Dell Studio XPS 1645 heat exhaust mod, throttling

Here is a quick small mod I did to the XPS 16 for better airflow from rear vent. The mod gave me an 10 degree temperature difference. As many of you are aware, the XPS 16 has a rear exhaust vent that is small and partially obstructed by the open display. This mod may help those with throttling issues.

This mod involves cutting away a small portion of aluminum just above the copper heat sink vent. Then also widening the upper portion of the existing vent on the rear cap. The piece of aluminum blocks the upper portion of the copper exhaust vent. By removing this piece of aluminum airflow is not restricted to flow only through the existing vent in the plastic rear cap and it can then flow much less restricted through widening the vent in the plastic rear cap.

I have included some pictures below showing the mod.

In this first picture I have circled the area in orange that I cut away.
I cut it away by using a razor knife and scoring the aluminum quite a few times before breaking it away with pliers.




Here you can see the expansion to the plastic rear cap. I used a razor knife to enlarge the vent. I plan to glue some black screen over the opening in the future.




NOTE: I am not responsible for any problems you may cause to your laptop attempting this mod. Read your warranty information about modifications.

To further increase airflow remove the screen over the intake on the bottom cover. I noticed that the alignment of the screen with the grate on the bottom cover was in such a way as to reduce airflow.

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It was already blowing air over the screen before this. The existing placement of the exhaust vent hits directly onto the bottom of the screen when it is open, directing airflow upwards over the screen. This mod just allows the air to flow more freely upwards, rather than directly against the base of the display.

 

Awesome mod, although I'd imagine most people like myself wouldn't do it because of warranty issues.

One idea I have is to cut out a part of the display panel (depending on what's under it), so the air would flow right through. Of course, I'm not going to to this either, but I highlighted one of your pics in green to show the area I'm talking about.

 

which tool did you use to cut the aluminium and the plastic ?

 

How much temp did this mod increase? It doesn't seem practical since it may void your warranty in some way.

 

Hey! Wouldn't it be great if Dell would so something like this for all of our XPS16s? That thing where everyone is trying to get Dell to do something about the overheating, that something could be increasing the vent for us.
What Dell could do is remove the current vent cover thing and install a redesigned one. This is a realistic thought and I think it is very possible, that they should do it. It would satisfy a lot of us.

 

I can tell you that you are definitely more than a few months late with that "realistic thought" . Many people, myself included, have been suggesting that to Dell for the longest time, and not much was done apart from the ever-so subtle vent redesign from the 1640 to 1645/1647 (the addition of one more slot line, which didn't really help anything) way back when. So now that the rumor mills are churning out new information indicating that an SXPS refresh is on the horizon, I'm pretty sure Dell has thrown the towel in on this one (if they hadn't already done that a long while back). Simply put, don't expect any vent redesign from Dell on these models (1645 & 1647).

 

cant they just replace that a new vent cover or even allow us to replace it ourselves?

 

I thought about doing that also, though I think that there are wires and other components that travel through the edges of the display. They could possibly be shifted. When you close the laptop, there will be an ugly looking gouge in the top of the display panel that is not so easy to make look relatively clean and safe from debris. It would be nice to have the exhaust directed away so that the fan isn't as noticeable.

 

The vent cover itself won't fix the issue. The piece of aluminum from the laptop frame that sits directly above the copper heat sink directs air to the existing vent. Without some modification to that, changes to the vent cover will only make a very minor difference if any.

You could just remove the entire rear plastic cap. It will look terrible, but will help without causing warranty issues. I noticed that the rear plastic cap becomes quite warm with intensive processing.

 

ahh^ right. Man im mad. I just got my XPS16 too and they are coming out with a redesign and a new processor. i hate the rapid rate that tech grows.

 

I used a heavy duty razor knife. Repeatedly score the the area you would like to cut away at. The aluminum is soft enough that it won't take too long to cut through with a sharp enough razor knife. Maybe get a few extra blades. Then you can use pliers to break it away if needed. Be careful that you don't get aluminum shavings inside the computer somehow. You could cover the rest of the laptop in plastic and tape if off while working on the area as a precaution.

 

or u could just take off the vent itself... , coudlnt u?

 

you could do this

 

wow, i wouldnt know how to do that, looks very complicated. apart from that did u test temps before and after modding?

 

I really do not think it helped that much. The vent actually draws air in(not intended) I didn't want to cut into the metal chassis below the vent because I'm afraid I would void the warranty. But once my year is up I'll machine that out too. But to answer your question I forgot to take readings before I modded it.

 

mhh ok, thanks anyway....