*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 Ranger (2013) Owner's Lounge Thread

i'll see in a month's time...maybe i can buy it as a b'day gift for myself

If i was gonna order one now, it'll be the P775DM-G, if i wait a month possibly the P870DM-G. 980Ms in SLI sounds ok if i wait a bit longer...or just wait the month and get a P775DM-G.

I can live without the 120hz panel as g-sync sounds really good to me.

the only things i would take out of the alienware is the 3 x 2.5-inch SSDs then I'll give it a good wipe and OS install.

 

*double post*

 

That's exactly my problem... I can NOT live without a 120Hz panel.
I still don't understand why still after more than a decade ago 120Hz or more it's not a standard in LCD panels. Specially when CRT monitors used to have much more refresh rate.

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hmm....got overwatch to hit 100fps in game and the temps hit 70C

 

Just wait for a few months and you can get a 1080M SLI or 1080 desktop in 870DM 200W or 775DM with less TDP desktop card.

It's just sad that Alienware M17x Forum is dying, Almost everyone left I'll stay though..

 

so long as clevo make an announcement of the new gpus being added into the mix.

 

i'm laying down the ground work to shift from the alienware camp to the clevo camp and when the clevo arrives i'll be selling the alienware 17 (minus my 2.5" SSDs as i'll be needing those).

 

Welcome to the club

 

I just ordered the clevo P870DM-G from local reseller Metabox and when i get the new pc I'm gonna be looking to sell the alienware (minus my SSDs and I'll probably stick in an HDD from my PS4 and give it the 3rd SSD).

So like many others i'll be leaving the alienware camp in favour of greener pastures

 

Some say that the grass is NOT greener on the other side. Oh yes. Everything is better on the other side

 

I'm curious though, why change your already very good Alienware that has Maxwell 980M and swap it for another laptop with Maxwell when Pascal is gonna come out in the next few months - don't you want Pascal or are you gonna upgrade your P870DM from Maxwell to Pascal when they come out? All gonna cost you more dollars (and aggravation).

 

mainly to upgrade the CPU and get gsync plus the alienware isn't that upgradeable so a clevo will do nicely. i'll just have to take my chances.

 

Fair enough, but there aren't any 'chances' involved - you know Pascal is coming out quite soon. I'd wait and just by the same laptop with Pascal when it comes out. Unless you're doing some urgent work or something that needs the extra CPU power.

 

it's an early b'day gift for myself and it's also to celebrate me getting a job after getting back from canada (i got a job at Sony hahaha). So yeah the timing kinda sucks but that's something i can deal with.

win some, lose some. i don't mind not being a the bleeding edge for a few months.

 

I'd also say the same, but since you've ordered the beast, Enjoy the unlocked powah
Hope the Ranger goes to a worthy person.

 

Yep, enjoy, and you'll probably upgrade the GPUs to Pascal later anyway so no loss, a hobby doesn't have to be cheap!

 

Congrats for your new job and new notebook!

 

i look forward to getting it and ditching the alienware.

 

This machine will last you long if Pascal work. Maybe Pascal desktop come next year. I can't believe nGreedia come with only mobile cards. We have to see what will be pushed out.

 

when you ditch the aw17 shoot me a pm I have one but i'm looking to upgrade my gpu and a spare machine is always a good idea

 

shipping is gonna be terrible

 

yea its half way across the planet. how much are you askin anyway just so i have a clue

 

Hi guys! Are two yeas since i have my Aw17 R1 and i love it!!!
Maybe it's time to go with an 970m upgrade

 

I'm looking at a second one for my wife lol she only plays sims3 but she will eventually want newer games

 

Go ahead ! And get a triple pipe heatsink, M17x R4 GPU and CPU fans & read this also !
For Fan upgrades with Ranger, here & remember the Clevo Xbrace needs a bit of pressure, It gets easy after the first job & Use the stock thermal pads from the existing GPU they are of good quality and work fine, finding others is a bit difficult in cutting them and installing.

One last thing, DON'T buy and DON'T let anyone buy the Alienware brand anymore. Take good care of the last true Alienwares.

EDIT : This should help with setting up for your upgrade, except that 120Hz won't need that switching step and proceed directly to the next.

Spoiler: Windows

Finally with Win10, the LTSB is the best version but it sits at 10240 which has bugs and the new versions prior to 365.19 had issues with 120Hz bootup now @thegh0sts says it fixed the boot issue (had to downclock to 60Hz to boot the 980M + INF modded driver) with the latest Win10 builds, a.k.a TH2 (10586) the Feb 2016 ISO should help you out there's a more recent update later that ISO too (they removed the full changelog now wow, now they only post the ISO updates only, regression everywhere), I hate Win10 personally and use Win8.1 Enterprise and If it comes to 10 I will only use Enterprise and remove all the bloatware from the ISO prior using it and this thread has more info on Win10 using as a Win7 replacement.

And you do not need to enable that secure boot at all.

 

Thanks Ashtrix for your helpful informations. I'll take care of them
I didn't have in mind to upgrade Windows, i prefer keep 8.1. But my 3 years old daughter press "upgrade now" accidentally

 

my alienware 17 is now on the price check forum.

