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

Kind of a small thing but i really wish there was a keyboard shortcut or programmable macro function to switch between AWCC fan presets.


Personally not very excited about the R2. No interest in trying to get back most of the money spent on this R1 only to give Dell thousands of more dollars for a revised model. I'll stick with the one I've got. Maybe if they had a trade-in/step up program but lol it's Dell.

 

Yeah lol... I’ll be in the market for the 3080 GPU later if anything! If we cannot upgrade to the 2080 Super on the R1, that will tell me that it won’t happen with the 3080 either and I’ll be looking elsewhere. First and last AW laptop for me I think.

Sad how life turns out this way... when I was a kid/teen I always yearned for an AW monster laptop. Now 30 years old and with the means to get one, I got one and it lived up to ~80% of expectations, with some sour disappointments mixed in there, unfortunately.

 

Ima east coast guy...and this has been devastating. We have lost friends..

And now with the premature reopenings we can look forward to lots of people from out of state flocking to the beaches. Guaranteeing a 2nd and 3rd wave

 

Okay turns out MSI Afterburner and Alienware Graphics Amplifier DO NOT LIKE EACH OTHER. Uninstalled and ran time-spy: https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/46714723?

I'm getting like 80% better performance for AGA vs USB-C eGPU.

 

Sorry to hear about your loss. Unfortunately we're already seeing the results of reopening in countries like China and South Korea, only a matter of time before we get new clusters here too.

 

When I had an AGA I had the exact same question. I had to contact Alienware Support on Twitter and they hooked me up with the right driver.

 

OK -

I had my order in for the AW 34" monitor but just CANCELLED that order and picked up a C9 OLED LG TV with GSYNC! I've been doing a TON of research and the LG is WAY better especially with HDMI 2.1, basically future proof running 4k @ 120hz and OLED with real HDR.

Ridiculous! Basically only a couple hundred more than the AW34DW model.

Its going to punish my 2080RTX and 9900k.

I really think that the 48" new LG CX is going to crap on every high end monitor IMOP. I just couldn't pass up on a deal for the C9 55", my new gaming monitor.

 

Is this a 4K 100 Hz G-Sync TV ?
Jeez, did not hear about that.
Indeed, it's not as expensive as I'd have expected it!

 

Good for you - its a bit big unless you're going to sit way back so its not really a good office comparison. I did notice it literally fell almost to half price, guess a new unit is coming?

 

Just watch for burn in. Bottom of the screen and your icons.

I have seen it. Not pretty.

 

I also have an LG B9 65 inch. It’s 120 Hz, Gsync compatible (so software based), and the HDMI 2.1 means it actually supports 4K 120 FPS. The limiter here is our Area-51m that doesn’t have HDMI 2.1 though. You’ll have to use the DisplayPort for that resolution & FPS, FYI

I don’t use it as a monitor because of that (plus it’s my houses TV). Have you tried doing the pixel refreshes/cycles? There’s an inbuilt tool that will jog the pixels to reduce risk of burn in.

Also, it has a “static logo” protection (I turned it on since day 1), where it lowers intensity of static images on screen (like the task bar and/or task bar icons/start button).

Try both!

Dunno if your post was precautionary and you don’t own an LG 9-series OLED, but they’ve gotten really good about burn in with the above solutions/precautions.

Unless you actually display something static, 24 hours a day, burn in has been a non issue pretty much since the 8-series.

 

Its a concern I think more for productivity. MY AW 13 R3 has had the same screen since I got it in late 2016, no burn in to speak of and it has hundreds of hours on it. It did finally need one notch up for brightness though : /

 

CX's are right around the corner, yes!

Edit: they’re actually released I think!

And yes. LG C or B series 9 already destroys every other screen out there. And the X will just build on that success with even better features. LG is destroying the OLED market, super reasonable prices for AMAZING quality.

 

Problem is though is that the CX does not support 2.1 HDMI, only C9 does - look it up, big controversy right now with LG and that issue so if you can swipe a deal on a C9 as a monitor you are good for a few years to come.

I mean, even AW sells their 55" oled for fatcat cash. I picked this monitor up for basically less than MSRP of the 34" AWDW.

I'm gonna sit 4-5 feet away on my recliner with the corsair lapboard.

 

WHAAAAAATTTT NO 2.1??? LG is making a HUUUUGE mistake. They could be taking the gaming monitor/gaming TV market by storm. Wow. Idiots.

Not only for PCs, imagine all the PS5 / Xbox Series X potential customers that will turn away from LG CX's because of that...??? Otherwise any serious gamer would pick one up.

