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

You could easily heat the solder and melt it off, but it will likely leave behind some scorching or signs of tampering. I wouldn't do it, and I don't even have a warranty. Getting the assembly on tightly and using the proper amount of thermal paste is plenty for holding the copper in place. Then again, I have the raised L's not recessed L's, which helps me out.

 

While I think soldering the copper to the heatsink pipe might increase conductivity, I was originally only thinking about soldering the two pieces of copper sheets together so that it would hold together and not slide off over time. I will put some AS5 between the two sheets before soldering them together as well. And that would make the 0.05 in copper (slightly bigger than 1.5mm) that would then be placed between the GPU and the heat pipe similarly to how you all are doing it.
I have a lot of warranty left and I wouldn't want to loose it by soldering the sheets to the heat pipe.

 

Well, its evident the go 7400 inside the m1210 has 'issues' - 100% thermal based I can't say for sure

 

Well, this mod works as a replacement for any thermal pad really. So if the M1210 has a thermal pad on the GPU, this mod can be setup to work for you.

 

Cheers - If u get a min, check my other post....My GPU has no pad or paste. I suspect someone has been inside the machine before (brought 2nd hand)

 

Hello everyone, my CPU (T9300) temperature is kinda abnormal between the cores. Core 1 is hotter than Core 0 by 8-10C. Is the heatsink mounted improperly or thermal paste uneven? I have not done the copper mod yet.

 

@delboi - I saw your other post, kinda crazy. I would definitely copper mod that! Or do something. I am surprised your GPU even functions with hardly any contact to the cooling assembly.

@Anonymouz - Some people report a difference in the cores as being normal. I, however, was not happy with that, cracked open my M1330, and leveled out my cooling assembly. Temps are now no more than 2-3 degrees C apart at any time. And that's at most, they usually climb together, ie, one hits 50, the other goes to 51, the first goes to 51, the other goes to 52, etc. Usually just [less than] a degree apart.

 

@help - Having looked and measured the GPU, the area in contact with the cooling system is 10x10mmwhich makes me think perhaps the 7400 is smaller than the 14x14 used in the 1330. I will paste it and see what the contact is like

 

You might want to consider just bending your cooling assembly (carefully). I did it recently with my M1330 and used a much thinner piece of copper. Did me wonders on my temps.

 

cheers - More options can't hurt

 

Does anybody know the fastest CPU that can be placed into the m1330 and running smoothly with no problems? I know Dell offers the T9500 2.6 ghz duo core 2 for this model. But I saw a video with someone using a 2.8ghz duo core 2 extreme on their 1530 on youtube. Is it possible to put an extreme into the m1330. Anybody try this?

 

m1330 already has a overheating issue. Dropping a C2X would be stupid.

 

haha yeah I guess that makes sense considering its 50% higher wattage.

 

The CPU is hardly the bottleneck in the m1330 anyway.

 

A user of this site runs an XPS M1330 with an X9000. I forget who though, they posted in the original copper mod topic as well.

 

Quick question, but I ordered the copper today... and I remembered that this mod presumably voids the warranty right? I assume if the laptop dies, it's easy to put it back to normal so Dell would be none the wiser?

 

I would think so. Just be sure to keep the thermal pad in good condition and stored away so that you can reattach it back and restore it to factory original if you need to. Though im not too sure how well the thermal pad adhesive will be once its peeled off the heatsink.

 

Does it matter? The adhesive sucks, what really holds it in place is the pressure of the thermal assembly on the GPU. You should be able to clean off the grease, take out the copper, and put in the thermal pad without an issue.

 

Here's a thought, can one source a new thermal pad? Then you can keep it in reserve and replace the copper upon failure.

 

Someone wanted to buy a whole new cooling assembly and could not find it. You'll be able to find one, not likely from dell though.

 

Re-assuring, thanks. The mod itself looks easy enough, I've used AS5 on my CPU/heatsinks for years, so I'd like to do it asap. Sick of 95C in FEAR. Obviously don't wanna sacrifice the warranty.

