Looking for opinions and options to restore M18X GPU cooling performance

M18x R1, single GTX 560M GPU. Mostly sees workstation and media use, very little gaming. Have owned since new.

The GPU has always run a little on the warm side since new, so the chassis on the left and above the GPU sometimes gets warm, but the fan only goes on low speed (fairly quiet) to cool it down, unless there is something really GPU-intensive on-screen. Usually.

Recently the GPU fan has started going to high speed when viewing some websites with graphics-intensive content, and sometimes even when streaming videos. This is a new development since I've been using those same sites for quite some time and they've never stressed the GPU enough to ever kick the fan into high speed.

At first I assumed there might be some script or wonky code spiking the GPU for an instant and the fan would just kick on high because of that, but using HWMonitor shows the GPU never really gets more utilization than it has before, though the temps are anywhere from 42-63*C. It seems the fans go on high when the temps stay around 62*C or get to 63, then stay on high until the temps get down to 42-45*C. Sometimes the fan stays on high until I close the site or sometimes even the browser.


I've done the usual maintenance to be sure it wasn't just a dirty/dusty fan/heatsink, but the system has never been dirty or dusty, so taking it apart again just showed how clean everything was, even though I did blow and vacuum out the fins and fan just to be sure. I've also considered it might be some sort of virus/malware but nothing shows up, and though I might do a restore to an earlier point I'm posting this to get some info in case it's hardware related.

I'm guessing what's going on is that the GPU heat pipe has worn out, or perhaps even more likely is that the factory heat pad/paste combo (if that's what's under there) has broken down and is no longer as effective as it was before. I've never had to take this system apart since the way it came from the factory has always worked without issue until just recently with the fan blasting on high way too often.

So, I'm looking for opinions/suggestions/options on what to do for restoring the original cooling performance in a do-it-once-and-forget-it capacity. I'm not really interested in doing a gaming-level paste-only job if it means having to take the system apart every so often to re-paste. I'd rather stick with whatever came from the factory, but I'm not so sure I can get that kind of stuff anymore. I'd call Dell/Alienware and ask about a new heat pipe/pad but they don't seem to carry those small parts anymore, or if they do you have to know where to call to ask.

A 580M triple pipe might be nice, especially if it drops the temps even lower (would be nice to have the fan hardly ever need to come on at all like the CPU) , but those seem hard to get even now, and I don't really want to take chances with used stuff.

 

Do you use adblocks (uBlock Origin)?

My pipes have been fine (although I had to buy the slave side because I lost my original), and I've used it for gaming. My CPU heatsink was upgraded to a triple pipe, and I've been fine.

The pad/paste would likely be the problem because of years of being used. Buy cheap pads (Arctic come to mind) and some good paste. It's really easy to do it, but you should watch videos on how to do it.

 

I use the in-browser ad blockers (AdBlock Plus) since they seem to block nearly everything.

I'm not so sure the heat pipes really ever wear out, though I've read some theories and heard sometimes they might lose the tiny amount of enclosed gas, but would be interested to hear if anyone else ever had to do such age-related maintenance due to higher temps.

Would be nice if I could find out what Dell/AW originally used for the pads and paste instead of using stuff that I might wind up having to replace every so often rather than in another 5-8 years.

 

You would know when/if heatpipes fail, temperature would saturate very quickly and would remain much higher than 65-70, more like 90+. Likely your thermal compound is tired, and stock thermal pads were never fantastic. Best to upgrade to 100W heatsink, really I've never seen a heatpipe fail unless it was bent in extreme ways.

 

I agree with @Raidriar's thoughts regarding the heatsink.

For the Dell/AW stock pads and paste, I honestly do not like them at all. Especially the paste because they've been terrible. I went through a lot of testing when I briefly ordered my AW 15 R3. Arctic thermal pads are very cheap, and they are easy to use. They're not the best, but it's still relatively better than the stock ones that came with our unit. I know there has been several posters in the AW 15 section regarding how bad the stock paste that Dell/AW uses.

The gist is, it doesn't hurt to upgrade your heatsink, and you should probably go for non-stock pads/paste.

As for the adblocker, correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember people saying that AB+ became worse when they introduced their Acceptible Ads program which then lead to people switching to other services like, most notably, uBlock Origin.