Ordered an Alienware m15

Almost all ODM I know of, if the item is built out of US and is for Gov. use, it must be sent to US for all software install OS, etc.

 

Switching to dedicated graphics only in the BIOS was one of the things bricking laptops.

Let's just say that Chinese businesses don't work the same as the western ones. There is no real separation between them and the Chinese government.

 

Happens on my sister's ideapad lineup. But instead of bricking any OS will boot into black screen with no display output.
Then again, any Intel based PC you buy it comes with free tracking mechanism called MEI, yeah security and privacy compromised even on US made laptop like HP or Dell.

 

Just saw this posted LOL. Not even trying to hide it anymore

"...video and its creators are linked with the Chinese state-run CPC Central Military Commission Political Department Song and Dance Troupe..."


https://www.notebookcheck.net/All-a...e-most-pretty-Huawei-apparently.410953.0.html

 

I've always used Dell for business work. Optiplex/Latitude/Precision line.

I can see myself using AW as well

 

Dropping in late...I just haven't had time to visit the forum.

Since Ted is your Sales Advisor, please email him at [email protected] to get answers to all of your questions

 

I was jumping up and down when I first heard of this machine. But once I got into the details, my enthusiasm was squashed. The first squash was the two powerbrick requirement. I was hoping it wouldnt need that much horsepower with an RTX2070, but no such luck. Then I started looking at M17's with a 2080 maxQ, and discovered nothing but 60hz panels! Seriously??? Still on hold, looking at Strixes and Raiders, waiting for the machine that fulfills my spec requirements.

 

I reinstated my order again with HIDevolution. It will take about a month to get it, around 2 weeks till Dell ships it to them then maybe another week till I receive it after HIDevolution the upgrades which I ordered which include a Silicon Lottery 9900K rated @ 5.1 GHz

 

Keep us posted on any workarounds for FW throttling if you find anything!

 

Isn't that over 6000$?

Is the cpu lottery worth 650$ for 0.1 ghz more?

 

The CPU lottery is not about the 0.1 GHz. more. It's about being able to run even at the stock clocks with less required voltage due to the superior binned CPUs that was hand picked from 100s of other CPUs. Meaning, it will run much cooler than your average 9900K which IMO is a MUST on these machines. I would pay anything to have a lower temp operating CPU on this beast and I got a 4 year warranty with it so this is a long term investment which is why I went all out.

See this old post I made way back when I had a 6700K in my old P870DM and how the Silicon Lottery changed the entire experience for me:

The last thing I want right now is to wait for 1 month till I get a laptop only to receive a not so great 9900K which will overheat and thermal throttle more than others. I have had very bad luck when it comes to getting a good CPU in the past and don't want to deal with the hassle of replacing it and whatnot. Do it once, do it right, and be done with it.

Be smart....be like Ultra Male...

 

0.1Ghz more at the top might mean 50-100mv less is needed at lower frequencies, so it will run cooler than a worse binned CPU.

 

I think another approach would be to get the standard Dell CPU. Test it out fully. If its not up to snuff, buy one from Silicon Lottery and install it yourself. Save a ton of money if you got a good sample from Dell. If not you are still coming ahead of HID if you sell the Dell CPU.

The sacrifice here is time and effort if you need to get the silicon lottery CPU and sell the Dell one.

 

I don't have time nor effort no the patience to test, remove, order a new CPU, then install it. I work 14 hours a day 7 days a week. I would pay for anything that saves me time. Time = Money

and guys, don't you worry about my money, I will do with it as I please, don't try to be my finance managers.

 

Sorry if I offended you, was more responding to others finding this thread.

And you clearly recommend everyone do the same as you, so i though that some juxtaposed options were called for.

(remember you come from a position of power to new members and casual readers as a member with a massive reputation score)

 

Just ordered these headsets:

Alienware Wireless Gaming Headset: AW988

 

Let us know your thoughts? It will be pretty hard to pull me away from my Astro A50.

 

This was my second choice with my Dell rewards from Area-51M purchase. I just didn't like the usb thing so I can't use it with other devices as far as I know.

Let us know the sound quality.

I think I'll be getting the 32" dell monitor lol

 

I agree with this. I am not trying to be anyone's finance manager - but paying like 1250$ for 128GB of ram and an EXTRA 700$ for a "lottery" cpu is really not "smart" by any stretch of the imagination. New members / casual readers shouldn't get the idea this is "smart" in any way shape or form.

 

honestly I feel the opposite, if he has the money and wants those items then 100% go for it. At the end of the day its not about the price its about the happiness you feel from getting what you want.

 

Sure it is smart. Most arguments have pros and cons. The pros are are good ones too here.

For @Ultra Male, who lives in The Middle East (I'm pretty sure). Those items are now covered by HID's amazing International warranty service, where before he would be SOL if if any of those components went wrong. His binned CPU is almost necessary in one of the hottest regions of the world. Also we cannot pretend to know his use case, 128 GB of RAM may be perfectly reasonable.

I would argue against my previous option and say, do exactly like UltraMale if you live in a place components are hard to get or hard to cover under warranty.

 

I agree with @Ultra Male its Very smart what he does because he also live far away, to be honest it’s a pain in the ass mod things to make them work as expected if you are busy and working all the time.

Me between work, studies, girlfriend the last thing I want is open a laptop to try to fix it or mod whatever I gotta do to make it work, but I’m lucky I’m in London and can just call services and send it to fix and shipments are fast around here. That’s the reason I always pay extra for Apple care and things like that because I really don’t want to bother with it and want it solved fast.

