*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge

Agreed, I’ve seen some adhesive folding feet, but they look large and I don’t know where I would mount them that didn’t cover screws or the actual air intake. I also saw your linked product as well - looks like a decent compromise.

From what I’m seeing on my specific M15, lifting the back is all that matters (outside of a repaste which I haven’t done yet). And it only matters because it “appears” the GPU clocks run a bit higher and more stable with the extra air coming into the system.

I’m eager now to do a similar stress test on my R2 - which seems to be operating better out of the box in the thermal/performance department. Mainly because the GPU temps stay in the mid 70s. Both R1 and R2 basically go to 34 watts under stress test loads giving me about 3.5 GHz.

 

Repasting is mandatory, Dell usually puts crappy quality paste and way too much. If the heat is not transferring to the heatsink lifting the latop won't help too much. I can tell you that with a good repaste and playing with the voltages in TS you should be able to get stable <60W and under 90C, that means that all cores will run at 4Ghz and 100% for as long as you want. GPU (with the RTX2060 at least) is not a problem at all, most of the heat is coming from the CPU, in fact in my experience, I will get lower temps by running GPU and CPU benchmarks simultaneously as the GPU benchmark will also take some CPU and won't actually stress it that much. For example, playing GTA5 with everything at ultra at 1440p won't drive my temps over 75C for any core at any time. I'm using LM but in my experience going to a good thermal paste would mean just 5-10C more.

 

What were your stock GPU temps out of the box? Is my 2060 averaging 86 abnormal or normal for this?

 

Copying this here as well, ran similar stress test between R1 and R2 today. Turns out the R1 is...more stable? Even though higher temps?

See two screenshots attached. R2 is lower CPU temp (much lower GPU), but seems to achieve that lower temp by dropping CPU frequency down on a regular basis.

 

Full repaste complete with Kryonaut (all I had on hand). Hasn’t changed temps during stress test much if any at all. There might be a few degrees different. I didn’t think the stock paste was that bad looking in my case anyways. Only thing maybe is the unit now holds higher clocks than before?

I played well north of an hour of AC:Odyssey today with HWInfo monitoring as a more real-world test. GPU still gets to 86 and maintains - CPU obviously isn’t as high as full AIDA/Valley stress test, but still hangs around 90C +/- 3 degrees.

Lifting the back an inch is all that really changes things, and mainly for the CPU, tends to be a 5 degree drop under load - and subjectively quieter fans. I noticed when raised the 2060 GPU maintains higher clocks. When flat it tends to level out at 1545 MHz, but lifted I’m closer to mid 1650 MHz, sometimes hanging around at 1700 MHz on the 2060.

SO that’s it - I can’t really change this without major work in either TS or LM probably. Of course I can keep ratcheting down multipliers and even manually cap the wattage to the CPU and of course the temps will come down. I think holding around 90C for a couple hour game session is fine, especially since it wasn’t throttling and holding 3.6 GHz.

So for all prospective buyers - I think the simplest and most effective thing you can do is to just make sure you lift the back end of your M15 R1 up an inch and you’ll be fine without any other tweaks. TS seems to be marginal gains for a lot of tinkering. I know others here are reporting different and it’s a “must” but I’ve never been a fan of actually using TS long term. For the average consumer, just elevate the laptop. No need for “cooling stands” (with actual fans in them) or other such nonsense.

I do think it’s pretty impressive to maintain a 3.5-3.6 GHz clock over 60 minutes of stress testing, which is an extreme situation not really reflecting real world use. From what I can see reading other similar equipped laptops out there, tend to downclock further under a stress test load (lower 3Ghz or even less!). I’m not too worried about 90C thermals on these CPUs - sure, if you wanted to get 5 years out of your laptop, you’ll want to LM, but even that’s dubious you’ll significantly reduce the life-span by running at mid-90s.

TS does seem to reduce the system throttling itself, but that’s only because you are manually throttling if you pick a different multiplier to cap the Turbo. Right now undervolt doesn’t appear to help my M15 out one bit.

 

86C GPU after repaste? Sounds like something went wrong.

 

Posting pictures - I’ve done this numerous times and built many different systems. So I don’t know what would have gone wrong - it’s not like it’s a complex process. I put enough paste on as well - the Kryonaut tube I have has a built in spreader, not that it’s needed.

