M18x - GPU Temperatures

Thanks for the links. I will consider a third party seller or just learn as I go. 1+ rep

 

Yeah, M18x is not the best DIY friendly machine. As for the certifications , most of the 3rd party outsourcing techs working for Dell have never seen any AW machine and barely have A+ cert. I did a few demos in the past to Unisys guys on how to disassemble AW systems. Was fun

Generally, if you are uncomfortable about tearing apart your beast, before letting others touch it, make sure they have proper experience.

Since I'm doing a CPU upgrade on Tuesday, will try to make a video tutorial but my new camera hasn't arrived yet, so can't promise the best quality

 

I will be looking forward to it. I am purchasing an SSD (Intel 510) and 8GB of HyperX (installed under keyboard), would that be something you could install? And lastly, how would the exchange rate/taxes effect pricing?

 

Aikimox, will the ic diamond 24carat be good to use then instead of the pads? will there be sufficient contact without a mod? im not keen on modding anything, but i can try the diamond instead of the pads. you said you didnt get good results with 0.5mm? can you expand on this? would 1mm be better?

edit: just re read your post and you used the 1mm also!

 

Will email you shortly

The thing is, with any pads, no matter how good is the contact you still get lower heat transfer than with paste. And with non-bleeding and non-conductive compounds available on the market today, you don't really need pads.

The ICD-24 is not the best choice for memory chips, IMHO, due to the fact that it can scratch the chips easily. I'd use something easily removable instead (MX-4/TX-4).

 

how would it scratch them? when i remove it? or when it makes contact?

 

When/if you need to remove it.

 

Yeah, I heard that it (the IC Diamond stuff) can also take the markings off your cpu.....which may raise warranty issues.....so I read.....somehwere ...

 

even if i use a paste cleaner solution, and be super gentle lol??

 

You can always try

 

ok i should get it tommorow, so i will ic diamond everything lol, and see what difference it makes. should i use pea sized drop method for the cpu,gpu and gpu memory?

 

Might it be necessary to "load" the gpu memory chips with a good "splurge" given replacing pads with paste....i'd imagine quite alot would be needed....there again, Im no expert on the topic of repasting.....

 

Yeah, you'll have to apply quite a bit to the memory chips. pea-size grain method should work, just make a bigger pea than you'd do for the CPU/GPU die.

 

got the paste, will be ripping apart the machine today... here goes nothing.

 

Been waiting for someone to post some disassembly pictures, if possible, could you oblige? Thanks in advance.

 

95° GPU 1 in less than one minute on my new m18x (sli 460m) ...

Only 1 hours after the first boot , overheat and i can't do anything ... RMA !.

I'm sad :/

 

If my new processor gets here today, will make the vid.

 

Hey Aikimox what CPU upgrade are you going to do

 

2920XM ES (2.4GHz)

 

ok, so i did it, sorry didnt take any vids or pics as it was my first time opening this system and wanted to give it my full attention.

IC Diamond 24 carat is the best. Dells paste sucks. The cpu paste was very little and clumped in the centre. i was getting 95-96 degree load temps with a 4 core overclock of 3.95 Ghz in cinebench. now im getting 86 max temps.

Using GPU-Z my secondary GPU shaders are always about 120-130C. opened it up and notice very bad design of heatsink. NOTE: I SAID BAD DESIGN Really... it literally misses half the shaders on one side, so that the thermal pad makes contact with the actual pipe. so i applied tonnes of diamond on it, and now my shaders are only ever 4-5 degrees hotter than the core, and my max temps have gone from 80-81 degrees, to now barely reaching 70 degrees.

i highly recomend repasting to anyone who has the ability to do it. disassembly went well, only thing i got to do is reopen the control panel shroud, because i need to reseat the ribbon for the command centre controls. otherwise im very happy. note. that my conditions for where i have my laptop is pretty hot anyway, so my temps will still be a bit higher than what you guys would normally see.

Edit: and those gpu temps which are better are with a 800/1000 overclock, which before would crash all the time, is now stable.

 

Great job, Amosingh! Your results are very consistent with mine. ICD24 shouldn't bleed under load so you're safe now. I may give it a shot on my next paste job and see how much is the difference between this and TX-4.

