e1705 - video card/heat issues + tech support hell

this is what i've got, it'll be two years old in about a week:

Inspiron E1705, Intel Core DuoProcessor T2500 (2GHz/667MHz FSB)
2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm, for Inspiron 9400,E1705
256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS, for Inspiron 9400/E1705
80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive for Inspiron 9400/E1705
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition (refused to upgrade to vista, i may not know much about computers but i know better than to agree to use a version of windows that hasn't been out for a few years when i'm happy with the one i've been using )

first off, i'm a gamer... play a lot of world of warcraft. like i said, i'm not all that knowledgeable... when my old desktop needed a new motherboard i decided to just spring for something really nice. i use my laptop as a desktop most of the time, external keyboard/LCD screen/speakers and whatnot but went w/laptop anyway for the portability since i do sometimes travel. had a computer-savvy friend help me figure out what i wanted but unfortunately he failed to point out that "gaming" and "laptop" don't necessarily go well together. needless to say, i've learned about heat issues the hard way.

things were great for about 6 months. the problems started w/screen flickering and such while doing graphics-intensive stuff like playing wow... eventually deteriorated into "blue screen of death" issues (memory-parity error iirc).

spent hours on the phone with dell (i hate them SO MUCH - tech support is the WORST thing to outsource!), they made me run diagnostics on my ram, take out the CD/DVD drive at some point and all sorts of other stuff. finally, when they were unable to successfully troubleshoot the issue, their solution was "reformat the hard drive." i refused and took the computer in to a local shop that diagnosed it for free. took 'em all of 5 minutes to tell me the "memory" error was the video card memory and that i needed a new vid card.

after MUCH arguing with dell, insisting that i knew a new card was what i needed, they agreed to send someone out to confirm the diagnosis. the technician concurred w/the diagnosis and replaced my card. after that, it ran like new again... for about six months... at which point the flickering and other early warning signs returned. then i had to argue with dell AGAIN and get them to have someone come replace the video card AGAIN.

once i was on the third video card i realized this was gonna be a recurring issue and asked the tech guy what he though the problem was. he explained about how big of a problem heat can be when everything is compressed into such a small space so i got a lot better about not leaving the computer running when i wasn't using it and giving it time to cool off completely every night. the card HAS lasted longer with me taking better care of things, cleaning out dust and whatnot. however, a few months ago i started getting warning signs again and now dell refuses to simply replace the card at my request. they say they can't just keep giving me new video cards without finding out WHY the cards are burning out on me. i explained that it's the heat, they didn't like that answer. after a couple hours of troubleshooting i got disgusted and gave up 'cause it sounded like it was just gonna end with even more hours of lost time followed by "reformat the drive."

the video card's temp is about 45C when i start up, it's currently at 62C but all i'm using is firefox. when i'm gaming the temp spikes up to around 79C (i'm using CPUID hardware monitor to see what temperatures things are at).

i need help with two things now. first of all, i only recently found out about notebook coolers and realized i should've had one all along. i've found a lot of different advice online but not really anything specific to my exact computer and since fan positioning/exact cooling needs differ a lot between laptop brands i want to be sure i'm getting the right one. anyone have any recommendations about what cooler to go with? cost isn't an issue, i'm willing to pay for quality if it's gonna extend the longevity of my computer (my laptop is a 17'' wide-screen, btw).

the second thing i need advice about is how to deal with dell. dealing with their customer service is such an uphill battle. having paid about $2600 total for laptop + 4-year warranty (and that's *after* a 30% discount off the grand total -- technically, it was a $4k system), i kinda feel like i should be entitled to a more permanent fix than a new card that's good for 6 mos to a year. after all, i got the most extensive warranties offered to the point that if i accidentally ran my laptop over with my car... repeatedly... i could hand them 51%+ of the pieces and get a full replacement.

am i right that they need to admit to and address the deeper issue instead of just putting me through hell in hopes i'll give up before they have to shell out too much money? is there legal recourse that can be taken (or perhaps just threatened) that will get someone whose primary language is english to provide me with some actual help? i'm tired of being pissed off and full of regret over my purchase. gotta say, this is the first dell i've ever bought and it will CERTAINLY be my last -- i feel like they stopped caring about me as soon as my payment cleared and have only gone along w/the two card replacements to shut me up.

 

oh, and while i'm begging for advice i remembered my other ongoing issue... i use ventrillo for voice chat while gaming/raiding. worked just fine on my old desktop but with the laptop i've always gotten complaints from folks about me kinda cutting in and out, being hard to hear (outbound is turned all the way up), etc. i've replaced the mic more than once, doesn't help. currently using a stand-alone mic, at one point shelled out for a REALLY nice headset but could never get the mic to work (outbound sound was fine though). upgraded sound card drivers, doesn't help. had an in-game friend troubleshoot with me with no success but that was a while ago so i don't remember everything we did but i think we covered all the obvious stuff. any thoughts?

 

To be honest, that's why I wont buy Dell again.
I had issues where my E1705 started to get really warm, just from web browsing, movies, etc, no gaming. After vacuuming out the vents, it still persisted.
This was early this year, around Feb I think. After having talked with Dell TS, they flat out refused to acknowlege it was a problem, said that if there were any heat issues with this model they would know about it. They refused to do anything, and the only way I could keep the fans from going on high speed nearly constantly was to run Vista under power saver mode. The CPU was fine, but I noticed the video card was running kind of warm.
So I empathize with you, and I'm sorry for your issues. Sorry I can't give any advice however. I sold my E1705 (with nearly 2 years remaining on the warranty), this was just before the nvidia fiasco came to light.
I personally do not trust Dell and would never buy from them again. Lesson learned.