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

So your on preset 1 or 2 as a default?

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If there's throttling, or extreme throttling which some are experiencing, you'll know. The frames will drop significantly to the point the stress test will start getting choppy.

I think luckily for (most) of us 2070 users, the gpu never gets above 78C, which was the throttle limit causing people issues.

I may try flashing to 1.7.3 and see how my performance takes a hit. I'll run firestrike before/after.

 

I also have a 2070+9700k combo, never saw the GPU throttle, max temp observed was 75c and its only because the fans were not blowing that hard, once fans reach ~80% the GPU stays around 70c.
CPU though is another story, during a XTU stress test temp can reach 100c and trigger the throttling but its better manage than the GPU throttling, no big jump in performance. I solved that by underclocking it @-0.115v, temp stays around 70-75c at full load, stress test peak at 80c but again only because of the delay between the increase temp and the fan acceleration.

I really like this machine, I was afraid I will have to fight high temp, happy I stayed away from the 2080-9900k that I initially bought and returned.

BTW, best 'real' stress test to me is Assassin Creed Odyssey benchark, it uses 100% of both GPU and CPU , if the system runs hot / throttle you can see it immediatly.

 

You guys should try the latest release of Quake II RTX (patch 1.2) for GPU/RTX stress testing. Keeps my MECH-15 2060 pegged to the max power limit and my desktop with a shunt-modded 2080 Ti is pulling a ton of power from the wall.

You can get Quake II for next to nothing on Steam ($1.49 USD) and the RTX upgrade is free once you own the game. (Or, you can just use the free demo if $1.49 is too much for your wallet.)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2320/QUAKE_II/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1089130/Quake_II_RTX/

 

This laptop pisses me off, I applied phobya nanogrease extreme 9900k, a flat thin layer of it and I think this stuff is good according to @S.K it is better than thermal grizzly and will lower Temps by about 1-2c more and I run cenibech r15 because Im used to how the scores should end up, today on 4.7ghz with a -135 undervolt, while this is active I see about 1975-2015 jumpy scores with 85c peak maybe close to 90 and according to throttle stop cpu is pulling 130-135w then when I go to 4.8ghz with the same undervolt the wattage jumps to nearly 160w and the Temps easily get to 100c at this point... Either the cooler in here is trash and anything over 150w cpu wise will just be to hot or im doing something wrong... Any advice from those who haven't delided 9900k somehow running this at 4.8-5ghz on all cores... Because realistically I don't see this possible when really pushing this cpu hard without overheating, the 9900KS I had was running cool but I only could get it also to 4.7ghz max and if wattage went over 125 it would throttle on core speeds bad because of bios not liking it, but It did sustain 4.7 and on cenibech I would get 2016 average score and once peaked it at 2023 and the Temps would not really go above 82c so either the 9900ks was running cooler because apparently it is a better binned chip and it was in fact using lower voltage or maybe was because I put grizzly on it instead of nanogrease and grizzly is actually better.... Idk anymore I'm so close to wanting a refund and forgetting this whole laptop existed and buying a clevo instead. I can't sit here and justify $$3200$$ for a heavily bios limited pos that can't even cool what it comes with laptop.... I've opened this thing like 10 times already, invested in thermal pads, different paste and all... I'm just sick of it. All I wish for is the cpu to run at, decent Temps and I do want a 9900k in here, maybe I'll buy a KS again waste $150 and pretty much pay that premium not for a 5ghz stock speed because this laptop bios dosent have microcode for it yet... But for a 8c temp reduction with a 4.7 max speed. Yay......

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@Donald@HIDevolution should be able to get you fixed up with one of these... https://www.hidevolution.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=P870

 

Power draw goes up with heat, as you witnessed 160W at 4.8Ghz ~100c.
With proper cooling and mods, you should drop the 9900k down to 144w at 5Ghz ~65c in CBR15

Spoiler

And the KS should perform even better with all of that.

 

Well do you think I should get another KS and for now deal with the 4.7ghz max I am able to get on it, I tried updating bios to latest, clearing cmos, and all there is a power limit of 131w max on 51m with the KS no doubt, I hope there is support added but it seems I guess because the chip is better quality than a normal average 9900k it can, sustain lower Temps at the same 4.7ghz speed...

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Thanks for the reply - so far I am pleased with the laptop and probably will hang onto it over an AW M15 R2 I was trying out as well. The difference in real estate, gsync and upgradeability despite the weight makes it a no-brainer. If I really need "light" I still have my trusty AW 13 R3 which had motherboard replacement about 4 months ago, so its almost like new.

