Receipt of New Alienware, Inspection, Set Up and Start UP

Question

As promised, here is an update on getting my Alienware Aurora R3.

Picked up the system and monitor at Purolator Courier. Inspected the outside box, Purolator staff advised the bottom of the box was wet, (oh great), made note of that in the signing window upon receiving the shipment, in case there was moisture damage or whatever.

Got the system home and went through the following check list: All equipment, (monitor, keyboard, mouse, mousepad, electrical cords, etc), included...Check!

Unboxed the system, checked for moisture damage, (see bottom of outside shipping box wet above)....Check!...(none noted).

Removed side panel and check physical layout of the system. NOTE: I put on an anti - static cord, fastens to your wrist, then attaches to a metal part of the chassis), for whenever you open the side panel and go digging around inside the chassis.

This might seem elementary to the tech savvy dudes out there, but we're not all tech savvy.....

I HIGHLY recommend, that if you do not have an anti - static cord...please GET one. Their pretty inexpensive, and can save you a ton of trouble if you have any kind of static electricity near a system. Static electricity is NOT a friend of motherboards, processors or other components inside a system. It can fry or really damage your system. Okay, moving on...

Made sure everything was firmly seated in the proper sockets...Check!!

Made sure system had proper number of ram modules and were of the same make and brand...Check!

Graphics card was the type and model as ordered...Check!

Left the side panel off for about an hour, just to make sure no moisture got into the system, before actual boot up.

Recommend when you first start up your system, to follow the quick start up guide, and follow that advice to let the system boot up for the first time without any interruptions. Takes a few minutes, but can possibly save some folks some troubles down the road.

Initial boot up and system configuration went off without a hitch.

Did a "mickeysoft" security update, tooled around the system to get familiar with this beast. Gonna have fun getting used to Windows 7 and all the functions, bells and whistles that came with Alienware.

Hope above was, or will be, of help to some folks out there.

NS61

DELL-Chris M · Answer

Great post. Thanks.

Gorddum · Answer

Nice NS61 glad its working well for you. Keep us posted once you fire up a few games. Looking forward to my own unboxing.

Damien2213 · Answer

Hey NS61 we should make this official I've received my Alienware post and when we all get ours we should post about it on here.  I've really enjoyed my R1 I've head and can't wait to get the R3.

NS61 · Answer

Hey fellow Aliens..:))..glad a few found this post helpful.   Still checking out the system and functionality of both Windows 7 and Alienware components.   Eager to start running some games, (well, combat flight sims actually), plus a few fps.  But, first things first.  Any bricks, bats or bouguets, (glitches, etc), I find as I explore I will certainly include here as well as some questions on tweaking the system for optimal performance.  NS61.

David N. Payne · Answer

I definetly will follow. Can't wait to get mine - hopefully before the expected date of January 2nd!

sadistik · Answer

Hey all,

Got my R3 system Saturday. Checked it all out, no damage and all components appear to be in place. Ram is all matching sticks of Samsung 4 gig x 4. So far the system runs very nice and very fast. I have updated the nvidia drivers for the 560 Ti to the most recent, it seems the dell version it shipped with are a few months old. WOW was not showing the dx11 option with the dell drivers, but once i installed the most recent it was showing up.

One thing with installing the drivers, i noticed i got an error and failed install when choosing the option to include the automatic updates. But when i didnt choose that option, the drivers installed perfectly.

So far I am very happy and still tweaking things and playing around. Anyone who is checking out SWTOR, the games runs very nice with all settings at max. The AA has to be done through the video card itself, since the game lacks its own AA settings. I did notice what people are saying, the force AA looks better with an ATI card than with an Nvidia. But its a new game and patches are forth coming like every MMO.

Gorddum · Answer

How's the systems treating you guys after a few days worth of gaming?

Damien2213 · Answer

I would also like to know the gaming is going and what temps for the CPU and GPU are looking like?

sadistik · Answer

so far i love it. I don't see any issues at all, at least nothing with the system itself. windows is another story lol. I don't have any info about the temps, i honestly don't check them at all. I can say its with in the norm, if not cooler in my case. I keep my house fairly cool to begin with and the room my system is in is the coolest in the house.

But over all, i love the system. Totally happy so far. but its been all of 3 days lol.

GDP0101 · Answer

Dells/alienwares CPU cooler is very good.  Same design as corsairs H50 and it will keep your CPU in check even under benchmarking.  Im adding a second fan in mine for a push/pull config but its not needed at all.  Although ambient temps play a huge role as well.

okuz27 · Answer

Finally received my long awaited Aurora R3 this afternoon around 12pm from Fedex. I was twiddling my thumbs waiting for this thing and when I heard the diesel truck pull up outside I knew it was here! The box is massive, I had to help the courier carry it up the stairs LOL.

After getting the computer unpackaged I opened it up to make sure there were no loose parts and all parts were correct to order. So far the system has been running really nice. Like Sadistik however I had to update my nvidia drivers for the 560Ti because there were about 8 months out of date.

So far I'm very pleased with how smoothly the intial set up has went and have not come across one issue yet. I'm currently installing SWTOR right now =] I will keep you guys posted on how it plays and any performance issues I might come across.

NS61 · Answer

January 11, 2012 - Update: System still works great, (one problem with audio card functionality, will explain that later). No crashes, BSODs, glitches, inavertent shut downs, etc. Games run smooth on highest settings, (FPS and CFS).

One word of caution for those looking to update drivers for your Alienware systems. Please read the post by Chris:

support.dell.com/.../document

I almost downloaded the wrong bios drivers by mistake. So make sure ya'all follow Chris' recommendations and directions on checking for your latest drivers. Also check the release date for each individual set of drivers and firmware. If the release date is after receipt of your system, you might want to consider double checking first. You may already have the latest drivers anyway.

Only problem encountered so far is with the audio card functionality. Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium. Switched from speaker to headphone function and lost sound in both. Looked thru all settings, explored Creative and Dell support website links, check Alienware Owners Forum, sent an e - mail to Creative Support. No answers found. Finally had to restore the system to an earlier date.

Chris, if you have any info on above problem can you send me a "hint", :+)), as to where to look, or, provide some suggestions for a work around or correction procedure to fix the problem. Thanks.

Cenobitez · Answer

The moisture thing is a with Dell. Seriously do UPS keep these things in a fridge or something ?

Both the M18x's I've had have condensed to the touch and been bordering on freezing, and when unpacked and appear to have a condensation layer due to the warmer temp in my home compared to where the laptop has been.

The laptop delivered at around 2-3pm and I unpacked at around 11pm and STILL was like this, the first one I unpacked within half hour. So awesome advice to let it aclimatise :)

DELL-Chris M · Answer

Doesn't the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium have reset to default setting?

NS61 · Answer

Hi Chris;

Yes it does, but after going through Creative Website Support, I noted also that default settings will enable exclusive use of sound card options by third party media programs, which from what I understand, you do not want to allow sometimes.

I also think I created part of the problem by trying to use the microphone and headphone jacks in the front console. Reading through the Alienware instruction manual, it is recommended when a sound card is installed, (other than inboard), to use the jacks on the sound card itself. I tried that and so far I have had no problems, (fingers crossed).

Thanks for the prompt response Chris. Appreciate it.

Locked Topics – Alienware General

Receipt of New Alienware, Inspection, Set Up and Start UP

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