Absolute legend! Amazing how a 10 - 15 degree drop by limiting the boost wattage on the CPU does literally nothing against performance (in this particular test of yours). I'd imagine in CPU intensive games maybe a 10% drop at most but I'll happily take that with mid to upper 70 degree temps! Thanks for all the other tests. This is perfect!
Yeah, and SOTTR does use the CPU quite heavily, a couple of other games I tried to use showed no difference at all! I am downloading all 100+ GB of BF5 to test that to see how many fps you loose but my net is so slow 🥲
@@MashITTech you should have gradually ramped up the boost wattage back to stock to show the sweet spot since it was only running 70 C you had some.room to see how much a little more juice would have affected it.
Thank you so much! I've subscribed now. I just purchased this laptop and your tips with managing the heat have made a difference, I think. This is my first gaming laptop, so I really wasn't sure if it was normal to get hot. But everything I read online is people talking about how hot this laptop runs and that it is bad. I wasn't really sure why that was bad - but in any case, I followed your instructions and it runs cooler with no impact on performance! Thank you again!
That was really interesting to watch. Thanks for making this. I guess with all the modifications you have made, the battery could survive 12+ hours... with very little loss of performance which is really impressive. Shame that the Dell / Alienware software is treated soo poorly and not updated / refreshed more often.
Awesome! Thank you SOOOOO much! Just got this laptop yesterday. Its been running hot and low FPS, like 30fps on Apex/Vanguard on low-med settings. I watched your video and downloaded the Ryzen Controller and did the steps exactly as you said and now im getting 160+fps on high graphics. And its running much cooler! Thank you very much! Truly and deeply appreciated my friend!
Congratulations on this video. I rarely come across a help video so jam packed with useful info. I just received my own unit of this model a few days ago and will certainly be implement your suggestions. Thanks again.
You are truly amazing. Thats how a review is done! I was a little worried about the temperatures before cant wait to try these tweaks. Thanks! Cant wait for the comparison video.
@@tanishqb385 yes it did work. Getting noticeably better fps. Tried metro exodus with rt set to high and getting 70+ fps. Temperatures are a bit high ngl but runs pretty comfortably when I capped the cpu temp to 90 considering ryzen maxes out at 100. Hope that helps. Plus the build quality is solid. I had alienware 14 before then switched to zephyrus and now coming back to alienware is a treat. Asus sucks when it comes to customer service and build quality. Especially the hinge on this laptop is pretty solid. And I love the colour I prefer it over the white unlike most of the people out there.
As someone who's very interested in picking up an alienware currently, I really appreciate how thorough you're diving into these laptops, I very much look forward to your R4 vs R5 comparison as I'm torn between those 2 currently.
Finally watched through this whole video, thanks for the tips! I've been using my laptop for about a year now but I hadn't fully implemented all these tricks till now, hopefully this will help me run VR without totally cooking my CPU.
I also found that after setting the refresh rate down to 60ghz, you also get a cooler temp in gaming. So for certain games that you don't need high refresh rate, you can turn it off can have a cooler performance.
thanks allot bro. literally been holding off on buying this because i was scared the battery life wont be goof for some uni work. anyways safe g keep up the good content
just make sure you dont get the intel version, make sure u dont get the 300hz display, and you'll be good bro. those 2 things will fuck your battery life into oblivion, just like me :)
That refresh rate tweak's battery improvement is a game changer. I wonder if they can leverage freesync/gsync to slow down the refresh rate during desktop/windowed use on battery so the user doesn't have to do it manually
Great video very informative and helpful. I'm excited about my M15R5 (RTX 3070, QHD display, and cherry keyboard)I ordered a week ago your video helped me to pick this. More videos and success to you mate! Cheers!
Hey, I'm a newbie to pc stuff, I just got M15r5 for my work purposes and a few games in between. I want to know if that limiting wattage affects the laptop in any negative way or something?
@@dreamleagueslegendaryplaye7558 No, the opposite, you re giving less “energy” to your laptop thus it runs cooler and is significantly better for its longevity. It will slightly reduce your fps by 10%-15% or more depending on how much you reduce the wattage.
Amazing review! Thanks you for the time and effort that invested in making this Video. I just got my M15 R5 with the 360hz panel. But haven’t tested it yet.
If you add an SSD in addition to what you have, in the extra slot do you have to buy another support bracket also? Or do I just need to get that copper heat sink you have listed? Thanks! Great video!!
Lovely video mate. My laptop arrived today and luckily the amazon SSD bracket was delivered 30 minutes before. The Installation was very easy and working perfectly. Updating the steam libraries and the origin bf5 as well. I used your settings in the ryzen controller and the temperatures are much better without losing performance. I'm very happy with the laptop, I'm a software developer, installed a lot of things in and running extremely smooth.. Amazing video, very detailed
Hi Luiz, so pleased you got yours and it is all up and running 😀 with a bit of tweaking it is a great machine, I don't know why Dell let it run so hot out of the box
Thank you so much for the information about upgraded storage. I was disappointed in the laptop's storage, but your video was very helpful in determining how I can fix it. Thank you.
thank you so much. I just ordered the M15/r5 with the same configurations. this is much needed. Black Friday deal is AUD 2230+ on Dell Au....unbeatable price for an Alienware when you need to pay the same for other brands while they were "out of stock"
I purchased an mr15 r5 ryzen 9 and then canceled it because of the bad heating reviews, because of you I reordered it. Dell owes you so much. I truly believe this video will help the sales of the m15 rise up
Man you're a lifesaver ! Mine arrived yesterday and when I tested Cyberpunk CPU was at 101deg (which transferred to the GPU - 90deg). If it wasnt for your Ryzen Controller tip I would have had a BIG problem !! But with the Ryzen Controller I get 86CPU+76GPU under load ! I can't thank you enough ! Not sure if you noticed but Ryzen Controller can't start with startup (known bug). My workaround for this was to start it from a .bat file instead. The .bat has a "press any key" prompt before starting RC. So basically, your PC starts, you press a key, then the software starts. (told the dev about this workaround too) The commands for the .bat file are: pause start RyzenC and RyzenC is a one word shortcut.
Ah thanks Andrei, I hadn't even tried to do that yet, spent so much time just benching and tweaking the thing :) currently comparing it to the 3060 15r5!
@@azharkrumtally85 heya ! I was getting 70-90FPS on 1080p ultra settings, no ray tracing, DLSS set for quality. temps with RC: 87CPU,76GPU. Temps without RC: 94-101CPU,80-85GPU (no performance decrease with RC). I left the game playing for about an hour with no performance drops
@@MashITTech Right. Amazon Bracket and Heatsink updates: The R5 bracket is *much* smaller than PXNWV Amazon Bracket. Don't buy the Amazon bracket ! Also, the M15R3 (Amazon) heatsink does not match the R5 - but in my defence I did order it before the R5 arrived so I didn't know they changed the shape. However, not ideal, but the M.2 *short* SSD fits quite rigidly in its socket without any assistance. Also, if you have a long M.2 Just use the master bracket for the long one and leave the master SSD suspended. I will use it like this for now until I get the proper bracket from DELL.
Just wanted to say Thankyou for the video, I’ve just got my first gaming laptop and I was looking at how to do upgrades to this.. obviously I was very nervous because of the price of the machine but this really clearly it up.
Purchased an m15 R5 about 6 weeks ago, and it came with the stand-off, and copper heat shield, in the secondary drive position (added a 4Tb ssd), so your video and phone calls worked 😎.
what is the battery life like? i have had one 3 days and the battery isnt even lasting 1:20 hours whilst gaming on diablo 2 ... might send it back as i think thats shit.
@@Wizidify I mostly do vr gaming, so I keep it plugged in. And even when I'm just playing regular games (The Witcher 3, and CoD WWII, for example), it's still plugged in. Unfortunately, I seem to have run into a new problem - when I start any graphics intensive game, it just shuts down. Dell thinks it's the video card, so they're sending a tech to look at it. If it keeps up, I might consider returning it, and switching to a tower.
