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

You will get different responses based on experience like any forum. That being said, often the worst cases come to them usually so its hard to judge. My personal take and what keeps me with Dell over the others is its like buying a sports car; its cantankerous, questionably engineered sometimes, and sexy. You are likely to get an "average" unit, which means its pretty well built, but might have one or two "quirks" that are usually easy to fix (bad keyboard, pixels, broken pieces). A few will have the typical serious problems (happens with sports cars like Porsche too). My personal opinion is Dell is upper-average for performance and build; what they have in their favor is their support arm and willingness to go onsite so I can observe the repairs instead of a depot. So far I have had no issues, I bought mine from Microcenter in Marietta GA at Thanksgiving 2019, and its survived two trips out of town including flying and through security in La Guardia in NYC. The good thing is Dell generally though it maybe a fight at times, will stand by the product for repairs and come to your home outside of the Corona period. I have had them literally replace a m/b in an AW 13 R3 in the lobby of a hotel while on a business trip. A 9700K+2070 is rock solid and the cooling is more than enough; going to a 9900K, a notoriously hot chip, or a 2080 your moving in the zone where thermals become an issue...

If you do light modding it will be fine in most cases, just follow the advice of the gurus on here. Some folks date back to when I first got an AW laptop in 2010 and I have never been steered wrong here.

A small note, the A51M supports the Alienware Graphics Amplifier ie external GPU enclosure but it only works to support an external monitor unlike most of the other units; my beloved AW 13 R3 runs the internal monitor using it just fine, its a major annoyance to me the A51M doesn't. Also, not all white units have issues with discoloration, so far mine shows no issues, and if you travel I highly recommend the custom backpack from Dell made for it, its very well made and won't scratch the unit and has loads of space. I easily could carry my AW 13 R3 in it alongside my A51M and have room for another 17" laptop easily.

 

Yes I have this problem as well, very annoying. I am a few pages behind in this forum. I hope some has posted a suggestion to troubleshoot this issue. I hope to get caught up today.

 

@Dbentt

Try this and see if it helps:

 

No other OEM comes close to the fit/finish and build quality.

 

I think if one needs *convincing* to buy a laptop/brand, he should not. He has to want it. There are enough reviews, posts, how-to's on this forum yet it is so hard for him to grasp the idea that this is the best laptop at the moment (overall), as in, in terms of keyboard, aesthetic, specs, screen, support and warranty. Sure there are the mightier Clevo's or MSI's but each have their own issues as well.

 

This might be it - I know I changed this some time ago and have not had a problem since (knock on wood).

 

Anyone know why my games are not running good fps area 51m for example minecraft runs at 40fps assasins creed origins 75 fps call of duty 65fps. Anyone else having issues? Also I have the oculus quest and the new half-life game is super choppy using sidequest program to run steam vr. Mayne 25fps-30fps
I7 9700k 4.9
Rtx2080
48gb vengeance ram
2 256gb m.2
5
1tb had

 

Hap

Happened to me once, discovered that the laptop detects only one adapter.

 

What did you do to fix it Nvidia settings

 

First, make sure you have both power adapters connected then:

Right click on your desktop then choose nVIDIA Control Panel. Go to Manage 3D Settings from the left pane, then scroll down a bit until you see power management. If you see it's set to OPTIMAL which is the default setting when you install a driver. That's your issue.

Optimal Power means when there is no draw on the screen, the GPU clock speeds is set 0 MHz to save power and then ramps up once it needs to. Sounds great on paper, works like crap. This is the number one reason why anyone might experience crappy performance from their nVIDIA GPU. What's worse, is that's the default setting in the nVIDIA Control Panel after you install a new driver often leading people to blame the driver for bad performance when it's just the fault of nVIDIA's clowns.

Set the power management to Adaptive which puts the GPU at lower clock speeds when no GPU intensive apps are in use and it would ramp the clocks up when needed. That actually works. It's the best balance between getting lower heat from the GPU and good performance in games.

When benchmarking, for the optimal results, it's best to set the power management to High Performance.

Mind you, after you change the power management to whatever you set it to, a reboot is mandatory for the new clocks to take effect.

Classical nVIDIA Swiss Cheese

 

Thank you ill try it

 

Decided to pull the trigger, guess im a new owner of an area51m lol...

 

Congratulations! Don't forget you have a warranty if it turns out you need it. I know you have the 2080, but I love mine even with just a 2070 in it.

