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    Alienware Area-51m15x-r1 GPU Overheating

    Discussion in 'Alienware Area-51/Aurora and Legacy Systems' started by tutsuo, Apr 23, 2014.

  1. tutsuo

    tutsuo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey guys long time no see, i recently upgraded my old machine with a X9000 Extreme and an 8800M GTX .

    Plain and simple i can not game because whenever i try the GPU over heats, i have the proper heatsink though i had to use a pure copper penny(shaved/polished) to get the heatsink to touch the GPU, MX-4 thermal paste on all sides and no i didnt put too much, heatsinks are 100%clean. While gaming i hit temps like 97C after a few minutes and well throttling starts and cuts FPS WAY down.

    I have tried everything. Are there after market laptop fans i can buy to replace mine ? Or better heatsinks? Any ideas ?

    Edit : My solution Post #5
     
  2. sangemaru

    sangemaru Notebook Deity

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    Find a way to remove the copper penny and lower the heatsink. Shave the x-bracket, use thinner thermal pads, optimize optimize optimize.

    Just make sure that the heatsink is well seated. I don't understand how it's the proper heatsink if the GPU core doesn't touch it.
     
  3. tutsuo

    tutsuo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Shave the X-Bracket ? and i dunno man i have the correct heatsink, its wierd.

    anyway i can replace the old GPU fan with one of these ? http://www.ebay.com/bhp/laptop-cpu-cooling-fan OR Is there another laptop with the same size fan and 3-pin that i can put in there ?
     
  4. WhiteAlien

    WhiteAlien Notebook Guru

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    if you hit so high temps then its definately a problem with heatsink positioning. Original heatsink should touch GPU without any pennies, good even pressure with very thin paste layer. Is fan running full throttle? 8800GTX shouldn't ever exceed 90°C at full load.
     
  5. tutsuo

    tutsuo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yea i dunno what the problem is. I'm modifying the heat sink to make direct contact. Anyone know how to remove the heat pipe from the heat sink ? that thermal adhesive is good XD.

    Update : Building custom heat sink ! cant wait for this to be done and test it.

    UPDATE 1MAY14 : Bought a new heatsink because i accidently bent the heat pipe and was not cooling, I instead removed the copper shim from the first heatsink(100% sanded and polished) and with thermal paste it made perfect contact with the GPU die. GPU is now over clocked/undervolter by 0.05v, under 100% load does not hit over 80c usually stays around 75c. :thumbsup: