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

I'm currently on BIOS 1.7.3 with the 200W vBIOS, just ran Timespy ( https://www.3dmark.com/spy/8833910), Firestrike ( https://www.3dmark.com/fs/20652130) and CineBench R15 (1598) one after the other.

The GPU as expected was limited to 75c, however, the throttling only dropped down to 1500mhz (circa). I haven't experienced the drop to 300mhz yet.

The CPU cores were between 85c-91c, only one core hit 91c. This is with an overclock of x51 on all cores and a -100mv undervolt.

For my uses 1.7.3 will be fine for now, this could change in the future though when I become more comfortable messing with GPU OC/UV.

How do these scores look to you guys? I'm a newbie to OC and Benchmarking.

 

The Timespy score looks normal for the device.

With BIOS 1.7.3, you will experience hard thermal throttling down to 500MHz if you rise the temperature limit on Alienware Command Center. If not, CPU speed will adjust to maintain 74~75 °C

 

Hey guys just Got my a51m and here is the little problem. Got IT with 256gb ssd only. Now when I add another m2 ssd the system cant start. Im stuck on alienware logo forever. Any tips for this?

 

The GPU did throttle at 75c but the minimum GPU Core Clock recorded in HWInfo was 1500 (circa). I haven't observed the 'heard throttling' that others have up to this point.

I have downloaded the Asus GPU Tweaker app but to be honest have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to messing with the GPU.

 

Did you attempt a Windows re-install or anything, or have you just added the new drive and tried to boot into Windows?

Can you see the new drive in the BIOS?

 

No just tried to log info windows. Yeah the drive is visible in bios

 

If you remove the new drive can you boot into Windows fine?

Are you planning to use this new drive for storage or are you planning to RAID the drives?

Sorry I'm not really helping, just hoping some of these additional questions might help us or someone else identify the issue.

 

Just want this for storage. I don't need raid. Ye when I unplug it the windows starts fine. The disk is Adata sx8200

 

Your Cinebench R15 scores sucks if you run it with 51x on all cores.

Same for your Time Spy Physics..

 

What can I do to fix that or increase the score? Bear in mind I'm new to it all and haven't gone through stopping unnecessary services specifically for the bench run etc. or have I just got a crap CPU haha?

 

Be sure it run at 51x. Start with Stock clocks and see if the scores is correct for the clock speed. Then add 1 bin up at time, then test again. All the way up to your max overclock. And disable Antivirus software etc for your testing.

 

Will give that a try bro thank you as always. Any idea what I should be looking at score wise in terms of stock? Or let me know how to find them and I can do it myself.

 

Around 8000 for stock in Time Spy and around 1540 for CBR-15. Then do your math for the score scaling with increased clocks. You can search for 9700K reviews. But remember the different website reviewers/testers ain't always good at it's work.

 

So after talking to support my 2 days old a51m gonna get mobo replace. No way to boot with second ssd and diagnostic return an error with pcie

 

Forget that....ask for a return and then get a new one when they refund you. Don't accept a repair on a brand new machine like that.

 

I think my CPU is a lemon! I've managed to hit 1630's consistently now on Cinebench R15. Looks like x51 at -100mV was causing some throttling related to power limit or something. Dropping to -90mV is where I'm at now and cannot see any throttling.

In TimeSpy though I'm still only hitting around 8200, which is crap.

Enough for what I do I suppose just kind of disappointed seeing higher scores else where haha, have I caught the bug?

 

I fix it for yoo

It's probably what it is. Enjoy it while you can and cross your fingers that you don't run into this mess

Did you test it with stock clocks and if so what scores you got? And what with 50x ?

 

If you undervolt too hard the CPU will drop its power consumption after a while to ~30W despite showing 100% usage and 5.1GHz. Use HWinfo and keep an eye to the package power value (if you are not using Throttlestop).

For reference I'm running -88 mV undervolt on 5.0GHz and -12mV on 5.2 GHz (values of my head).

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Yes, as mentioned earlier check hwinfo64 for any perf cap flags and try benching at a slightly lower multiplier.
Keep track of the scores and compare them to others running same speed.

Sometimes system throttles harder when pushed at high multiplier and not having the power budget.

 

The 75C throttle can be avoided with GPUTweak2, but it'll still hard throttle at 80C via the (newest) BIOS. I'm currently using the 1.73 BIOS and 200W VBIOS and am totally fine with them.

 

I suppose there is always a risk brother, so far so good. Hopefully if it does happen its when there is a new revision and this model is obsolete aha.

