*OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R4 Owner's Lounge

I had both the IPS and the 120Hz TN panel. The IPS definitely has some nicer colours but that's all it had going for it as ghosting was pretty prominent; for a gaming laptop, it was not good for gaming. I far and away prefer the TN's high refresh rate.

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I daresay this is an exclusive issue for Alienware 15 r4.

How do I enter ALT Codes without the numpad?

I need to create or type out the ESCAPE character (ASCII 27(dec)) from the ASCII table.


EDIT:

The moment I ask this, I realized Windows 10 comes with Ease of Access. I can just bring up the on-screen keyboard and use the virtualized NumPad instead.

 

I have the TN panel - it was a free warranty upgrade from Dell.

It is a nice screen. The colors are pretty good, especially if you tweak them with the Nvidia Control Panel.

I used to have the IPS panel, and I cannot tell much of a difference.

Also, when I look at the from the side, nothing really appears washed out. It almost makes me question if it really is a TN panel, but then I check my Hz and it's 120.

Bioshock Infinite looks amazing on it, which is the most colorful game I have played in a while.

 

Hi guys. I have the aw15 r4 with 1070 oc.
Trying out the “new command center” not sure how the profiles work as they appear to remain “set”.
So power modes always remains in quiet mode.
I go to the bios and set it to full speed. And the fans are blaring. But at some point on its own it goes back to quiet mode. I know it’s doing this because I restart the laptop and it’s set to quiet again.
Bios is on 1.1.6. I haven’t messed with it because I don’t really know what’s “good” so far. Only had it a few days.
So how do I get this to stay as I select it?
Also there is no option to overclock the gpu like I’ve seen on YouTube from a user when the option was there on his 1080

Thanks


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Hey guys, I am considering grabbing an R4 w/ full 1070, specifically this one (prices in Canadian): https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/produc...n10-home-certified-refurbished/13339456.aspx?

My biggest concerns are:
- Refurbished
- Only 1 year warranty
- I've read mixed reviews on the cooling and fan noise of this machine
- May need to upgrade SSD later

I'm comparing this between a brand new Lenovo Y740 w/ 2070 max Q for $2358 Canadian dollars (so $459 CAD more expensive than the R4).

What I like about the Lenovo Y740 is I have a 3 year full warranty w/ in-home repair, and accidental drop/spill damage. It's also a brand new unit.

The only things I care about are framerates, temperatures and overall longevity of the machine.

Can anyone give some advice on which one you'd recommend going with?

Thanks!

 

Well since I’ve bought one and not yet received mine. I bought the y740 with a 2070.
I also got the aw15 r4 with 1070. Its solid. I used to have the r3 1070 a year ago.
It’s a beast unit, a tad on the big and weighty side.
If your ok with size then save money and go with r4. It’s around 8fps behind in some games. But also better in some games according to notebook check.
I’m hoping to stick with the y740 just cos it’s more portable at the expense of a pricier laptop.


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Thanks for your reply! I'm glad to know you enjoyed the R4. If it's behind in FPS in some games then I'll probably just stick with the Y740 since it'll probably have better resale value too if I want to upgrade down the road. Very helpful to know though.

 

Although I already know that your picking the y740 (of course you would). I’m going through disagree with y740 having better resale value. You’ll lose a lot more on it than you would the r4 purely because it’s done most of its depreciation already. Just depends how much you pay for it.
In my case I’ll actually make a profit on it. How much is yet to be seen when mine arrives which is around the start of April.


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Is there any way other than turning on performance mode to make the fans go max speed under higher temps? The cpu RPM only goes up to 4300 and GPU 4500, but they both go to 4700/4800 if you turn on the performance mode (which obviously isn't practical to keep on all the time).

 

Use hwinfo64 fan controls.

 

Hi guys,

Just received my refurbished 15 R4 from Dell today. Am new to the PC gaming scene and would like some guidance on what to undertake to identify any issues / hardware problems with the system (if any). I have 15 days to identify any major issues and to potentially do a return if required.

Config: 8750H, 16GB DDR4 2666Mhz ram, GTX 1070 OC, 60 Hz IPS display, 256 GB SSD + 1TB HDD

Immediately after receiving the system, I noticed the OS was installed on the HDD. I re-installed Windows 10 on the SSD and cleaned out all the bloatware.

Also please advise what are the various tests I should be running to identify if this is a lemon or not. Happy to run the tests and post the results here for review by the experts on this forum.

I haven't initiated throttlestop yet, and will do so after reading a guide et al. Also, apologies if these questions have been answered in various parts of the forum and wanted to make a case for my specific system.



