I'd be worried about burn in on the task bar... But it would look glorious though.
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Thinking about a 17 r4 because I'm impulsive. I'm assuming a repaste/repad is in order but is that all that is necessary? Was 1080 stuttering just because of uneven heatsink contact?
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pathfindercod Notebook Virtuoso
It would seem so.. the recent build I got with 7820 and 1080 has pretty close core temps and no stuttering in games.
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*there is stuttering when using an external gsync monitor but that is an nvidia driver issue.ShotOfB12 likes this. -
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Cheeky little update now all mods and upgrades are finished
My Spec:
- Alienware 17 R4
- i7 7820HK
- 32GB DDR4 RAM @ 2400
- GTX 1080
- 120Hz G-Sync 1ms QHD 400nits display
- 512GB Toshiba XG5 NVME SSD
- 1TB Samsung 960 EVO NVME SSD
- 1TB HDD
- Heatsink balance
- Repaste with TG Grizzly Conductonaut (LM) using @iunlock guide and my own experience from doing this many times
- Repad with Arctic 6 w/mK pads - Checking and rechecking to get this perfect then using K5 pro for the tiny gaps you can't see but the pad still wiggles
- PCH mod from @iunlock
- My own custom Toshiba XG5 NVME SSD heatsink mod
- My own custom Samsung 960 EVO NVME SSD EK heatsink mod (see below)
- Built my own Throttlestop profiles from scratch specifically for this CPU for battery (800MHz @ 0.7V) and performance (4.3GHz on all 4 cores @ =<1.2V)
- Custom MSI AB voltage / frequency curve specifically for this GPU so its undervolted and overclocked up to 2GHz
- Alienware custom nameplate from @Rairch
- 70 minutes of BF1 @ 1440p Ultra
- Lowest average FPS from the 3 maps: 109FPS
- CPU all four cores @ 4.3GHz solid and never dropping even for a second
- CPU core max differential 2C
- CPU core max temp - 79C
- PCH max temp - 84.5C
- Both SSDs 64C and 65C
- GPU max temp - 69C
- GPU average clock frequency - 1963MHz @ 0.96V
- No stutter or throttling from CPU, GPU or SSD
- Not one system limit reason or throttle sensor triggered in hwinfo
Best piece of kit I've ever owned. So rewarding to make these changes and they make a real difference.
Check this I tried 6 NVME SSDs, 3 of which were Samsung (2xPM961 and 2x960 EVO) and each time the Drive temperature 2 sensor (for the SSD POLARIS controller) would exceed 100C...
So I bought a popular NVME heatsink here in the UK and did a custom fit and shaved it down so it fit in the R4 (I ignored the pad placement instructions also as I put the thicker pad at the bottom so the height is lower overall and then an offcut of the thick bit over the polaris chip):
Looks nice but...
A bit high so...
...get my grinder out and...
Perfect fit
So results with it fully installed:
Literally a 40C drop on the controller sensor! AMAZING!!!
And a copy from my Toshiba XG5 SSD to this Samsung one (Samsung doing the write)...
53GB copied in less than 50 seconds
Happy days! Gotta be said I'm loving this thing...Last edited: Jul 12, 2018PandahNZ, SushiDubya, Jeniczek and 7 others like this. -
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I just got my 17 R4 a few days. Custom ordered 7700HQ, 1070, QHD, 16gb, 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD, Killer 1535.
