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

@ Tenspeed33
I'm more interested in whether one could tell a difference between 60 hertz and 120 hertz in competitive gaming with 3D turned off of course.

@Grajjie
Buzzing noise? Hardware or software noise?
That (software noise) happened to me today while I was playing Grid 2. Buggy game maybe since it's made by the same company or probably you pressed some random key.

 

I thought running EVGA Precision was better path than flashing a modded vBios? Or are there additional benefits I'm missing?

 

Yeah I definitely dived straight into the flashing, no messing around after what I'd read on here looks like a good idea to make it one of the first things to do, not that you should have to in the first place!

Most definitely I played a bit of Guild Wars 2 and FIFA13 in 3D quickly and the depth is impressive. I felt totally immersed

Observer, I can try and find out for you but it won't be for a while as I've had to go away and won't really be able to test much else, today was my only day for a week or so!

 

I just want to start off by saying, i have been eying for an aw for the past 3 years......lol main reason why i didnt get one because i was very paranoid of my new laptop being defective or causing multiple problems like i constantly see on the web. Dell customer support doesnt help comfort me neither of all the horror stories. My current laptop is a sony vaio f280e and has been with me for 6 years now. Its a okay laptop but cost me 2k at the time when i bought it, kinda regret not looking into more when i got it. This laptop have been sent in more than twice. First time was my kinda my fault playing call of duty 4 on low setting(only capable of) lol all day, somehow fried the motherboard. After warranty gpu went out, good thing sony had a recall on the gpu so i got the repair free of charge. Ever since i stopped playing games on it, and gpu has been alive so far.

But back to the point, im really afraid my aw will be like my sony.................aw quality control doesnt help neither. Sony support was a breeze but dell is a different story. Im on the market for a new laptop, preferably a aw (hdmi in).Im just not sure if i want to take the risk. I also hate it when i have to sent in my latop for any reason, it always come back scratched................ Anyone who has their 17 already, hows the machine so far? any issues? hows bench mark?

 

I've never had any major issues with my R3 so far, a faulty keyboard and the common issue with the sound jack caused by the oversized optical adapter dell supplied. Both issues fixed without any huge headaches, the new Alienwares are certainly far more reliable than those old sonys with that stupid overheating nVidia chip.

 

Have a read of the thread in my signature - it's enough to put you off buying Alienware for good.

 

Yea, I'd recommend everyone update to the new 326 beta drivers. Saw a huge increase in performance for Metro. Before it was barely playable, now it runs great.

My mouse seems more responsive on a 120Hz screen, FWIW. I easily hit that in Borderlands 2 on my 17 with everything maxed, and it's wonderful.

 

your situation was outside of U.S but i seen so many within U.S....................i have been contemplating for so long now................just not sure if i want to risk it, it also doesnt help me being a part time student and have car payments.

 

Nice to see an American actually admit that being in the US makes a difference to warranty issues.

 

i didnt say that............im saying i see your similar situation within U.S many times

 

Well, regardless, you have an answer to your own question. If you see it so many times in the US, do you REALLY want to risk a scenario remotely like mine?

 

I would say just go for it. My R4 has been rock solid in the four months I've had it. It feels very well built and sturdy despite its plastic chassis and I'm assuming the new 17 will be even better in this department due to its aluminum construction.

The only issue I've had was a minor one where I had three faulty keyboards (first keyboard arrived with a bump due to misplaced cable underneath, second suffered a broken key, third was faulty from the start, fourth is perfect). I consider it minor in my opinion because dell support handled it instantly with no hassle. The technicians were also great. So I personally think dell support is good.

I also want to say that you will find many more horror stories online compared to the number of compliments simply because people with issues will go online to find solutions or to rant about it. There are way more people out there with perfect alienwares who just simply don't find the need to go online to post a thread saying "Hey my laptop is great".

 

i have lol several time before but i just want to believe but at the same time i know im lying to myself..................i really cant risk it with the situation im in. Any laptop out there that has a hdmi in?

