*OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R3 Owner's Lounge

I have to repast my 15 R3 again, about how much paste is needed for both processors? I used a thin layer smoothing it out with no bubbles using a credit card, and I'm pretty sure that wasn't enough cuz my Temps ended up being worse haha

 

Watch iunlock's videos recently posted on the need to reduce the thickness of the thermal pads.

The original thermal pads Dell was using were so thick that you can't tighten down the heatplate against the CPU - there is a gap that only a thick coverage of paste can bridge, which is why one of the first fixes Dell tried was a "double stamp" of paste.

Using thinner thermal pads should let you use a reasonably thin paste coverage - see the thin coverage of paste on the CPU Dell is now using after moving to the thinner thermal pads.

You can now RMA your laptop to get a "real" by Dell, which is what I would recommend. Let Dell do the job you paid them to do, deliver a working laptop.

In the last few days there have been several new AW laptop owners posting great temps, and no core temp differential, so it looks like this is the "real" fix, and Dell has a solution for everyone to RMA their laptops back to Dell to set it right.

Part 1
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...6-owners-lounge.797458/page-175#post-10413168

Part 2
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...6-owners-lounge.797458/page-175#post-10413170

Part 3
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...6-owners-lounge.797457/page-205#post-10413224

 

I'm glad to see that Dell had made some changes. I was pissed when my 15R3's ETA was delayed by a week a couple of days ago, but it looks like it's because Dell is using the delay to fix the manufacturing process.

 

Breaking News - New Changes to the Alienware Gaming Laptops (Part 3)

 

Does the aw use Microsoft precision trackpad or synaptic? Ty


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Oh I see. That must be my problem. I used 1mm Fujipoly pads all around. I guess I'll have to cut them down or use the old pads I kinda saved.
Edit: how thick should the pads be? I'm trying to order some at work so I can get them before Christmas or even same day/tomorrow. I'm assuming 0.5mm

 

what bit do you use on the heatsink?

 

PH1 for everything.

 

nice, I bought a refurb from them and there is a bunch of broke cables on the inside, once they send me a replacement, want to do a liquid metal repaste and tune for me? A buddy of mine is having his done right now and recommends you.

 

Means i can Place a new order for my system Jay?

 

Yes indeed. Green light.

 

PM me with your email if you'd like more info. Thanks.

 

Thank you so much for the videos, I am so excited now that the fix is in! Now I just got to play the waiting game for the Kaby Lake HK series so I can pull the trigger. I would grab a system right now but I finally concluded that the extra battery life from optimus is more important to me than gsync as long as I can use a gsync monitor because on the road I am more likely going to be watching 10bit video than gaming. On the note about 10bit video this is why Kaby Lake is so important to me because the 10bit support on chip with optimus is going to give me great battery life on the go.

 

Hey @iunlock thanks for the videos. I sent my unit yesterday for repair. Do you think they will repair it with the correct thermal pads and crap? Is there anything I can tell the tech guy over email to ensure they do?


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Does anyone think its possible to use a vice/body weight to make a thermal pad thinner? I pretty much have all my thermal pads from my 15 R3, and they look to be from the new batch of Alienware. But some have dust/hair on it. if I can take the 0.5mm and squish it down smaller I can use that in place of the 0.1mm maybe

 

I think Kaby Lake is only worthwhile if you get the UHD screen which would also adversely affect battery life. The 1080p IPS screens all use 6 bit panels so 10 bit video won't have a dramatic effect. I figure if I am outputting to a 4K HDR screen, I'll be near a plug anyways.
That being said, Netflix requires Kaby Lake and Microsoft Edge to output in 4K although Pascal does support the required DRM so this may change in the future.

 

Anime is generally in 10bit and the benefits of 10bit are vast even with a <10bit panel (for anime). I like to watch anime on my 12+ hour flights to and from japan where in coach your not going to have a plugin in. The ability to watch for hours and hours on cpu power is a huge advantage.

 

So with my repaste/repad I used 0.5MM.. are we now saying it needs to be thinner? I tried searching in here but could not find the answer.

 

Hello Iunlock I managed to reduce the uneven temps by applying more pressure on the 'bad side' of the heatsink and using good ol' IC diamond, but normally each 6 month I repaste the laptop and clean the dust, so I think i will replace the thick thermal pads by thinner ones during my next laptop maintenance, what thermal pads do you consider correct to definitely fix this issue ? i saw on your video that only the capacitors thermal pads need to be replaced by 0.1mm.

I do not plan to return the laptop I have now great temps sub 79°C on the hottest core and max 5°C differential and nearly no light bleed , but if i can lower them even more that would be awesome. Thanks !

 

Try taking those pads off, clean the metal and put a dab of thermal paste on each on. Might take some time but will probably work. Headed out to see rogue one I'll try it tonight maybe tomorrow morning to see if it changes.

 

This is what I got from dell, the gpu was basically untouched.

http://imgur.com/Dn6yFEz
http://imgur.com/hWgVvhY
http://imgur.com/9IqtGuo
http://imgur.com/ifaSxP1

 

So how can we fix this ourselves? Does the 15r3 and 17r4 both require the same 0.1mm pad replacements ? If so where can we get these? Seems like they're very hard to find.

 

I don't think orders placed on/after December 6th is the date they started the thermal pad changes. I ordered on the 7th and my pads are a bit different then the new ones you showed. Unless the laptop I wanted was made before then and they sent out one that wasn't changed. Though my temps weren't bad, I still need the correct pads I guess, core temps range from 57-67 after running OCCT for 15min and undervolted by -150 core+cache. But my idle temps are about 38-40C for both CPU and GPU. Gonna download Heaven and run that along with OCCT and see how it handles them together

 

you're looking for 0.5

1.0 is too thick

the chokes don't really need cooling, that's why I use K5 Pro for every laptop that gets sent in (minimize pressure loss from thermal pad)

 

Interesting. So using K5 Pro in place of every thermal pad ?

