Dwarf_King

I a using a Alienware m17x R2 system. I installed the AMD HD 7079m in my machine and had this shutdown at 85 degrees issue. I change the screws on the heatsink and made sure the heatsink had good contact with the gpu chip. I also used a bit more thermal paste than normal. I got like 20 c degrees in differences. Where I before would hit 85 degrees in no time with the UE4 elemental demo set on epic I would now only reach the 61. In skyddive 3Dmarks bench I would no longer see a shutdown of the machine like one minute in. It would bench all through and I would reach max 77 degrees. I also use HWinfo Custom fan control to control the on board system fans. at 60 my fans will hit 7000. Beside that I use a Coolermaster U3 pale to keep the machine of the table and all three fans on that has been located below the AMD HD 7970m Dell card. It now spins like a cat and crunch numbers in a way no one could dream about on a machine from 2010. My CPU is a Intel Core i7-920XM with Turbo boosting enabled in the A10 bios. Point is that make sure that the heatsink has firm contact(changing screws might be needed) and that you use a not too cheap termal paste(I use Prolimatech CPU Thermal Paste any other brand would be fine as well) and make sure to flatten the paste out all over the chip and use enough to make the heatsink and the gpu chip connect well. I spent a long time research on this all over the internet. I had to open the machine and try like 4-5 times before I had fixed the overheating issues and the shutdown. Drivers. You need to get the latest drivers. I installed the Catalyst Control Center 13 plus at first, then I installed the Catalyst Software Suit also. I also allowed Windows 10 to install the latest AMD HD 7970m drivers. I ended up with the Crimsons 17 something version. That fixed another issue with the core clock speed getting locked at 300 idle all the time. Here is the bench before the right drivers installed: https://www.3dmark.com/sd/4983982 And here are the result after all has been done the right way: https://www.3dmark.com/sd/4985058 I went from: Graphics Test 1 15.51 fps Graphics Test 2 21.37 fps to: Graphics Test 1 75.97 fps Graphics Test 2 85.02 fps As you can see drivers are also important. Hope this help others who are still having fun with their awesome Alienware m (SOMETHING) x machines. Anyway I find it extremely amazing to see that my Alienware m17x R2 sytem here in 2018(bought in 2010) runs that strong on a i7-920XM CPU(upgraded last year) and a AMD HD 7970m card upgraded this year. Damn awesome machines.