 

That was me, never did find one.

 

GUYS LISTEN UP.

I just got my m1330, and already did the mod, I used silver instead of copper, I used more arctic silver, also adding a bit extra into the middle of the dies (note that I didnt use too much).

Bios A12
before mod
gpu idle temps (70C-76C)
cpu idle temps (35C-43C)
Gpu at full load 100C

After silver mod
gpu idle temps (53C-59C)
cpu idle temps (39C-44C)
Gpu at full load 69C

yeah I can even overclock XD with these temps, really... Its better using silver instead of copper also I only paid less than $10 dollars for it.

Yeah Im also the first m1330 silver modder .

 

silver is kinda pointless as mentioned unless u replace the entire copper heatsink...

oh well.... still deciding whether to do this... why cant dell look at this simple solution?

 

Acording to my teacher (master in sciences), it is not pointless as you use silver along with silver thermal compound and becomes more efficient. But who knows... Maybe my temps could speak by their own .

Also as mentioned there is a noticeable difference between the use of copper and aluminium.

 

I'm the first copper modder


And actually, silver hardly will give you a benefit over copper or even aluminum, as the cooling assembly is aluminum. It's only as good as your weakest link, just like an audio cable. Tin solder, copper wire and gold plated plugs? Cmon, now, it's running through tin anyway!

Again, nope. I used both, no difference really. The only thing that really helped was getting the assembly to lay more flat by bending it a bit.

 

Can you guys help me out? I have the copper cut and am ready to do the mod. But before I do that I am trying to figure out my before and after temps. However, HWMonitor doesn't show me GPU temps for some reason. It only shows ACPI (THM_), CPU (core0, core1), and HDD. I don't know what I am missing to enable GPU.

Are there other monitors that I can use to see the temps?

Thanks,

-- Ankur

EDIT: Never mind. I found the problem. I upgraded drivers which made it work again. I am getting 74 deg. idle temps on GPU. Here's to hoping that the copper mod makes a cool difference. I'll let you all know.

 

There was a guy before you but he wasn't very descriptive.

 

LoL how true.

By the way, how long does it take for the copper to arrive from UK? I ordered it on the 9th. How long did it take you guys?

 

http://www.bay-wolf.com/8500videoheat.htm

Copper mod has been played around w/Dell notebooks for years...

 

Honestly hadn't seen that.

 

Wow the concept of this mod is old. But makes wonders with temps . I can even play COD4 at medium settings without overheats because the gpu max temp in hwmonitor shows 64C.

 

Excellent guide.

A12 BIOS
NVIDIA linux driver 173.14.12

14 * 14 * 1.5 mm3 copper offcut from metaloffcuts
arctic silver 5 thermal paste

idling GPU temperature (24 C ambient)
before mod: 57 C
after mod: 36 C
(measured using nvidia-settings on ubuntu hardy)

When I removed the heat exchanger assembly, I noticed that the thermal pad was missing from the northbridge chipset, and that half the thermal pad on the GPU was snapped off and missing. Glad I did the mod. now. Thanks to all you guys for your work.

DC

 

I daresay this has been posted already, but people in the UK can buy precut copper specifically designed for this mod here. Ordered mine Thursday, arrived Friday, excellent.

Now I just need to get the liquid required to remove the compound. I don't really know where to buy it, most UK chemists don't seem to stock it because of obvious abuse. I asked the guy in Boots and he said the stuff in Cassette Tape cleaners should be the same stuff. I guess I should stop being so cheap and buy some of the ArtiClean stuff.

Still in two halfs about doing this mod, because I have 11 months of warranty left, though I guess I can just put the old thermal pad back on if I need to send the thing back to Dell.

 

Wish I found this thread earlier, I am wondering if copper fin from a CPU cooler good enough? So basicly I just cut 14mm x 14mm from one of the fins.

Or if you have spare copper shim near zip code 94538 pleae let me know, I need this done asap.. thx.

