Ask Alienware's General Manager, Frank Azor, Anything on AWA!

He's been using the 344.73 forceware and is only able to overclock the memory.
I would think this may be some BIOS restriction, but that's just a guess. I wonder if the GTX 965m is affected as well.

 

Does the same restriction for the 980m exist with drivers or is it just the 970m? I think I'm reading conflicting reports on this, or I'm confusing posts I've read before again.

 

Mr. Fox

what do you think about the i7-4710HQ Processor i really want to get the i7-4980HQ, but i do NOT want WIN 8 so i might just go for the i7-4710HQ Processor . Also i really i don't want to instill WIN 7 on my won i don't want to deal with some problems later .So please tell me what do you think and is there a big different between the two Processors !!!?

 

If gaming is your top priority with your laptop, you most likely won't notice the performance difference between the 4980 and 4710 as both are more than ample for gaming currently and for a while into the future. I think the difference between the processors is about 10% or so. However, if you do things like video editting or other processor intensive tasks then by all means the 4980 will quite likely feel a bit faster than the 4710. They are both excellent processors for gaming though.

 

If it is possible with serious overclocking of the processor on the new Alienware I recommend you to choose i7-4980bga. i7-4710bga is not for overclocking in any case.

 

No it's definitely not a driver issue tried using all the 344.xx branch drivers and in every case Vram can be overclocked but not the core. (newer drivers cannot be overclocked at all Vram or core)
Getting reports from users in the AW15 bechmark threads confirming the same behavior (also with 344 branch drivers) it definitely seems like a lock on overclocking for the 970m at the bios/Hardware level. and The AW reps silence on the issue really seems to confirm this as you would think if it were not the case they would just say so.

 

Then it is totally meaningless to buy Alienware 15 with gtx970m .. New Alienware laptop that it is not possible to overclock .. Total disgusting .. What is it Dellienware doing?

 

Not that this helps.. But it's not like anyone's going to be doing much OCing on a puny eco 180w PSU anyway.
Having these machines be BGA wasn't the only blunder it seems.

 

Oh, thanks for clarifying that. I did not know he was having that issue.

The BGA version behaves the same as MXM. I don't know about the BGA version of 970M. The BGA version of 980M I have experience with does not. In fact, it works flawlessly. It's only real problems are that is was born BGA and has half the RAM, and can't be replaced if it fails, or upgraded when it's no longer cutting edge.

Well said @nightingale, and not much more I can add. If you are looking for extreme high performance, this is the wrong product.

@fahaed120 - Especially because these BGA machines can't be upgraded, I think it would be foolish to order one without the most powerful CPU and GPU available, but that's just my opinion. Do yourself a huge favor: avoid the headache and get the hardware. Replacing Windows is just so easy. Anyone can do that and you can get plenty of help here in this forum if you need it. Yes, Windows 8 sucks, but it's nothing an ISO and Product Key can't fix. Remember, you cannot fix BGA... buy what you really want or you will have regrets. Short answer (my opinion) to last question: Yes, there is a huge difference between them. I would never settle for the lesser CPU.

 

If it's any consolation, Microsoft will be offering a free upgrade to Win 10. So you won't be completely stuck with Win 8.1 if you have to go that route.

 

And.. you have "Classic Start Meny" shells, that help you get back the good old button!

 

I'll ask today! I'm sure it's just that we need to get everyone on the same line before we can tell it'll be available on all regions.

@Mr. Fox I think it's time to tell them ... LOL!

Naaah, but I do feel honored! Mr. Fox tagged me, that's why I replied afterwards haha. That's all!

I'll submit the information to the engineers and ask if there's a lock. Thanks for the feedback!

 

I honestly have no issues with Windows 8. Use one of the classic shell menu things, and it does exactly what I want it to do.

Maybe some pro/enthusiast users really need Win7 for some reasons, but for my personal use (gamin, surfing, watching videos, light office work) I find Win8 works perfectly.

 

Windows 10 does not really have anything compelling to offer compared to Windows 8.1.1 either. The Windows 10 version of the Start menu sucks, still has those stinking tiles and they left most of the stuff that was broken in Windows 8.X.X broken in Windows 10. They are giving it away for free the first year because they are desperate to have adoption of their new trash, not because they are so generous.