@@Wizidify dell replaced the mobo, so I've had a chance to run a few simple analytics. Doing regular computer-type shit, it's about 6 1/2 hours battery life. Playing big games, it dropped to just under 4
awesome video! i was scared to pull the cover off because it was on there so tightly, but after watching this video i just went for it lol. Thanks again!
Very solid review. Thanks David. I was wondering, can you safely increase the GPU TGP to 140? Also, does changing the cpu and gpu TDP and TGP affect the warrenty and the life-span of the machine?
As far as I know there is no way to increase the TGP, it may be possible to flash the BIOS but I haven't looked into it. The 125w TGP is still pretty good and if you spend some time tuning it with afterburner I bet you can get some really solid scores and the best thing is, the heat will not increase as you are essentially making the card more efficient per watt. I also haven't tried to increase the TDP on the CPU as they already run hot but I am tempted to repast with AS and have a go :)
Bro, I was getting M15 r6 11800h 3060 1080p version for about 90k rupees, is it a good deal?? And i worried about its temperature?? Also does it have gync and advanced optimus????
Thank you for letting us know about the Ryzen controller and refresh rate! I still don't know which QHD laptop to buy. Just when I decided on one, a new CPU/GPU is announced! X17 seems great but so expensive.
I repasted with Kryonaut (tried mx-4 & Noctua NT-H2 as well) along with using copper shims, 20mm x .3mm for GPU & 15mm x .5mm for CPU... along with replacing thermal pads as well for mine. I haven't seen over 83c since, and that was after running 3+ consecutive benchmarks back to back. My idle temps with a 40% @ idle fan curve are in mid 30's, high 30's when browsing. I have the R9 5900hx / 3070 and I've loved this computer since I got it but the thermals just weren't right out of the box. The paste was not great, pads were actually ok but the main issue was the mounting pressure. I loved the 2 piece heatsinks Alienware's used to use because it meant getting the pressures correct. Those days are gone now, but the shims made such a huge difference. With a +150core/+300memory overclock, fans on performance mode and all windows processes running as normal, along with using AWCC to monitor temps I've been able to break 11k time spy. Only upgrade to the computer is 32gb Crucial 3200 ram. I used to use the TCC offset of 15, now I have it set to 5 just in case something goes wrong but I've not seen anything paste the high 70's in gaming/daily use other than during benchmarks. I've also found that I can use the Processor Boost again, Efficient Enabled seems to be the sweet spot. I only use it on plugged in, keep it disabled for battery. Along with setting screen from 365hz to 60 hz, and brightness to 30% & battery saver I can get about 7-9 hours of real time usage on this things battery. Overall I truly love this computer, only complaint is the thing is a fingerprint magnet lmao www.3dmark.com/spy/27202479
@@xKevmachinex Yes, and be generous. You want to use paste on the cpu/gpu, and also spread some on the heatsink where the mounting position is. Then make sure there is a small amount of paste on both sides of the shim as well. Don't go crazy with the spreading, let the mounting pressure do it's thing. Just make sure that there is paste in-between everything.
Can confirm these fixes work wonders! Also, if you don't have one, get a decent cooling pad. My Cpu/gpu temps peak around 82 degrees now, between the fixes and a pad. Now to just deal with the absolutely horrendous customer support to get the mounting bracket/heatsink for the 2nd ssd... Ugh lol. So much maintenance for the money. But the laptop is otherwise top tier with performance, feels solid!
@@sanketemala1118 It seems like the AMD chip is particularly hot, it's rated to run up to 105 degrees celsius, and Dell sets the max temp at 105 degrees before throttling. Intel is max 100, so hopefully it doesn't run quite as hot on average? Cooling in here sucks though.
Is the screen greenish or is it just color correction of the video? Also, it is only your videos between me and Dell g15 ryzen, so I was wondering if we will see any videos on it this week :) By the way is WVA panel a bad thing?
Do you want me to compare the g15 to the m15r5? I had planned to do that next week but might be able to bring it forward. Wva panel is not necessarily a bad thing, you can get good wva panels or really bad ips panels. I would say the 120hz panel is not the best but the 165hz is great so if your region allows it make sure you don’t buy the base panel
@@MashITTech A comparison would be good but my main interest is how G15 is placed in the market among others. I think the laptop was set to balance mode, so a few tests on performance mode and also with ram change (if possible) would be great. Because I think it underperforms in Cinebench and games. Also, I really wonder about USBs (2.0 or 3?) and if this GPU overclock method works on it or not among with; latencymoon, GtG, DisplayPort (is it directly connected to GPU?) I will order it this week and I want to know if it worths buying and the only source is you in the world right now (not in a bad way, I like your videos :D).
I like this detailed breakdown. What do you think has the best overall gaming performance? This, razer blade 14 or Alienware x15? All having the same 3070?
I'm so close to buying this laptop. I'm not a game, I'm a developer. I need something with a good GPU and that will run Linux. I'll probably swap out the "Killer WiFi" for a standard Intel AX200 WiFi card.
I'm going to order one of these models too. I really appreciate your videos becaues I was going to pay for the mechanical keyboard. You are the first person who mentioned that it is a "blue" keyboard that has the click. I CANNOT stand Blue keyboards really since I do alot of typing. I currently have an M17 R4 that I received for testing but I am going to sell this one to a friend and get the M15 R5. I wasn't ever an Alienware fan until I got the M17 R4.... the keyboard is so good and the overall deck temps are so good for gaming that I literally play as well as I do on my desktop! They changed my mind and now I want the new AMD one.
Hey Mash! Great video man extremely helpful. This was Just the video i was looking for to make me actually checkout the R5 that was sitting in my cart. Quick question though how far were you able to push the overclock comfortably for stable gaming??
Amazing review! Can not choose between the m15 r5 vs r6. I saw the r5 has issues with thermals but this tweaking could help. Also so u think there is a big difference in terms of cpu performance ?
They both run hot but the ryzen still performs really well even when you cap the wattage. The ryzen version is cheaper and has battery battery life but the r6 is very slightly faster on the cpu and has thunderbolt 4
Great video.. at the end I returned my Alienware band keep the legion 5 pro... I'll use your settings to try and get better performance on this beast. Thanks for your tips
I created a powershell script to switch refresh rates and it auto-runs whenever a user logs in or the power state changes from battery to ac or vise versa. It works awesome! Also, Dell refused to send me the mounting parts for the second SSD slot so I used the links in your previous video. Thanks so much! Just set up the Ryzen controller and going to overclock the GPU next. I was running 90 - 100 degrees in every gaming session and 50 - 70 at idle! Not too happy with the thermals on this thing
What a great idea Tom! I had considered doing the same but yet to get around to it! Thermals are not the best but to be fair these new ryzen do run hot. Ryzen controller does make a big difference for very little cost to fps. let me know how you get on with the GPU
Would you say this fix made this laptop a more reasonable purchase? I have an order in for it, and I really don't want to cancel. It's easy to focus on the bad rep this laptop has gotten with the thermals, and the 10% dip in performance on the RTX 3070 when compared to other laptops rocking the same card.. The body, the keyboard (I ordered it with the cherrys), the size (I love the idea of it having the battery life to work as an all purpose machine), the gorgeous screen. Would you say this is still a decent direction to go? I feel like this laptop is STILL good, even with the bad wrap it's been getting.
Hi Michael, this is still a good laptop. CPU does run hot but by capping the wattage it runs so much cooler and I lost hardly any FPS. Another user applied liquid metal and got massively better temps. The trouble is Dell's shady tactic of reducing the Cuda cores and not including the second SSD mount! It has really annoyed people (me included) especially as these are premium machines. If you get a good price it is still a great machine and that screen is just gorgeous
Dave, I got my m15 r5 today. There is a few questions I want to ask. First, does your fan has a high pitched whine noise under load? It isnt bad as my old 17 inch, but it's still there. This time it LEGIT sounds like an jet taking off. Almost identical sound. And my gpu and cpu at idle is sitting at 60 degree, I think it is a bit higher than usual. Second, does your tron bar at the back look "uneven"? A few spot that is brighter than the other, and there are spots that are dimmer than the rest. Other than these two issues I am pretty happy about this laptop. It looks good, keyboard is nice, and the touchpad is made of glass. Audio isnt bad either.
hello mate, glad to hear you have yours at last but no, I dont get high pitched whine! they can get loud in performance mode but its more of a whoosh so not uncomfortable. With regards to the iron ring, mine can look a little uneven but not bothersome. When I get back in the office I will try a couple of colours and give you a more detailed answer
@@MashITTech Thanks for the detailed reply! I am glad to hear that yours dont suffer from the whine issue. Mine literally is a jet engine. I don't think it is that much of an issue, but I will try to tear it apart when I am doing my repaste and see if I could tape the side of the vents to have this issue solved.
