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

This is 100% true, I've experienced this on my personal unit where I used K5 Pro on the MOSFETs around the GPU just to fill a 0.1-0.2mm gap. Now the GPU stuttering is back. Seems like it lasted 7 months with light to medium usage

 

Hmm that sucks to hear. That means it isnt a great solution after all.

 

For someone who is new to this, how would you suggest to cover such thin gaps? 0.1-0.2mm ones

 

0.2mm thermal pads but those are hard to come by.

 

0.1mm thermal tape

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

for the 1.5mm thickness stock pads is it okay to stack a 1mm and a 0.5mm pad together to achieve the thickness?
Or even 3x 0.5mm pads?
Does that significantly degrade their performance?

 

Its not ideal but it can be done if the pads are not of a dry type. Arctic pads for example are okay for this.

 

0.25 mm pads.

https://www.conrad.nl/p/kerafol-868...remarketing&utm_source=criteo&utm_term=189056

 

Oh, My apologies. I should have been paying attention.

I hope these work better.

https://imgur.com/7AtfPIi

https://imgur.com/BxD4nQn

 

Fujipoly?

Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Tapatalk

 

My Alienware 17 R4 w/ 1080 and7820HK when I stress test it the temps are showing fine but yet after say 5 mins the stress test or while gaming will just stop working and it will say "game has stopped working" or unigine just stops working.. I am going to hope and assume it is temp related and that doing a repaste and repad will solve the issue.

So when it comes to the thermal pads. I take off all the stock ones and replace them with the better thermal pads.. should I put the HS back on (after I clear off the thermal paste) and make sure all the thermal pads have impressions so I know they are all making good contact and if so then put on the new thermal paste? Or will lifting heat sink back up "ruin" the pad?

Also for the PCH mod.. where can I get the fin, I don't see any that are less than 5mm. Also what glue do you use?

Lastly I saw someone post something about lapping the heatsinks before using liquid metal? Is that step necessary? I'm thinking about using LM I'm just wary since I have never even heard about it before nvm using it.

 

Too dry i think.

 

**REMOVED**

 

@iunlock Do you know where I can purchase a heatsink for a 17r4 7820/1080?

 

Hi,
@iunlock
Trying to Mod my PCH chip (Since it's heating up to 70c) to cool it down more. Looking to try to put 0.5mm Gelid Thermal pad and copper shim on top of it.

Would it be safe to tape Kapton tape on top of the copper shim? (to hold the copper shim down safely) It is heat resistant.. but not sure if it is non-conductive in terms electrical and etc. Don't want to damage PCH in the process..

Let me know what you think of this idea.

Alienware 17 R4 6820HK, gtx 1080--After repaste (Gelid GC) + repad (Gelid Thermal pads) of CPU (Average 65c-max 71 under heavy gaming-idle-32-36c) GPU (average 52c-max 64c-idle 28-32c) at 4.1ghz.

 

The tape will act as an insulator also 70c is pretty good for this type of PCH. It is hard to cool it down more, it needs an active airflow. Just tacking on some heatsinks dont do much. But 70c is well within spec.

 

What glue did he use on the PCH mod?

 

So.. Yes or No? Will it be safe to use Kapton tape over the copper shim?

 

Save but the tape will make it worse, also it might get loose over time. The outside coating of kapton is heat resistant but not always the glue itself. But thats not even the main problem. The kapton will act as a huge insulator.

 

I’ve just watched a YouTube video with iunlock talking about how Alienware changed the heat pad to using some sort of tape to sort the heating temps and to give equal core temps.
Is that the only way to solve this? And if you call dell for a replacement heat sink. Will it have the updated pads.
I’m having mad core differences. I’ve reposted it twice. First time wasn’t that good. One core 96c lowest core 79c.
Second time which is last night. It’s seems to have gone to 98c highest and 80c lowest. So no improvement but I see it’s possible to get even or closer to even temps.
The paste I’m using is artic silver mx4. I used to use IC Diamond 7. Is prob use that again since it’s thicker and make better contact to the heat sink. Would it be better than kyronaut. I’m not fussed about the surface getting a little bit cratched from cleaning it. Never saw this phenomena using diamond 7.

Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Newer heatsinks should come with the thermal tape instead of pads yeah. Make sure they check for alternative part numbers and not the exact same part number as the old one. Some users here replaced those thermal tape pads with thicker thermal paste like ICD7 but I am not sure yet if thats a good idea on the long run and I dont want to test it out since I dont have the big core differential problem to begin with.

