*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 R4 / m17 R4 Owner's Lounge

I agree! I have an 82 inch samsung in my theater and sometimes it is hard to watch. It can do 1440P at 120hz and it just feels average to me when looking at the LG. Going to upgrade to a GX for my theater at some point.

 

Hi All,

I recieved my m17 R4 a few days ago (i9-10980hk, 3080, 360Hz screen), but am experiencing some behaviours I was not expecting. Firstly, even at idle, the i9-10980hk is occasionally hitting thermal throttling (85 degC, I have TCC set to 15 in BIOS for the moment) when not being asked to do anything accept sit at the windows desktop with no applications open. If I ask the laptop to do anything e.g. open firefox or any simple program, the processor draws some power and the temp spikes really quickly and hits thermal throttling limit. Can anyone else who has recieved theirs check if they are experiencing the same behaviour?

Also my 3DMark Timespy score is approx 12400, is this a little low compared to others? (I ran it on Full fan profile and no overclock).

In addition to the thermal problem noted above, I also have some annoying screen bleed in the bottom right hand corner and a small scratch on the palm rest.

 

I have the same cpu in my GS66 and the same problem without undervolting.
Download throttlestop and enable SpeedStep and Save.

 

It sounds as if it was not assembled correctly and may have an issue with contact between the heat sink and CPU. These thin and light systems all run unacceptably hot under load, but something is wrong with it running super hot at idle. If you only received it a few days ago you are within the return window and can send it back for a refund. Don't let them talk you into keeping it by promising to send a tech out to fix it. That is only a stall tactic to get you to hang on long enough for it no longer be eligible for a refund, so you'll be stuck with it whether they ever fix it properly or not.

 

you need to undervolt the CPU to tame it. Read my QC issues above. Still, it is the best machine you can buy. Couple things. DL Throttlestop and match my settings. Also, my screen bleeding is on both sides, left worse than right so you are actually better off than me . Note core is -146.5 and cache is -127

 

Not sure on forum rules these days but if this is considered a double post, i know Mr Fox can delete it. These things are running at full throttle with his fan profile and no undervolt. His throttle limit is on 85 degrees the way he has it set. I think these machines are just hot. We need to send them to you to do a LM repaste like in the old days lol!!!

Mr. Fox,

Happy to test a modded driver if you are still wanting to break some records Was not able to PM you. Assume you get flooded that way anyway.

 

Hi stranger. Long time no talk. Nice to see you again... seems like it has been forever.

I am no longer a moderator, so I cannot change anything in terms of posts or threads. My lifestyle changed a lot and I no longer had room for that.

 

Ah I thought you were a mod. I think I joined that spinoff forum too that I think you or another member here started. Funny seeing all the old folks here still. Been a good 7-10 years since I’ve been really active around here.

 

Hi, thanks for the tip. I should have also mentioned that I am already using ThrottleStop with a 100mV undervolt to the Core and Cache and the SpeedStep option is ticked by default.

I have had the laptop for 5 days so returning it is definitely something im considering. The thing is if the CPU is not being asked to do anything then it sits happilly at about 45 degC, it is as soon as it is asked to do something then the temp spikes suddenly for a short amount of time, and then returns to approx 45 degC. I wonder if this is becasue I have the alienware thermal profile set to balanced and the fans are not even active, therefore when the CPU draws the power, it cant get rid of the energy quick enough and the temp increases. If I turn the thermal profile to performance or full speed fans then it doesnt hit the 85 degC thermal limit. If I run a stress test in XTU with the fans set to full then the CPU pulls 80W and maintains a temp of 80 degC so this makes me think that the CPU and heatsink must be making reasonable connection or it wouldnt be able to disipate that much energy whilst maintaining that temp?

I was using -120mV on both Core and Cache 2 days ago and after 1 hour of gaming i got an unexplainable shutdown so I assume it is because the undervolt was to much? I havent had time to properly tune and stress test the undervolt for the CPU yet. Since then I backed it off to -100mV and no crashes. Out of interest what programs are you using for stress test/stability testing?

