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

Ah I see, otherwise you could confirm whether the cpu did in fact die due to downgrade, trying it in a different machine/mobo to see if it would post.
I've sent my 8086K and an older 9900K to hw heaven, so I known how much it sucks to break such a part.

 

Ok not sure to completely understant but on CPU-Z my replacment 9900k says revision R0

 

Sorry for your loss gentlemen, I should we all should agree we should at least add a disclaimer/warning on MOBO downgrade thread, god knows how many CPUs are blown.

What is the part that burn in CPU?

Ive good news everyone regarding vapor chamber, Ive contacted a seller in China who showed me evidences of Vapor chamber Heat Sink for Area51m. He's revising a new heat sink that has 2 vapor plates for both GPU and CPU. The results would be wonderful. In addition, he promised me no change of screw locations (drilling new holes on the motherboard is required).

He promised me to show me the final model in two weeks time.

Thanks all.

 

Just wait and see if other post what chips they have on the older bios v1.3.2

Some info about the topic...
No one knows yet just what impact the new R0 stepping of Intel's 9th Gen CPUs such as the Core i9-9900K, will offer, but one thing is sure - you will need to update your motherboard's BIOS to use them as not doing so will cause Windows 10 to crash.

However, having spoken to motherboard manufacturers MSI and Gigabyte about the issue, it isn't as bad as I'd feared. Unlike a generational update, where you may not even be able to get into a motherboard's EFI when using a new CPU and old motherboard BIOS, this time it looks like you'll be able to at least boot your PC and enter the EFI to update the BIOS with one of the new R0 CPU stepping-compatible versions.

Most likely all depends on how Dell have coded the firmware.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/antony...dows-10-without-new-bios-update/#268e8352127d

 

Great info.
Also considering that @Spartan (9700K)( R0 i guess), has been able to move back and forth from bios 1.3.2 to 1.8.1 makes me believe that bios 1.3.2 should support CPU R0. Stepping. What do you think?

 

Sounds interesting and will be an upgrade over solid copper, if done right. The leaked revision has a large 2-piece vapor chamber for the CPU.

 

Yep. 1.5.0 FTW...

 

Please let us knooooowww!!!

 

With pleasure my friend, I will surely post it here.

Also, I will test it with Liquid metal, a small gift for our spartan.

(i will remove it after wards hahaha)

 

Eh how to use those 2600Mhz ram chips on area51m?

 

They works, just at 2400

 

This Area51m is full of technical ingenious, the wrong way sometimes.

 

You can't because Dell teases customers by:

1) Putting faster RAM in a machine where it's not supported to make you keep that hope that maybe one day they will give us a new BIOS with support for faster RAM.

2) Tease us even more by making lower end machines like the XPS 15 and m15 run at 2666 MHz while the flagship can't.

Dell =

Spartan (GIVE ME A NEW BIOS NOW, AWOOO!, AWOOO!) =

 

Has anyone confirmed that's bought one of the newer revisions with the 2933? Mhz ram if it actually runs at that speed?

Just curious as I have seen them offering higher speed RAM the past couple of months, but I've not heard from a single person if they're actually running at those speeds.

 

Yeah, people out there have them running at that speed. Some people here have done the RAM flashing too IIRC and got it working. Requires BIOS 1.8.1+ and specific memory modules for it to work.

I’ll let others chime in, but that’s my understanding.

At one point I considered buying the specific RAM needed, but I’ll never go above BIOS 1.5.0 honestly, so I’d rather stay un-throttled, thank you very much!!!

 

Being 54, this hit home.... I am very sorry to hear that for him and his family.... these really are just expensive toys, nothing more.

 

Has anyone here used an Alienware Graphics Amplifier? What's the performance overhead? I am under the impression that you lose a lot less performance with the proprietary AW port because it runs on its own PCIE lanes instead of sharing a thunderbolt lane like generic enclosures do, is that true?

I was considering investing in one and a 3080ti when/if it comes out. Waiting for Dell to probably never make a 3080 for the A51m isn't too attractive of an idea and the additional cooling benefits and hub layout of the enclosure are also attractive prospects. But I'm not going to bother if I lose 30% of the GPU's power.

 

It's less, but the difference is way over stated, a few percent from what I recall reading. like 3-5% or so IIRC. I will tell you that even with a slight loss it beats the internal 2080 card output with just even a 1080 Ti, expect between a 15-30% improvement on frame rate depending on the game. Using a 2080 Ti even more, about 50% or more improvement.

