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

I placed order on january. was afraid I might kill 9900k

 

Yeah, I have warned about this. And more will come now as the model is passed 1 year. I wonder how many gamers/owners out there that "spent all money on the machine" and dropped extended warranty.

Thermal paste advice needed on AREA 51m

"Yeah my warranty is over. Don’t know what to do now. I might go for 2070 if I’m ever buying a new gpu module for this"

Of course the added new lower thermal temp trip point in newer firmware will save some soules from seeing their cards die too early. I'm sure the engineers saw this will come and hence saved a lot bucks on repairs within the obligatory warranty. As well will reduce cost on repains within any extended warranty.

 

Well, they'll soon be rushing about like little chickens with their heads cut off to be one of the first guinea pigs to buy the " newer and better" laptop garbage with refreshed GPUs that run slower than last gen.

Sucky "cutting edge" benchmark scores...
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Notebook refresh)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Notebook refresh)

Last generation CPU and GPU...
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Notebook)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 (Notebook)

Welcome to Twenty-First Century Tech
Newer ≤ Older | Newer ≠ Better

 

The future looks quite black bro Fox. Instead for making proper cooling they rather go for software/firmware tuning of performance. Damn disgusting!


Short Review: Nvidia Max-Q Dynamic Boost

Dynamic Boost can dynamically adjust thermal management between the CPU and the GPU. For example, the CPU’s thermal envelope can be reduced by 15 W if that additional power is required by the GPU.

And the <tech genie> Gordon Mah Ung at Pcworld say free performance Yeah, broken hardware design applauded by reviwers who can't grasp reality!!!!

The Dell G5 15 SE features Ryzen, Radeon and Smart Shift's 'free performance' pcworld.com by Gordon Mah Ung

 

You mean that shill that says whatever makes PCWorld the most money?
Then people follow "professional" advice and do this with their money.

 

Only cost him a buck.

 

First I thought it is about buying warranty till year 2070. 8loody spacecake _\|/_ LOL

 

They didn't soak long enough for all the bills to go down. But, if he wants try to retrieve what's left he has to get his hands dirty. Seems he's OK with that. I notice he didn't mind placing his hand on the rim. Hopefully, he washed up right away.

 

Only fools and gamblers run game laptops without warranties in my book.

 

With tools like Thaiphoon Burner. Simple explanation from Thaiphoon Burner's developer @TURBODUDE!!! http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ms-to-be-read-only.408349/page-4#post-5945583

 

I had the Basic option for the first year and extended / upgraded to Premium Plus for the second year (got the 'plus' for the accidental damage). I mainly did it because parts for this thing are so hard to find. Keeping some of the smaller parts off the market force people to get the warranties in my opinion. Like my ac adapter port is starting to wiggle, and I couldn't find the part anywhere.

 

Are later laptops just not reliable? Never had an issue w M15x R2 or M17x R4.

 

Running with scissors is also a huge no-no.

Seems like it. But, there has always been a certain degree of drama in Alienware threads. It used to mostly be related to the ham-fisted dolts working at the Dell Repair Depot tearing up somebody's $5000 monsterbook, sending it back with missing screws, scratched up or something broken that wasn't before. Or, some incompetent nitwit independent PC tech tearing something up at somebody's house. There were lots and lots of those stories... non-stop it seemed for a long time. That leads me to believe they've never been particularly reliable, but it does seem worse now.

 

I did notice when swapping my thermal pads and putting on proper thermal grease that one of the screws to the brand new GPU heatsink on the back was totally chewed up. I hope Dell does not then think I ham-fisted the laptop since it came new out of the box like that.

And of course the thermal pads were not on correctly coming from the factory. Hope the 8 year old that built this got beat that day.

 

5 year Accidental damage protection/premium plus warranty here.

 

I did the monthly subscription with my discount came out to 10$ a month for premium support, adding accidental cost an extra 10, which I didnt get. Why pay extra up front if you dont have to.

 

An update for anyone that might be experiencing the same problem. After everything else not working, I decided to reimage the OS. After a week of checking every day I was hopeful, but turns out the problem still exists. I woke up this morning and battery was at exactly 94%, again. 6% drain just like every other time. And on Sunday, just like clock work. Next drain event will occur next Wednesday and so on.

