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

If you have not yet ordered it I would recommend either ordering before the 16th (which is when the TENOFF coupon expires) or taking a risk and waiting to see what the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal will be -- supposed to be $500 off an *unspecified* AW17R4 model. I'm not sure if I'll be waiting or will just take the 10% off in favor of the surefire price cut.

 

I was planning on doing it on tomorrow or Wednesday. I have a 15% off coupon for veterans day that runs out that day as well I believe. I have already got my price quotes through the chat and waiting on one last thing to come through before I buy it.

 

You will find it in the op here http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ven-core-temps-due-to-uneven-heatsink.797477/

 

Thanks! i go 2 more hot cores with my previois alienware after repasting it. currently waiting for an answer about a heatsink replacement. if that is not possible i must look for another fix. kryonaut is terrible when the heatsink is not sitting on the chip die perfectly flat.

 

If you do not go for a heatsink replacement. Maybe consider CoolLaboratory Liquid MetalPad for Notebook's? (These need less heating - Burnin-process). Or purchase similar copper foils. I know you don't want to use Liquid metal(I know you can't use it due uneven heatsink) or ICD. But ICD is the best thermal paste if your heatsink is uneven or warped http://www.coollaboratory.com/product/coollaboratory-liquid-metalpad-notebook/

 

I have to admit, this makes me a bit nervous. I prefer the traditional pastes (easier to deal with if you need to undo it, etc), and have a tube of Kryonaut arriving today. I was all gunho on doing it, until i read your comment here, and now i am second guessing myself. So, i will ask the masses -

Right now, after benching (OCCT, Haven, 3DMark) and solid gaming (The Division), my system had the following peaks:
Core 0 - 85
Core 1 - 73
Core 2 - 79
Core 3 - 74

GPU - 69

Now, obviously i have a non perfect heatsink, but i will admit that had i never read this board before buying..... i would have never known. I haven't seen any obvious lag or throttling in the system, and everything seems great otherwise. So i ask; if you were in my shoes with those temps, and that choice of paste, would you proceed with a repaste? Or would you let it be?

 

If it was perfectly flat I would have tried liquid metal paste. But for now ICD indeed sounds the most safe.

I checked the photos of my heatsink and I think its not the screw problem on mine. (there are 4 screws spread around the CPU block) but it it slightly warped itself. Also strange that my warp caused core0 and 1 to be higher instead of 0 and 2.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ste-guide-results.797373/reply?quote=10387982
Your temps arent the best out there but are not bad as well. I would not worry too much.

 

Remember the core order placement is different on Haswell die. Have you monitored to see if the temperature difference increase further with iGPU running?

 

I have a skylake CPU also. But it could mean ofcourse my warping is from a different angle. Going to investigate it soon. I have an average of 9C core temp difference between the highest and lowest under full load with the AGA connected or with the iGPU in use.

 

so I did the repaste and everything went well except for the darn wifi card. It seems that the soldering is suspect on the little connectors since one of the little buggers popped right off the card when I removed the little white/black cables. Oh well, Not mad really. I really disliked that killer wifi card as it kept on dropping the connection when downloading large amounts of data. But just as a warning, be careful when unplugging those little wires guys.

 

Just repasted with Kryonaut...not sure if the results are good?

I have two 1440 17r4s in front of me, one is a replacement.
The original has a low of 30 (lid closed and totally asleep) and high of 75. 10 degree difference between cores max. GPU is low of 30 high of 67.

The new one is not much better, low of 36 high of 75 and GPU is 39 65.

Is CLLU just no good on these? I'm wondering if I should take my old one apart and take the heatsinks out and swap it into the new one...or if I should just keep the old one. The new one does score a bit higher on firestrike and can OC a lot better.

I've also got some IC diamond and AS ceramique sitting here. Gelid extreme as well. I'm getting a bit tired of rebuilding the thing, already tried conductonaut to no avail.

 

Should I just get a USB WiFi adapter or go with another internal card? Anyone care to recommend a card?

Thanks

 

I'm in the NY area with the new alienware 17 R4 with 6820HK and 1070. Would like to get it repasted but I have absolutely 0 experience tearing apart a laptop. How many posts do I need to be able to PM tho? If you see this message could you please PM me so that we can start a conversation that way >.<

 

check pm/conversation

 

well, despite being nervous at fist, i am happy to say i did a repaste with Kryonaut, and am seeing positive results so far.
In running the same tests as before (OCCT and 3DMark), i saw the following temps:
CPU 0- 76
CPU 1- 70
CPU 2- 75
CPU 3- 66

GPU - 66

Admittedly, the core imbalance is still annoying, but with a 10*C drop, i feel better overall. even better, then fans have been quieter overall, since the cooling is more efficient. Ill do more testing, but a huge thanks again to the OP for this post!!!

