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

70C is ok, but I max at 60C with the heatsink, and every degree less is good.

 

I noticed their are tons of Area 51m's in the outlet( DELL OUTLET), almost 60. Has anyone used the outlet to buy this laptop? How was your experience? To those who have used the outlet in the past how was your experience? I wouldn't want to get one of the first machines off the assembly line that had the mosfet problems. Whats your guys opinions on this matter.

Also, has anyone bought the eurocom 780 watt adapter. Can it be bought for cheaper then 700 on ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/780-Watt-A...ea-51m-Notebook/133045254821?var=432343202905

 

I can confirm it's compatible and fast as greased lightning. I can't believe how much time I've lost waiting for mechanical hard drives. It's like going from dialup to cable.

 

I always wonder how everyone's ssd drives are running so hot. Mine barely touch 50, and that's with 6 virtual machines running in parallel and extensive file i/o operations going on at the same time on the host OS. My main drive is Samsung 970 pro 1TB and Samsung 960 Pro 2TB is my second ssd. I use Samsung magician to keep the ssd firmware updated plus, I have Samsung nvme controller drivers instead of default Microsoft drivers. This could very well be a major contributing factor for you guys that's causing higher temps. Upgrade ssd firmware using Samsung magician and install Samsung nvme controller drivers. Temps should go down dramatically then (I'm assuming that you also have a Samsung ssd).

 

My Service tag or express code doesn't exist in dell's server. Something seems very fishy about this alienware 51m, it was bought through a thrid party seller beforehand.

How will I get access to parts if my own service tag can't be used to look at them? Thank you @ssj92 for the battery code but this seems different from the actual battery cable code, I have the same serial code written on my battery which you mentioned.

If anyone could provide a photo of the battery cable that would help me so much. All you have to do is take of the back cover and take a picture of the tag that should be on it.

My Samsung 970 pro m.2 used to reach 90+ in my custom all in one pc, that was crazy high, eventually the system throttled down to a snails pace and the ssd controller cooled down, but those temps are very bad for a ssd over long periods of time. I'm glad your ssd temps are low, seems the thermal pads are doing the job

 

I'll take mine apart tomorrow morning and take the picture for you if anyone else didn't help by that time. Right now it's 4 am lol

 

Thank you bro, literal lifesaver

Reminds me of the times when I used to help people do the @dsanke bios mod's on their clevo's, good times...

 

Agreed. It's great.

60C is under full load. In day to day use I rarely see any M.2 in my setup go over 50C. I still think 60C at max benchmarking load is quite ok.

 

I'm quoting this message instead of the one above because this one is shorter.

You really just need to make sure the connector on your screen matches the screen you want to get, and you're good to go.

If you search LCD screen model numbers a site called panelook will have the pin count and pitch of the connector. Most edp pin pitches are 0.5mm, but at least Sharp uses 0.4mm.

The electrical pinout description is harder to find, but I have seen it be identical across all screens I have encountered. One screen for a Lenovo system was in reverse. If you check ebay for screen model numbers you may get images of the connector that are detailed enough to show the pin numbering. Pins 1 and 40 will be labeled.

Gsync vs non-gsync should not matter.

 

That's actually the classic move, wait for Dell to screw up the initial BIOS / Firmware + drivers, everyone dumps their new laptops, and then pick them up cheap in the Outlet.

Usually there is a particular failure - like the tripod heatsink - which requires some specific knowledge to fix - bringing the prices even lower as the laptops sit in the Outlet for longer and longer, but this time it looks like they are mostly (IMHO) misconfigurations that caused the buyer to dump it.

In all the listings I couldn't find a single 9900k / 2080, all of the 2080's are matched with 8700's (!!?) and 9700k's, which might not drive the 2080 to it's full potential.

Even stranger, all of the 9900k's were paired with 2060's (mostly) and 2070's, which might not hit expected FPS in their favorite games.

I assume the BIOS will support swapping different CPU's into the 2080's, but the current Dell Outlet Area 51m prices are still too high, I'd wait for them to sit around gathering dust for a while and see if Dell throws a 20%+ sale to clear inventory.

Always buy the full extended warranty with AW laptops, if possible with current Outlet offers.

The 780w power supply is overkill even with the 9900k / 2080, isn't it? I don't think you are going to find them for less unless you get it as a bundle with a laptop from a boutique seller - and IDK if they would broker a Dell Outlet laptop.

 

Most likely the pinout is the same, this is what I have gathered, I'm going with a auo screen, if I'm sent an innolux panel that would be even better lol, better viewing angles and contrast ratios!

 

I'm using 1.5.0 for the BIOS and the 200W 1.0.0.3 VBIOS.

