M14x, and Extreme Temperatures!?

Monitored mny temps a bit yesterday while playing. Played Assassins Creed Brotherhood for an hour or so. GPU stayed low, but from my i5 2410m, HW Monitor reported max temps of 90 and 91 °C. Wasn't going higher, and wasn't stayed there for long, but still i'm worried. :/
Should i repaste?

 

lift up the back maybe you get better temps then?

I have a 2430m and it doesnt go over 75 with turbo boost off, with turbo boost on its about 77 max, but i always lift up the back with a book or similiar! and these temps are from bfbc2 and the withcer 2 (very hw intensive games)

 

well it was on a desk at the school, but i will test it later with a book or so.

 

i noticed that my cpu reached 96 on BF3 multiplayer..dunno what went wrong. ambient temp is around 25 degrees. but i would rather save money then buying a laptop cooler. i dont game with it on my lap ( i do wnna have kids someday)
plus i got extended warranty on this beast plus i think this laptop was designed to withstand this temp. Let it run around wildly. totally unleashed. if anything happens, bad news for dell . Better to test the stability in warranty rather then going broke after

 

I dont know for sure it's pure speculation about design issues untill confirmed so I wont get into that but Im on my 2nd replacement and 4th mobo replacement,I have hot temps still in the high 90s.I know it's common on m14x but that doesn't mean it's right.I have talked to 2 engineers and they are aware of "higher than normal heat complaints."It was on facebook and I think even a few sites about heat issues,dell is trying with new bios and other options,The engineer said they are looking into it.I love this m14x,I hope we get even a little cooler and Im afraid of longevity also heat is the cause of most gpu failures afaik.Just worried down the road.

 

thing is..... core i7s are makin hell lotta heat. Fan is relly effective no doubt, but i guess the copper heat channel needs some redesigning.

 

Nuaron, I agree,I don't want to speculate but other laptops with same or higher specs run alot cooler I dont want to cause all kinds of he said she said type stuff,that's why I have to say speculation at this point.But Dell is definitely working on it,they agree there are more than normal issues with heat complaints,anandtech and some others did alot of testing and found the heat issue a problem,and said that it may be a design since they tested same or spec laptops and had alot better yemps.M14x is alot of machine for a 14,I am just a bit worried for longevity,and Ive had new mobos from overheating, my machine stuttered then dead.Some are worse than others that's what is holding the redwsign issue at hand now,I bet the m14x r2 has a different cooling design.

 

ofcourse its only alienware so far with the heat issues. other laptop with i7 are far cooler.infact even the xps series with core i72630 are running cooler. So definitley its a design flaw. Question is, will dell acknowledge it botched up the m14x ...

 

For now if you want yo try to help cooling try Hwinfo @ hwinfo.com for the latest beta so you can use a more aggressive fan profile to keep those temps down. The new beta is more stable and adds the use of Dell EC for fan control which seems trouble free over the previous only method of using the Compal EC for fan control. One simply needs to check SW SMI in config and uncheck Ec Lpc & ec-acpi synchronization. Then go to sensor window and click the fan icon at bottom to start using fan control.


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*Warning*
BIOS Modifications, VBIOS Modifications and other system level tweaks (including third party fan control) can potentially cause damage to your system. Be aware of this. If you brick your system or cause damage, chances are very high that your warranty will be useless. Know what you are doing, you are responsible for your actions.
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Nauron,your 100% correct,I know its lacking in design,I also have an xps with corei7 and heat is not an issue its bigger ofcourse but still.I have been in touch with engineers all last month and they know theres a problem but its not my place to say and they wouldn't say it a design flaw.I am awaiting an m18x,and I see on the m18x thread some have heat issues.I don't get it.Im hoping they have a fix and not another xps 1710 to 1730 and 16 series fiasco.I bet you a new m18x the r2 will have alot better cooling design.Ha Ha.

 

Thanks for the info,and nice OC on the m18x.I cant wait to get mine,every day is torture waiting for it to land.lol

 

I hav a quick question. Will this advice work with the M14x??? Also, will it void my warranty just to open up the back and clean out the dust?? Please reply asap and thanks

 

bios mods and such "void" your warranty if dell ever finds out about it. just had my mobo replaced and my m17x with a modded bios get serviced and the tech never mentioned any issues. as to opening up the case, if you break something while opening and cleaning it thats your fault, but if you clean it out and something inside later on breaks dell will fix it

 

What is BIOS modding??? Like, i know what modding is, but in what definition does it apply? For example, i overclocked my CPU but quickly changed it back. I also turned off my turbo boost in the BIOS. Is this BIOS modding?

 

That's just changing bios settings, bios modding is when you install a custom bios in replace of the stock bios. The modded bios usually enables things that aren't available with a stock bios. As to the overclocking, None of the CPU's in the m14x can be Overclocked

 

Oh, okay, yeah i didnt do any of that, Okey-doke lol. Thanks so much man . And do you happen to know if this HWINFO works with the M14x?

 

might work idk let me look over it

Edit: didn't see any reason why it wouldn't, when I get my m17x back later this evening i'll check it out if you want

 

Yeah but there's a difference, you have the M17x and i have the M14x : /. I'm not sure if it would work with mine, well, im sure it would work, but im not sure if it would be healthy for it considering that i dont know that is its maximum RPM. Im not going to test it until i know for sure its safe.

 

yea the RPM speed Idk about, if we could find out though, HWinfo64 could possibly be very helpful for keeping temps down while gaming

 

It work, I used to install that program like about 2 month ago, however I do not recommend edit those fan RPM, because it would hurt your machine, do it only if you know what you do. Me I used to accidentally change that fan setting and poof the fan shutdown, and the temp climb just within 10 second, luckily I reset the change otherwise, my laptop would have been overheat.

