*OFFICIAL* Alienware 13 R1/R2 Owner's Lounge

RAM: You could run 2133 MHz RAM, but I'm not sure if you need the GA or not. Make sure the RAM is DDR3L (1.35v).
Your PS: I don't think so.

 

This was the ram i was looking at. So what youre saying is that it might require the GA to actually use the 2133mhz? Hmm... I chose to forgo the GA for the time being. My desktop card is a gtx 760, so its not that much better.

Maybe ina year or two ill pick up the GA

Thanks for your fast response btw!

 

As I said, I'm not sure. It may be possible without the GA.

 

For anyone with the 2560x1600 display... how does downscaling games to 1280x800 work? It's a perfect 4 to 1 on the pixel count so it ought to scale fine but I was wondering how it'd look... I figure it'd be a lot easier on the GPU than trying to push 2k... but wasn't sure if it'd be too low-res for a 13" display.

 

Psst... it's 2560x1440, not 2560x1600.
I haven't tried downscaling to 720p, but that's because I play games at either 1080p or 1440p.

 

Does 1080p look okay downscaled? I was wondering because it's not a "perfect" downscale like 1280x720 would be. I'm just not sure whether I want to go for the 2k display or the 1080p... only like a $50 difference on the eBay refurbs, but the 1080p is matte so that's nice.

 

Yeah, 1080p in gaming looks fine. A bit blurry when running 1080p on the desktop (it's about 133% scaling from 2560x1440p; not a perfect zoom, but close enough).
Do remember, the touchscreens on the 13 are TrueLife panels (high-quality glossy IPS panels), so there's more to it than a higher resolution. I've gotten used to 1440p without any scaling, but what applies for me doesn't apply for everyone. Only reason I had to get used to it is because Windows 7 scaling is terrible.

 

I also just ordered one w 1440p , will take 10days to arrive. Cant wait.

But from your experience, does demanding games like Dragon Age Inquisition look crap at 900p High /Ultra after downscaling for better frame rates? My minimum is 35-40fps.

 

bios upgrade posted a04 with vbios update!!! i wonder what that will do

 

Already? And again?
Ugh... wonder what this will do...
Fixes & Enhancements
1.Modify OA3 behavior with RTC event.
2.Update Nvidia VBIOS.
EDIT: Updated BIOS, and I don't think much has changed. Still have an 860m.
EDIT2: Still overclock-blocked on the new drivers. Something tells me these vBIOS updates are for different versions of the GTX 960m.

 

Maybe a04 will "work"

 

I just got my AW 13 last week and I noticed other people have the weird battery drain issue. Well I can reproduce it consistently. When I am plugged in and power it on and just unplug the power inside of Windows the drain is like 7000-9000 mAh which equates to 6.5-7 hours. However, if I unplug it and start the machine cold the battery drain has a ridiculous range of 12000-26000 mAh. I can fix that every time by simply plugging the AC power in for a second and unplugging it and magically the drain backs down tot he 7000-9000 range. This is beyond bizarre. Can anyone else reproduce it? Mine came with the A03 BIOS and I just upgraded to the A04 which no luck. I also replaced the original Intel and Nvidia drivers with the official ones since this one has a GTX 960m. I started a support call but he's just having me run diagnostics, which isn't going to show a damn thing. It seems like there is a major bug in the system turning on from a battery state.

 

tg_chris, this is a common problem with the AW13. Honestly, the cause isn't really know.

 

Apparently nobody calls their support because they were shocked. I have an escalation

 

Ap

Apparently not many people have called because their lab said they haven't heard of it. I actually showed them how to replicate the issue so they have it escalated to engineering.

 

Really? I mean, it's something that has been noted on this very forum. I've usually called in "constant consumption" I think. I'm guessing people aren't paying attention since it is a gaming laptop.
Well this explains why none of the BIOS updates have fixed the problem.

 

You're probably right most people don't pay attention but the main reason I chose it was for the battery life and gaming when I needed it. If they can't fix it I'm going to return it. It has to be some firmware logic that's broke. I showed the guy the discharge rate of 16000 milliwatts and showed him just plugging it and removing the power dropped it instantly to 7500. What's worse is the rate when powering on from battery is so random. Sometimes 12000, other times 16000, and a couple I had 24000. Anyway I'll see what their engineering comes back with.

 

Does late 2014 AW13 have this issue?

 

Technically they are all late 2014. The difference is they added Broadwell support later without a new revision. I've had two i7-5500u ones and both had this issue I just never figured out how to reproduce it until the second one. My first one stopped charging.

 

Just got my AW 13 5500U with an 860M 2550x1440 screen, 512 ssd... for $1299 from the dell outlet. So it looks like driver problems and updates on a go-forward basis? I looked through the entirety of the thread, can we not just get a user with a broadwell 960M and flash the bios up to solve all the messing around with driver INF's?

Hardware monitor shows a 960M, however NVidia shows an 860M

 

Hah.. hah... I wish we could flash a vBIOS, but here's a problem. We can't even extract the vBIOS file (well, save it, but still). I've tried numerous times, and failed.
It'll be difficult to flash a new vBIOS. If you find a way, do tell us. But do know that warranty support will be limited.
(Of course I'm not happy about this!)

