My m14x r2 repaste details

Hi

This thread will be populated with info re: my own m14x r2 repaste. Finding official answers from AW can be rather trying, so hopefully this will shed some light on a recurring issue

Consider it a supplement to this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-m14x-disassembly-teardown-upgrade-guide.html

** Quick background **

Previous r1 owner, saw some serious core temps of up to 98c. Despite a powerful 2760QM, HyperX RAM, etc., my r1 was clearly struggling to keep up during complex use cases like HD VJing. I would see more and more dropped frames as the night went on, which kills my ability to sync to the music.

I upgraded to an r2 a few months ago and never really left that sneaking suspicion that the notebook could be optimized for my needs. A recurring issue on the web is that of the sloppy factory thermal paste. I read many reports of reducing r1 core temps by 10c under load after doing a repaste with IC Diamond or another hi-grade TIM. Users found rather thick "pads" of grease applied to the CPU and GPU, clearly outside the bounds of where the paste should normally be applied. This cheezed me off, and I decided that I wanted my L33t notebook to run at its potential.

** Today I did the repaste using this to cleanse **

Amazon.com: ArctiClean 60ml Kit (includes 30ml ArctiClean 1 and 30ml ArctiClean 2): Computers & Accessories

** And this is the paste **

Amazon.com: Innovation Cooling Diamond "7 Carat" Thermal Compound - 1.5 Grams: Computers & Accessories

(btw it's quite a bit of paste, you can also do your desktop CPU and GPU :]

** The Process **

The actual process of repasting will be daunting to people who just want to play their games at good rates, but anyone with computer and general tech skills should be OK. I had already done all the component removal a couple times, so I knew the basic layout of stuff. It took about 90 min to strip down and rebuild. The only roadblock was (another) overtight screw, this time on the fan assembly. Thankfully, the heatsink can be finessed away from the fan without needing all the fans screws out. I had to send this notebook in for repair because the mSATA screw would not budge, so be careful when you're removing the screws the first time!

Do not panic when the notebook boots for the first time and starts loud beeping in patterns! Hold down the power button until it shuts down again, then power up a second time. There will be a couple BIOS screens and then Windows will boot. If you get a BSOD, check the HDD mode in the BIOS. Mine was reset to RAID, and my mSATA SSD requires AHCI, I guess.

** Informal experiment **

I decided the best way to benchmark was to come up with a suite of tasks to throw at the computer that would be similar to what I need it to do during a live show. I was too lazy to set up all the projectors and whatnot, so I just chose a few intensive tasks from the stuff I usually do. To create the temperature snapshots, I stressed the r2 before and after with the following simultaneous tasks:

-Unigine Heaven running at 1280x800/normal tesselation/maxed filters
-Resolume Avenue 4 running @ 720p with a particle generator and 720p webcam active
-Ableton Live 8 rendering a 60-minute 24/48 WAV audio file
-GPU Temp and Core Temp to monitor the system under load

** THE NITTY-GRITTY - Screen grabs **

**New and improved comparison graphic**

http://www.the-psychologist.com/_hosted/compare.gif

** Preliminary thoughts **

From what I can tell, the bottom line is that the repaste cut off 7-8c from the core temps under load. The GPU only reduced 2-3c under load, so it's riding right around 64-65c during my stress test, whereas before it had reached 68c.

HOWEVER, look at the screen grabs and see the end result of a $2 repaste, 90 minutes, and some BIOS and cooling tweaks! Unless my informal experiment is flawed beyond hope, I was able to massively increase the efficiency of the cooling system. Isn't this the performance you'd expect from an Alienware?

The temperatures seem to spike less frequently than with the factory paste, and compare the max temps achieved in each scenario! All CPU cores seem to be close to the same temp now, whereas before one of them tended to be hotter than the others. I also noticed that the fan seems less berserk now. It kicks in under the stress test and ramps way up, but it quickly returns to nearly silent once everything is shut down. It also does not seem to rev up randomly while I use it on battery. Again, YMMV, but the implications of this are important for people who want to get the best performance from their pride & joy.

