Warning: Some i7-6820HKs and i7-6700HQ have Uneven Core Temps due to Uneven Heatsink

Welp, mine just came in the mail. Physically seems alright apart from a small gap at the bottom bezel (I applied a small amount of pressure and it seems to have fixed it) I'll run some tests tonight to see if everything is normal or if there are any issues. Any advice on what the best software would be as for as stressing the system out to max so I can look at the temps?

 

I noticed that several of us who have ordered our AW laptops in December will need to wait about 2 weeks to receive ours. Does this delay mean that Dell is working on fixing the units before shipping them out? Or is that too much to wish for. Maybe they are just backlogged from the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.

 

Hello,

My GT62VR has returned from MSI Poland Service Center.
No scratches, the original status, no external damage.
The repair report says: Repasted.
The Temperatures are MUCH better for me.
I am getting max offset 5-8 here and there - on Prime 95 only.
OCCT and XTU stresses are pretty aligned.
I'd say the MSI technician made a good job for me. I am able to accept this..
https://1drv.ms/f/s!AiOUCEPlhamyhoE6z-Z-_FtXMeCXRQ

Sent from mTalk

 

Scratch my previous question. I went ahead and ran prime95 for 10 minutes and used hwinfo to monitor it. Here's my results.

 

@kaktusUK

Hello iunlock

So I ordered a 17 R4 a few weeks back following a post I made on here to ask if the 17 R4 had issues and was told no it's mainly the 15's. I'm due to receive this laptop this Friday and I'm quite worried now given all that I've read on these forums

There is some discrepancy however about the information that is being posted so I was hoping to take this opportunity to clarify where things stand and what I can do before it arrives to get everything ready in the event that I decide to keep it.

As someone who has never built a computer or laptop or repasted it's all new to me. I have a friend who runs a computer shop whom I'm sure can assist but I genuinely don't know how much experience he has with this and I suspect not much. With that in mind, I have some basic questions which I hope you will indulge me with:

1. Does pasting with liquid metal mean I will have to open up the laptop and repaste it every few months? I love the temps you're achieving with it which I imagine means the fans hardly ever turn on or do so infrequently. - Liquid Metal will pretty much out last the laptop if done right. This is one of the benefits of LM aside to it being the best for thermal conductivity and dissipation.

2. I noticed you applied the LM to both the heatsink and the chips. I always read that one shouldn't do both as it creates too much paste/too thick a layer that actually prevents what it's supposed to do. Is there a reason you didn't just use a pea drop and let the heatsink spread it? - LM is different. You apply it to the die and also paint a nice mirror finish onto the heat sink plate (point of contact) to ensure that every microscopic groove is covered. When the two meet, since it is liquid, it bonds together real nice. Traditional paste and Liquid Metal are two different animals.

3. What would be the temp differences between using something like Kryonaut and the Liquid metal? I'm trying to determine if it makes much of a difference for someone who doesn't overclock and just lets the system do it's thing. I will be playing games at QHD with a 1070 and my only concern is fan noise so I'm happy to leave the system alone and not overclock if it means temps are low and fans don't have to come on much. - The temp difference can vary, but I have personally seen a difference of 10-20C when under full load. Ex. While my CPU will be in the low 60's under load, with traditional paste, it can be in the mid to high 70's, if not more... it just all depends. If you won't be OC'ing then Kyronaut will be an good choice for you.

4. Is there a risk to the system by putting that electrical tape stuff over the board/heatsinks? won't it trap heat and fry the circuits underneath? - No. There is zero harm.

5. How did you physically bend the screw pin tension arm? Plyer? can you post a video or guide as to how you did that because I don't fully understand it. If you just pushed it upwards then the screw shouldn't really be able to fit in the hole anymore as it will be out of alignment? - You use your hands to bend the arm and no it does not cause any alignment issues. It'll be fine.

6. Are you able to post a guide as to how to use the shims? I don't understand this at all. Do you wedge it or something? - Apply an even layer of paste on the die. Then place the shim on top of that. Next, apply a even layer of paste on top of the shim.

7. I didn't understand your point about the heatsink lip being steeper than it should be (towards the end of that video)? - The lip bottoms out when it touches the vrm's thus casing the rest of the north side of the cold plate to not seat completely.