Should add I used thermal cleaner/purifier as well, with lint free tech wipes.

One more edit - this is the same paste I used on my 9700K desktop build, which is operating at low 70s under heavy load with a way too old and unoptimized air cooler on it

 

In general those laptops are made to run at ~90C or so when stressed, so the fact that you get higher clocks and less noise is expected as it tries to do as much work as possible with minimal noise while keeping the temp under control. You could use TS to limit the frequencies and or the wattage, and this will of course drop the temps.

How I look at it is that I want maximum performance on both the CPU and GPU (that's why I paid for it and didn't just keep my old Ivy Bridge laptop) and I want to do it with temps that are comfortable to use. I have another profile when I limit wattage/voltage so I can browse or write or type code with minimal noise and minimal temperature (for example on my lap).

The good thing about TS is that it allows you to decide when you want a desktop replacement or a utlrabook. Repasting, undervolting and good ventilation is critical to both.

Agree, double check how bad the marks on the thermal pads are. It could be that they are too thick and the heatsink is not making good contact.

 

Good point, I should have mentioned I also repadded with softer, more compressible pads (Gelid GP Extreme, Fujipoly or Panasonic are a pain to order here)

 

Might be the pads - I dunno! CPU temps are pretty much the same as my R2, but those GPU temps are a concern. Not sure why they are so high. I'm noticing if I don't lift the back edge up on the R1, GPU temps stabilize at 86C, but clocks want to drift down under 1400 MHz. This likely means I'll stick with the R2 I have, despite actually liking the R1 design and internal layout better. Neither laptop is perfect though - R2 is pretty great outside of OLED vertical banding (and of course the soldered internals). R1 has a "loose" touchpad and this GPU thermal issue!

R2 has 2TB and 2070 in it, and prices being what they are, there is really only a 100 dollar difference between the two (if I normalize for the storage option I picked). R1 is a 2060 w/512GB. May just have to request either a replacement or have them come out and replace the screen on the R2.

 

Anyone here for an M15 with a 4K screen?

I've got my 4K M15 coming soon. I was tempted to go for the 144hz screen, but I will be doing video editing, Photoshop etc on it, so I had to go for the 4 screen.

Considering the display is 60hz what resolution is everyone playing games at?

Is 1440p the sweet spot? I suspect the frame rates will be too low in most games for 4K.

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I hope you have thought very hard about the measly 16GB of soldered RAM on the R2. The 86C on the GPU can possibly be improved by softer padding (=more pressure on the heatsink). It won't be winning any laptop cooling contests, but does it really affect performance? Also what is the ambient temp you have been testing in. I assumed cool 22C.

 

That's why I didn't get the R2. 16GB is extremely limiting for video editing and other non-gaming tasks.

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Saw this late, but back on my 15R3, it actually did drop temps by about 10-15C when using this stand. The m15 is different than the 15R3 and I did not test before/after, but simply elevating a laptop on anything helps A Lot. The good thing about that foldable stand is because you don't have to constantly play with it, its compact and it doesn't look ghetto. Before buying it I raised mine with the empty HyperX RAM container, which should be as effective as the stand right? But the stand makes unplugging/plugging in/travelling way easier to setup. The rubber feet are nice too, since its not slippery like smooth plastic.

 

I've changed my mind, not sure why it is, but the R2's GPU is far cooler, but CPU is not. I was able to achieve a -1.70 mV undervolt on the R1 last night, and played an extended session of AC:Odyssey (for some reason this is my one test game throughout trialing both laptops, despite not being my favorite game, but it's a very CPU intensive title). I removed all the turbo multiplier limits in ThrottleStop as well. It was maintaining 3.5-4Ghz the majority of a 60 minute game session (and this came after 45 minutes of a stress test while testing undervolts). I could only achieve my 145mV on the R2 - and during a 60 minute AC:Odyssey session, the CPU liked to drop down to 3.1Ghz quite often to maintain thermals. I've noticed this during stress tests as well, it won't hold 3.5-3.6 Ghz at all - the heat builds up and it drop the power/freq down to the low 3Ghz for a minute, then let it climb back up.

