I Was Hands on with Alienware Area 51m w/ RTX 2080 and i9-9900K. AMA!

Here are examples of unified and non-unified designs. Hope this makes sense.

 

My use case (gaming, word, photoshop) on a laptop makes a 9700k a far more reasonable option than the 9900k, especially since the number of games that benefit from HT isn't high (for now).

The 9700k is almost certainly the choice I'd go for in a DTR given the choice, I think. Get a nicely binned one from SL.

 

Hi, I've seen u around NBR & uTube, nice to meet u Giz. I'd like to add some background to what my friend SSJ asked, & also OldGuy

Through reddit AMA the other day, SJ was told by Alienware GM that 9900k was locked to 120watts (if GPU load present)(CryoTech = shared CPU/GPU heatsink etc) & can boost to 136watts for CPU loads; SJ wants u to break that 136watt barrier if possible in order to see if 51m indeed has a hard power limit we need to be aware of

For heatsink & side vents query, a copy/paste from sales page

The highest-end configurations carry 8 total heat pipes

Entry configurations do not have side-exhausts

As u can see, low-end configs may contain different parts & those parts are a current mystery. Typically, Alienware will send out their top config for review; reviewers without exception will not inform readers / buyers of the uphill battle some may have to climb in order to DIY towards the top config, say, if they buy a low-end config & source their own parts later; the Aliens do what they can to thwart some user upgrades

For our purposes, we find the 8700 (non-K) CPU on the sales menu as starter CPU; in a world where they're marketing easy user upgrades to CPU, it'd be typical for someone to buy the entry 8700 & then now or later toss in 9700k 9900k etc, but to do so, we'd wonder if 8700's ship without K-series 'over-clocking' heatsink & side exhausts (or a side vent 'system' / baffle etc) referenced in the sales literature above

I expect they'll ship u 9900k for review & so u might not be privy to what lesser models are shipped with, but you'd be in position to ask what the minimum factory config needs to be to get better heatsink + side exhaust. Naturally, some of us wish to know what the heatsink (& side vent system if applicable) will cost from Dell Parts in order to move 8700 to a 9900k later on, but it'd be nice to know what the user can order upfront minimum to get it inside & shipped (example if 9700k + 2070 is minimum config for those parts it means 9900k is easy upgrade w/ no out-of-pocket expense; it also implies 8700 buyers will need to pay Dell Parts for the 'overclocking' heatsink)

I hope you understand that most buyers are unaware there are hoops to be jumped through sometimes, & are unaware that 'easy upgrading' may have an asterix next to it, like out-of-pocket expense for parts over & above just the CPU, perhaps another powerbrick etc

As for me? I'd like to know about the Bios (UEFI graphic mouse-driven, or is it old-timey blue + keyboard?); specifically, how far can you overclock it? Is the Bios locked down (gimped)?

Overclocking will be a combination of Bios & CmndCntr software so we're told. SJ wants to know if XTU or similar will work in order to get a better overclock

The #1 question we'd like to know is how far can u push it before it overheats. Is it a throttle monster?, loud?, can u hit 5GHz across all cores?, 4.9?, is the Bios locked?, are you restricted to their tame factory preset overclocks (Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 etc) or do you have granular control that lets u go as high as possible (& let the cooling system decide the top clock)

Honest review on performance & features, not a puff-piece
Thanks

(PS: if need be, do send SJ a PM for the best way to attempt to surpass 136watts & what software is needed to measure / monitor watts for the test, he's highly experienced)

 

Where you able to see the thermals for the device? If so, how are they?
Did you notice any considerable throttling for CPU or GPU?
Would you recommend this setup over something less like a 9700k?

Thanks!

 

I wonder if it's because they kept letting some people take it apart if they may have not been reapplying the thermal compound and just slapping it back together? I really hope not but you never know. Plus we all know that Dell uses ****ty thermal compound anyway.

 

Depends on how you count or see it

On top 7 pipes (with side-exhausts)


Turn it around and you will find 8 pipes, bruh. Its called... Magic LOOOL

 

Looks awesome. Only thing I don't like is the dual PSU requirement.

Also, the giant "A51" is a bit silly but I could live with it

 

Atleast it's subtle and not rgb. Being an off color to outside case color was a good choice I think.

The dual psu thing was starting to become more and common ever since they've been stuffing full desktop gpu's into laptops. Plus the new intel cpu's get hungry once you overclock them. I think Asus has been doing it with their 700 series laptops too.

 

I must have forgotten but do we know if that laptop at CES had a 2080 or 2070?

 

I don't know why they just didn't requisition their own 700+W PSU like the Eurocom folks did - http://www.eurocom.com/ec/images(404)780WACDCAdapter