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

5%? Where is the maths behind this figure? Again, vague statistics derived from thin air. And nobody put a gun to anyone's head to buy this machine. Whoever bought it, made a choice to go with the first iteration of a brand new proprietary graphics form factor from a non-GPU manufacturer and this is a risk that they took willingly. So again, I do not see ANY point, especially after the fact that every single defected / ruined / user spoiled system was replaced / repaired. Where's the point? Still nowhere. Just compulsive whining.

And, by the way, I have seen at least 5 of these machines so far, 2 from the original launch last year and all 5 of them are working perfectly.

 

Anyway enough arguing on the subject, I reckon if they rolled out a machine without the GPU installed, you will still blame the "enthusiast"

And for the record because I'm not really bothered, I have no loyalties to any brand, what I will say is though the Clevo P870 is better overall than any machine I have ever owned, and I have owned all the Alienware line since 2010 15" onwards.

 

Just because you find something "dumb" doesn't necessarily mean it actually is. If a GPU blows, and the manufacturer replaces it, there is no reason to complain. One can only complain if Dell refuses to entertain them after such an incident which is not the case. So, like I said, there is no point in these rhetorical complains. And as far as enthusiasts go, NOTHING stops them from trying out new stuff. If somebody is hesitating to buy a system if (for the sake of argument) it has 5% failure rate, then they are not enthusiasts in the first place.

P.S., I don't have loyalties to any brand either. But I have an indigestion problem when it comes to baseless rhetorical complaints where people just whine for no reason which in turn slows down competition and disrupts innovation which is bad for end user i.e., you and me.

 

Sadly though no RTX 2080 ?

 

But if the underlying problem is there... This won't help much if you are outside warranty. Not all had/have the money for the extended warranty so they will be screwed once the first year have passed and they can smell the smoke. Should people downgrade bios if they are outside the warranty period? The new firmware is all they have to help them not run into the known smoke. See... Saved by Dell's engineeers new "crippled" firmware updates who is meant to stop the smoke problems.

 

Yes actually.

https://www.hidevolution.com/evoc-h...0k-i7-9700k-i9-9900k-rtx-2070-2080.html?ref=1

 

That is a solid machine, no doubt about it. But it is absolutely no match for Area 51m considering the weight profile, the form factor and the portability factor where you can just carry one tiny brick around for light work. Plus, let's face it, it's ugly and looks dated as heck.

 

Lol

 

Okay, we are going off track here, I was replying to a thread based on a question to which @doofus99 suggested the P870 didn't support an RTX 2080, to which he was wrong.
Agreed on looks - the 51-M is beautiful - as long as it doesn't go up in smoke that is.

 

It's good to have discussions, but don't resort to personal attacks, there are many ways to formulate an argument without resorting to insults or the like. Chill.

 

I definitely think Chrome is AW Command center and AW CC is Chrome consuming huge RAM. There's no way for AlienFX and game library manager to consume more than 1GB. Then again, updates are updates and you need to avoid them.

 

It doesn't in general. These are isolated incidents, otherwise mine would have been the first one to blow, considering the fact that my toddler jumps on the keyboard deck while it's running 5 virtual machines and busy in cpu + gpu extensive tasks on the host itself and it never gets shut down / sleep / hibernated EVER haha! No key has popped out from the keyboard either like some people complained even after such extreme use case scenarios taking place almost daily. The keyboard backlight fascinates my girl and she likes to stomp on it occasionally.

 

Shadow Warrior (2013) and Dying Light. Both games which I like alot... ;-) It's not the end of the world, but it's a bit annoying. A big old "disable 3rd party FX"-button would make all bad things go away.

 

The bad thing is, that reverting to a previous version is a pain in the ass, due to the OC controls that also have to be comaptible, and they can mess up my Intel XTU installation (which I use for downvolting the CPU), because AW OC Controls also use intel its XTU libraries to do the overclocking.
Damn I hate this, especially since I am seemingly the only one who has this. FYI, this is version 5.2.42

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I also now after the update get the message when starting the application after a boot, saying that no AlienFX device was found, leaving out the FX tab.
But after like 30 seconds when the Fusion controls are loaded, the FX tab appears back again.

