M6700 Heatsink swap/repaste

Day 2 Outside Temps/Pictures

Waited for today since Sat. was a too cool 68F. Normally I'm outside when it's 75F+ so was hoping it would be warmer to test that but it only got to ~74F Max so I think for me around 72F in shade.
Plus had to clean up the deck as we've been home improving the last couple months.

Don't know what to think of the very first test in each post - so calm. Due to sitting for an hour and is cold? but it seems like ten minutes would have got it hot. May be that just the first try when cold is not enough stress.
Also doesn't seem like that much turbo on those first ones. But without the test, using some programs, even starting them, it will turbo to 3.6Ghz and stay there quite a while.

 

I did some thinking on it and decided to go with Arctic MX-4. IC Diamond looks like it might be slightly better, but it seems to be rather different than your run-of-the-mill paste and I'm worried about proper application and removal. So, I decided to go with something that looks easier to use.

Anyway. It'll be here next week, and we'll see how it goes...

 

ICD is easy to apply, but removing it it a bit harder than your typical paste. I'm pretty sure your tech did a pretty decent repaste job when you got your mobo swap, that would explain the temperature differences between the two heatsinks.

 

Your results are interesting. I've read in a few places that the stock thermal compound is getting much better.

I have found the heat sink on the M4700 is tough to reattach cleanly. My first repaste job wasn't making a good contact with the core in one corner. I have redone it now, but I'm seeing a 14c difference between core #0 and core #3 which makes me think the heat sink still isn't mounted exactly flat.

Under full load on all four cores I'm seeing 74c on #0 and 61c on #3 right now.

 

I am not convinced that the differences in core temps that some are seeing are entirely due to the quality of heat sink pasting. Prior to my repasting there was about a 10% difference between core0 and cores 2 and 3 (core1 runs slightly cooler than cores 2 and 3). After the repasting, my max core temps came down but the temp difference between the cores remained the same. I find it unlikely that two pastings would result in the same temp differences. I suspect either a "defect" with the heat sink or possibly the CPU package itself.

 

I must admit I'm at a bit of of loss with this laptop. Something "feels" wrong. I've got an error in Windows 7 with the winring0 device not working properly and I am unable to install the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility or Intel Turbo Boost Monitor. Both give errors during installation. I think I might try a reinstall which is annoying since I've just got everything installed correctly, but my initial install was a bit hit and miss, especially trying to install the Intel HD driver only to realize later that it was disabled.

When you say CPU package, is this something that I should be speaking with Dell about? This system cost me the best part of £1,700 and I would want it to be absolutely right.

 

Well, I would go to Dell with anything that I said...

Right now I just don't know what is causing the temp differences. Currently I am living with it since my max temps are now comfortably below the thermal limit (the "hot" cores were hitting the thermal limit under load before the repaste), but it does bug me... Without some controlled testing involving swapping heat sinks and/or CPUs it is difficult to identify the cause of such issues. And, if the CPU is not hitting the thermal limit, Dell might not consider it an issue.

What are you using for stress testing and temp monitoring?

 

Did you do a clean install as in cleaning the drive before installing. Reimaging when everything is not turned on is bound to cause trouble especially w/IGP.
Also if you could, list your system specs (primary components).

 

Guys I haven't heard any responses about my temps so ...
Instead of being nervous I ran the tests on the other machine with Optimus - and Optimus is disabled. The temps were the same pattern. Even the the first, starting from an off (cold) computer.

It is either my fault, windows fault, the newest xtus' fault or dells/intels fault. Probably a little of all. But my course of action I think will be to watch this baseline for deterioration and if/when that happens then do a repaste.

Also I'm going to pull down all but 1 of the pics in each post.

 

I'm not really stress testing, I'm just encoding videos, which is one of the reasons I wanted a fast machine. The encode will max the CPU easily.

I do know what you mean about the temperature bugging you. I am actually very happy with the overall temperature of the CPU at idle and load. At idle, I'm getting between 20-26c cool to hot core and at load, rarely anything about 80c

I bought a Crucial mSATA 256 SSD drive, so I installed that and then did a clean install of Windows 7 Pro, from my retail DVD. I have flattened the HDD that came with the OS on originally, so I don't have any of the restore files.

System spec:

Precision M4700
Intel i7 3840QM
ATI Firepro 1000
Crucial M4 mSATA SSD
2 x 8Gb Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600MHz
500Gb Hybrid HDD

As far as I discovered, Dell disabled the integrated graphics for the M4700. When I was trying to install the driver, it was giving me an error
"This computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software"