Ordering an Alienware 18 Soon! Have a few questions...

How's it goin' guys?

Just registered to this website to hopefully find some answer to questions I had about the Alienware 18 laptop.

The spec I'm most likely to purchase is the following:
Processor: 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4940MX processor
OS: Windows® 8.1 Pro, 64Bit, English
Video Card: Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 880M graphics with 16GB total (2x 8GB) GDDR5 - NVIDIA SLI® Enabled
Memory: 32GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz
Hard Drive: 512GB mSATA SSD Boot + 1TB 5400 rpm

Anyways, down to the questions.

Which OS would be better for Gaming/Streaming/Music Production? Windows 8.1 or 7 Ultimate?

Would the Alienware 18 be able to upgrade to the Maxwell mobile GPU's? If enough "info" about them is around to have an answer for this question.

I know it's bulky and the main part of the case w/ the keyboard on it is pretty raised... Is it comfortable for your hands after long periods of use?

How long do you think this laptop will last before it starts becoming outdated as far as gaming performance?

My main concern with purchasing this laptop would be the cooling. Does this laptop ever run hot to the point where it would damage the components inside or have you heard of some doing that? Would a re-pasting be recommended? (Never done one before.)

Also, would I need a cooling pad for this beast? Currently all I have is a mobile wooden table which currently houses my Asus G73JH and I've never had a heating issue outside of one stupid incident.

Also another big concern of mine which I just found out about was the 880m's performance/driver issues? The thread with all the info I've read about it is in the Alienware sub on this website. -> http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...orums-about-880s-bs-there-doing-go-reply.html

As far as micro-stuttering goes, is it something I should really be concerned about with a dual GPU configuration? If it is then I should be able to remedy it by disabling SLI, right?
Would there be any performance loss aside from the obvious disabling of the second GPU? I'm not really sure how the whole SLI thing works, as the only gaming laptop I've had is the one I have now with it's single ATI Mobility HD 5870 card.

Thanks,

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

Mine's not as upgraded as that, but so far even at 90 degrees Fahrenheit the laptop wasn't super-hot to the touch, it was warm enough on the palm rest that my hand sweated some but then again at 90F I was already sweating anyway.
It's a lot cooler than my M14X R2, the left palm rest got very warm to the touch, almost uncomfortably hot.

Now the air coming out of the Rear vents, is a different story! But I think 87C is the hottest the CPU got even at such hot temps.

Other than that these computers shouldn't be overheating unless there is something wrong.

 

Thanks for the response!

That's good. Cause I live on the east coast and it gets really hot in my place sometimes.

I may be reading to much into this whole thing. Lol I guess I'd rather be well-informed on such an expensive purchase.

 

If it's too hot at home you should consider using the cooling pad just in case. The laptop's cooling system is great but it's better to avoid issues.

 

Yeah, I'll probably end up doing that for just in case. Either that or replace my ceiling fan since I can only run it on low now without it making a terrible noise.

Is there any news on the 880m driver/performance issues? Or will that only really affect people overclocking?

 

It affects overclocking and benchmarking mostly but the GPUs will indeed throttle when gaming it just might not be noticeable unless you monitor the core when you're playing.

You are aware of the Alienware power limitation though, correct? The Alienware 18 does not have enough power to support SLI 880s and a 4940MX when they are overclocked and there isn't currently a solution for that. I have a Clevo 9377 with dual 880s and a 4940MX and its fine stock but I overload my A/C adapter if I push the GPU voltage or attempt to really push the CPU and fire up a benchmark.

If you plan to overclock or you want the most performance for your money, consider getting a P570WM / Sager 9570 with dual power adapters. That machine will run you less than your Alienware build with more power (hex core 4930K desktop CPU eats 4940MX for breakfast).

If you are dead set on Alienware, get a 4930MX. People seem to have good overclocking results with those compared to the 4940MX. Just beware that you will never be able to squeeze the full power your system is capable of with an Alienware 18 due to Dell and their engineering.

