M17x R2 full internal cooling mod - huge improvement!

^^^ I AGREE. Please understand that i DO NOT ENCOURAGE anyone to do as i did. And...

1. None of it is speculation. It came from MY personal experience, the 10 or so techs (no i'm not exaggerating...trust me if you guys only knew about the work that went on with my M15x ) Did NOT know a thing about Alienwares, nor have ever seen one before they saw mine. This is probably a regional thing and the techs in my area aren't used to seeing Alienwares, and therefore i CANNOT GUARANTEE this will be the case for anyone else OTHER THAN MYSELF. In fact, I became decent buddies with one of the techs because he came over more than once (i think it was 3 times) and he was so shocked that i knew how to dismantle the laptop better than he did, that he gave me his number so that anytime i have work to be done on the laptop, the dispatch # will go to him, and he can watch me and learn so he can be prepared for future clients (he says the M15x was the nicest laptop he ever saw lolll)

2. I myself, was given the O.K. by DELL to USER REPLACE my palmrest, GPU, CPU Heatsink+Fan assembly on my M15x. They just shipped me the parts, and i would ship back the defective ones. Do not know why they never let you replace anything. (I'm in Canada... again, could be different from th US)

3. I completely agree with you. I don't recommend anyone doing the cutting mod unless they do not mind risking voiding their warranty. That being said, i can honestly say, form my own personal experiences, and the many experiences i heard from others (all of them in the M15x owners thread), that the chances of Dell even noticing, or ever finding out, are Very Small. Fell free to disagree with me, as this is strictly my own opinion.

People should only go through with this mod expecting to void their warranties, and should NOT rely on chance/luck that the mod will not be noticed.

There i think that CLEARS all of it up... ... don't want a HOARD or ticked off Modders to come after me saying "but but but... you said it wouldn't VOID my warranty!!! and it DID!" lol...

EDIT: 86*C in furmark is decent. About the same as my laptop did stock. However, after some more fine tuning today (i made sure all of the hot air gets properly exhausted out the vents and not in the cracks, and used electrical tape to make a very strict passage from the fan vent to the opening out of electrical tape.. I'll post pics later) I managed to get 77*C Stable after about 8 mins of extreme burn everything ticked, 8x, 1200p fullscreen etc... Pretty darn phenomenal man... in a laptop?? the 73JH does like 86*C stock while gaming... while my current setup now doesn't pass 69*C after a good hour of gaming... and never passed 73*C OC'd to 850/1100 while gaming.

 

Hi Snook9.
Does the Card still work? Else how did you replace it?

 

dell replaced it

I will let their diligent engineers try to figure out why it is not working lol - I of course just said that it was not working

 

^^^^ lolz by the time they figure it out you will be messing around with a m17x r3 lolz....love the dell warranty and 1 of the main reasons i pick alienware again and again...next day parts and user replaceable is awesome

 

Good One.

 

Yes you can Just call the Out of warranty department and you can have a heatsink shipped to you. I called and was quoted 62 dollars for a CPU Heatsink for the R2.

 

What about this guys i grind the heat sink because i don't want to cut it and i put washers on the screws to put more pressure on the core now it seats perfect i also replace the pads for artic alumina ceramic but i can't test it yet i forget my ac adapter at home


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

^^^^^ There you go. See people are quick to pretend they know what they are talking about and give false information. Thanks for that one mkelliny .

So essentially the heatsink cut mod will cost you a max of 62$ to return it to stock.... That's if your gpu fries, but like I said it shouldn't since the mod is to made it run cooler, without any tension or bending of any parts (ok ok some of you are just so talented and managed to not get anything bnding or under stress apparently, I'm tlking about everyone else loll).

Pretty legit.

 

He quoted the price for a CPU heatsink. The GPU heatsink, if sold separately, shouldn't be much more. Like I said before, the cutting mod shouldn't be done unless someone has a spare on hand for warranty purposes. A dremel would probably be the perfect tool for cutting the sink and making it look even and then sanding it down to make it look OEM.

What grit sand paper did you use? It doesn't look fully smooth/reflective (I still see sand lines) out in those pics. Once you get it to a mirror finish, you should use the retention mod to give it full contact (smoothing out will help with even contact over the surface). You could also use a shim though I think retention mod would work better.

 

i use some like this to grind it off PG-6KN, Korea Manufacturer
and that part is not doing contact with nothing so there is no need to be mirror finish i just don't want to cut it off like the other guy did

 

Hey speedy, for me it was at the exact spot where you didn't grind off any metal that was wedged against those inductors, causing everything to be angled and not perfectly flat...you sure what you did helped? I thought they were all made exactly the same.. ??? Bope

Here's what i mean:

 

yeah that is just an example i grind more after i test it on the GPU

 

Oh ok just noticed you didnt test it out yet my bad buddy

i think you're going to have to go right to the edge of that rectangle that sits on the ram to prevent it from making everything lopsided.