Windows 10 facilitates lock-downs through UEFI. Windows 7 does not. The only way they can block people from using older versions of Windows and Linux (and further their monopoly and financial enrichment) is to take their draconian controls to the next level. These are not nice people, and they have only self-serving interests at heart. They want us to have only what they intend for us to have, and they can force their way through signature requirements, but not when the vast majority of PC users refuse to budge from Windows 7. Enthusiasts would do well to continue to hope and pray that their evil plans continue to be a failure. If they thrive, what we value dies.

 

TY looking forward to finally being able to get to the bottom of the oc issue.

 

@Alienware-Frank_L @Alienware-L_Porras @AWKahn

Do and did you know anything about this?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/no-more-overclocking-on-nvidia-mobile-gpus.771169/

Nvidia blocking overclocking on all mobile GPU's.

With BGA and Soldered components, this will be the final nail in the coffin.

 

I've already read this. Terrifying reading .. Then come such garbage drivers to my overclocked gtx780m too.

 

I feel like this is a concerted effort by more than 1 party. Timing is suspiciously bad.
Well, this doesn't mean I'll acquiesce to BGA/soldered hardware laptops with tiny PSUs that don't allow overclocking either. There are consoles for that.
This just means I'll support companies and hardware vendors that don't try and tell me how to use my own hardware. I hate tyranny of any kind.
If all this companies trying to screw us don't pull up, I'm out of here.
What a joke mobile machines have become.

 

New Alienware is the new apple. Thin toy gaming laptop with throttled soldered harware, that must be replaced with an even thinner laptop and weaker cooling and a smaller 130w psu long before you have to.
Tempted to buy a new Alienware 18 in 2016 with gtx1080m in sli with a 180/210 watt power supply? Contains a new modern mobile i7-5930mx with a max TDP of 25 watts.

 

Months of silence and all of a sudden...we're here... the never ending lying game...

 

Spot on man. I'm sure dell is behind this, change or we stop buying NV chips is what NV are told. Imagine how hot the battery is going to get if someone overclocks it with a 180w PSU - fail!

There is a simple 'out' for NV. Stop GFE updating laptop OEM's crippled drivers. Force us to go the verde program where we sign up to risk our machines. It's very clear there that NV recommend you stay with the OEM driver. A conflict - YES. Just fix the conflict and stop this stupidity. But that would expose more weaknesses in the latest AW offerings...

 

"for many years they used desktop processors..." that is rubbish no Alienware has used desktop chips. Mobile extreme chips perhaps but not desktop.

Also the comment that the amplifier will give more upgradeability than a socketed CPU is totally off topic. The systems they replace had BOTH mxm socketed gpu's AND socketed CPU's. Together the combination is much better than the amplifier. Hence why my laptop is still current. I doubt the brand new 15 will still be kicking as hard in 2021 with it's soldered low end CPU. Quite sad comments really. Soured my mood tonight....

 

Manuels statement clearly was worded by their senior team. Is that the best they can do? really? Some of us are not console kiddies.

Their SMT meeting this morning would be an interesting one. I'm betting they distance themselves from Manuel, he's a mod not an employee will be the cry...

 

A 'we're listening and changing...' would be nice, hoping for the best right now...

 

Yeah Regardless of How Angry I am about this "announcement" I do feel a bit bad ManuelG he is just the messenger and wow what a message to have to deliver.
On another note I doubt this bodes well for the 970m OC lock now it really really sounds like a bios lock (Like I would bet my house on it). Because let be real this is not just an Nvidia decision. And hey even if it is a Bios lock it won't really matter if all future drivers are locked. That being said I would still like and answer to my question because it matters alot in principle even if it doesn't in practice.

 

Also I;m suprised Mr. Fox isn't in here freaking out maybe he read ManuelG's post and had Aneurism (wouldn't blame him I just about did myself).

 

I could be wrong, but I imagine this "OC Lockdown" is more so the result of OEM's - such as Dell - meddling. I can't begin to imagine the number of MXM gpu's that have been replaced in the past by OEM's - under warranty - because of exuberant or inexperienced over-clocking by owners. That is a costly practice to keep on doing, and it is only going to become vastly more expensive to replace OC'd BGA gpu chips as it is then not jut the case of a new MXM card, it's a whole new motherboard with a whole new CPU to boot because that is also soldered on.......the solution to cut down on such possible costs? - lock it down within tolerances that YOU as the OEM have deemed safe, and get Nvidia to "Play Ball".....

Sure, Nvidia are jointly responsible, but I don't think that they thought "Hey, lets lock these suckers down......." - what benefit would they get from such an action?

