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

@ Iceprincess92

Please consider Gelid pads. Buy 0.5, 1 and 1.5 mm. Should be total 30 USD. Each heat-sink contact is different, you will have to get the thickness right, and if a bit too thick, Gelids will self-adjust with heat and time = progressively better CPU and GPU die contact with heat-sink. Every person I know on the forum is happy with them, they are like thick thermal paste cut into a sheet. Just remember if re-pasting later, that laptop must be completely cold (5 hours off or quick fridge lol)

I have tried Alphacool 17Wm/k (Fujipoly re-brand), but failed (pads were too hard). I went with Gelids after someone wrote they are good and I was lucky that I listened.

If I wanted Fujipoly 17Wm/ks on laptop I would have to send laptop to OP, because he IS good.

 

Where can I get those Gelid ones? I'm having no luck finding them at Amazon

 

Which country you want them to be delivered to? Local internet shops usually have them in stock.

 

Mexico

 

Also, do I have to get those 3 different pad sizes? Or can I just get the 1mm ones and play around with those, let them adjust and see what happens?

 

Regarding the pch, afaik it's not a must, but in my case most games would throttle hard after a while because the pch reached its throttle point of 85 C

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Which one did you end up buying? There are many options, and I don't know which one to pick, to be honest

 

I tried doing the aluminum fins, but failed hard because I used cheap paste that dried up horribly, so I ended up just stacking a couple of leftover grizzly thermal pads on top of it, and so far it's worked. Now it doesn't go beyond 75 C in battlefield 1 which would throttle in about 15 minutes

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Definitely all 3 sizes. Stacking pads is generally not recommended, should you need to go thicker than 1mm, if you want to do it right first time. Self-adjusting with Gelids really means that if you put a 1mm pad on a place where it should be only 0.75mm, then they will adjust.

EDIT: on PCH stacking is no problem (I read @deybitesq message)
EDIT 2: Getting 1.5 mm Fujipoly 17Wm/k only (as per your first post) is not a good idea.

 

Based on the image below, which is exactly that same laptop I have, is it OK if I get the 1mm and the 0.5mm pads?

I can't seem to find the 1.5mm ones anywhere. Only the 1mm and the 0.5mm ones from a guy on ebay in the UK.

 

I think you should be okey buying 1 pack of 0.5 mm and one pack of 1 mm. In case you need to go thicker than 1mm (each heat-sink is different), you will have to stack.

Please check with @iunlock before buying.

 

For laptop being cold while repasting, is it because gelid pads have more chance of breaking when hot?

 

@shashank066

Precisely. @rinneh has very correctly adviced this with Gelids and I have had also a few broken Gelid pads myself on disassembly. Basically, I turned laptop off and removed heat-sink within about 30 minutes and some pads broke. It was also about 32C ambient temperature in my room that time.

I will do it differently next time when I need to remove heat-sink.

 

What are your thoughts on Artic Cooling thermal pads? They have a thermal conductivity of 6 W/mK, which isn't exactly the best. Thermal Grizzly is actually better.

EDIT: I ended up getting the Thermal Grizzly Minus 8 pads, both the 0.5mm and the 1mm ones.

So I take it I just need to do the padding exactly as per the picture and I should be good to go, right?

EDIT 2: What are the dimensions of the PCH Heatsink used in the picture below?

 

The difference between arctic and thermal grizzly pads in in real world usage only 2 or 3 degrees. Both are good either way. I suspect that Kryonaut pads are rebranded Fujipoly's by the way.

 

Does anyone know if the Alienware heatsink where the part meets the die is 100% copper or is it copper plated?

 

Its 100% copper.

 

13R3 owners


Repasting with LM will definitely reduce temps but what I realized and a lot of people on this thread dont know is that it also requires undervolting of CPU to get those temps low if you have the 13r3 model. It also requires PCH mod and a GPU undervolt with MSI afterburner to get further cooling temps. The 13R3 heatsink is not as efficient compared to the 15 and 17 models and requires a lot more modifications to get it cooler so a laptop cooler is a MUST!!! If your not using a laptop cooler the bottom has to be elevated and not sit flush on the table. I have done all the modifications stated above and my temps are incredible for the 13R3. It will prolong the longevity of the laptop. It is essential to do these modifications especially if you own the 13r3 model. If your not comfortable doing it then do yourself a favor and send it out to one of these forum members that offer this. Don’t think for one second that having warranty will be your insurance because that is a bandaid and they will never address the issues. These small little beasts emits a lot of heat! The data below is data from over an hour gaming session of “The Division” which is heavy on the GPU and CPU. The second photo is before LIquid metal and using Grizzly Kryonaut traditional paste. Notice the higher temps compared to photo 1. They are acceptable but no where as cool as with LM.