Oh, and one last thing - My keyboard now looks beautifully flat, whereas before the rebuild it had a slight hump in the middle.

** What Alienware should do **

-Contract w/ IC and use the Diamond paste on every machine.

-Apply the paste properly.

-Ship notebooks with Turbo disabled, make Turbo a feature that you can "turn on" when needed, like Asus does.

-For the m14x, add a small foot/prop/stand near the power cable input. Think of how keyboards have the tabs that flip out to prop the backside up. Same idea.

This is the most stable, coolest way to ship their new notebooks and reduce the number of complaints re: heat, fps, throttling, etc..

** Draw your own conclusions and please discuss :] Please debunk if your results show otherwise! **

 

A couple of choice photos:

Here's the layout as I was getting started. Cardboard to draw screw diagrams on, black cloth to make it easy to spot small things, most components removed.



Top of heatsink (for HansTee!)



And here's the money shot! Yum yum paste.

 

Cutting 8-9 oC from the CPU temps is VERY significant because all that heat does not pass over the GPU. What a poor thermal design though, AW should have at least used separate heatpipes if not separate fans. I only bought my R2 because I got a good deal on a used one. But if I'd done my homework I might have avoided it... I'm planning on repasting with the IC Diamond.

 

Where the hell did you got that heatsink from??? My M14x got a totally different one Oo ...

Can you please load more pics of this heatsink up??! Then ill show you how it looks like in mine. Its a complete different design.

 

The 2x R2's Heatsinks I have looked at were the same as in the picture! What was yours like?

 

ugh i start feeling uncomfortable...

 

I already reassembled my r2, but I'll check the other photos I took...

 

IMO the r2 is a pretty great notebook, but it does need tuning by the end user if they expect top performance. There is no alternative on the market for my needs, save for the Clevo 15" SE. What worried me is the idea that I will put all this effort into tuning things, and then something unrelated will go wrong. When I got upgraded to the r2, they only transferred my Standard and Advanced care. So that meant I had ~6 months of warranty coverage on my brand new r2. That's one reason I decided to do this now - So I would still be under warranty. It's annoying that they don't provide 1 full year of Standard care with every new computer..

 

Something to ponder - How many headaches could have been reduced/solved by applying proper paste in the m14x r1? Users pull their hair out over the high temps, but it seems like Alienware is in denial about the whole repaste issue. It's like having heart problems - You can take all the medication you want, but the heart is still unhealthy. When the notebook is handicapped at such a low level, users don't get the performance the brand is supposed to deliver. How much would it cost them to contract w/ IC and use their Diamond product on the assembly line? That's what a real elite brand would do. These shortcuts reek of mass-market, low-quality ways of thinking.

 

I know this is blasphemy posting in the Alienware subforum, but you brought it up. I owned the Sager NP8130, and I did a full teardown of the machine to replace the top plate (damaged because it was dropped).

First, repasting is one of the easiest things you can do on the NP8130, since the separate heatsinks are easily accessible. Not that it really needs repasting, the factory job from Reflex Notebooks was pretty decent.

Second, everything about that laptop was top notch. It is designed to be disassembled, build quality is great, and the screen with 95% RGB gamut puts the M14xR2 screen to shame. It does have a hideous shiny bezel around the screen that drove me nuts.

Sadly I had to sell it because I needed money for a trip. And when it came time for a replacement, it was either $1600 after tax for a brand new NP9130 (because they simply do not exist on the used market) or $1000 for a used M14xR2. I do not regret my decision, but people that pay full price for an M14xR2 don't know what they're missing.

Edit: The NP9130 is the same chassis as the NP8130, but with IB and Geforce 600.

 

Yes, the 15" Sager is the only other option for me right now, and we'll see if this m14x can hang with what I require of it. If not, I will buy the 15" SE at malibal.com. But I figured I should do this research while I had the AW. Dig?

