*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge

Np, gl. If 1. does nothing, ask @Vasudev for a DLL you need to drop in TS directory.

 

guys I have a question regarding the fans of the alienware m15 are they the same model for both the CPU and GPU fan as I noticed when I run themto 100% via ACC Perfomance Profile the GPU Fan tends to be more powerful than the CPU Fan in terms of Air being expelled on the exhaust is that normal?? as I have expecting that they should be the same

 

They are not the same and GPU fan is stronger than CPU fan.

 

i see thanks a lot for the clarification

 

That DLL is now dropped from TS 9.0 in order to support Win 10 20H2 or 2004 build.

 

Does it mean it's no longer needed, or does it mean that unlocking power limits in TS is no longer possible in that version?

 

No longer possible I guess.

 

Guide: How to set Alien FX Lights according to the app you launch

 

It might be very helpful to others to make one giant thread with all links to helpful guides you make. I feel like this isn't your first guide and likely won't be your last, but any of them can get burried even if they are useful. But one link in a sig is def easier than one for each

 

Will do, good suggestion

 

Just ordered a M15 R3 with i7-10750/RTX2070 SUPER/1TB/32GB RAM/300Hz Screen last week and i cant be more excited for it to get here! upgraded from the former A15 R3 with GTX 1070! anybody else with the same spec as me please tell me what you like/dislike about it!

 

I believe the r2 had soldered RAM and most people disliked that, for good reason. I tried to see if the r3 was soldered, but I guess there isn't much info on the r3 yet as far as that goes. But from what I saw from reviews, the temps should be wayyy better on the r3. Almost like they took some tips and fixed the heatsink problems

 

yeah that's why i went with the R3 because i heard the heating issue was fixed...also i wasn't 100% sure if the R3 was soldered or not so that's why i went with 32GB just incase bc i'm never going to need more than 32GB RAM....i'm so excited for this laptop to get here!!!

 

Dell is still pushing the soldered RAM.

Hope you are aware that likely massively faster RTX 3070 laptops will be available in a couple of months.

 

i'm aware but i doubt the laptops will be out for another 6+months and i needed a new laptop now....worst case i buy an AGA and an RTX 30X0 to use while i'm home

 

Estimating based on the RTX release timeline, new laptops should be out in early Q1. Covid doesn't seem to be slowing things down here.

 

The R3 is soldered RAM as well, but at least you have the option of 32gb this time around.

 

I can not got my CPU thermals under control. I have undervolted, repasted and have laptop on a CPU cooler and I still have 2 cores getting locked at 100C when running Cinebench. Any recommendations other than trying to get Alienware to replace the cooler?

 

What paste did you use? Can try repadding using soft pads, such as Gelid GP Extreme. These might provide less resistance thus increasing heatsink pressure. Be super-careful with those heatsink screws, they are fairly poor quality and therefore prone to stripping. I arrived just short of 100C in CB20 using these and Phobya NGE (on a cooler).

 

I have tried grizzly kryonaut & Mx-4. I have noticed the screws stripping a bit. What is weird at first when I repasted I was good but temps have been climbing since. I also made sure cooler ports are clear so it’s not built up dust.

 

I used Kryonaut the first time around. It lasted for a few months tops. The reality is that this model has a sink fit issue and needs a thick paste to compensate.

 

That's why I tried switching to MX-4. I am looking at a 20C difference between cores so I am wondering if there is a heatsink issue.

 

Well, again, you can try Phobya and repadding, given the reasonable rationale. The pads supplied by Dell are very hard so surely they reduce sink pressure to some degree, but don't expect miracles. Max temp 97C and core temp differenc reduced to 10C. Some people have had great success with LM too, although I'm personally skeptical, given the suspected sink pressure issue.

 

Tried searching the forums but to no avail. Does anyone have an m15 with OLED screen? I do and HDR doesn't work correctly it seems. When I turn HDR on in windows settings the first thing to notice is windows desktop becomes dim and bland looking. The next thing is netflix HDR shows/movies looks as dull and bland as windows desktop. I also tried shadows of the tomb raider and noticed the same. The other issue is fps is limited to around 40 fps.

Any help is appreciated.

 

So this is weird and I feel like its gonna sound like I am making a mistake in my typing. So I have a 2070 Max-Q in my m15. Disclaimer : Not about mining, but about the 2070 Max-Q.

- The stock curve maxes out at 1920core and 1100mV and has a reported wattage of 70W in Phoenixminer.
- Reducing the core clock and mem clock by -500, makes Phoenixminer show a 90W power draw.
- I can make it a straight voltage line with 700mV @ 2000 core clock, and Phoenixminer shows 66W.

Is there any reason this can make sense? The GPU temps have proven that the voltages are what I typed above, they go up/down when wattage goes up/down as reported by Phoenixminer. Why would the stock curve have a 70W power draw with 1100mV but reducing the core clock and mem clock by -500 (which drops the whole curve A Lot), Increases the wattage A Lot while the voltage stays the same?

 

My impression of HDR support in Windows, based on limited experience, is that it's a sad joke, however, I have also seen the issue you describe. The "solution" was to play around with colour output settings in Nvidia control panel (IIRC RGBA 32bit worked best) - that was with an external monitor though, which had to be put in HDR mode.

