How to keep your SXPS cool

Complaining about hot temperatures and stuff? Well the laptop is relatively small (thin) for its power, since it can go up to an i7-840QM and an ATI 5730 with a single fan. Here's how to keep it from being a stove on your desk (some of them are suggested by members, thanks!).

1. Is it really that hot? Download HWMonitor (pro or free) and check the temperatures. Normal for the SXPS 1640 is 40 C for CPU/GPU and lower for the other parts. Normal for the SXPS 1645 is 50 C for CPU/GPU and lower for the other parts. I've never owned a 1647 so I cannot say.
2. Make sure nothing is blocking the vents on the bottom (there are more than 1) and the vent on the back (blowing at the screen). This means stop using it on the bed without a book underneath, or on your leg so that your leg covers the fan vent.
3. Make sure there are no dust in the vents. Take off the backplate and wipe it down. You can remove the heatsink/fan easily (noobs don't be scared). Just remove the screws on the GPU/CPU (at the ends of the copper bars) and northbridge if you have a 1640. The screws won't come completely off. Take the entire thing out, and then fan comes out too. Wipe the fan, and wipe any dust on the heatsink in front of the fan (it looks like metal sheets).
4. Apply thermal paste. See above to remove the heatsink, then before putting it on, get some Arctic Silver 5 or similar and put a bit on the CPU, GPU, northbridge (1640) and southbridge (1645/1647). A pea-sized amount, then use a card (credit card, etc.) to spread it. Make sure the paste touches only the silvery parts, don't let it touch anything else. Replace the heatsink and backplate.
5. Prop the laptop up. Use a book or a 9-cell battery. This dramatically increases airflow.
6. Get a cooler. They range from a few bucks to $70 for my NC2000. They make a world of difference. Try to get 1 whose vents line up with the vents on your laptop so you're not just cooling the backplate. The Zalman NC2000 is a very good cooler in my opinion, albiet a bit pricey. Also it's important to keep the cooler dust-free!
7. Get some AC for your room.
8. If you're really rich and have a 1640, then get a P-series processor instead of a T-series processor. You may lose out on some performance, but you lose out on some heat also.
9. Undervolt your CPU. Many guides on NBR, and I've done it before with my T5750. This might take a bit of courage since you will see BSODs during experimentation.
10. Take off the dust filters on your backplate. To do this, remove the 10 screws at the bottom of your laptop (they won't fall off so don't worry about collecting them), and remove them from the side of the plate that faces the interior of the laptop. Members report 1-5 C drop in temperatures, I will test and report.

Benefits of doing the above steps include longer laptop life (battery and hardware-wise) and less/no throttling. Also it won't burn you. If you need help doing anything I mentioned, reply.

Doing all this is OPTIONAL. The laptop runs very well without any of the above points, except maybe the blocking vents part. I have personally played Crysis: Warhead on it 1080p all settings Mainstream 2x AA with only a textbook propping up my 6-cell battery and it worked fine. These tips are only to help you lower temperatures if you want, since so many people are complaining about it.

A few videos of my SXPS 1640 and 1645 laptops can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POWNe0JO4LE

 

Does undervolting help ? I'm using it but I can't draw a comparison since I did not make a reference before that.

 

Removing the vent filters and using it on a desk or cooler make it run perfect. It can, however, get warm running full tilt without a cooler. But then again the ambient temps at work and home are pretty warm.

 

Which one is better to monitor temps. HWmonitor or Everest ? Because HWmonitor shows me CPU 37 C and Everest - 43 C, everything else is the same GPU 52 C, MB 46 C. BTW is there a gadget for HWmonitor for showing temps on desktop?

 

Hey fred can you post some pics of your xps 16 on the zalman n2000. I always see you saying how good it is and im considering it for my 1645 which is on its way

 

Undervolting should help, haven't done it on my own SXPS 1645 though. Will add it to the list

Do you mean removing the bottom plate? Wouldn't that attract massive amounts of dust?

