*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R2/R3 Benchmark Thread

I think this is going to become a bigger issue. The tdp is so low on these chips that I never see anything more than 2.5ghz base clocks while gaming intensely. All the MQ chips I had in the past did not have this issue. If we can get more people to monitor the cpu clocks during heavy GAMING, and report back the results, maybe we can get this on Dells radar, even though this is Intel's fault.

 

I have told and complained to Dell representatives that the fan profile in the AW17R1 and 18 Viking are crippled for over 1.5 years, without anything happening. Do not have too high expectations that something happens with this problem ..

 

if everyone looks at my log below, you will see that as soon as the cpu hits 47 watts, it throttles back down to 2.5ghz for the entire gaming session. This was taken during crysis 3, look at the bold text for clock-speed and power usage right next to it

23:22:34 03/13/15,69,72,69,66,,,69,84,13,3298.11,,71,87,21,3298.11,,69,87,13,3298.11,,66,81,18, 3298.11, 19.7,
23:22:44 03/13/15,81,83,83,79,,,69,84,42,3298.11,,71,87,46,3298.11,,68,87,36,3298.11,,66,81,36, 3298.11, 34.4,
23:22:54 03/13/15,84,85,85,80,,,69,84,41,3298.11,,71,87,45,3298.11,,68,87,41,3298.11,,66,81,45, 3298.11, 39.1,
23:23:04 03/13/15,86,89,89,85,,,68,86,55,3298.11,,69,89,65,3298.11,,68,89,61,3298.11,,66,85,67, 3298.11, 46.0,
23:23:14 03/13/15,87,88,91,85,,,68,89,65,3298.11,,69,92,71,3298.11,,68,91,67,3298.11,,66,85,69, 3298.11, 48.5,
23:23:24 03/13/15,86,89,89,83,,,68,92,64,3298.11,,69,92,65,3298.11,,68,93,69,3298.11,,66,87,61, 3298.11, 47.4,
23:23:34 03/13/15,78,80,80,78,,,68,92,85,2498.57,,69,92,80,2498.57,,68,93,81,2498.57,,66,87,85, 2498.57, 27.2,
23:23:44 03/13/15,78,81,80,76,,,68,92,83,2498.57,,69,92,85,2498.57,,68,93,85,2498.57,,66,87,85, 2498.57, 27.1,
23:23:54 03/13/15,78,81,80,76,,,68,92,84,2498.57,,69,92,87,2498.57,,68,93,80,2498.57,,66,87,86, 2498.57, 27.0,
23:24:04 03/13/15,72,73,71,70,,,68,92,53,2498.57,,69,92,61,2498.57,,68,93,47,2498.57,,66,87,53, 2498.57, 21.6,
23:24:14 03/13/15,71,72,69,68,,,68,92,45,2498.57,,69,92,54,2498.57,,68,93,41,2498.57,,66,87,45, 2498.57, 19.5,

 

You do not get pleasure from turbo boost .. Intel and Nvidia in a nutshell. Adaptive performance and Dell's crippled bios. Ingeniously. The processor should go up to a maximum turbo boost again when power usage is low. Intel has in its specifications 1.20 x TDP in short power max. Your processor stops just over TDP of 47W. Dell to blame..
Have you seen how high cpu package power(watt)go in Hwinfo under Wprime 1024 benchmark tests? Throttled processor in such a test?

 

Um no that's not how it works lol.

TDP is the maximum amount of heat the system should be able to dissipate under standard heavy load (non synthetic) conditions. So basically once the chip exceeds TDP, Dell (or intel for that matter) can no longer guarantee that the system will be able to effectively dissipate the heat generated by that CPU so it declocks it.

Now in the good ole days TDP used to be measured at maximum power draw...but Intel changed that, then decided to go with their stupid SDP, then went back to TDP...and Haswell really really struggles to reach its TDP targets when you compare it to Ivy Bridge even though Intel claimed 50% less power! The other problem with Haswell is it's built in thermal throttling is far more aggressive and when you combine that with the thermal throttling from Dell, it just makes things worse.

The problem isn't only with Dell, yes they did some stupid **** but part of the problem lies with Intel too. You have to remember that Intel has basically started to slowly stop caring about the high end pc enthusiast market.

Look at all the new processors from Intel, what major breakthroughs have they announced? It's all low power, small chips, high performance from mobile / fanless chips etc. When was the last time you saw them go LOOK AT THE OVERCLOCKING POTENTIAL FROM OUR 8 CORE CPU. Intel today is more focused on mobile because they're losing a ton of ground to ARM. And since there's nobody to compete against in the high end segment (because lets face it, AMD is no longer what it used to be and the gap between them and Intel at the high end is massive) they don't give a **** about it. They've killed overclocking, they've killed LGA, and essentially the writing is on the wall for us pc gamers.

