*OFFICIAL* Alienware Area-51M R2 Owner's Lounge

All thermal pastes will be within one or two degrees of one another; don't let OCD get the best of you (I sure did). Just use the one you want. I just repasted my A51m R2 and temps were a bit better ... AW tends to cake on the paste really hard ... I used Grizzly Kryonaut in an X pattern. I never throttle when gaming and temps are generally CPU: 80C GPU: 65C ...

 

What are you clocks and undervolt settings? Also which games were these thermals accomplished in?

 

I tend to stick with a 4.7ghz *static* overclock .. CPU volts never exceeding 1.22v ... speed step disabled cause it's useless ... I can run 5.1ghz all day long but the gaming gains are negligible so I'm happy at static 4.7ghz. I under volt around ~82mvH ... CPU never breaks out of the 80C gamut and the GPU is icey ... never out of the upper 50C marks ... lol .. same as my 1080ti water cooled card ...

Love this machine...

~s1rrah

 

So like- TS you set voltage to Static & 1.22 and undervolt by -82mV?

What are your ratios? 47 + 10?

 

I'm not very skilled in regards to overclocking. I just use Throttlestop to configure overclock settings. All static. I have a 5.0 setting and as well, 4.7 / 4.5/ 4.0 settings ... so far, across all configured clocks? Things are working great. Gaming ... productivity (photoshop, etc.) ... and idle temps are generally around 35C ... idle temps .. when rendering via Sony Vegas might see 82C but that's about as hot as my CpU gets. I'm happy with this chip. But I'm a fecking tinkerer so will be delidding and re lidding with an all copper Rockit! IHS ... just because. LOL ...

BTW: my auto volts max out around 1.225v ... like I mentioned, I'm sort of an overclock n00b and so I tend to go with auto configs ... but I certainly understand frequency vs volts and I think 1.2v at 4.7+ ghz is pretty okay... so fun.

~s1rrah

 

I created my own version of the default theme which has the keyboard using the rainbow effect and everything else set to red only. In the CC it works as it should but as soon as I save the theme everything returns to rainbow effect. The odd thing is that when I select my theme everything shows exactly as I wanted it. Is there something else I need to do to get the system using that theme?

 

you must click on the 3 small point on your personalized theme then on activate the system theme

 

Thanks Asdesas. Like I said in a previous post, this version of the Command Center is far more complicated than previous versions and the manual appears to be obsolete.

 

(this is resolved, updating the gpu driver reset my laptop screen to 360hz, where to save energy and resources, I had been running it at 60hz)

Hello, I'm having an issue on a Area 51 r2 with a 2070 super - my GPU clock won't throttle down below 1110mhz.

NVidia 2070 Super Dell (Alienware) Area 51 r2, driver V 465.89-notebook-win10-64bit.

I have updated both Windows and the Nvidia drivers in the past few days, so I'm not sure when exactly the issue began.

The laptop happily throttled down to 300mhz before this even with a browser window open watching a video.

Drivers are up to date for the machine (according to the Dell support website anyway).

Is any other user having similar issues or could anyone suggest any solutions to this problem?

Many thanks.

 

This only happens, for me, when AWCC has had an issue with over clocking, since I stopped using that program the notebook RAM remains at 3200mhz just fine.

 

RE: Issue with intermittent NVme 3/4 recognition on boot

Hello Gents,

I've read through the forum to catch up and couldn't see any clear sign of a solution to an issue I was discussing here a few months ago. where one of my interposter NVme (drive 3), fails to mount in windows intermittently.

The problem seems to be getting a bit more frequent for me.

Was there any progress, or consensus found with regard to a solution or even a reason for this issue?

MANY THANKS

 

None that I've found. I've suspected it may be due to using RAID mode in the bios and AHCI might resolve it but I don't have the time or inclination to reinstall windows to test my theory at the moment.

The problem occurs just enough to be annoying for me but not often enough for me to do anything about it.

 

Hello fellow 51m R2 users, I was wondering if someone could help me.
Is there a difference between
Dell Memory Upgrade - 32GB - 2RX8 DDR4 SODIMM 3200MHz
&
HyperX Impact 3200MHz DDR4 CL20 SODIMM (Kit of 2) HX432S20IB2K2/32, 32GB kit (2 x 16GB) (Is this compatible?)

