*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Ryzen R5 Owner's Lounge

I tested it with both the CPU and GPU and it runs much cooler than before. I can have the CPU unlocked now and the temps stay under 100C while slamming it with COD CW.

Also I noticed that mine has 1r16 memory instead of 1r8 memory. Looking through the repasting guide and this thread; I see some other images where people have 1r8 memory instead... So I guess that Dell changed the memory after launch?

 

Well boys, I am officially being blackballed by Dell CS. I agreed to have the tech come and replace everything, and ultimately that did nothing for heavy loads. It still hits the same temps, it still throttles if it gets hot and the GPU bottoms out. I attempted to return it and evidently the agent never processed anything at all. I waited for all follow up correspondence, confirmations, and return instructions but nothing. I have spent 4 hours being passed around to overseas agents and chat agents telling me to repeat the same steps, and just hitting dead ends. I even tried e-mailing support and all they said was, "It appears you're dealing with thermal issues and we do not have the capabilities of assisting you, please contact _____." I specifically requested information on the phantom return request, but they evidently ignored it entirely.

What joy this has been. Guys this sucks, I will NEVER purchase anything from Dell for the remainder of my tech loving existence.

Any advice on wtf I should do here? Contact the BBB?

 

When the tech came to replace the parts; did you have them use proper thermal paste? This is what I had my tech do. I gave him my tube of TF8 and told him to put the laptop back together with that paste instead of the $0.38 paste that dell uses. The result is much better temps and no crashes.

 

I did not. I suppose it'll be what I do when I inevitably come to the realization I am stuck with this. That along with upgrading my ram and storage. Sigh, this Legion 5 Pro is everything it should be too. It's performance is incredible, GPU and CPU response times wayyy better than the m15 r5 when gaming. It's a shame Dell is basically "trapping me" into keeping it, so it seems. I can't believe 5+ hours of effort today yielded absolutely nothing but redirection and repeat interactions. I am at a loss for words as to how Dell operates this way.

 

This is what happens when big companies make mistakes. They know that everyone is returning this laptop left and right because of the issues that Dell created.
I would tell them that you want the cooling solution replaced again because the temps are too high. Have them send a tech back and have them repaste it with Thermalright TFX or TF8. Or take it apart yourself if you can. Not sure how savvy you are but it actually isn't as difficult as I thought it was when I saw the tech do it.
They actually sent a new motherboard and cooler for me too but the motherboard was defective so I had the tech put my old board back in and my issues are basically fixed now. 101C is the max temp with everything unlocked on max settings with max fan in COD CW. Other games don't hit high temps like CODCW since that is one of the few games that hits both the CPU and GPU.
Everything else works great but I do have a huge amount of light bleed in the top corner of the screen.... otherwise my system is pretty much perfect now.

 

So just put in an order for the M15 R5 Base model - 1200 bucks after tax.

Is this worth the plunge or will I be disappointed. I recently put in an order for the X15 R1, but probably going to cancel it as this is nearly 1K less than the x15 config I ordered… and probably…nearly the same performance?

I also just took a plunge and bought a 3070 Founders Edition for my desktop (which is a couple year old 9700K, but so far it’s still rocking) so between the two (M15 and 3070 desktop card) I’m about the same $$ out that the singular 90W X15 is (granted, I already owned a home built desktop that just needed a GPU)

 

It's gonna run hotter for sure but you still have some portability and you'll get MUCH better performance with your desktop and its new 3070 than you ever would with the X15. Honestly, the X15 isn't great; it's rife with compromise. Then again, so is the M15 R5. Either way, I think you made the best decision.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

 

Yeah - Been going through the typical annual run trying to find a laptop that can be my “one machine to rule them all”. Tried the G14, the G15, and was going to try the X15 for the heck of it, knowing all these thin and lights are nowhere close to desktop class. The real problem was my desktop PC build is very constrained for graphics cards and so many are trending towards 3 slot height which I do not have room for…so I finally just bit the bullet and got a founders edition 3070 (also only have a 550W PSU).

