*OFFICIAL* Alienware Area-51M R1 Owner's Lounge

I dont think I want to deal with the bios issues, not sure I want this. Still debating to pull the trigger or not. This is ridiculous. 3:50 mark is where it gets ugly.

 

If your that uncertain move on to another option. Either you want it or don’t. No reason to over think it I’m very happy with mine. You’ll quickly learn no matter what high end gaming system you buy your going to have to tweak, period. I had to tweak all Clevo based laptops I owned, almost all my aw’s. Is a fact of ownership of these machines.

 

I understand, I have been a laptop enthusiast since growing up but Im just trying to figure out if this is worth the effort to deal with the thermal issues of it. I read earlier some where, is there something that can be done so the thermal response when the GPU reaches its max temp that it does not so drastically effect performance? I'm casual competitive gamer , cant be standing for power loss mid matches.

Unfortunately for me I have this bad experience with my previous Y740 laptop where I was changing the bios with it to keep max fan capabilities but the motherboard keeps killing it self for no reason so im second guessing my self If this is worth it to deal with. I was planning on getting the new GE66 but its going to be a wait and Im itching to get something sooner so I figured Id take another look here and Im trying to justify all this crap people go threw that its worth it. Choices, Choices...

 

Wasn't Intel that stopped Dell supporting 9900KS in Area-51m

Intel let you get 2 gen Chips.

Asus and Azer went with AMD socket for a couple of their laptops. None was upgradeable due locked out firmware.

For me... 5 of Intels latest gen (K) chips if I include i9-9900KS
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/bga-venting-thread.798775/page-218#post-10916040

You mean you'll build an AMD system once DDR5 is out? If not I think you won't get so much fun out from AMD either.

 

Hello, great video but the temps he is showing in BF5 are not realistic to what my new system actually does. I just finished playing with bios 1.7.3 and 200W vbios and temps were good a 47ghz wiht only Phobya Nanogrease repaste and undervolt.CPU never exceeding 90C (he was at 46 in his video) and GPU never throttling (like in the video Mhz goes very low).
Yes this system is not perfect but i found it is very, very good for gaming.

If you decide to pull the trigger, just never, never, never reverts bios to 1.3.2. It breaks the CPU on reboot.
All you have to do is a simple repaste, undervolt and an awcc overclock to 78C and you are good to go for gaming with much better performance he is showing in his video.

 

Unless you really need a high end DTR laptop for some reason you'd be much better off avoiding laptops completely and putting the same money toward a monster desktop. There are just too many compromised options and nothing exceptional is available unless you settle for an EOL product. Everything Alienware offers is severely compromised (including desktops). If you're like me and travel frequently for business you can get a disposable turdbook that will let you play games. It does not take a ton of horsepower for that. A wimpy GPU like 2060 will crank out plenty of pixels at 1080p and spending more than $1000-1500 for a "gaming laptop" just doesn't make good sense.

 

Having multiple systems for different tasks is essential for me and I cant have 10 desktops sitting in a room as I dont have that kinda of space. Also as I have said before, Im a mobile enthusiast, I love laptops; their design, ease of use and space saving and mobility. If I was to get a desktop I would want an expensive custom water cooled build which I dont want to go down that route at this time, eventually. The argument about desktops and laptops isnt really relevant at this time for me.
I always have mutiple laptops for various tasks set up though. Business, work, gaming etc...It just makes it easier and more efficient to dedicate a system for a certain task in my workflow.

 

I've downgraded to 1.3.2 more than 7 times in the past 40 days testing different BIOSes.

A lot of things can go wrong either the steps were not followed 100% to the dot or you forgot to unblock the BIOS file after you downloaded it then went ahead and extracted it in the blocked status. See:

"Are you sure you want to run this file?" [Yes or No]

 

Yes, I understand. I was that same way for years and years. I love laptops, too. I just don't love the garbage options. As an enthusiast you can expect nothing but stupid bullcrap to deal with from all laptop manufacturers, especially those drinking the wee-wee flavored Micro$lop Kool-Aid and distributing their update filth through the UWP sewage system. Expect nothing less than an endless stream of silly nonsense, especially with cancer firmware and DCH driver crap The only thing that changes among brands and models is how badly you get screwed over when you "level up" to have what should be something better. That's why I advocate spending as little as possible getting something that will play games. The more expensive options are a truly horrible value and don't have any fewer compromises. Take your pick from any brand, the nonsense exists in every price range, so don't pay extra for it.

