[Alienware 17R4 / 15R3] - Disassembly + Repaste Guide + Results

I'll take them


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After repasting with grizzly kryonaut my gpu temps are about the same at about 60c but my CPU temps are up to 25c cooler.

I am now @ 4 ghz with .050 undervolt acheiving a max temp in the low to mid 70s

 

Putting something underneath my 15R3 reduced the CPU temps by 9-11C and GPU temp by 8C. I am still curious about others temps when stress testing both the CPU+GPU.

Anyone know of any good alternatives to a noteboook cooler? I'm probably gonna find some outside grill-like bar metal piece, since I want ti maximize airflow + minimize size. These notebook coolers with fans don't do that. They block airflow while staying bulky

 

Well I finally finished the repaste on the second 17 r4.

I haven't had a chance to really benchmark or start finding the best frequency/voltage yet.

This time I used the XR-m instead of the X-e and added a little Kryonaut on both sides of the pads.... Though I only bought 1 gram it didn't stretch as far as I would have liked it to, and I really did do an extreme thin layer as well; no need for anymore.

Anyways.

Stock clock OCCT


Stock clock WoW 30 minutes


Lvl 3 OC in BIOS WoW 2 hrs - Max settings (almost max.... I almost always tune down shadows), performance mode, yada yada


Not. too. shabby.

I still need a chance to really dig in and start beating her up a little. I would REALLY like to see what sorta mods we can get into to take these temps down even further. Not bad for a laptop but.... a liquid cooling system in the drive bay? lol .... lets make it happen!

 

Is that repaste picture for the 1080 r4 still up to date? @iunlock

Do you still recommend keeping the .5mm thermal pads instead of using .1mm? and is adding the .5mm pad on top of the 1mm pad still a good idea?

I ordered some .1mm shims like a month ago and they finally showed up from china today (forgot i even ordered them). I plan on doing a repaste and putting one in there to see if helps my core differentials, but i watched a few of your vids on youtube since i repasted last and just want to confirm thats what i should be doing with the pads on my r4. Since it different from what you said the dell fix was (which is what you have updated for the 1070 pic).

 

So adding a copper shim seemed to have fixed most of my issues, wish i ordered one sooner. Just sat in the center of town in the witcher 3 at 3.8ghz for about a half an hour which saw a max temp of 72,68,69,68. That was in the best spot i could find that put 88% load on the CPU and a 99% load on the gpu. Those are the closest cores ive seen so far. I was originally at 25c+ differentials when i received the laptop. Dropped 10c+ with a repaste, and dropped another 3-4c with bending the arm, but still had a 10-12c difference with cores 0/2 even after all that. Now with a shim #0 is only 4c ahead and #2 is only 1c. So im definitely happy with the results.

 

Oh wow you have me interested now.. where can I get this Cooper shim? Is it needed for the gpu as well? Thank you!


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I bought these ones: http://www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-0-1mmx15mmx15mm-Thermal-Pads-Heatsink-Copper-Pads-for-Laptop-GPU-Chipset/201599218520?_trksid=p2050601.c100085.m2372&_trkparms=aid=111001&algo=REC.SEED&ao=1&asc=37338&meid=79d7618831a84ab381209fb246fde265&pid=100085&rk=4&rkt=4&sd=222344015573&clkid=1108486364348022134&_qi=RTM2247628

I only used it on the CPU, since i havent had any issues at all with my gpu temps. I used a .1mm one just because back when i ordered it thats what iunlock recommended for a size. The only place i found to buy a .1mm is china tho. I did see on reddit a few weeks ago that someone used a .3mm one, which you can buy in the US. Someone else a few pages back added a shim to theres too, so you might want to ask what size he used.

 

Thanks! That's great to know! How are these installed? Does it simply just lay in between the CPU and heat sink? And held down by pressure?


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I just put a dot of paste on the cpu die, then put the copper shim on top of that. Then i pressed down on the shim a little bit, so its was level and didnt move. After that i just put a dot of thermal paste on top of the shim and screwed the heatsink down. The shim is pretty much the exact size of the die. The only thing you need to be careful with is just making sure when you screw down the heatsink it lines up directly over the screw holes. If you have to move it or anything to line up the screws you might move the shim off the cpu die. It really simple, and will fill in any gap to make sure theirs a good connection.

