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M17x CPU Fan Upgrade/Mod (2CFM->10.4CFM)


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CPU Fan Upgrade Procedure for M17x R3/R4 (2.0CFM->10.4CFM!)<o:p></o:p>

My original CPU fan was adequate (not great but adequate) fora 3740qm CPU @ 3.7GHz but when I upgraded to a 3920xm CPU and overclocked to4.1GHz x 4 cores, I needed more cooling - a lot more.

Running a 60-second CPU stress test on all four cores in Intel XTU, with a 65watt CPU TDP programmed, and a core voltage of 1.351v, the difference is asfollows:

· With original fan, system runs @ 4.1GHz for ~28 seconds before dropping to3.5-3.7GHz because of heat. On longerstress tests, it DOES NOT recover from this reduced speed state becausecooling is not adequate. Core Max: 92-95Celsius.

· With this fan mod, system runs @ 4.1GHz for ~55 seconds before dropping to 3.7GHzbecause of heat. On longer stress tests,it DOES recover from this reducedspeed state and spikes of ~4GHz are seen for the remaining duration of thetest. Core Max: 92 Celsius every time.

<o:p> </o:p>

So here are the stepswith some pictures:

1. Procure an M14x R2 fan. It MUST be an R2 fan!! The fan blade design is clearly different so usemy picture as a reference.

post-7271-14494995117273_thumb.jpg

There are many eBay sellers, for example, selling the R1 fan as an "M14x series fan," implying that bothrevisions use the same fan - which is not true. The R1's fan has a 2CFM sticker rating while the R2's has 10.4!

The markings to search for are: XN0G5 and/or DC28000AJF0. I got mine here: http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Cooling-Fan-for-Dell-Alienware-M14x-XN0G5/207462_647373968.html

Note: Do not just swap the M14x's fan blade into your existing M17x fanshroud. I tried that first and it doesnot increase airflow. You need the newblade AND the new shroud for this to be effective.

2. Remove your original CPU fan. There are three screws that hold it in. Also disconnect its power jack from themotherboard. While you have access, youmight want to blast that exposed exhaust port with some compressed air to makesure everything is clean.

3. Notice the three mounting brackets that protrudefrom the sides of the fan shroud in the picture from Step 1. You'll need to cut them off so the shroudwill fit. I used a Dremel with agrinding wheel. There's also one smallblack screw in the corner with the yellow sticker. You'll need to remove it and grind down thatprotrusion as well. Save that screw forlater btw.

4. Make spacers/pads to hold the new fan up. The factory pieces will not line up so you'llwant something under the fan for clearance and to allow air intake from theunderside. I used small pieces of arubber material called Dynamat but padded mirror tape would work, as would manylayers of electrical tape placed on top of each other. It doesn't matter what you use - as long asit won't melt - and you'll want it to have a small footprint so it doesn'tblock airflow. I made my pads abouttwice the height of the factory material. Higher pads will allow for greater clearance and more air intake - justbe sure the fan still lines up with the heatsink and the case closes over it.

post-7271-14494995117538_thumb.jpg

This picture shows the three pads I made, and the fan shroud with its originalmounts ground off.

5. Create a mounting bracket to secure the fanshroud at the point farthest from the exhaust port. You could optionally fabricate mounts to lineup to all three screw threads on the case, but with my sturdy rubber pads andthe tape that will be included on the exhaust side if you buy your fan new, Iwas fine with only one new mount. Note: Leavethat tape covered until the end of Step 7. I used a thin piece of copper but any metal is fine. Bend the metal so it lines up to both the topof the fan shroud and the point above the screw thread on the case. Mark how it sits on the fan shroud and drill twotiny holes (1/16" bit) through the shroud-side of the mount. Now place the mount on the shroud using yourmarkings and VERY CAREFULLY drill further so that you have holes going throughthe plastic as well. Do not push hardand do not hit the fan blade within! Drill a slightly larger hole on the case-side of your mount where itwill line up with the screw thread. Thescrew you saved from Step #3 can be used for one of the shroud-side holes andwill not hit the fan blade within. Ifyou can come up with another similar screw, use it for the second hole. If not, you can take one of the other twofrom the shroud assembly if you want. It's also held together with clips so it won't fall apart. One of the three screws that held in youroriginal fan shroud can be used for the other (case side) of the mount.

6. Thoroughly blow off your new shroud inside andout with compressed air to remove any stray plastic scraps from the machiningprocess.

