*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge

try this one https://www.evga.com/ocscanner/

 

Like it was mentioned above each CPU and GPU are different. Start from stock and adjust in small increments. If you experience crashing or artifacts dial it back.

It's important in my mind that you have a basic understanding of what you're doing.

 

It's not that I don't know the limits of my machine but rather I have noticed I'm not getting as much fps as I should be for lighter titles like overwatch or league of legends which is why I ask. Wanted to see a reference point of what is the average settings or overclock.

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It's a good starting point to see indeed how it performs. what i would do is game for an hour, record your gameplay and record your temperature by HwInfo. Download HWinfo inspector to see the log files, and then spit through the logs. When your system crashes or dips in performance you can compare the time of the video against the HwInfo log to see what your system was doing. It could be alot of things. Best way to start is to log your machine when in use (gaming benching) that way you can troubleshoot and see which workload relates to your frames being lower. Hope that it's clear !

 

Anyone tried out the new bios yet? Did it actually change anything in alienware command center? like for the fusion tab? or the overclocking tab? Not 100% sure if I want to update....

Do I just install and click run? How does it work? It looks like it's just a benchmark tool that doesn't overclock the gpu.

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Click and run indeed. With the benchmark it's going to establish what speeds needs what voltage automatically OCing your GPU and making a profile while benching.

 

It says link to percision, do I need that application installed also ? How long does the benchmark last?

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.re...fterburner_how_to_run_inbuilt_oc_scanner_for/

This link can help you out.

 

This doesn't seem to work on optimus laptops.....

Everytime I try to run test, I get an error about failed to load a program.

The directory in question is NVSMI and it does not exist....and it doesn't look like it gets installed when I install the driver through geforce experience.

 

So far, my custom fan curves have now been working under the new BIOS (1.3.3). The profile persisted after waking up from sleep and has stayed on for over an hour now. So far so good!

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Sounds good, what about the fusion settings? Any gpu overclock options?

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No GPU overclock options. I wasn't expecting any though. I can do that in afterburner if I need to.

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Hmm could very well be the problem. I don't have optimus due to Gsync, so i cannot verify that. i made a quick heaven run. so you can see how my undervolt performs

 

Does anyone know if the 2070 upgrade on the new M15 gives the Max Q version ?

 

Unless I'm imagining it, the stock Balanced profile also seems to be making more use of the system fan once the CPU temp is above 60C even if the GPU is cooler.

 

It is a Max q 2070

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So the 1060 gives a 2060 while the 1070 gives the 2070 MaxQ? And the 1080 the 2080 Max Q?

Wonder how much of an upgrade is the 2070 MaxQ over the 2060. Probably not worth the $400 upgrade price..

 

2060 >= 1070, 2070 Max q >= 1080 Max q +10% and 2080 Max q >= full 1080 + 10%

This is my guess based on a bunch of rumors, leaks and some analysis based on what Nvidia has done in the past.

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Hi everyone, I'm in the process of convincing myself whether or not to get the alienware 15m or the area 51m.
The only things I don't like about the 15m are:
- Keyboard
- No windows hello
- Thermals (especially since I will get 2080 max q, if I choose for m15)

No windows hello I can live with, thermals is something I'll have to wait and see (although there is no guarantee that the area 51m will have better thermals due to the much more power hungry parts).
But for the keyboard I wanted to ask you guys. How is your experience with the keyboards?

I really like the usual alienware keyboards, have a nice concave shape with a soft touch with a quite keypress and long travel distance.
So far there aren't many chicklet keyboards that I actually liked, so I wanted to ask m15 owners, How does the keyboard compare to the standard keyboard? And I ask this question in terms of all aspects, e.g. rgb issues, worse layout, bad spacing, tactile feedback, do they also have soft touch, ...

Also another question, I see on the new alienware m15 options on the .com website that the 2080 max q, will be delivered with a 180 watt psu. Is that true? I pretty certain that thing will power throttle.

 

The m15 and area 51m are pretty different... That's an interesting comparison. I can't imagine having something that big after having an m15; even my 15r3 (gave to my son) feels huge to me now.

It doesn't sound like the m15 has a keyboard you would like. I'm happy with mine, but I don't mind chiclet keyboards. All else equal, I'd probably prefer the keyboard of the 15r3. I wish they had left the 10-key out and had the keyboard centered, but that's a minor nit I have gotten over. At least they have some space between the arrow keys and the number pad. Many clevos have no space there and I am always missing the arrow keys (heavy Excel user), which drives me nuts. The key travel is definitely shallower, more like an XPS 15 (may be the same as a 13, I don't know), if you've used one of those.

It's all subjective, but based on your description, it sounds like you won't like the m15 keyboard.

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Thank you, it's as I feared it seems, if you say it's comparable to xps 13, then indeed it's not a favorable keyboard for me.