 

only for the chokes

remember the choke is only solid piece of metal with copper coil inside, that does not need much cooling (if at all)

 

Did the fix the peeling away/bowing out of the bezel on the bottom of the screen.

They made these thing harder to buy with the g-sync display now too. Only the higher end ones have it as an option.

 

that probably needs a double sided tape replacement, not a major manufacturing defect

 

Just finished up this 15R3 that is an earlier batch (shipped out before the fix) and here's the 1 Hour OCCT run.

Repaste+Repad+Custom HS Mod+Fix

Max: 58, 57, 56, 57

Current: 51, 50, 50, 51

Avg: 51, 51, 50, 51

 

So I saw in a previous post the thick thermal paste rather than pads for the coils? Thinnest I can find for pads is .2 mm.... thicker than what iUnlock specifies in his video...

Only reason I asked is that I just have a fear of that stuff shifting. if it was really that tight id just throw some MX4 on the coils as I have a ton of that lying around.....

I have already purchased .5 and 1 mm thermal pads from fuji poly...

I agree traditionally the coils hardly need hardly any cooling at all.... another thought is just sheet of mica....

 

Waiting for some feedbacks here .

I think i can find 0.1/0.2mm thermal pads. K5 pro used it once on a Desktop PC, it's quite thick, won't that affect the CPU heatsink ? Or maybe if I put a reeally thin layer of it on the chokes that could do it .

 

The 0.1mm stuff is actually a double side thermal pad type of tape. It is not a traditional thermal pad.

 

Do you know of a trustworthy one that we can purchase? I think my system although it has not arrived yet was built before the 6th.

 

I would definitely send them an email to remind them.

Yes, I've used my fingers to press down some 0.5mm pads shortly after discovering that the thermal pads over the FET's where part of the culprit.

Instead of opting for ICD, I would go with a better paste like Grizzly Kyronaut. Once you fix the gap and with the heat sink sitting even over the die, there is no need for a handicap by using ICD for its thickness. That paste is completely out of my vocabulary haha. I've tested it extensively and it is really not that good of a paste.

Since traditional paste is non conductive, there is really nothing to worry about. I wouldn't worry about it shifting. When the heat sink sits over the FET's it literally touches it so the thermal paste wouldn't shift.

3M makes some double sided thermal tape. Also, you could use K5 Pro like @Mobius 1 said. I've actually just used that stuff on a 17R4 that I've just finished up. Works wonders. K5 is nice because it's pretty thick and easy to work with.

 

Hello all again. After seeing this new revelation about the pad over the FET's, I went back in and removed the 0.5mm pad I had over them and put a dab of paste over each FET.

Before fix:



After the "new" fix:



After fix running 100% load with OCCT (I have it undervolted):



There is still a good amount of difference between the 2 sets of cores so I am not sure if anything else can be done for that. It is definitely running cooler idling.

Thanks for the info, keep it coming if anything else new comes!

 

hello new here in NBR,

does 15 R3 120hz suffer from banding/watermark issue as well?
anyone with 120hz willing to share their temps?

 

Mine got a 120hz tn panel i didnt see any banding playing lots ofmgames already.

 

Good to hear that. how about the temps?

 

Can't wait to get back my precious

 

you can scroll back some pages and see the snapshots i did post some days a go.

 

You should have your own dedicated thread.

 

My OCCT and Prime95 tests for one hour maxed out at 69 degrees. Ran the test 3 separate days to double check.

However after gaming (30 minutes) I got some pretty bad temperatures:

• Arkham Knight - Max 82-92 / Avg 61-65
• XCOM 2 - Max 87-93 / Avg 71-79

I still haven't tried undervolting but prefer something with lower temps out of the box. Since the newer builds have rectified the problem I wonder if I should ask for an exchange?

 

that should be normal if both the cpu and gpu is stressed at the same time



for reference, here is a worst case scenario [occt+heaven+no cooler pad] of an older heatsink model (no thermal pad fix) but with liquid metal

 

@Mobius 1 Thanks for sharing that screenshot. When you say the temps are normal are you mainly looking at the max or the avg temperatures? Either way it's a relief to hear that. Would you suggest I do an undervolt to lower it some more? (I don't know how to repaste so that's my only other option)

 

undervolt by -50mv to start


lower temperature is always better even if you do not overclock


you can also send the laptop to one of four team LHz members and they will take care of repasting for you

 

Joking right? Print this and frame it guys... Just unbelievable.


http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN304215

::iunlock::

 

Well hell I had 3 cores at 98 so I guess that's why they took mine for repair lol


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Omg that's just insane. . .


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Haha, this message not (yet) appears on the offer within my country (EU/DE) so i´m safe and can place an order for the 6820HK - jay!? Just kidding.

So in case they´ve improved the termalpads and whatever, I will give the AW15R3 a 2nd try. In case it won´t work as expected i´ve got 14 days to test this out and send it back. Only downside: > 2k bugs blocked for a timerange of 5 weeks ^^

I cannot find any successor to the AW, thinking about Gigabyte P35V6 or Aorus X5V6 but they´re n/A within my country and i need to put another 500 bugs on top.

Regards
aVa

 

Regarding GPU drivers I hear you can't use GeoForce now to update them so how good is AW putting out new graphic drivers?
Anyone find a work around besides modding inf. files?
Is this a problem? Or can you get away with using older drivers?
Thanks