*OFFICIAL* Alienware X Series Owners Lounge and Discussion

I am not sure if you are allowed to post links here but here we go, just make sure you use Google Translator:
https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv11920513

I suppose it also means that a bios update to solve the igpu/dgpu performance issue isn't out of the question.

 

Has anyone from AW confirmed such a BIOS update might be provided?

 

Nope, no Info from AW/Dell

 

I have created such ab boot stick and have access to the BIOS settings. Unfortunately I do not have a clue how to change the correct setting for dGPU. This is a bit to critical for me

 

I wonder how Dell is going to Frankenstein my X17 together since it has been in the production phase for 2 weeks and delayed a week. When I receive it I’ll take lots of pics after opening it up. As far as hacking BIOS. I have some experience in this. Good and bad. I bricked my Samsung 4k TV when I first got it and Samsung kindly replaced the motherboard which was the only way out of it. On my Asus X99 workstation motherboards their was a BIOS restore button which I’ve used to get out of boot failures. Sometimes the BIOS would become corrupted from overclocking and other times it seemed liked random occurrences. I always thought Asus made awesome hardware but whoever writes their BIOS code on their motherboards should all get canned. Asrock, which if you care, or unfamiliar was a company which spun off from Asus also makes amazing hardware and I think their BIOS interface is much cleaner for their motherboards. I’ve never owned a Dell PC because I’d never own a prebuilt PC ever again, so I know nothing about their BIOS interface. I have spent a fair amount of time on an older Dell XPS and my Latitude 7480 trying to tweak the BIOS for optimum performance. And FYI, Bios settings can play a big factor in benchmarking which makes me wonder about some of the posted results. I rarely see anyone talk about what settings they have for energy conservation and speedstep which comes on by default. Before I do any benchmarking I disable all of the Intel power saving features. As far as cooling is concerned if their is a way to remove/replace the cheap Chinese fans with something better I will. An issue I’ve noticed with my Sons gaming consoles is the fans die within a couple years but I have Noctura fans in PC’s I built in the 90’s that still operate good as new. I’m assuming the laptop fans are gonna be proprietary and PCM capable. At the very least a dedicated GPU should be fairly tweable to include BIOS updates. And speaking of which, who supplies the Video Cards for these laptops? I found this article which may or not apply to the X series.

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=4vv44

 

Not compatible with my 3070 at least:

 

Unfortunately AW fan control has been non-standard, at least since 2015, doubt it changed in the X17.

 

Everything in and out is proprietary solutions. The vBios can perhaps be used with cross-flash if the I/O ports is connected equal to the graphics on another machine/model.

The vBios you posted is for the older models.

No real graphics cards. Everything soldered on the MB. Last time Dell AW used MXM graphics cards was in 2013/14.

 

Looking at this memory. Any thoughts?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083VV2M8M/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

And this.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08W224DXL/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AWD7GDDT7Q2ZT&psc=1

The Crucial is using Micron chips like Kingston. I’ve never tried Teamgroup before. My only concern with Crucial is that I’ve had less then good experience with both their SSD’s and memory.

 

At least yours is in production, mines just been stuck on Confirmed :')

 

Reached Dell at twitter (DellCares), I told them I wanted a SSD heatsink for a secondary drive, they will send it me for free.
This is cool, but I think they should ship that kind of stuff by default.

 

Dell shipped my X17 today. A week late but someone took some initiative by sending it for next day delivery. Did anyone have to sign for delivery? I'm wondering because it doesn't say in the tracking information.

 

Someone has designed a custom heatsink for the X17 but Amazon is showing it won't be ready until late September.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099Z7KJGG/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A1BQWGBLWM4VYT&psc=1

So unless something better comes along or not I bought this for a temporary alternative.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YC1HTFR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I also got ram heatsink.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083FHJWHV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Sometimes the little things make all the difference and they didn't cost much. My 32gig stick of Hyperx memory arrived today. Just in time to compare it with the Kingston DDR4-3466 I got from Dell. So the question is will DDR4-3200 CL 20 beat DDR4-3466 CL22. The Kingston is two 16gig sticks and the HyperX is a single 32gig.

