How to: Improve your XPS M1330 Cooling

I have some copper sheet in my factory...let me know if u need some...mine wasnt polished also but I used some emory paper...I stacked 2 sheets of 0.74mm with thermal paste in between...

So now guys I'm running at 60-64 at idle after a couple of days and laptopvideo2go's 174.74 drivers. Hopefully it'll go down further after a few days...

Thanks to all!

 

Good to see fellow Indians on this thread. Even I have been looking for the right copper sheet for my 1330.
Abhi, can you tell me the total cost of shipping a block of copper to Noida ?
I will pay you by netbanking

 

OK the day after i did this i came into work and noticed my gpu temps were over 80 degrees so i shut it off and noticed the copper piece that goes over top of the gpu had slid off... it seems to be very loose in there, is there something im doing wrong? its 14mmx14mmx1.5mm.

 

Did you tighten the screw next to the GPU all the way? I tried the Cu modd without any thermal compound and it didn't fell off. What you are reporting is a little bit strange. What HSF revision do you have? What does it say on the sticker attached to it?

 

Scary indeed

I actually just had a quick look at mine (although the temps are ok) and fortunately I didn't see any change.

Imo, each HSF's railing may be slightly different and just a slight bend in the railing may be enough to cause a larger/ smaller gap.

Do a "dry run" and if it's extremely loose (which is most likely) then order a 2mm piece from the same UK vendor.

 

Yeah so the best laid plans....

I lapped one peice of copper which took forever so I was like F-it, I'm not trying different sizes. I used a 1.6mm piece. Forgot my 400-800 grit sandpaper so just used 1000, then 1500 then 2000. Cleaned it with Acetic acid (pure), then 100% EtOH. Cleaned off both chips. Used a thin-thin layer of AC MX2 cooling compound and tightened the heatsink "finger tight".

Running furmark for about 30 minutes now. Before mod I was easily breaking 100 Celsius before the clock drop. Now I went up to 76, fans kicked on, went back down to 68 and now am idling under full load at about 72 degrees. I don't even think my fan is at 100%. CPU is stable at 52-55 degrees under load. I'm looking at a 25 degree difference in the CPU. I used a razor blade to get the thermal pad off so the mod should be fully reversible. DEll also had a HUGE amount of thermal paste on the CPU--way more than is recommended. Forgot to try it dry to see if it had any wiggle. It must be making good contact for such a dramatic drop.

 

yes i tightened it down as well as the cpu screws, i have REV 01 as a sticker on the heat pipe. With thermal paste it is loose enough that it can move easily, without thermal past theres no doubt it would be moving all over the place... would bending the thermal cooling assembly down a bit be ok to do?

 

I would order a thicker piece of copper if I was you - bending seems like like you wouldn't end up with very even contact.

I get my copper this week, so I'll be sure to report back

 

its 1.5mm now.. what should i go to?

 

Get a bunch of different sizes from onlinemetals. They're like 50 cents a peice. I got like 4 different sizes, 2 pieces each for like 8 bucks plus 8 bucks shipping (shipping is the killer). The cuts (0.55 x 0.55) are a touch rough, so you might have to file it down a bit, but it'll increase your chances of getting the size right. I could send you 2 pieces at 1mm each to stack if you want.

 

Weird.

I just overclocked to 600/750 and testing with ATItool. No errors for 20 minutes, fan at mid speed (~4000rpm as per I8fangui) and not breaking 70 degrees on the GPU. Not that I'm going to be greedy and overclock, I just wanted to see what would happen if I dialed it up to "11" so-to-speak.

Edit: Spoke too soon. I decided to run Orthos along with ATItool to max everything out. Soon as I did that I got my heat went up to high 70's and got some errors. Dialed it back down to 550/725 and my temps are holding about 80-81 on the GPU and 69 for the CPU, 10 minutes on both ATI and Orthos and error free. It does seem true that the heat profile for both go up when both chips are being stressed maximally. Granted, I'm not doing any sort of scientific test here (I'm a biologist by trade), but its seems to be the case.

I'm not sure if anyone's particularly interested in a running tally of my results, but I'm going to leave the tests running for another 30 minutes and check back. ....

565/740 No errors for 20 minutes, GPU = 80 and stable, CPU hovering between 65-70 if anyone's interested

upped the overclock to 585/775 with both orthos and atitool running at the same time (ie EVERYTHING stressed) and it ran with no errors and under 81 GPU.

My ambient room temp is generally about 23/67 degrees or there abouts.