 

My copper shim from metaloffcuts via UK finally arrived! =). Took exactly 7 days.

....and here are my results!!

The following tests were done with a:
- Dell XPS M1330
- T7500 2.2 Ghz Duo Core 2 Intel
- 200gb, 7200 rpm
- 3 GB RAM
- 128mb nvidia gpu
- BIOS A12, Forceware Driver 175.97
- 9 Cell Battery, AC adapter plugged in
- (2) 14mmx14mmx1.5mm copper
- Artic Silver 5

Each of the following tests is a 3dMark06 test which stresses and tests out my system for a good 10 minutes. The temperature and scores are listed below as well as the tweaks I used.

Before MOD: Test #1

Normal m1330 with no tweaks

Before MOD: Test #2

Normal m1330 with I8kfanGUI tweak: Force full fan on

Before MOD: Test #3

Normal m1330 with I8kfanGUI tweak: Force full fan on, with a Targus Fan laptop cooler placed underneath the laptop

Before MOD: Test #4

Overclocked m1330 using RivaTuner (core/link/memory at 505/1010/600 mhz, respectively), with I8fanGUI tweak: Force full fan on, and with a Targus Fan laptop cooler placed underneath the laptop.



After Mod: GPU AND Northbridge: Test #5

Normal m1330 with post GPU and Northbrige Mod; I was happy that my temperature dropped but not at all happy at how much. Just 9 degrees C in my max temperature! 88 C is still high. As a result, I forgot to record the 3dMark06 score . I figured modding the GPU and the northbridge with copper caused the two to exchange temperature at a higher rate than the fan was cooling off the heatsink...

After Mod: GPU Only: Test #6

So I replaced the copper on the Northbridge back to its thermal pad. And I was right, max temperature decreased! . 76 C! A difference of 12 C from the GPU+Northbridge and a difference of 21 C! normal, before modding.

After Mod: GPU Only: Test #7

Post GPU Mod; Normal m1330 with I8kfanGUI tweak: Force full fan on

After Mod: GPU Only: Test #8

Post GPU Mod; Normal m1330 with I8kfanGUI tweak: Force full fan on, with a Targus Fan laptop cooler placed underneath the laptop

After Mod: GPU Only: Test #9

Post GPU Mod; Overclocked m1330 using RivaTuner (core/link/memory at 505/1010/600 mhz, respectively), with I8fanGUI tweak: Force full fan on, and with a Targus Fan laptop cooler placed underneath the laptop.




Thanks so much for this copper mod guide! It was really helpful!! If anybody can tweak their M1330 above 1755 3DMark06, I would love to hear about your specs and how you did it.

 

shakey-jakey, I called round a few chemists - Boots are rubbish and don't sell things like acetone - but I managed to find a Lloyds chemist that sold little 50 ml bottles of pure acetone. You can also find IPA (isopropanol) at Maplins. Fibreglass companies like CFS sell acetone and IPA for good prices online.

 

Thanks for that - I actually ended up just ordering some of the ArctiClean stuff, which should be arriving Tuesday. I certainly should have checked an independent pharmacist though!

aznboy's results have encouraged me to give this mod a go, especially since I game. Wish me luck!

btw when I tried to force full fan with I8fanGUI, it refused to stay at a consistant speed =/

 

lol yeah it does that. I'm not sure how to make it stay consistent >_<.You might need to tweak the overclock settings also for some games though, because Gunz crashed on me but Counter Strike didn't..etc.

 

I think this is what happened for the increased temps with both northbridge and gpu copper mod, I think that with both in there, the contact between the gpu and heatsink is bad because the northbridge is before the GPU and can cause the heatsink to rise above the GPU with that copper insert, this is why the northbridge temp is close to the CPU temp but not GPU. With just the GPU copper in there, both cpu and gpu are about the same temp and the northbridge i think is the same as well because I don't think that it creates much heat so it is heated up by the gpu and cpu together.

On a different note, my northbridge and cpu idle at about 38c and the gpu idles at about 53c with single copper on gpu.