I only done the Cinebench R15 tests on various overclocks and undervolts:

Stock = 1489
x49 at -125mV = 1588
x50 at -125mV = 1575 (noticed the power limit throttling)
x50 at -100mV = 1614
x51 at -90mV = 1639
x51 at -80mV = 1630

Based on the above just stuck with x51 at -90mV. No doubt there is more to be done to improve it.

Yeah I was envious of your x52 ability , I did try x52 at stock voltages, it sticks but after about 30-60 seconds the machine just freezes up.

x51 looks like my absolute limit unfortunately and even then the benchmarks are that impressive.

I will definitely monitor those values thank you for the insight and response.

I'll definitely keep an eye out for those, I had only been monitoring the Core Power Limit Exceeded stats. I'll definitely widen my monitoring and perhaps give it another go. Hard work this overclocking, gone are the days I just turned it on and got on with it as it was.

Yeah I have that application downloaded but haven't yet messed with it. I haven't noticed a great deal of throttling from the GPU in the games I've played so far (Witcher 3, Call of Duty Black Ops 4, Civilisation 5 and Total War). I am running the same BIOS and vBIOS as you.

 

ive been having an issue with my area51m in that if i idle for a few minutes all of the inputs stop working; eg: usb mouse, the inbuilt keyboard. only the built in trackpad works and i have to restart the laptop to return functionality. at first i thought it was the tobbi eye trackers and i disabled it and it seemed to stop happening but windows update occured and its happening again.

Does anyone have the same issue or any good suggestions on fixes? ive tried reinstalling windows, disabling tobii. reinstalling drivers etc to no avail.

 

Have you checked the 'Advanced Options' within your Power Options.. I found a few things in there like USB inputs being turned off etc. I'm not on the laptop just now. But go through all the drop downs within there and you might find things being disabled that you don't actually want or need disabled. The inbuilt keyboard turning off is a strange one though, not sure I've seen that.

 

ive checked there and disabled any settings related to usb sleep etc. thanks anyway

 

Does the inbuilt keyboard show in the device manager? Does the properties show the power management tab? I don't know if I'm clutching at straws here just trying to think of all options. Failing that get straight onto Dell and see if they can help.

 

Well, today my screen has started doing black flickering when I run G-Sync. Does anyone know how to fix this? Not much of a point of a G-Sync monitor if you can't run G-Sync

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Maybe try using a different nVidia driver

 

I purchased area51m with only 250gb and then I installed 970 pro 512gb + 970 evo plus 1 tb + ssd 850 pro that I had at home and in my case there was not only the second thermal pad m.2 but the hard disk cage / ssd was present.

 

Tried using the latest nVidia driver from Dell instead of nVidia directly, but didn't work. Today I'm going to try a fresh windows install.

EDIT SOLVED: Turns out that this is a BIOS issue, installed version 1.7.3 back and G-sync works properly now.

Source: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/official-alienware-area-51m-owners-lounge.826831/page-1395

Yes, my A51m did include the 2.5 cage and a heatsink for the SSD as well.

 

Hey guy's,
I've been using my Area 51M for a few months now and am really happy with it! Unfortunately today i noticed a thin horizontal black line in the top right corner of my screen. I assume it's dead pixels because they don't show on a external monitor. I have the LG display LGD05E2 and would like to know i you guy's know where to buy/replace one? Or maybe go for a different screen, what is assumed to be the best right now? I would mind to lose G-sync tbh though. I can't seem find a (re)seller here in the Netherlands therefore i'm asking here. Or could it maybe be a different problem and the display isn't broken? I am on the latest Nvidia and Vbios drivers (from Dell). The system has a RTX 2070. I would like to hear your thoughts / suggestions.
Thanks in advance.

BTW, the new Alienware 610m mouse is an epic and comfortable adition to the laptop, i highly recommend!

 

Do you not have a warranty?

 

My warranty is expired. This was a replacement machine after many replacements (17 R4 and R5's) before that and my warranty just kept on running out.
Somehow they didn't alway's give a new warranty or pass the old warranty over to the new machine. I have tried to have them fix this but we all know how horrific the helpdesk people can be.
I had enough trouble getting replacement machines at it was, honestly it has been a complete nightmare and i was happy to be rid of their "service". Unfortunately now this happens...

 

I see, it would be odd for multiple pixels to die at the same time like that without some insult (damage). How bad is it? Do you have a picture?