 

prime95 small FFT for an hour is all i do on a laptop. 120 sounds about right. mine is at .139 with all core able to go 5.0--but this never happens. Your temps are fine and your cpu is fine on idle. I have my fans at performance mode and still hitting 88 on the desktop with windows doing its thing. Running out of room on this one until we get a good modded GPU driver. New record again this am.

 

Arrived today.

Thinner and lighter than what I expected and the GE76.

 

Congrats!!! What spec did you get?

 

10980hk/3080/4TB/4k

 

What's your opinion on the 4k screen? I've got a 3080/4k model on the way myself.

 

Does anyone know if it's possible to buy a 1440p 17inch panel and swap it into the M17? I just can't get around the 1080p panel, no matter the refresh rate.

Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

 

Ordered a m17 R4 from bestbuy and it shows delivery by March 24. Excited to test this out. I went with the low end 10870H/3070/1080P 360hz/16GB ram/1TB nvme because I already have a 3090 desktop I built and a fully loaded GE76 raider. Love the raider but man alienware has the best looking laptop out there.

 

For beauty...nothing equals alienware (my personnal taste). For performance, i think GE76 performs about the same. You have to be aware what concession you have to make with this brand...like:

1-If you accept the fact that you will never be able to update the wi-fi card or the rams.(soldier)
2- If you accept that you might need to replace the whole motherboard if.... when repasting you accidently break the wi-fi connectors (it happened to me in the past, very easy to break this part)
3- If you are very carefull with bios update in six or more months (Dell usually cripple performance of their system in this period of time)
4- If you take extended warranty.

Then Alienware is a good choice.

 

Does anyone have the panel model number for the 360hz panel? Just wondering if the panel is bright enough versus all the other dim panels that most of these high refresh rate gaming laptops have

 

I do not have the part number. The panel is brighter than my razer blade with a 2080 GPU. The panel is not bad, but it is not great either. I think that if you are a panel junkie, you will be disappointed. It is probably the worse part of the system. At 240hz 1440p panel would probably make it perfect. A 120hz OLED I would buy immediately.

 

I like the fact that it's 1080p, 360hz, ips, but I am picky about brightness. I'm just hoping its not a dim/dull backlight when set to max brightness

 

I went with the 4k version just because of the brightness. I've also got an m15 r2 that I picked up on sale last year with the 240hz screen and I can't stand how dim the screen is. That alone is the biggest reason I'm upgrading.

On another note, If I find a single thing wrong with this thing its going back and I'm gonna order one with the new mechanical keyboard option that was released today.

Edit: News Article: Cherry MX mechanical keyboards are headed to Alienware's slim laptops

 

Jesus, now I want to cancel my order. So sick of spending all this cash and then having better things released a couple weeks later for the same product. Based off reviews the 360hz panel is over 300nits, which is good enough for me. Some of these other high refresh gaming panels are 240 to 280 which is too low. The 240hz panel in your m15 was always reviewed as being dim and dull

 

I feel ya. I'm about in the same boat. Mine is supposed to be delivered later this week.

They built the keyboard to fit into the chassis and it appears you could upgrade it as it looks like they use the same connectors and everything from looking at the service manual. Bad news is you pretty much have to disassemble the whole system and remove the motherboard to swap it out which doesn't look like a fun time. I guess if you were doing a repaste you could also swap the keyboard out. Really missing how easy the older Alienware's were to work on.

 

I’ll be honest, I think I’d prefer the current tried and tested keyboard which is already fantastic. The new design sounds horrible looking at the video and the design gives me PTSD from Apple’s butterfly keyboard. Seems like some contraption they concocted to just add marketing to get people to pay extra for “cherry mechanical”. I have a feeling they may be rubbish.

Now what is probably worth waiting for is the 11th gen Intel CPU’s.

 

I have seen multiple reviews say it is 316 nits. In my opinion, it is not super bright.

 

Pretty pathetic to pay 2300 to 4000 for this laptop and it only gets as bright as a nintendo switch

 

I actually agree. I mean the new keyboard is what we are getting?! How about some better screen options. I still love the machine and there is no better right now in my opinion but dang! We need more options. How is Razer beating Alienware in the options department?!

