Dell XPS M1330 - nVidia GeForce 8400M GS - Copper Mod

Wow, that is really quite odd, I've never seen anything like that before. Usually, there is just a thermal pad on both the GPU and northbridge. However, like frippi was saying, the thermal pad on the GPU is not the optimal solution, even though there is that very thin piece of copper in there.

I would buy the correct size of copper (look on eBay, metaloffcuts used to sell them, not sure if they do anymore) and follow the instructions on the first page to apply this copper mod to the GPU. You can leave whatever is on the northbridge, that's not as critical.

 

Sounds good. Thanks but I will try a variant of the copper mod. I think if I remove the stuff and apply the copper mod but with two pieces of copper instead of one for the GPU (similar to what they did on my mobo) but with the proper thermal compound etc. Dunno if it will be as efficient... I shall report the findings though!

 

I wouldn't do this; you want to have one solid piece of copper. The more layers you have, means you have more interfaces (the areas between any 2 different materials), which therefore adds more resistance to the heat flow. This leads to not as much heat getting away from the GPU, leading to a higher temperature on the GPU versus having just the single piece of copper.

 

hi people,
I'd like to ask whether its necessery to use a C106 copper shim or other types would do it as well? Also would like to ask whether cpu needs a shim? I would like to make that cooler too.

 

polcrendszer, any copper will do. Generally anything with better thermal conductivity thermal pad will work (people even put polished pennies there). If you can choose copper - choose one with better thermal conductivity.
As the whole point of copper shim is to replace thermal pad with better thermal interface and there is nothing to replace ontop of CPU, you dont' need to do anything with it.

 

Thanks, I did the mod. Now the gpu is a lot cooler, with fan running 20 celsius cooler on idle. But! Only with fan running...Does idle mean an average temp of idle running with fan turning on and off for a while? I get lower temps with fan running but with fan off the temps climb as usual until they get to a point where fan starts to operate. Am I doing something wrong or its possible to stop temps to climb when doing nothing but surfing on the net? It seems to me without the new paste the copper would have done the trick anyway... The point would be to stop the fan to kick in every 3 minutes and run for like half an hour even it keeps cpu at 35 and gpu at 45 celsius.I wanna get higher batter life than 3 hours...

 

Which BIOS version do you have? If you don't have the latest, A15, you may want to upgrade. The newer BIOS versions have better thermal control, which helps control the fan.

 

I have the latest. I meant without the fan is it possible to keep the cpu cool so the fan would not kick in? What I managed to do with copper mod is to get a lot lowe temp for the cpu+gpu with the fan running so it can turn itself off for a couple of minutes until the cpu+gpu reaches a certain highness of temp when it has to turn on again, and this keeps repeating itself, fan turn-on turn-off turn-on turn-off...I mean like in 2 minutes the cpu reaches 50celsius from 42. Seriously what am I doing wrong?

 

Hi, my m1330 mobo is dead I'm waiting for dell to fix it.
I will certainly do the copper mod, but I'm thinking about one more idea, and I want to ask you for the opinion. so, what do you think about this. it seems that the connection btw steel part and the copper part on the GPU Thermal Cooling Assembly is not good enough. what do you think about filling the gap with thermal compound or something like that? take a look at the pic... thanks all for sharing your experience

 

What are you guys using to gauge GPU temp? I'm using I8kfanGUI 3.1, but for some reason my GPU temps aren't reading (see screen cap):

 

Nevermind, I found it. You have to enable the option to read GPU temp from the Options -> Status Reading menu.

 

CheeseFrog, I use SpeedFan.

 

Xcellent thread: It wuz Xtremely Helpful 4 the modifications I made 2 my XPS1330! The only difference in my modification is that I used a 1978 Canadian Penny as my Copper Plate and it is working as Xpected!

 

hi all,
M1330 started developing the random lines and giving the hardware fialure screen.
Is the copper mod still of any help to ressurect the M1330 or shall I just throw this baby away?
Comments are much appreciated
Cheers

 

redbaron51, most likely it's already too late to save it by just copper mod. You might want to try to bake it first and if it helps then apply the mod.

 

Or contact Dell and see if your 1 year automatic extension to your warranty is valid

 

Damn .. so late to the thread but thankfully my laptop has not developed the dreaded curse as of now after the initial mobo replacement in 2008 which was within a couple of months of my purchase.

I'm from India ... and i would like to know where can i find these customised copper chips / shims / plates to apply the mod...also is the mod affective on a case to case basis or does it work universally on all m1330's with 8400m gs .. by work i mean help in lowering load temps.

my usage is web surfing , basic photoshop , ms office and watching movies both high def and std def.

please help mates

 

Hi,

I got my shim from "http://stores.ebay.co.uk/metaloffcuts". Sorry, I can't remember the exact size or thickness, but check out his "store" and you should find it.