 

Hi! Thanks for this guide. Does this process break warranty?

 

Hi all,
Does anyone know if and when Alienware fixed the heating problem on the AW15s where one of the core temperature was higher than the rest and if it was a hardware or a software fix?

Also whats the current stable overclock settings that people have gone with? I have a AW15 that I am planning to repast and overclock.

Also what softwares do you use to monitor the temperatures and run the tests?

 

is it safe to apply Grizzly Conductonaut in laptops?

 

Get an Intel 8260. It is solid as a rock and about $30 on Newegg. It's just as fast as the Killer.

 

is re-padding essential to get better results? I will be repasting but just woundering if its worth buying the pads and replacing

 

Hi guys,

So I got my R3 a week or so ago and temps were absurd - got thermal shutdown during a 3dmark test and OCCT showed thermals jumping to 98 degrees straight away during a stress test.

I repasted with condocutonaut a few days ago but basically made a huge mistake when pulling out the display cable under the I/O panel. I pulled "up" instead of "out/backwards". Initially when I pulled it out, the metal bracket surrounding the socket actually came out with it. When it didn't turn on I got the socket part that came off back on properly but in fitting the cable back in, one of the tiny gold pins on the motherboard socket flew off. Obviously I'm pretty mad at myself but it is what it is.

The laptop turns on and boots fine with an external monitor plugged in and the temps are amazing as expected, so it was definitely the display plug and not the liquid metal repaste job that ruined things. When trying to boot without an external monitor I just get a beep code.

I'm currently organising a replacement M/B. Just seeing if I can organise it under warranty and organising a quote a the same time if that doesn't work out. Does anyone know how much it might cost?

Also, can anyone please post close up pics of the unplugged display port cable, as well as the socket for me, so I can make sure that when the replacement arrives it looks OK and I'm doing the right thing putting it back in? Pretty please?

Thanks heaps - you guys are legends!

 

Damn. Just tested my AW15. At idle all cores are close to each other (+-3C), when I run OCCT, Core 0 and Core 2 spiked to between 75C and 88C (Changed the limits to 90C) while Core 1 and Core 3 stay between 60C and 70C (Ambient room temperature must be around 20C). Test was able to run without issues for at least 25 min and didn't fail (Wanted to get some sleep) though I think it was throttle a little. Fans are pretty quiet even at high speed. Is this what you guys are seeing?

Lets see what happens after I repaste with some liquid metal in a couple of weeks. I plan to keep it and try to see what fix I can do.

 

Came across this Reddit post, and it seems a Dell employee has mentioned that using liquid metal thermal compound will void your warranty due to the toxic materials, which under health and safety rules, does not allow Dells engineers to work on such a laptop. Is there any validity to this?

Alienware 13 R3 Cooling system

https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/5ea4gf/alienware_13_r3_cooling_system/

 

How is liquid metal toxic?


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Download and read the data sheet

 

I mean if you need to warranty the machine just repaste with something normal, not sure how they would know.

 

Hmm. Good thing I noticed this before I pulled the trigger and bought the Conductanaut. This definitely does seem like it would 100% void the warranty unless a well-concealed paste swap was done prior to servicing. This really sucks for me, as I went with the 4-year extended warranty + accidental damage to cover all my bases, and it looks like I won't be able to use liquid metal any more.

@Papusan @iunlock the general consensus on conventional thermal pastes is that the Grizzly Kryonaut is best, correct? How big of a temperature difference will I see between LM Magic and Kryonaut, and what's the verdict on longevity of the Kryonaut paste before needing a tuneup?

 

So is Grizzly Kryonaut better than IC Diamond? I'm prepping to see what I'm going to need to buy if my laptop needs it.

 

I am curious what the viscosity of Kryonaut is. If the issue is due to shoddy paste/application and a low pressure heatsink then a thicker high performance paste would be better. I have always used Tuniq TX-4 in my laptops, due to them usually having a low to moderate pressure heatsink. ICD is great, but I'm not a huge fan of applying it directly on the die, due to it being abrasive. Has anyone ever tried TX-4? The chief complaint is that it is extremely difficult to work with, but that it performs spectacularly if applied correctly on these low/moderate pressure. I don't have issues with application, but that is because over time I have found tricks to make it easier to apply. I am considering giving Kryonaut a try.

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As long you dont want to use Liquid metal only conventional thermal paste... Gelid Extreme or ICD FTW
Grizzly Kryonaut isn't good if you have a uneven/warped heatsink Up to 10C degrees difference between Liquid metal and best conventional thermal paste on laptop hardware. Desktop cooling is an other matter, due the better presure from better heatsink.

 

Is there a difference between ICD 7 carat or 24 carat? How does Gelid Extreme get applied?

