Aw 17 r4 total setup - repaste, ssd heatsink, windows clean install etc.

This is a quick walkthrough/guide of my experience so far from a semi literate computer guy for similarly casual tech new alienware owners experiencing high temps out of the box and apprehensive of liquid metal repasting.

Ive been a long time mac user and just switched from a macbook pro retina after not feeling the latest direction of the mbp line (though still somewhat optimistic if vega turns out to be a revolution down '18/19). Tbh Ive been looking for a reason to switch for the past two three years, but the laptop offerings were simply not there yet for gaming until pascal and not to mention the unsightly ghastly design philosophy and aesthetics adopted by major gaming companies. The combination of alienware finally showing design maturity, pascal, and a disappointing apple showing finally convinced me to make the jump... and yes, Ive been holding off two three years to play skyrim and witcher 3 properly on a machine I could stand looking at...

I have never opened up a laptop other than to upgrade memory or ssd so I regarded the whole repasting business, especially with liquid metal with a mixture of trepidation and adventure.

Step 1 was to download occt and hwinfo to test my cpu temperatures at stock speeds for 30 mins, and then test the cpu temps at 4ghz oc (40x in the bios and 100000 in power limit 1&2, performance fan disabled)

Forgot to save the screenshots before clean install of windows 10, but the CPU temperatures stock were roughly max 75 degrees with 8-10 degrees core variance and. OC temps at 4ghz were roughly max 93 degrees cpu core 0 & 3 with as much as 15 degrees core variance.

OCCT:
http://www.ocbase.com/index.php/download

Hwinfo:
https://www.hwinfo.com/download.php

Next, testing gpu temps with firestrike. Temps very good out of the box, about 60 degrees and firestrike score of 16000ish with 21000 gpu score.

3D mark:
https://www.futuremark.com/support/downloads


Clearly, I needed to do a repaste despite decent cpu and gpu temps at stock speeds. I did my homework on preparing for the eventual disassembly and repaste of the alienware and bought all the required materials necessary weeks before receiving my laptop. You


Here are the links I found most useful:

iunlock's guide:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...5r3-disassembly-repaste-guide-results.797373/

Video of disassembly on youtube:


Dell's official support guide to disassembly and reassembly with zoom in very clear pictures:
http://www.dell.com/support/manuals...3B1051-9384-409A-8D5B-9B53BD496DE8&lang=en-us

Personally, I found Dell's instruction on disassembly the most clear cut and useful for an inexperienced user like me. Detailed instructions on how to clearly remove each cable, sequence, etc...
You'll only need to look through the " Removing the computer base" and " Removing the system-board assembly" sections (after removing the base cover with unplugging battery cable first, ssd, memory, hdd, and wifi card of course)

Here is a checklist I made from Dell's website for the disassembly:




In addition to the tools listed on iunlock's guide, I highly recommend a pair of tweezers for grabbing the wifi cable during reassembling, the tiny cables by the rear i/o, etc...
Also recommend boxcutter, and a tiny paintbrush

Do not be turned off by the long checklist, it really is quite straightforward and quite an easy process... just take the time to read through the provided links...


Halfway through...


CPU and GPU factory paste


Thermals pads, heatsink. Note I have the new 1mm thermal pads. I still replaced them with a 0.5mm pad...
And did I mention tweezers already? Do yourself a favor and get some. It's so much easier aligning the thermal pads with tweezers.. and also a pair of boxcutters, much easier duplicating new thermal pad shapes than scissors.




LM application time. I covered the entire motherboard with paper to prevent accidental LM spillage.. also, make sure to shoot off a tiny amount of the liquid metal from the syringe to avoid empty air bubbles and also to find your pressure point for the syringe lever.


I also found that using a tiny paintbrush with the tip save 1-2cm wrapped in scotch tape, was a much easier tool for spreading out the liquid metal around. Much easier than using the included cotton tip in the LM package.

Done. Took me mere minutes. Was very fast, very easy.



Temperature results post repaste:

OCCT 1hr, 39x, performance fan on, Intel XTU -140mv.
Almost no variance, and around 54 degrees average. Max 62.


OOCT 1hr, 39x, performance fan off, Intel XTU -140mv (I know min core speeds look low, but Ive done the same test for longer and got 3.9ghz min speed and same results)
Only about 5-6 degrees higher than with performance fan on.



Firestrike about 17500, gpu score 23000ish with cpu 39x and -140mv. Temps 53 degrees. Performance fan off.