 

Thanks for your update with the temp screens - very interesting.

My personal experience with IC Diamond is that it needs little time to cure then the performance is a bit better even.

For playing older games that are demanding or having a bad engine i can even downclock to 1.2Ghz and OC the GT 650m to 250mhz core / 800mhz Memory and CPU cores run at max 70 C / GPU max 60 C. For example WOW (in 10 raids 50-70 fps) or BF2 (50-80fps) on ultra Full HD external display. Of course only with the new beta drivers. The previous beta driver didnt let me downclock the CPU that much keeping so good fps.

I could OC my GT 650m way higher but its not needed but for newer games. But then i need to raise the core too a bit.

By doing that my wife can sleep next to me without the fan starts the jet engine noise. A Repaste is highly recommend for these laptops since the factory job and the thermal design is done too cheap for a performance machine.

Could you or someone else please post a pic of the upper side of the heatsink? I dont want to disassemble it only to check lol^^.

 

I'm done with my part of this experiment! It took nearly 8 months to get an m14x that lives up to the hype, and now I'm loving my optimized notebook. I would feel comfortable if I ever had to strip it down again, to the extent that I'd prefer to receive warranty parts and install them myself. It seems like Dell really needs to promote attention to detail on the assembly lines, because there are constant issues. The thermal paste scandal was my main interest, as the implications of using crap factory thermal pads are far-reaching for the brand. Hopefully owners will read my thread and see the truth here.

 

It looks like my results are even more shocking than that. I think the IC Diamond is much more conductive and helps with temperature spikes and overall max temps. This ripples through the entire computer and improves performance in many ways.

 

Jezebelt heist, then I really should get mine repasted. Really awful thermal design here. Or at least, really awful quality paste being used as stock...

 

From what I can tell, the default thermal "pads" are the sort of thing you would buy at the dollar store :[ You can see quite clearly if you compare the different temperature grabs I took. This upgrade literally cost me cleanser + paste, and that was then divided by many because I only used a small portion of the materials. So roughly estimate $1-2 for the materials. If AW used the good stuff, they would prob pay pennies for each application. And doing so would cut around 9c off the turbo temps, lower the low temps, even out the core temps, etc.. Think about how many 14x complaints are directly/indirectly related to this issue. It's the smallest, biggest, dumbest decision I have seen from a notebook manufacturer, all things considered...

 

Oh, and I'm actually OK with the heatsink design. It may be a fail copy of the m11x, but it could work fine if they just... USED GOOD PASTE AND APPLIED IT PROPERLY.

What AW should do is simple:

-Contract w/ IC and use the Diamond paste on every machine.

-Apply the paste properly

-Ship notebooks with Turbo disabled, make Turbo a feature that you can "turn on" when needed, like Asus does.

-For the m14x, add a small foot/prop/stand near the power cable input. Think of how keyboards have the tabs that flip out to prop the backside up. Same idea.

This is the most stable, coolest way to ship their new notebooks and reduce the number of complaints re: heat, fps, throttling, etc..

Anyone agree?

You're welcome, Alienware!

 

how do i delete this specific post?

 

yes agree of course nothing new to us or to them...

Or what Dell would rather think than say about the quadrillion posts about this they never answered to:

“You don’t need to see his identification … These aren’t the droids you’re looking for … He can go about his business … Move along.”

 

Yes, I have seen complaints, but I have not seen many detailed comparisons like mine (esp with the r2). I hope it helps other people understand their m14x better!

 

I strongly disagree about disabling Turbo Boost as standard. Turbo Boost is a standard feature on all these newer processors and I find it very dishonest to imply otherwise.

Plus, Alienware is about performance - disabling a performance feature by default kind of hurts that bottom line image, you know?

Thermal designs should be made around the maximum performance available to the notebook, and nothing less.

