M17x Replacing GPU thermal paste

Hey guys, quick question. Is it possible/advisable to replace the thermal paste on the GPUS of a M17x ?

This laptop produces alot of heat and I want to try to keep it down as much as possible. Has anyone tried this yet ? Has it reduced temps much ?

Also would it be worthwhile redoing the northbridge/9400m even though I have it disabled.

 

While the machine produces a lot of heat, it has pretty much the best cooling system in any notebook. However, it is still advisable to replace the thermal paste in your system just to lower temps.

The 9400M is both the intergrated chip and the northbridge, and as such even if you disable its graphics function it still functions as a northbridge. However, the thermal pad is more than capable of keeping it as cool as it needs to be.

If you wanted to replace the pad on the 9400M, you would need to perform a copper mod, due to the gap.

 

What temps are you seeing??

You can replace the thermal compound with an aftermarket compound of your choice. When I installed my QX9300 I used Arctic Cooling's MX-3 for the CPU and 9400 (both Heatsinks are on the same heat pipe). As for GPU's - I left mine alone. Even before I used the MX-3 this thing had very low temps. The cooling system on the M17x is the best I have come across. Then again, I'm coming from a Dell XPS M1730 which is an oven in comparison.

Here are my current temps - lappie has been powered up for about 6 hours straight and I did a bit of gaming earlier (TF2, Killing Floor, L4D). I also do not use a cooling pad. Laptop is on a Logitech Alto stand.

 

I presume they're idle temps
I can't give you exact figures atm, since I'm in work but from what I can remember your temps seem a fair bit lower.
My cpu idles around the 38C mark, as does the primary GPU. The secondary is about 7-8C cooler even when active which doesn't seem right to me.
Anyway, I'll get a proper temp screenshot when I get home.

I've undervolted the cpu so it doesn't rise to the blistering 79C it used to.

 

Correct, left column is current, middle is lowest and right column is max temp.

CPU @ 79c was under load or idle? If at idle, I would be quite concerned and call up AW.

Not sure what Evil meant re: the copper mod. Was not necessary as it sat flush for me.

 

Thanks.
Ya, that was at load
Ah I see the high temps now. Something's deffinately not right. My cpu/gpu temps are at least 10C higher than yours if not closer to 20C higher.
This causes the fans to go nuts, to the point where I prefer to use headphones to play games because of the noise

 

Which games? I mean, if you are in say Crysis and have the GPUs OCd - that might explain it... Not sure, will need to see what others reply with in terms of temps.

You may want to check the fans (make sure they are all functioning) and see if you have a buildup of dust bunnies. If its one thing - this lappie certainly sucks in the air (and dust).

If fans are clean - there is no buildup on the fan grilles and you are not pushing the GPUs, might need to contact Dell.

 

Left4dead, borderlands, anything and everything really. Stock cpu/gpu clocks, only undervolted cpu.
I always try to keep it dust free, haven't done it in a while but I dont think it will make that much difference, it's always been as hot I think.

Anyhows, I will get a proper screenshot when I get home. One question though, what sort of ambient temperature do you have there. You're not sitting outside in Alaska I take it ?

 

Is the heatsink on the video card RAM screwed to the PCB or is it just stuck there using thermal adhesive?
When I put Arctic Silver 5 on my CPU and Northbridge/9400M I was thinking about also doing it for the 280Ms, but I was out of Arctic Silver and wasn't sure whether the memory heatsink was held in place by screws or if it was just held in place by thermal adhesive (the GPU heatsink is definitely screwed to the PCB, but it looked like the RAM sink was just glued on). I'm just curios as I might try to change the thermal compound on the video cards when I switch out my CPU for a new one. But maybe I won't, we'll see.
Has anyone actually taken the heatsinks off the GTX 280M (or even the GTX260M) in the All Powerful M17x that could tell us how the Ram sinks are attached to it?

 

Good question Glzmo, just how difficult would it be to redo the paste.
Also the tube of artic silver I have is a couple of years old, does this stuff go 'off' ? Stupid question maybe

 

It would be nice if someone posted a video guide on thermal paste replacement.
Also, BatBoy, do you use some additional cooler for your temps look amazingly low. What's your room temps?

 

Here is a pic of my temps. This was done pretty quickly I'll stress the system more later.
Order of events,
Idle at desktop for 5 mins.
Idle in Borderlands for 10 mins
Took temp screenshot.

Only comparing max temps here
Northbridge temp is way higher than yours, 18C difference
CPUS 5-10C difference depending on which cores you take. But on top of that my CPU is undervolted, not sure if yours is too.
GPUS - 5C difference, I thought this would be more but then again it was only running for 10 mins + it doesn't look like SLI was enabled (must look into that)

All in all, a scorcher of a laptop

 

Not sure why there is such a big gap between your GPU temps. I wonder if reseating the GPUs and the SLI cable would help? Might want to call Dell and see what they think.

How are the temps without undevolting? My CPU is running stock. No undervolting or OCing.