Both laptops were raised up an inch. So even though the R2's GPU will stay in the low 70s, it's CPU is less stable. The R1's GPU will stay around 82C, and now with my undervolt hangs just around 90C under extended load. I noticed in AC;Odyssey, the R1 would largely stay at 60FPS, occasionally dropping to 56-57 FPS. R2 actually would throttle down to the low 50s, despite being equipped with the 2070!

I prefer the R1 anyways - design is much tougher and more classic, and the OLED display is absent the bad vertical banding the R2 has.

These little machine's thermal characteristics are whacky.

 

I will add that with a CPU only load, and my undervolt on the R1, CPU basically maintains 4GHz locked, and temps are in high 70s with this undervolt with VERY quiet fans - this makes the idea of picking up the AGA to pair with this setup extremely tempting. I imagine that would be a pretty quiet gaming experience!

 

It sounds like you have a fantastic setup.

As a lover of silence myself, I did this same thing but with an Area 51m. I swapped in a 9900ks CPU, undervolted and underclocked it and waited for an AGA to hit the Amazon warehouse deals. Picked one up for $95 in 'acceptable' condition and slapped my Titan V inside. The AGA case was a little scratched up and had a crack on the lid but I don't care what it looks like. It's a wonderful eGPU.

This machine can now manage 4.5ghz on 8 cores and stay under 100w of cpu power consumption on a 100%, non-AVX load. Because the built in dGPU is sleeping when the AGA is connected (and thus not generating any heat), I can keep the fans on their silent setting without breaking 90c. Swap out the noisy AGA psu fan, and it's the most silent mobile workstation imaginable aside from a little coil whine when you get really close.

Your success makes me yearn so badly for an m17 r3 with SO-DIMM slots. Give it a 9980hk and some liquid metal and I bet it would be an even better experience than my 51m.

 

I haven't done enough testing - but so far I would stick with 1080P - it's a great 1 for 4 pixel map and looks about as sharp as native 4K. I posted these pictures on a YT video comparing native 1080P on an external monitor with running 1080P on the 4K screen. I really couldn't tell a difference in sharpness to be honest. Many will say anything other than native is a waste, but I disagree.

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=4450055f3966081e&id=4450055F3966081E!78179&authkey=!AOLBaSIcJvl1xww

Make sure to sort by name first before scrolling through the pictures.

 

I realize I said this really wrong - it's about as sharp as native 1080P is what I meant - no way running at 1080P is as sharp as native 4k, LOL. I can get AC:Odyssey to run at native 4k above 30 FPS - and it does look spectacularly sharp. However, that smoothness of 60FPS is too nice to pass up.

 

Thanks for sharing that.

If I'm playing natively on the laptop, perhaps 1440p is the sweet spot. If I want a faster frame rate at 1080p, I could connect it to a monitor.

Think mine is arriving Wednesday. Looking forward to testing it out

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Most would argue 1080P is the sweet spot because the interpolation of pixels is very straightforward, but you are welcome to experiment. I have done a bit in the ONE game using the resolution scaling modifier. I’ve found that 1.2X of 1080P doesn’t really bring that much to the table. However 1.7 and higher of 4K looks immensely sharper, especially distant vistas. The 2060 however is a solid 1080P card in laptops - 2070 MQ definitely a better card if you want to crank up to 2K or higher rez. So if you go with 4K and don’t want to deal with 1080P and want to get closer to 4K and sharper, make sure you get the 2070.

I installed a 1TB SSD it in the R1 last night, loaded up some more games across the range, so I’ll be experimenting more now with what looks “best” in terms of using a 4K OLED to play games. Not all games are as expensive titles in terms of GPU power like AC:Odyssey, so they may be able to hit closer to 4K, but I realize this 2060 just won’t stretch that far.

 

Yeah the 2060 is a great card. I was considering the Zenbook Duo Pro and that has one (But the keyboard position put me off).

The one I've ordered actually has the 2080 Max Q (should have mentioned this previously), so I might be able to play a few games natively at 4K with the laptop display. I don't have the oled screen. Think it's IPS. Not sure I'll reach 60FPS though.



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Well, I stand corrected - I tested about a half dozen games after adding in the 1440P rez into the Intel Command Center.