 

Glad you asked. Pretty much every other brand is beating this in the options department with proper upgradeable, and often faster 3200 Mhz RAM.

 

I know right! The upgradeable part does not bug me as much because I tend to upgrade when Nvidia releases new GPUs. We should have at least 3200 ram and better timings. I have dual rank 32GB samsung b-dies in my main rig running at 17 17 17 4500. If I could only match that with Mr Fox's old 10900k running at 5.6 now that would be something!!!

 

Well my m17 r4 shipped from best buy, should be here Monday. Might just refuse shipment because this thing is already outdated with new keyboards about to drop as well as the 11 series Intel CPUs and chipset, and better screen options. But then again, I'm sick of the waiting game and might just settle with this and stay away from the news because I would be buying and returning my PCs every month if I wanted to keep up

 

In addition to the speed and timings aspect, some people need more than 32GB of RAM. 64GB SODIMMs are coming out now so even with 2 slots you could have up to 128GB of RAM in pretty much any decent ganing/enthusiast laptop but AW m15/m17. Very sad.

 

I looked seriously at the Asus Zephyrus g15 with ryzen and the MSI GE76 as I really hate the inverted mobo and soldiered ram on the newer m series Alienwares. The Zephyrus doesn't have a full power gpu so that knocked it off my list. And the GE76 model with the 4k screen requires you to get the version with the 10980hk which I don't really need or want either. Plus it costed well over 3k. While I would never buy an alienware laptop at full price these days, on sale, they are tough to beat.

 

Good points really. Why limit the upgrade path on such an expensive machine. I think this is why Mr Fox switched from AW laptops to a Desktop. I remember when they (AW) use to read the forums to look for ways to improve. I am not sure any manufacturer does that anymore. Accepting mediocrity is becoming the norm and if people still buy it why change. I will upgrade again with any of the following combinations: New Screen options, next gen graphics, CPUs that push current gen graphics even more. Come on Alienware, help me spend more money. I do not care about a mechanical keyboard, the current one is probably the best part of the machine minus the 3080. Going to bring my cooling pad home this weekend (it is at my office) and see if I can beat the last timespy. Anyone else hitting the 14k GPU mark? That is the mark on these in my opinion. I am running out of headroom until a proper modded driver.

I actually have a run that I just did hit 13324 total. GPU score went down a couple of points though. Will try a run in the am with no TCC.

 

Here is my final run. Nothing left. This is 202 core clock, 1392 on the memory. -135 on cpu undervolt at 5.1 and on my cooling pad first run before heatsink is overwhelmed. CPU was at 4.9 and 5.0 the whole time on the CPU run.

 

Depends on how you see it. I'm sure @Mr. Fox and many others would perfer that they stayed home.... http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...gtx-1080-upgrade.814711/page-46#post-10734553

"So, in other words, deliberate Nazi control freak acts of customer betrayal."

 

Yes. And, I ditched the Alienware brand and went to Clevo first. That was around 2013. That felt good for several years and I had no regrets. I knew I was done with Alienware trash forever at that point. In time, my tolerance for foolishness and compromises dwindled even more and eventually (2017) reached the point that going back to desktops was the only option that actually made any sense. It would be accurate to say I no longer have any respect or love for Alienware at any level and I abhor Dell's approach to business in general. I consider Alienware to be bottom of the barrel king of rubbish of the gaming notebook industry. It would be my last choice, even behind despicable filth brands like HP, Razer, Lenovo and Acer.

It would also be accurate to say that I essentially view all laptops as garbage now. Almost anything you might choose to buy now is a saturated in meh, belly-button and butt hole, run-of-the-mill BGA piece of trash. The only one that has any potential for superiority is the Clevo X170 and it has a couple of unfixable flaws that make it unacceptable to me. The deal-breaker is the fact that it has InsydeH20 BIOS and that ruins anything it touches. I don't think there is a snowball's chance in hell that I will ever get excited about wasting money on a laptop again for the rest of my life. I came kind of close to getting an X170, but after thinking on the compromises I would have to accept relating to Clevo's retarded choice in firmware I knew I would ultimately end up wishing I hadn't blown so much money on something I had absolutely no need for. My heart said yes, but my brain said no... and my brain won the argument. I opted for a RTX 3090 K|NGP|N upgrade instead, and had money left over for other things.