What CPU do you have? My i7-820QM idles around 50 C, only my old Core 2 Duo T9800 idled around 37 C. I use HWMonitor to check.

Pics attached, sorry for the late reply!

http://files.fred2028.com/Dell%20Studio%20XPS%201645/Cooler%201.JPG
http://files.fred2028.com/Dell Studio XPS 1645/Cooler 2.JPG
http://files.fred2028.com/Dell Studio XPS 1645/Cooler 3.JPG

 

Looks pretty good. Ill have to save up and get one

 

Is undervolting possible with the new Core i processors? I think I read somewhere that it wasn't...?

And don't forget to clean your cooler! Mine is filled with dust atm!

 

He means the screen-like dust filters on the 3 vents that are on the bottom panel, on the inside of the panel. They're basically about a dollar worth of plastic, and his results show removing them lowered his max CPU and GPU (during Warcraft/multitasking) temps by around 6C.

 

Get a black 1 if you can! Matches more lol

Oh doesn't that still introduce a ton of dust though?

 

Do you think the NC-2000 would work with a 9-cell battery?

 

I have a 9-cell and it does. Just props it up A LOT.

 

IMO it's pathetic I have to buy separate coolers or AC my room and wear 3 sweaters to get my €1000 laptop to run properly........

 

It's certainly not necessary. I play Crysis on a regular desk with a textbook propping my laptop up (6-cell battery). Worked fine.

 

they best is to put up the sxps in the back with 2 DVD-cases (~1.5cm) (one on each "rubber-foot"),
that all it needs to get this extra air-flow under your laptop.......(or if you have the 9-cell battery its already done).

now during the summer (if you have very warm inside your house) just put a fan pointed back of your sxps.

i monitor the temp this way, and the temp drop with 10C during playing DOD with 2 DVD cases

 

I am not sure which vents you mean. Can someone take a photo an attach it. Thanks.

 

I've currently put my XPS 1645 on 4 dices so it can suck air from underneath yet it throttles so badly that i get 1fps when playing tf2.

 

Hmm apparently TF2 is more demanding than Crysis since I have it on 1920x1080, 2xAA, and all settings mainstream and I get at least 20 fps.

 

bump ..............

 

The dust filter vent trick keeps my laptop 5C+ cooler while under load. http://forum.notebookreview.com/6527738-post527.html

So far, the 5C+ difference has been enough to avoid throttling in games with BIOS A09 for me.

 

I get 1 fps because my CPU goes to 200mhz effectively

 

No there are dust filters that severely restrict airflow into the notebook. I removed mine right after some tests with the filters on and I noticed a pretty big difference with them off.

I have been trying to push this since I got my SXPS and I removed mine. Made a very noticeable difference in temps and after almost 2 months I have no dust in my laptop and I run it all day at work and then all night at home.

 

Can anyone confirm that the vent trick doesn't let in extra dust in? I want to make sure before I add it to my list or do it to my own laptop.

 

Like I said in my previous post it has been almost 2 months and no dust build up.

 

And you got like 5-10 C lower temperatures all over? What are your temperatures anyways?

Which vents did you take off?

 

I wouldnt say 5-10 more like 1-5. I took all the vent filters off and havent missed them. I took the panel off today to verify my comment and actually dusted it for the first time (I usually dust once a month but didnt see any dust at1 month of use) to see if maybe some dust was hiding somewhere and not a spec of dust to be seen.

 

I've owned alot of laptops, and none of them have ever had a dust filter, and I've never had a dust problem. You should dust out your computer every month anyways, with or without a filter (if anything it's more important if you do have a filter, or else it will jam up). The only problem I'd see is if you have a pet that sheds and there's alot of hair everywhere.

 

Nah I have no pets. OK tomorrow when I get my screwdriver it's coming off.