 

Awesome ordering one now once again thanks again very helpful


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I just look at gpu temp since i've repasted (kryonaut) and it's 78°C while playing. It seem to be hight maybe i don't put enought kryonaut ?

 

This is normal with the 17R4, the heatsink is too small to effectively benefit from normal paste. If you want to see a real drop in temperatures while playing consider the liquid metal route.

 

Thanks for your answer Mobius.

 

Care to show us how much paste you use on the dies? CPU should be half a grain of rice and GPU should be 1 full grain.

 

I use the to spread the paste on the die and to put juste a thin film that's why i think i don't put enought

 

Hmm, that's weird. Maybe you're right that you don't put enough on the die.

Are you overclocked by any chance?

 

Roughly did the same, I did follow my instincts. At 100% load, GPU went 80-85C. CPU went to 75-82C and peak of 85-87C.

 

are you overclocked on the r2?

believe the cpu consumes more wattage since the igpu has to process the display signal, the pascal models can turn off their igpu completely

 

I'd like to know as well please.

 

No I don't OC the GPU and CPU performance mode is disabled. The CPU temp is 85°C max on core 0 on load. The fans are more silent than before repasting.
The CPU temp is not too bad, but compared to the temp on this forum my gpu temp seems a bit hight

 

The bottom-most vram bank needs a pad thinner than 1mm (1080/1070/1060), not really sure what dell uses on the stock pad. but I don't know the stock pad thickness, it might be .75 or a value lesser than 1mm, using 1mm is too thick and 0.5mm is too thin.

I usually just take the 1mm fujipoly, cover them with cling wrap, then compress it gently on a flat surface with rolling pin (kitchen utility). There should be a less ghetto way of doing it, such as using arctic thermal pads which compress really well when compared to the fujipoly.

 

hey guys. im about to repaste with conductonaut on my aw15r3. do you think its safe when im moving my notebook around from place to place? slipping in to bags, driving in the car etc. etc.
got the tape and everything here for a safe paste... but im still concerned about this. should the repaste be as thin as possible`?

 

Just did my 13r3 at the weekend, I suggest trying to apply first the smallest amount possible to the heatsink far away from the rest of the laptop as its a suborn syringe and you may end up firing it everywhere (I speak from experience).

 

so repasted now. sadly my CPU temps are damn high now and the fan is running noisy AF. i think the heatsink wont touch 100% of the die...gonna readjust them and try again

 

Might be true I sometimes hate Optimus. BTW, the cpu multipliers are locked on i7 6700hq.

 

This was just the CPU:
https://snag.gy/pGdUwZ.jpg

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Try running OCCT or BF1 in 3rd person spectator mode for a couple of hours and report back temps then buddy along with CPU frequency

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Won't this warp the heatsink a little or require you to use a shim on the GPU as well?

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And my experience + I heard of another guy who also had an air bubble in his

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I also had this concern so I repasted with the second best thing which is Grizzly Kryonaut. Much easier to apply and it won't run.

 

And with some stressing of CPU and GPU (75mins BF1 with CPU @4GHZ -150mV, GPU +200/0) with no custom fan profiles just stock:

 

Thanks for the info. Yeah I feel like something isn't right about my conductonaut paste. The temps are good, but I believe they should be better. Yours seem better/comparable and I even undervolted my GPU and am using a 7700HQ. I ordered some copper shims so I am going to try both that and some more conductonaut, I felt like I used too little.

 

Im not to concerned about it. Its only .1mm, its almost as thin as a piece of paper. Its so thin i was worried it wasnt even going to do anything to be honest. I could see it being an issue with a bigger shim, but you would probably crack the die from the pressure before you manged to warp a solid piece of copper. Im guessing that was the reason iunlock said not to get anything bigger than a .1mm. Considering I had 25c+ core differentials from the start im guessing my heatsink wasnt exactly flush to begin with.