 

Suppose to arrive 4/29, excited. I was an early adopter when alienware was its own company, so its been awhile. Still have my 766 sitting in the closet.

 

Hello everyone!

I bought this BEAST like you guys: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/gam...rationid=fa604eaa-f173-4dd9-a524-73851be5c8c5.

However, I have a HUGE problem and I trully need your help. I 've searched even in the dell fora and nobody knows what to do: whenever I open up a folder containing thumbnails (photos, videos, pdfs, excel/word files etc) the mouse cursor STUCKS until all thumbnails are cached and displayed or until I close the folder window.

Occasionally the mouse also STUCKS on its own (i.e. at web browsing, without having an open folder caching thumbnails), but this is more rear. The problem with thumbnails is permanent and persistant..

I hope our gurus here can help me out.

I don't know what to do...

Please, please help!

 

I got the cheap SSHD 1tb with my config, Im planning on adding a NVME. Anyone disagree with the Sabrent NVME 2TB over the samsung drives. Also, to start with I just want to migrate what is given by dell and test what they provide. Will there be a conflict with MBR and GPT when migrating the OS over to the new NVME? Thanks guys.

 

Hello and welcome to NBR! Here's how to fix this:

1) Download Winaero Tweaker

2) Right click on the zip file you just downloaded, go to properties, then look at the bottom, if it says this file was blocked because it was downloaded from the internet, click the UNBLOCK checkbox then hit APPLY to unblock it otherwise all the files you extract will have a blocked status.

To disable this automatic blocking of downloaded files from the internet so you don't have to unblock every file you download, check this guide:

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

3) Extract the ZIP file then run the file named: WinaeroTweaker-0.16.1.0-setup.exe

4) Once the app is installed, run it then in the top left where the search bar is, the thumbnail and follow the illustration below to Keep the thumbnail cache saved because Windows automatically deletes thumbnail cache which causes the thumbnails to load again every time you access a folder:



5) Once again, in the search bar, increase the cache size from 512 KB to 3072 KB or more then follow the illustration below to increase the cache size then hit enter and reboot when prompted:

 

i cloned the crappy hybrid drive to one of these XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB and it works just fine, i even added a 2tb of the same drive and no issues at all. im cooling both nvme using 2 of these Advancing Gene NVMe M.2 2280 SSD Heatsinks Cooler

 

I have 2 of the Sabrent NVME 1TB drives in mines and haven't had any issues with them.

 

thx for reply guys, good news then. When u cloned it sonic did you make it into GPT partitions or MRB.

Off topic but if anyone here is into FPS titles or gaming in general I have recently got the Razer Viper Ultimate(wireless) mouse in place of my G703 lightspeed and i noticed a better smoothness to it straight away. I did only get the mouse, no dock as I heard the dock doesn't last.

 

So new bios 1.9.3 still throttles when hitting 79°C up, if u leave the ACC thermal by default at 75°C no throttling happens it will only hit 74°C, and new bios also allows rollback to your previous bios version

 

How is this different then previous bios

 

I was on 1.5.0 before updating to 1.9.3, rollback to 1.5.0 again without needing usb to flash it

 

I was excited when I read your comment so I tried to roll back to 1.5.0 but got the usual message that downgrading is not possible so I had to do it through the recovery USB

 

Hhhmm I didn't downgrade mine using usb, there's an option "rollback bios" and then asking to confirm it and I did, and it rollback to 1.5.0 without USB

 

By default it will hit 75C max before throttling.

Edit: actually i just retested and you were correct. Defalut 74C max no throttling. Never reached 75C in hwinfo.

 

What AV / Internet Security do you all use? I had Eset Nod32 Internet Security but managed to lose my key when I did my latest re-install and didn't bother chasing it up, so I've reverted to using the Windows Security package. I know I'll likely get slaughtered for it but its been doing ok for me so far.

I was thinking of chasing up Eset to see if I can recover my key, not that there was much time left on it I don't think.

 

I don’t use any. I know where I’m going and what I’m clicking on.

 

That was my thinking when I thought on just sticking with Windows Security. I'm rarely on many other sites outside this and YouTube. Mainly use the laptop for gaming.

