XPS 15 9550 temperature observations (undervolt + repaste)

Dell command power manager set to quiet and the fans will stay at 4k, obviously it will throttle more but this is a laptop not a PC so it's one or the other!

 

My temps are quite low and the fan at 4K vs 4.9K seems to make no difference to the temps, just the noise, so I doubt throttling would be an issue.

I will try the Dell power command, but I am concerned that it may impact clock speeds somehow. According to the documentation..

Cool: Cooling fan and processor speeds are lowered to reduce fan noise. This configuration may also reduce system performance and raise system surface temperature.

Edit after installing Dell power command and some quick testing:

prime 95, 10min, Small FTFs, 8 threads
Fans max 3,700rpm
'Ambient' 80c (from the hottest of several 'Ambient' sensors)
Dimm 49c
PCH 53c
CPU package 70c
CPU speed: steady 3.1 Ghz, no throttling

Gaming (light) 10min
Fans max: 3,700rpm
'Ambient' 53c (from the hottest of several 'Ambient' sensors)
Dimm 44c
PCH 50c
CPU package 50c (capped to 2.4Ghz)
GPU 52c

These were the average temperatures after around 10mins, I imagine temps would have gotten gradually higher. (-160mV on the CPU) The base of the laptop got quite hot where the R 22's are, so I'm thinking I will remove the thermal pads from there and try again for comparison. I could also feel heat at the end of the heatpipe (next to the fan) where I placed a thermal pad. I think this a better place to put a 2mm thermal pad, rather than anywhere close to the CPU or GPU.

The difference from the fans being 3,700rpm or 4,900rpm is a few degrees at most. But I wouldn't recommend this unless the CPU has been repasted etc.

 

The bottom case got really toasty when I put the thermal pads on the R22s! Took them off straight away...

 

I decided to do a repaste today, and what I noticed was that only two of the four video memory chips had thermal pads, is this normal? I also wonder whether those metal bits sticking out around the gpu (which are covered in thermal paste) are fragile? Do I have to be carefull when cleaning off the termal paste?

 

All four memory modules for the GPU should have thermal pads on them. You're sure it didn't stick to the heatsink?

Yeah you'll have to be careful when cleaning the thermal paste. Those components around the gpu are resistors/caps/etc. I little TLC should always be used when working on the inside of any computer.

 

Yes, the only pads present were stuck to the heat sink, there was only 2. I'll be careful

 

Where is the r22 located?

 

Hello, has someone tried grizzly conductonaut liquid metal thermal paste? Is the heatsink of xps 15 aluminum?

 

It's copper and I think someones used it with decent results.

 

Can i see the post? I am worried of my 960m health. It reaches 90°C when im playing.

 

Can i see the post? I am worried of my 960m health. It reaches 90°C when im playing.

 

Bound to be one of these http://forum.notebookreview.com/search/15262873/?q=grizzly&o=relevance&c[node]=1049

 

I think one guy used it (or threatened to use it). He is user "iunlock" and apparently has sold his 9550 based on his signature:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...0-owners-lounge.783377/page-239#post-10262899

He also had a "shootout" thread relating to repastes with the hard-core pastes. Do some research on the dangers of highly conductive pastes. Also research durability as I see some claiming some products require replacement every few months:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...t-vs-cool-laboratory-liquid-ultra-pro.791489/

Popular thermal pastes here are Gelid Extreme, MX-4, and Thermal Grizzly Krynaut. A partial summary of the thermal pastes being used by people in this 9550 thread is included in the google spreadsheet at:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ndervolt-repaste.785963/page-54#post-10345187

 

dumb question(s). I did the re-paste and undervolt (-155m via Intel Extreme Tuning Utility).

I have the i7 model.

1) I cant find the definitive answer if i need to do anything for the laptop to maintain the new -155 setting after it's been powered off and back on (rebooted)

2) When running Prime 95, CPUZ & Core Temp show I sit at around 3.0ghz. I never see the 3.5ghz advertised. should I see 3.5?

