Brought my 8600gt back to life....

ok, so i got some good responses (thanks again slowdown117) from my previous thread about the temps on my 8600gt soaring as of late, and i figured the chipset was biting the dust. but turns out she still had some life in her.

decided i didnt want to wait on an order of arctic silver 5, so i went down to compusa and picked up some compressed air and a tube of ocz freeze thermal extreme conductivity compound. the reviews online for it are solid, and it was only 5 bucks, so i was sold.

first i blew all the dust out from the fan assembly. there was more in there than i expected.

then i cleaned the nvidia and cpu chipset with 91% isopropyl alcohol, removing all of the dell applied goop.... of which there was very little, and most wasnt even on the actual chipset, but rather had been smooshed outside onto the motherboard and sides of the chips. the removal was pretty painless.

then i applied a grain of rice-sized amount of the ocz freeze compound onto both chipsets, and carefully tightened the heatsink back down in stages.

the results so far have impressed me.... here are some numbers during 3dmark06, reported by cpuid hardware monitor:


.......before / after
core 0 : 80 / 70
core 1 : 81 / 70

gpu core : 81 / 75


perhaps even more impressive are the numbers i receive when overclocked, to 600/900.


.......before / after
core 0 : 80 / 70
core 1 : 84 / 70

gpu core : 86 / 77


thats virtually no temperature increase compared to the stock clock speeds! i will experiment with some higher overclocks and post what i learn.

edit:
temp numbers during 3dmark06, clocked at 625/925:

core 0 : 71
core 1 : 71

gpu core : 79

3dmark score: 5538. considering i only have the t5750 processor (2ghz,) i am very pleased with that score.


edit:
temp numbers during 3dmark06, clocked at 650/950:

core 0 : 71
core 1 : 71

gpu core : 79

3dmark score: 5628. amazing... temps remain unchanged from the lower clock. gpu still not breaking 80 celsius, despite being overclocked at 650/950.


edit:
675/950 results show yet again, no increase in cpu and gpu temps. if these numbers are accurate, i am blown away.

core 0: 71
core 1: 71

gpu core: 79

3dmark06 score: 5771

2.0ghz processor remains untouched.



last edit:
700/950

cpu 0: 71
cpu 1: 72

gpu core: 80

3dmark06 score: 5860


well there you have it. finally touched 80 degrees, with 700 core/950 memory... pretty hefty overclock in my opinion. but as you can see, when compared to the stock gpu clock, cpu temps are virtually the same, while the gpu temp increased by only 5 degrees. amazing what a little bit of thermal paste can do!


final final edit:
out of curiosity i decided to undervolt my cpu ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824). its a t5750 and its currently at 1.0v, with the same 700/950 overclock as before. 3dmark06 #'s....

cpu 0: 68 c
cpu 1: 68 c

gpu core: 77 c

score: 5830

 

Nice, I may look into this. My numbers aren't horrible, but I would love to see them cooler.

 

post edited to include new overclock numbers.

 

Nice job stepintoliquid! The max temps that you have (75c/77c overclocked) are right on par with what I got after the thermal compound replacement.

Now even when you push it your still not breaking 80c. That's the result you're looking for. Now we see a different story as the heatsink is doing it's job as it was designed to do.

So far everyone who has replaced their heatsink grease, and has posted, have gotten the same result - max temps under 80c, stability, and overclock ability.

If Dell could just do what we are doing (proper compound application) they could save themselves alot of hassle.

Edit: stepintoliquid, did you really run that memory at 925? I haven't pushed mine past 800. Hmm, now I wonder what it can do.

 

Im going to try this mod next week, at the moment my temps are getting pretty high. 90ish for gpu and 80ish for cpu(stock settings)

Sounds like a fairly easy mod is there anything i should be worried about while doing this ?
I'll be using the Arctic silver 5 with ArctiClean kit<this should be fine right?

 

yep. i used to always have it set at 900... past few tests have been at 950 for the memory.... seems stable enough. gonna run it through some games tonight and check out the "real world" performance.

original post edited to include 675/950 temps/score.

 

it was surprisingly easy. just remember that less is more when it comes to thermal paste, and to remove all of the old stuff with rubbing alcohol before applying new paste.

 

side note: this project has inspired me to undervolt my cpu, which is currently underway. so far have undervolted .2 v, and am seeing an 8 degree celsius drop in cpu temps, and 3 degrees in gpu temp while performing a cpu stress test. not too shabby....

original post edited to reflect undervolting effects.