 

I do, fairly frequently. My cpap data is on one and I have some backups on others

 

Don't renew ESET. It has been having a lot of issues lately ranging from BSODs to slowing down Outlook mail or not even receiving mail in Outlook. I stopped using it since it has an HTTP scanner which is interfering with my VPN and makes it slower if it ever connects that is. I've tried them all, literally, each one has its own problems. VIPRE Antivirus is the only one out of the light AVs which does not have any issues, no toolbars, no extensions, no bloatware, just a fast file scanner!

Oh and I wouldn't touch Windows Defender with a 10 foot pole

AV-Comparatives Latest Performance Test results

 

When you say smoother, you mean on the mouse pad for resistance?

 

Are you using VIPRE just now bro?

 

yup

 

Confirmation that both drives fit with the advancing Gene heatsink... at last!!!

 

Cheers brother, going to check this out.

 

After you install it, go to settings, and choose Performance for the best performance

 

I currently have bios 1.5.0 and getting lite thermal throttling at 75C. This is a loss/drop in 1-250Mhz so its not significant in game which is why I haven't noticed it till now. The gpu does ramp back up to full speed again (stays at 1980Mhz OC with undervolt of 1012mv) and this cycle just continues. I rolled back to 1.5.0 from 1.8.1 not long after receiving the 51m. This should not be happening? Did the throttling issues from my rollback manage to not change when flashing to 1.5.0?

Playing lots of warzone and I have never seen a real drop in game (severe throttle). I lock in the FPS at 130... it does tend to drop here and there but mostly stays at 130 (limited through nvidia control panel). Afterburner is set to 2025MHz at +500 on memory. newest Nvidia drivers. CPU Is unrelative in this but I got her under control XTU (with a OC and U/V). For clarity on above my GPU does run at 2025 for a few seconds and then balances out and stays at 1980Mhz until temps hit 75. I noticed this in logs from GPUZ.

Command center is pretty much deactivated I use it for fan control and game at full. I have the thermal limit on GPU tab set to 79. My bios is still on 1.5.0 as I have everything turned off that would allow an update I believe. Is this normal or is something up. Everything I read says 1.5.0 should not be throttling at 75. Sorry if I'm wasting anyone's time if this has been addressed.

 

Try 1.3.2, it gave me 200 extra 3Dmarks over 1.5.0

 

Ugggg another flash. I can go directly now 1.5.0 to 1.3.2 right. Almost had a hearty last time... This should remove the thermal throttling I'm experiencing? I should be able to maintain temps with my undervolt on the gpu… don't know what it would peak at in game but I'm curious to find out. I bet it peaks around 78/79.

 

No, you still have to do it via the recovery USB and here's what I personally do.

1) Disable the Windows update service (for now so it won't auto update the BIOS)

2) Install 1.3.2 via the USB Flash Recovery

3) Install 1.3.2 again in Windows as you normally would.

4) Enter BIOS Reset BIOS to defaults, then save and exit

5) Enter BIOS again and set whatever options you want to set and most importantly, go to the Security tab then disable Firmware Capsule Updates

6) Re-enable the Windows update service, its default status is Manual not Automatic by the way.

The reason I do this double flash is because when I only did the USB Recovery method a few months back, I can't remember exactly but I had a weird bug that was fixded once I flash it again in the BIOS the normal method.

 

+2.5 years with Eset Nod 32. It just works in same way as my trusty laptop. Just set and forget As you know... Many run into issues with Windows updates as well. BSOD, can't be installed etc. But this doesn't apply all.

The Trend my friend... Just hope it won't reach Win Defender levels within your license reach end of life.



VIPRE Removal Tool 12.0.0.28

 

Have you not Outlook?

I just bought a 3 year / 1 PC license to give it another chance maybe they fixed it

 

I stopped renew Office when my wife was finished with her postgraduate. Won't pay $90 a year when I can do what's needed in the sky. But from what I remember I never run into the slow sirup or missing mails.

 

I need to be able to give you more rep points. 3 posts 3 awesome sets of Instructions with timely helpful info.

 

Thank you sir! And the guy never came back or cared to reply

 

Exactly, the logitech G703 with its new lightspeed sensor was great, i own a few G703 mouses, but I noticed a difference right away as far as precision in those tight spots where milliseconds and pixel by pixel accuracy are needed. It didnt take me but a few minutes to realize this was my new mouse for FPS.

 

Alienware Theme FTW!

 

Why not buy from ebay?
I bought 3 licenses after I got tired of using VLK key trick using KMS.
Outlook is still slower than Thunderbird & gets stuck almost every time.

 

link for the theme ?