Farewell Alienware

So I have sold my notebook to a lucky fellow that got it for a bargain considering the specs.

My notebook adventure started with 15" $1400 notebooks. With medium ranked GT cards from Nvidia. Like GT 840M. Then my interest grew over the years and I wanted more, I started using 17" notebooks with low high end GTX cards, then up to top end GTX cards from Nvidia with overclocking in mind and of course, maxing out games. Then Alienware came along with Alienware 18 with a design I felt they hit home with. Clean, thick and beastly with SLI. Top it all off with 18.4" displays, a good deal bigger than the 15" I started out with. I was impressed with the machines. Quiet cooling, good temperatures, pretty internals, IPS display and of course, two graphic cards in SLI.

But I have to get off now. Alienware no longer cater for enthusiasts, the new brand is sacrificing cooling with thin hipster designs, they have locked down overclocking with BIOS, they use soldered GPUs and CPUs and they bundle the systems with an inferior PSU that scare away any remaining enthusiasts that loved Alienware. I always buy something better than my previous machines. I got to have more. Since Alienware have discontinued Alienware 18, the only SLI machines left are Clevo, but that is with less cooling balance and with a smaller display. Or MSI with GT80, but I sincerely hate the design and the CPU cooling is poor and a clear step down from Alienware 18. So the only options left for me is 17" notebooks with a GTX 980M. Which is only slightly faster than my previous Alienware 18 with 770M SLI. And you get smaller displays.

Nope, with the recent events, I am laying my sword down and raising the flag up. I am moving to Desktops again, and my plan is to buy a Skylake desktop with GTX Titan X, and top it all of with a 144Hz 1440p G-Sync display. With a fully unlocked CPU on a fully unlocked motherboard with a ton of overclocking options.

I dont feel home with any notebook OEMs today at all.
Farewell my friends. We had a good run

 

Let's hope they learn from their mistakes. Can't believe this mess.

About to say farewell myself and I just got here! Think it's safe to say I joined up during the best days of Alienware.

 

LOL, I just posted in the Clevo thread about info concerning a barebones model. I'm thinking of taking my 4940 CPu, and 980 GPUs and putting them in a clevo and getting rid of my AW18. I really agree with you J.Dre, it was exciting.

 

That's almost what I did. I came real close to buying a Clevo P370SM3 like @D2 Ultima has or reseller variant, and ultimately landed on the Clevo P570WM for more robust hexacore overclocking and improved thermal management experience. Good move, bro. I think you'll end up happier with a machine works correctly even if the build quality is slightly less impressive.

 

good job man, I'm with you 100%, been out in the market, even bought an AUS G751JY then returned it within 3 days as it gave me a lot of freezes when connecting my USB 3.0 HDD to any of its left side ports, all ASUS laptops have this issue and I thought they might've fixed it by now but nope. Additionally, the 980M GTX only gave me 5% more scores in 3DMark than my current 780M GTX in SLI mode so nothing to brag about here but I got a slower CPU so I returned it.

Looking at the available options right now, nothing interests meh...... all my life I wanted an 18.4 inch screen laptop and Alienware had it, now they gave away their best selling point along with crippling the GPUs and CPUs with soldered crap!

Ill hang on to my Alienware 18 for another year hoping some company with come up with a beat of a laptop to bring back the glory of desktop replacements

 

You still have a solid system, Matrix. Enjoy it while it lasts.

 

Amen brother. I've been feeling the same way about where Alienware is going with the new designs. I just bought an AW18 mid 2014 with plans to max it out. It's mid tier now with gtx 860ms and 16gb of ram. Once maxed out it will be a lot faster than any of the new designs.
Ryan Kelsey

 

I don't blame you Cloudfire. There's nothing worth buying anymore except some of the Clevo's. So many thin light soldered clones is ridiculous. Even with systems withGA.. heck I have a better GA on my old R2.. it's called buy a mini ITX and use the HDMI-in lol

I totally get you though. I won't part with something unless it's going to be better than my previous machine.. no point going backwards just to hold something new.