There are many people that call themselves high performance notebook enthusiasts that don't really know much. There are fewer that actually are enthusiasts. Among those that actually are, there is yet a smaller group that is pragmatic and unwilling to pretend the emperor is wearing a magnificent robe. If you're in that smaller group and find it difficult to settle for something less than what you want in spite of paying more so you can say that you own the best, you're going to be very disappointed and I hate to see that kind of thing happen to good people that deserve better.

 

Can anyone spend a few minutes and confirm if this is a proper workaround for the GPU thermal throttling or share if there is a easier workaround then reverting back to an old bios? The temp limit on the GPU workaround starts after minute 58.


or if this is another alternative, obviosuly I cant check myself as I have not the machine yet.

 

Yes 2080.
GTAV settings all max except MSAA 4X
NBA 2K20 settings all max.

I'll try to set the gpu temp limit to 87°C and see if it'll throttle

 

so far we are 3 people with new system that downgraded from 1.7.3 to 1.3.2. Two i can confirm (me and another one) had the CPU dying on reboot. The other one would not tell on the forum but he confirmed having learn the hard way that he should'nt dowgrade to 1.3.2.
When i received the laptop, it had 1.8.2 and i revert, no problems, to 1.7.3. I then followed the exact same procedure to downgrade to 1.3.2. I doubt i made a mistake.
You are on 1.5.0 bios i think. So for you to downgrade to 1.3.2 you don't need to use the usb procedure, is that right? The 1.5.0 doesn't require a special procedure to downgrade. Am i correct?

 

What is the reason for reverting the bios if you can manually raise the thermal limit on the GPU?

 

It does and BTW I did the downgrade on this Area-51m and the one I had a few months back. You guys are the only ones with this issue. Pure user error.

 

The GPU throttles at 79C stock. (in the video it thermal throttles to 300MHz really bad at 75c) i believe his LM repaste was bad.
Even if yo set the overclock at 87C, it will ligtly throttle at 79C.So temps won't go over 79c.
You have two options:
1-set overclock at 78C and wait for dell to release a better bios. It will still give you very good performance.@Biker Gremling explains it there: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-area-51m-undevor-and-overclock-guide.830857/
2-You set the temps Higher ( untill 87C if you wan't) and yo absolutly need to set the fan curve with HWinfo like it is showed in the video you just linked. For some reasons it bybass the thermal throttle. @Fire Tiger is the one who find out about this.

Did you downgrade from 1.7.3 to 1.3.2?
I don't doubt you have had success doing many downgrade but i find it very improbable that three users just made the same mistake error in a short period of time. Also considering we did not make the mistake from 1.8.2 to 1.7.3

I still have the usb key with the files if you wan't to take a look at it. Me i don't have the knowledge that you have with windows. Maybe you would see an error, i did not.

 

I will receive my Alienware the next days.
I don’t want to downgrade to bios 1.5 (want to use gsync and use the hwinfo bypass)

Which vbios should I use und how to downgrade the vbios only?

 

It will come with the 180w vBIOS, and if your not going to downgrade your BIOS to 1.5.0 then you might as well leave it alone. If you flash the vBIOS back to 200w it will generate more heat and hit the throttle point faster and easier.

 

I know that it will produce more heat, but if I use hwinfo to bypass it I don’t see the problem
Is there a link for the vbios downgrade?

 

There is no process for vBIOS downgrade/upgrade. You just run the file. However, as @MogRules has pointed out, you'll receive the 180w version which is the lowest.

 

I know that it’s the 180w version. I’d like to test the 200W version in comparison to the 180w version.
Is it only a simple installation of the vbios with the file?

 

Rolling back has the original GPU thermal limit of 87c, so you don't need to manually mess with thermal limits. Leaving it on any BIOS after 1.5.0 means you have to manually add a higher GPU thermal limit using something like AWCC or Asus GPU Tweak, this allows you to lift the limit to around 78c. Anything higher will cause you to experience an aggressive throttle where GPU clock speeds will drop to 300-500mhz until the GPU hits 50c, then it will ramp up again. Setting it to 77-78c will only incur a soft throttle.

Yip, nothing else to it.

