[Alienware Refresh] Initial thoughts and impressions? Hit or a Miss?

Thats better

It will help when we get more reports for comparison, right now that could very well be normal with undervolt for that model.

I see you used CPUID Hwmonitor, can you please give hwinfo64 a try?

hwinfo64 gives more info and has logging of that info as well, and a denser readout that shows more in the same space for screenshots, and has lots of in depth device info for the inventory function.

 

^^This...

After you get the max undervolt at stock core/cache multipliers you will have a good base temp / voltage to run with when OC'ing.

 

Sounds like -165mv is a good one to run on for a while, note that the next failure besides load BSOD is *idle* BSOD at max undervolt.

You can be stable on load, but when doing normal work as the voltage drops under idle moments it can expose a too high undervolt.

I would run for a few days at -165mV, leaving the laptop on all the time even when you aren't using it - look for a rebooted laptop when you come back to it, and then work on undervolting the cache.

Are you at stock clocks for cores/cache at -165mV? If not drop back to default core/cache settings and try to move the undervolt higher - try -170mv again.

 

↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ns-hit-or-a-miss.795629/page-38#post-10362450

Edit Is it realy true that RAID is only supported using M.2 SATA SSDs in the new Aw Echo models? http://www.hidevolution.com/alienware-17-r4-gtx-10-custom-built-to-order.html

 

There is one 2.5 inch drive spot, 2 long m.2 slots and one short one.(I don't know the correct names for them.)

 

Could you run a benchmark with a program called Octane Render, for GPU CUDA rendering?

I would like to know the temps and score at the end of the benchmark.

You can find it at this forum: render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=56108&hilit=gtx+1080+bench

The benchmark files are on the first post on that thread. If you need any help with it, please let me know. I would greatly appreciate your help!!

For reference, I got 112 with a GT73VR with a 1070, was able to improve that to 132 with a 200hz overclock and lowering the refresh rate from 120 to 60hz.

 

error posting

 

Can someone with the AW 15 post some measured dimensions of the laptop? Something fishy about the dimensions Dell gives on their website when comparing the upcoming AW 13 to AW 15:

AW15
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHTS
1. Height: 1 inch (25.4mm) | 2. Width: 15.3 inches (389mm) | 3. Depth: 12 inches (305mm) | Average Weight: 7.69 lbs (3.49 kg)i

AW 13
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHTS
1. Height: 0.92 inch (23.3mm) | 2. Width: 15.35 inches (390mm) | 3. Depth: 10.20 inches (259mm) | Average Weight: 5 lbs (2 kg)i


I just find it hard to believe that the AW 13 will be wider than the 15!!!
Unless they are using some Ultra Wide 13" that has never been produced before, There is going to be close to 2" of screen bezel on each side of the AW 13

Current AW 13 width is 12.75 inches for reference.

 

The only thing that I noticed is that 5lbs is not 2 kilos but 2,268 which is weird since the 15 and 17 conversions are spot on. Might be misleading for eu customers.


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Well a look at the current AW 13 page shows that they are just incompetent when taking measurements...

AW 13 R2
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHT
Height: 0.94 – 1.339 in (23.9mm-34.0mm) │ width: 15.19 (358.8mm) │ depth: 10.64 in (270.2mm) │ Starting at weight: 7.07 Lbs. (3.207 Kg.)


As an owner I can 100% say that the AW 13 R2 is about 12.75 inches Wide and 8.75 inches deep and absolutely not 7 LBS

 

When will you post gaming benchmarks?

 

Long = 2280
Short probably = 2242

 

That is my assumption as well on the short. Would be nice to have confirmation though.

 

What gaming benchmarks do you want?

 

Easy

Witcher 3
Arkham Knight
Crysis games
Any high demanding games


Your laptop is meant for gaming too, not just overclock. Bench what is meant to do.

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Finally voted with a heck no because the Eurocom Tornado F5 (MSI 16L13) is just way more bang for the buck. Sorry AW, better luck next time.

 

I did the

Lol starters, my laptop is whatever I want it to be. And yes I have been gaming. I wasn't benching just for the heck of it, if you read the earlier posts we were trying to get the CPU temps down to a reasonable range.

 

Ok. Did you bench those games?

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Correct you have 2x 2280's and 1 2242 m.2 spot. I was thinking of getting a 2242 m.2 ssd to load up my steam games but I think the largest model made right now is 256GB.

 

lol that's completely incompetent.

 

Agreed but you get a plastic chassis with a very mediocre build quality and keyboard / touch pad that are pretty poor. So yeah i'ts a better value for money but you get what you pay for. I've got a GT72 atm aka it's bigger bga cpu brother and it's not a bad machine but it's so cheaply made that I never get the feeling it's an expensive premium machine.

 

As far as that goes, I consider the MSI an acceptable design. I love the shell of the AW line this time, that's a fact. Most MSI have never impressed me for the reason you have, so much plastic. But this one can be had with no badge or logo of any kind so it looks somewhat better in my eye. And there is at least aluminum finish on the palm rest and lid.

