The Official m15x Owners Lounge

In case someone didn't look a the specs, the NC-1000 is rated for 15" laptops but the m15x is actually at least 1" wider than that pad... i ordered one and then canceled it immediately. I'd rather it to be wider than the laptop since i'll use it mostly on my desk and won't travel with it. The NC-2000 is harder to find because not too many places carry that one... or at least one who still have them in stock.

The Thermaltake iXoft that i ordered for travel came in but was defective. It was actually completely soaked in a gel material... probably exposed to extreme heat. Needless to say, it went straight back for an exchange.

 

Well i promise Newegg didn't have the Zalman NC-2000 just 2 days ago... but they do now. Just ordered mine 8 seconds ago. $69.99 before shipping

 

I wrote NVIDIA today asking about the temp for the 8800m GTX. I told them that we're (chaz) seeing the gpu at 88c average while gaming, peaking at about 95c... I asked if this is normal. This is what i got from them:

Max GPU die temperature is 105°C. It seems your laptop is running unusually hot. Please contact your laptop manufacturer for support on this matter.

Best regards,
NVIDIA​

I just wrote AW about the GPU temps and what NVIDIA told me. Waiting on a response...

 

Wow 95c is scary, my 8800gts idles at 44c and hasn't passed 69c. What are you using to monitor temps?

 

Thanks for doing that, I'm anxious to see what they have to say. I can also contact Alienware directly and get a response. I would hate to write in my review that the m15x has heating problems . . . more than likely they can be solved with a notebook cooler but no notebook for any reason should need an external device to cool it down.

 

I'm actually not doing the testing... Chaz is. All i'm doing is sending a few emails. I'm getting the numbers from his previous posts. I believe he's using GPU-Z and something else.

 

I used GPU-Z and Nvidia nTune for monitoring per the recommendation of numerous forum members.

I just noticed that the email you got from Nvidia said the max temperature is 105*C for the 8800M-GTX. 90*C+ is pretty close to that. GPUs in general can run at much higher temperatures (relatively) than CPUs, I think 105*C is an underestimation. Of course I'm not an Nvidia engineer so I could be wrong. One way or another let's hope we never see triple-digit temps.

 

rexibaby-did you leave the cpu tab blank when using automz? Our cpu isn't listed...

 

Guys your forgeting something: Just imagine if you play crisis for 1-2 Hours, you check temp and its 102*C thats over the boiling point of water If you open your case and touch the GPU your hand will get severly burned. That temperature is really really HOT Like i overclocked my X1600 Pro AGP on my desktop 22% to 608 and 365 from 500 and 300 and I idle at 62*C and While gaming 66*C Getting great frame rates

EDIT: I'm just thinking is the dell m1730 or the sager laptop with 8800m GTX having this heat problem? If not its a faulty design, they should use another cooling pipe. Because i will not buy the m15x if they don't solve this problem (Thats what you get for putting a Geforce 8800M GTX in a 15.4" laptop AW= Thats the problem the laptop is not big enough for a proper cooling system)

Im going to wait for m17x, im sure there won't be a heat problem on the m17x.

 

What's the verdict then? Is it an 8800m in a 15.4" that you can take anywhere, or is the 8800m as hit and miss as it's coming across here?

For instance my desktop machine, before I took extra measures and case design changes, could only play CoD4 for about an hour before it crashes due to overheating of GPU. Is this the same for the M15x? Is it the same for all 8800m notebooks? Can the 17" Clevo manage it's temperature indefinitely?

 

I am going to say that it is a Thermal Paste Problem

 

Other notebooks with 8800M don't have it the same way. I mean for instance lets say in anotehr notebook with a 8800M GTX it reaches 70*C while gaming that is considered great for a notebook. But the m15x still has some heating bugs toi work out. They should relocate the 8800MGTX somewhere where theres enough room to fit in another cooling pipe.

 

it's not. applying too much thermal paste will not provide you the optimal cooling numbers like it would as if you applied it correctly (you only need about the size of a grain of rice), it shouldn't cause overheating problems like this. it appears the cooling solution is failing on this notebook. it would either need to be recalled or alienware will need to issue a bios hot-fix to have the gpu fans spin faster, aka louder.

 

I haven't tested the Dell with the 8800s but based on the one I used with the 8700s in SLI, I doubt it has any heating problems. It was a very cool-running notebook. The Sager has no heating problems, I just got done testing that.

If anything, the m15x with the 8800M-GTX is a notebook you can use to game with a cooling pad. As I stated before though, I haven't done enough testing.

