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

If they're easy to acquire, then may as well replace them, however IMO it won't make much difference. It might help with the GPU RAM, but everything else really doesn't get anywhere near as hot as the CPU/GPU, so whilst it's good to improve their cooling it's not going to actually impact performance or lifespan.

Generally any time you remove the heatsink you should re-apply the paste.

The spikes are actually relatively normal when idling; when a process activates and performs some task the CPU is going to quickly ramp up to full speed for just a second until it completes, then it'll clock back down. You'll be able to notice it corresponds with the CPU speed ramping up too. Improving the cooling efficiency (with paste and/or adjusting the heatsink mount) will reduce the severity of the temperature spikes, but they'll still happen up to whatever the load temp generally is for your CPU (ie, fast spikes from 40C up to 50C are almost impossible to eliminate, and aren't anything to worry about anyway).

 

Do Someone there can believe Umar when he said that they revised their heatsink process? I don't want to change my AW15R3 for 17R4, and i will ask a replacement due to massive light bleed (IPS 1080P) and several uneven core temp on I7 6700HQ, I love my laptop and i cross my finger that a replacement could help me... Maybe should i wait?
In fact, what is you recommendation? Only 17R4 is the "sure" value? or we can believe on 15R3?

Actually i must undervolt at -150mv to play game with 83°C max and 10°c difference between core.

 

I believe that they've spoken to the factory with the intention being to reduce the temps. As for just how much they've actually changed things, I'm sceptical it's much at all, especially with Umar tweeting that 95C temps are 'normal' for these CPUs.

FWIW, from the sounds of it they've already made whatever changes they had planned, so whilst they might change the design of the heatsink for the next batch they actually produce, I'd say there'd be at least a thousand of them sitting in the assembly area with the current design that they have no plans of actually redesigning. Best case scenario is that they're making the same kind of changes that iunlock showed, by slightly bending the mounting arm. So I don't think waiting now will improve the results; we just need to wait and see what the results are like for people who have had their laptops built this month.

 

I too would like to know, and also how to go about it and do it.

 

iUnlock originally said 0.5mm was fine but afterwards said 1.0mm fits as well now. I just ordered the 1mm thick so it better work

I found the stuff on frozencpu for cheap.

 

A computer shop near my place has the following pastes, Any idea on which one is better?
I have ordered the Gelid GC Extreme as well.

1- Coolermaster Thermal Compound HTK/IC-VALUE V1
2- Coolermaster IC-Essential E2/Ultra-High
3- Arctic Silver Creamique 2.7gram/3.5gram/12gram Thermal Compound
4- DeepCool Thermal CompoundZ3/Z5/Z9
5- Thermal Compound Noctua NT-H1

Thanks!

 

So I shouldn't worry about contacting Alienware to get a replacement heatsink since mine idles within 5 degrees of each other 99% of the time minus the split second spikes?

 

Noctua

Though I would highly recommend you get some liquid metal.

You should contact AW for a replacement heatsink nonetheless, something happened in the factory that left the 15R3's (and to a lesser extent, the 17R4) heatsink come with a defect that affects pressure on the CPU side, causing massive temp differences.

 

I'm almost certain my CPU has heat issues, probably the one described here, playing anything for extended periods the CPU creeps as high as 90C at times I've called and told Dell multiple times and they never do anything about it, they say its "normal" I've even had the MB replaced (for a different reason) and this one is really no better than the first.

Unfortunately I'm not confident enough to take it apart and try to repaste it it looks very easy to break it, from the the vids and things I've seen and I don't want to risk losing a £2k laptop lol.

Though I wonder realistically how long it can last if temps are getting as high as 90C.

 

That is 100% understandable.
An official technician (service partner of Dell) damaged my laptop while servicing the heatsink, so yeah, it's quite fragile.
The problem with your device hitting 90°C seems to be that you are outside of the window of easy returns (afaik, you possess an AW 15 R2)...
(Dell's ambitions to service those devices seem to be drastically reduced compared to devices that could still be returned)

Your CPU should be able to survive for several years if it sometimes hits the low 90s.
You might be able to reduce those temperatures by undervolting, which is quite easy to do if you don't want to overclock.
However, your best bet for a completely functioning device would be to have the heatsink repasted - either by Dell or by someone able to do that.

