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    Improving thermals on the XPS 13 w/IRIS

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by Eason, Apr 1, 2016.

  1. Eason

    Eason Notebook Virtuoso

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    Check this out:

    Here are the clocks/temps with a repaste, undervolt, but no pads during firestrike:
    full results 2 (no pad).jpg

    Here are the clocks/temps with pads:
    full results 3 (more pads).jpg

    That's right-
    85 CPU 91 GPU to
    73 CPU 76 GPU


    Like this: pads.jpg

    Note the small pads on the SSD, large pad on the heat spreader, and two smaller pads that hug the pipe right in front of the fan.
     
    Last edited: Apr 1, 2016
    Eason, Apr 1, 2016
    #1
    zuffy, speedracer, gametime10 and 3 others like this.
  2. pau1ow

    pau1ow Notebook Deity

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    Nice one! I assume it didn't help with the throttle issues ?

    Do the pads make contact with the rear casing ? If yes, you're using it as a giant heatsink :)
     
    pau1ow, Apr 1, 2016
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  3. Eason

    Eason Notebook Virtuoso

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    as you can see by the charts, the 15W TDP basically restricts the CPU to 1.5 GHz and the GPU to 750 Mhz during typical gaming. When the CPU is at max, the GPU is barely going, and vice versa. Yup, the pads do touch- but the biggest impact was covering a larger portion of the heat spreader with thermal tape. Before it was only a strip that went lengthwise, but I doubled the thickness and that made a huge difference on the igpu.
     
    Eason, Apr 1, 2016
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  4. Rockstar75

    Rockstar75 Notebook Geek

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    Hi, thanks for sharing your experience! I did it to my 9550 w/ i7 6700 and it works great!
     
    Rockstar75, Apr 3, 2016
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  5. gametime10

    gametime10 Notebook Geek

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    Did you use 1mm or 2mm thermal pads?
     
    gametime10, Apr 3, 2016
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  6. Rockstar75

    Rockstar75 Notebook Geek

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    For the 9550 I used 2mm pads.
     
    Rockstar75, Apr 3, 2016
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  7. zuffy

    zuffy Notebook Guru

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    Any particular brand or anything cheap from eBay is fine?
     
    zuffy, Apr 3, 2016
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  8. Eason

    Eason Notebook Virtuoso

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    Doubt brand matters much. The ones I used are 1.5mm I think.
     
    Eason, Apr 3, 2016
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  9. wakka992

    wakka992 Newbie

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    @Eason
    Very good results you're having there! I'm ordering thermal pads to do the same, you sure that all the pads where 1,5mm, even the grey one? The blue seems like the Arctic cooling one.
    Thanks
     
    wakka992, Apr 7, 2016
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  10. C64

    C64 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I think if I were more at home using the laptop as opposed to mobile I'd be more interested in having the cooling pad. I know when at home it runs hotter just sitting on a desk.
     
    C64, Apr 7, 2016
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  11. Eason

    Eason Notebook Virtuoso

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    The small squares were labeled 1.5mm, but the bigger ones weren't labeled. They said they were the same at 1.5, but they do look a bit thicker.
     
    Eason, Apr 7, 2016
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  12. wakka992

    wakka992 Newbie

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    thanks Eason. how much extra battery life can you get with the repast/undervolt procedure?
    I'm puzzled because on notebookcheck review the XPS with i7 6560U fares much worse than the one with i7 6500U but if you go on the power consumption paragraph you can see that they use the same amount of energy while in Idle and Load... can't explain the battery difference...
     
    wakka992, Apr 14, 2016
    #12