 

Of course it should be able to handle the max scenario, but I still think it should ship as disabled and advertise their own version of turbo control as part of the AW suite. How is that dishonest? It would mean many many users would have reduced temperatures out of the box, and there would be fewer trouble calls related to heat issues. How is that dishonest? The whole point of this is honesty. LOL. Put a few lines in the manual in the Turbo Boost section that give a standard warning re: the boost in operating temps/fan noise/etc.. Total transparency, not this weird tactic of shipping laptops that are just waiting to overheat and then ignoring the simple fixes.

 

I made my own Turbo Boost control by creating 3 buttons and stick them to my taskbar. By doing this i can control the fan noise and heat of my M14x. I recommend everyone doing the same its easy and very helpful.

The best of it is i can press the Office and Surf Button and then OC my GPU with MSI Afterburner then the fan never goes higher than 3600rpm which is very quiet. The fps are only slightly lower than with 2300mhz for the most games. Temps never go higher than 67 C on cores and 59 C on GPU then.

 

So how do you actually create those temp profiles?

 

thats easy you only have to create a power plan save it and then make a link to it by inserting the ID number of the power plan in the link + the command line.

Then get some funny little icons of your choice put them in your taskbar and youre done.

 

Using standard Windows 7 features? The Power Options don't include fine control... I think it's only easy for you ;]

 

I will do further benchmarking soon. I'm curious if I can get temps even lower by removing the RAM cover and also exploring your power profile idea. I have the feeling my repasted r2 can get even cooler...

 

Yes standard features of Windows 7. My additional enabled features have nothing to do with my Turbo Control Buttons.

The command line for the link of the buttons is powercfg.exe -setactive "powerplan id here"

Should take like 5min to create the buttons. In power options you can disable turbo by setting min and max cpu power to 99%.

By further decreasing these 2 options you can set it as low as you want.

Hope it helps and is understandable.

 

BTW removing the RAM cover made no apparent difference in temps. I perform with the notebook elevated on a metal stand, so airflow should be optimal in the future. I guess the only thing left to do would be to explore HansTee's power profiles. I wonder if I could run my VJ software in the lowest CPU mode, but keep the GPU at normal settings? My CPU is only 20-25% tapped during a performance. Aside from that, I finally feel like this notebook is optimized and ready to take a whipping :]

 

Was wondering if you guys saw a rubber stopper next to your fan when you opened up to repaste? I didn't see one in mine but I saw one while watching someone else open theirs up so i'm a little worried if it fell out or something?

 

I don't recall seeing one, but there was one near the left hinge. BTW I didn't remove the fan, as one screw was supertight...

 

can you take a pic? I really don't remember seeing one in mine... maybe it was left out... because i did a repaste and the fan is still loud as hell. I'd have to teardown all the way to the mobo to check on that stopper right? or could i just take off the keyboard?

 

There is a rubber stopper next to the heatsink fins, and to get to it I'm pretty sure you have to take off the top case (large cover that includes the touchpad, etc under the keyboard).

 

Yeah, unrelated to this thread. Good luck, tho!

 

What you've just implied is exactly the sort of thing I do not want. I'd rather the system be designed to handle the Turbo speed and provide the temperatures expected instead of coming at a lower speed so it can be "cooler out of the box". Instead it should be running the "cooler temperatures" at the higher speeds.
Plus, if Alienware advertises it as their own control, that's just begging them to call it something else like "AlienThrust" or something when it's obviously just a standard feature that is enabled by default on Intel processors.

Point is, the system should be running at the optimum temperature with Turbo enabled. Not coming with Turbo disabled to reach this optimum temperature.
In fact, I'd really say Turbo Boost is in itself just an advertising gimmick. Intel knows their processors can, and will, reach this speed. They just imply it won't by saying that the standard speed is far lower.

 

Eh, differing opinions... I think it's more chic to have a quieter, cooler notebook that has a Turbo mode for people who need it. But I already posted my opinion on what AW should do.