Before any modifications done to laptop from factory the CPU would range 82-88c with uneven core temps and GPU range 84-87c with PCH range temps upwards of 84-89c. Look at the temps now after all said and done. It took a lot of fine tuning to get it to this point but it was well worth it.

 

I have a question.

Liquid Metal scares the hell out of me, because I actually use my laptop for work and, if it dies, I'm screwed.

As such, I'll use Kryonaut instead. My question is: Exactly how much thermal paste should I put on the CPU and on the GPU? I'm used to doing repastes with desktops, but not with laptops, and since the contact area is much smaller, I'd rather be sure, just in case.

 

Liquid metal can be done on laptops but it requires a flat heatsink (not convex, so "some" very minor sanding (going a few strokes from 400 grit to 3000 grit) may be required, and fully even, solid contact, AND regardless of what anyone else may say, some type of foam dam barrier to trap the liquid metal from ever escaping, even if it's just one conductive ball of doom. The hard part is getting packing foam that is light and porous enough to offer ZERO resistance to heatsink downwards pressure, and after cutting out the BGA/GPU shape, trimming it down to about 1.5mm (BGA CPU's have the slug about 1mm above the housing, so any foam with an initial thickness of 0.2mm or a bit more works great as long as it's a very light porous variety. I believe even old, classic "super thick" white pastes like Radio Shack thermal compound or Arctic Ceramique 1.0 can work as a barrier as long as you apply it in a ring around the silicon housing. Just make sure you apply super 33+ tape first.

To test pressure evenness, you can use IC contact pressure paper.

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

Protip: if you can't afford contact paper, you can get a free sample (of a slightly smaller sheet) of FujiFilm Prescale "Ultra Low" contact paper (the IC stuff is simply relabeled fujifilm)
from "SPI Sensor Products Inc.( www.sensorprod.com).

Note: this stuff is expensive. A 270 mm x 305 mm sheet costs $65 dollars from sensorprod. (Ultra Low).

The IC stuff is 90mm x 90mm. So you aren't saving anything by buying the Prescale directly.
(270mm x 270mm for $54). That's obviously because it costs less when you buy the gigantic roll, so they just cut it out, resell it for a profit. God only wonders how many people actually buy this stuff though.

Anyway to answer your question.

To apply Kryonaut, Coolermaster Gel Maker Nano, Phobya Nanogrease Extreme etc, just apply an even coat so the entire CPU is fully covered. Then tighten the screws in small turns in a criss-cross alternating pattern. Try to avoid having any one side exhibit more downwards imbalanced pressure than any other side. This will give you the best temps. Again, you need to make sure you have a balanced heatsink. Contact paper is the best test for this, but it's expensive and each cutout you do is ONE USE.

I'm guesstimating that one "BGA full sheet size of the IC stuff is good for 15 "cutouts" For 15 pressure tests. Maybe 9 GPU's.

For Turing RTX 2080 TI, maybe four GPU's

 

The thing is, sometimes a little bit, could actually be too much. So I'm quite concerned about accidentally using too much paste, especially on the CPU part of the pasting.

Does anyone have exactly any idea of what proper thermal paste application should look like for a laptop CPU? I've been googling this but all I find is for desktop CPUs

I am definitely not risking it with Liquid metal, as honestly I'm a noob for that scenario. And again, my laptop is my work tool being a freelance content creator.

 

You paint on a thin layer of thermal paste, so that the entire chip is covered without gaps. That's it.
It's VERY hard to use *too much* paste, as long as the paste is not super thick. It will just squeeze out. It's better to use too much than too little.
Just apply a layer so that the entire CPU is fully covered. Don't have it as thick as peanut butter. But have it nice and even. That's all. Think of spreading butter or honey on bread, but without having the bread showing through it.

Don't overthink it.

Proper contact pressure (balanced heatsink) is *far* far more important than worrying about applying a little too much paste.

 

Speaking of contact pressure, I know some laptop heatsinks have numbers engraved on each arm, indicating which ones to screw first in order.

Does the Alienware laptop have this? Or is there any sequence that I should be following on which arm to screw in first?

 

@Iceprincess92

Yes.

 

Alright I see them now.

Just to be sure: When dissasembling the heatsink, should I go from 7 to 1, or from 1 to 7? I take it that when putting it back, I should go from 1 to 7, right?

