M11x: Reapplying stock TIM, Temperatures, Benchmarks, and Overclocks

As a person who is never satisfied and has a habit of tinkering with everything, I thought it'd be a great idea to reapply the stock TIM with Mx-3, ranked amongst the best in terms of TIM's.

Along the way to disassembly, I will be replacing my faulty Keyboard (certain keys were not functional like the all important F6!!) and obtaining the PLLfor future software overclocks.

Post assembly I took both temperatures idle and in load with both integrated and dedicated GPU's.

So let's begin...

Taking apart the M11x was not hard at all. With no guide in hand, I had to be very careful with handling the plastic trim and parts. This is by no means a guide as I suspect few will be opening their M11x's for fun. To those who are interested, I am happy to help (I do take no responsibility for damage).

The first thing was to remove the top panel with the power button. It easily comes off with slight force and flat head screwdrivers.


After removing several screws to remove the bottom cover and the battery, HDD etc, the keyboard and palm rest is removed.




After a bit of sitting and thinking I was finally able to completely disassemble the M11x.


A closer look at the mobo

NOTE: I am not releasing the PLL until I verify is it's the correct chip.

After removing several screws, the heatsink is removed. I cleaned the stock TIM with alcohol and reapplied a single small drop on Mx-3.


Long story short I put everything back together, along with the new keyboard (thank you Dell for the speedy delivery), and custom cut a screen cover.


And here the little one sits ready to be stress tested


Until next time. Thanks for looking!


Stock temps can be based on other individual's temperatures. I did not spend a lot of time stock and so did not take any screen shots. I can say that my stock temps idle were into the high 30's on OC.

I didn't spend a lot of time at 1.3GHz. The first thing I did was to verify that my system could OC, which it did beautifully.

The first task at hand with the new TIM was to set a good idle temperature. The house was at a temperature of 22ºC.

On a side note, my fan kicks in at approximately 38ºC, other times it's just idle and does not spin. When the fan kicks in the temperature drops are quick, about 5 seconds to reach the minimum recorded temperature.

Idle temperature with integrated GPU


Load temperature with integrated GPU


Temperature graphs on load for Cores 1 and 2

Core 1


Core 2


Idle temperatures with dedicated GPU


Load temperatures with dedicated GPU


Temperatures graphs on load for Cores 1 and 2

Core 1


Core2


Overclocked the GPU to 575/1400/850. Those were at my best Crysis stable overclocks. I specifically use Crysis instead of Vantage because vantage will allow some instability to slip by and with Crysis, my experience has been that any small instability cause it the crash out into windows. I was able to go a lot higher in overclocks but this what I consider to be game stable after testing in ME2 and Arkham Asylum.



I still have to run a stock one to post but it was about 28FPS.

Today I went to Fry's, returned some item and got $54 worth of credit. So what did I buy? The Zalman NC2000...Overkill? Maybe.

Load temperatures with the dedicated GPU on was sitting at a nice 38-39C average.


Some graphs from the test of the two cores.




Same settings testing GPU (575/1400/850) temperatures


And without the NC2000


I would've tested longer but I'm short on time. I will do that later though.

 

Nice job, +rep.

 

+1!
What screen cover are you using?
Tried ViewGuard's anti-glare - was a bad idea.

 

Thanks! Did you happen to note what the clock generator is for possibly using PLL overclocking with SetFSB?

 

>.> am I seeing that right, is the cpu just held in place by glue?

 

You are a brave man.
Great job by the way, I always like to look at the inner workings of laptops.

 

Wow. So the CPU isn't soldered onto the board?

 

I doubt it's glued on. I would suspect it's there to protect the cpu from the crappy TIM they used. I was kind of a mess, took a bit to clean too.

Then again...

 

Hmm...seems like this is something I wanna do too. Did you note any lower temps as opposed to the factory stuff on the cpu/gpu? Was there any kind of excessive prying going on or mostly screws?

 

Hi,

The chip will be BGA (Ball Grid Array) mounted onto the main board, they use small solder balls to make each contact, then heat the chip to melt the small balls of solder thus solder mounting the chip to the main board.

The glue on the corners of the chips are to prevent a potential cold solder joint causing failure over the long term (if present) i.e. a break in the contact, due to continued thermal expansion and contraction of the main board.

