Gave the M18X R2 some love!! (Thermal paste)

Hi all, i have owned this Alienware for over a year.. Have upgraded the normal things, Ram/SSD, fixed things (keyboard and screen ouch!) but one thing i never touched on this laptop was the thermal paste. I never understood why just to open "amazon music" app the fans would max out, then go back to normal... I just thought since im OC at 4.5Ghz that its "normal" ... How wrong i was!. Take a look at all the photos for the before and after results. really happy with the Arctic Silver 5.... gained a solid couple hundred points in Cinebench R23! One thing i did notice is i only have the 1 pipe heat sink!!!. So i immediately ordered a OEM 2 pipe, not as good as the 3 pipe but it must be better then the 1 pipe lol. even so, thermal throttling does currently happen but only while benching. Gaming, web, videos, editing all smooth, with low to med fan now, even under load. Im hoping the 2 pipe would be able to keep max GHz for longer before being throttling when gaming for extended periods of time. But as of now temps are perfect surprisingly.
Results. Bottom number before, top number after.

look at these valleys...

Looking much better.

Taking it apart.

Progress!!


It crazy being so into tech... that i let the thermal paste slide... Even did the Macbook.. yesterday. What a mess at the application apple!

Anything else i should do for the old girl? Gotta take it apart again for the 2 pipe.

thanks!!

 

HI!, I just want to give this thread an update!. When i took this laptop apart, to do the thermal paste, i had no idea it only had a 1 pipe heatsink... I had such an improvement after the thermal paste replacement that i went on the Bay to find a 3 pipe heatsink... Found them. in China for about $90 shipped... So i found the next best thing, a 2 pipe heatsink, OEM, New, in CA for about 15 dollars shipped. Also replaced some screws, ram to 32GB, and a hard drive caddy.
The cinebench score went up over 1000 points! . Right at 3400 now from 2397. before thermal paste, and 2 pipe heatsink. Zero thermal throttling, games play even smoother, fans never max out any more. its amazing the difference... This upgrade is well worth it with a 2920XM or newer and over clocked. completely rock solid stable.

 

If you have the R2 then the previous owner must have had something like a 3630QM or 3740QM originally for it to have the 1-pipe heatsink before they put in the 2920XM. Strange that they went for a 2nd gen rather than a 3rd gen.

 

Maybe it'd been cheaper, or had sat nearby.

However there's not thaaat big performance difference between the Sandy and Ivy XMs, imo.

 

Yeah but going back a gen would mess with my mind, unless it was a really good deal.