M17xR2 CPU Temps

Everyone,

Made an interesting discovery now that I've had a couple of days off to experiment...

Since I received my R2, my temperatures - at least in my opinion - were way too high for the CPU. Idle was around 50C, Gaming was around 90C, Prime was around 98C. Ambient temperature is about 70F

Today I decided to disassemble the machine to investigate. I had previously contacted technical support several times and was told that these run hot and that 97+ wasn't a major issue.

Nows where things get interesting...

After pulling the CPU heatsink, I discovered the source of my high temps. The IDIOT (only appropriate term I can think of) at the factory who applied the thermal paste missed a good 4th of the core!

I just finished repasting (MX-3) and reassembling the machine. Temps are now significantly lower:

Idle 46C
Gaming 80C
Prime 85C

Anyone experiencing high temperatures needs to spend the time to disassemble and investigate... Luckily I've been suspicious of my temps since day one and have monitoried them closely.

Had I not, this mistake at the factory could have easily killed the chip.

 

I would also warn people that this sort of disassemble isn't the easiest thing to do. It's straight forward, but there are a lot of things to do to get to the CPU itself. Watch the youtube disassemble guide and make sure you're comfortable doing this sort of thing.

 

this is the info for a m15x but i used mx3 as well and see the drop you are looking good now and the mx3 drops the temps by 7-10 degree easily.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/503377-mx-3-thermal-paste-results.html

 

Wow Denver... isn't your 17xR2 a few months old? Hopefully, this is not an ongoing thing at the factory.

 

Good point, Denver.
Factory applied TIM is often flawed and should in most cases be replaced with a high quality material.

 

Batboy,

Alienware captured my R1 back in March and upgraded me to a new R2 as compensation for my months of issues.

It shipped on 3/2, so I know that I was in one of the first few batches. If I remember correctly, Joker also had heating issues with his R2 which arrived just before mine.

I'd been concerned about CPU temperatures pretty much out-of-the-box. However, even after repeated calls the tech support folks kept saying my high temperatures were 'normal' for a 920xm.

Being a tech myself I seriously doubted that I was being told the truth. However, since this was my first iCore system, I elected to take a wait-and-see approach.

When I started seeing temps in the high 90s, I decided that if they weren't willing to investigate, I'd do the work for them...

After today's repaste, I can even overclock (5%) and the temps (running Prime) max out at 88C.... rock stable.

My guess is that it's highly unlikely that whoever pasted my machine just screwed up one machine... There are probably others out there just like it. If I can help just one other person dealing with this issue it's been time well spent.

 

88c is still very high for a 920. The system *should* throttle at 74c

 

Lozz,

My system has never throttled... Even at 97C.

 

That's very abnormal, since afaik, everyone in the benchmark thread has had throttle issues past 74c, which were only recently resolved with throttle stop. 88c is about what people see when overclocked a lot more than 5%

 

mine goes up to 98 degrees constantly when gaming/load etc.. i dont know if i can just get dell to come down to apply thermal paste.

but my system has never throttled despite the high cpu temps.

 

I wonder if you can fit in custom water cooling for our R2s

 

My pc was getting to 98, I re applied as5 to the cpu now it never gets above 88, if I lift the back of the computer it never gets above 85.

 

if you're willing to go without a keyboard and the top half of the laptop sure!

 

I forgot to mention that when
I applied new thermal paste, I saw that the factory applied too much paste thus making it less effective. So this is opposite of what the OP experienced. Having too much paste can be just as bad as in adequate paste. My temps have dropped since using different paste.

 

Sorry guys, but can you help me to figure out if this temps are ok ?

This happen on battery usage, just browsing the web, no air aconditioner and 23 C degrees



This with the ac adapter just browsing the web, no air aconditioner and 23 C degrees



And this after some minutes of play games, same environment temperature



This is a log file while i was playing, i got this from Gpu-z software

http://forum.notebookreview.com/att...how-know-if-fans-working-gpu-z-sensor-log.txt

Is that normal ?? Thanks

 

your temps are fine.

 

But, what is that about the 100C and the 4 RPM on the Fan speed ? Is that normal ? Sorry, is just than i just hang up the phone and Dell will send some guy to replace all the cooling system, fans and GPU, or should i cancel it ?. . . Thanks for your help

 

sorry was looking at cpu temps.let them fix it.

 

Thanks for your help, i dont know if i am over reactig, anyway, to the user which oipen this thread, sorry for mix CPU with GPU, i've attached some logs of the GPU behaviour if you can try: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/497440-how-know-if-fans-working-3.html#post6524506

 

I'm frustrated lately with my M17xR2 CPU idle temperatures. The fans cycle low and medium because of some obvious heat buildup and the noise just irritates me. Why are my CPU cores running at 60-degrees Celsius?

I don't recall what the temps were a year ago; however, I know that my fans weren't cycling on and off like they are right now. Plus, 60ish is rather high for idle...

This is what I have:

M17xR2:
Intel Core i7 920XM 2.0GHz (3.2GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache) | Dual 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4870 in CrossfireX | 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz | 512GB Raid 0 (2x 256GB Solid State HDDs) | 17" WideUXGA 1920x1200 RGB LED | Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology | Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR | Nebula Red - Special Edition - Anodized Aluminum

 

You left off: a year's worth of dust buildup on the fans and cooling fins that needs to be clean off...

Just a swag...

 

LOL!

Would that were true! I use canned air at least once a week, if not more often. Thanks for the swag though.

 

m17x r2:

CPU IDLE TEMPS: 39 degrees Celsius

CPU FULL LOAD: 75 degrees Celsius

Please note: the system runs in a room of 22-24 degrees Celsius at all time. Also when I installed the CPU (i7 920 XM ES) the paste I used is MX-3.

 

have you seen his log from gpu-z?!

>100 C on load on the gpu is not so fine imho.

A repaste could help you, and make sure that teh ventilation is working properly.

Did you experienced any kind of issue during games with those temps?

Edit: i just saw your second post claxdog