 

Well the LG OLED 55 C9's price is very low here in France. It can be found around 1300 €
Is that a good deal ?

 

Very good deal. You won’t regret it if you want to upgrade your TV/gaming experience. Go see it in person, it’ll blow you away.

 

Haha, I got a LG HU85LS so no upgrades are in sight for the TV side.
But for gaming, I don't have a monitor anymore. It might be a good option. However, I'm worried about the 4K resolution. Is there a way to display my laptop content in a lower resolution and benefit from the TV ability to "AI upscale in 4K"?
Cause you know, 4K gaming even with a RTX 2080 is often below 60 fps.

 

Just read up on this, lame! They will do 40 Gbps max instead of the HDMI 2.1 spec of 48 Gbps. It’ll be “ok”, but they’re stupid for not leaving the bandwidth maxed. Apparently, they argue there isn’t content out there currently that needs it. Ha ha! Oh, but there is (on PC) and WILL be (on next gen consoles).

Hmm, the AI up scaling might make it look ok, but at the expense of response time. It likely won’t be good for gaming, but I’m speculating. I don’t know how much input lag that could add. Also, why not run things in 1440P? Or 1080P with some good AA? You’ll be a few feet away from the screen, right???? Hahaha don’t want you to go blind man.

 

Well, I'm always worried about using a monitor (or TV) at a lower resolution it was built for. I mean, let's take two 27" monitors. The first one is 4K and the other one is QHD.
If I set both to display my game in QHD, I would think the QHD native monitor will look better. Am I wrong here ?
Otherwise, I might reconsider those 4K gaming monitors too !

 

Hmm, there will be some pixel interpolation for sure, but I think you’d have a tough time telling them apart from a certain distance.

1080P to 4K it’s easy, because each 1080P pixel turns into 4 4K pixels, but you bring up a good point. I don’t know for sure. Google it?

Edit: look:

 

Thank you !
Yeah, I might deep into it a bit more.
As for monitors, those seem pretty awesome regarding the specs (color accuracy, max brightness), they even offer 4K 144 Hz or QHD 240 Hz !
Price is also decent, the only downside is you gotta "preorder" for an estimated launch on Q4 2020.

 

As with everything it all depends on what you’re after (resolution/quality vs FPS), but 1440P will still look mighty fine on a 4K monitor.

Only game I play on my TV is Assetto Corsa in 4K all ultra and I get 144 FPS locked.

 

How do I prevent AWCC from auto downloading the upgrade upon startup, everything is working fine i dont want it to mess all my stuff up by dl crap i dont need?

edit: Found it, https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/cccvu3/awcc/

People say there still having troubles with it even after blocking AWCC from auto updating using the windows firewall...

 

If its the Alienware update app, you can either uninstall it or set the service to manual or disabled.

 

what update app, sorry im naive I have not seen anything about an update app...everything has worked perfect so far i dont want my machine to start throwing all this crap update sht at me and break all my ability to tweak it. I see it now...

While I dont see any alienware update service, there are two other services that look like I could disable them in services. There is a Alienware digital delivery service whch in description says it downloads and installs applications that you have purchased with the computer, should i disable that service?

I also put this heatsink on my NVMe 970 evo drive https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074Y5DZ4N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1, im thinking that wasnt such a good idea.

edit: I was going to try taking off the heat sink from the NVMe drive but I decided to test it tonight and I think its actually doing what was intended. I was worried that the heatsink was actually exacerbating the situation with heat but I think its helping now. Idle the drive sits at 45 and after 5 hours of gaming checking evey so often the drive seems to stay at 55C.

 

I misread your post you can ignore my advice if you do not have any application called Alienware Update.

 

I always temporarily pause updates for maximum possible period just like 99% of Windows 10 users.

You might have not known or tried Microsoft's own application Wushowhide, which prevents automatic installation of unwanted drivers and applications, including their updates and apps./updates from Windows Store.

Before AND after manually updating Windows by clicking on WIndows Update, Wushowhide needs to be re-checked or re-armed for stuff that you do not want to have installed.

It is a simple and effective way it seems ....



Below is list of stuff that would NORMALLY have installed automatically and mess up my laptop's functionality.



I am sure I just wrote above what you already know but just in case ...

 

I hadn’t! That’s great! I missed that.

 

TY @Spartan

 

LTSC with WUB/ESO is a must if you don't want resources wasted on pointless drivers and background services. It very much ticks my min/max niche

ESO - Easy Service Optimizer
https://www.sordum.org/downloads/?easy-service-optimizer
WUB - Windows Update Blocker
https://www.sordum.org/9470/windows-update-blocker-v1-5/
OOSU10
https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

 

@jc_denton Awesome, THX.