This laptop purchase i wanted to finally get a beast machine so I thought I'd be buying a Clevo. But after looking at tons of pics, I was feeling queazy I knew it was a compromise I couldn't make. And reports were clear that temps aren't even that good on the Clevo laptops.

I thought the AW might be able to save the day but there's no way I can justify the cost. I'm not going to pay an extra $100-$200 just for a good looking machine. Good quality looks great, yes, but not so much better that it will function longer than the MSI barebones.

Now if my needs were different for this laptop generation, I might have still considered it. But AW will need to step it's game up even further because I'm still not sold. Just my two cents!

 

100-200 for the barebones AND the 1yr extra premium warranty with on-site support that MSi and others don't offer.

 

That's true, and I don't mean to misrepresent. The warranty is just a non factor for me.

 

Im guessing you have never had to mail in your system and wait a week or two.

 

I definitely have. On my Lenovo Y500 the ethernet port was running 10/100 and no driver or anything could fix it. I reinstalled windows about 5 times both fresh install and Lenovo image. In the end they asked me to send it to the depot, and I told them over the phone "don't just reinstall Windows and mail it back to me." Well it was gone 2 weeks and guess what? They reinstalled Windows and mailed it back. I was so mad I got them to send out an in-home tech to replace the motherboard at their expense. And guess what? The guy did it wrong, didn't repaste the cpu. Laptop would thermal shutdown immediately upon booting Windows.

I ended up repasting myself but I called Lenovo again and told them it is unacceptable the loss of my time and money for thermal paste. They had me send the Y500 back and they sent me a full config'd Y510p SLI beast (at the time anyway). Obviously I didn't enjoy that experience.

I know the pain of bad warranty support. It's just not a factor to me. Any electronic device you could purchase is a consumable. The moment you buy it you lose value from your purchase, and it goes down quickly from there. Warranty or no warranty. So I'd rather save the extra pennies and fix it myself. I grant you that is only an option for people like us who are experienced laptop repair techs. Which is why I said warranty is a non-factor for me. For someone else maybe it is a factor.

 

Lol

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Hi guys,

This probably isn't the place to post? I haven't been on this forum in a long time (since owning an XPS m1730 actually). I wanted to share that I recently made my first big laptop purchase since getting the aforementioned M1730. I went with the Alienware 17, order list is as follows.

NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 1070 with 8GB GDDR5
Intel(R)Core(TM) i7-6700HQ (Quad-Core, 6MB Cache, up to 3.5GHz w/Turbo Boost, Base frequency 2.3GHz)
Windows 10 Pro (64bit) English
17.3 inch QHD (2560 x 1440) 120Hz TN+WVA Anti-Glare 400-nits Display with Tobii IR Eye-tracking
32GB DDR4 at 2400MHz (2x16GB)
128GB M.2 SATA 6Gb/s SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)
Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1
Lithium Ion (99 Wh) Battery
English Backlit Keyboard, powered by AlienFX
240W AC Adapter

I went with 4 year warranty with 4 year accidental as they were offering for the price of 3 years.

I plan to add my own SSD storage to the laptop shortly after I receive it by the end of the month.

Now, in the past I used to work with (not for) QualXServ and one of my contracts was Dell. I worked as an onsite support, replacing GPU's, Motherboards, and the like. I always admired the way customers would talk about Dell's warranty service and in some cases would hear stories about customers having paid 3-4grand on a laptop years ago and not having paid for a new one since as they've been consistently renewing their warranty.

I have 2 questions

1. Would you for see the GTX1070 being an issue with games running on a 1440p G Sync display as I have configured for current and near future games?

2. Is the 4 year Warranty worth it? Is it really that easy to get a full laptop replacement down the road if this system becomes obsolete and broken?


I think the main reason I went with an Alienware as oppose to an MSI or Clevo build, the reminder I had from all the good talk I received about Dell's Warranty service when I used to do contract work for them.
Thanks for your input

 

Quick question. I Just read that you can the extend battery life by pressing fn f7, to only use the integrated graphics. Is this the CPUs integrated graphics they mean? So this would basically turn the GPU off? Or have i completely misunderstood it?

Than shifting to that mode would produce less heat and thereof keep the fans more quiet? I just hate it when my fans begin to sound on my asus g73 while only browsing the web. I hope i will not be disappointed when my AW17 unit arrives and have noisy fans from just browsing and coding. Anyone can confirm if the fans are quiet when only browsing?

 

The F7 turns dedicated graphics on permanently or press it again and you get the NVida Optimus where it turns the GPU off unless you are doing something GPU intensive.

 

I am currently downloading Battlefield 1. I will let y'all know how it goes.

 

Sounds great! Very much looking forward to how it runs.

If you could, please copy paste this below and post it when able.

Game Settings:
Max GPU Temp:
Max FPS:
Avg FPS:

Cheers

 

Could someone please tell me what kind of temperatures, acoustics and battery life we can expect from the new AW13? Rough estimates are enough.