I really don't want to screw this up

 

Follow any number order, but keep it one during assembly (1-7 or 7-1) but do only 360 degree screwdriver turn for each screw at a time, so the whole heat-sink wil go down flat and slowly.

EDIT: I re-read your post. IMO disassembly does not matter. I do 1-7 during re-assembly one turn per screw till all are tight.

 

Yeah the slow turning helps a lot

 

Gents,

I was doing some pressure paper tests last night to try and rebalance my cpu and sort out the differentials. I had to lower the thickness of the pads at the 1 arm side down to 0.5mm across and it seems now that there is better connection for core 3 but core 0 seems to suffer from high differentials still.

Shall I try and buy thermal pad of 0.25mm and try and see if I have better contact? I have already bent the arm a lot to achieve better connection. Also and most importantly do the thermal pad thicknesses around the GPU affect the CPU? Like if I reduce the thicknesses there, would they affect the potential balancing at the cpu or no? I guess the end result would be very minimal changes, wouldn't it?

I am not too sure what else to try. I was doing pressure paper tests for 2 hours yesterday and was mostly reducing the thicknesses and bending the arm. I got a CCI heatsink and got the laptop refurbished in March 2018, in Europe.

Is there any 3rd party heatsinks that they are selling online any good?

 

The GPU side has a pretty big influence on the CPU side. if core 0 is hotter than the rest, than the memory pad between the GPU and CPU and or the VRM section pads might be a tad too thick.

 

So I tested again with a level 3 overclock (from the bios). Ran completely fine for about 10 minutes then I started getting that stuttering issue and CPU reached high 80s.

So I reset everything to factory settings, and undervolted both GPU and CPU (CPU at about -0.150V, and GPU about 1936 MHz at 0.9125 volts.

My 7820HK is hitting about a max of 78 C (avg. 69C)
My 1080 is hitting about a max of 74C (avg. 71C)
Ambient temp is about 34C.
I guess what I'm asking is, is this a decent temp for even after a liquid metal repaste and undervolting?
I feel like it should be lower. I keep thinking it should at least stay below 70C.

Thanks for the time guys

 

34c ambient yikes.

 

So I finished the repaste, repadding & PCH mod.

For the PCH mod, I used a piece of Thermal Grizzly Minus 8 0.5mm pad and placed a heatsink on top of it. Looks like it works!


This is what the Thermal Paste on the CPU looks like. Kryonaut, by Thermal Grizzly.



This is what the Thermal Paste on the GPU looks like. Kryonaut, by Thermal Grizzly.



I'm too chicken to use Liquid Metal, to be honest. With a -0.110V core voltage offset, it looks like everything works now and all runs more stable.

I followed the OP's guide for repadding. Mine is a 17r4 i7 7820hk w/ a GTX1070. Again, I used Thermal Grizzly's Minus 8 pads, 0.5mm & 1mm for the proper areas as per the guides.

I get the feeling that Alienware's heatsinks aren't good enough at dissipating the heat for both components, and they could seriously improve the heatsink quality by, first, NOT painting it. Perhaps a vapor chamber could help.

The minus 8 thermal pads, alongside kryonaut, stock on these laptops, would seriously help with stability. And again, Alienware is supposed to be like the Lamborghini of Dell, seeing Dell as Volkswagen. They shouldn't cheap out on Alienware's QC.

 

Too much paste which will be squeezed out. I applied the same amount of paste like you did in second and third repaste on inspiron 15 5000 series and even a thin coat like I applied for alienware caused it to dry out and performed worse. So, I did move all the paste to center using spread method and applied some on heatsink too.

 

Kryonaut tbh is crap paste on these laptops, if the heatsink is even slightly uneven, your temps will increase within a month big time. Kryonaut tends to pumpout real quickly and dry up in the end. Out of the 4 pastes that I tested it was one of the worst (Kyronaut vs ICD7 vs Phobya Nanogrease vs Mastergel maker nano)

The heatsink itself is fine and the heatsink is painted to prevent copper oxidation which does affect cooling performance in the long run, this paint barely does.

These are my max temps after 1 hour of Destiny 2 and 1 hour of COD Blackout beta with ICD7 on CPU and Mastergel maker nano on the GPU. AMbient temps around 23c.


Nothing wrong with the heatsink and the right paste.

Also the PCH heatsink is so small, it barely does anything but if it gets dislodged, it could be quite dangerous for your laptop.

