Finally heat modded my 8600c

Anyone with an overheating Dell 8x00 should check this out. http://www.bay-wolf.com/8500videoheat.htm It is a guide to modifying the cooling on a dell 8600. I have completed this mod and I came up with the following results:
Idle: before-50dC after-47dC
Load: Before-98dC after-76dC
A huge improvement.

 

404 File not found!? Damnit.

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i8600, 1.8Ghz Pentium M 745, 768MB RAM, 7200 rpm 60GB hard drive

 

I like modding things! But will it void my warranty?

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i8600, 1.8Ghz Pentium M 745, 768MB RAM, 7200 rpm 60GB hard drive

 

Just remove the trailing period (dot) at the end of the address...

 

Sorry about that period, I edited it out. It is my understanding that it will not void your warranty, but any damages you cause will not be covered. I guess if you fiddle with the GPU and the hard drive breaks they will have to fix it. If the warranty matters to you (I could care less) than you should definitely give Dell a call and present them with your specific situation.
If you are interested in overclocking the GPU, this is the way to go. Overclocking the GPU is safer and easier than the CPU, especially if you get a program like i8kfangui (look it up on google.) Before the mod, I used radlinker and couldn't overclock at all with sustained stability. With the mod, I went from 337/242 to 400/300, giving me an extra 500 points in 3dmark 2004 (from about 2900 to 3400) not shabby for a laptop.

 

I have an extended warranty (first notebook so I'm paranoid) so I'll have to make sure it won't void it.

But the mod itself looks really easy. I modded my Xbox over this winter, and changed the heatsink on it and stuff so I know I can do the mod without damaging anything. But an Xbox isn't worth over $2k either so I better check with Dell first.

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i8600, 1.8Ghz Pentium M 745, 768MB RAM, 7200 rpm 60GB hard drive

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Andrew

 

I really don't like to bring old topics up, but I have some questions: If I somehow mess up the mod, can I reverse it? i.e. go back to the original heat pad solution...

Secondly, I have aluminium that is only about 0.5mm thick. Will this suffice for the mod? In the first place, why do I have to put something between the heatsink and the heat spread on the 9600? Sorry, n00b question but I haven't taken apart my GPU yet.

Thanks in advance!

 

The heat pad is the spreader, and there is no heatsink You cannot go back to the previous solution, but I see no reason to do so. If it is at all possible, get the 1.5 mm that the guy suggests, otherwise you will need to sandwich two pieces, which I had a lot of trouble with. The problem is that Dell's material didn't draw heat from the core efficiently enough, so the temperature steadily rises. Copper or aluminum do a much better job. The most important part of a cooling system is what is right on the core.

GPU cooling (100°C->75°C)* Inspiron 8600 * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo (337/242 -> 400/300) * 2x256 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * Aquamark 3: 24058 * 3DMark'03: 3404 * 3DMark'01 SE: 13120

 

Yep, just figured that out when I dismantled the whole thing. I was afraid that I may mess things up real bad because the pieces of aluminium I had were really thin.

The paste I used was rather sticky, which made things easier. The junk used by Dell is really scary; it looks like it's meant to keep the GPU warm rather than cool! [:0]

Thanks for your reply anyway; my post in the other forum shows that it was successful in the end. *Phew!*

 

I have read this post numerous times today and I am wondering how long it takes to actually modify the video card to reduce the heat. I would do this without hesitation but I just don't have much confidence in my computer assembly skills. I'm computer literate just not handy with that stuff.

 

It's a snap, took me an hour. It would take longer if you are a perfectionist.

GPU cooling (100°C->75°C)* Inspiron 8600 * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo (337/242 -> 400/300) * 2x256 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * Aquamark 3: 24058 * 3DMark'03: 3404 * 3DMark'01 SE: 13120

 

Has anyone spoken with Dell to see if this is a known flaw, or if the temperatures are within "normal" parameters? I've certainly never heard of a chip reaching near bloiling point...but I don't want to risk damaging my laptop to cool a chip that is running within it's designed specs.

 

I modded my 8600 this weekend, I used aluminum rather than copper, I didn't have any copper handy. I dremeled down an old video card heatsink. My temp dropped from a max of 98c down to a max of 73c. The stock "filler" is ridiculous, there's no way it could transfer heat adequately. It's easy to do, and now my fans rarely change to high speed.