 

How do I assign macro keys in a51m? This should be in the command center right? Cant find the damn option for this

 

Have you tried the LCDBIST (think thats what its called) test? It might unstick them if they aren't dead. Worth a try maybe?

 

cant get it to really show on a picture. Its like a thin black hair in the screen along side the bezel. I suspect my Sister in law is responsible, she put her knitware, needle and ball of wool, on the laptop (Ye I know, crazy). Could that have damaged the screen even though laptop was closed and off? I don’t know enough about static electricity but its the only thing I can think of.

Yes I have tried this, thanks for suggesting it. Unfortunately it didn’t help.

 

If the AWCC is anything like the m15:

record your macro and save it. Once done drag and drop it over the macro key you want to use. Then save it.

 

I’m trying to clone my system using micron reflect from Samsung 1tb 961 to 1tb 970 plus but it fails. I also note the last volume is shrunk to fit which is strange as the drives are the same size. Any ideas what I’m doing wrong ? I’ve cleaned the new drive using clean as part of diskpart, anything else I can do ? I note that when I select the 970 destination it looks like 14.36gb is taken by something - see image ? Anyone know wat this is or how to get rid of it Thanks

 

Is it normal to wait around 1 month and a half to have a replacement of this laptop? Mine died after the bios update (was talking with them and they told me to update to see if that solved one problem it had while turning on, that completely killed the machine on the spot)

anyway, very dissatisfied with them that they keep not having parts to fix the laptop or replacement laptops.

that’s the only thing I miss from apple, you got a problem, send it then send you a new one next day.

did anyone had experience previously getting money return after so long wait? I bought it in March 2019, but tbh I just need a laptop right now to keep working and I’m very dissatisfied with dell for their slow support.

 

It took 3 weeks for my laptop to arrive since purchased, month and half for a replacement looks like too much.

What was the issue you experienced?

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oh well after a windows update started to give problems to turn on, after talking to dell they said it was because of bios not updated, so updating bios it bricked completely and never turned on again, just beep sound that means motherboard malfunction.

So in short have to wait but tbh I don’t think I would own another dell product after this.

 

I think the issue might be a bad BIOS flash. Try the following tutorial to force a BIOS flash:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ny-alienware-to-locked-lower-versions.829542/

Download your preferred BIOS here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/area-51m-bios-vbios-collection-mirrors.829190/

Sometimes you will need to force flash a BIOS twice. Also don't forget to reset BIOS setting on the recovery screen.

This procedure can be finicky with the pen drive used. Use a recent pen drive for the recovery.

Something else I would check is the voltage of the BIOS battery, it appears Dell has been using old stock batteries on earlier devices like yours.

 

Probaly a new fried 2080 Dell graphics. But scammed on top?

Am I being scammed?

 

Did you just compare Area 51m to a macbook?

 

Guys I have a Samsung Evo 970 1TB in my area 51m and I have also the original thin heatsink from dell the was included with the laptop but the temperature is very high when the SSD is in high load. It goes up to 95C or more. Is there any thicker aftermarket heatsink that fits inside the laptop to help lower the temperature of the ssd?
thanks

 

That's not normal. I have those same heat sinks and temps hardly ever cross 50. Make sure your heat sink is making good contact with the ssd and you are running the latest firmware for it.

 

A thermalpad between nvme and the motherboard is a great way to sink additional heat away from the controller. Not sure if this is something you can do om the 51m.

 

Its making perfect contact, I have also loosen the screw a bit because if its very tight the heatsink starts to bend so no good contact.

 

Area51m - Aftermarket SSD heatsinks that fit?

Don't trust everything posted. Already confirmed by @ssj92 and others that 50C from any NWme ssd in full load ain't possible in Area-51m

But if you get +90C with ssd heatsink this isn't normal. I would try another ssd to see if you get same high ssd temp. Maybe something wrong with the ssd or the MB.

Btw. Your Toshiba ssd... Was it delivered with your Area-51m ?


Run the tests two or three times in a row and post results...

Anvil's Storage Utilities v1.1 2014
ATTO Disk Benchmark v4.00.0f2
AS SSD Benchmark v2.0.6821.41776

 

The "thermal covers" That Dell provides are worthless for NVMe SSDs. Mine did the same as yours getting up to 95+ during heavy use. The one I use (link below) works in the bay furthest back near the battery (think it's #2). Brought the temps down to 62C at the highest, stays down around 42C average.

This topic has been covered here in depth. Use the search feature to fine other options.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B074Y5DZ4N/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1