*OFFICIAL* Alienware X Series Owners Lounge and Discussion

I don't have a custom option in my bios. I selected primarily ac use. I am gonna test it

 

Ended up returning my X17 to bestbuy. The 360hz screen was just too dim (around 320 nits) and looked like crap next to my other monitors and my wife’s MacBooks. I still don’t get why we pay thousands for a machine and these panel makers (AUO, chimei, etc) still stick to 300 nits for most gaming displays. 500 nits should be the minimum! Hell, my iPhone 13 pro max can peak at 2060 nits maxed out(no joke, check reviews).

 

One of the many reasons why I like my 500nits+ HDR 4K panel. For work and gaming 120Hz is plenty sufficient. I also have the 360Hz panel and agree that it's just too dim.

Any FHD panel to spoiled eyes will look inferior. I too come from MBP Retina conditioned eyes from way back so I understand where you're coming from.

Sent from my SM-N986U1 using Tapatalk

 

Nice! Looks like you finally repasted with LM.

 

Thanks. I usually LM all my systems right off the bat, but I had to take some time to gather data in its stock form. I can't tell you how refreshing it was to finally be able to LM after all this time lol...

 

Weird part is the 1080P 360hz option in the X15 is also rated for 300 nits but all reviews say it peaks around 400 nits, which is plenty for indoor and shows that Alienware underestimated it. Too bad the 360hz auo panel in the X17 is only hitting 290 to 305 nits according to tests.

 

Looking for some guidance. The x17 (11980hk 3080, 32g 3346 ram, 980pro 1t hd, 4k) is my first gaming laptop and trying to push it to the extreme (I usually do that for all my new PCs then dial it back to a daily driver). I have liquid metaled it and made a custom cooling pad for max cooling. I have undervolted with throttle stop to 80mv and set all cores to 4.9. I can go to 100 mv but then 4.9 isnt stable and drop to 4.8 works. Cooler, but lower scores.

I used Afterburner to add a 200/300 hz overclock. I attempted undervolting with the curve and it did help run cooler, the best performance was to use the sliders. Mux switch set to the 3080 and windows res set to 1080.

When running cb23 I have a few cores tickling 95 but the rest in the 80s. On timespy, my gpu is in the 50s and 60s. I have more head room there, but no idea how to add more power. Anything above that 200/300 and I get crashes.

Any other tricks to maximizing performance? Sorry, new to the laptop world and pushing these machines.

 

Even though you returned your X17 here is the speed I get with my 2 980 pro's in RAID 0. And on the topic of brightness maybe you should consider the 4k screen.

 

True. It's normal for the nits to be higher than advertise and in some cases the other way around. Between my 4K 120Hz and 360Hz FHD there's no comparison. The 4K panel is just so much brighter.

The choices were likely slim due to the panel shortages, but for me the bigger question is why on earth would the panel manufacturer make something with only 300 nits? That's the head scratcher.

 

Too bad the 4K screen didn't have AO and GS, otherwise it would have been a no-brainer.

 

The 4k screen does have AO now. Firmware update.

 

I think your right. The early buyers for the X series had all the options and I think your right about superior quality. My 4K screen is very bright and looks amazing. Sad that they dropped the 3080 GPU and core i9 option on their supposed new flagship laptop but for some reason the R6 still has the 3080 option. Perhaps it's based on available inventory and they are just not getting any new supply from Nvidia or Intel. Dell should have stepped up their game with the X series and offered OLED or maybe even micro led. If apple can do it why can't Dell? The X series seemed to be a little rushed out the door. And one thing to note is that if companies like LG and Sony can make huge 64" and bigger OLED TV's that refresh at 240hz then why can't these PC makers. It's the PC industry that use to drive the tech industry. Not the other way around. My 1st 4K screen was a LG 31" that I bought 3 years before upgrading my TV to 4K. and my 31" LG is a true 4k. 4096 x 2160. I paid like $1700 for it and at the time most 4k Monitors required either a displayport or 2 HDMI connections for maximum bandwidth. This one did not but it has flickr issues with the displayport connection. And also, my LG 4k monitor only had a 60hz refresh rate but it never affected any of my 3Dmark scores.

