*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 R3 / m17 R3 Owner's Lounge

Seeing as these just launched, might as well have an owner's lounge for the m17 R3 and m15 R3 laptops.

The m15 R3 and m17 R3 are revision updates over the R2 versions. New Comet Lake CPUs, Vapor Chamber (only for the CPU). RX 5500m and RTX 2070 Super and 2080 Super (Max-Q for m15 R3, Max-P for m17 R3), 4-way speakers, and chassis with "High Endurance Clear Coat". Otherwise, pretty similar machines to the R2. Below are their support pages for drivers and manuals.

m15 R3

m17 R3

 

Typo: Max Q for the 15 r3, not "for the 13 r3".

 

Thanks. Fixed the typo.

 

Just ordered one to replace my G7 which seems to thermal throttle unless i game inside my freezer.
M15 R3 with 10th Gen Core i7, 16gb, a single 2tb drive in one slot, 2070 super and gsync display $2400.00.
This one better not thermal throttle or I am going to wear dell's warranty support department out.
Lee

 

I’m thinking of the same configuration.

I’ve read somewhere that with the 10th gen cpu you can disable G-sync and run on the Intel gpu where before you were forced to have the main gpu on 100% of the time, don’t know if this is true or not.

 

Anyone find any noteable reviews ? Can't seem to find any in print or YT which is odd given it is released. Particularly interested in m15r3 thermals and whether the new cooling tech is noteworthy or marketing hype.

 

Limited information out there, I did find this for the 17 fully loaded so my config should be better

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/alienware-m17-R3

"We also put the m17 R3 through our gaming stress test, where we ran the Metro Exodus 1080p RTX preset benchmark on a loop 15 times to simulate a half hour of gaming. The game ran at an average frame rate of 62.9 fps, which the benchmark placed in the 99th percentile among its users. The average CPU clock speed was 3.8 GHz with an average temperature of 89 degrees Celsius (189.1 degrees Fahrenheit). The GPU, meanwhile, ran at an average clock speed of 1.4 Ghz and an average temperature of 73 degrees Celsius (163.4 degrees Fahrenheit)."

 

Thanks Lee. I have seen a number of m17 reviews but not anything significant in the m15. I am looking for temps during gaming on virtually the same config as your purchase but a 300 Hz screen (not for the refresh rate as no game I play will do 300 fps to make use of it but for the 3ms response time). Maybe you can report gaming temps when you get yours

 

I will report, but i will be out of town when mine finally ships, so i wont be back until the 27th of june. If no one else updates this thread before then I will report on my temps.
Thanks
Lee

 

That is quite some wait. I feel for you ;-) I am not going to pull the trigger until I know the thermal answer so happy to wait though I am sure I will find out before you are acquainted with your beloved.

 

Hi guys. Haven’t posted on this forum in many years. Ended up with a Malibal in 2014 that has been exceptional in both performance and longevity. Finally began growing long in the tooth so I just purchased my first Alienware laptop in over a decade. I initially went back toward Malibal but was unhappy with their panel options (little did I know, Malibal was willing to source a high gamut panel for me, but I had already placed my AW order).

Hoping I made the right decision with an M15R3. I went with the OLED high gamut panel (I have no qualms with 60hz gaming, hell I’ve gamed that way my entire life and vastly prefer high gamut monitors).

Do any of you have any experience with this panel (AFAIK it was available on older models as well?)

 

Getting a m17 r4 from a system exchange from dell with the 10980HK and 2070 super. I'm coming from a 17 r4 with a 180w gtx 1080. Does anyone know what the tdp of the 2070 supper in this laptop is? Im kinda worried that it may end up being slower than my old laptop as i cant find many bench marks online and the ones i do find are all over the place. From 30% slower to 20% faster. Here is the config they are offering and i did accept it thinking there is no way a 2070 super would be slower but now im worried. https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1N8YtqNwWRYwxRfZC1X1ZprqxqK44HF-I

 

Higher Physics but Graphics score is worse
https://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/22779727/fs/18115523

https://www.3dmark.com/search#/?mode=advanced&url=/proxycon/ajax/search2/gpu/fs/P/1325/500000?minScore=0&gpuName=NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Max-Q&gpuCount=0

 

This laptop doesn't use a max-q variant though, its the "max-p" or just the normal mobile one.