Final thoughts:
Initial perceived level of difficulty: 7/10
Actual level of difficulty: 4/10

 

SSD Heatsink

I was experiencing pretty high temperatures for the toshiba 256gb ssd so I bought a dozen of copper heatsinks for rasberry pi. They fit pretty well inside the case, ever just so.

I had a couple of extras left so for the heck of it, I just put a couple on top of the cpu heatsink... why the hell not..

Didnt take any screenshots of the temperatures but the initial temperatures for the toshiba were about 59-62 degrees. After installing heatsinks, they are about 47-49 degrees.

I also installed them on my samsung 960 evo 1tb. Also experienced a reduction in temps of about 5 degrees.




After all the hardware modding, I followed phoenix's excellent guide on a clean install of windows 10
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/nbr-windows-10-clean-installation-guide.781178/

I also did a display swap for a 4k screen. I was initially shocked at how bad the TN display was. Coming off the mbpr, it was a night and day difference. I felt like I was going back 4 years in the past... I could see individual pixels and jagged lines everywhere.... 5yrs on, and the display tech still hasnt caught on apple's initial mbrp 2012 release. I didnt get any banding effects so often mentioned in the forums, my TN was perfect. No lightbleed, no banding. But the colors.... omg.... like having permanent fog in your swimming goggles...

I found SUADE8880's guide particularly helpful. I bought the AUO B173ZAN01.0 panel thinking I could perhaps get gsync certification. No such luck. No GSYNC ppl.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ome-uhd-display-alienware-r4-tutorial.800153/

However, I got a bad batch of the 4k panel from an ebay vendor. Replaced it with a working one but the colors out of the box were incredibly off. Everything looked oversaturated. Clicking on a simple close window box is like looking right in the eye of Sauron. Nasty... I rather live with the TN 1440p for now till I get the Spyder Pro. I'll upload my icc profile once calibrated later.

Edit: Just want to add a huge thanks to everyone mentioned in the thread. phoenix, iunlock, suade888, mobius, team lhz, and the guy w the ssd thread who gave me the heatsink idea

 

Thank you for all this info! I would like to ask about the 4K panel, the one you have is that a real 1.0 verison which have the gsync certification? what is the sticker show on the panel?

 

thanks for the info and very well done! darn good temps also.

other than repaste with LM, did u bend the tension arm for the CPU? care to share any other tips in adjusting the heatsink?

i had repasted with traditional paste, but my core differential problem is still there, around 10-12C @ 4GHz OC.

 

Im not aware of a fake 1.0 version but yes my display is the AUO B173ZAN01.0 as stated on the sticker. I chose that panel as opposed to the later revised versions solely for the gsync certification, sadly no such luck. Ill email nvidia and see what can be done. As far as Im aware, gsync for laptops is entirely software controlled and do not require a physical module... someone feel free to correct me otherwise... which is pretty sad because there is a clear difference w gsync on when I used the TN 1440p with games capped at 60hz, it isnt a gimmick... you've got to be ****ing blind not to see how butter smooth it is.

No problem... just thought i'd give back a little to this community with all the help I got some various posts here.

Yes, I did bend the tension arm on the cpu side as per iunlock's instructions. You need not really worry about breaking the thing though, it's pretty solid though obviously exercise caution in doing so. In straightening out the tension arm, I did try to make the right angled bend a little straighter so as to extend the gap between the rivet and the screw prior to reassembly. I also noticed how there is much more of a gap between the GPU rivets and heatsink screws compared to the cpu side, like trying to fit on a shrinked tshirt after a bad wash... which could partly explain the great gpu temps?

Upon reassembling the secondary computer base layer, I noticed how there is a small gap directly between the cpu tension arm heatsink and the bottom of the computer base... I noted to myself that I could perhaps add some 3M electric tape between the gap should my temps core variance be unruly... not a very elegant solution but thankfully I did not need to resort to doing so.

 

Great post thanks for sharing your experience a very interesting read, you should be proud of those temps good work

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Thanks Pete. Im still not quite sure if we're adding to the confusion or clarification of the current alienware systems with our experiences...

Just received my spyder5 pro and to no one's surprise there is big difference pre and post calibration. for both the 4k and 1440p displays.

My 4k screen is finally usable again, though I wish windows would hurry its ass and fix the color management profiles... it's 2017, it's pathetic.

Following mobius 1's lead, here are two icc profiles I've created for both the 4k AUO B173ZAN01.0 and the 1440p TN panel.

