*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge

The mech g2 does not have a 1070mq. However a future revision next year might get a 2070mq SKU. And we already know that the existing 1060 version has enough thermal headroom to cope with that. Whilst keeping the CPU side 8750h perfectly well cooled. The weight is the same. The laptop is significantly cheaper. However the fans are not as quiet. Not as good as on the alienware.

I could forgive alienware's design engineers at a lower price point.... can't really say the same about their callout engineers though. After hearing those horror stories. And the QC seems just as bad as on previous alienware models. The quality control seems to be better on the mech g2. Perhaps because Tongfang are not customer facing, they feel a higher obligation to get it right the first time around, before the unit leaves the factory? It must also be partly a cultural thing. When you look at the way Dell is organized as a company. It seems very easy for one department not to take on their share of accountability. So you are rather at the whims of the goodwill of the specific employee you happen to end up talking to. Rather than something more predictable / consistent. Kindda like their heatsinks themselves, right?

 

How loud is that machine on full blast? IIRC Max-Q specifies a pretty low max fan noise for the whole system - I wonder if that's part of the problem?

 

It's audible but not as loud as my aorus x7 DT with it's whine coil at 70% lol to me that's impressive all it's own

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

I've had techs come by and give me the swapped part for me to install myself. I will never let anyone work on any high dollar laptops that I own.


If you're a gaming/high performance laptop enthusiast and committed to the laptop lifestyle, then it's worthwhile to learn your way around one. Plenty of tutorials on here and youtube people!

 

I just want to point out something interesting, recently Travis Gafford from the League of Legends community was sponsored by Alienware, and in one of his most recent "Hotline League" series, you can see him sporting a m15 very comfortably on his lap the entire video! I saw this a while back actually from his video when he announced that he had gotten sponsored by AW, he had a m15 way before anyone of us actually received one!

 

I wanted to post my 3d mark results but it won't let me upload photos...

 

Here are my results, keep in mind I have the 1060. No modifications but I will do a repaste with Kryonaught and post the results if different.
https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/31172062?

 

And how long is the Standard Warranty Length for laptops in the so called "land of class action lawsuits" ? If you don't know... Click the spoiler. I'll give you a hint... If you bough it in November and you skipped pay the expencive extended Premium warranty and it fails next Christmas... You are screwed.

Spoiler: Exactly.

 

I've played with thermals and benchmarks enough this week, time for some games.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

Here are my stats after cleaning and adding Kryonaut. Again this is the 1060... Maybe I should start the m15 1060 forum.... Bahahaha. Seems like concerns are more for the 1070mq.

 

Seems to be performing around where it should be (the 1060)

Here's what my M18x was running stock: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/16970498

I'm curious to know what the TDP limits are on the 1060 and 1070 Max-Q in these models if anyone can dump the vBIOS using GPU-Z and check in Pascal TDP editor.

I can get around here with OC on 1060: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/16862474

 

Here you go m15s, a proper review.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-m15-i7-8750H-GTX-1070-Max-Q-Laptop-Review.374921.0.html

 

Well if my m15 is dead in a year's time, I'll be back to say you were right all along. I've made a rather expensive bet that it'll last considerably longer than that though, time will tell...

 

Different lie, same outcome. Skunks do not change their stripes.

 

And I'm back.

M15 is all packed up and RMA stickers all over the boxes to go back to Dell, but I am having second thoughts. For the price I paid (including practically free AW988 headset) I am just not sure I should send it back. FML.

The OP 15+ is a nice PC. But I am going to have to upgrade some components to boost the performance to be on par with the M15, and even then it won't have the future proofing of the M15 (TB3, AGA port)... It also runs almost as hot as the M15 and has power throttling issues.

I might keep this damn thing after all and hope we can all find a way to tame the beast that is the 8750H without having to neuter its performance.

 

Does the chassis of the OP get as warm as the m15 when not gaming? That was the main reason I returned my m15... it just warmed up too much without using the Cool fan profile which then made it audible all the time.

 

No it doesnt. The OP only gets a small hotspot on the power and oc buttons. Which is a stretch to get to. Not very frequently used area, tucked up high, away from all of the other common places where you would normally rest your hands.

 

No, at least not that I notice. And don't get me wrong, the OP does manage temps a little better, but it's also power limited for some reason (they switched from shipping with 150W bricks to 180W bricks but apparently bios or other software issues are making the computer think it's only working with 150W brick still). I can't figure it out.

I will say though that my M15 never got uncomfortably hot to touch nor did the fans bother me when just doing productivity tasks. No worse than my previous laptop and WAY BETTER than the RB15.

 

My temp issues have nothing to do with the GPU unless it's because of the heat pipe sharing.

My GPU never gets over 70C. The CPU is the problem, but it can be helped by neutering performance (which I don't like) but apparently it's gonna have to do for now.

 

I just noticed the m15 got warmer than my XPS13 just doing something like watching YouTube or web browsing. The fan controls on the m15 didn't work so I couldn't do a lot of custom tweaks to try and get he noise / cooling ratio right.