 

Awesome results!!!

So let me get this straight - you used a,

"thin-thin layer of AC MX2 cooling compound and tightened the heatsink 'finger tight'."

along with a1.6mm piece and that's it? Damn... I'll have to look up this AC MX2 stuff when I get back from my next meeting.

Just one observation - considering the amount of effort you put into lapping that Cu shim, the quality of the surface of the HSF (GPU portion) is crap. As a matter of fact, the CPU's Cu face of the HSF is a lot better, but still no match for third-party HSF Cu surfaces, which are polished to a mirror-finish!

This all being the main reason your figures amaze me (not that mine are bad, mind you, but they don't match up to your stats )

Edit: Meeting cancelled - looked up your Arctic Cooling MX2 thermal paste and ok, it beat AS5 by like 1.5C which is nothing to sneeze at but certainly doesn't account for your amazing figures alone...

I've been waiting for the 200hrs of [AS5] "curing" but at ~hour 50, I haven't really seen any decrease and my figures stand at:

C0 @36-48/ C1@38-50/ GPU@54-64 @idle,
C0 @57/ C1@60/ GPU@71 @3DM06-Freeze
C0 @58/ C1@60/ GPU@73 @3DM06-Freeze, 450/650 mild OC.
Amb = 24C, Mobo = A04, BIOS = A09.

 

I got my M1330 yesterday and I can already see that the GPU is way to hot.
Just after a few minutes of playing (f.ex. WoW) the GPU is up at 100-102 celsius.

Since I just got it, I don't want do void the warranty yet, but is there any other ways to improve the cooling a bit?
(I've installed the newest driver for 8400 from Dell's website)

 

I have ordered two copper sheets from metaloffcuts. In case someone from NCR needs a sheet for their 1330, you can come and pick it up for $9(~INR350)

 

I am going to get some from this site.. first off do i want C101 or C110? after that is the size im selecting the width? also did ur pieces from this site come with both sides pretty well polished?

 

I don't think it really matters if its C101 or C110. I got both because it allowed me to get a couple different thicknesses. The sizes listed are the thicknesses. You put in your custom w x l towards the bottom of the product page. I chose 0.55 inches by 0.55 inches, which is apx 14x14mm. What I got was a bit too big so i filed it down. One side is pretty shinny, the other side not really. I think it would be worth sanding with some 600 and 800 grit sandpaper on a flat surface for a minute on each side. I used wet/dry sandpaper I got from an auto store and used mineral spirits as a wet lube (but you can use water). I think this is important as well, because when the copper is cut it could warp the edges a bit so they protrude and you don't get flush contact. You could also get their copper sample pack and cut it yourself.

To Traveller: Yeah, I noticed that the HS assembly GPU part wasn't smooth at all. Thought about sanding it, but then Dell might notice that for warranty. I'm not sure how much my 30 minutes of lapping really helped, but I figured I wanted to do this once then forget about it so I tried to be as dilligent as possible the first time.

How are people testing that their copper shim is loose? Because I went back to push mine to see if it had any wiggle, it was difficult to even see the copper piece because of the angle and the way the heat sink assembly is shaped. I used a tiny screw driver to poke at it and it seemed snug. I mean you don't want very much pressure at all I wouldn't think else you might damage the chip.

I think a very important part of this is seating the assembly and new copper piece correctly. If it shifts as you are reseating it, the shim could end up sliding over top one of the L marks on the HS assembly and not give you as good results. At the end of the day though, I don't think people should go too overboard with the whole thing since anything has got to be better than the stock cooling solution.

If anyone wants a copper piece and a few small squares of the sandpaper, let me know. I have:

0.048" thick
0.043
0.05
0.0625
I had but used my 0.0647" piece
all pieces are 0.55 x 0.55 (+/- 0.02"/0.0") and might need a bit of filing to fit perfectly

and 600, 1000, 1500, 2000 grit sandpaper extra

I don't know if the copper from onlinemetals is as "finished" as the UK company, but it allowed me to get a whole bunch of different sizes for cheap and I planned on prepping the copper and filing the edges anyway...

 

I would really like the .0625in please.

 

Ambient temp 26.6667 C (80 F); running XPSP3, bios A11, NVidia 174.31 from Dell.
All temps reached are Maximums, only listed the max achieved by either of the two CPUs. First column is before mod. Then 15 hours post. Then 4 days and 8 days post. Temps appear to drop most right away; a little more but not dramatically after four days, and not at all after that. I attribute the slight increase in the most recent tests to some variable (ambient temp) that I haven’t taken into account. I’m at 200 hours, so I figure this is as good as it will get for me.

