*OFFICIAL* Alienware Area-51M R1 Owner's Lounge

Use GPU-Z and crossreference the vBIOS version with below:

• RTX2080 200W VBIOS (90.04.3F.00.42)
• RTX2080 190W VBIOS (90.04.3F.00.0E)
• RTX2080 180W VBIOS (90.04.3F.00.63)

 

I have mine since mid April and it doesn't have any discolouration yet. Knock on wood.

 

Ya, that's it.

Also, with my ambient temps of 35C+, I am quite happy with this results actually.

I'm now running my 9700k @ 4.9Ghz on all cores at a UV of -100.6 on cache and core.

The GPU is running at 2010Mhz @ .937mV with +500Mhz on the memory.

The temps are fantastic. CPU stays below 80s with 2 hours Metro and Division, I could not do this with my old chip from Hidevolution. Their Delidded 9700k used to send the chips to 95C in 2 mins and also Hwininfo report like 100 errors in 2 minutes while playing Division 2.

The GPU stays at about 72C for most part but when it sometimes gets to 75C, it will not throttle like before and you can hardly notice it while gaming. The frequency drops to like 1850Mhz and jumps upto ~1960Mhz in a few seconds. No fps drops whatsoever and that's the key point I'm trying to make here.

I am very happy with this results actually. I'm staying with 1.6.2 and 180W vBIOS for now because for me, the performance and the temperature balance is perfect with this setup.


Edit: This is on a stock paste and I've a lot of headroom for the future.

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

Hello,

I just received my 51M and i have some questions :

-Can i replace the HDD 2.5 to a SSD 2.5 ?
-Do we need a heatsink inevitably for the SSD M.2 ?
-I did a benchmark and the GPU results were : "way below expected", how to solve that ?

Thanks

 

That's not bad at all! I get about 22k on 1.5.0 and 1.0.0.3 (probably the silicon lottery), but why not use the latest then if the performance is good either way?

I wonder this too... why not use the latest if performance still is good (and somewhat safe?)

 

Jeah, I understand haha, was kinda messing with you. I use the laptop with my palms not touching the machine so that´s why i dont see any discoloration.

 

1. Yes, no problem!
2. It's not "needed" per se, but every small measure that keep the internals cooler is recommended.
3. Hard to say. What actual score did you get and what specs are your 51M?

 

Hello guys,

So I received my Aera-51M this week.
Decided to install Windows properly on integrated SSDs and then backup image.
Now, I've re-installed Windows on my new Samsung 970 Evo SSDs following Ultra Male's guide for Windows 10 Clean Installation.

I however encouter some issues with this fresh installation :

- Alienware Mobile Connect drivers succesfully installed BUT I cannot install the App from the Microsft Store ...



It says this app is not compatible with my computer. Well it was previously installed on the factory image so how is it possible ?

Thank you for your help.

 

Since this is a Samsung NVMe SSD, the sticker is described as an "integrated, heat dissipating thermal label" - http://docplayer.net/64649037-Introduction-to-samsung-nvme-ssds.html

I"m assuming nothing's changed in that regards from Samsung manufacturing processes, placing a heatsink on top of the sticker would seem to be the best way to go.

Instead, if you're worried about heat, I'd recommend a laptop cooler or see if you can somehow get some airflow over that M.2 drive, as that should help with temps too.

 

@ssj92 You never got any results from the ssd benchmarks confirming 40C on load. Below you may see more realistic result.

Yeah, You shouldn't need to remove those metal stickers.

 

Unfortunately Alienware mobile connect will only work on the Alienware/Dell OS image.

They have some stupid license in place at BIOS level integration where it will not work on another image besides the Dell provided one.

Can anyone confirm whether or not the Intel 660p Nvme ssd will work in the 51m or not?

 

No reason to think that it would not work...

 

Some ssd's are pretty picky on Alienwares, or I guess some motherboards in particular.

The guy I'm buying it from is selling it because it won't work on his 17 R5.

 

I see. Never had any problems with compatibility, but then again I only buy Samsung.

 

Marketing BS => "integrated, heat dissipating thermal label".

