Graphics Operation

Now for the fun stuff: graphics performance.

Looking at 3DMark to begin with, the Alienware xv R3 doesn't perform especially well. The GS34VR, some other GTX 1060 laptop, is 30 percentage faster in Sky Diver and ix percent faster in Burn down Strike, which is no small feat from a laptop with largely the same hardware. This isn't expert news for the Alienware 15, but this is only a synthetic benchmark; let'due south have a look at bodily gaming performance.

Looking at the adept news first, the Alienware xv R3 is 40-50 percent faster in games compared to previous-generation gaming laptops that used the GTX 970M. If you're upgrading from last yr's Alienware fifteen, for example, this is the sort of huge operation gains you can expect. Often this is the difference between hitting 40 FPS and sixty FPS at a given quality level, and that's a big deal.

The bad news is this Alienware 15 was routinely beaten by MSI's GS43VR 6RE Phantom Pro. MSI'south GTX 1060-equipped 14-inch laptop was just slightly faster in well-nigh tests – typically under 8 per centum faster – all the same this is a larger margin that I'd like to see from two laptops that are near identical from a hardware perspective. In raw FPS numbers, the GS43VR held a 3-five FPS advantage in most cases, and that's nothing to sneeze at.

I am not 100% sure why the Alienware fifteen is slower than the GS43VR 6RE, yet information technology's possible that MSI's offering has a amend power direction and thermal solution that allows its GTX 1060 to hit college heave clock speeds on a more consistent basis.

Throughout my testing of the Alienware xv, the GPU consistently saturday well beneath the card's rated heave clock speed, sometimes reaching only 1430 MHz depending on the game. This isn't a huge surprise because the GPU is regularly ability limited (the GTX 1060's TDP is just 85W), and temperatures typically hit 90°C during sustained gaming sessions. As such, there is substantially no room for overclocking the GPU.

Thermal functioning is disappointing from the Alienware fifteen considering its large cooling solution; the GPU all the same runs quite hot, although typical CPU temperatures of 77°C nether heavy load are respectable. The laptop is very loud while either the CPU or GPU (or both) are existence stressed, as its fans spin upwards to produce a tone like to a small jet engine. The in-built speakers can overpower the fan dissonance in games, however y'all'll want a good pair of headphones to fully block out the noise.

The benefit to the Alienware 15'southward loud and bulky cooling solution is keeping the fundamental areas of the laptop's surface cool during gaming. The WASD keys achieve just under 33°C during an extended gaming session, and its surrounding keys are under 30°C. The hottest part of the keyboard is around the nine cardinal, which reaches over 44°C under heavy load, however this area is seldom used for gaming applications.