when you use the Alienware graphics amp, the shutdown procedure is slightly altered and it makes XTU think that the computer shutdown incorrectly and reverts back to defaults (next to that it disabled fast boot and shutdown on ALienwares).

 

Same reason why I started using throttlestop. Which is a great piece of software, but I do have my gripes with the time period it can be used, it expires after about a year and forces to update. But settings dont always stick then. Also I dont like to replace what isnt broken. Never understood why that expiration date is there in the first place. Should ask that to the creator someday. But cant complain too much, they made a wonderful piece of software for free.

 

Damn... so no benefit from my 3800mhz ram modules ^^ but they where so cheap... i had to buy them XD

 

I believe @unclewebb got rid of the expiration date on TS a couple of versions ago.

 

We just need to hope dell implements ram options in a futures bios. There is no reason it should be stuck at 2400

 

I wasn't even aware it did that. Last time I used it was my blade 14. But that was after a year of using it with xtu. So by the time that would've happened I was getting rid of it. But I did like it. Since the Area 51m should hopefully be living with me for years to come I'll use it once I figure out my undervolt. Or if Alienware command center actually lets you mess with the voltage on the cpu.

 

So those were all stock GPU settings right?

 

Yes.

 

Thank you for the pictures, looks awesome!

 

Since Clevo has been mentioned as a serious competitor, I note that they only ship with the MAX-Q version of the GFX cards, which are less powerful ?

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/clevo-laptops/40/

 

True. If you need slim bezels. 15 and 17 inch octane VI are still in the game. I can smell Clevo making a 'thin, (but) only bezel' beast soon.

 

Wrong thread... this will only start a new clevo vs aw war...

 

Thin bezels have better wallet penetration power !!! Clevo loses so far.

 

I tried the Alienware CC with Overclocking the GPU. I had 1 successful run with +170Mhz but i cant get it to work again. +150Mhz is stable (also ingame)

Here is the Benchmark:
https://imgur.com/a/QHxvcLl

 

The Fs run with slightly OC. +75gpu. 9900k/2080 decreased Cpu physics score with almost 1200 Let Gpu work harder and then kill the cpu performance.

 

A decrease of 5%, well within the margin of error IMHO.

 

Not for the physics test. This test part of FS is damn short and Gpu is almost disconected. Not the same as total score.

 

In my experience with hundreds of runs it is... You can get more stable results with doing a minimal startup and disabling all the services and processes but most people don't do that.

 

+1200 less in physics is a lot. Remeber this is a 8 core/16 thread chips. Not a weak older 4 core cpu with or without HT. And again, I don't talk about the overall score.

 

It's a drop of 4.83% so it's not a lot. If the user ran firestrike 5 times at the same settings there will be changes in physics scores. I just looked and of the 4 runs on my OP15 and 3 runs on my X1E at the same settings the physics score changes by as much as 7% in each series... I can do the same on my 1700x if you need as well.

 

Nope! The direct competitor to the 51m is this: CLEVO P775TM1-G. It runs a 2080 RTX non-Max-Q.

 

Have you tried memory overclocking on the 2080 yet? These RTX cards seem to love memory overclocks more than raw core clock overclocks.

 

I believe the right part number for m.2 heatsink is 3N3W3 for the 51m.... I spoke with Dell and they said they have no stock.

 

core + 150Mhz, Memory + 200Mhz. It seems it is the max. stable setting. But i dont run it ingame. Its enough running a stock 2080 + stock 9700K. After this benchmark progress i wiill stay stock GPU (maybe undervolt, if its possible in the future) and just undervolt the CPU, because FPS in BF5 Ultra,DX12 (RT,DLSS disabled) are 130 ->144 FPS all the time, and that is what i wanted with a silent portable Setup like this.

I think its one of the best machines i had so far. Silent, powerful, and looks very nice. It depends what you want to have. If you want to benchmark every day and want to be in the TOP10 in 3DMark... Get a Desktop instead of a A51m. But im happy and i dont regret my decision.

Here are some screenshots from HWinfo after running BF5 20 minutes with different two Fan settings.

https://imgur.com/a/tSTjd0X

You can hear the Fans in Power Mode, but not that much. In Full Power Mode (what i said in a few posts before) its like having a 747 infront of you

 

Copy that!

Not bad temps actually. Looks like when they were testing at CES I was right about them just slapping laptops back together after taking them apart as these numbers are vastly cooler. Glad to see it though.

 

About this m.2 Heatsinks.... I have one P1 1TB in this system without this Heatsink... I have a max.Temp of 76°C after copy 110GB of Gamefiles. So i dont think you will need this. You can do, but the other one is about 7°C cooler....

 

I thought that that would be the case; M.2 drives shouldn’t run too, too hot when active for sustained periods of time (depending on the environment/how cramped the space it is in). But, I like my hardware to run less hot anyway (SSDs benefit of SOME temperature, running them really cold is actually bad, if I understand correctly).

That may be true ( @ninja2000, confirm?), but if you look at the JV98R pictures and the pictures from @ninja2000, you’ll notice they’re exactly the same dimensions and shape. It’s not uncommon for Dell to use new part numbers for the same physical part depending on what platform it will go into. I’ll report back once I get my heatsinks and see how they fit.

Also, prior to ordering them separately, I had asked in order modification to have those added to my order, and they wanted to cancel it and rebuild it again to add 1 of them for free (Scoff!!! Of course, I declined.) The part number I gave them was JV98R and they didn’t seem surprised about it, so maybe both “work”.

 

So last one for today. Maybe i will repaste with LM tomorrow but lets see. I played 20 Mins of BF5 with Fans on SILENT-Mode, Ultra Settings(RT+DLSS OFF), Stock CPU(Undervolt -0,125V) and GPU

https://imgur.com/a/QXK0nTb

GPU is around 70°C the whole time... I dont know how to set up HWinfo to show the 2080... ^^

 

What dimension qualifies as thin bezel? Sides only? Top? Bottom?

 

I thought it was just 8 threads?

 

FYI: DLSS gives you a serious performance boost over the other AA options in BFV. Try it, you’ll get more frames... and maybe be able to turn RT on!

 

Bottom can be a bit wider, but top and sides as thin as possible.