The label is blocking air flow and is a physical layer interfering with heat transfer. Remove the labels, if the heatsink didn't come with a thermal pad use some good thermal paste between the M.2 SSD chips and it's heat sink for best performance.

Would you stick that label between a CPU and it's heat sink? Would you put that sticker between a GPU and it's heat sink? Would either situation give better thermal transfer results with the label or without?

Don't forget to peel off the plastic protective sticker on your heatsink before applying thermal paste and affixing it to your CPU / GPU too.

It's better without the labels / stickers than with them, it's simply common sense.

Of the M.2 stickers I've removed they are plastic or plastic layered, and the bottom "security" sticker is plastic layered with foil.

For best results remove the stickers, clean off the glue remaining on the chips, apply thermal paste if it's a raw metal heatsink without thermal pad, or stick on the self-adhesive heatsink alone.

You wouldn't leave on the protective plastic sticker protecting the surface of a heat sink, why leave it on the M.2 SSD's?

Given how hot the SSD's get I've seen the stickers slide under their own weight. Adding the weight of a heatsink on top of the sticker isn't going to be stable.

 

I don't know how well it can dissipate heat with such small thickness and bulk but I can confirm that it DOES have thermal conductivity which is enough to dissipate heat generated by these SSDs. My nice and cool temperatures on the SSDs and the heat sink getting hot to the touch while placed on top of the sticker confirms this. But if you really want to void warranty, then that's a separate thing (considering that these SSDs can go bad just like any other piece of electronics out there, you won't see it coming). I can say though that removing this sticker will further improve heat transfer as thermal pads can transfer heat more than adhesive based stickers but that's a decision the buyer needs to make whether he wants to keep the warranty or not (similar to delidding).

 

Considering their is some kind of copper foil in or underneath the sticker, this is simply not so with Samsung NVMe drives. But you can believe what you want.

I do agree with S.K. that a thermal pad would be better, but real world experience says the sticker does not seem to be hindering temps on Samsung NVMe SSDs.

 

In the US at least you can't void your warranty just because you remove some stickers. It's also the same for working on your laptop and needing to remove "void if removed" stickers to remove the screws to open the laptop to work on it. It's FUD spread by the makers to scare people away from working on their own purchases.

Everything is thermally conductive to some extent, unless it's designed to insulate - and even then some heat transfer occurs.

Does the sticker / label on the SSD's get hot? No kidding they get hot. Like I said I've had the label slide off on it's own they get so hot, the glue softens under the heat and slide around.

If you then try to stick a heavy heatsink on that slidy label it's going to be unstable, maybe slide right off under the weight of the heatsink.

Again, I'm trying to give simple examples of situations where you would know better than to leave a sticker on a CPU, GPU, heatsink - you wouldn't do that because you know it would interfere with heat transfer between the chip and the heatsink.

Think about it in relation to other situations you know better already. It's just common sense.

 

1: Copy-paste the code below in bold into a text file on your desktop and rename it as Registry.reg.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OEMInformation]
"Logo"=""
"Manufacturer"="ALIENWARE"
"Model"="ALIENWARE Area 51m"
"SupportHours"=""
"SupportPhone"=""
"SupportURL"="https://www.dell.com/"

2: Now, right click this file and select "Merge".
3: Once done, reboot machine (optional, but recommended)
4: Copy the code below in bold and paste it into a file on Desktop named Test.txt:

@echo off
setlocal

echo:
echo Setting OEMID in RegEdit...
REG ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Store" /v OEMID /f /t REG_SZ /d DELL
echo:

echo Setting SCMID...
echo Fetching System Model Name
for /f "tokens=2 delims==" %%a in ('wmic computersystem get model /format:list') do set SYSMODEL=%%a
set SYSMODEL=%SYSMODEL: =%
echo System Model Name is "%SYSMODEL%"

if not "x%SYSMODEL:Alienware=%" == "x%SYSMODEL%" goto modelAlienware
if not "x%SYSMODEL:Vostro=%" == "x%SYSMODEL%" goto modelVostro
if not "x%SYSMODEL:XPS=%" == "x%SYSMODEL%" goto modelXPS
if not "x%SYSMODEL:Inspiron=%" == "x%SYSMODEL%" goto modelInspiron

