Alienware 15 R3 / 17 R4 BIOS 1.0.8

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us...roductCode=alienware-15-laptop&driverId=FKHH1
Fixes & Enhancements
Fixes:
- Not Applicable
Enhancements:
- Gaming performance improvement.
- IR camera power management.

 

Installed, and actually got lower benchmark scores lol

 

Sounds like they are pre-throttling to reduce the temps/core imbalances

 

my temps are below 70 on benchmarks and gaming, didnt see anything different on the clocks

 

Through power limit throttling

 

I've got lower temps and more FPS and a better score in Unigine. It was set to extreme settings and I was undervolted to -.145 for the tests.

http://imgur.com/a/lwEKR

 

I never ran heaven but yes my valley score did go up, but timespy did not for some reason.
heres my heaven bench

 

I have 13174 in 3Dmark it went up, so where do you see power throttling @Mobius 1 ?
3.1GHZ stable CPU turbo mode on all cores, same GPU score and frequency.

Anything odd on your side ?

 

Either the bios has a lower power limit for the CPU/GPU or it raises the fanspeed table.

Sometimes limiting power will improve scores, pascal is a hit or miss in terms of overclocking. And Unigine Heaven, even in "extreme" setting, will not draw as much power compared to the more intensive benchmarks offered in 3DMark or other benchmark tools.

 

Playing Battlefront I do notice some bump in the fan speed but it needs to be confirmed .
I don't think there's any power limit or premature throttling tbh I ran unigine valley, 3D mark and gaming in general.

 

20fps difference/25% improvement from BIOS update?
You're kidding me. Sounds more like there was an issue in the first place but you need to compare the score to other laptops with similar specs to be sure.

 

Well I did a before and after comparison on the same laptop and those were my results. Take it how you will but my results were good. I'm now running without undervolting and overclocked to profile 1 in the Bios and playing Overwatch, Diablo 3 and Watch Dogs 3 and the highest it got was 89/69/87/68.

 

That's a 21C differential across your cores. Improvement or not, that wouldn't pass user-end QC standards for a $2k~ price tag

 

I know what you mean and Alienware isn't the only manufacturer who are having these problems. From what I have read Razer, MSI and Asus are all having similar issues with heat and the core differential. I will be repasting and might try and either do the shims or bend the bracket that holds the CPU to try and get a more even core temp between all 4 cores. Overall this thing is a beast and runs everything at max settings and doesn't hesitate. The only issue I have noticed is under extreme loads the 1535 Killer card will cut out and I have to disconnect and reconnect my WiFi, but if you disable the Killer Program Suite from running that problem goes away and it runs like a champ. My buddy just got an Gigabyte p57X laptop with the 1070 GTX and the Alienware R4 looks and feels 10x better than his. He paid about $200 less than me due to price drop for Black Friday as well.

 

Wow. 21degs! The imbalance issue with other brands are definitely not as serious as Dell/Alienware's.
The thread on this started out with the other brands but the focus now is on the Alienwares with their even worse temps and the tripod mount heat sink.
Does the 17 have a similar design?

You know I have a Inspiron 7566 with i5 6300HQ, 960M, with Furmark+Prime95 running, I got 93/77/98/77 with throttling.
It's going back to Dell for a refund though.
Sounds like to me there is some issues with the Quad cores by Dell/Alienware.

 

This isn't the whole truth... Most brands models will be fixed with a simple re-paste of a good thermal paste!! You don't need to fix a design flawed heatsink as you need on the new AW models. This is a big difference!! You shouldn't need to bend or do other changes on the heatsink to receive very good processor temperature A simple re-paste should be more than enough!! A lot of people can make a re-paste, but most of them isn't willing to customize the flawed tripod heatsink to manage normal cpu temp.

 

So you're saying that the new Razer Blade Pro with the 1080 GTX doesn't have a similar heatsink like ours? Have you looked at the pic of it because it looks very similar with 3 mounting points like AW and have the same issues that we do. So how are they being fixed when they have a flawed tripod design like AW? Cause they are having overheating issues with the 20 degree core differentials just like AW. I have read up on the top manufacturers for about a month before making my decision and I am happy with my laptop. With it undervolted to -.145 I was able to play BF1 at the max settings for an hour and never reached 80 degrees on any core. My hopes is that when I re-paste it and help solve the design flaw I won't have to undervolt it and it will run even better. Oh here is the link to the motherboard of the Razer Blade Pro so you can see it yourself. I mean for a laptop that starts out at $3,700 laptop you would expect an even better design than AW at $2,000, but you get a very similar design that is flawed.

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2016/10/razer-blade-pro-17-2016-hands-on/

 

What's worst than a triangular heatsink, is a heatsink with flexible mounting arms on one side and flexible + rigid mounting arms on the other side.
The Razer blade's heatsink seems to have only mounting holes directly in the heatsink mass with springs.

 

A solution would be to put 1 or 2 o ring spacers to equilize the pressure between the metal arm and screw top. not need to bend anything.

The paste though. i dunno why every manufacturer uses this type paste. probably the easiest to install. kryonaut should start developing oem paste stamps. before it heats up it is by the way so hard that only a plastic spudger is sufficient for removal. too thick for rubbing alcohol.