Do you have a recommendation otherwise?

Also, can people who are happy with their GPU undervolting share their MSI Afterburner voltage curve?

 

Here you go:
Area 51m Battery Cable (battery side connector sticker):

Area 51m Battery Cable (motherboard side connector sticker):


Here is a quick picture of the Area 51m battery pack just in case somebody else ever needs the info in the future:






Direct link to imgur pictures post in case there is a problem with preview here: https://imgur.com/a/TTVlhvL

Have you tried registering your service tag on Dell website? If you manage to get it registered successfully then may be you can buy warranty for 3-4 years and get a replacement panel for free (I'm still not sure why you want to replace yours). But if you don't, chances are that you bought a computer that was picked up directly from the manufacturing facility in China without it ever reaching / going through Dell. Where did you buy it from? I mean what was seller's origin?

 

another review of MSI Titan GT76 compared to Area-51m. long story short, a lot slower in every games tested and far heavier than area-51m. no comparison at all. cpu also cannot sustain 5GHz as claimed and advertised.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/msi-gt76-titan,6244.html

 

I’m glad I bought this instead of that crap, msi have forget the main purpose of upgradability. Why would you make the cpu upgradable and the gpu bga. On top of that it doesn’t have a dedicated graphics amplifier port like the area 51m. The Alienware beats it easily even if there are a few short comings. Msi should have stuck to the gt75 at least it had a mechanical keyboard and a mxm slot which came with an rtx 2080! Basically I’d rather have the cpu being bga and the gpu being mxm. Everyone knows that cpus always last longer than gpus nowadays. Especially with intel upping the core count (thank you AMD )

Thank you bro, now to find the cable on the internet lol. Might even call up dell support for it!

On the back of the laptop it says it was made for ‘raheen business park’ in Ireland. This is a semiconductor company of some sort. I have a feeling they got them shipped directly from China, hence why it isn’t registered...

 

Actually, that should get you the highest possible performance. I thought you were on the latest BIOS/VBIOS.

Wow! That 860 EVO 4TB must be a bad boy? Did you get a good price on it somewhere?

 

I have a lot of junk and software+malware repositories that i maintain on that thing, plus, primary backup drive as well. The speed is excellent for a sata drive and I have no issues with it. I bought this thing a few months back for 684 USD (including international shipping) from Amazon.

 

Bro I just want to ask one last favour from you, since I haven't bought the right 330w charger for my alienware area 51m could you kindly take a picture of the 330w adapter details. Thanks

 

@DaMafiaGamer

 

@Fire Tiger took care of it however I just want to add that DO NOT buy the charger from anywhere but Dell directly. Too many fake knockoffs out there that look and feel exactly alike until you hook them up to an oscilloscope and see the horrible signal noise on the cheap ones. This is one thing that you must never cheap out on.

 

That is exactly why I found the factory original la330pm160, I'm gonna buy it so quick. It can't be found anywhere!

 

You can easily buy it from Dell. Just call their sales team and they'll arrange the part for you. Fakes look exactly alike (sometimes even better) and have same part numbers printed on them, exactly same label and housing etc so just beware of the fraud. They can kill your motherboard.

 

Sorry if asked before, but Alienware support assist says that there is a critical firmware update for my RTX 2080

It says my current version is: 90.04.3F.00.0E
And the new version is: 90.004.3F.00.62/63

Anyone know what this is? Or if I should do it?

 

Same thing came up for me too, I just did the upgrade, probably has something to do with tdp since the vrm's used on the card are not amazing.

 

I just got a base model with a 144hz g-sync panel and i installed a 1tb evo 970 plus. Does any have the part number for a RTX 2070 and RTX 2080? Was planning to upgrade. Going to get a i9 9900k as well soon. Basically the Video card is the most important part... has any bought up from a 2060 for and upgrade yet? Please let me know, any any idea on the price range(no guess please, I can do that on my own..lol)


Thanks,

 

@VoodooBane

 

I wont be flashing to the 200watt version so i am fine. I at the least want a rtx 2070

Also, I am one who has the skill set to repair that kind of problem. I have the whole micro soldering setup 3 grand worth. I am not worried about it.

Can anyone provide me the part numbers please? for both card?

This RTX 2060 is to slow.. lol

 

I linked it for the part number written in the photo lol, I’m sure you can fix the rtx card, so can I, knew about vrms and these circuits since I was 16. No problem for me but I have basic knowledge, I seek advise from people like @IllusiveMan and @Khenglish as they know a lot more and can fix literally unfixable things lol.