 

Hey guys I'm not sure if anyone has put this info out there cos I have not read the whole thread. But how is the 4k panel, has anyone done any measurements? Also has anyone compared x17 to g15 zephyrus. Both 3070. About to pull the trigger on one of them. Leaning towards g15 since it's cheaper

 

Talk with Dell if you want the SSD heatsink. They will send you it for free.
It's an interesting question. TBH, I think it will be more or less same performance, will you post some results?

 

Seriously? The single stick of HyperX will run in single channel mode and thus be much slower. You always need a pair of matching modules to ensure the RAM runs in dual channel mode. You will be able to confirm the module runs at the specified latency and is generally compatible/stable though.

 

WOW, ordered on July 23., production took 2 days, shipped today:

Alienware x17 R1
1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive
32GB DDR4 XMP 3466MHz
17.3" FHD (1920 x 1080) 360Hz 1ms with ComfortView Plus, NVIDIA G-SYNC and Advanced Optimus
NVIDIA(R) GeForce RTX(TM) 3080 16GB GDDR6
11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9 11980HK (8-Core, 24MB L3 Cache, up to 5.0GHz with Turbo Boost Technology)
330W Adapter

Hope shipping will be as fast as the rest.

Interested in the 360Hz screen, guess it will be the same model as in the GE76 from AUO, seems to not have the best colour accuracy according to notebookcheck. Any users with this screen here?

Oh, in case any questions arise why not this or that notebook instead: I like it thin with nice haptics and looks ;-) ...and could order as an institutional buyer. Would have had to pay around 1000 Euros more for let´s say a GE76 with comparable specs. Had good experiences with my past AW notebooks so far (17R4, Area-51M R1).

 

Looks like they have one queue for @bsch3r and another for @JinTexas and others.

 

Good for us two !

 

Really? I ordered at June 21st and it is still not shipped out yet...

 

I myself originally went with the 360hz display on my order, then I thought about it and switched to the 4k 120 hz display for the QHD res. Sure I will not have advance optimus or g-sync but on that display wont miss much in fps loss. Also, I can always just hook it up to an external 300+ hz display if needed.
I basically went for the quality on the actual laptop display as I have seen what 4k displays look like and man the color and brightness are amazing!

 

I actually ordered exact same specs, how is yours been running for you so far with the I7 11800H and 4k panel? I was planning on running mine at QHD resolution, performance should be quite good still

 

As I said (yesterday?) asked for ssd heatsink pieces, and Dell sent for free.
But I think those are from m15/m17, can someone confirm? XD

Edit: confirmed by Dell, they sent the wrong ones (m15/17), gonna send for free again the pieces, lol.

 

Also keep in mind the I9 CPU does run hotter than the I7, I have read many reports of the I9 temps getting quite high compared to the I7 which is what I chose for my order

 

Maybe due to different parts (screen, gpu, cpu) and the region you live.

 

That's fantastic! I am wondering if you can request at time of order with a Dell rep to have the service techs to paste the CPU and GPU at time of build with liquid metal? I may give my sales rep a call and see if possible.

 

LOL

Sorry, please do let us know how the rep chat went

 

Just checking but you aren't in the US, correct? I also asked dell sales support if they had any extra covers/heatsinks in stock and they told me no.

 

For those x17 3080 owners, what is your game stable GPU OC?

 

I'm from Spain.
Did you reach them by their twitter account (DellCares)? I told them I wanted to purchase a secondary SSD and in their store (parts and accesories section) the heatsinks didn't appear, and they kindly offered me to send me for free.

 

Do you guys think is really worth upgrading the crappy memory CL22 x17 comes with for primarily gaming usage? To CL16 @3200Mhz for example.

This is the best I can find, but as I said, I'm not sure if is worth investing 170€.

 

It's def worth it, particularly for those with Optimus models. Whether any CL16 memory actually works remains to be seen though. For instance, it works with some much older AW models, but 51M has been reported to have trouble.

 

Does anyone know the part numbers for the light up trackpad and the 4k 120hz screen they use and the board the trackpad is plugged into?

 

Well if I buy it, I'll do in Amazon, so if CL16 memory does not work, I can return it.
But I'm a bit skeptical about the differences in gaming performance.

 

X17 vs 51mR2

Cp2077, 2560x1440, Preset Raytracing Ultra, DLSS Ultra Performance.

