Ati 4870HD at 105c

Hi all
I ran a bench mark while using HW monitor and was shocked to see my gpu at 105-109c ..... i think it was the memory or shader , i cant remember which but surely that is shockingly high .
I have looked at the mods on here for reducing temps but im really weary of opening this thing up .... i have opened other laptops before but this one is only 6 months old .
I would love to add the secondary card as well but the noise with just one gpu is loud enough as it is never mind two running .
Should i redo the paste and pads or should i call Dell .

TIA .

 

I personally would do it myself, but I am very familiar with the guts of my laptop. Those temps are way too high.

 

Those temps are dangerously high. I'd panick if mine ever hit 100, let alone nearly 110!!
If you're comfortable doing it yourself, and KNOW what you're doing, you should do it yourself. Otherwise don't ruin your system!

 

There's not a whole lot you can ruin if you're just careful and take your time. If you're mechanically handicapped, snap a picture of your laptop each time you remove something, and separate the screws according to where they came from. Prying the heatsink off of the GPUs was the scariest thing for me, but again, just go slow and steady. Get all of the old thermal paste off with your fingernail. Then make sure your GPU die and the heatsink are both cleaned with rubbing alcohol or the cleaner that's in the same section as the thermal paste is. You will thank yourself later when you see those temps are much lower. Getting to the GPUs doesn't require you to remove the huge center piece. That's a plus. Two screws hold the GPU into the laptop, and four screws hold the heatsink onto the GPU. There are tear-down videos on Youtube.

 

Oh, also.. Nail polish remover works brilliantly on removing thermal paste. I used my sisters when my 260M was taken out of my old M15x, and it came off amazingly well. Just be careful NOT to get any under the little plastic covering that comes around the main chip. No biggy, it just makes it messy and I'd rather not have that.

The Dell website Alieware support section links you directly to the teardown video from Alienwareservices (I think they're called that). Just youtube Alienware teardown or something like Turbo said.

 

Try cleaning out the dust before doing the pads and thermal paste. I had similar temps as you and after cleaning out all the dust from my GPUs I saw a drop of 30C! In Furmark I hit around 100C and now it sits at 70C, its worth a shot and is a little easier than going straight for new thermal paste.

 

Thanks for the replies .... i have seen the teardown videos and i also have the manual .
Does anyone have a link to the correct products i would need ie paste and pads cause i have seen the thread on here where someone used the wrong thickness of pads.
It looks fairly easy in the videos but im scared of screwing something up or marking or scratching the beast .
Thanks again

 

What to use is a whole other debate. I personally used the ceramic stuff on the memory instead of new pads. Then AS5 on the GPU core. You'll need to do the retention mod for this. About the pads, I don't know. Someone else will chime in I'm sure.

 

Hi again
I ran some benchmarks with 3D Mark 06.
I only have the free version because i dont have or cant find a serial for it
Now my temps dont seem that bad to me , i dont understand it
So how do these temps look ?
Thanks
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You're going to want to run a program called Furmark. Make sure you run it in multi-GPU mode. Run extreme burn too. See what your temps do then.

 

Ok i tried this benchmark thingy and look at these temps
All in the high 90's c and highest was 109 c and that was only after 5 minutes or so .
Im really worried about this now

 

froznecpu.com Where you can get pads and paste. Not sure what size pads the 4870's use though, I know 5870's I used .5mm pads.

 

The 4870s need 1.0mm thickness thermal pads.

High 5 for frozencpu chiefs. Great store.
I too got my paste and pads from there.

Cheers.

 

For the 4870's you are going to need 1.0MM gap pads, I would not do the retention mod as scook9 cracked one of his 4870's doing it as we have a metal band around our core that is absent in the 5870's, I can link you to the Items I used when I replaced my pads and paste. Also, paste on the ram chips is not a good idea as our gaps are higher as well.

I bought three of these pads it works out perfectly 1 for each gpu and you and the third one for the northbridge and CPU mosfets if you wanna do them or else just get 2:
Fujipoly Premium Thermal Pad - VGA Block - 60 x 50 x 1.0 - Thermal Conductivity 6.0 W/mK - FrozenCPU.com

I used this paste best paste I have used so far have not tried MX-4 might give that a go sometime in the future.
Welcome to platinummicro.com- Computer Superstore - Product Detail

 

I have a Dell technician coming on Monday to replace my card and fan .
I did ask if the guy was familiar with M17X and was told yes .
Wouldnt be happy with some idiot ripping my laptop to peices .
I'll still ask the guy when he comes though .
Temps now 55-60c when idle

 

When my techie came, I asked him if he was familiar and he honestly said no. Kudos for him being honest and he did a great job. My 2nd GPU idles at 37C. Main GPU idles at 48C

 

Well thats the card and fan replaced ... idle temps now 40-45c and highest i have seen running benchmarks is 87c ..
Now i just need to find a secondary card/fan/cable etc to make her crossfire .

 

My highest temp was 79c with 30% on Memory I/O for primary GPU while running Furmark 1.8. Should I be concerned? Everything else was running around 60-65c with secondary GPU just a few c below the primary.

Thanks all