 

Thanks for the tip. what about the part number for the rtx 2070? I am leaning towards the 2070 instead of the 2080. The Price is my concern

 

So finally my 51M decided to start its journey to heaven . Days ago, it would randomly restart if u do anything that had to engage the card properly, say gaming or 4K movies etc . Did all the necessary driver back and forth , then it added artifacts into the mix and I knew my time was about up .....

one day it then decided to restart but the card had an exclamation mark In device manager , apparently card was probably hot or something and decided not to join us in Windows , so the 51m was running on iGPU

eventually the Artifacts became standard and the system would restart always when it got into windows . However if u disable the RTX card, no reboots just artifacts

so I just shutdown and started an RMA on the graphics card which supposedly has the new mosfets with HID, would be returning the card and hopefully getting one that works

that’s if something else isn’t about to give up on the board

During the process of troubleshooting , I decided to replace my ailing desktop , A Corsair Elite for the new Corsair i180 on 64gb ram and extra 1Tb m.2 and 4Tb evo 860, to just remove my mind from the disaster called 51M

hopefully in a few weeks , the 51m will be up and running again , and breaking records

 

For all the problems you're facing, that's a truly lovely setup!

 

Guys it turns out that the rtx 2080 doesn’t display over mini display port. For some reason intel uhd 630 showed up. Does this laptop have Optimus if so how tf does g sync work?

Anyway, I installed the driver and the screen went blank, that’s permanent now. I turn the computer off and on, the Alienware logo shows up with the loading circle and the screen goes blank. The gpu doesn’t play nice with external screens if an internal screen isn’t available as the same outcome happens via the HDMI port. What I don’t understand is how is the igpu displaying when the connectors are DIRECTLY connected to the dgff gpu? Why couldn’t dell make this simple like msi, connect the edp lines directly to the mini display port, it’s not that hard

I have a feeling it is displaying over the internal display...

 

Mine displays through the nVidia GPU....are you using the TB3 port to mDP or the one directly in the back?

 

The one directly on the back, my gpu can’t possibly be dead right, I have a feeling not having an internal screen is messing with the laptops display detection system.

 

You have the 190w original vBIOS, the one it is suggesting is the 180w.

 

Maybe update your drivers? Mine works just fine. The only thing I have notice it won’t display 4K resolution just the hdmi does.

 

If there is nothing burned apparently, this could be caused by those pesky ribbon connectors going bad.

This shouldn't be the case. I have connected 2 external displays to the mini display port via a splitter and both of them are driven by the 2080.

You can check in display properties. It will show your exactly what gpu is powering which display. You've still not told us why you wanted to replace the screen in the first place so I don't have any context to address this issue for you.

 

What is your original ship date?

 

Gracias bro

Ribbons look very solid from my investigation , all pins intact

 

I'm sorry to hear that brother, haggle Dell for an upgrade in RAM or drive capacity something like that.. may be extended warranty too. Good luck and keep us posted. You're one of the original owners of this system.

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

I disassembled a bit:





It's a tripod mb. I read up as much as I could here on tripod. The heatsink seems to mate evenly to the cpu/gpu. And there are even thermal pads that seem to be properly placed. I did not look on the back side of the mb though. Is there anything here to be concerned about?

 

Don’t mind Dell, for now I tango with Corsair, makes the 51M seem impotent

So I decided to take a closer look before I pack it and send it back to HID for the RMA and on closer inspection , I can say for sure the Liquid Metal used on the GPU killed the GPU , Voodoo was definitely spot on when he said they used LM but I guess his own on CPU was way overboard , this however on GPU is def the killer even with the foam dam

HID staff informed me that they do use LM in GPU and aluminium HS , I was shocked since I can’t remember choosing LM in configurations

my guess is if it didn’t move beyond the IHS nobody would complain , instead we rejoice on good thermals ....

but am certain the material am seeing around those IC under the cellotape shouldn’t be there ? especially since they almost have the LM color

so in this regard , I can categorically say HID did a bad job on LM paste job and the thermal pads look like am actually a broke ass man

alphacool 17wmk has been acquired for the RE padding when I get the new card

Off to Atlantis ....... Poisedon needs to be killed

 

Hi everyone, I wanted some help using the alienware CC Fusion and to undervolt my CPU and GPU.