@idle (all services, browsing)
GPU 67 56 54 55
CPU (?) 44 42 43

3DMark Graphics 1
GPU 97 73 70 70
CPU (?) 67 63 65

3DMark Graphics 2
GPU 97 73 70 71
CPU (?) 68 66 66

3DMark CPU1
GPU 80 72 69 70
CPU (?) 78 74 75

3DMark CPU2
GPU 80 73 71 72
CPU (?) 79 75 77

3DMark Grahics 3
GPU 101 75 71 72
CPU (?) 68 65 66

3DMark Graphics 4 (Deep Freeze)
GPU 104 74 70 72
CPU (?) 65 62 66

 

Why don't you guy just lap the "L" off the heat sink assembly and use a copper shim the same size as the area of the heat sink contacting the GPU die.

 

its not necessary the GPU die is only the same size as the L's....



The thing i am interested in knowing is if theres a way to solder or anyway at all to connect that copper piece to the cooling assembly so theres no worry of it moving...

 

Did you guys do the Cu mod after having your gpu fail with the colored lines? I got the colored lines twice this week and I'm wondering whether I should get a Dell Tech to replace my mobo before I do the Cu mod. Does the mobo get damaged when it happens?

 

Change your MOBO first

 

If its the right size, with the thermal compound, it shouldn't move. If its moving, its the wrong size. That said, I don't see why you couldn't put the thermal paste on, then maybe solder two sides so its tacked to the heat sink assembly. I l didn't want to get rid of the "L"s because i didn't want to make any permanent, warranty voiding mods, and it was unnecessary if you're copper is the correct size.

 

One other thing, I want to thank HEP, Traveller and the others that braved the way for the rest of us to do this mod. All the credit goes to them and the others I might not be aware of and haven't named. Thanks guys and gals(?)!! This was my first time lapping anything or doing any kind of computer mod (although I'm kinda techy-nerdish) and it was pretty easy to do with all the instructions on this thread

Matt

 

Guys dont get happy that after overclocking your GPU is reaching only 70 C according to I8fangui. I8fangui is giving completely wrong results !!! I was using it & its not working with Xps M1330. Use GPU Z & you will be alarmed seeing the readings. After overclocking it will touch 95-100.
And another weird thing - With Dell's own drivers the GPU is heating upto 95 C !!!

And don't use dell drivers , they heat up a lot faster. Very quickly you could feel the heat in the palmrest area & the vents get so hot you cannot even touch it. Use laptopvideo2go 174.74 drivers. Its way too cool, you could easily see the difference in the palmrest area & also the vents are not too hot. The FPS is also the best iam getting from all drivers. The 175 versions have issues. They get degraded when you remove the charger.

 

I used GPU-z, ATItool and Ntune to get my GPU temps (they all read the same). You have to add about 12 degrees to the Ifangui program I think.

 

I just got my copper from the uk company today. I"ll do the mod tomorrow and post results.

 

I did this mod a couple of days ago. The GPU temp was lowered from 74 to about 60 degrees during normal activities like websurfing. CPU temp increased a bit (about 46 now), hopefully it will drop a bit after the 200h of AS5 hardening.

One thing I like to point out, it seems like the surfaces of my CPU and the HS isn't precisely flat towards eachother. The "GPU-side" of the CPU top thermal transfer plate didn't come in contact with the heatsink when I applied a thin layer of AS5 on the CPU and the HS. This resultet in that one of the CPU cores ran up to 95 deg! Solution was to reapply the thermal paste in a thicker layer since I didn't dare to bend the HS thermal pipe.

 

If you do the mod right your CPU temp will always increase by at least 1-2 degrees.

 

Yeah davvel, sorry to say but your CPU temps are not going to drop. They might even go up when the AS5 cures because the GPU will be able to pump more heat into the cooling assembly.

 

I'm going to be trying this as well soon. Just bought 2 pieces of copper from metaloffcuts' ebay store (link to their order method page HERE. Go to the ebay store and look up "copper 1.5mm 14mm". They already had a listing for it, 1.5 mm thick and 14x14 mm size for sale. I got 2 (second one is just in case).

Total came out to £10, which is about $20CAD.

I got this X1330 in November 2007, but only started using it heavily since around April 2008. So I'll probably see the dreaded rainbow screen pretty soon. Figured I might as well save myself the hassle and do this mod preemptively. Though I'm worried about screwing up my extended warranty.

