Alienware Area-51 Desktop Owner's Lounge

The exchange rate is meaningless. Hardware in Canada was much cheaper 8 months ago. a $1000 5960X is now $1400.

 

Like I've said in another forum as well this doesn't work for some reason using the exact same settings as you the system boots with 800mhz core clocks and the voltage reverts to auto. Try restarting your system and load Alienware control panel and see what t says.. Nothing sticks ... I have to open the app and force 1.26v just to get the clocks to ramp up to my overclock. So I don't know how you did it or maybe there is just a issue with my motherboard .

I've been a of gamer for over 10 years now and I have never had this many loops to overclock I was always able to get 4.5-5ghz in seconds.... So either your machine is golden, mines broken, or your overclock is not working like you think it is.

 

Should be using CPU-Z and intel XTU to confirm your overclock not. The used alienware app

 

Doesn't matter what I use they all show the same thing 800mhz core and it shows in speccy, throttle stop, and alienware control center . The voltage adjustments don't stick so my cou won't boost it just sucks in lower power mode almost. But if I set oc2 and boot and launch xtu it over locks just fine..

It's just weird never had to deal with a oc like this before I tried loading factory defaults I tried clearing the cmos nothing is getting the voltage adjustments to stick

 

Thats just really really odd! You tried asking technical support might get you a new mobo

 

I would say it was weird but if I load up with the level 2 factory oc and then load xtu and load my 4.5 ghz oc in that app I get no issues .... So it's just stupid I have to load a app to get my overclock after every reset

 

however when i do my way with oc level 2 and load my oc i get this

 

Greetings forum. What is up Mobius. Hola to the Fantastic Mr Fox.

Having browsed NBR's 'Ask Alienware's General Manager, Frank Azor, Anything on AWA!' thread, a startling admission on p.15:

Qwote

My chat w/Dell informs the R2 mthrbrd costs $550. Oops. Why, or how does a mthrbrd that's self-admitted by the General Mngr himself not to be confused for a $500 board get priced higher than one anyway? You already know the how & the why though don't you? Don't you ...

I regret not being here GroundHog day to remind the man that: This! Is! Sparta! Kicked him in the chest down into a bottomless pit for saying that.

So let's talk R2 motherboard swapping. There's an R2 mthrbrd on eBay ($170 obo, 1-week old & priced at about what it's worth); I contacted the seller, asked if new mthrbrd w/8 mem-slots fits (I'd wondered if the standard ATX form-factor R2 Alienboard was down-sized to 4 slots in an attempt to keep left-side memory away from the radiator perhaps), I was told: 'yes I am using a mthrbrd with 8 memory slots' (but was not told if he tested all 4 dims on the left - the concern being the radiator). I just dug this up on the 'Looky what I saw at Fry's' thread here in the A51 lounge, something to consider I suppose:

• 'I recall back at Prime when they were talking about the case, you need to mod the case a bit to get it to work with a standard ATX motherboard. The case was designed for their ATX motherboard, which did end up having a proprietary shape (hence the lack of 4 RAM slots). The motherboard is basically a hybrid of mATX and ATX'. p.3 / Star Forge

Next, I asked if he recovered AlienFx, seller informs: "command center works but I can't change the colors of the lights." Conversation ended there. This tells me CmndCntr 4.0 may not have a proprietary block on aftermarket boards (Asus/Giga/MSI etc) but may not work 100% either if it does install. Keep your ii's peeled on eBay for original R2 mthrbrds for sale & contact sellers for useful info. Today (now 7/15) Gman debuts his mthrbrd swap:

• Area 51 r2 - swap to a new motherboard, is it possible?
• http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19631919

Brand New Registry Hack to Install CmndCntr on Area-51 R1/R2/Aurora
The link above will take you to AlienOwners forum, where AVicD & I describe a way to by-pass any proprietary blocks baked into CmndCntr versions 2.8.11/3/3.5/3.6/4. B4 removing your stock alienboard, capture your registry file & use it to by-pass the block on aftrmrkt mthrbrd. Example: if you swap in an Asus/Giga/MSI, you paste your .reg file into your registry, install CmndCntr (which validates your CC install because you've tricked it into thinking you have a stock alienboard, based on the false registry entry, woohoo!). Give our posts a read, & remember to capture your Bios registry entry B4 you remove your old board, in case you need it when installing the new one.

An alternative: I find it is best to simply put your new board in & boot into your existing drive / R2 windows install (which will have CmndCntr pre-installed), to test what happens; if ok, uninstall old drivers etc, install new mthrbrd drivers etc; CmndCntr may be there waiting already on your hard drive. Cloning your install 1st then booting into your clone-drive to see what happens is a fast way to audition your new mthrbrd in Triad & go from there. Post nuggets here so the picture gets clearer.
'For what shall it profit an Alien should it gaineth the world yet loseth its soul' ...