3) when I run Intel Extreme tuning utility benchmark or stress tests It says my highest clock speed is around 3.1ghz/3.2ghz. I never see the advertised 3.5ghz. Should I see 3.5?

4) When I render 4K video..using CPU only.. CPUZ & Core Temp never show that I hit 3.5ghz. I would have thought for sure this would be the ultimate test. am I wrong?

4) I sit at 70c max when running all types of stress tests. Most of the time im in the 60s. Is this progress?

 

1. I think you need to launch XTU each time. You can write some script to launch it if you like and the ThrottleStop thread will give you some basic tips

2 & 3. There are some bugs with XTU and the 9550s; it seems to cause premature throttling for several of us. Thus many people have killed XTU and moved to ThrottleStop. You can not have both programs on the same computer or will have conflict problems. A few of the senior guys here do not use either.

4. Depends what benchmarks you are using. The XTU stress tests are not very stressful - they are more like fun games. A lot of people here use Prime95 or RealBench. Don't use FurMark unless you want to kill your laptop. 70c CPU-GPU are pretty good if you are doing serious stress tests.

Feel free to search the NBR threads to see different users' 9550 i7 results for particular benchmarks.

 

How did you spread the thermal grizzly paste on the cpu and gpu? What thermal pads did you use?

 

What part of the cpu and gpu did you put the thermal pad?

 

I ran the same test again, this time I removed the thermal pad from the R 22s. The results were as follows:

prime 95, 10min, Small FTFs, 8 threads
Fans max 3,700rpm
'Ambient' 86c (+6c)
Dimm 46c (-3c)
PCH 55c (+2c)
CPU package 68c (-2c)
CPU speed: steady 3.1 Ghz, no throttling

Gaming (light) 10min
Fans max: 3,700rpm
'Ambient' 58c (+5c)
Dimm 45c (+1c)
PCH 50c (no change)
CPU package 49c (-1c) (capped to 2.4Ghz)
GPU 53c (+1c)

Admittedly this was not the most scientific testing method, however, it indicates that placing thermal pads on the R 22s gave around -5c to the 'Ambient' sensor. CPU temperatures were impacted by +1 or +2c by placing pad on the R 22s, and the other readings were fluctuating too much to be considered for comparison. Given these results, it would appear that placing thermal pads on the R 22s is beneficial.

I also wanted to remove the black plastic cover from the air flow grill above the CPU and GPU. However, there appears to be a sheet of copper underneath it and I became nervous about cutting into this (plus I would need a sharper knife). Has anybody removed this to allow airflow along the entire heat pipe? I imagine this would be quite beneficial for the cooling system, and I am confused why Dell has restricted their own case design. The fact that there is a copper sheet indicates that they really do not want this cover to be removed, and then I was getting nervous thinking that perhaps its used for the wifi or something.

 

I assumed hot air came back in due to it bouncing off the screen so they had to cover that part.

Sent from my SM-G920F

 

There seems to be some confusion here (or not)...

I think GoNz0 is talking about the long THIN grille which runs perpendicular to the bottom case, where hot exhaust is fanned backwards.

==> Removing the metallic-foam glued to the case bottom might cause hot air to bounce off the screen and be sucked back into the laptop...

I think AMD_i7 was talking about the long WIDE grille that is on the bottom case. That grille that is between the fan intakes, which is between the long rubber feet so should not be sucking in hot exhaust air.

==> Removing the mylar-copper from the WIDE grille layer could provide an intake to cool the VRM. However, the problem is where does that air go? If you remove the metallic-foam from the THIN grille and rely on passive air circulation, you risk sucking in hot exhaust from the left and right fans...

If you could get a small fan pushing or pulling air, I think that would cool the VRMs fine

BONUS - if you walk around to the back of your running laptop and put your eyes above the screen, looking down towards the f7 key you can see how the long THIN grille sends a lot of exhaust air UPWARDS into the screen base...

 

Am I correct in thinking that I will invalidate my 3 year NBD on-site accidental damage warranty if I open up my XPS and do this re-pasting etc?