 

I have Forseen this happening in masses. I like my a AW's to much to jump ship just yet. I actually attempted with a couple Sagers but just couldn't do it. When there games I just can't run anymore and AW had still not fixed issues then I'll worry about it. I think any hardcore enthusiast should have a dssktop as well.
Good luck to everyone who ventures off to new horizons..

 

Yep, I made the move far earlier, however I just can't let notebooks go. And I finally decided, although it's a really stupid financial move, to just have both...

 

guys I'm confused, isn't Clevo Sager? because when I checked on XOTIC PC, they had SAGER/CLEVO under the same column and only SAGER laptop models were showing?

Second question is, I saw no option for 980M SLI only single, am I right? can they not take SLI?

 

Sager is distributor in America, Clevo is the actual brand of which the laptop is sold as.

 

ahh so it's the same. So do Sagers take SLI or only single GPU?

 

The Clevo P570WM and P377SM are both SLI-capable. They'll be called by different names depending on who's rebranding it, be it Sager, Eurocom, etc.

The P570WM takes Ivy Bridge-E desktop processors while the P377SM takes socketed Haswell mobile CPUs.

 

Most likely that it will run a single 980, but ask your reseller first before buying.

 

Why want perfomance enthusiasts buying a new Alienware laptop with soldered garbage (also soldered GPU) processor that performs worse than the previous generation processor and that is not upgradable to a extreme processor? This is like going back in time. You have the option of a soldered gtx970/980m graphics and G / A amplifier but a laptop is more than just a laptop with graphics card. Some also want desktop processor performance in a laptop. If you buy an Alienware laptop now with soldered hardware and thinking about buying a G/A amplifier with an expensive desktop graphics cards, so no matter your laptop is outdated after a maximum of 3 years. Then you have to buy a new laptop and maybe even a new updated powerful desktop graphics cards. (Perhaps also your G/A amplifier is outdated and you have to buy a new one). And you must purchase more than just the laptop and it becomes much more expensive. There is no other option than to build or buy a proper desktop pc if Dell or other brand continues its strategy. A laptop should and must be portable and not stand stationed along with the G/A amplifier in a fixed(same) place. Alienware as a brand for perfomance is now dead and buried. Dell killed the Alienware as a perfomance brand...

 

Hey Mr. Fox where did you find a P570wm? I can't find a barebones one, and the only reseller with it is Eurocom. I think it was discontinued.

 

He bought it from Eurocom.

I have to wonder why people would sell off their older AW18 machines. Keep them and upgrade them til you can't anymore. There's not much worth buying out there.

It's why I ended up getting a AW17 R1. I'll probably keep that until it either stops working or it doesn't support upgrades anymore.

 

Heh, you havent read much about the 18" notebooks and Maxwell have you?

Alienware went private a while ago. Dell did it right, the latest models and Graphic Amplifier is all Alienware and their managements wonderful idea

 

Ah right, the whole BIOS-isn't-updated thing? True, I keep forgetting about that. My apologies.

Is that all AW18 models, or just the M18x? I thought the AW18 could handle the new 900 cards.

 

M18XR1 cant use Maxwell because it lacks uefi.

R2 and AW18 are locked down with bios and other stuff.

 

Sad indeed. Glad I got the AW17. My GTX 980 and new display panel are arriving today.

 

went the same route as you Cloudfire.

I really wanted an AW 18, but with the road undertaken by Dell, i had to pass.

Meanwhile i've built my little monster, and couldn't be happier (allow me to show you )

 

I also went back to a desktop, but like Zero, will keep both(technically three since I have two alienware laptops lol). I'll be getting the Titan X most likely and call it a day for my desktop. For my laptops they're fine the way they are for now.

Don't want to sell the last two beast laptops ever made by Alienware.

 

Actually, I bought it used without CPU, GPU, etc. from ssj92. I had to buy those items, secondary GPU heat sink and second AC adapter. I already had a dual 330W Clevo convertor box, so I did not have to buy one (although I did just so I would have a spare). But, ssj92 purchased it from Eurocom. You can buy one new as a barebones. Just call Eurocom by phone and tell them what you want. Sager resellers stop selling this machine, unfortunately. Thankfully, it appears Clevo is still making them. The only Clevo reseller I know of that is still offering it is Eurocom.