 

Ah, well that's a little disappointing, seeing how it looks like dell flashed the 960M's to 860M's for the early broadwell push. I remember back in the day flashing my ATI Radeon 9500 -> 9700 PRO to unlock the disabled 4 pixel pipelines, lol. Granted, I plan to pick up an amplifier and just pull out the GTX 970 I have in my desktop and part my desktop out, so the paltry stock OC boost performance isn't too big a deal, but would be nice to have more frequent driver updates though.

I can run any benchmarks if anyone would like, but looks like there are tons out there already.

Luckily it seems like I got a decent deal on this, especially with the 512gb ssd, and the 2550x1440p screen is absolutely gorgeous compared to the 1080p screen I saw in store. Also, I previously had a clevo/sager 110er (11.6 in with 650M). My god the build quality and feel on the sagers is awful compared to the alienware 13.

 

We have a benchmark thread in this section. The latest BIOS versions should have fixed Broadwell OC with the GA attached (it didn't work before, but it should now).
Post some scores with the GTX 970. You might claim a title of having the highest score with an i7-5500u + 970.

 

I am not as techy as you would think, so I couldn't measure exactly if my late 2014 AW13 have this battery issue. I am just hoping that early adopters like me, but more specialized in tech than me can give an insight on this.

 

Well... the fact that they're all late 2014 is both right and wrong. The Broadwell and Haswell 13s share the same BIOS and 860m GPU (a 960m is an overclocked 860m). But, both versions of the 13 have different motherboards. It may not be evident from the get go, but if you look at your hardware specs or on 3Dmark, you can see a difference.
Haswell 13: Alienware 0VMGD7
Broadwell 13: Alienware 02C3X1
This also explains why some features initially, like the CPU OC when using the GA, didn't work in the Broadwell 13 but did in the Haswell 13. Some incompatibility, I presume, in the coding.

 

Purolator is the worst..... For everything else I buy online, they always have it to me within like, 2-3 days. Now, when its something important, it shipped the 17th and is now somewhere in Moncton, with an expected delivery date N/A.... It was supposed to be here yesterday!! Why you do this?!?!?!

Ugh.

 

That's great that you found how to reproduce it, and kind of fix it.
Though the "fix" sucks though, as the times when I need the most battery are the times I can't plug it in.

I have been planning to call it in to tech support but wanted to do some more testing first. Now I think I'll call in the next few days.

 

For those of you wanting to install a Western Digital Dual Drive, these 3 clips are all that stand in your way.

I used an exacto knife to score them, and repeated it until they gently came off. No hacking or sawing.
After that, I just picked off the thickest foam bit on the back of the maintenance cover, and Voila!~ It fits and works really well!

Going to run a few games and see how toasty it gets in there, hopefully not too bad!

Also, re: the last post.... Purolator found it and got it here today. /panicmode

 

Anyone played GTA V on AW13?

 

waiting on my 13 to show up to test it out. currently playing it on my HP Omen 15 with 2GB 860m. It runs at 1080p, NVIDIA recommended settings, plays very, very well. Gonna compare it to the 13 and choose which laptop to keep. got an i5 alienware with 960m on the way.

 

anyone got the 350.12 nvidia driver to work?
@tom_mai78101
gta 5 runs great at 1440p with oc, everything high except msaa or txaa ,some random lag here and there but mostly very playable even with ambient occlusion and tessellation better than watch dogs at least, much better

 

Well, I did, but I had to use Alienware's 350.12 driver (can be found on AWA, under one of the first threads in the General section). The official 350.12 wouldn't install.

 

@Game7a1
Thanks again, installed the alpha driver works fine but its blocked or broken overclocking I think...

 

Ok here we go. I've been away from PCs since 2000 and decided to get into PC gaming after a long time away. After about 1 month of searching and sweating I pulled the trigger on an Alienware 13, i7, 256 ssd 860m refurb from the outlet a few days ago. I intend on getting the graphics amplifier at a later time when i have the cash. I have read through various sites including this to try and brush up on what i need to do when it arrives. From reading this thread am i right in thinking
a. The i7 issues with the 860m being recognised has been fixed with the more up to date drivers or via a user workaround
b. After using the graphics amplifier i need to re-install the drivers after disconnecting to get the 860m to be recognised again (or has this been resolved too)
As i say it's a new journey for me and one that makes me question why i'm taking it given how little i know. If i stick with it there i'm sure I will have more embarrassing questions.
Finally, I can't wait for this thing to arrive

 

I was just wondering, ULV 4th/5th gen CPUs are limited to PCI Express 2.0 4x at best right? Is that enough for 860m or does it actually perform much better with a wider bus? Anyone looked into it?

 

I think I said it earlier, but yes, the newest driver form Nvidia prevents core overclocking.

