Alienware M17x R2 Crossfire issue

ok so i have an Alienware M17X R2 and i have 1 hd4870 graphics card installed in it. now a few weeks ago i bought a 2nd gfx crossfire card off the internet so i took my pc apart last night and installed it... windows does detect the card and everything works however when i enable crossfire and start to run a game. about 20 mins in to the game or so, my laptop randomly powers off with no warning, now i installed gpu-z and it says my primary card (the one that came installed in it) idles at around 30-40 degrees, and the 2nd crossfire card tht i installed last night idles at around 85-90 degrees, so i found out that my graphics card overheatets to over 105 degrees when playing games which is why my laptop powers off.

now there is a heatsink on the side of the card, but the question is, is it supposed to have a fan on it or under it too, and if so is tht already installed on the laptop as standard or is it something i should have installed when i installed the graphics card. and if so where can i get one as the card i bought didnt come with one

thanks
Kieran Milbourne

 

O.O Yeah you need a fan . . . and stop using the card right now or you'll likely damage it. Didn't you think something was weird when there wasn't a cooling fan for the second card?

 

Wow hopefully there was no permanent damage. To answer your question about the fan, yes both graphics cards should have fans. You should be able to see them under the laptop through the mesh. That is why your 2nd cards temps are so high.

 

I assume we need to disassemble the laptop further to install the fan right guys?
I'm planning on adding a 2nd card as well.

 

Wow, can't believe you ran it without a fan. I hope you didn't kill the card. That card must have been cooking if idle it was at 90*C+. Definately remove that card until you get a fan. Not wise if you keep on using it.

Hidz7, Just install the fan before you install the card. The fan goes below the card.

 

Yeah the fans should be pretty easy to come by. I'm sure there are several places to buy them (Ebay, pchub.com I know sells them), probably others.

Also there are instructions/videos that show how to teardown the laptop, and show where the fans go and how they should be hooked up etc. Not complicated at all, but sometimes having a visual before performing any replacements can be helpful.

Here's one that I typically use, I'm sure there are others:

http://www.techinferno.com/2011/02/08/alienware-m17x-teardown-cooling-modification/

 

Thanks DR650SE and Greywolf22, your answers help a lot.

I found these two parts on ebay, RV546-secondary HD5870 and
F605N-right fan. These are all I need right?
I have asked this question in other thread but still no answer, hope you guys can help, I know you guys are expert in this thing.

 

Hi hidz7,

Yes the F605N should be the correct part number for the right fan. You can also purchase it from the following website as well:

AVC BATA0812R5H Cooling Fan

You'll also need to make sure you buy the heat sink for the second card as well (I think most of the ones on e-bay come with the heat sink and crossfire cable included, so if you can find a place that sells the card, with heat sink and crossfire cable and the fan, you should be good to go)



All depends on what you can find.

 

Thanks greywolf.
I found this one on ebay UK,
Alienware M17x 5870 CROSSFIRE LAPTOP VGA RV546/RT01J | eBay

is this a correct card?

 

Looking at the description, it is the right card but try to find one with the CF cable already and heatsink

 

Thanks for the confirmation.
Gonna PM the seller if he/she includes the CF cable and heatsink as well.

 

It's better that way as they can be pretty hard to find separately.