Here's my theory, tell me if this makes any sense at all.
Even though Nvidia says the thermal envelope of the 8800M-GTX is 35W, I personally have a hard time believing that . . . it sounds like Alienware/Quanta made the m15x's cooling system to be exactly adequate to handle a graphics processor with a 35W TDP. However, even if the 8800M-GTX produced a bit more heat, let's say it actually topped out at 37W or something, then that would be too much for the cooling system to handle and it would get too warm.
That's just a theory, again, and it maybe ridiculous because I don't know how the engineers determine TDP and such, but that's all I can think of. There is NO WAY they would put in parts that the cooling system couldn't handle. It just doesn't make any sense.

 

That sounds feasible. If it really is just something that creeps up after a while, rather than just being instantly overloaded.

However, if the M15x is pretty quiet for what it is, maybe a BIOS update so that the fans spin faster would be a solution. But then again, surely if the GPU is getting so close to it's highest operating temperature, there should be something there to make the fans go mental?

I don't mind a loud notebook if it's only loud when it needs to be.

 

There you go guys, CHaz has spoken, looks like m15x is one of the only laptops with 8800M GTX that has a few heat [problems while playing demanding games

 

I would rather have a m15x with amazing cooling but loud, and NO HEAT ISSUES, and able to play any game for hours non stop than a quiet m15x with FEW HEAT ISSUES.

 

Is it not possible to override the fans using a overclocking program on the m15x? Something like ATItool but for NVIDIA cards? - Im sorry, quite new to this, and all I know is that I can override the fan speeds of my desktop X1600 pro with ATItool. Do you really need to mess around with the BIOS to do anything on the m15x? ><

 

You can do the same on nTune on desktop PCs.

When mine is set to Auto Fan Control (default), it gets red hot and will even crash before it winds up the fan. I'll come out of a game and it will be in the 80's, if I set it to direct fan control, and wack it up to 100%, it drops down quite a bit and remains solid for hours.

Can anyone with an M15x try getting nTune and see if this has any effect? I'd love it just to be something simple like this as I still can't see an alternative.

 

wow thats pretty extreme there.. are you talking about your m15x? or am I misunderstanding

 

I agree - function over form sometimes. If the fan would spin a bit faster I think everything would be alright, and the lack of a second heatpipe coming off of the GPU's heatsink could be compensated for.

Are you talking about your desktop or your m15x? I don't see a way to control the fans with nTune. Maybe Rivatuner, because I can control my desktop's Nvidia card's fan with that.

 

I don't have an M15x yet. On my desktop, using the normal NVIDIA Control Panel, under Adjust GPU Settings.

This wasn't a part of the normal driver, it is nTune that enables this isn't it?

I know the standard Automatic control causes problems on my desktop with temperature sometimes. Manually setting it to 100% before a game will keep it stable for hours on end.

 

mm I think I might know what the problem is - nTune, ATItool, etc control GPU fans, but they were made for desktop GPUs... which have a dedicated fan. But the 8800m GTX in the m15x does not have a dedicated fan iirc, but the heat sink leads to the two large system fans.
So all these programs don't recognize the system fans as dedicated GPU fans, and can therefor not access them? This would mean that AW would have to give us a patch to be able to play with fan speeds themselves..

Correct me if im wrong ^^

 

You are correct, falcon. Ntune was meant made to work on desktop GPU's. It wasn't meant to overclock the GPU and the fan on a mobile system because this is too much of a risk to screw up a laptop.

 

You can`t control the fan speed from nTune.
Neither from RivaTuner, except a few notebooks maybe.
Usually, smarter laptops have fan speed toggles.

 

so it really is up to AW to work out the heat problem and make a fix for it, nothing we can do part from checking if the thermal paste application is fine.

arrgh makes me think about cancelling my order and getting a clevo 17" ><

but thats so bulky.... hmm

 

cancel it, and wait for the 15" Sager if you can. This would save you a lot of headaches. lol

 

I am a little behind the schedule here.
What are the temps we`re seing here, 90C on the GPU ?

 

I have been playing Crysis, CS:S, COD4 and UT3 and my GPU max temp has been 82. It usually is around 75-80ish and that is without a cooler. Just an FYI that not ALL notebooks are running this hot.

