Aurora R8, i9-9900K performance issues

It wasn't first run.  That screen was probably the 10th run.  

I think the first run was in then 70s C.  The scores were pretty consistent (below 3000).  My idle temp is in the 60s.  Just like the other posters mentioned, this is likely a cooling issue.  Dell needs to address this since my computer is still well within the warranty period.  

Idling in the 60s with AIO and nothing else going on in the background is way too high, definately a cooling issue.

I would say 80% chance it was a Dell error that can be fixed with a repaste and reinstall, 10% chance you have a defective CPU or waterblock (eg physicaly deformity on cpu's ihs), and 10% chance it's some other issue.

Hopefully the cpu wasn't damaged from being used in this manner.

Thanks guys.  I completely agree with you guys.  They need to fix this.  

And yes, it's liquid cooled (I think that's required from Dell for a 9900K).  I think they are still waiting for AssistSupport 3.4.0 to work on Alienware (it's a known issue).     

I second what @Anonymous says. If you are 100% comfortable to tinker around the inside of your computer, by all means help yourself.

If you have a technician stop by and repaste your AIO block, you may have to take time off work. I’m stopping from criticizing the field technicians because all my past encounters with Dell field technicians over the last 12 years have been very positive. If you live in South Bay Area, the one servicing it is excellent.

Just had another 2 hour troubleshooting session with L1 support.  

Essentially Dell doesn't care about anything other than their Support Assist tool (I showed them R20 scores, and TimeSpy on screen, and he didn't care).  Even though the numbers are low, they still think the CPU is performing as designed.  However, they are going to escalate this issue to engineering department.  

Let's see how this goes.

Generally Intel does not guarantee turbo boost performance. However, if you can prove that you have paid for a superior part (i9-9900K) only to have it perform similar to a regular part (i7-9700K), then you have a strong case. Let's see how the escalation pans out. Don't let them drag it until you miss return/ warranty deadlines.

That's my exact point... I paid for a i9-9900K and therefore the expectation should be aligned with what I paid for.  I still have 8 months left on my warranty, so that shouldn't be a problem.  

They actually told me not to mess around with the paste just yet... since the machine is still under warranty.  I still shocks me that they don't care about any of the real world bench marks. 

Actually, my CPU doesn't even perform up to a 9700k right now!!

I have an i7 9700k non oc and when i ran cinebench 20 i got 3340 and around 1430 for 15.

Max so far I've seen is 93 C.  That's pretty high.  

I think if they don't call me back, I'll just apply the paste myself tomorrow.    

Just to give you guys a perspective on how TIM affects your CPU temps. I removed my AIO pump using some unconventional method as one of the screw got stripped. Then all I wanted was to make sure I didn't mess up and so I slapped the pump back on and mounted it with new screws without cleaning off and reapplying TIM.

Prime95 small FFT usually gets my CPU temps to 78C for dual fan (sandwich) and 85C for single fan. In this case, I was using a single fan and I hit 99C thermal throttle in 5 seconds! Promptly shut down, let it cool, and did my due diligence in applying TIM. And everything went back to normal.

My max temp got up to 65c when running cinebench 20 for the first time

@RedGreenApple :

So as of this morning, took out the pump, cleaned the CPU, reapplied the the paste.  The temps have dropped about 10 degrees.  I'll post some screenshots later.  I am able to get about mid 4000 in R20.  

...

If this is the level of support from Dell, I don't think I'd be buying anything from them anytime soon.

Awesome that you're able to fix this yourself. I think with the no-call from Dell, it was absolutely the correct thing to do by helping yourself.

We're all here after going through similar experience. I've been buying Dell products only because they are most cost effective after stacking member purchase price + deals + financing options. And then I pray that I don't need support.

Here's a quick update on...  absolutely no one from Dell's engineering department made any sort of contact with me over the past few days.  I was promised atleast a call back from that team to atleast see how they could help me out.  

So as of this morning, took out the pump, cleaned the CPU, reapplied the the paste.  The temps have dropped about 10 degrees.  I'll post some screenshots later.  I am able to get about mid 4000 in R20.  

I can't explain how poor of a job Dell did with the paste (or whatever they used).  Also the contact wasn't 100% correct either, one corner was tilted a bit. 

I don't think the CPU would last more than 3 years if I hadn't done the work.  I must say, Dell's support on this machine has been terrible.  First they told me that getting those scores in R15/R20 is the correct behavior.  See the following response (this was after I showed them the mid 2000 score in R20. Are you kidding me?):

"Performance of an OEM (Dell, Alienware or any other brand) cannot be compared using benchmarks. Those will vary on scores against other setups that are made to work specifically under certain settings and configs. The performance shown on the benchmarks shared seems to go along with what we would expect of the machine you own. How's the real life performance?"

Then after spending total 4 hours with their basic support in two days, their engineering team never called me back even though an escalation ticket was created for them.

 If this is the level of support from Dell, I don't think I'd be buying anything from them anytime soon.