*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge

From the dell website ! Or you can order one by calling dell for a replacement. You could also google one, and get it from a dedicated hardware store where you live. I live in the Netherlands so there are some dedicated stores that sell dellienware parts.

 

The problem is the the 8750h wants to pull way more than 45watts. I have seen one time up to 79 but mostly 60-65 regularly before the laptop power throttles it below 45 again. There's tons of user experience on NBR alone to back that up.

 

Yeah but what about the i5? I still can't imagine it stays under 45w at all times

Some googling shows data available for 8750h (even indicating up to 90w) but I can't find anything for i5. Doesn't really help to only have 1 of 2 numbers for comparison.

Also what might be useful is undervolted i7 vs unmodified i5 and then the i5 undervolted numbers as far as temps and a few benchmarks. And, to be even more useful, both while in an AW15

 

Going off of XPS 9570 users anecdotal reports, those with i5's haven't seen their units throttle. Users with i7's have seen plenty of throttling in their units.

 

Agreed. That is consistent with what I've read on the forums here and on notebookcheck for the XPS 15. I'd think the m15 would have a similar result.

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The first two notebook check reviews I came across 99c for the HP Omen and throttling for the XPS 9570 for the 8300H, but that was while running benches. It only takes hitting 100c to throttle... again we don't know what the full differences are quite clearly.

It would be useful to see it in the same unit under same scenarios to see what the differences would be.

 

60 watts is really much. My I7 6700HQ (4c,8t) uses 39 watts with undervolting (-0.155V) in prime95. No surprise that so many laptops are struggling to cool down the 8750H, especially the thinner ones.
Cant wait to see when intel releases 8 core mobile cpus
Cant wait to see your review on the m15, i really like your thorough and also critical reviews on laptops!
Greetings from Germany.
Alex

 

Sorry if this was asked, but does anyone know if this will fit the M15?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...le_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1#customerReviews

 

I would be confused if it didn't!

 

Yep, it will. I just put in the 950pro this morning and installed Windows just fine.

As a heads up though, since I did not order my laptop with an M.2 drive, it did not have any screws included. However, from a previous laptop I bought, I got a small bag of them, so I was good to go.

 

Has anyone repasted their m15s? If so what method did you use/what paste did you use, and were the results after?
Someone on reddit used Liquid Metal and had significant temperature decrease, but I'm new to this stuff and don't want to fry my new laptop.
Also those who recently received their m15s/the second batch of them, did the Killer Wifi/Windows error occur?

 

I repasted mine (see commentary and heat sink pic in earlier post a few pages back) and it was pretty straightforward. Just follow the service manual (from Dell's website). I used IC Diamond since I just had a few days to test before packing it back up until Christmas. I will probably want to repaste with LM after Christmas. I have experience with LM on my 15r3 (very similar results to what you can find in the repaste thread by iUnlock and all of the info I needed was in there), but I haven't done it on the m15 yet.

If it is any frame of reference, this one is much easier to get to the dies than the bigger AW models.

 

Just making sure. I haven’t bought a PC in 6 years (been a happy owner of a Lenovo y580 for 6 solid years now and haven’t had to look)... lots of new advances in storage since then I’m learning.

 

Finally got my laptop the other day. I swapped out the Killer nic wifi for an Intel 9260 (Is there one better?). Loaded up windows and so far so good, I was thinking about repasting or are there services that can do this or LM? Would also look to see what other thermal pads I could use as well.

 

You didn't need to swap it out, just needed to disable the killer networking software. The killer wirless 1550 is the same as Intel 9260. Both chips are made by intel

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Ah ok! Good to know, I will put it back in there then. I just then install the intel drivers?

 

I don't have any comment on what wifi card to replace it with, but I only had to disable/uninstall the Killer software.

In terms of repasting, it's not too hard as a DIY task. If you are less comfortable, I think your best bet would be a local computer shop unless there is someone on the forum here that offers this. I think I saw a few people offering that, but I don't know if they still do that or not, etc.

 

You can yes. Normally we only disable the killer software and we leave the killer drivers alone and it all works.

