Alienware, What have you done??

What do you think the owners of previous Aw models says if next models have a 240w psu ? The next models don't use more wattage than Aw17r2... This is going to be nice to look at.

 

Thanks to DELL killing Alienware, I switched to the new Alienware - ORIGIN PC and dell have lost my business forever

 

Origin, the true continuation to the "alienware" we knew pre-dell acquisition.

 

Word! They only deserve the HIGH PERFORMANCE SYSTEMS under their logo......

fully customizable desktolps in every aspect, motherboard, VGA configurations, RAM speeds, you name it.

Looking at the new Area 51 which costs an arm and a leg, we are stuck with the older 980 GPUs in SLI mode because if you put anything better like a 980 Ti or a Titan X the crappy motherboard won't boot. RAM speeds are still @2133, SSD still 512GB LOL DELL = LOW PERFORMANCE SYSTEMS

and you cannot change anything like the crappy motherboard they are using because the case is custom made.

 

I totally agree that originpc puts in the best components and are fully customizeable, but lets all also take a moment to appreciate how sexy those desktop tower designs are. the laptop designs are pretty good too, although the base could be a tiny bit generic looking as most clevo's do tend to look from some angles.

 

Bro, why do you think I built an ORIGIN PC MILLENIUM PC when I could have built the same system possibly for 1.5K to 2K cheaper? It is simply because of their super sexy case that has modular bays in front which allow you to easily have 5 drawers to plug in regular 3.5" HDDs on the fly so you never had a problem with running out of space . that and the super coolr remote controlled color neons inside.

Its like Alienware in the past, you want cool + performance = Alienware. You want cheap + performance = Custom built

This is my case but with Red on the sides:




EDIT: found the actual pic of my case:

 

Now that, is one beast and beauty of a machine. What alienware should have been, but dell wrecked the company in the more recent years.

 

yes, isn't the whole idea of buying a desktop over a laptop is to be able to upgrade everything? The Area 51 is less upgradable than an AW M18X!

 

this post needs more likes and reps than i can give

 

We, the owners of highperforming /upgradable AW machines did put a lot of sugesstions & the negative atmosphere when they forget / ignore us. And yet, It's just a futile effort in the end. It's like talking to a wall, that AMA a PR feat (False promises, failure to contemplate even a bit about the consumer feedback and suggestions, atleast a patch for the older machines would have won hearts, but unfortunately nope they dont care), I hope this AW brand dies so quick in the performance market that dell will fail to resurrect it no matter what, then they will learn but once the decision is made for these greedy big-shot corps It's very highly unlikely to backtrack...

All in for Clevo to wreck & havok this whole stupid Alienware brand & the meta BS surrounding it, I wish it comes soon enough...the first bullet has already been shot thanks to P7xxZM / G.
More to come, its like they castrate the AW brand in public with the new machines.....

coup de grâce

 

True, if you buy an Alienware Area 51 R2 right now and drill a hole in your pocket..... you cannot upgrade the following:

- Cannot upgrade motherboard since it is custom made for that case, at least if you wanna put your own custom made motherboard, choose a good one DELL!

- Cannot upgrade CPU unless you are upgrading to the same Gen, (ie. Hotwell) since the skyflake CPUs will have different pins for the CPU

- Cannot upgrade RAM to more than 2133 MHz. due to crappy BIOS in the motherboard

- Cannot ugprade GPUs to more than a 980 in Tri SLI, if you put a Dual Titan X or 980 Ti, the motharboard won't boot! Well no problem, a simple BIOS fix will remedy that right? wrong! DELL didn't update hte BIOS for almost a year and just recently released an update but in the release notes it has no mentioning of supporting newer GPUs. Welcome the Dell Clowns Drivers team

- Cannot upgrade to the Intel 750 PCIe SSD due to BIOS issues or at least you cannot make it the bootable drive which defeats the whole purpose of shelling out so much money for this SSD if you can't use it as your main OS drive

Can you imagine buying such a desktop which would cost north of 5K USD then when 2 years down the line you feel like your hardware is all outdated, you cannot upgrade due to the above limitations and would have to buy a brand new computer.