:modelAlienware
echo System model contains the name Alienware
set SYSNAME=Alienware
goto modelFinish
:modelVostro
echo System model contains the name Vostro
set SYSNAME=Vostro
goto modelFinish
:modelXPS
echo System model contains the name Xps
set SYSNAME=Xps
goto modelFinish
:modelInspiron
echo System model contains the name Inspiron
set SYSNAME=Inspiron
goto modelFinish
:modelFinish
echo System Name is %SYSNAME%

set SCMID=DELL_%SYSNAME%
echo SCMID to be set is %SCMID%

echo Setting SCMID in RegEdit
REG ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Store" /v StoreContentModifier /f /t REG_SZ /d %SCMID%

4: Now save the file and rename it to Test.bat and double click it to run the batch code (You'll have to enable file extensions in file explorer options. I'm skipping basic steps here).
5: Reboot
6: Open windows store and now you should be able to install Alienare Mobile Connect app (you might need to sign in to your microsoft account to do it).

P.S., Realize that this will reduce security for both your mobile device and your computer because if one of them gets infected (which is very easy these days), in paired mode, both will get infected. So I personally recommend to stay away from this app, especially if you have apps on your phone that are connected to your bank account/paypal/online shopping services etc that carry your credit card and other personal info.

 

" the sticker is not hindering temps too much"

People argue over fractions of a degree improvement when choosing thermal paste, but you are gonna suggest it's ok to leave a large sticker covering multiple chips - blocking air flow across and through / in between the chips - and leave it in place between the chips and the heatsink?

The glue softens under the heat causing the labels to slide off, if you glue a weighty heatsink to the slidy label, how is that a good idea?

Much better is to remove the label, clean off the glue, and stick the heatsink directly onto the chips on the M.2 SSD.

Are you gonna say that directly affixing the heatsink to the chips directly is not better than glueing the heavy heatsink to the slidy label?

 

The stock Dell heat sink doesn't slide around because it has a lip at the top which fits into the rib cage while the other end gets screwed in along with the SSD itself so it's a very snug fit which is bolted on. And since it isn't creating a huge temperature bump for me, I'd say it wouldn't do the same for anyone else using the same laptop and the same drive with Dell's stock heat sink. Form factor and layout matters in Desktops and can widely vary but this is a standard sized chassis for all laptops and completely identical form factor so temperatures are not going to vary from machine to machine that much. Which SSDs did you experience this with btw? And was it in a desktop or a laptop?

 

Edited my post ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/goto/post?id=10933776#post-10933776 )... Thanks for pointing that out.

Unless the the Samsung NVMe was hovering near throttle point, or some back to back to back benches with ATTO, Crystal or whatever showed some throttling, I'm not going to lose sleep over applying a heat sink on top of a Samsung heat transferring label. Now, in regards to the non-secured labels you've mentioned, I haven't seen that behavior on the 4 Samsung NVMe SSDs I own (2 Pros and 2 Evos). But if you're saying the detached labels you've encountered are on Samsung NVMe drives, I would have recommended contacting Samsung for a replacement.

Like I said, to each their own. If you or anyone wants to remove the label on a Samsung NVMe SSD, then go for it. I don't have any skin in that game either way. But for those on the fence, my suggestion would be to keep your warranty intact because there are no reports of a hindrance on Samsung NVME SSDs otherwise.

 

@jclausius @S.K

There's no point in discussing this further with either of you. You've dug in your heals into an indefensible position - for optimal heat transfer you need to remove the labels - but for the sake of the argument defense itself I'm sure you know which is best.

I'm talking about any situation, laptop / desktop, remove anything in the way of clean contact between a heatsink and a CPU, GPU, memory chip, controller chip, etc.

Leaving a sticker - no matter metal or plastic or whatever - in between a heatsink and a chip isn't going to give optimal performance.

Defending leaving the sticker between the chips and the heatsink isn't defending an optimal use.

Go ahead and leave on the stickers, or take them off, enjoy your new SSD's.

 

Using thermal paste on the Dell ssd heat sink is not an option, I believe. From watching the install video on about page 700ish, the Dell sink uses uses a thermal pad, I believe.