Hey mate, love yours videos, and just out of curiosity, are you purchasing all these Alienwares with your own money or do these end up on the shelf of stores you collaborate with as demo units?
I purchase all these models with our business money, we also have an online store although these days we have little time for that as the RUclips is taking all our time.
Great review as always. Outside of games, another key use for these computers is video editing and most mainstream reviewers now include Puget Davinci benchmarks. There is a free version and doesn't require Davinci experience, just run it like Cinebench. :) Hope you will consider adding it to your mix in R6 and X17 reviews. Thanks again.
Hey Mash IT - thanks for the awesome in-depth videos on this laptop. One question - can you check in GPU-Z how many CUDA cores are in your RTX 3070? A couple of folks over in the r/Alienware subreddit are discovering that their laptop has fewer CUDA cores than spec (4608 vs the expected 5120 cores - a 10% decrease)
@@MashITTech There is a bios update on Dells website to fix this. It was released with less cuda cores fo rsome reason. This will improve thermals as well.
Dude this is awesome. Thank you! I have the 5900xh 360hz 3070 variant. I can’t seem to find ryzen controller (seems like you can’t download it anymore), but there’s a newer version? Anyway. What should I set as the long boost setting? 25w as well? Or 30w for the 5900hx?
Yes, they just haven't updated the web page properly, when you go to GitHub go to the latest version on the left and get that windows installer 2.4.2 I think
@@MashITTech yeah but when you go to download it, you get a 404 error. Oh well. Anyway, would you suggest any different settings for the 5900hx? Also did your temps go nuts on your gpu when you overclocked?
Thanks a lot for the really good insights 👍 is a copper plate mandatory for the ssd or can it be used without the plate (did you add one on you 80mm ssd)?
The copper plate is not mandatory at all. A lot depends on the ssd you choose as some run hotter than others. If they get too hot they throttle (which is better than overheating and being damaged) my advice would be install one without and monitor its temps under full system load and a long file copy with Crystal disk info
It’s the stock alienware wall paper for the r5. If you want a copy look in the description on my m15r5 main review as I uploaded it to a hosting site 😀👍
@@MashITTech Hahaha seriously man you're providing a very useful content, and actually helped me reconsider buying a Razer Blade laptop after watching your long-term review and with the comparison against the Alienware, went to the store and tried the Razer's keyboard and man you were right it's not satisfying to use at all especially since my work requires some typing. Still holding off though, waiting to see what Alienware got to show off with that X model today 👀
Yeah, I love the razer blades but what with the keyboards and the really conservative power budget it is a tough sell. Also the fans spin up every few minutes just browsing the web! Just seen some screens of the X series, there is going to be a 15” and 17” they look good but most of the ports are in the back, not sure how I feel about that plus it means it is going to be blowing the hot air out of the sides onto your mouse hand! Going to hold off judgement until I get it in
Awesome Video! Just a quick question, I am looking for a 15 inch gaming laptop and I cant decide whether I should get an r4 or r5 or even wait for the x-series. I am leaning towards the r5 because of the much cheaper price compared to the r4, but is the extra money for the r4 worth it? Or even waiting for the X series? Hoefully you can help me
Thanks you mate, Its always tough when there are so many good options out there so I will try my best to answer. The X15 is an unknown so I can't recommend it yet, I will order it on UK release and review it but my concerns are: 1. most of the ports are on the back which although keeps cables out of the way can be a pain if you have to keep plugging things in and out. 2. the side fans will be pumping heat out towards your mouse hand. I have had laptops that have used these side fans before and they can actually scorch your mouse hand! Now when it comes to the r4 vs r5 I will give the positives for each: R4 - slightly better build quality, better speakers, higher TGP for graphics. R5 - cheaper, upgradable ram and wifi, QHD option, quieter fans, better CPU performance. My choice would probably be the R5 with QHD, although the build is not quite as good it is still solid and performs great plus the QHD is the biggest stand out for the machine. Hope this helps and doesn't send you to sleep but ask away if you have any questions
@@MashITTech wow thank you so much! You just earned a sub, thanks for the detailed help man! If I have more questions I will reach out to you, thanks again
Sorry guys, I was not planning on creating a deep dive. Unfortunately Dell being just plain tight have completely locked this down so I cannot undervolt, use TS or XTU to change turbo duration etc. The only thing I haven't tried to do is unlock the BIOS but I haven't got time to mess around with that at the moment. Sorry :(
Hello, this was a amazing video and I am so sad I found this near the end if my research because it awnsered all of my questions. So I am also happy I found it bc not all my questions were awnsered. Now since all my questions are awnsered I have a new one. Is reducing the long boost TDP considered undervolting, and is reducing the long boost TDP bad for the processor? I am pretty sure it isn’t but i just went to make sure. Also, is over locking to the level you said bad for the laptop, and does it reduce the lifetime of the laptop? I know this is a later comment so thankyou if you took the time to read this. You just got another like, sub, and a viewer who is loving and appreciating your contect. Keep it up!
hello mate, thanks for the sub :) Reducing the long boost TDP isn't undervolting (I can't find a way to undervolt ryzen mobile yet) it is just capping the CPU at a sensible wattage for the chassis. For me it was 25w but you may get a bit more or less depending on your thermal paste job and silicon lottery. It is not bad for the CPU, if anything it is good for the cpu as it will run at a cooler temp. With regards to the overclocking, as long as your temps are ok it will be fine for your laptop. You cannot boost past your hard locked graphics TGP so you are essentially making the card more efficient per watt. Hope this makes sense :)
@@MashITTech okay im a bit of an idiot.... how do i actually download the ryzen controller? i genuinely cant figure it out from that link you posted :(
Yes the QHD is also matte, sorry if I did not say in the review. It is well well worth the upgrade. It is probably one of the best features of this machine
Hey I got the laptop about 3 weeks ago and your advice worked great. I also installed new SSD and Dell sent me the mounting bracket and heat sink without any questions. I am about to upgrade the ram so I have one question. I am going with 32Gig kit from your link but there is single and dual rank. Single rank is cheaper so would it make that much of a difference? Which one would you recomed? Thank you
Thanks for the video! Really enjoying your channel and subbed too. Just wondered if you experienced any issues with Thermal Throttling whilst testing? Past few days I've been doing gaming and the whole thing seemed to go from 100fps to 20 and the GPU clock dropped to 210mhz and wouldn't budge until restarting. Temps didn't seem to increase over 82 on the gpu, but performance died! Any suggestions would be fab.
Hi Philip, thank you for subscribing. And no, not so far! I have been running this model and the base model solidly for a week (2 weeks for the base model) preparing a gaming and comparison review and not had a single throttle! Are you running in balanced or performance? How hot did the CPU get? maybe that is what throttled? Have you tried the ryzen controller I used? that really lowers the temps.
@@MashITTech thanks for the reply! Yeah I've given that a go with the same settings as you, I did leave the temp alone but used the tdp limit to the same 25w as you. It was hitting 95+. I was in balanced mode with the fans, but it claimed they were at 100%...does the full throttle fans ramp them up even further? Maybe I need to do that and try gaming for a while again and see if it happens again?
@@MashITTech I shall certainly give that a go! The fans do get pretty loud on that mode, but as you've said headphones negate that. The high performance mode that's in the control centre, does that do much in terms of overall performance and/or thermal limits? Or does it just allow it to suck a bit more power?