It won't drive the internal monitor on the A51M compared to other AW laptops, a bitter loss, so its of meh value in many cases, but I guess as a part of a desktop replacement setup, it would be worthwhile. I have an EVGA 1080 Ti FTW3 card in mine that makes me leave the top tilted up like a hotrod, but it was amazing for a my AW 13 R3 and AW 15 with a 4K screen.... and using the laptop to do VR.

 

I've got three 1440p monitors that I use at my desk anyway so that's not a problem. Guess I'll look into it once the 3k line drops. Will save these Trump Bux for a 3080ti lol

 

If you are running 4K the performance loss is like 1-2%.

2560x1440 should be around 2-5%.

1080p around 5-10%.

This is assuming you are playing on the external display (in our case yes) and the games take advantage of the gpu power (not cpu limited).

https://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/21066998/fs/20640880

My Radeon VII performed very similarly in both desktop and my AMP.

A triple 1440p monitor setup should have almost no bottleneck besides the PCIe X4 lanes so probably around 1-3%.

I now run Titan Xp and 8-core xeon in the desktop but here's a comparison from my current desktop to a very old AW 13 R3 run I did with my Titan X (Pascal):

Stock (keep in mind Titan Xp is faster than Titan X (Pascal) by about 10%: https://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/13646020/fs/21575884

OC (the gap basically is closed): https://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/13653218/fs/21628074#

In other words, you have nothing to worry about.

 

With a 3080 Ti (or even 3080 presumably) paired with a 9900K it would do pretty well enough I would think.

Also don't limit yourself to buying from Dell, I bought mine straight off Amazon for like $179.00...

 

Thanks. Guess I know what I'll be doing later this year then lol

Yeah I'll either get one secondhand or buy from somewhere other than Dell's site. Probably do some modifications to the enclosure as well, heard it doesn't play nice with high profile gpu shrouds.

 

I've completely removed the top cover on mine. All I see is PSU and a GPU.

 

@Papusan Have you experience with MasterGel Maker?

 

Yees. It's my spare thermal paste. Shops in Norway offer MasterGel, Kryonaut and Noctua Nt-H1. Matergel is the best choice here. Soft paste and still won't pump out in the same way as Kryonaut. And nice to use if you test out the pressure/fits between heatsink and IHS. A good choice for those who don't want Liquid metal.

 

But how would you compare it with PHOBYA NanoGrease Extreme and GELID Extreme?

 

When did Bios 1.9.3 pop up?
Never mind its the one form 2 weeks ago.

Thats what 3 hours of MW will do to you...

 

Soft and thin paste will normally pump out faster. For longevity in laptops I would put my money on Phobya NanoGrease. But if you intend to use it in desktops with proper heatsink, this doesn’t matter much. All 3 is good enough if you don’t want liquid metal in your machine(desktop/notebook). And all 3 is better solutions than Kryonaut in notebooks with not the best heatsink quality/fits.

One thing which is good with MasterGel, it spreads well(good cover due the soft viscosity).

I'm sure you do
The BLACKLIST. Adjustable voltage control/turbo ratio limits are locked out thread continue grow with new models

 

Hello, when i start my laptop after 12h switched of i recive a blue screen with this message:reference_by_pointer this happend in last 3 days..who can help me? Thanks!

 

what bios you in? Im on 1.9.3 never had that.

 

Very informative post, so you rather have an external GPU in the long run with Area51m?

One more question regarding the graphic amplifier, do they plan to release a newer revision to compensate for the performance losses? Some can argue 5% loss is a big deal for them.

At last, I was asking a chinese seller who happened to get hold on Area51m R2 heat sinks, he showed me pictures unlike the ones in Baidu, and he wants to have 2 vapor chambers for the both GPU and CPU. I asked him if he can possibly make the vapor chamber 7mm thick (as far as I know the thickest available). He replied the Area51m back plate hinders the assembly.

If you have any input for the matter, please let me know as Im willingly to try it out on my dear unit.

Thansk Son Goku.

 

The AGA still outperforms traditional TB3 EGPU enclosures. Dont know that the tech for any of them will ever have them on par with real internal cards, but good options to have for upgrades later

 

That is a Driver error of some sort I believe, updated or changed any drivers lately? Are all your drivers up to date ? ….. had any HARD power off's of the laptop that could have corrupted windows files?

