*OFFICIAL* Alienware X Series Owners Lounge and Discussion

That problem is not unique to Dell, Asus, Msi and many other manufacturer suffer from the same quality control issue.
It's sad but that's the reality of the market, if you want better quality control you should buy from a reseller like HIDevolution, they will charge you a premium but they will make sure everything is fine before shipping it to you.

 

So i just ordered an Alienware X17
11800H
RTX 3080
16GB 3200mhz ram (will upgrade)
512GB SSD (will upgrade)
1080p 165hz monitor
Cherry keyboard

It cost me 3050 CAD + taxes.

 

That is REALLY sad to hear! :-( I had never heard of HIDevolution, but I will give them a review!

 

Damn, that is WAY cheaper than the one I am returning!! All the bells and whistles gets expensive quick when it is $300 here, $200 there, etc! If I do get another X17 I may go for the 165Hz monitor now that they have issued the BIOS update to allow it to MUX out the nVidia GPU.

BTW, I LOVED the feel of the Cherry keyboard! Too bad it was flaky and necessitated a return. :-(

EDIT: I forgot that I also got 2 years of warranty with my purchase, thus a jacked-up price. LOL

 

I have a question to ask, for those who took the 4k 120hz screen, do you have the 120hz option in the configuration parameter with the latest nvidia driver?

 

The only thing i wish i could have fitted under my budget was the 360hz screen but as i'm using an external monitor 98% of the time ... so the 150$ will feel nice in my pocket!

I'll try shooting an email to the sale team and see if i can get a cheaper 360hz monitor upgrade.

 

This chinese guy tuned the x17 considerably with ru.uefi. Unfortunately I am not skilled enough to use the software up to now, however, it does not seem to be rocket science:

https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv12735070

Also, google translate does a rather bad job. As I understand in the comments, you have to look for the term "dynamic" to change from gear 2 to 1. This will probably not work with all memory kits. Sadly, he describes the parameters to change mem timings but not gear mode and command rate, so the tutorial seems incomplete or there is a google translation problem. However, you can search with this software for specific terms. Also it could brick your system, however, if something goes wrong, normally the X17 should boot with standard mem timings and you can load bios defaults.

He did further tuning by locking the GPU into 165W boost mode independently of the CPU power consumption and overclocked his memory to 4000MHz albeit in gear 2 mode. The AIDA beta copy speed looks quite good and he states that the latency values are read out incorrectly even with the latest AIDA beta: https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv11920513

 

Here is the tutorial on switching to Gear 1, I will try to translate this for you guys (keep an eye on this spot)

https://t.bilibili.com/552327923782733574

 

I guess messing with BIOS files is needed in order to get Gear 1 working, right?

 

Always
Dell loves to make things difficult for us

 

I can't do that then since I'm using my x17 also as work device. But I'll keep an eye if any of you can achieve it.

 

While the latency values (e. g. CL 63) look incorrect (what were the actual values?), the measured latency was objectively still poor at 85 ns when the memory was forced to run at 4000MHz, evidently for no other reason than claiming bragging rights. Sequential speeds don't look astonishing either. Waste of time.

 

I would love to run my 3200 mem in gear 1 mode and lock the powerlimit of the gpu to 165W.

 

Chances are you wouldn't really achieve anything by messing around with the BIOS this way, and TBH what's the point of forcing 165W if you get 165W under load anyway as everyone swears they do

 

Well, I still would like to have the choice. I know it´s more risky but if used the right way one could see it as some sort of Prema bios for AW notebooks.

 

I assume here that "forcing" the 3080 to run at 165W simply means that is CAN consume 165W at any moment? If that is the case it still makes you limited by thermal setpoints in any of the system components. I don't know if the VRM's have setpoints, but I hope they do. And given the way the cooling bars are run a hot GPU will make the CPU hotter as well, potentially leading to thermal throttling there and keeping you below the potential 165W.

If it IS a switch that means "make the GPU burn 164W of power every second of every day" you should still be restricted by the same thermal limits, which will definitely be hit earlier than they otherwise would.

I would love to see proper benchmarking - across the gamut of laptop use cases - to see if this arrangement results in better (or potentially worse) performance on the various workloads thrown at it.

It would be nice to get some details on the inner workings of the power/temp mechanisms associated with the X17's 3080. I think most thought it was 150W + 15W boost, but IIRC someone posted here about it being a lesser (to my mind at least) 140+25. What are the factors and decision points that affect getting to 140 and either staying there or boosting above that all the way to 165W?

 

125W + 40W is what is saw reported.