 

I read that about using paste instead of heating pads. Blows my mind. But it’s a risk which if it dripped off would short the board which is why I assume all companies never do it.
What is the part number that the new one is supposedly the new heat sink?
I can compare t to my current one.
I’ve requested Alienware to try and send me a new heat sink as no remote assistance is going to help my temps as it’s a hardware issue.
Just waiting for them to get in touch now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Not sure what the partnumbers would be. Your sig says you have the 13inch version?

Icd7 would not drip and its about a 0.1mm gap only but still its has not been done a lot so i consider it uncharted waters.

 

Yea ic7 don’t drip but manufacturers probably use crap stuff knowing them lol.
Yeah I got the 13 as well. Looking to see what to keep. My 13 has no problems like this fortunately.l which is why I’m trying to be patient with the 15.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yeah the 13 is by far less finicky for a lot of users. ALso thought about buying that one with that glorious Oled panel. But the storage options where a bit too limited for me considering the price. Need to pay a lot of extra premiums to get the 2tb storage that I need because it lacks a drive bay. and no 1070GTX. The current 15inch machines are better because of the heatsink revisions. For some still not perfect but they do need a bit of work. I can check the part numer on my heatsink later but it will take maybe up to a week.

 

Hello, please help me out here, when i disassembled my 15r3 7820hk with 1080 max-q, i found the thermal pad measurements somewhat different than those posted in the guidelines, please help me out here, should i use the measurements here, or the measurements dell did, thanks guys!

 

Yeah I’d be great. I can tell them which one it is. I got till the Monday as I’ll be on the phone to them again with what ever findings. Hopefully they agree it’s toast.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Just buy bth the 1mm and 0.5mm pads and measure them yourself by comparing them to the pads dell used. Because there are differences between various heatsinks etc. If you have arctic or gelid pads you can test the contact by mounting the heatsink back onto the motherboard and disassemble it again to check the imprints into the pads. Fujipoly pads make that a tad harder, once they are imprinted they do not return to their original state.

 

Thanks for replying so quickly, I got 0.5mm, 1mm, and 1.5mm pads and replaced the dell ones, i even added one that was missing -.-, i was shocked to find a missing pad, anyway, i'm not seeing any improvements after repasting with grizzly kryonaut, thats a bummer, i hope someone posts a screenshot with the thermal pad measurements of their 15r3 7820hk with 1080 max-q, i have a feeling dell messed up the pad measurements in some places

 

Every component is/has microscopic difference in measurements.
I did measure it using the enclosed plastic packet the thermal pads came with. I just pressed the plastic container/pack by placing underneath the heatsink to get approx measurements. If the contact is poor I added another layer.

 

Beware:

@rinneh

These are VERY hard, they are SHORE A 65 !!! For comparison: Arctic pads are SHORE 00 25

 

Yesterday I changed IC7 thermal paste for 0.5 mm Gelid thermal pads on processor side chips. I used to have 20c core differences with stock pads on processor side, then went with IC7 thermal paste and it helped, but now I wanted to try Gelids because they are very soft. I removed IC7, placed Gelids (very soft and flexible pads 12 W/mk, hardness SHORE 00 35) on chips and tried to get permanent contact between unscrewed heat-sink and processor dye by pressing pads down with finger (with pad protective film still attached) till I was sure that processor dye vs heat-sink have permanent contact. Then I applied Conductonaut, removed pad protective sticker and screwed heat-sink on.

TBH. I was happy with IC7 (to be used instead of pads) because it made core temps perfectly even, but it looked a bit too funny and melted barbie after I opened my laptop yesterday so I went pads and no core differentials (see post 7177 and 7179 from link below).
I hope this helps, because core temp differencials were driving me nuts.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/official-alienware-13-r3-owners-lounge.797884/page-718

 

Damn thats too bad, thanks for the information! For now I use the stock pads. But might use my stash of Arctic and Gelid pads soon.

 

Yea I saw I was like “what the...oh it’s paste” it did a good job. My temps are even but they have raised about 10c in my aw13. But it has been a year since I’ve had it and I’ve never opened it because I’d of been upset had I opened it and made it uneven. But I gotta open it to stop the chassis squeak on palm rest. So I’ll see how dirty the fans are either tonight or tomorrow.
But as for my aw15, Man it’s annoying. Might fake my temps to get an engineer to send me a new heatsink replacement. Core 0 and 2 are the most offset and core3 just stays low so it can be sorted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Honestly, I went through multiple replacement boards and heatsinks, all came with the differentials. The only way to fix it appears to be modifying the pads or heatsink itself. The chances of you winning the Dell lottery is probably pretty slim.

