[Alienware 17R4 / 15R3] - Disassembly + Repaste Guide + Results

My 15" just prematurely died. Less than 24 hours after I received it :\ Not so happy.



Apparently the board died, according to Dell/Alienware. They want it back so their engineering team can pinpoint the failure. Awesome. Waited a good month to get it and its dead. Now I have to wait another 2-3 weeks to get a new one. Sucks.

 

Sorry to hear. Crap happens, especially when they use crap paste. It looks like you have received a lemon, but I wouldn't hold that against AW/Dell as failure rates exist everywhere.

If we see more of this issue pop up with the 15R3, then it'd be a different story.

I would demand Dell to compensate you for this as this isn't right for you to go through all this ...

Hope it all works out... I'd be eager to look at it myself tbh....

Does the laptop turn on at all? Does it turn on for a bit then shut off?

* I don't want to flood this thread with this, so perhaps dedicate a thread for this?

 

As for iunlock said ask for some compensation, if you need some contacts to help let me know. I can ask around.

 

Thanks guys. So far they just are doing a simple exchange. No compensation whatsoever.

It did turn on but the weird thing (and this is probably the root cause) is I got a "CMOS Checksum Error" on first boot and the install of Windows seemed stock, no Alienware branded stuff. I dont know but i think they missed a few steps in quality control.

As a side note, I did manage to raid 2 NVMe drives in there and it worked just before it died. So I am looking forward to getting that back up with the new one I get!

 

Since I consider the 15 to be a heavy laptop, the 17 is not an option to me. I also don't like the keyboard layout, I prefer tenkeyless and preferably without macro keys. If they put up the 13 product page up this week and the pricing and the specs are right I might even consider a downgrade.
Although the 13 will probably also need to be repasted.

 

Another troubled soul looking for answers regarding the 15'' R3 with 1070 and 6820HK...

I stumbled accross some articles/videos complaining about thermal solutions in the laptops - this one being particurarly scary



Is there anyone who already did the repaste willing to comment how much did it help? I really would prefer the 15'' option over 17 for transport and convenience reasons.

Also I would never be able to repaste it myself and would have to give it to some computer service center.. Would it be safe if I provided the paste?

Thanks for help all!

Cheers!

 

You can order your 15/17 at HID and opt for repasting.

 

New 15 repasting video:


Edit: It seems you don't have to remove the fans with the 15.

 

The problem is I come from Poland and none of the 'gaming laptop resellers' have it in their offer yet so I'd have to order from Dell directly..

 

17.

 

HID ships to Europe but that might be expensive since you have to pay for shipping and taxes.

 

And the plug doesn't fit. Also probably warranty wouldn't be the same.

 

It seems like you didn't check it out yet.
1.You can select your plug in the order config.
2. Dell warranty is covered worldwide if a similar product is sold in your region, which it is.
I don't want to promote HID but I'm just saying that you have another valid option.

 

Oh wow! I'll definitely check it out then!

 

That seems a lot simpler than the 17 teardown. Good for newbies like me. My laptop arrives Thursday although I won't have time to mess with it until Sunday. Maybe I'll check it for light bleed first before cracking it open to repaste.


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Light bleed is inevitable



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I don't mind some, it's just that some of the photos I've seen from some fellow 4K owners have been shocking. It's just frustrating seeing this issue when someone else on this forum was able to fix it just by throwing in some blu tack around the bezel. Maybe I'm being unfair but it seems like such an easy QC fix for Dell, although I don't have any insight into their operations.


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Speaking of displays.. Anyone tested out the 120Hz G-Sync panel? It seems like a really sexy option to me but as it's a TN I was wondering if anyone tried it already I already got to try some g-sync gaming and it's just a real pleasure.

 

I'm a newbie when it comes to repasting so I have a few (probably stupid) questions, will this make the laptop itself cooler? I know that the cards would be cooler but would that just be because the paste is better at moving heat away from it, so the overall heat is still the same? And what is the best non-conductive paste and how much of a temperature difference would it make? I took apart and repasted some of my older laptops yesterday and after seeing the video that was posted earlier and the guide that iunlock made, this seems so simple compared to them, since I had to take apart the entire laptop including the display to get at the processor for one of mine.

Thanks!

 

Grizzly Kyronaut and/or Gelid Extreme.