That said, I still need some sort of laptop - and I’ve found I struggle with 60hz ultrabook screens of late, getting too used to HFR displays on all my devices. I don’t really need a gaming laptop, but do want a laptop with an HFR display.

Has anyone here bought separately Dell’s new compact 240w a/c adapter? The huge brick coming with this unit is a bummer. Does this unit support any sort of USB-C PD charging??

 

I think that the M15 R5 has a ton of performance for what it is. Honestly before this I had the Nitro 5 for the past years and I have enjoyed it quite a bit. Mine never had HFR displays and now using the AW laptop is making me struggle with my other displays. I am considering selling the AW laptop just to get something without an HFR display because there is no way I can upgrade all my other machines to HFR when I typically do work and use 4K.

My model is a 3070 w/ QHD screen but after a repaste it runs quite silent. I would say that the only issue for me is that the GPU gets stuck on after gaming sessions which requires me to go into the device manager and disable it and then re-enable it every time.... otherwise the laptop idles at too high of a temp because the GPU is on.
The keyboard is good though and so is the screen, trackpad is okay but it is smooth and easy to use just not the best compared to things like the surface laptop 4 or pixelbook go.
For a price of 1200 I think it is pretty well worth it for what you will get. The new Nitro 5 3060 model is also $1200...

 

The saga continues for me. Now my Tron light is completely disabled and I can't figure out why. I have spent hours in AWCC FX tab and troubleshooting trying to figure it out. Anyone experience this? Sigh. I hate Dell so much, I wish they would just take this thing back

On a much lighter note, happy 4th gang!

 

Happy Independence day!

I can tell you that the motherboard is likely bad if that is the case. When they sent the tech to come out and replace the fan they also sent a new motherboard. Well the new board didn't light up the keyboard, rear lights or AW head. So I had the tech swap back to the original motherboard and everything worked fine.
There is a controller board but it all comes off of the motherboard itself. There is an "AlienFX" chip on the board that controls the lighting so it could be that is the issue for you.

 

Thanks for the reply. At this point I will happily just accept an M15 R5 that doesn't have and hardware or software flaws. I will take the high temperatures, and the gimped performance with pleasure. I just want the headache to end lol. Life is good, but this investment has not been.


I would like to add that I ran a full Dell system diagnostic and the camera was found to be failing and in need of a physical replacement. You really can't make this **** up at this point lmao

 

Has anyone upgraded from high density to low density ram to see if there is any performance upgrade?

 

I upgraded to some Samsung 2xr8, ran a few benchs and gained a bit in 3d mark.

 

Can you be more…specific? Do you consider it worth it - or not? Are we talking less than 5FPS at 1080P or closer to 10?

Thanks

 

Haven't even received my m15 R5 yet but already ordered 2x 8GB sticks of HyperX 3200 MHz CL20 Dual Rank, low density sticks. Definitely going to do some tests with it before and after to see how they fair against the slow stock ones (despite not even having the laptop yet haha).

 

Sorry, i have qhd and only did a couple tests with it. I gained enough to justify the upgrade for me personally. Samsung 2xr8 ,
https://www.3dmark.com/spy/21385314

 

Nice, looking forward to seeing the benchmarks, hope you enjoy your r5

 

Anyone with the base screen upgrade upgrade their bios? Seems like Dell just quietly enabled the MUX switch on them (and the G15 with 3060 too). Very strange indeed.

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Why not go for 2x16? Just curious

 

Price, and I'm not a developer so I don't need 32GB of RAM. Plus, only the 8GB sticks of HyperX are dual rank.

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I updated last night and have the option in the bios settings. However Nvidia control panel says I have no Advanced Optimus, so guess there’s no hardware in my base model 3070. The bios does mention “when available”, so possibly they’re combining bios’s?

 

Yes but now you can go to your BIOS and uncheck hybrid mode, go to Nvidia control panel and select the dGPU only, bypassing the iGPU completely. Means you get about a 20% performance increase (depending on the title). Just remember that if you need battery life, re-enable hybrid mode.