Idle temps below:


Userbenchmark scores:

Gaming - 98%, Desktop - 100%, Workstation - 75%

CPU: 89.5%

GPU: 101%

SSD: 177%

RAM: 80.3%


Running Aida 64, stress testing CPU, FPU and GPU; after 4-5 minutes of test, results indicate CPU throttling 23%, and test stopped with "Warning - Hardware Failure Detected".

 

Very interesting that when I throttlestopped to a -.1553v on core and cache CPU, and -0.0508v on Intel GPU, my thermals come out very good on Aida (vs. stopping due to CPU throttling).

Max temps around 73 degrees across all cores (test ran for 10 minutes when I stopped it manually)! Note I did disable turbo in throttlestop and enabled Speed Shift to 128 SST.

Posting for everyone's benefit. Will do a game test now. Previously Apex was hitting 93 - 96 degrees across all cores.

 

I'm digging the Black AW color! Is this worth the price if I was to also upgrade the panel to 120Hz? I have the panel on hand.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/alienw...85e547611e9ae6d7276c69fe3700INT&skuId=6239219

I'm also prepared to dissemble it to get thermal efficiency improvements if there's a significant improvement doing so.

Your thoughts?

Sorry looking for something cool to mess with and I don't know how long Gigabyte is going to let me borrow their Aero. Once it's gone i'll have nothing as I'm literally using it as a daily driver lol.

 

I would keep an eye out on the dell outlet. They restock at 15:15 and 01:30 CST +/- 10 minutes. You can combine their coupons with 10% cash back from various cash back sites to score some really good deals. I would never pay retail for an aliewnare machine but on sale, they are a great value. Scored this deal with 10% cash back on top:

Mod Number Mod Description
N971H
125V Power Cord
K8035
Information
00HYR
Information
1JJNK
Information
1CT34
Label
19TT9
Label
X7HK2
Label
FX2DC
Label
8XNG6
Service Software
XNV8N
Service Software
YKYYV
Service Software
8W4Y4
Shipping Material
0P1H1
Software
V8410
Software
KRM43
Software
PYC0K
Software
K972H
240W AC Adapter
JJ8DK
Windows 64 Bit
0DM40
1TB 2.5inch SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
XK06Y
Windows 10 Home 64bit English
6HP54
Silver - LCD Back Cover (Non-Touch)
7FTT8
99 WHr, 6-Cell Battery
DCD38
16GB (2x8GB) 2400MHz SDRAM DDR4 Non-ECC
P9C00
256GB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive
VD8GG
Killer 1435 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1
CJR8M
Keypad
MW78X
4-zone, Multi-Color RGB, Keyboard with AlienFX lighting control
FHGM6
NVIDIA G-SYNC Enabled
GFD81
Intel Core 8th Generation i7-8750H Processor (6 Core,2.20GHz,9MB Cache,45W)
T97T6
FHD Camera
HM29G
15.6inch FHD (1920 x 1080) 60Hz IPS Display
YP878
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 OC with 8GB GDDR5
4NPXJ
Dell Outlet Alienware 15R4 Laptop
AL 15 R4 : 1 Year Hardware Service with Onsite/In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis
Quantity: 1
Item Number Item Description
2714942
AL 15 R4 : 1 Year Hardware Service with Onsite/In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis
Subtotal: $894.66

 

Hi everyone, hope you could give me some advice
About a month ago I update the BIOS in this model, everything works okay until a few days ago. I unplugged the battery in order to save battery cycles, but then the laptop suddenly didn't turn on, nor charge, shortly, not power at all. Tried with unplugged battery and AC, press the Power button 30 secs but didn't work.
I've read many posts about the CMOS reset, but no one for this model, so I'd like to know if the 15 R4 has those pins, and if worth the try since my system doesn't show any signals, no lights, no beeps, and I noticed that reach the board is kinda hard. Besides I don't want mess anything if this only can be repaired by warranty techs.
I really don't know if this is caused by the update, but I've notice many users have issues around it.

 

I think your BIOS chip needs to be re-programmed using SPI flasher.
If you're in warranty, let Dell swap your mobo and say it started to blackscreen after BIOS update.

 

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to ask about a ram upgrade
I've got a 8gb 2400 ddr4 stick with cl17 from hynix.
If I wanted to upgrade to 16gb can I just buy another single 8gb stick ( like the 2666 crucial ballistic ram with cl16). Should it just down clock automatically and work or will I need to change anything in the bios. it says XMP but is it better to get a 2 x 8gb kit with same timings and if so can it still be crucial because i read it has to be jedec instead because the bios is locked?

sorry for the confusion with terms but im out of my depth here!