My first gaming laptop was an Alienware M15 R3 intel 1070H RTX 2070 model, with a 300 hertz screen. Runs super duper hot. The Alienware command center is slow, glitchy, and frustrating. I kept that laptop in house and went and bought a Lenovo Legion 5, Ryzen Version, 2060 Laptop for my office. Never had a problem with it, never runs super hot, the games run smoother, and weight is also lighter, and batter is much better.
The m15r3's do run hot but did you try undervolting? I did a guide for tweaking the R4 and it improves the temps a lot. That said we also had a legion 5 in and it was amazing too
Got my M15 R5 in, it's open right now, and I can confirm that M.2 mounting bracket is NOT the same bracket. It can kinda sit there, but it will not clip in at all nor screw in nicely since it moves.
Loved the video! I got my R5 and using ryzen controller. I wonder can ryzen controller start when booting without it asking permission? Everytime i restart and boot the laptop ryzen always asks for permission which is getting annoying
so I finally received my m15 r5 and to my suprise it did have all that was needed to mount a 2nd NVME in it I had already purchased a 1 TB WD Blue sn570 and it seems to be working well Now to fo though everything and get it running better per your instructions
Actually when I received my Alienware M15 R5 I was suprised to find that everything needed to put in a 2nd NVME was already there so If anyone needs on Ill sent it for shipping plus what it cost me to purchase one from DELL
Hello there! I am considering to buy the M15 R6. What is the Laptops noise in Idle Mode, while surfing or watching a movie? Is it totally quiet? Thank you.
Yes it can be. If the system is cool the fans turn off. But if browsing heavy sites the 11800h can warm the system up enough for the fans to start spinning but it is still quite low. Turning the power setting to battery saver should keep it cool enough for longer though
Terrific video and information. Can you tell me the issues with the lost CUDA cores that people are complaining about and if it has been fixed before spend over $2k.
My machine arrived just as you started this video. I have left it on battery to get it up to 100% with several browsers left open (Firefox and Microsoft Edge), RUclips, 2 fantasy football games, Alienware centre, Amazon and,Epic store to name about half of them. Only two pages open now and the CPU is fluctuating between 91 and 98 and GPU in the mid to high 80's. Haven't even played a game yet, plus the battery only seems to get to 93% and not to 100% when plugged in. I can see the Cpu temp is gradually dropping INTO THE 80'S when typing this sentence, but it's not half taking some time!
That doesn’t sound right, can you open task manager and see if you have anything taking cpu cycles? Also did you unplug and plug the power plug in at that point? If you are 90+ % and you plug in sometimes they don’t charge to protect the battery
@@MashITTech I've turned it off for the day now, as have things to do and am quite tired so will leave it till tomorrow. I was doing multi browsing , but left about ten pages open for a few hours without closing them on two different browsers, but was going back to them sporadically during that time, and tinkering with fantasy football, Amazon and RUclips to name a few. It still seemed a bit excessive though, as I bought the machine for multi tasking. I'm thinking maybe I'm missing some settings I hope. The battery was left plugged in for about four , five at the most hours, whilst all the pages were open, and never went above 93 percent.
Yeah, that really doesn’t sound right. Maybe windows update installing in the background? Battery also seems odd. I will put mine on and try and recreate your use and check my temps
@@MashITTech It's been off for about 15 minutes, and I have gone back to it this very minute. Its been playing on my mind too much. I haven't noticed any fan noise, so how would I know if they're working properly?. Great work by the way, I thought I'd mention it.
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Absolute legend! Amazing how a 10 - 15 degree drop by limiting the boost wattage on the CPU does literally nothing against performance (in this particular test of yours). I'd imagine in CPU intensive games maybe a 10% drop at most but I'll happily take that with mid to upper 70 degree temps! Thanks for all the other tests. This is perfect!
Yeah, and SOTTR does use the CPU quite heavily, a couple of other games I tried to use showed no difference at all! I am downloading all 100+ GB of BF5 to test that to see how many fps you loose but my net is so slow 🥲
@@MashITTech I'll look forward to more tests. I'm going to order one of these over the weekend anyway finally!
@@MashITTech Can you give an array of benchmarks for cpu heavy games? Mostly esports titles where you're trying to get max frames?
@@TheWindyyy The new Model X is so expensive. I was able to order a Alienware M15 R5 today.
@@MashITTech you should have gradually ramped up the boost wattage back to stock to show the sweet spot since it was only running 70 C you had some.room to see how much a little more juice would have affected it.
Thank you so much! I've subscribed now. I just purchased this laptop and your tips with managing the heat have made a difference, I think. This is my first gaming laptop, so I really wasn't sure if it was normal to get hot. But everything I read online is people talking about how hot this laptop runs and that it is bad. I wasn't really sure why that was bad - but in any case, I followed your instructions and it runs cooler with no impact on performance! Thank you again!
My M15 R5 is in the exact spec and these tips for increased performance and battery life are awesome! Thanks for diving into such detail
No problem, glad it helps
Yea the X model is their new top tier but damn is it pricey. This seems like the perfect middle ground for price/performance ratio.
I love these deep dive videos! They're so informative. Thanks for doing these and for all the great content. This channel is criminally under-rated
Thank you so much, your kind words mean a lot 👍
That was really interesting to watch. Thanks for making this. I guess with all the modifications you have made, the battery could survive 12+ hours... with very little loss of performance which is really impressive. Shame that the Dell / Alienware software is treated soo poorly and not updated / refreshed more often.
Awesome! Thank you SOOOOO much! Just got this laptop yesterday. Its been running hot and low FPS, like 30fps on Apex/Vanguard on low-med settings. I watched your video and downloaded the Ryzen Controller and did the steps exactly as you said and now im getting 160+fps on high graphics. And its running much cooler! Thank you very much! Truly and deeply appreciated my friend!
So glad to be able to help! hope you can enjoy your laptop now :)
Congratulations on this video. I rarely come across a help video so jam packed with useful info. I just received my own unit of this model a few days ago and will certainly be implement your suggestions.
Thanks again.
no problems, glad to be able to help 👍
Did you get an additional ssd mounting bracket
You are truly amazing. Thats how a review is done! I was a little worried about the temperatures before cant wait to try these tweaks. Thanks! Cant wait for the comparison video.
did they work for you? if so, what kind of improvement are you seeing in your temperatures?
@@tanishqb385 yes it did work. Getting noticeably better fps. Tried metro exodus with rt set to high and getting 70+ fps. Temperatures are a bit high ngl but runs pretty comfortably when I capped the cpu temp to 90 considering ryzen maxes out at 100. Hope that helps. Plus the build quality is solid. I had alienware 14 before then switched to zephyrus and now coming back to alienware is a treat. Asus sucks when it comes to customer service and build quality. Especially the hinge on this laptop is pretty solid. And I love the colour I prefer it over the white unlike most of the people out there.
As someone who's very interested in picking up an alienware currently, I really appreciate how thorough you're diving into these laptops, I very much look forward to your R4 vs R5 comparison as I'm torn between those 2 currently.
I just have to compare the base model with 3060 to the 3070 QHD model video which I am half way through then I will get on to that comparison
This is like the only channel really doing deep dives. The rest are like marketing videos.
@@Jimster481 it's true, it's been very hard to find actual objective information about these laptops when it comes to the hard hitting questions.
@@Jimster481 i have a jarrod that can prove you wrong
@@tanishqb385 Yes Jarrod is doing them too, but not really the same way.
Finally watched through this whole video, thanks for the tips! I've been using my laptop for about a year now but I hadn't fully implemented all these tricks till now, hopefully this will help me run VR without totally cooking my CPU.
I also found that after setting the refresh rate down to 60ghz, you also get a cooler temp in gaming. So for certain games that you don't need high refresh rate, you can turn it off can have a cooler performance.
I noticed this on my M17 R4 also.
Yeah that makes sense. The GPU needs to work harder when pushing for more resolution or refresh rate.
Why would the GPU working harder cause the CPU temp to rise?
@@mad7stringer he didn't mention cpu
thanks allot bro. literally been holding off on buying this because i was scared the battery life wont be goof for some uni work. anyways safe g keep up the good content
just make sure you dont get the intel version, make sure u dont get the 300hz display, and you'll be good bro. those 2 things will fuck your battery life into oblivion, just like me :)
Big big thank you for the video! You provide the best content on this laptop!