Also which do you recommend? (Obviously one is cheaper)

Final question I noticed theres a 64gb kit of 2 with the same MH'z for hyper impact.... could I put that in my alienware???

 

I wish I had time to read the 300+ pages here, but I really don't - can anyone brief me on the issues the R2 has in general?

 

the only fault I have seen so far is the battery which wears out very quickly otherwise there is no real fault!

 

I see that you're not informed about the "upgradeability" of the AREA 51m series @Papusan plss enlighten this fellow forum visister

Spoiler

Dellienware thinks that replaceability is the same as upgradeability

 

I know very well about the upgrade, but have talked about the laptop in general and not upgradability

 

That's true but that was one of the selling points which it CAN meet but (D)#ELL won't let that happen.
If you bought the laptop on the premise it's upgradeable (so also from the RTX 2080, to which ever card would've been produced on the DGFF) which is not, you've effectively been lied to.

So the "upgradeability" of the machine is one thing that's general, cause that's it main selling point. But (D)#ELL failed hard on that subject.

But that's looking at this machine from a Desktop-Replacement enthousiasts persepctive, not the "any machine will do as long as it can game" standpoint like most people have.

Buying a desktop replacement most of the times is for the freedom of having a laptop with desktop performance. Now both the freedom, and desktop performance has been diminished (cause the laptop will only keep the performance from the generation it's from).

Just like the 51m R1 cannot work with a 9900KF chip. Even today

 

You talk about upgrading all the time but nobody ever tries to put a 2080s graphics card in the r1, I'm sure when changing the cooler and the graphics card is possible, but there are people like you and papusan which its just to make criticisms, I also think that you do not even have the r1 or the r2 in hand! I registered on this forum to help people and to see if there was a real handyman who did real tests in real life and not people who criticized by throwing us info from dell or haters on the web! We already know everything we have to move forward and try to improve the pc by ourselves! It is not by criticizing without stopping that knows how to change things!

And for info the i9 9900k works on r1!

 

You're right, we make valid criticism. It's not against the forums rules, so i do not see why you're having problems with it. But Nonetheless i have hold a few (i offer repaste services in the Netherlands) and i've had an 17 R4 that went out within a year of owning it, and got a 17 R5 which had massive problems. You really think a smart person would still buy from a company that has fallen from grace ?

If you have the Bios signed code, you could provide them here, else there is no way to improve the area 51m series by yourself. That's the point for all the critisism. They become more expensive, and more like Apple which works under the premise: Planned obselence.

You can argue all you want, but all AW does is release a new system give it to the reviewers which achieve great benchmark perf, and after a few weeks of hype, they lock it down and castrate the hell out if it.

The fact that you point to the 9900K proves my point. The damn machine was sold with the 9900K, but after the 9900K there was another CPU which was released which is called the 9900kf: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...900kf-processor-16m-cache-up-to-5-00-ghz.html

It was released after the 9900K and was a better binned 9900K without integrated graphics.
But because AW never released a bios update with the new microcode of the 9900KF it was never officially supported, meaning you could boot the chip but not overclock.

If you can show us the way to crack the bios so we can modify the BIOS/VBIOS (it's actually called UEFI but everyone is from the BIOS era) be my guest, else every valid criticism should be accepted silently, or battled with better facts. But thats IMHO. I'm not saying you cannot like the brand, just like it with clear eyes, and praise it good sides and highlight the bad ones. It seems like you cannot accept the second part. Plenty of reviews that praise the AW machines, but over here there are more level headed people that's all.

 

Sadly, this is what it has come to.... I was hoping the R2 was maybe faring better in this regard.... but it sounds like it is not. Are we seeing the same BIOS lockdown games on the R2 that the R2 suffered from too?

 

the i9 9900k and the i9 9900kf are identical except that the kf has no integrated graphics processor! I know very well the diference that there is between the processor! the i9 9900ks model worked ossi, so i wonder do you try it or always sujour you?

 

In general the laptop is very good at cooling after a simple repaste (thick paste since the vaporChamper on the CPU size isn't flat).
Issues are:
SSD run hot in any port. You need to purchase another heatsink
Display 300Hz and 360HZ have dead or stock pixel, but performs very well and beautiful color.
AWCC still have lot a bugs. Cannot set a fan profil + all the other bugs with this software.
RAM are slow and can only run Dell's expensive 3200. Otherwise it will run 2933 (like mine).
Battery wears fast

 

Not yet. The R2 is still performing excellent in games. Dell have not (yet) cripple it's performance. Actually it performs better in most games (fps,temps) compare to the new M17 with 3080.