 

The temperature will creep further up when it gets a little dust on the inside of your machine. You do not have much headroom before you will reach thermal throttling. In Dell's world this is apparently the normal, LOL
Ask for a replacement, refund or re-paste.

 

so i talked to some dell support "techs" about the heatsink fix that mr. azor and mr. khan where talking about and they didnt know about this issue or the "new" heatsink (oh wonder )... So i decided to do a little experiment over the coming weekend. I have a tube of HG adhesive which works like welding (pretty powerful even with only a little bit of adhesive) and i am gonna cut off that 90 degree angle thing of the upper part of the heatsink and "weld" it flat on again. I will keep u updated if it worked

 

Yeah I asked them to repaste they flat out said no we don't offer repastes. They also refused to replace it because it's "normal", it's hard to even argue with them I just get the impression they don't care what so ever honestly. I didn't get the vibe from that they would budge on anything, it's kind of disappointing given how expensive AW laptops are compared to others out there.

The only reason I got a motherboard swap was because the power socket broke and fried the old motherboard, which I actually thought was a result because it meant I would get a new one at last.

It was fitted and was exactly the same problem as before high CPU temps, GPU is fine sits around 60-65, I've it throttle once or twice and had to leave the laptop off for a few mins for it to go back to normal. I've even shown Dell the temps - sent them screenshots etc, everytime they just says it's normal and tell me to live with it.

 

My suggestion would be to return the laptop.

There is no real alternative if Dell refuses to help you out on that matter.

 

Has anyone been able to gather any information on the new heatsink / assembly process?
I might just be "lucky" and get a third replacement, which will most likely include another change of the heatsink.
However, the last technician did a horrific job of repairing the heatsink (he did exchange the heatsink) which resulted in core differentials of 30°C! (they were around 12°C before the botched repair)
I'd love to know what is actually necessary to get some decent results from the assembly of said heatsink.

Can anyone provide some insight, please?

 

Download Wprime and run the 1024M stress test with Dell's advertised max OC clock speed(run as adm and choose 8 threads) with Hwinfo64 in the background and monitoring max temp and the clock behavior(screenshot). Do the same with 3DM11 and 3DM Vantage!! If the results is bad, call up Dell support again and demand a solution on your mess.

 

Hello again... It seems like we might get further with support/help if you reach out to them over Twitter. I am in communication with them about my light bleed and overheating and they gave me steps to take to show them what it is doing temp wise.. here is one step:

"6 If the computer does not shut down. Let it run for 30 seconds and check what temperature it reached. If it is over 87C, it is overheating. Once you have the information, access the task manager and stop the Prime95 process, since this won't stop stressing by closing the window."

Hmm.. well I know for sure its going over 87C but I will send them some screenshots soon and see what they say/offer to do.

 

if you ever go to the US you can send it to me for a repaste service

 

Are you talking to dell or the alienware support people? Because, at least with me, they've been stellar.

 

Hi, just recieved my Alienware 15 R3 and am new to benchmarking etc. What would be the best way to test the cpu? Which programs should I use etc. thanks

 

Use HWiNFO to monitor the CPU (clocks, temps, power) and use OCCT or Prime95 to stress it.

 

Ok thanks for the info, I'll give that a go tonight!

 

You will find proper software for testing here http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/phoenix-software-updates.794490/

 

Put it on the AC cable, select high perf mode, then download either Prime95 and run Small FFT bench or OCCT.
Monitor core temps via hwinfo/ Sensors.

 

Just out of curiosity do you know what temperature dell considers to be overheating?

I guess if I know there policy is X and they say X is normal I can then tell their own policy on overheating states that it is to hot /

 

They have at least confirmed that up to 95C is quite normal temperature for newest Intel processors. Freely translated from AW CEO Mr. Azor and His lieutenant Umar. They even said that Intel's engineers have confirmed this. I don't know if I want to laugh or cry

 

Well on that basis I'm probably screwed - I've never seen the laptop exceed 95C CPU. Sad times, the only option is a repaste I guess.