 

I tested the Adata Hunter 3000mhz today, still running on 2400mhz

 

Well I’m glad I settled on a set of gskill 3200’s instead of jumping through the hoops to get those Adata sticks here in the U.S. I bought a sodimm to dimm adaptor and plan to flash the gskills with the Dell factory adata specs with thaiphoon burner as soon as it arrives. If any of you have the spd file for the 2933 ram already and could post it here that would be a huge help.

 

Today’s the big day——May 13th! Let’s hear the big news!!

 

For the people bashing on LG that the cx series does not support 2.1 hdmi. It does support 2.1 but just not the complete bandwith that the C9 comes with. If you actually read up on it the display itself won't be capable of the full bandwith so consumers will never notice it. I have a E9 and god i love the screen. Use gamestream to game on it and in game mode i barely notice any input lag.

 

The R2 just got announced btw. So far i can see the only difference is the 10k processor and 2080 super. No mention of it being backward compatible (gpu) with R1

https://www.cnet.com/news/alienware...phics-to-area-51m-m15-and-m17-gaming-laptops/

Just noticed the 4k and 300hz (1080p) screens >_>

 

Sorry to disappoint but the R2 Super GPU is NOT compatible with R1.

https://www.laptopmag.com/news/alienware-area-51m-refreshed-intel-10th-gen-and-nvidia-super

 

I did not expect it to be honest. My 2080 is fine and when i need something more i'll just put the aga on my desk

 

i'm guessing dell learned their mistake for placing the super hot VRM modules under the GPU and not actively cooled which is why it's not compatible with R1.

 

We will know when someone opens one up. I do think dell could have made it work but just don't care about it.

Can i have a AGA with legend design now please?!

 

Why am I not surprised? Any laptop upgrade promises are pure BS. We saw promises from Clevo with their P870DM before which wasn't upgradeable from the GTX 9XX series to the 10xx series. Now Dell follows:

The Alienware Area-51m’s upgradable dream has failed in just one year

 

Eh I knew deep down inside it wouldn't be "upgradeable". Still more a great machine and if I need more thsn the 2080 the 51m sits on my desk most of the time anyway ill use the AGA. I have learned a longtime ago not to trust ANY manufacturer on sales gimmicks and false promises. Ill use this one till my 4 year warranty is up and move on to new ventures that probably wont include Alienware. I have given them enough $ over the years.

 

I felt the same way, doubting that I would ever be able to upgrade this laptop with an actually 10 series CPU or next gen video when i bought it. However this isn't completely Dell's fault. Intel changed the socket on then 10 CPU to a 2066 designation as far as I know. Even desktop users will have to replace their motherboards to use the new processors.

 

That's some next level bait and switch shenanigans. It's not like 2080S is a different architecture or process, it's the same TU104 die with an additional 128 CUDA cores and slightly faster GDDR6.
It's still using the same DGFF, so the form factor remains the same and will physically fit into the R1, but will likely be firmware locked out.
Same thing happened with the 9900KS, it's still LGA1151 but for some reason not officially supported by Dellaware in 51M and locked to ~131W.

What's the point of having an upgradable DTR when the only upgradepath is down?

 

Shame there's no AMD version. I'd love to have one with a 3700X or something similar in case it can work with a single 330W adapter (of course, not with the 2080 Super's 250W TDP; some weaker model would do).

Lugging around a relatively heavy laptop with a heavy adapter I'm OK with (I have an Alienware 17 R4), but I draw a line at having to carry another power adapter.

The TDP of these Intel things is unacceptable, IMHO. It will either throttle down a lot or be very noisy or both.

 

Shaaame.

This site shows the entire options list:

https://wccftech.com/alienware-area...rade-cpus-gpus/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

 

The fun part. The Alienware BGA brothers will now replace Area-51m with ram specs below Intel's specs 2666MHz is so 2012


No 1440p screen optioons this time either. And the cherry on top.... They reintroduced the SD card reader you can find in all normal notebooks the last decade (Exactly as I expected). As a golden carrot so you feel you get an reason to upgrade up from R1 to R2, LOOL

Double screwed!

 

The irony of adding 12-phase GPU VRMs onto the 2080S and then locking it out of R1. As it will make the VRM run much cooler, since the more phases you add, the cooler each phase runs.
It's not like R1 couldn't use non exploding 2080s... I don't even own a 51M and this makes me disgusted.

 

Add 12 phase GPU VRMs doesn't help much if they go chepo on the components. If it works out better... Maybe the Area-51m R1 owners will get an later unwanted surprise. In a coming firmware update.