*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

Wow, I cant wait till we can get a hold of some 1080 models!

 

is there any way to pick the QHD 120hz screen with the 6820HK? I'm going to see if I can get it through a phone order.

 

I Dont think so, something to with the G-Sync module

I think the panel has to connect to the GPU direct and only works with the 6700 CPU

Alienware recently said on twitter that they couldn't say why as..... it was under wraps but rumors are that kaby lake is coming soon to the top end Models soon.

 

alright... but can they tell me why I'm forced to pick their overpriced 16 ram if I pick QHD also? It's +100 for a 8gb 2400hz stick when you can get those for 50.

really annoying configuration experience.

 

I doubt Intel will ramp up whole line of H kabylakes simultaneously.

 

I know it's pretty poor really, dell in general.
I managed to order my QHD with 8gb and I'll put a fresh 16gb pair in when I get it, probably sell the 8gb for 50

 

how? did they do it for you over the phone?

 

No I did mine on the Alienware order page / website

Was weird though, no QHD monitor options were shown until I selected either second or third option (the ones with 6700 CPU)
Go to change CPU and box opened to show one option (same CPU) select it at no additional cost, then the QHD screen becomes available, so I selected it, then some compatibility window popped up saying I needed to change to a 99whr battery which I just clicked ok (same price) then I completed order.

It's in production now

Hope this helped

 

ah wait, this is not US site correct?

I think every region has different options for some reason. The US site you can only get the QHD with the third option which forces you to get 16 ram etc.

 

Yes uk site, I just tried the US options, completely different options and ordering process

Good luck looks your gonna have to have 16gb expensive ram

 

Wprime 32M is far too weak. Time for Wprime 1024M stress test. Could you start to test with 4.4 GHz? Or even better 4.5 GHz? Also show us your your rock stable 4.3 GHz in Wprime 1024M. Thanks
And 4.92 sec in wprime 32M does not look like 4.6 GHz. But you have progress
4 sec 669 ms with Intel Core i7 6700K at 4400 MHz http://hwbot.org/submission/2979587_thriller_wprime___32m_core_i7_6700k_4sec_669ms

You say your new clock speed 4.3Ghz is rock stable and even almost with +4.4 GHz. Why not use 4.3 GHz in your Fire Strike benchmark tests? And Yeah, 3DM FS result continues to show Maximum turbo core clock 4 288 MHz. Do you still have large drop in clockspeed? 12790 physics is more like a wimpy 4.0 GHz. Aka my OC'd [email protected] GHz gives around +-15510 in 3DM Firestrike physics. 4.3 GHz should be more like 13700 in FS physics

 

Hold your horses there. The game has just begun...

You know I'll be running the lights out of everything to achieve the highest score.

Remember this is a mobile chip. Not a desktop 6700k. It can't held to the same standards.

My goal is to get it to run 4.6GHz stable and if that can be reached, it's a big accomplishment regardless.

One things for sure...this thing runs so cool (expecially after the repaste / liquid metal) that there is head room for some nice over clocking. Having the unlocked power limits is nice.

Much more to come...hang tight and we'll see what this thing can really do. All these runs right now are preliminary.

::iunlock::

 

Everything sounds good But your 3DM FS result continues to shows Maximum turbo core clock at 4288 MHz. Do you still have large drop in clockspeed in Fire Strike? And Yeah, physics score should be the same level, whether it is from mobile or desktop chips on the same multi

 

Oh the FS runs are set at 43x because 46x right now does dip a bit, although they do stay above 41/42x ...I'm working to get those stable to stay 46x under load.

Like I've said, I'm pretty optimistic that with a little more fine tuning it can achieve that. Takk

::iunlock::

 

But your low 12790 score in physics, are more similar 3.9 / 4.0 GHz See below @4.9 GHz aka 15822 in FS pysics from P870 BGA-KILLER.

 

Ah. Those physics will go up for sure. You can count on that. Like I've said, there are just preliminary runs. Just wait...