 

Probably. Looking at some gelid pads now. It’s not the kinda thing I do. Usually I just paste and away I go. So if anybody fancies opening their laptop to show the heat sink with the new pads on the cpu side be great. Core differential is annoying to say the least. Just the thought of it makes want it sorted rather than being happy and just play. Worst thing is I’m only keeping it till what ever the next gpu is here before I sell it anyway (ampere/Volta or the other one).
Dell reckon they solved a some of that out. So no excuses on the next revision.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hi there, 0.1 mm tape is very difficult to find. Can I use any thermal paste like Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut in place of this 0.1 mm thermal tape?

 

Definitely not kryonaut it will pump out like mad. Still ahve my doubts about ICD7 for that purpose. Maybe very soft 0.5mm tehrmal pads and hope it squeezes tightly enough.

 

Blimey. Watching this guy open my laptop is a pain. I have to wonder if he’s opened one before. But hey if they break it they pay. Nice 6 core be nice replacement but since they still stock r3s that will not be likely. Just wanna see what the new heat sink looks like and I’ll leave him alone to do this as if hate someone breathing down my neck doing my job I’d assume I can do better LOL.

To add the heat sink is exactly the same and it IS the revised one . I only checked. I’ve opened this a few times and never thought to check. If it’s still hot and I complain then they’d replace the motherboard.
Anyone had had any differences from a mother board replacement? Wanna know if that route is a waste of time.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I recently got an AW 17 R4 (7820HK + GTX 1080) and the temperatures out of the box were too high. I saw this guide and I decided to do a repaste with Grizzly Kryonaut. Before repaste I was getting about max 84C (lowest temp core was 68C) stock clocks in cinebench R15 and max temperatures of 93C (Core #3 75C) when gaming. Thanks to this guide I did a repaste, getting lower temperatures and fixing the uneven core temperatures.

Now CPU is running at 4.10GHz OC -120mV. I'm getting 65C-66C in cinebench r15 and 80C-82C when gaming. My PCH max temperature is 75C. Should I do a PCH mod? My nvme ssd gets about 83C when gaming. I already bought a NVME SSD heatsink. Hope it helps to reduce the temperature.

 

Did you repad it too? And what method did you use to repaste? Pea, line or did you spread it out?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I didn't repad it, just repaste. If I repad, will it improve the uneven core temperatures? before repaste the uneven core temps were about 20C, after repaste is 7-9C. I repaste with the X method in both CPU and GPU. GPU now max temp is 65C, that's 4C lower than stock paste.

I'm testing my OC with OCCT and core#0 failed after 1hour. Change the voltage to -110mv to see if it can past the 1hour test. Max temp in OCCT is 78C with 4.1GHz all cores

 

I have repadded the gpu side of my unit and have 9 - 12C differential at stock clocks. But when i OC cores 0 1 and 2 hit upto 99C and avg around 85 while core 3 hit a max of 85C and avg at 74C and there’s upto 20C differentials.

At stock clocks my CPU temps rarely go beyond 85C and usually average at 70C with a -135mv undervolt.

I will repad the CPU side soon that might solve the issue.

My GPU never goes above 65C.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Let me know if repadding the CPU side improve the uneven core temps. I'd like to reduce my 7C-9C differential to 3C-5C.

 

So I just recently repasted with conductonaut, and i'm not getting the temps I was expecting, and in some cases, things have been even worse. I'm pretty sure my issues are with the thermal pads, but before I take this thing apart again, I wanted to get some input. So, from what i've gathered, differing core temps are a pretty common issue, but for me, im having almost a 20- 30 degree difference between cores 0 2 and 1 3. at idle, cores 0 2 hang around 75, and cores 1 3 hang around 60, but under load, cores 0 2 throttle at 99 while 1 3 stay around 75. I also get readings that that the CPU package and IA cores hang around 75@idle but are hitting 105@Max under load. The Package/Ring also reads as thermal throttling under load too. I'm pretty new to this so any help I can get would be great, thanks!

 

Thats definitely a problem with the pads but maybe your heatsink is a bit of a dud to begin with.

 

What if I use it in a very little amount ? I got two choices: 1. Thermal grizzly kryonaut, 2. Arctic Silver.

Really confused. What to do?

 

Just leave the really thin thermal pad alone, you don't need to change that.

 

I don't have that thin thermal pad there, my machine was shipped before Oct 2017? And that is the real problem.

 

So you have 0.5mm pad?

Just remove it, the chokes don't really need cooling.



If you would like to use Thermal paste for now, that would work too.