 

Well guys, keep in mind that while you're speculating and trying to figure it out here (which mind you, i enjoy reading and i'd like you to keep at it), there are now 3 m15x's from this community (hemlok, mine, GRB .. and in that order) which have been sent back to alienware for underclocking issues. If i'm not mistaken, hemlok said he would have gotten an e-mail back by now detailing their progress since they've been working on his for a little while now.

Don't feel like nothing is being done about it I'd like to say that I personally appreciate everyone tackling this issue. Of course it affects everyone, but there's a good chance that by the time most of you receive your systems, it will be a non-issue.

 

guys i don't wana brake your hearts but the "under clocking issue" is clearly not a "fault" ... its a feature alien ware have put into the drivers so u dont kill your 8800GTX in a case that can not support them


running at 90+ GPU is horrid it will die in 12months easy... m15x is dead to me. The other faults with touch and lighting where fine.. but the actual case just cant support this GPU at healthy levels.

alass the perfect laptop has fallen hard. whats the point of a 8800 GTX if its running horrible clocked down all the time just to keep it alive Alienware have fooled us all.


good luck in returns / money back etc

 

That is very reassuring if yours is only going to the low 80*Cs, that is about what my desktop's card gets to and it s perfectly acceptable. Did you apply new thermal paste or do any other modifications to the notebook? Also, are you using any sort of external cooling devices?

 

Somehow, I kind of knew that the 88M GTX in a 15` laptop would be overkill in terms of heat...

But experientia docet ,maybe we`ll see new and improved versions in the future.
Personally , my GPU has never seen a temp higher than 67C (once it got to 72C because I forced the fans to medium speed ) and I would like it even lower
But that`s also overkill in precaution...

 

After reading these posts I am going to buy a notebok cooler. I have never really enjoyed using them. I did not apply any AC5 yet. If this ends up getting very hot (90+) I will venture to remove the CPU to apply appropriate thermal paste. I am using the performance monitor from CPUID.com (makers of CPU Z) to monitor my temps. It has never risen above a peak of 80*. Hopefully it stays that way but I doubt that I have some special machine. I really hope there isn't a design flaw with this system:/

 

I just looked onto the AW website, and had a look at the m15x video card replaceing - guide.
It looks as if the card must have 2 "layers" of heat sink, meaning 2 applications of thermal paste?
If you take a look here : http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/alienware.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5671&p_created=1194530504&p_sid=99178d-i&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=5765&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MzMsMzMmcF9wcm9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPTM1NiwzNjAmcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0yLjM2MCZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX2ZubCZwX3NjZl82PTIwNSZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PW0xNXg*&p_li=&p_topview=1
first the heat pipe is removed, which leaves thermal paste on the plate below as seen in Image 5.. and yea then theres that plate on the video card? They say to not unscrew the plate, but I'm guessing there must be more thermal paste under it, cause it still has to connect to the actual core right?
Anyways thats something to think about maybe, when looking to reapply thermal paste. Then again it might be that I'm just wrong and that plate is part of the 8800m gtx, and will definately not be the thing causing a problem.

 

I have a question to current owners regarding Alien FX lighting. I didn't want to make a new post. Is anyone's lighting "spotty" in certain parts? For example my spacebar is very spotty. Some parts are bright and others look dim. It still is illuminated but it is almost like parts of the lighting are not functioning. its not a huge issue but i notice the spacebar is dimmer than the other keys.

 

I think those spots you're seeing are the actual structure of plastic underneath the keys, not much anyone can do about that I'm afraid.

 

This is the response i got back from AW regarding the GPU temp of mid 80s to mid 90c.

Thank you for contacting Alienware.

In regard to your inquiry, be informed that the normal temperature for a video card can go up to 80 C. Anything above that is considered as hot although not overheating. I recommend you to monitor your system's temperature with SpeedFan: http://www.almico.com/speedfan431.exe. Even if this issue exists, there should not be any problems of the system overheating, however, if it does, we will address it immediately.

If you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.


Best regards,

Daniel Brenes
Electronic Support

Alienware Corporation​

So i guess that didn't actually say much since "Anything above [80c] is considered as hot although not overheating." is just not right... according to NVIDIA, 90 is abnormal and, you can assume from NVIDIA's response, 105 is probably dangerous.

The line "Even if this issue exists, there should not be any problems of the system overheating, however, if it does, we will address it immediately." is also confusing.

I asked them to expound upon this but i don't know if i'll get much. Chaz, I'm interested in what they have to tell you when/if you call them.

 

I've been thinking about the heat issue. It could be a faulty GPU because aren't these 8800mGTX newly released?

 

I did some testing today. See the attached screenshot.