::iunlock::

 

Is your goal still +-4.6 GHz in all important benchmarks? I think the sky will burning to hell before this happens 3DM11 is a nice start

 

That'd be nice and yes that is the goal. The temps are so good that there's a lot of head room. Even at 43x, 44x, or even 45x, pretty nice benches can be had.

The GPU is stretching pretty well so it's off to a good start there.

The focus has been tuning these past few days before getting into some hard core benching. I may run a few for fun tonight at 43x.

::iunlock::

 

Okay. Then maybe i can expect you try Wprime 1024M and 3DM11 at 43X. FS is to weak for pushing the processor. As a gain, maybe as well Cinebench R15. Thanks Remember Hwinfo in the background

 

43X Test Run - wPrime - (Preliminary run.)

68C @ 95.438W ... This new cooling system is very nice. I'm pretty intrigued with it as this is the best that I've seen to date.

 

Thanks @hmscott. This new cooling system is the real deal. I am a bit surprised myself. Well of course a little liquid magic helps.

 

New alienware owner here - switching from MAC to PC with this. I do alot of production work so it's my work laptop

Just did a repaste today with IC Diamond and had a reduction of 15 degrees average temp (from 95C to 80C in an Adobe Premiere max CPU render test) when overclocked using OC Level 3 in the Bios. VERY Stable too. Haven't played with any additional overclock settings but excited to see what I can push it to.

So far I can use OC Level 3 on my 6820HK & push the GTX 1070 to 60mhz/160mhz - but I havent' tried maxing out the overclocks yet. Temps stay really low for gaming (60 degrees on the GPU, 75 on the CPU during gaming) at these settings!

Also have a grapghi

 

Very nice and welcome. I too am currently a Mac user. Gaming laptops for gaming, editing, rendering, programming, encoding, Adobe Premier, Pro Tools etc... and MBPr for everything else...

Please post some graphs when you can.

Tip: Avoid uploading pics to NBR as they break often and it gets annoying. Use a photo service like imgur etc...much much better and stable.

 

Any reason in particular you still use your Macs? Other than habit?

I'm finding myself going back and forth a bit but I've pretty much got my Alienware set up to run everything I was able to do on my MBPr. LOL >_< My MBPr was Early 2013 tho (maxed out specs for 2013 so It's served me well)

Can get heavy to lug a backpack with both laptops haha!!

 

just realizing this, is there any point for anything above 2133 for ram? I thought these cpu's max ram frequency was 2133.

 

more intel HD graphics performance

 

@jeremykrak hi jeremy, we were talking on facebook comments hahahah

 

Hi, what software are you using to overclock? Do you experience power throttling? My a17 gtx1070 throttles in gpuz due to power and rarely keeps to the standard boost speed of around 1640..

 

Oh I hear you on that as I travel frequently, but my MBPr is always with me as it's my go to computer for everything else, except gaming. I fancy the OSX OS and IMO is the most stable and user friendly out there with the most support. Notice I didn't say Linux, although it would be the #1 choice, but it lacks support. The nice thing is that OSX has the backbone of Linux, which makes it so solid. The MBPr (also fully maxed) is just solid. As the joke goes, "Macs...they turn off and they turn on." None of this windows BS, especially with W10. If I could run OSX on my AW and have it dual boot (like bootcamp) into OSX Maverics (my favorite + IMO the most stable) even then I'd still have my MBPr.

Then again, they are all within their own respected classes. The only common grounds that I see between AW and Apple is that AW is the Apple of the gaming laptop world; however, as it can be said with either or, there are fan boys then there are those who truly appreciate the solid build quality of said machines that use them. I find it funny that even the fan boys luck out with benefiting from the quality, at least they have that going.

There are so many things Linux and OSX does better than Windows. I don't trust M$ personally so all my actual important things are all done on OSX (fully decked out with every security of course) and I also run Linux for some stuff as well.