Gamma: 2.2
White light: 6500K

Here are the links for the following displays:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/91267e4g5aan1hm/Dell+Alienware+17+r4+4k.icm
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ic6835i3ped7pd5/Alienware+17+r4+1440p+TN.icm


As always, be mindful that every panel is different and that your results may vary to mine. For instance, I found mobius 1's icc profile to be tinged with too much red (still, big thanks for the initiative)... so yeah, monitor calibration device highly recommended if you're up for it...

 

I am but I've literally no idea what I'm doing with this. I think my eyesight is good but I've just got no idea on how to tell if the display looks ok or not

Any advice on this, greatly appreciated.

Btw @pinciukas when you OC'd did you unlock the power limits properly to make sure you were properly clocking the CPU? What you mentioned suggested that it might not be the case

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Yea I know the feeling, it's a little like flying blind... I had no idea other than what subjectively looked "better" and more "natural" to me... I tweaked around a bit manually but couldnt seem to find the sweet spot. The calibration device set all those concerns away.

Btw, here is a confirmation result of the sRGB and adobe coverage for the TN panel. The 4k AUO B173ZAN01.0 got 100% in both sRGB and adobe.

 

In almost all my tests my average and minimum core speeds are shown to be steady at 3,900Mhz with core multipliers and processor cache ratio set at 39x in the bios (1.02) and intel xtu. I just couldnt be bothered with saving every test results etc... Am I missing smth from the hw monitor graph?

 

depends. I can't tell because some information is missing from HWINFO. Do you get any throttling? Do you hit anything to Yes in the Limit Reasons section?

Thanks I'll use your profile and see if it looks any different

 

Pete, you were right. I hadnt set the PL1 limit high enough in XTU. Not hitting limits anymore.. redid the test w performance fan off for 1hr. Basically same max 65-67 temps and average of 55 degrees.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

Yeah you need to use XTU to unlock all the limits (not just PL1), then it's best to use TS to OC. Have you done that?

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And yet, now you know more than the combined knowledge of Dell/Alienware as they can't seem to manage what you did.

 

Yes I'm aware of TS, but the idea of yet adding another layer of complexity is off putting tbh... I'm pretty happy w the current core speeds and temps atm w XTU... not really looking to break any records, I leave those impressive feats to you and ocers...

For those of you thinking of switching to UHD, the GSYNC nvidia control panel settings from the 1440p panel may carry over to the UHD panel even if the GSYNC option does not appear anymore. Firestrike scores are much lower on the UHD with the GSYNC notification... Now, that's not to say that it means gsync is activated... I havent had much time to do ingame testing, but a quick 5min comparison told me that gsync most likely is not in play... waiting for nvidia confirmation on the issue.

Since I cannot disable gsync through the control panel, I had to reinstall the TN 1440p panel, disable gsync, then reinstall the UHD.

 

Fair enough so despite your clock speeds I suspect it's under performing by ~10% then. What's your current firestrike graphics score for a max GPU OC

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Ah thanks again for the heads up. I thought I had uploaded the firestrike screenshot scores... about 17500 firestrike on 39x and performance fan off. I updated original post with firestrike screenshot.

I'm sure I could get another 500 or so on 43x, no undervolting and performance fan on but I really couldnt be bothered with yet another benchmark...

 

@Pete Light - Hey man; would you mind if I touched base with you ? I am an owner of an almost identical Alienware 17 R4 as yours with | i7 6820HK | GTX 1080 | 32GB 2400MHz RAM | 512GB NVME SSD | 1440p QHD 120Hz GSync || Repasted differently with Grizzly Kyronaut, Repad with fujipoly 14w/mk, Lapped heatsinks & CPU arm bent that I purchased from Cerreta28. He is a helpful and frequent contributor to this site and he had upgraded this AW ultimately on my behalf via the remarkable services of iunlock and LHz. As you can probably imagine, the performance and temps of my example are literally out of this world.

At any rate, I hope that is enough of a primer for you to get a read as to who the heck I am and if I may Add you or vice versa, I would greatly appreciate it.

Regards,

My Discord User ID is:
SYHAP
#6019

 

Sure but is that with a GPU OC or just the CPU?

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Request sent

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many thanks for your reply. it's a bit hard to imagine your description, if you could please draw a simple diagram showing the cross section/side view which point you bent and how far you bent the tripod tension arm on the cpu side.

i've read iunlock's awesome guide, petelight's detailed guide as well. i actually did bend the tension arm during my first repaste, i'm guessing it's not enough because after updating to BIOS 1.0.12, i'm back to 15C core differential and thermal throttling again @ 4GHz OC, no undervolt.. i've ordered some fujipoly, it'll take a while to reach here, ive got grizzly kryonaut as well. going to repaste again.