 

I’ve been asking this for years. I don’t get it. It’s better to have more brightness than you need. Also, don’t these led back lights dim over time?

 

Don't confuse AO with MUX.

 

Those are some monster speeds! Good stuff. It's really neat that these came with the OEM retail version of the 980 Pro's.

Ah, as @JinTexas mentioned, the X17 now has Advanced Optimus. The 4K panel is well worth it IMO.

The configs have always been a bit goofy, likely due to parts availability and the motive to sell off certain configs more than others. It's exciting to see OLED coming around with higher refresh rates. I think we're about a generation away from seeing 17" High Refresh Rate OLED's, which will be a game changer. There are a lot of us that prefer OLED, but right now with only a 60Hz on a 17", not sure if it would have done well in the X17.

I've always wondered about TV's with high refresh OLED's and gaming laptops not having them. It could be a supply and demand issue. Perhaps the cost of the machinery of cutting them on the assembly side still outweighs the demand? Seems so...

I think the first high refresh OLED we'll be seeing in gaming laptops (not apple) will be the 90Hz in 14" laptops to start...

The LED's have a pretty long life span. Maybe over time it could get dimmer, but it's not anything dramatic.

At the end of the day, same function. One's just a physical on the fly switch vs software... It's just really nice to have AO finally on the 4K X17...

 

LM video is done. Very impressed with the results!!

16,323 and 1650 on cb23 and 13,251 on time spy

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Nice that makes 3 of us here now? What kind of temps are you getting in game?

When able could you run CB R20 as well? Thanks

Also your youtube link needs to be edited. Good job on the LM...

 

AO is OTF, MUX need reboot->press f2->go to security tab and punch in bios password->go to advanced tab to toggle switch->save and reboot.

 

How long does LM last? I heard that you need a repaste after the 1st month, then need to repaste every 3-6 months thereafter, otherwise it deteriorates pretty bad.

 

Once the Gallium has plated the copper heatsink (usually after 1-2 repastes) you don't need to repaste for the foreseeable future assuming you have sealed up the area properly to prevent oxidation, which in the X17 it is since there's a foam gasket in place. There are many users on here who have had liquid metal in their laptops for 5+ years with only a 1-2C delta from a fresh repaste. When it's done well it lasts the useful lifespan of the laptop.

 

Just an FYI, the new AWCC and OC update on the X17 support page fixes the issue of the control center getting stuck in a never-ending loop with the Thermal and Overclock tabs constantly loading when "Virtual Machine Platform" is on in Windows 11. This is good news since this means you don't have to toggle the feature on or off if you want to use WSL2 in Windows 11.

AWCC v.5.4.7.0
OC app v.1.3.50.1360

Support for Alienware x17 R1 | Drivers & Downloads | Dell US

 

Link not working

 

Hmmm. Thanks all. Let’s try one more time.

 

Good video, thanks

 

Finally a score worth posting. This is uningine superposition. Both settings were 4k optimized. One with dual Titan Xp's in SLI and the other today with my X17 with AO disabled.

 

If their is any question about the 4k display brightness here is what windows is telling me. For comparison nest to my 2017 64" Samsung 4k TV. I miss my old Samsung 64" plasma TV. Even though it was 1080p the picture was on par with most OLED display's I've seen. The logic board on it failed so while waiting for a replacement I leaned it against the wall and cracked the screen. The replacement screen cost more then the TV so I tossed it. Prior to that everyone who saw it would comment on how beautiful the picture quality was. That was because I spent hours calibrating it. Anyways, Windows shows my 4k screen at 508 nits.

 

I just called Dell about their lack of 3080 GPU and 11980HK on their website. I was told those are no longer offered on the X17. I was also given a nebulous "there is a new product launch coming next week".

 

Actually when I saw that the 3080 and 11980HK were no longer available my first thought was "3080 Super around the corner". Or maybe Alder Lake H launches early and we will see X17 R2 soon(-ish).

 

12th gen cpu maybe

 

Will consider the R2 line if they manage to add USB ports on the sides and fixes the issues with the R1 line. R1 seemed a bit unfinished on some levels. But that's the thing with R1

 

Now that Apple is adding ports back to new MBP's AW will eventually follow suite and add more. Since AW as proven to be trying to follow in their foot steps in thin/light over controlling and proprietary and ADDING LESS features each time.