 

Here is the best I have found https://www.notebookcheck.net/GeFor...TX-2070-Super-Mobile_7311_10229.247598.0.html . The biggest thing is what tdp dell its using, as i see two that would work. The 115w or the 150w one. My unit shows its shipping with a 240w brick so that makes me think the 115w, as i think the 150w plus the unlocked cpu would overload the brick in combination with all the other components, but they have made awful brick choices in the past. See aw 17 r2 and the whole 180w brick thing. Also using this as a source for the performance of my old unit as i did not write down any benchmark number but this unit is the very same load-out. It seems to do on-par with a desktop 1080. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-17-R4-7820HK-QHD-GTX-1080-Laptop-Review.214918.0.html

 

Max-Q as typed in the blue box. https://www.3dmark.com/fs/22779727


This is the 2070 SUPER Max-P https://www.3dmark.com/fs/22804129

 

Nice little boost there.

Now the question is can the system handle the thermals ;-) Still not seeing anyone with any significant reviews on the M15. I assume people who have ordered a few weeks back must start receiving them soon so hopefully someone can give us their feedback.

 

Dont expect much. Their design philosophy is to simply cram as much as possible into an already choked cooling design. At least I respect Asus for coming forward and using liquid metal this year for a change. But Dell/AW is something that remains constant, so make sure you keep your hopes not so high.

 

Someone on reddit has i9 2080s m15r3 and the temps arent great. reaching 100 on the cpu during gaming but the gpu temps seem okay.

 

I can't see that Jarrod's Laptops will recommend the m15/17 R3 either from what I can tell. Too much drawbacks. And flashy lights doesn't come only for this particular gamingbook. Almost all gamingbooks have it.



Btw. Cpu temp at 100C in the m15 R3 as well. With the locked down i7-10750H It's here! m15r3

 

Can you provide a link ?

Nevermind I found it

 

Second one with m15 R3 and 100C. And nothing have changed with the brand new Vapor Chamber.
M15 R3 still running hot?

Hello, I just got the m15 R3 and ran 3D benchmark. Under load it was consistently hitting 100 degrees. Is this normal? Afterwards I would jsut be browsing chrome and I saw the core temp jumped to 93 max in core temp program that I had running in the background. Not sure if this is normal for a laptop or not.

ran benchmark on my friends ge66 raider with similar specs and he never got hotter than 83.

Edit.
And exactly the same for Alienware m17 r3. 100C is all over the temp target.

M17r3 is here!

Temp wise: I got Apex up and running, not really the most demanding game and with no OC profile, fan profile set to performance, and on a raised pad to ensure profile flow and right off the bat after 12 mins or so in I’m hitting 99-100c on the i7 cpu on hwinfo and afterburner. On my previous laptop (with an 8th gen, 2070) I was able to keep it in the mid 80’s ish or so. Waiting for other games to download and I’ll try it too.

Pics: https://imgur.com/a/MyFqtUQ

 

Right, I just read the post on Reddit. So still, 3rd generation and Dell can't get their thermals right. Just SELL SELL SELL who cares how it performs!

@etern4l So much for our wish list bro

 

If Hell/AW still holds their pathetic '100C attitude' even today, why even bother having a cooling system in the first place? I thought, the root cause of this attitude is simply because the average consumer doesn't understand these technical jargons, and buys it without any second thought. But even reddit continues to be flooded with people buying the Throttleware every year - despite AW doing nothing. Why don't people look after other laptop brands who actually care about thermals?

 

See the problem is, most people just buy a gaming laptop to game. No one even cares to check the temps, and some people don't even notice when a game lags, or stutters, they think that's just the way it is. Unlike us enthusiasts who have laser sharp vision and can immediately tell if a GPU/CPU throttles because we see the drop in performance.

 

On a lighter note, AW will profit if they consider hiring us as consultants for their future product designs. We'll do much better than their current product design team for sure

 

The fact that they kept soldered RAM is all I needed to know about the m15 R3.