I would say it provides a noticeable sharpness increase across most titles, although a few did not really benefit.

These are purely by memory FPS estimates

• Witcher 3@1440P is averaging very close to 50-60FPS and is massively nicer looking at 1440P over 1080P - i tweaked a few graphical settings but left hairworks on at med. No way I can play this at 1080P anymore, distant foliage takes on a much better look at 1440P
• AC:Odyssey looks much nicer at 1440P as well, although without backing down from my "custom Ultra" settings it looked to average low 50s - may be worth backing a whole image quality tier back a notch to get this sharper look. 1080P still looks great
• Far Cry 5 - hard to tell between 1440P and 1080P in limited testing - although I am able to play at Ultra 1440P and average mostly ~60FPS - if I back down to high, it's north of 70FPS (again, limited testing)
• The Division 2 - this game is not worth bumping up to 1440P - 1080P Ultra on the 2060 is averaging 65 FPS - I notice on the 2070MQ it was 81 FPS at the same settings - this game really benefits from a higher tier RTX card
• Destiny 2 - This game is definitely more pleasing at 1440P, although not a game-changer. BUT, this game easily runs north of 60FPS with the Performance profile in QUIET mode, so this is quite the amazing game to play since it's well optimized and not CPU intensive.
• Outer Worlds - didn't seem worth it to bump up to 1440 due to the overall aesthetic, but need more testing. Can run ~60FPS on highest setting @1440P, at least in the limited area I looked

Also - I'm incredibly pleased with CPU and GPU performance with optimized ThrottleStop profiles set up. That little elevation of the back edge combined with the 170mV undervolt (and I guess my repaste) has changed the game. I'm maintaining a locked 4Ghz clock rate for multiple hours of intensive game testing without any dips that I could see (other than going into and out of games). Thermals run 85-low 90s, but this is because I probably should have used a more constant fan, as opposed to balanced which can lead to more fluctuations. But this is damn impressive for something this thin.

So for anyone interested, I'm not really observing that lower than native gaming on this 4K OLED really suffers, other than the obvious lack of high framerate gaming, which I know is key if you playing online MP centric titles and need the competitive edge. No doubt, if you into that, probably avoid OLED at all costs. Or, as I have, just buy an AGA and external monitor for high-refresh gaming, and then enjoy the OLED on the go. What a time to be a PC gamer.

 

That's fantastic. I'm sure driving games will look great at the higher resolution too (as long as frame rates aren't too low).

Impressive that a 2060 can handle 1440p so well.

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FWIW 1440p is buttery smooth on the 2070mq.4k works well in most titles on max settings too.

 

That's great to bear. Looking forward to seeing how the 2080 Max Q handles 4K.

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I wish I paid the extra to get the 2070 in the R1! I did see considerable benefit at >1080P when testing between the R1 (2060) and R2 (2070) I have in hand right now. But as I posted earlier, the throttling, even with undervolt and raised back-end, on the R2 was really impacting frame rates in longer game sessions, with frequent dips in the 3.1Ghz range. I was not maintaining the same 4 GHz clock as the R1. SO thus the machine with better CPU thermals wins the day.

 

The limitation of 16GB stopped me from getting the R2.

Don't fret too much about not buying the 2070. You could put the money you saved towards something else later.

My R1 will arrive tomorrow. I'm going to do an unboxing on my YouTube channel. Might do it live, but won't do any mods live.

I'll do a repaste etc later and it's already got 32GB of RAM. I'm going to change the SSD but that's not really exciting to show. I will open up the back though.

Looking forward to seeing the 4K display.



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The laptop arrived a few hours ago.

Going to do a live unboxing at https://www.youtube.com/c/KevinMuldoon/live in about 40 minutes to show what it's like. Will open it up and look at the internals, but I'm not going to be changing the SSD or memory live. I'll just have a look at what it's like inside

I'm looking to pick up a 2TB NVME SSD in the Black Friday sales for the main OS. Might do a repaste next week too if the thermals aren't great.

 

Many thanks to those that dropped by for the unboxing. Special shoutout to Shadowfox who gave me a lot of great advice about upgrades and opening the back cover up.