Next thing I'll try is a completely clean install of Windows. I might try the latest BIOS, first. What a pain in the A@@ this laptop has become.

And Tech support is both imcompetent and indifferent to my problem, so I'm on my own.

 

I had this as well, there was around 2-3% drain everytime I loaded up from a shutdown.

I did a re-install and since then its not been draining.

 

downgraded the unit from 1.9.x to 1.5.0, I do have CHEI monitor, G-SYnc seems not working (flickering).

Im reinstalling nvidia drivers.

I really thought I had bricked my laptop when it kept restarting for like 5-7 times after the bios updating especially when EC updating stays at 0%

 

G-Sync doesn't work on earlier BIOS with the Chi Mei panels. These panels were not part of the Dell inventory when the 1.5.0 BIOS was released.

 

I'm assuming Clean/Fresh install is the way to go. I'm just not looking forward to reinstalling all the drivers specific to this laptop, but thank goodness for Spartan providing a separate guide on clean install as well as the separate guide on specific Area 51m drivers and install order. I appreciate that he did that for people like myself!

One last query before I begin: Apparently, there's a "reset" feature that sounds exactly like a clean install of windows without having to create a USB. I found it here: https://www.dell.com/support/articl...tall-windows-10-on-your-dell-computer?lang=en

Instructions are:

1. Click Start , then type "reset."
   
2. Select Reset this PC (System Setting).
   
3. Under Reset this PC, select Get Started.
   
4. Select the option to Remove everything.
   
5. If you are keeping this computer, select Just remove my files. If you are recycling the computer, select Remove files and clean the drive.
   
6. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the reset process. This takes some time and your computer will restart.

I would use the recycle option "Remove files and clean the drive." The description from Dell states it removes everything including all Dell apps, etc. I'm wondering if it would be better to use that or just create a USB and follow Spartan's guide here http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/windows-10-clean-installation-guide.781178/
and here http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-area-51m-drivers.827895/#post-10876755

 

According to @Tim92 the Adata Hunter XPG ram does not work either. I'm certain at this point that the bios is hard coded to only accept the specific Adata ram that dell ships these laptops with. You should only need to reflash the bios if the laptop isn't running at the 2933mhz speed. For my particular case, I had to reflash the bios after installing the second ram module due to the pc reverting to 2400mhz after the second module was installed. after I reflashed the latest bios (1.9.3 at that time), it showed that the ram was running at 2933mhz

There was a post that I cannot seem to find now that indicated the G.Skill memory was guaranteed to not be speed write protected. I believe Hyper X is also not speed write protected. Ultimately I took a gamble to find out once the ram arrived and the G.Skill memory was indeed not speed write protected. You can also use Thaiphoon Burner to confirm if your ram is speed write protected or not by running the "Data Protection Check" option under the "EEPROM" drop down

For all those that are curious, I have been running several gaming benchmarks to see how much the 2933mhz ram seems to help FPS vs 2400mhz ram. My build is the 9900k 32gb ram with the 2080 GPU. For my testing I have compared bios 1.5.0 with G-Sync off, and bios 1.9.3 with G-Sync on. GPU settings were left at stock using the 1.0.0.3 200w vbios with the exception of thermal limit being set to 78c on the 1.9.3 bios and thermal limit set to 87c on 1.5.0 bios. I tested 3 CPU intensive games to include Battlefield 5, Shadows of the Tomb Raider, and Assassin's Creed Odyssey. The differences between the bioses and ram speeds indicated that the 1.9.3 bios with 2933mhz ram had a 4-5 average FPS increase versus the 1.5.0 bios with 2400mhz ram. The 2933mhz ram showed an even higher FPS impact when FPS was 100+ with around 10-15 FPS increases compared to the 2400mhz ram on the 1.5.0 bios. I ran these two bios comparisons due to other users indicating that 1.5.0 was the best bios performance wise compared to the latest bios now. These benchmarks seem to indicate the newer bios is best for performance so long as you have 2933mhz ram to take advantage of the higher FPS. The temperature limit on the GPU on bios 1.9.3 did not seem to impact performance as much as I thought it would. Prior to this testing the GPU and CPU was repasted with Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut which I am sure helped quite a bit. I should also mention I kept the fan profile set to "Balanced" in AWCC due to most users preferring that setting due to lower noise. I have ordered new thermal pads and I plan on delidding the 9900k and using Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut on both the CPU and GPU when the thermal pads arrive. I will run some more benchmarks at that point to see how well the GPU performs with cooler temperatures since the newer bioses are plagued with a 79c+ thermal throttle.

