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

That is normal temps I would thin for this type of system even the thicker models?

 

Well... it lives so far.
Aida64 stressing, max 77 vs 90C before

 

Tested Aida64 stability test as my guide? You can also uncheck Stress gpu in Aida64 and rather run Heaven simultaneous with Stress FPU for different type load.

 

Hmm... no?
With Aida64 I have everything checked aside from local disks?
Why would I do a lower test?

 

I'm sure you will see increased temp

 

I'll try it later then.
I've gotta get going now.

I have my CPU underclocked and such since running it at the turbo of 3.5 causes power and current throttling even though it gets enough power.
Power throttling is due to some power issue with my 17 R2 and the current is unknown.

 

I don't want to hate on this, but this is exactly the reason why I use a non-conductive TIM. A 5C difference isn't worth frying stuff over.

91C would be over my comfort level. My 13 never reaches 80C on the CPU after repaste (and before also wouldn't go much over it). Also, an undervolt will save you another couple of degrees.

 

We told you not to mess with that stuff!

There's posts explaining exactly what to do if you have a stuck plunger, over on Amazon feedbacks. the one thing you do NOT do is apply more force!
You can either heat up the plunger area in hot water (not boiling), which should loosen things up nice and well, or you can apply a twisting force on a napkin underneath. This way, if some does squirt out, it will only be several drops worth and won't get on any components.

Anyway glad your laptop isn't fried.

If you are using that stuff and moving the laptop around in a backpack or using it like a travel laptop, it's virtually essential to make a foam dam around the CPU (even MORE mandatory around the GPU, but you should do both and not cut corners), because if there is any shock to the laptop, it's almost guaranteed some LM will wind up moving out from somewhere, and while the electrical tape will save the CPU or GPU, it sure won't save the motherboard if a drop keeps moving. Mr Fox has an excellent video showing how useful and easy it is to put a low resistance (meaning, thin and spongy) foam dam around the CPU or GPU slugs. There should be about 1-2mm of space clearance (more if you are not attaching the foam to anything), and you can attach it to the tape or nail polish (if you used nail polish to cover the tiny resistors), with nail polish directly (so it doesn't move and ruin the LM coating) when you attach the heatsink.

 

Oh I know the feeling I shot some last night all over from CPU across to GPU and thought some went under vram. Spent an hour cleaning it up so hard chasing balls around. Electrical tape was my friend unbelievable I was so cross at my self. Used loads of alcohol as well, in me and on motherboard.

Switched her on fingers crossed and she powered up CPU 54c after occt for 10min all benchmarks within spec.

I am worried that I didn't clean it all up. What should I look out for or just stress system and have dell support on speed dial?

So glad I didn't fry anything


Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

Frequently travelling with my LM repasted laptop I worry about this but I don't think I'm going to apply the foam mod. I believe iUnlock said as long as the heatsink is flush, there should be no leakage. Guess I may find out one day.

 

That's true, but what's wrong with free insurance?
It's better to have a 0% chance of destroying your hardware than a 1% chance. And if you get soft compressible foam (a very common packing material, especially for fragile items), there is 0, i repeat, zero heat transfer loss from having the foam installed; it can compress to literally nanometers, if you put a thin enough layer on (then, cut out a shape in the BGA slug). I think people make a logical fallacy and think of uncompressed foam, of materials working their way through the pocket layers, but when it gets compressed down hard, it acts like a completely solid dam.

This is what I used: Not as neat and clean as @Mr. Fox 's excellent pads but it still does the job perfectly.
so I'll ask you again:
Why would you refuse free insurance?
If you care about your hardware, take care of it.

 

Free insurance is great. I've got it on both of my laptops and so does @Stress Tech and the pioneer @tijgert

 

Which system is that of yours? 16L?

 

Yes, the one in the above picture is El Cucuy (Tornado F5/EVOC 16L-G-1080). The one in the video below is Alienkiller-II (P870DM3).
Both systems have Conductonaut with foam barriers on CPU and GPU(s).

 

Would I have to reapply new LM if I were to pop this laptop open again? I'm not keen on ordering more and having to take this thing apart again. I understand fully that the added insurance is basically necessary for peace of mind however atm I'm fine with the risk. In the future I'll probably do it, you guys have a link to a good foam to use?

 

Depends on whether the Liquid metal has dried out a bit due not perfect fit. If you are going to open up, be sure you have Liquid metal lying. You never know.

