M14x R2 heat issues?

Hey everyone,
I'm heavily considering purchasing a new m14x r2 once they're released. I had some major concerns with this though due to the heat issues in the previous model. Does anyone know if this should run much cooler. I really don't want to have to prop up the laptop with a book or something if I can avoid it. I've had several laptops in the past that burnt my palms as I played and it sucked.

If this doesn't seem like a viable option does anyone know if the 15 inch origin laptop would run much cooler? That might be next on my list if this doesn't seem doable.

Thanks for the help!

 

As you already know this laptop is known for high temperatures (but pretty much only when gaming). Whether these are worrying seems to vary from each laptop.

However that is with the previous generation's (m14x r1's) sandy bridge i7, and nVidia 555m. With the i7 creating the bulk of the heat.

The new release r2 (releases a few days ago) has a new nvidia 650m gfx card that nVidia claims 'is twice as efficient' in terms of heat and power. Hopefully this will make a difference with the heat problems. However we'll just have to see when people start receiving them if there is a difference.

At the moment the r2 is only selling with the sandy bridge cpu but within the next few weeks or months the r2's will be refreshed with ivy bridge cpu's which like the 650 is rumored to be more efficient.

So basically we will have to wait until the ivy bridge refresh is released and people start receiving and testing the machine to see if the problem will be fixed.

 

Thanks for the info. Yeah I'm hoping those two will make a significant difference as well.

I've never actually seen this laptop in person before. How hot does the current one heat up? I currently have an Asus G50-V and it gets a bit warm under my palms, which is annoying, but doesn't kill me.

Is the Alienware about this same?

 

Fixed 10 chars

 

Sorry I don't actually own the m14x but plan to buy it for uni in august.

Probably a question an actual owner should answer.

I have however been scaling these m14x forums for the past couple of months so my reply is based on that research.

As far as I've read about the actual temperature of the chassis its no problem during regular tasks it when under load that is becomes a potential problem. I is now common knowledge for m14x owners to turn turbo boost off to combat the problem. Cooling pads and a thermal re-paste are also seem to help a lot.

I'd recommend if you have the time to have a sift through some of the forums here. I particularly recommend this one.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/578658-official-m14x-owners-lounge-thread.html

In my opinion I would still buy the m14x even if there were no refresh. I've been researching laptops since march last year and every model has some draw back. The m14x seems to me to be the best all round.

 

Okay, is it going to be refreshed any day now?

From what I'd read there was speculation that it won't be refreshed till june...

 

Is that right? I'd be very happy if it was.


Also, Where does most the heat come from? - I assume the vents are hot but will you feel heat on your writs or something? With turbo boost disabled and new thermal paste how hot will it run in an intense game Starcraft II in ultra?


Again thanks for all the info

 

With high-grade thermal paste, it shouldn't get past 80c.

Stock Paste = The highest temps I've seen is with Civilization V at 90c+, while others are between 75c and 82c~ (swtor/batman aa/tf2/d3/nfs hp).

With high grade thermal paste, you can knock 10c off that and if you add a good cooler, knock off an additional -5c to -7c.

 

would you classify this as a high grade thermal paste?
Tuniq TX-2 is the best thermal grease

 

I own an M14x and one of my favorite things about it is that the left palm rest never gets hot during gaming - the chassis over the keyboard (where the power button is, below the Alienware sign) gets super hot, but not the left palm rest where you'll be using the WASD keys for moving around. The right palm rest gets a bit warm but you usually use a mouse anyway.

The CPU gets super hot during Starcraft II, which, btw, I play on High settings instead of Ultra during multiplayer games to get smoother framerates. But again, doesn't affect left palm rest. It's fantastic.

 

Also, don't disable Turbo Boost for SC2 - it makes a noticeable difference since the game is CPU-limited instead of GPU limited like most games. Disabling Turbo Boost is fine for most other games and doesn't affect performance, but it does in SC2.

 

My next plan after getting motherboard number 2 and getting the engineer to apply my IC24 Diamond to the CPU/GPU is to get a heat monitor software to see what is happening - it is getting warm but its not affecting performance and as soon as i come out of a game the fans slow down and the laptop cools immediately.

 

Edit - Actually, scratch that. Several graphs I just went through shows TX-4 20% better than TX-2.

Top Thermal Compounds:
Tuniq TX-4, IC24, MX-4, Indigo Extreme and Maingear's EPIC T1000 are all highly recommended the most between reviews and user comments across several tech websites.

 

555m is a much larger and power hungry core compared to the 650M. That's where most of the savings will come.

 

Thanks for all the great information everyone. I'm a bit concerned with redoing the thermal paste in a brand new laptop. How difficult is it to apply this?

 

Fairly easy to apply the paste, the hard part ( not really that hard ) is taking the laptop apart.

This is for AS but the premise is the same:

Arctic Silver, Inc. - Instructions

 

also the heat in on the right palm rest is from the HDD. If you upgrade (alienware website or after you get the laptop, the second option cheaper) to an SSD it will go away On the top part of the laptop is the heatsink for the CPU and GPU therefore it gets that hot when you game (sometimes it burns your finger if you press it ). And since the CPU can reach temps to 95+ degrees and the GPU 75+ degrees I think much of the heat is comming from the CPU. So basically if you're worried about the heat you should wait for the new ivy bridge i5 + 650m or wait less and get a little more heat with ivy bridge i7+650m(the option I would get if I had money to upgrade to the R2 from my R1). anyway I think the temps should be at least 10 degrees lower from the R1. just don't expect any miracles.

 

i have the r1 version and i have played all new games at high/ultra and my laptop never heats up more then 90 degrees so its not that big of a problem alienware is the best!!!

 

You should definitely consider pasting it, though.

I spent over an hour researching all the top pastes and listed them in my previous post if you're interested

 

Thanks man, will definitely look into getting one of those 5!

 

Does anyone know if I can get a Dell technician to come out and apply the paste for me (for free) if I'm still under warranty?

 

If it's a Dell technician no it will not void the warranty

 

In contrast it makes no difference in BF3...

RP

 

According to katalin_2003, the Dell stock paste is pre-applied to the heatsink when the technician shows up.

---

You have the option of purchasing your own high-grade paste, but it's not guaranteed that the technician will apply it for you after removing Dell's stock paste.

If you're really nice and respectful to him/her, I don't see why the tech would say "no", though.

Dell's paste hardens up like a rock; more expensive one's are jelly-like and last for about a year before you need to replace it. High-grade top of the line paste according to real-world trial data and graphs reduce temps by up to -10c.

 

I had 2 motherboard replacements, on the second one i purchased IC 24 Diamond thermal paste and asked if the engineer would apply, he agreed to and removed any remaining old paste off with alcohol wipes.