The reason why I compare the 2 is because what I actually hoped to get was something inbetween m15 and area 51m. Actually I wanted to buy an alienware 15 refresh, same chassis and keyboard and lights, but only new 2080 max q gpu and the new OLED panel from samsung to release in march. Now the m51 is still smaller then the alienware 17 (if you don't count in the thickness, but in terms of volume it's still smaller) due to the narrow bezels, so the size I can live with, but not really the thickness, double PSU and lack of a decent display.

On the other hand, extra thinness, overall being lighter of the m15 are all welcome, but I prefer them not if they come with a compromise e.g. worse keyboard, worse thermals etc.

So I have to make a decision here.
- Area 51: Larger, heavier, worse screen, two PSU. BUT better performance, better keyboard, prettier design (apart from the thickness), g-sync, (And perhaps 17 inch might be more useful for daily use despite me not liking 17 laptops that much)
- M15: Worse keyboard, no windows hello, bad thermals. BUT has (will have) Oled, is smaller and lighter.

I will wait at least until march till the oled monitors come out, perhaps if by then oled is announced for area 51m, even though it's very unlikely, or if it gets a UHD screen with at least 100% srgb, I might be more favored to get the area 51m. But I also will have to see thermals of both laptops. But yeah, not an easy decision for me, since I will most likely end up spending 3500-4000€

 

Another thing to bear in mind is that it sounds like the Area 51m will always need to be plugged in. The m15 has pretty decent battery life if you're not gaming unplugged.

 

@QUICKSORT

Go for max. performance.

 

It's comparable at least in terms of depth. The key shape is a bit different from the XPS, a bit flatter. The m15 thermals really depend on your intended use and how hard you push the hardware. I'm not going to rehash all of that discussion from earlier in the thread, but my take is that the thermals are fine (though some earlier units had faulty heatsinks that seemed to be fixed by a replacement) if you are willing to tweak things some and don't need the CPU running at max turbo clocks with full CPU and GPU load.

The m17 is supposed to have bigger fans and the chassis is a bit bigger than the m15, so it's possible it might run a bit cooler than the m15, all else equal, but the 17-inch screen is not that desirable for me. Since the chassis design, etc. is similar to the m15, one could assume it would probably perform similarly to the m15 with the same CPU, GPU, etc.

I think the Area 51m is more of an unknown since it has an all new and has a desktop CPU and GPU on it. It looks like the cooling system is pretty beefy, but who knows until people actually get theirs and start testing. I wouldn't take their marketing at face value. Even if I didn't care about battery life and size, the dual PSU thing would be a big turnoff to me. I get why it's needed, I just don't know that the hassle would be worth it to me.

 

Just an FYI. The Crucial P1 NVMe SSD isn't compatible with the m15. If installed it causes DPC Watchdog Violation blue screen errors.

 

Which nvme are compatible? Samsung 970 Evo?

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I have a 960 EVO in mine with no issues. It was a bit tight getting the aftermarket heat sink I have on the EVO to fit next to the Dell heat spreader, but I got it to work.

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Do you have XTU or nvidia geforce experience running in background?

Try WD Black.

 

Neither. The funny thing is that before I returned the Crucial P1 drive I installed it into my Alienware 13 r3 and it also caused the same blue screen error. Crucial support couldn't figure out why this was happening since the drive passed all the tests they ran on it. A check on sites like Amazon show that other users are having the same issues with this drive and Alienware laptops.

 

I'm running a Crucial P1 1TB in my m15 (as secondary disk) without problems...

 

Hey guys, so I’ve been following this thread for a while and absorbing all the information I could from these posts and finally made an account so I can post something that might help out with the overheating issues and the big differences between core temps. Initially with the stock paste, stock thermal pads, a 156 undervolt on the cpu and cpu cache, and turbo limited to 3.6, my core temp highs while running prime95 for 3 hours were 84,76,88,80,83,81. And at idle they were 42,42,42,42,42,42.

I changed the stock thermal pads to the arctic pads varying from 1mm-1.5mm depending on how much of an indentation I saw on the stock thermal pads (if anyone wants a layout of what thickness pad I used and where I used it, just let me know and I’ll put something together) I also repasted using phobya HeGrease due to the higher viscosity of this paste compared to other pastes. I used the line method on the cpu, and a larger than normal pea method on the gpu.

Under full load on prime95 for 3 hours with the same undervolt and turbo settings, my core temp highs dropped to 79,75,80,77,77,78. And the idle temps stayed the same.

I hope this helps anyone still out there having issues.

System: 4k display, i7, 1070 max-q, 16gb ram, 512 gb m.2

 

I think SSD controller is broken. RMA it and see if the new SSD helps!

 

Your temps are perfect. Anything under 85c degrees for any laptop especially a thin one is perfect and you can expect temps as those. Enjoy Your machine Well done for re-pasting your laptop.