I'll be sure to do another few videos showing the upgrades I do etc.



ShadowFox's recommendation was to drop down to 1.4.1 for the bios. It looks like mine is on 2.2.1 at the moment (before checking for any recent updates).

Is there a change log that shows all the updates? Is it universally accepted that 1.4.1 is the best version?



I went in and disabled express charge too so my battery doesn't burn out.



I had a quick look on Amazon UK there and saw the MQFORU Intel Dual Band Wireless AX200NGW. It's currently selling for £25.99.

Have you all upgraded from the Dell Wireless 1820 Card? Looking at threads on Notebook Review, and listening to Shadowfox's advice, it seems like the best option.



I'm looking out for some new SSDs for the laptop too.

It would be useful to utilise the 2.5" drive slot for storing files and games etc. Unfortunately, mine doesn't have the Sata connector cable or the caddy. From what I've seen online, Dell are rarely helpful with this (though I emailed them anyways).

The part number for the HDD caddy and cable and screws is 68WXJ.

I've not been able to find it online. Anyone did this upgrade?

Last upgrade I'll do is the repaste, but I will get everthing else sorted first.

Thanks again to all the advice during the stream

 

An update on my new Alienware M15.

Overall, I'm impressed with the laptop build. The display lid is solid and the keyboard seems ok (if a bit cramped).

The biggest problems are ..you guessed it...thermals and noise.

It's a major disappointment.

When the CPU was at 5 or 10%, and the GPU was at 0%, the fans were going crazy and heat was sometimes in the 70s (Celsius).

I expected some noise when I was pushing the laptop, but even with just one basic app open, or even nothing at all, this thing is burning up. Never seen anything like it.

I did an undervolt using throttle stop which seems to bring the temperature down a little. Not did a repaste yet or bought a laptop cooler, but I know both can help.

Should I be concerned that I've got a dud or is this just the price you need to pay for having an Alienware M15?

I'm out just now but when I'm home later I can post some screenshots to show how bad the problem is.

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Get rid of 2.2.1 bios, I've guinea pig it when it was firstly released along with other users. 2.2.1 is garbage as far as fan handling goes. get previous bios version, is way better. I'm using 2.0.4 and happy with it.

Have a look at the post in this thread from page 315 for TS settings (kudos to @kahuna0k) and general info that can help you out tame the heat of the R1. It can definitely be done, albeit not without some tuning .

few reference post from this thread that might be of interest for you:

*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge
*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge

The trick is undervolting the CPU so that it stay below 60W TDP. I'm maxing out around 52W with 6 cores at the rated 3.9Ghz under full load in Prime95. Balanced fan profile (at least on bios 2.0.4) work pretty well for me. While gaming (combined load CPU + GPU) balanced profile let the cpu temp rise until around 82 °C while the fans ramp up, temperature will then drop and stay around 70 - 75 °C max. GPU is not a concern, on combined load (because of the stupid shared heat pipes design, will eventually go up to 68 / 70 °C max. On Synthetic (firestrike/time spy etc...) benchmarks temperatures are way lower than that (CPU around 65 °C, GPU around 55 °C)

Edit: i've repasted with LM, imho, a must for this chassis

 

Thanks for the advice. Really appreciate it. I'll hopefully get an hour or two later to downgrade the bios.

I don't mind doing a little tweaking to get things right as once I have it set up right, I won't need to change anything.

Do you ever use a laptop cooling pad? Seem a few people saying it drops it 8 degrees or so.

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Just installing some feet in the back usually suffices for me.

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You are welcome!

i'm using this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007BD16KC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1, for gaming, with this machine you need to rise her back.
for my use (i travel a lot and pretty far away from home) is perfect. Something with fan will improve temperatures a little bit more, but not really necessary.

 

@kahuna0k 's static voltage trick is a game changer, CPU stays under 90C in CB20 without LM. Still worth repasting/repadding and using a cooler. A thin and light, or applerazermania, tax.

 

Thanks again for all your advice everyone. You have been more supportive than Dell's customer service team. They just emailed me back after two days and after sending them a very detailed explanation they responded with "Please contact customer service". When I called they passed me between five different departments.