 

Having an option to control Turbo in the system front-end makes sense to me, but I'd still rather it be active as standard. My UL80Vt is advertised to run at 1.73GHz (which is a lofty overclock over the SU7300's standard of 1.3GHz) and this is how it is set as default.

 

Nah, think of jet boosters, nitrous, etc. - You hit a button to go faster! If they ever redesign the cooling, then by all means ship it enabled. But, given current circumstances, doing what I have suggested is the easiest way for them to reduce hardware problems and improve the initial user experience. I think their rep is sliding into the toilet - I have seen their online support team change several times in the last 6 months, and now they don't even respond to a large number of serious help requests on their FB page. Even their resident fanboy has given up and is selling his r1! You can't make this stuff up. So damage control is necessary, and soon.

 

Couldnt say it in better words. +1
Im still holding to my R2 since im a fanboy too. But if i would be logical i would sell it and buy a much better and cheaper laptop and have some money left for some other stuff.

But im nearly sure they will stand up from the grave one day. Maybe the M15x R2 will be the new must have alienware laptop soon (fanboy thinking beware!) with working cooling, less bugs and way more performance than the M14x. Hell maybe it will have even a good screen!

 

My point is that I rather not be having to say I'm running on turbo. I'd rather say my Turbo is their quiet mode.
I don't want to have to step down to a lower speed to accomodate a poor thermal design.

 

I actually really like my r2 now, esp after rebuilding it and knowing that everything is tidy inside because I did it :] How it performs once I start VJing again is another question... But all my tests since repasting have suggested that the ~8c I cut from the load core temps keeps me comfortably under the rumored 65c throttle. After disabling Turbo, there was another drop in temps, and then another when I propped the backside up 1/3". With all those steps taken, it becomes a true powerhouse notebook. There's really nothing left I can do for it other than installing SATA III SSDs once they drop further in price.

The 15x is a very intriguing idea, but I just don't have a ton of faith in them right now. I bet they ship the 15x r2 with the same toothpaste on the processors!

 

OK, so we both agree that AW should add Turbo control to their AW Command Center. Then allow users to toggle the default state for Turbo for future boots. Then you could have it your way, and me mine!

 

bizzump for all mankind

 

I've recently had some gaming performance issues with my m14x r2, games were struggling to stay above 20 fps! Rang up dell today and screen shared, he did some temperature tests and found out that my cpu was reaching 105 degrees lol! So there's a technician coming on friday to replace the fan and heat sink, hope they bring decent paste and do it properly! I'll repost with my new temps and gaming performance once it's hopefully fixed! xD

 

hurry and buy your own paste and when it's time ask the guy if he wouldn't mind using your paste

 

Yeah, the techs dont apply paste. All the heatsinks come prepasted from dell.
The tech just sticks it down to the computer.

 

Yuck. Go buy some IC Diamond (or maybe a paste that is easier to work with?) and watch him like a hawk. Or learn how to do it yourself, which is really the best idea.

 

Ty for the heads up! I've got some cooler master paste but will try to get some better paste b4 friday xD My laptop was running like clockwork for 6 months, then noticed a huge drop in gaming performance! I bet bad factory pasting was the problem and it wouldn't surprise me if more m14xers started to experience the same problem! Check your core temps under load xD

 

The factory heatsink will prob get you closer to the original performance, but that includes the original thermal issues.

So you might as well try to redo the TIM while the case is open. I used IC Diamond and it was a bit tricky to apply. It's so thick, you need to kind of "cut" the paste off onto the chip using the tube tip. The CPU and GPU are different shapes, so each bit of paste can be a bit different to suit the chip in question. The CPU on my r2 is rectangular, so I applied a rice grain size/shape spot of paste. The GPU is square, so that got a regular round bead of paste.

 

Hi guys, I own an R1 and having a U2cooler helps a lot. Aside from the extra air and elevated position, it also acts as a dust guard so you won't have to open up your m14x just to clean the fan.