 

12th gen Desktop should be Nov 9th on Alienware but not sure about laptop?

 

In the past Intel usually introduced desktop variants of new CPUs first along with ultra-low power and lower-power laptop variants, high performance laptop variants followed a couple months later. But maybe it's different this time with Alder Lake.
Edit: Leaked Alder Lake Mobile Roadmap in this Wccftech article may corroborate this.

 

What do you mean, 3 of y'all? Alienware-exclusive?... Cause:

 

That's exactly what I meant. There's nothing exclusive. Not sure how you misunderstood that question. LOL.

 

Guess my passive aggressive sarcasm was lost on ya..

Just wanted to give you guys some competition/motivation.

I managed this score shortly after posting:


Cheers

 

It's late lol..perhaps.. great scores!

How are your gaming temps?

 

My daily/gaming settings are a bit lower than the 5.0 all core I used for the benches.

For gaming, I set 4.8 all core, and manually set my fans to 75%. After an hour or two of gaming CPU max temp is at 86c, GPU never goes over 72c..

GPU is +150 core, +600 mem locked at 875mv

 

the mobile versions of alder lake don’t start production till November-ish at the earliest, so we won’t see alder lake gaming laptops till Q1 2022. They should be announced at ON or CES 2022

 

Here is a cb20 score. Haven’t had a chance to game on it after the windows reinstall.

 

So? January would be fine, me thinks. It would still be very early compared to previous generations.

Over the weekend a 12900HK benchmark turned up on Wccftech, allegedly faster than M1X, 11980HK, 5980HX and even desktop 11900K.

Since my order for the X17 R1 is scheduled to arrive end of November (I ordered August, 25th) I'm tempted to cancel the order if X17 R2 is arriving in January or February. Seems to me Tiger Lake is EOL already.

 

what do you mean so? I’m just trying to help by stating when these will be available. There was no other point to be made.

 

Sorry, I thought you meant to imply that (high-performance) ADL-P notebooks are far off: I apologize if I misunderstood you.

 

Yeah at this point if you are looking to get X17 wait until 12th gen cpu, ddr5, & 3080 Super.

 

Dell just sent me a message via twitter saying they received the backorder parts and that my system is now in the final testing process and should be shipping soon.

 

Yes indeed. I've tested this as well and can confirm that both slots are PCIe 4.0. I posted a test up 2 months ago to confirm.

It's so nice running the 2x 2TB Samsung 980 Pro's... blazing fast.

 

Why wait? Look what happened to people who waited to buy the X17R1. Now you can't even get one with a Core I9 or RTX 3080. The one constant in the universe is that as soon as you buy the latest and greatest something newer and better will be released shortly thereafter. I spent a fortune to have the most powerful gaming system in 2017 with the first consumer 10 core CPU, 6950X that cost me $1700 and dual Titan Xp's in SLI that was another $3,400 if you count the nickel plated water blocks. then several more thousands on the other cooling which included four EK rads, PETG tubing, and fittings. Then their was the Flagship Case labs STH10 chassis which cost about $800. And last but not least every single power cable that I personally made which took days to complete. Altogether that system cost me over $15,000. It was a labor of love because it was beautiful. Then when I got divorced in 2019 I had to tear it down and sell everything except the case and cooling parts. I took a huge loss to. I sold the CPU for less then half and the pair of Titan Xp's for $900. Had no choice because lawyers cost money. Had I had the opportunity to wait until now because of the video card shortage I probably could have sold them for more then I paid. My point being is that my 2017 system 6950X was a 5th gen Broadwell CPU, but compared to current 11th gen CPU's with a RTX 3090 is nearly as fast according to 3DMark. So it will be with X17R2. You can either wait for the next best greatest thing or get something now and enjoy what you got. Nobody really cares about bragging rights.

This is my 2017 benchmark result compared to a 2020 system.

 

For myself, the trick is to perpetually stay a generation behind. Usually available because demand as died down, you get the best prices, bugs are usually worked out and you can buy used for serious discounts. I never buy laptops brand new.

Ouch, divorces are rough.

 

but that's the thing..you can't get the latest and greatest on the current X17 because the 3080 is not an available option, more than likely due to supply constraints.