FoxxxRoxxx

Pride Goes B4

I know this is a good place to Alien-bash. So when in Rome I shall do as the Romans ...

 

ALl I did was the following

1. Click set OC level 2 in the bios. Click Yes to accept and save
2. change the settings in the pictures to what I have.
3. Click exit
4. click save settings and restart

5. BOOM! bios over clocking done

 

Hi, Ive got 2 questions....

want to buy 16GB of RAM for my Area 51 r2 (need it also for other things than gaming..) Does it just work when I install these : 4x 4GB Gskill Ripjaws 4 - 2400 MHz ?

And besides I want to install a second 980Ti in the near future, so I want to upgrade my 850w PSU, can I just buy a third party PSU (like the corsair AX1200) ? Alienware says a standard Atx PSU could work, but not sure, bla bla. Isnt it just : swap the PSU for the 1200, plug the New cables in, and of we go?

 

According to what I have learnt:

Ram: Yes will work but nothing above 2400mhz works

PSU is a standard so yes you can swap it out. As always just check your measurements

 

Allright thank you! I can get 2666MHz RAM for exactly the same price as 2133 here where I live, so 2666MHz is the way to go then right? It only won't run higher than 2400? Is that it?

 

Yeah for some reason the bios is crippled. You can get 2666mhz ram but they wont run above 2400mhz. Maybe in the future there might be a better BIOS.

 

Ok thanks again, i'll buy the 2666 then.

 

I wouldn't go with 2666 MHz. RAM. 2400 MHz. RAM is the sweet spot for the X99 chipset and has 0 compatibility issues. This coming from people on the ASUS ROG forums not only for the Alienware

 

O ok.... won't it just clock down to 2400? I've read that too a couple of times?

 

Never mind... I will buy the 2400 then, indeed a couple of guys have 2400 and all of them work flawless

 

ok must be something wrong with my motherboard then... guess ill be calling dell today...

 

Well...mine doesn't work either... and a friend of mines also not...

 

That's the best choice. Yes it may downclock to 2400 MHz but when most people tell you to stick to 2400 MHz as it is the sweet spot, might as well just do that. Additionally, do you think you will notice the difference between 2400MHz and 2666 MHz? no way! it will only be visible in benchmarks and just by a small margin.

 

I've updated my bios A02 and my PCI fan speed and generally my temps have gone a bit higher. Usually my gpu temp stays below 32 degrees sometimes even goes down to 29 degrees on idle. Now with the bios A02 it doesn't go below 32 degrees. Also my PCI fan use to run around 768 rpm and now it runs at 800-815rpm and the fan does seem like it's giving a higher pitched whirring sound. My side panel lights don't light up also.

I don't know if i'm the only one having this problem?

Anyone else?

 

How strange this is as mine did the job... Hmm I wonder what differences in our systems there maybe....

 

Yeah well..... I noticed some strange differences in the cooling sounds too..... I have sort of... up and down....up and down.....sound sometimes, never before.... GREAT update the A02, exactly NOTHING the users wanted (almost..) and strange sounds...

 

Hi there Gaudio you are spot on. I've also noticed this and glad i'm not the only one. There are weird and strange noises coming from my Alienware Area 51 R2 too which weren't there before when I had A01.

My left hand side panel lights don't up at all..

This is a new system as well which only got released in the last portion of 2014..

You spend so much on a system only to be having these problems. It's completely unacceptable..

 

I wouldn't go that far Mobius1. I'm sure they'll come up with a fix in the next Bios update

 

In the same way Dell did with update bios for Aw laptops? No fix?

 

Have they been messing about with the laptops? Hoping they don't they do this with the new Area 51 R2 or i'll be up their backside and sort them out!

 

Does the Area-51 R2 motherboard use standard pins for the front power button, power led, etc? Basically, will the motherboard work in a different case with a different psu?

 

SSJ92, see yours is for sale. I just sold mine as well.

 

broken fan profiles and missing(?) bios for aw 18 and 17

not sure if there's anymore problems


anyways, bios on both laptops is locked down with encryption so you can't edit/fix yourself, been pushing for a fix but dell/aw never responded

 

Hi, ive bought a pack of 4x4 corsair 2400 DDR4 memory. But when I install them, the speed is locked to 2133mhz.. How can I set them to the 2400 MHz the Area 51 R2 should be able to handle? I'm kinda New in this ;-)

 

you have to go into the bios and set it to 2400mhz

 

Under overclock settings? And set under "DRAM frequency" on 2400MHz?

