Nate

Thanks, and nice analogy.

Yeah, my fans are starting to come on more and more often, probably have to crack her open again this summer. I would do it more often, but it's a HUGE pain with the m18x.

Got my m18x CPU done today. This guide is nice but it didn't mention when the screen had to be removed. It has to be removed before the tray on top of the motherboard can be removed. This may be obvious, but it makes me nervous to deviate from instructions when my hand is being held. Using a guitar pick was a great idea, I bought a super thick one and it made it easy. Here's a pic of the mess I made: Got done and no extra screws laying around!

Gave it a try today. I took out one of the video cards and its fan, computer is working fine without it. I took out the one whose heatsink was furthest from the CPU heatsink. Not sure it makes a difference which I took out though. This is working though, sweet!

Oops, forgot to say it is an Alienware m18x. So I tore the whole thing down, huge PITA, and found the heatsinks caked with dust. I replaced the thermal compound and put her back together. I had to use regular cheap off brand thermal compound as it was all I could find here, but even then I see much better temps, 87C max (@83.7W!): http://i.imgur.com/DuZI8B4.png So, you were pretty much right, the fan couldn't cool the CPU well enough because the heatsink was super clogged. Here's a pic of them:

I have an m18x with dual Radeon HD 6900Ms. When I got it a while ago, I tried to play Battlefield Bad Company 2, but the graphics had all sort of artifacts and it wasn't stable. I disabled CrossFire and everything worked fine, so I've left it that way since. Is CrossFire stable for all games, or is it typical to have it not work well? I'm actually pretty fine with just using one of the cards. Is it possible to uninstall the one that isn't being used? This would be nice to reduce some noise, heat, and weight.

My laptop shutdown last night while playing Street Fighter IV. Screen when black, then it shutdown. Today I checked the temps and they are about 67C for the CPU at idle. It I do anything, eg open Eclipse, they jump to 95-100C while the CPU is working. CPU is i7 Extreme 2920XM. GPU temps are ~50C idle and 92C under load (playing Street Fighter). GPU is Radeon HD6900. Oh hell I should have just posted a screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/r3yvVAl.png I'm going to the store now to get thermal paste, a screw driver, and a guitar pick to repaste the CPU (I'm in Croatia for a few months so I don't have all my computer stuff here). Should I repaste the GPUs while I have this thing open? I'm worried that I could mess up any thick thermal pads, which I don't think should be replaced with thermal paste (which is meant for a very thin application). Can I repaste the GPU without disturbing any thick thermal pads? Are there any other issues that might cause high temps like these? I'm not sure what ambient temps are, but probably about 26C (and will only get worse with summer coming). Thanks!

I ordered an m18x, but it came DOA. Would just beep at boot. I reseated the ram, etc. Had to send it back and wait another month. I complained and they gave me a free RAM upgrade, but said they would charge the full amount and then refund me when the laptop came. It finally came, I called to get the refund but they won't give it to me. So basically I got double shafted, had to wait an extra month AND paid for an upgrade I wouldn't have bought. Don't fall for that one!