 

I'd happily peel them off if that would make a significant difference that actually matters. But when I see things cool enough, it doesn't seem very fruitful to me. It's like delidding a factory binned 9900K that is running at 50 degrees under full load at 5.2 GHz. I fully agree that removing the sticker will definitely improve thermals. However the benefits here are not going to outweigh the loss of warranty and it's not life threatening for either the laptop or the SSD itself to leave the sticker on in this particular use case scenario. Plus, not everyone lives in the US.

 

Right, when you can use thermal paste you do, otherwise use the provided integrated (unremoveable) thermal pad.

I've used both, and removed the labels for both.

The long top sticker doesn't have a "VOID" foil layer, only the smaller sticker on the back, so if you are itchy about removing that "VOID" sticker you can leave it on. The top sticker is the one that gets stuck to the heatsink - unless you remove that sticker first. It makes sense that the manufacturer allows the top sticker to be removed for providing a clean surface to mate to a heatsink.

Again, the VOID stickers aren't valid in the USA:

Warranty-Voiding Stickers Are Illegal. These Companies Still Use Them
Article by: Craig Lloyd@craiglloyd, April 15, 2019
https://www.ifixit.com/News/warrant...egal-but-these-companies-are-still-using-them

FTC Says 'Warranty Void If Removed' Stickers Are [BS], Warns Manufacturers They're Breaking the Law
Federal law says you can repair your own things, and manufacturers cannot force you to use their own repair services.
By Matthew Gault, Apr 10 2018, 10:30am
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ne9qdq/warranty-void-if-removed-stickers-illegal-ftc

 

But not everyone lives in the US.

 

Those stickers with "VOID" on them are used as scare tactics, and if you remove them for common use and replace them if you need to return or RMA them there shouldn't be a problem.

Don't throw away the labels. I use the plastic carrier the SSD comes in to stick the stickers to for possible later use. Take good care of the stickers and place them back like you found them, and you shouldn't be able to tell they were removed.

I've removed and replaced both stickers, including the VOID one on the back - it lines up nicely when put back in place and I can't see any difference in the before / after, and returned them for refund without trouble.

I've also returned a set of SSD's without the stickers applied - they were still stuck to the carrier - and they were accepted without comment.

Again, leave on the VOID sticker on the back if you don't feel comfortable removing it, but the long sticker on top of all of the SSD's I've installed hasn't been a VOID sticker, which makes sense as anyone adding a heatsink needs to remove the sticker for best heat transfer.

YMMV, let us know if you run into any problems.

Here's a report from an Intel SSD owner that got warranty service without the sticker:

Do you people remove the warranty sticker when apply heat sink on M.2 SSD?
Discussion in ' SSDs & Data Storage' started by Happy Hopping, Oct 2, 2018.
https://hardforum.com/threads/do-yo...cker-when-apply-heat-sink-on-m-2-ssd.1968940/

"So, tonight, I've seen a Intel M.2 SSD fails for the first time. This M.2 is only 10 mth. old. Now, to reduce heat, I have peel off that Intel warranty sticker. And the plan was to put a heatsink, but never have time to do it.

Now I just have to find that sticker. But should anyone use M.2 heatsink, don't you have to peel the sticker off? If so, what happens if it does fail? as the sticker doesn't stick back"

...Some Time has Elapsed...

"I just got the update on Fri. : w/ the sticker removed, intel honors the warranty. The only problem w/ the sticker removed is that there is a no. on the sticker, fortunately I bought 2 drive at the same time w/ the same invoice, so it's the same no., so I simply use the no. on the other drive and send it to intel

the only reason I removed that sticker is because of heat.

I have also re-organize my computer bench, there is now 16 sterllite drawers, I set 1 aside to store all these stickers that I remove for warranty purpose in the future"

 

Anyone tried Linux on the Area-51m? how well does it run? Also, you won't be able to control the lighting effects since there is no Alienware Command Center right?

 

I'm using a 2TB 660p SSD as my game drive right now. Works flawlessly. I paid $180 for 2TB nvme SSD, best money I've spent in a while really.

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

I agree. You can simply save the sticker and use it later if you need to claim warranty in the future.