 

True, I sold my 2014 BMW Z4 to get this machine. Because I drive the Z4 once a week since I walk to the Gym and don't go out I'm on the computer all day so a computer that would bring me happiness is more important and does not mean I am rich in any way shape or form.

 

My order status has moved to: In Production.

What HIDevolution has done so far is:

1) Check for backlight bleeding and give me the best panel (extra fee that I paid for that service)
2) Backed the laptop's factory recovery image on an external USB Stick
3) Started the process for the Arabic Keyboard laser engraving and verified with me that all the keys are correct.

So hopefully on Monday they will start with the real deal by applying Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut + Fujipoly Extreme Thermal pads, RAM upgrade, stress testing, etc.

Can't wait till I get my hands on this little beast!

 

I have been using a pair for months now. They are at least on par with my Logitech G933's with a smaller dongle and they are actually more comfortable then the G933's as well IMO. The down side is I am pretty sure you can't replace the dongle if you lose it ( I actually got a spare in my headset , factory **** up ) and even if you do I don't think there is a way to pair it. The battery life is pretty decent, 12 hours or so from full charge and they charge much faster then the G933's do. The software is hit or miss as it's all baked into CC now, and currently the AlienFX can't be changed on them as CC does not work and won't push the color changes if you select any to the headset.

They are a little overpriced IMO when comparing them to other headsets. If they came down a bit I think they would do better.

 

Just got my coupons for the following games for buying a laptop with an RTX 2080:

Battlefield V
Anthem
Metro Exodus

Is Anthem the crappy game due to poor coding that everyone's advising to avoid?

@kojack @TR2N

 

Well for someone who uses cheap earbuds to play games or watch movies, I hope that I will be blown away by the quality of the sound.

 

Yes... Avoid it.
Go with metro or battlefield V.

 

Male, don’t ask me about new games, I just want to play gta 5 and forsa on my laptop. Can’t do either. Doh.

 

You're the only person that I *know* that IS a gamer so I tagged you first

 

Even though I completed it twice I'm still figuring out what I missed.

 

Me too. GTA online is fun sometimes too.

 

I play Solo because I suck at Online gaming, always get killed under 10 secs. I'm really bad I mean very very bad.

 

I’m not really, I have a ps3. And my dell 2 in 1 cannot do new games. I am getting a new xbox however for my son and I to share.

 

Me too, but sometimes there are a bunch of people who work together and you get involved in those cash grabs. I made more than 50 million on the game that way. Ha ha

 

That's what concerns me most about the trend games are taking. Multi-player and having to be online.

 

Finally, my order has shipped!

 

Nice! please keep us posted. I won't be able to put my hands on my m15 until 21st of April (abroad for work)

 

Definitely. I should be receiving it tomorrow.

 

Current Shipment Status:

 

Just got the laptop and swapped the stock SSDs with my 960 Pro's so now I am using Dell SupportAssist to restore the recovery image via the internet. Couldn't get any easier than this

 

@ssj92 @iunlock @Papusan @Mr. Fox

What the heck is this in the middle that looks like a CPU die with no heatsinks on it next to the copper SSD heatsink

 

PCH

 

Oh thanks. I was worried there thinking something is missing

 

Yea it does haha... Every time I still see it on laptops it makes me double think it to this day. Some heat sinks have a copper plate coming off of the main cold plate to cover the pch. <- it does need to stay cool, but passive cooling is often good enough.

 

Check the PCH temps under heavy load and see how warm it is getting (HWiNFO64 will tell you). It needs to stay cool and it might be cool enough running bare if there is good air circulation. I think running them bare is kind of stupid even if the PCH doesn't get dangerously hot. Alienware used to have a metal heat plate and thermal pad on them back in the day before they shifted their focus to BGA trash.

The Tornado F5 had a bare PCH and it got really hot, so I made a heat sink for it and then the temps were excellent. I used a 30x30mm copper shim and glued some copper RAM heat sinks on it, then attached it to the PCH with thermal adhesive. It was a permanent installation, which is fine since the PCH is permanently installed as well. No reason to care that it cannot be removed. But, put some Kapton tape down around the die before gluing it onto the PCH so the thermal adhesive only glues it to the die surface and not the PCB part of the PCH.

 

I have this headphone as well as a bose qc35, a sennheiser hd595, and a sennheiser hd6xx

I haven't tried the aw988 for music or video, but I've tried all 4 for gaming

The qc35 blows every headphone I've ever used away as far as comfort and noise cancellation goes but is last in sound quality

the hd595 is a good balanced unit

the 6xx doesn't need an amp to sound good no matter what people say, but is soooooo much better with one and is easily the best sounding

the aw988 stacks up pretty well to the hd595 (Again, this is from gaming tests only don't take is as a review) and the 7.1 surround sound (Which I believe is actually surround and not simulated, alot of 'surround' headsets now use a few speakers but don't quote me on this) gives you a nice advantage in gaming

I'd say get it

 

Modern cpus simply cannot live without something on them. If nothing was on the system would turn off before windows could fully boot

 

Great assessment and I agree as I own the Bose along with the Senn's you've mentioned. I use the Senn HD598 with a Modmic5 for my gaming head set since it's one of the most comfortable cans for me. My HD700's are comfy, but felt a little shy of slapping a ModMic on such nice cans lol.. those are a little too nice lol.

I'll have to try the AW headset, based on your observation with owning similar cans... Neato.

 

Its PCH and like Mr. Fox said a heatsink will clearly help you! But you can opt for arctic or gelid or any cheapo thermal pads 2x1.5mm or 2x1mm pads will get the heat off by 5C. I think dell has set throttle point to 95C as opposed to 85C.