 

Rinneh how did you get those temps mate? i mean, what have you done with your Alienware? Do you use 15R3 also?
Only repasted or replaced other components?

i've just downloaded the Cod Black Ops 4 BETA, to test it out. Before i did the BIOS update as we talked about in topic, so i flashed the 1.3.0 version (last one).

Also updated the nvidia drivers + activated the CPU performance mode in BIOS.

I've noticed computer is faster.

But when i joined game, i got this extreme high temps. Just to remember, i did a repaste a while ago, less than 6 months, and still getting these temps.

I have the Alienware 15R3 with i7 6820HK + GTX 1070 and 16gb ram + SSD 960 EVO 1tb.

I already repasted around 2 or 3 times with thermal grizzly. Since i travel a lot and are always carrying my laptop, i didnt use the liquid metal. The last repaste was in less then 6 months.

Anyone know what else can i do? Maybe inser a water cooling system? I really dont know anymore.
I live in Brazil, so i dont know if all the good components are easy to find here

here is the ss

 

@Iceprincess92
Look at these pictures. A tip for you. Keeping the heatsink aligned properly with some force when you screw everything in will ensure the heat sink will sit flush without creating air gap.


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Undervolt by -100mv. And see the difference. The ambient temps make it worse.
Did you use ddu to remove old driver?

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Yeah I got the 15R3, I replaced all the pads except for the CPU pads with Gelid pads, made sure they arent too thick. While screwing down the heatsink I do each screw around the CPU in small turns starting from screw 1 until the whole set is fully tightened. At the same time I apply pressure from the middle on top of the CPU block to make sure it is mounted perfectly straight. Still you see a small core temperature difference but nowhere near what the eothers are experiencing.

 

Opolar LC06 works wonders to lower temps further after repasting if you guys are interested in my testing. It’s not a gimmick device for cooling. Cost is roughly $30usd.

The cooler works best on the right side of vent as suppose to left side which I didn’t see any noticeable reduction in temps

Data is from gaming over an hour of Shadow of Tomb Raider on 1920x1080 Ultra/high settings on a 13R3!!!
CPU undervolt of -130
GPU undevolt to .881
Goto Alienware 13r3 thread starting at page 782.

 

Data is after repasting with LM and pch mod on 13R3. The temps are pretty good to begin with but I wanted to see if can get better temps so I tried out the Opolar LC06 and boy it does work. Compare the temps to the post above! This photo GPU undevolt is a drop higher .900 compared to above data .881, but I don’t think that would take away the comparison from data above.

CPU temp decrease 7-8c
GPU temp 4-5c
PCH temps of 5-6c but that is attributed to lower temps of the cpu and GPU.

 

It's that portable AC correct?

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You are pushing air into an outtake. thats not a good thing to do to a fan........

 

Yep removed with DDU. As we always talked, i dont know how to undervolt. Is this really necessary to lower temps? Cant i just repaste without messing in voltage CPU? How much of degrees would i down with this?

@rinneh what about the repaste? You used IDC7 only? Did you undervolted as well or normal usage? In BIOS, do you enable the CPU performance?

 

I have an undervolt of 0.120mv but i barely notice a difference with or without an undervolt temperature wise. I dont have CPU performance mode on since it only makes the fan profile more aggressive in my case and I hate that the fans dont turn off when idling in CPU performance mode.

and yes I only used ICD7 on the CPU side, i wont play around with liquid metal since I move my laptop waaaay too much for that and I dont believe in foam barriers. Maybe K5 pudding paste would be a good solution but for now my temperatures are already good.

 

thanks friend

edit : @rinneh do you think if i undervolt would be better? As @Vasudev said?
If so, how can i undervolt? really dont know this either (sorry for my newbiness )

 

Throttle stop is good for undervolting but in my case it barely does anything.

 

Those are pull based fan means they suck the air out from back exhaust.

Edit: Maybe you meant the laptop fans will overspin. Can't say about that.

 

This cooler is NOT pushing air into the intake. It’s a vacuum which sucks air out!
The vacuum is not enough to even have chance of overspinning the stock fans. It aids In drawing the hot air faster out of the heatsink. Your just thinking in theory of the worst case scenario but give it a try you would think otherwise. Proof is in the pudding with my data.

 

I think its useless in Indian humid conditions wherein the room temps touch above 30C on average.

 

It’s a portable vacuum cooler which draws air from the heatsink vents. It doesn’t blow air. It aides in pulling the hot air sitting in the heatsink out. The stock fans are just to small to disperse the air efficiently as there are compromises and constraints for having small laptops with this much power.