 

Good points.
I have a Alienware R11 desktop w/3080 (on sale at Microcenter, couldn't resist).

You'd be crazy to use a desktop RTX 30 series for anything other than mining right now.
My 3080 makes $80-90/week.

So, given that it's mining, I need a computer for gaming/working/trolling and a high end laptop with 85% of the performance of a desktop makes sense to me.

 

Wow just wow! I did not know any of that. Seems I have been away a little too long! What a travesty.

 

Gone are the days of us being able to do what we want with our machines. It is all about reducing warranty claims and making more money. Dell was the death of Alienware as a few of us remember. Heck when I bought my first Alienware, Dell was not in the picture. I bet Nelson and Alex (founders of Alienware) are flipping the bird as dell crushed all they stood for.

 

Yes, I am doing that with both the 3090 K|NGP|N and my modded 2080 Ti FTW3, and even my TongFang turdbook. The turdbook isn't running at the moment. It's turned off and taking a rest. These are normally running all day mining. I use the desktop with the 2080 Ti for work while it is actively mining. It does not seem to affect the mining operation or my ability to work while it is doing that. The turdbook seems to hover around ~90°C all day long sitting on top of a modded U3 cooler and fans maxed out. The metal chassis finally got so hot it was painful to touch, so I am letting it catch its breath before I put it back into torture mode again later today.




I like gaming (as long as it's a FPS title) but don't do it much anymore. I have to be in the right frame of mind, with nothing else more important to do. It usually takes the form of an all day or 2-day binge session and then I'm done for at least 6 months.

 

how do you get these numbers? Are you using an external monitor? I only get 9365 with the built in 4k monitor and hit 11643 with and external 4k 120 monitor.

Any suggestions on how to optimize mine with a 3080 and 32 gigs of ram?

 

Yes something is off on your end.

1. Update GPU drivers
2. Download Afterburner and try my oc settings
3. If you have an m15 then your GPU power is way less.
4. I am on Laptop screen. There is no optimus in the way so I assume you have the 15 not the 17
5. Undervolt CPU and turn off speedstep and speedshift in bios.
6. Disable G-sync if you have it.
7. Fan profile to full speed or performance.

 

What cooler are you using (sorry if you've mentioned this earlier in the thread).

 

I have the 17 with the 4k screen.

I ordered a cooler, it will be here Monday.

What are your settings?

How do I undervolt the CPU? Doesn't that slow it down?

 

No way undervolt reduces heat and allows the cpu to run cooler or with a higher bin. We all use throttlestop or XTU. My settings are above if you want to duplicate them.

I ordered this one but of course, any will work to get the laptop propped up a bit more. Cooler reduces my temps about 8 degrees.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NNQXTQT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Thanks,

I am new to this it is my first Alienware.

I will look though the tread for the settings.

Is there a way to bypass the intel gpu? Whenever I run on the laptop screen it is getting pegged.

 

unfortunately, there is no mux switch. I am not that familiar with all the models. Perhaps someone with the 4k screen can help you. I know some are said to have advanced Optimus. Your GPU should be getting more in 3dmark 13.5 GPU score is probably reachable with the correct settings. I just tested 4.8 with HT off and might run with that for a bit. I was able to get -180mv that way and seems to be pushing more frames.

 

I'm mining as well atm on my gs75 doing 46.5mh/s at 130w total laptop draw. Fans set to 0 RPM so i don't wear out the fans. Cooling is entirely handled by my custom cooling pad (Arctic P14 x2 @13.6v) forcing air through the laptop, gpu temps run in the high 60s to low 70s

 

How do I change these settings?
Is there a guide anywhere?

 

That is about what the 2060 temps are, but I mine using the CPU and GPU and the CPU hits the 90's sustained at 4.1GHz and 80W. Total system draw is about the same and so is the 46.5mh/s. These turdbooks really are not cut out for this and their mining abilities are pretty lackluster.