The 9377 I have is a great machine as well but of you want to overclock you'll have to purchase a second A/C adapter and a converter box to connect them. They also run hot so a repaste with liquid ultra would be needed if you want fully unlocked performance.

Just keep in mind the issues with the Alienware 18 and at least look at the competition. Even Mr. Fox recommends the P570WM over Alienware due to Dells poor choices.

Another option would be to get the M18xR2 and avoid this generation entirely.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

I don't exactly plan on overclocking since I don't know much about it, but I would like to have it as an option. Exactly how much wiggle room does the Alienware 18 have?

Also, yes I am somewhat aware of the power issues. I think I read somewhere that Mr. Fox said that the motherboard limits it to 330W or something. I'm not sure exactly.

What concerns me mainly is if this power wall affects the turbo boost function of the 4940MX at all if the 880m's run at stock?

Also, I'm not seeing the 4930MX as an option on Xotic PC or the Alienware website anymore... Would you recommend the 4910MQ over the 4940MX?

I probably would prefer the 4930MX since I keep reading that the 4940MX can run hot even though I probably won't be pushing it to the point where it would run as such. I do plan on setting everything to max on current & upcoming games. IE: Metro Series, Crysis, Skyrim (Modded heavily.), The Witcher 3, Evolve, DA: Inquisition, etc etc.

Basically with this purchase I want to be set for the next 2-4 years in gaming.

As far as looking at competition goes I have glanced at the Clevo & Sager, and they are considerably cheaper. The only thing stopping me from switching would be aesthetics, even though they have the 17" thing going for them. Lol

In all honesty I probably would prefer to get an m18x R2 w/ dual 880m's simply because I love the way it looks. It would be concerning to not have a warranty on it though.

 

I don't have an 18 but with an MX chip, its not going to be much. If I could redo my purchase, I would get the 4910mq and save the money since the MX is mostly a waste. I can get it to 3.9GHz on all four cores but that pushes the adapter to its limit when gaming and 3DMark 11 will overload the adapter every time so I just run it stock now.

I haven't found a game that the CPU can't handle stock. From what I understand, you have to tweak XTU to get the 4940MX to run at its stock turbo in the 18 which isn't an issue in the Clevo. I would ask Mr. Fox though because I haven't been following BIOS updates. Last I saw was the release Dell made that locked down overclocking extreme chips in the BIOS. Definitely do some reading on the forum.

As for Clevo machines yeah they aren't that aesthetically pleasing (some more than others, the P370SM-A looks much nicer than the P377SM-A does but the performance and cost versus an Alienware were worth it for me) but they are really easy to maintain and in the case if the P570WM, they are the fastest laptops on the market.

You can get an M18xR2 from the Dell outlet and add a warranty. Pretty sure those come with 600 series cards but between 6,7,and 8 are all Kepler. You can order replacement cards but yeah they wouldn't have a warranty.

If you can trade off the portability, the P570WM really is your best bet. It comes with 780s too which don't have the issues the 880s have. NVidia seems keen to ignore the 880M owners and johnksss has discovered that they are stupid hot but not from the core. My cards with a modded vbios can't manage heat at all whereas stock they stay in the low 80s under load with automatic fan control. 780s with the same clocks run cooler for some reason.

I would definitely do some research. Gaming laptops always involve trade offs, its up to you which ones are acceptable and which ones are not

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

Oh yeah, I definitely am doing a lot of research. Lol I'm so glad I found this forum because all of the information here has helped me immensely, and brought many issues & concerns to the surface.

As far as the M18xR2 goes, I'll probably keep an eye out. However, won't upgrading to 880's also be potentially more expensive than just getting an 18 machine? Also, I'm gonna continue looking into the 4940MX to see if there's really any benefit if there isn't I'll probably go with the 4910MQ to save some $$$.