Glad it helps. Working on a 3060 vs 3070 m15r5 video next 👍
Thank u so much for creating content about the m15 r5!
Glad you find them useful
This helped me open mine up! Thank you, subscribed
Good review. Question, Do you have to run Ryzen Control Center every time you reboot the machine? Or does it keep the settings after a reboot?
That refresh rate tweak's battery improvement is a game changer. I wonder if they can leverage freesync/gsync to slow down the refresh rate during desktop/windowed use on battery so the user doesn't have to do it manually
This is something I am looking into! If I find a way I will report back 👍
8:08 _We could heard_
20:27 _Incredible difference_
_Massive deep valuable content_ !
Thank you mate 👍
Great video very informative and helpful. I'm excited about my M15R5 (RTX 3070, QHD display, and cherry keyboard)I ordered a week ago your video helped me to pick this. More videos and success to you mate! Cheers!
Thanks mate, hope you enjoy it 😀👍
Yes! Been waiting for this video!
As everyone else has said so far, thanks for the tips about reducing the heat using the Ryzen Controller. I went from 100 to 85-86.
Glad I could help! :)
Also lost fps tho
@@TheAmanor123 fps clearly isn’t my goal here.
Hey, I'm a newbie to pc stuff, I just got M15r5 for my work purposes and a few games in between.
I want to know if that limiting wattage affects the laptop in any negative way or something?
@@dreamleagueslegendaryplaye7558 No, the opposite, you re giving less “energy” to your laptop thus it runs cooler and is significantly better for its longevity. It will slightly reduce your fps by 10%-15% or more depending on how much you reduce the wattage.
Amazing review! Thanks you for the time and effort that invested in making this Video. I just got my M15 R5 with the 360hz panel. But haven’t tested it yet.
Oh wow! We don’t get the 360hz panel over here so I have no idea what it is like! Glad you enjoyed the video
@@MashITTech I did too. It's so nice looking and buttery smooth.
i just got my alienware i love it
If you add an SSD in addition to what you have, in the extra slot do you have to buy another support bracket also? Or do I just need to get that copper heat sink you have listed? Thanks! Great video!!
He never answered the question but you can contact Dell and they will send one to you free of charge. Just let them know.
Lovely video mate. My laptop arrived today and luckily the amazon SSD bracket was delivered 30 minutes before. The Installation was very easy and working perfectly. Updating the steam libraries and the origin bf5 as well. I used your settings in the ryzen controller and the temperatures are much better without losing performance. I'm very happy with the laptop, I'm a software developer, installed a lot of things in and running extremely smooth..
Amazing video, very detailed
Hi Luiz, so pleased you got yours and it is all up and running 😀 with a bit of tweaking it is a great machine, I don't know why Dell let it run so hot out of the box
the most informative video about m15 r5.. thanks a lot.
Just ordered this with all the specs maxed out! Can’t want to get it!
Nice! hope you enjoy it
Thank you so much for the information about upgraded storage. I was disappointed in the laptop's storage, but your video was very helpful in determining how I can fix it. Thank you.
Really glad it helped 👍
thank you so much. I just ordered the M15/r5 with the same configurations. this is much needed. Black Friday deal is AUD 2230+ on Dell Au....unbeatable price for an Alienware when you need to pay the same for other brands while they were "out of stock"
I purchased an mr15 r5 ryzen 9 and then canceled it because of the bad heating reviews, because of you I reordered it. Dell owes you so much. I truly believe this video will help the sales of the m15 rise up
Thanks mate, that is really nice of you to say :)
Man you're a lifesaver ! Mine arrived yesterday and when I tested Cyberpunk CPU was at 101deg (which transferred to the GPU - 90deg). If it wasnt for your Ryzen Controller tip I would have had a BIG problem !! But with the Ryzen Controller I get 86CPU+76GPU under load ! I can't thank you enough !
Not sure if you noticed but Ryzen Controller can't start with startup (known bug). My workaround for this was to start it from a .bat file instead. The .bat has a "press any key" prompt before starting RC. So basically, your PC starts, you press a key, then the software starts. (told the dev about this workaround too)
The commands for the .bat file are:
pause
start RyzenC
and RyzenC is a one word shortcut.
Ah thanks Andrei, I hadn't even tried to do that yet, spent so much time just benching and tweaking the thing :) currently comparing it to the 3060 15r5!
Can you please tell me how much FPS u are getting in Cyberpunk 2077 and at what resolution & settings u are playing.
@@azharkrumtally85 heya ! I was getting 70-90FPS on 1080p ultra settings, no ray tracing, DLSS set for quality. temps with RC: 87CPU,76GPU. Temps without RC: 94-101CPU,80-85GPU (no performance decrease with RC). I left the game playing for about an hour with no performance drops
@@-drey thank you
@@MashITTech Right. Amazon Bracket and Heatsink updates: The R5 bracket is *much* smaller than PXNWV Amazon Bracket. Don't buy the Amazon bracket ! Also, the M15R3 (Amazon) heatsink does not match the R5 - but in my defence I did order it before the R5 arrived so I didn't know they changed the shape.
However, not ideal, but the M.2 *short* SSD fits quite rigidly in its socket without any assistance. Also, if you have a long M.2 Just use the master bracket for the long one and leave the master SSD suspended. I will use it like this for now until I get the proper bracket from DELL.
much appreciate this video. Help me lower my temperature from 90+ to 75+
I finally finished the whole video. Thanks a lot for this, my replacement arrives tomorrow, hopefully no thermal issues again lol
well if you need any help, give me a shout 👍
@@MashITTech thanks a ton!
Just wanted to say Thankyou for the video, I’ve just got my first gaming laptop and I was looking at how to do upgrades to this.. obviously I was very nervous because of the price of the machine but this really clearly it up.
So glad you found it helpful. Always around if you have questions 👍
Purchased an m15 R5 about 6 weeks ago, and it came with the stand-off, and copper heat shield, in the secondary drive position (added a 4Tb ssd), so your video and phone calls worked 😎.
what is the battery life like? i have had one 3 days and the battery isnt even lasting 1:20 hours whilst gaming on diablo 2 ... might send it back as i think thats shit.
@@Wizidify I mostly do vr gaming, so I keep it plugged in. And even when I'm just playing regular games (The Witcher 3, and CoD WWII, for example), it's still plugged in.
Unfortunately, I seem to have run into a new problem - when I start any graphics intensive game, it just shuts down. Dell thinks it's the video card, so they're sending a tech to look at it. If it keeps up, I might consider returning it, and switching to a tower.
amazing
@@Wizidify dell replaced the mobo, so I've had a chance to run a few simple analytics. Doing regular computer-type shit, it's about 6 1/2 hours battery life. Playing big games, it dropped to just under 4
awesome video! i was scared to pull the cover off because it was on there so tightly, but after watching this video i just went for it lol. Thanks again!
Thanks for putting together another informative video. Time to get tweaking my R5!
I got mine with an QHD,16gb,1Tb,3070 for 1.5k brand new from intel so I cant complain a lot
Thank you for the effort put in to this one Sir! Very impressed!
Glad to be able to help the community! thank you for watching
Very solid review. Thanks David. I was wondering, can you safely increase the GPU TGP to 140? Also, does changing the cpu and gpu TDP and TGP affect the warrenty and the life-span of the machine?
As far as I know there is no way to increase the TGP, it may be possible to flash the BIOS but I haven't looked into it. The 125w TGP is still pretty good and if you spend some time tuning it with afterburner I bet you can get some really solid scores and the best thing is, the heat will not increase as you are essentially making the card more efficient per watt. I also haven't tried to increase the TDP on the CPU as they already run hot but I am tempted to repast with AS and have a go :)
Thanks for this, was looking for an easy guide for upgrading the M15 R5.
Glad I could help 😃
Edit: Upgrades done - 2x 16Gb (32Gb total 1.2V HyperX Impact 3200Mhz)
2x 2Gb Crucial P5 SSD. (Acronis trueimage to copy OS from original SSD)
Thanks to your video i went ahead and purchased this laptop today from bestbuy for $1400 m15 r5 r9 3070 and you got a new subscriber!!!!
