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

I feel more comfortable with the PCH die having as direct contact with the heat spreader as possible without the obstruction of any medium that will very likely just insulate it more; due to the compact environment to begin with...

This is why I've opted for the aluminium heat spreader with using Kyronaut to keep it as direct as possible.

 

[fail] Why not use the liquid metal instead of the kyronaut? [/fail] (edit here: Liquid Metal + Aluminium is not a good idea)

A different question, I've got almost everything I need for the repaste except the thermal pads. I was first looking for Gelid Solutions 11w/mk, but the size is a bit awkward. Alphacool has 11w/mk pads too with 120x20 size (which seems to line up better with the sizes from the guide), they also have a 100x100 pad, which is roughly the same price as 4x 120x20.

So when looking at pads I ran into more questions.

1) What is a better size, 120x20 or 100x100 (17R4 with 1080)
2) How important is thermal conductivity for the pads, the 11w/mk are about 56 euro (in total), the 14w/mk are about 105 euro (in total) and the 17 w/mk are about 225 in total. Is the double price worth going from 11 to 14? (in all fairness, the double from 14->17 is not worth it to me (price is for both the 0.5 and 1mm pads)

 

11w/Mk is Miles better than the Standard ones.... so unless u wanna oc ur vram into new dimensions the 11w/Mk will do it

 

The 14w/mk pads from Alphacool is the best one. Even beating the biggest brother.

 

@iunlock Do you have a link where you got the PCH Heat spreader from. I want to pick one up but cant seem to find a reliable location to grab one.

 

As I remember he used this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GWFMG1S/

 

Yup from Amazon... I've got a bunch machined to perfect size...

Yup... Thanks.

::iunlock::

 

Hi, iunlock been trying to find your contact info but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Do you still offer repaste services?

 

@iunlock

 

How long does the Grizzly Conductonaut last and is it a pain to remove and clean when re-applying ?

I am torn whether to step up and give LM ago or as used traditional paste before and less of a risk go with the Kryonaut.

 

Yes he does and his work is excellent.

@iunlock

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

 

Liquid metal if done right will outlast the computer...

It's a whole different animal than traditional paste. Proceed with care..

Kryronaut is excellent. I would recommend it if you're on the fence.,

::iunlock::

 

thanks for the reply I've just spent the whole day reading 162 pages only got the laptop Friday. can you just use artic clean to remove LM if you screw up?

@iunlock massive thanks true asset to the community and team lhz

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

My pleasure.

Rubbing alcohol works better in removing LM. 70% works well then use 91% to finish if needed. You can also use tape to lift up the LM beads to remove the big chunks before wiping it down. I have a few posts on this floating around...

.

 

Hi Guys, I'm not sure if this is the right topic but, does anyone tried the TGC Conductonaut on Asus GL702VS (7700HQ+1070)?
I'm gonna get one next month and i'm thinking of repast with LM, but i'm not sure if the cooling system is good enough to make any difference from a regular Kyronaut.

 

You bring up a great point that is not often realized by a lot of folks...

While using LM is great, in certain situations like on the XPS 15 and AW13 for example, the difference won't be as drastic than on a system like the AW17R4, MSIGT73VR etc...

However, it is still always worth it to use LM if wanting every ounce of drop in C's.

The trick with the thinner systems is that when the temps are dancing in the upper territories of 70C-80C's....every C counts...

 

Wouldn't the use of LM largely be depended on the type of heatsink? The GL702VS is a low-weight laptop (I looked at it too, but it's not available here in The Netherlands yet), I wouldn't be surprised if the heatsink is aluminium instead of copper due to weight restrictions. And unless I'm mistaken, this would end up very messy if you use LM.

I've got another question though, I ordered loctite from a store but got "Loctite Power Flex Super Glue3" instead of the loctite that was mentioned somewhere in this thread. It doesn't list the -40 to +120 degrees celcius in the options. Will this work for the PCH too? How hot does the heatsink become?

 

Yes that particular glue is more than enough for the PCH as it gets nowhere near that hot.