The thought of BGA components was bad enough, but to remove the ability to overclock a GAMING notebook is completely absurd and possibly the straw that could break the camels back for many.

 

@steviejones133 Exactly! My view also, I smell dell in this equation, don't want any noobs overclocking their latest 'masterpiece', it can but further expose the weakness'

 

Yeah....I think it's pretty fair to say that Dell have got "dirty hands" with regards to this OC lockdown.

ManuelG said the following over on the Nvidia forum:

Oh, so he "knows" that Alienware machines were designed to NOT be overclockable, does he? - who told him this......oh, wait a minute.....then there was a mystery update to "fix" (shouldn't that be 'break' again, instead of fix?) overclocking. Now, who on earth told Nvidia to fix this, if not Dell themselves. Dell do not want the machines overclocked by the end user. Reasons behind this? - we all know that Dell opted for a 180w psu, so OC-ing on this is futile. Lock the gpu down so Dell do not have to stump up the additional expnse for 240w supply all around for the new machines?.....prevent OC to prevent costly warranty claims?

Yes Sir, Dell have many reasons to want these suckers locked down - they have more to lose if they are not. I don't see any upside for Nvidia in locking them down, in fact, it's only gonna get people worked up and avoid their products.

 

Yes Brother Stevie.

Cui Bono - Who stands to gain?

I think we're starting to see the picture here.

 

There's going to be hell to pay if they don't knock it off with their Nazi crap.

We should start some flame threads to boycott NVIDIA in the main forum here and at other forums.

 

I'm right with you Mr. Fox. I'm new to this forum, but I'm definitely not new to gaming laptops. I have 4 Dell machines, 2 XPS, 2 Alienware and I'm only 27. This means I've got a lot more time (and a lot more money as soon as I'm a doctor) to buy nice machines. In my opinion, if this keeps up, both Dell/AW and Nvidia will be dead to me in the mobile scene. This is a shame since I'm a huge Nvidia 3D vision fan....

 

"Careful, you idiot! I said across ManuelG's nose, not up it!"

 

Oh, I gave 'em an ear full all right. I'm not done yet. I have some plans for stirring up a massive hornets nest for NVIDIA's media and legal teams to try to get under control, but it will have to wait until my off work hours. I hope some of NVIDIA's highest paid executive people lose their jobs over this.

I don't normally wish bad things on people on account of their stupidity, but the imbeciles that would dream up the notion of blocking overclocking in a laptop deserve to die a horrible, gruesome, draw-out and excruciatingly painful death. I don't know who the hell these Nazis think they are, but they've got another thing coming.

 

I saw sonethibg like this coming. Can you imagine the cost for Alienware and other OEMS with BGA having to replace motherboards with cpu and gpu welded on because someone fries the gpu from overclocking. Bam another whole system/motherboard down everytime. Much cheaper to replace a mxm board than a whole system on a board... Such poor decisions... Glad I have my "old" systems.

 

This is exactly what I said a few posts back, too.....

I think it is Dell at fault here, not so much Nvidia. I imagine Dell are trying to limit the amount of possible warranty claims by locking down their own hardware so we, as consumers, cannot damage it with OC'ing. They (Dell) have designed the new machines to run on a 180w psu - which actually should have been 240w to allow overclocking both gpu and cpu - for cost reasns and bottom line profit margins....it's much cheaper for Dell to supply ALL machines with a cheaper 180w psu than to go with a beefier 240w supply.

Sure, there has been bios revisions that allow (reportedly) the machines to run as Dell designed them to. Bear in mind that "designed" means NOT overclocked. As long as the machine runs at stock rating and consumes no more than 180w, you can bet your butt that Dell will NOT want OC-ing of any kind in fear of a tonne of warranty claims for blown up hardware.

Dell validate machines to run in a certain fashion - clearly they do not want them over-clocked, over-volted or anything that is likely to nd up costing them money. The answer is to treat us all like numpties and lock us out of controlling our own hardware.

 

This is all a bunch of Chicken Little lies with smoke and mirrors. Overclocking does not cause damage to computer hardware. People that think it does are ignorant. I seriously doubt Alienware or Clevo have ever, even once, had to replace a GPU damaged by overclocking. Overheating, yeah, sure, maybe... probably so, but not from overclocking. If that were true, Intel would not offer a guarantee against damage caused by overclocking. NVIDIA GPUs already have built-in protection, just like Intel CPUs.

No, there's an agenda of some sort driving this. It absolutely not based on truth. NVIDIA is notorious for being a pack of liars, too. They've been this way for years.