 

All drivers are installed, fresh windows 1 mounth ago, windows make some updates and i put latest bios 1.9.3

 

Eventually I think they will have too, but honestly this 5% is like a _max_ difference.... not downplaying it, but its not that big a difference. I'm kind of suprised they _haven't_ done it thus far, that unit is what, three years old now at least? That being said, I'd get one, then upgrade when the time comes they release one. Again, don't forget that it just doesn't work with the internal monitor unfortunately. The difference over even a 2080 with one is a no-brainer if your plan is to use it to drive an external monitor.

 

They need to increase the lanes to PCIe x8 to close the gap. Better yet, if the next gen platforms from Intel support PCIe 4.0 then a PCIe 4.0 x4 would be same as PCIe 3.0 x8.

As for the heatsinks, why not ask if we would be able to use the R2 heatsinks in R1?

I prefer Vegeta over Goku

 

The PCI x8 lanes will help or going to PCIE 4.0, but I think if people _think_ this is some kind of major issue they are mistaken, its on average maybe a 3% difference. They will eventually release a new model I think mainly due to the size issue that so many cards have and the BIOS eventually might not support 3xxx- series or higher. I mean for $179 on top of a decent graphic card, how could you go wrong? If I have any regret, its that with the A51M taking over for my main laptop currently, I just don't use it as much as before. Really pisses me that it can't work with the internal monitor >:/

 

Yeah the fact that is doesn't work with the internal monitor is a HUGE letdown and ultimately the reason I'll never purchase one.

May as well have a desktop if I'm going to have to use an external monitor anyways, right?

 

Interesting. Were you able to plug in the eGPU and just leave it? Was it straightforward to setup?

I’ve read things like, for example, people having to hotplug the eGPU after booting into Windows. And driver weirdness. But most of those posts seem to be in relation to boot camp.

 

Hi, how is the new Bios 1.9.3?

 

It works perfectly fine with Area-51m.

 

with the internal screen?

As mentioned by someone else... I was also SUPER let down when I knew that the AGA will only drive an external screen... might as well have a desktop. Same sentiments.

I wish it worked on the internal screen.

 

I know its probably been asked to death here but I will any way. When I get my new Area51m can anyone run me through what I should be looking for as far as quality control/Perormance/overclocking goes with the GPU/CPU/thermals/motherboard? What should my 2080 be overclocking to? What thermals should I be getting out of the box with the 9700/2080? Anything else anyone can think of would be great. Benchmark scores..., different benchmarks people use. I know the obvious ones like 3dmark and cinebench. Its kinda of hard to explain I guess, I have bought many dozens of laptops over the years but its been awhile since I dropped 3k$.

Basically whats your guys take on what I should do to determine that quality of my unit I receive, specifics. I know its a bit of silly question as I am an laptop enthusiast so it feels weird asking but if you guys/gals could indulge me a little.

ps: I currently use msi afterburner, throttlestop, 3dmark, Heaven benchmark, HWinfo, CPU/GPUZ, HWmonitor, the typical mainstream softwares that help with laptops/thermals/benchmarks.

 

Did you need to disable the internal dGPU or does it just work? Thanks!

 

Only external display. I find the build in RTX 2080 sufficient to play 1080p 144hz games fine.

I only recommend AMP if you have an external display. I play at 4K with a Titan Xp so for me it makes more sense.

It works. Both eGPU and dGPU will show up in device manager. Most games know to use the external GPU. You can disable the internal display so only external display is active and this should work for 99% cases. Worse case, you can disable the dGPU in device manager and the eGPU will work.

 

The use case case is simple: if you move around, you use the laptop screen and built in GPU. If you are at the desk, you want an external monitor (unless you don't have the desk space). It's a huge upgrade over tiny 15 or 17 inch screen and in that setting AGA makes perfect sense.

Of course you can go down the desktop route, but that's two systems if you still need the mobility. If you don't need a mobility at all, then I would question the laptop route.

 

The seller claims hes responsible for maching R2 Heatsinks, Hes planning to release a better sink with 2 vapor chambers for both GPU and CPU without changing the screw hole locations.

I will test it on my unit.

Regards,

Kakarotoo

 

Any idea on price?

 

The average price for Heat sink is around 200$, with vapor chamber it should be a little more

But, since the market is crazy nowadays, I wouldnt be surprised if it goes double that price or half of it.

 

Excellent, looking forward to the output keep us posted.