 

Mine is very soft foam rubber that was lining the box that the 120Hz aftermarket LCD for my Tornado F5 was shipped in. It is 5MM thick and has almost no resistance to compression. I'm sorry I don't have a link since I did not buy it at the store, but I suspect you could find something equivalent from a fabric or craft store if you don't have any scrap packing material like that.

As @Papusan indicated, as long as the liquid metal is still liquid and has not dried out, you do not need to apply any more. If the heat sink fit is poor and allows the liquid metal to be exposed to air it will dry out some. It never dries out if the heat sink fit is good. Just use a brush or the black cotton swabs provided with the paste and re-spread evenly. I take my systems apart often for different experiments. I usually do not reapply the liquid metal, unless I am doing something that requires that I clean off the old liquid metal for what I am going to be doing.

 

The foam pads sound like a great idea. I was thinking of using silicon around the CPU/GPU dies to make a leak proof seal but after it cures it would probably be a hell to get it unstuck. On the plus side the silicon would keep the liquid metal from drying out.

 

Yes, that would work fine. Before the foam idea I was going to try laying down a thin bead of silicon and setting Scotch tape on it with the sticky side toward the silicon and assembling before it dries. Then removing it would be easy. That should work fine. But, you are correct, it would be a nightmare to take apart if you did not do that.

 

Probably the same type of foam I have. I think I got mine from a mechanical keyboard keycap box (Vortex). You can get it at any hardware store.

 

Little resistance is ok for a 4-point mounting system.


On the Alienware, lol...

 

Has anyone tried removing the thermal pads around the CPU and using thermal paste there? Since those pads are just 0.1mm then I would think the gaps are small enough that thermal paste should work. I am guessing the only reason dell doesn't do that is it would be too much effort to try to get thermal paste on the VRMs on an assembly line.

 

Hmm repasted mine again and now the CPU temps haven't gone past 75c.... I was just a bit more generous with the LM this time. I'm actually baffled that just adding a touch more LM dropped my temps from 86c to 75c.

 

Could also be how you tightened the heat sink. Maybe it is more balanced this go around. I wouldn't touch it.


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Only got time to work on the laptop again over this weekend. (just a reminder on what's this about- Im trying to deal with uneven core temps after a Kryonaut repaste on a 15R3 7820)
I ended up changing the pads but it gave hardly any results. Looking at the way paste spreads there definitely seems to be not enough contact between the die and HS at one side. Tried messing with the "single arm" but after a short while of being screwed down it kinda just bends itself back to its original position. Since it looks like I'm running out of options I'm considering a repaste with LM to try and bring overall temps down enough so that the core difference does not have that much of an impact (currently under heavy load cores 0 and 2 are temp throttling). The thing I'm concerned with is will LM actually help bring the temps down in the first place while the uneven HS issue remains unresolved? Perhaps you got some other advice for me? It would be most welcome!

 

With bad fit (you said the Tripod bends itself back in original position) Liquid metal ain't the best solution. You need a good fit if you go for Liquid metal. It will drying out and solidify long time before it have to. And the risk for leakage of liquid metal is bigger. You have to fix the underlying problem before you go LM!!

 

That is exactly what I feared, and probably a primary reason for asking the question in the first place. So what are my options then? Sadly due to my location getting a replacement HS would be a logistical nightmare, not to mention a potentially costly gamble since the new one might have the very same issue anyway.

 

Try with a bit more thermal paste. Be sure pads don't compress too much(use very soft pads). Need to be perfect fit on components. Screw down and loosen up again. See how the past spread as I said in previous post. Find out how much paste you need for covering die. You can try Phobya NanoGrease Extreme 16W/mk paste or ICD who is a bit thicker in consistency.

 

Thanks for the help, guess I'll leave it as it is for now and order some Phobya then see what happens.
edit: it appears I can get ICD easily without having to wait for Phobya, are they really comparable? Conductivity for Phobya seems to be much higher than ICD (4.5W/mk), should I bother with the wait or the difference in their performance is still insignificant?

 

Both is good if heatsink is a big mess. Maybe ICD has longer longevity. I would maybe wait for Phobya if the problem you have is manageable today. Remember heat up the thermal paste syringe before you apply it as the paste is a bit thicker in consistency than many of the low quality thermal paste(put the syringe in a plastic bag and put it in a cup with 60-65c hot water a few min). Good luck Sir.

 

Got it! Maybe I'll try ICD to see how it is and order some Phobya in the meantime, after all it's not that expensive and will not go to waste either way. Perhaps I should also try get some Fujipoly's while Im at it. Once again thanks for all the tips, hopefully this works out.