UPDATE - I checked around in the BIOS and found the performance mode fan setting was disabled enabled that and it's drastically cooler maxed out at around 78C. Although there is still a 9-10C difference between core 0 and core 3 and it sounds like a jet plane. But at least it doesn't approach boiling point anymore .

 

That mode basically turns the fans always on. That's not a option for me.

 

Hello again everyone.

After spending the last 2 hours, being extra careful, I managed to repaste and repad the cpu/gpu and heatsink. I noticed the stock pads were VERY thin and the paste was pretty brittle and dry. As a side note, I noticed there is an empty port/header on the motherboard for a hardware tobii eye tracker for the 15" that comes with the 17"... I guess it could be added on somehow.


Stock paste



Cleaned up



Stock paste and pads on the heatsink. Looked like 2 types of pads for the GPU and CPU. Very thin.



Cleaned up heatsink with the Fujipoly 1mm pads all around.



New paste. I went with conventional paste for now rather than liquid metal stuff just to be on the safe side.




These are the temps now after running Prime95 for a minute. Core 0 still gets hot but Core 2 now is able to cool off quicker and is somewhat closer to the other core temps. I did notice now that the system seems a little more responsive and can cool down a lot quicker than before. Within a second after stopping Prime95 the temps dip right down to about 32c which it did not do before.

Just wanted to show you guys what repasting and repadding did to my laptop!

 

Wow, that's, uh, not good... Average of only 2.7GHz with 85C average temps, going all the way up to 99C. I don't think you're supposed to have 1mm pads all the way around, so it might be that you've just made the problem worse, given that the CPU only has pads on one side of the heatsink (the side that gets too hot). If anything I'd be more inclined to take those pads off to get that side of the heatsink lower. I didn't do this myself, but you should definitely be getting better results than that. A difference of 40C between the cores is practically unheard of.

 

I only put pads where the original ones were. I dont think it made much of a difference in terms of creating more of a gap between the heatsink and cpu. I think there was already a gap to begin with, this just filled it in more. The temps before were pretty high constantly.. now the other cores will dip down when under heavy load. I am going to leave it as is for now and see how it acts over the next few days.

I will say right off the bat that it seems to feel.. perkier now, if that is even the term to use. Every once in a while I would feel it stutter for a split second whereas now it does not happen anymore and it cools down much quicker now. I guess we will see in a few days if that changes!

 

^And that's why I don't want to try fixing it myself and need a £2k laptop perfect out of the box. 40 degree differentials.. omfg.

 

Almost 100C degrees with a pitty processor package power around 37W is pretty scary... And almost 40C degrees between hottest vs. coldest core is amazing. Probably a record I see here Thanks for sharing. Post this results on AW's social media.

 

Indeed, its am absolute joke.. My 4790K hits those temps sometimes but with a 70W++ load...

 

And I haven't yet reached 85c degrees in bench with +112W Yeah, A absolutely Joke... The older aka early 2015 Echo models from AW had the flimsy 180W joke with 980M and fully throttle package. Now this amazing flawed 3 screws cpu heatsink design and the boiling cpu temperature around 100C degrees. Yeah, I will see this as normal from Dellienware camp!!

 

The AW 15 CPU temps drop down to 70's to 80's as reported by @iunlock when applying better paste with better coverage, and taking care to balance the pressure applied by the 3 screw attachment.

It's possible to get good CPU temps from this laptop, just not out of the box as assembled by AW, apparently

 

Replacement of a new and better thermal paste should be more than enough. Or put it another way... If you need to modify every heatsink coming from Dell. Then is something completely wrong with the heatsink design!! A upgraded firmware fix cant' change that. Or maybe it can? The easiest way → → Cripple the power draw with a firmware fix Is also a way to fix hardware problems

 

Yeah, AW reducing the power limit in the new BIOS, if true, that's not a fix, that's lazy engineering covering for poor production and QA practices.