 

I didn't notice any time where my hands got warm, but maybe I wasn't paying good enough attention. If I am watching youtube videos I am not really using the keyboard much. When in excel, I had no heat issues. The main game I like to play - Civ 6 - almost requires no keyboard interaction.

When web browsing or posting stuff, obviously I am using the keyboard a lot. But still didn't have any issues and I really like that keyboard. It suits me really well and I am very happy with the layout.

 

Out of curiosity, does anyone have the Dell Part# for the heatsink that covers both NVMe slots?

 

Yeah I started playing Assassin's Creed and noticed CPU temps soaring to the 100Cs you all been talking about but after some time playing the new grease seemed to get "settled in" and my temps were floating around low to mid 70s under 80% load. Maybe there is a break in period? I also went in and decided to tighten the plates down a little more and sure enough they were a little loose.

I know this seems like a bad analogy but I worked on a lot of cars in my day and whenever I replaced a head gasket after a few hundred miles you have to go back and re-tighten the head to torque spec. The head loosens up over time from the heat and the bolts need to be re-tightened. Heat causes things to expand so it could have had the same result. I am guessing this could be the case for the m15.

Can someone else try tightening their cooling pads down? Not too hard but see if there was any wiggle room like mine after playing a few hours. This could be the case for all of you. I know I am jocking the 1060 but seeing the temps settle down after tightening the bolts further seemed to make a huge difference for me.

 

I'll be doing a repaste of mine with Kryonaut versus LM... Will report back with results when I get it. Going to take a week or two to get the paste.

 

Could you take a picture of your screws when tightened in? I mean if they stick out or not.

 

Haven't posted in awhile. Been using mine as a daily driver for the last two weeks. My home setup includes two desks. My main and an office. I use the office for productivity work and just have it flat. Temps there are in the mid 50s when doing basic productivity tasks. Fans seem to kick on at random with the new bios as opposed to almost non-existent. I haven't noticed a change in temps, though. For this desk, I use the provided 180w adapter.

My main desk is where I game. I bought a 330w adapter and have not had any issues with it and noticed that after long stretches of gaming, it no longer uses the battery. I prop it up on an Amazon stand. I played FFXIV and ESO for about 10 hours one day. The hottest I noticed it getting was 84c. Ambient temps are usually about 73f. I have the laptop connected to a 27" monitor via the mini-displayport and plug in my G710 keyboard and MX mouse.

In both regards, this laptop does a great job. There are surface temp concerns for the actual machine itself, though, which I have confirmed recently.

This week, I have been travelling for work. I don't get much time to play, but did do so the past few days in the hotel. Longest stretch is maybe an hour. I use my MX mouse and the keyboard of the laptop. The surface temps on the keyboard deck are almost unbearable. The area surrounding the power button is way to hot. I don't have a way to capture the temps, but it has to be well over 100f. Temps for the CPU and GPU are inline with whats at home.

I have serious concerns for longevity of this laptop when you have temps like this. Not to mention that I actually don't enjoy playing while travelling due to surface temps. I plan to contact AW to discuss options, but I'm debating returning this and getting a 15 R4. I really like the laptop for the performance, build, and size. But the surface temps are deeply concerning.

 

The 15R4 will have decently high surface temps as well, not sure if AS high but NOT cool to the touch. That is the reality of most gaming laptops, that heat is going to go somewhere - my RB14 got unbelievably hot by virtue of its aluminum body soaking up a lot of heat.

 

Another review on Youtube for those that haven't purchased yet. Interesting that she doesn't believe the internal thermals are good. Essentially says they're not catastrophic, but not good. Compares it to the Razor, in that you either get good cooling inside and use the whole chassis as a heatsink, or a comfortable unit to hold while baking your internals.

 

@Daniel6894 I specifically remember a few of the bolts sticking out a little. Some were flush others were a little raised after being tightened again. I will send a pic at lunch.

 

In regards to surface temps - if there is really nothing else you can do about it then maybe consider wearing some type of thin gloves?

I would recommend something with a coating on the finger tips. Like the:
Portwest A198 ($2)

 

This is gold, brother! M18xR2 was the last good dellienware laptop that could sustain stock and OC'ed CPU/GPU settings without hitting 100c. Alas, those times are long gone. With every new generation, AW machines are getting closer to those mediocre consumer grade gaming laptops we loved to hate. Where's the bleeding edge nowadays? Where's that dual GPU 15" Voodoo beast? All we have now is a couple of Clevo's and an ocean of flashy keyboards to attract the moths, *cough* buyers...

 

Are we seriously recommending gloves to use laptops coz of temperatures??

 

Bahahah. Dying over here!

 

Hey, it's better for the economy! AW branded gaming gloves! Make them with the same flashy colors to match the keyboard over Btooth! Why solve a serious problem when we can make more money instead!