8. The only thermal pads I can find/buy in the UK seems to be these: - Those will work fine. Anything is better than the stock sponge.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=thermal+cooling+pad&rh=i:aps,k:thermal+cooling+pad

Can you please recommend what I should buy and how do I work with them? Do I cut them to size? I noticed in your repaste guide you mention some pads are 0.5mm and some are 1.0mm. Is that still the case? - Yes if you are buying a 17R4, then just buy the pads accordingly with the correct sizes. Cut them with a razer blade or an exacto knife.

That's it for now I think. If I can have answers to this I can forward to my friend who runs the computer shop and ask if this is something he can help with otherwise I don't think I have a chance to do this myself

Thank you!

Ciao

 

Thanks iunlock but i feel that I'm still really confused about a number of things...

Please see my responses in red below
---------------------

Hello iunlock

So I ordered a 17 R4 a few weeks back following a post I made on here to ask if the 17 R4 had issues and was told no it's mainly the 15's. I'm due to receive this laptop this Friday and I'm quite worried now given all that I've read on these forums

There is some discrepancy however about the information that is being posted so I was hoping to take this opportunity to clarify where things stand and what I can do before it arrives to get everything ready in the event that I decide to keep it.

As someone who has never built a computer or laptop or repasted it's all new to me. I have a friend who runs a computer shop whom I'm sure can assist but I genuinely don't know how much experience he has with this and I suspect not much. With that in mind, I have some basic questions which I hope you will indulge me with:

1. Does pasting with liquid metal mean I will have to open up the laptop and repaste it every few months? I love the temps you're achieving with it which I imagine means the fans hardly ever turn on or do so infrequently. - Liquid Metal will pretty much out last the laptop if done right. This is one of the benefits of LM aside to it being the best for thermal conductivity and dissipation. Hang on a second though - I thought none of these heatsinks are sitting tight in the first place so isn't LM just a disaster waiting to happen? Non-tight HS = some gap = hot chip = LM turns to liquid and then you tilt the laptop and the LM oozes out or evaporates?

2. I noticed you applied the LM to both the heatsink and the chips. I always read that one shouldn't do both as it creates too much paste/too thick a layer that actually prevents what it's supposed to do. Is there a reason you didn't just use a pea drop and let the heatsink spread it? - LM is different. You apply it to the die and also paint a nice mirror finish onto the heat sink plate (point of contact) to ensure that every microscopic groove is covered. When the two meet, since it is liquid, it bonds together real nice. Traditional paste and Liquid Metal are two different animals.

3. What would be the temp differences between using something like Kryonaut and the Liquid metal? I'm trying to determine if it makes much of a difference for someone who doesn't overclock and just lets the system do it's thing. I will be playing games at QHD with a 1070 and my only concern is fan noise so I'm happy to leave the system alone and not overclock if it means temps are low and fans don't have to come on much. - The temp difference can vary, but I have personally seen a difference of 10-20C when under full load. Ex. While my CPU will be in the low 60's under load, with traditional paste, it can be in the mid to high 70's, if not more... it just all depends. If you won't be OC'ing then Kyronaut will be an good choice for you. Ok, that is a huge temp differential but I was expecting something like 30-40 which would make the system quiet and not necessary to turn on the fans much. At 60 I can't imagine it's all that much quieter than 70 or 80 so sounds like there's not much to be gained from going down the LM route...

4. Is there a risk to the system by putting that electrical tape stuff over the board/heatsinks? won't it trap heat and fry the circuits underneath? - No. There is zero harm. ok cool

5. How did you physically bend the screw pin tension arm? Plyer? can you post a video or guide as to how you did that because I don't fully understand it. If you just pushed it upwards then the screw shouldn't really be able to fit in the hole anymore as it will be out of alignment? - You use your hands to bend the arm and no it does not cause any alignment issues. It'll be fine. ok cool

6. Are you able to post a guide as to how to use the shims? I don't understand this at all. Do you wedge it or something? - Apply an even layer of paste on the die. Then place the shim on top of that. Next, apply a even layer of paste on top of the shim. Ok you put the shim on the side of the HS which isn't making perfect and direct contact? i.e. the side which will be slightly tilting up due to a lack of uniform pressure. Can you use multiple shims? how big should the shim be? 15mmx15mm? 20mmx20mm? can you place multiple shims side by side? Can you create a uniform gap with the screws and fill it with multiple shims and paste and then screw down tightly on top of them all?