@Pete Light , if you could share your experience in bending the tension arm with a simple side view diagram detailing which point you bent and how far you bent it, that'll be great.

also when you guys assemble back the heatsink, did you follow the numbering on the heatsink when screwing it down? if you follow the numbering, did u screw all the way down for each number? or did you screw half way down and move to the next number until all the screws are half way down before going back to the first screw and screw all the way down. how did you guys do it?

i dont live in the states or uk so i've got to do all this myself. appreciate all the help i can get from this awesome community.

again, thank you for your help.

 

You also can do it without bending. Add some O rings between the tension arm and the screw head, thus creating more pressure.

 

@alexnvidia no need for a diagram because there is a very clear picture of iunlock's arm bend taken from side view on the first page in the link below... my bend was approx the same...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ven-core-temps-due-to-uneven-heatsink.797477/

...and no, I did not follow the numbering on the heatsink during reassembly...

 

if you look at the picture i edited, did u bend arrow no.1 or no.2?

if u did not follow the numbering on the heatsink, mind sharing in which order you tighten the screws to exert more pressure on that tension arm you bent? thanks

 

I tried to do both 1&2, but you'll find 1 to be quite rigid and not that much intent on bending.

As for the reassembly, I did it in no particular order at all... but then again I'm not expert on the topic... I literally spent just minutes with the heatsink mod and the application of LM thanks to the paintbrush.

My results are nowhere near the best but fairly decent at upper mid 60s w no fans on, undervolt, no throttling and on 39x. To achieve iunlock's mid 50s temps, bear in mind that he spends hours tinkering with the alignment of the heatsink and uses expensive pressure indicating film, etc...

 

might i also add that i think you can hire the services of the lhz team over skype for further guidance... best of luck!

 

Does anyone has GTA5 to have a benchmark against. I have 3 games and this one seems to put the MOST heat temps on my CPU and GPU compared to games like Rise of Tomb Raider and witcher 3. The maximum temps for CPU doesn't get higher than 65 and GPU is around 72. GTA5 CPU temps get to 71-72 and GPU gets to 76-77

 

look at the usage, use software like msi afterburner and enable the motorization. more usage means more heat

edit: usage of cpu and gpu obviously on %

 

thanks for the feedback

 

Hey mate really sounds to me like you didn't apply enough thermal paste and ensure the heat sink sat flush on the die first. I really paid attention to this on my 2nd repaste and it worked wonders. My method was to hold the mobo with two hands, one behind and one in front. Then I'd make sure the sink sat flush on the die and screw the north CPU screw in until it started to bite hard (where the sink started to touch the die), then I just alternated through the rest a bit at a time focusing more on the CPU than the GPU.

Repaste may seem ok at first but as soon as you unlock the limits with XTU and properly push the CPU it may give the false impression it's ok (I actually had this)

I'll draw a diagram for you on the bending heatsink arm later

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Motorization?

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you can understand it .... i speak Spanish, sorry if my bad English offense you

 

@Pete Light: @judal57 meant Monitoring.

 

@pinciukas

When hearing about your panel swap, any idea on whether you can swap the 1080p to the 4K? My 17r4 is the 1080p panel with 6700hq & GTX 1070. I’ve found a panel, cable, and bezel (not sure if the bezel is needed), but I’m hesitant to buy if the swap won’t work.

Were you able to finally get your UHD panel working and calibrated? I wasn’t able to discern those q’s from your post.

Thanks!

Edit: Must’ve missed where you said 1440 panel, after rereading I saw it though.

 

Yes I switched from the 1440p display to 4k. From what I understand, you need an adapter of sorts from Dell to switch from the 1080p to 4k because of different pin configurations... and from what I read previously, it could be a lengthy wait though I'm not updated on current lead times...

Bezel isnt really needed since the current Alienware bezel works just fine, unless you decide to do away w the Alienware logo and the Tobii eye tracking. Have you managed to switch over yet?

My UHD works fine, and I'm not going back to the 1440p TNT... not after being used to the how fine texts look (which will be very apparent from the moment you see the Alienware logo on the start up screen) to the much wider color gamut (if yours is 100% Adobe RGB like mine). Games like the The Witcher 3 are just so much more beautiful on 4k w much deeper blacks, and much more vivid red/orange/green, etc... However, like many posters have previously commented on, it's a matter of preferences and priorities, which I'm sure you're aware of and therefore won't bore you with.

Calibration w Spyder 5 pro was a breeze... I can send you my color profile if you wish, but as each display is different, your display will most likely won't look as calibrated as mine. I highly suggest getting a calibrator if you can, I'd made use of mine many times in the last 6mths.