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

It is not a noisy system, of course the fans will spin a lot more under heavy load though. Still pretty quiet

 

It's a quiet machine but have notices on mine, basic browsing is a quiet fan, about every minute it ramps up and about 15 seconds later quiets down. Not to obnoxious but I know what he's talking about. Is this normal? I did switch my power plan from
Balanced to high performance. I've noticed in settings the power is 100% on CPU so maybe this is why??

 

every system is going to generate heat, that is just the fan spinning up to drop the temps a bit and then slowing back down.

 

Yep I figured that much. Machine is really quiet for the power that's packed into it. I love it n first alienware and very happy with it.

 

glad you like it!!

 

Just ordered a 17. Nice to be more officially back in the club.

 

Are the bottom cover and palmrest made of magnesium or plastic with magnesium inlays? Does the chassis flex when held at a corner? Would anyone risk holding the laptop by the lid?

Guessing the durability of the chassis and lid from teardowns is difficult.

 

welcome back haha.

 

my 17 should be here tomorrow when i get home from work......

 

Welcome to the 17 Club man! and Congrats!

 

Um, the palm rest area is very similar to the M17x R4 from an aesthetic appeal and feel. The bottom cover is plastic.

And no, I won't hold my laptop by the lid to help you determine how strong it is, LOL. It's equal to or better than the previous M17x R4, in regards to opening and closing. However, now the lid has a brushed aluminum finish and has a much better appearance, in my opinion.

 

Both from what I understand. Some sort of plastic and metal alloy

 

Just got my alienware m17 4700M gtx 780m today.am happy with it but just wanna ask you that.the time i started it i got sound from left speaker(it sounded like ssssssshhhhhhhhh)(like an old tv with no signal with black & white dots) for 10seconds evrytime when adjusted sound setting or tried to play video,song or notifications.then i reinstalled the realtek driver & now its ok.again installed it but the same thing happens hence i reinstalled it again & its absulotely ok now.did any one experience such issue? Is it normal?frankly speaking am new hence asking some stupid questions .now i have realtek driver uninatalled.is it also important to have the driver installed or is it ok without it.also want to ask how to check temperatures of cpu & gpu.wanna see how r they perfoming.i would also be pleased if u give me some more tips regarding this beast.sory for my bqd english & thanks in qdvqnce

 

When I first had my M17xR3 delivered the sound was awful, very crackly from the speakers. After I reinstalled the sound drivers it fixed the issue, and was fine, so that's similar in a way to what happened to you. I guess sometimes the sound driver packages just don't install properly, and are solved by re-installation. I'd just go ahead & reinstall the sound driver package from the dell support website.

For CPU & GPU temperatures you could use HWMonitor (free). GPUz for more detailed GPU information & temperature measurement.

 

My 17 had some noise issues with the headphone jack, but no speaker issues. Uninstalling the Realtek driver helped with the noise a bit. Haven't even bothered checking with my 18 yet. Been using an external Fiio E17 DAC/headphone amp combo since the internal amp can't drive a pair of orthos, though TBH, the E17 is pushing it for a set of orthos as well.

 

Has anyone gotten any random blue screen problems? Got one yesterday while i was away, the computer restarts and has an error that says :Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown. Problem signature : BlueScreen after that it has a bunch of codes and numbers. Gonna leave my laptop on today while at work and see if it does it again. Probably can trace this back to the nvidia beta drivers or the A03 bios update?

 

This never happened to me on A03 or nvidia beta drivers. But I'm going to bet it's the Nvidia drivers.

 

Had this happen to me static from the speakers..the realtec driver quit after awhile. Re-installed the driver and all has been fine.

 

Got my new system yesterday! Everything seems to be working fine... except one minor detail. When I go to play a movie or stream something in Netflix my computer screen goes blank for half a second and comes back in what appears to be a movie watching mode? In this mode the screen gets dimmed (although brightness is maxed out) and it looks fine. I was just wondering if this was normal and if there was a way to prevent this from happening ect.

On a side note. On my first boot Dell asked me to have my system synced up with them and all this bla bla bla. I said no and now I am wondering if I should have.

Cheers!

 

How hot is too hot for a 780m? I just had my 770m swapped out for a 780m yesterday and i ran firestrike 2 times and tomb raider benchmark 2 times I hit a max on my 780m of 79c. This worries me because the 770m never got that hot.

 

Sounds like your hitting the thermal throttle man if you didn't disable it.

 

92 C is the way too hot threshold. 79 C is good. I like my systems to be in the 70 - 85 C range.

 

I used nvidia inspector and hit apply defaults. This removes the heat throttleing correct ? I'm just wondering as the card performs kind of funny

 

Yes if you hit over clocking tab, apply defaults you should she the temprature go from 66 to 95. I slid mine back to 85 and checked the prioritize temprature. During 3dmark 11 I never see above 71 and the throttling range is set at 66c by default.

 

Ok so I'll make sure I always hit the apply defaults. Now as far as over clocking on the 780m goes I've read that it doesn't work too well until you flash the vbios for the modded one. Is this the case ? I tried a soft oc of 100 on the core and 350 on the memory and it didn't seem to like that at all

 

???Sorry Dumb Question???

 

EDD for my 17 is the 13th of September (to NS, Canada). The problem is that I'm leaving Canada that day, and need my laptop before then. Now, it's a given that EDDs are usually over-estimated, but can any owners give me an idea of by how much?

 

Someone mentioned a "palm check" feature to turn off. Anyone know where I can find that? I went through my synaptics control panel and saw no such option. I want to be able to use the touchpad simultaneously with the keys. Touch pad locks up.