 

i put some pics of the alienware on the price check thread. looking for what it might be worth.

EDIT: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-17-r1-2013.793646/#post-10292448

 

I've bought Cooler Master Notepal U3. It keeps my GPU temp 10°C less. Is good i think. The CPU is not affected.

 

Use Liquid metal on processor. The heatsink in Aw17 is of good quality and you will see better results. Also mod your U3 with better 12v fans. The stock one isn't useful!!

 

Finally sold the alienware

happy days!

 

Great One in the forum?

 

Nah, a different forum.

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Australia? And what you get?

 

Mh...i have a CPU temps about 90°-93°. Only just donwloading a games from Steam! I'm worried. I've cleaned the fan from dust, but it wans't help.

 

double

 

Do a repaste, stock paste is worthless toothpaste.
Get Gelid GC Extreme, its supereasy, get the paste cleaned with alcohol swabs and then use the arctic cleaning kit, this method works 100% fine and best for starters, then use a fine line on the CPU die then make a good pressure contact by 1-2-3-4 screwdown positions (repeat it and don't over tighten it, make sure always it's firm not tight, applies to all screws) on the CPU heatsink, I'd bet you'll be amazed to see how the temps will be.

 

Yes! I finally built myself a cooling mat for my AW17 Guess what! temps are down 15 degrees c under full load. that is nuts! its a wood box with 70 cfm plowing up at the alienware lol and it is sexy!

 

Wow, that's a big difference! Could you post some pics?

 

I'll snap some tonight of my set up i'm still modding the wood cooling pad and it adds like a solid 2 inches under the alienware. It isn't pretty but It does the job

 

I'll snap some tonight of my set up i'm still modding the wood cooling pad and it adds like a solid 2 inches under the alienware. It isn't pretty but It does the job

 

So here is a photo of my cooler i built. and I got a second one recently that was dropped it boots but nothing shows up on screen when i boot. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Hi guys. Is it possible to install an SSD M.2 PCI Express on our AW17?

 

No, it only has an msata drive which can be located under the keyboard.

 

You can have 1 M-sata as mentioned above. + 3 ordinary 2.5" ssd's if you replace your odd with the third ssd. For best performance purchase quality drives like Sandisk Extreme Pro or Samsung 850 Pro. Both is the best 2.5 inches ssd you can get today. A big plus is 10 years warranty. Purchase the biggest one you can afford. Because you will newer put in a small ssd from your old machine in your next computer.

 

First try to plug it into a TV with HDMI, Check for the screen if it broke. If nothing shows up then try the HDD swap, Further that It's a bit hard, But since dropping took out the laptop . Mostly It's either screen or the HDD since the Mobo doesn't have any such parts that die from shock, if your's a 120Hz machine then I might also suggest you to try and reseat the GPU since 120Hz works only from GPU cards, not from Intel HD, that shock might have made some slight contact issue at the MXM slot.

That NVMe SSD needs PCIe bandwidth plus It's overkill to be honest, the SanDisk Extreme Pro 960 and Samsung 850 Pro are more than enough for us and best SSDs in the market, if you get them into RAID 0 they would smoke everything you throw at them, get an Evo 850 for that mSATA and that's enough, if you want moar juice get the Extreme Pros or 850 Pros in RAID-0.


A lso to all Alienware 17 owners there's this sweet news of 1070 MXM3.0b from MSI (TBA) Update, nope : If it works (works in the 750DM, the 15" MXM3.0b machine from Clevo), then you've hit a jackpot (1070 Mobile > 980M SLI ) !! We can't make it work because the chassis might not allow us to fit that card which has a bit of extension on side and top and the old 750 clevo can fit because It might have got the space and the heatsink can be upgraded from the upcoming 775DM2, This is It guys, 980M is the last MXM3.0b card.
More here

The badnews is almost everyone left Alienware 17 and M17x R4, J95 might also have upgraded to P870DM, Still I can count myself in for testing. But later only cause of money constraints.

 

Interesting experiment

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Well the video card isn't the problem tests perfectly in my main aw17 so it's either video cable or screen but it still doesn't show anything externally either thru the hdmi port. yet when i boot it up all the lights come on and everything shows it working. Any help would be appreciated

 

Sorry to hear that..
If the HDMI is not working, Then I presume there's some fault, very hard to troubleshoot If It throwed some beeps maybe would have been a bit easier.

Because I had my display going crazy and I also see lines with the Nvidia card on on dedicated mode (No optimus mode), the LVDS cable replacement fixed that, the lines are still there, Might be display since HDMI works fine with this no optimus mode.

Try this, perform a full teardown and re-assembly maybe some flex ribbons or tabs got loose with that shock, check for the RAM / CPU too if you didn't in case.

Could try a mobo swap (too tedious but with right expertise It's be ok, I did a full teardown except removing the mobo because I had to replace the LVDS cable needed to remove the display assembly too, I felt It was hectic but once you get the idea It's simple)