 

This made me lol. A good way to start the day.

 

They did a refresh in less then a year with the M15/17 with nothing new released. If going to soldered ram could be considered a refresh...interesting now that I think about it. Clearly the market has gone to light and thin, they moved awfully fast to "improve"(cooling) and cost cut(ram) when they wanted to...

Gives credence perhaps to the corporate lack of interest in the 51m theory.

 

nVIDIA GeForce Driver v445.87

 

I think you sort of answered your own question there.... the A51M is aimed at a very select group - those who can afford it, and wish for power first over price and portability and its not going to ge refreshed as fast due to its heavier power up front and to help move enough units to recover development costs, clear inventory, etc. Some of those fast refreshes also occur to cover up technical issues. In the case of the A51M I think Azor leaving is perhaps throwing things into chaos a bit. The A51M could have been a phenomenal star to draw people in the way say a Supra did for Toyota general sales - it creates a halo effect. The power-draw burn-up issue due to not enough rigorous testing or engineering undermined it. Now they have a lot of potential stock, but OTOH, they seem to have done a revision to the m/b with the later RAM. I am very curious of these revised boards have the same issues or not. The problem with "light and thin" is you must sacrifice power or live with insane heat - the AW M15 I had in my possession ran at a crispy 90'c most of the time, and I wasn't even benchmarking or stress testing. That just shows the limitations for cost to go to "light and thin". Honestly, hefting the A51M around with backpack is no big deal. Its always funny to see the looks on the TSA agents when they see you pull it out and it almost won't fit in a bin...

 

That was get the design theme across the board the same pretty much. This makes their portfolio of peripherals and machines match. AW has always been about uniformity among products. Generally in the past AW has been late to the game with new cpu/gpu releases and new machine. Sometimes 6 months or more later than other oems. That's why this last m15/17r2 was so quick simply a design refresh for aesthetics of their equipment.

 

One other thought on my prior post - I am thinking the rumored BIOS update to allow for higher temps might be more possible to achieve 2 goals:

- Reduce down the inevitable wave of criticisms that might follow a revised board capable of better clocks vs. the original revision (not to mention memory) on marketed R1.

- Prepare for possibly replacing some older systems m/b's if they continue to have issues after a BIOS allowing better performance.

 

So i wanted to know it there was a real benefit to use Vbios 200W vs 180W in terms of performance. Considering i am now able to bybass the terrible thermal Throttle with bios 1.7.3, i compared both Vbios at 81C Max.
Then i decided to test the 200w Vbios at 87C max (again bybassing thermal throttle)
Here are the results:

180w vbios, no thermal trhottling, overclock at 81C.





Now,below, the 200w Vbios same settings



And finally
200w Vbios, 87C overclock and again no thermal throttling.


My conclusion is:
1-Vbios 200w shows almost no improvement over the 180w vbios in heaven benchmark.
2-87C overclock shows no improvment over 81C overclock for clock speed and performance. Worst... it makes the CPU runs hotter (and the GPU) because of the shared heatsink.

I have also tested in firestrike and both Vbios gave me about the same results. A 300 points more for the 200w vbios so not a real improvment. 24 000 combined with 29 000 graphics.

I did not test during gaming and there might be a difference, i don't know, but for me now i will stick to 180w Vbios.
This is my conclusion only for the 1.7.3 bios combined with the Vbios and it's probably diffenrent for those running 1.5.0 bios.

 

Unfortunately, it was also a significant internal design downgrade (soldered RAM&WiFi, inverted mobo). A nonsensical tradeoff from where I stand, and it did not have to be a tradeoff at all. BTW From what we can gather Azor was unlikely to be involved in the development of the bastardised m15/m17 - this is perhaps a reasonable indication of the ungodly mess at Alienware around the time of his departure. It could also mean that his replacement had already been lined up and the dumbing down of m15 R2 was related to the impending change of management - AFAIR Acer Predator Triton 500 also has this inverted mobo and partially soldered RAM. Hopefully we won't have to start calling Alienware Acerware!

 

Thats known, but the refresh was mainly for uniformity which brings back around to we haven't had anything for the 51m to refresh to yet. Now that new CPU's are out and later GPU's. There will be a refresh the question is will they do it soon with CPU and possibly super GPU, will they refresh CPU/MB and refresh with GPU when 3xxx hits or lastly refresh later this year at one time. I have seen all 3 scenarios happen with AW in the past.