 

Palm check should be under pointing I think. Might be worth trying the latest drivers directly from synaptics I have no issues with them.

 

Hi, it was me that mentioned the palm check feature, not sure if it's called that for the A17's though. On the M17xR3 it's possible to change the sensitivity of the palm check feature. If you're using the WASD keys for movement it could be that your left hand is fouling the touchpad, thereby activating the palm check feature & rendering any input from the touchpad useless. You could try decreasing the sensitivity of the palm check feature (whatever it's called on the A17) or disabling that feature altogether. Palm Check might not be causing your woes, but it sounded similar to what happened to me. I find that feature in the Alienware control centre within the settings for the touchpad.

 

Control Panel > Mouse Icon > Device settings tab (the one with the Synaptics icon) > in the tab look for "settings" > Smartsense.

Or use the alienware OSD application, there should a something similar in one of the tabs.

 

I received mine 4 days before the EDD. And I didn't receive the "shipping confirmation" email (stating that my order had been shipped) until the EDD. The automated system is a little behind. Also, when my system said it was "partially shipped" on the order status page: it actually shipped completely, not partially. There will be a tracking number available, keep an eye out for one.

 

I got mine 10 days before the EDD and didn't even ask for them to expedite the order. Call them and explain that you're leaving town that day and they should expedite the order or shipping, most likely the former.

 

The rep actually did say he'd expedite the order. I assume that's separate from shipping? (still shows Canada standard). Thanks for the info though, can breathe a little easier now.

Side question: Is is possible to bind the macro keys as media buttons? You could accomplish this through a macro as well I know, but it would be very kludgy. Is there functionality in ACC to allow this directly?

 

Is there a special number to call and get detailed statut on a system "in Production"? I saw a thread from 2010 with instructions but it didnt work for me. My AW 17 has been in Production forever (well..17 days lol)

 

So playing around with my 780m seems like my fire strike score may be a little low at 4800. I'm on stock vbios and nvidias latest drivers. What kind of score should I be getting ?

 

Hey, you should be getting around 5200 on Firestrike, in terms of the raw GPU score that is:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

That link will show you a comparison to other 780M scores. Seems like it could be the throttling thing happening again, unless the score you quoted is the overall score, and not the GPU score.

(But, it's only 6% off, not far off, so I wouldn't worry too much about it, unless you want to make sure you're getting 100% of the performance that's available).

 

4800 is my overall score. My raw graphics score is 5300 so I guess it's performing well?

 

and what score do you have the 3DMark (2013) - Cloud Gate? I have 18 000 ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4800MQ,Alienware 068R5X) but this shide NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M - NotebookCheck.net Tech they have 34823 end this is minimal score so i dont knowe .......

 

I will run cloud gate now and let you know

 

so this is my cloud gate score http://www.3dmark.com/cg/700758 basically the same score you got. that high number of 34823 is actually the raw graphics score, not the overall test score. my raw graphics score is 35324 yours is around the same. seems our 780m's are running perfect(for stock anyways)

 

Dell Alienware 17 System BIOS A 04 Released:

[BIOS] Modify:
1. Support Intel PCH C2 chipset.
2. Update ePSA 4228A12(4228.19).
3. Modify SMBIOS Type 1 information.
4. Update Microcode 306C3h Rev.12h.
5. Enhance WOL function under Sleep status.
6. Modify hardware reserved memory.
7. Enhance graphic performance for Nvidia Optimus.

Driver Details | Dell US

 

I thought I remember reading that the new 17 had an optical output? Seems lame not to have optical audio...

 

Nice to know. Thanks, Volt.

 

Ya great find seems stable running it now checking on some games.:thumbsup:

 

So I finally answered my own question I believe. I need a cable like this Amazon.com: C2G / Cables to Go 27016 Velocity Toslink-to-Optical Mini Plug Digital Cable-2 Meters: Electronics In order to have optical goodness! I feel silly

 

P7396 at 3DMark11 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4700MQ,Alienware 068R5X
NVIDIA 326.41, stock vbios, stock clocks, temp unlocked at 80 C.
Alienware BIOS A 04

Nothing to write home about.

 

Hey guys,

Been frequenting this forum cause i've been wanting to get a gaming laptop for awhile now. It came down to the asus g750 or the AW 17. When i saw the AW m17x beside the Asus g750, it was clear that the AW was my choice cause it was built sturdier and felt like there would be less chance of it breaking. I know the AW 17 is different but I assume the build quality would be the same.

So i've since called dell and got the pricing on an AW 17 with the following specs:

I7 4700 processor
Gtx 780m
750gb hdd + 64gb caching msata drive
1080p screen
Dvd optical drive

The price after taxes came out to around $2400. Pretax it would be $2156. I was wondering if anyone could give me insight on whether this was a good price for the specs. I know someone on here bought it for ~$1500 but the guy wouldn't go any lower. Any help would be much appreciated as he's holdin the price for me. Thx!

 

I'm curious about item number 7, does it mean the temps are unlocked without third-party tools?

 

I'm gonna try to do some tests for number 7, but I think they raised the thermal limit for Optimus. Remember that optimus' thermal limit is only 66c before it starts to throttle unlike non-optimus mode (77c)

update: someone from the Alienware 14 forums said that temp limit in optimus mode is now 92-94c instead of 66c. I have yet to confirm if this is true. If this is true, then it means we don't need EVGA precision X or MSI afterburner when we update to A04