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

LOL ... I know ... another interesting bit is if you noticed in the Rivatuner OSD, I'm running the A51m R2 at really low, variable clock speeds (versus my typical all core 5ghz overclock) ... I've found that in most games, there is very little impact on my FPS at 1080p ... and the voltages/temps are really great (voltages rarely hit 1.0v+)... at home on my 1440p screen or the 4K TV, I max it out but clock it back down to 3.8ghz (balanced power) when at 1080p on the laptop screen ... at the latter setting, depending on game, the CPU freq ranges from 1.2ghz to 3.8ghz or so in general ...

 

BTW ... to anybody interested in doing a complete repad of their R2 heatsink? I've verified (with some prominent and knowledgeable laptop professionals here at NBR) that the following image, from @Melvin Rousseau is indeed accurate ...




I'll be doing my own re pad in the next few weeks and once my Rockit! copper IHS comes in; imma going to delid/relid/lap the IHS at the same time. I'll be posting a detailed process video/post ... should be fun. I'm particularly curious to see how thin I can lap the Rockit! copper IHS while still having good contact with the laptop heatsink.

If I lap the Rockit! IHS as thin as I'd like, my fear is that the CPU retention bracket will be above the IHS surface, thereby preventing proper contact with the cooler assembly heat plate. This has happened before and I had to remove the retention bracket and grind it down to half it's width; here's a pic of that particular bracket. I had lapped the IHS of this 2700K CPU down so far that after mounting and then removing the heatsink, I could see the outline of the CPU die on the surface of the IHS LOL; but I did have to remove and grind the CPU retention bracket down so that the Intel IHS was above the bracket:




Worse case scenario, I could also run without a retention bracket altogether but that's sketchy to say the least ... more later ...

~s1rrah

 

I realise you already know this but please do not do that unless you enjoy buying new motherboards because the pins bent from the cpu being displaced.

 

You are exact and right in your reply. Thanks. I don't plan on it ...

 

So I went and bought a 10700k and swapped the 10700 out, it seems that the 51m r2 runs way less voltage into the 10700k - im not sure if this is something to do with the quality of the silicon or just that the board runs different voltages based on cpu model.

Either way thanks to the lower voltages my on battery CPU performance has basically doubled, its now running around 1500mhz all core loaded (around 3000mhz with the gpu disabled) and will run around 4ghz at light load on battery.

I don't think my vapor chamber is a particularly good example as I cant really get over 5ghz all core without thermal throttling almost instantly. I notice that the vapor chamber itself is fairly uneven on the side that contacts the CPU.

I am not sure about delidding, I am worried that the decreased height of the CPU lid will only make this problem worse

On another note, I have been experimenting with GPU de-volting, and it seems that the GPU also runs way more voltage than it needs... my GPU is stable at around 2ghz (+130mhz) and will run 1.05v stock, reducing this voltage down to 1.00v remains stable at 2ghz and results in almost no PWR limit perf caps and keeps temps lower than stock.

 

When i broke my original 10900K (error deliding) i replaced it with a 10900K i purchased a the store. The new one ran much cooler since it uses less voltages for the exact same benchmark.
So i tend to believe that dell's CPU are not first quality but maybe that's just an impression, coincidence.

 

i could absolutely see dell buying bottom of the barrel parts. especially intel CPU's.

 

I doubt this is the case but yields tend to get better over time so a retail one bought 6 months down the line might be better than the ones dell purchased months in advance. Or it could just be luck.

 

Looking to upgrade my 51M R2 1660 TI to the 2080. Does the R2 use the same cards as the R1? Also, will I need to upgrade anything else, other than the power supply requirements?

 

Ok so the R2 uses a different design. You will only be able to upgrade in the same family such as the 2080 Super. You can buy one from Dell IF they have the part in stock. But its not likely. Best of luck.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

I think that the cooler used in the 1660ti model lacks a vapour chamber so you might want to upgrade the heatsink as well if your unit has the heat pipe only cooler.

also my 2080s powered R2 has a 240w+330w charger set up. Not sure if lower power draw gpu’s are supplied with lower spec bricks.

also also, with a 2080s the CPU on battery mode really only gets 8-13w at most so if you use the 51m r2 on battery often you should check what your unit is currently allowing as it seems the higher idle draw on the 2080s does chew into cpu performance on battery.

 

You will not be able to upgrade the R2 officially from Dell because this notebook is EOL. They have made the 2080S DGFF modules unavailable to buy to support RMA claims. If you happen to luck up and find a module on EBAY you will need to upgrade the heatsink as well to accomodate for the card.

 

I have contacted Dell to see if they can sell me a super 2080. His answer was that our model is not upgradeable, that the laptop's graphics cannot be changed. They don't even know what they are selling.