 

i mean i already grind it more then what you see on the pic but i can't test the machine because i am at work and i forget my ac adapter

 

Oh ok then Hope it works well!! ( I think it will )

 

Thanks i pull the card out with the heatsink on and now i can see how it do even contact and all the rams are close to the heatsink too
i am very exited to get home and test it

 

You have an M17x again Speedy?!

 

Yes i do , I am back

 

So how does it feel to have an M17x-R2 again after all the bios/vbios updates vs the X7200?

 

i was really missing the RGB screen and the X7200 is to limited right now, for the performance i don't think i am missing much

here is my temps after 15 min of furmark they go up to 78c but ones the fans kick on they go down to 74c and stay there



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

Hello

I'm desperate
I have replaced the thermal grease (5870m x2) with AS5.
The thermal pats I have left original.
I gave up the gpu little AS5, the gpu overheating fast >100°C.
I gave a lot of AS5 to the GPU, the GPU has 40-45 idle and 99°C after a 3d mark vantage.

Is it better if I give the pats down and give AS5 on it?

Sorry for my bad english

I hope you can help me

LG

 

If you only put the AS5 as suggested (thin layer using spread method) it's not thick enough to touch the heat sink due to the thermal pads on the memory. Maybe the second time round you put too much? Just double the normal application method and it should be fine.

 

Thermal grease is supposed to fill the tiny imperfections in the heatsink and GPU die, nothing else. It's not supposed to be a GPU DIE|GREASE|HEATSINK sandwich. It's not like napalm...adding more is not the answer. You shouldn't be hitting 100°C in Vantage. Who knows what you'd hit in Furmark. Remove your heatsink, and if the patch of grease on the sink isn't as big or bigger than the size of the GPU die, you're not getting adequate contact.

 

Yeh give it another go chiefs. It took me a few tries last time before I was satisfied and rocking super duper temps oles.

Cheers.

 

I thank you for your reply
I have a new thermal grease Prolimatech PK1
should I use the pads or thermal grease?

I thank you for your help

lg

 

What are the SPECs of your system. For the 5870s they need 0.5mm thermal pads. For the 4870s they need 1.0mm pads.

I wouldn't recommend you use the paste on the mem chips just yet. Wait till you get more experienced. Leave the pads for now perhaps and try to fix up the GPU dies paste 1st.

Cheers.

 

I use the original pads of 5870m
with the pads I need more thermal pasta with little to no contact GPU with cooler.

 

are you still under warranty?

 

I have ceramic TIM on my memory chips, and AS5 on the die. I don't have the thermal pads installed anymore. People say this will eventually cause problems, but I doubt it. I don't have temp problems. Yes, you've gotta open the laptop up and do some 'questionable' things in there. It's worth the much lower temperatures to me.

 

Oles cheifs,

I was just wondering what kinda temps your rocking? I haven't tried the paste on the RAM chips yet since I keep changing paste in the search for the best one that will work for me lol. So I'm way too lazy to have to deal with the paste cleanup lol.
I don't think the pastes will cause any problems long term however I wouldn't recommend newbies whom are having trouble with pasting the GPU/CPU dies still to try the mem chips as well. The correct pads should be easy for them oles.

I would be interested to see your idle and load temps in HWiNFO32 sensors tab. Thanks Chiefs.

Cheers.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/507962-m17x-r2-full-internal-cooling-mod-huge-improvement-4.html#post6579760 <-- My before and after temperatures.

 

I need to perform this mod soon. Traveling for a week in certain parts of northern CA has had the temps go beyond 55's for CPU and GPU and I'm not even gaming. Will update when I am done

 

If I could do this again, I would drill holes for the offending parts, then sand them into the squarish shapes to fit.
It would then like quite OEM and wouldnt remove the other HS material.

Next person who is stupid/brave enough to do this, try that method.

-Ash

 

That was what I recommended haha

 

Lol... welllllllllll.... Technically...

drilling holes - shaving the thickness down - or just plain chopping the whole damn piece off = warranty VOID

So i'd just go with CHOPPING THE WHOLE THING OFF ... oh wait, i already did. lol


ANyways Dell just gave me the news the 5870s are on backorder... well how awesome is that. Estimated time? NONE.

