M14x, and Extreme Temperatures!?

Eats7 you may get no where the issue is the inconsistency of product delivered. Dell tech who posted here i agree that by design all is in spec and Alienware did pick some of the best components for the systems. But dont write off the problems these users are mentioning... I have 2960xm that i run much faster than any cpu available in m14x and each has its own cooling yes m18x has a higher performing heatsink and not sure maybe fan.... Point is those users shouldnt be brushed under the rug those types of cpu shouldnt reach 90c at all. Not at those speeds... So i suggest this Eats7 you wont get anywhere as you will be told same as Dell posted a few posts back... Take it into your own hands and command the situation. Learn up how to clean fans and heatsink learn how to work on M14x and repaste and you will see better temps dont use cheap paste Tunic, mx-4 and ICD are pretty top notch guarantee a tech put too much paste or not enough
Over at Techinferno a good friend Stevenxowens has headed the way for m14x and has temps in mid 80's max after repasting with ICD... Results speak... Dell may not help you at all according to them your fine... Your not fine that cpu shouldnt be that hot and will throttle starting at 85c. Do yourself a favor and DIY Dell cares when it is shutting down... Not before... Since its not thermally shutting off due to thermal protection... your on your own

 

I concur. Playing Diablo III Beta made my CPU go up to a frightening 95C at first but luckily it didn't affect the performance. Nevertheless, the heat still worried me and I went and bought a U2 Cooler Master. The heat went down to about 82-85C. I was somewhat happy but then I turned off Turbo mode as Tyler27 and CGSDR suggested, the CPU went down to 72C!

Using CPU-Z, it clearly showed that when I was playing Diablo, the CPU would overclock to 2.6 GHz using Turbo and the heat would rise as it was overclocking. However, after capping the CPU at 2.0 GHz, the temperature stayed relatively cool.

With regards to performance, there was no noticeable difference whatsoever. I have everything set to the highest settings and with Diablo 3 whitelisted with the NVIDIA GPU (no overclock). I was running the game at 106 FPS in the dungeon when no enemies were present. During action I dropped to about 60-70 FPS. I imagine that when the actual game comes out, my FPS would drop down to about 30-40 when 4 people are in combat simultaneously which is still pretty damn good on max settings.

 

I concur with you those temps are more where these systems should be with these processors. Using that method should produce similar results for everyone. Now not all situations will Turbo Boost off compared to on will show no big difference some apps really make use of it as needed. Yes temps are higher but those speeds are not that fast and should not set you into the 90's not these cpus. You by design should be able to use turbo boost with no ill effects its the cooling thats the problem as you are slowing your cpu to meet the cooling capabilities even if they are not on par with how these cpus should run. Max temp even turbo boost should be maybe 84c-88c from what ive seen on the M14x. Most games should be fine with turbo boost off... and plenty of ventilation (or a notebook cooler as mentioned) but really you should be able to use your cpus full capabilities these are high performance mobile not $400 laptops theres more expectation of a higher quality and performance. I love my Alienware so dont get me wrong the product i got should mirror the product you guys got... we all payed exorbitant amounts of money we should have no issues on Diablo 3 or anything of the likes showing over heating. They are high performance hardware for the form factor as Bill had mentioned and should be performing as such. No one using non standard overclocking and temps are still high and inconsistent from customer to customer... we all should have a quality build sent out and most users in same environment should see same thermals I love my Alienware I have no issues I've said my peace

 

Yes. I TOTALLY agree with you. Having to compensate the CPU for the heat is a little disappointing. But the machine is still damn fast at 2.0 GHz so I'm not going to fault it TOO MUCH. After all I did buy mine refurbished and so compared to most of you i got no right complain at all. I just wanted to confirm Tyler27 and CGSDR's method with regards to turning Turbo off. At least with Diablo 3 anyway.

 

I solved the problem, maybe only temporarily. I was gonna buy new thermal paste, but i thought i'd try blowing compressed air in all the vents & ports. to my suprise, instead of gpu at 95 and cpu at 97, they go down to 76 and 84 respectively. this laptop is 6 months+ old and it has actually dropped in temperature considerably.