 

Dell Trade-In & Recycling Program

 

hehehe, I don't want to change or recycle my pc. In addition, on that website not even our pc appears on the list. The only thing I hope is that at some point the 2080super goes on sale.

 

I expect the R2 will soon be added. This is what you get from Dell if you trade in your Area-51m. This if the laptop works. A nice way to grab the DGFF graphics card + the rest of working parts and re-use it for repairs for those who paid the Premium extended warranty. On top they grab you for a new sales. Double win for Dell. Yep nice, the payback for laptops who can't be upgraded.

 

Nice. Maybe I can trade in my Audi R8 Coupe for a Kia Soul hybrid.

 

Wow...i didn't know it was worth that much!
Maybe i can get 875$ for my UNrepairable, UNupgradable R2.

 

So far, my Alienware 51m R2 only issue that part of the paint finish (Dark Side of the Moon) has chipped off/deteriorated but the performance and the usage of this laptop has no issues. I had to use some laptop skins to hide it.

 

The laptop is barely one year old. That was fast. Do you have you pict of the color skin of? Thanks.

 

Like @Papusan said the paint is not suppose to deteriorated. Mine is still intact (lunar light). You should still be under warranty so i suggest you call and ask for a repair.
I am experiencing one major issue with mine and have had the same issue with my previous 51Mr1. Overheating battery message error after the battery completely discharge.

 

i've heard about the r1 edition of the area-51m having a faulty mosfet on the gpu that blows up after a while. anyone have any idea if there is a similar issue on the r2 variant with the 2070 super? it seems to run great and the framerates and settings are phenominal compared to my old m18x r2 with the 1060 gpu upgrade, but i am pushing it hard by streaming, encoding on the integrated graphics, running xsplit vcam on the integrated graphics opencl, and playing games at high refresh rates with a second monitor attached. with a desktop i wouldn't even have to think twice but this is still technically a laptop so i'm just reasonably worried.

 

I wouldn't worry about it either way, just use it. keep your warranty up to date and quit thinking about worst case scenarios. I have one of the first delivered R1's (RTX 2080/i9-9900k) that has been overclocked since day 1 with an external monitor or VR headset and I haven't had any issues besides one of the factory NVME hard drives failing.

 

I dont live in the US so i cant ask for a repair. It could be something I used during cleaning that caused a reaction on the paintjob. As for battery, no issues since day 1 as i customed the battery level to charge only at max 90% and shutdown at 20%. As much i use only the single 330W power adapter all the time, no difference between solo 330w vs 330w +180w performance.

 

Dell support have asked me to question you guys to see if anyone else has had the same experience as I have with the following software update:
Alienware-OC-Controls-Application_R5T7P_WIN64_1.3.32.1360_A00.EXE

I allowed SupportAssist to install that along with Dell-Update-Alienware-Update-Application-for-Windows_GRJVD_WIN_4.2.1_A00.EXE. Prior to that, about 30 minutes before, I allowed Windows update to install KB5003637.

When SupportAssist had completed its installation, the machine was automatically rebooted and I shut down for the night. The next day, my macro key 'A' was not responding so I attempted to reprogram it. It still would not work. I opened a Dell support case.

The Dell tech remotely connected to my machine and performed an uninstall/reboot/reinstall of AW Command Center. Still the macro key would not work so he used Revo Uninstaller to perform the same steps but this time cleaning the registry also. After reinstall and reboot none of the macro keys were functioning and the keyboard backlighting was all Tron blue only. In Command Center, all options to change the lighting were greyed out.

The tech wanted to perform a Windows system restore but I told him he couldn't as my PC was protected by Macrium Reflect. I decided to take back control and restore the system with Reflect. That of course worked, but I wanted to find out which update was responsible so I reinstalled the Windows update and rebooted. All Macro keys were still working. A quick Reflect image was made and I then let SupportAssist install the 2 available updates and, after reboot, the macro-A key was no longer working.

Restored latest image, then attempted to install Dell-Update-Alienware-Update-Application-for-Windows_GRJVD_WIN_4.2.1_A00.EXE. No reboot was required and the macro keys were still working.

Finally, installed Alienware-OC-Controls-Application_R5T7P_WIN64_1.3.32.1360_A00.EXE, rebooted, and bang! The macro-A key no longer worked.

Naturally, I'm placing the blame on the OC Controls v1.3.32.1360 application however, Dell support inform me they have not received any other complaints against that update which is why they want to know if you guys have had any such experience?

 

I had a similar issue where my OC controls broke as did alienfx and the macro keys. It was either the OC controls update from support assist a number of months back or a alienfx update via the windows store. Again this was all about 6 months ago. After doing a system restore i installed the updates again and everything worked perfectly again.

For what it's worth i installed the OC controls update a few days ago and all my macro keys including A work fine.

 

Why are people still using Support Assist? It has been problematic since the day it was introduced nearly a decade ago.

