XPS M1530 Heatsink - Copper or Aluminum?

There are 3 known revisions of the heatsink. The first and second shown here while the third being another copper one but with smaller heat plates.

I know technically copper should be better since it is a better conductor than aluminum. I have the aluminum revision but was thinking of buying a copper one off ebay. However before doing so I found a thread which noted some differences I didn't notice.

The aluminum one has heat plates with more surface area and a fan with more blades while the copper one has heat plates with less surface area and a fan with less blades but copper is a better conductor. What do people think would still come out being more efficient at dispersing the heat?

Revision 1 (copper)


Revision 2 (aluminum)

 

How 'bout a combo of both!

 

Yeah, the copper heatsink but the other fan

 

Personally, I don't think there should be a significant difference between the two, but if it isn't too expensive, why don't you try it out and compare the two for us?

 

I could, however I've had my aluminum heatsink for a while and so temps have increased since the thermal pads would have been 'melting' away as they do.

Therefore it wouldn't be a fair comparison since the copper one would have new thermal pads on them so temps will definitely be lower.

The best comparative results would be achieved if I bought new heatsinks for both revisions and tested under the same conditions but I'm not going to buy the aluminum one again..hmm..

 

not really, you just need to clean both from their thermal pads or thermal paste, buy thermal paste, and apply the same to both, and see which works best

 

ah ok i could do that. i was thinking of getting AS5 since it's the cheapest I can find on eBay (surprisingly).....but i heard it can take up to 3 months for it to 'settle' at the lowest temps. guess this will be a long experiment lol

 

So, @bboy1, any update on heatsink comparison ?

I have an aluminium one in my XPS, but if copper one is better I'll definetely swap them. I also want to apply Coollaboratory Liquid Pro which can only be used with copper coolers.

 

I ordered a copper heatsink so it should be on the way. However, it will be hard to get a definite answer for this question quickly. I'll try it out the copper first using the stock thermal pads and then test them both with AS5...this will take a long time though if I have to leave them in for a couple months so the AS5 can settle.

 

Well, if AS5 is your choice then yes, it needs some time. But even right after applying there should be a difference in temperatures. I've just ordered a copper one for myself, but I want to use Liquid Pro, it's the best on the market right now.

 

Ok my copper heatsink arrived and I swapped them. I'm using the stock thermal pads. One thing I noticed are the idle temps. On the aluminum one my idle temps were

idle = 56
min (when fan turns off) = 53
max (when fan turns on) = 64

so with this one it idled at 56 meaning the fan was continuously on (I had to use my notebook cooler to get it down to 53 and then the fan would turn off)

With the copper one

min = 53
max = 68

So with this one there's no idle temperature. It just keeps cycling with the fan turning on at 68 then turning off at 53. With the aluminum one, even with the fan on, the lowest it would go was 56 but with this copper one it goes down to 53 until the fan turns off. It could potentially go even lower if the fan remained on like it does with the aluminum one. So for idle temperatures this copper one is at least 3 degrees celsius lower.


Also I got a message from slowdown117 who I was discussing with about this whole heatsink issue a few months back. He said he was going to get a copper heatsink and test them so I messaged him asking if he ended up doing it and if so, how it went. This is what he said

Yes, I did get it and I ran tests. I found that under full load, the copper heatsink is only 1 or 2 degrees C cooler. What ends up happening (I think) is that the fan unit and heatpipe assembly reach their maximum heat transfer and can go no further. As long as there are no other problems, it appears that 80 C is the design limit. So in other words - your chip should not pass 80 C for any reason. However, you may see this number rise if you have such a fast CPU that it adds additional heat (more than the heatsink assembly can dissipate) or if your room temperature (ambient) is hot. What I did notice is that some heatpipes are better than others. I had 2 identical (aluminum heatplate R3) heatsinks and one was better than the other by 3 or 4 degrees C. What you realy want is max GPU of 75 - 80 (we probably said that in that thread). If you did the thermal mod (I can't recall if you did that, but I think you did) and you have 75 - 80 C max GPU, then my advice is don't waste your time with the copper R1 heatsink. But I will say also that the R1 unit had better temps at low to medium load by about 4 to 5 degrees C. It did not reach the same temps as the other unit until full load (in my case with 3dmark ,Crysis, and Area51).


So there you go. Until I get further results from my tests, hopefully his results will shed some light on this issue. It'd be good if others who end up doing the same could post their results so we can get a comparison. So jarlaxle, let us know how you get along with your results .

 

My M1530 was built in January 2008 and orignally it came with copper heat sink.
I got mobo and heat sink replacement (aluminium) on October 2008.

Yeah, I also noticed that copper heat sink fan switch off temperature is 2-3 C lower than aluminium heat sink.

As we know, NVIDIA GPU problem cause by temperature fluctuation, and with aluminium heat sink, I believe the temperature will be in more stable range although a bit hotter.

Copper heat sink fan also nosier (spins faster?) than aluminium.