I've always used AS5 with the pea-sized drop method and that makes sense to me for a warped/uneven heatsink, so since ICD recommends that method of application, I'm leaning towards ICD but is Gelid Extreme applied the same way? Which is overall the best non-metal thermal paste?

 

The difference between ICD 7 and 24 is just the weight, it is the same compound. While ICD is great, I personally avoid using it on bare die situations due to it being abrasive and can apply scratches to the die.

Application methods vary, but a rice grain or pea method is what most people use. I personally use the line and spread method, but it depends on how thick the paste is. Thinner pastes I use the pea sized drop and thicker pastes I use the line and spread method.

Once you get into top performing TIMs they are usually within the margin of error of each other. With that said, i still think my recommendation in your thread might be more ideal from personal experience. If you do use a thick paste no matter the brand I recommend letting it sit next to a light bulb for 15-20 minutes to make application easier.

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Use Liquid Metal, for this laptop there's no way that you can get decent temps with traditional paste.

 

Apparently using Liquid Metal voids the warranty effectively, since Dell support can't work on laptops with Liquid Metal used in them - toxic.

I'll see if I can find the post and the Dell quote...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...te-guide-results.797373/page-43#post-10394000

https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/5ea4gf/alienware_13_r3_cooling_system/

 

Not if you clean it off before they do the service.

Always deny that you ever repasted, say this to Dell over and over again and play dumb! The customer is always right and it's your job to withhold that statement!

 

What a waste of time and effort, plus if they asked you would lose your warranty support.

Such deception only fools yourself, the truth will come out eventually.

Enough of the lies folks, it's ruined all of our lives for too long, time to stop the lies

 

yea I guess you can always use horse semen for thermal paste since it's safe and not toxic


probably last longer too, your GT80 uses it yea?

 

Not to mention all of the scratches you will put on the dies to remove all the LM from it. People use scrubbers and low grit sand paper to get it off. LM is great, but the cons of using it for most laptop owners outweigh the pros.

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Part of the problem with lying about re-pasting is that the scars from re-pasting will be obvious to the tech's that pull apart these laptops many times every day.

You can't lie to them about not opening up the laptop, they are going to know, and be able to tell what you did.

 

Huh? I never use scrub and/or sandpaper when I clean off the liquid metal. Though it takes longer to achieve a clean surface compared to normal pastes.

 

There are plenty of non-toxic pastes out there.

@Mobius 1 go wash your mouth out with soap

 

How old is it before you Remove it? If it's a fresh install Ofc it would be easier. However, let it bake for a year, and it's not that easy.

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Liquid metal is still the worst choice if not the underlying cause of heat issues are fixed. Namely a tripod heatsink that does not function as intended!! Liquid ultra used on an uneven, warped or a heatsink with low pressure on the die is and will be a mess. Will be a failure aka liquid metall all places around the cpu die. Liquid metal should only be used on ok quality heatsink!!

If 15% of AW owners use Liquid metal and get ok temp... What about the other 85% Aw owners with screwed tripod(3 screws) heatsink? Are they screwed?

 

The temp differential between the top traditional paste and LM will vary, but on average I would say about 5-7C, although with any traditional paste that will go up even a few degrees over time so the differential could end up being close to ~10C, likely even more. Simply put, there is no comparison in the long run...

Don't bother with ICD. The only reason people use it is because it is one of the thickest pastes that cover up the intolerance of the gaps in laptops / notebooks. There are better options so ICD is not even in the top 3 in most peoples lists. It's only claim to fame is the thickness and the marketing propaganda by resellers because they are sponsored by them, thus having created this illusion of hype. To fill crappy gaps, sure it works well, but I would recommend trying to fix the core issue rather than masking it up with duct tape = ICD.

ICD: My Gf smelly spray:

LM comes off very easily off the die. No issues there. You'd have to scrub it a little off of the heat sink, but that's not a big deal as it comes off easily as well with a little light scrubbing.

 

I can only say I'm so glad I didn't purchase.
There's something about Alienware that makes it more appealing than the other offerings. The latest angular design just looks mean and the cooling system looks great on paper then....we know the rest.
Seriously though, I suggest everyone who can to return theirs till they fix that heatsink issue. The machines ain't gonna last long with these hardware issues.

 

How much paste should I plan on buying for just doing the GPU and CPU? 1.0 Grams or 7.8 Grams?

 

If it's only for cpu and gpu, 1 gram is enough

 

Its hard to tell from the pictures...but does the 2nd m2 ssd slot come with the screw? Im ordering a m2 for my 17 coming on friday and dont know if i need to buy a screw too.

 

The screws are already on the motherboard. You just need to unscrew it and add the HD and then screw it back in.

 

Alright thanks for the quick reply