Dell with the XPS and MS with the Surface Book and heck even Razer with their (complete Mac knock off design 1:99.9) laptops are catching up to Apple's build quality; but it still doesn't have OSX so no go there for me. It would take a miracle for me to ditch OSX or Linux and from the intrusive progression that we've seen with M$, I don't see windows security happening anytime soon. Gosh that sounded like an oxymoron lol, because it is. Windows + Security? That's a great line for a comedy skit..

Anyhow, don't mean to get off track here, but yes...when I travel I bring my MBPr and my AW. They both fit nicely in my backpack and I keep the cords in my carry on. Works well.

 

Geez, that's pretty nuts. You've double the TDP with that.

 

The only reason why I even got the AW is due to it being unlocked. Had it been locked, I would not have wasted money on it.

It's so refreshing to have the PL1 and PL2's unlocked as you can see....phew....

 

Yeah, I do wish we could get the unlocked CPU with the G-Sync screen, but the brightness, refresh rate and G-Sync matter more to me than CPU performance, hence just a 6700HQ for me.

 

Indeed. Not everyone needs the CPU power. Something for everyone....that's a good thing.

 

Is the 6700HQ good enough for gaming?
Im considering one with the 120Hz screen.
No OC for me so do I need to repaste too?

 

6700 will be plenty good enough paired with the 1070 you may get slight bottlenecks paired with a 1080 but I doubt it.
Be interested to see CPU options with the 1080 when available

 

Kaby Lake? jk... wishful thinking...

 

Do you have the AW17 or AW15 ?

 

Question for current owners ...

I'm going to be ordering a 17" from HIDEvolution soon and I'm trying to decide between the 1080p IPS and the 1440p TN panel ... the folk at that provider seem to think the 1080p IPS screen is *NOT G Sync* enabled ... is this true?

They may be mis informed but wanted to check with current owners ...

Is the 1080p IPS g sync or non g sync?

Thanks in advance,
Joel

 

only the QHD panel has gsync, go for it.

 

I'm thinking that's what I'll do ...

Thanks..
joel

 

Yeah So far ive been using both. I agree I love Mac OS. It's the best operating system ever. If only I could run it on this AW LOL

 

There are actually a few people that have OSX on R3(s).

 

I just picked this one up at Best Buy, the $1799 model. Unfortunately it doesn't come with the 120hz panel, nor is it g-sync but it will overclock to 100hz.

One thing I found that is pretty serious, there seems to be some bug in the Killer software. I noticed in task manager my CPU utilization never went below 5%, and my machine was using over 1 million handles! I found it was svchost.exe, turned out to be WMI related. The culprit is the "Killer Service V2" service. Handle use for one of my svchost.exe processes kept going up by 100ish. I stopped the service and noticed it stopped. I then disabled that service and rebooted, I haven't had any issue with handles. I'm running version 1.1.62.1300 of the Killer Network Manager Suite, which appears to be the latest on the Dell support site. I'm also only using wired networking, wireless users may have different results. I think it's pretty common for most people to trash the killer drivers anyway.

So far this machine is still a beast, even with the 60hz screen. With "CPU Performance Mode" and "Fan Performance Mode" enabled in the bios, the CPU an GPU stay in the high 50's to low 60's when running tests. So far I've tried 3 GTX 1070 machines, the Asus GL502VS (this one gets VERY hot, and no fan control at all) and the MSI GT62VR (Good machine, bad space bar, no thunderbolt, GPU is socketed but who knows what upgradability will be like) but the Alienware is what I really wanted (graphics amplifier/thunderbolt = future proof-ish (nothing is completely future proof), but only 2 DIMM slots? At least this one has more m.2 slots).

Is there any manual fan control that I can use in Windows vs. having to enable full fans in the bios?

 

Does anybody know what type of screen the 17" UHD 4k is? Model number? Etc.

Is it the same type as the 17 R3?

 

Is it the 17 or 15 inch?
What is your CPU?
Is this the dell stock paste, or have you repasted or was it custom replaced by the retailer?