 

Where did you get that photo from?

Well again, if this is a guaranteed defect than sooner than later one of the 5 systems I have in my circle of family, friends, & myself should see a burn. They all are on either 1.3.2 or 1.5.0 bios and 200w vbios. All have been repadded and repasted. Again mine hasn't burned and I personally love the system. I've had most if not all alienware laptops in my possession in some form going back to 2009 and this so far is one of my top faves.

Regardless, there are many people that have systems that have been going strong. To constantly talk about the same thing, and have people come in to the thread that dont even own the system talking down about things that as of today are mere speculation, kind of destroys the thread. This is called the "Owner's Lounge". Perhaps it's a better idea to create a thread that its whole purpose is to express concerns, dissatisfaction, and to discuss potential defects with a particular model. The original owners lounges 10 years ago primarily had users that owned systems.
Some how all issues, questions, discussions, etc have been coupled into this one thread.
Just saying.

 

Why not use ThrottleStop?
try this:

Code:

cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319
ngen update

cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319
ngen update

 

I agree. It's ironic that most of the critics out here don't even own this machine.

 

I've had my system since since March, i overclocked the Hell out of it and it's running strong.
This laptop is a beast, it's unfortunate people have had bad experiences with it but for me (So far) it's everything i could have asked for.

 

I didn't use throttlestop, simply because I have been using intel XTU for many many years, and I simply like it, also in terms of UI. But there is no real valid reason as to why I don't use throttlestop.

I tried updating the frameworks, It said that everything is up to date.
Also perhaps worth mentioning. The initial memory usage of AW CC, is at roughly 130Mb.
The moment I open the fusion tab, it starts raising like crazy. Massive memory leak. Quite annoying, as I have the tendancy to open AW CC at boot, and leave it open in my 2ndary monitor.

Pff, hope a new update comes soon, and fixes it.

 

I'd say just use it for what it's worth i.e., fan control. Disable all OC related settings and use XTU + Afterburner for that purpose only. And regarding rgb lighting, just create a few themes, set the one that you want and call it a day. I only open AWCC when i have to switch fan profile and I'm very happy with what I have . Although the fan control curves could be much better like they are in Afterburner. I've requested a feature for it but I think it'll be quite some time until we'll see it out.

 

Who said I haven't owned one or had one in my possession - I think you will find most of the comments come from people who have had one and many other machines - so they are more an experienced enough to "have a say"?
I do know one thing, its GOOD for newbies to come into a big thread and get an unfiltered opinion on a machine whether it be positive / negative or both.
I do know if I was potentially spending upwards of £3,000 on a system, I would want to know the "possible" gremlins - as i personally research before buying anything nowadays - as do most people.

I also didn't say it was guaranteed either? my point was - it's not an enthusiast causing the "smoke" as one member was suggesting, all the evidence points towards a hardware issue. @DeeX

There is no need to get so defensive, it's verging cringe-worthy.

 

Well to be quite honest, I only have it open because of getting skeptical after having my 1st machine burned.
Now with my extreme undervolts I have yet to reach CPU temps higher than 80, and GPU temps Higher than 74.
But somehow I still have to urge to see it. But liek you said, it's actually quite useless at this point.

I guess now is the time to let go of my skepticism

 

There are some trolls here as well.

 

There is also a lot of incorrect information that gets thrown around on threads, that should be cut out and removed to be honest.

 

next stresstest XD

40 mins BFV @5Ghz

 

To this, I couldn't agree more. Rationality is hard to find.

 

This is what I meant earlier... there's no way to disable those games hijacking the alienfx, I have searched high and low and given up on it... only option is to "go dark" or suffer the game with its light show, I use the Fn key combo to do diable it and then play Metro Exodus on dark keyboard... no way around it sadly...

Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

Just uninstall AWCC. Got fed up and did this.

 

Hello,
What is the best, vbios and bios to have on area51m?
Thanks!

 

you aren't the only one. my ACC is doing the same memory issue in task manager when i open the fusion tab. i only noticed it after you mentioned it a day or two ago.