 

4.5 / 1.3v
2666 4x4
1602/3780 1.243v

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/7771481

 

Dram frequency change it from auto to 2400mhz

 

The Area 51 is now being sold with the GTX 980 ti at an upgrade price from the R9 370 of $700.
Ehh, much better pricing than the GTX TITAN X. It's only $150 more than the GTX 980, which is the same as in retail, I think.
Now we just have to wait for the Fury's, and speaking of the Fury, someone at AWA remarked that you have to disable Secure boot to even install an R9 Fury (multi-Fury works).

 

That's great news, since Secure Boot sucks. I wish all high end GPUs required Secure Boot to be disabled in order for them to work. I cannot understand anyone actually wanting to have it enabled on a high performance system.

 

Now mine is gone I don't think I could go back to an Area 51R2, just far to many compromises.

 

After they completely ruined everything in the notebook product line, I came really close to buying one of these Dorito machines. I had loaded my cart several times, but a still small voice was telling me, " Fox, don't be stupid. Look at the laptops... it's going to be crippled." Thankfully, I listened and watched. Didn't take more than the first few Area 51 deliveries to reinforce my suspicions. I'm so glad I did not spend a small fortune on one of them. I give them credit for innovation, but let's face it... superior performance and unrestricted freedom to do as you please ALWAYS trumps innovation. As you say, "just far too many compromises" involved. I have always liked Alienware desktop cases. It's what is on the inside that counts, and the only thing we can count on is that if it is being sold by Dell/Alienware the insides are going to be performance crippled and maimed by proprietary design. That's just how they roll now, and have been since the middle of the M18xR2's life cycle, when some imbecile decided it would be cute to implement flash protection. They've been circling the drain since then.

 

I do wonder if they have lost any sales since there change...

 

offtopic: trash the sp120l and get gentle typhoons

 

yea i noticed the same thing too i though i was going crazy... as for temps its nothing out of the ordinary i actually find this case to be amazing when it comes to temps compared to similar builds i have built in the past my 5930k oc to 4.6ghz at 1.26v on the stock liquid cooler never goes above 64c and after a 1 hour prime 95 had a max temp of 75c which is pretty good and my 2x gtx 980 sli 1450/4000 oc the temps usually sit under 80c which is pretty good and im in new jersey where its been rather hot lately. so in terms of temps i would say these are more then acceptable temps

however i do have the ramp up and down after i exit games as you have said and it started with A02 and regardless what others have said i still cant overclock with the software or the bios i am forced to use XTU i went through dell for a motherboard replacement and the new motherboard is exactly the same issues as the one before it so i know these dumpster boards are better served as they are. dumpster. im going to go to my local micro center and get the asus sabertooth x99 and try that and see what type of magic i can make happen.

 

I shall check out the fans thanks
Edit: Those fans are discontinued now.

Also I have 6 fans in total in my case.
3x SP120 performance edition pull air in the front Motherboard control 3pin only so DC
2x SP120 pulling air through my radiator they came with it H100iGTX 4pin PWM attached to my motherboard as that corsair Link software is garbage
1x NXZT 140mm FNv2 as rear exhuast again 3pin attached to motherboard.

I let Asus Qfan do all the fan control just left on standard.

I have to admit the cooling of the Area 51R2, is actually really good.

 

I would want that cpu cooler lol, sounds amazing that it can hold 1.275 on a 5820K below 80c.

They're discontinued, but you can buy them with OEM packaging.

2150rpm 3pin DC
US: http://www.performance-pcs.com/misc...radiator-fan-2150rpm-68cfm-black-edition.html
CAN: https://www.dazmode.com/store/product/scythe_gentle_typhoon_2150rpm_69cfm_30db_fan/

2150 PWM
CN 1850/2150: http://foresight.taobao.com/categor...093320.3.V3nQtL&search=y&catName=%B7%E7%C9%C8
Ebay 2150: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gentle-Typhoon-2150RPM-PWM-fan-/271925770251?rmvSB=true

 

1.275v gets me 4.5ghz,. 80c really does depend on what your doing...

Aida Stress Test I get 72c
Xtu Benchmark 81c
IBT on very high I hit 92c

 

no it doesn't that why im not sure how to insert a new motherboard because it doesn't set up like normal motherboards do. i know it can be done i just down know how until o go buy one and really play around with it.

 

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us...nware-area51-r2&languageCode=EN&categoryId=BI
New BIOS. Just says support for Win10. Be on the lookout for any other details.