I think Dellienware are doing this on purpose just like they did with the new BGA garbage laptops to force people to upgrade the entire system rather than upgrade individual components and giving them less business.

 

As much as I loved Alienware, and the day I got my Alienware 18 was one of the most exciting days of my life. I now wish for them to die slowly and never come back. Just like BlackBerry.....

 

Not to threadcrap, but my case has 8 hot swap bays in the front of it with adjustable lighting as well. You definitely got a very nice system, but you still could have built it yourself with those features!

 

The custom motherboard dimensions, I can understand. What I didn't know was how limited the upgrades were! I was looking at an Alienware Area 51 desktop system last night (considering the base model, then upgrade it myself). That sort of sucks that you can upgrade the video cards like that. What a waste and a disappointment.

 

Here is my story, the moment I saw the Area 51, I was drooling, this is the best PC case and design I have ever seen in my life, a true work of art. It's like a humongous laptop, heck it even has a carry case to carry it on your back as if you were going to school with a bag full of literature books!!

So my friend told me get the base model for $1500 USD as Alienware is charging you a lot, then upgrade it yourself, but me, I like buying stuff that work out of the box then if I want to upgrade, I like the idea that I can.

So what I did is go to HIDevolution and order one but they allow you to customize it even further than what Dell does. I choose a Triple Titan X GTX Setup along with the Intel 750 PCIe SSD along with 32GB 2666 MHz. RAM, everything was upgraded from the low end specs that DELL offers.

So they start building my system....but while I was anxiously waiting...

I saw this: Well, Will Tri-Sli Titan X Graphics card available for the Alienware Area 51 ?

That's when my dream ended! Then I learned that it's due to a BIOS issue, so I quickly jumped on to the drivers page of the Area 51 and noticed that they are still on the initial release BIOS A01 since almost 1 year!! Really?!?! REally DELL? your flagship model and you don't give it one bit of attention?!?

Then BIOS A02 came just recently but no mentioning of supporting card other than the 980 in Dual or Triple SLI. Even DELL themselves had an option to do a Dual TITAN X setup but they removed it so now the Graphics card portion is not customizeable when you are trying to configure a system on their site.

Then I learned that the Area 51 is not as I thought it was, not a full fledged desktop that I can upgrade anything as if it were a normal desktop due to the fact that I'd have to get a custom made motherboard to fit in this case. That's when I found out that a company named ORIGIN PC which was started by 3 top executives from Alienware and went on their own path, and this is exactly the real Alienware that we all missed. HIGH PERFORMANCE SYSTEMS note these BGA joke laptops or Desktops that are handcuffed

 

pics please and where did you find that modular bay?

 

The time is already arrived. Dell did not want performance enthusiasts as customers.Those who made Alienware known worldwide was not worth anything...

 

I wanted the new Area 51 bad as well. In fact I first posted it here with the caption it will be mine. However, once I saw Dell cancelling the 18, releasing soldered crap and basically dumping on us, I decided not to give them my money for the 51. I did buy the last version of the 18 and got rid of my previous one. However my pledge to not directly ever support them again was honored as I did not buy it from Dell. I don't support stupid.

 

To be fair, Origin PC was founded in 2009 by former Alienware employees after Dell bought Alienware, and most of the laptops you guys love in this forum like the M17x and M18x are in fact Dellienwares. Alienware only went to crap after Dell went private.

Origin PC is just an overpriced as fuark boutique in the mold of Falcon Northwest. Ofc building a desktop yourself is best, but even if you're buying prebuilt Origin is a bad choice. And if you're getting a Clevo laptop, unless you have a burning itch to spend 2-3x as much as you would elsewhere for the same specs, I'd stay away from Origin and Falcon NW too.

 

Just popped over to Origin PC and racked up $4600 in 5 minutes..... Think I'll have to sell the wife!

Certainly would consider a mid-range EON17 SLX and do the gradual upgrade as funds permit

Nice Stuff!

 

Yeah, it is nice stuff over there. I really don't like the looks of their branded lids on their Clevo laptops, but the desktops look pretty sweet. If I had about $5-6K in discretionary entertainment funds, I would be building my own with a phase change CPU cooling system.

 

I wonder if we can contact a motherboard manufacturer and have them fab up a new motherboard for us.