I have confirmed that once the GPU reaches 90*C, it will immediately downclock from the stock 500MHz core: 800MHz RAM to 275MHz core: 300MHz memory.

This is not normal according to Alienware, I am going to contact them about this and see what they say.

You'll see in the screenshot that the temperature slowly climbs to 90*C. I took it right before it peaked.

 

Alienware's been having way too many problems with its' systems. Chaz, have you noticed any other problems? I'm still planning to eventually buy an Alienware 17" notebook (probably whatever comes out after the m17x or what comes out after that).

 

I think the other part of the issue is that the 8800m GTX does/would not have this issue in a 17" as opposed to the m15x being 15.4"... and this "overheating" issue is not just happening on Chaz's test model.

Whether it is a fault of NVIDIA or AW's design of the m15x, it should be addressed... and AW releasing the chip in their system makes them responsible regardless of the fault being with the GPU or the m15x design. Even if it is a fault and there is not a recall, an announcement and a patch should be released asap... and everyone should get a bump in warranty coverage since the m15x would've been designed to break/meltdown while used under "normal" conditions (being that it is a gaming laptop).

In either case, AW should have known about this. They should be able to make a straight statement "yes we knew the GPU hits low to mid 90s. We've done extensive testing before we made it available. We assure you that it's ok for the 8800m GTX to operate at this temperature and we've incorporated counter measures in case it gets above <blah> degrees. If it does in fact reach <blah> degrees, contact us and we'll address/fix it asap". The potential problem is taht they have not said anything like that to my knowledge. Like many other people, I've spent close to $5k for this laptop, i don't want something that can't do what it's designed to do.

 

That's probably the reason for the m17x delays, thermal problems. Alienware designed it to handle dual 8800M GTXs, so it'll need much better cooling than the m15x, which is hard to accomplish in the thin form factors that Alienware uses (1.3" and 1.5").

 

having examined those pictures i will tell you guys right now that is a lousy thermal solution to have an aluminum plate on top of another aluminum plate that requires 2 applications of thermal compound in between them. i am guessing this is quanta's first serious gaming notebook?

take a look at this page as well, http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/alienware.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5670&p_sid=ePUBBd-i&p_lva=5671&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MzMsMzMmcF9wcm9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPTM1NiwzNjAmcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0yLjM2MCZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX2ZubCZwX3NjZl82PTIwNSZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PW0xNXg%2A&p_li=

in this page you can see that it appears there is another version of the heatsink and it is noticed in the 2 smaller images. this version is better as it is one plate and the copper pipe is attached directly on to it.

i suspect this is a universal thermal problem with the m15x if they are all assembled with the stacked heat plates.

so i will say again, wether they release a bios update to increase the gpu fan's rpm and increase noise or swap out the stacked heat plates with a single solution, and one that preferably uses more copper, something needs to be done.

for now, your 8800mgtx is paper weight. you may attempt to alleviate the problem with a notebook cooler or have a very cool ambient room tempurature....although the results on these user solutions would be speradic.

 

Chaz closed my post so i guess ill post it here (he told me lol )

Is this probelm only with the 8800M GTX or is it wih 8700M GT also? because im thinking of getting a 8700m gt instead but want to make sure cooling is fair.

 

The 8700M GT should run fine so it uses less wattage. Alienwareputs the same cooling system in every m15x, no matter what you configure it with.

 

we don't know yet. every m15x poster appears to have the 8800 gpu

 

Put L2 Data cache size: 4096kb and then custom value on the other. In the perofrmance tweakes II, It on the left edge of the (put your mouse under version 1.7 and u will find it. Took me 10 mins to find that tab.

Let me know if u find the speed good. Cause my Laptop respond speed is unbelievable fast.

 

I would much rather have AW respond with the haste they did over the light fiasco. I would hate to have this be 10X the price of the xbox 360 with the same faulty design. Microsoft extended warranties and this MAY be necessitated here. I really hope Chaz and AW can shed some light onto this issue.

However I still stand by my assertion that this is the best laptop I have ever owned. It really has performed well and I have had no problems with games.

 

Good work Chaz. I'm glad you were able to pounce on this while still reviewing the unit. Hopefully Alienware will be able to work something out as it's in their best interests if you are to review it for this website.

This is the fan control I was on about earlier. Is this screen available with 8800m drivers + nTune?



By default after every boot it goes to Automatic, which seems to cause me problems when gaming for long durations. If I set it to manual 100%, I don't have any problems.