 

Here's what should have be the heatsink :



Don't understand why they didn't add a rigid arm like the 2 others. Would have save us from many hassles. How can you fix this with a Bios ... seriously ?

 

Maybe a good tuned bios will be increase the pressure

 

LMAO! Stickers on cars add much HorsePower

 

The best way to visualize it is by getting XTU and enabling the "Power limit throttling" in the graphs on the left and on the bars on the left.
Using XTU only to monitor.

 

Wait... What exactly did you do there?
Can I add a washer on the 3rd heat sink arm? Does it help?

 

I used Gimp (Image manipulation) to do a mockup of the 3rd missing rigid arm.
Here's the original picture :

 

Oh I get it now, thanks.

 

So to clarify, if I use the new bios, no need to undervolt to fix temps, right?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I still have to undervolt or my cpu throttles,

 

guys, i need your help.

i am looking for 1.0.8 bios for alienware.
i updated (by a stupidity) to 1.2.1 and my pc is boiling like hell. from 93-82-90-82 (old), now it peaks to 100-92-100-90.
the damn site doesnt show any version older than 1.0.12.


anyone know where i can find older versions? google turned up completely dead. gives a 15r4 version that says it's incompatible with my pc.

 

Maybe you or search confuse with Alienware 17R4 naming. Both 15 and 17 use same firmware http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=KC0DW Click Other versions.

 

yes..i already saw that...but I am looking to roll back to 1.0.8 or , even better, the original 1.0.6 i had.
The list stops at 1.0.12.



if i try this one: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=F007Y (google)

it says it's incompatible.

is there a place where i can find the older unlisted dell alienware bioses ?
1.2.1 and 1.2.0 are garbage.

 

Anyone else notice that newer bios' removes cpu voltage control altogether? Had to roll back to 1.0.6 to undervolt.

 

Where does it stand it says it's incompatible. Post pict

 

1.0.6 is a faraway dream it seems...


here:

https://gyazo.com/187e1d24d04f716b9a5d00dd8b8ce7bd

Anyone have 1.0.6 by mistake on their hard drives forgotten so I can get it?
We really need to set up and maintain a database of the bios versions, since the new versions sometimes are a huge miss.

 

Alienware 15R3 is launched with both Skylake and Kaby lake. Maybe the bios version is not valid for the cpu you have (only if it's flashed beforehand on the factory)? Aka the new firmware will prevent you flash to an EARLIER bios version. Did not latest bios update come with new ME firmware due Intels known ME flaws? Could be you are locked out. Not always you can flash back to an earlier version if newest firmware come with an importent change/update. Then you are screwed/doomed.

 

well..i downgraded from 1.2.1 to 1.0.8 easily, so not really locked out....just wrong version, I guess.

The problem with the one in the link,and pic, is that i own a 17 r4...and it seems that one is actually just for 15 R3, despite description on site of being 17 r4 also.

 

Same here. 1.0.8 is my favorite BIOS and I downgraded just fine from several other BIOS. Just remember to disable CPU perf mode.

 

Yup... Folding the tow mirrors out on my Dodge Cummins adds 50hp, and 300lb/ft of torque!



Dark, here's the link for 1.0.6. http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=F007Y

 

Not working. It's actually for 15 r3 only. Posted it above a little and even tho description says it's for 17 r4 also, it's only for 15r3.

 

Sorry man. It does work well on the 15 fo sho, though.

 

Well there's a new BIOS 1.2.2 that fix MEI exploits and updated uCodes.
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/intel-microcode/+changelog
Don't know what the uCode fixes, I think it simply prevents any MEI based exploits or some other exploits.

 

As you may already know, fellow 17R4/15R3 owners, be extra careful with BIOS 1.2.3 as you CANNOT roll back once it's installed.

I discovered it the hard way .

 

So how's the new bios? Any issues?

 

forum.notebookreview.com/threads/official-alienware-17-r4-owners-lounge

 

So far no. Besides temps being a bit higher for me, especially for SSDs and PCH. I cannot explain this difference in HWinfo readings. Which I know is a third party software but since I've been using it since I got this unit...

In CPU perf mode, fan table seems more likely to jump to 2800 as soon as CPU goes beyond 42°-45°C. While idling they're at 2300-2400 :same as before. But I got no crash nor BSOD while OCing and/or UVing, so...

IMO, if you're satisfied with your current BIOS, I don't see any reason to update. Especially if you're still on the early ones like 1.0.6 or 1.0.8. If you're already on 1.1.X or 1.2.X why not, but you probably won't see any difference.

 

And safety ain't important and come last!!

 

Newer AW have been patched via FW. The BIOS is a safety measure intended for users who are unaware of it and are using older outdated versions.

 

I was talking from a general performance perspective. If you're so concerned about security, you should always upgrade BIOS to the latest version no matter what then.

 

Security problems like this last one from Intel ain’t the today’s normal. New firmware is either pushed out for further crippling the performance or fix up OEM*s own flaws. Often due massive RMA costs afterwards (they will show up a few weeks/months after release and the OEM’s have to lower their costs). Easiest and cheapest fix for flawed hardware design/engineering flaws is cripple performance with firmware.

Don’t be everyone’s GP and all will be good