Got my m15 r6 last month (Oct 2021). It did come with the second SSD mount that's identical to first one. Glad they stopped cutting corners there.
That is great to hear 👍
Bro, I was getting M15 r6 11800h 3060 1080p version for about 90k rupees, is it a good deal??
And i worried about its temperature??
Also does it have gync and advanced optimus????
Excellent video literally had all the info i was looking for and, even better, showed how to do it. Have subscribed
So glad to be able to help 😀👍
Thank you for letting us know about the Ryzen controller and refresh rate! I still don't know which QHD laptop to buy. Just when I decided on one, a new CPU/GPU is announced! X17 seems great but so expensive.
I will be getting an x15 and x17 in for review if you can wait a few weeks 👍
I repasted with Kryonaut (tried mx-4 & Noctua NT-H2 as well) along with using copper shims, 20mm x .3mm for GPU & 15mm x .5mm for CPU... along with replacing thermal pads as well for mine. I haven't seen over 83c since, and that was after running 3+ consecutive benchmarks back to back. My idle temps with a 40% @ idle fan curve are in mid 30's, high 30's when browsing. I have the R9 5900hx / 3070 and I've loved this computer since I got it but the thermals just weren't right out of the box. The paste was not great, pads were actually ok but the main issue was the mounting pressure. I loved the 2 piece heatsinks Alienware's used to use because it meant getting the pressures correct. Those days are gone now, but the shims made such a huge difference.
With a +150core/+300memory overclock, fans on performance mode and all windows processes running as normal, along with using AWCC to monitor temps I've been able to break 11k time spy. Only upgrade to the computer is 32gb Crucial 3200 ram. I used to use the TCC offset of 15, now I have it set to 5 just in case something goes wrong but I've not seen anything paste the high 70's in gaming/daily use other than during benchmarks. I've also found that I can use the Processor Boost again, Efficient Enabled seems to be the sweet spot. I only use it on plugged in, keep it disabled for battery. Along with setting screen from 365hz to 60 hz, and brightness to 30% & battery saver I can get about 7-9 hours of real time usage on this things battery. Overall I truly love this computer, only complaint is the thing is a fingerprint magnet lmao
www.3dmark.com/spy/27202479
thx for the advice. do i have to use thermal paste between the copper shim and the copper heat plate?
@@xKevmachinex Yes, and be generous. You want to use paste on the cpu/gpu, and also spread some on the heatsink where the mounting position is. Then make sure there is a small amount of paste on both sides of the shim as well. Don't go crazy with the spreading, let the mounting pressure do it's thing. Just make sure that there is paste in-between everything.
Can confirm these fixes work wonders! Also, if you don't have one, get a decent cooling pad. My Cpu/gpu temps peak around 82 degrees now, between the fixes and a pad. Now to just deal with the absolutely horrendous customer support to get the mounting bracket/heatsink for the 2nd ssd... Ugh lol. So much maintenance for the money. But the laptop is otherwise top tier with performance, feels solid!
How is Intel version, I am planning to buy it, I am really concerned about its temperature????
@@sanketemala1118 It seems like the AMD chip is particularly hot, it's rated to run up to 105 degrees celsius, and Dell sets the max temp at 105 degrees before throttling. Intel is max 100, so hopefully it doesn't run quite as hot on average? Cooling in here sucks though.
Great video! Can you please tell me which screwdriver did you use to open up the laptop?
Is the screen greenish or is it just color correction of the video? Also, it is only your videos between me and Dell g15 ryzen, so I was wondering if we will see any videos on it this week :)
By the way is WVA panel a bad thing?
Do you want me to compare the g15 to the m15r5? I had planned to do that next week but might be able to bring it forward. Wva panel is not necessarily a bad thing, you can get good wva panels or really bad ips panels. I would say the 120hz panel is not the best but the 165hz is great so if your region allows it make sure you don’t buy the base panel
@@MashITTech A comparison would be good but my main interest is how G15 is placed in the market among others. I think the laptop was set to balance mode, so a few tests on performance mode and also with ram change (if possible) would be great. Because I think it underperforms in Cinebench and games.
Also, I really wonder about USBs (2.0 or 3?) and if this GPU overclock method works on it or not among with;
latencymoon, GtG, DisplayPort (is it directly connected to GPU?)
I will order it this week and I want to know if it worths buying and the only source is you in the world right now (not in a bad way, I like your videos :D).
Will try my best and get that done ASAP then and get back to you
I like this detailed breakdown. What do you think has the best overall gaming performance? This, razer blade 14 or Alienware x15? All having the same 3070?
overall gaming performance is going to be very close between all models with the X15 probably just edging the win with the new 11800h cpu
I'm so close to buying this laptop. I'm not a game, I'm a developer. I need something with a good GPU and that will run Linux. I'll probably swap out the "Killer WiFi" for a standard Intel AX200 WiFi card.
I'm going to order one of these models too. I really appreciate your videos becaues I was going to pay for the mechanical keyboard. You are the first person who mentioned that it is a "blue" keyboard that has the click. I CANNOT stand Blue keyboards really since I do alot of typing.
I currently have an M17 R4 that I received for testing but I am going to sell this one to a friend and get the M15 R5. I wasn't ever an Alienware fan until I got the M17 R4.... the keyboard is so good and the overall deck temps are so good for gaming that I literally play as well as I do on my desktop! They changed my mind and now I want the new AMD one.
Just FYI I actually ordered it last night. I confirmed that 65W PD input is possible with the USB-C on the rear.
So I have received it now and I cannot charge it at all with USB-C.....
Hey Mash! Great video man extremely helpful. This was Just the video i was looking for to make me actually checkout the R5 that was sitting in my cart.
Quick question though how far were you able to push the overclock comfortably for stable gaming??
I managed a stable +130 on my 3070 and I could push ram loads but left it at +300 😀
@@MashITTech that’s great to hear, would you recommend it over the same spec Razer? Curious on your thoughts on it.
Thank tou for the video. Will definitely grab the suggested software and apply same settings.
Amazing review! Can not choose between the m15 r5 vs r6. I saw the r5 has issues with thermals but this tweaking could help. Also so u think there is a big difference in terms of cpu performance ?
They both run hot but the ryzen still performs really well even when you cap the wattage. The ryzen version is cheaper and has battery battery life but the r6 is very slightly faster on the cpu and has thunderbolt 4
Great video.. at the end I returned my Alienware band keep the legion 5 pro... I'll use your settings to try and get better performance on this beast. Thanks for your tips
Hi Osmar, yeah it should work great with the legion too! I am still waiting for my legion 5 pro, ordered in march now my EDD is Sept :(
I created a powershell script to switch refresh rates and it auto-runs whenever a user logs in or the power state changes from battery to ac or vise versa. It works awesome! Also, Dell refused to send me the mounting parts for the second SSD slot so I used the links in your previous video. Thanks so much! Just set up the Ryzen controller and going to overclock the GPU next. I was running 90 - 100 degrees in every gaming session and 50 - 70 at idle! Not too happy with the thermals on this thing
What a great idea Tom! I had considered doing the same but yet to get around to it! Thermals are not the best but to be fair these new ryzen do run hot. Ryzen controller does make a big difference for very little cost to fps. let me know how you get on with the GPU
amazing content. you deserve more subs.
Thank you mate :)
Thanks, nice upload. Can't wait for my M15 R5
Hope you enjoy it! What spec did you order?
Think same as you.
Ryzen 9, 32GB, 1440p with cherryMX keyboard.
Just checked dell’s website. It’s on his way. 😊
Yeay! Well not long to wait now then
Excellent, thank you for sharing. I love the GPU score after the overclocking.
Yeah, breaking that 10k is needed 😂 will see how far I can push it
Sad the x15 has a max q gpu so gonna get this one I guess great review as always
Any chance for the r6 review and also the comparison between them ?