FalconNW, Origin and other resellers offer Clevo machines. The pricing seems to vary among them. Sager is just one of the branded options. Price seems like it might be a little more consistent among Sager-branded resellers. You can buy a generic Clevo without any branding from most Sager dealers. As far as I know, FalconNW, Origin and a few others only offer Clevo machines with their logos on them, but they are all basically the same product. Some resellers offer extras like custom paint jobs, special etching, different system BIOS or maybe a different vBIOS, a few variations in WiFi, etc., etc.

I agree... I am not getting rid of mine either. They are too awesome to turn loose of them. Just a shame they cannot use 980M SLI without complications.

 

I was giddy when my first Alienware showed up on the doorstep. Definitely have had some good and exciting times, but my next rig probably (sadly) won't be an Alienware.

Hey Mr. Fox, does your new Clevo happen to have HDMI-in by any chance? Does anyone other than Alienware offer it? I really like being able to play my XBox through my laptop when the wife is using the TV.

 

@TurbodTalon - I haven't actually bothered to check since I don't have any use for that feature, but I do not think it does. I believe only HDMI output. I don't know what other brands of laptops, if any, might have it. I am not even sure if the new BGA Alienware machines have it any more.

 

BGA Alienwares definetly don't have it..

 

Hmm... another tick mark in the what's to not love column. While I never use that, it's just one more missing feature among many missing features. Seems to be a trend. The last gen AW17 and AW18 had many less features than their predecessors. I wonder if the 2016 models will have keyboards and screens, or be like a Roku on steroids?

 

Malibal is still selling the P570WM series, here http://www.malibal.com/notebooks/nine-x570se/builds/

The Alienware was dying since the 2014's lineup with all the locked BS going on and now they are just a normal brand that makes jokebooks in the shadow of the true performance crown...

 

The x7200 had hdmi input but the p570wm got a displayport output instead.

 

I was also reading yesterday night that the X8100 had HDMI in too..

 

Any news about new Clevo 18 inch model or they abandoned it completely?

 

I'd like to think that the limitations on the R2 (if not also the 18; one can hope with the dialogue some of you had with the Dell representatives) can be overcome. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but currently speaking, at stock--and within modest overclocking range--the M18X R2 with the 980M SLi can still compete head on with the Clevo P370SM with 980M SLI.

Just saying the above as an extension of the conversation, Cloudfire, and it certainly doesn't apply directly to your post or farewell sentiment. I do understand how you feel about the current situation and thank you for your modification work and persistence. Have fun with your new desktop rig, brother.

 

No offence taken at all. The R2 is the one with the least issues if I can say that, but its still not ideal either.
Thanks, just waiting for a shipping date for Titan X and if Skylake is near that, I will wait.

Yeah, the 18" notebooks are the only notebooks close enough to a real desktop replacement for me. That said, if they could remove some bezel and increase the base size a tiny bit on the AW18, they could put in a 19/20" display. With 3K. Now that would be awesome

Remember to upgrade the heatsinks to 100W if you plan on going with GTX 980M. You have 75W Heatsinks. GTX 970M will work perfectly with the heatsinks you have though.

LOL you should have seen the notebook Im using now
Just wish I took a picture while tearing it apart to get to the HDD they dont want people to replace.
All plastic case, hollow notebook with pretty much air inside, so you have a noisy keyboard when typing. It have no DVD-drive, just a plastic thingy they put inside to plug the hole. Inside its just a tiny motherboard, HDD, small 7.5W CPU and a tiny tiny fan. Cost them probably $50 to make lol. Oh well, got to have something to surf with while I wait for my next move.

Nice clean build you have there, except the cables at the bottom. I also would like to go with water cooling on my next build, but I may go with this giant block instead


What specs do you have btw? Is it silent build?

 

Once you go water you don't go back.

