8950HK Laptop For only $2,499

You can build the Alienware 17 R5 with a i9 8950HK, and GTX1070 OC for only $2,499!

This is easily $700+ cheaper than any other 8950HK laptop around! Most other models force you to get a GTX1080.

 

How much more for the 1080, unless you "don't want" more GPU power that's the one to get.

It's not like we can upgrade the GPU later any longer, you're stuck with the one it comes with when you buy it.

It is nice AW gives the option to get the best CPU with a less than top GPU, to save $ for the few that don't need CPU power over CPU power.

Better overall long term if not short term to get the best GPU too.

 

And then have cooling issues lol.

My friend bought one that was delivered 2 weeks back, instantly cores were running @ 40C on idle, and 90C+ on load.v (moderate load mind you). Dell sent another one next week, was even worse.

 

A lot of laptops run like this. Undervolt, and repaste it.

It’s (6) cores running over 3Ghz it’s going to generate heat.

It’s a great buy! I think so anyways. Especially for the 8950HK at only $2,499. I’m sure when discounts, and promotions come along it will be even cheaper.

The GTX1080 version includes the 1440P 144hz Tobii eye tracking display and 32GB ddr4 2667mhz, 512gb ssd and all the extra options standard.

It cost $3,799. So it’s priced well with the other brands only it has a 1440P panel, which other brands lack.

I wonder what the new gtx1070 offers? It’s called the GTX1070OC model? Maybe it is a higher TDP?

Either way, $2,499 for a 8950HK laptop is tempting!

 

'great buy' compared to 'ridiculously expensive? Going from 8750 to 8950 costs $583 from Dell. I don't think that is a 'great buy'. If it was 300 or under to upgrade, I would. This is pretty much what's keeping me from getting a new lappy. The GPU upgrade is similarly nonsensical. You also can't choose 8950hk and gtx1080 without having to get the 4k screen which I would never want.
BTW these Dells seem to have a 'graphic amplifier output'..which I think means you sorta CAN upgrade the graphics with an external graphics box.

 

Your price for admission of a 8950HK, nets you 35-40+% more power than a 8750H. Id say this is good!

The 8950HK is the closest option to a taste of what 6 core desktop power is like. With superior single thread performance to the cheaper 8th gen laptop options.

The 8750H only provides performance on par or worse than a overclocked quad core of the previous generation.

I could run a 8750H beside my current quad core and see no improvement, but a 8950HK would change all of this.

 

"1070OC" just slightly bumped TDP, nothing more

and that TDP bump has proven problematic on the 17R4 1080 even with a quad core CPU

 

In case of the 1070 its a nice 200mhz bump from a stock 1070. It boosts standard over 1800mhz and I can get it to run at 1925mhz.

 

Maybe on the 1070 it runs fine, does have a lower max power consumption after all.

 

Since the first batch they have had horrible cooling.

 

40% more power LOL why don't you add few zeroes on top of that, why not it would look more dramatic

 

In R15 it easily shows a 40% lead with an 8950HK vs a 8750H..

A 8750H pulls 900-1000 in multithreaded benchmarks for a run or 2 if your lucky. 8950K rolls out 1,350-1,400 over and over again

Dramatic? No..

These power throttling (6) core 8750H processors sometimes cannot hang with my quad core 7th gen..

Not to mention gaming performance;albeit not 40%. but especially with all of the cpu bound 1080P displays they are pushing a 144hz panel, a locked 8750H will have no chance against a unlocked 8950HK in high FPS gaming..

So yes! The AW is only $2,499 it’s the cheapest 8950HK laptop on the market. Or would you rather pay $3,500 to $3,800 for one?? I just don’t get it...

Go run R15 synthetic with an 8950HK vs a 8750H.. and tell me it’s not 30-40%.

 

Here YA GO! You said to be more dramatic.. So, 30-44% faster than the average 8750H.. Yea, $600 bucks is good. The 8950HK is Premium for a reason, sure, its no 8700K.. But, it least it is not last years performance like the 8750H is...

 

This isn't cherry picked results... It's reality!! AW 17R5 (i9-8950hk - gtx 1080)


Other review with somewhat better score.
Alienware 17R5 + i9-8950Hk (Pcworld.com). Cinebench R15 -1279cb.

 

Hey, we don’t buy the 7900X for how it performs out of the box. And that goes for a 7980XE to.

I mean, my 7820HK pulls what? 785 stock on a good day? Now I’m sitting happy at about 1,030 to 1,060 in R15.

I’m not gonna go by what some stock AW 8950HK does in balanced power mode, in some non air conditioned house lol.

We know enthusiast buy the 8950HK, for what it’s capable of as an unlocked cpu.

And it’s easily a daily “SUB” 1,400 score R15 processor.

