*OFFICIAL* Alienware X Series Owners Lounge and Discussion

And your laptop is actually plugged in?
Can't really think of anything else that would make your gaming lag or stutter ...

 

Tried an different nvidia driver?

 

Yeah, its plugged in, the lag goes away when i go back into the bios and flip the setting back to enabled

 

so far i think just the latest one, i dont understand why it would work fine with the setting enabled in the bios, but then not work when its disabled

 

the 360hz screen comes with advanced optimus, so you lose 0 performance by leaving hybrid graphics on.

 

Would anyone with the x17 with the rtx 3080 be willing to do a vbios dump? I would really appreciate it.

 

The Alienware desktop I ordered for my son with a 12th gen core i5 CPU and RTX 3070 arrived a week before Christmas after I received an email which said it would be delayed until after Christmas. So, I think you are correct. For the moment at least.

 

Looks like an x17 R2 with improved thermals could get this soon? 175w is better than nothing!

https://www.techpowerup.com/290304/...le-brings-16-gbps-memory-and-tgp-of-175-watts

 

Or they just bump up the GPU Dynamic boost up with 10W at costs of the Cpu power with full load. Aka 150W+25

You don't have to increase the cooling capacity if the total overall power budget don't change with an unified heatsink cooling design. And the power efficient small Atom E-cores in Alder lake will help well on this.

See it this way... Let the GPU be able to stretch it legs a bit higher paired with 6 Cpu P-cores in works, but with parked E-cores. Many ways lead to Rome

Se also... http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-whopping-margin.833406/page-60#post-11134490

 

How does the performance of the 3080Ti compare to the 3090?

Do you think its wiser for me to wait for the next gen Alienware x17 with the 12th gen Intel CPUs and the 3080Ti and connect it to an external monitor or is it better to get the Aurora R13 with the 12th gen Intel CPU and the 3090?

 

Not the big diffencese... But I don't talk about the power capped coming 3080 Ti mobile.

GeForce RTX 3080 Ti founder edition review - Introduction

A laptop won't come near desktops in performance. But Aurora R13 aka Dell is a cheapo proprietary desktop build I won't touch. Build a desktop or a pre-built from an known brand @Mr. Fox

Dell 3090 vs standard 3090. Isn't it cute and small for a 3090? Have to be in small form factor to be able to be used in Dell's small cheapo made desktop chassis.



See also.... http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...rs-welcome-too.810490/page-1134#post-11108006

 

a desktop 3090 will obliterate a mobile 3080ti if that’s the two options you are comparing

 

Buying a pre-built proprietary desktop from a big box OEM like Dell/Alienware, HP, Lenovo or Acer is foolish. They all use proprietary parts that are inferior and carry compromises of one degree or another. Even an MSI or ASUS pre-built desktop is a bad idea because sometimes the parts they use in their pre-built systems may not be their standard off-shelf enthusiast components. They are cutting corners to increase profits on mass production junk boxes. They build desktops in the same idiotic, haphazard, incompetent manner they build turdbooks. They use trashy firmware to castrate performance and don't support hardware upgrades.

The only pre-builts that make any sense are from small boutique builders that use standard off-shelf enthusiast parts that you would normally purchase for yourself as stand-alone components. I am referring to boutique builders such as OriginPC, MainGear, Digital Storm, iBuyPower, CyberPowerPC, etc. The lower-budget boutiques sometimes have questionable build quality due to sloppy technicians with questionable skills. That's not ideal, but generally better than buying from a large OEM that builds using proprietary crap parts. The best approach is always to build your own, but buying a pre-built might be the easiest and least costly way of getting the GPU that you want without having to pay the ludicrous scalper prices. We live in a weird time right now, where you can get an entire computer for substantially less than you can build one if you are getting raped by scalpers on GPU pricing.

 

Hello first time using an Alienware laptop here. My x17 comes with the i7 11800h but I have been noticing some weird cpu downclocking when in games. In my Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark run, my cpu is not a stable 4.2ghz as it randomly dips down to like 2.9ghz at its lowest. I have dynamic tuning off and my thermals are fine when this happens so it doesn't seem like there is throttling. I have also undervolted my system with throttlestop for lower temps. Would this be a power throttle issue then? How can I keep my cpu clock running at 4.2 all the time when in games? Thanks!

