Alienware m15x-r2 - throttle/low fps + random power off issues

Hey guys,

I've owned my laptop for a while now, and have never had cause to complain - however the other day I started experiencing low fps issues while playing a game, namely League of Legends. Its a pretty undemanding game so I was rather surprised. Today my laptop randomly powered off in the midst of a game, so I cleaned the vents with some compressed air thinking it was an overheating issue. Unfortunately, the issue has persisted - low fps and occasional random shutdowns where the pc just blacks out instantly for no conceivable reason. Here are IMGURS of cpu and gpu temps on idle and during a game - whereas before I would always have 60 fps ingame (capped by vsync), now I get between 15-25. Interestingly, switching from highest graphics to lowest doesn't seem to improve fps. Furthermore, if I toggle the stealthmode button to turn it on, and then immediately turn it off, I get the usual 60fps/smooth performance for about 2-3 seconds, until it returns back to the laggy/sluggish graphics. It seems like some sort of throttle but I'm no expert - please help guys

Temperatures don't seem unreasonably high:

http://i.imgur.com/KloDN7n.png - idle
imgur: the simple image sharer - playing for 5 mins (I would imagine the temps will be higher after prolongued play)

p.s.: just to predate some inevitable comments - stealth mode is off, charger plugged in, high performance enabled

 

played a bit longer and gpu peaked at 62, 70, 64.5 - don't think temps are an issue

 

hey guys, can anyone give me any suggestions at all? At this point I have no idea what to do, I tried opening sc2 and had similiar performance issues (running on lowest settings) so its not an issue with the game. My next step is reformatting and reinstalling windows but I'd rather see if there is something else I can try/figure out if its a hardware issue (since I'd imagine if its hardware related then a reformat wont help)

 

To avoid throttling.

Run GPUz and run the built in render tool for 30 secs. Then quit and load into your game. Leave the game at menu for another 30 secs and play. No throttle.

The M15x requires the GPU load to be increased gradually not suddenly. Too high a load too quickly will cause throttle.

 

That shouldnt be the case though on the 5850m. What driver are you on?

 

driver version according to GPU-z: atiumdag 8.911.0.0 (catalyst 11.11)

I ran furmark for a few minutes and topped out at 99.5C - I understand that this isn't normal so I presume a proper clean/repaste is in order. Would that explain the low fps/lag in games, even on low settings?

Also, I would like to reiterate that this started like 3 days ago, prior to this had no issues whatsoever

 

i would do a repaste and repad your gpu. log a save file thru gpu-z while play a game to see how the gpu is acting, you could also try a render test thru gpu-z. hopefully your card isnt dieing on you

 

I'll be reformatting my pc today and doing a clean install incase its something software related - when I have the necessary tools I'll do a repaste. Any advice on which pads to get? (I have some aftermarket paste laying around somewhere). Also, I'd like to try a more thorough cleaning - just putting compressed air through the vents doesn't seem thorough enough - any videos you would reccommend for that?

 

0.5mm thermal pads from fujipoly:

Fujipoly Extreme System Builder Thermal Pad - 1/4 Sheet - 150 x 100 x 0.5 - Thermal Conductivity 11.0 W/mK - FrozenCPU.com

To be honest, I actually use a vacuum cleaner to suck out the dust in the vents! Just be careful though.

 

Ooh that is not very recommended mate! A vacuum cleaner can generate static charge and fry components also the suction is strong and might destroy the bearings on your fans as they get pulled to a velocity far higher than they are rated for!

Better to use compressed air and hold the fan blade still while doing it.

 

Alright guys, I think problem might be solved! A fresh reinstall confirmed that it was a hardware issue, and while trying to game another time I realised that I'd been so fixated on GPU temps that I had forgotten to check CPU - thats where the issue ended up being.

My PC would shut off once CPU temps reached 100c, maybe even higher... So I opened up my laptop to take a look around, and upon looking at the (still fairly toasty) CPU fan I discovered what can only be described as a furball lodged inside of the fan, which impeded smooth circulation of the fan (like on the other, GPU side). I'm currently working on figuring out how to open the fan up to get rid of this furball thing, but hopefully that will be the end of my woes. Thanks for the help people

p.s.: any advice regarding the de-furballing of my fan would be appreciated - kind of a noob with regards to monkeying about the innards of my laptop

 

There should be 3 small screws holding the plate up, unscrew those and you should have full access to your fan. I usually take the fan out and water-cleaned just the fan since it's a plastic (the fans are held by magnetic core thingy in the middle).

As for the recommendation, I was thinking about power-drain trick, and yeah, check both CPU and GPU from time to time. I usually cleaned both fans every 3 weeks. Well this depends on your living condition and environment. If you live near any construction site then you might need to clean it more frequently.

 

Well, I didn't wash the fan in water, but I opened it up and got rid of the furballs - as a result the stuttering seems to have gone away, and the CPU is running a bit cooler - highest temps so far is 80c, it mostly seems to sit at around 65 or so during gaming. I didn't touch the GPU itself but the paste job on it looked pretty bad to my (completely noobish) eyes - so gonna try to get that done soon. I don't live next to a construction site, but in the ty apartment I'm renting the ceiling fell through in my room - lot of dust -_-

either way, low fps/stuttering seems to have gone away for now, temps running a bit high but will hopefully last until I get a repaste job done in the next few weeks. Is repasting hard? I've never done it before I'm afraid

 

No worries, its really easy!

Refer to the youtube video below:

How Thermal Compound Spreads - YouTube

 

Hey guys,

I posted about a week ago about CPU overheating, you gave me the standard (and valid) advise of cleaning it out doing a repaste. I'm gonna be doing the repaste soon, but while I wait for it to arrive, the 70-80C cpu temps even when not gaming started to freak me out, so I decided to monkey about in my laptop - and I got lucky! Turns out that in the erm... hole? in the magnet where the fan blade sits there was a small furball of dust, which was preventing the fan from functioning properly. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for the advice, thanks for encouraging me to look under the hood so to speak - for years I've had a serious aversion to opening up my laptop - it turns out in vain. I'm now idling at 25C as opposed to the previous 50-60C, and very happy with my results thanks guys.