Envoyé de mon SM-G965W en utilisant Tapatalk

 

I disagree with your statement. @Papusan post are always informative and back up with links to prove and explain his toughts.
Me too i wished manufacturer would threat us with respect on the expensive laptop we just purchase, but avoiding to talk about their bad pratice doesn't make my laptop better. On the contrary, letting the manufacturer know that we are aware of their bad practice protects us from even worst decision they could make.


Envoyé de mon SM-G965W en utilisant Tapatalk

 

You forgot add in...
SSD's sometimes disappears. Several have encounter it.
Fully locked firmware.
Bios updates is a ticking bomb.
Newer Aw laptops often have problem with freezes. Yeah, both the thin and thick models.
Not all like the KB on the R2.
The AGA port is EOL.
Not all is happy with Dell's direction. And not all owners is happy with their purchase due false promises Area-51m series not likely to be continued

 

That's correct. SSD number 3 and 4 can disapear if you purchase the optional board and the thick alienware (with better cooling) has probably reach it's end of life.
.

 

why are you saying bios is completely locked?

 

Not much can be done in there. As an example... 9900KS was out of questions for the R1 as a upgrade. Dell prefer software tuning (ACC and their OC tool) over providing proper advanced settings in bios. And you don't have the chance to mod it to etc tune your ram. Dell prefer you buy their OEM ram sticks Lock it out from bios is a nice way to lure you into more expensive SKUs.


http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-1232#post-11054610


Intel Boot Guard

As defined by Wikipedia: “Intel Boot Guard is a processor feature that prevents the computer from running firmware images not released by the system manufacturer. When turned on, the processors verifies a signature contained in the firmware image before executing it, using the hash of the public half of the signing key, which is fused into the system’s Platform Controller Hub (PCH) by the system manufacturer (not by Intel). Intel Boot Guard is an optional processor feature, meaning that it does not need to be activated during the system manufacturing. As a result, Intel Boot Guard, when activated, makes it impossible for end users to install replacement firmware such as Coreboot.”

 

stop saying anything alot of people put the i9 9900 ks in the r1 and its working! the bios of the r2 is not at all locked on the r2 I can downgrade or increase the bios with one click and in the bios there is no password or whatever.

 

Yeah, I have seen people have put in the 9900KS. And I have seen people have returned/sold their laptops because the Cpu can't run at stock clocks.


Read my post above regarding locked bios. And what it mean in reality. My Black list tread is also useful.

Btw. Have you asked when Dell will open up for Rocket lake in the R2? 11th ge gen is already out long time ago.

 

[QUOTE = "Papusan, post: 11089740, membre: 612304"] Ouais, j'ai vu des gens avoir mis le 9900KS . Et j'ai vu des gens retourner / vendre leurs ordinateurs portables parce que le processeur ne peut pas fonctionner aux horloges de stock.


Lisez mon article ci-dessus concernant le bios verrouillé . Et ce que cela signifie en réalité. Ma bande de roulement de la liste noire est également utile. [/ QUOTE]


for you just because someone posts something it's true you can post anything on the web! and it is not for everyone to make upgrades requires a minimum of know-how! it is for its that its exists this kind of forum to help people not to criticize dell! you want to criticize dell then send his messages directly to their forum dedicated to dell instead of harassing people with negative messages here

 

That was a really clear explanation for me.
Thanks
Edit: If someone doesn't understand after that, either they can't read english or their google translator is not doing a good job.
French traduction: Si quelqu'un ne peut pas comprendre après ces explications, c'est soit qu'il ne peut lire l'anglais ou qu'il a un problème avec son traducteur google.

 

for you just because someone posts something it's true you can post anything on the web! and it is not for everyone to make upgrades requires a minimum of know-how! it is for its that its exists this kind of forum to help people not to criticize dell! you want to criticize dell then send his messages directly to their forum dedicated to dell instead of harassing people with negative messages here

you know what to continue to say anything with your articles to find on the net and the worst is that I believe that you do not have neither the r1 nor the r2! I don't help anybody anymore from now on you yourself! I let you pour out your rage on this forum

 

Here is a post I made a few months back, before I purchased as a summary and with some pointers...
------------------------------------------>
Hello Gentlefolk.

