*OFFICIAL* Alienware 18 Owner's Lounge Thread

Ya but ebay rapes with sellers fees. It will cost $250 + cost of shipping.

 

Although I was wondering. Do you guys think my 18 can handle gaming at 1440p? I have the 4800mq, 780m sli.

 

Yes, it will. You'll obviously have lower FPS than 1080p, but it will be fine. Dual 780M's are equivalent to a desktop GTX 690.

 

Right if I could manage 30fps that should be sufficient. Though they do say it is worse than a 690 and slightly worse than a titan.

 

They're better than a Titan and equivalent to a GTX 690 at 1080p. The Titan handles higher resolution gaming better because it has more dedicated VRAM.

 

Overclocked 780M SLI will match a 690 and match the Titan at stock. But they do get a bit toasty.

Seems like the keyboard on the AW 18 is the same as the keyboard on the new Precision. Overall I quite like the keyboard.

Review Dell Precision M4800 Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

 

Well how do you overclock them safely? I saw that 780m bios and I have nvidia inspector but I am not sure how to do it efficiently. Also do I have to put ic diamond to overclock?

 

What system do you have? The 780M cards get toasty in a new Alienware 18 because the fans don't work correctly. They don't get any hotter than 7970M or 680M in an M18xR2. In fact, I think my 780M cards might even run a little bit cooler than either of those other GPUs did.

No, there is no need to repaste your video card heat sinks. Unless you are having issues with them overheating, I recommend leaving them alone. The stock thermal interface material is excellent and very durable.

Overclocking the core is not unsafe. If you go too far the video driver will crash or freeze Windows before any damage occurs. If you try doing stupid things to the GPU memory, you may mess up your GPUs. But, core overclocking is where 80-90% of the performance increase comes from anyway. GPU memory overclocking doesn't have a huge effect on benchmarks and probably even less on gaming.

You can use MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision to move sliders to increase or and memory clock speeds. You can also set profiles Afterburner and Precision. Both are a lot more convenient than using NVIDIA Inspector, but all three work fine and accomplish exactly the same end result when it comes to changing clock speeds. You'll have to use trial and error to find what is best for your needs and your GPUs. What might work great for someone else might not work well for you because there is some variance between video cards. Some overclock better than others.

Start with something simple like 125/300 and you should have no issues.

 

I have the i7-4800mq with 780m sli and i put in an additional 512gb crucial ssd. So I should attempt to overclock the core hmmmm. What about throttling issues? Do those still exist. Sometimes it seems as if my performance is hampered by my cpu. This is especially true in cpu intensive games, Assassins Creed 3, Hitman, Skyrim...etc

 

It's rather simple. You first flash the vBIOS: NVIDIA Kepler VBIOS mods - Overclocking Editions, modified clocks, voltage tweaks

That will remove the offset limit of +135MHz, and set the 3D clock at 850MHz (essentially removes GPU Boost, since 850MHz is the stock max boost clock). Beginners might feel uneasy at first but just be careful and nothing will go wrong. If anything goes wrong then you can still blind flash the GPU.

If you feel queasy then don't flash the GPU.

With Nvidia Inspector I prefer to write the .bat files which will overclock the GPU if I run them. You could Google them and learn about it. Because if you use the GUI slider, the settings will go back to default after a restart.

For beginners EVGA Precision and MSI Afterburner might be more intuitive to use. If you don't feel like flashing the GPU, a +135MHz overclock should be achievable without any overvolting. For the GDDR5 RAM, it should be safe to overclock it up to +500Mhz in EVGA Precision so it runs at 1500MHz.

Note that if you have GPU-Z the memory speed listed there is half the memory speed shown in EVGA Precision/Nvidia Inspector. So +500 in Precision would show up at +250 in GPUZ.

1500MHz on the vRAM effectively gives u 192GB/s GPU memory bandwidth (stock is 160GB/s). The DRAM cell inside runs at quarter speed of the vRAM speed, 1500MHz/4 = 375MHz. GDDR5 is quad pumped, taking advantage of transferring bits during clock rise and clock fall (Google and you can read up on it), so you get 1500MHz x 4 = 6000MHz effective speed. Or 6000MT/s.

Alternatively, you could leave the memory alone and apply the +135MHz, and be done with it. You benefit less from memory overclocking than core overclocking. At 1080p the memory bandwidth isn't a problem.

If you're feeling more adventurous then you can flash the vBIOS. Without flashing the BIOS, with +135MHz offset in EVGA Precision/Afterburner, you will end up at 797+135 = 932MHz. If you flash the BIOS, with +135MHz offset you will end up at 850+135 = 985MHz. Some pros have been able to run it at close to 1.1GHz, my max is about 1050MHz. Pushing too much and the dual GPU starts to eat too much power and the PSU will run out of steam.