 

yea people come on forum seeking for help but most what i seen is either problem exist out of the box or within a year something has stopped working. I dont see that as often as i do with dell product

 

I agree with ShirokenTech. Reading about so many problems is disheartening, but I'm sure many people have problem-free Alienwares. Are Alienware laptops worth their retail prices? Not until Dell improves quality control or decreases the prices of warranty extensions. But if you live in the US, you can haggle on price, and you will find support venues that those in other countries cannot use.

 

Got my Aw 17 today. Everythings perfect. No Scratches, off falling keys or dead pixels.

 

Same here.. So far not a single problem

 

Ok I've seen a lot of unboxing vids for this and this one thing bothers me:

What charger will come with my system? I have seen two different chargers for the 17; one being the traditional Clevo/MSi brick charger, the other being the Standard AW wide but slim charger with the status light on the plug going in to the computer. I really hope I get the AW styled charger but I want to know what everyone else got. (Mine is in my sig of course, Base model)

 

Because yours has the 765M GPU you'll get the smaller charger. Brick style. Not the slim one.

 

v.v can I still get the other one?

 

There are millions of Dell customers. The ones who need help are seeking it in communities like this. We see a lot of bad stuff and read a lot of bad stuff, but there are many more people out there with absolutely no problems. We don't hear from every customer.

While it may seem on this forum 50% of Alienware owners have issues, it's actually more like 5% - 10%, considering how many customers are actually out there. (These percentages are just example figures - do not take them literally.)

You're still more likely to not have any issues. Don't let this destroy your dream of owning an Alienware. If issues do arise, we are here to help.

 

thanks, that was comforting

 

Seeing all sorts of fluctuations in my benching with the new NVIDIA drivers... not sure what's up. Running +120/+240/85C every time and seeing changes as much as ~400-500 marks between runs...

 

Try running it in maximum performance mode (battery settings) with minimum processor state @ 100%.

 

Any CPU or GPU throttling? Temperatures OK? And this next one is just a wild theory based on something I read about GDDR5 memory. GDDR5 memory corrects it's own errors apparently, which is one reason why it overclocks well without crashing. However, I read that once you reach the top end of the memory clock during overclocking then eventually the number of errors being introduced accelerates, which offsets any performance gain as the memory slows its output instead to deal with correcting the errors. (All that previous theory is a bit shaky because I'm not an expert, and not sure if I remember what I read predictably!) Perhaps your memory clock is right at the limit, and the errors that are being introduced are occasionally offsetting your memory overclock, thereby sporadically reducing performance. You could test my wild theory by lowering your memory clock (even lowering it to stock) to see if you get more stable figures.

 

Ok, so I ran into my first minor issue last night. My 17 refused to get past posting when on battery. The "Alienware" popped up on the screen, then the screen totally shut off and got no further. I tried restarting multiple times and got the same result. Then I plugged it into the mains and restarted and it was fine after that. Am I being stupid or is this not meant to happen? Either way it's not a big deal, just gave me minor heart failure

 

Had a similar issue in the past with most of the notebooks I owned...

 

A laptop not running on battery is a pretty serious issue IMO! What you see is exactly the same as what happens when a battery is almost dead. Have you tried reseating it and make sure it shows as charged?

What happens if you unplug it when it's all up and running?

 

In my experiences on similar occasions, the primitive "OS" (all that embedded to hardware controllers) that works before the main OS boots "miss-reads" the battery status as without power or not available. In Mac's I usually do an SMC reset to force the hardware to "locate" the battery and its' status. I think the closest thing to an SMC reset in Windows, is a BIOS reset.

 

You have? I've never seen that on either of my previous two notebooks!

Booted it up, unplugged, running as normal on battery and the battery is showing full charge and 2hrs 30 remaining. I could try reseating it as well because it still won't boot from battery. Very strange

 

That sounds worthy of return if you can't get it fixed. It's a pretty big flaw if it won't post on battery, it is a mobile PC afterall!

 

Ill try Athonline's idea first probably, then ill think about getting in touch with Dell. Want to do anything but have to send this thing back...