I was pleasantly surprised my unit has no issues at all. The QHD panel has no banding at all, I believe all QHD panels made after March 2017 have the newer panel (391-BDFB). Viewing angles are surprisingly good for a TN panel and it's very bright. The temps are actually quite good out of the box. When I took off the bottom cover to put in an SSD I noticed my unit has the updated 138W SUNON heatsink with the fat heatpipes. I thought these were only used for the 7820 and 1080's but I'm happy to see it in mine. Running the stress test on XTU, max temp is 76C on the CPU, with only a max 5C difference between cores. GPU is at 64C max after 3 hours of Overwatch. No stuttering in games and fan noise isn't as loud as I thought it would be. I'm happy with these temps so I don't feel the need to repaste or undervolt. No issues with the Killer 1535 wifi either, very fast and stable. I did remove the Killer Management software though. I'm really happy with the laptop, it looks like Dell finally solved most of the issues. -
Recntly when i received a new heatsink from dell (due fluctuating temperatures and occasional thermal throttle) i bended the cpu arm repasted my cpu and gpu again and while i was busy rebuilding my laptop i noticed some gaps. i don't know if it's normal but it seems that the thermal pads do not make contact with the vrm's and other finfet chips. here a few pictures
Vistar Shook and Vasudev like this. -
refer to this thread for more info about differences in heatsink assembly
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...u-core-temperature-differential-issue.805062/ -
Rei Fukai likes this.
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another strange thing i noticed is during benching, HW info will register different values than OCCT. HW info says my cpu throttle's while in OCCT it does not reach the throttle speed for 1.0.9. bios.Attached Files:
Vasudev and alexnvidia like this. -
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Last edited: Oct 8, 2017Vasudev, Pete Light, Vistar Shook and 1 other person like this. -
https://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/paul-taylor/core-i7-7700k-temperature-spikes-enrage-users/
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/6gkong/7700k_temp_spikes_help/?st=j8ixv4wv&sh=95b9ae15
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/6f042g/i77700k_temps_too_high/?st=j8ixvyky&sh=a6caa4d7
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/c...way_too_high_looking/?st=j8ixwjh2&sh=ee0779b4
there are a ton more of those just search on google intel i7 7700k temperature spikes and you'll find pages of people looking for help. even people with watercooling setups. thats not normal.
when my temperture spikes my fan is already at 4300 rpm and it's benching for 2 or 3 minutes so it cannot be my fan. polling frequency is already set at 1000ms in HW info (where it was 2000ms) -
And how many 7700K is pushed out from Intel factory? 1.000-10.000-100.000-1.000.000... Or several millions?
And I have contact with owners of Clevo's + computers with mentioned Intel i7. Maybe time for you to make ready RMA? Not normal!!
Vasudev and Vistar Shook like this. -
[Alienware 17R4 / 15R3] - Disassembly + Repaste Guide + Results
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...5r3-disassembly-repaste-guide-results.797373/
How to FIX AW17R4/15R3/13R3 CPU Core Temperature Differential Issue
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...u-core-temperature-differential-issue.805062/
Warning: Some i7-6820HKs and i7-6700HQ have Uneven Core Temps due to Uneven Heatsink
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ven-core-temps-due-to-uneven-heatsink.797477/Last edited: Oct 9, 2017iunlock likes this. -
i know there are alot of chips that intel already pushed out to the public, but that doesn't mean intel can make errors. What you're trying to do is exaclty what intel does. just because it doensn't affect (you) or the people you know it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. here another link for you so you can see that there are massive problems with the 7700k. and it's sadly worldwide. I'm currently based in the Netherlands, and the monkeys at dell won't let me RMA because overclocking is not good for my system and i should have had asked dell for permission to overclock. so now dell won't help me with anything because i overclocked my system. and no it does not matter that my chip is a hk or that i overclocked with the given profiles in the bios.
https://www.extremetech.com/computi...g-issue-cluelessly-suggests-stop-overclocking
http://wccftech.com/intel-i7-7700k-owners-flood-forums-with-overheating-complaints/
just so you know the problems are real. Do not be the guy that acts like intel. i've given you more then enough info about this issue so it's not that i'm talkling out of my ass.
again i know you have experience with LGA laptops and tuning them etc. But this problem is real and more real then you've thought. this is not something that has the do with the silicon lottery for overclocking this is an architecture error that (could) be solved with an BIOS update but intel has it too busy milking pc builders and consumers. please do not try to rectify the issue that is going on right know cause the things intel said are flat out wrong.
https://www.techspot.com/news/69204-intel-responds-i7-7700k-high-temperate-issue-tells.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comm...ues_or_sensor_issues/?st=j8ju9boc&sh=0a805766
thanks for your help and suggestionVistar Shook and hmscott like this. -
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Ask @Alienware-Wasserman or @Alienware-K_Castro for help.
