Repasting guide?

Could someone direct me to a CPU/GPU repasting guide here on the Forums? Thanks

 

I believe you are referring to the M17x R3.
here you go:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/569484-m17x-r3-6970m-re-pasting-video-guide.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ion-how-search-forum-read-before-posting.html

 

You can use my CPu guide in my sig for repasting the CPU. The GPU will be almost identical, but on the other side of the laptop

 

Hey, Slick, i knew there was another one but couldn't remember
I'm going to post a link of your guide along with Joebarchcuk's in the M17x R3 Owner's Lounge.

 

Cool, thanks Katalin!

 

DaneGRClose also prepared an excellent guide with illustrations. http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/561599-m17x-r3-cpu-gpu-re-pasting-guide-w-pics.html.

 

I must have done it wrong or did a really bad job, Followed the guide to the T and re paste with Shin-Etsu X23-7783D. Noticed that my idle temp and full load temps are the same as the stock paste =(

I got hte Shin-Etsu because i thought it allows me more leway in regards to bad contact

Idle temps are around 55 C and and running furmark, i hit 77C in about 3 minutes with it evaluated with a book.
Also want to ask if it is normal once i hit 77c, the screen became blank and is not responsive to anything, had to take the battery out to restart, holding down power does nothing!

 

just try using pk-1

 

That's just a throttle turning into a shutdown. It usually occurs if you are using one of the modified vbios's that set the P1 clocks to the same as the P0 clocks. The modded vbios works fine at the low (63C) throttle point to maintain clocks and FPS, but at the high temp (>77C) throttle point, when it tries to kickdown, but can't it crashes. There is a dilemma. If you don't use the modded vbios, it kicks down at 63C, destroying performance, but if you do, then it will crash at or about the high throttle point. One of the advantages to using the BIOS method(s) to remove the low throttle point is that it allows you to hit the high throttle point without crashing. The real key is keeping temperatures below 78C. Paste may need to be redone, but for me at least boosting the fan speeds is crucial to improved cooling under load. Try HWINFO64 and its fan applet. There is plenty of discussion around here about its use. HWiNFO64 Download. Also, Alienware Fan Control (author's thread); *GUIDE* -Unofficial AW fan control- - Alienware Arena Forums

 

I think something is wrong with my new m17x, I repasted with MX2 after cleaning both the CPU and GPU with alcohol and ensure that both are clean and apply a thin line across the GPU and a pea size on the CPU as the guide said, I am in California so ambient temp is around 70F, no idea why it still idles around 55C and running furmark, I still hit 78C in less than 3 minutes, this is with a Cooler Master Notebook Cooler under it. IS something wrong with my heatsinks?

 

it's the other way around.

 

It will always idle around 52-55C with the stock R3 fans; they don't start spinning up until 55C or 57C and then only with limited RPM. You can modify that behavior using the fan applet in HWINFO64, but the 55C idle is normal and nothing to worry about. Furmark is of limited use with a 580M except to witness throttling in operation; for unknown reasons (at least to me), 580M temps under Furmark don't stabilize, instead continuing to increase, sometimes very slowly, until you crash or throttle at the high throttle point, depending on a variety of factors, mostly the vbios version I think. With respect to the heatsink, it's hard to tell. Dell seems to ship the 580M with a variety of heatsinks. For example, mine came with what I believe was a 460M heatsink, and the exposed copper square was too small to fully cover the GPU core die; consequently, temps were much higher than expected. Removing the black thermal material from the face of the heat sink cured that problem, and temps dropped. Other times, the 6990M heatsink is used, with a diamond pattern for the exposed copper, which results in a misalignment. Probably does not apply to you, but check. Then, sometimes it takes several applications to get paste right. And check the thermal pads generally for contact and to assure that they are not holding the heatsink away from the core die. It is generally not necessary to replace thermal pads in the R3, but it's an option and some report improved results. I'm still using the original pads and they work fine. I also use the HWINFO64 fan applet to apply a more aggressive fan regime that contributes to lower temps. It ultimately just takes experimentation to find the right combinations for your setup. Sorry that I don't have a magic bullet.

 

I've re-used my 6990M heatsink just fine. You have to peel that black tape so the whole copper square is visible.

Replaced and realigned thermal pads to fit the 580M card too, all good.

 

Why'd you get rid of the 6990?

 

Because I wanted to play around with a different graphics card.

 

What do you think of the 580m versus the 6990m. I would be interested to hear your thoughts having used both cards.

 

Give me a few days to have some fun - and to gather a lot of information as well.