I am wondering if there were any changes as well to the cooling kits with the 2070's since the new panel started going into production and that is contributing to more stability by slightly better cooling... still good to hear if Dell is working on a revised BIOS for the 2080 kit issues.... upgrading to that or a newer GPU assuming they support them would be great down the line. My only wish for this laptop is a better screen option down the line - even if it requires Dell techs to do the work, it would be good to see a 1440p or 4K option at some point.

 

On the undervolt guide I described that the heatsink can't cope with more than 145W sustained. Your results with the 9900K seem to be normal.

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Regarding hope for bios update to handle 9900KS and finally add in Intel's memory specifications/XMP. I doubt it... Reasons below.

1) R2 will come with new chipset and socket (Comet lake). R1 will be EOL
2) 9900KS is in short same chips as 9900K. But Dell have designed and validated the cooling for 95w chips. Not the 9900K@127W
3) Unified heatsink. Means more heat will be throw back on the GPU. And as we all know... Dell had to lower therrmal trip point and went back to 180w vBios only to stop the smoke and RMA. Why would they do the opposite now and let new hardware as KS puke more heat on the Gpu side without a refreshed heatsink?

And as you can see here below... Dell and Alienware prefer create own rules for specs in their best gaming desktops. And this isn't first time we see this How to change RAM mhz speeds in OEM motherboard for the Area-51 R7 Threadripper

https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/...ge_ram_mhz_speeds_in_oem_motherboard/f9czlt7/

 

Although this is the case with the KS having higher tdp... It still stands that my 9900k pulled way more than that and after 140w is when it got to hot like 100c easy so in my eyes if a KS goes up to 127w and 5ghz stock I mean? That's some gold to me.. At 4.7 I'm dam near 130w as it is... But this aw obviously does not handle wattage the proper way I guess.. So meh.

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Geez...what is the point of the desktop socket then x. X

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Dell, as well other ODMs don't develope/validate the computer cooling capacity with hardware running undervolted. And they weld on power delivery components + design heatsink for today/yesterday's specs. Not future or coming specs. Cost will always beat awesome.

 

anyone tried the new bios 1.8.1? if so, how's the throttling?

 

If you aren't happy with it then you should return it or sell it. I for 1 would buy your 9900k. The sad truth is that the 9900k is too much cpu for this laptop. Alienware failed to rise to the engineering problem and have had to use software fixes to get their systems to run within heat constraints. This is unfortunate but fairly obvious at this point. I get that people want the *best* but what is the point of having a 9900k in a system that won't let it stretch it's legs? You can still use liquid metal on the ihs to heatsink. Even the best TIM is 1/8 as efficient in heat transfer as liquid metal.

The real issue is thermodynamics. The heatsink is saturated with heat by components that put out too much heat for the system. Dell threw a 9900k in there to be the best and didn't care that the cpus would underperform. They get to define what it means to function normally.

 

You will buy my 9900k wha?

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Sure. Just as long as it's a reasonable price for a used 9900k.

 

With a 9900k/2080/gsync, can I skip the Intel UHD driver update?
or does it worth the installation?

 

So, they released a new BIOS today. Can someone check if there is still the thermal throttling?

Doesnt say anything about thermal limits...

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Expect the same. The new bios contain same fixes as for their other AW models.


Performance loss after latest BIOS update.
I know GeekBench isn't a solid benchmark tool, but I noticed some performance loss after the latest BIOS upgrade on my Alienware M15 R1 (i7-8750H - 32GB RAM - 1TB SSD - RTX 2070 - 4K IPS). I noticed some heavy loads and compiles take longer than before. So I read the Dell's information for the BIOS upgrade, seems like it's a mitigation for latest Intel CPU vulnerabilities.

 

I'm scared to update to latest then. I can't downgrade back if something flops.. Maybe..

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I have 15 day return in this 9900k bought it 449 new

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I know. But still, we need someone to be the first to test it.

Once I have the results I will go to the Dell forums and support and talk to them again


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My fellow AW owners,

I have been following this thread regularly since day 1, played with the 51m at CES last year and fell in love. I know much about the burn out issues and remedies and all that you all have been going through. I am still wanting to buy this machine and my time is approaching, but I have a question that I cannot 100% definitevly answer with my own research... could someone please help me out:

I am looking for ultimate performance (in both gaming and CPU/SSD bound applications) with my planned 51m purchase, BUT I mainly use the AW Gfx Amplifier with my current AW 17r4. I am planning to get a second AGA, so I will have it hooked up to the 51m (with either a 2080 or 2080Ti, possibly whatever is next after) at work and at home. This means i don't need ultimate internal GPU power, but I want to make sure I get the BEST version of the heatsink and fans/fins/exhausts. I am planning to get a binned/SL/similar CPU (best 9900k I can find I assume, most likely delidded) and repaste/pad to make sure the CPU side of things is as good as anyone could attain within the 51m's possibilities. This brings me to my actual Q:

*** What is the minimum/least expensive CPU/GPU spec Area 51m I can order from Dell or HID that will make sure I have the best groundwork (heatsink) for ultimate CPU performance with my own CPU, and (I guess unrelated but) also problem free AGA high end GPU interfacing?