Vistar Shook, Maineiac12, Rei Fukai and 1 other person like this. -
Thanks for your reply, i know you're only trying to help me so i get it, but i was just informing that the problem is more widespread then people think it is ! he also gave me the advice to RMA for a new one wich is a legit advice, the only problem is that Intel does not "recognize" this problem. so if intel doesn't acknowledge their error, how do you expect dell to replace my whole motherboard.. that's not logical. and that was my point. maybe he wasn't as up to date as i am, his reponse just left be a bit baffled just like how intel responded. But i know he didn't mean it like that cause he has a 7700k without problems so maybe this is something new for him ! i don't blame him or anybody. the fact that you're trying to help me is already enough reason to talk respecfully to the people that already have a name oc'ing and optimizing BGA/LGA systems. i came from a 17 r5 (mid 2013) and now i have a 17 r4 so í'm just joining the party where as iunlock, prema, papusan etc already have made a name !
i already knew of the problems before buying this laptop and i even called their customer support, just to verify that even though dellienware "changed" the heatsink design that even if i still encouter a problem that i could get help, and the lady assured my that i have 2 years consumer right (europen standard) and in the netherlands it can extend to three years. I do also have a lawyer (i'm on my own and companies in the netherlands like to threaten their citizens with penalty's and a bad credit rating and i''m only 20 years old without parents so.. yeah) and i never hesistate to give him a call or let him do his lawyer magic to get me my replacement. I personally think i have a bad chip, but even though i have a bad chip, the cooling in my laptop is more then capable enough to keep core #1 and #3 at a max of 81 and average 69. so it clearly indicates that my heatsink is warped (like hell). this would be my first and last BGA laptop i buy if the problems continue, i like how i could swap out my gpu or cpu in my ranger r5
thanks for your help though ! any other tips that could help me ? i'm seriously considering a repad to begin with and then LM but i move my laptop alot so LM would not be a safe bet right ? -
I've had good success dealing with AW support on Twitter. If you're not getting help through normal channels then tweet out a message and tag Frank Azor and Umar Khan. They can can usually get the ball rolling for you.hmscott, iunlock, Pete Light and 1 other person like this. -
thanks for the reply, using LM would not be my first time, but using it inside of a laptop would be ! i build pc's for people in my freetime and i only use conductonaut when building pc's and i've been doing it for almost three years now and never had a problem (yet). i've tried twitter and they've helped my by sending me a new heatsink and that's where my support ended. so it never helped me really fast forward one month and i'm still struggling with keeping my temps in check. i think i need a new mobo and i do not trust dell engineers with my laptop (i've always done everything myself) and i can't send it in to the depot (for something that should've been fixed from the factory IMO) but hey waht consumers say is never important, in the eyes of mig multinationals
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mind sharing where you've got the XG5 SSD and the SSD cooling mod as well ( I dont mean the EK one, thats already pretty awesomely documented there by you).
I have read a LOT of the stuff about R4 and the PCH/PAD/LM stuff and I will definately do that once I get the laptop. Can you please also tell me, what are the final PCH HS dimensions? One sources ( inc. yours) says, its 20x20x<=4, but then the others say, that you cant even fit two 2mil pads without having issues. Is there a heatsink, that just needs to be grinded and remains less then 4mil high and fits? Or do we really have to cut of some ribs completely?
Last question if you dont mind, can you share more details on the HS balancing?
Looks like I have won an auction for R4 with 7820HK and 1080, so the same setup as you and I would love to do most mods you have done to yours as well.
Thank you very much for any answers. Hopefully my alien will end up with the same results as your awesome one.hmscott likes this. -
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The custom SSD cooling mod I made consisted of multiple heatsinks cut to a custom fit and glued on. It just so happens I took some exact photos you're after just in case anyone was interested...
Note the way I have done this mod is that it is completely un-doable if required.
