79C GPU Core Temperture after attempting Bios overclock

So I over-clocked my CPU in the bios to 144. I thought everything was working fine, but then I noticed in all graphics intensive games (so far I've tested it in TF2, Rift, BFBC2 and Vietnam and Dragon Age) periodic performance drops. From 50-70 in BFBC2 to 10-20, nigh unplayable, it recovers for 2 minutes, and then drops again for 2 minutes, and keeps alternating. If I let the laptop cool-off it takes about 15 minutes for the problem to start up. This leads me to believe it's overheating.

GPUz is noting hight temperatures and it seems the problem is slightly mitigated when I put the laptop between my legs, as opposed to a flat surface, so more air can get in. I opened it up but it doesn't look dusty at all, though the processor and graphics don't look easily accessible so I can't be sure.

Obviously I disabled any and all over-clocking as soon as I noticed the problem. I'm running the 265 drivers and tried doing a clean reinstall but nothing changed.

Did I just completely destroy a heat-sink or something?

 

No you didn't destroy the heatsink. I've taken my M11x apart twice and pulled out the mobo'n all and I tell you that the stock heatsink is one big device for bot the CPU and GPU. The copper is attached to heatpads at the CPU/GPU junction which are made for - you guessed it - heat. So don't worry about that.

You mention you OC'd your CPU, yet you're reading from GPUz ie GPU temp?? The GPU temp should not factor in as its unchanged (you only OCd the CPU, you should be more worried about CPU temp. So what exactly did you measure??

Also, all modern processors come with automatic overheating prevention measures which will throttle the CPU until it has cooled.
Unless your specific M11x wasn't soldered correctly none of the soldering points should have been affected.

Certain M11x can however, have bad solder points which will be affected by high temps, even if its for a minute. If reinstall and reset bios to default doesn't help you need to RMA it. M11x is designed to be overclocked, so you have plenty of grounds if this feature doesn't work.

 

Do I have to reinstall windows or just re-flash the BIOS firmware?

CPU temp stays stable at around 56; I watch GPU go up to 79/80 then frames go down, almost as if its switching to integrated. Then temp goes down to 72 whereupon frames recover, after which the temp starts to increase again; cycle repeats forever. No hard locks or anything, but during the cool-down phase I notice other things like sound stuttering and such.

Is 79/80 hot for a GPU?

 

Update: It's completely fixed when I prop up the back edge on a book. GPU stays around 68/69. Any idea why all of a sudden my air intake doesn't work properly?

 

What exactly do you mean by all of the sudden? How long have you had your M11x? R1? R2? Changed drivers recently? What BIOS are you running?

Could be the tape that seals the airflow path has come undone and it now obstructing.

 

I have had my R2 since the end of July. It all started about 3 or 4 days ago. How do I check the tape? Im running the A03 Bios.

 

Are you comfortable with taking your laptop apart? Dell has a very good service manual on their website to open up the M11x.

But my suggestion would be to call Dell and arrange for an engineer to have a look at it on site - you get that service free with your laptop. Its just, if you've never taken a laptop apart before it can be pretty scary. And there's really no reason for you to do it if you can have it done for free from someone who is trained to do this.

 

79C is low for a GPU dont worry!

 

You really sure? I used to play crysis high settings on my r1 with no problems. Since I put my new drivers for my nvdia card the fan went crazy it heats up everything I just cant play on a normal wooden desk. I'm waiting to past Christmas and new year to contact dell or alienware in my country so I can see what is happening. Good thing is not just me that have problems with heat.


Edit: since I see a few guys and me have this problem. Is it possible to create a topic about it. And try to find the answer of this ? that would be awesome. I have my m11x since august and the performance is not the same as when I bought it.