Yes that is a real shame, why the obsession with thin and light! It’s a gaming laptop ffs
Would you say this fix made this laptop a more reasonable purchase? I have an order in for it, and I really don't want to cancel. It's easy to focus on the bad rep this laptop has gotten with the thermals, and the 10% dip in performance on the RTX 3070 when compared to other laptops rocking the same card..
The body, the keyboard (I ordered it with the cherrys), the size (I love the idea of it having the battery life to work as an all purpose machine), the gorgeous screen.
Would you say this is still a decent direction to go? I feel like this laptop is STILL good, even with the bad wrap it's been getting.
Hi Michael, this is still a good laptop. CPU does run hot but by capping the wattage it runs so much cooler and I lost hardly any FPS. Another user applied liquid metal and got massively better temps. The trouble is Dell's shady tactic of reducing the Cuda cores and not including the second SSD mount! It has really annoyed people (me included) especially as these are premium machines. If you get a good price it is still a great machine and that screen is just gorgeous
Dave, I got my m15 r5 today. There is a few questions I want to ask.
First, does your fan has a high pitched whine noise under load? It isnt bad as my old 17 inch, but it's still there. This time it LEGIT sounds like an jet taking off. Almost identical sound.
And my gpu and cpu at idle is sitting at 60 degree, I think it is a bit higher than usual.
Second, does your tron bar at the back look "uneven"? A few spot that is brighter than the other, and there are spots that are dimmer than the rest.
Other than these two issues I am pretty happy about this laptop. It looks good, keyboard is nice, and the touchpad is made of glass. Audio isnt bad either.
hello mate, glad to hear you have yours at last but no, I dont get high pitched whine! they can get loud in performance mode but its more of a whoosh so not uncomfortable. With regards to the iron ring, mine can look a little uneven but not bothersome. When I get back in the office I will try a couple of colours and give you a more detailed answer
@@MashITTech Thanks for the detailed reply!
I am glad to hear that yours dont suffer from the whine issue. Mine literally is a jet engine. I don't think it is that much of an issue, but I will try to tear it apart when I am doing my repaste and see if I could tape the side of the vents to have this issue solved.
Awesome video. Good work. The best video about this laptop!
Thanks so much
Thanks a lot mate! You definitely saved my laptop 🙏
Hey mate, love yours videos, and just out of curiosity, are you purchasing all these Alienwares with your own money or do these end up on the shelf of stores you collaborate with as demo units?
I purchase all these models with our business money, we also have an online store although these days we have little time for that as the RUclips is taking all our time.
@@MashITTech appreciate the reply, keep doing what you do, love all your Alienware reviews so far.
Great review as always. Outside of games, another key use for these computers is video editing and most mainstream reviewers now include Puget Davinci benchmarks. There is a free version and doesn't require Davinci experience, just run it like Cinebench. :) Hope you will consider adding it to your mix in R6 and X17 reviews. Thanks again.
Hi Ray, thanks for the heads up. I will be sure to include it from now on. Thinking about adding the blender bmw test
@@MashITTech Apparently the benchmark needs at least 6GB VRAM so will work with RTX3070 and up but not sure about 3060 or the 3050Ti. Cheers!
Hey Mash IT - thanks for the awesome in-depth videos on this laptop. One question - can you check in GPU-Z how many CUDA cores are in your RTX 3070? A couple of folks over in the r/Alienware subreddit are discovering that their laptop has fewer CUDA cores than spec (4608 vs the expected 5120 cores - a 10% decrease)
Leave it with me, just out of the office but will check soon
Definitely 4608! Need to investigate this further
@@MashITTech There is a bios update on Dells website to fix this. It was released with less cuda cores fo rsome reason. This will improve thermals as well.
Dude this is awesome. Thank you!
I have the 5900xh 360hz 3070 variant. I can’t seem to find ryzen controller (seems like you can’t download it anymore), but there’s a newer version?
Anyway. What should I set as the long boost setting? 25w as well? Or 30w for the 5900hx?
Yes, they just haven't updated the web page properly, when you go to GitHub go to the latest version on the left and get that windows installer 2.4.2 I think
@@MashITTech yeah but when you go to download it, you get a 404 error. Oh well. Anyway, would you suggest any different settings for the 5900hx? Also did your temps go nuts on your gpu when you overclocked?
Thanks a lot for the really good insights 👍 is a copper plate mandatory for the ssd or can it be used without the plate (did you add one on you 80mm ssd)?
The copper plate is not mandatory at all. A lot depends on the ssd you choose as some run hotter than others. If they get too hot they throttle (which is better than overheating and being damaged) my advice would be install one without and monitor its temps under full system load and a long file copy with Crystal disk info
Great Review! Quick question though, where did you get that wallpaper?
It’s the stock alienware wall paper for the r5. If you want a copy look in the description on my m15r5 main review as I uploaded it to a hosting site 😀👍
Absolutely great job
Also you should be the narrator for any Croft Manor scenes in the next Tomb Raider
haha thanks, I will reach out to them 🤣
Hi! This is David at MASH IT 👀🤣 Very informative video, thank you 👌🏼
Haha I mean it, you are doing my next one...
@@MashITTech Hahaha seriously man you're providing a very useful content, and actually helped me reconsider buying a Razer Blade laptop after watching your long-term review and with the comparison against the Alienware, went to the store and tried the Razer's keyboard and man you were right it's not satisfying to use at all especially since my work requires some typing. Still holding off though, waiting to see what Alienware got to show off with that X model today 👀
Yeah, I love the razer blades but what with the keyboards and the really conservative power budget it is a tough sell. Also the fans spin up every few minutes just browsing the web! Just seen some screens of the X series, there is going to be a 15” and 17” they look good but most of the ports are in the back, not sure how I feel about that plus it means it is going to be blowing the hot air out of the sides onto your mouse hand! Going to hold off judgement until I get it in
Awesome Video! Just a quick question, I am looking for a 15 inch gaming laptop and I cant decide whether I should get an r4 or r5 or even wait for the x-series. I am leaning towards the r5 because of the much cheaper price compared to the r4, but is the extra money for the r4 worth it? Or even waiting for the X series? Hoefully you can help me
Thanks you mate, Its always tough when there are so many good options out there so I will try my best to answer. The X15 is an unknown so I can't recommend it yet, I will order it on UK release and review it but my concerns are:
1. most of the ports are on the back which although keeps cables out of the way can be a pain if you have to keep plugging things in and out.
2. the side fans will be pumping heat out towards your mouse hand. I have had laptops that have used these side fans before and they can actually scorch your mouse hand!
Now when it comes to the r4 vs r5 I will give the positives for each:
R4 - slightly better build quality, better speakers, higher TGP for graphics.
R5 - cheaper, upgradable ram and wifi, QHD option, quieter fans, better CPU performance.
My choice would probably be the R5 with QHD, although the build is not quite as good it is still solid and performs great plus the QHD is the biggest stand out for the machine.
Hope this helps and doesn't send you to sleep but ask away if you have any questions
@@MashITTech wow thank you so much! You just earned a sub, thanks for the detailed help man! If I have more questions I will reach out to you, thanks again
Love your channel man. It would be great if you do a comparison between the r5 vs r6
I will when I can get it in the UK 👍
Will there be a video of Alienware M15 R6 Deep Dive? I would like to know if you can select the TDP long boots in the R6 version?
that would be good to know, I just bought an r6. @Mash IT
Sorry guys, I was not planning on creating a deep dive. Unfortunately Dell being just plain tight have completely locked this down so I cannot undervolt, use TS or XTU to change turbo duration etc. The only thing I haven't tried to do is unlock the BIOS but I haven't got time to mess around with that at the moment. Sorry :(
Hi! Another amazing video. Does this work on Dell G15 Ryzen edition?