Right now, I have the following temps,

Idle
Core1: 47°C
Core2: 48°C
GPU: 58°C

Quicky session of TF2
Core1: 73°C
Core2: 83°C
GPU: 90°C

This is with A04 Mobo and A11 BIOS. I'll run the test again once I get the parts and do the mod.

 

I bought 1 piece from metalcutoffs and they gave me 3... i think they like me.

 

Wumzi, this does not fix the rainbow screen error. This is a pre-emptive mod to prevent it. Once you see a rainbow screen you need a new motherboard, the GPU is shot.

 

I realize that. Mine's still working fine for the time being, and I haven't experienced any problems yet. Just want to mod it to prevent the problem from happening.

 

Ten Dell models have defective Nvidia GPUs
The Inquirer
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/27/dell-models-defective-nvidia

 

I wonder if they (Dell?/nVidia?) will ever actually solve this issue instead of putting a hush-hush on it. It will only get bigger. It isn't like people are going to stop buying XPS m1330's. They will buy them as long as they don't research (which I assume most people do not). They are still sleak and still cost-effective. So, I just wonder..

When will it end? Class-action lawsuit? Recall? Refurbs for free for ever and ever and ever?

What will come of this?!

 

I just had my M1330 motherboard, heatsink and screen replaced, following failure of the video that looked like the Nothern Lights.

The new fan is running constantly at an audible, distracting level, even while I merely type this post without Aero. The board shipped with BIOS A08, I've updated to to the extra fan-tastic A13, but it's behaved the same with both revisions.

I8kfanGUI reports the idle CPU and GPU temperature around 40 - 45 deg C. In your exerience, is this as good as I can expect?

Looking at the replacement parts before the engineer installed, the heatsink assembly is labelled revision A02. It stil had remarkably thick thermal pads. Is this the latest revision of this part?

Thanks in anticipation, Alex

 

Bios A13?? is that even out yet?

 

probably a typo

 

Do changes like this void warranty?

Thanks

 

Yes they do.
But you can easily reverse the mod if you have to claim warranty

 

Another one bites the dust.

I have a XPS 1330. I'm having some artifacts and video driver problems.
Can someone tell me if it's too late to apply the mod described here?

Thanks

 

Yep, probably too late; once the GPU has started to die, it's simply a matter of (usually not very much) time.

The best solution would be to get a new one (assuming you're still in warranty) and then apply the mod to that.

It's a preventative, not a cure.

 

Thanks for the reply.
It just died. The guys from the warranty looked like they were expecting me.

 

An extra 12 Months warranty applies to the DELL M1330 nVidia GPU issue ONLY. Contacted DELL for 1 piece of the blue Thermal Cooling Pad, and was told that the extended warranty does not apply to the Thermal Cooling Assembly, so the COST of this pad including shipping will be £64.37p.
So now I'm just going to run the M1330 24/7 until the GPU dies, then I'll contact DELL to request my second Mobo replacement. The 1st replacement is already having heating issues in under 2 Months.
I will never purchase from DELL again, if anyone have any sense, then heed my words.
Does anyone know the actual cost of that blue piece of Thermal Cooling Pad ??? I estimated £6 sterling including p&p to be max.

NB: Warranty expired last Month. The assumption is that DELL is trying to recoup for the last Mobo replacement.

 

They actually told you there was an extended warranty?

This is great, as far as I've seen most csr's don't know anything about the extended warraty, but this means that it is actually in effect and not merely a rumour on a blogs page!

 

just to bring this thread alive once more. i had my xps 1330 show the white screen w/ vertical lines just a few days ago. will the mod still work for me?

 

No, this mod addresses a completely separate issue.
What this mod does:
-Lowers load temps of the GPU, which in turn will....
-Extend the life of the GPU

What this mod does not do:
-Fix a failed GPU
-Prevent a faulty 8400 [WHICH IS ALL OF THEM] from failing indefinitely

 

Does anyone know the truth about the M1330 problem and Dell?

I went to Dells site and could see you could still order the M1330 with the 8400GS chipset.

If Dell still had problems they would not be stupid enough to continue selling this with their XPS models?

Also, have Dell any solution to this problem? is there any new heatsing/fan assembly from Dell that cools even better than the M911 part?

 

They have those models still in stock, of course they will liquidate them and not even care what the consumer has to deal with.

They claim they've fixed it, but they haven't. The cooling is slightly improved, but still horrendous. The GPU will still fail, since that is on nVidia, not Dell.