Alienware 17 r4 constantly freezing for one-second durations after gaming for 10-15 minutes

Hi leec954‌,

Try running an ePSA/Diagnostic test on the system (even the extended one), click here to view a Dell article that explains how to run this test. Let me know if you receive any errors. 

Also, try running a video card stress test. Follow the steps below to do this.

• Open Support Assist
• Click on the Checkup option
• Click Run Custom Scan
• Click on the Nvidia/AMD card
• Select the Stress Test option

If you do not have Support Assist installed, click here for the download link. Let me know how high the GPU temperature goes in the stress test. 

The issue seems to be isolated to 17 r4 systems with i7 7820HK with 1080gtx.  There a lot of other people in that thread experiencing the same issues.  When I run GPUz and my pc freezes during gameplay, my GPU load drops to 0% and the performance cap reason states voltage reliability. 

I realize I'm not dell and all but I did have this problem with my 17r4 (2016) model.  Was caused by two issues that were fairly easy to fix.  First was to make sure to you edit your power settings to high performance second is to make sure you place the game on the ssd drive hopefully you have enough space.  Had this issue with fallout 4.  Turns out that the regular hhd just can't read write fast to keep up with the game without a stuttering.  If you really want to make sure you are running in beast mode purchase a 500gig ssd or m.2 ssd.  I recommend samsung evo series as to no compatibility issues what so ever.  And not one stutter since.  Hopefully this is somewhat helpful .

I appreciate your input.  All of my games and programs are on the 1tb Samsung EVO 850 m.2 sata drive.  With this iteration the issue seems to be the power delivery circuits overheating due to the bois pulling more wattage.  Other users have identified the issue as improper height of thermal pads on VRM and GDDR5X which is causing slight gaps between them and the heatsink.

Man that's not good and to think my sound issue was bad.  Well warranty that beast and get back to gaming.

I received my computer yesterday and i have exactly the same issue, i am very disapointed  :/

What is Dell's proposed solution to this problem?  Right now my $3,000 laptop is a big paperweight.  Games are unplayable with stuttering and freezing occurring everything few seconds.   This is unacceptable.

Send me a private message with the Service Tag so I can assist you with this.

I have a brand new Alienware 17 R4 GTX 1080 with an External Dell 27 Gaming Monitor with G-Sync.  I think I am having the same issue. Games are dropping in random places to 1 FPS a second depending on the game I'm playing.  It seems to happen more during loading screens or in the Options menus of some games like Paladins.

The problem completely goes away when I disable G-Sync. 

A new Nvidia driver came out today and I think it was supposed to help address the stuttering, but it's still there.  The new driver helps and I do see an improvement, but it looks like they did not resolve the issue.

I also feel like I'm on the fence regarding a return.  This is a high end piece of equipment and for it to perform worse than my 15 R2 is horrible.

I don't want to lose out on the rerturn policy to find out that Nvidia and Microsoft are not able to fix the issue.

If anyone ends up coming across a solution please let us know.

Thanks.

By any chance, is the rear of your laptop raised a bit? 

Try laying it completely flat on a table or other hard surface and try your games again.

This fixed this problem for me. Had the issue only when using an aluminum Cooler Master cooling pad with a fan which tilted the laptop forward a bit, problem solved when I stopped using this pad.

Bro...  I thought this was way too ridiculous to work, but no joke...it totally does.  I too had mine prop'd up to maximize airflow, and stuttered/froze during high GPU usage games.  The minute it was level, the temp got straight up to 90 celsius but no freezes or anything.

On-site techs already replaced my motherboard, and shipped the junk off to Dell HQ to be checked out; I actually still have an active trouble ticket open too.  I need to keep testing this, since I only played for 45 minutes on a single game...  But damn...  Yeah, I truly hope this "fixes" the issue.  Still makes no damn sense on why having it prop'd up would cause it to freeze though.

Mine has also been serviced, motherboard & gpu changed to no avail, issue still persisted. 

I thought it was a real joke too but I thought why not try it flat on a table and yup, no stuttering.

A tech is coming over this afternoon to change the thermal components of my system, I'll keep you updated if it fixes the problem or not.

No matter what, don't settle for a subpar system. You paid a premium price for it and you deserve one that has no issue whatsoever. Keep nagging Dell until you get a system free of any issue that you shouldn't have in the first place.

I use a cooler master laptop pad at home but when I travel with the laptop it sits flat on the desk and the issue still persists.  I don’t believe sending the laptop to dell will fix anything because it seems that did not work for anyone experiencing this issue. It’s really unfortunate that brand new $3000 laptop is limited to playing games in low-medium settings to avoid freezing/stuttering.  I have an older M17x R3 that I upgraded with a gtx 780 and never had any issues.  At this rate I probably would’ve been better just using it and getting the same performance lol.

I suppose I’ll just have to attempt the re-paste/pad of the system and see if that fixes the issue.  Granted if I can find a day to do then entire takedown/reassembly.

They did work on mine after I posted. New heatsink assembly had two more thermal pads on it that were missing from the old heatsink assembly. I now have no stuttering at all and thermals are phenomenal, CPU never raises over 80C under hours on full load.

Really satisfied with the support I've got from Dell/Alienware. Even got a month of extended warranty and free gear from them because of the issues I've got.

Keep calling, they can and will fix your issues.

Has Alienware worked on your laptop yet?  When the on-site tech came to replace my motherboard, I watched him take off the heatsink.  There was thermal paste on there, but no where near to what I would have applied.  When the tech replaced it with the new one, I ensured there was a generous amount applied.  But like mentioned above, my issues persisted even after that.  I have absolutely NO clue why placing my laptop flat has corrected my stuttering/freezing issues though.

Alienware DOES need to acknowledge this problem and find a permanent corrective measure.  The laptop should perform flawlessly out of the box, in all shapes an forms.