Alienware 17R4 1080 overclocked vbios issue

After installing the new ("overclocked") vbios began to overheat the PCH.

Installing a copper heatsink on the PCH does not help, the temperature rises to 90 degrees Celsius.

Dell's support service can not help and refuses to replace the motherboard.

Added declocked vbios. Its installation solve the problem fully.
(Yes i'm flash it )
Tested on 6820HK system

 

Same here. Leads to heavy throttling in ME Andromeda when temp hits 80°... No freezes but massive FPS drop until PCH cools off a bit. CPU stuck at 800MHz.

Had no problem whatsoever before. Wish I could go back to previous VBIOS.

 

This happens on the BIOS version below 1.0.8. At 1.0.9. and above, there are microfreezes
P.S. I lowered the CPU temperature to 65 degrees, but this does not help ...

 

Right, I'm with 1.0.8.
1.0.12 gives me BSODs...
How did you manage ? Did you lower settings ? I play @1440p, on ultra and it's great except for fps drops when temps get too high.

I hit 65W (and almost 80°) with CPU (OC@4GHz) and 205W for GPU (but it stays at 72-73°, so not too bad). I saw that CPU usage is pretty intense in ME Andromeda (I'm above 85-90% the whole time).

ME:A is the first game I have a problem with. I played 50 hours MGS V @ max settings 1440p and it runs like a charm, with great temps.

 

buy a this thermal pad
https://www.amazon.com/Fujipoly-mod...70434&sr=8-3&keywords=fujipoly+thermal+pad+6w
and put it just above the pch, and the problem will be solved

 

i have the hotwell version with 99°C pch temperature, and i solved it with the thermal pads i linked you

 

so you are saying just by placing a fujipoly thermal pad on top of the PCH reduced the temperature significantly? u dont need some kind of metal heatsink on top of the thermal pad? also, when u move the laptop around, will the thermal pad fall off?

 

no, the black cover above him will make pressure

 

What bios are you running? I've got an aw 17 and my PCH temps hover at 93-94 while playing ow and I'm getting no throttling at all.

 

I'm installed copper radiator (10x10x4) but it doesn't help...

Bios 1.12

 

i too installed aluminium heatsink, but still PCH temp went all the way to 82+C. not much difference from before with no heatsink attached.

 

me too, i used aluminum plate, but i found that thermal pad is the best solution

 

here you can find info about the best thermal pad
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...e-recommendations-update-thermal-pads.796820/
i suggest you the fujipoly 6W/mk. for me, they have the best lifespan, more than artic thermal pads 6W/mk. they kept wet and flexible

 

Heatsinks only work if there is a fan or airflow to cool off the heatsink.
If this doesnt happen then the sink will retain the heat and make the surface of the PCH the same or slightly hotter.

 

Is possible to solve the problem of overheating? Only replacement of the motherboard?
Dell does not give a link to download the old version of Vbios

 

have you done anything to cool your PCH?

 

I got a sf 19 cooler master laptop cooler and modded it with 2 x 140mm noctua industrial fans, each puts out 165cfm, along with the liquid ultra etc.. The overclocked cpu and gpu both don't go over 60 under extreme benchmarking! Might be worth a shout, my nvme ssd also sits around 40 degrees now too!

 

how about your PCH temperature?

 

Reverting back to sBIOS 1.0.8 fixed this for me

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

I'm with 1.0.8 and PCH oddly activate thermal throttle when reaching around 75°. CPU is maxed @ 795 MHz.
ME:Andromeda @1440p, almost full ultra, CPU (@4.1GHz) and GPU (stock) are around 70°, so no big deal...
I can avoid this by either disabling PROCHOT in throttlestop or having a vented cooler underneath the laptop.

First game I have a problem with. So whose fault is it ?...

 

Pete what bios are you using now mate ? we have the same system and similar clocks etc..

what's best for your temps?

 

Yo! I'm actually on 1.0.8 right now gunna do some testing tonight so will let ya know

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

Here ya go:



Just noticed I seem to be getting some throttling although it made little impact in game because I didn't notice till I came out. Must have happened once only I suppose. I'll keep an eye on it but @cope123abc these are my temps on LM at 4GHz with only -50mV CPU undervolt and everything stock on the GPU. FYI back is raised by a piece of batton too

 

Okay thanks for that Pete, even our temps are very similar.

