E6420 Owner's Thread

I received my system 2 days ago does anyone have problems with the keyboard, on the right side of the keyboard it is solid the left side is really squishy tech support told me that if they replaced the keyboard it would be the same as they are using the same parts.

Also is your screen grainy my looks like I am looking out of a screen.

 

I started from a cold boot and this is the result after diagnostics:

Current Temp, High, Low
CPU: 60c, 68c, 56c
Ambient: 30c, 30c, 25c
Sodimm: 39c, 42c, 33c

I have the i5-2520, Intel HD 3000, HD screen, 8 Gb ram, SSD. I plopped some IC Diamond 7 under the CPU HSF and chipset a few days ago. I suspect either this or my lack of dedicated graphics is the cause of slightly lower maximum temps.

If I let the system idle for a few minutes at the desktop, the CPU temp will drop to 40-42 C, with 3-5 degrees variation between the cores. I'm using CPUID HWMonitor and CoreTemp to measure simultaneously.

 

I was told that there was no one senior to the person I was speaking to. Difficult to believe this is true, but short of crawling down the phone line, there isn't much that can be done.

Yes and yes.

 

An update here about problem with temperatures.

I have a quad-core i7-2720QM e6420 and it was getting very warm. See http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...64579-e6420-owners-thread-39.html#post7498811

So I called Dell technical service and a technician came an re-pasted my CPU laptop. I asked him to repaste also the GPU... and at first sight it was getting cooler, I was doing some test while watching the CPU temperature and all was working better than before, so I went home with it.

But later when I started to work with the computer, it unexpectedly powered off... I say.. wow!, and then when I powered on again a warning on the BIOS about high temperatures.

I struggled my head about this because the CPU was getting cooler than before... so how it could be? The problem the GPU !!.. The GPU was reaching 90º without doing nothing in few minutes.

So I said... this is enough.. this dell people are completely useless. They apply cheap thermal compounds and event don't know how to apply properly (I didn't liked how the technician applied the thermal compound).

So I bought an Artic MX-4 thermal compound syringe and decided to do it myself...
I opened the backcover of the laptop and applied it, and after testing it the CPU was going good but the GPU still too warm.

So I opened it another time and examined what's going on.. and the problem is that the heatsink is very high and is not making contact with the GPU!!!

So I put much more amount of thermal paste over the GPU to make it contact the heatsink and this time worked.


So far so good.

My CPU temperatures are 5ºC lower than before.

I did several stress tests and now the CPU gets stable at 95ºC under high high load (mprime).

And under normal load it is over 55ºC meanwhile the GPU keeps at same temperature (~55)-



So the conclusion is.... if you are worried about your laptop getting very hot: Get yourself a good thermal compound like the Artic MX-4 and do it yourself.

It is very very easy to access the cpu and the heatsink on this laptop. You only have to remover the back cover and here is it ( Remember to put a good bunch of thermal paste on GPU)

You can find the service manual here: Dell™ Latitude™ E6420 and E6420 ATG Service Manual

 

I would be careful putting that much thermal paste on those heatsinks. If it spills over on the electrical contacts, it could fry your chips. I removed my heatsink and noticed the same issue that you came across. Currently, I'm reusing the pads for the two side chips and using Artic Silver 5 for the CPU chip. I've done some research and came across this on ebay: HP DELL COMPAQ TOSHIBA GPU Thermal Pad Copper Shim Kit | eBay The use of shims seems to be very effective. It's hard to tell what size gap there is so I'm going to use index cards strips and carefully insert them until I get a feel for how wide the gap is. I'll try to tranpose that to the shims and install. Does anyone know what the exact size of the gap is?

 

That is one of the reason because I choose the Artic MX-4 between all thermal compounds available: It's electrically not conductive, so you are safe if it gets in contact with any electrical contact.

ARCTIC COOLING MX-4 All-Around Thermal Compound, Electrically Non-Conductive : AVADirect Custom Computer Component

Thermal Interfaces Roundup: Retail Products - X-bit labs

 

Both sides on mine seem equally squishy if you press hard enough on it.

2720QM w/ 4200NVS, mine is idling around 47-51C using HWInfo32, depending on which core you ask. However, that's sitting on Intel graphics mode. Would probably have to reset and disable Optimus to see what the nVidia results would look like.

I have A04 and I have the same issue, though I was using VGA with the lid closed. Just wondering, do you have the nVidia setup or just Intel?

Errr, the new Intel integrated graphics are in the CPU. I would expect that any "extra" chip you have is probably the nVidia one or the system's chipset (QM67).

 

Here is the information you asked.

On the package it is written: "Part No: P5MKF"

On the module itself there is a small strip with:
"Reg Model: AE3USB01"
"DPN 2X3MJ A00"

And a second, smaller strip with:
"DP/N 0P5MKF"

That's all.

Hope you find it.

Ciao
G.

 

OOps. I should have known that. Thanks for reminding me about what sandybridge was all about. I'm replacing the thermal pads soon so I'll check what is written on them when I get there. Thanks!

 

You're right about the conductivity or lack of in artic MX-4. Silver 5, which I used, also falls into this category.

Two oversights in two posts from me. Ouch. Great job with the compound. I ordered the copper shims and am going to take that approach. Hopefully it works well. Thanks.