 

Had my system since the 1st week in June and it's running great. Good cpu temps w/ a -0.090 voltage offset, good gpu temps (but then I ordered the 2060 - so guess that is different than most of you here). I have no complaints about the machine. However, Dells software is another story, but I can deal w/ that. Peace...

 

Oh well, minor issue - but still!

Then I won't be able to change fan profile!

Go with bios 1.5.0 (or 1.3.2 if you want to go the recovery route) and vbios v1.0.0.3 for best performance. The "safest" combo should be bios 1.6.2 and vbios 1.0.0.5. Don't forget to disable "
UEFI Firmware Capsule Updates" in the bios.

 

To be honest Muyfa666 I find the fan profiles to be a bit useless as i've tried with and without. Sure it's nice to customise what level of fan you want depending on games however i've noticed that by default system is totally silent while on desktop but adapts the fan speed really well by itself in games.

 

Here we go... Area-51m DGFF card blew out

There will always come up posts with info that can balance out all the incorrect information that we know is posted in threads like this one, as well silmilar (Remember there is people out there who need the proper info about the products before they by it - Not all of them posts in forum or know where they can get all info - they need to know the + and -).

This time up again because as you have seen in later posts, some repeatedly put the blame for the smoking mess on the users such as ( Noobs newbies who don't know what they are doing or enthusiasts who squeeze out hardware so it will fail), failed Liquid LM jobs in hundreds who is to blame etc and not on the products itself who need band aid fix like awful firmware updates to reduce the risk for more burning episodes. It's called balancing acts. This for the best for possible coming owners or those who already own the products.

Edit.
Nothing is worse receive totally wrong or even planned incorrect info as only source. I know because I see it everyday and everywhere + this ain't nice. I as many others try each day be on top provide the very best info you is able to get out there. To the best for all. If some of the info ain't for you it can still be the best for some others.

 

The 51m I had before wouldn’t go over 75c for the gpu and 70 highest one the cpu

Compared to the system I have now it hits 86 on gpu and 90+ on cpu at times.

 

Ah, gotcha...
I would not suggest its an enthusiast causing the smoke either. Many of us are putting a decent strain on the systems and running them daily. Pretty much trying to see how much they handle without burning. We are not running them in a un-natural way with the intent to make them burn. However, we are putting them through the ringer in a normal enthusiast way to see if our normal enthusiast ways are going to make them burn. Nothing yet.

Regarding the thread etc...
It would be better for newbies to have thread dedicated to your criticisms or info on flaws etc. Matter of fact each flaw or issue should have its own thread that way its easier for potential buyers to find.
That way the discussions remain focused and on topic, rather than all over the place like this thread, resulting in a diluted thread that is not even serving its purpose.
That's how it used to be on most previous systems even going back years. If a system had a throttling problem, someone made a thread. If a system had a issue with the LCD (that was a production issue), people made a thread. That way they can read all about the criticisms, flaws, or whatever you want, in one easy to find place. This thread is so big that people have to keep re-posting some evidence of your criticisms to actually read them. Many newbies are not reading 1300+ pages of posts and surely will be missing info unless someone comes along and links to a previous page.

Aside from this being beneficial to your cause to spread knowledge, the thread that is suppose to be for owners to "lounge", can be less disturbed.
Again, the intention of this thread to be for people to discuss systems they own with other people that own the same systems. No, that does not mean that potential buyers shouldn't come here to ask owners questions. However, having all topics of the system good bad or indifferent contained in one thread is not productive or organized. The same reason I suggested SK post his repad guide and BIOS downgrade guide in its own thread. They were difficult for newbies to find and also were missing out on Google doing proper SEO.

I cannot see how anyone should have a problem with this suggestion. I'm encouraging you all to make threads about flaws and criticisms.
Not in anyway suggesting that these issues be downplayed or censored etc.

 

Okay guys please help...all i care for is some fan control, all i ask for. And stupid windows update after realtek update i lost alienware command center (in terms of not working now and just freezes when i open AWCC)

I did follow their goofy tutorial of uninstalling AWCC properly on their Alienware Support page on YT and then going to microsoft store to download AWCC..but still can't get fan control, fusion audio profiles anymore etc...

did someone find an alternative to get AWCC to work, need a method to install AWCC por favor!