If applied properly (with thermal grease / paste on both sides, not to thick, etc, etc) it will bring down GPU temps by a large margin! So if you asked, I for one would highly recommend it!

Good luck / Cheers

 

@traveller ...thanks for coming back to the old thread for help

buddy i'm in India ... the cost is coming out to be 10GBP incl. shipping. i was wondering if some Indian dude here might know of a local source on the cheap.

and i have another query - i wanted to install win 7 on my laptop but i'm scared that i might screw it up (gpu) ... please let me know if i should go ahead or not and what precautions and drivers to download ?

my temps as of now 20mins of surfing

 

Hi guys,

I wanted to do this mod for my XPS m1330. I got all the stuff needed from ebay. I opened the module cover and tried to disassemble the thermal cooling assembly and realized out of the four screws the 2nd screw is broken. I tried a bit hard to open but no luck. I am utterly disappointed.

I am so dying to do this mod. Does anybody have this problem? Any advice for me...

 

mr samurai .. could you forward me the link from where you got the copper shim i can't seem to find one that is of the exact dimensions as mentioned in the tutorial ..

the best i found so far was 23mmx23mmx2mm will this work ?

 

@papabear1
It's not easy. I bought from 'chips2481' bcoz some members supported him in this forum. Dell XPS M1330 MM911 Thermal Copper Pad Shim - eBay (item 260679526130 end time May-15-11 12:24:25 PDT)

How to use link from seller: tinyurl.com/m1330inst

But this is not exactly what described in this post. He sent me two shims (0.75mm thick, I should use both), I was expecting single piece. He didn't mentioned in his description.

The next best is: M1330 Copper Shim 1.6mm GPU Heat Sink - eBay (item 160508577947 end time May-18-11 05:16:53 PDT)

I would have gone for this if chips2481 described it properly.

But in general during my research in this forum I found people have used different ones which vary slightly from the dimensions mentioned here and most of them seem satisfied.

 

the one mentioned is this one Dell M1330 Copper Shim Heat Sink Modification | eBay but i find a li'l expensive when added with international shipping .

i have a 2mm thick shim will that work ?

 

In principle it would work. But max recommended is 1.5mm. 2mm could be slightly thick.
But worth a shot. Monitor the system behavior before and after. Keep the factory installed thermal pad if the system behaves odd u can revert back. As I've already mentioned several members have tried different dimensions and results vary from case to case, but most were satisfactory.
When you are tightening the screws back be little gentle.
99% you should be fine...

 

not worth the risk imo ... since my laptop idles at around 65-67 and tops when i'm watching an HD movie to 80-81. although my cpu is heating up a bit goes upto 60-61 when watching hd vids. i might import it via metalcutoffs.

dude samurai could you tell me if i should install win 7 32bit or not ? if yes what precautions as well as drivers for video to use ?

 

Update:
I was able to unscrew using diff screwdriver #1
Did copper mod with two shims
CPU GPU temps went down upto 10 C
Thanks OP

 

Hi,

Very clear article, thanks for the efforts of sharing your experiences! Just had an external monitor on my XPS in twinview mode using Ubuntu 10.10 and the GPU temperature went over 100 degrees Celcius according to the Nvidia X Server Settings tool! The screen became unresponsive at the same time, so I quickly disabled this setup. Will do the mod and report my findings here. What a shame that Dell did not put in a copper sheet themselves; would have been a lot cheaper than replacing main boards all over the place, not mentioning the trouble they put their customers into...

Cheers,

Jan

 

Hi,

Thanks for the excellent review! I did the mod today. Reading the online manual on Arctic Silver 5, it was advised to "tint" the heatsink (i.e. the copper plate in our case) for a shorter break-in period. Meaning: to work the paste into the tiny holes of the surface with a credit card or alike plastic and then wipe the rest off from the entire surface with a lint-free cloth. So I did that to the copper plate on both sides. The CPU-side still gets a tiny layer of paste.

Regarding assembly: I found it easier to put the plate onto the thermal cooling assembly instead of onto the GPU. The thermal cooling assembly in my XPS has two L-shaped corners on its surface, within which the copper plate should end up. I found that the Arctic Silver 5 paste sufficiently "glues" the copper plate, preventing it from falling off during assembly.

Cheers, Jan

 

Update on my last post: the GPU idle temperature went down around 10 degrees due to the mod (from around 78 degrees down to around 68). +/- the same for Vista and Ubuntu. Both OS'es dynamically switch the GPU between three performance levels depending on the amount of graphics power needed.