7. Fit everything up, making sure the fan sitsflush on all the pads you've made. Makesure it lines up with the heatsink and isn't too high or too low into thecase. Adjust pads as necessary. Once you're satisfied, screw in your mount tohold the fan in place. Now lift up thetape on the exhaust side (which should still be covered) and remove thecovering. Carefully fold the sticky partdown onto the copper heatsink pipes to secure that side of the assembly.

post-7271-14494995117762_thumb.jpg

8. Plug in the fan's power jack. Again, ignore the connector being a differentcolor. It fits and it works withoutmodification or programming.

9. Close your unit up and enjoy!!

post-7271-14494995118017_thumb.jpg

So there it is! Let me know how this works out for you guys if you try it - and what you think about the procedure itself. Suggestions/questions are always welcome!

* I obviously assume no liability if you break anything doing this. Informational purposes only, etc, etc, *

This procedure replaces the M17x's original CPU fan (and fanshroud) with that of the M14x R2, and yields a greatly increased fanoutput. Both fans use the samemotherboard connector (ignore the color difference of the jack) so all that'sneeded here is to procure an M14x R2 fan, modify the mounting system a bit soit fits, and connect it up - and it works like a charm!

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Pretty straightforward mod with tangible results. I like it.

Is the new fan significantly louder than the old? For those temps were your forcing the fan to fun full blast or were you using automatic fan control?

Also that CPU will use less than 65W at 4.1GHz? My 2920xm uses ~85W at those clocks. I assume your CPU can clock higher but you just run 4.1 to keep temps down?

BTW I ran the XTU CPU test for 1M at the same clocks and volts as you:

fans auto max temp was 86C

fans full speed max temp was 80C

4.1GHz was maintained constant throughout. Room temp was 72.3F. My cooling is pretty far from stock though. If I tried that on how this thing arrived here I probably would have hit 100C after 15s.

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Khenglish, Thanks for the reply!

Yes the new fan is slightly louder than the original, and the different blade design yields a higher pitch sound, but it has not been bothersome. I would not call it *significantly* louder. The new fan sounds about the same as it does in my M14x R2.

For all tests before and after, I allowed the system to auto-control the fan. I've played with using HwInfo64 to force the fans to run full blast but the program cannot seem to control the CPU/GPU fans SEPARATELY on my system so I haven't done much with that.

My CPU's realtime power draw reading hangs around 64-67 watts while stress testing at 4.1GHz. If it does get too hot and the speed drops to 3.5-3.7GHz, the draw also drops to 52-55 watts for the same duration. I'm not sure if it could operate at 4.1GHz under full load while drawing less than ~65 watts.

My current clock multipliers are 44x1 core, 43x2, 42x3, and 41x4 cores. I established those settings to keep the temps down before doing this mod (a higher clock is no good if it throttles down during gameplay, etc.) so I honestly don't know how high I could go with this CPU now. I've seen screenshots indicating it can do 4.6GHz on all four cores in an M18x unit but I notice that it wasn't actually under any load in the screenshot so I'm not sure about that.

So you're the one with the four-pipe cooling mod right? I've mused with the idea of adding a third pipe to my setup, like soldered it on top of the existing two pipes, but I'm not sure how much that would help or what's involved as far as heat tolerances for the overall heatsink assembly. I don't want to mess up the radiator fins section by getting it too hot during soldering.

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Khenglish, Thanks for the reply!

Yes the new fan is slightly louder than the original, and the different blade design yields a higher pitch sound, but it has not been bothersome. I would not call it *significantly* louder. The new fan sounds about the same as it does in my M14x R2.

For all tests before and after, I allowed the system to auto-control the fan. I've played with using HwInfo64 to force the fans to run full blast but the program cannot seem to control the CPU/GPU fans SEPARATELY on my system so I haven't done much with that.

My CPU's realtime power draw reading hangs around 64-67 watts while stress testing at 4.1GHz. If it does get too hot and the speed drops to 3.5-3.7GHz, the draw also drops to 52-55 watts for the same duration. I'm not sure if it could operate at 4.1GHz under full load while drawing less than ~65 watts.

My current clock multipliers are 44x1 core, 43x2, 42x3, and 41x4 cores. I established those settings to keep the temps down before doing this mod (a higher clock is no good if it throttles down during gameplay, etc.) so I honestly don't know how high I could go with this CPU now. I've seen screenshots indicating it can do 4.6GHz on all four cores in an M18x unit but I notice that it wasn't actually under any load in the screenshot so I'm not sure about that.

So you're the one with the four-pipe cooling mod right? I've mused with the idea of adding a third pipe to my setup, like soldered it on top of the existing two pipes, but I'm not sure how much that would help or what's involved as far as heat tolerances for the overall heatsink assembly. I don't want to mess up the radiator fins section by getting it too hot during soldering.

No that's luoxia that did the 4 pipe mod. I only added one :) It doesn't seem to help at all though even though I moved over the existing heat pipes to get 100% heat pipe coverage over the die. Momentarily the mod will be 1 upped by adding a radiator behind the existing radiator. Will be tricky to try to fit everything in without too much dremel work.