 

You may used corrosive liquid? I have used different types detergent for cleaning of laptops the last two decades but never experienced this. Even the damn fragile coating on my AW17 from 2013 is still intact

Check the bottle and be sure it does not contain these symbols...

 

That's all I wanted to know. In other words, I still need to look elsewhere because although that update triggers the problem, it is likely doing it in connection with another inherent issue.

Might be because when the laptop is still under warranty, Dell support pretty much insist on it.

 

That is not their decision and they cannot require that you use their malware as a condition of warranty. They may not provide Windows support if you are not using it, but their support for Windows is pretty limited anyway.

 

I did a fresh windows install on both my precision 7740 and area-51m r2 and left off the support assist. I have had warranty work done and when they asked me to run support assist I told them that I removed it because of having issues with it in the past. They still warrantied my issues which included a new 4k panel, 3 motherboards, and a bluetooth/wifi card.

 

Just for clarification, on 51m r2's with a 2080s / 10700 it does matter if you don't use both bricks, significantly so.

https://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/25583668/fs/25589503

 

He have Alienware Area 51m R2 with RTX 2060 6GB.

 

I couldnt resist with these discounts. Ordered a 51m R2 today

10900K, 2080s, 360Hz, 2TB, 32gb RAM, 3y on Site.

Any special BIOS versions i should Install?

 

Bios 1.7.0 (latest) is fine. Surprised you could find 2080S still in stock. You made a good decision with on site in home 3 year.

 

I tried this timespy free version, so little difference between 1 vs 2 bricks, this is from stock, no overclock stuffs.

 

There is something wrong with your result

 

Within top 10 on Futuremark leaderboard

 

sorry I misread it , I thought he had a rtx2080

 

Hey all o/
longtime lurker here. This place has been super helpful so thank you!

My question that I couldn't find elsewhere is, does anyone else have this electronic buzzing/crackling sound with their system and if so how do you remove it? (A bit louder in reality than the recording, and very loud with heavy programs)

It happens with any activity except being absolutely idle without any running programs. Even happens while you're just moving the mouse or holding down a key. It's definitely not the audio or fans. I opened the back lid and tried listening around but it was hard to pinpoint where in the system it's coming from.

So far, HIDevolution has tried a bunch of things, like a different motherboard, cpu (10900k), gpu (2080S), ram (hyperx), battery/charger. But they say the buzzing is stil there So now I'm asking you experts what you think?

Thanks!

 

Mostly like the VRMs for the GPU.

 

Coil whine most likely....it's hard to tell. If it's coil whine then there is nothing you can do. My R1 has it, but I can't even hear it unless it's dead quite, literally like 4am no sound in the house at all, and even then I have to have my head almost right up to the machine.

 

The technician was saying maybe this too but then not sure since it buzzes with (probably) non-gpu-related stuff too like just moving around the mouse and running non-gpu benchmarks

Well sounds like you got a luckier unit. Is it the same buzzing sound in yours too? For some reason I always assumed coil whine would sound more like a...well, whine/high pitched

 

You have to remember that even the windows desktop is gpu accelerated too. Mine whines too and its more noticeable on low usage tasks.

 

sounds like coil whine - nothing to be concerned about. you will notice it worse when in games with un-capped FPS particularly in menus and what not where the frame rates can be several thousand FPS.

enabling v-sync in games is the easiest way to reduce it, otherwise under-volting will slightly help.

 

Randomly destroying things with the Area51m R2 ... got Control free via Epic weekly giveaway last week. Neato physics/destructible world (and the game is actually pretty good, especially free). This is the Area51m R2 at 5ghz RTX2070 Super ... max graphics settings and max ray tracing:

 

Ok after googling about vrm noise, there's a lot of people writing about glueing down the coil and solving the buzz. So who knows if the A51's vrm is easily accessible and open to air (not enclosed)?

Some other people have mentioned disabling the cpu's idle states (C-states?) like C1E, and Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

So i guess you guys also have this buzzing noise then? Shame since otherwise it's an amazing and silent laptop, so the coil whine is more noticeable.

 

I have the 10700K/2070 Super variant ... no coil whine.

 

OK, my R2 is in its way.

Any new Infos about the RAM thing? Since 3200XMP was not configurable, i had to take 32GB @2933.

- is it possible to use 3200mhz in my case?
- If not, will better 2933mhz ram Run with better timings? Or is it doomed to run @cl21

Will this ram run cl17? https://www.hardwareschotte.de/preisvergleich/32GB-2x16GB-Kingston-HyperX-Impact-p22093144

If anyone is interested i can post an comparison with the new X17.

 

No you won't be able to use 3200mhz ram unless you can flash the sticks with a serial number of a dell 3200mhz sticks.

You can use 2933mhz with better timings though. The hyperx you listed will run at cl17.