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Battery life is Impossible to tell without any Information on battery capacity, what kind of H core processors.

The website says this about sound:
HEAR EVERY BATTLE CRY.
Due to the upgraded design, a larger and more effective speaker box has been installed, improving audio output for a clearer and more dramatic gaming experience.

A good sign, but the current AW 13 sound is sub par, so not hard to be better ( or do you mean fan acoustics) The current fans are pretty quiet. I'd imagine it will be around the same.

Temperatures should mirror the AW 15, about 70's Celsius on GPU. But again impossible to tell on CPU due to no information if they will have current gen or next gen.

 

They say they're using quad core H-series processors, or so they say. And yeah, by acoustics I mean fan noise. Thanks for the estimates!

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Sorry if this is already asked, but wasn't following well this thread. Any news about the g-sync panels.

Also asking to someone who owned/owns the Previous alien ware 15 and 17 models and have bought and receive the new ones. How does it compare physically, and in terms of temperatures.
Because I'm interested in the GTX 1080 version to be released in november, which will probably run even hotter if the cooling isn't changed especially for that model

 

gsync is out but not for the best CPUs.

 

Damn only the qhd tn panel. I want the 4k ips one with gsync. Let's hope it becomes an option by the time the gtx 1080 becomes an option

 

Are you sure they are planning such a display? I havent read anywhere about a 4k gsync ips display. I know of only the 3k tn with gsync, it is supposed to be a quite good one. Its using a "new" tn technology which gives it better colors and viewing angles.I dont think it is in pair with an ips display but should def be better than a regular tn.

 

Upon the release of the 10 series nvidia gpu's, new G-sync panels were introduced for laptops
- 1920x1080 120hz (thought this was IPS, but it happens to be TN on the alienware 15 page, which makes sense due to the high refresh rate, but the FHD g-sync panel on the sager models state IPS, perhaps the sager ones are 60hz, not sure)
- 2560x1440 120hz (A TN panel, which again makes sense)
- 3840x2160 60hz (The panel types were not introduced, but I expected it to be IPS, because there are lots of 60hz UHD laptop monitors, so wouldn't make sense they would go to TN just for g-sync, also on the Sager you can chose for the UHD g-sync monitor which lists it as an IPS monitor).

I'm not sure if the UHD gsync panel will be released on the Alienware, but somehow I thought I read it somewhere upon the announcement of the laptops, perhaps I'm mistaken.

But I wish for it to happen at least. because the only other option I consider for a new laptop for me is the Asus g800vi, but I'm not very fond of the design, the ssd they use, and also very pricey.

 

So, has it finally been confirmed now that although Dell seem to say otherwise, the new Alienwares do have TPM 2.0?

(Yes, have asked before but since Dell seem to insist on it NOT being there, just want to make sure )

 

Yeah it is strange, on my AW15R2 TPM seems to be available as well. Never used it though.

 

I watched the AMA with Frank Azor today and my question was asked regarding the cooling solution for the AW17 GTX 1080 model. It uses a different motherboard and heavier cooling solution to dissipate heat from the 180 watt gtx 1080.s o, beefier cooling on that 1080. Yaaaasssss. I think I'm swayed from the p775dm3 permanently at this point. An AW17 from HIDEvolution with the liquid metal TIM upgrade may be in the cards. Also, the latest release date for the aforementioned model is 11/18.

 

I called dell today about the temps and a squeaky keyboard, they are going to replace the whole heat sink and repaste to make sure it isn't a hardware fault.

 

Great info. Would you happen to have a direct link to the video session? Twitch?

::iunlock::

 

In home repair or are they sending you the parts?

::iunlock::

 

They called me back, they have my laptop under review, they want me to wait on the thermal paste. Dell is pushing out a BIOS update to "fix" the temps...... The keyboard is in the review process to determine to send the laptop back or in home. Most likely it will be in home. The tech said re-pasting will void the warranty though.

 

You bet. https://www.twitch.tv/alienware/v/95539068 My question gets answered between the 30 and 35 minute mark of the stream.

 

Well if anyone is interested, actual photos of the AW 13. Not very good angles but looks like it could be the OLED version

 

It is 100% false that repasting voids your warranty.
Now if you repaste with LM (liquid metal) or any conductive TIM and you short something as a result of your carelessness, then yes it would not be covered. Not because the action of repasting voided the warranty, but because your warranty only covers hardware defects and not accidental damage caused by pasting.
Matter of fact I have done many many "parts only" (they send me the part) motherboard replacements authorized by tech support which involved repasting.

Bottom line is, the tech doesn't know what hes talking about.
The other thing that is worth mentioning is that Dell has a bad track record for properly pasting. I mean it works and does not overheat (in most cases) but most of the time is not the most efficient pasting job.
You may run across an onsite tech that does know his stuff, but if you send to the depot you can forget it.

If you want the best temps you can get, you should repaste. If you are worried about conductivity you could use Gelid.
Not only is Gelid one of the best (if not the best) paste solution, (I said paste) but it also does not conduct, so you cannot short anything out.