Clevo on the other hand almost hooked me with the P370SM-A until I saw the track-pad. No mouse buttons! I'm a bit of an oddball in the sense that I can't live without a proper track-pad. I use it in the majority of the games I play due to me being accustomed to it & I feel more engaged & in control with it than a mouse. Although I do have a Razer Naga for FPS and games that are simply impossible to play with a track-pad. Lol

On a side note, when/if I order the 18 I think Xotic PC has me sold now. They have a lot more configurations available than Dell's own website. That and the option of the CPU & GPU thermal pasting is really nice.

 

Lol the track pad is exactly what steered me to get the P377SM-A haha

I actually am glad I went through XOTIC for my machine, they are quite great overall. MUCH better than Dell.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

That's great to hear!

Honestly, I think it came out cheaper on XOTIC than Dell's site itself. Lol

 

I can tell you that my house is 32 degrees celcius MINIMUM daytime temperature with 50%+ humidity every day. My clevo doesn't get that hot with just max fans and propping up the back of the machine with folded toilet paper. Alienware cools better than my clevo. By a lot. Your room is not going to get as hot and humid as mine will. You have nothing to worry about with the heat.

Secondly, you can disable SLI on a per-game basis if need be in your control panel, without actually taking it off. Feel free to do so for games that don't benefit from SLI (like CS:GO and the DayZ mod). If you want to know almost everything you need to know about SLI, I wrote a guide over at the pretty much dead KBMOD forums. You shouldn't need to know anything else about it, and if you still need to know, you can ask here or private message me and I'll help if I can.

 

Read through the entire thread. Great information!

Cleared up a lot of my questions regarding SLI. Thanks for the help!

 

No problem, I'm glad I could help. That's what I do =D

 

For mild overclocking and playing games, you cannot go wrong the new Alienware 18 and a 4930/4940MX CPU. It is a fantastic machine and built extremely well. As the case is with just about everything Alienware builds, the 18 has a superior cooling system... no mods required with the right thermal paste and pads. The Alienware 18's power handling limitation is of zero consequence for gaming enthusiasts. It is only a problem for extreme overclocked benchmark number chasers like me, johnksss and a number of other Alienware fans. This is where the Alienware 18 is a let down, but this does not affect most customers. Extreme overclocking capacity would be the one and only reason I would ever recommend the P570WM (or M18xR2) over the Alienware 18. The build quality and appearance of the Alienware is stellar, where this is average with the Clevo brand. Compared to the P570WM, the Alienware 18 also has switchable graphics for much longer battery life, and the warranty/support is far superior. Alienware made some mistakes (in my opinion) with the new machine, but the biggest problem with literally everything new (except for the P570WM) in a laptop is the abortion known as Haswell. It runs way too hot without delivering much benefit in terms of performance. But, you're going to have this issue to deal with on any machine with Haswell unless you go with a lower clocked and comparatively poor performing Ultrabook.

It's unfortunately that 880M is the only flagship GPU offering a this time. I priced out a new P570WM a few days ago and 780M is not available on any of the Sager/Clevo web sites. It might be available by special order, or by calling to place the order by phone. Hopefully, the issues with 880M will be resolved by NVIDIA soon and it will run like a 780M with twice the vRAM (if not slightly better).

 

So you've changed your mind? Because you were saying that anyone who buys an Alienware 18 is basically giving Dell a free pass to keep screwing their customers last I saw.

 

Hmm... I don't remember saying that. I do go through periods of frustration with it (and my comments often reflect that frustration) because I'm an overclocker first, gamer second. My message has been very consistent about the Alienware 18 being a lousy overclockers machine, but an extremely well built and excellent performing gamer's laptop. I have had nothing but high praise for its build quality and excellent cooling system. Unfortunately, it's not as good as the M18xR2 in terms of performance, but it's the next best option all things considered. That's a reflection on the entire industry when you stop and think about it in broad terms. As you can see from my many posts, it has a power handling limitation and a locked down BIOS... both of those things suck, but they are the norm for the industry and neither of those undesirable qualities interferes with an amazing gaming experience. The CPU overclocks as well as one can expect from a Haswell, but forget about any kind of serious GPU overclocking with a measly 330W AC adapter. I cannot recommend an avid overclocker buy an Alienware 18 because it will not meet their expectations. As a gaming machine, I can recommend it without reservation.