It's really amazing how bad their customer service is haha

I've did a lot of undervolting and overclocking with GPUs in the past with apps like MSI Afterburner, but I've not used ThrottleStop before.

I just got a chance to look at those posts you shared.

Setting the CPU core and cache to -158.2mV crashed the laptop. I put it down to -140.6 instead and it seems ok now.

So at the moment I have -140.6mv for the CPU core and cache. I also set the the iccmax setting to 140A, but then reverted it back as I'm not 100% sure how relevant/important it is. I merely copied @kahuna0k 's setting for it and not sure how relevant it is.

I haven't modified the Intel GPU setting yet either and at this point, I still haven't reverted the bios.

Now that I've undervolted, my voltage seems to dance between 0.95 and 1.15 volts.

I did a system scan there through the Alienware assistant and the CPU was at 100%. The temperatures went up to 75 to 77 degrees.



When I'm just doing light tasks, it's dropped down to around 50 degrees.



I reckon I will be be able to drop it down a little more with a repaste.

I have Phobya NanoGrease Extreme 3.5g in my Amazon cart. Are most of you using that to repaste the GPU or are you using it to do the CPU too? Not sure if that paste is perfect for both chips.

Thanks again for all your help in the stream.

Do laptop feet work when using the laptop on your lap?

When I'm doing game streaming or anything intensive, I can use a laptop stand or cooler, but when doing browsing and Photoshop I will generally have it on my lap.

That looks nice. I've added it to my Amazon Wishlist. I have the NextStand K2 laptop folding stand for travel, but I could use that on my main desk.

I ideally want something that I can sit on my lap. Something which isn't too heavy and if it has fans, it hopefully won't be too loud.

So are you all using static voltage instead of adaptive?


I spoke to an upgrade company about the 2.5" SSD caddy. Would be nice to have the option of adding storage there for games as it works out a lot cheaper.

I still need to order the AX200 too. I noticed it was being sold in places like AliExpress too for around £10 or so.

 

Yea i just installed some small foldable feet that tuck away when not in use. Hell you can even put a bottle cap from a soda and that will life it enough for better air circulation.

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Can you clarify at all what you mean by “garbage fan handling”? I’m probably on the latest BIOS - only weird thing is in balanced, fans tend to oscillate too much, even under full gaming load where it should probably be more consistent. I’d prefer things to even out and be steady for sure, but performance fans don’t seem to really do much different after they quickly ramp up and then back down - they sound the same as balanced, but without any oscillations up and down.

Can you share which product, and where you placed them on your laptop? I’ve been buying some rubber isolation feet on my lap desk, and then got some magnetic set (clips together for storage) that you can manually set under the back edge. I saw a few on amazon that use adhesive straight to the bottom of the laptop, but with where the heat sink is, seemed like they would be too large and block some airflow.

 

I haven't tried the latest BIOS, but some people have been previously complaining about the fact that the CPU fan stays at 50% unless you put the laptop in the fridge. Now, in the latest version Dell attacked the problem by.... making the fans too slow to adapt to raising temps I'm on the previous BIOS, prefer to keep the laptop cooler on balanced. The 50% CPU fan noise is negligible.

 

I would take some time to let the initial windows install finishing all it’s updating, caching, etc prior to making any assessment. Everyone seems to get slightly different results from this M15. As I’ve chronicled, while everyone dismisses the GPU temps, mine seems to be about 10C higher than most, even when I raise the back end up. It still settles in around 82C after LONG gaming sessions, and I don’t think it’s impacting performance. Initially it did seem to throttle itself somewhat due to the combination with the CPU being hot. But I undervolt, repaste, and lifting the back edge up it’s not kinda kicking. 4Ghz locked without fail - granted my CPU let me undervolt 165mV as well. Seems like this machine needs all 3 to really shine (undervolt, repaste, raise back edge).