 

delete

 

Power is voltage x current. Although you lower the voltage, the core clock at that reduced voltage may increase if you are neither power limit throttling or thermal throttling. Increasing clocks translate into increasing power draw. Generally speaking, when I try to undervolt my GPU, my goal is to prevent power limit throttling. I keep adjusting the curve until I crash at which point I raise the voltage just slightly.

 

I am confused. Are you saying its part of that NV 'boost clock' tech where they overclock/underclock depending on temps/voltages? I would think the wattage should be the same, if not less, if core clock is minus 500 and mem clock is minus 500. I can see how the other 2 scenarios make sense, I just don't see why the GPU wants to use +20W from reducing core and mem clocks by 500.

 

So, I've been having these issues where on boot fans would sometimes go to 100% and ePSA would kick off and say something like "Support Assist detected an issue with system fan". I must have gone through 20 support emails, they released some BIOS updates, to no avail. Clearly thre is no actual hardware issue.

Uninstalling Support Assist solved the problem....

 

support assist is another wonder of Dell's engeneer. I have completely unisntall it too.

 

Clean installation before setting up device when it came is a must. It frees device from unnecessary software bugs and gives more space too.

 

Looks like I'll be joining this owner's lounge soon. Getting an m15 from the Dell Outlet this week to replace my 15 R3. Needed something as my 15 R3 isn't being nice to my work and classes. Not the ideal laptop I wanted, but at a 25% discount from its listed price, I just bought it and will roll with it.

 

Just got my m15. Saw that it has the latest BIOS version of 2.6.0.
So, how do I enable undervolting on the GPU? Do I have to flash down to an older BIOS?

 

I don't think it's possible to revert due to restrictions. But there is threat for area 51m to downgrade to a restricted version. You can check that threat for m15 r1 too. I suppose you meant CPU because for GPU, it's a different story.

 

I've seen that thread. Needed that thread for my 15 R3.
It looks like there is a limit to how much I can downgrade my BIOS. I'll first clean install Windows, and if that doesn't work, then it's off to going to an older BIOS that accepts the i7-9750H and undervolting.

 

Welp, neither worked, so it looks like I have no undervolting on this laptop.

 

Shameless link to my other post:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/panasonic-eyg-r-gen-3-2021-graphite-pad-testing.835721/

Panasonic has released as of late Jan 2021 a 3rd generation graphite pad and if my Thinkpad P15 is anything to go by looks really really good. I'd love to see what kind of results an AW would get as I'm seriously considering jumping ship to a m15R4 with the i9. According to HWMonitor with the new pads I'm able to do 85W sustained PL2 at/below 100C*

 

2.4.1 is when Dell implemented the plundervolt mitigations. You'll need to roll back earlier than that to enable it. Check the A51 thread on installing earlier BIOS versions as that method should (hopefully) work. Also, disable microcode updates in BIOS as well as MS can sneak them in through windows updates.

 

So I've already rolled back the BIOS to before that (down to 2.0.4), and it didn't work. I have even factory reset the BIOS on 2.0.4 and nothing.
I don't know how to disable the microcode updates in Windows, so maybe that's one thing I can do. I'm on 20H2.

 

I'd need to do some digging to figure out which Windows updates include those updates. Depending on how much you have installed already (like games and stuff) a clean install might be the way to go. I don't know the name of it exactly, but in BIOS there's a setting to allow or lock out the OS being able to install microcode updates, that needs to be configured to prevent Windows from changing things willy-nilly.

2.0.4 is definitely pre-mitigation. Are you using Throttlestop or XTU? And if you're using TS, you've verified that voltage control is locked out (should be at the top of the FIVR dialog)?

 

I did start from a clean install of Windows when attempting to unlock undervolting, so I'm not sure doing that again will help me. And I've made sure Windows doesn't update whenever it wants to.
I've checked both XTU and TS, and adjusting the voltages are greyed out in both.

 

Did you have both XTU and TS installed at the same time? I totally realize this might be a ridiculous question, but I don't know what you know, ya know?

 

At some point, yes. However, I currently only have TS installed, and the "Unlock Voltage Controls" is still greyed out.

 

Delete mcupdate_GenuineIntel.dll the easy way... download and use TakeOwnershipEx
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-1230#post-11054133

Edit. Windows folder>System32 and there you'll find mcupdate_GenuineIntel.dll. Take ownership of the file. Then delete it.


TakeOwnershipEx can be used to obtain full access to files and folders on your computer. So be sure that you know what you want to delete

 

Tried this. It didn't work.
I'll see if resetting my BIOS to factory settings after doing this works, but that'll take some time.

 

What didn't work? You mean can't get back undervolt? What MC code is in bios? You find the MC code in Hwinfo, Aida64, TS Fivr window or in the Win register.

 

Still can't undervolt even after deleting the file.
According to HWINFO and Throttlestop, the microcode is AA.

 

I'll see if I can find some of the posts about how to get back undervolt on older AW models. Maybe read in my Black list thread. Even chck out here http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/page-1277#post-11078078

Enable undervolting on your Dell XPS 9500/9700 (or others)

 

I've actually looked into that thread previously, and it is where I found the BIOS factory reset option. Sadly, that method still didn't work for me.
I appreciate the help from you and Gumwars, though. At this point, I'm wondering if a clean install of Windows will actually work.