Alienware Community Feedback - Overclocking and eSATA

Thank you all for your responses and comments on our previous thread (Additional feedback is still welcome there as always). We at Alienware find your input invaluable and hope that we can trouble you for more comments on the following:

Overclocking – Are you aware that Alienware notebooks offer overclocking abilities?

• Are you currently using it?

• If so, is it meeting your needs?

• Understanding that overclocking increases both heat and power consumption, do you want more?

eSATA – Is it important in the future?

• On the Alienware M17x and M18x, an eSATA + USB 2.0 port is currently included. Is eSATA still relevant?

Thanks again for all of the valuable feedback.


- The Alienware Product Team

 

Overclocking – Are you aware that Alienware notebooks offer overclocking abilities?
Yes.

Are you currently using it?
Yes.

If so, is it meeting your needs?
Would be good to have more options. After all, Alienware is supposed to be aimed at gamers & enthusiasts.

Understanding that overclocking increases both heat and power consumption, do you want more?
Yes.

 

Overclocking
yes.

Are you using it?
no, cpu doesn't support overclocking

If, so is it meeting your needs?
it would be needing my needs if I could overclock my cpu and gpu natively without having to mod my system.

Understanding that overclocking increases heat and power consumption, do you want more?

yes, but to my understanding as far as the gpu's go; it's my understanding
that the heatsinks on the M17x r2 could have been put on better to help dissipate heat better so while overclocking may increase power consumption the gpu's could have been allowed to overclock from factory. If the heat sinks had thinner heat pads between gpu and heatsink. not that I wouldn't mind modding it myself just don't want to lose warranty.

 

Overclocking – Are you aware that Alienware notebooks offer overclocking abilities?
yes im aware that alienware laptops have can take advantage of overclocking.

Are you currently using it?
I have overclocked the GPU, But not the CPU due to locked multipliers

If so, is it meeting your needs?
Yes, I understand that you can only overclock a graphics card so high. Would be Nice if I could Overclock the CPU, But if I really needed a Faster CPU, I could just get the 2960 or a different unlocked CPU.

Understanding that overclocking increases both heat and power consumption, do you want more?
It would always be nice to be able to Overclock Higher

eSATA– Is it important in the future?
I see eSATA being Taken Over by newer, faster, more efficient, technology in the near future.

On the Alienware M17x and M18x, an eSATA + USB 2.0 port is currently included. Is eSATA still relevant?
I believe that its a nice feature, though its not a total deal breaker at all.

Thanks again for asking for our feedback

 

Overclocking – Are you aware that Alienware notebooks offer overclocking abilities?
Yes.

Are you currently using it?
No. Not easily available on my system with current hardware. Havent really looked into software that could force it as I'm happy enough with the way the laptop performs currently.

Understanding that overclocking increases both heat and power consumption, do you want more?
Yes, if my system supported it and it was more easily configured. Or if I purchase a new system in the future that has it from the get go.

On the Alienware M17x and M18x, an eSATA + USB 2.0 port is currently included. Is eSATA still relevant?

I use my eSATA port to power an external hdd enclosure with a 500GB Seagate Momentus in it. Its great to only have to worry about ONE cable. To me, the less wires the better.

 

Overclocking

Are you aware that Alienware notebooks offer overclocking abilities?
- Yes, that's one of the reason why I bought Alienware laptop.

Are you currently using it?
- Yes, GPU only since Dell only offer the standard CPU on the E-store. (M14x Only)

If so, is it meeting your needs?
- Not quite.

Understanding that overclocking increases both heat and power consumption, do you want more?
- Yes that would be awesome, I want the next version of M14x to have good ventilation than the current one.

eSATA

Is it important in the future?
- For laptop, Yes. However, since the M14x can have only one HDD at the moment, an eSATA for the next series would also be great.

On the Alienware M17x and M18x, an eSATA + USB 2.0 port is currently included. Is eSATA still relevant?
- N/A

 

Only have an M15x, no overclocking in the BIOS, but it has eSATA, so:

• 
  
  Yes!
  
  
  

Totally, best would be to have all USB 2.0 ports as eSATA/USB 2.0 combo, eSATA is excellent when it comes to adding additional storage and making backups.

 

The M14 has USB 3 on it, no need for eSATA comparable speeds and USB 3 does everything eSATA does. You'll see a benefit when SSD becomes more affordable and you can get something to fully utilize USB 3's abilities.

eSATA for us older owners is very relevant, full duplex data transfer, single cable, and speeds on par with internal drives...I'm trying to find a multi-drive dock so I can yank 2 of my hard drives from my desktop to use them.

 

aware of the overclocking, but not currently using it, as the system seems to be chewing up anything i throw at it anyway! Alhtough i'd love an easy way to OC the gpu.

esata, no idea. i use USB for everthing. Loveing the USB3.0 port on m14x, that charges equipment even when teh computer is off. extremely useful!

And thank you once again for popping on the forum and asking for our opinions! But please dont bring out an m14x R2 just yet! Only just got this one!

 

Thank you for the feedback. Any other comments are always welcome

 

I apply my comments whenever possible on the alienware uk facebook site!

But thank you for your continued community interest! Its great to see a company actually engage with their fanbase!

Also, is there an alienware guide to overclocking?

 

Overclocking – Are you aware that Alienware notebooks offer overclocking abilities?

* Are you currently using it? No

* If so, is it meeting your needs?

* Understanding that overclocking increases both heat and power consumption, do you want more?
Yes, more easily accessible OC'ing would certainly make me more likely to use it.


eSATA – Is it important in the future? YES! It's still competitive with USB 3.0!


