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

CPU average is 55

 

what are your peaks while gaming? Because average in HWinfo also means when your CPU has been idling and doing nothing.

 

That's weird. I also get around 90 ~ 105 fps (FHD, epic), and mine has an AMD RX 470. The 1070 is superior by a substantial margin (supposedly).

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I ran Heaven Benchmark for an hour. The CPU got up to 63c max. The GPU was 59c max. Running Overwatch and Doom yielded similar results. I am no expert, but these temps look good. Maybe its just normal for the fans to run so loud to keep things cool?

 

Hmm its hard to kbow what you mean by loud. But your temperatures are excellent. But it might be the pch temp that also influences the temperature and that part is cooled passively.

 

Yeah with these cards overwatch is limited by the cpu.

But not reaching about 100fps on epic with a 1070 does say something is wrong.

 

Where can I find the pch temperature? I can see the cpu, and gpu temps in hwmonitor.

 

Use Hwinfo64. A better tool. And much more hardware info.

 

Like @Papusan says, HWInfo is pretty much the only way to get get some good readings. If the PCH is over 60C it will still turn the fans on.

 

Temps while playing destiny 2 for 1 hour. Only look at the peak temps. the current temps drop & CPU speeds drop once I ALT-Tab out of the game. Fans are only working at a lower RPM with my current config. GPU reaches a max of 76c.

 

I just tried to repaste my Alienware 17 R4 but three of the seven screws holding the heat sink unit to the motherboard are stripped and won’t budge. Any ideas how I can get this thing off and repaste? The laptop is completely unusable right now with temps hitting 100c within three minutes of starting VR. Any help is much appreciated!

 

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+Remove+a+Stripped+Screw/13213
Also remember to replace the stripped screws with new one (obviously).

 

How much $ to do my r4 / 1080

My temps during gaming are cpu max 84 average mid 70 gpu 68-72

 

Hi everyone. Sorry for my English, but I am from Poland. I would like to desrcibe problem with my Alienware 17 R4 with GTX 1060. Two weeks ago I sent it to a local service (not Dell service) for a repasting. Before everything was o.k. with temps. Before everything was o.k. with temps. After repasting and changing thermal pads something is wrong with temperatures on CPU. The only game I am playing is World of tanks (not very CPU heavy), but temps are hitting over 90 degrees. It's not normal I think. So high temperatures I have on three cores (0,1,2). The temperature on core 3 is about 20 degrees lower. And the question is. Could serviceman screwed something up while repasting and changing thermal pads? What can I do now? The temperatures on GPU are ok (max 70 degrees).

 

The thermal pads could be too thick and he might have replaced the CPU side thermal pads as well. The stock pads are just 0.1mm thick. Those are hard to find so he might have replaced those with the more common 0.5mm pads.

 

There is no word about such thermal pads in iunlock's tutorial. Or I missed something?

 

If your temperature was good then why did you even repaste? It's very risky, especially if you are not doing it yourself. And yes it's probably a thermal pads issue that causes that high temp. I would suggest that you replace the thermal pads again using Gelid thermal pads (these thermal pads are the easiest to use) and IC Diamond for thermal paste instead of liquid metal. Just do the repaste process yourself, you can find quite a lot of youtube videos that guide you on how to.

 

Because after one year of using my laptop I came to the conclusion, that it's time to repaste it I've already bought thermal pads and paste. Will repaste my Alien with help of iunlock's tutorial. It will be my first time.
P.S. Thx for answer

 

There is, it says if you have the 0.1mm thermal pads above the CPU that you should leave those alone.

 

Now I see them. My mistake

 

Hi everyone,

I have an Alienware 15 R3 1070 GTX laptop which is experiencing thermal problems. For e.g while playing my CPU temperatures climb to above 90 degrees C and are very uneven across the cores. After reading this thread I have decided to replace the stock thermal paste with liquid metal (Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut). Since I will be opening the laptop I thought I should replace thermal pads as well. I settled on Gelid Solutions GP Extreme. My question is how many sheets of 0.5 mm and 1 mm I should buy for this particular model? It comes in 80 x 40 mm sheets. My assumption is that 1 sheet of each should be sufficient? Thank you!

 

I would get 2 of the 1mm. Gelid can tear if you have to take the heatsink off to tweak it. Not as durable as arctic but I still prefer gelid.

 

For your information. I did repasting of my Alienware today (gtx 1060 and i7 7700HQ). My hands are still shaking, bacause that was my first time and I wasn't sure, if I did everything correct Changed thermal paste (I used Grizzly Kyronaut) and all thermal pads (used Gelig GP Extreme thermal pads 0,5mm and 1mm and AAB thermal pads 0,13mm). And everything changed, when we talk about CPU temperatures!!! From about 90 degrees and over temperatures dropped to 70-73 degrees. No 20 degrees difference on cores anymore. Now max 3-5 degrees difference on cores. No hairdryer during playing WOT I am so happy. GPU temperatures are so good as before - around 60-64 degrees. So serviceman had definietly to screwed something up making first repasting.

