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

I don't suppose you could link them for me? I'm not finding the right thickness's...?

 

GP-Extreme (TP-GP01-A) for 0.5mm, (TP-GP01-B) for 1.0 mm, (TP-GP01-D) for 2mm & (TP-GP01-E) for 3mm

They are 12 Wm/k.

Amazon.uk has all thicknesses.

The price is right. Compared to buying them in The Netherlands they cost the same.

 

Just did a repaste for my brother in law's 17 R4 and bent the pin plugging the cable back in. The connector seemed to go in properly, so it would have taken me forever to figure this out without this post. Thanks!

 

I had nothing to do today, so I decided to dust out my laptop and repaste it again for maintenance.

Decided to also use an older heatsink that I had and rebalanced it. Now I got temps that dont even top 75c under load, this is after 45minutes of Anthem running.

Paste in use is ICD7, thermal pads, because I didnt had Gelids anymore, used Arctics, 0.3mm copper shim on the CPU side.

 

out of curiosity do you put a small wedge at the back of your laptop for good airflow with those temps?

 

At home it lives on a cooling stand with the fans turned off,

If nto it highly depends the surface. At work I had it on a glass table which made it not so problematic, more rought surfaces make it harder and gives me about 5c extra.

The reason for this behaviour is because the laptop feet are shaped like small wedges themselves, it cannot pull air from the front bottom side because the gap is quite a bit smaller than the bottom backside. So after about 15~30minutes it starts to recycle its own warm air for cooling that also comes out of the back exhausts. I am actually trying to source rubber feet with the same shape as the originals but which are 1.5mm higher and have no wedge shape so that the laptop is always completely level on a table.

 

What are your thoughts on using copper shims between the CPU die and the heatsink? Alongside Liquid Metal, of course and the proper protection of the Super 33+ tape.

 

I wouldn't recommend it. I've tested this early on pretty extensively.

If you were to use it avoid using LM and just use regular paste.

 

Go on. Why's that?

I tried repasting with Kryonaut and didn't notice much of a difference, and I keep having crashes sometimes due to overheating

I'm considering trying liquid metal, but I'm concerned the heatsink may not be doing proper contact with the CPU die, hence the idea of the copper shims.

 

Specifically this guy tried it and swears by it. So I don't know.

It does concern me that, if I try the copper shims, I may lose contact with the VRMs and other parts that are cooled with the thermal pads or may apply too much pressure on the dies and hurt them.

 

If Kryonaut ain't working, try other pastes like IC Diamond or Cooler Master masterGel Maker. @rinneh used Copper shims with normal paste and solved differential core temps and uneven/warped heatsink.

 

So, even with proper coverage using the Super 33+ tape, if I carry my laptop often in my back pack, what are the chances of suffering a spillage of the liquid metal?

 

Depends on your luck and if you bump into anything and board isn't properly covered using nail polish or something LM's risk is too high on portable machine.

 

Welp, guess I'll just try to sell it then.

 

Use loctite glue and sacrifice a PH0 drill bit. That's what I do. Works everytime

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

Hi, new user, long time reader of NBR. I tried searching the answer for my question but to no avail.
What are the thoughts of using thermal paste (kryonaught) on the vrm chips in combo with thermal pads (fujipoly ultra) ?
Heatsink > thermal paste > thermal pad > thermal paste > vrm ?
If it's recommended, would you use on all pads/chips?

Also I tried the PCH mod with electrical tape surrounding the die (exactly like iunlock), kryonaught on top, with a 4 fin Aluminum heatsink hot glued on top. I filed down the fins so the back casing sits on top with no spacing. Since then I have been noticing stutters/frame drops, specifically when I drag windows around, scrolling webpages, and mouse movement.
Is this directly correlated with the PCH mod?

 

Don't use thermalpaste with thermal pads. I don't know why a PCH thermal mod would cause frame stutters. It sounds unrelated but you could always remove the mod and see if things are better. It almost sounds like that's an optimus bug or something like that...

 

EK says to put thermal paste on both sides of the thermal pad when you put their water block on the gpu. I've been wanting to test thermal pads and paste together. Clean up would be more tedious for sure.