* On the Alienware M17x and M18x, an eSATA + USB 2.0 port is currently included. Is eSATA still relevant?

Definitely! Some of us have USB2.0/eSATA drives and definitely don't want to have to go back to USB 2.0! I actually wish there was more than one eSATA port on AW devices, it's still competitive with USB 3.0, and given that it is the same SATA technology that's used for hard drives, I think it's still the gold standard.

 

need a bit more control over bios over clocking and gpu over clocking.

usb 3.0 on top
esata 3.0 on bottom. (sata cable plugged into drive)
direct esata to esata was an average of 245MB

 

Overclocking – Are you aware that Alienware notebooks offer overclocking abilities?•Are you currently using it?
•If so, is it meeting your needs?
•Understanding that overclocking increases both heat and power consumption, do you want more?

I do currently have my sytem overclocked. An it is meeting my needs. I do not care if it drawing more power and causing more heat. I do think that overclocking of the GPU would be a nice additional option.

eSATA – Is it important in the future?•On the Alienware M17x and M18x, an eSATA + USB 2.0 port is currently included. Is eSATA still relevant?

I think eSATA is still releveant but with the new USB 3.0 i think that is going out quickly.

 

Overclocking – Are you aware that Alienware notebooks offer overclocking abilities?
Yes.

Are you currently using it?
Yes, both for GPU and CPU, only 5% on the cpu (locked cpu)

If so, is it meeting your needs?
Would be good to have more options, but at the moment I'm quiet happy with it. Selling extreme processor with M17x, are proposing upgrades could be nice.

Understanding that overclocking increases both heat and power consumption, do you want more?
Yes, this laptops have been made for power user, always looking to have more.
By the way, you could lower heat simply using better quality pads, for a start.

 

I'm not sure whether you want feedback from current users only or whether prospective buyers are also of interest (I've worked in market research and I'd bet on the latter). I am considering the purchase of a small gaming-capable laptop; thus far the only choice is the Alienware M11x. So:

1) I am aware that AW laptops offer OC abilities.

2) I would NOT use GPU overclock it if I bought the M11x. Longevity of the components and lower noise would be more important, since it would also be a machine occasionally used for work. However, the type of work (MATLAB) benefits from CPU overclocks, so I WOULD overclock the CPU when number crunching was needed. If there were an easy way to switch ON/OFF the overclock, that would be perfect for my needs.

3) Is it meeting my needs? Not applicable.

4) Would I want more overclock? I would definitely like the possibility to overclock as much as possible, leaving to the user the choice of how much.

5) As far as I know, eSATA is still considerably better than USB3 for data transfer. I would choose a laptop with an eSATA port over a laptop with a USB 3 port (all other things being equal), although ideally I would want at least one of each.

 

Overclocking – Are you aware that Alienware notebooks offer overclocking abilities?
Yes.

Are you currently using it?
Yes.

If so, is it meeting your needs?
Since Alienware is aimed at gamers & enthusiasts we could always use more options at Over Clocking. I would like to see more options and control in the Bios like other top mother boards makers have. For the price we should see much higher end features.

Understanding that overclocking increases both heat and power consumption, do you want more?
Yes 98% of the time power is not an issue as I am always plugged in and rarely run on battery. Heat, strive for better cooling options and notebook coolers to help.

And thanks again for your concern on how we feel and would like to see.

 

Overclocking – Are you aware that Alienware notebooks offer overclocking abilities? Yes.

Are you currently using it?
Don't currently have one, but I did overclock my M17x when I had it.

If so, is it meeting your needs?
It did then, yes. Managed to get a 2.4GHz dual core to 3.0GHz with very few problems.

Understanding that overclocking increases both heat and power consumption, do you want more?
I would certainly like the option to be there. As post-Dell Alienwares seem to offer above-average cooling, I would rather be thermally or electrically limited, rather than an an arbitrary BIOS limitation.

eSATA – Is it important in the future?
Not really.

On the Alienware M17x and M18x, an eSATA + USB 2.0 port is currently included. Is eSATA still relevant?
Personally, I don't think so. With USB 3.0, I don't see eSATA gaining much ground. Even if an eSATA 6Gb/s port were to materialise, I doubt it will be used much; eSATA was never particularly widely adopted.

Thoughts:
Ideally, I'd like Alienware to continue its philosophy from my M17x R1. That is to say, provide excellent cooling in your notebooks from the start, have all relevant options available to the user, and leave it at that. Offer factory overclocks or whatever, but I've always liked the fact that my Alienware could be overclocked and was perfectly capable of handling it.

I'm not sure what the current situation is, but I'd love to see overclocking see full overclocking support in the BIOS - DRAM, vCore, VTT, etc. voltages, as well as assess to QPI speed settings. This is not only relevant for overclocking, but also for undervolting, which I myself like to use with laptops.

 

Overclocking – Are you aware that Alienware notebooks offer overclocking abilities?

Are you currently using it?
Yes, i am using the given abilities.

If so, is it meeting your needs?
Yes it does.

Understanding that overclocking increases both heat and power consumption, do you want more?
Since i rarly use my Laptop outside, i don't care about battery life. That means: give me more power!!


eSATA – Is it important in the future?

On the Alienware M17x and M18x, an eSATA + USB 2.0 port is currently included. Is eSATA still relevant?
For me eSATA is an essential feature. I do need this port because i have several devices that need to be plugged in via eSATA or else the performance would drastically decrease!

MfG