 

Obviously, do this at your own risk. (Editing the bios files are never recommended)

In order:

• First guide (Manually adjust Memory Frequency, CPU voltage and enable dGPU mode) : https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv11920513
• Second Guide (Changing memory frequency settings, need to reset the changes made to enable dGPU) : https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv12735070
• Addition to Second Guide (how to edit memory frequency settings and enable Gear 1): https://t.bilibili.com/552327923782733574

I also recommend reading the comments of the posts as there may be useful information there.


This is the source: https://t.bilibili.com/552327923782733574
This is the image

Translation:

1. 3200Mhz Gear1 Memory
In the below order, find and edit the below to the value highlighted in red:

• 0X0003 - Set to 46
• 0X0004 - Set to 05

Need to edit these two consecutive values, as it changes the memory voltage, changes to 1.35V

• 0X000C - set to 00

if value is 00 then leave as is, if it is 01 then change it to 00. This changes Memory Base Clock ,

• 0X000E - Set to 18

The memory signal frequency 18 is the hexadecimal number of 24 times the frequency. 24*133=3200 (You can change the 16 signal frequency first (2933Mhz) test it and convert it yourself.

• 0X001F - Set to 02

This is for Command Rate 2. You can try changing to 01 but recommend 02.

• 0X0139 - Set to A0
• 0X0140 - Set to 0F

Need to edit the two consecutive values, it changes the max frequency to 4000Mhz

• 0X013B - Set to 01

Allows manual memory parameters

• 0X014E - Set to 00

Turns off Memory self test

• 0X018A - Set to 01

Sets memory to Gear 1

• Ctrl + W to save your changes
• Ctrl + Alt + Del to reboot

If your memory settings are out of order, the machine will not boot. Just wait patiently and the memory settings will restore to default state
I have done my best to translate with my rusty Chinese, best to cross reference it with Google Translate.

edit 1 - updated formatting and fixed up some words

 

What could go wrong...

 

As @bsch3r said: however, if something goes wrong, normally the X17 should boot with standard mem timings and you can load bios defaults.

Also I am just translating, some one out there with the knowledge and know-how might be willing to take the risk and report back with their findings.

 

I'm going to return my X17 for a replacement. If I had the time to do some research and validation I would actually give it a go. I would do the 165W state change too, because I am really curious if that will make a difference. Alas, I am staring at not one but two elephant-sized piles of todo's currently.

 

Thank you bro! Would give you rep+2 but can´t as I gave you already recently. Will play around with this and report back!

 

Actually, which "BIOS file" needs to be edited? I guess this involves unpacking the BIOS installer, modifying the BIOS image, and flashing it? If so, any time you flash BIOS you risk bricking the laptop, and there shouldn't be any guesswork in the first place. A few other questions come to mind:

* Isn't the BIOS file protected from such modifications by using hashing or encryption?
* How does the Chinese poster know which exact bytes in the image to modify? Is this version-dependent?
* If you modify what could be the default/safe values, how can the BIOS autorecover in case of any issues?
* "Ctrl + W to save your changes" in what software? Any basic hex editor?

 

Noob question: How do I find named values?? Let´s say value 0X0003??

 

I think this is referring to a hex offset in a file.

 

On the website for the ru.exe/ru.efi files there are some tutorials and blog posts. One of the most important shows that you can just start typing (specifically the name of the values) and a search box will pop-up and begin filtering the current collection you are at. The OP mentions that it has been there for a long time but that most people would not have been aware of the feature.

If it is to be believed the site owner states that they (still) work for a BIOS company, which would explain why the tool could be created. I would still recommend that users have a block-everything-first firewall (I use Windows 10 Firewall Control) so you can ensure that nothing nefarious leaves your computer from such applications. We truly have no knowledge of the actual provenance nor potential back-doors tools such as this (anything that loads on our computer in reality) contain!!

Another thing to note is that you can find a link to a "write everything" utility that looks absolutely incredible in it's ability to alter seemingly every possible writable bits/bytes inside the entire computer. I note that with great power comes a great ability to FUBAR your system.

 

The RU.nnn tooling modifies the BIOS values in-place. There are many different file types in a modern BIOS, and this tool seems to do whatever is necessary to allow instant overwriting of the the bits/bytes of at least some of the files that control various functionalities of different modules. If you go to this link ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/enable-mux-on-alienware-x17-4k-120hz-tutotial.836637/) you will find a tutorial by a forum user that used the RU tooling to enable the 4K GPU hack via BIOS modification on their laptop.

