*OFFICIAL* Alienware X Series Owners Lounge and Discussion

Something interesting. So Alienware specifies that M.2 slot 1 is PCIe gen 4x4 and M.2 slot 2 is PCIe gen 3x4 but check this out. Understand that I am in the middle of running tasks so the speed is gonna be slower but Samsung magician and HWiNFO64 show both M.2 slots as PCIe gen 4x4 and look at CrystalDiskMark on my D drive which is plugged into slot 2. They are not in RAID config.

 

And more confirmation both slots are PCie gen 4x4

 

Both slots running about the same speed. I should have set up for RAID. BIOS is set up for NVMe.

 

Hard to compare custom presets. Why not set Extreme?

 

You can improve for sure that mark.

 

Interesting that the i9 - 3080 is only getting 100 points more than the i7-3070 lol.
Should be getting around 13k me thinks

 

Been a while since I posted however 2.5 year happy Alienware 51m r1 owner just received my x17.

Initial x17 benchmark

This is with the 165hrtz screen but using external monitor and 16gb Adata ram (slow x16 bank ram which I will change if I keep).

Cpu temperatures are great (70c) average. Any previous Alienware 17 r3, r4 or r5 owners (like me) who are worried about temps should not be. Highest spike was 80c on Witcher 3. Either intel 11th gen is cool or dell got their act together on cpu cooling. This is all stock clocks no undervolting.

 

Can you post Heaven results on Extreme preset, and CPU temps based on CB20 or 23 run?

 

Heaven

 

Well, I don't mind Heaven, it runs natively on Linux , but I don't remember it being particularly taxing on the CPU

 

Its not taxing. Heaven is a joke for modern CPUs.

 

Heaven benchmark doesn’t tax the Cpu. A pure Gpu test.

 

I know heaven doesn't tax the cpu and the original post was an overall heaven benchmark.

I’ve just got the laptop and over the years run heaven, as a start.

For comparative purposes we are in a much better place temp wise compared to previous Alienware 17 models aka r3,r4,r5 I owned. Early signs are positive gpu max 74c.

Attached for those interested are cpu temps in heaven.

 

I just don't understand why you even bother mentioning CPU temps in the context of Heaven, those should be of no concern. I would rather see GPU temps on Extreme preset after ca. 15 minutes, as Heaven can push these quite a bit over a longer run.

If you want to meaningfully report on CPU temps, please post Cinebench R20 or R23 results.

 

Mine arrived today. Can´t use it up to tomorrow due to night shift... will do mentioned tests.

@captn.ko: Has a guinea pig ever flashed the 150/165W vbios of the m17 R4 to the X17 or will I be the first one? I might need advice extracting the vbios .rom file of the m17 from the downloadable .exe file and use nvflash with several parameters.

 

My ticket to AIDA64 resolved my issue with it not working. Turns out it was a software glitch. They sent me a link to a beta download which resolved the issue.

 

This DDR4 3467 has some serious latency. This is a great example of just how much CL affects speed. Compare to an older benchmark from my desktop 4 years ago with 64gb of G-Skill DDR4 3200 CL 14. And that it's comparing dual vs quad channel. So when will laptop CPU's ever support quad memory? After 4 years you'd expect something but maybe never since memory will transition to DDR5.

 

Can anyone take some close up pictures of both of the SSD m.2 slots empty please? I am trying to figure out if there is enough clearance for my double sided 'Inland Platinum 4TB SDD'. Other laptops I have owned won't fit a double sided one. Thanks!

I still have a few days left to return the 4TB SSD, is why I am asking. Sadly my x17 on order won't make it in time for me to figure it out.

 

You should have seen my previous post. Their is a lot of space in the X17 and in spite of previous reports the thinness has been overstated.

 

51M R1 had 4 SODIMMs, although not clear it actually supported quad channel, my guess: nope. Anyway, Dell decided to dumb this down to 2 slots in the R2.

@Papusan

 

I saw you mention there was space for a bigger heatspreader on the top of the SSD, but my concern is that there isn't enough room on the BOTTOM of the SSD as the double sided SSD's have chips on the bottom of the PCB. The Samsung 1TB/2TB SSDs are only single sided on the top.

 

Take this in consideration. Right now I have Samsung 980 pro's with 1.5mm height gel pad and heatsink on top with no issues. In the below pic I have all the way to the left a 2 mm heatsink next to the middle stock heatsink, and all the way to the right the stock SSD with approximately a 0.5 mm difference between them. So if you know the height of your M.2 SSD you can use that for reference. My Samsung's are approximately 1.2 mm in height plus the 1.5 mm on top.

 

What you need to consider is the space under the connection. The Samsung SSD has a thin approximately 0.3 mm heatsink underneath it which the stock drives do not. As long as your drive's microchips are no thicker then that you should be ok. These are approximations but I'm fairly good at judging distance since I made a career out of jumping from aircraft from very low heights. Combat jumps are 500 feet.

 

Would be amazed if it worked. I bought the slimest SSD heatsink for my m15 I could find (3mm height) and it would still make contact with the chassis, and apply pressure on the PCB. Ended up just sticking with the pads, 970 Evo plus temps are fine.

 

Wtf has jumping from a plane "guessing" 100's of feet approximation got to do with measurements in the millimetres?