Don't forget to adjust the pressure to be even using the 3 screws, besides getting better paste, that's the key to evening out the temps across all 4 cores.

 

Can't believe how stingy dell has become... Even trying to save on screws!!!

 

Maybe there wasn't place for the 4th screw for the Cpu heatsink part on the motherboard? You know as me.. There is only place for 2 ram sticks on the motherboard as well!!

 

Damn i have this problem with my Alienware 15r3 arghh, and i just got it 2 days ago!
+ it took me a whole day to figure out how to install win7 on the m.2 pcie too with the proper nvme patches!

The dell tech was chill, and said he'd call me back in 2 hours since i was at work to test it out for himself.
He said he was aware of this situation, and said not to worry since its only the 3rd day i got this laptop.
I'll keep yall posted what happens, but i really don't wanna wait lol, im gonna see what he says before i do it myself.

But from what i read through this forum, it's a simple fix by repasting and tightening the cpu heatsink for most?
Also do take apart the heat sink, will i have to take apart the whole laptop?
-coming from a clevo p150sm-a

 

Maybe the engineer could only afford the base CAD "3 screw" version, Dell wouldn't pop for the full "4 screw" enabled version.

Maybe it was "demo" CAD software

 

Probably outsourced workers with the 1/3 of normal paycheck. Pay them cheapo and be happy. The shareholders give a damn, only their wallet increase. And their outsourced home tech is as well a very cheap solution for Dell!! So We don't know where the culprit is

 

Maybe the engineer used the "3-screw" method to honor his sure-footed long lost boyhood dog "Tripod", he really loved that doggie



That 3 screw layout, with the long 3rd arm, really reminds me of a Tripod doggie "foot-print"

 

Rather put in the tripod heatsink in that heart Mr. Azor really love the thermals in their newest AW models. So he can adopt the picture with the tripod heatsink. Just source up the bragging videos from him No throttle, No thermal problems... We have put in 15% extra thermal headroom for our models!! And buyers should be happy for that extra feature!!

 

I wanna believe the part about the cooling design improvements, and given @iunlock 's work I think it's possibly true, but AW's assembly / QA aren't being steady enough or picky enough in their work to get the most from that design.

I bet some poor powered screwdriver guy or gal has like 7 seconds to put in those 3 screws and runs out of time before getting them all tightened down 100% evenly.

At least we know what to do to get it to work, now we just need to "train" Dell how to do it in production, QA, and After Sale Service

 

You can't train them. Mr. Azor need to draw out the finger an demanding a better tripod attachment from the engineering team Same time obtain a better thermal paste. Skip the junk they use now!! Rather pay 5 cent more for each tube better thermal paste only ask the shareholders first. Oh no. He can't do that

 

After playing bf4 for 1 hour and 15min straight on 1 match on ultra, it does get somewhat hot.
Max temp under heaviest load is 83 degrees Celsius.
Dell upd8: The dell tech told me to email him all the info when we did remote desktop, and he gonna send it to the engineering department, which they will decide if they gonna change my heat sink or repaste etc. If not im just gonna return this and maybe get another one. But on the Canadian website that stopped selling the i7-6820HK option.

core0: 83
core1: 74
core2: 79
core3: 72

 

To be fair, have you seen my temps running back to back to back runs of unigine heaven?

The thermal paste and tri-retarded heat sink mounting plate is ridiculous, yes....no doubt, BUT....

The cooling system with some liquid magic and tri-retarded fix produces some nice numbers ...

My GTX 1070 in the AW17R4 runs in the low 50c's in unigine heaven...that's nowhere near 85C that is being referenced...

::iunlock::

 

I'm positive that they could have designed it to have a proper 4 screw design for the cpu side of the HS.

Since the AW1080 will have a different motherboard and heat sink assembly, I wonder if it'll have 4 screws instead of 3 on the cpu side?

2 ram slots is more than enough for most people. 99.9% of the people don't even need 64gb of RAM.

Even for those that do need more than that, in that case they shouldn't even be considering an AW; rather they need something like a P870DM3 at the least with a desktop 6700K that can drive their work flow.

::iunlock::