 

It's jsut that the pad thickness is really important. Gelid pads are a bit easier to compress which makes for a better heatsink fit. Enjoy your lower tmeperatures!

Too bad that they dont roll ou tof the factory like this. Said it many times, when tuned right. These laptops are absolutely a joy.

 

I have probably spent an entire week of repasting my 17 r4 (7820hk+1080) with Conductonaut and Kryonaut. The "Thermal grizzly Conductonaut" is the best in terms of temperatures, but also the messiest! Use to little and there is no contact between Die and Heatsink, use to much, and tiny amounts will spill on the super-3M tape. But after a few hours of run time, it does tend turn into a more solid substance, so there's is that.

"Thermal grizzly Kryonaut" the safest route, it always let me thinking "This is good enough" (But it never was for me). If you use it as instructed, you will always have proper contact, hence "The safest route".
If you were on of the few, who had an Alienware laptop, where the paste job/heatsink were good enough, you wont feel or see that much of a difference, stock vs. Kryonaut.

The temperatures seen from the post author, I never came close to those! BUT! When I lift the rear of the laptop up, with just 3cm (I used a single tape-roller size, and positioned the rear on top of that) instantly got GPU 59c, CPU 64c from 30mins Overwatch, maybe iunlock did the same, but forgot to say?
Without the tape-roller, GPU 67c, CPU 70c.

I did have to buy a new wireless nic, since I at first snapped a solder point. The rear cables are extremely fragile. And mostly thinking about the cable with a metal-hinge at the rear of the screen, boy, that think breaks like baby-teeth-in-acid.

I think the cooling solution is "ok", and I say that, to the ones with the newest heatsink design. But in all honesty, GPU+CPU should NEVER share a heatsink. + The buttom airflow is probably the weakest design point, since raising the rear can yield so much, it looks from a design point that it would be fine, it just isn't.

Thanks for all the good response in this thread. There was quite some reading ahead of me
I still do not think less of Alienware, and it hasn't let me wanting to buy another brand.

 

Do you still have the thicker thermal pads above your CPU instead of the really thin 0.2mm ones?

That shoul dimprove the contact a lot. Also repadding the GPU side is essential.

Propping up the back pretty much helps with all bottom vent laptops. But if your bottom panel is slightly bowing outwards it is worse. Saw this on more models. So the space for ventilation is even smaller.

But 70c is already a very good temperature by the way.

 

I have repadded everywhere. But I still left the really thin ones on the CPU side og things, probably the 0.2mm ones you were talking about, the default black ones? And I pretty much used iunlocks recommended size for pads around the heatsink.
Now you left me wondering, if I should have removed any pads around the CPU? There are also some 1.5mm there.

 

You talk about the newer 15r4 or 17r5 models? Those have totally different pad requirements. Also dont just follow the guide blindly and measure yourself first. My 15r3 measurements for example differ greatly from this guide.

Edit: i see you got the 17r4, in that case, the cpu side pads should both be between 0.1 and 0.2mm for the proper balance on the chip die.

 

Hello everyone,

I'm about to buy an Alienware R3 15 with i5 7300HQ and GTX 1060 6Gb in next few days.
Do I have to do this procedure A-Z as well?
Is the method is similar to the R4 fix?
Could someone give me advice about the thermal pads I need?
I seen the main post all the photos and the youtube video as well I just don't want to screw up my little DIY
Cheers

 

Measure the pads yourself. Not all heatsinks are the same.

 

Thanks for your fast reply.
I get what you mean by measuring them but do I have to use the same thickness pads as came out from factory with the AW?
Or do I have to do press tests and decide about pad thickness after that?
I have never done anything similar before.
Cheers

 

You can ask Pete Light because he's from UK.

 

Eyeball the current pads really well, and check with a small drop of cheap thermal paste the spread on the CPU & gpu. if the spread isnt great you can try using a bit thinner pads and check again if you still see indentations of the memory chips etc on the thinner thermal pads. If not you have to keep using the original thickness pads.

But I strongly recommend Gelid pads, those are very easy to press and can be compressed more than for example arctic pads. This makes the error tolerance a bit bigger. I have done the same and now my temperatures are with normal thermal paste very good and only a spread between cores of 2~3c degrees. It was quite a bit of work and had to try so many different pads etc but it was all worth it.

 

Thanks a lot Vasudev. I'm a new member here so don't think I can PM Pete yet

 

Cheers Rinneh!

So that means I have to take off and put on those pads and grease drops several times I guess.
Your advice is to use Gelid pads then?
Are those same or better quality as Fujipoly pads?
Thanks again for your message

 

Fuji is recommended if you're a Pro at these things. Fujipoly breaks down once you open the system for any inspection, that's why Arctic or Gelid pads survive after multiple teardowns and can be stretched/compressed to one's liking.