LM and Aluminium = Cotton Candy and Water. Definitely don't want those two together as it'll eat it for lunch.

The heat plates are usually copper so no worries there.

 

Thanks for the reply, I agree with you, every C's count, especially because I live in a hot country and looking for reviews for this machine it easily reaches 90c on cpu. I saw at Gentechpcs youtube the disassembly video, and the heat plates are copper, so it think I gonna take a shot with LM.

 

Hello everyone,
Thank you for your contributions to this thread. It has helped me a lot in making the decision to buy the 17 R4, repaste and change thermal pads. I live in Canada and haven't been able to find Fujipoly Thermal Pads with the proper dimensions. I also could not find the LM. On the US amazon website I can get the LM however its shipping time is like 3-4 weeks but other then that I have not had any luck.

---Retailers Checked with no luck---
- NCIX
-NEW EGG
-CANADA COMPUTERS

Does anybody know where I can buy these products in Canada? I really want to do this repaste and thermal pad change correctly using iunlock great documentation and following it to the letter.

 

I am in Canada as well, just north of Toronto, and I bought the LM and Fujipoly off Amazon.ca. They are on there. The shipping time does suck, 3-4 weeks, but you can always either pay for expedited shipping, or just purchase them when you purchase your laptop, or prior to. The laptop takes about 2 weeks from order date anyway to get to you so that will eat up some of the time.

 

How do you manage to thermal paste and superglue the PCH heatsink mod at the same time? I've ordered the heatsinks you linked to, but just wondered how I attach it without the thermal paste getting between the heatsink and the glue.

 

They are on amazon.ca but did you actually pay $72.00 CAD with shipping for each strip? my model need 6 strips total which would be around $430.00 CAD. lol That a little expensive for Thermal Pads

 

Ok, Repasted today with Grizzly Kryonaut and got her back up and running, overclocked her slightly and let her roll. Here is the pic of the temps. Where do we go from here =) ?

 

Yep, I noticed the same thing as well. I just went with the Arctic pads, which are not as conductive (6mK) but way cheaper and are most likely better than stock.

 

So after repaste, Benchmark temps hold fine, but as soon as I get into Battlefield 1 with everything maxed im peaking 91-93C but avg 78-81C I know the repaste is good, wondering with GPU and CPU under stress if it just is what it is.

When running OCCT alone it holds 70-72C only time it peaks as above is when the whole laptop is under stress. Im not getting any throttling, wondering if it just is what it is for these model of laptops.

 

Shared pipes between cpu gpu heatsink is the cuprit!! Unified Heatsink has always been a drawback with load on all hardware at the same time.

 

Wonder what would happen if we sawed thur the section between the two of them, there is enough mounting that it should stay stable. Wonder if it would have a decent impact on both ? I might have to order another heatsink and test it out.

 

@iunlock. I am going to use thermal pads Fujipoly 17 that already I have them because the thermal pastes that I have are Artic Silver 5, Artic Mx-4 and also Artic alumina thermal adhesive and none is as good as Kryonaut. I also do not want to risk and stick it definitive with Artic alumina thermal adhesive. Another question, I have the aluminum heatsink of 20x20x6mm, it is necessary to reduce from 6mm to 4mm? Or with 6mm fit correctly?

 

I'll save you the cost of another heat sink. It's not a good idea as I've already tried this.

Without any support there, you'll risk the cpu heat plate from lifting ever so slightly, which is enough to detach the paste to where it will become a air bubble/gap nightmare leading to high temps...

Metal also expands and shrinks under temperature, so without any support there with only counting on the heat pipes as the main support for the northern part of the cpu plate..... = Not a good idea.

It is also very important that the FET's are cooled properly.

I would just use MX4. The thermal paste doesn't have to be of high grade for the PCH.

The thermal pad may insulate more than anything leading to higher PCH temps.

I would just use any non conductive paste you have laying around.

 

Very nice, congrats and good job.

Let OCCT run for at least 30mins...an hour is preferred.