Not enough steam from PSU, not enough juice for GPU. Slightly overclock is fine, so you might want to stick to less than 1GHz. Beyond that heat and power becomes more of a consideration.

You don't have to repaste the GPU. There isn't really a need for it. If you're feeling more adventurous you could open it up and repaste them. You can Google to find the instruction manual for the AW 18.

 

With Haswell your performance is definitely hampered by the CPU. Haswell throttles under load without high temps, and to make matters worse, it gets too hot under some circumstances which further exacerbates the CPU throttling. There is nothing that can be done to fix it that I am aware of. There may be something we have discovered yet.

There are no throttling issues with NVIDIA cards if you are using a good vBIOS mod. Using a stock vBIOS, you can expect lower performance.

 

Thats pretty funny. Could they fix that throttling problem via drivers or bios or anything like that?

 

Then again, there's no excuse for the same CPU to underperform in Alienware compared to the Clevo machines.

AnandTech | Alienware 18 Gaming Notebook Review
Review Alienware 18 Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

At stock, based on my own findings, the 4930MX gets only about 6.6 in Cinebench 11.5 Multithreaded test. Clevo P177SM with 4930MX get 7.38 according to Anandtech's review. On top of that, the 4900MQ on the AW 18 gets only 6.7 compared to 7.36 of the 4800MQ on the AW 17. Assuming the 4800MQ on AW 17 will get 7.3 on average, then it's ridiculous for the 4930MX to only get 6.6 in the AW 18.

So right now the higher SKU CPU in the AW 18 is underperforming compared to the lower SKU CPU in AW 17. And overall the same CPUs in Clevo are outperforming those in Alienware.

Properly tweaked 4930MX can get 8+, even hitting 9 or maybe more than that. To me that's preposterous. Right now people who paid for the 4930MX have paid for nothing (unless they do what we do, and use XTU and ThrottleStop, etc).

 

It's definitely not magic. The difference between the Alienware 18 and Clevo may have as much (or more) to do with overheating from the fans on the 18 not working correctly than it does with BIOS settings. Obviously, this spastic CPU is overly sensitive about everything and it is going to cripple itself to try and save power or avoid a temperature trip point. So, Haswell is going to be Haswell, and when they are provided with the correct power settings a 4930MX should perform very similarly regardless of what machine it is installed in. If the Alienware 17 with 4930MX has fans that work correctly, I suspect that it probably runs about the same as the Clevo and better than the 18.

 

This made me laugh for some reason.

 

But my question is if they fixed the fans, would there be any noticeable difference when running cpu intensive games, specifically with the i7-4800mq? I also came to the conclusion that I suck at overclocking as my screen started flashing and I freaked out and shut the laptop off lol. They should make a guide... overclocking for dummies haha. I would definitely buy.

 

Yes, that should help a lot.

When your screen was flashing what were you overclocking? CPU, GPUs or both? Were you just on the Windows desktop, or running a game or benchmark?

 

Just the gpu. I was playing sleeping dogs maxed out, using the benchmark tool.

Btw I didnt know you could overclock a i7-4800mq

 

You may have just had to much of an overclock and likely the GPUs were overheating. Your system will shut down from overheating video cards just like an overheating CPU. Try +125 core / +300 memory and that will likely be stable. Do not adjust the GPU voltage... leave it at stock default 1.00V.

 

Mr. Fox and whoever else who wants Batman, but doesn't want to pay the full price: Batman: Arkham Origins - Cheap CD Key Online Store,EA Games,WOW,COD,Buy All Cheap Cdkey shop - cdkeyvast.com They are totally legit, they send you a Steam key. I used them before for other games.

Personally I found it quite good, doesn't feel like a quick PC port and plays well on my 18 -didn't check FPS yet. The gameplay is exactly same as the last one; thus I can't justify the full price, as in my eyes it is more like a big expansion than a new game.

 

Thank you. I ordered it from your link. Good price. +1 Rep
Downloading to Steam now.

 

Heads up to everyone. If you're using Windows 8.1 do not set the "inactivity timer" in Alienware CC for the FX lighting.

Win 8/8.1 sucks. Not sure about Win 8, but in Win 8.1 once it "goes dark" after the inactivity timer runs out, the lights never come on again. I was downloading Nvidia 331.65 driver when I went to eat and the lights went out by itself, since I have the inactivity timer set to 45 minutes. I had to uninstall Alienware CC, reinstall and restart the system for the lights to come on again.