Stupid people do stupid things that damage computers. Blocking overclocking to prevent damage is an idiot's approach to a fake problem. It's as stupid as the idea that outlawing guns will make the world a safer place. How on earth did we ever end up with so many idiots and imbeciles in this world?

 

Don't call me ignorant Mr. Fox...

 

What? You're not one of those anti-overclockers are you?

 

Lord, no.. I overclock.. Lol was saying that because my statement about overclocking killing cards..

 

I can't understand what happened this year. It seems like everyone want to banish gaming laptops. Maybe big console companies have a big roll with this decisions, because they just don't make sense at all. Maybe Macrohard wants to sell more consoles, but these new relative cheap notebooks are making it harder.

I can't tell how pissed I am, first Intel, then Alienware making Apple desicions for what they keep calling "gaming laptops" what a joke! and now Nvidia?!

Seriously what happened this year?! What's next? BGA desktop cpu? Alienware soldering ram and hdd?

As for today I feel ashamed of always supporting Alienware machines and Nvidia gpus. I always thought that they wanted us to have the need to keep buying, to keep being creative.............

 

Oh, no... sorry, that is directed toward idiots at NVIDIA, Dell/Alienware, ASUS or anywhere else that the "establishment" thinks overclocking is killing GPUs.

Most of the laptops with GPUs failures we see in this community are from people that never show us any examples of overclocking. They are simple gamers whose hardware did not hold up... nothing to do with overclocking.

 

I was joking more than anything.

Thanks Brother Fox... I hope us hardcore guys can make them see the light.

 

With the move toward BGA FILTH, the OEMs probably should be worried. They are cranking out disposable garbage that cannot have simple things fixed. Not only is the upgrade path blocked for customers, the path to repairs is blocked for them.

 

This is what really intrigues me. Having sockets would theoretically make their warranty costs cheaper. Before, you had an independent CPU, GPU and motherboard. If one of the three failed, you only needed to replace that part.

Now, if you send your laptop in for service and one of those things is fried, they need to replace the entire package.

I would think the extra warranty costs associated with enthusiasts in the past would be dwarfed by the increased non-enthusiast costs now that the entire motherboard needs to be replaced. The math doesn't seem to add up.

BGA in order to make things slimmer? How much money are they really saving on manufacturing costs by going BGA rather than sockets?

 

Wow, an Intel/MS/Sony axis of evil. Seems 'war' does make strange bedfellows....

 

I hear what you are saying, Bro....but.....over-clocking, over-volting and running the cards past their stock rated clocks and voltages is surely gonna mean almost certainly a lower lifespan of said hardware, right? - heat, like you say, is gonna be increased and thus failure rate propensity will also increase, no?

I mean you can't drive a Ferarri at 200mph all the time and not expect that at some point, it's gonna die. Some users would run a heavy OC all the time as well.

As for overclocking GPU's, it seems that at some point in the past, Nvidia themselves have stated that doing so can void your warranty - they wouldn't say that if overclocking was completely harmless and could cause no potential failure of the hardware, right?

Regarding damaging GPU's with "overclocking", seems Nvidia had this to say a while back.

http://wccftech.com/overclocking-nvidia-graphics-card-void-warranty/

I think it's fair to say that Dell know this, and as such, have acted in a duplicitous manner and had Nvidia do the dirty work for them - either to prevent user induced damage that could be hard to prove under warranty circumstances - OR - to keep the machines working "as validated" within the threshold of the 180w psu without having to admit/change the psu to a costlier 240w unit.

Just my thoughts on it.....

 

Wow amazing how silent the AW reps have gotten. (not to be a jerk as I do appreciate it being looked at) Still waiting to here back from those engineers about the possible Bios lock on the 970m; Though something rells me what they have to say back won't be encouraging/won't matter since soon we will all be locked out. still sure would be nice if an AW rep could at least come in and address the issue (I.E the whole OC issue driver controversy ET. AL.) and maybe let us know their stance on it.

 

Signed your petition @Mr. Fox , as should everyone else. I even posted it on social media, which I don't use all that much. I'm just so annoyed at this announcement that I want to do everything possible to have them unlock overclocking again. What a waste of perfectly capable hardware. I bet you they just want to reskin the 9series into 10series by just overclocking it themselves, which would be such a crap money grabbing move by them.

 

??? Go read gaming GPU sub-forum. Your answer is there. It's being controlled by nVIDIA from now on so Dell's input is pointless.