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Ah right, got you. MUX is a whole new thing for me. Thanks for the tip, I’ll be sure to test it out tonight.

 

AWCC and CPU-Z show different memory latency on the m15r5 3070 5800h. Anyone else seeing the same? Planning on upgrading to the 8x2 hyper impact.

 

I ran a couple of Time Spy benchmarks today. With Optimus enabled in the bios I got a graphics score of 9798, with it disabled I got 10,034. A small increase of about 2.4%.

 

hey, with the M.2 thing and getting a bracket for the 2nd SSD

ive called dell and had 0 luck, to the point they said i could return it but not get a bracket.

what did people do to get a bracket from dell,

and whats the part number of the bracket so i can try to get a replacement elsewhere
i might look into just getting one on amazon.

at $1900 cad with 10% off, im not getting a better price anywheres else

 

It should be part number PXNWV

You just wont have a heatsink

 

MHKK8: ASSY.BRKT.SSD.CHANGE.ARK is the official part from dell. Contact dell cares via Twitter for it of you can't find it.
Alternatively,PXNWV is from another product line but fits and is useable and you can order on Amazon

 

Hi. Did anyone repaste to a traditional paste like Grizzly Kyronaut? I wonder how much improvement to the temp. I hope there is a 5°C drop on CPU otherwise I will go for LM.

 

Well...

This from my M17 R4



Why the dishonesty? I'm satisfied with performance but if I'd known this prior to purchasing I would have bought something else for no other reason thant he misreporting of the timings.

 

Fantastic. Dell made a new scalper option on the web with the cheapo trick not to offer the 2nd SSD Mounting Bracket if "you didn't pay for maxed out ssd specs" for this models on Dell Store.


I wonder how big the profits is for selling this small piece of metal. Maybe you know bro @etern4l 25 cents in costs vs $15.99 sales price. You could do the math.

 

Why not just design a product that only needs you to insert one M2 screw? So they can screw the buyer. Bad design and bad intentions from bad people. Smart people build a better mouse trap. The shady ones build Venus Fly Traps.

 

Good question.
Yeah, the RAM here is showing pretty much the same latency as throughput as HyperX Impact 2666 in my m15 R1. At least you can upgrade to proper RAM.

Looks like the idea is to slap customers in the face for not buying more SSDs from Dell, or not buying the "flagship" x15

 

Looks exactly like the bracket used for WLAN on echo models.

 

At long last, I have good news. After an absurd amount of time trying to sort things with Dell and their terribly incompetent support system, the laptop is on it's way back to them. I am happily using a Legion 5 Pro 16" AMD model, and I don't think I will ever be returning to Dell after this experience. It's a beautiful machine, the m15 r5 that is, and I terribly wanted it to workout. I just can't believe the amount of issues around this thing, and more particularly my model. Good luck to you all, and I hope your experience is better than mine.

For what it's worth, the Legion 5 Pro 16" IS a damn good upgrade. Look into it if you too are unsatisfied.

 

Let me help @etern4l on this one: It's a 6396% profit margin witthout the overprice shipping on which they make another 6000% (approx) profit. So for a ,25 Cents parts your are making a 12396% profit.

Not bad. Even if they have a black Friday special on this one they should still have a profit.

 

Nice to hear that.

 

Yep. The idea is to up-sell their new X-series. But I wonder if this will hit back as a hammer. Save 25 cents to make the new models look better is darn disgusting. At least the m15 R5 should perfom better in games due the higher graphics TDP. The new X-box model of the Alienware 15 is castrated with the lower 110W graphics power.


Alienware m15 R5 Review - Not All Ryzen Gaming Laptops Are Good - Jarrod'sTech
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...e-and-discussion.835993/page-87#post-11106346

Yep. You improve performance with TCC Offset. Previous bios update increased overtemperature threshold from 100C to 105C. Now they want you to add an negative temp offset.