 

My money is on them waiting for a full on refresh to highlight the GPU's and help put more time between the issues of the R1 and and R2, while letting a buffer "wave" of revision 1 motherboards with a bit better performance/clocking appear.

 

Great comparison, I can tell you virtually no difference in performance. Reality is the 180 performs better simply because it help[s the cpu run cooler as well.

 

You say it right. Also just tested in game (BF5) exact same FPS exept it runs cooler. 100+ to 144 FPS in BF5 Ultra settings and running cool. Greatest laptop i ever own

 

What nVIDIA Driver did you use for those tests?


@Prema @Mr. Fox @iunlock

What is this feature do exactly and is it recommended to enable or disable it?

 

It's basically a lookup table for windows to check/verify if certain security mitigations are installed. It checks in the bios if the fmags are enbaled. That way it will know if it needs to enable, disable, or de-feature certain security features based on the presence of the SMM Protections Flags. It was implemented to better support Virtualization-based Security features.

So basically an integrity check for if there is an mitigation installed. And depending on the mitigiation it will enable/disable, defeature certain security features you can use within a VM operating system or Windows.

Edit: you can disable it if you want. It's more for the hardcore VM people that care about security. Or a VM operating system that cares about which mitigation is installed for it's security featues.

 

Same results for me when I tested awhile back. Yes it's less power but you really don't lose much in terms of performance. I presume if your pushing for the high scores on the bench charts then maybe the 200w might make sense, but overall the 180w isn't a bad vBIOS, they just need to solve the throttling with the GPU temps for folks with that issue.

 

but isn't the GPU throttling because of the BIOS and NOT actually the VBIOS? correct me if I'm wrong.

I mean if one runs the 1.5.0 BIOS with the 180W VBIOS he wouldn't have throttling above 79C even without any tweaks right?

 

1-You are absoluytly right. CPU is throttling because of bios above 1.5.0.

2- you are partialy right for the second question. Bios 1.5.0 will probably throttle above 87C by default. but i cannot confirm but that is most probable. Bios above 1.5.0 will throttle at 75C if you don't overclock with alienware command center at 78C wich means it will now throttle at 79C. BUT.........you can bybass this thermal throttle by using hwinfo to conrtol the fan speed and now there is no more temps protection that make the GPU to throttle.

To resume:
1- 75C Ligh throttle (3 to 500 MHz drop) if you do nothig. Stock system
BAD thermal throttle (MHz drops to 300 and FPS very bad)= NO cannot happened

2-79C Light throttle if you set AWCC overclock GPU at 78C (just before it starts to babdly thermal throttle)
BAD thermal throttle (MHz drops to 300 and FPS very bad)= NO cannot happened

3- 87C Light throttle if you use HWINFO fan to bybass AWCC fan curve.
BAD thermal throttle (MHz drops to 300 and FPS very bad)= NO cannot happened

The only way to reproduce BAD thermal throttle with bios 1.7.3 is: Set AWCC 79C or more and do not use HWINFO for the fan curve.

445.75

 

nVIDIA GeForce Driver v445.87

 

Since you're not a muppet, you're gonna want to kill that System Management Mode (SMM) cancer s... feces. Right now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Management_Mode

SMM is a special-purpose operating mode provided for handling system-wide functions like power management, system hardware control, or proprietary OEM designed code. It is intended for use only by system firmware, not by applications software or general-purpose systems software. The main benefit of SMM is that it offers a distinct and easily isolated processor environment that operates transparently to the operating system or executive and software applications.

In order to achieve transparency, SMM imposes certain rules. The SMM can only be entered through SMI (System Management Interrupt). The processor executes the SMM code in a separate address space that has to be made inaccessible to other operating modes of the CPU by the firmware.​

Think about who made your laptop and then ask yourself if you really want them deciding how it behaves. It's one thing to hide BIOS menus that deprive you of the ability to make your own decisions, and quite another to inject their "special" proprietary filth of undisclosed purpose into the mix.

Among other very nasty and nefarious things it can be used for surveillance by Dell and/or NSA crap ( Dell DietyBounce).

Edit: while your at it, also disable that TPM piece of crap on the same menu.