I've been lurking here for the past 70 pages or so considering the purchase of a new ALIENWARE AREA-51M r2. This is a most enlightening and useful place thank you..

There is a lot to follow but I hope it is useful in some way as a summary of the posts I have been reading here - and my apologies in advance for the many dumb questions contained within,.

Memory:
(i) Buy the least possible of the Dell low quality 3200 XMP ram to unlock the better mainboard.
(ii) It has been suggested that if you buy the version with 2xxx Mhz memory, it is not possible to then upgrade to 3200 Mhz later.
(iii) Ram clocks can't be altered in the bios but can be in XTC though they prove hard to stick after re-boot?

Hard-drives:
(i) Buy at least three sticks of NV - SSD so as to unlock the internal chassis part for additional SSD's 3 & 4, which is hard to obtain after market.
(ii) Keep your old bits because Dell have suggested if you put more the a TB in each slot they may refuse to service? (is this madness?)
(iii) Raid setup has pros and cons, the bandwidth is limited by sharing the same 4 PCI lanes, though benefits in wear and tear can be seen as each drive in the RAID 0 array is tasking half the load.

Graphics:
(i) Not much to say here really, buying the best you can.
(ii) waiting 6 months for the RTX 30x/AW R3 to be released would be advisable if you already have an R1 version?

Screen:
(i) There are some issues with the 4K screen in terms of usability and legibility.
(ii) and some issues with dead pix. on the 3xxHz screens (mines been ok thus far however)

Finish:
(i) The r2 has solved the discoloration issue with the Lunar version with a new external coating.

After The Build:
Cooling:
(i) Run the machine for a while then consider thermal pads and re-pasting when the machine is run in and understood.
(ii) after the lottery of the silicon, averages suggest, set up maximum thermals for longevity of around 85 degrees for the CPU and 75 for the GPU.
(iii) AWCC is the only software for fan control.

Under-voting:
(i) Use TS for this and never AWCC? (but don't tell Dell?)
(ii) figures of between -40mV and -170mV have proved stable.

Bios:
(i) Dell have locked down the bios, either for technical or commercial purposes...
(ii) this has included thermal throttling of the GPU

Torbil:
(i) This feature is needed to use Windows Hello

Battery:
(i) Set the battery to start charging at 50% and stop at 65% in the bios, because of some rapid degradation issues which have been noted.

Software maintenance & Bloat:
(i) back-up initially so preserve a original clean boot image.
(ii) backup/re-image periodically because both Dell and Win updates have been causing issues
(ii) There is minimal bloat but remove all packages from Dell apart from AWCC and the update service
(iv) http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...it-slider-in-alienware-command-center.833149/

Drivers:
(i) Strip out the initial O/S build of all drivers and reinstall the newest only.
(ii) There is a current driver .zip package available on the forum.
(ii) Install drivers one at a time and reboot each time to ensure they install correctly.


This was the state of play around Oct/Nov 2020, hope it helps a bit.

 

Actually the people on here are extremely objective and will tell you issues with the product. Go to reddit and ask the same question and you end up with a alienware circlejerk of people in love with the RGB.


Honestly this laptop is the most solid and well built laptop i've owned but it does have issues. Upgradeability was advertised and doesn't exist. AWCC is terrible. RAM is locked out for no reason, SSD's don't always mount for whatever reason. The screen came with a single dead pixel and without undervolt it easily hits 100c.


However the positives outweigh the negatives in my opinion but people like @Papusan provide people with the correct information needed before making their informed decision on spending $3k+ on a device.

If you don't like it feel free to block users you don't like and you won't see their posts.

 

While your post is usually sound advice, please take a closer look at the source of @Papusan's post.

When Umar Khan posts, "Got one thing confirmed: i9 KS will not be coming to the current A51m." one definitely knows the i9 KS CPU will not be running (or perhaps not be supported) on the Area 51m.

Do you know who Umar Khan is? When he posts something regarding the Area 51m, you can count on it to be an official post from Dell regarding that laptop. Umar Khan is an "Alienware/Dell Community Product Specialist", and I believe took over for Mr. Frank Azor at Dell for the Area 51m product line.

