Just bought a Dell XPS M1330. Need advice maintaining it

Hi, I just bought an XPS M1330. It uses the Nvidia 8400. I've read that there can be overheating problems with it. So I need some advice to help maintain a healthy PC!

Okay I understand that I need to update my Nvidia Drives and update my bios. How do i find out what drives my GPU is currently using? Are the drives up-to date on the NVIDIA page? Also where can I download bios updates?

Lastly, my PC idles around 60-63 degrees C is that average for this type of laptop? When I play games it averages about 75-85 degrees C. Again is this about average?

 

M1330 XPS Driver and software downloads. http://support.euro.dell.com/suppor...s=WLH&osl=en&catid=&impid=&SystemID=XPS_M1330
Go into device manager video option to find which version of video drives you have. or download this siw http://www.gtopala.com/
Do the copper mod on your video chip.Other tips are already posted on this forum..

 

will the copper mod void my warrenty?

 

Buying a nice notebook cooler is probably one of the best ways to extend the life of your machine and maintain it healthy, so i would perhaps start there. Unless you are moving a lot, then carrying a cooler doesn't make much sense and it's better to do other mods. You can also try undervolting, that alone should bring temps down slightly.

 

I'm only speaking from a failure of a previous motherboard due to the GPU issue and so far the success with this new one has so far survived a year without an issue, which I believe, is due to taking a few cautious steps. . I think running it only on power saver mode helps, which is like a poor man's undervolting, keeping the cpu speeds down thus the notebook running cooler. Also, and here is where I might be getting delusional, the NVidia driver 167.45, which is known to be inaccurate with temps, but from my perspective keeps the notebooks running cooler than the other Nvidia / Dell drivers out there. This might be in the mind, but the palm rest is always cool, whereas using other drivers can make my system heat up fast and it's reassuring to look down at your GPU temp at 50 C at idle while living in a climate that just hit 100 F. today. So, since it's been a year since my last motherboard was replaced, I refuse to change drivers and hope what I've been doing has helped extend the life. Based on everything I'm reading, the motherboard will eventually fail again no matter what, but, for me, I have no need to run it on anything other than powersaver mode and can still run older games like doom 3, need for speed most wanted, carbon, without having to switch it over to balanced or performance, so I'm not about to do anything different. Undervolting and the copper mod are other ways to go, but the bottom line is it's pretty pathetic that we all have to make compromises in hopes of extending the life of a notebook fully well knowing at some point it's going to go pop...sad really!!

 

Do you have a link on how to undervolt a computer? Is it easy?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824

 

Whether or not its easy I do not know, but from what people say it takes a lot of time and is very tedious.

I will however say that you'll do yourself alot of justice and save alot of time if you just look around some other forums here in NBR to try to solve any questions you may have; e.g. the Undervolting guide is a very prominant post within the hardware section, along with the notebook cooling guide, which is also very prominant and stickied too within the accessories forum.