 

I also disabled Intel Software Guard Extension. I never faced any issues myself although I recall one d00d on the Intel forum said that if he has it he was not able to play a DVD, I don't know what would a DVD player app have to do with this.

Also see:

SGX: the good, the bad and the downright ugly

 

SGX being enabled also disables undervolting with newer Intel MicroCode cancer. This is already taking place on a number of laptops. Plundervolt Intel microcode update potentially killing undervolting for security?

 

Hello,

I'm a bit behind (more like a lot) with this thread, so quick question.

Is the new 1.9.3 bios better? I'm still running 1.5.0 to stay away from the temp limits and I don't really have any issues. Any good reason to upgrade?

Thanks

 

Nope its the same as pretty much every other BIOS post 1.5.0. Best staying where you are if you're avoiding the GPU thermal limit issue.

 

sorry if i missed this, has plundervolt been added to area51m bios?

 

Its not hit us....yet. Hopefully it won't, however, the latest BIOS didn't include any vulnerability updates.

 

Im still deciding on if I want to pull the trigger. What are peoples overall impressions of build quality. If a casual modder takes good care of this machine what are the chances of items failing or bricking the machine. . As in someone that just uses software to control temps etc... no real dismantling/modding with re-pastes/deliding/modifying of the machine. Thanks guys.

I am still trying to decide between GE66 and this. Im hearing news that the new 10th gen processors are going to have plundervolt added into the bios of the manufactures. I think im going to have to get both, but my desk is already full of new laptops Such hard problems to overcome

 

I done no modding whatsoever before getting mine. It was this thread that got me messing with overclocking and undervolting. I'm brand new to the whole thing.

I also built up the courage to carry out a repaste (my first ever), it was straightforward enough and I think if I can manage it anyone can.

Personally for me build quality etc. is great.

 

Thanks for your response. I am having nightmares from my last laptop, its in the repair depot atm, my third time since getting it. Two motherboards bricked, the last one happened a few hours after I got the laptop back from being at the depot for a month and a half. Never had problems with any of my machines before this pos, not alenware, diff brand.

Hmmm...I have done a few repastes though and such. More software on my side, but thats been some time ago. I used to be OCD with software, I was like a nut on drugs except my drugs were building websites, software, running servers etc... i have since changed a bit, maybee one day i will become the nut that I used to be. Scouring random software with dozens of layers trying to find different settings etc...Guess I had more time back then, its nice sometimes in life to be able to just have all the freetime you could ever want.

 

It's still Alienware, it's still solid, but you can see where the need to make machines smaller has crept in. There is a bit more plastic on the front grills and they are pretty squishy. The keyboard in this model is my favorite yet, although apparently the keyboard on the 17/15R2 series is better according to some, I have yet to try it. Machine is pretty easy to work on ( for me anyways ) should I need to. Temps are excellent in my case, especially on the CPU which I never have to worry about. Some people are heavily affected by the GPU throttling that kicks in past 79c, but I never get to that point so I don't see it and have had no reason to complain. They are supposedly working on increasing the limit for this, but I wouldn't buy the laptop expecting that right now, wait for it to drop if your concerned about this particular aspect. If you are not going to OC and push everything to the max you will probably be fine, and not be affected as long as your unit has a decent heatsink from factory. Less overall heat issues with this model, but it's clear from some people's temps that the quality on the heatsinks, while better due to the return to full 4 point mounting, may still suffer a bit. Both of my A51m's have good temps on the 9900k unless I go pushing into OC territory, but at stock they run very cool IMO, 65-75c under load.

Impossible to estimate. You could take amazing care of your machine and some random part could still fail. Best bet is to get as much warranty as you can afford or are comfortable with. I have used it to many times TBH, but it has saved my butt as well so that's why I say go for it. If you never use it great, but if you need a new motherboard then it just paid for itself. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that most gaming laptops last for years as long as they are taken care of.

I did have some minor issues with mine. The speakers make a kind of popping sound sometimes, I have a spare set I just have not swapped them over yet to see if it helps. The stock blue color on two of my LED's is off, so the colors won't be the exact same on my lid vs the keyboard, so I just turn them red instead which works fine, as do most of the other colors. This could be an issue with the AlienFX controller itself which is on the board. My 17R4 also had this issue, it's been a bug in the ointment for more then a few people for multiple generations, but it isn't wide spread.