Yet more M14x heat issues & other faults.

The more I read online about the heat issues concerning this laptop the more I worry myself that my unit will fall victim to this problem.

And alas... my fears were answered.

CPU reached past the 90 Degrees Celcius Mark whilst playing Space Marine and ever since then I've been reviewing the heat (Monitored by HW CPUID) on a constant basis. I noticed that people were purchasing coolers for the machine in order to bring the temps down but have decided NOT to invest in one.

The reason?
I paid hundreds for this machine - at a price that is almost double that of any standard mainstream laptop I not only want this machine to be able to operate safely at a reasonable temperature - I expect it.

Now for those who believe I'm being harsh regarding the components running hot because of their power I say this.

If it can't be managed at a reasonable temperature, Alienware or rather Dell, shouldn't have put them there in the first place.
And before the R1 argument gets brought into the equation - I am firmly against this idea that the R1 is the market test model or guinea pig unit for improvements on the second release with those who purchased the first edition to be left with the 'lemon' batch.

An R1 should be without fault, with the R2 enhancing on it's strengths, NOT correcting the problems that should have been dealt with prior to the release.

On top of this, there is dust behind the screen and the subwoffer blew because of the supposed "force" behind the bass...
It's actually quite comical really - The all powerful Alienware inevitably overheating, components blowing out, and just generally not working.
This isn't my first Alienware either - I've owned a M11x R1 prior to this and believe it or not was pleased whilst I used it aside from the hinge problem.

Guess I was just expecting more from the M14x R1...

I have since disable the CPU Turbo mode and are unlikely to ever activate it again - with temps now in the high 70's as a result and my games still as playable as they were before.

Now I'm left with what can only be decribed as a cripple of a gaming laptop...I might get it fixed with the warranty but I feel once thats run out something else will go wrong...

Perhaps the stigma attached with gaming laptops and their many and varied problems is persistent in my train of thought whenever I use the laptop.

But still, it's an Alienware... and it's lights are cool...right?:rolleyes2:

What other issues should I be aware of - I'm convinced it's not a bad build despite what's listed, because every issue I've mentioned above has been mentioned in this forum by someone else.

Just want to know what else is there to expect or have I "overcome" the worst.

Thanks in advance.

 

Until they give us voltage control, the CPU will run hot. Under load the 2630 I recorded at 1.12v at 2.6ghz which is high considering that my 2600k desktop runs 4.8ghz at 1.3v. I want to be able to bring this down a bit... I am thinking that turbo should be fine with .9v even if the chips are the same architecture but pumping tons of voltage into it is not cool.

 

The i7 Sandy Bridge processors are built to run at high temperatures. running all 4 cores at 99 degrees Celsius may seem high, but it is expected by the processors. Intel makes these processors BSOD (to safe from damage) at 130 degrees celsius, not 100. The 100 degree BSOD is made by manufacturers who don't feel like ever replacing parts. The throttling on your processor is far more advanced than you know, and it will balance itself at 99 Celsius safely. You don't need to worry about this. If you really must lower your temps:

1. Don't game on beds/couches, make sure their is airflow to the bottom of the machine.
2. Don't use bios a05, it makes the max fan speed lower, and the lowered max fan speed kicks in at a higher temperature than before.
3. Don't play your game for 8 hours straight.

Your welcome.

 

Pun intended

The fact that the laptop can almost boil water doesn't concern you in the slightest?
I'm worried about the Fan - I've been informed it does both the CPU and GPU.

1. I always use a folder to prop up the laptop
2. Ah, crap... I've installed A05 - Any chance on an A06?
3. I don't think that's mentally possible to result in an enjoyable experience.

 

I agree with you - a $1000+ computer should be able to handle the heat well without a cooler.

As the above poster says, the throttling starts at 130C, and since notebook components are made to handle this type of heat, you should be fine using your m14x without a cooler, as I am. Just don't block the vents or anything, and you should be fine.

I used to have an Asus G51vx. They had severe heat problems, with the gtx 260m blowing up to 100C. Now that was interesting because the GPU actually started
throttling itself at 95C, so you couldn't really game for more than an hour.

 

There are voltage mods out there for the CPU where the BIOS has been extracted an unlocked. However, most people have agreed that overclocking the CPU does not produce significant results in gaming as opposed to overclocking the GPU.

