Thermal Throttling : last attempt before saying bye to Dell

Hey mates,

I know what you're thinking about : "again, another dude with his thermal throttling"...
I've been reading plenty of your threads but decided to create mine because I cannot solve my thermal issue.

First of, my Alienware is the 2015 R2, from July 2015 : i7 4720hq with GTX 980m.
I'm running on bios A00 with a 240w PSU.

No matter how many times I repaste, I'll get more or less thermal throttling under XTU.
Repaste with IC Diamond 7 was the worst case : so many spikes and T° variations : maybe I did it wrong but it did not work out.

I'm currently using Gelid GC Extreme. So far, the best results I got but still, sever throttling.
My thermal throttling starts at around 73-74°C under heavy games like GTA V.

So what I did :
Step 1 : lower to -100mv the dynamic offset in XTU : I can say that it improved the throttling but I'm still getting some fps drops in GTA V.

I heard about Throttle Stop but don't really understand what I need to do : I've always been a bit scared of touching those voltage setups.

I heard that the issues come from 2 parameters :
1. The Dell bios
2. Intel fixing max consumption voltage of the CPU to 47w

My questions are the following :
- How can some users' CPU can handle up to 83°C without any throttling ?
- Can somebody tell me how I can try to higher the max voltage to a value different than 47w to stop this throttle ?
- Is there any other possible way to erdicate this throlle without touching voltages ?

I'm a bit angry because I don't consider normal that we have to do all of these custom settings for a +$2000 "high end" laptop...

Thx a lot mates for your responses, I will for sure give you some feedbacks and try to find a way to solve this.

 

Why not try the new a06 bios?

and what frequency is your cpu running at when you have throttling?

 

^^ This! Please do and let me know your findings.

 

The A06 Bios is a hybrid BIOS and will use your battery as wattage compensation in the power system. It is unclear if this will take its toll on the battery or performance in the long term.

 

Based on reading about how it works, and my own observations, I doubt it will impact battery life in the long term. Rather, it kicks the can further down the road - the question should be, when the battery is dead, what happens to performance then? If it can't take advantage of the then-dead battery, OR the 240w power adapter, we are effectively shafted at that point since it'll most likely be out of warranty by that time.

 

People refer to the 17 and 15 BIOS as a crippled BIOS. Why? What is different? What is the downsides? The more and more I think of this, the more I realize we were sold a flawed system. Hardly the expectation in a high end boutique brand.

 

It used to be the crippled fan profiles from A01 all the way to A05 (which satisfies most people in A06, better late than never - ask people with older Alienwares). The main point of concern now is the hybrid bios: if the AW battery dies one day, will the system use the 240w adapter to power the 980m, or throttle itself since it assumes only a 180w adapter is available?

The 15R2/17R3 with 980m come with a 240w adapter (so it's uniform), whereas 15R1/17R2 are a mixed bag. If it starts throttling once that happens, Clevo seems like a very attractive option instead of buying another Alienware to replace it. Maybe someone from Dell/Alienware can share how it's going to go down eventually? @Alienware-L_Porras

 

Craziness... an Alienware rep just told me that the power/throttling issues were resolved in the R2/R3. Plus they come with 240w adapters now after so many people had a difficult time even getting the adapters. Now we are left with a bandiaded high end laptop just 8 or 9 months after launch.

 

I bought mine in July 2015.

I have a 4-year warranty : do you guys think I can ask for a replacement for the new revision ?

Thx

 

Depending on the rep when you call in to complain.. I have seen people get machines replaced for stupid things, It's a lottery with the reps though. Look at the 240W exchange fiasco.. A lot of reps on the phone didn't even know about the exchange option and refused people the option of the 240W PSU.

 

I've have a multitude of problems on my 17 R2 and the 3 year warranty... Hours wasted on the phone and all they want to do is have me ship it off for repair or send me a refurbished 17 R2 as a replacement. I declined both. I'll never buy another Dell or Alienware.

 

Yep pretty much. They know they sold us a load of crap and could care less about it. Their warranty isn't a security blanket, it's smoke and mirrors. If you're hanging on to the brand due to their warranty vs the competition (BC we all know it isn't the components keeping you here) it's time to forget it and move on to another company. Dell won't ever get the chance to screw me again...hope you guys will join in leaving Dell for good.

 

Not everyone has problems. and dont expect for example the MSI service to be better. I do agree the Dell support is a mixed bag. Really depends on who you speak with and they should straighten that out. But the AW15 was really the only 15inch laptop worth my money after carefully checking almost all machines.

MSI ghost pro, **** battery and often already with a worn level of over 15%. Very hot running machine

Asus G501 and G551, Not really well built, throttles in the case of G501 and even with a poor 960GTX.

Razer Blade 14, Battery dies out because of the heat in the chassis far too quickly and a lot of stories online of failing motherboards.

Gigabyte p34wv3 and p35wv3, throttles unless you tune it with undervolting and repaste everything, chassis bends far too easily and stays in that bent position.

To be honest, the laptop market is not very good unless you are buying a popular ultrabook. But Dell should take this problem more serious and turn it into an opportunity and win back that quality status. I really dont get why reviewers are more critical regarding these products. On the other hand, a lot here have issues with their AW15s while I have zero issues myself and for once happy with a product.

 

Not expecting or shopping based on service now. I picked Alienware because of the service and in no!e support. I could have picked any other competitor to the Alienware 17 and paid the same or less, and gotten better internals and performance. I took the lowly (in comparison) Alienware 17 purely for the service and not having to send my machine off...

And here we are....trash service and expected to send my machine off. Hence, I should have to begin with, and now will purchase the higher performing other brands and get the same crappy "send it off" service.


Glad you got one of the good machines. Hopefully it stays that way for you...if not, you should look toward Sager or something.

 

Internally Sages/Clevo's with a similar formfactor are not better. The comparable 15inch models have throttling issues as well when fully stressing the machine, and a really crappy to be honest. They should fix that