 

My XPS M1330 is soon four years old. I use it daily for several hours and depend on it. I had initially Vista Business then Windows 7 RC and now Windows 7 Ultimate. Processor is Intel Core 2 Duo T7300. Had after two years the well documented breakdown of the GeForce 8400 chip and motherboard replacement by Dell. I was assured by the technician that my motherboard was new and the graphic processor issue was resolved. I had no problems since then. I like this computer but will not have it repaired again due to the high costs from Dell. I have therefore decided to do the copper mod after my extended warranties expired. I used to have CPU temperatures of around 35 - 40 degrees at low loads and reached 60 degrees with heavy loads. The GPU was never below 65 degrees at idle and would reach above 85 degrees with some load (i.e. video use).
After the copper mod is my CPU reading not observable changed. The GPU however shows idle temperatures of below 55 degrees (computer runs several hours and Hard Disc temperature is 34 degrees. Running three videos simultaneously (Windows Media Player, VLC Player and Classic Media Player each open running a different movie), IE Explorer running Youtube flash movie and some web browsing - all at the same time - did result in GPU temperature of 66 degrees. I prefer to use Openhardware monitor because it shows the same temperature reading as the NVIDIA monitor. CPUID Hardware monitor gives more pleasing readings but I have doubts about validity (CPU 40 degrees and GPU 49 at idle/low load).
Whichever monitor utility is used: The difference between solid thermal connection to the heatpipe (as done with the copper mod) and Dells chewing gum solution is very clear.
I want to express my gratitude to the author of the article. It gave me the confidence to tackle the modification which I would have not started by myself. I have used 1.5mm thick copper 15mm x 15mm. Again my thanks.

 

Does anyone know of any sellers in the UK that provide for this mod?

My idle temperatures are ridiculous compared to some users here, with browsing GPU temps hitting an average of 85 degrees as given by RivaTuner.

Anyway, I'm in a similar situation to MagWiz where my M1330 is almost 4 years old, running W7Ult, new HDD and all sorts. I'll soon be attempting this mod, once my warranty runs out in September.

I'll be keeping the M1330 for as long as possible, but I know there's going to be a day where I need to replace it and I'm holding out until there's something like an XPS 13z.

 

The seller metaloffcuts on eBay was based in the UK; that's where I got my copper piece 3 years ago, not sure if they still sell them.

 

Did you guys see CPU/GPU temps drop immediately after you did the copper mod?

I did the copper mod for the first time last night, using copper shims 1.6mm thick and the Masscool Fanner 420 thermal compound. Initially, temperatures were actually higher than before the mod (pre-mod: ~68C idle, post-mod: ~71C). I opened the back up and removed some thermal paste (I don't think there was very much on there to begin with), and now temperatures are roughly the same as before the mod.

This is the stock heatsink that I have in my m1330:

Slightly different from the one in post 1. I sanded down the little "L" ridges on the heatsink that sit above the GPU so that there would be better contact.

Does anyone have any ideas why the copper mod isn't working as well for me as others, for whom temperatures have dropped down to ~50-60s?

 

Hi all.

I posted a couple of times in this forum with respect to the nvidia failure in the M1330 (see e.g. here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/453580-dell-xps-m1330-lowering-gpu-cpu-temperature-rmclock-i8kfangui.html). Well, I have two of them and still run on the DELL contract. Next year is over.

Anyway, the first M1330 had once this failure after one year, the second M1330 is still in its initial assembly as received. Both still have the chewing gum (blue pads) from DELL inside.
Since two years, I had no problem at all, no nvidia crash. Under normal working conditions, both computers have GPU temperatures around 63°C in summer (28°C). Playing some ego shooters brings the first one onto 80°C.

Could it be that DELL has changed indeed the graphic chips or other stuff such that they run longer? Who has made same experiences? How long did your M1330s lasted?

Let's see, in any case, when I have again a crash I'm going to post here again. Copper pad and glue have been already bought and are waiting for their use.

Cheers.

 

What's it do to the 2nd one, or are you not able to test it under the same conditions...?

I find it hard to believe that is stays at 63°C under "real" load... :-/

 

The 2nd one goes even to 95°C during gaming!

63°C under "real" (better: "normal") load means here, surfing, word processing, etc., no gaming or something that uses the GPU.

 

Hello, I have a question I ordered the copper sheet from that store but they seem to have messed up my order and sent me a smaller one (1.5x12x12) can I still use this one to make the mod or would leaving the sides(that's would be 2mm on each side) be undesirable? If so can I still add/modify anything about this sheet to make it useful? I really don't want to order another sheet from them- I live on the mainland so it takes a few weeks for them to deliver. Hope someone can help me.

 

As long as this smaller sheet covers the entire GPU chip, I think you would be fine. The 14x14 actually overlaps the chip a little bit, so the 12x12 may be just big enough.

 

Has anybody tried 25mm x 25mm (length x width) copper shim. I got this from an ebay seller who listed this for XPS m1330. But I realized this is way bigger than what is suggested here. Can I give a try installing it or is it too big?

 

What a interesting thread, i had this card in a hp before i got my l702x. Still got it actually.

