So I've had my alienware m15 r6 for a few weeks now. It has an i7-11800H and a 3070. So I've come across a few problems which have bothered me quite a bit:
- Poor thermal peformance
The CPU temperature is consistently at 90+ degrees when I play cyberpunk. When playing apex the temperature is 80+ degrees. Both times I have the "performance" thermal profile on, which goes up to like 80% fan speed. (this is all done plugged in)
- Really short battery life
With 3D settings turned to integrated and display turned to optimus instead of nvidia gpu only (correct me if I am doing anything wrong), all FX turned off, fans to quiet, and brightness set to the lowest. Opening chrome and chrome only (killed all other non-essential tasks) with one singular youtube tab drains the battery from 100% to self shutdown in roughly an hour. When doing other tasks I find that the maximum life I can squeeze out the battery is about 1 and a half hours. I also notice that for some reason the battery jumps to 5% as soon as the percentage hits 10% (which perplexes me because where did the other 5% go lol)
- Lower than expectation performance
I have had another laptop previously with exactly the same CPU and GPU. I had a very solid 100+ fps in apex on max settings but I could not achieve that on this laptop (exact same video configuration, with the exception that the other laptop was 1440p and 17 inches).
Thermal performance can be changed with a laptop cooler and setting your fans to "full speed." I find that I often put my fans on full speed when playing extremely intensive games so I can continue to keep the frames up.
Regarding battery life: Many reviewers tend to immediately hate on Alienware's low battery life because it is simply something that 1) comes with many gaming laptops, and 2) something that Alienware laptops, in particular, do not do great at. There's not much to do, but what I do when I want more battery is to turn the "High battery" setting on in the AWCC and the battery saver in the main system settings. Additionally, I will turn down the brightness, because, you wouldn't believe this, it takes a lot of battery for a high backlight. With these settings, I can get around 2.5-3 hrs.
Regarding performance: It looks like you're using 11th gen intel core? I'm not a tech expert, but I believe I've heard that the 11th gens are not as good as the 10th gens. Could you have had a 10th gen before that performed better? I couldn't tell you much more about this.
I have heard using full speed fan all the time is not the best for the system, should the software controller not automatically adjust the speed as needed and not let the CPU get to 90+ C?
Regarding battery life: yes, I turned it down to the lowest brightness possible, turned on battery saver, etc. Even then, having 1 tab of youtube and nothing else drained my entire battery in an hour. I have had gaming laptops before (alienware) and 1 hour of battery life with lowest settings is just ridiculous. As for turning on "high battery" in AWCC, I cannot seem to find that setting anywhere.
For performance: it was the exact same CPU, as in i7-11800H
On the home screen of the AWCC, there should be a little menu button in the bottom right-hand corner. There isn't much customization, but I think all it does is turn off the LEDs and lower the screen brightness? We may have a different software system too though. I can't help you much else with the battery. I have an R3, so there may be a difference there.
From my research, the fans are supposed to always outlast your CPU and GPU on almost any system. Yes, it isn't the best for the fans, but they are built to run longer than the hardware components. If you're uncomfortable running the fans at max speed, I understand that, but I thought I would give a little reassurance. Hope this helps!
Ok now my pc is shutting down randomly while playing halo infinite. It seems like an issue with my CPU overheating (goes to mid 90s) but I have max fans on. Send help lol
Have you tried tweaking the configs of Nvidia Settings?
The situation you are speaking about in Google Chrome sounds like the Nvidia Card is being used for the videos. Check if that's the case and disable it( use the Intel one).
About the overheat, if your notebook can handle your max settings, lower your settings. Stop trying to force the notebook to do something you are saying it can't handle. You won't be able to do everything in 1080p/1440p with MAX settings and 165hz( or even higher).
We can discuss why our (mine arrives next week) Alienware cant handle an AAA title from last year (Cyberpunk) without overheating, but if that is the case, you are responsible for tweaking the settings. Normally Nvidia-GeForce Center and Alienware Control Center do some auto-tweaking for better performance and graphics. There are great guides for tweaking performance in specific games, where some options demand too much and the graphics quality increase is ridiculous.
Yep, the temperature question came up before about the new I-7 processors. The design engineers confirmed they should run at BELOW 100 degrees when at full performance. I use a wire-mesh laptop stand...tilts too...for maximum cooling. It makes a big difference. As for the battery...I switched my Bios setting's to "Mostly plugged in" within the "power/battery" settings. You could check those settings.
I too use tilts to prop up my laptop for maximum cooling, yet the temperature is just way too wack. I know that i7s do tend to run hot but hovering between 90-95C on max fans is just way too hot.
I will try out the BIOS battery suggestion, thanks (the battery issue I mentioned is when it's not plugged in).
Update December 30 = The service technician came today and has replaced the battery and heatsink (very good experience, I must add). I am monitoring results.
I have indeed tweaked the Nvidia settings. I turned it to integrated graphics in Manage 3D settings and Optimus in display mode. Which has produced the results as I first described.
As for overheating, I currently run halo infinite on the preset medium. I find that while the GPU is in a relatively safe temperature on max fans (between 70 and 80C), the CPU is still at 90-95C most of the time. Also when I play halo I plug it in with a monitor, and because my monitor is 60Hz so the game sets a cap of 60FPS. There are some irregularities for the FPS where it drops to 20-30 ish randomly, so even on medium preset it's a little iffy. I really don't want to set it to low because, well, I paid good money for a premium gaming laptop and I'm getting pretty lame results.
I will certainly look at some tweaking guides, thanks for the suggestion! I look forward to discussing your alienware as well
May i know if the service techician actions improved the thermal perfomances of your alienware M15 R6. Mine is way too hot too... Any changes in the BIOS that could help?
CSJM
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Posted November 17th, 2021 17:00
Thermal performance can be changed with a laptop cooler and setting your fans to "full speed." I find that I often put my fans on full speed when playing extremely intensive games so I can continue to keep the frames up.
Regarding battery life: Many reviewers tend to immediately hate on Alienware's low battery life because it is simply something that 1) comes with many gaming laptops, and 2) something that Alienware laptops, in particular, do not do great at. There's not much to do, but what I do when I want more battery is to turn the "High battery" setting on in the AWCC and the battery saver in the main system settings. Additionally, I will turn down the brightness, because, you wouldn't believe this, it takes a lot of battery for a high backlight. With these settings, I can get around 2.5-3 hrs.
Regarding performance: It looks like you're using 11th gen intel core? I'm not a tech expert, but I believe I've heard that the 11th gens are not as good as the 10th gens. Could you have had a 10th gen before that performed better? I couldn't tell you much more about this.