The Beast Returns - Alienware m18 - i9 13980HK 24c/RTX 4090 Mobile

[Rengsey R. H. Jr.]

7 hours ago, ssj92 said:

Get the i9 13980HX & 4090 version. Still got the 15% coupon right? lol

Yes sir. Thanks to you hahhaha. I have bookmarked that link too lol.

[win32asmguy]

18 hours ago, electrosoft said:

Pretty quick shipping too by Dell standards.

 

Only thing is you can only pair it to the 4090 unlike Asus which will let you spec down to a 4050 with the 13980HX. Great for someone who needs the CPU and big screen but doesn't need all that GPU....6GB of VRAM on a 2560x1600 display is cringy though.

 

Dell pricing is much MUCH better 3349 vs 3899 for the 4090 and that is before finding any type of Dell discount on top of that.

 

Same spec'd AMD variant is ~$100 cheaper (!).....

 

I'd love to see the performance and thermals of the AMD version, top end, same chassis head to head.

 

Yeah more CTO options would be nice if they have the chip supply to do it. I could see them adding 13980HX or 7945HX with 4080 in the future.

 

As far as pricing I wish I could pay them more to send the GAN 330W power supply, and also to not apply Element 31 to the high end CPU and GPU options. They should also add some bios options to disable the rainbow RGB bootup effect, disable the rear light ring, and set the keyboard to white-lighting only.

[ssj92]

2 hours ago, Rengsey R. H. Jr. said:

Yes sir. Thanks to you hahhaha. I have bookmarked that link too lol.

If you get the 13980HX, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 4090, QHD, CherryMX model let me know if you wanna trade for mine LOL 

[MogRules]

Anyone seeing any increase in the error message at boot that your system has failed to boot 3 times unsuccessfully? I am getting it every weekish, and the funny part is the system is turned off and moved to a new location and that's it, there is definitely no failure to boot 3 times in a row, so not really sure what's causing this.  The only OC settings I am even using are the undervolting options in the BIOS, so not really sure what's happening there. 

 

[Popcan]

7 hours ago, MogRules said:

Anyone seeing any increase in the error message at boot that your system has failed to boot 3 times unsuccessfully? I am getting it every weekish, and the funny part is the system is turned off and moved to a new location and that's it, there is definitely no failure to boot 3 times in a row, so not really sure what's causing this.  The only OC settings I am even using are the undervolting options in the BIOS, so not really sure what's happening there. 

 

I had my voltage set to 1100 with no offset and would get that occasionally. When I upgraded my ram to kingston fury 5600 ram my laptop would not boot at all.  I had to reset the bios and then it was fine.  So, from my experience these cpus seem to handle undervolting  differently than traditional cpus. 🤷‍♂️ 

 

or its dells buggy bios or software...     

 

[ssj92]

I had it happen once but it hasn't happened again. I would tell Dell about it, it's definitely not a one person thing. 

 

 

[Komputers-Best]

And interestingly, in the future it is possible to solder the processor or video card, say, 1370HX and solder it to 13900HX?

[MogRules]

On 5/3/2023 at 12:35 AM, ssj92 said:

I had it happen once but it hasn't happened again. I would tell Dell about it, it's definitely not a one person thing. 

 

 

Already reported 😊, it's on their radar.  We're seeing a few posts about it on Reddit so they can track those as well. 

 

[Popcan]

I will say this, the most stable my laptop has ever been is when I reinstalled windows.

and got rid of all the dell stuff.  
 

my backlight has stayed how I set it.

 

[TheShowX]

OMG....its the NBR Forum!!!! Sup everybody. Im planning on purchasing the m18 with 4090 and 13980hx 64gb 5600mhz ram. Anybody repasted this with liquid metal comletely yet? Are the temps better with it? i have a m17 r4 with lm i got a 20c decrease on temps all round. So im just wonder here if its better. I saw ppl on youtube putting ptm but i dont think im gonna waste my time with that since the heatsink seems like its nickleplated.