Next test some games, while keeping hwinfo64 running in the background to show all the relevant info and post up some screen shots here.

(hwinfo64 -> Go into settings and rearrange the chart or PM me and I'll send you a reconfigured file that I've done for hwinfo64...)

What computer and configuration do you have?

Those temps are not normal. Even with BF1, the temps should not be anywhere near those.

Also did you use traditional paste or LM? Did you repad?

* I'm on my phone and just replying to the latest messages. You have have posted this info already...but it'd be helpful if you could list the details again...)

 

@iunlock, I will use Artic mx-4.



The HS of 20x20x6mm is okay? Or should I lower the height to 4mm?
What kind of glue did you use? I have to find some in which it is similar in my country.

Or I can use Artic Alumina Thermal adhesive instead of glue to attach the HS to the Super 33+ tape. What do you think?

 

That'll work. The size is OK too as I use that size as well. As for the glue I use Loctite super Gel, but anything will work that's strong enough. 4mm is a good height and the black plastic will also keep the heat spreader in place. The glue is a bonus to keep it from shifting, while the tape is to protect the transistors and keep the glue from adhering to the pcb.

::iunlock::

 

Sorry, the black plastic? What black plastic? I thought that only tape was used to protect and fix the HS...

 

Eh? The black plastic cover that goes over the entire motherboard.

That cover goes right over the pch.

You have a 17r4 or 15r3 yes?

::iunlock::

 

Jajaja Yeah, then I realized what black plastic you were talking about. The HS of 20x20x6mm fits in height? are you sure?

 

You'll have to shave the height down about 1-2mm...

::iunlock::

 

I just tried the Artic Thermal adhesive for the HS and tape, it looks excellent very solid, like a rock. Later I will reduce 1 or 2 mm HS to install it. Thank you for all the info. @iunlock you are always very kind.

 

My pleasure. Looking forward to hearing back after it's done. Make sure to get before and after Temps.


::iunlock::

 

Si, por supuesto. Keep that in mind thermal adhesive instead of glue. I think it is better than the glue because it is more solid or thick (espeso)

 

I prefer thermal paste because thermal adhesive has a lower thermal transfer rating, but it'll work too.

::iunlock::

 

Good news: my repaste went well! It is running ~10C cooler.

Bad news: I broke that damn wifi card connection... What do I do about this? I think some of the solder might be in the little wire that connects the laptop to the card. I was going to order a replacement, but I might just let my warranty take care of it if I can.

 

Repasted with Grizzly Kryo, Repaded with the ones your recommended in your post. Again, temps are fine in benchmarks around 65-72C. But as soon as you fire up a game full time it avgs around 79-82c Max and PEAKS (Quick spike) to 89-92c once in a blue moon.

Ill grab some screen shots of running a game later today. TBH I think it has more to do with the fan curve then the repaste job, im on the new Bios and it does not seem like the fans are spinning up in time and they play catchup for a sec.

Setup is 7820HK and a Nvidia 1080

 

@iunlock
Full repaste, repad. I did pull it all back apart to make sure all was making contact, seems like she just wants to run hot =\

Edit, Now if I run just Prime95 or OCCT the suck runs at a MAX of around 72c

 

Did you take a picture after applying the paste? We need to see how much paste you applied?

 

I did not, but im not new to repasting, its not over / under pasted.

 

It really seems like a fan curve issue, the system and hold the 70s if the fans are spun up. Again the temps below are peak when it comes to avg they are fine for what it is.

 

@iunlock

I know you asked for longer, just dont have time as on a business trip. This is with OCCT for 15 min, temps are awesome. Again, I really think its fan curve.

 

The max clock speed is even lower than from an 7700hq. Pretty normal with low max and average temp if processor can't hold stock Turbo boost. Up with all power limits.

 

HWMontior was reset half way thur as I forgot to reset it before test and it had 2 hours on it.

Anyways changed some fan curves and a few other settings, this is battlefield 4 on ultra for 20 min.