Noticed My Temps Getting A Lot Warmer

[Stevenxowens792]

I was checking more wprime temps lately with throttlestop and man... My cpu temp gets up to 87 max now. That's very high in my opinion. Even lowered my bclk and it didn't help. I may have to break down and replace the TIM now and I really didn't feel like dealing with it as I have been very busy this past week...

Anyone else wanna chime in with current temps lately for the CPU?

Thanks,

StevenX

[StamatisX]

Are you still with the stock thermal paste from Dell?

[Brian]

87C is on the high side but well within the CPU tolerance. The problem with high CPU temps is that turbo boost will scale back towards base clock much quicker so you lose out on performance.

[Stevenxowens792]

Brian - Actually I have monitored boost and because of my bios settings I raised the time limit to max (3 minutes basically at 26x) and then it scales back to (25.1-25.34). I also raised the wattage pull as well. So it remains at all times 25x on all 8 threads or higher. (I have confirmed this with wprime 1024 on all 8 threads). The options in the m14x bios are NICE!

I think it's time to repaste. Just a stressful week and I need a massage and a margarita to calm down...

Think positive---Think positive---Think positive...

[Stevenxowens792]

OMG.. I am about a nervous wreck after that. It's not the most difficult I have ever done but it ranks right up there.

I didn't do a full step by step or pic by pic but I took some shots while it was open and I have a few tips to help out. The hardest part for me was the palm rest and motherboard removal. Running tests now on cpu to see what the difference is.. I can tell you from the factory they DID NOT tighten the heat sync screws enough. That along will make a difference.

Pics to follow later.. I need to drink a Margarita now.

Time of completion.. 2 hours 4 minutes.

Steven X

[StamatisX]

I bet the second time will take you half the time...

Did you do the retention mod as well?

[Stevenxowens792]

Let me also add that i completely understand that normally less paste is more. But I will be the first to admit I went a bit heavy on the cpu. I cleaned the heck out of it and then added it on heavy. So ... lets see how it goes. Running thermal tests now. 8 threads wprime, turbo time limits and temps maxed out. My old highest temp before was 88c but most of the time at 87.

[Stevenxowens792]

@Stamatisx - What do you mean by retention mod? I haven't heard of that. So far.. 3 consecutive runs of wprime 1024 max turbo settings 79c max. But when I first got the m14x that's what my temps were as well. I know the paste dries a bit after a week or so but even if it goes up to 81c that's better than 87 or 88.

Running wprime run number 4. StevenX

(Edit)

Runs 4-6 now seem to hit at 80c max but spend over 99 percent of time below 79.

Note.. I always game, surf, whatever on a belken lap fan thingy that's concave with 1 fan. I never use the fan as it makes very little difference. Having the intake air seperated from the exhaust vent helps a lot. Tests for wprime were done in the same way I did them before, same setup, same turbo clocks and the bclk at stock. 99.80 default.

StevenX

Edited May 14, 2011 by Stevenxowens792

[StamatisX]

here is the link for the retention mod

http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m17x/24-m17x-retention-mod.html

[Stevenxowens792]

StamatisX -- That's a bit much for me... I think I will be ok as is.. If I need to reapply again I will feel much better the next go around but the shin etsu has like a 6.0 level of conductivity or whatever they call it and arctic silver only has 3.58. It worked really well in my old m15x (which is for sale on ebay everyone.. hint hint)

Edit - 1755 3dmark11 score is the best I can get with bclk at max and gpu set at 800/1080. @810 I get artifacts so that's cheating in my book. StevenX

[StamatisX]

Oh yeah, what thermal paste you use doesn't really matter, where you gonna see a huge difference is after you do the retention mod (this way your heatsink will be attached to the cpu die with bigger force) and then you calibrate each screw separately (I currently use only 2 screws, the rest of them are there but not screwed cause they make my temps worse) in order to get the best result (lowest temps).

[Stevenxowens792]

<embed src="http://img593.imageshack.us/slideshow/smilplayer.swf" width="426" height="320" name="smilplayer" id="smilplayer" bgcolor="FFFFFF" menu="false" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" flashvars="id=img593/cimg1146h.jpg"/>

here's the link to the album in case you need it...

http://img593.imageshack.us/g/cimg1146h.jpg/

[Brian]

Nice, looks like you're getting good results steven. I'm going to merge this thread with the other one about CPU temps.

[StamatisX]

<embed src="http://img593.imageshack.us/slideshow/smilplayer.swf" width="426" height="320" name="smilplayer" id="smilplayer" bgcolor="FFFFFF" menu="false" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" flashvars="id=img593/cimg1146h.jpg"/>

here's the link to the album in case you need it...

ImageShack Album - 13 images

Nice pictures man, be careful though with the static because I see you place the motherboard and the rest of the components on top of that fabric

[svl7]

Thanks for the pics, the embed sliedshow doesn't show up but the link to the album works.

Like StamatisX said, a towel is not the best place for a mobo...

Edited May 14, 2011 by svl7

[unreal25]

Yep, it's not the best idea because of the static electricity. I would suggest a piece of cardboard or similar if you want to put it on something softer than the desk surface. The only place I used fabric is when I need to open the laptop and have it up-side down.

[Stevenxowens792]

I was going to use wax paper as I normally do but forgot to pick some up so I just had my wrist static guard. Everything's working fine. Sometimes we have to improvise and also nothing was scratched or damaged during the install.

Thanks for the responses.

GPU temp differences during BRINK @ 750/1000 went from 74c to 69c. I bet it might creep up another 2c so that's not bad results.

[Stevenxowens792]

My advice for taking your m14x apart.

Tools:

a. Small Notebook Phillips Screw Driver

b. Scotch or Masking Tape (masking preferred)

c. Black Marker

d. Old credit card or soft plastic flat edge to help you pry.

e. Cotton Swabs

f. High quality alcohol or rubbing alcohol

g. Quality thermal paste.

h. Print outs of each step from service manual or extra notebook to download the steps.

1. Follow each step of the dell manual on how to remove your system board. At the end you will also need the instructions on how to remove the heat sync.

2. As you remove screws, attach them to masking tap and label them by step and part. Example remove hard drive, step 3.

3. When you need to pry items such as the palm rest, start very slow and be cautions. If you break any of the plastic tabs it will not sit correctly. (I can say that my notebook feels even more solid after taking it all apart and putting back together my way).

4. The difficult areas on the break down are removal of palm rest and removal of system board. You CAN NOT get to the heat syncs without COMPLETELY removing the system board from the case.

5. For the palm rest, once everything is completely remove, gently pull up on each side of the mouse touch pad. about two inches to the right/left of the mouse pad where you removed the keyboard. This seems to be the "sweet" spot.

6. For the system board after each screw is removed and all cables are removed, gently pull up from the right side and pull to the right. The way the system board fits, on re-assembly you have to slide the left side of the system board in first and then get the right side to fit down (if this makes sense).

Good Luck

So far my GPU temps are 4 to 5 c lower and the CPU temps are 6 to 7c lower. (also keep in mind my heatsync screws were NOT as tight as they should have been originally in my opinon.)

Best Wishes,

StevenX

[Enfore]

I just finished a 2-2.5 hour gaming session of League of Legends, had high performance battery profile selected. Max cpu temp was 78c , but when I checked inbetween games in would be at around 69c-73ish c. Guessing those numbers aren't too bad. One thing of notice was that the game was running off the intel graphics and not the GT555m although I have it set to run on the GT555m in the nVidia control panel... Anyway, just wanted to post some of the temperatures I was getting! On idle and surfing the web it stays around 50c on the first core and 45c-48c on the other 3 cores.

-- Enfore