 

Living in Dubai, I have to go with Dell due to the on-site support and excellent warranty despite the hit in performance. I have not the time to take my computer to a shop if an issue arises.

 

I know. But a pre-built desktop from Dell will only make you angry. Save your money brother.

It could be that the mining race is over at end of summer/2022. I would wait build a maxed out desktop with the best from Nvidia right now (due scalpers and mining). Or spend some time see if one of the better boutique builders have or can build something within reasonable prices for you. Pop in a new GPU is fast with an desktop if you need the very best or can find one later for a more normal price. And you can sell what you have to offset an higher price for the better GPU.

 

Try running ThrottleStop and see what reasons are shown under the "Limits" page. Probably power limit or current limit throttling or something of that nature. You may be able to correct the performance issues with ThrottleStop if the firmware isn't goofed up too bad.

 

Hi, I do not see any reds or yellows on the limits page. Could this be a bios issue? I am on the very latest one.

 

Hi friend. It could be, yes. Or, other firmware (like EC). It may be programmed into the EC firmware to throttle the CPU at a certain total system power draw threshold. They (Alienware) started doing funky things like that back in 2012 with their Haswell systems. When the CPU and GPU were both under load it would throttle the CPU so that the total system power stayed at or below what they felt was an appropriate limit on power draw. It had nothing to do with temperatures. It sucked back then and it would suck now.

 

How would I possibly disable this EC feature? I feel like I am losing fps due to this weird CPU throttling.

 

If that is what is causing it, there is nothing you can do to correct it. You would need Dell/Alienware to fix it if that is what is causing it. Good luck with that though, because if that is the cause it is functioning exactly as they intended it to. The EC controls a wide variety of things and if you disable it the machine will malfunction or not work at all (as in no longer boot). I would hook it up to a Kill-A-Watt meter and run a sustained stress test with the CPU and GPU both fully loaded and see what is happening with power draw. If the power draw stays roughly the same while the CPU is throttled as when it is not, then that might answer the question of causation. Just to be clear, you are experiencing this running on AC power, not battery, correct? (This would be normal and expected running on battery power.)

 

Yes this is on AC power. I am beginning to think this is a bios issue because someone has a similar issue that was fixed with bios 1.2.1:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/omfbmj/alienware_x17_weird_power_throttling_issues_when/

However for me the cpu downclocking is a lot more frequent and random.

 

The v1.2.1 firmware update may have included EC or MEI code in the package. Sometimes firmware updates don't go exactly as expected and the EC or MEI doesn't get updated with the rest of the payload. Have you tried reflashing the same firmware update? It's a long shot, but it is worth trying on the chance that it corrects the problem.

BTW - that reddit link appears to be broken.

 

Follow posts after this one I posted back in July (#908) http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...e-and-discussion.835993/page-91#post-11107555

 

Hi thanks for the info, but I don't see a fix for this in the posts? Were you able to fix the issue?

 

Did you already try this?

 

Yeah that did nothing unfortunately

 

You can try out Dell's own Tech support forum and ask for a fix https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware/bd-p/Alienware-laptops

I would also try older firmware if you are on later bios versions. What OS are you on? Win 10 or 11?

Test also with an undervolt if you still havent tried that.

 

is this the best 32gb kit to get for this laptop? https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Lap...p-B097TM4C4S/dp/B097TM4C4S/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

 

I am on Win 10. I downgraded to 1.4 bios but I still have the same issues..

 

I think that it's the best dual rank 3200 Mhz kit available indeed. Dell also sells a 3466Mhz kit but I have not seen any benchmarks yet.

 

1.4 bios was most for security fixes. Dell did more of the tuning changes in older firmware versions. If you can't fix it yourself then you'll most likely have to try Dell's own support forum or call Dell support for help. Or hope other who have experienced same problem will chime in. Good luck.

 

My suspicion is the behavior is intended, albeit extremely undesirable. The people that design these things are not performance enthusiasts and they don't care if it throttles as long as it runs within the parameters they have arbitrarily decided are ideal in terms of power draw. They design everything to fit within limited and defined parameters and reduce performance accordingly; rather than aiming for top performance and then adjusting the design and parameters to accommodate the goal of achieving top performance. If that is the case, getting them to fix it is unlikely, but worth the effort if you want to keep it and want it to work correctly. Probably not gonna happen, but you won't know if you don't ask them to fix their mess. Give them the opportunity to fail or succeed, and let the chips fall where they may.