 

Ive tried overclocking my 6970cf with trixx but freezes virtually straight away. core temps are about 58 idle. how big a job is the re-pasting. also what would be the best paste in the uk ?

 

interesting I have been running a 775/1050 overclock since I got this machine (though its being RMA'd) and my highest temp on shaders has been 91 C ...

 

Anyone mind making a video of the process? I have a general idea about the processor, but the GPUs are intimidating, but if the paste will help I'd like to give it a shot. Does repasting the GPUs void the warranty?

Also, I'm assuming there's already some paste on there, what does one need to do to take off the old paste?

 

ic diamond 24carat worked wonders on my machine. you will need to use quite alot though. the shaders get hot becuase of the rubbish thermal pads used,and the pad design on gpu 2's shaders. i used almost a whole tube of ic diamond on the cpu and both gpus including the memory shaders. i think aslong as you keep the stock thermal pads from the gpu, if anything goes wrong you can just put those pads back on the gpu and still have warranty no problems.

 

Those of you waiting for a disassembly/repaste guide,-
I made the video but it's huge and needs shrinking. As soon as my assistant finishes processing the video and it's uploaded, I'll post the link.

 

Great stuff Aikimox, +rep. Im sure that will be really handy for many people.....I love the way you have "an assistant" to do this stuff......where d'ya get one and how much do they cost? lol

 

Lol great job Aiki, Apparently I give you too much rep because I have to spread it around before I can give it to you

 

Lol, thanks, guys! The assistant I was referring to is my teammate at Fortnax and she was very kind to offer her help when she did. I have so many crazy projects in progress, it's almost unreal

 

Very cool, thanks a ton!

Does it include how to remove whatever previous paste was on the CPU? This is first-time-ever-I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing territory here

Anyway, thanks a ton! +rep!

 

It does (briefly) but generally, you can grab any thermal material remover (I'm using Arctic Silver) or isopropyl alcohol or acetone and q-tips or any lint free cloth. I usually put a drop or 2 of the remover, wipe the paste out and use another drop of surface purifier, wipe it off in circling motion and have a crystal clear surface

 

i did that method first, but found that removing the original stuff dry first and then cleaning again with solution worked best.

 

Sorry for the delays, guys. The video is still being processed. Will post it when it's done...

 

I am waiting on the replacement anyway But Still looking forward to it Aik

 

I can't wait for the video. It should give me a good guide so that I can take out my future 6990Ms and take them for a test drive in my R2 lol.


Cheers.

 

Have you got your video uploaded yet???

 

I'd have posted the link if it was ready. Still being processed. We are too busy right now, working this the weekend

 

Anyone going to try the new thermal paste that EVGA has? Curious about how it does

 

Here's your video guide

 

Perfect, thanks! The best teardown video for M18x so far, can't wait for the part 2 Great guys there at Fortnax, real professionals!

 

Awesome, thank you!

 

thanks will come in handy +rep

 

Great work! - reminds me of when I took mine to bits for the first time...scary but do-able. +rep to both of you!

 

Thanks for posting! Not for the average novice like myself.....A little more complex than my M15X!!!

 

it looks risky to repaste an M18x, should I repaste?

 

Dunno. If your temps are fine and no OC'ing planned, you don't really need to.

It's not very risky if you are careful enough, removing the E2E glass is more dangerous

 

...? your in CALGARY..... i thought you would be in the states... lol

 

This thread makes me believe that Ati runs hotter than Nvidia. Is it really the case? I tried EVGA OC Scanner and the highest result i got was 2x 72*C. Furmark keeps downclocking the cards for some reason. In any game I played so far (Crysis 2, Witcher 2, maxed out), I've got max 70-71*C. Note that I repasted.

BTW, I use these http://www.bluelounge.com/products/coolfeet/ to give the air intakes some space. This should significantly matter as well.

 

Aikimox rules again ... many thanks good sir !!!

 

not risky at all, reward is worth it 580m max 72c on both gpus on furmark 20mins and vantage 72 max as well.

Both gpus have been repasted with mx4 and ek therma 1mml pads used on the memory.
These ek thermal pads look and seem like thermal paste but dried out, to save u the mess of grease.

Anyway overall happy with results.