 

Thats great news. Yeah 6months is enough on this type of performance system to have enough dudt to block the fins airflow of the heatsink. Glad it was easy enough to fix for you

Unitard true but honestly buying refurb gives you same equal right... Especially within first month or so of purchase and for entire time of basic warranty and even more so if you bought a extra warranty. Either way your product is supposed to be equal (barring cosmetic damage being a refurb) read the sticker i bought brand new and after too many repairs and exchanges and stuff anyway started brand new and here my system is a refurbished system. To get to the point have a better expectation of your system it is equal to its new counterparts and is covered just the same. The green sticker says just what it is a system that was returned to factory standards of sale a friend of mine 5150Joker bought refurb M18x for under $1800 and started with a wrong order wrong color and physical damage on the refurb by the end of Dell working for him on his case he had in place of 6970m crossfire an M18x of new replacement parts and 580m SLi and the proper color from the original order for his trouble and issues within the case. Not at all suggesting that or saying it will happen but please be aware of Alienware and Dell's real name and quality of their word. They have one of the best services in the industry and your refurbished is held to the same regard as a new system. Thank you Dell and thank you Alienware. You do take care of your customers.

 

Just a heads up, a process that seemed to use a lot of CPU (12% constantly) was "Apple Mobile Device Support.exe"

After uninstalling it, the fan stopped immediately and temps with turboboost on dropped from 65C to 50C. Wow what a difference.

Hope this helps some of you.

 

I have an Apple Mobile Device Helper.exe... not Support.exe

 

its apple it must die... jk but its good from time to time to clear out your start up files to limit how much junk runs in the background. Keeps the boot time nice and fast as well as limiting CPU usage on idle.

 

i hate typing things over wish there was a restore content feature to this forum. :|

Excatly Tony i do the same. I use ccleaner and uncheck uneeded startup files. Common are powerdvd, quicktask (quicktime), realplayer, roxio watcher, apple products, adobe products, google updaters... Etc
Next i check task schedulaer under administrative tools for anything that is unnecessary like real player update and media center tv updater google updater etc usually by clicking o0n microsoft on the left then i go down and check next to it to show windows and check there for startup apps too.
Finally go to administrative tools and go to services. Sort start up status so automatic started apps show at top of list. Leave all windows services just llok for apple adobe google and 3rd party software which may not need its service started with windows... Set those to manual... Restart and see how many processes are now running in task manager probably 5-20 less lol
(tony im sure you knew this just figured others might not)

 

Thanks for the tip residualvoltage.

I do try to limit startups, but it seems that my m14x has a lot more processes (80-90) than regular laptops due to all those alienware-esque programs running in the background. It's good to know which are useful, and which aren't sometimes. I'll take a look later and uncheck the ones you mentioned.

 

yeah 50-70 processes should be good depending on the types of software you use and thats including alienware command center etc.

 

80-90 processes seems rather high to me personally. I have had my machine all day doing a bunch of different things, and i'm still at 71 processes.

 

After doing the cleanup and restarting, I have around 75:

System Idle Process
System
smss.exe
csrss.exe
wininit.exe
csrss.exe
services.exe
lsass.exe
lsm.exe
winlogon.exe
svchost.exe
nvvsvc.exe
nvSCPAPISvr.exe
svchost.exe
MsMpEng.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
UMVPFSrv.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
spoolsv.exe
svchost.exe
AERTSr64.exe
BFNService.exe
svchost.exe
SftService.exe
nvxdsync.exe
nvvsvc.exe
WmiPrvSE.exe
NisSrv.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
taskhost.exe
dwm.exe
explorer.exe
Toaster.exe
STService.exe
DSUpd.exe
SynTPEnh.exe
RtkNGUI64.exe
SynTPHelper.exe
RAVBg64.exe
FF_Protection.exe
msseces.exe
itype.exe
nvtray.exe
SearchIndexer.exe
igfxtray.exe
hkcmd.exe
igfxpers.exe
StikyNot.exe
AWMouseCI.exe
KillerNetManager.exe
dpupdchk.exe
KHALMNPR.exe
AlienwareOn-ScreenDisplay
IAStorIcon.exe
AWCCServiceController.exe
LWS.exe
AlienwareAlienFXControlle
AlienFusionService.exe
IAStorDataMgrSvc.exe
daemonu.exe
AlienFusionController.exe
AWCCApplicationWatcher32.
conhost.exe
AWCCApplicationWatcher64.
conhost.exe
svchost.exe
cmd.exe
conhost.exe


I've only have this laptop for a month or so too. Any clue what can be removed? A lot of them seem to be alienware specific processes...

 

im around 75-80. higher than my previous computers but hasn't affected performance.

 

Since day 1 almost over a year ago, i was one of the first one pointing out that this laptops overheat.