 

This is TDP: Thermal Design Power (TDP) represents the average power, in watts, the processor dissipates when operating at Base Frequency with all cores active under an Intel-defined, high-complexity workload.

 

Um that's exactly what I wrote. TDP is basically how much heat the system needs to dissipate expressed in watts. So when an ODM builds a system that's really all they have to build for. They don't have to ensure the system can dissipate heat above tdp and so they don't bother to do so.

Its not the maximum power the CPU can draw. And that's the problem with it and especially with haswell.

 

I do not think I've seen such a processor throttle problem on an AW high end gaming laptop earlier. This test is from the previous model with equivalent processor(i7-4700mq). It manages to keep a higher clock speed than the processor that sits in AW 17r2 tested in the thread here. Try a similar benchmark for the new AW 17. This cpu in AW 17R1 can at least keep up TDP of 47W.

 

Oh sure its like I said the problem is with both Intel and dell.

Dell has some funky thermal settings in the bios, and it looks like A02 is causing the CPU to run 5-10C hotter than A00, which could cause the CPU to hit its thermal throttling too soon. And the thermal throttling is an issue with all haswell CPUs.

If haswell didn't have such aggressive thermal throttling you might not see this issue even with a funky bios. And if dell didn't have a funky bios you might not see this issue either.

 

Those who tests the new AW should see how the high temperature is on the processor when throttling happens. The problem in the new Aw is that the cpu does not increase the clock speed when the processor uses low wattage after down clock, but continues with low clock speed. The processor in AW 17r2 retains low clock speed(2.5ghz) during all gaming.

 

Hi.

How can I create such a log file?

Thanks.

 

Download and install core temp , then enable logging from one if the drop down menus. It will send a log to the core temp installation directory

 

OK I tested my Notebook.
While playing Company of Heroes 2 the clock speed on all four cores was 3300Mhz and that didn´t change at any time. But the tdp was only 22W at max, so maybe this game doesn´t stress the CPU hard enough.

 

I've noticed some funky fan behaviour. Mostly that the fans will start/stop spinning for no reason. And they'll be running at almost full blast, even though the CPU temps are around 68-70C.

 

Yes and that is a known issue with haswell :

http://www.extremetech.com/computin...cpu-in-the-world-unless-youre-a-pc-enthusiast

Essentially the same thing that's happening with Halogod2012. As soon as the processor thinks that it's getting too hot and exceeding TDP it immediately throttles back and stays that way even though its nowhere close enough to TJ Max. The thermal throttling is just far too aggressive for haswell and I think it's because Intel has become more focused on mobile chips but who knows.

Now you throw in a funky bios like the ones the new AW15 and 17 have, it'll only make the problem worse.

 

My AW 17R1 was delivered with a i7-4900mq who failed to keep turbo boost with Windows own virus software during virus scan. After a few minutes fell turbo boost down to 2.8GHz which is the base clock speed. After virus scanning would not processor clock up to turbo boost again. I had to reboot the laptop before full turbo boost would work again. Got changed this processor when it did not work as it should .. This is a hardware fault ..

 

I've been reading on this forum for some time now and I'm a bit confused.
Actually I don't know what to think about my new 17 R2.
People write about "funky Dell BIOS" and messed up TDP limits.
Are the other Gaming Notebooks like MSI GT72 performing better?

 

Save your frustrations and purchase or switch to a Clevo / Eurocom. A much better choice. Upgradeable with socket GPU and CPU, not BGA cpu and gpu garbage that is in the new AW.

 

I had a Clevo once and I'll never ever buy that plastic junk again.
And I don't want to upgrade at all. When new hardware is released, I'll buy a fresh notebook.
I just wanted to know, if the Alienware 17 R2 is "underperforming" compared to similar notebooks.

 

Most people who have posted benchmark scores with the new AW, have poorer scores than other brands laptops with the same hardware..

 

Well, the GTX 980M in the Asus G751 is factory overclocked 5%.
Benchmark results of a MSI GT 72 seem to be similar to the AW17 R2.

 

I don't know if you posted prior to this, but what is the configuration of your Alienware 17r2? What CPU did you opt for?

 

I've got the 4710HQ and GTX 980M, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, 1 TB HDD, 240W PSU, First BIOS.

 

scores are comparable

 

I feared this. My clock speeds are identical to what you're experiencing. Except I have the 4980HQ.

The conspiracy theorist in me wants to believe these machines downclock so poorly because they're built to be used with some sort of external cash grab that 'overclocks them for sweet awesome enhanced full throttle gaming experiences, duuuuuude!'