Hope that helps

Cheers

Nathan

 

Thanks for the explanation, repped

 

woohaaa great post. +rep

 

While the glue may serve to help prevent the chip from lifting off the mobo over time. I'm pretty sure the glue is there to hold the chip in place before the mobo is heated to melt the balls of solder on the chip to the contact points on the mobo. Other components on the mobo are glued as well, but you don't typically see the glue because it is underneath the component. The CPU/GPU/chipset are so densely populated on the bottom with the solder BGA (Ball Grid Array) that there is no room for glue hence the dollups you see on the side.


Thanks for the write up. I almost did this last night but I wasn't sure how much of a difference it would make. Seems like it might be worthwhile. The PLL chip on mine is a ICS9LPRS387BKLF. Is that what you observed?

 

Looks like that PLL is not already coded into SetFSB. If I am reading the SetFSB site right, this dude is no longer updating SetFSB? Is anyone else doing this?

 

You must be either brave or rich
but either way.. u are awesome to open up the beast.. good goin

 

+rep. Perfect Detail info.

 

That's right, he's not updating it anymore unfortunately. The only other programs I can think of are ClockGen and CPUCool. ClockGen isn't "active" at the moment from CPUID but you can download it elsewhere. I've checked both programs and neither support the M11x's PLL. I've emailed CPUCool to see if they can support it. The only downside with CPUCool is that it costs €15 to enable the program to actually save the settings, but if it works I wouldn't mind paying it.

 

villosa, fantastic post. Quick question, does replacing the TIM require complete disassembly?

 

it doesnt really look accessible from the bottom so going from the top seems to be the only way to go. This is going to suck when i have to clean that fan

 

Do you have pictures of the stock Dell thermal compound?

Was it as bad as this?

 

I have same temps without taking anything apart, it's hard to believe that applying different compound will lower the temps. The trick with OP temps is that it's showing idle temps after complete cool down which is what it stays at. If you stress the CPU the temps will go up higher and will idle at that.

With that said can you post your idle temps after say 15 mins of gaming. Ideally it would be nice to see a video with temps when you stress the system and let it cool down.

 

Applying a more thermally efficient TIM will certainly help temps. How much is dependent on what they originally use.

On my desktop I saw 2C drop at load with silver based TIM

I don't plan on doing it with my m11x. But it's cool to see it done!

+1

 

I've used it to apply before to my desktops, but I honestly did not see any difference. So, if someone else is brave enough to do this on m11x can you please post your idle temps after stressing your system.

My temps after stressing the system stay at 38 during basic browsing. Fan does not turn at all

 

i plan on doing this but not for around 2 months. Since i clean the fan every 1 - 2 months i usually end up changing the thermal paste anyways

 

Wow... is this how it came? I could do a better job using my feet.

 

^^ That's the first generation Macbook Pro.

I have one. My stock idle is 55-60C and my load is 75-80C.........


I am still stunned every time I load the M11x and see 48C........literally stunned.

 

Pfffft, so people are literally paying extra $ for the name of Steve Job's company. Such a sloppy job. Pun intended.

48C idle for GPU is really something. Mine looks like it's over 48 even when the laptop is turned off.

 

Here are pictures I took of the thermal interface material on the M11x. Dell did not use a viscous material instead they used a thermal pad. From the pictures you can see that the pad seemed a bit thick, and the material had not flowed out and left a thin layer. Instead there was a fairly thick layer which does not conduct the heat away from the chip as well as a thin layer. Anyways, I replaced it with some OCZ Freeze which droped the temps a couple of degrees.

 

Just to make sure...

From this picture, it seems the motherboard includes 2x DDR3 slots for RAM right? (Yeah I know how in the world would dual-channel work with only one... but I was told it has only 1.)

 

The M11x has 2 ddr3 slots. If you ordered the stock M11x, you would have received 2x1 gb sticks of ram.

 

There are two DIMM slots.

 

Without any benches i will take your results with a grain of salt

 

Sorry to disappoint you. You know what they say. If you want it done right do it yourself.

 

@klas
It has never been a secret that using (and applying properly) 3rd party paste will help with the temps somewhat. Duffy did say it only lowered his temps by a couple of degree's though.

It may not be worth it considering how cool the M11x runs anyways plus it is alot of work opening the whole thing up.

 

lol so true.

@Klas

This thread wasn't meant to be a full on report. I did it to share my results done under my own methods and observations. Temperatures are hard to "prove" and are honestly overrated since it's so dependent on many factors, like your ambient air temps for one. You say you never see any results from reapplying with a high-quality TIM, then I say you ARE applying it wrong. You will always see a temperature difference going from stock TIM to a higher quality TIM if you apply right, I don't think anyone can question that fact. Even a 1 degree drop still counts as an improvement. You also can't come here and say your stock temps are the same as my Mx-3 temps because you don't live in my house lol, comparing temps that way will always never work.