Yes repasting will also make the surface of the laptop cooler. That is one of the things that I've noticed right away when typing on the keyboard. It's because the heat is efficiently being exited properly and not lingering due to the poor contact and the toothpaste mess. Think of a kink in a hose....what happens when you unkink it? Floowwww

 

Awesome, thanks! I think I'll go with the Grizzly since it's got a higher thermal conductivity which would lead to lower temperatures, right? Also since it's not conductive if a little gets on the card itself that's not a big deal, right?

 

damn I really wish someone who knows what he is doing could apply that liquid metal thermal "paste" once I receive the AW 17 with GTX 1080, as I'm very certain it will get very hot. Got a little scared after seeing the heat issues on the AW 15.
The results here are impressive. I can't believe it can make such an impressive difference.
But I'm too afraid to do it on my own. That laptop is going to be the most expensive system I will ever have bought so far, and would go mad if I were to brick it.
Perhaps I should take 1 year accidental damage and give it a shot XD

 

deleted*

 

Where are you located? States?

 

No I'm from belgium

 

Oh ok. Hmm..that's a bit far for me

 

Only kind of skimmed through this video, but doesn't seem like repaste achieved too much in this case. Wasn't liquid metal, so that will be a factor, but definitely not as dramatic as iunlock's results. Gaming for 10-15 mins in BF1 went from CPU high 60s to low 70s GPU 62C down to CPU low to mid 60s and GPU 60C. That was with 6700HQ and GTX 1060. The lack of improvement is at least a little bit to be expected, given that it wasn't overheating in the first place.

 

he dont know a **** abour repasting ,.... They not even cleaned the CPU and GPU, applied the thermal paste above old one ... jesus !!!! remove this video ...

 

Hahaha. ^^
Worst thing is that even if he applied the thermal paste like that it's still better than what AW delivers in the first place.

 

The same thought struck my mind when i saw the video.

 

Exactly + the way he applied it.

 

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It looked like he cleaned the surface at least somewhat, but there was definitely still paste at the sides. One thing that I noticed is that it looked like way too much paste that he put back on. Definitely not a good repasting job. Still, probably not bad enough that it would affect the results too much.

It's strange, because I seem to recall from the first video on that channel with the AW17 that he did a much better job. Perhaps a different person for this one?

Edit: Found the previous one and ehh, maybe a little bit better, but still didn't clean it all that well. Plus he used the sheet rather than paste, so no chance of putting too much on:

 

Wow! WHAT THE....

TOTAL MONKEY JOB. *Face palm*

Dude doesn't know what he's doing. Label this video of what not to do.

As mentioned the sad thing is, even a monkey job is better than Dells factory job. That's just wrong in every way.

Shame on Dell.

::iunlock::

 

Perhaps a former Dell employee

 

Yes or a factory worker who is in the Dell Toothpaste Stamping in the assembly line...

 

sperm bank you mean?

 

Can anyone help me with the 1440p screen model/hardware ids number? So i can check it on screencountry. Thanks

 

Best buy is selling Alienware 17 for $1799 with decent config.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/alienwa...id-state-drive-silver/5623233.p?skuId=5623233

Only thing i dont like about this is that 1080p no gsync display!

 

the only thing better than a 6700hq is suicide

probably jihad, dunno


don't buy 6700hq

 

Is there any gap between the heatsink and the cpu/gpu? Do you think I could fit in a copper shim?

 

From my observation and from seeing the results of the liquid metal and core temps, there is no room to fit a shim between the die and heat sink. I would not recommend it.

One or two things will happen:

1. The copper shim, depending on how think it is will fit, but you'll compromise your thermal pads so you'll need to get thicker pads all around to have your VRM's make proper contact.

or

2. The shim won't fit and heat sink will not screw in place properly like it is designed to, leading into the first issue above.

I would not recommend it.

 

Thank you for the help! Looks like the only way now is to repaste and undervolt the crap out of the cpu and gpu. Keeping fingers crossed for good temps...

 

Has anyone ordered th 15r3 1070/6820HK from HID with the liquid metal repaste? How are the temps?

 

i have the 15r3 with 6820hk and 1070. I posted my temps on the first page

 

Did you repaste it yourself or used the option from HID? I just don't wanna commit to buying something that's beyond my technical level.. Thanks for your help!

 

repasted myself, but i am an it specialist and do this everyday (only with fujitsu notebooks )

 

Yeah but that's different. There is no saying if HID would do as good of a job as you did ;/

 

Just did a repaste with IC Diamond. Temps dropped tremendously about 15 degrees (from 95 to 80) in an ADOBE PREMIERE 99% CPU render stress test I created.

 

oh no...