 

Really? Using thermal pads with thermal paste is a big no no and it has always been that way. Where does it say that? I don't ever recall seeing that on EK's gpu water block instruction sheet...I've just looked at a few of the physical instructions sheets that I have for my EK gpu water block at it only states:

====================================================================
3 . CUTTING THERMAL PADS:
Your block comes with thermal pads, some of which are already pre-cut. Others have to be cut to smaller chunks in order to cover all the VRM components such as MOSFETs
and drivers. PLEASE REMOVE THE PROTECTIVE FOIL FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE THERMAL PADS PRIOR TO INSTALLATION.

4. PLACING THERMAL PADS ON PCB.
Place thermal pads on the circuit board as shown on the picture below. Refer to numbering in previous picture when applying thermal pads of different sizes or thicknesses. EK made sure to provide customers with more than adequate quantity of thermal pads to complete this step.
====================================================================

The only place it talks about thermal paste is in section #2 when referring to the gpu die.

I don't recommend ever using thermal paste with thermal pads as it significantly decreases the thermal conductivity as I've tested this many times personally. It has a reduction of thermal transfer by ~50% for each point of contact.

 

If you tested this and say it doesn't help, I'll take your word. I find it odd that if X transfers heat better than Y, why would it hurt performance? I can see cooling being limited by the weakest link. Which is the thermal pad.

 

Very interesting... My instruction sheets look different from the one you posted. I think the reasoning behind them mentioning to use a small drop of TIM is to keep the pads in place, however, I never use TIM with thermal pads just based on my own extensive testing... The rule of thumb is to use as little thermal pads as possible at the perfect thickness, because more material decreases the thermal conductivity. When I had tested the use of TIM and pads, I had sensors located all over to measure the thermals and whe matched to the information that the software was displaying it was pretty conclusive to see the loss in thermal transfer from the extra medium (TIM).

TIM is also a pain to clean up around the vrm's and phases so for that reason alone I wouldn't ever use TIM in this scenario.

 

After applying the liquid metal to the GPU and CPU, when putting laptop back together do I leave the electrical tape on that I surrounded both CPU and GPU with to protect from spillage or do I remove the electrical tape before re assembling
TIA

 

Guys, i am changing the thermal pads on my laptop and trying to fix the uneven core diferences.

After i closed the laptop for some testing i found out it was getting really hot next To the macro keys (close to the usb Port).
Is this normal?

*sorry for broken english


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Depends, what did you do? If you optimize the heat transfer (via Pads and/or new paste) then increased heat transfer and warmer surface is normal. You should check your system temps to be certain if everything is probably attached.

 

Check the daughter board connection. Or it might be SSD running too hot. Give it a day or two and see if it persists. Maybe newer pads transfer heat onto palm rest like @Wilhelm_SI said.

 

I just changed the pads.
Im trying to balance the heatsink better To fix the uneven core temps.
Rest of the system temps r normal (tho they have not improved).
I will take a pic after im done and post here


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Hi, had anyone here tried the Thermal Grizzly Carbonaut? I think it's good when your not into overclocking and don't want to repaste/repad for more than a year or so. What do you guys think about this?

 

Its average when it comes to performance. But lasts a lifetime if you are careful when removing it to clean the fans. Its finnicky when it com3s to heatsink pressure though. It performs best with high pressure heatsinks.

 

Hi guys, so I decided to repaste and repad my AW 17 R4 7820HK, but I've noticed that when I stress test it I got a temperature around 70, and when I'm playing overwatch I got a max 88 on the cpu. Is this normal? The stutter disappears now, I think its because I changed the thermal pad to it.

..and one more thing. I got this strange happening that happened on my 2nd boot of the laptop, the displays show some different flat colors, and a beeping sound. Anyone knows about this? So I press the power button, and it turn off, and I turn it on again, it now boots normally. It only happens to my 2nd boot after I repaste my laptop. Weird. @_@

 

I have repasted my cousins laptop alienware 15 r3 quite alot. The best outcome was slightly bending one of the tension arm cpu side and also using ICD diamond. Best paste for uneven heatsink. Temps max was ranging from 69 to 75 celcius. 75 was on stress test. OCCT and Heaven benchmark running at the same time. Cpu was hq which makes a difference. My suggestion is to disassembly again and make sure no loose cables which happened to me. I have opened the laptop more than 10 times and it is really easy to reassemble now. Hope this helps.

 

My OCCT and Prime95 test were also around 60-70. But when I'm playing games like Monster Hunter World, my cpu goes 82, Overwatch goes 88. Is this normal?
..and about the display changing color and beeping sound, I might redo the cable work inside maybe because I didn't insert it properly. I thought I broke my motherboard because I spilled a tiny amount of kryonaut on it and I manage to remove it with kitchen towel and 70% alcohol.

