An advice to Alienware 17 R1 owners

Hola everyone,

I recently bought the Alienware 17 R1 machine with the oven-like GPU GTX 880. As many of the current owners of this configuration the GPU heated up like crazy up to low 90s C. What I noticed is that it heated up the adjacent 1TB HDD up to high 50s C which I am absolutely not fine with. Then I thought why not transfer the HDD to the extra free caddy (The one in the corner below the GPU fan assembly) and voila the HDD temp. hovered in high 30s - low 40s C just how I like it. Also, another strange thing is that my GPU temps now dropped to mid 80s maybe due to the removal of adjacent heat source (The HDD) or the cavity the HDD left that can dissipate a bit more heat but I will need to check further on that GPU temp. thing and get back to you.

Meanwhile I would recommend if you can change the HDD slot to go on and do it to protect your HDD from overheating & maybe get that little bit less temp on the GPU

Hope this helps ...

UPDATE: After 6 hours of Dragon Age Inquisition (On mixed ULTRA/HIGH settings FullHD Res.) My GPU peaked at 86 down from 92 & avg. at 73 down from 78 ... HDD stayed steady at 38-41 c

 

That's a great tip. I guess you simply improved the airflow through the 'innards'. Nice easy fix for a lot of 880m owners maybe.

 

Thank you ... I hope this helps other people

 

I would also suggest repasting your CPU+GPU and your temps will drop further.. Stock Dell thermal paste is junk.. Get some good IC Diamond or Gelid GC Extreme paste and you'll be sorted.. IC Diamond helped to reduce my temps by 10C compared to Dell paste.. Also some good Phobya XT 7W/mK thermal pads will help to cool the GPU further..

 

I wish i could ... My chances in finding good thermal paste in the Middle East are worse than finding an actual alien

 

Ebay?

 

+rep

 

Very gruesome previous experiences with Ebay sending to Egypt ... No need to go through all the insanity now that I bought a cooler that brought my temps down to mid-high 70s

Thank you hope this helped

 

Well eventually you will need to buy some thermal paste.. I'm quite surprised that it's that difficult to get some good thermal paste.. Don't any computer shops have it?

 

We have crappy brand-less paste mainly for desktops which I would never use in a laptop & for notebooks more commonly we use the thermal films/tape "the one that is like a sticker" ... I applied one of these stickers already and the temps are identical to the factory paste maybe just a couple of degrees less on average but nothing major .

 

That sucks.. I would suggest trying now with ebay... They've got the global shipment programme etc and get it from a UK seller so you'll be quite well protected.. Have a read up about their programme..

 

I am planning a trip to Germany next Sep. if that works out I will get myself a 980M upgrade kit while I am there with the paste and everything & if not I will just get a 980M from Ebay also with the full kit . So this card has to survive till that time & with mid 70s temp. I don't think temps will be a problem.

I just hope the 980M works with my "unecssarily 3D" 120Hz machine

 

A little update ... I found in a nearby city a place that sells a thermal compound called "Noctua NT-H1" which they claim is as good as MX-04 ... I can drive there next week and get me one of these tubes if they are still available ... The question is ... Is it really worth it? I mean is this a good compound & really better than the crappy thermal tape ?

 

NT-H1 is better then nothing.. Definetly get it but I would check if it's in stock before driving.. Tell them to reserve a tube if possible...

 

Perfect !!! I am actually stuck right now in the desert (I work in Oil & Gas ) I will be back to civilization on Wednesday & call them to reserve one ... Hopefully this helps a bit with the temps

Thx brother

 

I wonder if you'd see such a drastic temperature drop if you were using a SSD instead of an HDD.

 

Have you checked out if they have Gelid Extreme? It's a much better paste. Have tested both Noctua NT-H1 and Gelid extreme. Remember a good application ..

 

I wish they did, it's not the 1st time I heard that Gelid Extreme is the best . When I get there I will see all the kinds they have ... Most people in this business here are ironically ain't that tech savvy so face-to-face communication & checking by yourself is the best way to go ... They may even have MX-04 or GE and don't know

 

What to order thermal grease on a web shop? Maybe you could get this package delivered in your workplace.

 

I have an SSD but not in that bay ... The important part is that you will be saving the SSD from the oven laying next to it & im pretty sure if you are using a cooler the big cavity will assist the cooler greatly in flushing more air in to the casing

 

Well one of the downsides of living in places still stuck in the 1st millennium is that you never rely on web based procurement ... The experiences and horror stories are in abundance ... I love to make sure that I "actually" get what I bought no something completely different

 

There is not much money you lose if you order and this does not match to your expectations.

 

Rofl I didn't mean "not getting the advertised performance of the product" ... What I meant was "actually getting the product"

 

Still not much money this is talking about ..

 

When you moved the HDD, did you have to reinstall the OS, or did the laptop automatically pick it up?

 

I have my operating system on the SSD... I moved the HDD... But nonetheless windows should pick the installation up even if it had the OS

 

It is great advice. I'll try because my temperatures are very high at full capacity (87-90 GPU and CPU 90). Also, I will have to make a repaste.