 

Thanks, a bit clearer what the hack does. Actually quite surprised such a mechanism exists these days lol. Good luck guys

 

...still experimenting. Got gear 1 mode activated but still at the wrong frequency. Have 3 different ram kits to play around. Will take a while to figure out the best combination

 

F.. up everything... Did a reboot and loaded bios defaults and everything is back to start with standard values with gear 2 as ever. So it seems somewhat safe if you make an error.

 

Are you going to try upping the frequency to 3200->3333->3466->3600->3733 next?

 

O.k., end results for today. Most values are at another position with bios 1.2.1, unfortunately the tutorial was made with 1.1.1. However, the value for the gear mode is still at the same place. As my 2x16GB Crucial kit already runs natively at 1,35V no big problem. In the end I enabled XMP for 3200 MHz and set command rate and gear mode at "1". Benching was done with the AIDA64 Beta and everything on stock using the original AW 1GB SSD the notebook came with together with all the AW bloatware running W10. I think the results or good and should be in the same region as the GE76 (which has gear 1 enabled by default). Of course the results can´t compare to a desktop replacement using desktop hardware, but I think this preliminary latency is the best I have seen on the X17 yet. Notebook runs completely stable.

 

Haven´t figured it out yet, because -as mentioned- the tutorial is for bios 1.1.1.

 

Well done! There I was thinking "Dell would never set suboptimal BIOS parameters and cripple the laptop's performance without a good technical reason"

 

Thanks @bsch3r , you're are our pioneer and hero

If dell would actually send me my laptop I would be giving this a go too since its probably easier for me to read it in Chinese and then formulate an updated tutorial in English with better explanation and steps :\

 

I am quite curious how you went from "got Gear 1 working" to "F'd up everything"!!

I think you are correct about the 68ns latency being good. Most reports I recall were north of 100ns!

 

I am currently on Dell.com checking if there has been a price drop for me to purchase an identical replacement X17 to the one I am about to return. I am completely UNABLE to purchase an i911980HK CPU with anything other than the 4K monitor!! Can anyone else try to confirm that?

I am initiating chat to ask about this finding and will report back...

UPDATE: quote just now from dell sales rep on chat about the fact that I am currently unable to place an order for an i9 with something other than 4K screen:

"yes the configuration options are very limited in this laptops as they are preconfigured"

 

Question for the 4K screen owners: my current 360Hz 1080p monitor is matte, which I VERY much prefer. I note that the 4K screen states "anti-glare". How reflective/"anti-glarey" is the screen IRL??

 

Here is an interesting tear down video:

 

Nice one. Now I have a visual guide of how-to tear down the x17. Now I need to have the balls to open and replace with LM.

 

Oh yeah, an interesting fact is that the Alienware X17 in China cost ￥50000 RMB, that is $10000 AUD or $7700 USD.
However if they are to import the laptop from the US they will only pay ￥25000 RMB for the same spec.

 

I entered one value in the wrong place and saved it. You can search names like "sasetup" but not values like "mem voltage". At least I don´t know how. So in the end I am atm only able to change gear mode and CR. An anoyance, the software shuts down automatically after about 5 minutes, so you feel a constant time pressure to find the values, modify them and safe them.

 

The irony is, mine was assembled in China (2300€ 3070+360hz display). So, why does China have this sh1tty prices?

 

Yes the Chinese community is not happy with Alienware charging them such a high price, especially when the device is made in China

 

Tricking / locking the GPU into permanent 165W power boost does also work, only one value has to be changed:

https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv11920513

This will report false very low CPU power usage values to the system so that the videocard draws always the maximum amount of power.

I recommend using this with care, always fans on max and checking temps of gpu and cpu (best with afterburner osd) constantly while gaming. Also undervolting the CPU to the maximum level is recommended, I used -80mV.

Games run stable up to now. I knew this 330W power brick had to be good for something

 

Still not clear why this is needed if the stock dGPU draws 165W under load anyway, especially if the CPU gets throttled (is it? Not quite clear from your post)

 

For user who bought the regular 3200mhz (NON XMP) ram.
Do you have the option in bios to enable XMP, or is it locked to people who bought XMP ram only?

Would you mind making a video or writing a fool proof in depth guide so we can all enjoy the performance boost?

 

You can enable the XMP if the RAM allow it. But beware because not all kits runs fine in the x17. For example, some users (me included) had problems with Ballistix 32Gb Kit.

 

I have the HyperX HX432S20IB2 2 x 8GB at 1.2v 1Rx8 CL20
Which is like the best memory kit for Ryzen laptop using JDEC profile.

It has an XMP profile but was just wondering if it was locked behind buying their XMP memory.

 

Nope, you would be able to use XMP. Do not worry about that. And think already here some people are using HyperX without problems.