M17x R3: What temps are you getting for 6990m when idle with stock paste?

Hi guys, just wondering what temps you are getting during low load on your AMD 6990M. I'm primarily interested in temps with stock dell thermal paste, but would also like to know what people are getting after re-pasting as well.

I'm using GPU-Z (ver 0.5.5). During normal activity (not gaming) it's showing that my lowest temp is 57 °C and the highest is 68 °C. On average it sits around 63/64 °C with low activity (3-6% load).

My fans seem to work okay, but this does seem pretty high for doing nothing taxing. I haven't tested it under load yet.

Another question out of interest is does the m17x R3 have manual fan control, or a program that can do this?

 

Mine is at 64 °C right now (0-5% load), i'm only watching a youtube video. Under load if I remember right I've never seen it go over 80°C

Also my laptop is flush to my desk, it would probably be a little bit cooler if the back would be raised a little.

 

I had similar temps when brand new on Dell paste. Repasting with MX-4 dropped temps significantly. Using the R3 native fan control, temps will idle at in the mid-50's, but will jump to the 62-63C level with little provocation (browsing, email). Even at the reduced levels, the R3's temps are uncomfortably high for me as a result of a very conservative fan control scheme. I use the HWINFO64 fan control applet to impose a more aggressive fan protocol, with significantly lower temps. It obviously make the fans work harder, but fans are cheap, while 6990M's and Sandy Bridge CPU's are not.

Using stock fan control:

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Using HWiNFO64 fan applet:

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Thanks for your replies guys.

I agree with you Revelator. The temps on the 6990m seems very high for low load. On my old rig in my sig (idle=52°C), the fans would kick in earlier (in the high 50's), but on the R3 the rpms only go higher when the temp goes to 68/69°C .

Pity there isn't a manual fan control on the R3, I miss that from my older system. Thanks for the fan info for HWinfo, I'll give that a go. Can you tell me how many °C did the re-paste lower the temp by?

Oh in case anyone else is wondering my ambient room temp is about 22°C.

 

my repaste dropped my temps significantly

10c+ on the CPU and at least 10c on the GPU

to put things into perspective...during a current 3dmark vantage run, i didn't break 70c on the GPUz logs

 

Cheers, I think I'm going to repaste my GPU as well. The fan control in HWinfo works brilliantly, but the truth is the GPU shouldn't be hitting these highs on idle anyway.

What paste did you use?

 

i used IC diamond 7...but i think the next time i repaste, i'm gonna go with MX-4

 

Is IC7 harder to apply?

 

yes it is. Its really thick and does not spread easily

 

I have not used it but from what I've read it sound like it is thicker and more challenging to apply. It does work very well though.


Also, idle temps are gonna be all over the place. It's very hard to compare them. It makes much more sense to compare temps after sustained 100% load.

 

Cheers guys. I lot of people online give MX-4 rave reviews. But I've also read good things about Shin Etsu X23-7783D. Anyone used that before? I know in review charts the top thermal compounds only vary by 2°C or 3°C from each other, so maybe it doesn't matter.

Wow, you'd think Dell would just use better paste in the first place, knowing that prolonged exposure to excessive heat shortens the life of electronic components. Especially since they are the ones that will have to replace them (if) under warranty.

 

Dude, the stock paste job is pitiful. If you take your heatsinks off, you'll understand what i'm talking about. The stock paste, is JUST good enough for stock.

Techno...check out this thermal paste round up. Its a very good review because it takes into account good/moderate/bad paste jobs

2011 Thermal Compound Roundup – Results Compilation | Skinnee Labs

The Shin Etsu X23-7783D fairs well when there is bad contact between heatink and die, but it doesn't get much better with better contact...so it becomes just an average paste

 

Checked the list out, but only have a handful available in the UK. So I decided to go with the MX-4 (4g). Not sure if I'll do the CPU at the same time, that just seems to hover around 50°C, but I guess it makes sense to do that as well.

 

I did both my GPU and CPU with MX4. Follow DaneGRClose's guide here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/561599-m17x-r3-cpu-gpu-re-pasting-guide-w-pics.html

You don't have to replace the pads on the GPU heatsink, but I highly recommend doing so.

 

techno, it took me about 30 minutes to do both and i was taking my time...you might as well do both.

also, get cheap $3 bottle of 99% isopropyl alcohol to clean the surface of the die and the heatsink

 

Thanks for the link I'm not sure about replacing the thermal pads though. As long as none are missing or in the wrong place I think I'll leave them alone.

Will do, and some cotton buds

 

Okay applied MX-4 to the GPU (didn't have time to do the CPU yet) and got a 10-12°C drop in the temp

The worrying thing was that the two screws that are supposed to hold the GPU card down were absent. Unbelievable, the card was flipped up all this time. Fortunately the screws are standard laptop ones, and I had two spare to fill the vacant holes.

 

wow...was this a new laptop or from the dell refurb outlet? missing screws is not acceptable

 

Yes it is an outlet refurb, in great condition, but still...screws missing from an essential component defies belief.

 

here is my idle temps. running 2 screens and also card flashed to 800/1100. still crazy good temps with icd.

 

Hi inap, did you repaste, or do anything extra to reduce temps, or is everything at stock?

 

from GPUZ 5.5,

50-55 on idle.

 

GPUZ 5.5 shows idle 62C (some time 68C) with room temp 23C.(i noticed it once drop to 54C when disconnecting two screens but only with laptop screen)

 

sorry i missed this but i repasted with icd24 and used .5mm fuji poly pads.

 

Just installed my 6990 and used Prolima PK-1

52c at idle
72c was the max after running 3Dmark Vantage (full version all tests)

 

I just replaced my pads and re pasted my cpu/gpu today with MX-4 and the .5mm fuji poly pads and it dropped mine -10 C also, i idle now at 50-53!

 

i repasted with ICD 24 and my idle temp are around 54-60. It can get to 75 while gaming with 820/1200 OC.

 

1200 on memory omg.. are you crashin while playing some hardcore games like witcher 2?

 

Nope but if i push the card anymore than that and it will crash or stutter. It can het higher for benchmarking though.

 

are you getting more fps or 3dmark points by pushing memory clock further?

 

Yup, got myself a highscore in the benchmark thread