 

Mixing rated memory speeds and timings isn’t ideal but in a perfect world the slowest common denominator should be the end result.

So a native 2400Mhz CL 17 laptop that gets an additional 2666 CL19 should run both dimms at 2400mhz CL 17. Maybe 2400 CL 19.

With that said, please don’t mix capacities. Windows will scale to memory so the more you have the more it’ll use. Dual channel performance can be limited doing so. Exceed the total amount in dual channel and performance takes a hit.

 

Ah I think I'll buy
HyperX Impact DDR4 16 GB (Kit 2 x 8 GB), 2400 MHz CL14 SODIMM XMP - HX424S14IBK2/16
It's 2400 but I think I'm limited on that from the bios (I have a 8750h).
Hopefully it works.

 

I originally posted about upgrading to a 144hz screen on Reddit, but found this forum so thought I would share here too as this is an easy upgrade to extend the life of your 15!

I have the AW 15 R4 with 8750/1070/32GB and the 60hz GSync screen but wanted to replace that with a higher refresh IPS panel (not the TN one). After some research, I decided on the NV156FHM-N4B display. It was one of the few high refresh rate IPS screens that still took a 30pin cable. The specs (from Panelook) are:

NV156FHM-N4B
Colors: 16.7M / 100% sRGB
Contrast: 1200 : 1
Refresh: 144hz
Response: 16.4

In comparison, the old AOU panel is listed as:
AUO B156HAN06.0
Colors: 262K / 72% NTSC
Contrast: 700 : 1
Refresh: 60Hz
Response: 25

Looked like a no brainer so ordered a panel off of eBay. I followed the video below to replace the display - took less than 20 minutes. The hardest part was pulling off the bezel as I was afraid I would bend it too much or break off the clips.

I now have a 144hz working display! I did lose GSync, but worth it. Any tearing is a lot less noticeable than at 60hz.

The brightness controls on the keyboard work too (although it seems to me that it quickly dims going down and quickly brightens on the way up. So 75% brightness will differ depending on which way you are going). I think the colors are better as well but hard to say since I can’t do a side-by-side comparison.

Outside the sleekness and look of the newer 15 models (15 R4 being thicc with huge bezels), having a 144 hz IPS screen makes it still competitive with the 15 r1/r2 models (no GSync there either). It has a great keyboard, user replaceable RAM/Wifi, lots of storage options plus the 1070 is not that far off of the mobile 2070 and can trade blows with the 2070 Max Q.

 

guys my laptop Laptop Gaming Dell Alienware R4 15 Intel Core Coffee Lake (8th Gen) i9 8950HK 1TB+256GB SSD 16GB nVidia GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Win10 Pro FullHD....came with bios 150....should i upgrade bios to latest 181? or im gonna have some issues like area 51m? with throttling...sry for posting in this topic

 

I would wait until more results are in. In the AW 17R5 section people are loosing their undervolt capabiltity. I have the same laptop as yours, and it needs a massive undervolt to keep it cool. I won't update the bios... I like my temps now

 

Do This:

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware/m15-R1-can-t-undervolt/td-p/7554257

Work´s GREAT for me! Just substitute the BIOS_PRE.
Make the RollBack procedure.

Nevermind update your bios! hahaha

 

Hello everyone,

sorry to revive this old thread.

I had made the mistake to upgrade my 15 R4 from 1.8.1 (with undervolting) to 1.12 (without undervolting). I was able to go back to 1.11, because they had the RCV-file on their website. Obviously I need to go back to 1.8.1 to get undervolting back to work again!

My problem is, that the created/extracted HDR-file fromn the EXE-file is always "messed up" (the size is lower by a very tiny little bit compared to the original RCV-files) and can not be read during the flashing process.

Searching the net, I saw in other forums that this "unpack"-issue seems to bother other peoples too. But somehow for the most users the unpacking seems to work corrctly, because they have no issues with the process. I was unable to find an original RCV-file-version for 1.8.1 anywhere!

So I hope that someone could give me his RCV-file for version 1.8.1 (maybe also other lower versions, if at hand), so I can try to use the EFI-method to downgrade to 1.8.1! (The best thing would be a fresh dump from the BIOS itself or a copy from the EFI-partition, so the file is without any "(EXE-)extraction"-process!)


Thanks in advance!

Hoozer