M17x - 9400M G / MCP79 Temperature & Discussion Thread

Update.
Though the paste didn't go all over the chip, it lost it's perfect contact with the heatsink, so I decided to revert for now.
I can confirm that using AS-5 for MCP chip is not the best choice and probably even dangerous, as Witcher said.
Will try MX-3 next , stay tuned.

 

how about OCZ Freeze?

 

well then do a cooper mod with the MX-3 all you need is 1mm cooper shim that works better than just paste

 

I'll try 'em both

On the CPU however, AS-5 does an outstanding job, the temps are still falling.

Meanwhile I did a fresh Windows7 install and it didn't affect the temps (some claimed that under W7 temps get higher).

 

How did the MX-3 work out for you? Interested to hear app method you used and temps...

Thanks!

 

Order is shipped so I'll probably get my MX-3/OCZ-freeze on Monday.
Meanwhile, coping with W7 issues....

OK. Cross your fingers! MX-3 is ON. Now testing...


The method use was linear motions (rather than circular) with wrapped in a thin plastic finger, until the surface of the crystal was covered with an even layer of the paste. I also made it thicker than for the CPU to ensure it touches the heat sink. In addition did a thin layer on the heat sink itself. The most crucial part is to minimize the air trapped on the contact surfaces (heat sink and the crystal)

So far so cool. Ambient is 26.5c. Browsing, skype, copying video files...

And this is the fun part. Couldn't restore Kings Bounty on W7, so instead went for a more demanding game - Crysis. And here is the output during the gameplay. Max CPU spike was 56c (HWMonitor)...

I think we got a very nice try here. MX-3 = respect. 10-13c lower than the stock pad.
According to many reviews it shouldn't bleed. If that's the case we've got the temporary winner.

 

Excellent news. I tried using the application method you described. I was unable to get the compound to spread. Either I was just being impatient and didn't give it a chance or wasn't applying it right. In any event, glad its working out for you. When you have a chance, please post a screenie of your HWMonitor (from after a nice long session of gaming).

I may have to do a re-apply to see if I can obtain even lower temps.

Thanks!

 

OK so here is the screenshot of both Everest and HWMonitor after quite a while into Crysis. 9400 is still disabled in BIOS (i hate letting it on, but probably can do the same run later on with it enabled), but you can see the MCP temp (that's the max reading throughout the play) is not getting much higher.(note: the ambient now is 24.5c). Since 9400 is disabled, consider it would show the same temp (as my current MCP) if it was enabled and the MCP would show 59-60c.
So, generally I'm very satisfied with the results, as my goal was to stay below 60c under load and with 9400 disabled I still have 5-6c reserved for OC'ing ?

 

your overall temps (CPU, GPUs) are about the same as mine. So this tells me to be satisfied with my application of MX-3. I'll have to measure using Everest to see where the MCP temp is. I'll post a screenie when I have one.

Thanks again!

 

Thank You for supporting this thread,BatBoy. Hopefully, it can be useful to someone with similar concerns.
As for the OCZ-Freeze, I won't apply it on the MCP due to its mild bleeding, but will try it on the CPU when I get the upgrade.
Let's call it a day.

 

what is "mild bleeding"? i'm asking because when i want to apply ocz freeze when i will have some free time

 

Well, i know Mandrake loves OCZ Freeze. I also have a tube of it however I went with the MX-3 for the M17x. Regardless, excellent updates Aikimox. Your posts will also answer many questions.

Call it a day indeed. Between your W7 tests, DPC latency tests and thermal compound trials I am sure you look forward to slowing down a bit and actually enjoying the system... lol.

 

For a CPU it's totally ok, but for an MCP chip you must be careful since there's a gap of about 1mm between the crystal and the heat sink, so to ensure the optimal "touch" you will have to apply quite a thick layer of the paste. But when OCZ bleeds (even slightly) it not only can lose the proper surface contact but also get to the chipset/mobo and mess things up.

 

well - thanks for the reply its very useful for me! i'll order some tubes of mx-3 in this case. the second priority of new thermal paste utilization was mcp.

 

If you guys disable the 9400m in the BIOS and rerun the WEI assessment does your memory score increase? I think WEI caps memory scores at 5.9 regardless of bandwidth performance and since the 9400m g uses 258mb of system memory it puts the system below the 4096 threshold. Could someone with 4gb ram and 5.9 WEI memory score test this?

 

Having the 9400m always caps mine at 5.9. Without it I get 7.2

 

yeah, it's because the 9400m g reserves 256mb of system memory causing WEI to limit memory scores at 5.9 regardless of bandwidth because there is less than 4096mb ram available to OS. Looked at xml code of last WEI assessment and saw...

CpuScore>7.3/CpuScore
- LimitsApplied
- MemoryScore
LimitApplied Friendly="Physical memory available to the OS is less than 4.0GB-64MB on a 64-bit OS : limit mem score to 5.9" Relation="LT"4227858432/LimitApplied
/MemoryScore
/LimitsApplied
/WinSPR
- Metrics
- MemoryMetrics
Bandwidth units="MB/s">5988.62686
MemoryMetrics

 

Interesting that they limit it like that. Also interesting that the CPU is maybe limited to 7.3? Note that my system has an interesting trend....lol

 

I think I could get 7.3 for graphics overclocked but wouldn't mean anything because the graphics benchmarks are a series of hd video clips of some kids racing bicycles lol. SLI280m gtx and 4870x2's will still outperform 9800m gts by a much wider margin than WEI could reveal.