 

PS. gonna use ru.efi to get xmp. It seems though the 13980hx can only handle 5200mt at 64gb

[Popcan]

22 hours ago, TheShowX said:

OMG....its the NBR Forum!!!! Sup everybody. Im planning on purchasing the m18 with 4090 and 13980hx 64gb 5600mhz ram. Anybody repasted this with liquid metal comletely yet? Are the temps better with it? i have a m17 r4 with lm i got a 20c decrease on temps all round. So im just wonder here if its better. I saw ppl on youtube putting ptm but i dont think im gonna waste my time with that since the heatsink seems like its nickleplated.

 

PS. gonna use ru.efi to get xmp. It seems though the 13980hx can only handle 5200mt at 64gb

I'm sure someone has at this point, but I haven't seen a post of it yet.   It would be an interesting venture for someone to experiment with. Thermals hold these CPUs back so much.

 

If I had the choice knowing then what I know now, and if it was available, I would get the AMD variant.  However, I just play games on mine.

 

Battery life is much better according to reports as well as the thermals are much better.

 

Just my .02 🤷‍♂️  I don't think you will be disappointed, there is a lot to like about these m18s even if there are a few blemishes.

[TheShowX]

On 5/11/2023 at 12:44 AM, Popcan said:

I'm sure someone has at this point, but I haven't seen a post of it yet.   It would be an interesting venture for someone to experiment with. Thermals hold these CPUs back so much.

 

If I had the choice knowing then what I know now, and if it was available, I would get the AMD variant.  However, I just play games on mine.

 

Battery life is much better according to reports as well as the thermals are much better.

 

Just my .02 🤷‍♂️  I don't think you will be disappointed, there is a lot to like about these m18s even if there are a few blemishes.

 

Bad thing is no thunderbolt... all amd variants on ALL laptops have no thunderbolt or usb 4

 

Has anybody done a lcd swap to a different lcd like the Asus 500 nit 240hz lcd? I think im gonna try that too

[Rengsey R. H. Jr.]

On 5/11/2023 at 11:47 PM, TheShowX said:

 

Bad thing is no thunderbolt... all amd variants on ALL laptops have no thunderbolt or usb 4

 

Has anybody done a lcd swap to a different lcd like the Asus 500 nit 240hz lcd? I think im gonna try that too

 

I bought that screen and tested on a GE76. Looks really good. I am planning to throw it in the M18 or X17 R2 lol 

 

 

[MogRules]

On 5/9/2023 at 10:44 PM, TheShowX said:

OMG....its the NBR Forum!!!! Sup everybody. Im planning on purchasing the m18 with 4090 and 13980hx 64gb 5600mhz ram. Anybody repasted this with liquid metal comletely yet? Are the temps better with it? i have a m17 r4 with lm i got a 20c decrease on temps all round. So im just wonder here if its better. I saw ppl on youtube putting ptm but i dont think im gonna waste my time with that since the heatsink seems like its nickleplated.

 

PS. gonna use ru.efi to get xmp. It seems though the 13980hx can only handle 5200mt at 64gb

Yep, I repasted with Conductonaut a few weeks ago now.  I have had mine for probably a month or two? Somewhere in there.  When I got the machine the temps were high, understandably, just like most, but I was seeing lower scores and much lower wattage at peak.  I repasted with Conductonaut and immediately my scores went up by quite a bit and the wattage the CPU could pull went up another 50w.  The GPU saw no improvement at all, so the Element31 was working well there, but based on what I saw on my CPU there appeared to be an air bubble possibly, causing poor contact / no contact with paste in one corner.  The CPU will still 100% hit 100c on multiple cores, but it's pulling much better performance now doing so.  

I got some PTM7950 in as well, but I have not been ambitious enough to pull it apart again to try it again.  I did remove the LM and try traditional paste, but that produced much worse results overall.  This CPU really needs LM or some sort to reach it's full potential. 

I should note that I have the 13900hx not the 13980hx, but the differences between them are minor at best. 

[TheShowX]

On 5/14/2023 at 9:08 PM, Rengsey R. H. Jr. said:

 

I bought that screen and tested on a GE76. Looks really good. I am planning to throw it in the M18 or X17 R2 lol 

 

 

Please let me know if it works out on the m18 i will purchase if you test it and it works

 

also you might wanna try the Auo 250hz mini led 18 from the acer predator 1000nits

[Rengsey R. H. Jr.]

