*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R5 Owner's Lounge

Since Alienware 17 R5 has been announced, might as well make the discussion for this model official with a dedicated owner's thread.

For those who missed the announcement, here it is
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12605/dells-8th-gen-alienware-laptops-and-monitors

For USA market, here is the link
http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/alienware-17-gaming-laptop/spd/alienware-17-laptop

Software Changes

New 17 R5 comes with a unified Alienware command center and overclocking tool which is the same software you will find on a desktop alienware.

You'll also get some extra zones to color customize as Alienware is adding three additional spots for a grand total of 13 zones. In addition, Alienware is greatly expanding the color choices from 20 to a 16.8 million hues.

Alienware is slowly shifting their software/apps to Microsoft Store. Alienware Mobile Connect, Command center and OC tools are some of the Microsoft Store examples.

Hardware Changes

Top end configuration now comes with 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-8950HK (6-Core, 12MB Cache, Overclocking up to 5.0GHz)

Hardware wise, it's pretty much the same as the late 17 R4. However, there is the Tobii eye tracking hardware which is yet to be confirmed. 17 R4 is using the Tobii Eye tracking 4C IS4 platform but 17 R5 appears to be using the older discontinued Tobii EyeX platform based on the driver release information. Below are the references

https://tobiigaming.com/products/
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=XYMPT

Internally, it has been shown in one of the pictures in the service manual to feature the same tripod design we all hate but this time, the top CPU tension arm has been bulked up significantly. The bad news is, because of the new heatsink tension arm design, the screw arrangement for that tension arm has shifted. In plain english, it's not compatible with current R4. Sorry guys.

New R5 also feature an updated thermal design inside, dubbed Alienware Crytek v2.0, includes a brand new vapor chamber for the CPU and an updated fan design allowing for 50% smaller blades and better performance. (claimed 10% faster over previous system)

RAM has been updated to support up to 2666MHz which is in line with 8th Gen Coffee Lake.

Externally, there is now a new epic black color to choose from in addition to the existing epic gray.

Dell is now using anodized aluminum and magnesium alloy in the chassis, steel reinforcements, saying these updates increase stiffness and rigidity while still remaining thin and without sacrificing performance. The weight however remains the same at 4.42Kg

Accessibility to the internals is via a thin aluminum panel using a simplified new bottom door mechanism said to be rigid and not impact the dimensions (though from service manual it looks exactly the same as previous model).

 

Hi!

Need more informations!!!

 

Easy, copy the whole 17R4 owner's Lounge thread and replace 4 cores by 6 cores.

 

hahaha... i believe there's a little more to that (details in thread #1).. but yeah, 6 cores pretty much sums it up

 

Ordered i9 with UHD IPS panel in Canada we have the option between QHD and UHD - (US only has option for QHD) I hope I made the right decision choosing the 60hz UHD IPS vs the 120hz QHD TN panel...)

 

Congrates! For gaming, the QHD 120Hz is really good. but if you are more towards content creation, UHD is a good choice too. besides, you will have a hard time pushing past 60fps with a GTX1080 on a UHD resolution

 

Here is mine,

17.3 inch UHD (3840 x 2160) 60Hz IPS Anti-Glare 300-nits NVIDIA G-SYNC with Tobii IR Eye-tracking

NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 1080 with 8GB GDDR5X

8th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-8950HK (6-Core, 12MB Cache, Overclocking up to 5.0GHz)

 

it can be solved. if there could be a small bracket like object, attached to the tension arm, you can relocate the tension screw hole. but, the obvious problem becomes the pressure. it maybe won't press the heatsink down hard enough anymore, but that could be countered, by bending the top arm.

Edit: Attached a picture

 

The thing that makes me mad the most about having just purchased an R4 is that the R5 has a black variant lol

 

Dell claims the new cooling system (Vapor chamber?) allows the CPU to run 10% cooler. That should give the GPU a bit more headroom, so I'll be curious to see the fire strike scores on this.

I had the R4 with GTX 1070 and was very impressed with it.

I ordered same -

17.3 inch UHD (3840 x 2160) 60Hz IPS Anti-Glare 300-nits NVIDIA G-SYNC with Tobii IR Eye-tracking

NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 1080 with 8GB GDDR5X

8th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-8950HK (6-Core, 12MB Cache, Overclocking up to 5.0GHz)