Genuinely not trying to cause an argument but it's like saying "I cooked toast once so I could probably whip up a soufflé".

 

Samsung has lazy salespeople because the specs they have for the 960 evo are identical to the 980 pro in terms of size. They say the drives are both 2.38mm in height however look at the pic of my 960 evo next to a reference 2 mm heatsink.

 

This should illustrate my situation/question the best. As you can see in the picture, the double sided SSD PCB sits at a different level than the single sided one. The extra width of the chips is basically the thickness of another PCB stacked on top.

Like etern4l mentioned, the concern is the PCB bending or not fitting at all to the bottom chips.

I hate that manufacturers like to obscure this information from the consumer and appreciate all you guys help!

http://imgur.com/a/pRyr65i

 

Always a critic. If you prefer I was also a medic who had to measure and draw up exact dosages for things like IV fluids and medications which were sometimes measured in micrograms as opposed to milligrams such as fentanyl. So how that applies to the given situation is that I had to do that in the field while eyeballing it as opposed to someone who worked in a hospital which I never have. And unlike morphine fentanyl did not always come in autoinjectors.

 

When I pulled out the stock SSD I barely gave it a chance to notice the space underneath it, but on second consideration I did notice a bit of space under the connector. If had to bet after looking at your pic then my bet would be yes. Yes as in being able to fit. Taken from the service manual

 

Yea I seems I may just have to roll the dice and keep the 4TB SDD, and sell it if it won't fit. Only way to know for sure is trying it. Dell support had no clue when I asked the question, which I doubt surprises anyone here.

 

First cinebench23 test run with i9-11980HK: 15348 multicore with -100mV undervolt, max perf and fans at max.

3 cores reach 100C. Repaste needed for sure. Clock stays at 4.6 MHz.

 

now the discount is 323 dollars)

 

It's weird they are discounting if they claim they can't ship for over a month. I guess they are just happy to get people on the hook anyway.

 

https://www.3dmark.com/pr/1157044

with an oc on gpu of +150 and mem of +300 MHz

 

Not sure what to think. Better than 69% of results doesn't look good?
What's the appeal of Port Royal vs TimeSpy?

 

Heads up 4th point of contact. So here's something interesting. Dell magically located my exact order and within 12 hours it was on my front door after telling them to piss off and cancel. So today my Dell account is still asking me to accept a new delivery date of August 13th or it will be cancelled as of today. And as a result my $142.00 Dell reward points are unavailable and still pending. So it's anyone's guess weather Dell is gonna catch this disconnect.

 

Guess they just shipped someone else's identical spec already in the US to you, and sent them the "we are sorry, it will be a while longer" email, hoping they will be a good boy/girl and take it Looking forward to further hilarious updates on this lol

 

Nickle and dime. I hated that this was not an option because I need this about as much as acne. And reason # 1001 why I'd never live in California ever again. Did the citizens vote in favor of this tax? In Texas all our taxes have to be approved at the voting booth.

 

Sorry oc was 150, corrected it. No other tweaking; no notebookcooler, no vbios hack, no LM repaste. These are my first runs, give me some time.
Port Royale I am most interested in because I am mainly playing RTX games.

 

To be fair the 2 week extension was after they had already delayed a week and 4 days after sending me an email stating it had shipped yet the tracking never made it passed shipment label created.

 

If you lived in California, you would have more serious expenditures than a fee of up to $6 to worry about

 

That unit did ship, just not to you but someone else who threatened to cancel

 

So for better or worse my search for answers is complete. Contacted a reseller boutique of Alienwares and they confirmed no double sided SSDs fit.

"Hello XYZ. Unfortunately we discovered the Alienware X17 R1 does not fit double sided SSDs, so the largest capacity SSD it can fit is 2TB. It has 2 slots so it would be able to fit 2x 2TB = 4TB total.


Thank you,
-XYZ | HIDevolution"

 

Here is first try in timespy: https://www.3dmark.com/spy/21939876

Obviously I have been lucky, fan noise at max is comparable to my 51m R1. Also no high piched whine. I guess this means goodby to my 51m.

 

All mainstream chips have Dual channel. Intel or AMD doesn’t matter. But remove slots to reduce costs is an awful decision.

This doesn’t help much if you don’t know the Z-height for the m.2 slot. And Dell enjoy offer the smaller m.2 2230/2240 ssd’s in their notebooks(see stand-off ssd screw attachment).

 

Spot on.

 

I'm still skeptical as to why they know and Dell doe not. Did their techs take the time to research for an informed decision or did they just say no to CTA?

 

I am only assuming but HIDEvolution provides options for configuring the various laptops they sell with after market SSDs, and for them to not offer double sided SSDs to configure with the x17 and the response I got from the supports its pretty telling that double sided is a no go.

 

As far as the standoff screw is concerned I practically had to strip it in order to tighten it for my Samsung 980 pro. Their was a lot of wiggle room after tightening it down. More so then I felt comfortable with leaving for a laptop. I already posted the inconsistency regarding both slots being PCIe gen 4x4 when the service manual clearly states the 2nd slot is gen 3x4. So what was that a last minute update by the engineers or were they going off another model laptops specs when they listed it? All my different system info software and benchmarking confirms both slots are in fact gen 4x4.