7. I didn't understand your point about the heatsink lip being steeper than it should be (towards the end of that video)? - The lip bottoms out when it touches the vrm's thus casing the rest of the north side of the cold plate to not seat completely. So the solution is to get a thinner thermal pad under the lip?

8. The only thermal pads I can find/buy in the UK seems to be these: - Those will work fine. Anything is better than the stock sponge.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=aps&field- keywords=thermal+cooling+pad&rh=i:aps,k:thermal+cooling+pad

Can you please recommend what I should buy and how do I work with them? Do I cut them to size? I noticed in your repaste guide you mention some pads are 0.5mm and some are 1.0mm. Is that still the case? - Yes if you are buying a 17R4, then just buy the pads accordingly with the correct sizes. Cut them with a razer blade or an exacto knife. Yep it's a 17 R4 but not sure what you mean by buying the pads accordingly? Is there some way to find out what the correct/appropriate sizes are? Remember I'm receiving this laptop on Friday so I don't have it yet and I'm trying to get the stuff I need before then so I can work on it during the weekend.

That's it for now I think. If I can have answers to this I can forward to my friend who runs the computer shop and ask if this is something he can help with otherwise I don't think I have a chance to do this myself

Thank you!

Ciao

I noticed in one of the earlier posts, hm says if you're getting 10-20c differential out of the box don't bother repasting just send it back as this is a faulty chip. Is that still the case or have we moved on from that theory and now believing re-pasting is the way in any case?

 

@iunlock in the video u mention that the upper Part of the heatsink is to tall and u used thinner thermal pads to compensate this.
Is this the fix u talked about?

 

Yes.

 

Yes that no longer applies as we know Dell will just send out another unit from the same batch.

 

Haha i am mr. Hindsight! So i guess u used 0.5mm Pads?

 

Thanks @iunlock

Just about to order the stuff so it's here by Friday and would just like to double check I'm getting the right stuff.

1. Does pasting with liquid metal mean I will have to open up the laptop and repaste it every few months? I love the temps you're achieving with it which I imagine means the fans hardly ever turn on or do so infrequently. - Liquid Metal will pretty much out last the laptop if done right. This is one of the benefits of LM aside to it being the best for thermal conductivity and dissipation. On the assumption that the core temperature differential is being caused by badly fitting heatsinks, is there any point in going with the LM? I'm lead to believe that without a very solid tight fit, the LM will eventually 'ooze' out or evaporate... then of course you also read that when the LM is being painted on it becomes sticky and bonds to the copper plates. So much disinformation :/ Out of curiosity, did you try LM + shim?

3. What would be the temp differences between using something like Kryonaut and the Liquid metal? I'm trying to determine if it makes much of a difference for someone who doesn't overclock and just lets the system do it's thing. I will be playing games at QHD with a 1070 and my only concern is fan noise so I'm happy to leave the system alone and not overclock if it means temps are low and fans don't have to come on much. - The temp difference can vary, but I have personally seen a difference of 10-20C when under full load. Ex. While my CPU will be in the low 60's under load, with traditional paste, it can be in the mid to high 70's, if not more... it just all depends. If you won't be OC'ing then Kyronaut will be an good choice for you. The temp difference is huge but for my purposes (keeping the load temps low to keep fan noise low) I suppose it doesn't make much difference since fans will be blasting either way if using LM or not (assuming loads temps with LM are a minimum of 55/60). Would you agree with this? If yes, it would push me toward kryonaut instead as I won't gain what I'm looking for which is quiet/no fan on

6. Are you able to post a guide as to how to use the shims? I don't understand this at all. Do you wedge it or something? - Apply an even layer of paste on the die. Then place the shim on top of that. Next, apply a even layer of paste on top of the shim. Ok you put the shim on the side of the HS which isn't making perfect and direct contact? i.e. the side which will be slightly tilting up due to a lack of uniform pressure. Can you use multiple shims? how big should the shim be? 15mmx15mm? 20mmx20mm? can you place multiple shims side by side? Can you create a uniform gap with the screws and fill it with multiple shims and paste and then screw down tightly on top of them all?