 

Hey guys! So my m1330 Nvidia GPU died out and I ended up baking it in the oven to reflow. That worked charms, but now I don't want to turn it back on until I have the proper mod in place. I ended up cleaning off all the pads and thermal compound that was previously there. In fact, I got rid of all the foam pads, including the ones over the middle heatsink.

In any case, I have the older model heatsink (no ridges/fins like the newer looking models). What size copper shim will work out best for this heatsink? And what should I do about the middle heatsink where I removed the foam pad? Should I just apply thermal grease to that heatsink and that's it? Or should I try to find that thermal foam material elsewhere?

 

Same shim thickness should do fine. These fins slightly improve heat dissipation and do not affect on distance between cooling assembly and chip (look at pictures in the very first post, the cooling assembly presented there has no fins either). As for the size, most likely it also should be the same, but you can always check your cooling assembly for small L shaped notches. If you have them copper shim should not be bigger than their area, or you'll have to file them off.

You shouldn't have removed middle chipset thermal pad, as it was noted before, chipset does not emit much heat and thermal pad is more than enough. The distance between chipset and cooling assembly is too big for thermal grease alone, so you'll have to either find another thermal pad (there should be some available on ebay) or use another copper shim, though of different size and thickness (try searching in this thread, maybe some one posted chipset shim dimensions).

 

Thanks for the tips!

Would something like this do?

dell xps m1330 gpu copper pad shim 15mm*15m*1.2mm 1x | eBay

The thickness is 1.2mm and is 15mmx15mm - I thought I read where 1.5mm was the 'perfect' fit although the closest I can find for a more 'reasonable' price is 1.2mm-1.4mm. There are shims that are actually under 1mm but would those be advisable? As far as the pad, I actually have the foam still but it's all balled up since I stuck it all together when throwing it out - I just took it back out of the garbage so it's a ball of all the foam with old thermal grease mixed in. I wonder if I could just smush it over the middle heatsink and make do with it.

 

1.2 should work, but 1.5 (as recommended) is better, the thinner layer of thermal grease is the better thermal conductivity will be. But too thick shim may break chip as it expands when heated.

15mmx15mm should be fine. The bigger shim area the more effective heat transfer will be. To be on the safe side you may want to check L marks on your cooling assembly if you have ones. But in any case, if shim is too big, you can file it down to desired size, or file off L marks.

I myself use 14mmx14mmx1.5mm without any issues.

 

Sweet! I ordered a 15mmx15mmx1.5mm copper shim a 1-2 weeks ago on Ebay and got it yesterday (it came from China). I installed it (all I have is Ceramique) and the laptop booted up just fine. The GPU temps range from 50-70 depending on idleness and load. I really have no idea what the temps were before but this seems like it's a good range to be in now. Hopefully it lasts a while! If it ends up crashing again, I guess I can go through the baking process again!

 

I have an m1330 on the virge of burning. I already had the mobo replaced under warranty but after a year, seems to be presented with the same symptoms of an about to burn nvidia chip - palmrest is heating up badly, even if fan at full speed. btw my bios is a15.

I got an old spare TT volcano 9 which i'm planning to practically destroy if i don't get my hands on a copper sheet. it has a copper base bonded to alum fins. this is going to be lots of sawing, filing, and lapping. another idea would be copper ram sinks or the copper bus bars from circuit breakers.

i have an idea of instead of making this shim a sandwich between the heatsink and chip (with as5), i'm planning on sticking the shim on the heatsink itself using thermal adhesive ( http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_thermal_adhesive.htm). in this manner, the shim will be bonded perfectly to the heatsink and just as5 between the chip and the shim. thoughts on this?

 

Well, this basically would produce same thing thermal compound and adhesive both have about the same thermal conductivity. And you still will have a sandwich, with one layer of adhesive instead of compound.

On the other hand, this will save time and work when you need to replace thermal compound with a new one.

So, if you don't mind having shim glued to cooling assembly once and forever, I don't see a reason why not to do so. But I myself have an irrational need to not make irreversible decisions

 

Update:

January 11, 2011: A year has passed by since I redid the Copper Mod on the last replaced motherboard. My notebook runs hot but I am able to manage it with the Logitech Cooling Pad N120. Unfortunately, the original battery is almost dead and lasts only for 15 minutes.

The 3 year notebook warranty and service contract expires today, and my note book is on its last leg with 1 processor and 2 motherboard replacements, Copper Mods and cooler pad, and 3 years of regular use.

Thank you for your support and guidance.

 

I replaced my mobo with graphic card g86-631-A2 date code 2009 which I bought from ebay. The seller told me this is new motherboard with improved graphic card.

Any one here have review or experience with g86-631-A2 date code 2009 ?

 

There is no fix for this graphics card. Search through this forum and you will find this same answer multiple times.