A few other things worth exploring, if not already addressed... first is the Windoze Power Profile. Set the profile for High Performance and max out everything there is in the advanced power profile options (removing all focus relating to power management).

If you haven't already done so, do the same in NVIDIA Control Panel. Set everything in the Global Settings page for the highest performance, not balanced or "optimal" performance. In order for the customized settings on the "Take me there" page to be applied, you have to select the middle radio button for "Use the advanced 3D image settings." The top and bottom radio buttons will ignore the custom settings.


I doubt either of the above will fix the problem, but they should be addressed to rule out the possibility of the problem being cause by Windoze tree-hugger "optimization" nonsense. If not, then try uninstalling Alienware Control Center to see if the behavior is improved, worsened or unaffected. After uninstalling, and before testing, do a full shut down. Power off the system and do a power reset (remove AC adapter, battery and hold down the power button for 30 seconds). You can always reinstall it later after investigating whether or not it is having an influence.

If anything you do fixes the problem, then expect a need to surface for addressing the new problem that fixing it creates (thermal management).

 

Can you type exactly what test you are running, with what settings and what program you are using to track CPU clock speed.
I'll run it on my end and post my result.

I have best Firestrike result and 2nd best Time spy result on 3DMark, i don't think i have these problem with my system, so we'll see with my testing.

 

I am running MSI Afterburner for the temps and clock speeds and fps. I am using the Shadow of the Tombraider benchmark. In that game, my cpu downclocks to like 2.7 ghz even when power is not throttling nor the temps. No red or yellow things on throttlestop either. I am running max performance and even downloaded Bitsum High Performance mode for windows and using that so that my CPU does not downclock but the game or my system just seems to ignore these parameters.

 

The CPU stayed at a 46x constantly throughout the test.
Max cpu temps was 75C, max gpu temps was 68C
GPU power was around 155W
CPU power was around 70W

 

Wow that is great performance. Could I ask which BIOS version you are currently on and your throttlestop and AWCC/BIOS settings?

 

Latest bios
Throttlestop - https://i.imgur.com/bQV8DVv.png & https://i.imgur.com/THYLmca.png
AWCC overclock is off, thermal to performance

 

May I see the TPL settings?

 

All stock,

 

For the FIVR, did you undervolt cpu cache as well?

 

nope

 

Your throttlestop settings make me BSOD for some reason. Also it is so weird that my fps is similar to you but my CPU clocks are all over the place. I literally have no clue why it fluctuates so much when in games. I'm stumped. Should I call support about this..

 

If the performance is good, why do you care about some numbers?

Edit : honestly if throttlestop show no throttling, that the temps are fine and that the performance is good, i wouldn't make a big deal out of this. Download 3Dmark and run time spy and firestrike if your number are good than who cares if it runs at 1ghz

 

The average performance was similar in the end but when the clocks dropped, my frames were lower when the clocks didn't drop, which is the issue. This might lead me to have heavier fps discrepancies which may lead to stutters which I do experience in some games.

 

Is this a fresh install of windows?
Have you changed your ram or is it stock?

 

I have not fresh installed windows yet though I will do it once I get hold of a usb drive (lost mine). My ram is the 3466mhz one which came with the laptop and it is in XMP.

 

Well that would definitely be something to try asap.

You use discord? If so send me your ID, if you dont mind me connecting to your PC we can try a few things.

 

They fixed some of these things with the latest bios updates. Which bios are you runninng?

 

Running the latest one. Rocktaze and I tried to fix it for 6 hours but couldn't. We did find out though that my thermals are **** cuz of bad paste and uneven heatsink pressure and it may be thermals or vrm issue but its weird because even when my thermals don't throttle, it still downclocks randomly for some reason. I got lucky one time where the cpu didn't downclock for a whole benchmark run and I was up like avg 20 more fps than usual. I contacted support today and someone is coming to repaste cpu and reapply heatsink soon. If the random cpu downclocking still occurs after that, Dell said they will replace the laptop so at least I have hope. I asked for a motherboard replacement just to be safe but they said they can't do that, so I will probably have to go with the replacement if its not fixed.