Alienware 15 R3 - Heat Analysis - Urgent Help

Hi Guys,

I desperately need your help. After months of thinking, 2 days ago I have bought Dell Alienware 15 R3, i7 7700HQ, GTX 1070, 32 GB Ram and 15.6 FHD.

I found it quite hot when playing games so I suspected it has some heating issues, so I took some stress tests and played game for a while and below are the results.
I would highly appreciate if you go through below screenshots and give your expert opinion as I have only 7 days before I can go to shop for exchange or to fix this one.

Below are the test results of stress using Prime95, OCCT, Intel Stress Test and 3 games:

http://imgur.com/a/Tz3Gx

 

I have the exact same configuration and also playing games like BF1 make my CPU core temperatures going over 90 degrees Celsius regularly and temperatures are about 10 degrees lower when running tools like OCCT or stress testing in Intel XTU. And I use a CPU undervolt of 0.130.

That's the only think I am not happy about with my AW15R3. The statement that the temperature issues have been resolved in the Kaby Lake version of the AW15R3 are not correct if you ask me.

 

Totally agree with you. So what do we do now? Just use like this?
Just talked 1 hour with dell support guy and he updated bios version changed few things in setup and guess what, previously it was hitting 94C on dell assist stress test and now reached to 96C. He said I have taken screenshot and check if its safe. What are youe thoughts?

 

"Carefree Engineer"

Being an engineer, you should instinctively be investigating the issue. Quick search should show you dell uses garbage thermal paste, and some of the heatsinks are faulty from the factory. either disassemble or repaste yourself or call dell and see if they will do it for you, though when I had my 17r2, I was told operating temps up to 96C are "acceptable" by an alienware service rep

sold my 17r2 shortly after that conversation.

 

I bought it 3 days ago for around 2500Usd thats why dont want to mess with it. My customer rep said he ll discuss issue with supervisor and call again. I know its either paste or heatsink but cant do anything as it will void warranty

 

Besides the high temperatures during gaming, the laptop is stable and performance is great. Temperatures seem to be within thermal limits, so I think it is safe to continue using it. If the temperatures increase or the system becomes unstable or less performance, I can always contact Dell. Guarantee in th EU is standard 2 years, so I still have about 1.5 years left to 'monitor' the situation.

I have seen some videos on how to repaste this machine and that is not something I would try to do myself. And having Dell do the repaste... I have read some mixed stories about that.

Btw, I am still on BIOS version 1.08. Are temperatures better on the latest BIOS version(s)?

 

Why not just return it?

 

@Carefree Engineer: Your temps looks okay, that is to be expected from stock paste. Did you try lifting the back of the laptop? Because that will provide a better airflow.
You can repaste the laptop and repad it w/o even voiding the warranty unless you're careful. Follow @Raidriar advice.

 

Maybe he likes the computer? I'm sure its a fine computer apart from awful thermals from the factory. I quite liked my 17R2 aside from the panel light bleed and ridiculous haswell thermals.

 

From your signature, you take good care of AWs. As for mine, only visual dents but works all the time.

 

BIOS doesnt seem to be very helpful in these situations. I think they are mostly hardware issues. I have just played witcher 3 for 45 min and core 0 reached to 96 and other to 94 and 92. So i am going back to store in a try to return it. As heating for long term can be harmful and I have obly 1 year of warranty here in UAE.

BIOS version doesnt seem to be very helping. Mostly these are hardware issues I think. Just played witcher 3 for 45 min at ultra and core 0 reached to 96 and remaining at 94 and 92. Going to try my luck in returning it as there is only 1 year warranty here in UAE and heating affects other parts as well.

 

What if the newer version has same issue? And I have opened the box and seal so will they return? I am in UAE and bought from virgin megastore

 

I have kept that as my last option as its just been 3 days since I bought and I dont want to risk voiding warranty

 

I love this computer man. If I replace the other will also be like this?

 

Guys I have ran dell support assist stress test and cpu ran to 96 while gpu to 83. I have noticed that cpu always go up when gpu is used a lot.
Playing witchrr 3 for 45 min took cpu core 0 to 96 and package temp as 95.

 

Return it or demand heatsink replacement.

 

Is it possible that the other one will have same issue? And replacing heatsink should work? Because normally cpu runs fine under full load. It only causes problem when gpu and cpu both are under full load.

 

If you make the tech apply your preferred paste and clean the heatsink and cpu/gpu dies properly. I recommend you take it apart yourself using @iunlock 's guides.
Or else return it or undervolt it to reduce temps by 5-15C.

 

You must at least have customer protection for a defective product?

90c is not acceptable for me.

 

Hi Guys,

Just for an update, the dell guy called me and said that this unit hae issues. You can either go for exchange or heatsink replace. I went back to store they gave me another unit and I ran dell support stress test there at same time and it reaches 95C during the test. They were also shocked as it was brand new unit. So I paid some more and got Asus Rog zephyrus now.

 

Don't buy MAX Q GPUs for gaming, you need to OC more to get 1080 non MAX Q like performance.

 

But 1080 MaxQ will give performance more or similar to 1070 right?

 

You could have got MSI or ASUS w/ 1070 at a lower prices.

 

I really wanted to get asus 502vs but here in uae its a bit expensive and coming with UHd 4k display only but I need a FHD display. Whats your feedback on acer predator G9?

 

Skylake or Kabylake?

 

KabyLake. 7700HQ with 1070

 

Are you satisfied with 7700HQ CPU? If so, check the price if it is lower than 15 r3, then go for it.

 

Yes I am totally fine with it. My primary concern is that temp should not exceed 90 even under heavy gaming. Which laptop you recommend which is super cool except sager and clevo?

 

That I cannot promise. Because the CPU temps are directly proportional to your ambient temps. So increase in ambient temps will cause the temps to reach 90C or even higher under full load. But, if you manage to keep your under 30C it will max out 85C both on cpu and GPU.

 

Try this please: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0745C4WTR/ref=twister_B07466266G?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

my advise is to return it go a r17r3 with graphics amp gtx 1080 and a cooling pad I got this enhanced cooling pad and running on my 970m with full load I never go above 78 and you will save yourself quite a chunk of change