A few things I experienced with an R10, from a software point of view:
- Always use windows update to update to the latest version of windows and drivers. Likely the first thing you should do.
- If you have killer networking cards, I had issues with the killer control center interfering with network applications. I would just install the network drivers and remove the killer control center.
- If you have an Nvidia card, get the latest drivers from Nvidia directly. Dell is behind with their drivers.
- Since you have an SSD, make sure you manually TRIM once in a while. I have it set under windows to TRIM weekly, but it never does it. Double check, do a TRIM once in a while.
- Run the supplied Alienware Update program once a week. It will show you any new updates directly from Dell.
- While I run an AMD CPU and board, for Intel I would get chipset drivers directly from Intel. Dell is behind on those also.
- As far as bios updates go, don't update if you don't need it. And if you decide to update, ensure not to use the Alienware update program but download the bios directly from the Dell driver page for your system. It will grab your system tag to make sure you are in the correct download section.
- Use Alienware control center to setup your fan speeds and curves under the thermal tab. It will improve cooling and lower fan noise when setup correctly.
Thanks very much, good info. With regard to updating chipset drivers and bios, is this straightforward? Last time I was dealing with those updates was back in the old days and it was somewhat involved and could mess up the system if not done right.
WRT Windows update, will windows offer the latest nVidia drivers as well?
All those drives, Nvidia, Intel etc.. are single exe files that automatically install all the latest versions of the files and uninstall previous versions if needed.
It's always a good idea to reboot your pc after a driver update, even if the update does not require it.
Windows will take a snap shot of your system before it starts installing anything new. You can always boot back into that configuration. I have never had official driver installations fail under windows 10, or cause windows 10 to become unbootable.
Windows update does not install the latest Nvidia driver update.
11bee
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17 Posts
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March 14th, 2021 13:00
sorry, guess that would help. i7 10700, 16 gig 3200, 3060Ti, 1tb ssd, liquid cooled CPU.
Vanadiel
6 Professor
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7.1K Posts
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March 14th, 2021 15:00
A few things I experienced with an R10, from a software point of view:
- Always use windows update to update to the latest version of windows and drivers. Likely the first thing you should do.
- If you have killer networking cards, I had issues with the killer control center interfering with network applications. I would just install the network drivers and remove the killer control center.
- If you have an Nvidia card, get the latest drivers from Nvidia directly. Dell is behind with their drivers.
- Since you have an SSD, make sure you manually TRIM once in a while. I have it set under windows to TRIM weekly, but it never does it. Double check, do a TRIM once in a while.
- Run the supplied Alienware Update program once a week. It will show you any new updates directly from Dell.
- While I run an AMD CPU and board, for Intel I would get chipset drivers directly from Intel. Dell is behind on those also.
- As far as bios updates go, don't update if you don't need it. And if you decide to update, ensure not to use the Alienware update program but download the bios directly from the Dell driver page for your system. It will grab your system tag to make sure you are in the correct download section.
- Use Alienware control center to setup your fan speeds and curves under the thermal tab. It will improve cooling and lower fan noise when setup correctly.
11bee
1 Rookie
•
17 Posts
0
March 14th, 2021 16:00
Thanks very much, good info. With regard to updating chipset drivers and bios, is this straightforward? Last time I was dealing with those updates was back in the old days and it was somewhat involved and could mess up the system if not done right.
WRT Windows update, will windows offer the latest nVidia drivers as well?
Sorry for all the questions..
Vanadiel
6 Professor
•
7.1K Posts
1
March 14th, 2021 17:00
All those drives, Nvidia, Intel etc.. are single exe files that automatically install all the latest versions of the files and uninstall previous versions if needed.
It's always a good idea to reboot your pc after a driver update, even if the update does not require it.
Windows will take a snap shot of your system before it starts installing anything new. You can always boot back into that configuration. I have never had official driver installations fail under windows 10, or cause windows 10 to become unbootable.
Windows update does not install the latest Nvidia driver update.