 

Who has Compal on speed dial?

 

probably some company in china.

 

I wonder what Clevo would see as a suitable-sized order to deal direct - Think 'Elitist' group buy of barebones units, a group buy of CPU's GPU's SODIMMS which would perhaps reduce the cost of building our kind of machines........

 

Brothers I was at a tech shop today and they had the new 17-R2 on stand ... The poor quality & cheap material on that thing almost brought a tear to my eye ... Even the alien head power button is very ugly, cheap and disproportionate to the overall laptop dimensions ... The screen is insanely weak I believe I can flex that while simply opening it ... The reduced thickness of the chassis combined with the behemoth size of the laptop make for a very weak chassis when you compare it to the fat R1. The only good thing I noticed was the screen quality; it ain't as good as the 120Hz on the R1 but it is amazing compared to the Asus G751 & MSI GT72 that also were on stand there.

 

*shakes head* should've gotten a clevo!

 

I used to be really active on these forums back when i used to game on laptops. I had the Gateway P-7808u, Dell xps M1730, m17x, m17x r2, m17x r3, m18x, m18x r2, then i jumped off the wagon after alienware discontinued the m18x line. Ever since, i moved on to desktops

Right now i'm rocking a 4790k, dual 980 ti on my watercooled rig.

 

Hi, I own the AW 17 2014(2013 version), and I'm tired of the weak GPU fan and want to change. Could you give me more information on which fan I can choose? Thank you in advance!

 

Here, this thread should help you out --> AW17 R1 Fan mod.

 

I believe the m17x R4 GPU fan is a simple plug and play... Same dimensions and same connector

 

Yep, even the CPU fan too (6.5CFM over the stock <3CFM), Only the M14x R2 CPU fan (11CFM) needs dremel
..

Edit : 6.5CFM CPU fan is from the M17x R3.

 

So I dont need any modifications? Just plug in and tighten the screw? No need to modify the fan shell(template)? Thank you!

Thank you, bro. I will read this first.

 

Just plug and play but take care some sell the 17-R1 fan as 17x R4 fan since they are compatible and the 17-R1 one is more readily avaiable; so make sure you are getting the right one and not getting your same fan.

 

Could you give me the exact model ID for the 17xR4 GPU fan? Is it FKDN8 0THPDJ DFS601605HB0T? Is it the 11.4 CFM one? Thank you!

What do you mean by .5CFM over the stock <3CFM? The one I found is 2.3CFM.

 

Yup that's the one

EDIT: Btw there is one thing people always miss is that the CFM of the fan is calculated based on maximum rpm so the 11.4 CFM is @ fan max rpm ... Your controller wouldn't let that fan run more than 3,400 rpm because that's the set value for the fan in the mobo (based on the old fan design) ... So for example if this fan exhaust the 11.4 CFM @ 6,000 rpm then the actual CFM you are getting out of the fan is around 6.5 CFM

You need to ask someone with 17x-R4 about their maximum GPU fan speed

 

They all use the same screen. There's only one (currently) 17.3" IPS panel being made, and it's by LG.

As far as I know, anyway.

 

I am in the same boat sort of, I think once I am done with my 17 it will be on to desktops as well.

 

Hi Guys! I had a few minutes free at work so I thought I would have a look at the latest Alienware 17 offerings ..... OMG! Nothing except the software and the screen are customisable anymore. So sad to see it happen to what was the premier laptop brand.

I upgraded to my current rig from an AW17 because AW were reducing the build options and weren't offering the 980M as an option when I wanted to buy and they still aren't offering it. I just can't understand that.

So I guess I will be driving a Clevo for a few years to come and I highly recommend it to anyone who is considering jumping ship. I got mine with the fake carbon fibre wrap but I wouldn't do that again or recommend it to anyone. My commiserations to you folks that are left and I wish you all the best for the future.

 

Looking at what they are offering in Australia it looks like stock is shrinking, hopefully it's due to the release of skylake in a few months. As for all that crap about not being able to put a desktop processor in an Alienware due to 'power' restraints, there is a 35 watt i7 desktop cpu to allegedly be in the skylake lineup, which uses less power and will be more powerful than any of the bga offerings. I don't see why they wouldn't use that in their laptops if they worry about power consumption and then offer the flagship i7,s for the people who don't care about battery life. As for the gpu's that needs to be back to mxm.