 

I would like such a diagram, I repasted with the same paste and I'm still getting temps over 85C, I ordered a graphite thermal pad I'm going to use over the CPU combined with some thermal paste to see if I get any improvement on temps. (I know thermal pad requires a lot of pressure to be effective but I want to try it anyways)

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Diagram has been uploaded, check my post

 

Sorry guys, I butchered the thread trying to upload the picture

 

Good day.
Since a desktop is not enough for me to switch to a notebook again. Since I have always had good experiences with alienware in the past, I would like one again this time.
The graphic amplifier is important to me here because I use 4 monitors at home and quite a bit of accessories. No lust to plug in all the cables every time
I would buy the Alienware 15m and I would have some questions about it here.
Are there any problems if I use an AMD card in the graphics amplifier if the notebook has one from Nvidia?
What is the volume when playing?
When I use the graphic amplifier, does the notebook get the CPU so chilled that it runs on Max Turbo Boost?
Can I do a raid with 2 M2 SSD for more performance.
Are there different revisions to the graphic amplifier?
Thank you first for the help .. I use the Google Translator because unfortunately my English is not very great.
I hope everyone could understand what I mean
Regards Chris

 

Hello guys... read a few of the posts here and gathered some input from outside sources regarding the Alienware M15 and I heard it has some rather bad heating issues... I would like to know what are your experiences with it, and has the issues already been resolved? I am planning to get an Alienware M15 in the future and well, being in a tropical nation, laptops that overheat easily won't last long in my country. And for me, longevity is key, alongside performance.

I am planning to get my system from HIDevolution, just waiting for the new RTX series to come out as to hopefully get a better value for the unit I am planning to get, be it an RTX one or a regular GTX 10 series one. Surely the Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut is a very worth while upgrade right? By how much would it reduce the temperatures of the system?

Also, is the SSHD that comes standard with the Alienware M15 good? I am not really after the speed, but rather the durability and longevity of the device. SSDs are extremely expensive, and well, a very reliable source told me that the SSHD would last for quite sometime. However, a lot of other people say that I should upgrade and aim for an SSD. Modern SSHDs and HDDs equipped in laptops are designed to handle the vibrations of everyday commuting right? IE, taking it around on outings and such, riding on trains, etc...

Also, I heard from some Youtuber Reviewers that the Alienware M15 ships out with an underpowered Power Adapter. is that true? Isn't that bad for the laptop? Would it actually lose charge despite being plugged in while gaming?

 

I don't think that's a problem though since according to Dell, the laptop has a hybrid power system. Essentially when the laptop needs more power, instead of stressing the power brick it pulls some power from the battery at 5% per hour until the battery reaches 20%.

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And well, what happens when the battery reaches 20%? Would there be some sort of power limit that would go on so that the laptop could recover and recharge? Or, would it be highly unlikely that this would happen even if you are gaming for a couple of hours straight? I just want to clarify a few things, cause this is currently my top pick for a gaming laptop as of this moment. I would like to make the best decision possible when purchasing something this expensive, considering there are so many choices in the market.

 

From ThrottleStop's author @unclewebb in Throttlstop guide post #9571. I have to ask the same. This isn't a proper fix for the underlying problem.You just masquerade/hideing the problem. Not a proper fix

Cut Power limits or turn down boost clocks and all hardware will run colder...

https://www.dell.com/support/articl...y-drain-while-ac-adapter-is-connected?lang=en

 

According to Dell site it will power throttle when it reaches 20% and will begin to charge the battery.

https://www.dell.com/support/articl...y-drain-while-ac-adapter-is-connected?lang=en

It also prevents damage to the battery from overcharging as well according to the site.

Realistically I don't think anyone will game more than 10 hours in one session... I can imagine 4 or 6 if you are on a marathon but that only means you would have lost 30% battery at most at full load.

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Okay, so it will Power Throttle and by the sounds of it, it will throttle hard. Well, I am now having second thoughts about the M15...

 

Do you seriously game more than 10 hours? Lol I play destiny 2 on my m15 all day 6 hours and my battery doesn't go below 100%. This is with CPU clocks @ 3.9 GHz and my GPU overclocked by 150 MHz.

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Well, I am guessing you are right.... Although, I would still prefer if the M15 came with a power adapter that could adequately meet the power requirements even whilst gaming. I am just thinking about worst case scenarios for it that I might actually encounter.. being a thin and light, I would be travelling with it a lot, and there is no guarantee I would be able to charge it wherever I take it, I guess if it is at a low battery state when I do finally find a plug in that sort of situation, I still shouldn't game on it and give it time to charge up before using it again.

 

I think you might be overthinking this - just factor the price of a bigger power brick into your value calculations...

 

Honestly if it STILL concerns you, you CAN buy a bigger brick from dell's site. They have a 240 w brick I believe that you can buy and it will work with the m15 as well. As long as it's a Dell charger it will work.

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Yeah, I might be overthinking it. Might need to have the power brick shipped though, cause that thing is not available in the local Dell website for my country. I wish their website for my country was updated, then everything would have been a whole lot easier. Currently, it is pretty backwards in terms of the times.