X17: CPU@4300Mhz, 3080@+100/+300

A51m: CPU@ Stock 4.8ghz, GPU@ +150/+500

X17


51mR2


X17

51mR2


At Same clockspeed the FPS are nearly the Same (3080 81FPS and 2080s 83FPS)
With RTX3080 128w Powerdraw and 2080s with 115w.

 

Hmmm. Is Optimus active on the X17? . Did you enable all RTX options? I was hoping the 3080 scores better in this game.

How loud are these two under same load and how would you describe the noise characteristic of the fans. I would imagine X17 has more high pitched fan noise.

 

The X17 does not have Optimus or MUX Switch. However, this would mainly affect the CPU performance anyway. This was the reason i made my test in the GPU limit.

In CPU bound Games the A51m is far ahead, due to the 30w throttling the X17 has.

The fans are much more pleasant on the A51m and have a lower noise level. The fans of the X17 unfortunately have a high-frequency whistling.

In my opinion, the X17 suffers from too many compromises for a feature (thickness) that no one asked for.

 

Thanks for the insights. I will test the X17 and decide if I keep the 51M or the X17. What I hate the most about the 51M are the two poweradapters needed.

So did I understand correctly, you testet this game with raytracing features maxed out? If not, this would be very interesting to see if the 3080 can pull ahead in this scenario.

 

Preset Raytracing Ultra. No Custom settings

 

Good stuff. Again, why we should totally see a Alienware Area 51m R3 @ 200w 3080!

 

You want something some Governments will ban. Dell is U.S based and of course they are first to implement it.

Dell won't ship energy-hungry PCs to California and five other US states due to power regulations theregister.com

Energy efficiency rules appear to be limiting the availability of gaming rigs

 

Thank goodness I don't live in any of those libby states

 

You think the OEM will put money in make different machines and send them depending on where you are located? Will Dell increase the factory line for different setups? One fits all, brother

 

It sucks for those people but reason # 1001 why I won’t live anywhere other then Texas. When their stupid state government makes laws like that it punishes everyone, and doesn’t take into account things like solar energy. In my neighborhood in San Antonio, half the houses on my street have solar panels, and as a result those homes pay very little to the power company each month. Solar energy works very well in places like Texas and even Southern California. My point is that those homes require a fraction of the energy from the power company. This recent development clarifies why when I bought my EVGA 1600 watt T2 power supply a few years ago they said they wouldn’t ship to California. And this isn’t only a Dell issue. If you look at any consumer electronic or power hungry device on Amazon now, a lot of them have disclaimers about not shipping to California. This isn’t a new issue for California. When I lived in Sacramento from 1996-2001 they had brownouts even back then. Ironically they had just finished spending millions on a Nuclear plant less then 30 miles from my home their but never turned it on after completion because of the protests. And another thing. They wan’t people to purchase electric cars but if tomorrow everyone ditched their gas engine vehicles for electric they wouldn’t have the infrastructure to support it. And the truth is that lithium batteries are far more toxic then any fossil fuel vehicle made in the last 20+ years.

 

Someone at Dell is really dumb. They sent me twice wrong ssd heatsink parts (m15/17 compatible), but not with x17.

 

I thought this law that was signed was for forcing companies (OEM’s in this scenario,) to use higher effiency PSU’s if the power supply is rated above a certain wattage. If I am right (which I think I am,) then it’s Dell’s fault for using garbage power supplies in their prebuilts. This may force them to use better PSU’s which may improve their prebuilts just a bit more

I originally misread this whole scenario as all of the people reporting on it wanted clicks, so they said things like “several states ban certain PC’s because they use too much power” which is partially false.

 

Firmware will be equal important to reach the goal. New MB will be needed. And with a locked down bios you can't change it back to what you want. And they won't make a special bios version only for some governments/States. Everyone must contribute to help Dell to reach the goals whatever regulation there is where you live. Less rigide regulation where you live doesn't matter.

You may have seen it. Dell already offer a new custom made thin and slim more power efficient power adapter for the x15. More will come.

 

Owners of the X17, how are the fan noises even at idle? I keep reading the fans at idle are still quite loud? If that's the case that might be a deal breaker for me

 

The part number is C99KM if you wanted to tell them explicitly which part you needed. But more than likely it's out of stock.

 

You can, more or less, 'customize' fan behaviour.
In low power mode, if I set like this the fans, I can't barely hear them.

Thank you! I'll give them that information.