I ordered the following:
- 20x14x6mm aluminium heatsink
- 20x20x6mm aluminium heatsink
- Double sided adhesive 1.1mm thick
- The glue (this is what I used for my PCH mod as well)
Then I followed the following steps:
- Peel off the sticker on the black chips and stick this on the back
- Clean the black chips with Arcticlean No.1 and a microfibre cloth
- Cut the heatsinks into the following lengths as follows using a junior hacksaw:
- Grind down the fins to 3.0 - 3.5mm (I used a stone grinder I have)
- File down (just a regular nail file) the fins so there are no sharp, jagged edges or loose pieces of aluminium
- Wash heatsinks under the tap and dry them
- Lap the heatsinks a little (dry) and blow away any excess dust
- Spread a generous helping of Kyronaut evenly across all the black chips
- Glue the first heatsink on like this below (also detailed in yellow in the first pic above).
IMPORTANT: Press a lot of pressure on the heatsink when the glue is setting and wait until dry
- Then I glued the next two heatsinks as shown in red in my first pic above
- Then I glued the far right (controller) heatsink. This was much harder because I needed a thin 1.1mm piece of double sided sticky adhesive inbetween so the glue didn't stick to the SSD board. This is also as shown in blue in my first pic above
- Now wait until the glue is dry then pop it in your system
- Absolutely no airflow on this part of the laptop
- Almost no height to the heatsink walls anyway
Results
Before:
After:
A nice 15C temp drop on the exact same test! (even though temps weren't that bad before anyway) Happy days
This was a perfect fit and there is definitely enough room for a 4mm high heatsink (unless you have the R3 which is 1-2mm less I believe)
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Do you have any more details on your PCH mod? How did you adhere the heatsink to the chip?
I'm curious, what is a safe temp range for the PCH? And what happens when it starts to overheat. Mine is reaching 78c while gaming.Vasudev likes this. -
thanks ! that's very helpfull ! i strictly oc from within the bios and undervolt from throttlestop. this would make oc'ing easier !
Got a new mobo today and look at the results !! this is done on the stock dell paste and with my old heatsink. finally i can start oc'ing and see if i can oc it to 4.8 :$ temps are now stable and well within the the safe rangeswill test more and report back with the results. Thank you for your help it really helped me ! @Papusan @Maineiac12 @hmscott
Attached Files:
Maineiac12, Pete Light, Vasudev and 2 others like this. -
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15R3 vs 17R4, Anyone want to share about the battery life please? Under light usage....
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For reference here is a 2hr OCCT run at 4.3 GHz with a -30mV on LM:
The PCH is apparently designed to run hot and temperatures well into the 90s is common. Personally I don't want any of my silicon getting that hot so I did the mod and now consider anything less than 90 acceptable and less than 80 desirable with any overclock. I'm not entirely happy with mine so i may cut out some of the structure and put a bigger heatsink in there in due course. When it gets real hot (high 90s i believe) it will start throttling and this can give you a stutter in game as I believe it gimps both the CPU and GPU (not entirely sure though)
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edit:
about the powerlimits is 100 watts enough ? i've often seen the gpu pull 190+watts so don't wan't to take no juice away from my gpuVasudev likes this. -
Here's another one @Rei Fukai with
4.3GHz -150mV for 5 mins:
Vasudev likes this. -
alright, will try next time. for a 25 minute run my temps seem fine on the stock paste. very qurious how it performs when it's repasted again with kryonaught, and repadded. for now it everything seems fine (apart from the core difference of #0 #2 agains #1 #3). i'm very happy, and will focus on trying to get 4.4 stable. i think round about the end of the month, i'll repaste and do some benchmarks again to see how it performs. thanks for the tip !Attached Files:
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for now i'm very content with the results i got (even with the dell toothpaste as thermal paste) it throttle (for the first time) also only on core 1. i think it was my chip that was bad, cause i think i'll be able to make 4.4 ghz stable en lower the temperatures and core differentialsAttached Files:
gunbolt, Pete Light and Vasudev like this. -
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The non gysnc versions are manufactured by Sharp (late 2016/17) and Auo (2015/16) - the Auo being brighter and slightly better panel.