 

I assume that reseating your cables should make a good change. Also from what you have mentioned it seemed you only did a stress test with the cpu using prime and occt which is why when you play games its more hotter and games uses both cpu and gpu.. try doing a stress test both cpu and gpu at the same time. and when your at it you can redo your repaste.. hehhee

 

No, I did the stress test and gaming seperately, around 30 mins each just to see the temperature. I can't believe that I'm running around 88 degree on the cpu when playing Overwatch, but on Prime95 and OCCT ( which I run seperately), all I had was 60-70. Maybe gaming is a different thing that makes your CPU too hot?

..but everything changes when I undervolt it around -125V on throttlestop, it runs 82 on Overwatch. But I wanted to see the good things about repasting the laptop. XD

 

What you see is the cheap cooling solution “Unified heatsink/shared pipes” disgusting behavior.

Edit. See also similar Unified Heatsink in the Aw13 http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...3-owners-lounge.797884/page-894#post-10936406

 

Hmm.. I guess I'll try bending the tension arm near on the cpu side, I think I just saw an article here by iunclock about that uneven surface on the cpu side. Also I'm using Kryonaut, it just happen this is the paste I've bought cause some say this is the best paste in the market right now. But I've read just now that Kryonaut paste isn't the best paste for laptops, they say go for IC Diamond and its best to use on uneven surface. I don't wanna scratch my cpu and gpu, any thermal paste suggestions other than Kryonaut? I don't wanna use liquid metal also cause I'm a clumsy person, I'm afraid I might spill it.

But it's weird that my Prime95 and OCCT stress test have lower temps compared to when I'm gaming. Can someone explain this to me?

 

Grizzly Kryonaut is thin paste and won’t be the best on laptops with awful designed heatsink with low pressure. Look at Phobya NanoGrease Extreme, Gelid Extreme if you won’t go for Liquid metal or ICD. But don’t be afraid for the so called scratches from ICD. Only cosmetic. Won’t destroy the thermal performance.

Regarding higher temps when both CPU and GPU is in full work is due the cheap Unified heatsink design (shared long pipes). Heat will be puked everywhere between the shared pipes.

 

I have both phobya nanogrease extreme and gelid extreme which I tried on the uneven core but still not good enough. ICD is the best for this situation. Also about the scratching I have tested it. I won't scratch if you soak soak soak soak soak the thermal paste and let it rest for 10 minutes or more and keep repeating the process it won't scratch. It just needs loads of patience. Again your test on prime and OCCT is showing low temps compare to games as the test is only for CPU which only stresses the CPU. Compare when you play games it tends to use both CPU and GPU which is why it is showing high temps. You can try doing a stress test running prime95 or OCCT at the same time with Heaven bench mark for GPU. Temps should be higher that what your getting on your stress test. Hope this helps.

 

I see, well we have to get used to it for now. I hope alienware would build a laptop with better heatpipes and thermals.

As for now, I did my 2nd repaste, I'm suspecting the overheating comes from too much thermal paste. I'm running Overwatch with 82 degrees (before it was 88), and I'm happy for it. as long as my game will not stutter. I'm only using my laptop for gaming and some graphic to 3D works. And I undervolted my laptop to -125V and disable turbo boost, and I'm running 72 degree now with my laptop. I'll repaste it again after 8-12 months maybe, then I might try and use IC Diamond.

I see that's why it's heating too much when gaming. I thought Prime95 and OCCT run both CPU and GPU. My bad, sorry. Will definitely try ICD after a year maybe. I just want to enjoy my stutter free gaming for now. XD

 

So there are a few problems that I found after a successful repaste using LM. After 6 months, my CPU and GPU were still as good as when I first did the repaste (thanks to the foam dam), all my previous attempts without the foam dam experienced degration after about 1-3 months. But here are the problems: the temperature of other components when up. My M.2 temp went from 80 max to over 95 right after the repaste. I'm not sure how does this affect the durability of the machine but I end up with:
+ Inflated battery
+ Dead GPU (There was no LM on the GPU, just GC Extreme)
The laptop had been under heavy usage but it's only 1 year old so I suspect the increase in temperature reduces these component life span.

 

Just to say thank you @iunlock : i have followed your guide, applied LM, CPU temp went from 100° down to max 78° now with max core diff of 4° !!

