M17x Heat Issues

Hi All,

Currently have the same M17x I've had for a while (I think its an R1 - 2GHz Intel Core2 Quad, 2x GeForce GTX 260M with SLI) and all is working fine...to a degree. I have Hybrid set to off and other such tricks to improve performance.

I have found that whilst gaming the card to my left (underneath the escape key) gets rather hot to the point that the air being kicked out the back is enough to roast a chicken, while the card to my right stays cool as a kumquat. I get the feeling the hotter card is being favoured with the SLI, so are there any settings to fiddle with while Hybrid is disabled (as NCP is unavailable at this point)?

Thanks

Ibz

 

Have you considered replacing the thermal paste on your cards or at least clean your heatsinks?
The fans can push a lot of dust in time against the heatsink fins which prevents proper cooling.
I suggest you take some time to disassemble your laptop (use the manual or search M17x teardown on YouTube) and reach your heatsinks. Removing the dust bunnies from the heatsinks alone should improve your temperatures.

 

Have you tried the "Book Mod"?

Its my favorite cooling mod....

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/586490-ultimate-cooling-mod-end-all-cooling-mods.html#post7603799

 

I support this.

 

Vulcan - kudos on the cooling mod, nigh on genius! Alas, no improvement though.

I believe Katalin has nailed it, but am having trouble getting to the fans I tried posting in a thread someone started regarding removing the keyboard but to no avail. I know how to take it all apart, have done so to clean the fans one before (and again on my brothers) but it feels like there is a screw holding the F1 key in place ever since I had an engineer come out to replace a wonky fan.

Any ideas how to get to it if there is one there?

Cheers

 

LOL..."bottlecap mod" works real good too

Here is an easy way to get at the fans for a repaste. take the back cover off...8 screws and you will have access to the heatsinks. Why do you have to remove the keyboard?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...cy-systems/489351-m17-r1-how-disassemble.html

 

oh the ultimate cooling technique, prop the back of the laptop a.k.a. book comes to the rescue once again

seriously, my temps are down to 63-64 for about an hour of gaming in BF3 (SERIOUSLY), and maxed

 

Hey Slick, I'm guessing mine isn't the R1 then cause it doesn't look like that. I have the 'back door' that gives access to the HDD and RAM, but need to take out the keyboard to get to the fans

 

Dell never called any of its M17x 'R1' that's why the confusion all the time.
The one Slick linked is a pre Dell Alienware

Dell Alienware 17" models to this date are M17x, M17x R2 and M17x R3.

Ibzy, do a search on youtube for 'M17x Teardown', you'll find two official videos showing you how to cook pancakes...ehm, disassemble the M17x

Be careful when lifting the touchstrip. Slowly turn It to disconnect the ribbon underneath it.

 

That makes sense then haha.
I have and followed the lot, but still get stuck at the keyboard removing part!

I'll take a vid or pic tomorrow when I take it apart to show what happens, but it feels like a screw where the circle is below:




If anyone has the same one as me, take a look at the back, you cant get to there

 

there are no screws on that area holding the keyboard down. The screws are 5 and located on top of it. Unless the R1 keyboard is different from R2

 

The keyboards are the same between the two models. You are right, there are no screws in that area that come from underneath.

Maybe the keyboard is a little stuck with some glue by accident, or something melt since under that area you have the primary GPU.

-Remove the two long screws that hold the touchstrip
-Remove the touchstrip slowly and unplug the ribbon underneath
-Remove the five little screws securing the keyboard and slide it towards the hinges slowly and you should be able to access the two flat ribbons connected to the motherboard.

 

Have a look a this video posted recently on another thread.

at 0:48 the guy start to remove the keyboard. You should do the same.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...0-your-m17x-r2-single-gpu-crossfirex-348.html

 

Hey guys,

Whilst recording a video to show you my keyboard not lifting up, i wiggled the keyboard a bit to emphasise that it was stuck when 'pop!' it nearly hit me in the face. Turning it over i found something sticky that must have been added by the engineer:


Long story short - got to the fan and cleared the carpet of dust out.

Thanks for all your help folks

 

We kinda new it that there should be something similar not letting you take it off.
I believe he found the screws too small you can peel that off, it's right above the plate covering the GPU heatsink fins. That place gets warm(hot) at times and won't do any good having a sticky tape there.

+rep for facing it like a man.

 

You git, knowing and not simply saying "use brute force" haha.

Just to confirm - over 3 hours game play last night on Skyrim and no noticeable heat from the top left hand corner! Success all round.

 

that's good dude. nothing like a little perserverance