 

By and large they are not, no question. Poor thermals in even the best of units, being jostled about if you travel or transport them, questionable engineering decisions, etc. I mean honestly, no worse than a desktop but how often do you transport it?

Seems a bit high, but CPU bound games naturally will benefit more. 2400-2666, about 3-5%, not surprised going to 2933 XMP (its XMP right) is that much higher.

 

Actually, I have one question for you pros that recommend not installing SupportAssist, etc. I'm about to do a clean install from USB following Spartan's guide and then I'll be following his driver install order guide here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-area-51m-drivers.827895/ but that thread is locked so can't reply there.

My question is this: from his install order he has SupportAssist as number 18, then Dell Update as number 19? Can I skip both of those or should I install #19 Dell Update? It appears to be a separate app, but I'm more than capable of checking/installing my own updates manually from Dell directly.

 

Yeah you can ignore these. He posted newer drivers in the last week or so have you downloaded those? I only grabbed them on Friday I think it was.

 

Skip SupportAssist and Dell Update

Alienware Area-51m Drivers 21-May-2020

Spoiler: Changelog

Intel Chipset Driver updated to v10.1.18019.8144
Intel Serial IO Driver updated to v30.100.1947.3
Intel Rapid Storage Technology v17.8.0.1065
Intel Management Engine Driver updated to v2007.14.0.1488
Intel Thunderbolt Controller Driver updated to v1.41.823.0
Intel Integrated Solution Driver updated to v3.10.100.4122
Intel HID Event Filter Driver updated to v2.2.1.379
Tobii Eye Tracking Driver updated to v4.48.0.3651
nVIDIA Graphics Driver updated to v442.94
Realtek Audio Driver updated to v6.0.8928.1
Killer E3000 Ethernet Driver updated to v10.039.212.2020

After you download the ZIP file and before you unzip it, make sure it is not blocked by right clicking on it, go to Properties, then see at the bottom if it says "this file came from another computer and might be blocked..." click the UNBLOCK button then hit APPLY followed by OK! To prevent Windows from blocking downloaded files automatically, make sure you read this guide:

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

The drivers are organized in numbered folders with the correct installation order.

Please restart after every driver install even if you were not prompted because some drivers will fail to install if there are any other pending operations (ie. had the Intel HID Event Filter Driver fail to install once because I didn't reboot, the driver package was installed but the actual device in Device Manager was not updated)

 

Holy Smokes! Thank you, Spartan! I didn't see this. Really appreciate all your effort with this!

 

I tried FreeSync using tool “CRU” it didn’t work for me and I have tried different frequency offsets (this tool been used to over lock panels to higher frequencies)

the flickering timing is constant and it’s not random, I’m not sure but maybe have to do with power delivery or mobo communication.

you can set fan speed to “performance” or “high speed” on gpu part and you will notice much better scores.

my GPU on 1.5.0 runs 1950 MHz on average and 100 MHz less on 1.9.1.

this minimal increase of performance (roughly 7%) costs 7-8 C

Im keeping this bios solely for “Chinese modified” heat sink with vapor chamber. I’m sure it will perform much greater than 1.9.1 bios

 

Your Rams is stock and run 2933mhz ?

Model?

 

No @Macaiden used Thaiphoon Burner to manipulate his GSkill RAM and make the laptop see it as the precious faster ADATA RAM that Dell ship with the newer R1 models.

 

I have read posts talking about using HWiNFO64 to make fan speed profiles. Is there a reason not to use the AWCC, Fusion's Thremal Profile, Advanced, Smooth Line in a custom profile to run the fans. Its been working great for me since 1.9.0 Bios update.