 

Or they can sell some paper holder clips that can be attached to the bottom that cause be opened and closed to raise the back of the laptop for more air ventilation. Like the aorus x7 DT

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

Lol! I can see it being marketed as an addon while checking out to prevent smudges and dirty keys and for skin protection from high temperatures and power!

But on a more serious note, this is ridiculous if we are accepting these high temps as the norm.

Its a much more prudent solution to either downclock or disable turbo boost and take the slight performance hit then the alternative which means much lower life for the product.

 

6-7 years ago we campaigned so hard against it. We went as far as reaching out to third party thermal solution engineers and making custom prototypes to prove that it was possible to get good temps in AW laptops. Dell took no notice. The biggest compromise we ever got from them was the famous 3-piped Heatsink for M18x which people could order through a dell rep. Things have been going down the slope ever since. Don't hold your breath waiting for a solution from Dell. If repasting and raising the back of the machine doesn't help, you might as well keep turbo permanently disabled. Could use the graphics amplifier and keep your 10x0 permanently disabled. That would allow you to get max power out of the CPU. Not much else you can really do at this point.

 

For who owns this laptop. I have HWinfo in front of me and there are some weird values regarding the battery. Forgetting for a moment the wear level of 5.7% which seems to be the same for everyone, the 4 four cells of my battery have different charge rates, namely:
1) -11.331 W
2) -46.591 W
3) -11.274 W
4) -22.361 W
This results in having cell #2 to be gone in 80mins while #1 and #3 will take 275min on average. Cell #4 182min.

Am I wrong assuming the charge rates need to be around the same for the 4 cells? Or do they discharge in a different way?

 

7700hq sometimes hits 30 watts gaming like max (my 13 r3). I think it's more like 15 watts average.

 

They can't even get BD PROCHOT implementation right.

Take a look at that heatsink. When that CPU is baking at 100 degrees, the GPU's thermals will thermally creep over time to throttling levels over extended gameplay sessions.
@OWNORDISOWN has done an excellent video on this topic, testing a liquid metal cooled system in a Battlefield V run.



Like really, at this point, the system's internals will begin failing. The PCH will overheat, and USB and the internal wireless adapter will fail under load, resulting in connection drops.
Remember that Intel's new 9560 is a CNVI SKU, making this issue unfixable. The logic is on-chip.

 

They're cheaping out on components. OEM profit margins must be maximized if the compromise is acceptable.

You might not need the heatsink. A heatsink on an SSD is only as good as the thermal dissipation it allows for. In a cramped chassis without vents in that region, the heatsink might make matters worse for you. Normally, these SSDs come with a foil covering the controllers that act as a heatsink: Thin, with high surface area to volume ratio for adequate thermal dissipation.

 

just hold it a little tighter! (iphone 4 antenna issue)

 

I started with no heatsink on a 970 Evo 1tb and it was averaging 86c with spikes which was causing game stutters of temps high 90s. With the heatsink it stays around 70c

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

This is how I feel when I hear just disable turbo or down clock it to 3.5.

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There is a bunch of new drivers up today... (12/12/2018)

 

Got my m15 last Friday, I did a non-liquid metal repaste and undervolted the CPU core by -143mV.

In terms of stressing the system as much as possible I did manage a +256Mhz OC on the GPU core, bringing it up to 1800Mhz after GPU Boost kicks in, and kept the CPU at 3.9Ghz. I did use an aggressive fan profile for the results however I thought they were pretty impressive. Maximum CPU/GPU temps were 82C, with absolutely no throttling.

3DMark FireStrike: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/17407075
3DMark FireStrike Clock/Temperature Profile: https://i.imgur.com/fDlHfPQ.jpg

In terms of my day to day use, I did cap the CPU at 3.0Ghz since I prefer an extremely quiet laptop that doesn't get that warm. After several hours of playing Assassin's Creed: Odyssey on maximum settings the highest temperatures registered on the CPU were 78C and 72C on the GPU.

Overall I'm very happy with the device, it's just unfortunate that the laptops don't ship in this state (and that some of them seem to be lemons).

 

May I ask for your results before? And your results after 10 minutes prime95 + Furmark? Your results are pretty impressive and my liquid metal repaste seems worthless after seeing your results.

 

I mentioned gaming gloves could be an option already 6 weeks ago

Put on the Alienware scull and it will sell in huge loads.

 

Downlocked my GPU hard, but i'm running a 100 mhz OC. The sad thing is, that i cannot game for 30 minutes/1 hour without worrying about the temps. I managed to lock my powerlimit to 55 wats making it more bearable. My 1080 now runs on a max of 1800 Mhz, and undervolted it from 1.1V to 0.885. My temps stay in check, but i just cannot trust the "Why Why Why" Tripodheatsink

 

The sad thing is, is that you're right... Dell is so predictable, you won't notice them working had, cause it's not in their language. The m15 screams "Off the shelve" cause it practically is a Lenovo y720, with a slightly different chassis. i mean AW went from a gaming (but mostly Enthousiast) brand, to a mainstream one. I'm not even proud anymore that i have a AW. it's screams DELL anyway.