Anyway, I'll have some new stuff updated soon. Thanks everyone for the comments, I'll try to run through the thread again and answer your questions.

EDIT: Here are my temps when I left the machine on overnight. The idle went to 23C and my house temps were at 27C. I have yet to see someone with a drop that low yet.

 

Unless there are thermal issues, I wouldn't touch it to change the TIM. If you're opening it up because you're curious, that's another story, by all means, use AS5 or ICD7.

 

Thanks villosa for update. I just wanted to see real comparison before and after, before attempting the surgery. Also, various factors could impact the temps. Currently I am idling at 30 degrees and fan is on, as a matter of fact it doesn't shut off, unless I put the computer into standby and bring it back. It's either a bug or something else, but basically the fan doesn't throttle down when reached certain temperatures.

 

thanks villosa and duffyneal +1 for both of you. I will be doing this tonight. I was going to do this yesterday but the online service manual did not have the info, but now I see it's like my old Inspiron 1501 which I had to remove the front panel and keyboard to access it all. I have MX-3 sitting around at home as well as some Arcticleaner. I want my temps to drop since they like to hover around 38C so my fans like to stay on and off. Any bit cooler will help keep the fans off (I hope) and ultimately better battery life.

But before I do so, I will be sure to run a load benchmark or two. What's a good one?

 

For the GPU go ahead and run Furmark. It'll push your GPU beyond what your regular gaming sessions will do. For example my Furmark temps for about 10 minutes were a stable 64C but after gaming for 5 hours on Mass Effect with my GPU OCed to 580/1400/855, my GPU temps were only 52C and CPU was 47C. I'll have more data up soon on my first page soon. As for the CPU, I like to run OCCT for stability and temperature readings. Good luck with your disassembly. Go ahead and ask questions if you run into a troubled area.

 

thanks villosa - I sent you a PM regarding what all I should be disassembling and what may not need to be removed. Please respond if you get a chance, would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

 

Would it be possible to post step by step guide how to remove it, preferably with pictures

 

villosa what did you use for the screen cover and is that anti-glare?

 

Here's a link to the Dell service manual. It would have been nice to have this last week.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/Alw_lp_M11x/en/SM/index.htm

 

Thanks! Although, personally I find actual pictures and steps more useful then those manuals.

 

Lol, I didn't even know a service manual existed...oh well. Klas, unfortunately I don't have any more pictures of the disassembly. Hopefully a fellow member can provide you with more pictures and I will be more than happy to help if you have questions.

@Ceolwulf

I used this one brad called Onion something...Green Onion? lol I forgot. But it was a 17" and I just cut it (carefully) to size after applying. I didn't get anti-glare because that would've ran about $40 whereas the one I got only cost $10...

 

Just a quick update I was able to take apart the M11x and I really mean take it apart. Nearly every part had to be removed some how just to finally get to the heatsinks. I printed out photos of most steps and used that to align screws and also had my gf's MacBook to use as reference. Taking it apart took me probably an hour lol. Then I had to do cleaning and applied the MX3. Putting it back was a lot easier and faster though. Anyway preliminary temps after post TIM showed 2C increase in CPU lol and 3C decrease on gpu via OCCT tests max temp comparison. I will test again after letting the TIM settle and post pics. on iPod touch right now

 

The increase may be caused by even the slightest air bubble. If it keeps up in 72 hours, even though I believe MX-3 doesn't need a cure time, reapply the TIM again.

 

Villosa yeah I kept thinkin about how I had applied it and on the CPu I had applied it a little sloppier =( But yeah I'll give it some time but I may even just try opening it tomorrow again! I GPU temps look great but I was more concerned about the CPU.

I'm pretty sure I had messed up on the application, the idle temps of the CPU have risen as well.

 

Are you spreading the TIM on the chips or using the small drop in the center method?

 

I used a drop in the center, but I messed with the one on the cpu and dabbed it with the end of the MX-3 a couple times b/c I felt like I had too much, I'm almost certain now I have some sort of uneven spread or bubble due to my stabbing of the TIM. I think I will go ahead and reopen it up, and for the CPU do the line down center method for the CPU and drop in center of GPU. Thanks for the concern Villosa, I enjoy this stuff for the most part =) Just always room for error when I open it up though.