 

OMG when is it going to stop with Alienware/Dell.

Is Dell aiming at becoming «Dell/Alienware: The most UNupgradable, UNrepairable, and now, most UNpowerfull laptops in the world. You asked, we delivered »

 

USE THE WHATS APP SUPPORT
i spent hours talking on the phone, i had people be like oh its technical support
oh its customer care support, one care agent just said get technical support to say you need it
and then technical support just went, NO, im documenting it on your account that your request is denyed and we wont do it, buy an SSD

THIS IS WHATS APP SUPPORT AND ITS SO MUCH BETTER IT CONFUSES ME
(took awhile to get them respond)

missing parts service request
1: MHKK8 SSD Bracket
2: X197K M2x4 Screws (quantity of 2)
3: 26X1Y Heatshield
required to install a end SSD

keywords to help people find this

m.2 NVME ssd mount bracket

 

Thanks for sharing your experience, this will be helpfull for others getting the parts but still.... this guy at tech support. WORST CUSTOMER SERVICES EVER. After you spent thousands of dollars on their product, this guy wanted to make sure you would never get the ,25cents part for free by another agent when he documented the request and his stupid decision (just in case you would call again and speak to someone not as stupid has him).
Before Alienware had an excellent customer services and i would sometimes run into a bad agent from time to time (mostly in Costa Rica calling center) but today with Alienware, bad agent is the normality and exceptionnaly you run into a good one.

 

UPDATE WITH ALL PART NUMBERS AND PHOTO OF THE BRACKET
i asked for 3 things they sent all 5 XD

IT WAS OVERNIGHT SHIPPING

no idea why it says refurbished, but it looks fine

 

Really sad you have to do this in order to get what anyone else would just include in the first place.

 

Make a proprietary design only to try stop you from re-use your own ssd's over pay more for maxed SKUs from their sales-page is pretty disgusting.

 

Just received my M15 R5 Ryzen - something is not right.

I went through typical update process - including a BIOS/Firmware update where the fans kicked into to ultra-high mode.

Just fired up HWINFO after a restart. CPU idling in the 90s, GPU the same. Just launched a game, CPU pegs 100C instantly, GPU is near 100C (which means no thermal controls). Fans are not spinning up at all, but regardless should not even be in the 90s with nothing running. I've never seen this before. Battery is also not charging above 77%.

Uhhhhhhhh....what's up peoples?

 

Look into Task manager to see what use all the power. Or use Process Explorer.

 

Just ran the Support Assist Diagnostic - and the system just...shutdown completely.

Welp - guess this answers my question. Time to return.

 

There was no process using heavy CPU/Memory, disc, etc. It was idle.

 

After that hard crash I long pressed power button, now on restart fans seem to be working again. CPU is idling at 55C now and looks to be coming down. Fans have stopped spinning too. Also the battery is charging past 77% all of a sudden.

Before I was checking temps it all seemed to be working, launched a game (Destiny 2) and the FPS looked good until I picked a destination. After loading the destination I was in the teens on FPS. That's what launched me into standard assessment like normal (sometimes I just like to see how it feels without HWINFO running, etc).

Any thoughts here - this sounds troubling to say the least. I've already had a GPU running at 100C out of the box.

Fans still not really kicking on in a game, just really low speed - GPU is running around 20W. Temps are not spiking this time, but not really getting much performance. Everything was on balanced in both windows and AWCC. Just turned everything to max - fans kicking up but still not getting 115W on the GPU, just hanging around 20W.

Update 30 minutes later:
Reflashed 2 Jul BIOS - but things largely seem to be working ok now. Fans on balanced are pretty quiet. CPU will be around 93 in game, and GPU parks at 86. Although overtime tends to drop to sub 90W. On max thermal in AWCC, GPU hangs around 105W? CPU will be around 86. Actually not bad thermals now in a game??

I still remain very concerned with this initial weirdness - seems to bode poorly for this system moving forward and that it took a thermal shutdown to resolve.