1st off, I use intel XTU for downvolting CPU. Works good, I'm satisfied with it, apart from the fact that it rarely happens that my downvolt goes away and I have to re-apply it. No huge deal.
2ndly, ,I use MSI afterburner for GPU undervolting. this also works good, but I don't really like it for the following reasons: I have a curve that has to be used to apply an undervolt. Moving all those nodes one by one is massive pain. Those nodes, even though I apply like a even e.g. -135mv downvolt (by moving the curve to the left, and also applying a max frequency), due to the nvidia boost, the curve dynamically moves itself up and down, not keeping the downvolt consistent, over all the different boosts depending on the GPU temperature.
Also msi afterburner somehow causes my pc to 50% of the time cause itself to wake up right after I make it sleep (actually looked quite a lot for this and now confimed that it's msi afterburner)

Now regarding these. I had a couple questions, I see that in Alienware CC there is also some undervolting options, but it goes up to -100 mv. The offset.
My current undervolt is stable at -155mv. Is it possible to reach that mv in alienware CC? I suppose I have to lower the Voltage directly instead of using the Offset? Or am I wrong here? And also is that program good, any issues regarding using Alienware CC for overclocking/downvolting?

And about the GPU undervolting. Is there another tool apart from Afterburner that can be used to downvolt the gpu, in an easier way, like a fixed mv downvolt, and perhaps give the GPU a max MHz cap?

Thanks upfront

 

This is why I keep on repeatedly telling everyone to DO THE UPGRADES THEMSELVES but people don't seem to understand the seriousness of this issue. Those thermal pads make me angry as I look at them! No wonder it was a very unhappy GPU that ran valiantly while it could but eventually gave up as it would have in the long run. Plus that LM swimming pool looks shockingly overdone + horrible tape job! They could at least cover those connectors with liquid electrical tape. Keep us posted bro (and next time try and not trust anyone but your own two hands). The most painful thing about these failures is the time that gets wasted. And, the LM doesn't even matter that much on GPU so it wasn't even necessary in the first place. Phobya NG Extreme gives almost same temps as LM on this GPU.

Seems like your computer is missing 2 pieces of thermal pads from the factory! Take a look at this guide and cross compare with the second picture in there (those 2 places with 1mm pads). P.S., I wouldn't disconnect that Sata HDD connector cable from the motherboard side that often because it can get flaky after a few times of assembly/disassembly. A safer way is to disconnect it from the HDD side and pull it through the rib cage and leave that connector on the motherboard side alone. I have seen a case where repeated removal of that connector from the motherboard resulted in the user getting random blue screens as the HDD dropped connection randomly.

No, it's not.

Nope. It's only good for fan control and rgb light control. Other features that it offers are not very effective right now.

There are plenty of tools but MSI Afterburner is my tool of choice. The fluctuation in frequency that you see is due to the nVidia GPU boost where GPU overclocks itself while it's still at relatively cool temps and then gradually downclocks itself as it gets hot. You cannot fix the clock curve. The most you can do is limit the minimum threshold where it stops downclocking itself but it can and usually will disobey you if the temps start getting uncomfortably hot (say, higher than 78 degrees celcius). You can do something like, set a voltage curve and save that in one of the profile buttons on MSI Afterburner interface. Then the next time, all you need to do is to click that button and that profile will be applied so you won't have to do it from scratch all over again. Plus, you can set that profile to auto-apply from that auto-apply button on bottom left of the default skin. The default profile is profile 1.

 

Worry not SK, there was a reason I decided to wait it out , if I didn’t have backup plans , of course it would have been dismantled Day Zero .

honestly LM wasn’t needed at all , if I knew it was there from onset , would have deleted it myself , I hate that product except inside the CPU , it helped me back in 8700k days to clock higher in my Corsair elite

by the time am done padding the new system , it will be sleeping peacefully

for now the i180 makes me forget that the 51m is open on an orthopaedic bed inside my wardrobe waiting for the new gpu

 

I would give the motherboard a thorough ultrasonic bath as well just in case. Liquid metal is like an asset of death on hibernation as it can secretly stick to one of the solder joints on any random pin and continue to eat away at it and then later one day the damage becomes visible but it's too late then.

 

From the picture it’s difficult to see if it’s Liquid metal below the protection tape. And you said aluminum heatsink. That’s correct but the cold plate is pure copper. All know you can’t use LM on aluminum.

 

I did use an ultrasonic OCD eye investigation to be sure , luckily since the LM was on card alone , it had limited travel since the laptop was almost stationary in its life span , the board looks so solid ,I think it’s gonna be great at the end

yes I tried to change the light reflection but the yellow tape had other plans , however below that tape is some silvery slime , as far as I know there shouldn’t be anything there in any form or shape or liquid other than resistors and co , so for any other matter to be there means it’s not welcome

 

Can you tell me what side you see it? You should also normally see where the LM run off the die and down on the pcb.

 

All the sides, below picture should be clearer, all left ic is swimming in LM , all right , all top and and below