 

I bought these
Laptop Cooling Feet, Improves... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07772JBX1?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I attached them towards the back edge next to the screw holes (without covering them of course) and it works well either folded or unfolded (I unfold them for better typing angle)


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Ahhh ok, well whatever BIOS I’m on, I’m for the most part fine with it. The oscillation up and down does settle after a little while, and I can always switch to performance fans if it really bugs me. Further - on balanced, when in a CPU only stress, the fans are extremely quiet, and the CPU only gets to the low 80s while staying pegged at 6 cores, 100%, 4GHz without a single drop after 1 hour of AIDA64 alone. It stays this way when combining AIDA/Valley together, but fans of course become much more audible. CPU is still holding 4Ghz though, just temps are now ~90C (this is in balanced fan mode). The only thing I’m noticing in this latter case is that in balanced fans, it will be mid to high 80C and it will climb up to 93C which of course means fans kick up, then it goes back down to high 80C and repeats.

My fans are stopping when temps are below 60C, which does mean it gets pretty warm on the bottom.

Another thing I’ve noticed having both the M15R1 and R2, the R2 was louder as measured by a phone dBA meter. On performance, the R1 was around 48.1 dBA with the mic on my phone pointed towards the screen, hovering 6 inches above the trackpad. On the R2, that same location on performance fans was 51 dBA. So this means the R1 was actually half as loud overall as each 3 dBA increase is a doubling in power output.

 

Yeah the silicone lottery does appear to play a part.

What paste did you use to repaste?

I'm going to order Phobya NanoGrease Extreme, but wasn't sure if everyone was using it for both the CPU and GPU.

 

That's what I used, just be wary of uneven heatsink.... If heatsink is warped or too uneven you have 2 options
1. Tell dell to replace it
2. Use a thick paste like IC Diamond

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Thanks. I'll place the order for that just now (had three or four things to buy, which is why I held back).

By uneven do you mean that it isn't level and is raised at one end of the heatsink? i.e. isn't flat.

Also, which model of AX200 did you buy? Seems to be a lot of them from China on eBay/AliExpress etc. Are they the same chip or am I better sticking with a brand name?

 

I just used Kryonaut - I have a big tube from a while back. At first I didn’t think it was doing much, but now that’s it’s “settled” - I think all together combined the repaste has helped tremendously, especially in standard productivity tasks, and CPU only tasks. I idle in the low 50s after the laptop has been on for 15-30 minutes. Jumps up to 60C when performing some slightly more CPU intensive loads, etc. I think someone mentioned that maybe the pads on the GPU side of my heat sink may be a little too thick, and thus driving some slight separation with the GPU’s die. If this is the case, might explain why introducing the GPU puts so much heat into the heat sink system that the repaste is a bit less effective when under full load, but this is when the CPU undervolt helps a ton.

I spent a little while messing with undervolt, and turning it on and off under a sustained AIDA64 load. It literally was like a 10 degree toggle. CPU would be at 4Ghz and sustaining about 77C, then I would turn the undervolt off in throttlestop by changing a profile to default settings, and it instantly within milliseconds the CPU would jump to mid 80s. It was hilarious to watch how effective the undervolt was at dropping temps.

I’ll add that I’m a bit deterred from doing another look at the heat sink to see if I can get the GPU performing better - but the screws on that heat sink leave a bit to be desired. As someone already mentioned, they seem easy to strip and I’m not sure what exact Philips head I should use to get the best grip without slipping. One of the screws is already a bit - messed up now when I was trying to tighten. I’m not so sure that my setup really warrants further tinkering as performance and thermals, even if higher than average on the GPU side, are working extremely well and maintaining really high performance.

 

Yes that it isn't flat. You'll notice when you run CPU benchmarks if the difference in temps between cores is greater than say 6C then you most likely haven't put the heatsink flush or it could be warped.

As for the wifi card just look for an Intel wifi card that support wifi 6 (wifi ax). Any Intel wifi card is good as long as it's not killer wireless.

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I’m trying to figure out how even if this heatsink assembly were a bit curved in one or another it would really matter. There are so many screws securing it across the main board and overall chassis that any slight curve would like be straightened out. THere are what, 7 screws around the fans at the far edge, and then an addition 7 directly around GPU and CPU? Mine was not curved at all, but unless there were some major bend somewhere, I can’t see how this would really cause any issue.

 

The TLDR is watch out for setting back the heatsink and making sure it's flush by tightening all the screws but not enough to strip them. I've seen many m15 laptops have uneven core temps due to bad heatsinks in the first batch that came out in November of last year. Dell sorted most of them out in the new models but be wary when buying refurbished.

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