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Precision M4400 Owner's Lounge

Discussion in 'Dell Latitude, Vostro, and Precision' started by cnpt, Aug 28, 2008.

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  1. Intoxicate

    Intoxicate Notebook Evangelist

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    Dell never used a wax pad for the GPU and CPU!! It's a kind of pad out of paste, like a sticker. The difference is, that those paste pads use a more solid kind of paste, and it's thicker compared to manual applied paste.
     
  2. Weegie

    Weegie Notebook Deity

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    Ok. we are splitting hair's....paste,pad,sticker,whatever,I guess the moral of the story is we are advocating using something else...as5,mx-2,tx-2;)
     
  3. theZoid

    theZoid Notebook Savant

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    Is there a guide somewhere to cracking the case? My C90 was easy as the the whole bottom came off and it was pretty brainless to remove the CPU and GPU heatsink and apply paste or whatever....haven't even really looked at this one yet...link?
     
  4. Weegie

    Weegie Notebook Deity

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  5. Siggi!

    Siggi! Notebook Enthusiast

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    I received my M4400 on Friday. The first impressions are very good. It compiles a library in 12 seconds for which my old Insprion 9400 with a T7400 CPU (2,16GHz) needs more than 40 seconds. My M4400 is equipped with a QX9300 CPU and I upgraded it with 8GB of cheap G.Skill Memory. Currently the M4400 uses the entry level 80GB HDD, that I will replace with a better HDD or SSD (no decision made so far).

    Initially the fan was very noticable. After I installed a new driver from laptopvideo2go the PowerMizer helped to minimize the problem. If the system is idle the GPU temperature is around 55°C and the CPU a little bit over 40°.
     
  6. Weegie

    Weegie Notebook Deity

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    Hey Siggi!,very nice,28 second's better,I bet you are pleased!

    did powermizer not work with the dell driver?I haven't had a good run out of LTV2go driver's in the last couple of year's,improving performance in one area,but creating problem's in another,usually DVD playback.
     
  7. theZoid

    theZoid Notebook Savant

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    Thanks Weegie !! I'll check it out...
     
  8. m477hew

    m477hew Notebook Consultant

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    Well I finally switched out the thermal paste on my m4400. I noticed, on mine, foam pads that rest on the capacitors (?) around the GPU, and one next to the CPU. Do these need to be cooled or what?

    I also noticed that the copper part that is supposed to rest on the GPU doesn't actually touch the processor, it sits about 1mm too high. The only way I can think of to fix this is to make a copper shim and put it between the two. As a temporary fix I applied a generous amount of thermal paste (which I know sometimes can act as an insulator...but what am I supposed to do?).

    I used arctic silver 5 and it dropped my CPU about 8 C and my GPU about 5 C. Still, however the GPU downclocks after playing WaW after 15 mins.
     
  9. theZoid

    theZoid Notebook Savant

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    If its not the heat, I would think the driver then...doubt it's the Nvidia Card...the Dell hardware isn't going to cause that. Some guys with quadros in HP forum were flashing them over to their gamer oriented brethren, e.g. 9600GT or whatever. Opinions?
     
  10. minibob

    minibob Notebook Consultant

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    Well, if that's the case, I-RAM is right. This computer has a design flaw. I am no expert but it seems to me that the 1mm space should have been spotted and dealt with by DELL. I don't think heat sinks work well using proximity as a conductor ;).

    I would love to hear the opinion of someone who is more knowledgeable about electronics than I am.
     
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