 

Today I've decided to measure precisely and post here temperatures in my lappy and I did when I got back from work. Actually I was so surprised seeing these high temperatures here on forum.

Basic rules/conditions:
- ALUMINIUM heatsink with stock thermal pads (clear of dust),
-only idle temps (lack of time today),
-measured with EVEREST v5.0,
-two power schemes: High Performance (CPU at full speed) and Balanced (CPU at 800MHz), /I use these schemes mostly/,
-room temperature - 22'C, moisture - 85%, well-aired,
-cooler - Zalman ZM-NC2000.

Here are my specs:
CPU: Intel C2D T8300 2,4GHz 800 FSB
RAM: 4GB Dual Channel 800MHz GeiL
GPU: GeForce 8600M GT 256MB (default clocks)
HDD: Seagate Momentus 320GB 7200rpm
LCD: LG 15,4" 1920x1200 WUXGA Screen
Misc: Intel 4965WLAN, Bluetooth, Intel Turbo Memory 1GB, 6-cell Battery
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit

With Zalman cooler turned off (High Perf and Balanced temperatures were pretty the same, but it took a fan a few minutes longer to lower the temperatures in High Perf):
CPU: 40 <-> 50
GPU: 57 <-> 65
HDD: 34 <-> 34
When temperatures hit the level on the right fan turns on and spins until they get to lvl on the left.

With Zalman cooler turned on - 1100rpm:
High Perf / Balanced
CPU: 42 / CPU: 38
GPU: 57 / GPU: 55
HDD: 33 / HDD: 33

With Zalman cooler turned on -1500rpm:
High Perf / Balanced:
CPU: 34 / CPU: 31
GPU: 49 / GPU: 49
HDD: 29 / HDD: 29

Well, that's it. I'll try to measure stress temps when I've got more time. I'm also waiting for a copper heatsink, but since I live in Poland (and I found only aluminium ones to buy in here) it'll arrive from UK no sooner than in a week or so. Then I'll apply Coollabolatory Liquid Pro and see if there is a big difference.

 

That could be true. I'm using the Zalman ZM-NC1000 though, and so on idle it keeps the temperature at 50 degrees C with the heatsink fan off. With the aluminium one though and whilst using the cooler, it idled at 53.

 

So, considering Your purchase and heatsink replacement times, Dell started using aluminium ones later. I ordered my on May 2008 in US and I've got an alumunium rev. Are they cooler, more stable? I wonder if any Dell consultant will be able to answer my question.

 

Yes the copper revision I ordered and in the pic on my first post is the first revision that came out. The aluminium is the 2nd, and the 3rd one is a copper one except it uses the fan from the first copper one (with less blades) and it also has an even smaller heat plate for the GPU.

I ordered mine in April 2008 and the first one I had was the copper heatsink. I had it replaced 3 times all up and the 2nd and 3rd replacement I got was the aluminium one. I tried hassling Dell for a copper replacement before my warranty ran out but they kept saying they choose the parts based solely on the model number and apparently all revisions have the same model number (XR216)...so they couldn't specifically choose a copper one.

I got the copper one on eBay from the UK and it cost me 11 pounds all up shipped here to Australia. Oh and it was new too, so not too bad.

 

I just talked with a Dell consultant for over an hour and that was no help. Most of the time he was trying to convince me that aluminium is better thermal conductor than copper I provided him with precise data, but he was blind to my arguments.
Maybe You will have more luck.

 

i tried that too, but it seems they no longer ship the copper ones...

well seems the results are in fact better with the copper one, but in terms of convenience, i would say to stick with the default aluminum one.
I gave up after a few tries to get the copper one, and i ended up getting the zalman nc1000, and its just awesome for my Overclocks, best cooler ive had in a long time

by the way Bboy, very cool pic on your avatar, i love how the m1530 looks in blue light, is that the Habu mouse?

 

@Koer, I didn't even want to order a copper heatsink. I wanted to ask some questions like: why did they change for that many revisions? which one is considered to be better by their techs?

Mine is already on the way, so I'll try it out. Even if it was worse I'll just switch to the aluminum and apply new thermal paste. AS5 might should be better than stock thermal pads.

 

Thanks...lol nah that's just my Dell bluetooth travel mouse. That blue on it would just be from the light but now that you mention it does look like it.

 

Thread revive!

I have the copper version, but here are my before and after temps. I didn't do anything- no heatsink change. The laptop just started GPU overheating suddenly yesterday.

GPU only, with Zalman cooler on highest, in deg. C
Before:
idle: ~72
max while watching HD movies: ~93
max while gaming, no OC: ~99

After:
idle: ~78
max: ~107-113 x.x

Does anyone know what happened? All I can figure out is that there is a direct correlation between memory clock and temp. Also, playing any video (any codec) in WMP and mpc causes the gpu to spike to around boiling. Then depending on the video, the temps either stay, or keep increasing until the laptop auto shuts down.

CPU temps are ok, but not comfortable