Alienware 15 R3 with 100 Degree Temps from Dell Outlet and worn battery

Hi Folks,

Just want to share my experience from the Dell Outlet where you would expect a human to benchmark the laptop and attempt to repaste the CPU.

As shown below the CPU Package is hitting 97 degrees Celsius and during testing with the technician the system hit 99/100 degrees Celsius. I use to hit those temps 8 years ago on a 920xm and Alienware M15x. How ironic that both the systems were 15" but 8 years apart.

Laptop is throttling and not able to maintain any sort of factory overclock. You will see it throttle down to 2600 mhz.

In addition to the heat the battery was the extended 98whr but is actually only 88whr due to wear/tear. Alienware has escalated the case and will decide if what they want to do.

I have many Alienware products and went into this purchase expect this to happen. Kinda sucks that even outlet which should have a decent refurbishing process is failing like the factory is.

The hinge on the right has a little bit of paint peeling but to be fair the laptop was labeled scratch and dent. Also couple small scratches in the body on the right side.

I have 26 days to decide if I want to keep this or send it back.

Throttle
http://imgur.com/a/wZn3D
http://imgur.com/a/AqmCC

Thanks,
faiz23

 

Hey, I bought a 17 R4 from the outlet and am having the same issues with thermals and throttling, which I made a post about today.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-17-r4-cpu-thermal-issues.807866/
Crazy that such a powerful and well-built laptop has so many problems with heat :/

 

If you end up rolling with that laptop it will need a repaste for sure. Core diffs and temps are out of whack, it's a heat sink issue and imbalance of the heatsink, That system prob has the old version of the heat sink with the pads being to thick. Dell can send a tech out to put a revision on with the new pads that fix that part and the battery for that matter..

The system is fixable you just have to choose whether you want to fix it your self, have a dell tech do it or send the system back. Best of luck to you bro.

 

They have heat issues because everyone is obsessed with thin now adays. Your cramming to much in a small space and pushing the thermals closer and closer to the breaking point. Bright side is most of this can be fixed with a good repad and repaste. I love the crap out of my 17 R4 especially after I got done doing the repaste and pads.

 

Did you do them yourself or did you get a tech to do them? I'm really not confident doing it myself - will the tech do a good job?

 

I did it my self, but I'm also a network engineer so I'm used to working on internals. As for the Dell techs it can be hit or miss I will say to watch them like a hawk as they work on it or the other option is send it in to have it repaired, I think that's a week or so turn around. They are not hard to do your self but I do not recommend it if you are not comfortable with your self there is alot of small cables that you have to be gentle removing or can break quite easy.

 

So sorry to see those temps.

Repasting, changing some pads for thinner ones and undervolting is the way to go.

I removed 20°C with that and now reach max 81-2°C in intense games like Witcher 3. I preordered the laptop so I had the oldest motherboard revision possible ^^.

It can be fixed in most cases . (I have 6700HQ however). Since Dell does not void your warranty in case of repaste,shouldn't be a problem if you're used to repasting laptops.

 

I'm pretty good with my hands so I'm not too worried about breaking a cable or things like that as such, it's more laying the motherboard and individual bits down on the table and having them in the open air that I'm worried about because I've never done it. I'll google more about it, but it should be fine on a big, empty, clean table, and if I'm gentle with everything, right?

20°C reduction, and 81 in TW3, wow! That definitely makes it worth it. If I damage something while I'm doing it will that void the warranty?

 

The warranty is not void as long as you don't damage it while doing a repaste ! If you have a problem in the future not related to your repasting the warranty should not be void.

 

Dell is sending a technician on Thursday to have the battery replaced, heatsink/fan replaced and repaste done. I picked up some Kryonaut and will have the technician use it at that time. Not sure If I will keep it after that or return it back to Dell. Does the 15 R3 have any issues with PCH Heat/Throttling?

I noticed on the right side of the screen some IPS backlight bleed and some towards the middle bottom of the screen. In addition the NVME SSD write speed is a little lower than the spec sheet. I would have Dell address these issues if I plan on keeping the unit.

