EvilFacialHair

So after a few days I've noticed a few keys like my E key, F key, R key and D key have been offering some resistance typing and don't really feel that comfortable to type on. The most significant by far is the D key. Being an avid gamer, I make extreme use of the WASD keys, and it is extremely aggravating due to extensive usage. I have tried lifting up the key (not actually taking it out) and using a can of compressed air on it. Still doesn't help. It also sometimes makes very loud clicking sounds. Can anyone help me out?

Good news, guys. The problem was, in fact, with dust in the fan. There was a very, very thick layer of it blocking any airflow within the laptop (I don't know how I missed it when I checked), and now with my cooling pad, I can overclock the GPU with clocks of 760/1080 and still cap temps at 70C, with CPU temps at a peak of 76C.

Due to a problem I had on Day 1 when I got the laptop (thing started smoking and the palm rest area literally melted down ), Dell had given me an immediate laptop replacement and a free upgrade to a 3-year accidental warranty, so I should be fine with that for a while . Anyway, according to the Dell guy, the problem is with the fan and heatsink, and so he is sending some 3rd-party technician to put in new ones. If this doesn't work, a video card (and, consequentially, a motherboard) replacement is due. I guess I'll just see what happens.

Okay, I have some serious heating problems, and I am starting to think that, even with checking my fans and having them replaced a month ago, that I have a lot of dust stuck in there. Propping up the rear of the laptop did not help one bit. Buying a brand-new $30 Belkin laptop cooler did not help one bit. I am still reaching GPU temps as high as 93C (max before it throttles it), with CPU temps as high as 99C (the maximum before it throttles it), even with turbo-boost turned off. The thing is, I haven't been paying attention to heat before this. Why? Because everything ran fine. It still runs fine; demanding programs still run smooth, and other than the back of the laptop and the metal nameplate on the bottom, everything seems to be running at it's fairly normal "warm" temperature. I've had this laptop for nearly 10 months now using it for hours every day for work and gaming, and I can't imagine its been running this hot and still hasn't just died. That, or it's one tough system. Any help? Should I just send it into Dell for a replacement? I'm on the R1 M14x so I'm not sure they'll even have a new replacement for me, and I would rather not lose my hard-drive (I'm low on money and have no extra external drive to backup 400 gigs of data on), but it seems to be a serious problem.

Regarding cooling, I scrounged around and found my old Targus Laptop Chill Mat that I had put away 6+ months ago due to the fact that the fans weren't actually working. Being the optimist that I am, I decided to try the cooler again, and am disappointed to find that it still doesn't work. Would like to point out it does use a USB connection.

Agreed, what I wouldn't give for such beast speeds... You, sir, make me jealous

I personally favor Nvidia. While I really don't have much experience with GPUs, I have tried both AMD and Nvidia and I can safely say that Nvidia was a much smoother experience. Drivers were easier, regarding laptops Optimus worked great (mostly, although contrary to popular belief it didn't seem to have that bad of an issue with choosing the intel GPU in demanding programs), and I also like Nvidia's overall aesthetic better. Plus, my first "good" (by that I mean non-Intel) GPU in a PC that I had was a 6800 GT, which I fell in love with at the time .

The GT 555m is basically exactly equal to the desktop 9800 GT except for the fact that the former has more memory, DX11 support, and handles heat and energy better. Additionally, Anno 2070 is very CPU heavy as with most strategy games, so that might help to post.

Hey guys, I'm brand new to this forum, and I came on here to ask a question about heat issues with my m14x R1 with a GF116 GT 555m. I currently use MSI Afterburner and overclock my GPU to 760/1080, and I can sometimes get as hot as 95C, at which point the GPU is throttled to oblivion in order to keep from burning up. Even with no OC, my GPU still reaches upwards of 85C. I have checked for dust in my fans and everything seems clear (and they should be, considering I had my fans replaced when I got this laptop repaired a month or so ago due to a missing key and a small crack on my screen which, according to the Dell service guy, was due to excess heat [i didn't pay attention to my temps before-hand, but I don't know the difference]). I have also checked my CPU (intel core i5 2430m) with ThrottleStop and found that it can also reach up-to 99C, which, at that point, it is throttled. Do you think maybe the CPU is causing the GPU to heat up? I should also mention I use the laptop on a flat glass surface, which should be perfectly fine from what I've heard.