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Thanks for the reply! I re-pasted my old 15 R3 so this should be much easier then that. I will probably look at doing this next week then.

 

To everyone here who is having an issue with the chassis being too hot to touch:

A good idea might be to consider getting a full skin, from D-Brand. I already filed a request myself but got no response from them! So if you want a proper skin for this machine I would recommend you each do the same. To show that there is actually some real demand for this one.

D-Brand already make skins for other Alienware notebooks. And they have an existing 'Alienware' section on their site. Hopefully that the plastic-y materials they use would block the heat a bit.

[edit] not to mention, covering up that glossy bezel wouldn't hurt either.

 

I second this motion, I'll put in a request later today. This laptop is a fingerprint magnet and I think we could all benefit from the skins

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You bet, glad to help. If it helps, here are a few links to my prior posts with some notes I listed based on my experience with the m15 (I know these things get buried in the mega-thread we have here):

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...15-owners-lounge.825553/page-46#post-10825833
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...15-owners-lounge.825553/page-47#post-10825951

 

I think that the 8300h is fantastic. Suits me wonderfully and a simple undervolt keeps it in check just like previous HQ chips.

If I could, I would have that in the m15 no doubt about it.

Is easy to recommend because you can get by with little to no tweaking.

 

If you get a 970 Evo or pro 512 gb+ get a heatsink, they overheat and will stutter like crazy gaming.

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Ram helped loads for Forza Horizon 4, the heatsinks were sent from Dell yesterday not sure what the one all the way left is for. Looks like some adaptor. Think it's a silicone thermal pad under the blue strips. Of course they didn't send screws. They sit on the mounts and the inside screw has a gap about a mm that needs a special screw to hold it down. The temps are great now.

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Speaking of TWEAKING, it's possible to 'simulate' what an i3 would thermally behave like in any of these 8750H laptops, by disabling the last 2 of the 6 cores in windows (requires a reboot, unfortunately). Leaving you with 4 cores.

It would be an interesting exercise, because by using the exact same notebook, then 100% everything else is being controlled for under test conditions. And can see if the overall frame rates are any better / worse / the same in specific [real] games.

You know, including that the GPU temperature can be kept lower when the 2 chips are thermally linked together with shared heatpipe .

Since pascal will downclock itself at higher temperatures too, not just the single threaded speed of the cpu cores [only].

A while back I asked someone else to try doing this kind of a comparison testing. But they said they couldn't be bothered.

I think you find the setting in that older 'system' dialog. The one with the tabs for other options such as: the system-wide environment variables. And the rebooting / BCD options, swap file / similar.

 

FWIW, I ordered a 330w to use at home. For now, I'll travel with the supplied 180w but I may even pick up a 240w. The 330w is way overkill, but the price was within 15 between the two so spent the extra bit to have less heat and potentially better performance - although I doubt I'll see much if at all in terms of performance. I'm actually surprised they include a 180w with these. Assuming 90w for the 1070mq, 45w for the CPU, and 20w for the rest, that comes out to 155w, about 87% load on a 180w. However, as mentioned recently from others, the 8750h pulls more than 45w unless tweaked. That gets it awfully close to 180w.

 

Wait so you can use the 240w adapter with this laptop? Will it actually yield more performance?

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You should be able to use 240w, no problem. Most Alienware's all take the same plug.

Here's a recent thread, albeit on an older machine and non-mq GPU, that shows potentially better performance. I honestly doubt we'll get better performance, but that 180w brick gets stupid hot and with me, my wife, and 3 dogs in the room with us, anything that helps with heat output is a win in my book. From Dell directly, the 240w was 105 and the 330w was 119. Figured if I use a 330w, that would be less strain on the brick thus less heat.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-truth-about-240w-vs-330w-adapter.825675/

 

My original order has a 512 in It so I’m hoping the heat sinks already in there

 

Ok further updates for anyone interested...

I have now replaced the 1tb mechanical with 950pro, mainly to improve palm rest temps... also I was curious if formatting would help with AWCC fans not responding to custom profiles.