 

Nope

Sent from my SM-G920F

 

Oops

Sent from my SM-G920F

 

Bitsum have found more skylake specific power management tweaks to do with autonomous core parking https://bitsum.com/parkcontrol/
scroll down until you find Skylake.

 

This exactly. I have a cooling pad with a large fan, I believe this could greatly improve the cooling of the VRMs. Problem is you would need tin cutters to remove the cover, my pocket knife wasn't sharp enough to cut through the copper. And I'm worried doing such a thing would void the warranty.

I did something similar with my old L401X, I drilled holes in the bottom of the plastic case, all the way along the heat pipe, and it made a big difference to the cooling.

 

- One option is to take a boxcutter and score the copper at either side of the VRM, then lift that ~5cm strip of copper out of your laptop.

- Alternatively, you could just drill some small holes through the copper in-line with the grille slots so you don't need to damage the aluminum cover. Just be careful to clean the copper scraps well (maybe with a stiff bristle brush and a vacuum).

If you have warranty issues, you could just replace the original black plastic strip with adhesive. Or replace it with good black electric tape, which looks a bit like the black plastic. If you were detail-oriented, you could even replace the drilled (or removed) copper strip...

 

Where exactly

Where exactly did you put the thermal pads?

 

Can you try furmark? Or dying light game?

 

He probably put 1 thick square over the CPU and 1 over the GPU spreader. Maybe small pads over the pipes by the exhaust. It did make the bottom plate warmer, but I never had throttling issues with the VRM

 

You will find nearly everyone who did this took them off soon after as they heated the chassis too much
And please do not ask laptop users to run furmark. It will kill the laptop.

 

In throttestop settings, What is the highest multiplier for the cpu clock of xps 15?

 

35 for single core 6700 I think?

 

Is anyone else having temperature issues with the PCH? I'm hitting 66+ celcius just plugged into the wall with a usb hub connected. The usb hub itself hosts three different USB outputs, keyboard mouse and headset. I can't seem to find a way to lower the PCH temperature without unplugging the charging cable, and the high temp causes my fans to always be on.

 

Whats the best thermal pad for the vram and thermal pads for the VRMs? Is ic diamond better than thermal grizzly?

 

What pad

What thermal pads and paste di you use?

 

Pressing has a theory that cheaper thermal pads on the R22s for the VRM will keep them cooler but won't transfer too much heat to the bottom of the notebook. I believe he is correct because he used pads with high conductivity and the bottom of the notebook was too warm. I used cheap thermal pads and my notebook isn't any different but the VRM temps are down by 10*C or so.

I used to think IC diamond was king, but I prefer Thermal Grizzly much more both in temps and easy of application.

 

In that particular application I had used Fujipoly .5mm thick thermal pad and a cheap 1mm thick thermal pad over the heatpipes if I recall correctly. For paste I used IC Diamond 7. In my current 9550 I could not get away with .5mm thick thermal pad so I used the stock over most and then a 1.5mm over the heatpipes. The manufacturing variance is pretty high in these heatsinks so YMMV.

 

What thermal paste and thermal pad did you use?

 

Are you just going to quote every post that talks about repasting and ask what thermal paste and pad they used?

 

Did you use coffee filter for cleaning the paste?

 

I am just asking what made their xps 15 cooler? I am not sure which ones to buy.

 

The difference in thermal paste between high quality ones like ICD7 and thermal grizzly are going to be small, buy what is cheaper. You can't ask what thermal pads to buy because every system is different. You could buy a set of cheap thermal pads in .5mm to 2mm and be covered. They won't be the best, but the video ram doesn't need amazing stuff anyway.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

If we started charging to repeat previous posts we would be rich with you.

 

No.

 

Did you use a high powered laser beam to burn off any dust particles that may have fallen on the die?

 

Only if it is attached to a shark.

 

I didn't know they made lasers any other way.

 

I put nutella on a q-tip to help clean up the dust

 

Did you drink coffee before cleaning the paste?