Can't tell if I messed up my computer with overclocking

I know this has been discussed ad nauseam, but I’m having heat problems with my Alienware M14x laptop. I recently tried overclocking for the first time *very* briefly. I downloaded MSI Afterburner and turned pushed up the settings, but with the overheat protection set to shut off if I got to 95 degrees Celsius. I had checked online prior to doing this and set the recommended Afterburner settings for the M14x, as well as turning off turbo boost, and still reached emergency shut off after only a few minutes of gaming. This was the first time I had monitored the temperature of my cores, and after seeing how hot they got I decided to put overclocking on the backburner for now. The problem is that even after I set the settings back to normal, I get crazy overheating.
Now, my problem: Since I never measured my temp before, I’m not sure if this is normal, or if I messed something up. I'm paranoid that either I messed up my cooling system somehow, or somehow the bios got changed or something and its making my processor work harder than usual. I'm 90% certain that my computer never got this hot before, and I'm scared to play games on it for fear of overheating.

As of now:
The average core temperature rises as high as 60 in Power Saver mode, and goes all the way up to the high 90s when I try gaming for more than a few minutes on High Performance, which causes automatic shut-off from my overheat protection. My CPU is rated to 100 degrees, so I’m pretty sure it couldn’t have gotten that high when I was gaming before… right? Can any other M14x users tell me if I have a problem, or if these numbers are par for the course?

I have an i7 and I'm using Core Temp for temperature checking. To clarify: I've done some research and know that the M14x is known for horrible heat issues. I'm just trying to figure out if I've made it worse somehow, as my current temps seem way to high. Also, I'm planning on having someone re-apply thermal paste once I get back to the US, so there's that.

Thanks a lot!

 

overclocking can damage your components but not constantly cause heat problems when you're no longer on higher clocks. Check if your fans are still running and if your exhaust is clogged with dust. I have an R1 and as per owners reccomendation i did a repaste when my computer was hitting 90's. I found a ball of dust stuck on the vent crevices. after my repaste, temps now max out at 70-80cpu 65gpu. If you're not confident with opening your laptop you should wait till you can get a tech over to fix it for you.

 

Repasting and cleaning only helps temporarly. The R1 is a failure in design cause the heat throttles the whole performance at some point and the system dies very soon cause of hardcore wear off effects.

After repaste, elevating the laptop and at stock speeds my R1 reached a few days later again temps above 90 C when gaming or decoding. Before all that it hit nearly 100 C. Still better to have 90 C but only as long as throttling is not a problem for you + you got a long warranty.

The R2 is waaay better in all aspects but the most important is the temperature. If you repaste a R2 you can even oc the GPU very nicely .

 

Try out this troubleshooting, also you can try repasting due to the high temperatures that you may have reached in the past.
You can also try a cooling pad (for pricing and info please send an e-mail to [email protected])

In the case that the issue continues to be the same please send us an e-mail to [email protected] because a hw replacement may be needed.

 

Thanks for the answers, everybody! I'm gonna try the troubleshooting tips recommended, and if that fails I'm gonna take it in to get looked at at a Dell service center. Will post again when I find the problem for sure in case anyone else has a similar issue.