Now, I go repaste, or LM right out of the gate, I want my monies worth though.

Go google low R15 score on any cpu out there, user error or lack of knowledge.

Laptop manufacturers make us work for it though by putting in extra labor to get them running up to par. And that’s for any cpu in a laptop.

 

It should perform as expected out of the box. Not perform equal low as last gen oc'd 4 core 7820hk. And you shouldn't loose 40% performance going with Balanced power mode either. You said... And it’s easily a daily “SUB” 1,400 score R15 processor. Of course it should.... “SUB” 1,400 score is barely correct scores from stock clocks. More correct is +-1452cb

 

This never had anything to do with what laptop the 8950hk was in..

Or should I say, the 8950HK is 30-40% faster than an 8750H.

Or I could say, the AW 8950HK is 30-40% faster than the AW 8750H lol. There 8750H seems to pull low 900’s so vs 1278 that’s 30-40%.

Problem solved

Either way you slice it.. it’s all the same. A 155HP 1986 f150 V8 was slow.. but put that motor in a Mazda Miata and it was incredible with all that torque!

The AW R5 seems to suffer from this same less than stellar performance regardless if it is a 8750H, or a 8950HK below average.

 

The Alienware with a 8950HK is questionable though. It probably has terrible cooling?

It seemed like a good deal for $2,499.

But just go look at the Asus Zephyrus with a 8750H. These super thin machines are achieving sub 1200 in R15 with an 8750H for about $1,999 bucks.

Not to sound like a synthetic fan boy. I know R15 is unrealistic, and I’m going on and on about it.. But, I guess it’s kinda like a universal dyno for how much power a machine may or may not have lol.

I don’t think I’d buy the AW R5 after reading @Papusan findings

 

Two more....
Finally tested with Dell's max adverticed oc profile 5.0GHz 3.5GHz.



Lovely. Almost 100C on Cpu and 91C on ssd in gaming. Stock clocks. And the reviewer Lisa Gade even warned against buying AW17R5 with the unlocked 8950Hk.

 

Actually the 8750h provides about a 40% gain over the 7700hq quad core. It is a very nice cpu.

 

Cinebench is very dependant on what is or not running in the background, the more crap there is the worse will be the score..

Those are review units, banged around, passed from one place to another, everytime they are connected to the internet they start updating, and the Windows AV running scans, all the while they are being stress tested..

A clean install, fully updated system should be used to compare scores..

My non-OC i7-4720HQ scored 702 CB in CB R15, the maximum in NBR database is 674, and the worse is 491, average of both gives 582.5, thats a 20% increase in the exact same CPU, only thing that changed was one was benched with a stock OS, running tons of crap and not optimized, mine is running a nice clean Win 10 Pro with much less crap running..

I can see the 8750H being able to perform much better after a clean install to remove all the crap, update everything, and a bit of under-volt..

 

It sure does! But it’s only providing performance similar to a cool running 7820HK with LM and a fat overclock.

Still it’s nice to see performance like this in an average i7 8th gen laptop.

The 8750H is a great cpu. Keep it cool, and there blazing fast!

 

I just picked up this 8950HK + 1080 OC with 1920x1080 screen for $2999 at best buy, runs cool even throwing a lot of stuff at it.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/alienw...lid-state-drive-black/6239400.p?skuId=6239400

 

At $2999 that's pretty expensive, but it's a very nice laptop. Congratulations!!

BB has a 17.3" 8th gen 8750H 1070 model for only $1649...which after tax is about $1475 cheaper...

Alienware - 17.3" Laptop - Intel Core i7 - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 - 256GB Solid State Drive + 1TB Hard Drive - Black
Model: AW17R5-7811BLK-PUSSKU: 6228319
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/alienw...-1tb-hard-drive-black/6228319.p?skuId=6228319

Of course the 1070 is about 25% slower, but for gaming IDK how much better the experience will be...but probably not $1475 worse.

 

The next large sum of money I invest, that will have anything to do with a laptop is a BIG G-Sync ultra-wide monitor.

 

This is a great example. I’m pretty funny about an operating system running at full potential. My windows 10 is only about 2 months old, since I installed it clean. I’m considering reinstalling again already..

I’ve probably reinstalled windows it least 4 times, in the 5 months I’ve owned my laptop.

I’m very picky over consistency in performance.

My boot time use to be 5.8 seconds. Now I’m at 7.5 to 7.9 seconds. I’m missing storage space on my m.2, that I cannot seem to recover? This happens from time to time.

So best solution? Clean install! Then it’s fast for another month or 2 at least, and you got all your 512GB of OS space back. The rate That I fill my M.2 SSD, then delete, and uninstall programs.. it gets sluggish fast! Uninstall programs, clean old files, defrag, dig through files for missing GB’s of storage space then rinse repeat lol