91 deg. C for my M17 master card - should I be worried?

Hi all,

Well, had my M17 for just a couple of days - very nice system! However, playing Dawn of War II on high resolution (so giving the graphics cards a decent workout) I managed to achieve 91 today peak temp on the master, and 85 on the secondary. CPU temps were behaving well - 68 on core 0, 66 on core 1 - but the card temps I'm not sure about. It's a new system, so "clean the heatsink/fan" shouldn't be a worry yet, and I was running it today on a x-brand laptop cooler on my desk here. Now, it's a desk at my cubicle, so there isn't the best air circulation - but I also have a fan blowing across the back of the unit to disperse the hot air... So I'm thinking it shouldn't be that hot.

Thoughts?

 

91°C is a bit hot, yes. tape on the GPU again? hopefully not. at any rate, try propping up the back of the laptop by putting something underneath. you'll immediately notice it runs cooler.

 

91 maybe pushing it, but from what I've witnessed last time, you can't rule out a possible botched thermal compound application. I would tell you to open it up yourself and check it out, but seeing that your system is pretty much new, I'd say give Alienware a call and see what they say in terms of whether you should deal with it manually or send it out to them.

 

thats a little bit hot ... i haven't hit over 86 and that was in fallout 3 ( it pushes them hard with max AA and AF)

does sound like a mess up of the compound because if it was tape on the gpu's then it would be liek 200c not 91 c after hours of gaming. I think fusions wouldn't last at all

 

I hit 92C playing Crysis yesterday. I have that same Xbrand cooler. If you take the lid off of the bottom of the laptop, your temps will drop a good 10 degrees. This is with the cooler blowing on the guts of the laptop.

I've re-applied AS5 to my GPU heatsinks, so I am quite confident that there's no issue with the paste.

That cover is definitely not conducive to the M17 staying cool.

 

I agree when I went into <blink>"OVERCLOCK MODE!!!!!"</blink> i got 4 fans to blow directly under each major compontent: a PSU(nice n strong ) fan for the cpu and 2 regular case fans for the GPu's and 1 for good measure.

Blowing on the "Guts" I overclocked to 3.1 stable with a idle temp of 35 c and max 45c Gpu's never hit 80 (79c max)

 

H,mmm.... I'll try taking the cover off when I get home (at work, don't have my tools with me) and we'll see how that goes.

Just checked, and during my last gaming bout managed to get to 93, and that worries me - considering I have the cooler in place and all. Maybe I'll try propping up the back while it's on the cooler...

EDIT: the folks that have recommended propping up the back - is that what you mean, on the cooler, but with the back propped up a bit? I used to prop up my old laptop, and it helped, but that was before I got the cooler for it...

 

Well, this would be a totally easy fix if they put a video card BIOS on them that actually had low level driver/fan support, or was unlocked. Then you could simply set up a custom fan profile in Rivatuner, like you can with all the other 3870's out there, heh.

 

This may not be what you want to hear, but..........I would contact A.W. to determine what can be done. I just ran about 15 runs through 3dmark06 with Hardware monitor running and my CPU's maxed @ 80C and my GPU's maxed @ 82C. This was with the CPU bumped to 3.5 Ghz using Setfsb. So, overall I should be running hotter internally than you cause I have HDD's vs. your SSD's, and I had my fsb/memory/cpu etc. bumped so that generates more heat too. These things cost too much to take any chances.

 

Try to remove your battery and place something under the backfoods of your m17 ... than play and take an other lock at the temps.

I got after 8h playing Crysis around 80° C

Greetings
Julian

 

i hit 94c on my GPU's playing Toca Race Driver 3 which isnt all that challenging.... i have overclocked the cpu to 3ghz and temps got to high 70c's but the GPU temps worried me! I have two dvds under the back to raise it to increase airflow but now cooler as yet. Am i right in saying that when i oc the cpu in the bios, does this also overclock the GPU using magical powers beyond my realm of comprehension?

back down to original clock speed now to let it have a rest and wait for a cooler to be purchased

 

i used a metal fine blade hole saw to make 2 2" holes 1 right below each fan. i then covered them with stainless steel screen i got at home depot the very fine type. i used a bit of ca glue around the screen to keep them glued down. and ill get a extra bottom plate as you can also do in case you ever need warranty then you can just replace it quickly.

this substantially lowered my temps for both the cpu and gpu's. i dont have the system with me currently to take readings but i can say it was a very large difference if i remember right as i was very suprised in how well it worked out. i also painted the screen black before gluing it down to match i simply got a flat black rustoleam and very lightly sprayed them as to not plug the holes in the screen i shot it from prob 10-12" away and just misted it till it was just covered enough. ill bet even speaker grill cloth would work well for a fabric being it has to be very transparent for musical reproduction...