 

Hi!

My computer's vid card started crapping out at the end of July, exactly one year from my purchase which ends my warrant also!
I only use this machine for surfing, office work and occasional watching of video. Coincidentally, at the end of July, I started to watch TV series' for hours then the first time the crapping out happens.
Does this mean that my vid card will eventually die even if I do the copper mod ?
I can still use it with disabling the nvidia but the monitor will still get distorted.
Will this do more damage or shorten the life of the vid card?
What are the negative effects for me when using it in disabled mode?


Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

Thats today after 30minutes of websurfing, 5 minutes playing windows chess (I lost ), and 10 minutes messing around with my homework in word07. This mod makes wonders and more by using silver , the arctic silver isnt even cured . Plays nicely COD4 too .

How can I overclock the gpu easily?

--------------Edit--------------------
Im searching right now in these forums.

 

Hey MexicanSnake which drivers are you using right now for those temps. Imma give it a shot.

EDIT

Oh and to MexicanSnake, your CPU core temps differ by like 13C at max temps and differ by 5C at idle which makes me think that your silver mod is too thick or something causing the heatsink not to be 100% even with the cpu causing this vast temperature difference. At first I used a very thick piece of aluminum and got really good GPU temps but the cores were very different in temp so i switched it out with a thinner copper piece and the cores are all good now and the gpu temp rose slightly.

 

Indeed my silver plate is more thick like 1.7mm, as many of you know by performing this mod you reach higher temps in the cpu and in the northbridge but they arent too much, the cpu and the northbridge are more efficient and resistent than the gpu. Exactly your theory applies in my case too, but I prefer a cooler gpu than a cooler cpu cuz I know that intel is better with its processors also the Core 2 duo´s resist more than 100C and like more than 40C of difference between its cores (dont quote that last part I heard that from a friend ).

Yeah yeah yeah, Im using the coolest Nvidia drivers, 167.45 , some few say that they display wrong temps but that is not true, I checked the temps of the cpu and the northbridge and they are also cooler, you know... By having a cooler gpu in the system of the m1330 heatsink you get less dregrees in the northbridge and on the cpu by a difference of temperatures. Also I touched the back and is cooler than ever and the heat feeling is almost the same on the gpu and on the cpu parts. But you know Ill check later with a laser thermometer . The temp difference between drivers is like less than 9C(Dell ones).

Also by using these drivers the fan barely runs, also by playing COD4 or running 3dmark06 they dont run too fast and if you touch the back of the lappy you notice that its not even warm at gaming . I hope this helps. And sorry for my bad english Im still learning .

 

Just tried out those 167.45 drivers and yeah they seem to report lower temps than many other drivers I've used. The heat coming out feels the same too.

Tried to simulate the same usage patterns as you and am getting similar temps. I used a piece of copper and some really cheap crappy white thermal paste. I really think that the silver mod sees no benefit over copper mod.

Here are my temps. These are also after about 45 mins of usage with 167.45 drivers.

Man I wonder what temps I would get if I propped the back up with something.

 

What are your max temps at full load?, Also maybe Ill take a vid of the lappy later.

 

I just tried it out with COD4 and Crysis and the max temps are:

CPU 61/63C
Northbridge 61C
GPU 62C

These are with the driver that you are using: 167.45

With other drivers, I get 74C max GPU temps so I don't know if these drivers are reporting the correct temps.

 

Yeah sounds pretty nice, we should take a vid of the laps doing some stress tests and playing video games. .

 

Hahah maybe someday soon when I have the time. You can't even see anything when people record those vids on youtube. I'm still deciding whether I should go back in and use Arctic Silver 5 to see if temps go down even further. But I'm moving back in for college next week so a lot of things to do right now.

 

Maybe you are right, but taking a vid with fraps or other program isnt that hard actually, we dont need cameras, I understand your pain of college but isnt that heavy Im in college too and I have some spare time some days. Im pretty confident that using a program would show perfectly the temps.

Ha.

The ceiling cat is watching you. lol