During the past 8 month i havent had time to play games, so my temps were ok

Now winter time im back in gaming and again im heating the 100 degreees on a cooler pad, 3 days ago i wen and bought a U cooler pad to try helping lowering dawn the temps as i notice my games start laging when temps on the CPU go over 87

Just few minutes ago while plying crysis2 my temps hited 99 degres even i was using the cooler and for the first time ever my game kiked me out and stop working

My system is clean no dust what so ever i have turbo boost of and what ever Dell will say I dont like the idea that i cant finish my game because the system is over heating

DELL HAS TO FIND A SOLUTION ONES FOR ALL AS THIS PROBLEM WILL BE WORST IN SUMMER TIME !!!!

I will call Dell for the first time in my life and force them to do something as i still have full cover guaranty valid for 2 more years.

I know all the bla bla bla i will have to go through and i also know they will ask me to do a clean instal of my system ect ect untill i finally will go crazy and with luck they will replace my system.

Will let you know how it goes i know it will be a pain in the neck as i live in China and i dont speak chinesse but cross fingers lol

M14x DO HAVE A HEAT ISSUE IS CLEAR........

My new solution to lower temperatures is taking of the back cover,and i sit the laptop on a cooler, hope this new solution will lower my temps while i finish my game, I was also thinking in taking the battery out so i get more air flu !

But of-course is not the right long lasting solution as having my system wide open is a risk!

Sheers and good luck !!!

 

So are these REALLY extreme temperatures only occurring in the i7s or are they happening in i5s as well? And how "BAD" is this heat issue..is it bad enough to stop me from purchasing?

 

did you take the fan out and clean it that way? thats the most effective way to get dust out. You might also want to consider doing a repaste as other people have done it and it dropped their temps greatly.

 

Yes of course I do that very often, there is no dust what so ever !

And before re pasting I will try Dell and ask them to change the mother Board ones is back if im happy with the new mother board, I will go ahead and do the re pasting.

The reason I don't want to mees with that is that is still under warranty

Thanks will keep you inform soon ........!

Is up to you

All I can tell you is that our CPU runs very hot if you are lucky and have one new machine who was build with a good job of cooling paste may be you are fine.


But if was you I would wait for the M14 R2 wish will come out soon with one of the new low voltage CPUs from Intel that will be in the market just around the corner!

Also there will be new grafique cards with much better performance....... I assume this will be happening in the next coming months 6o days or so

My 2 cents lol

 

Amazing how a little compressed air made my cpu temp go from 90's on "Power saver" to no more than 70 in "Performance"

Blew it into the rear vent, bunch of dust came flying out...

Been playing BF3 for about 2 hours and the CUP is very cool, highest was 72...

 

Nomadjilc you probably had a decent paste job from factory and temps only rose with dust build up and was alleviated when it was cleared... thats how these systems should be. Those above with bad temps even after clearing vents the thermal material is probably uneven or excessive or opposite not enough... its not M14x guys its inconsistent delivery of a product... all systems would be effected if it was M14x alone... Its certain people have received M14x with not so good paste jobs its that simple its on i5 and i7 but the i7 do run hotter... either way those who took it upon themselves to repaste and did so properly have seen from 5c to 15c difference on gpus and cpus. other Alienware laptops have same situation. 1 out of 3 factory paste jobs were ultra cool other one was average and one was extra hot... Out of me repasting twice once came out as good as the best factory paste job and anothr just came out average. Its not easy to get a perfect paste job even for the employees at Dell and Alienware... go to the source guys... if you are uncomfortable doing it yourself... take some pics and evidence of the excessive heat and even show throttling if needed or thermal shutdown (dont use furmark but real games or apps you wont get anywhere furmark isnt a proof of stability) and report and show this evidence to a tech support and get your systems worked on. this doesnt mean a new gpu, cpu or motherboard is needed... It only means that they need to have the thermal material reapplied. Goodluck guys either take it into your own hands or take it up with Alienware support... no other real choices and lower speeds or what your system is running shouldnt be necessary to keep temps down you do that only to optimize speed.

 

lOL taking the fans out means tearing apart the entire computer, M14x aren't assembled the same way the M17x

So the only way we can clean our one and only fan is with compress air, every time i need to do so (every 2 months) i run to the bicycle shop and use there air compressed gun to clean everything i can on my laptop

 

I was wondering if my temperatures are okay, without playing games and just surfing the net my CPU is 64 degrees and GPU 61 degrees. When I play games the highest it has ever gone is 84. I think it may be the hot weather at the moment causing a little higher temperature but i've never seen my laptop in the low 50's unless the charge is unplugged.


And my M14x is R1. I also have a cooling pad