I'm also going to add some big caps to the voltage rails in this thing. I'm way over the designed power draw and this thing makes a good chunk of power related noise. Hopefully the caps will cut the noise and make sure things last.

About alienware cooling, I think they made a design error by putting the heatpipes on top of the radiators instead of embedded within. Lack of heat transfer to the radiator. If you could add a heatpipe or 2 to the underside of the radiator I think you will get significant improvements.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...
Will this fan mod work with the Alienware 17 (2013-2014)?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry to bump this super old tread but I believe this mod should be stickied. I just completed the same mod in my AW17 R1 and the difference is absolutely night and day. Major drawback however is noise, but this thing moves a TON of air. my 4930mx doesnt go above 80*c now (was peaking up to 95* on the stock fan). Thats just using GC extreme thermal paste. I plan to switch to liquid ultra as soon as I buy the special cleaner for it.

Another side note. i bought the fan for the GPU for the M17x R3/4 and it drops directly in. no modding or wiring changes required. Works perfect and dropped gpu temps from 75-80 down to 65-70.

Overall a massive win. But be warned the cpu fan is a noisy beast when you're pushing your cpu hard.

*EDIT* Forgot to give fan part numbers. CPU = XN0G5 GPU = THPDJ

post-4935-1449500112096_thumb.jpg

post-4935-14495001119784_thumb.jpg

post-4935-14495001120306_thumb.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

I completed this mod also. It's a significant boost to cooling power (at the expense of noise) and makes for much more comfortable overclocking on the 3920xm. I ended up using brass tabs (straightened picture hangers) as retention clips mounted to the original screw mounts. Note that I also used double-sided, heat-resistant foam tape on the underside of the fan, making for a very secure mount.

 

IMG_20151207_233334.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

I was upgraded the i7 4710mq to i7 4940mx 3.1ghz>>4.4ghz and then my alienware 17 r1 got overheat with the new cpu.  I realized that my cpu fan is too weak to handle the new cpu. So I did a lot of research, and I found out that the alienware m14x r2 fan will work with alienware m17x r4 and 17 r1( m17x r5). But i go to ebay and i search for that fan and they sell it for 29usd. I don't want to spend 29usd for that fan. So I was looking for other fan. And I decided to try the alienware 14 r1 ( m14x r3).  The fan of the alienware 14 r1( m14x r3) was bigger than my alienware 17 r1( m17x r5)fan and alienware m14x r2 fan.( alienware 14 r1(m14x r3 fan > alienware 17 r1(m17x r5) fan > alienware m14x r2 fan.) I decided to use the bench grinder to grind all around of the alienware 14 r1(m14x r3) fan off to fit exactly the size of my alienware 17 r1 fan slot. It was very tight and i didn't need anything to hold it.  I tested the alienware 14 r1(m14x r3) fan in my alienware 17 r1(m17x r5), and you know what the alienware 14 r1 (m14x r3) fan was 2 times powerful than my alienware 17 r1 fan.  My laptop was 4C degree cooler in overlocking idle, and 15C degree cooler in full load stress test.( intel tuning utility).

71883_1574694446182657_5901082118225602465_n.jpg

1621933_1574694466182655_6817994835288750181_n.jpg

12042731_1574694432849325_4969528610672192634_n.jpg

s-l1600 (4).jpg

s-l1600 (5).jpg

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  • 6 months later...
  • 1 year later...
On 2.5.2013 at 2:17 PM, AngieAndretti said:

 

 

 

CPU Fan Upgrade Procedure for M17x R3/R4 (2.0CFM->10.4CFM!)<o:p></o:p>

 

My original CPU fan was adequate (not great but adequate) fora 3740qm CPU @ 3.7GHz but when I upgraded to a 3920xm CPU and overclocked to4.1GHz x 4 cores, I needed more cooling - a lot more.

Running a 60-second CPU stress test on all four cores in Intel XTU, with a 65watt CPU TDP programmed, and a core voltage of 1.351v, the difference is asfollows:

· With original fan, system runs @ 4.1GHz for ~28 seconds before dropping to3.5-3.7GHz because of heat. On longerstress tests, it DOES NOT recover from this reduced speed state becausecooling is not adequate. Core Max: 92-95Celsius.

· With this fan mod, system runs @ 4.1GHz for ~55 seconds before dropping to 3.7GHzbecause of heat. On longer stress tests,it DOES recover from this reducedspeed state and spikes of ~4GHz are seen for the remaining duration of thetest. Core Max: 92 Celsius every time.