 

Yeah I'd say I used loads! But at my own risk of course

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Hmm here's tonight's temps after 130mins of BF1 much cooler for some reason:

 

Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut Thermal Grease Paste - 1.0 Gram Model TG-C-001-R - $13.01
Sold and Shipped by MemoryC
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1K64GJ3690

Hey, it's cheaper direct from MemoryC (before shipping)

Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut Thermal Grease Paste - 1.0 Gram - $10.26
https://www.memoryc.com/pc-components/cooling-products/thermal-grizzly-conductonaut-thermal-grease-paste-1-gram.html?utm_expid=631082-2.BwC3Z48USKazE-lpT8vwfg.0&utm_referrer=https://www.memoryc.com/

 

Mobius, how can I PM you so we can discuss sending you a AW 15 R3 for a repaste?

 

Hello please check PM.

 

I finally redo a repast and put more kryonaut. I'll see the gpu temp. But the cpu temp is lower without solving the 10°C core differential.

 

Oh I see yours is a 17R4. The 17s fans are about 35% better than the 15s (specific numbers are in here or somewhere I saw from iunlock). Still I feel like I didn't use enough. However I like to take my laptop places so I won't use loads haha.

 

Hi guys, i have re pasted with liquid ultra on my 17 R4 with the 6820hq + 1080GTX and also applied Gelid thermal 12MW pads.

I have applied the 4.3 Ghz overclock setting as mentioned by iunlock, my temps get upto 80 degrees under bench-marking is this acceptable with such a high overclock?
What temperature should my GPU be getting to ?

 

Are you running with max fans? 80 should be fairly normal with auto fans and the cpu at 4.3GHz. You can do better if using good cooling pad and you ramp the fans up in HWinfo or use performance fan mode in the bios.

GPU should be around 65-70c, most likely below 70 if you do the liquid metal correctly.




Alienware 17R4 handled by LHz member @Mobius 1 hands hit 24+ hours torture test OCCT + Unigine Heaven maintaining temperature under 64c average on the CPU 6700HQ undervolted with a max of 3~degree variance and 61-62c on the GPU GTX1070.

System is running on 1.0.9 bios and CPU performance mode activated.

















Detailed temperature chart and 24H average of temp with min/max value.

Spoiler

 

This was standard fan profile, i will setup a HWinfo one tonight. Performance mode is a bit to aggressive for day 2 day for me, i will also lower to 4.1 Ghz for daily computing

Any recommendations on the 1080GTX overclocking ?

 

Second that: any suggestions/ guides for the gtx1080 overclock?


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I run mine at +210 with no memory overclock. It makes absolutely no difference in a game. I play BF1 mostly and it's a beast for the CPU and GPU. Isn't stable beyond 30-90 mins for me above that

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From what I gathered the memory overclock does way better (at least for the 1070) than a core clock. Also, you could try undervolting the GPU to around 0.800-0.850 for a bit lower temps/power usage

 

Hi!

Double posting here as it seems more relevant :

Could you give me some advices/hints?

The benchmark and screenshot were done on the second day after receiving the laptop. Everything is stock, I didn't open the unit and fan profile is left disabled in the bios.

- Should I change the bios?
- Are my temps and throttling completely related to a bad paste job or could it be because the unit is new and I directly ran wPrime on 42x? I mean, is there like an "overclocking curve" where I should increase progressively the cores for the paste to settle in or should it work right out of the box?

Thanks a bunch in advance!

 

Going right on the bat at 4.2Ghz wasn't the best idea, i'm afraid.

You should start with 3.6Ghz on all core with 100W PL1/2 and look for Thermal or TDP throttling (In case 100 000 mW in Bios isn't effective you have to set it again in XTU).
Then, if temps are fine. You can check at 4.0GHz (4 cores and Cache).
If they're not: Keep 3.6GHz and apply a little UndeVolt between -150/-100 mV offset.

4.2GHz is the starting line for Very High OC on this laptop. At this point the best cooling capacities are needed :

• High quality thermal paste
• Elevated rear for best airflow
• Heatsink with perfect contact on CPU
• Fan performance mode enabled in Bios

 

Thanks a lot!

How can I check if the 100W PL1/2 is effective or not?

When you say cores and cache, do I have to set something specific for the cache or is setting the multipliers on each core at 40 in the bios enough?

To undervolt, I need XTU right?

Is my method of testing good enough and precise? (running wPrime on 1024M bench with 8threads and checking the temps/clocks in HWinfo)