 

cheers for that Zfactor.... methinks a little project is in order when i get bored next month at my new job. Where did you purchase the new base plate from?

 

Great idea zfactor!

I'm gonna do that on mine too. Did you glue the grill on the inside or outside of the plate?

Edit: Seems like this is a good thing to do even if there is no overheating as heat is the biggest killer of notebooks.

Less heat=Longer life

 

glued it on the inside i used ca glue if you know what that is

 

I'd love that mod (with the holes/screens to increase airflow) but it sounds like it might also void the warranty... is that true, or do they not mind chassis mods as long as they don't catch you overclocking, etc?

 

Nope,

What is ca glue? If I can't find it I'll prob use a high temp epoxy.

 

@ jeff.....

you can get a spare base plate from broke machines or other people around here that have acess to OCZ Whitebook

 

Oh, great idea! Is that an ebayable item, or - eh, now that I think of it, it's probably better to look around on here...

Oh, and AW reps - Just Kidding, I'd Never Actually try Anything Like This... I Only Ask For Knowledge - Really!

EDIT: Though, in all seriousness, if there ARE any reps browsing through the thread, I'd love to know what the Official Answer is for me - i.e. is there a company-approved method to mitigate my heat, or should I be looking at customer support/possible return or repair/evaluation, or what?

 

i don't think this'll void your warranty. just buy a spare baseplate and mod that one. if you have to send your machine in, simply replace the improved baseplate with the stock one.

 

Actually, the more I think about it the more that makes sense - it's not like I'm messing with the guts of the system, just a case mod.

I think I'll call AW today and see what their take on the heat issue is. Just finished some gaming on Dawn of War II this morning, and I'm getting 88 degrees, on the cooler, with the back propped up and a small fan blowing air across/under the unit - probably hotter than it should be.

EDIT: I've heard good things about the roswell team - can I just call them directly, or do I have to go through the 'normal' tech service guys first? If i can go to roswell first, anyone have their contact number handy?

 

no

1 866 roswell i believe

 

Alienware probably won't do anything, because there's really nothing malfunctioning. Anything in the 80s is fine. The bottom cover, in it's current state, is a hindrance to the cooling system.

I have the Xbrand cooler. I remove the bottom lid and have the cooler blowing onto the bottom of my laptop. Low 80s no matter what game I'm playing.

Remember that some of the guys giving you advice in this thread only have a 1440x900 LCD, so they'll be using less horsepower, thus creating less heat.

 

Yeah, alienware said not to worry... actually, here's the response:

So, yeah, guess I won't worry so much. To me, the 93 I achieved seems perilously close to the 100 they talked about, but I guess I'll just keep an eye on it.

 

I changed my low res screen for the hi-res yesterday. Played Crysis and Fallout 3 and there was no change in temps between the two resolutions, I used Hardware monitor before and after.

That is pretty close to the tems they get concerned about. You might want to consider removing the old thermal paste and replacing it with Arctic Silver 5. Otherwise you better make sure you never let dust build up on your fans.

I had a video card fry on my M9750 and I kept the fans clean and didn't overclock the GPU's. I think you know what happened after that. Yep, that's how I ended up with my M17. I'll be doing the 2" hole's in the bottom plate mod soon.

 

My thought is that I've made them aware of my situation, and they said it was normal - so if something fries, then it's a warranty replacement for me... Hopefully it won't come to that, though.

Yeah, that's my concern really is that if I'm seeing temps like this brand new, what is it going to be like in 2 or 3 weeks after some dust has a chance to build up on the fans/heatsinks? I dunno.... My gut feel is i'll be getting close to that 100 degree line and calling the customer support guys back in a week or two.

I'm trying to avoid the arctic silver route, as I'm deathly afraid of doing anything that will void out my brand new 3 year warranty.

I'll do some more "testing" today and see what kind of temps I get.

"Jeff, what are you doing?"

"Uh, testing my laptop, boss. Have to find out if it's overheating... unfortunately, need to stress the system, so - no, I'm not playing games, just stressing the system to measure the heat response!"

"Oh... carry on, then..."