Oh well, we gave it a good go, but - let's be honest - not clear anyone over there even reads this part of the forum.
Unfortunately, they may well continue using this new design as long as people keep buying it.

 

Guy on reddit has had success undervolting with XTU on the I7. Theres hope.

 

Frank Azor said one of the main reasons to not use MXM slot and instead go for own DGFF design in Area 51m was that they could shave of 3-4 mm thickness. Exactly same reason they went for soldered ram for the thin AW line. The payback was 100C.

I’m quite sure Dell prepping for the dead end (RIP) for Area-51m lineup with the Max-P graphics move in the AW m17 R3.

The m17 design will be their big bad boy!

 

Another person has gotten the 10th gen to undervolt -80 using xtu on the m17. Its not much but its bringing the temps down to a more manageable place.

 

Yes, undervolting seems to be working. But is it really worth it though? They charge exorbitant for a model that's as hot as it can get and anything higher than that - God Bless the user. Soldered Ram?? Like really. Thinner laptops have solved this problem. And then fan noise. They charge so much for the extended warranty. And good luck running your laptop at100c with soldered RAM and no support.
I was so much looking forward to the m15 model. Also, if you look at the pricing, the 32g model is priced so hig hand is available with higher specs only. WTF Alienware..you give soldered RAM and not provide 32g model with $1800 variant. What a joke! I am just attached to the brand because it was my first gaming laptop ever. But clearly they don't care enough

 

I have different question - can I put drives in RAID 1 mode or disable it or I am forced to use it when I purchase? Anyone have a screen of configuration?

 

Just some things to think about. Assuming you have truly a wish for this model type, you may well wish to think about this model or a refresh, because the change cycle is very short on the following:

CPU
Sep-Oct you will have Tiger Lake, which "probably" won't add much to performance but will consume less power and generate less heat
This will also change to PCI-e 4.0 which doubles your bandwidth. That also improves external boxes for eGPU solutions.

GPU
Ampere is likely to add 40-50% to each current gen GPU tier. Even if you tame that to 30% it's not peanuts and the ray tracing is expected to double, for the same or lesser power consumption.
Time frame is unknown - but it is something measured in months not years
Expected to add HDMI 2.1 - but targets for that output are right now just OLED TV's. More monitor/TV's down the road will get 2.1 however.

Wireless
Yes - in the past this was a who cares. But now it's soldered. Ok no big deal right? Except that Wifi 6 e just got approved. Broadcom and Qualcomm both have router and client chip releases supporting it. It is not something that can be added to current Wifi 6 modules via firmware. And it more than triples the amount of available high speed frequencies available to Wifi 6. Routers based on it are coming in the Fall. Intel has "been working on 6e for a long time" so not long until they follow with a client chip. But, that chip in the R3 models is soldered. It's soldered on the Intel Extreme NUC too - so you can thank Intel for being such a nice player and Dell for playing along because they are ever so "innovative".

So in 6 months roughly you will lower your chip heat, double your GPU to CPU connection speed (possibly SSD as well), and have 4x the amount of high speed wireless channels available to you as today. Just FYI.

 

Yeah, the temps are pretty ridiculous. Was painful reading HWinfo compared to my outgoing 2014 Malibal which ran substantially cooler.

The biggest issue here for me is that the front face of the laptop becomes absolutely nuclear. They put an exhaust vent above the F keys and below the display hinge, and it's literally shooting off superheated air and is extremely hot to the touch, like hot enough to burn you.

Not sure they really thought that through, because it's nonsensical and way too close to the user's hands. Maybe if it actually resulted in lower internals, but as has already been shown, it's not to be.

Shame because the laptop is otherwise completely awesome, and I love the 4k OLED.

Honestly no idea if I'm going to be keeping this. Years ago I forced Dell to refund me on an M14x because the thermals were atrocious out of the box. I had to escalate it because they kept trying to tell me it was "normal," but they eventually took it back and refunded me (which then I went to Malibal and got a much better laptop anyway).

Decided to give AW another shot and found myself allured by the OLED (which really is incredible, can't overstate it). Now I'm feeling like I made a mistake, because the CPU is getting ludicrously hot even under otherwise light workloads. Their new "vapor whatever" cooling is DOA.

