Alienware 17 r3 2015

So if anyone knows, or has already tried. Does the 2 Sodimms memory slots on the alienware 17 r3 2015 machine allow 16GB of ram in one slot x2? Or is the maximum stuck at 16gb?

Thank you in advance.

 

I have 32gb in mine - http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/alienware-17-r3/CT7892028

 

new AW 17 (October 2015), have only 2 slots, officially only max 16GB ram.

was asked a question to the Dell support, if support 32gb of ram,
answer: it might work as well not work

Ciao

 

So I asked the dell support and they said it can be upgraded to 32 max(16gb x 2). @ NforceRaid That was today. So it cannot be upgraded to more ram, or can?

Thank you in advance.

 

I live in Canada the link you provided would not work for me because of the conversion rate, Would this work? http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226768

Thank you in advance.

 

If the Dell yesterday you said that you can ...... you have answered the phone or have an email, there is a difference if you do not write it, then if for any reason it does not work ??

But you want to put only 1x16gb of ram, or 2x16.

By me in Italy, from Crucial.it 2x16gb it is not available, but only 1x16 and is € 178.11

ciao

 

That sucks, so expensive! ddr4 is just super expensive right now. New shiny hardware always is. I am going to give the mushkin ram a try. 2x16GB. Hopefully the specs match.

 

Sounds great. Keep us updated.

Great post OP...I was curious myself as I'm about to order a 15 or 17 AW....w/ i7 skylake, 980m and UHD.

Most importantly for me, I need 32gb of DDR4 RAM...

Are the CPU and GPU soldered on the newest 15 and 17 models?

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On 17 unfortunately yes .......

ciao

 

Thanks for the confirmation. I'll have to opt for the 980m w/ 8GB to future proof it...because I'd prefer not to lug around an amplifier =P



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ok,

 

So with the [980M w/ 4GB] and 980M w/ 8GB] models of the 17" R3, are there any games right now that would even tax the [4GB - 980M GPU]?

If so, under what circumstances would you need 8GB of GPU memory? Would it be a true statement to say that by the time we need 8GB of GPU RAM to run games, it'd likely be time to upgrade your laptop anyway?

In our case an amplifier with Pascal LOL...That would future proof things a bit for a very long time from the looks of that beast. "Here grand kids..."

 

Pretty sure you'd run out of horsepower before you run out of vram on the 980, especially if you game higher than 1080p. On my titan x playing gta v with everything turned on to max, I *think* I was at like 5gb of vram, don't remember exactly. If you maxed everything on the 980 you would not be loving the sub-60 framerates. So for this card I'd say it's one of those marketing things that you'll never get the most out of, like how they ship lower end laptops with 16gb of ram that's totally overkill.

 

@ zergslayer69 I agree. Most games use about 3.5GB of VRam in this day and age.

@ iunlock If you have the cash go for 8GB because you will not regret it. I use graphic intensive programs such as after effects and auto cad, and the time for rendering is a lot faster with 8GB of VRam.

Once you hit your VRam limit games tend to take a punch tho. Just a heads up.

 

Interesting...thanks for the input. So having 8gb of vram is literally like having 16gb of ram in a $200 laptop (atom < celeron cpu) where it is irrelevant in practical terms in respect to what it can handle as a whole?

This is what made me really curious in that our 17" R3's w/ skylake i7-6820HK, 32gb DDR4 (upgrading to) etc...is pretty darn powerful so I've been curious at what point would it kick the bucket and with what game?

Realistically speaking though the way that I see it is:

1.) If one doesn't want to lug around an amplifier, get the highest gpu offered that will play your games at a comfortable setting that meets your satisfaction, whether that be medium, high or maxed...depending on the individual. Ex. I've seen some folks perfectly content with a 965M@2GB. Perfectly happy. +with the choice to get an amplifier.

2.) If one doesn't mind carrying around an amplifier, they can opt for the lowest gpu offered (which would still be good in what is offered with the 15" R2 (965M@2gb) or 17" R3 (970m@3gb) and they'll still be up over the person above in the first scenario. (Granted the amp lugger will be using a gpu higher than the base such as the 980M, Titan etc...)

I can get a pretty good deal (a gift for my brother) on a 17" R3 (6820HK, 16GB RAM, UHD, 980M w/ 4GB) so I was curious if having the 980M w/ 8GB on the newest model was worth getting or even practical.....

In terms of running out of horsepower, some of the MSI gaming laptops seem to be packing the same specs as ours with skylake, gpus etc....also being that the 18" AW is able to run dual gpu's with a 4th Gen i7 + ddr3 ram....I'd think our skylake motherboard with ddr4 would be able to handle more?

Safe to say?

980M w/ 8GB vs 980M w/ 4GB = No gain, No loss, just looks good on paper?


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Just want to say, unless you're doing some extreme photoshopping, you don't need more than 16gb of ram. But if 32 makes you sleep better at night, by all means. If you got the 4gb 980m you're fine. If you haven't ordered yet and can get the 8gb, then even better just for "why not"? You'd just have to see the price difference between your deal and what dell is selling. Don't forget to factor in tax.