In a sense, the 860m/960m in the 13 performs between the 850m/950m and the 860m(maxwell)/960m in other laptops with full volt CPUs.

a. Has been resolved with recent drivers (at least from 347.88 and 347.90)
b. Has been resolved with newer drivers; however, there are a couple of unsupported GPUs that are in the supported list that don't work without some driver modding (GTX 760 non-OEM and regular TITAN, which oddly should work, but I've been told otherwise by Alienware).

 

Awesome, thanks for the clarification

 

thanks for reply. I'm just looking a laptop that can handle starcraft ii and heroes of the storm at ultra 1080p 60. Do you think this can do it? At least for average match and not some 8 player zerg madness.

 

I can only speak for HotS with the 860 maxwell i7 with 8 gb or ram. I run 1440p everything on medium and it stays 75-95 fps. Ultra settings tended to stay around 43-55 on 1080p might have been some dips into the 30s but I only played practice mode. Keep in mind this is plugged in and on high performance. Get about half that unplugged on balanced. (350.17 Alpha Drivers)

 

So what's the actual battery life like for normal web browsing? I'm looking to upgrade my m11xr3 but I maybe away from power outlet so I need at least 6hrs

 

Well if you can get a discharge rate of 7-8k its 6-7 hours. I finally got a response from Dell and they said it appears it's functioning normally. I sent back a scathing email saying there's no way a 15 watt processor 13" system should be averaging 3 hours of battery life while sitting completely idle because the laptop discharges at some random 12-16000 mWh on boot. I'm demanding an escalation since plugging in AC power magically drops the discharge by half. Sigh.

 

Any change there's an application that can log power consumption?
Granted, Dell should be able to easily recreate this problem, but log/graphs comparing consumption plugged-in versus unplugged should be pretty hard to refute.

 

Both Nirsoft BatteryInfoView and BatteryBar show the discharge rate issue when starting from battery. I showed the tech via a remote session of how it halves when plugging in AC power in for a couple of seconds and removing it. Apparently that isn't getting through to them. I got a response back this morning they could send it to a service center. Really what is a service center going to find? The battery is fine it's some firmware logic that's completely broke when cold booting on battery. I'm probably going to make a video and post it to YouTube and send that to them. It's a complete joke since this is my second one and the same issue exists.

 

Yeah, I know how to view it, but I'd like to have it continually logged to a file.

 

It's a bit complicated, but you could use HWInfo to log the battery consumption. When looking at the sensor data, the battery information is the same as HWMonitor, but the time since the sensors have been activated is located near the blue cross on the bottom-right corner, which can help identify how much time has passed. Some simple arithmetic can between the remaining current capacity and max capacity should show the battery consumption overtime. Not only should you log this (HWinfor does keep track of time), but you should take a screenshot of the sensor data.
Of course, this method does not take into account any fluctuation in battery consumption; it only takes the average consumption, which isn't as helpful.

 

hi all,

Just received my AW13 with i7, 512 GB SSD, GTX 960m and 1440p screen. So far I am happy with it but got to admit in this few hours, there are a few things i experienced that really puzzled the hair out of me. Would appreciate some advise here.

1) Many games not running in full screen mode
The 1440p display is gorgeous but the frustrating thing is that many games such as Dragon Age Inquisition, Crysis 3 and Shadow of Mordor refused to run in full screen mode ( they either appear as a box in the center of the display or window mode). To run in "full screen", I got to do the contrary -> select either "windowed", "full windowed" or "borderless" in the game's option menu. I tried changing the desktop resolution before launching the game but to no avail. With the game running in "fake full screen", I am not even sure what resolution i am running at. I am using the latest Intel driver from dell.com (10.18.14.4062) and the latest from Nvidia website (350.12).

2) Missing storage space
I got myself a 512 GB SSD but Windows told me that the maximum usable space is 470GB and I have about 420GB free space from start. So I am wondering where the other 50GB went? I heard something about back-up image stored in the system. Is that the cause? How can i free up that space? BTW, they did ship the system with a free USB recovery thumb drive if that's supposed to do the same thing.

Thanks for the advice in advance.

leslee64

 

Only 7.72 GB is the recovery partition. Overall you will lose roughly 9 GB to the EFI, OEM, and the two total Recovery partitions. If you got 16 GB of RAM with it Windows will have assigned a 16 GB page file and if you have hibernate enabled that will also be roughly 16 GB so it's conceivable you are down a good 41 GB. I can't remember off hand but a 512 GB SSD is I think good for roughly only 476 GB usable in Windows after formatting. So with that being said it's probably what I listed before.

 

does the charger light bother anyone here, im planning to use a black sharpie on it to dim it...
@leslee64
after setting the desktop resolution lower you have to right click on the desktop and click scale fullscreen under graphics options->panel fit (what is fake fullscreen btw?)

 

I'll just keep flooding this forum with updates. Anyway I think I've discovered what the bug is. It looks like the Nvidia GPU is stuck on drawing power when the battery discharge is high. I was able to launch Furmark and run it without any change to the discharge rate. So there's something in the firmware for switching that isn't working on a cold boot off battery.

 

Try disabling the dGPU in device manager and see if your theory is still true.
I only say this because even disabling the dGPU didn't help.