Ambient temp is usually between 65 - 72f. Varies and I know I'll be turning on the heater soon - its starting to get a bit chilly here.

 

I had a Toshiba P105 with a GPU that ran at 95C.
Now that is a scorcher.

Under 70C is certainly nothing to be worried about.

 

Yea, the difference between your 280s temps is strange but max 67c is perfectly normal under load. My cpu temps max around 70c way above yours (room temps @28c). For comparison my netbook Toshiba nb100 is always around 65-70c on cpu and mobo, and Sony Vaio 55-60c so M17X is freezingly cold

 

Yep - I'll stand with Aikimox on that one. The temps are not critical. I am more concerned with the large gap between GPU temps you are seeing.

 

Ok so here's a more stressed pic
The NB is now nearly 30 C over Batboys
Cpus 20 C difference, considering the undervolting it's a fair bit.
Not a whole lot of difference with Batboys GPUS which has surprised me but I'd imagine those 5-6C would make a good difference to overall system heat/fan noise.
The 10C Gap between primary and secondary GPUS at idle is a bit strange.

Ok, so the temps are within acceptable tolerances (not for me ) The heat I don't mind so much as the fan noise. So I think I'll will redo the CPU and NB paste and see how that goes before touching the GPUs. They seem to be the biggest culprits for now. Though I would like to squeeze the gpus down further if I could.

Does anyone know if the GPU fans act independantly of the CPU/NB ? Might the high temp of the NB be turning all fans on full to increase airflow ?

 

Not sure on you fan dependency question.

If you do go with applying thermal compound, I really suggest the MX-3. It was a pain to apply at first, it just would not spread. After contacting Arctic Cooling's support people and explaining the issue they replied back to just use a small gob on the CPU and MCP79 - let the pressure from the Heatsinks spread it. I followed their advice and temps have been nice and low ever since.

 

Is MX-3 better than Arctic Silver 5?

 

IMO, yes. You will have to decide for yourself though

Here are some quick links (from Google Search):

http://www.tweaktown.com/pressrelease/1664/arctic_cooling_mx_3_premium_thermal_compound/index.html

http://hardwarebistro.com/index.php...&review=119-Arctic-Cooling-Arctic-MX-3-Review

http://www.dragonsteelmods.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14825&Itemid=1

http://www.case-mod.com/arctic-cooling-actcmx3-premium-thermal-compound-p-4675.html

 

Mmm...yeah. I think I'll give the MX-3 a shot. If I can get my hands on it in time for my new CPU to arrive, that is.

 

M17x is as cool as ice!!! My MBP on Leopard was hot like hell before I upgraded to Snow Leopard (maybe Snow means for temperature ) But M17x hardware is in different league and Im very very impressive with its cooler system.
It always sits on my Zalman NC2000 tho. I think my notebook cooler helps a lot.

 

Really? I'm finding this thing to be the oven, and I'm coming from a M1710...

I'm not certain, but I believe undervolting took 6-8 C off the CPU.

Everyone seems to think this laptop is the coolest thing since snow, but I can't have it on my lap for very long and no I'm not blocking the vents with my legs. Those temp pics I took were taken on a desk anyway.

Well I've ordered a tube of mx-3, hopefully it will help.

 

For those that may have been interested in this thread, I finally got around to applying AC MX-3 to the CPU, NB & both GPUS.
In the picture, the left window is before and right window is after.
As can be seen the CPU & NB are a lot better. Max temps are more or less 15c lower.

The GPUS didn't benefit much, but I'll take anything I can get. At least the gap between GPUs at idle has disappeared. Although that could have been to do with the odd rectangular bit of what looks like aluminium foil I removed from the back of the heatpipes on the primary GPU. No idea what that was doing there...

The only thing physically holding the heatsink to the PCB are those 4 screws you mentioned. There are a good few thermal pads which are pretty sticky and even with the screws removed it took a fair bit of force to seperate them.

If you're going to try this I'd recommend removing the GPU from the chasis first as it's easier that way. Hold the GPU in one hand and using the thumb and index finger of your other hand apply smooth but moderate pressure between the corner of the heatsink and PCB. Keep up the force until you see the pads begin to peel away. Do this with the other three corners and the heatsink should come away easily enough.

Please note that I didn't say you SHOULD do this and I'm not going to be held responsible for any damage you might do !

 

Which program can be used to adjust the CPU voltage on the M17x?

 

RMClock
Check out the undervolting guide here
If you're running 64 bit you'll need the additional file the guide mentions to get RMclock running

 

Just to let you guys know, after taking apart my system to install the new CPU, I looked closely and the 280M's RAM sinks are one piece with the GPU sink. The GPU portion is screwed on and the RAM sinks are connected to the sink with what appears to be rather thick adhesive thermal pads. I decided not to take the sinks off, as I don't have any replacement pads or copper plates/thermal adhesive at home at the moment.

 

I reused the same pads. There is zero mess, since they don't melt, they're just soft and squigey. Half considered removing them. Don't know how effective they could be.