Thermal Pad Thickness on Alienware 17 (2014) on GPU Nvidia GTX 880M?

Hi Guys, just wanted to know what should be the proper thickness of the Thermal Pad on the GPU Nvidia GTX 880M? I did a repaste and changed the Thermal Pad to Fujipoly 1.5mm and noticed when I returned the heat sink that the portion near the hardrive is not flat and protruding a little, I didn't mind it because I thought it wouldn't mean a lot, but now 24 hours after and playing Ghost Recon Wildlands at Ultra Setting. Temp of the GPU is at 73-78 Deg C after 1 Hour of playing, and the 73-78 temp is spilling over to the Hard Drive Bay near it with temps of 50-60 Deg C. I just want to confirm if I messed up in placing the thermal pads and do I need to replace the thermal pads, if so which thickness?

Thank You in advance and to the admin that will be reading this, please help. I haven't slept for 2 days deciding to repaste my unit and 1 more night after I repasted it. I would really appreciate all your help for my peace of mind. Thank You!

Specs:
Alienware 17 (2014)
Intel i7 4710MQ
GTX 880M
Samsung 1x512GB SSD + 1Tb SSD + 1Tb mSata
32 GB Ram Corsair Vengeance
Paste Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
Thermal Pad Fujipoly Ultra 1.5mm
Cooling Pad - Coolmaster u3

 

78 for the 880m under heavy load is pretty good temp. Whatever GPU you put there, as soon as it is hot enough 70+, it will heat up the HDD next to it. What I did when I first got the laptop is that I moved the HDD from this bay to the one under the wireless module. This helped with HDD temp and also allowed for more air flow to the GPU from my cooling pad.

Since you have 2 HDDs, I would say that doing what I did is out of question for you. So just make sure the SSD with critical data is away from the heat and keep the expendable one near the GPU. Heat is really not good for SSDs.

As far as the repaste is concerned, I would say your repaste is ok and there is nothing wrong with it.

 

Thank You Very Much for the reply! I was sweating bullets ever since I did the repaste, Thank You! That really offers a great relief on my part. I tried to play Ghost Recon Wildlands under Nividia "Optimal" Option Settings and it was only 65-70 Deg C. So I guess in order for everything under the hood to be happy, ill just play under "Optional" Settings! Thank Again!

 

That's what we are here for

Welcome to NBR!

 

Hi there @MahmoudDewy, I noticed your rig is an Alienware 17 R1, is that the same as mine? The 2014 version or mine is and R5? Anyway, that's not what what I really wanted to ask you, it's your 4910mq and GPU 980? Did you upgrade or did it came as stock? If you did upgrade, is it worth it? I mean I've read that if your not an overclocker there's no point in upgrading from 4710 to 4910mq/4940mx and same for the GPU. Thanks in advance!

 

Hey brother, we do have the same machine if yours have a 4710 MQ not HQ. Upgrading the CPU is "for me at least" is pointless. I run mine undervolted and actually downclocked to 3.5 GHz with liquid metal thermal paste so it runs super cool and it serves my gaming needs very well. If I am benching or running a very long and annoying simulation I ramp it up to 4.0 GHz but that's not really for gaming. I believe you can overclock the 4710 MQ comfortably to 3.5 GHz and that's a pretty sweet spot in performance and longevity.

As for the GPU, that's a completely different story; The GTX 980m is by far the best option for this machine. Gaming power and heat production wise. I upgraded from the GTX 880m and never looked back ever since. Some people upgraded to 1060s and 1070s and even we have someone with a 1080. Personally for me the 980m is hassle free upgrade with no physical modding involved and the performance gain you get versus the 880m or 780m makes it a worthy upgrade.

Our fellow NBR member here @woodzstack can help you if you want to upgrade to whatever GPU you like.

 

Thank You! I'm already 90% sold on upgrading my GPU but will be on vacation for the next month into the Philippines, I don't know if @woodzstack will ship to the Philippines. Most probably he will, but I'm a little scared about the customs/ shipping into the Philippines. Anyway, thank you very much again. Oh I did a repaste again because I had to changed the pads from 1.5mm to 1.0mm. Its all great now, GPU Temp hovers only at 70 Deg C and idle at 30.

 

Amazing temps. Less is always better

 

Yeah I ship to Philippines, have shipped maybe a dozen times to there, half the time to a single user, lol

I will do my best to customise something to your liking for customs, depending on what you need.

You can feel free to send me a PM.

 

Oh sweet! Cool! Will do! Will PM you soonest as soon as I can arrange a proper address there. Thanks so much! I'm currently looking at GTX 980M or should I get the 1080? is the 1080 the same with the 980M? I mean is it plug and play? Or do I have to do some mods? Again, I cant say enough thank you, but thank you!

 

The 1080 is NOT the same as the 980M. Completely different in too many ways. It's not only much larger, takes twice the power almost, and no heatsink made to fit it in the AW17 - however I have a guy who is doing this specific upgrade - but it is heavily modified. Stick with 980M is the best bet, if your crazy and want to do full customization, 1060N or 1070N is more plausible if you can get the 120hz panel and eDP cable and for the 1070 do not mind modding the chassis and heatsinks.

 

The 980M sounds great! I don't want to do modding! I just want to plug the new GPU and that's it. Thanks for the info! Will be PM you as soon as I have an address in the Philippines. How long does it take to reach the Philippines based on your experience?

 

About 3 days. (*once shipped, travel is 3 days usually)

 

Awesome! That's really good news! Thanks! I'll PM you next week for the order of the GTX 980M! Thanks again!

 

cool, sound sgreat !