 

A very small PCB-breakdown. Translated via google-translator:

AW-Community - Area51m R1.

 

I'm a victim of one of these old tales... All true. Dimwit tech bricked my laptop. Got a replacement for free, but took a month since I was in Japan at the time

 

From your Area-51m R1 guide.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/series/126380/intel-300-series-chipsets.html

And regarding the DGFF GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080 (200w-180w): Dell use 150w card. The 200w-180w moniker is the added overclock allowed by Nvidia.

The fan icon should be there with or without EC support checked. At least for the older AW models.

 

5

Its very strange. On my 17 r3 the fan icon was there..
This is the newest version of HWinfo64.. Very odd.. I feel like im taking crazy pills lol..



I dunno.. so strange.
ill see if I can find an older version or possibly try the beta.??

 

Hwinfo64 6.22-4060 should work (always the portable) https://www.fosshub.com/HWiNFO-old.html

 

I think I found it.. was looking in the wrong settings. uhh doi..
Still not sure why manual fan control is not there tho..

I need to follow all the steps.. Geezzzz.. Double uuuhhhh doi.. *facepalm*
Always works when you follow all the steps..

 

Did you manage to sort it?

 

Many thanks for sharing this! Very useful information!
I might play with this in the future as I have a very similar UV as you!

 

Macrium Reflect v7.2.4942 Bootable ISO supporting RAID backup/restore to dissimilar hardware.

You can use RUFUS to create a bootable ISO out of the ISO.

Don't forget to unblock the ISO from properties after downloading it.

@Mr. Fox @Papusan @Fire Tiger @jc_denton @etern4l @Vasudev @PDUB72 @Dr. AMK

 

Yea got it sorted. Thanks.. Just having a brain fart...
My rig came back with 1.9.3 bios and 200w vbios, For some odd reason my thermals are really in check, My GPU runs up to 74 and sits there, and my CPU runs up to between 65 and 75, which is excellent for my system.(stressing peaked up to 83 84) It has never been this much in check since I bought it, so very satisfied, everything is working the way a person would expect it to.
When my system came back I did have to do a full format and do a clean re install of windows, as the install the repair center did was trash.. I have not had a system yet from dell where I have not had to re install windows.

All in all satisfied with the warranty. I could see although if someone was not very computer literate how an experience like this would be super frustrating. For me not a big deal..

 

I remember my laptop was fast till I updated the firmware and started crapping out.

 

Nice.

 

@Mr. Fox is this how you roll?

 

You can add SharpApp too to disable telemetry and other stuffs. http://www.mirinsoft.com/ms-apps/sharpapp
You can also add customized PS scripts. I haven't checked it out since I already use regtweaks to achieve them. I'll try it next time when I make slipstreamed Win 10 ISO.

 

Yeah 100%. LTSC is not perfect, but it is the least severely flawed version of Windoze OS X. In fact "it's my fault" that Brothers @jc_denton @Papusan and @Spartan are rolling LTSC, too. Practicing insubordination and defiance are best when carried out en masse.

As far as the third-party utilities go, not using them is not an option. I use ESO and WUB even on Windows 7. Windows Updates are something I began avoiding before Windows 8 was released.

Performance always trumps security for me. I rarely think about security and it is too frequent that security enhancements impair performance. Better to just block them and move on. It would be fairly accurate to say I don't care about security, but my online activity and behavior is extremely conservative compared to what is normal. Most normal people live far more dangerously than I do in terms of their web and email behaviors.

 

Guys, in your opinion what is the best 2x32GB DDR4 memory kit for Area 51m R1 bios 1.5.0? What do you think of this kit HX424S15IBK2 / 64

 

The best security is frequent and highly available back ups anyhow...

 

I'm sure HyperX RAM has the best available CLI for the Area 51m but I doubt very much that we'd be able to tell the difference between it and other RAM with worse CLI.

 

I run Hyper-X, and I agree, one CL you will not know the difference. I bet in _most_ cases outside of direct measurement through bench-marking a lot of things people get wound up on they would never realize a difference with.