I don't mind waiting a year for the laptops to be refreshed and will stick with my M14x R2 for little longer. I have plenty of systems to use and don't really game much on the GO. Hell I don't even game much at home lol...I just love benchmarking, building/troubleshooting and gaming lightly with my son.

 

The technician killed my computer but gave me a fresh battery. It will not boot up and he doesn't know how to fix it. No video, no display, just fan spinning. He did a tech hotline and they can't figure it out either. They just left and gave this 9 lbs paper weight to me.

They want me to send it to the Depot but I think I will only accept a system exchange for the same model from the outlet or a full refund and go back to get a new one.

I still have 15+ days to return it but at least the battery is fresh now

 

Ask for full system replacement since you're within return period OR ask them for refund.

 

Dell doesn't want to exchange. They just want to refund it or send it to the depot for them to destroy it even further. I'm not sending a computer that just came from the depot back to the depot. I don't trust their repair service. Heck their factory can't even apply the heatsink/paste properly and really how much faith will you have in their repair service.On site tech was incompetent and rendered the laptop inoperable.Now the laptop has thermal paste smears and nasty fingerprints all over it.

If I send the laptop back for a refund then the money I get back will be sent to their competition. I tried to give their BGA Turdbook a chance but ultimately it's too late and Alienware is too far gone to come back to their origin.

I hope folks can see what they will put their customer through because they failed to engineer their products correctly and shift the headache to the consumer. Speak with your wallet and send your money somewhere else.

This was a laptop that should have been perfect after coming from dell factory and dell refurbishing facility but both failed and didn't do any sort of quality testing. What does that tell you about their assembly line / repair facility. I am speaking from my personal experience and feel free to contact me for any questions.

 

I'm not disagreeing with you. You have a right to be upset. However, the reality is that if you manufacture products in large numbers some are going to go through the chain with defects. This occurs with every high-end laptop seller (although you could argue some are better than others).

The way I see it, you play the lottery whenever you order something like this. You hope for a perfect system with great temps but sometimes you end up getting a lemon. At least Dell has an excellent returns process. I'd keep sending them back until you get one that is acceptable.

 

Get the refund and order from HIDEVOLUTION EVOC or any PCs you want w/ fixes from factory itself.

 

None of these laptops should need fixes or be a lemon when you just purchased it. Consumers have stopped holding manufacturers responsible and let them engineer half ass products and just keep field repairing it till warranty is expired. Now you can't even upgrade since everything is soldered on. Even if you wanted to replace the GPU or CPU on your own you would be required to swap the motherboard and pay $1000 for the part since CPU, GPU and motherboard is all one.

These laptops should be engineered from factory to only hit 70 - 80 degree Celcius max but instead they go way beyond that and have 11 degree differentials between cores. Past Alienware models were not this bad and a quick field repair would fix the minor issues that slipped through the factory or refurbishing facility. This laptop went through the factory and refurbishing facility and came out on the other end with 100 degree Celcius temps. What are they doing in the factory/repair facility????

Why should I feel like I'm playing the lottery when I am spending $1000 - $3000. It should work within the thermal specifications from day 1 otherwise their engineers need to go back to school. While your engineers go back to school, I will go to your competition and give him the money you refunded back to me because you failed.

 

If you think its different with any other company right now your fooling your self. Thermal issues are not just a AW thing, Intel runs hot as fook and most company's are having issues figuring out a way to cool it without blowing your ear drums off in the process. Why I do agree crap should work out of the box this whole "All laptops must be Thin" Drive that both consumer and manufacturer is on wont help the problem.

The onsite techs ARE horrible and sending it in might be advisable. The techs at the W/House are more competent then the contractors that come to your house. (Most got there certification online clicking yes, no to questions) As for why the temps were not fixed the first time that all depends why the laptop was returned, It could of been returned for no reason at all and the tech had no idea to check temps. Again, I agree with you but its a industry thing not a company thing.

 

I also want to point out that out of the 4 Alienware 17 R4 currently in my possession all 4 came with no issues at all, now I have repasted them all but that's because I wanted lower temps then what they were giving off.