Also, Nvidia Geforce Experience of the 331.58 was broken in 8.1, so maybe that's part of the reason why Nvidia released a new driver with a new version of Geforce Experience.

Another thing, Riva Tuner/HWiNFO OSD was broken in Win 8.1. At least now it works in 8.1.

At this point, I am tempted to say, what the eff are the people doing in Microsoft. Every now and then stuff breaks.

 

I did not have any difficulties with RivaTuner or HWiNFO64, but I did a clean install of Windows 8.1 on the Alienware 18... not an in-place upgrade from Windows 8. If you upgraded, that might account for the problems.

Thanks for the heads up. Might save some frustration and angst for other users.

Agree... hard to have much respect for Micro$oft any more... pushing Secure Boot and Secure Flash, Windows Updates that ruin system performance and cause instability, Metro UI... now this. They're on a massive fail streak for sure.

 

I have had two SBS2013 server crashes after doing windows updates in the last 3 months. The crashes indicated windows update downloaded updates for the wrong OS. Resulting in incomplete and corrupt registries. Thank god my clients were staying on top of their backups. I don't trust window sup dates anymore. I generally read through released updates to see if there is one specific to a problem i am trying to fix. Thats why i went apple back in vista days Its hard to live without a power house PC though (for me anyway). I tread water on both sides of the fence.

 

No problem! Glad I helped for a change...

I usually use this: allkeyshop.com to check the prices across different sites -the link I provided for Batman was the cheapest and one of the safest. You can get a few games extremely cheap this way! All legally... Just a heads up: If they show a Russian flag next to the Steam/Origin icon it means you need to use a Russian VPN and then connect to Steam. I would say avoid them and stick with global/european copies.

I always pay such sites a visit during Steam sales, as they discount their already discounted prices! Oh and some sites, like: kinguin.net do special discounts every weekend.

 

I had the same gpu clock offset and mem clock offset but my power target bar is faded out and there is a temp target bar set at 92 degrees

 

I'm excited, getting my new AW 18 as a warranty exchange today. After about 3 weeks in the warranty support and production status has me on the edge of my seat in excitement.

i7-4800MQ (6MB Cache, up to 3.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit, English
16GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz
Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780M with 4GB GDDR5 - NVIDIA SLI® Enabled
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BD-ROM, DVD±RW, CD-RW)

 

i do not have problem with light not coming back on, i go aways for a while , all light are off on laptop... move mouse tada! all light are back up...

 

Looks like AW/ Dell is listening to these forums or got a good timing by accident! Three days ago we were discussing about UK's AW page and now they re-designed it or better to say: they finally copied the US version!

Moreover they did the following changes under the hood:
-Replaced the 64GBs mSATA with an 80GBs on all configurations that used to have the 64GBs drive.
-Left three tiers in AW17 and 18 (dunno about the 14).

It is funny that they mention the 4x RAID 0 SSD option on the 18's page, but there isn't a such configuration option... only a 2x 750GBs RAID 0 + 80GBs mSATA for the high-end AW18.

--
Irrelevant: After looking at the new MBP SSDs performance -they are using a PCIe instead of SATA drives- I hope Dell - AW will implement that sooner than later!

 

They sadly still don't sell the 18 in the Netherlands. Dammit.

 

The UK Alienware site is a pathetic joke.....you can't configure many options that the US guys can: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...w-reps-help-get-horrible-mess-sorted-out.html

Suffice to say, I ain't buyin' any Alienware soon.....and to be honest, right now, I have lost the will to even bother. Seriously. I am not gonna drop serious cash on a laptop (18) that has so many issues right now with Haswell and fans/temps/bios etc.....and to top it all off, the web site is a pile of poop anyway - tossing errors left right and centre......

 

Well it is an improvement! Personally I found it a bit funny that on the checkout, you can apply multiple coupons! Including "non-stackable" ones, but can't use them on a rep's call :/

If you are going after the MX CPU, maybe yeah.... on my 4800MQ I don't see any issues, other than a few fan spikes out of the blue...

 

Is my timing good to order AW18 form UK, with dual 780m and I've already SSD from corsair so I'll install that in it, soooo what advice can you give me guys here, should I go for it or wait if there any new improvement in the way or so.

 

Sheesh, my AW14 keeps getting better another new bios update today for the 14 improving thermals even more. Why can't they get our 18's right?!?!

 

Any new improvements will be in 2014... so I say go for it! As long as you can get a good price for it.

 

another nvidia driver available

 

thx for your reply, is there a way to have a discount or something, because I will order it from their UK website, so the price is as usual

 

thx for your reply, is there a way to have a discount or something, because I will order it from their UK website, so the price is as usual

 

having tbl starting bf4 in full screen mode no image just sound
ok in windowed then maximize
anybody else having tbl

 

Is there something wrong with your keyboard?