Thank you 😊 yes, they are exactly the same machine with a different chassis! Everything that works on the m15r5 also works on the g15 Ryzen 👍
Wow! you are very informative.. thank you very much!! 🙏
Hello, this was a amazing video and I am so sad I found this near the end if my research because it awnsered all of my questions. So I am also happy I found it bc not all my questions were awnsered. Now since all my questions are awnsered I have a new one. Is reducing the long boost TDP considered undervolting, and is reducing the long boost TDP bad for the processor? I am pretty sure it isn’t but i just went to make sure. Also, is over locking to the level you said bad for the laptop, and does it reduce the lifetime of the laptop? I know this is a later comment so thankyou if you took the time to read this. You just got another like, sub, and a viewer who is loving and appreciating your contect. Keep it up!
hello mate, thanks for the sub :)
Reducing the long boost TDP isn't undervolting (I can't find a way to undervolt ryzen mobile yet) it is just capping the CPU at a sensible wattage for the chassis. For me it was 25w but you may get a bit more or less depending on your thermal paste job and silicon lottery. It is not bad for the CPU, if anything it is good for the cpu as it will run at a cooler temp.
With regards to the overclocking, as long as your temps are ok it will be fine for your laptop. You cannot boost past your hard locked graphics TGP so you are essentially making the card more efficient per watt. Hope this makes sense :)
Thanks for the video.
Love your videos. Keep going 👍👍👍
Thank you 😊
In the Benchmark test you do, what exactly did you tweak to make the difference or was it just the ryzen controller for the temps ?
I changed the cpu wattage to 25w, it lowers the cpu performance by 5w or so but makes a big difference to temps.
@@MashITTech okay im a bit of an idiot.... how do i actually download the ryzen controller? i genuinely cant figure it out from that link you posted :(
Thanks for the info! When you compared stock vs tweaked, was the stock limited to 90C?
No, but the benchmark isn’t long enough to push it much further, when playing warzone I can see spikes to 95c on performance mode
Out of curiosity the qhd screen, does this also have the matte finish ? Is it worth the upgrade from the 1080 ?
Yes the QHD is also matte, sorry if I did not say in the review. It is well well worth the upgrade. It is probably one of the best features of this machine
I can verify that this now comes with the mounting and the copper heat shield (atleast here in AUS.)
Hey I got the laptop about 3 weeks ago and your advice worked great. I also installed new SSD and Dell sent me the mounting bracket and heat sink without any questions. I am about to upgrade the ram so I have one question. I am going with 32Gig kit from your link but there is single and dual rank. Single rank is cheaper so would it make that much of a difference? Which one would you recomed? Thank you
Single rank is the one to get 👍 dual rank makes hardly any difference
Great content and very uselful! I just hope they wont decrease the wattage according to the patch which might give us our cuda cores back
Me too! As soon as I get some more info on it I will let everyone know
@@MashITTech Great! Thanks for your efforts
Thanks for the video! Really enjoying your channel and subbed too.
Just wondered if you experienced any issues with Thermal Throttling whilst testing? Past few days I've been doing gaming and the whole thing seemed to go from 100fps to 20 and the GPU clock dropped to 210mhz and wouldn't budge until restarting. Temps didn't seem to increase over 82 on the gpu, but performance died! Any suggestions would be fab.
Hi Philip, thank you for subscribing. And no, not so far! I have been running this model and the base model solidly for a week (2 weeks for the base model) preparing a gaming and comparison review and not had a single throttle! Are you running in balanced or performance? How hot did the CPU get? maybe that is what throttled? Have you tried the ryzen controller I used? that really lowers the temps.
@@MashITTech thanks for the reply! Yeah I've given that a go with the same settings as you, I did leave the temp alone but used the tdp limit to the same 25w as you. It was hitting 95+. I was in balanced mode with the fans, but it claimed they were at 100%...does the full throttle fans ramp them up even further? Maybe I need to do that and try gaming for a while again and see if it happens again?
Yes, I would, balanced seems to conservative. If you are on performance, 25w and still getting to a 100c then something is wrong
@@MashITTech I shall certainly give that a go! The fans do get pretty loud on that mode, but as you've said headphones negate that.
The high performance mode that's in the control centre, does that do much in terms of overall performance and/or thermal limits? Or does it just allow it to suck a bit more power?
My first gaming laptop was an Alienware M15 R3 intel 1070H RTX 2070 model, with a 300 hertz screen. Runs super duper hot. The Alienware command center is slow, glitchy, and frustrating. I kept that laptop in house and went and bought a Lenovo Legion 5, Ryzen Version, 2060 Laptop for my office. Never had a problem with it, never runs super hot, the games run smoother, and weight is also lighter, and batter is much better.
The m15r3's do run hot but did you try undervolting? I did a guide for tweaking the R4 and it improves the temps a lot. That said we also had a legion 5 in and it was amazing too
awesome video! lots of great tips that can be applied to any amd laptop!
Thank you 😊
Got my M15 R5 in, it's open right now, and I can confirm that M.2 mounting bracket is NOT the same bracket. It can kinda sit there, but it will not clip in at all nor screw in nicely since it moves.
oh no way. can you give me the part number on the bracket? others have bought the same one and it fit perfectly
Loved the video! I got my R5 and using ryzen controller. I wonder can ryzen controller start when booting without it asking permission? Everytime i restart and boot the laptop ryzen always asks for permission which is getting annoying
so I finally received my m15 r5 and to my suprise it did have all that was needed to mount a 2nd NVME in it I had already purchased a 1 TB WD Blue sn570 and it seems to be working well Now to fo though everything and get it running better per your instructions
Actually when I received my Alienware M15 R5 I was suprised to find that everything needed to put in a 2nd NVME was already there so If anyone needs on Ill sent it for shipping plus what it cost me to purchase one from DELL
Thats great news, Dell told me they would start including them but lots of people are still telling me they did not get one! very odd
Hello there! I am considering to buy the M15 R6. What is the Laptops noise in Idle Mode, while surfing or watching a movie? Is it totally quiet? Thank you.
Yes it can be. If the system is cool the fans turn off. But if browsing heavy sites the 11800h can warm the system up enough for the fans to start spinning but it is still quite low. Turning the power setting to battery saver should keep it cool enough for longer though
Great Video. Do you know what drive works on the SSD2 slot? NVME, SATA? Thanks
Gen 3 nvme. I didn’t test sata but I don’t think it will work as most are dropping support for it
Seems the computer does fairly well even before being tweaked. I hope laptops like this will become affordable in the future.
got a used one for $1600 cad. not great but a fair price.
Terrific video and information. Can you tell me the issues with the lost CUDA cores that people are complaining about and if it has been fixed before spend over $2k.
It has been fixed. Dell released a bios update 👍
Hi, do you think I can upgrade the graphic card (from 3070 to 3080ti) in a M15 R7? Or just the RAM? Thanks!
My machine arrived just as you started this video. I have left it on battery to get it up to 100% with several browsers left open (Firefox and Microsoft Edge), RUclips, 2 fantasy football games, Alienware centre, Amazon and,Epic store to name about half of them.
Only two pages open now and the CPU is fluctuating between 91 and 98 and GPU in the mid to high 80's.
Haven't even played a game yet, plus the battery only seems to get to 93% and not to 100% when plugged in.
I can see the Cpu temp is gradually dropping INTO THE 80'S when typing this sentence, but it's not half taking some time!
That doesn’t sound right, can you open task manager and see if you have anything taking cpu cycles?
That doesn’t sound right, can you open task manager and see if you have anything taking cpu cycles? Also did you unplug and plug the power plug in at that point? If you are 90+ % and you plug in sometimes they don’t charge to protect the battery
@@MashITTech I've turned it off for the day now, as have things to do and am quite tired so will leave it till tomorrow. I was doing multi browsing , but left about ten pages open for a few hours without closing them on two different browsers, but was going back to them sporadically during that time, and tinkering with fantasy football, Amazon and RUclips to name a few.
It still seemed a bit excessive though, as I bought the machine for multi tasking.
I'm thinking maybe I'm missing some settings I hope.
The battery was left plugged in for about four , five at the most hours, whilst all the pages were open, and never went above 93 percent.
Yeah, that really doesn’t sound right. Maybe windows update installing in the background? Battery also seems odd. I will put mine on and try and recreate your use and check my temps
@@MashITTech It's been off for about 15 minutes, and I have gone back to it this very minute. Its been playing on my mind too much.
I haven't noticed any fan noise, so how would I know if they're working properly?.
Great work by the way, I thought I'd mention it.