 

Alienware don't have the stones to build anything extreme anymore. BGA all the way to the bank for them.

 

Honestly, I don't see the point in Broadwell. It's just a waste of silicon and another piece of crap for them to sell under a facade of "efficiency" and faked enhancements. Even the best CPU of the lot (5775C) is another crippled turd. Although unlocked and overclockable, it cannot keep up with a boring 4790K quad because it cannot even reach stock 4790K boost clocks with stability. Just more crippled trash from the clowns at Big Blue. It looks to me like they are backing away from awesome to be just a shade better than the lameness of AMD's flagship. Not a good plan as far as I am concerned. It's a cop-out that they can spin as a feather in the bonnet for the "efficiency" loving tree-huggers. If we have to put up with that level of pathetic, might as well save a few hundred bucks and stoop to buying an AMD CPU. If ain't gonna be awesome, why buy it? We need some 4960X and 5960X killers from Intel, not more weaker trash.

Intel Core i7-5775C Broadwell Processor Review | Techspot

Yeah, that's baloney about not being able to use desktop CPUs in laptops. Saying "can't do it" is not the same as saying "won't do it" because it is possible. It is proven to be very successful. There is no reason other than they simply don't want to make industry-leading high performance notebooks any more. It is impossible to conclude otherwise by mere virtue of the fact that they have gone BGA on both CPU and GPU. They aren't in it for keeps any more. The goal is to sell more mainstream junk and profit on volume rather than deliver a world-class product that overclocking enthusiasts and power users want and are willing to pay for.

 

Well said. That's exactly what they've given us to go on. Shame they couldn't have simply been more up front about it rather than leading us on.. Oh well. Their loss. The world has enough disposable laptops already.

 

It says itself; Dell can not put a desktop processor and mmx gpu in their new "modern" laptop design. When they now perhaps going to make the next revision or a new model Aw laptop maybe even thinner says this itself. Dell must start thinking all over again when it comes to high performance and high end. The new Aw laptops that might be launched soon or next year becomes the same as Racer only slightly thicker and slightly larger with hardware that almost frying and surely throttle like the 2015 models.

 

I think the Broadwell might not be a true successor to the Haswell in terms of clocks/pwr/OC, Skylake the tock architechture should be interesting over the Broadwell...
By then this AW brand will be forgotten by enthusiasts...

Spoiler: Intel..

Seems like Intel's slacking off (Laughing at AMD in these years and not delivering any advancements) effected them by some extent..
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015...ng-kaby-lake-processor-as-moores-law-falters/

 

Nice article. Intel's practically under no pressure but complacency can come back to bite you if you ain't careful. Yeah, Skylake should be the 14nm "lake" to look out for with Kaby Lake probably being a tide-over before Cannonlake. On a FAR more serious note, who da frick comes up with these names?!? Maybe they'll call the next one AMD's-Drowning-in-our-Lake. AW might as well hop in too.

 

I received my Clevo P750ZM, with a GTX 970M and a Xeon E3-1271 v3 CPU.

With a -80mV undervolt, the XTU stress test gives me a max temp of between 73-75C.

The keyboard does get a bit warm (close to 40C, even when idle) compared to less than 30C when under load for my AW17 R1.

This clearly proves a 15" laptop can handle a desktop CPU. If they can insulate the keyboard better with future models, then we have a winner.

 

Nice !

Do note this minor hickup (no g-sync with non-iGPU Xeon). Could turn it into a ZM-G otherwise. E3-1276 v3 would do and cost is identical ...

 

I'm not going to worry about Gsync too much until it is more mainstream. At the rate I go through laptops, it really isn't a concern of mine.

 

The way I look at it is "I don't know what I don't know" and "cannot miss something I've never had" and I am not willing to make a sacrifice in one area to gain a feature that doesn't make my machine faster. If I have to spend a wad of cash on a G-Sync monitor and tether my machine (and my butt) to a desk to realize any benefit from it, then I might as well own a desktop.