Thanks,
MRican

 

You need it to switch fan profiles.

 

I hear a few of you saying lately that your early-adopted (initial batch pre-revision) system (now possibly re-padded) has been running strong for months now without issue: if you're reading this & feel so sure your system shipped with no suspect components (no ticking time-bomb onboard), which of you is brave enough to flash your system (or someone you know) with the original January Bios (1.0.1 | 1.2) and vBios (1.0.0.0 | 1.0.0.1 | 1.0.0.2), run them for a month or more & report back? 'Running strong for months now' while on the newer 'safer' firmware (specifically released to address any more burn issues) doesn't sound like evidence of anything other than you're running strong on the newer safer firmware ... ... ...

The best advice is/was to avoid the old firmware like the plague ... Alienware wants u off the old GPU firmware as well, that's why they yanked it off the FTP server June 26 & they wanted new owners off the 'old' hardware as well given they revised the mthrbrd & DGFF (precautionary or otherwise), went so far as to yank 2080s off the sales menu til the board revision took place, perhaps delayed shipments til new mthrbrds could go in (I'm happy to be better informed over the delay specifics - the why of it all - a few months ago). Pattern's clear to me that they found a root cause & addressed it; FAzor was asked if it was a thermal-pad issue - was asked twice for an update on this, but suddenly transparency went out the window moments after he made this tweet about being transparent, I dig the irony of it actually: "Once we know definitively we will communicate as such. We are pretty straightforward and transparent if you haven't already noticed"
(Someone should ask Frank to pwn up to that tweet of his)

Otherwise, if your early-adopted system is no longer on the day-one month-one firmware, it's pointless to state your system is fine on the newer firmware; chances are, you're consciously purposely proactively on the newer firmware to avoid any problems; last but not least, chances are that any systems that remain in the field that will burn up (whether few or many) will be 1st batch Wave 1 systems still on the old firmware (for whatever reason); patched &/or revised systems (factory or owner-initiated ) should 'run strong', for reasons the Aliens have already addressed & 'fixed' ... ... ...

edit @S.K (new reply)

Consider: I can't find the tweet - but - Azor was sooooo confident of his hardware that he essentially gave DGFF a life-time warranty right there on Twitter --> why??? < -- 'if your DGFF experiences the exact 'root cause' while out of warranty & fails (burns) we'll replace it' ... so there is & was a root cause ... it can NEVER be the case that the DGFF burned up due to an enthusiast's (improper) pad install & get a lifetime warranty from that guy - no way - the 2080 card lists for $2300 each --> only a factory flaw that they knew about, shipped out, could get that kind of guarantee. Fazor would never hand-out & honor life-time warranties on $2300 cards where root cause = user error

(See edit below): To truly put your system through the ringer, fall back on the old firmware if u dare --> if your system burns they'll replace it with one that doesn't ... ... ...

*edit to new reply: ' To flash a old FW in a perfectly working system seem very stupid IMO, so I know I won't try it at least' ... I don't expect you or anyone else to 'try it at least'; I posted here knowing exactly zero early adopters would literally accept a challenge to move back to the old FW found below. It's a thought experiment, of course it is, that's all it is ... the need for me to even point this out in an edit seems itself stupid & honestly puzzling

 

It's interesting that we don't know the details of any single one of the burned up computers as far as firmware goes. There is definitely a connection, which could work in combination with poor thermal pad job + benchmarks to kill a machine. Not to forget, the first batch of DGFF rocking lower spec NCP-303151 mosfets.

 

Everyone read this again and please try and follow. Make new threads for God's sake so that we'll have some channeled information in these forums. This owner's lounge is too long and too convoluted to follow properly. This thread is most resourceful information we have about the Area 51m on the internet but it's too saturated now. Hard to find information here properly, especially for a newbie.

So:

TLDR: Make new threads, let's start sorting out the information, may it good or bad impressions.


And for everyone saying that Area 51m is a bad laptop and it burns out and no future proof or whatever your gripe about it is, IT IS STILL A FANTASTIC COMPUTER!