12 hours ago, TheShowX said:

Please let me know if it works out on the m18 i will purchase if you test it and it works

 

also you might wanna try the Auo 250hz mini led 18 from the acer predator 1000nits

If I can find the mini led , or if you can point me to that item. I would gladly test it out. Perhaps a model number so I can track it down. I am good at finding the product. 

[win32asmguy]

Does anyone here happen to have an m18 R1 with 4080+ and the Sunon or FCN fan heatsink? I am troubleshooting some fan whistle (any RPM, louder as RPM increases). Mine has the Delta fans, part number 27GFC for the whole unit. Also its possibly an interaction between the bottom panel venting cuts as the whistle is not present with the bottom panel removed.

[TheShowX]

11 hours ago, Rengsey R. H. Jr. said:

If I can find the mini led , or if you can point me to that item. I would gladly test it out. Perhaps a model number so I can track it down. I am good at finding the product. 

Unfortunately I dont know the model number. All i know its AUO or AU Optrics model and the specs i listed. Ive been talking to a chinese vendor and havent heard back. His shop only sells lcd panels for laptop. Win0Win is the guy. I believe the scar strix 18 has a mini led as well but that one is 1100nits!

[Komputers-Best]

11 hours ago, win32asmguy said:

Does anyone here happen to have an m18 R1 with 4080+ and the Sunon or FCN fan heatsink? I am troubleshooting some fan whistle (any RPM, louder as RPM increases). Mine has the Delta fans, part number 27GFC for the whole unit. Also its possibly an interaction between the bottom panel venting cuts as the whistle is not present with the bottom panel removed.

 

It looks like a factory defect..?

[win32asmguy]

6 hours ago, Komputers-Best said:

It looks like a factory defect..?

 

Yeah, it was like this from the factory. The previous m18 I had last month also had Delta fans and the same noise.

 

I would like to try a version with the Sunon fans but the challege is getting the part number and ordering it because the reps do not usually give out this information or allow selection of a specific brand when getting a warranty replacement. Usually spare parts sales reps will sell you the part if you already know the number.

 

Attached is a picture of the Delta version heatsink. The part number sticker is located under the rear IO cover.

[Rengsey R. H. Jr.]

11 hours ago, TheShowX said:

Unfortunately I dont know the model number. All i know its AUO or AU Optrics model and the specs i listed. Ive been talking to a chinese vendor and havent heard back. His shop only sells lcd panels for laptop. Win0Win is the guy. I believe the scar strix 18 has a mini led as well but that one is 1100nits!

Are you sure the Scar 18 has a mini led screen? It said IPS Panel in specs.

[Popcan]

Does anyone else get random “fan malfunction” errors in the bios log?

 

Happens every now and then. 

[MogRules]

11 hours ago, Popcan said:

Does anyone else get random “fan malfunction” errors in the bios log?

 

Happens every now and then. 

Not so far, just the BIOS resetting due to a failed OC setting or something like that, even though I am not OCed. 

[TheShowX]

On 5/17/2023 at 5:25 PM, Rengsey R. H. Jr. said:

Are you sure the Scar 18 has a mini led screen? It said IPS Panel in specs.

I apologize I must have read it wrong the 16 has a mini led not the 18 but the acer one is the one with 18 in mini led for sure. The acer predator 18. I must have confused the 2.

[win32asmguy]

I am thinking about trying to mod the bottom panel of my M18 to remove the stock honeycomb slats over the fans, so it removes the high pitched fan whistle. If I run the system with the bottom panel off, there is no whistle at any RPM. I also tried switching heatsinks so I think it is not the brand of fan causing the issue. I can pretty easily order a replacement panel spare part from Dell if I mess it up.

 

The hard part is finding some replacement mesh to use instead. Any good sources for something like that? Most of the metal mesh for car related mods (custom grills, etc) seems to be 20GA or more which is too thick for this application I think. I also thought I might be able to find an old used bottom panel from ebay and use its mesh as a donor.