 

Well if you cannot get it to POST on battery and it runs OK after that then it's probably a MB issue. You should be able to get that replaced (if you are OK with that) on-site, and they will attend any address you want, not just your home - at least they used to - I've had an on-site at my work

 

Yes, see my post above. Either that or you have a dodgy battery The worst time it happened to me was two months ago, while on a flight. The flight attendant "pushed" by accident a cup of coffee that was next to my laptop, on my laptop! Only a few drops got in, through the speakers I think -thankfully it didn't go over the keyboard and when I tried to open the computer, it just wouldn't boot! Had a series of heart-attacks! After leaving it for 3-4 minutes, I did an SMC reset and it booted! Just on my OS battery was reported as missing!!! A couple of restarts later, everything was working find.

To be honest I got some thoughts about an mSata-HDD issue in your case.

Try a couple of restarts and a BIOS reset. Also try to plug-out and back the battery.

 

But having them at your home, gives you a good excuse to take a day-off work or an extended break... xD

If it is MB issue, most likely a software one imo... expect if the HDD/mSata doesn't get enough battery or something?

 

I'll try all those things, thanks it does post, but then it's almost like the screen gives up and the GPU fails, because the laptop doesn't actually turn off, only the screen as far as I can see. FX is still on, and the hard drive indicator is still going. So I really don't know! Ill try you guys suggestions when I can and get back to you!

 

Ahhh now you are talking! When I was younger, I can recall trying to hook-up my PS2 in my computer as I read somewhere about using VGA-out as VGA-in! After messing around with the drivers of the card, the computer was booting up but after getting to Windows, there was no output from the card!

Are you using a custom vBIOS? How about Optimus?

 

I am using the SVL custom vbios yeah, do you think I should reflash with the original and see if the problem still persists? I've also just upgraded to the 326.19 beta drivers, they could also be a problem I guess...
I have the 3D bundle so Optimus doesn't work at all!

 

Dunno how exactly a Windows laptop works nowadays, but a small theory: Even in the 3D bundle, the integrated gfx card is there, just not used within the OS. So what if the integrated graphics card is used before Windows and then the dedicated one tries to boot in, but can't due to not getting enough power, as the custom vBIOS is adjusted in such way to OC the card? Try flashing I guess... I doubt it is the drivers.

 

That would make sense to me actually, good thinking. It would also tie in because as far as I know so far I'm in the minority with the 3D bundle, hence why nobody else has detailed this issue yet! Ill go try reflashing now.

 

Yep, I guess you could try reflashing the original vBIOS. At the very least it would then be in a ready state to be shipped back to Dell if it didn't solve your problem!

 

Good luck!

A quick question: Any other issues with it? If you play games and press i.e. volume up, does it kick you back to the desktop? How about ghosting?

 

I got only 2.6% increase with this new driver on 3dmark11 and gtx765m...

Still disappointed!!

 

That's not how it works. Dell hard-wired the 120hz display to a different port and the iGPU is completely bypassed. It's to do with the fact that only an NV card can pass POST with a dedicated 120hz display

Try to force the iGPU and you'll very likely brick it (I did )

 

Yeah, I really don't expect to see much in the way of performance gains soon. NV are struggling to get a stable one out there right now. In my testing the performance was almost exactly the same - only it does not lock up in FF any more - a bonus at last.

There needs to be another beta for sure seeing all the reports of people still having issues, then finally one that is supposed to be OK for the masses.

Best advice I can give right now is find one that works for you in gaming and stick with it for a couple of weeks at least...

 

Yep.. This one i upgraded to see how it behaves.. Gonna try some gaming later on and see if it is better than the older one.. If it is i'll stick with otherwise going back to the old one..

At the end i got P4732 with +100/+500 .. Very stable with temperature not higher than 72c ... Not gonna push harder than this dough..

 

Why the Dell did that? :S Still I think flashing the vBios to stock, won't do any harm...

 

That's good info . I also noticed a considerable temp drop, around 5C lower

 

If you really want to know (puts on propeller hat). The specifications for driverless use, as in during POST or in the BIOS, it only states 60hz and VGA compatibility. The 120hz display is native and does not support 60hz. Therefore if the BIOS tries to check the display through the 120hz display it will fail. If the display was multi-mode, or intel added the code to boot at 120hz there would not be a problem. In theory it should work just fine in windows as a driver is now in control of the refresh rates, it's simply that they couldn't get it to boot.

Phew, removes hat

 

Disnt pay that much attention.. I didnt recorded the temps before changing driver and my bad memory does not help