So when he tweets something about what CPUs will be running in the the Area 51m, you can depend on it being legitimate, official and is the truth for that product.

 

Sorry what do you mean exactly by "ram locked out"? Speeds/timings? No question AWCC is garbage.... with all their resources its amazing they cannot do better or simply choose not to...

 

not compatible you say? this person put the cpu and its working

https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/dx2dxo/releasing_the_beast_area_51m_i99900ks/

 

Well.. the problem here is its not supported. Even the user there mentions some BSOD's etc. in getting it to work, this should not be the case. I quite honestly believe Dell looked at the 9900KS as such a corner case that they simply chose at that point in the product lifecycle to not invest any money in certifying it. While it technically may work, the problem is its not supported which means if you have any issues, Dell will simply ignore you with it present when it is entirely reasonable that a user could update their CPU into the system for its "upgradeable" approach. The problem is that all Dell means by "upgradeable" is buy down, then within very tight limits, we will sell you a part we approve of at an exorbitant rate to "upgrade". The marketing simply doesn't match reality.

 

It is his that I do not understand here something works and you keep saying that it is not compatible! a bsod can be generated in several ways (a disconcerting part, poorly installed windows ..)! if the cpu was linked to the bsod it could not have done a full 3dmark test !

 

Yeah the XMP profiles.

 

Because it's not supported and never intended to work there any number or updates could stop it from working or you could see issues where it gets stuck in random p states or refuses to wake from sleep ect ect.

Just because something does work doesn't mean it's compatible.

 

no in the end what you all want here is for it to be official, that's all! you are waiting for dell to give you his approval! whether it works or not you will always have criticism to make a point that's all!

 

gentlemen and ladies do not wait to find a solution to your problem it must be approved by dell before being published here! there is that blah blah blah here fortunately this is not the only forum that exists!

 

Not sure if there's a translation problem. I didn't say "compatible". If you look again, I said the CPU was NOT supported.

If it works for someone, Good! I'm glad it worked. However, if something goes wrong, an update brings the entire system down or someone cannot figure out the tweaks you need in BIOS along with the driver, well I guess they can say it didn't work.

I can't tell if you're taking these posts personal, but merely pointing out that solution 1 works, but it comes with the caveats of problems X, Y, and Z doesn't mean it won't work and by pointing that out we're NOT attacking someone.

All were doing is pointing it out (so others may know what to expect), and then it's up to the end-user if they want to go down that same path. It will depend on people's risk factor, as some people are more willing to risk something that may or may not work versus others, who like to play it safe. Pointing these things out are necessary to help everyone judge for themselves.

 

So i've been playing with my alienware, it seems that every time I open a game while watching something on youtube using google chrome the FPS drops harshly on my youtube video(chrome browser). Is this normal for a supposedly beast computer?

Strangely enough it's only slow when I'm loading in game. (Playing ESO)

Also other problems I noticed.
Projecting my screen to my T.V has a really bad delay.

 

@Papusan, @Docsteel @ratchetnclank , @jclausius and me LOL.
You all have made a great effort, explaining, teaching @Asdesas but it seems the «therapy» isn't working.

I give up on him and i recommend you all do the same.

 

I don't listen to people who think they know everything about everything and especially when they're talking about something and they don't have the pc in hand! you have to teach me the lesson, you want to teach me what is a pc! you just read articles and think you know everything about everything! do you know what people like home are called? loser
on those .....!

 

You really sound like a kid who thinks he's always right and everybody else is wrong. Condescending and argumentative, yet you don't have anything to back up your comments where as all our reputable members here actually have links and even personal experiences to back up their comments.

Also majority of us here actually own an R1 or R2 so please stop using the excuse saying that we don't sh!t because we don't actually own 1. I own an R2 for about 6 months now and guess what? Dell is sending someone onsite in the next few days to try and fix or replace the system because it overheats only after 30 minutes of gaming. Room temperature is 18 degrees Celsius with no overclocking enabled and yet all 10 cores overheated, 4 cores reaching 100 degrees with the rest 95 degrees+, thermal throttling has been activated on all cores.

I paid over $7000 AUD for mine and I think it's unacceptable to have a system that overheats out of the box.

@Papusan @Docsteel @ratchetnclank @jclausius and @Normimb
Thank you for your efforts to try and educate this kid @Asdesas here.