I haven't changed my mind about wanting a P570WM. This machine is an exception to the norm because of its X79 chipset and 6-core desktop CPU, and it delivers insanely awesome CPU performance in a laptop. This would be a horrible machine for many laptop users. The things I find most compelling about it would be detractors for many laptop users. I want one for number chasing because of the 4930K CPU, but that is really the only basis for my interest in it. I would never consider buying one to run a quad core because that configuration is no more powerful than my M18xR2 already is. One of the reasons I don't have one already is I have reservations about the possibility that I will be disappointed in it with respect to build quality and $4,000+ is a lot of money to spend mainly for number-chasing. Other than the P570WM, there is not a Clevo that I can recommend for an avid overclocker. I am not aware of a Clevo model with a Haswell mobile CPU and SLI that performs any better or runs as cool as the Alienware 18. (There may be one that I have not discovered yet.)

 

As a user of the D900F for four years, I'll say this. The desktop-CPU-using Clevos' batteries are basically a UPS. They give you ~40-55 minutes of life doing even menial tasks with a new battery, and they are quite bulky. My new machine is lighter and a bit smaller than my old one with more than double the battery life, giving me clearly over 2 hours with wifi on and light web browsing. It's a "laptop" in the sense that I can pick it up and go wherever I please with it, but you need to be tethered to a power cord for anything longer than checking a couple e-mails and watching a single episode of an anime, for example. At least I can watch a full movie on this machine while I wait for a power outage to fix itself, ya?

Anyway. I decided I'd never get a machine like that again because I wanted the heavier "laptop" benefits that the P370SM3 (and previously P370EM) offered over the P570WM and previously X7200, like better battery life and better software compatibility. And YES, there are instances of software incompatibilities where software just runs awful purely because of the mismatch of the desktop CPU and chipset with the mobile memory/gpus. I don't remember the culprits right now, but I can say that multiple OS reinstalls of Windows Vista SP1, Vista SP2 and 7 SP1 did not ever rectify any software that simply wouldn't "work" for my old D900F. The same could be assumed for the P570WM I'm 100% certain. I cannot deny that it'd have been eternally useful to me however; because I'd have been able to stream on slow or even slower while playing most any game due to the extra two cores and constant clock speed, far less my performance in BF3/4, Black Ops 2, etc (yes, BO2 is quite heavily CPU dependent actually. The higher the FPS goes the more it drains the CPU as well as it the GPU drain increases) simply with the extra CPU juice. So it's a pick-your-poison deal.

If I lived in the USA and I had my own place and a job where I could work from home or whatever, I'd probably go with the P570WM and just take it to LAN parties to abuse its mobility XD.

 

Yeah, I really do want one. It would be only for the sake of extreme overclocking for getting new benchmark scores and points accumulated. It would never be an outright replacement to my 100% portable beast (M18xR2), which provides insane performance that matches or exceeds the performance of most overclocked single GPU quad-core desktops. Its only problem is that it is 2 CPU cores short of a full load, LOL.

I really should spend the $4000-$5000 on building a monster desktop for benching, but the thought of being tied to a desk makes me sick to my stomach. I just can't see spending a lot of money on something that is only usable in one spot and tethered to a desk/monitor. I know myself well enough to know it would only be used for short periods of time for benching and spend most of its life collecting dust. I've been a laptop overclocker/gamer for too long to consider that an attractive option. My M18xR2 travels extremely well (coast to coast hundreds of times) and the P570WM would travel equally well the way I would use it. I have no concerns about size and weight and actually prefer a hulk like the P570MW or 18" Alienware over something smaller. I almost never use the battery on the R2, so I don't care too much about that. It's a nice feature to have available, and in the rare instances that I do use it I am glad it runs 4 to 5 hours without an AC connection on integrated graphics... that's an awesome feature to have. The manually switchable integrated graphics is nice for fixing bad vBIOS flashes, too. It would be worth keeping for that reason alone (cannot do that with the P570WM).