LM is a nightmare to apply, but it is doable if you follow instructions

 

Great stuff! Good job on your repaste and I'm glad that the guide was helpful.

Game on!

 

hello @iunlock im new to this site. i am trying to get good temps with my alienware 17 r5 i got a really good deal on it and i dont want to take it back if i can get the performance that im seeing on this site when opened up and repasted correctly as of right now i have it underclocked to 3.4 and undervolted to -.140mv and the temps are reaching 80c-89c when i play apex legends i have taken it apart and repasted it with thermal grizzle kryonaut but my temps are still high i really need some help plse ive been searching online and such i was thinking about using copper shimms and liquid metal to get the pressure i need across the entire processor and gpu

 

Read the last 10 pages and ask if needed http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...5-owners-lounge.815492/page-429#post-10948544

The refreshed models run even hotter.

 

Hello @iunlock , Hope you're doing well. I used your guide around a year ago to amazing results. I own a 17R4 7820hk version. I used everything as u recommended and did everything correctly. I remember reading somewhere that I won't need to reapply once it's properly done.. but lately temps in two of the cores are spiking too much (0 & 2). I really don't know what might be wrong. Shall I repaste?? And will I have to repad as well..??
Thanks.

 

Ambient temps plays a vital role too! So increase in humidity or ambient temp will spike the CPU/GPU temps.

 

Hi @Vasudev .. I applied fulipoly 17W pads (I'm sorry I didn't follow ur advice of using arctic pads, but I wanted to go for the best thinking I'm only gonna have to do it once.) and LM when I did it.. I think I did everything perfectly because I had asked dell to do it and they sent over an engineer with new heatsink and fans..
TBH, the temps were amazing for almost a year. Never above 80 on any core with hours of gaming. I have a specially made table with 6 high speed fans underneath.. they keep the whole thing (including PCH) very cool. I couldn't do the PCH mod for some reason.. there wasn't enough space.
Anyway, I have only seen spikes for the last couple of weeks.. I am traveling, but the ambient temp is the same.. I only switch it on in my hotel room.
I am wondering that maybe something's happened because my laptop travels a lot with me. I mostly travel by road in a car.
But why now.?? After a year??
I've never had any problems before.
Two cores are still around 50 max.. but two cores are going to higher 90s.. I noticed because I was only watching a movie and I heard the fans.. then I checked the temps.
I haven't been tried gaming for at least two months. So it hasn't been under load for a while now.
Only the occasional movie or office softwares or browsing. Maybe windows updates in the background.. but no major programs.
I read somewhere that u have to reapply LM after a while.
This is my actual question - Is it so..??
Is this repadding and repasting process a one time thing ?? Or do we have to repeat the process after a while??

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Definitely re-apply LM. Some of the LM got absorbed to copper and/or dried out.

It is very much likely that Fujis will break on disassembly, so have a full set of pads ready for re-paste.

 

Fujipoly's arent the best simply because they are very hard to work with and ruin the pressure of other components. Mind you that in practice the temperature diffence between thermal pads in that class is only a couple of degrees. But arctics and Gelids shape super nicely and do not put extra pressure against the heatsink. Fujipoly definitely does and makes it hard to get perfect pressure on the CPU side.

80c with LM and lifting the laptop up are terrible temperatures for that setup. I have those temps with traditional paste and Gelid thermal pads+copper shim between the CPU and heatsink.

But could be that currently your fans are just clogged with dust. But to clean those you still have to remove the heatsink.

 

Yeah, probably just dust-clogged heatsinks, it happened to me recently.

You can try this without removing the heatsink - hold the laptop upside down and put your mouth on one of the two exhausts and blow powerfully a few times down the whole exhaust length. If you're blowing hard enough, you should see dust flying out through the bottom grille (perhaps better to remove the bottom cover to get as most of this stuff out as possible). Do this with the other exhaust and then check your temperatures. If you see a notable improvement, than it's due to the dust and stuff clogging the airflow through the heatsink grilles. Ideally, you'd remove the heatsink and do a proper cleanup then.

If you're using some compressed air for this, be sure to hold the fans with something so they don't spin as you might damage the bearings supposedly.

 

Thanks for the thoughts guys, but like I said - the temps are only high on two cores. If the fans were clogged (which I highly doubt, as I take great care), The temps would be high on all 4 cores right??