<o:p> </o:p>

So here are the stepswith some pictures:

1. Procure an M14x R2 fan. It MUST be an R2 fan!! The fan blade design is clearly different so usemy picture as a reference.

post-7271-14494995117273_thumb.jpg

There are many eBay sellers, for example, selling the R1 fan as an "M14x series fan," implying that bothrevisions use the same fan - which is not true. The R1's fan has a 2CFM sticker rating while the R2's has 10.4!

The markings to search for are: XN0G5 and/or DC28000AJF0. I got mine here: http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Cooling-Fan-for-Dell-Alienware-M14x-XN0G5/207462_647373968.html

Note: Do not just swap the M14x's fan blade into your existing M17x fanshroud. I tried that first and it doesnot increase airflow. You need the newblade AND the new shroud for this to be effective.

2. Remove your original CPU fan. There are three screws that hold it in. Also disconnect its power jack from themotherboard. While you have access, youmight want to blast that exposed exhaust port with some compressed air to makesure everything is clean.

3. Notice the three mounting brackets that protrudefrom the sides of the fan shroud in the picture from Step 1. You'll need to cut them off so the shroudwill fit. I used a Dremel with agrinding wheel. There's also one smallblack screw in the corner with the yellow sticker. You'll need to remove it and grind down thatprotrusion as well. Save that screw forlater btw.

4. Make spacers/pads to hold the new fan up. The factory pieces will not line up so you'llwant something under the fan for clearance and to allow air intake from theunderside. I used small pieces of arubber material called Dynamat but padded mirror tape would work, as would manylayers of electrical tape placed on top of each other. It doesn't matter what you use - as long asit won't melt - and you'll want it to have a small footprint so it doesn'tblock airflow. I made my pads abouttwice the height of the factory material. Higher pads will allow for greater clearance and more air intake - justbe sure the fan still lines up with the heatsink and the case closes over it.

post-7271-14494995117538_thumb.jpg

This picture shows the three pads I made, and the fan shroud with its originalmounts ground off.

5. Create a mounting bracket to secure the fanshroud at the point farthest from the exhaust port. You could optionally fabricate mounts to lineup to all three screw threads on the case, but with my sturdy rubber pads andthe tape that will be included on the exhaust side if you buy your fan new, Iwas fine with only one new mount. Note: Leavethat tape covered until the end of Step 7. I used a thin piece of copper but any metal is fine. Bend the metal so it lines up to both the topof the fan shroud and the point above the screw thread on the case. Mark how it sits on the fan shroud and drill twotiny holes (1/16" bit) through the shroud-side of the mount. Now place the mount on the shroud using yourmarkings and VERY CAREFULLY drill further so that you have holes going throughthe plastic as well. Do not push hardand do not hit the fan blade within! Drill a slightly larger hole on the case-side of your mount where itwill line up with the screw thread. Thescrew you saved from Step #3 can be used for one of the shroud-side holes andwill not hit the fan blade within. Ifyou can come up with another similar screw, use it for the second hole. If not, you can take one of the other twofrom the shroud assembly if you want. It's also held together with clips so it won't fall apart. One of the three screws that held in youroriginal fan shroud can be used for the other (case side) of the mount.

6. Thoroughly blow off your new shroud inside andout with compressed air to remove any stray plastic scraps from the machiningprocess.

7. Fit everything up, making sure the fan sitsflush on all the pads you've made. Makesure it lines up with the heatsink and isn't too high or too low into thecase. Adjust pads as necessary. Once you're satisfied, screw in your mount tohold the fan in place. Now lift up thetape on the exhaust side (which should still be covered) and remove thecovering. Carefully fold the sticky partdown onto the copper heatsink pipes to secure that side of the assembly.

post-7271-14494995117762_thumb.jpg

8. Plug in the fan's power jack. Again, ignore the connector being a differentcolor. It fits and it works withoutmodification or programming.

9. Close your unit up and enjoy!!

post-7271-14494995118017_thumb.jpg

So there it is! Let me know how this works out for you guys if you try it - and what you think about the procedure itself. Suggestions/questions are always welcome!

* I obviously assume no liability if you break anything doing this. Informational purposes only, etc, etc, *

 

 

This procedure replaces the M17x's original CPU fan (and fanshroud) with that of the M14x R2, and yields a greatly increased fanoutput. Both fans use the samemotherboard connector (ignore the color difference of the jack) so all that'sneeded here is to procure an M14x R2 fan, modify the mounting system a bit soit fits, and connect it up - and it works like a charm!

 

What i did was more simple, since i own both models (M17xR4 & M14xR2). I took both fans out and swapped the blades :). The motor of both fans is the same, so there is no trouble with that, plus i dont have to dremel and mod the outer cases of the fans :).

 

 

IMG_0077.jpg

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