 

I did some more tests with my notebook and it didn't throttle down to the base clock speed at any time.
I ran Prime 95, which causes constant 100% CPU load and the clocks went down to 2800 Mhz for a short time. The CPU was at over 47 Watts several times and the core clocks went up to over 3000 Mhz again.

See





AFAIK Prime 95 stresses the CPU more than any game.

 

I've run benchmarks with 3D Mark (winning that damn Brawn achievement), Unigine's 'Heaven', Prime 95, and wPrime (1024m, 8 threads) and my CPU always drops to around 3200/3300 Mhz.

Doesn't seem to matter what I run, actually. Even less demanding games cause the same dip. I presume it doesn't take much to hit the 47 watts to cause this throttling.

 

Well, in your case that's a bit disapointing.
I'm actually quite happy with my results.
The 4710HQ in my AW17 R2 behaves exactly like the 4710HQ in an Asus G751.

 

Your results are excellent.

Realistically the 4710HQ is performing on par with the 4980HQ due to the TDP perhaps being too low. Of course, this is presuming mine is not a lemon and is actually performing 'correctly.'

 

Mine performs around the same unless I turn on throttlestop.

 

Does ThrottleStop run the risk of dangerous temperatures over time if you haven't changed the stock thermal paste? I've always been hesitant about that sort of fix.

 

I didn't notice any higher temps while I was using it but I have to do more testing admittedly. I'm still waiting on my replacement system to show up so I haven't been doing too many tests on the one I have now

 

That's fair. Do let me/us know the results once you've run further tests. Presently I've arranged for a return instead of a system exchange/repair just in case problems persist.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 3.2/3.3Ghz is precisely where the CPU should be performing when all cores are stressed no? The max clock of 3.5/3.6 is only reached when a single core is being used.

 

You very well could be right. The max turbo'd clock of 4.0 Ghz on the 4980HQ is for a single core.

My issue lies within that, if the 4710HQ is riding around 3.2/3.3 Ghz per core under load, and so is my 4980HQ... why did I spend the extra money?

Oh yeah. Graphics Amplifier. Probably the only way I'll see that difference.

 

The 4710hq has a max turbo of 3.5 compared to the 4.0 of the 4980

 

Right -- which, on paper, was nice to look at, ergo, why I opted for the 4980HQ. My question is, knowing this, why isn't the 4980HQ sitting at higher clock speeds under similar load as compared to the 4710HQ? Is it an Intel problem, due to the TDP? Is it a BIOS issue? Etc, etc.

 

do you have your power set to high performance? If I put it on balanced my clocks drop to 3.5ghz while gaming, if I put it on high performance it stays at around 3.75 to 3.8

 

Of course. High performance, forever and always, during all games and benchmarks.

In fact, I'm glad you've told me this. I'm now convinced that there must be an issue with my unit. I'm just not smart enough to diagnose it, and AW Tech Support just tells me it 'falls within their test bench parameters.'

I'm considering another unit now, knowing yours is performing as I expected mine to. Maybe I won't be unlucky again.

 

Yea I would definitely get it changed while you can these processors seem fickle. Mine although the clocks are at what they should be is giving me the whea errors with the a02 bios. Hopefully this new machine I have more luck with.

 

Yeah, heard about the A02 issues. Didn't sound pretty. Keep in touch, let me know how your new system keeps up. So far you're the only one I've been in touch with with the same config. Good luck!

 

definitely will do

 

AW17R2 w/ 970m. Fairly pleased with the results.
http://www.3dmark.com/pcm8hm3/92697
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6273646



Min and Max temps while running benchmark. Runs pretty hot. I'm considering if I should give repaste a try.
Considering as in, I already have the ICD in hand. The only thing holding me back is work and my new copy of FFXIV.

 

Replace HWMonitor with Hwinfo64. A tip ..

 

So, I asked this question a while back, but looking over more benchmarks today from the Clevo P650SG, it bears asking again.

Clevo P650SG
GTX 980M
i7-4720HQ
180W PSU

Firestrike: 8215
3DMARK11: P10706

I'm still baffled as to how the Clevo can reach those scores on a stock 980M clock using a 180W PSU, given the issues with the AW models.

Here are the O/C results from the same machine (+125MHz, 5600MHz VRAM)

Firestrike: 8996
3DMARK11: P11468

 

Dellienware continues same strategy as with previous AW model. Delivers a gaming laptop with the strongest hardware(gtx780/980m) that performs worse than other brands their gaming laptop with the same hardware. Sadly ..

 

Just letting you guys know the new Nvidia driver is out and overclocking has returned

 

Papusan, you may be wrong (once again).

I just ran Firestrike on my AW17 R2 and I have a higher score than that Clevo.

I got a Firestrike Score of 8308 with stock clocks and the 4710HQ.

 

What are your specs, and what power supply are you using?

 

I've got the 980m and a 240W PSU.