After gaming on it for almost a week now and patiently ignoring the full blast fan noise, I've had enough! Even with headsets on, you can hear some kind of hairdryer like your gf is drying her hair near you.
Oh why oh why did i doubt my m11x r2. The fan on it is loud but didn't have that annoying hairdryer sound.
When idle or browsing it is quiet but the gaming part of it is too much. I now owned the r1,r2,r3 and if i have to give it a rating of 1-10 when gaming and full blast fan, 1 being min quiet and 10 being max loud, the R1 was 6, r2 is 5, r3 is 9 maybe even 10.
This one is going back to Dell.![]()
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I don't find it too loud personally. Depends on the location. But when I use it, it's usually not close to a wall, so the sound doesn't bounce back at me. It does what I want and need.
The only time the fan sound bothers me is when I try to sneak in some gaming at work, my cubicle does not absorb sound very well. -
I dunno if you own an r1 or r2 before but if you didn't then I can understand why R3 is not sounding loud to you.
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that makes perfect sense, R1 and R2 have 335m at TDP of 28W vs 540M in the R3 that is 35W. The 2nd gen core I series is 17W vs 1st gen core I series is 18W. The fan has to keep up with a TDP of ~6W extra in the R3 vs the R2. One fan and one heat sink for GPU + CPU.
The R2 users even with the .95V mod will probably still have slightly lower fan usage while gaming. What I would suggest for the R3 users is investing in some adhesive feet that slightly raise the back of the m11x. I posted a picture of mine i got from radioshack that dropped max temps by about 5-7C. This is probably easier than changing out of the thermal grease and more newb friendly! -
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yea i figured it should be lower but definitely not higher than 28W but for some reason there are no hard numbers online. this makes me believe that a larger volt mod than .95V should be safe
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and it should lower the rpm a little.
BUT- the reason the fan is running so high is because of the heat. if anything the first thing id do is redo the thermal paste. -
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I see it now on HWInfo32, the full blast fan comes on at 65c and the current fan speed is 7,100rpm.
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Alienware apparently feels 7100 rpm is very attractive to hear at 65C.
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I really wanted to get one of these as well. Hmmmmmm might have to rethink. I hate fan noise. I really wanted a change from my M17x.
Does the fan noise go up and down like some notebooks out there do?
Like does it go on and off every time or does the fan stay off if your not gaming or just spin really slowly always?
Cheers. -
Tsukurimashou Notebook Evangelist
The fan is noicy only when during games, it is really quiet if you are not playing.
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The notion of consumer as beta tester sux. It will continue until people hold these companies accountable by spending their money elsewhere.
There's a reason almost every windows laptop ships with a poor display, and it's the same reason the r3 ships with a ludicrously loud fan. X -
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I don't know why fan noise is such a big issue. My server power supply has 2 40mm fans that sound like a small turbine. I'm so used to it that it doesn't sound right in my room without them running.
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Fan noise is OK, but the step from absolutely zero to full speed is stupid.
There could be at least 4 steps till full load and it would be much more quiet. -
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It's a lot louder than my R2 was (when gaming). I really don't mind, I have an old desktop with a loud fan, and a bunch of routers and switches humming away (CCNA lab) in my room.
I just worry when I take it in public that it'll bother people. If I am in the living room, it also bugs my roommate sometimes. -
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so does that program lets me control the fan manually? thanks -
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@aliengirl
build 1246 is what you need to see the fan control icon on sensor
Alienware Fan Control - Page 22 -
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sorry to hear about ya fan is loud. my fan noise on my m11x r3 is fine even when gaming the fan kicks in but its not really loud. i must be lucky to have a good fan build except 3 cons..... i guess all that wait was a bit worth the wait. lol... u guys should make a video of how loud the fan is while gaming.
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Tsukurimashou Notebook Evangelist
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Yes, you definitely need to report back on temps. If you could compare 4000 rpm temp with 7000 rpm temp for some games and stuff, that would be nice.
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There are so many posts about people saying this and that about their fan and noise, but without hard numbers stating the conditions under which the fan was tested, it's all relative and rather pointless. And loud for someone, is probably quiet for someone else...
We are getting somewhere now with HWiNFO being able to set a manual fan speed. This means one can compare the noise of different fan speeds, as Colpolite did. -
I was all set on getting an R3 until I noticed some reviews mentioning the fan noise. This is really making me have second thoughts as I HATE the sound of a loud fan.
Is this still an issue? If so, does the latest build (1385) of HWiNFO seem to fix this? (And what's the difference in temps if you lower the fan's rpm to 4000? Will I be slowly cooking my laptop?)
And in a related question - what's this thing like to set on your lap? Will this block the exhaust and overheat the laptop? (And fry my lap? LOL) -
Was thinking about using a cooling pad such as the Targus Chill Mat. Do others find this keeps their R3's temps low enough so the fan doesn't kick on in high gear while gaming?
Would also like to hear some more opinions on how loud their fan sounds. There's an example of it on YouTube:
Alienware M11x R3 - Noise Level - YouTube
...but without any kind of point of reference (like someone speaking while the fan runs), it's a pretty useless clip. Still, it doesn't sound too bad (assuming I'm playing the video at the right volume).
I've read descriptions ranging from "not that bad" to "hair dryer" to "hair dryer on low speed" to "hair dryer in another room down the hall." Basically - would it be loud enough to disturb others watching TV in the same room? Or my wife sleeping in bed next to me?
Would love to hear some more opinions, as this is the only thing that's making me hesitate. If it sounds as bad as some reviewers make it out to be (assuming they're not exaggerating like reviewers sometimes do), this is pretty much a deal breaker for me. Thanks. -
Dell need to make a new Bios Version. R3 fan noise is too loud.....
/rage -
freaksincostumes Notebook Enthusiast
I don't get it... The fan is never noisy for me. Even on intensive games like skyrim, I never have a noise issue. I keep my laptop on a cooling plate though so I presume the fans kick in at a certain temperature?
I too agree that I'd much prefer performance over sound. IDGAF if my machine has a noisy fan (which it doesn't anyway) and has great performance (which it does.) :3 -
Well after i slapped some decent thermal paste on mine and cleaned the fan with heatsink when gaming keeping the laptop elevated (external HDD or my cooling pad depending on where i am) it stays at low-med speed... Not too bad, but even at max speed its not that bad...
Trust me i own an old fat PS3, NOW THATS LOUD. feels like a small aircraft is about to take off... m11x is loud compared to some other laptops, but totally not the end of the world
Though having said that, some BIOS update to make the fan speeds sensible would be lovely. -
I used my R3 from the US all the way back to Australia, on Taxis and buses and trains and coaches and planes... At hotels and airports and cafes. If I can game with the fan on max while someone else is sleeping next to me on a coach/train with minimal ambient noise, i think you'll do quite fine. -
I've only owned my R3 for about 2 weeks but the fan noise never bothers me. Personally I'd rather have the fan a little loud and know that its keeping the notebook cool.
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When the GPU is at 66C or less the fan run at 3800RPM Max, once the temperature hit 67C the fan goes 6800RPM. At 3800Rpm i can barely hear it.
If anyone saying the fan is not loud willing to do the test. I would appreciate it.
Program used for the test
MSI Kombustor(VGA BURNER)
HWINFO64 ( Fan RPM Sensor )
Just did a fresh windows install and its the same behaviour
M11x R3 Fan ouch
Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by Colpolite, May 11, 2011.