I suspect the gysnc is the Auo panel and similar to the AU Optronics B173ZAN01.0 (AUO109B) with gysnc enabled in the motherboard.Last edited: Oct 12, 2017 -
I know some people have swapped the QHD panel for the AUO 4K before, I wonder if those who did are now able to activate GSync with it. -
There is however one unpleasant thing that I noticed that @iunlock has proven to solve - the power module overheating. I ran a synthetic GPU test in OCCT and after 4 minutes I starded getting hard stutters every few seconds with temps reaching high 70's.
Looking at the plots it quie clear. Usage drops to 0% with no changes in clock speeds.
Last edited: Oct 14, 2017 -
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It was you on OwnOrDisown's channel talking about it, right? Thanks for the link, I still have a lot to read here but I watched the interview.
I would open it up and possibly mod the thermal pads / heatsink pressure arm but there are some more issues with my 17r4 that are annoying me. A broken piece in the rear radiator cover and issues with ligthting on the bottom of the screen (barely visible on the pictures). I did not buy a scratch and dent version ;o
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@alexnvidia identified that the problem could be your VRM's overheating. Vrel stands for voltage reliability and it's one of the new pascal flags Nividia uses to tell the user why the gpu behaves like it behaves. i also get a VREL but not with the stutter. i've identified the problem to be that VREL is a combination of multiple warnings combined within one flag. For example i get a VREL when playing in 4K and gpu heavy games. Why VREL ? because i'm pushing the gpu already as hard as it can, and pushing it harder would mean my gpu would become unstable (mind you i play with a 150 core and 500 memory gpu oc)on the currennt voltage, so it downclocks itself till it goes away, and then boosts up again until hitting VREL. In your case it means that your VRM's are becoming unstable, but not due too much oc on a low voltage, but due heat.
so what i advise you to do is follow @alexnvidia his guide for the repad, and see how it goes. -
What heatsink does your unit have ? You can see by lifting the back off .. will likely be made by either Sunon or cci.
Regards the stutter don't try to fix that by lowering clocks of the gpu - contact alienware support they will likely replace the motherboard.Vasudev likes this. -
Just got my new AW17R4 and ran my 1st benchmark:
AW17R4 Config: i7 7820hk, GTX 1080, 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD, 16GB DDR4, QHD 120hz display
OCd CPU to 4.4Ghz and OCd GPU to +150core and +250memory.
Firestrike result was 17,777 with max CPU temp at 84c and max GPU 67c.
Doesn't seem to be a lemon, thoughts? Keep running more tests?
EDIT: 2nd benchmark:
TimeSpy result was 6993 with max CPU temp at 89C and max GPU 64c.
HW Monitor is giving me higher temps then intel tuning utility though. which one is more accurate?Last edited: Oct 14, 2017 -
HWINFO is more accurate. Short benchmarks like that don't give you a true read on performance of the system over prolonged load of both the CPU and GPU. Can you run a game for an hour or two? Be interested to see your temps at that clock with BF1, Witcher, GTA V or the division.
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Last edited: Oct 14, 2017Pete Light likes this.
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Need some m2 2280 heatsink suggestions for my 960pro, damn its hot like a volcano (like 60-70 degrees), no throttle at all but still...
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These are my CPU temps after about an hr of GTA5 with all settings maxed out. I'm concerned now. This was at stock.
Attached Files:
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http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...4-owners-lounge.797457/page-692#post-10611493
It's this heatsink:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....me-heatsink-black-hs-001-ek.html?template=amp
Really recommend it
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Of course you haven't show me the clock frequencies so I can't see how badly it's throttling but it will be at those temps. Also be useful to see your PCH and GPU temps and GPU clock frequency too
Sent from my SM-G935F using TapatalkLast edited by a moderator: Oct 17, 2017IXVIXXII and twin snakes like this. -
One more question, do I need to remove the sticker on top of the SSD? If so, will it void the warranty?
*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge
Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by katalin_2003, Oct 24, 2016.