M14x R2 Heat

I realize there's an issues thread, but it's dating back to 2011 so I'm guessing it's for the r1. And after doing a quick search I see nothing addressing this problem.

I just got my r2 and the right side is heating up pretty badly after just normal internet usage (no gaming) for 40 minutes or so.

I'm using HWinFO64 and it's saying the temperatures are all around 50 degrees Celcius and 100-120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Is this supposed to be normal temperature for the M14x R2? and is the right side supposed to be hotter than the left due to the HDD positioning?

 

That's fine I think. My temps are generally between 40 C - 50 C right now (not gaming or anything).

 

I hope it's normal. it's the first laptop I had that seems to heat up like that. Not talking about temperature-wise but physically.

 

if it's heating on the right palm side than it's your hard drive I see in your signature. The SSDs take that problem away and it doesn't heat anymore. The temps on hwinfo show you the processor and gpu temps that are on the middle left back side. It won't do any harm though so your're OK as long as your palms don't mind it.

 

Your current temps are great, i wouldn't worry about it.

I'd recommend to have it slightly tilted(maybe using a cooling pad or just anything to tilt it)to improve the air flow if you're planning to do some heavy gaming. Below is a link for our overheating article, thought you may find it useful

Alienware Laptops: Computer overheats

 

Is that the HDD heating up? Will SSD fix this issue?

 

The HDD is not the heat factor on the right side - its the PCH which sits on the right side right below the keyboard. Check its temp in hwinfo.

Since the PCH has no cooling at all it can get very hot up to mid 70s C and is not able to cool down due to the lack of passive / active cooling. But thats a design failure of many notebook companys.

PCH = Northbridge / Southbridge in 1 Chip design

 

Also, the fan is located on the left side so perhaps heat is dissipating faster and therefore the right side shows a higher temp.

 

That and the Northbridge/Southbridge chipsets aren't attached to the cooling system that vents out the back. The heat is safe for the chipset, but the radiated heat comes up through the keyboard.

 

The PCH has a lid on top of it for protection purposes. This lid has direct contact to the metal part of the backside of the keyboard which directs the heat of this chipset directly to the right side of the keyboard.

Due to design (failure) this heat cannot dissipate and holds back inside the keyboard. The HDD is not getting warm enough to mention and has no direct contact to any part of the upper side of the notebook.

 

So the replace the hdd with ssd removes any uncomfortable heat on the lower right palm rest area is all myth then. Why did Alienware mess this up and not put proper cooling on the nbridge/sbridge or whatever.

How about those people reporting that they had heat issues on the right side palm rest when using hdd then suddenly became cooler w/o issues when ssd was used?

Can anyone clear this up please.

 

Its difficult to say its a myth...maybe for some people it "felt" cooler after exchanging. Im just mentioning there is no logical reason why that should be the case. After i changed it to a SSD i couldnt feel any difference at all.

1) Its not just Alienware/Dell. Every brand does this mistake. Believe me ive seen Sony and Asus notebooks without this lid even but with a free and open chip that stares at me when i opened the chassis. Dell at least placed a lid onto it. If you want it to be made good -> mod it yourself!

2) The PCH temps on Ivy Bride is higher than on Sandy Bridge. My guess is Dell just wasnt aware of it due to not testing such things. And even if i dont think they would have changed the cooling design of it. People only look for CPU / GPU temps forgetting that there are other very important components which need proper cooling.

See my first quote response. Its a very subjective point of view. But i dont suggest you to start a discussion on such things.