 

Yup, you got that right. If I ever move to the US and such I might look into buying an AW for my needs. It'd be less easy to open and clean than my clevos, but the cooling'd be top notch and people don't get eerie gleams in their eyes when they notice a laptop is an alienware over there. Down here, people are so backwards-thinking it's unbelieveable, and anything that has been worldwide-recognized as being "valuable" is steal bait. Alienware is one such laptop manufacturer. Nobody even sneezed twice at my D900F; I left it unattended in my University back in 2010 for times up to an hour, just plugged in with the screen faded to black. But you put a blackberry on the table and it's gone within 2 minutes.

 

Might as well throw in my $0.02 while we're on the subject...

Compared to the current Alienwares, Clevo has a lot more potential to do better. There's no locked down BIOS thanks to Prema's work, the dual PSU mod is available, and if you look at the cooling system, the heatpipes pass through the middle of the fins for maximum heat transfer instead of being soldered to the top or bottom, and the fans are more than twice as powerful. There's a lot of potential to be harnessed, and if everything worked as they should, the cooling would be unmatched, and the performance would give Alienwares a serious run for its money.

But alas, what Clevo had in design they lacked in execution, and the end result is the machines we have now. In terms of cooling there several issues, but the major one is warped heatsinks. Then there's the restrictive vents on the fan intakes, and excessively long heatpipes for the slave GPU for SLI laptops. Lapping will fix the heatsink issue, as those who have lapped the heatsinks (deadsmiley, Khenglish at TI) have both reported 5-10C drops in temps. Restrictive vents can be fixed by a Dremel mod, but the heatpipe length is an engineering issue. Although once the heatsink is lapped and the vents opened up, the drop in temps should be enough to negate the issue with the heatpipe length.

 

Err I think I lost my train of thought and ended my post halfway through. Anyway...

Like I was saying the excessive heatpipe length is mainly an engineering issue. To get the best cooling you'll want the heatpipes to be as short and straight as possible, and ideally your fans should be sitting directly on top or under the components. This is why both the AlW18 and the P570WM are so darned thick, because to allow for such an arrangement you just cannot avoid thickness, and indeed in both machines the GPU cooling is superior.

Feature-wise, Clevos allow spread spectrum to be disabled, but this is really only useful for extreme benchmarking and of little importance to gamers. The R2 allows voltage adjustment for the RAM, something missing in the Clevo. AW18's MUX gives the best of both worlds, and something which I think Clevo could implement (although this would no doubt drive up the cost). Then there's the manual fan control in AW, which Clevo lacks except for forcing max fans. This I believe is very similar to the behavior of the M18xR2, where the fans can only be controlled in unison but not independently. Although I'm not sure if the M18xR2 allows custom fan curves to be programmed, as you can't do that in a Clevo. Screen options are a plus for Clevo, since you get the choice between matte and glossy, and a 120Hz 3D screen; no IPS panels atm though.

Build quality goes to Alienware, although I will say that Clevo probably makes the finest plastic boxes of them all lol. The pieces are modular and fit together easily, nothing feels oddly cobbled together, and I really like not having to worry about a million little clips flying everywhere if I'm not careful in taking off the bottom panel. Oh and speaking of that, I like how easily the Clevo can be serviced. I can literally get to the components in less than 30 seconds (4 screws on bottom cover), and finish a repaste from opening to closing the bottom panel in about 5 minutes if I work fast. In this regard the Clevo is like the AW17. I kinda wish the 18 inchers had the same design, as looking through the service manuals and brother Fox's videos it does seem to take a bit more work to tear down an 18" unit. It would take a completely overhaul of the mobo but I'm sure it could be done; literally you just need to swap the two sides of the mobo so the CPU socket and MXM slots are now on the bottom inside of the top side.

