Alienware M17x R4 CPU Fan issue

OK, So I have had my machine for a while and as of now it is 100% awesome.

Only issue I am having is the CPU side fan is starting to make a bit of a 'thud thud thud' noise when it revs up some, and is getting worse on higher RPMs as well (used to go away when it hit heavy usage). I was sorta hoping to get ahold of one of the Alienware Reps here and go through getting a tech out or something to fix my fan, as I hate calling in and most of the time, even calling for ALIENWARE, I get some guy in india who I can barely understand or who misinterprets what I say.

Was also wondering a few things about the CPU fan;

1* When I have tried Overclocking the CPU to its max (3740QM here, so +400mhz per core), playing a game like GuildWars 2 causes it to hit dangerously high temps that have spiked at 213*F at times. Normal usage in that game causes it to still hit 190*F steadily, and without any OverClock it will still reach 195-200*F+ when in the same areas where it would spike to 213*F. Running the machine with ample airflow in both cases, should it be hitting those temperatures?

2* The new CPU Heatsink for the Alienware 17, would it fit the M17x R4? And I have heard its a triple pipe heatsink as well, any confirmations?

3* Using a Notebook Cooler (U3), I have noticed very notable drops in temperatures, but the CPU fan (not the coolers fan) is scaring me.

More a statement than a question of my list but... I applied the vBios mod to the GPU (GTX 680M) and got it overclocked quite a bit... Core is at 950Mhz and Memory is at 2400Mhz and the GPU never reaches above 175*F in any game I put it through really, did I just get lucky or is that GPU that good? And how much would one have to OverClock the 680m to have it match the 780m toe for toe?

Thanks for taking the time here.

 

You could consider replacing the fan or checking for dust/obstructions inside of the PC, the triple pipe heatsink might me also good to consider.

 

Thanks for responding.

By any chance do you know what the Alienware 17's triple pipe cpu heatsink's Part Number is? I have tried looking it up and get all sorts of wrong parts (namely older alienwares). And is it compatible with the M17x R4? I most definitely will buy one if it works.

As for the fan, what is the easiest way to get Alienware to ship out a part to me so I can swap it out. After using the phone service several times I can quite clearly imagine the indian accent in my head and it haunts me at times. That, and the mistranslations and misunderstandings when something is asked... it is quite the torture technique, that accent.
(I have had very bad phone relations with support, nothing against indians themselves, but when the accent is so thick that words are mistaken in every sentence... yeah....)

I did repaste both CPU and GPU shortly after getting my machine because the CPU on idle was sitting at 130-145*F and the GPU was idling at 140*F. As of right now the CPU is idling around 120-130*F and the GPU is idling at 115*F. I do know my repaste was good, the CPUs Cores are all, while under no load or light load, within 2*F of each other and quite often sitting at the same exact temperature. Those are idle temps, the load temps were on the first post.

 

That is not a very nice statement you mentioned there (though you 'somehow' wrote that you have 'nothing against Indians themselves'); I live in Canada and I got all kind of nationalities over the phone, from India, Pakistan, I think even Egypt, Philippines and so on... But they all tried to help to the best of their abilities. If you cannot understand what they are explaining to you, ask them again, make notes; I am sure their English is not that bad, lets not exaggerate...

As per the heatsink with triple heatpipe I would be very interested myself (I have the new alienware 17 and it came with only 2 pipes, maybe because I had the standard CPU in the system).

 

Having a tech change a CPU fan is kinda silly, but if you have a warranty and want to use it for all its worth, then understood. Be prepared to take a day from work or two if the tech does not show for a 5min swap. I would just request the part via mail, and then swap it... or purchase it third party from ebay

As for triple pipe, it was only made for the 18x CPUs configs,

 

Yeah, it wasn't a direct jab at Indians so to speak, but when going through multiple reps from that particular region:
1) It was so bad that when I said the bezel around the keyboard was messed up (raising and not sitting flush and coming up), it was misinterpreted as the whole frame/bezel/bottom... everything of the laptop needed replacing.
2) I told them that my machine came missing the CMOS Battery. A new motherboard was shipped instead, without the CMOS Battery... Overall very bad experiences on the phone and when talking to the next person, they agree that it was a language miscommunication and when attempting to fix the issue more wrong parts get ordered based on the original mess-up.
3) I believe I had also called in before about my GPUs overheating when I had my M18x R1, they sent everything out... 2 6990M's, 2 Heatsinks and 2 Fans.

I work customer service myself and I do get a myriad of accents/nationalities where I work, I try to take the extra time to ensure what they are getting is what they want and if I cannot understand someone properly, I try to get someone over that can assist better with a certain language if able if it helps. It is the tech support from that side of the world that has burned me because when I ask for 'X', I get 'Y' that was assumed to be 'X' because the person thought better than I did for my own system. If ya get what I mean.
Sorry if it came off a little harsh, but with the above being the tip of my iceburg of issues with Support from that region, id rather not call and have everything either in pixels (easier to understand normally) where I can even link things to verify what I am meaning to the support.


I have heard of people getting a triple pipe for their cpu on the Alienware 17 configs with the 4930MX (which is an option for the CPU).
Makes me wonder though that when my CPU (3740QM @ 3.9ghz on max OC, heck even stock max @ 3.5ghz) runs as hot as it can, has a dual pipe heatsink and assuming the fan is working properly, I do not understand how these MX chips that are options for the new machines, how they can stay cooled properly via a similar config to what I have... just a thought.

 

Where have you heard this. Link please. Or just accept it does not exist. Also, yeah, its hard to keep them clocked high as you would on a 18 or something on a 17. They get much hotter, all you can do is pray that the 3rd and 4th core you got on your xm are not like +10C over the others or soemthing. Sometimes you get an xm that has less then 5C accross the board sometimes you get them with differences of like 9-10C up and down from the cores. In which case, even if you can get it to tip into the 90C range, one extra heavy load and your gonna crash. 3.6-3.7hz not really an issue with xm's

3.9ghz+ is where it really starts to become difficult. The difference in applications though is also much less each step past this point. So, the sweet spot is very close to 4ghz but not over.