 

@Cloudfire, Spec are: I7-4790K at 4.8Ghz, dual Gigabyte G1 Gaming gtx-980 at 1.53 Ghz/7.9 Ghz, asus maximus VII ranger mobo, 16gb ram (corsair dominator platinum 1866Mhz). The watercooling system is by EKWB, dedicated WB for GTX-980 and CPU, 120 + 240 radiator, EK-DCP 4.0 pwm pump.

That's not the bottom, is an HAF XB evo case, and that's the only spot where i can route the Power cable to the video cards.

From this angle you can better see the cable management, this was before the installation of the additional 120mm fan:

 

SWEET!!! Glad at least one other source besides Eurocom is offering this amazing beast. I sure do like mine. I bookmarked the link.

 

Here is the Norwegian option for ordering (Clevo) Multicom Kunshan P570W. There is a delivery item. It looks like they only offer gtx780m graphics to this laptop. $ 1 = 7.5 Norwegian kroner. Starting price of 21,763, - Norwegian kroner = $ 2,900
http://www.multicom.no/SystemConfigurator.aspx?q=st:10626051;c:1000042;fl:0

 

Dear lord thats one beastly machine! Exactly the same build (CPU and 980 SLI) I plan to do if GTX Titan X end up costing over $1k. I bet you can max out pretty high resolutions with that setup

How is the noise on this thing while gaming btw? Compared to Alienware notebooks? And is it easy to put together a watercooling system?

 

Water cooling is fairly simple depending on hard or soft tubing. Just lots of ore planning for fitting, resevoir a wtc.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...thers-a-look-into-my-current-addiction.755517

 

Ehehe thanks,

yes it can run whatever i throw at it, max settings, 2560x1440. I'm using an Asus Swift 144hz g-sync monitor and i couldn't be happier.

The machine is silent and run cool. The PWM pump help a lot here. I'm using Corsair SP120 performance fan, ordered some Corsair AF120 performance that i'm waiting to receive this week, since i believe that i don't need that much static pressure on my radiators and this can help reduce even more the noise, i will see once they arrive. Temperatures, especially on the gpu's are fantastics. The highest temp i've got has been 42 degrees under hours of full load.

As far as building difficulty, a lot depends on the case you will be using. A proper designed case for watercooling will help a lot. Beside that, once you have installed radiators and Water Blocks (fixed point), is just question of chose the more convenient routing for the tubing. I don't know other brands, but i cannot evoid sugesting you to go with EKWB. It is a perfect fit and they came with everything you need to build your system.

 

Depending on how many fans your going to run if it's more than 3-4 per channel stay away from corsait pwm fans. I had to get a newer version of the aquaero 6xt to be able to use pwm on the amount of pwm corsait fans. All my next fans will be the new ekwb fans.

 

I've been looking to EKWB fan too.. they look a lot like the Shyte Gentle Typhoon. I have a Corsair AF120 silent, it is a good fan but just for case ventilation, now i'll have a look at how the performance model of the same fan will behave. I expect silent operation and good performances, or at least i hope so , i've ordered 6 of them

 

I'm a huge fan of ekwb now. They seem to make some great stuff now. javytwocents on YouTube did a decent review on the new fans.

 

Wow you guys are making me nostalgic:


That was my little 5850 + 4ghz 6 core Phenom II setup.


Similar setup before I shrunk it.

Before that it was the I7 920 + 5830:



Before that:



I5 750 with the 5830

Before that here is the old AM2 lanparty board running a 4ghz quad and the 5870 and 5850 toxic in it:



(There were a few before that too).

As you can see, I always got bored of desktops REAL quick but they were fun to mess around with.

 

The sp versioning corsair fans sound like a 747 ..

 

I always used noctua fans when I needed a low noise high pressure fan but it has been some time.

 

Pathfindercod is right, SP fan from corsair are really loud... i hope that the AF series will be good, i will let you know.

Anyway, definetly the next fan purchase will be with ekwb, i've seen the video of the 1450rpm model (F2), it is really silent and move a good deal of air.

 

I feel like it farewell to alien were but not with my m18x r2. Its still a beast