 

I'm very far from Pros so I will skip Fujipoly pads for sure Thanks for the info!

 

In my experience, the temperature difference between fujipoly's and Gelids is extremely minimal (from tests online) same between arctics and thermal grizzly minus pads which have a similar difference in thermal properties.

 

Gelid pads are not nearly as strong as arctic pads still decent though. Fuji is even worse. You will tear a gelid pad taking the heatsink off few months after if you have to for whatever reason.

 

I have read Gelid pads conductivity stat is 12 and the Arctic pads have 6. Does that counts in real life performance?

 

In my experience you can avoid that mostly if you disassembly the machine while it has been cooled down for a couple of hours. The warmer the machine the more fragile those pads are. Arctics are indeed far more durable.

It does but minimal, its not like the temps will be double as hot. Also pressure is a factor. Gelid pads are a bit easier to work with though.

 

Cheers for that. I will decide later on after I got my laptop. It will be around this Wednesday though.

 

Goodluck!

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Has anybody bought aluminum heat sinks from Amazon in the UK for the PCH mod? If so could you post the link to which one you used? I'm getting a lot of results for ones that are made for pi but I don't know what that is and I'm not sure if I can use it for this application or not?

Would something like this work if I removed the adhesive: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aluminium-...C_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=Aluminum+heatsink

Or maybe this would be better (not sure if aluminum though..) https://uk.rs-online.com/mobile/p/heatsinks/1898274/

Cheers!

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I've used all 3 AW laptops in various configurations: RAID0, AHCI, Overclocked, Various GPUs and I have not once ever seen the PCH overheat most were well under 70C*. That said you've got 5mm of clearance to play with so it'll have to be a very flat heatsink and I personally don't think it's worth it.

 

Yeh to be fair I haven't noticed the PCH get overly hot before but since I'm taking it apart and repadding/Repasting I may as well go all out and do the PCH to minimise the amount of times I have to do this in the future.

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Completely understandable as the plastic is brittle and even with the TLC I've provided I've managed to break clips on all 3

 

So, thanks for all the help from @Falkentyne (thought I better continue in this thread since Mum always told me not to leave my mess in the lounge), this is my plan for repasting/rebalancing my 17R4 1080 in the next week or so:

• Disassemble and remove/replace stripped heatsink screw using iFixit screw extractor set
• Check and photograph current condition of heat sink/CPU and what has happened to the LM
• Clean off all LM from CPU (and GPU?) then sand HS using 3000 grit and arctic rubbing alcohol to remove any oxidised LM (doesn't have to be right back to copper)
• Use 0.5mm pad on CPU then place HS over the top, screw down then remove again to see how uneven distribution is (most likely not enough pressure on North side)
• Still not too sure about how to correct the balance though.. I'm guessing by using thinner thermal pads on the side with less pressure? Is this where I might need to consider lapping the heat sink?
• Replace any Fuji thermal pads that break in the process (quite possibly all of them) with Arctic 0.5/1mm pads
• Reapply LM to the die once I'm happy with the balance
• Carry out PCH mod using 20x20x4mm heat sink (not sure if it is aluminium or not though..) and attaching it to PCH with kryonaut
• Cut out foam barrier using 4mm sheet of packing foam and place around GPU/CPU and secure with a little glue to the tape
• Reattach HS & screw in following number sequence then pray to the Dell gods that it all starts up again and I don't have a core that wants to fry eggs

If anybody has any tips or notes on the above it would be MUCH appreciated!!

Thanks!

 

A good way to see if you have good contact would be if you can find a way to buy this for cheap:

https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Cooling-Contact-Analysis-Heatsink/dp/B07CKHRKHQ

Then you can (with new screws of course; maybe you can source new replacement screws from laptopscrews.com ) do pressure tests with new pads until you see that you have even, firm contact pressure, then you can apply the thermal paste after doing the LM cleaning off (of course clean first then do the pressure tests obviously).

You can probably find a third party site to buy pressure test pads for much cheaper and get a larger donor and active sheet. Since we all know that IC simply repackages (smaller sized) Panasonic Soft PGS pads and resells them at a huge markup (and raises the price for you getting less of it), they probably sell and markup third party pressure papers too.

Like here is the graphite soft PGS pad they sell: $10 for a tiny pad.
https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Cooling-Graphite-Thermal-Pad/dp/B07CKVW18G/

And here is the original source:
For 50% higher price you get a pad 3-4x bigger.

https://www.digikey.com/product-det...c-components/EYG-S0909ZLX2/P122034-ND/6575964

That's just an example.

Unfortunately I can't see where to source contact pressure paper.
All I can find elsewhere is something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-Prescale-Foot-Ultra-Low/dp/B004TLOG9M

Anyway I'm getting over my head. If you can find some sort of contact paper for cheap however, you can save yourself alot of time. May be just better to buy the overpriced IC stuff.