I removed those stickers from my system and the temps did go down by a few degrees. Also, I moved my primary drive to the second slot and moved my secondary m2 to drive bay 1. This brought down the temperature of the boot drive to below 50C and the secondary 2TB m2 stays below 45C.

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

I'm currently running Ubuntu Mate on my machine with great performance. The only annoyance right now is that the internal LAN card is not supported (no drivers) although it is picked up and identified by the OS. Nvidia drivers work. Steam works. I have no complaints. The setup is rock solid. I haven't messed with lighting at all but whatever is set from windows, remains set on Linux too as settings are stored in the firmware. I have set mine as a single color across all lights(not a big rgb fan).

 

Perfect man! that makes me very excited. So I guess if the LAN doesn't work I can still use WiFi and it's a nice workaround that you mentioned we can set the color in Windows, never thought of that. Cheers

 

Awesome, glad to hear it works! I'm getting it for $140, not a bad deal eh?? Hell, even $180 is a steal.

 

Grab that with both hands mate..for sure!

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

Maybe @SK can run some benchmarks for us with hwinfo

Manjaro works fine. FN keys work too. Lights maybe can be controlled by some third party app?

BTW I got a MSI GT73VR, you have a drivers thread or driver pack for it you can send me? The drivers from the website are 2017.

 

Is there any hope for a AMD Ryzen version of the area 51m?

 

With Frank Azor going to AMD. . .maybe. Being he'd have connections to Alienware and Dell so that might be something we could suggest to him on twitter. I would like to see some more ryzen laptops. At this point AMD deserves our money more than intel.


So what is everyone using linux for on there laptops for? Never used linux myself, but with the way windows 10 is going somedays I've thought about it just for basic use and use windows for gaming.

 

I no longer support MSI but since you got one, I just updated all the drivers for you. See: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/msi-gt75-titan-drivers-8th-gen.800622/

Most of them will work maybe with the exception of the LAN Driver you need to find the latest LAN driver from Killer, just install the INF driver not the suite

 

Hey guys,
So I fixed the WiFi with a new router. Imagine that hah. Can someone do me a HUGE favor to put my mind at ease. Can someone shake their area 51m lightly and see if they hear a wobbling noise near the speaker end? Like something is slightly loose but also can be normally parts moving around. Just to put my mind to rest.

 

UM - if you get some time shoot me a PM, please. Wanna ask you a couple questions.

Thanks

 

Ok so I opened the back panel to investigate this subtle rattling noise. It was the speakers. They don’t seem to be held down by any screws but are loosely fit in there by design. Can someone else confirm this?

 

If I recall correctly, yes, they don’t have any screws and the sit on “posts” with rubber rings to dampen vibration. If yours don’t have the rubber rings, then that’s why they could be “rattling”.

 

Mine does have the rubber rings. The rattle was subtle and only if I shake it or move it quickly. Thank the Lord this is normal.

 

i find it amusing that on such a high price machine , buyers are cowering in fear of something being defective from the factory...
such is Dell.

 

Thank you for your update, so I’m on 1.3.2 bios. I will update bios later today.

 

Update to BIOS 1.5.0 because your Gsync will work fine and you don't get the 75C throttling as well. So, you get all the benefits with this bios. I'm running it right now and works flawlessly. GPU frequency never drops below 1940Mhz for me with 1.5.0 and 200W 1.0.0.3 vBIOS.

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

It IS a fantastic machine, but like with any other product, there will always be users who get unlucky with their investments. Trust me, there are many users who are very happy with the Area 51m, me included, but you'll not see them around the internet because there is nothing to complain about. Forums like these are a good to vent out frustration and that is a good thing for everyone as we will have a clear understanding of the situation in hand.

For me, personally, I would not trade this machine with any other desktop replacement in the market out right now. I've already said it too many times around here!



Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

How do I believe in what you are saying when I have availed countless services and got a replacement motherboard + 2 replacement screens + replacement sound card + replacement heat sink + replacement chassis under warranty from Dell for the same laptop? There is something that you are not telling here and without that one missing piece, this doesn't add up and makes no sense.

 

Is it faster than a regular 860 evo ssd?