 

BF4 feels more like Bugfield 4! I saw lots of threads complaining about the game... Personally in the beta, it was connecting to servers and joining the games, but:
-The screen was stuck to the loading sceen.
-I could hear the sounds from the on-going game, i.e.: gunshots, people running, etc

 

Well lads, I caved. Sold my m18xR1 to a mate for mates-rates, ordered up a AW 18. She arrived today, which puts me in the 'owners' club.

Intel Core i7 4900MQ, 32GBs DDR3 @1600MHz, 2xGTX 780M, 2x750GBs HDD + 80GBs mSata.

Pretty happy with it. Miss the shiny extras that came with the R1 (mousepad, cap, cloth cover, big manual), and the HDD setup threw me for a loop but otherwise, very happy. For now.

**EDIT** Correction; after spending too-many hours faffing about trying to get some sort of acceptable wireless speeds, I am now happy.

 

Hello everyone,
I know that my question may spud stupid as it is hard to compare processor to hard drive, but what if have here is 2 exactly the same priced configurations one listing 4800 processor + 750 hdd + 80 ssd and another one with 4900 processor + 750 hdd + 256 ssd. For some reason they cannot configure 4900 and 750/256. Plus I don't have money to afford both. The full spec also includes 780 sli, everything else is basic including win8
Please advise
Thank you

 

I'd get the 4900MQ over the SSD. You can always upgrade to an SSD later on. Besides, the 80GB mSATA SSD will cache the HDD giving it "SSD-like" behavior.

 

Agreed, go for the processor upgrade now and throw in the SSD later. Mobile processors tend to hold their value and upgrading takes more work than throwing in a new drive.

 

Thanks for advice!

 

No problem. Dell's SSD's aren't all that great these days, anyway. I'm hoping they go back to using Samsung next year.

 

I don't totally agree with your review, but it pretty darn close, in my opinion. I have had mine about a week now. Overall, I'm in love

Build
The 18 is very well built. There is no flex to the system. I'm really liking the fit and finish. The only potential concern is with the soft touch material on the palm rest, as it may not wear very well down the road. I still like the design of the last gen systems better though. It is a huge and heavy machine, but not in the way I expected. My last rig was a Asus G73 and there is not really a big difference length and width wise. The 18 is however twice as thick as a G73! It takes a little getting used to, but the HORSEPOWER is worth it!

Display
Its amazing! I am have no issues at all with the display on my machine. No backlight bleed, or dead pixels! I can't say enough good things about it. There are better screens out there, just not at this size.

Acoustics
There is hardly any noise from the machine. Even when gaming, the 18 stays nice and quiet.

Upgrade-ability
I just came from a G73, enough said!!! I cant complain about the 18 on this aspect. This rig is 10x better to take apart and work on. Compromises have to be made when you stick all the guts of a desktop in the case of laptop.

Keyboard
I agree with Cloudfire. The keyboard is decent. I fully expected to see a better keyboard. I agree that the keyboard seems a little soft and the mouse buttons feels like they are not even there. Cloudfire got it right, mushy is a good description. That being said, I like the extra TactX keys. Excellent lighting on the keyboard as well.

Sound/Speakers
Disclaimer! - I am not an audiophile! I have spent too many years listening to heavy metal/live concerts and riding Harley's to be one.

Straight out of the box, the sound SUCKS! It's a borderline deal breaker. It truly is a poor listening experience. Klipsch makes decent speakers, not great or good, but decent. These must have been in the $5 bin, because I have heard better sound out of a $500 laptop. My G73 crushes the 18 in this department, and I wasn't all that impressed with it. It took a long time playing with the equalizer to find a decent setting. Its still only barely acceptable. There is a horrible frequency feedback in the 1K-4K range. I would dare say that it actually almost reaches the 8K range. The sound is horribly muddled. It sounds as if the speakers are installed inside a dried up rotting log. In order to get any kind of decent sound out of this your going to have to scoop the hell out of the mid range frequencies.

I really wish the 18 had a dedicated sound card.

 

I would also recommend the processor, it's cheaper and easier to upgrade the SSD after buying the PC than the processor.

 

HELLO EVERYONE. JUST PLACED MY ORDER FOR ALIENWARE 18 770 SLI with 80GB+750GB.

Im concerned with initial setup. Anything a new owner should look out for? Defects or updating softwares? IM pretty noob with BIOS and the more technical things.

Thanks guys! LOOKING FORWARD FOR ITTT