8. The only thermal pads I can find/buy in the UK seems to be these: - Those will work fine. Anything is better than the stock sponge.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=aps&field- keywords=thermal+cooling+pad&rh=i:aps,k:thermal+cooling+pad

Can you please recommend what I should buy and how do I work with them? Do I cut them to size? I noticed in your repaste guide you mention some pads are 0.5mm and some are 1.0mm. Is that still the case? - Yes if you are buying a 17R4, then just buy the pads accordingly with the correct sizes. Cut them with a razer blade or an exacto knife. I'm assuming you're referring to the sizes as shown in the re-paste thread? i.e. 9x 1.0mm and 3x 0.5mm. Grizzly makes pads and sells them in the UK, I can get them from overclockers.co.uk along with the grizzly paste or grizzy LM. Should I go with those over the arctic stuff? I'm not sure which pads in the picture below relate to the ones in the video under the lip

 

iunlock, do you think using 0.05mm copper foil could work instead of a 0.1mm shim?

 

Hi iUnlock, I'd like my Alienware 13 r3 re-pasted. My email is [email protected]

Thanks,

 

hmm, Ernest, are you in the UK? I considered asking @iunlock to repaste for me as well but assumed his service was US only

 

I think I found the answer to my question:

https://twitter.com/AzorFrank/status/805954640575598592 "they are being screened for at the factory to prevent from shipping out"

Hopefully this explains why the estimated date for recent orders is 2 weeks. Reassuring to hear if this is indeed true.

 

I'm in Atlanta, GA. Hopefully I can get it serviced here. I was in London recently. Beautiful country

 

Unfortunately, I would not recommend holding your breath He started saying that almost as soon as the issue was raised with the first units, and people here seem to not have had better luck with later units... Even the 13s have this problem.

 

Email sent

 

Anyone closer to the East coast (NYC) can also PM me, I'm in the same team as @iunlock .

 

Yup, just have to flatten them..

It could, but I'd opt for a 0.1mm shim instead.

PM for more details.

 

You two have to live in faith and hope that Mr. Azor and Dell's engineers continue with useless thermal paste and the famous flawed 3 leg cpu heatsink It's great that this big mess can give you a gain, LOL

 

Well actually it's the complete opposite and not really a gain. For the amount work and time that is put into one machine to get it to where it needs to be, the blessings for the service is just shy of a what would be had in a 3rd world country. Trust me... it's not a gain on my side at all monetarily, it's more so a gain for the fellow members like myself who have been unlucky with the AW issue that we are all aware of to have a fixed unit.

I hope that AW gets it right. We do know that they are listening so that is a good thing. In fact, they are listening and are fully aware more than it seems...let's just say that they are, really really listening... that's all I can say for now...

 

iunlock,

My AW17 / 1080 arrives today, and I'm debating how I should handle potential heat issues. Obviously, I'll know more about the state of it once it arrives, but I'm preparing for the worst. I've got thermal pads and Kryonaut on order, but I've never repasted a notebook before - I've built a few desktops, but it's been a little while, and the disassembly instructions look like a pain.

Since you're in contact with Dell in some way here - do you think I'd be better off holding off until there's an official response if my system arrives and is functional enough for now?

Also, I have some questions about your repasting service, but I can't PM yet.

Thanks!

 

@Mobius 1 , I work in NYC, and would love to chat about possibly repasting.

I don't think I have enough posts yet to qualify for PMs any chance you could email me? tlwarner @ gmail dot com

Thanks!

 

official response will be 100% bs, it is not possible to change the heatsink mounting as of now. on the next alienware refresh it might be possible to do.

if you live closer to the East Coast, I can assist you the same way as iunlock (as we are on the same team) while saving you quite a bit of shipping cost, check PM for details.

check PM

 

Now you're just teasing us haha.

 

Does this all apply for the AW15 r3 too?

I want to add shims, so... The shim doesn't go on the center of the CPU?

 

Shim goes in the center.

I tried this with my 15R3, somewhat noticeable improvement but not as much as Liquid Metal.

However if you do not prefer conductive TIM you can opt for that.

 

Thanks!

So tomorrow I finally got time to open my AW15. My to do list is:

• insert copper shim
• repaste with kryonaut
• replace thermal pads
• fix light bleeding with blue tack - how, I dont know lol

Should I do anything else?`

How would I go about fixing light bleeding?

 

measure stock perf first before you do anything...

 

For me, removing the adhesive along the bottom edge of the bezel removed most/all light bleed. However, now the bezel slightly protrudes on the bottom right edge - gonna have to work out a way to fix that - though at the moment it's much better than having light bleed.