 

Yeah, start with that. See if you can order some Alphacool(rebranded Fujipoly) 11/14w /mk pads as they are very soft and better than the 17w /mk from Fujipoly. Or those 6w/mk ARCTIC Thermal Pads. All mentioned is soft and of good quality.

 

ARCTIC Pads are what I changed to at the moment, since they were pretty much the only ones I could easily get. Another issue I came up with is that the stock pads right above the die (where the single HS arm is) are all *really* thin (Im guessing 0.1mm) while on @iunlock 's photos some of them are either 1mm or even 1.5mm depending on the model, and I'm really not sure what to make of it? I left these stock pads on for the time being (assuming if I put thicker pads there like in the photos I'll have even worse contact between the die and HS?)

 

As I have said several times now ... Measure how the pads being compressed. They should barely touch the components. You can use K5 Pro paste to replace thinnest 0.1 tape/pads where it is needed. I mean remember you can skip those 0.1mm. @Mobius 1 know more about this. Too thick pads will raise the Tripod mess from the die and make the temp worse. Use of correct pad thickness is important!!

 

Couldn't have said it better.

 

Skipping the 0.1mm pads was my original intention, I was just surprised to see 0.1mm stock pads on my laptop where 1mm or 1.5mm pads are on the photos in the guide here, that's it. Good to know I was correct in following intuition and not replacing them for thicker ones.
What I really find surprising is the tripod (single arm) bending back to its original state soon enough, I'd very much like to find a way to stop it, would probably help a ton with improving pressure and evening the temps. Have you experienced anything like this?

 

This is the way Dell do it now. Have been a big mess since early 2015 when they launched the first thin BGA models. Live with it or do as a lot of us other former AW owners... Move on to other brand. Have never looked back!!

 

Not much can be done to fix that unfortunately.

What I do is adjust the thermal pads, then heatgun + bend the heatsink so that pressure on CPU/GPU die is even. I check with pressure paper (prescale film).



The loss of a fourth arm cannot be fully rectified. The problem is even worse that Dell/AW uses really flimsy mounting arm.

 

Perhaps with the next one, this one is still too new to replace but sadly too old to return, so have to find ways to "improve" it where I can

 

When you say bend the heatsink you actually mean the mounting arm I hope? Not the entire thing? If I can get even pressure on the CPU I won't have any complaints left about the machine to be honest, 75C under stress test with non-metal paste in a laptop is good enough for me, so the main issue now is "if" (and how obviously)

 

@Mobius 1 @Papusan Which one to follow for replacing thermal pads if I have a 15 r3 with 1060 gpu? Thanks

 

I mean bend the heatsink as a whole, not just the mounting arms.

The mounting arms is the least of my concern when bending the heatsink.

Kabylake or Skylake?


The layout should be the same, though if any component is different due to the GTX1060 being a different chip compared to the 107/80 then I don't know.

 

Sorry if it's a silly question but where/how do I even begin to bend the whole thing?

 

You use a fujifilm ultra low prescale (pressure paper) to gauge the initial contact of the heatsink to the core. Darker stains mean greater pressure in an area.

Then you heat up the heatsink to around 80c with a heatgun, you make the necessary adjustments to even out the copper contact plate and/or make adjustments to the heatsink as a whole so that it lies flush with the CPU die.

 

Wow, that sounds really complicated. Even if I find a heat gun I'm afraid I might actually do more harm than good that way. I do appreciate the suggestion, thank you.

 

kabylake.. thanks..

 

IC7 is probably the best bet for poorly fitting heatsinks. LM would only work well on MSI and Clevo systems, unless you can 100% fully solve the tripod mounting and pressure issue. LM is godly on a MSI laptop, but for you, I suggest IC7 or even nanogrease extreme or Kryonaut. Maybe ic7 is best for tripod?

 

I repasted with Kryonaut first, that's how the uneven core temp issue came up in the first place, before the repaste all the cores were hot, now it's only 0 and 2, while 1 and 3 run at ~75C. Do you think I should still try the IC7 in this case? I really don't see myself heat gunning then somehow bending the whole HS as @Mobius 1 suggested, if I'm being honest

 

Have already suggested what you should go with Oh'well

 

Using some random foam from a old psu packaging box to do a foam mod. Decided to just do it since I wanted to do a PCH mod for some time now. Now if I can just find some super glue for the heat sink.