I'm guessing that if i get a 1660 or an 8700 that it will come with the lesser heatsink with fewer vents, but I am not sure which steps up I need to go to get the same goodies that would come with say a 9900k/2080 config.

Also, is it fairly certain that the 51m's ordered today or after are most likely fixed up enough to be more reliable than ones from 6+ months ago? (via reduced PL bioses and better VRM's or other hardware components.)

Thank you all in advance.

BTW... I was a happy Sager/Clevo user until I moved on to the external graphics/ AGA options. I would get another one in a heartbeat, but... they do not have a 100% reliable external GPU solution as it seems. I dont want to tie up my TB3 ports or fuss with those expensive docks and their overhead.

Any other suggestions or additional information surrounding my question would be appreciated.

 

Waiting for someone to try the new bios

 

You can try it to you know lol

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I know but I'm scared haha

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Who will be the first?



Me

 

Oh then i would definitely return that bad boy.

 

Return and get what a KS? Lol then a clevo for it to work properly in?

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Ok I think I'm gonna be brave

 

Wait do you know how to downgrade it once you update?

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I guess you could buy a base level and hope everything comes in the best configuration. I've never seen the lower tier heatsink but perhaps it's out there. You could try buying the heatsink second hand but if the grill is left off of the system it'll be useless.

Why AGA? It doesn't connect at full x16 speed. I think it's closer to x4. My 2080 performs on par with a gtx 2080 or a 1080 ti. It seems like you would intentionally handicap your system and spend more money.

 

The other versions you could just download the version you wanted from Dell and install it. I downgraded like this from 1.5.4 to 1.5.0

 

You were the one talking about returning it. It seems you don't like it. Do what you want.

Clevos run very hot. The difference is there isn't as much software in the way. Next to none

 

...

I'll just leave this 5.2Ghz here..

Spoiler

 

I'm sure they don't run anywhere near as hot as a aw 51m

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There was a whole guide made of how to downgrade the bios idk if it's that easy maybe you got lucky cause you were on 1.5.x already

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I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean. Clevos are better maybe? Hard to disagree from a performance perspective. I think that's been proven time and again. Maybe that's how people talk now. By linking firestrike runs and using ellipsis.

 

It's really that difficult to downgrade? When I downgraded I just downloaded the packacge and installed it

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"Clevos run very hot"

Did you look at the temperatures in the ss? I'd hardly call that running hot

 

The last clevo i bought was the p775dmg. It ran intensely hot. It also ran like a dragster. Clevos are great if you don't mind the build quality. In my experience they run hot but it's been years since I've touched one. My a51m runs cool but i also have an 8700k in there. It's not gonna touch a top end clevo. It's all preference

 

I just don't want you to update then maybe a downgrade dosent work anymore but hey if what you did actualy works the way your saying then the whole guide that was put together lol... Was a waste? But I think SK knows enough about this laptop that he tried what you did and didn't work I think you were able to sense you were on 1.5.x or maybe some later update disabled it from going down like that easily. I could be wrong tho

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8700k delided? Last time I tryed one it got super hot hotter than the 9900k lol..

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Sure. It also doesn't say which clevo it is or how they are cooling it down. A 9900k at 5.2ghz without throttling puts out alot of heat. 62c seems impossible even for a custom loop.

 

He lapped the hell out of that cpu and LM on it

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That's my P870 benching with an open window, lol.

 

Oh? How is that? I can do a 5.1ghz run right now and stay under 75c. Hotter than a 9900k? You might be doing something wrong.

Seems like a good system you got there then.

 

Tf oh Boi... Makes me feel stupid I returned mine... Idk the dam thing was on fire,I had to tune down voltage alot but still ran crazy hot, what is your undervolt? Did you delid? Mayhe you have a golden cpu idk lol

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I hate to do this to you but can run a TS or cenibech and see the hottest it will get? If your under 80 in the end I'll be shocked

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I may be mistaken but i believe another guy on here has an 8700k in his a51m. I just bought it from a friend. I don't think it's very special. At 5.0 i put a -75mv undervolt on it. Runs great. Are you adjusting your fans?

 

Full speed


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Sure. I'm off in 30 and I'll do a run for you

 

Testing after lapping at 5Ghz
CB15 cpu package 65c
CBR20 cpu package at 91
TimeSpy Physics cpu package 63c

Spoiler