 

Hi stepintoliquid, u just inspired me to do the same thing u did with ur m1530 xps lappy, ive been having some issues with it, first of all i have to say that my idle temps now are at 51-53 cpu´s and 58 gpu (on a clean surface or on my legs), but whenever i play fear 2 demo temps get to like 80 or 85 (could be a little more) and then suddenly it shutsdown itself, i has happended to me with 179´s drivers, DOX modified drivers, ive tried bios resseting (to a09, a11 and finally a12), and well, no changes there... i read couple of info. related to those probs on xps lap´s and they turned to be some overheating probs with the hardware (T5750 CPU), heat pipes or even a glitch in the charger module that shutted down the system due to break of energy or something, but im thinking it might be cuz our cpu´s (T5750) have a temp. limit of 85°c, and well, ive pretty much reached it couple of times, so, im willing to DO WHAT YOU DID ALL THE WAY THROUGH, i already got a guide on how to apply thermal paste to this lappy and that stuff, so i just need to buy it and do this, also do the undervolt stuff that seems very interesting...

anyway, i have some questions for you that will help me allot with this process...

-what unvervolt values did u used since u and i have the same cpu (and all the rest the same)
-what driver do you use currently for ur 8600m gt (modified, special, officials...)
-wich program did you use to overclock
-i hear a sort of "clik clak" sound coming from the part where the cpu and gpu and pipes are (i guess its there...), could be the hard drive as another xps owner told me but im kinda lost there, this sound is kinda annoying, im wondering if u have it (is rarely when it happens, but im concerned, also i have to say that i have picked at the bios settings on the hard drive section the option "performance" instead of bypass or silent, cuz i need full throttle the hard drive so games run smother, u know what m saying...)
-and ive been having some sort of touchpad lagg on rare times, changed the touchpad driver for an upek one and for the dell (alps) one from their site, but this stills to be the same (although is on very rare situations)

I really appreciate ur help bro, u did inspired me to do all of this and i thx to u in advance, cheers!

 

I cant understand how you get so high temps. My when idle(no cooling pad) go max CPU 50 and GPU 60

 

Is your system still under warranty? If it is, I would make sure Dell fix it, rather than undervolting or changing the thermal paste, as you don't want these measures to just cover up a probem that is already there.

-I would update to the most recent bios.
-Use official Dell/Nvidia drivers.
-And clean the system of dust (using canned air), especially the fan blades, and the aluminium heat-exchanger at the exhaust vent.

After that, if the system is still having shutdown problems, you should call Dell. Measures such as undervolting should ideally be used with a system that is already good, just to make it cooler. If you apply them to a system that is already overheating, then you are just kind of temporarily ignoring the problem, and it will probably cause you problems later.

 

Well guys, as i said b4, my temps on idle are at 50-52 for cpu, and gpu 58-60, so there u hv some normal temps, my problem is that whenever i play fear 2 demo or other stress cpu gpu with intensive apps my system shutsdown itself, with temps around 76-78 gpu and 80-82 cpu, there are not all that abnormal temps so both components can still work ok, ive met ppl with temps around 110 on cpu and gpu also and still they can play or do stuff, so, the main prob. is why the hell my system shutsdown whenever i reach so "normal" temps...

UPDATE: ive just downloaded RMCLOCK and well, ive discovered something that i think might be the problem, in the "advanced cpu settings" ive found unticked these two options "enable thermal monitor 1 and 2", i already acitvated them and did a stress cpu n ram test and my temps reached 85° and all was normal, no shutdowns, ill try with fear 2 demo or another graphical intensive app and ill update u guys, thx.

 

it seems dell´s motherboards are messed up and some of them have this problem, the only solution i can see is to give dell a call and get ur mobo replaced, luckily u will get a "good" one, i already had mine changed 2 times by now, also 1 time processor and heatsink, but no luck for now (altought the prob. has been delayed), ill keep u guys updated...

 

woops! careful there man, that might be your heatsink vibrating because its loose! or could also be some dust on your fan making that noise, either way, i would open up the hood to check that everything is okay in there.

oh and about applying new thermal goop, ive tried it, and it has only given me about 2-3C lower temps with AS5, i hope you have better luck!

 

Changed to arctic silver 5 paste, and noticed major improvements, GPU 77 degrees max, CPU 67 max, compared to 85, 75. Still the first day, so looking forward to seeing how it goes after its well burnt in.

Before I changed over I would play HoN and it would alternate between smooth play, and jerky play every 30 secs. now its all smooth

Thanks to all

 

Great job with your notebook! It takes some patience to remove the manufactured paste and apply it all before it dries out, but at the end the temperatures dropped for me by around 3 Celcius over time. Highly recommend