 

lightly tap on it with a mallet and it'll snap in


also check your cables underneath the cover you took off

 

Yeah it's all 'snapped' in with the clips. It's as if that part of the bezel is warped (was originally where most of my light bleed was coming from).

Don't notice any underlying cables that may be causing it either.

 

Had this machine for two weeks already - no thermal throttling, but core diff. of up to 10 degrees and it gets way too loud for my taste.
Temps go to 87 without undervolting.

 

@iunlock Hey iunlock, were the temps in the OP measured with fan performance on? Just curious!

 

If you mean the BIOS setting - nope. As I just corrected, themps are higher without undervolt. I now undervolted to -0.165 and it doesnt go above 64.

But without it goes 82-84 max.

 

The only way this uneven temps issue is going to be fixed if Dell redesign the heatsink.. Otherwise, the retarded 3 screw design will cause uneven pressure.. Its basic engineering....Azor's junk goes to another level..

As for people saying Clevo's desktop CPU laptops not having much battery life, P750DM2 does 170 mins on battery which is quite a bit..

Also GSync can be turned on and off, not necessary to keep it on, FYI for someone earlier in the thread!

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

 

Guys what do you think, should i give it a 2nd chance?

AW15 R3 / UHD / 6820 / 1070

or should i focus any other device out there? Point is, i love the AW15R3 and am unable to find any "incl TB3 or properiter GPU Extension possible device" out there which is "nearly" similar slim, and got nice I/O Ports design and is not out of plastic.

So in general i find no successor to the AW15R3

Regards
aVa

 

AW 17R4 - GTX 1080 [Fixed and ready for the track.]

• Grizzly Conductonaut
• Fujipoly Thermal Pads 17.0w m/k
• Heat Sink Mod. (Use thinner thermal pads on the CPU vrm's next to the single arm. More info. will be added to the OP. In process of compiling the info.)
  
• Uneven Heat Sink Fix. (Bending of the CPU cold plate arm. Yes it works.)

Note: It would not run OCCT stock out of the box. Thermal Shut Down within a few seconds. 30C Core Differential . <- Uneven Heat Sink. Thanks Dell.

1 HOUR OCCT (After Repaste)
* Core Differential ~3C Max between Core #0 and Core #3. (The fix works if done correctly.)

Max Temps:

• 57C
• 56C
• 55C
• 54C

Current Temps:

• 49C
• 50C
• 49C
• 49C

Average Temps:

• 50C
• 49C
• 49C
• 48C

After:


Owner of this Ice Box: @GTO_PAO11

Before:

Uneven Heat Sink (CPU cold plate) still exists on the GTX 1080 variant...however, it can be fixed.

 

That is honestly amazing...wish you lived in Australia

 

Bending the arms will avoid warranty (Dell told me). Or are there any new´s i´m not aware of?

 

It will not void warranty.


They cannot physically confirm a bent arm. Just stay quiet and don't tell anyone regarding a repaste

 

That's bad advice man, I have told you before, don't start lying to a vendor or you will lose all good faith in the relationship, and that will be the end of your support.

 

But they will see it, if you have used Liquid metal!! Dellienware's people isn't complete stupid. Just almost

 

You can send the unit to me and I'll fix it up.

That only works if the vendor is honest. In the case of Dell, they are not.

 

I talked to Dell's tech support, and they agreed to give me a full refund as soon as I told them what the temp difference was. Since now they're apparently doing quality checking on it, I will most likely reorder from them as soon as I get my refund back (about 2-3 blue moons). The only thing I'm wondering is if I should wait for Kaby Lake (and if I should get a 13 with the oled instead).

 

Get something like the GS40 instead, much better then these crappy Alienwares!

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

 

If I wanted to switch to a different company, I'd get that new aero 14 from gigabyte. The performance is pretty damn good, plus the battery life is amazing for a gaming laptop.

 

If the battery life is amazing while gaming then it's either got an enormous battery or it deliberately throttles performance (and hence the power) when running on battery.

John

 

94.24 Wh battery. I'm not entirely sure about gaming, but notebook review did a powermark benchmark and it lasted a little over 5 hours. Considering that test is supposed to be more stressful than everyday tasks, it should last a good chunk of the day. Although since it is gigabyte, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a small amount of throttling going on.