If you were to allow me to trade this to a desktop class Clevos or the new GT76, I would still prefer keeping this, you know why? Because it is well designed, feels premium, juicy screen, easily portable, has fantastic warranty support for 4 years and most importantly, has DESKTOP CLASS COMPONENTS which performs like a desktop!

I don't know why you guys are complaining about old and new firmware crippling the performance, with any firmware installed on this system, if you can keep the temps controlled, this laptop IS one of the best performing systems you can buy today! Fact!
And if a user doesn't know that drivers updates and BIOS updates shouldn't be done "automatically with windows updates and Dell support updates", then they shouldn't come anywhere near a high powered systems like this... Macbook should be their calling... not this behemoth!


And finally, for people with short memories, remember, a 9900k cannot be properly cooled even on a desktop computer. Have a look at Hardware Unboxed's graph below:

So, if a few laptops did burn out initially with such chips running within the confined spaces of a laptop, I've already forgiven Dell/AW about it because the burning reports have completely disappeared since June. The reason I choose to forgive Dell for their mishaps is not because I'm loyal to them, screw them and their policies, I choose to forgive them because I'm happy they at least tired to make an high end enthusiast class laptop which we've all been waiting for 5 years plus and I'm very happy with what they achieved to do with it.

I, for one, am a proud owner of a Area 51m for years to come. This will also be my last laptop ever because by the time this hardware is EOL, I will be building a desktop after 20 years as I won't be moving to a new country every 2 years and will retire back to my Himalayas peacefully.


Sent from a Galaxy S9+

 

System BIOS v1.3.2 and VBIOS v1.0.0.3 200W

 

It's the same with the Aw17R5 thread too, everything is under one roof, and it is hard to find something. But it is the easy option, there is no cataloguer maintaining posts and threads.

 

I bought the Alienware m51 in February an have had no issues at all, I’m on bios 1.3.2 and original vbios 190w. I haven’t re pasted it, although I am tempted but as it’s working all ok I’m reluctant.

I have repasted previous Alienwares 17 r3,r4,r5 however m51 has the best temps.

The gpu does get hot, but never over 84c an usually holds at 80c on average. Not great but not bad an does not throttle. Also it’s clocked as standard higher then recent vbios updates. See image.

Maybe early batches were ok? Who knows ?

 

I've deleted a few posts from this thread. Enough with the back and forth arguing. It's cool to have opinions, but we aren't here to push those opinions on to other people. If it continues, we can hand out a small vacation time from posting...

 

Try some undervolts. I'm sure you'll drop those temps very nicely. Start with 925mV at 1900 MHz and tweak your way from there for the GPU. For CPU, you could use -100mV undervolt easily on stock clocks.

 

Sure, but it's still nice to have when needed.

To flash a old FW in a perfectly working system seem very stupid IMO, so I know I won't try it at least.

 

After swapping the speakers with those from my old dead unit
After swapping the audio board with the one from my old dead unit

I still hear this saturating sound on voices... well, I'll let it as it... I swapped enough pieces of hardware

Going to have fun with this beast now... Last time I've spent 3 hours gaming on PUBG and Overwatch full details @ 3440x1440 and it was great, proud to own that laptop ...

After this 3 hours session (full speed fan + fan stand) and with ambiant temps lowered my max temp on GPU reached to 83c max... lowering to 81 / 82 on less requiring games

Repad and Repaste teached me a lot on how I can optimize my hardware, and to know this machine better

 

What monitor do you have if you don't mind me asking?

 

I’ve been out of this thread for a few weeks... have I missed anything good?

My 9900k/2080 is still going strong (KNOCK ON WOOD!) with 1.3.2 and 200w VBIOS. Have had it since early April; just played Monster Hunter World for two hours last night no issues (again, trying not to jinx it).

Going to de-lid my 9900 next week, repaste with both Nanogrese and TG to see what I like more, and will TRY to repad but it seems there’s no perfect guide to the sizes and amounts you need, yet, so I may end up waiting on that.

Temps are high after an UV, but I keep 4.9 stable on all eight cores and my GPU doesn’t throttle, so I won’t complain.