 

You're likely right about all of that. I wish I could test various alienwares and clevos and see for myself, but I've only had full access to a HP Pavilion something-or-other, a D900F and a P370SM3 so far. Honestly, the D900F was still the most beautiful machine I ever used. The back was raised nice and high (something missing in the P370SM3) and there were just about no mods to speak of. I was looking at the internals yesterday of my P370SM3 and I realized that simply removing the subwoofer (that most people agree sucks anyway) could allow for SO much more room. They could have shifted the mSATA and RAM slots over to the right a little, adding room for a better CPU heatsink and CPU cooling that was lost with the better slave GPU heatsink of the 780M.

I really wish I had the ability to truly fiddle with and mod the insides; but I don't have that ability yet. I think next year I'll look into getting a 880M master GPU heatsink, some liquid ultra (maybe later this year for that... but I have some health issues to work on first and importing is fairly annoyingly expensive), if I can source a backplate somewhere I'll definitely use a second backplate for better cooling, and if I get lucky I'll even go for the dual PSU setup and just keep my cards and CPU nicely OC'd to help with my whole streaming fandangle.

By the way, what exactly is heatsink lapping?

 

Would you believe me if I told you that prior to this P370SM I've had for about 8 months, the last time I tinkered with a computer was a desktop back in 2004? I was effectively a complete beginner to modding when I first started, and I'm still an amateur, but baby steps definitely carried me a long way. I started by basically swapping parts in and out, then to cutting and fitting my own thermal pads, and finally progressed to actually using power tools to do some easy cutting. If I can manage to properly lap a heatsink I'm going to buy myself a round of beer lol

This is heatsink lapping btw.

And I agree, remove the subwoofer, move the 2 ram slots over to where the subwoofer was, then there's much more room to make a beefier triple pipe CPU heatsink. In fact, Clevo could even use the P570WM's GPU heatsink as a blueprint for said hypothetical triple pipe CPU heatsink, You'd have to shorten it a bit and make it narrower, but there would definitely be room to fit a third heatpipe if the space where the 2 ram slots are now can be reclaimed.

 

I think I might try that heatsink lapping thing next year, preferably with the 880M heatsink and liquid ultra while I'm at it. I'm bookmarking all these pages now so I know how to apply/remove etc. If I can make sure I sit in the 70s on max fans and never touch 80 without an OC under ANY load conditions... I'll be 100% satisfied.

 

I apologize to OP and Mr. Fox for severely derailing this thread, but I just discovered yet a few more Clevo fails that when fixed, either drops GPU temps by 2C or prevents something from cooking. Really shaking my head at this, but this is exactly what I meant about Clevo having so much potential just waiting to be harnessed (or ignored).

One of these days or if I ever get off my lazy butt I'm going to do a rant-review type of thing and chronicle all of Clevo's fails when it comes to cooling, and how the end user can turn all those fails into complete wins...

 

Oh, c'mon buddy, you can't do that. What, pray tell, did you discover and what was the fix for it? Homey don't play dat "to be continued" thing.

 

Exhibit 1: Unnecessary void on master GPU side
Evidence:

Spoiler

Really Clevo? Seriously? You don't know how to make radiators so they fit the entire length of the chassis instead of leaving that useless void?

Fix: Foil tape

Spoiler

Extremely simple 1 minute mod, result is -2C in temp under load. (yes that void wasted *that* much air)

Exhibit 2: The case of the missing heat spreader (and mechanical support)
Evidence:

We all know the 780M has vRAM chips on the back, and without a heat spreader they'll just be getting toasty. Well this is what a Clevo 780M with a heat spreader looks like: (photo courtesy of Calibre41)

Spoiler

And this is what the 780M in my P370SM looks like: (note that I removed foam supports from each corner of the X-bracket)

Spoiler

WHAT??? Where the hell did my heat spreader go?

