460m & coolers

Hey,

Well I moved countries for the summer, and I have noticed that my FPS rates have dropped pretty dramatically since. I play Call of Duty: Black Ops, and for some reason after one or two games my computer would heat up, reaching 100 degrees Celsius (taken off HWinfo). I am pretty sure it is the temperatures that cause the FPS drop, because during these 1-2 games, my FPS seems fine. I have cleaned the area where my coolers are, without opening the bottom tray. I honestly don't know what screw to pull out to take out the fan to vacuum it a bit, so I just left it as it was. Any help on this matter would be appreciated.

Another question I had (to avoid making two threads, not sure if the admins would appreciate that), was that I was looking to upgrading to a 460m, I wanted to know if it is mandatory to upgrade via Alienware or can I just buy the 460m card off Amazon/Ebay, or any other third party website. Since my warranty expired, will they even let me buy it off them and install it? I here parts located at the top part of the computer (keyboard, touchpad, etc.) is "not customer replaceable".

One more thing I forgot to put in here: Is it possible to OC the M15x? If so, how? To what I know, it's not possible, but just double checking.

EDIT: Not sure if this will help, but my GPU core load hit 37.37% while in-game, if that means anything.

Thanks in advance.

 

Any regular (this excludes the one from the Asus G73, lol) 460m should work, you don't need to get it from Dell.
Also there are some good offers on the marketplace here once in a while.

100°C is seriously hot, it's possible that your system is very dust, but with such high temps I really think you have no other choice than to reapply the thermal paste.

About how to open your system... it's pretty easy. You have to remove the battery and then the two screws which are holding the back panel, and you can remove it and have access to the fans.

For exchanging the thermal paste, check out the link in the signature of Inap, also in my GPU replacement guide you can see how to remove the heatsink.

 

Lol well I know how to get to the back of the computer, but to remove dust off the fans shouldn't you remove the fan itself or something to make it easier?

If you were in my shoes, where would you look to buy a 460m?

 

Oh and, sorry but I'm little "nooby" to this, where would I get thermal paste and how/where would I apply it?

 

This is Inap's M15x Thermal Paste Guide, which will walk you through the process of gaining access to and cleaning the GPU and heatsink and applying new thermal paste (and pads). Download THERMAL PASTE GUIDE.rar from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way. The Guide is almost idiot-proof.

These videos may also be useful:

YouTube - ‪Accessing the Graphics card on the M15X‬‏

YouTube - ‪Alienware M15x unscrew action 260M graphics and i7 processor‬‏

YouTube - ‪Cleaning the Alienware M15x‬‏

YouTube - ‪Alienware M15x Teardown 1 of 3 **READ SAFETY PRECAUTIONS PRIOR TO REPLACING PARTS** (Official Video)‬‏

There are a number of types and brands of thermal paste. I prefer Arctic Cooling MX-4, which is non-conductive, easy to apply and very effective, but Arctic Silver 5 (AS-5), OCZ Freeze and some others are also highly regarded. One popular source is FrozenCPU, but Newegg and other computer supply stores also carry MX-4. Arctic Cooling MX-4 Super High Performance Non-Conductive Thermal Compound (4g) - FrozenCPU.com. Thermal pads are also available. Fujipoly Premium System Builder Thermal Pad - 1/4 Sheet - 150 x 100 x 0.5 - Thermal Conductivity 6.0 W/mK - FrozenCPU.com.

 

Thanks, you and svl7 have been of most help
One more question, I know that it's not possible but just to confirm, is overclocking the M15x possible? If so, how? Thanks.

 

Oh just to show you guys how bad the temperatures are at, take a look.

 

You can OC the GPU on your M15x with ease. There are plenty of programs out there, but I personally use MSI Afterburner. There are others such as Sapphire aka Trixx.

You can also OC your CPU, but (if I'm not mistaken) only if you have an XM processor (i.e. 920XM/940XM). You can use an application such as Throttlestop by our very own unclewebb.

Hope this helps!

 

Oh, man, both CPU and GPU are in urgent need of new paste.

On the overclocking question, M15x's with 920/940xm CPU's are highly overclockable, implemented by adjusting multipliers and/or TDP. Neither multipliers nor power can be manipulated on the other CPU's, including the 740QM. Some, a few, M15x's can use SetFSB to increase BCLK, resulting in a limited o/c, but the increased BCLK can cause instability. It is very much a trial and error proposition to determine whether the method can be used and, if so, how much and then whether stability can be maintained. There is an extensive thread on the subject, informally moderated by Mr. Pras. http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/499768-m15x-fsb-overclocking-not-only-920xm.html. On the other hand, your GTX 260M can be overclocked by using various utilities to increase the GPU clocks. It's been a while since I've used an nVidia card, so I'll let others provide more current information on the subject.

 

But you guys obviously wouldn't recommend me overclocking my GPU looking at my current temperatures, right?

 

right. overclocking your gpu at its current temps is not a good idea.
buy some thermal paste, go inside and clean out your old thermal paste then apply your new thermal paste.
then check your temps and if theyre low then u can go ahead and overclock.
remember gpu temp shouldnt get more than 80c

 

Getting thermal paste in my current location seems to be a bit of a hassle. Maybe manually cranking up my coolers would help? Any software for that?

By the way, my temperature as of right now (have Firefox, Steam, Skype and iTunes open), are 56c on the GPU and 70c average for the cores. Cores are way too hot, what about the GPU?

 

You can control your fans using HwInfo32.

 

Tried it. When I turn me fans up using it, me fans would be unstable. It would stay at a high speed and then automatically dip down, and then come back up to speed again. The process is looped.

 

Get HWINFO32/64 v381-1290 (or later). After clicking on the Fan icon on the Sensors Tab, if you click on Custom Auto you can define a temperature-driven 6-point fan control for each of the CPU and GPU. Works beautifully.

 

Oh, wow. I think it was a new update that fixed it; I re-downloaded it today and seems to have my coolers working fine. I maxed them out while playing, and my GPU seemed to hit a max temperature of 83.1c, and cores ran at at a 78c average, with me prioritizing Black Ops as "high" via Task Manager. I was playing for about 30 minutes. Comments?

By the way, the computer is only six months old, do you guys think reapplying the thermal paste is essential at this time? Not sure if flying to another country has anything to do with it.

 

Glad to hear it's working better. However, given the extreme earlier temps, I would repaste at your earliest covenience. The fans are mitigating the heat, but I expect they're working very hard to do so. Dell/Alienware is not famous for quality paste application from the factory.

 

I'll definitely keep in mind to reapply the thermal paste. However, it may not happen till the end of August because finding thermal paste in this country isn't as easy. You think this may hurt my computer?

 

Not as long as max temps remain where they are now (mid-80C's +/-), but pay attention because there is a tendency for temps to creep upward. 90C is my personal worse case limit (excluding extreme benching); when max temps hit that level, I repaste no matter what, and 85C is usually enough. As I understand it, the GTX 260M is a cool running GPU, so high temps are an even stronger warning that all is not well. No need for immediate action, but be prudent and fix it when you can.

 

Will do, thanks for the tip.
So overclocking my GPU is a big no right now, mot until I reapply my thermal paste correct?

 

Okay, not good. Just got a BSOD with the error code 0x00000116, according to Google it has to do with video and heat. Lol a little help please?