In all honesty I think it looks good on paper. In real world uses maybe there might be a small handful of games that would push that 4gb envelope. As you go higher in resolution vram usage goes up, but that also requires more power to drive max details at 60fps. I haven't read anybody on the forums complain that 4gb simply wasn't cutting it. Look at the desktop 980s, they come with 4gb of vram, heck the 980ti comes with 6gb. (titan x comes with 12 because I don't know why, I imagine it's more marketing than practical).

 

Roger that. Well said...

I have my AW 17" R3 (980M w/ 8GB) hooked up to my Samsung 4K monitor and it doesn't even break a sweat. My brother has the same 4K (dual screens) and like me does a lot of Adobe madness from PS to a lot of video rendering.

Right now I could order a brand new 17" R3 (6820HK, 16GB RAM, UHD, base HD config, 980M w/ 8GB) for $2,300 out the door. Tax included w/ Free 2nd day shipping.

Or, pick up a 17" R3 (6820HK, 16GB RAM, UHD, 1TB spinner, 980M w/ 4GB) + 1 year premium included for $1,600 locally. It's practically brand new. I know the chap as we both work a building apart.

(I'm thinking out loud and talking to myself here....)
The obvious question here is, is the extra 4GB worth $700. The no Brainer answer would be, heck no!

That $700 can go toward an amplifier and GPU instead eh.

Since I game more than my brother I might, for the sake of I don't even know what lol, just give him my 17" R3 that has the 8GB and I'll take the 4GB since I will be buying an amplifier anyway.

Thoughts?


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Def go for the 4gb deal in that case. If you won't then I will. Kidding. I personally don't do photoshopping or video editing so I don't know how much video ram comes into play. For sure you'd need the regular ram. Can just let him have the 4gb. You'd benefit more from the video ram (I'm guessing) since you game. Def buy the amplifier but you might want to wait. Dell had a deal going for it for $200 just a few days ago, and now it's back up to $300. Wait on a deal for amp again and then save the money towards the next gen video cards. Whole point of the amp is to plug in a gpu that's a big difference from your current.

 

Indeed. He games as well, but wouldn't lug around an amplifier like my crazy self would so that's why I was going to let him have the 8GB, since I will for sure be getting an amplifier. But you're right in the sense that an amp is something that is a big difference from what we already have. However, in this case the 980M is pretty high up there to where it'll be less of a jump (although still big going to a desktop gpu on the amp) vs someone who is coming from a 965M.

I mainly play FPS...BF4, Tomb Raider, some racing games and GFA....think the 4GB will be taxed with those games on Max settings?

 

Since this is a general thread for us 17" R3'ers, I was hoping to get some input on a question that I had about gaming and the best version of Windows to use to achieve the best gaming performance, while keeping it minimal....

To keep it short, I'm bit of a security junkie and am in favor of locking down Windows as much as possible to limit the intrusiveness of Windows. As a Mac user, I've been pretty spoiled with not having to worry about all these things.

Currently I use a VPN, including my own with multiple hops when I feel like it, along with Malwarebytes and BitDefender as the go to choices for that arena. Is there something better? I'm all ears for recommendations....

My windows laptop (HP) is running 8.1 and I have it locked down pretty well with an updated script that I run to block all the unnecessary "things" that phone home etc...disabled location, no Microsoft account and all that jazz. I just like it simple.

My uses on the AW 17" R3:
- Gaming
- Video Editing
- Photo Editing
- Lots of rendering and converting videos etc...
- Music Editing
- Running VM's
- SolidWorks / Design / Rendering

So the questions:

1.) What is the best Windows version for Gaming? - Windows 10 Pro? That's what I've been seeing so far. Not because of Direct X 12, which isn't being utilized yet, but due to the better RAM management and drivers. Correct?

2.) With Direct X 12, can the drivers be ported over to Windows 8, 8.1 or 7? If it can be ported to Windows 7 with little difference in performance, I'll consider that as I like W7 for it's simplicity before MS went haywire with trying to get W8 to work across multiple platforms that I don't use.

3.) Is it possible to lock down W10 to the point it would be equivalent to a locked down W7? If so, I can just stay on W10 Pro...

4.) Home vs Pro vs XYZ.... From the looks of it, HOME is a no go. You're not able to manage any of your updates and you're pretty much fed what you're given. I don't like having control over my computer. So would you recommend going with at least Pro? Is the Enterprise editions necessary?

5.) Are there resources (websites etc..) that you may know of that would help in locking down Windows? I've found a few youtube videos that did a pretty good job, but I'm just curious if there are more....


Upon my research so far, I've seen that Windows 10 is more polished in the sense that it is more optimized. (Given, that it's newer) .... Windows 7 seems to be a favorite among those like me who like to keep it simple without all the bells and whistles MS has put on the later Windows versions. One of the downsides I've seen for Windows 7 is that it is a RAM hog ...ie...not as optimized in the RAM management side, however, with a powerful system like our AW, it shouldn't really matter eh?

Thanks in advance.

 

To keep it simple, stick with windows 10. Any hate you have towards it now doesn't matter because 7 and 8 will eventually no longer be supported and you'll be forced to move anyways. The pro benefits over home are mostly network and domain features. I've not read anything about pro having better gaming benefits over home.

 

Great point. Much needed....now I have to find a good deal on Windows 10 Pro somewhere Ideas?

 

Be a student at a Microsoft partnered institution. Get pro for free.

 

Ah...great pointer...I have buddies who are LOL...I'll have them get me a copy....thanks!