 

Maybe you are right, but in 6 months is not possible that Dell will launch it on their notebooks... after premiere you have to wait another 4-5 months... so you have another year and another model

 

With how expensive it gets when you start upgrading it I believe it.

 

My AW17 is pretty outdated and I need to upgrade so I was looking at the m17r3. My primary need is for work. Im a video editor working usually in premiere pro and Davinci resolve. Long hours editing and rendering. And I love gaming as well of course. I travel a bunch so I gotta be able to edit raw 4k footage on the go. Been using AW for years with few issues. I just can't stand the size and weight any more. Traveling as much as I do it's really getting annoying. So I was looking at some of the thinner options available now like the Dell xps17. Only issue is people are telling me thin workhorse laptops don't do well with long hours of intense workouts cause of heat and cause a lot of issues. I see all the complaints with the aw m17r3 like soldered ram and temps etc. But I'm getting close to pulling the trigger and buying one but I'm curious dyou guys think even with the downsides this is still the best option for my needs and price-wise? Or is there something else out there that will work better for me?

 

Thank for your post. Do you have an M15 or M17 R3 ? I am really interested in what you said about the heat coming out the back. Are you saying it heats up the laptop lid rather than expelling the air cleanly?

 

So the honey comb pattern above the F keys is actually an exhaust vent, before I purchased the laptop I actually thought they were the speakers - they aren't. The amount of hot exhaust air coming out of the top of the laptop is pretty substantial, it's in addition to the exhaust on the sides.

With the stock cooling profiles courtesy of AlienCC, I was hitting 98/98C as a Max temperature in HWInfo during gaming, averages around mid 80's C, essentially regardless of the cooling profile. With these, the WASD keys were getting almost uncomfortably hot and made continual forward movement (like in an MMO) difficult. I was very close to already pulling the plug and shipping this laptop back (the reason I went with it anyway was the OLED screen and beautiful chassis), but I realized I could set my own custom fan profile in AlienCC.

Make no mistake, ALL of the stock profiles in AlienCC are too timid with the fans, INCLUDING 'Full Performance.'

I set a fan curve that sets the fan at 80% @ 75C, then 90% @ 85C and saw a 10C drop in max temperatures (no core exceeded 90C), and mid 70's average temp on all cores. In addition, it removed the nuclear keyboard heating that had me ready to return the laptop.

So without repasting or undervolting, I feel I've successfully negotiated the overheating issue with this laptop. I think Alienware are out of their minds with the stock profiles, all of which I consider worthless for keeping the laptop acceptably cool. Make your own fan curve and be aggressive with it, and the temps will be acceptable unless your factory paste job was garbage or there's some sort of defect that needs to be warrantied out.

I'm using an M15 R3 with the i7 10750H and a RTX 2070 Super max performance (not Q), with the absolutely bonkers beautiful 4K OLED. Despite using this as a gaming laptop, I'm eschewing a high hz screen because of how incredible this OLED is. The DCI-P3 gamut coverage and overall vibrancy is the best I've seen since my M17x R2 and its RGB LED wide gamut panel.

People are hardcore sleeping on this OLED; high hz screens are IMHO overrated when you have a barely 100% sRGB panel (which is boring). Of course though, I understand if you’re predominantly a competitive FPS gamer that essentially requires gaming above 60hz, so I totally get that caveat. For everyone else, you need to consider this OLED because it will boggle your mind. And for games that are too demanding to run at 4K, 1080p looks fantastic on this panel. Zero blurriness or loss of sharpness, looks similar to my Malibal’s stock 1080p screen. And we're talking 1ms response time! Could be the best laptop screen I've ever seen; no wait, scratch that, it definitely is the best laptop screen I've ever seen. Never thought I'd say that after owning the RGB LED way back when on the M17x R2.

To summarize; I'll be keeping my R3 after setting my custom fan profile and being happy with the results. If I repasted or undervolted, it'll only get better. Alienware's stock cooling profiles are garbage, ignore them and set your own. Personally I'll never use the stock overclock profiles, the laptop can hardly handle stock speeds without disintegrating. I just don’t understand this brand - they consistently offer some of the best screens and chassis in the industry, but continually treat cooling as if it’s an inconvenience to their power goals. If they actually took cooling seriously and provided competent stock thermals, these would be the best laptops on the market by a wide margin.