 

Yeah i know :/ . Many have said it is helpful and im just so tired of looking for a good solution for this M14x. I have the CM X-Slim Cooling Pad, Turned Turbo Boost off, Minimized Processor Management to 99%, i have CoreTemp, and i still reach temps up to the 90's when i play demanding games like Battlefield 3 (yet i always stay under 75 when playing RAGE ). If there are any suggestions (yes i know about thermal paste but i dont want to do it myself, im too scared), ANY, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese help me ; __ ;

 

hmm other than keeping it elevated which your cooler should do, I don't know of anything else you can do besides a repaste

 

CRAP!!!!!.... but im too scared to do a repaste ;_;

 

have you read through this guide? this is how to do it if you are interested

edit: Dang thats a lot harder to do than an M17x repaste

 

;,( ..... when you said elevate it, what kind of elevated are you talking about? Slanted-elevated or Elevated above the ground?

 

slanted so the fan gets better air flow, though elevated should work too

 

This is as elevated as the cooling pad can get:
http://aphnetworks.com/review/cooler_master_notepal_x_slim/0202.JPG

 

that should be more than plenty

 

....wooow... i held up my laptop just for kicks and the CPU dropped 10 degrees...Holy Crap i just found out something... the fan of the cooler is located at the center and the laptop fans are located on the two corners near the rear. And it just so happens that the handles are RIGHT where the laptop fans are -_-. This ironically gave my laptop 10 degrees more heat as it has nowhere to breath, but the bottom of it must be happy since its getting all the cool air. Wow this is upsetting -_-

http://thegamefanatics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Cooler-Master-NotePal-X-Slim-Laptop-Cooler.jpg

 

glad to see that you kinda fixed it. just keep it propped up with something other than the cooler.

 

The best way to keep the temperatures down on the M14x is to place the laptop in cold water. Since doing this my temps have been so low that my fan does not even start. I highly recommend it.

 

Have you try it? The last time I check, M14x is not water proof nor resistant, or are you just trolling around?

 

he is trolling as usual A liquid cooling system would be cool though, just not like that

 

This is very good advise. Keeps my M17x cooler than ever.

 

Do I have to take battery out? Because with PSU it smells. BTW this tweak works only with M17X

 

Well if we have that technology, because we can just throw in a dual or triple GTX580M in the M17x with a i7 2960XM OC. That would be very cool, wouldnt it?

 

then I would own an m14x in a heart beat

 

no void if you clean fans. Also yes hwinfo will work on M14x and my directions are the correct ones. Using hwinfo is not a bios mod and will not void your warranty. The warning is there because using any 3rd party utility is at the users own risk... and in experience this hwinfo to help use better fan profiles... is a non-risk. if under warranty and fan goes... its covered...

if you need help http://forum.techinferno.com/hwinfo32-64-discussion/65-alienware-fan-control-13.html#post16263 is where current troubleshooting and discussion is going on. If it helps i've used fan control from hwinfo for months and for atleast 2 months have booted my system at start to fans set to max speed. its great for long gaming and even benching....

 

Strange, well i tried, putting on a book aswell, still it went up till 85 and later 91.
What is your suggestion guys? :/

 

The utility HWinfo 64 latest build (haven't tested beta) works fine. I don't think we are allowed to talk about it or link it here so you will need to go elsewhere to talk about it. Can set FAN rpm to 5600.

 

Well Dell recommended it themselves for a quick fix on 6990m overheat isue now there's a bios fix sorry for the slight off topic since its about M18x, but Hwinfo is allowed to be discussed, talking about a banned members banishment is not. Hwinfo is a widely used program for entire system info... From video card to processor to your rams timings. For those systems that have fan control available via hwinfo, the feature itself is not presented to software makers to easily make as some standard thing, we are lucky to have apps to help the fans fully utilize the heat wicking capacity of our heat sinks by fully using it max cooling capacity for a pre-emptive approach to cooling.

 

did you put the book right under the fan port? that would lead to those higher temps

 

took care, not to cover the vent holes at both sides :/

 

hmmm its weird that the higher temps are persisting even with the laptop raised, that usually drops temps a bit.

 

Official Alienware response to M14x thermals:

Thank you for your feedback regarding thermals on the M14x. We have taken your input to the appropriate teams for investigation. After taking component maximum temperature specs, skin temperatures, and overall user experience into consideration, we feel we have the best balance of performance, size and cooling possible on this platform. All components are within component manufacturer and Dell specifications. If you still have further questions or concerns please visit support.dell.com/Alienware or contact our tech support team at [email protected].

 

For me it seems that the heatsink gets clogged with dust very fast and after cleaning my temps drop dramatically.

 

I've had my m14x replaced once, recieved this one in july, and have had problems ever since. the soft finish has peeled, and all my temps are between 90-100 for the gpu and cpu. i have a 2 year upgraded warranty, is there anyway i can trade this in for a m17x?

 

doubt you will be able to get an m17x in exchange. If it was possible I'd prob have a loaded m18x right now. Dell is out to make money, and the warranty states that they give you the same machine you purchased, no better. If they were out of machines or parts, that's a different story, but since the m14x and parts are available, i doubt its possible.

 

what if i was willing to pay the difference? It's just that this problem affects all m14x's and if i was getting another one in exchange, i kinda feel shafted.

 

Yeah you would eats7...this laptop is garbage.

Sent it in for repairs after it was reaching 95c-100c, came back lasted for about a month...went back to being hot...

They replaced it, now this one gets 98c-100c, and the battery is dead.

I have my air condition on, so my room is cool, and even got it a cooler turned the "Turbo boost" off..and it made it down to 90c-95c..If I could back 5 months from now I would, would have gone with another laptop.