I think having just the SSD makes a difference to palm rest temps, but not enough. Fresh install did not correct the AWCC not being able to properly control the fans (I created a custom profile and set fixed fan speed to 100% for both fans... turn on profile and nothin'). Selecting Performance turns all the fans on, so I know switching does SOMETHING, but it seems to maybe only work for the 4 default fan profiles (at best). It's hard to know because it doesn't show you the curves for each profile.

That said, I went ahead with my test of 125mv undervolt vs 125mv undervolt + disable turbo. With just the undervolt, my temps went from 94c to 88c on CPU... so improvement but nothing crazy. With the turbo disabled, it went down to an icy 65c which is quite awesome. I didn't notice a difference in performance for Rocket League, but obviously this game is not very hard to run compared to modern AAA titles. But also with 65c on the CPU, I think it helped keep the GPU cool as well, as it didn't break 70c.

Also one thing I learned pulling the 1tb drive, it looks like it will only accept 7mm drives. So for those of you looking to fill that spot up with mechanical storage... make sure you buy a 7mm drive and not the standard size of 9.5mm.

 

How were you able to get Dell send you those heatsinks for the SSDs? I talkes to their reps and they told me that it usually comes with the heatsinks already, but I'm afraid that if i get just one 512ssd it would only include 1 heatsink like your picture in the middle. Can we request from dell to send an extra heatsink, if I plan to add another ssd nvme? Thanks for your answer

 

Guys, big deal here so I downloaded the CRU version 1.4.1, opened it and added the following custom resolutions
1920x1080 @ 60 hz
1920x1080 @ 120 hz

I rebooted my machine and the new resolutions show up in the Intel control panel so now we can have vsync with no studdering on games that only play @ 60 fps

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I've noticed performance drops using boarderless window mode on games like heroes of the Storm vs using fullscreens. Also for some reason I can't hit 144 fps in heroes, only 90 with boarderless windowed and 120 with full screen. I tried enabling and disabling vsync and CPU usage isn't high while gpu sits around 70% on fullscreen

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I use to do this stuff all the time pre-channel days. My desktop methods and testing was all about this kind of stuff. The CPU and RAM are my two favorite parts of computers. They offer so much flexibility when the proper config is used.

With laptops, having that TDP limit makes it even more fun. I think the 8300h is the best locked CPU we have in gaming laptops generally speaking. The 7820k is the absolute best as it can do 4.5 pretty commonly.

AMD really pushed intel in a multi-core direction that i'm fine with, but there's some limitations to go with it that you rarely see people cover besides myself and a small group of others. It's why the forums like this are great!

Woooo, sorry for the ramble lol.

 

What driver?

 

For Nvidia gpu I have 24.21.13.9889 and for Intel gpu I have 24.20.100.6292 according to device manager. GeForce says I have the 398.89 driver

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Can you update to 417.01?

 

Through GeForce experience? Should I?

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Why not? I would and retest. At least have everything up to date. Maybe do the "clean install" too when prompt.

 

Ill do the update now but I have a feeling this is an Intel gpu issue. Let's see what happens

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It very well could be. But I have seen consistently amongst m15 Owner’s not updating their GPU drivers. Figured we should start here at least.

 

This thread needs more pics and videos.... while some of us wait this agonizingly long wait!

 

Ok so through GeForce it prompts me to download, I download but instead of install it just says download again .... So I can't update the driver either it seems

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Through GeForce Experience, Drivers tab, check for updates then install and nothing?

 

Pretty much, it just starts to download again. I set GeForce experience to automatically download the driver, let's see if that fixes the issue.

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How did you get ahold of these heatsinks? @NeWCuLTKiNG

 

Anything newer than the Dell Nvidia drivers gives major graphical glitches for me on Forza Horizon 4

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I called the day I got my 970 evos installed they throw a ton of heat. Tech support stated they don't support the 970 Evo. Anything 256gb and smaller don't need them. I told her I was installing 1tb in my wife's and mine. I was ready to purchase if they would let me. She took about 5 days and got back to me that her manager will allow them to send me them. Of course they didn't send screws.

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Chatting with them now. I ordered a 500gb so I am going to need this for sure. Hopefully they hook it up free of charge. Thank you