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    Got the new M18x r2 Heatsinks, question on TIM.

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by Silarous, Aug 13, 2012.

  1. Silarous

    Silarous Notebook Consultant

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    I got the M18x R2 heatsinks for my R1's GPU's and CPU and am curious what would be best to use for the thermal compound. The heatsinks already have compound on them and from what I have red in the past it is supposedly better then what we can buy? Those of you that did the swap, did you use the supplied TIM? Thanks.
     
    Silarous, Aug 13, 2012
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  2. juliant

    juliant Notebook Deity

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    Yes, I highly recommend leaving them as they are. As everyone recommended (including Mr. Fox), the thermal paste that comes applied on the heatsinks is the best in the long run.

    If you use any third party thermal paste (IC Diamond, Arctic - several models, Thermaltake), may be showing you alot of improvement in the beginning, probably better than the stock thermal paste (that comes with your heatsink), but in time that paste which you apply, it may degrade and the cooling performance may not be the same. I had applied on my M17XR3 about a year back MX-4 thermal paste on the CPU and at idle it still shows about the same temperature, but I do not know how it will be in time. Just leave it as it is (according to my believe), anyway you have the quad core heatsink and that should reduce quite alot the temperature of your system (not that much if you already have the dual pipe heatsink that came supplied with the R1 XM processor).

    I hope that helps...
     
    juliant, Aug 13, 2012
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  3. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist®

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    I concur. Leave the Dell thermal compound on the heat sink instead of applying an aftermarket paste. That's what I did and it has worked excellent on CPU and GPU. Use care to evenly tighten the CPU heat sink screws uniformly in a cross pattern so the heat sink and die fit perfectly together. If you go even a tiny bit further with one screw during installation you may have some cores that don't run as cool as you would like them to. No need to make the screws super tight... just snug is enough.
     
    Mr. Fox, Aug 14, 2012
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