Studying for a programming exam tomorrow ... this is where im thinking "BLEEEEP.... Programming was a bad career path to take" GETS YOU SOOO FRUSTTRATED!!!! any programmers in the house feel me? Everytime i gotta write a program or better yet, find a problem with a program, i gotta take some hits off the vaporizer just to keep me sanity...

 

Too many CS grads out there.....hard to get a well paying job. Easy to get a job, just not a well paying one.

Is why I did EE

If anyone does the hole method, I would like some pics

 

Management Information Systems @ John Molson School of Business (Best Business School in Canada)

If i make it out alive, Average Starting salary is ~70-80k ... and avrg salary after 5 years is 110-120k. Unlike CS grads, jobs are harder to find, but better paying.

Seems about right for me. Thanks for trying to shoot down my dreams though.

 

I might be doing it as soon as I find out whats going on with my warranty.

 

I know the ducting mod is supposedly the easiest but from that one picture I am not exactly sure what to do. Does anyone happen to have a more detailed explanation of exactly what needs to be taped in order to improve ventilation.

Also, what size thermal pad's do I need for 5870's? I have two of them so advice on what size and how many to order would be helpful (also need one for the CPU).

I idle 40-50 degrees but in games like crysis I get up to 95 degrees and that's just a bit too hot I think.

 

Oles chiefs your best bet for the cooling mods is to start by doing the thermal paste and pads. For both CPU and GPUs.
The 5870s require 0.5mm thickness thermal pads.

As for the CPU you will have to check for yourself if it is making any or good contact. So around 2.0mm thickness of pads should do it. Some have also used 1.5mm.

Yeh your idling is nice and normal. Once you do the mods it will lower your max load temps. So that will be good. My max temps in games are 70 degs C now. So you should be able to get around there or definitely lower than 80 max load temps. You might need to give the mods a few goes before you are fully satisfied.

Cheers.

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I know the pads for the gpu are 0.5mm thick but what the dimentions I should order. Will two 50mm x 60mm pads work for the GPUs?

 

Ah woops sorry my bads. Yeh that will be more than enough chiefs. You could do the pads like 3 times over and have some left over still lol.

Cheers.

 

Great, thanks for the quick reply too.

 

Nice temps. I have a question though. Which temperature listing matters the most in HWiNFO32? Between the four listed temperatures for each card, I range from 73-81°C on my hot card, and a few degrees cooler on the cold card. If you highest temperature is 70°C, then I am jealous!

 

Oles chiefs. I'm not exactly too sure about which of the 4 on each GPU matter the most. I normally just look at which is the highest and use that as my gauge. So on my 2nd GPU its maxing out at 70 degrees for the top temp each time when gaming. The other 3 temps below are always in the 60s. Usually my top temp is the highest for my GPUs. The top temp is the GPU die I believe.

I've always had super GPU temps after I did the GPU cooling mods. I just changed the thermal paste and pads. I did do them quite a few times though thats how I finally became the chief of temps lol ehahahahah
However I would like to improve my CPU temps. They are quite shocking in my book LOL.

I'll see if I'm not too lazy maybe I'll try MX-4 next in terms of thermal paste. + if any new pads come out oles I'm there LOL.

My CPU cores still hit 75 degrees max load LOL ehahaha. I was hoping for a bit lower. High 60s or 70 perhaps.

Cheers.

 

Well, I'm running ThrottleStop and a 50Mhz OC on the GPUs with a 920XM, so our specs aren't similar. Running FurMark Multi-GPU at 1280x1024, no AA, I hit 90°. FurMark is worst case scenario though.

 

Yeh your GPU OC would increase your temps on the GPU. Yeh my max furmark run running with extreme burn in mode and max 8X AA full everything for 15mins was 80 odd Degs. Not to shabby both our temps chiefs. Only other way for us to improve them is to circumsize our heatsinks like the other chief did LOL. I don't think I'll be doing that anytime soon though. I know I can lower my temps further and just about match those temps which had the snip snip.

Cheers.

 

For a reference, I threw in the GTX 280m's in my R1. Replaced all pads except for the really thick ones with EK and used OCZ Freeze on GPU die. 10 Minutes of Xtreme Burnin Mode 1920x1200 Fullscreen FurMark and my 2 gpus were both sitting at 79c.

I am actually pretty happy with that

 

Koolos chiefs. Very nice Temps. I also noticed that my GTX 260 SLis have much lower temps overall as compared to the 5870s. Makes sense I guess. The 5870s are more powerful olesss.

I max out at 65 Degs C in games on the 260s. Wonder how the temps for the 400m series are. Anyone seen any temps for the 480ms before?

Cheers.

 

Can you run FurMark on the GTX 260m's? I want to see if they run cooler than the 280s