After some sleuthing, I was able to conclusively determine that all P1xxSM laptops have this heat spreader, the P570WM has the heat spreader built into the mobo, but for some reason the P370/375SM laptops got left out. Clearly Clevo realizes that vRAM chips exist on the backside as well. So why on earth did the SLI laptops -- which generate much more heat -- not receive this important piece of cooling equipment? Is this an engineering oversight, or did Clevo intentionally leave out the heat spreader for whatever reason? Well first let's have a peek at the mobo under the master 780M...

Spoiler

Keep this square outline in mind, I will come back to the significance of this later.

Fix: Acquire heat spreader part, mod it to fit, profit

So as it turns out, the stock heat spreader can NOT simply be dropped in without some Dremel modding, have a look at this:

Spoiler

Hmm ok, so maybe Clevo simply got lazy and never bothered to mass produce a modified version to fit the P370SM, right? RIGHT???

Spoiler

There's just no way I could take a usable picture with the heat spreader resting on the mobo, but take my word for it that I've verified at least 5 times that support foam fits squarely (pun intended) into the square outline on the mobo.

If I had to guess, Clevo at some point in their design process had definitely intended to include a heat spreader for the P370SM, but for whatever reason scraped this idea at a later stage, and the end result is a 780M with no heat spreader, and lack of adequate mechanical support.

I'm still trying to get the slave 780M heat spreader to fit, it's much more of a chore than the master 780M since it's clear Clevo never intended for the slave 780M to have a heat spreader (thankfully mechanical support is fine as the design is much more reasonable). If I ever successfully get the heat spreader to fit I will be sure to report back as such.

Anyway, the lack of a heat spreader for the master 780M actually presents a much more serious problem: the master 780M in the P370SM is only supported on one corner by that single piece of foam on the mobo, the end result is that the 780M deforms over a period of time due to the uneven mechanical load. HOLY HELL. This deformation is particularly nasty as the deformed part contains the VRMs, which do all the heavy lifting and are the hottest running components on the entire card, yet they receive poor cooling due to the deformation causing inadequate contact with the heatsink. You can appreciate how freaked out I was when I found out about this, but thankfully I was able to fix this with some 2.5mm pads.

To Clevo's credit, I should add that the 880Ms in the P377SM-A (P375SM refresh) now do come with a heat spreader. Clevo is well aware of this issue and has finally taken steps to rectify it, so that's encouraging (although that still leaves us P370SM owners hanging... :/)

tl;dr Clevo royally dropped the ball on the P370SM, and D2 Ultima isn't the only one writing novels after midnight LOL.

 

Welcome to the novel-writing club!

Also, I need to like... visit you for a week and just acquire a couple liquid ultra tubes, some sandpaper, some 880M heatsinks and just like, go to town. By the time I get back home my PC won't know what this "getting hot" deal is.

 

lol yeah modding is incredibly addictive, and I'm so far into it I don't think I could ever run this thing stock again. I mean seriously I've dropped temps by almost 10C across the board just by opening the fan vents, using 120mm fans on the U3 cooler, and taping off all unnecessary voids. I can only imagine what a proper lapping of the heatsink would get me...

 

You really need to consolidate all of this P370SM modding into it's own thread. Not because you are "being bad" by posting it here, but because it needs to be in one place where Clevo owners can find it.

Excellent work by the way!

 

I know I know, I promise one of these days I'll compile everything into one thread in the Clevo forum. But I have to admit even the thought of doing that scares me, as it'll probably take a good hour or two to get everything organized, annotated, uploaded, and posted.

 

I tell you, when you do it, I'll order spares of everything next year (since the stuff isn't THAT expensive, I just need some freelance work or something to get the cash for it) and just heavy-mod everything out.