Good to know ! thanks mate.

 

Have yoo seen your ssd's aka "Drive remaining life"? Modern ssd's shouldnt be killed in so short time!! See.. your ssds in the pict below. This must be due the SSD overheating Problem. See also other with exactly same Killing ssd problem @iunlock

 

Best check mine now :O wonder if makes a difference as i have some copper heat sinks on the chips on mine, will report back later.

 

Mine is still reporting 100% life remaining, it's probs becuase i installed the heatsinks as soon as i got the laptop and also undated the firmware straight away

 

think the throttling is due to the lack of cooling on vrm, they're not particularly strong / big to sustain 180w

 

Is 98% remaining bad? It's been that much for weeks, like the battery wear has been 10% also

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

A virtually new SSD should be at 100%. No one is saying that a bit lower is disastrous, but today's SSD's are designed for huge amounts of written data. For Battery wear... Depends on how much you use your laptop on the battery and how many charge cycles you have done. My old AW17 battery is still around 2%. The same also for my +1 years old Clevo.
Edit: FYI Your second ssd show 95%.

 

So I have had ongoing issues with my PCH throttling my CPU since the vbios update. After replacing my motherboard and heatsink it was fine for a while but even at a mild OC at 3.8 GHz it's happening again. I have been in contact with a few senior engineers at aw and they have told me that they are using my system as a guniea pig to confirm the issue and are working on a new vbios update that should fix the high PCH temps. Current ETA on a new vbios is next week or the week after(they assured me the new vbios won't lower tdp, it will just fix the PCH temps.) I don't know how that will work but I'll update when they release the vbios update to me as they said they will try it on my system before making it widely available

 

sounds good. keep us updated

 

Any update? I've just updated bios and vbios and hit this high PCH problem.

 

you need to have some sort of heatsink on top of the PCH

with the GTX1080 TDP raised to 180w, heat will radiate and affect PCH temperature

 

Thermal pads be enough or a proper metal heatsink needed?

I was only playing rocket league so gpu temps didn't really get that high, pch was 10c higher than the gpu.

 

user thermal pad and a copper shim

@iunlock has a post on it but I forgot where

 

Here is the revised PCH Mod.

 

Thanks for that, off trawling amazon/ebay for me then! Does the heatsink need a thermal pad/paste or does it sit directly on the pch?

 

Use thermal paste... In this case any traditional thermal paste will do....



::iunlock::

 

Hello

I received my alienware with the vbios fallen in love and impossible to play the hanging pc freeze 1sec

You have the stock vbios ?

 

I'm flash the old Vbios. Freezes are gone now

 

owh Nice!

you can send me the old vbios please ?

 

Install at your own risk.

1. Disable AV software
2. Unpack archive
3. Run FVBIOS.bat
4. Press Y if required
5. DO NOT TURN OFF THE COMPUTER BEFORE THE PROCESS IS COMPLETE
6. Reboot

 

really big ty i try that !

 

Wow thanks !
I tried and I lost at least 8-10° on GPU (won't go over 69° while gaming).
PCH is still hot as hell though. I'm currently trying 1.0.9 and throttling is gone (yay!) even when PCH hits 80-85°, so a small victory...

No difference noted ingame : still running GR Wildlands @ ultra settings, 1440p. Lost a few FPS in the game bench (from 55-57 to 53-55 average) but frankly not noticeable while you play.

 

your problem is fixed? is your system 7820HK or 6820HK?

 

Yep, 6820HK

 

Thanks for posting the VBIOS! I'm going to try this when I get home. Having the same problem you were on my 7820hk/1080 machine.

 

Thanks to you this is now resolved for me as well! I don't recommend anyone install the new VBIOS as it causes too many issues!

I also recommend setting NVIDIA Physx to CPU only in the NVIDIA Control Panel. This seemed to help as well.

 

Good to know that this problem is finally sorted out for you guys!

@Zer0K, btw, did you get this vbios from Dell support?