 

That's a great post SaosinEngaged, it will help a lot of people out I'm sure.
It is surprizing they thought venting through the honeycomb grill was a good idea. Not sure what the impact on the life of the screen would be.
And I know what you mean about the OLED screens, I have one on my 13R3 and it is pretty amazing for gaming.

 

I understand your frustration. Alienware was my first gaming laptop nearly a decade ago. It was the M17x. Everything was modular. I upgraded that thing over the course of three years and got a lot of good use out of it. These new models are a far cry from what they used to be. And I do miss those old tank laptops.

From what I can tell though you can easily get these new machines under control with a repaste and an undervolt. As much as people give Alienware flax for this the other manufacturers aren’t any better. They all do well with an undervolt. Some are smart enough to come pre undervolted. But it’s not the standard yet. And some manufacturers seem to be using good thermal paste or even liquid metal. If Alienware were to do these two things out of the box it would help a lot. Though they could also stop pumping so much voltage into the CPU also.

The soldered RAM, WiFi, and such really needs to stop. While I’m sure most people don’t open their machines up it still makes self repairs next to impossible.

Maybe one day they’ll wise up. But chances are the general public is not smart enough to realize these are issues and are still making Alienware a pretty penny in profit.

 

Hello, could someone please tell me where I can get the following spare part for my brand new Alienware M17 R3?

It is the I/O bridge connector between mainboard and the right I/O panel.

 

I would offer three pieces of advice:

* Do you need or might need / benefit from more than 32GB of RAM? If yes, look into other options (e.g. m15 R1, XPS 17 or Precision from Dell)
* Make sure you read some high-quality in-depth reviews (notebookcheck) and get feedback from sophisticated users on any thin and light 10th gen Intel laptops you might consider- apparently there is no way to undervolt them, which is likely disqualifying for heavy use. Consider a 9th gen thin laptop or a larger form factor (51m) instead. Some of the latest AMD offerings could of interest too, although I'm not aware of a decent one yet - there is a pretty cool Ryzen 3950x laptop from XMG but it lacks TB3!
* Be ready to repaste your laptop - models which make this easier would be preferable (sadly the m15 R2 and R3 have inverted motherboards, which means it needs to be removed in order to repaste the laptop, as opposed to the nice and easy heatsink-only removal process in say m15 R1)

HTH

 

I'm not sure if these will fit your model, but they are the same connector types - https://m.aliexpress.com/item/4000327288427.html

The only place I could find them.

 

So I bought an M15 R3 with the 10750H 2070 Super and the 300hz panel. I thought from what I was hearing that the panel runs through the igpu but it turns out it is connected directly to the gpu.



I was able to get gsync to work on this panel so I guess it means both the 144hz and 300hz are direct wired and gsync capable. Or at least mine is. battery life sucks cause of it. I was hoping for a mux switch. Maybe there is one and I don't know how to work it. I'll report back if I figure it out.

 

There is no Optimus in the R3? That would be another strong piece of evidence that Alienware is going full retard.

 

If there is I can't seem to toggle it on. I would guess they haven't realized that there needs to be a mux switch for the 300 hz panel. This panel can also do gsync. I was able to get it to work on a fresh copy of windows 10 but on the stock image I am stuck on 442.94 and there appears to be some software trickery to lock me out of updating drivers or enabling gsync. Alienware up to their old BS.

 

My gosh, that's just sad. The worst thing is that GSYNC is mostly just a useless marketing gimmick. Like any sync method, it increases input lag, particularly at low FPS up to 60, where it purportedly shines the most. Well done Ernie, Umar, bagman, and I guess your new boss.

 

Yep. G-sync is not great but there really needs to be a mux switch in these 300hz panels. That would have made them pretty close to perfect for what they are. I don't get these guys sometimes. I get that it's a money thing for the most part but sometimes it appears they option things in a way that feels vindictive.

 

Yeah, well, customers can get vindictive too. As it stands, the m15 R1 will be my last AW laptop (unless it falls apart and they force something else on me as a replacement).