 

I have a dog and it requires that I sweep and dust twice a week at home yet no dust issues in the SXPS. Could be that it is moving around and not sitting 24/7.

 

OK I just removed the vent covers from the fan vent and the RAM vent. Wireless card vents seem to have 2 sticky pads on it ...

 

Have any of you replaced the stock thermal pads with AS5? It's something I usually do by default with any laptop I buy.

However, I was reading in another thread (not an XPS one) that in some Dell models the heat sink doesn't tighten close enough on the processor / GPU to use AS5, that there's a gap left because of the thickness of the stock thermal pads. They suggested making a 'sandwich' of processor / AS5 / thin sheet of copper / another layer of AS5 / then the heat sink.

Did any of you that replaced the thermal pads with a compound notice this, or did the HS tighten enough?

Also, my tube of AS5 is about 3 years old. I don't think the stuff expires, but do you think it's still good?

 

I've always applied AC5 to my SXPS laptops. I dunno how to test if the heat sink touches the processors, but I always tighten the screws to the max for the sink.

 

I'm not a fan of thermal pads (or Dell's shoddy thermal paste job), but I kept the stock thermal pads because I was also concerned about a potential gap between the VRAM chips and heatsink. To me, it looked as if the VRAM chips were a bit shorter than the GPU and CPU, so I only applied thermal paste (I use MX-3 ) on the CPU/GPU. The idle core temperatures for my XPS 1645 were reduced to 47-51C, so it appears that the thermal pads/paste are performing properly.

I'm pretty sure your AS5 is still good after all these years, since the paste is designed to last for a long period of time, let alone on a hot processor.

 

Awesome, thanks.

 

Bump...............

 

Guys, is this better than a coolerpad ?
HardwareLogic: Reviews - Thermaltake iXoft Notebook Cooler

Thanks.

 

Doesn't seem to allow much ventilation ...

 

Hey, I just realized you're the same guy doing the review. Back before I bought my 1640 (around December), I was debating between this and a Vaio F series; I watched your review and it helped me decide the 1640 was a better choice.

Anyways, I also have the Zalman NC2K cooler. Is there any right way to position the laptop on the cooler? Should it be farther up on the cooler or lower?

 

Just try to line up the vents on the laptop with that of the fan. I usually put my laptop near the bottom of my cooler.

 

I got my zalman a few days ago and while i opened my comp up to fix the touch sensitive bar ( wire came lose while moving it, had a tech replace it a week ago and he didn't put it in well ) i removed the dust filter over the ram and fan. Before watching an hd stream on jtv

CPU = 58 - 60 GPU = 60

Now

CPU - 50 - 54 GPU = 52

Underload ( Starcraft 2 ) my cpu temps are down from

79 - 80

to

70 - 72

But my gpu is still around the same 82 - 84 and this is with overclocked bios. Before oc my gpu never passed 79 without a cooler. I think i need to change the paste but im afraid as i have never done it before. But i just thought id update everyone to keep this thread alive so other xps owners may benefit

 

Temps after paste changed to Arctic Cooling MX4 ( when i changed it there was barely any paste at all on there Dam el dell cheapo ), Overclocked gpu, with zalman after 3 hours of starcraft

 

Took me 2 years but I've finally decided to remove those dust vents!
(I've already applied Arctic Silver 5 last year)

Happy to report my XPS 1645 is now operating at 48~ with moderate usage and about 55 at heavy usage.

*Note: I prop my notebook up with a book to encourage air flow and keep the screen closed as to not block the air vents. My laptop connects to a monitor.

If I use it on my lap (ie screen open blocking vent) the max temperature is 63. Which is very good considering it went up to almost 90 before I applied AS5 and removed the vents!

 

My L702X runs at 40 under normal to moderate load and 65 playing Skyrim on high settings. This is with no openning of the case, everything is stock with the exception of 290.53 video drivers and Nvidia over clocked from 590 to 725 and video memory from 900 to 975.