 

Interesting about those bios options ... and what tests did you run specifically? Those temps look lovely for a stock rig ... I'm assuming the bios settings ramped up the fans to max? I'm going to have HIDEvolotion repaste mine with IC Diamond just to be sure. They also offer Liquid Metal Ultra for just the CPU (properly insulated as I spoke with them personally) but I'm not sure about the longevity of that (maybe iUnlock can comment here?) ... I'm purchasing 3 years Dell warranty and I'm not interested in re pasting during that time or after ... so pretty sure I'm not going with the Liquid Metal Ultra option...

BTW ... a few questions:

1. Can you completely disable all the chassis lights (not keyboard, though) ... so that even when you first hit the power button, no chassis lights come on? I do a lot of video/design/writing work in public places and I shudder to think of sitting down in a dark coffee house and powering that thing up with all the bling on ... LOL ... my hunch is that they are going to be on until you get into the OS and then via some software they can be made to automatically shut off ... but I've never owned an AW so have no clue.

2. How is your IPS screen regarding bleed? I'm going 1440p but still curious as I prefer IPS. If they had G Sync 1080 IPS, I'd have gone with that for sure as 1080p is going to be more future proof for me and I'm concerned about how downsampling the 1440p to 1080p will look on the laptop screen.

3. Do you like the keyboard? I'm a huge keyboard slut and this is generally one of my nit picky selling points for any computer. I've only ever used the "chiclet" style keyboards and am curious how this "flush mounted" keyboard performs (shiza I wish the Best Buys would put the things on display!).

Thanks!
joel

 

hi!
i will purchase new AW soon, i just have few hesitations.
can you help me:
i can order 15r3 1080fhd ips maybe 1080p tn 120hz i7 6700hq if it release soon in europe or 17r4 1080fhd ips i7 6700hq .
The major thing what i regrets for the 17r4 is its weight, 4.4kg my god! I want a durable laptop and i need to carry 2-3x per month to travel with it. I want something easy to move with one hand...
At first i expected the new msi gt72vr 6re with its 3.8kg, but the design... Crap.
It will be my desktop replacement, no external screen, and very important thing, no dedicated table to put on...

what's the best?

(i tried two different model with 3.5 kg each, and i noticed that the weight feel very different in function of the build balance. however i tried an asus rog 752 serie with 4.5kg and it was difficult to carry with two hands)

 

Since you will be traveling you need the best battery runtime, hence the optimus, which is disabled in g-sync panels. So you gotta choose the 1080p fhd ips. 17 is pretty heavy so leave it alone.
So you gotta buy the 15 1080p fhd display.
But the 15 has severe temp issues with the 6700 as well as 6820, so i will suggest you to repaste (Gelid Extreme).

 

6700HQ and stock.

My tests initially were just with Heaven looping. I re-tested with OCCT today and temps got up to 81 on Core 0 and 58 on Core 3. In fact my CPU temps were the same essentially between the normal fan profile and the "Fan Performance Mode". The only difference is the Fan Performance Mode kicks fans in high from the start, where without it the fans still get to high speed but it takes them more time. That delta between cores is very concerning. I'm guessing a repaste is in order if I keep this notebook. 23 degree difference in max temp between the cores is unreal, but seems to be par for the course based on other peoples tests from what I've seen.

1. I was able to black everything out. I kept the alien head power button blue still so I could tell when the machine was on/off. When I shut down entirely and then powered on, the only light was from the blue alienware head above the keyboard.

2. My IPS bleed is not good. It's the one thing that may make me return this thing. I have a good amount of bleed on the upper left and right sides. If I flex the top a bit the bleed does go away. I'm wondering if I can some how fix this by taking off the black panel around the screen and maybe adjusting some pressure somewhere.

3. So far the keyboard is ok. It's typical Alienware.

 

Aw just confirmed via twitter that the UK QHD does have G-Sync as some people were asking and confused as it doesn't state that it does like the US site.

Thay are also going to fix the ordering issues regards QHD on their site...

https://twitter.com/aw_umar/status/792084777834729472?cn=cmVwbHk=&refsrc=email