Just got my New Alienware 17!!!!

Well guys I just got my first Alienware gaming laptop ever!! After having bad luck with the Asus G750JM and the MSI GT70 I went ahead and bought an Alienware. Since Im not a hardcore gamer I went with the 780M version and not the 880M. The packaging is absolutely amazing and my first impressions is that this laptop is built like a brick house!!!! Hands down the best I have ever had so far. Im setting it up now but I just wanted to praise Alienware/Dell.

 

Congrats! you're going to love it. The difference between the 780 and the 880 is very very minor and not worth the upgrade price.

 

Where did you order from and what screen did it end up coming with?

 

Great to hear. I know you'll be satisfied.

You need to grab some empty DVD's or an 8GB USB 3.0 flash drive and make a backup of the entire system using AlienRespawn (accessed through the Start menu). This will allow you to return the system back to factory state at ANY time for ANY reason. It's pretty important for a first time Alienware owner.

 

Tweak. I ordered from amazon and not sure about the screen. I do know it's 1080p if that's what you were wondering.

J. Dre. I will stop at best buy while I'm out right now and pick one up. Does it have to be a 3.0?

Sent from my Galaxy S5 using my neighbors internet

 

USB 3.0 works the best. So, yeah, I'd get a 3.0. All of the ports on the Alienware are 3.0.

I use this brand for backups on all of my systems: http://www.amazon.com/ADATA-Superio...F8&qid=1402517060&sr=8-3&keywords=8gb+usb+3.0

 

Would you suggest I order one or go and buy one today? Does it matter if I install a few games and then back it up?

 

As long as you don't format the HDD or remove anything, it shouldn't affect it.

Any USB 3.0 will do, though. I'd just go grab one at Best Buy for $8 and get it over with.

 

Welcome, my friend. You're going to love your new machine :thumbsup:

 

Congrates and have fun with it .

 

Im already loving it!!! the screen seems to be better than both the Asus and the MSI that I had. I just played Far Cry 3 for about an hour and my temp got up to 86. Does that sound about right? I ran a 3DMark 11 stock and got a 7589. I overclocked it a bit and got a 8306. Core +135 and Memory +200. That was the first setting I tried and seemed to help quite a bit in Far cry 3.

 

Those are great benchmarks! Is your GPU getting up to 86 degrees? I'll let one of the more veteran guys chime in but that seems a little too hot. Is that temp with the OC? If so, you may have to dial it back down... My OC'd R9 M290X hasn't gotten over 79 during gameplay...

Sent from Tapatalk from an increasingly expensive smartphone

 

Also, go in small intervals when OC'ing so you can test for stability or anomalies. I started with my core clock and went up 10 MHz and then would run a benchmark, like Heaven for example. Then, when I got my stable core OC, I did the same with the memory.



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Yes those temps were gpu temps after overclocking. Im just using MSI Afterburner to look at my Temp. Is there something else that I could use?






EDIT. I just downloaded open hardware monitor and will pay close attention to temps.

 

Have you repasted the GPU? If not, I recommend purchasing IC Diamond 7 as it will reduce your temps slightly.

 

No I have not repasted. I just got this today brand new...

 

Just played far cry 3 for 30 minutes.

Sent from my Galaxy S5 using my neighbors internet

 

My CPU was reaching 100 degrees so I called Dell and they sent out a tech to repaste my CPU and did a great job. I now have some IC Diamond to paste with later.

That being said, I don't think you need to repaste just yet. I'd recommend not being so aggressive with your clock settings, or even run them stock and see what your max temp is after a long gaming session. From what I've read, AMD GPU's run hotter than Nvidia so I think you should be well under 80 degrees..

Also, don't let this discourage you. It's an easy fix and 85 degrees and over is many laptops normal. Alienware has an awesome cooling system!

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Remember to test only demo in loop in 3dmark (firestrike) and demo in 3dmark 11 for stability. The various tests are too short for stability testing for your overclocking of the GPU.

 

I'd just chime in and say I've seen a lot of the 780m models running temps in the 80's and some saying this is high but acceptable? I would not accept a laptop running games at over 75C, it's getting cooked and lifespan will be reduced .

I don't know if it's a design issue with the new case and cooling but it seems more likely it's a Quality Control issue. It happened on the 580m where the padding/paste was done by a monkey. I had one pad missing altogether and I saw others!

I know it's brand new but I'd call dell - if they say that temp is acceptable then you can only tackle it yourself to see if you can improve the situation.

Good luck

 

An overclocked GPU will run warmer than a stock GPU - that's given. 81C on Far Cry 3 is not unheard of, especially with an overclock. You should be worried when it reaches 85C or above. At that point, you will need to re-paste it. A re-paste will lower the temperature and bring it to the mid-70's. It makes quite a difference.

If you are comfortable with re-pasting, you should go for it. Otherwise, don't worry about it until temperatures reach above 85C. And there's no need to overclock anymore. The more you overclock, the more unnecessary stress you put on the GPU. People overclock for benchmarks. You don't need to overclock to play a game. The 780M is more than capable of handling any game.

 

Ok I used a 64gb micro sd card I did the backup and it worked but then I needed to free the 64gb card up so I copied all the contents onto my pc from the backup and copied it all onto a 8gb USB disk formatted to ntfs would this still work?this is for alien respawn backup.

 

Recommend you to use HWINFO 64 instead of hv monitor for monitoring all of the hardware. What temperature do you have under 3dmark (firestrike), 3dmark 11 and 3dmark vantage without overclocking the hardware? Can you post some pictures of tests with HWINFO? Remember again, you can see various temperature and other results in 3dmark details (pay version) I post some links of tests.(Look for temperatures of these machines) . Review Asus G750JZ-T4023H Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews Alienware 17 (GTX 880M) Notebook Review - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

Edit: This was intended to Detroit85