 

1A. No that does not concern me because the inside is getting that hot, not the outside. Does it concern you that your engine can boil water? It cools fine. Does it concern you that metals can get hot enough in factories to boil water? No because they are more resilient than say..human flesh.
1B, Yes there is only one pipe in the m14x, but i have only seen rare cases of the GPU getting too hot.

1. If you are using a folder, then the distance between the bottom of the machine and the surface its on is still the same. Rip the folder and use it on the four "legs" of the laptop.
2. Download the A01 or A03 Bios for the m14x from Dell.
3. If you are playing for 8 hours straight, you should probably get a job, or go outside if you are a "kid'

 

It's better the BIOS A03 than A05? cuz I've the last one and my temps are around 95-99 on one core(gaming BFBC2 2hours)... I can get under 95° with A03 or A04? thanks dudes.

PS: I don't care the loud.

 

I bought a 2 year next day pro support warranty for my m14x (Australia) so basically I could care less if it fry's itself, cause they can come and fix it for me. I knew this laptop got really really hot before I bought it, I used to worry about it when I first got it, did the re-paste etc etc, but now I just don't care, it's what we have warranty for.

I'm on A05 and with the re-paste I never hit above 89 degrees, and I'm not running a cooler and I don't plan to

 

QFT, I bought this laptop during the update to A03, and yes with A03 my CPU got like between 92C - 99C nearly everytime I play BFBC2 even with a cooler it still drop just 1-3C, but after I update to A05, I got like between 85C - 90C (With cooler), 88C - 95C (Without a cooler).

Any explanation to this?

 

I was hitting 90-100c on just about every game, turned off turbo and now it barely gets over 80c and I can't tell the difference in gaming.

 

How do you turn off turbo?

 

Restart your computer and when it starts up and you see the Alienware Logo hit F2. Once into the bios go into the advanced section. You should see the "Turbo Clock" or "Turbo" setting or something like that. It should be enabled, but just select disable. Hit F10 for save & exit. It should reboot and you are all set.

 

That is the exact same procedure I used.

 

Is there a way via software for example to limit the turbo boost to say 2.5ghz instead of 2.9ghz. Should result in a -10c but still have some CPU benefit for games.

 

Try running your games at 2.9ghz and then again at 2.0ghz. You will see that here is no significant difference.

 

Depends if the game is CPU intensive. For example WOW is very CPU intensive as one example.

Easy to demonstrate this on for example the macbook air (1.6ghz) and macbook pro (2.3ghz). If you set both to run with the SAME intel graphics card the frame rate is almost double on the macbook pro.

 

Yes, use ThrottleStop. I use it all the time for my M11XR2 and plan on using it once my M14X finally arrives

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...e-degredation-while-gaming-2.html#post7949400

Cheers,
Stain

 

Does that allow you to say ok keep turbo boost active don't throttle below 2.0ghz and use turbo boost upto a maximum of say 2.5ghz?

 

see: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/531329-throttlestop-guide.html

There is a section on turbo ratio limits...

 

But WoW uses DX11 now which allows for the use of all 4 cores. There is no way WoW is going to load up 2.9ghz on all 4 cores. You won't see a difference between 2.0 and 2.9 when using DX11.

 

Alright I'll try it. Hopefully performance won't be degraded...

 

Intel doesn't give you any way to use some Turbo Boost. The two choices are as much Turbo Boost as the CPU feels you are entitled too or you can turn Turbo Boost off.

One option ThrottleStop does give you is you can control when Turbo Boost is used based on your CPU core temperature. You can setup two profiles; one with Turbo Boost and the second profile with the Disable Turbo option selected. After that you can set up an Alarm of say DTS=10 which would change profiles whenever your CPU got within 10C of the Intel throttling point to your slower profile with Turbo Boost disabled. The latest version works correctly on Sandy Brdige so give it a try.

You will need to "Turn On" ThrottleStop and select the Set Multiplier option to control Turbo Boost.

 

Wow guys it really works!
Disabled the ethernet, sd card reader, bluetooth, and intel turbo.

Temps are now 10C lower on all four cores, and they hover around the high 80s after a few hours of mass effect 2, which was previously taking my temperatures to the high 90s.

Thanks!

 

WoW does not distribute its load on multicore procs very efficiently. It will use the max percentage on one or two cores and very little on the other two cores.

Besides, you won't get the full turbo boost (2.9 GHz) if you're using all 4 cores to the max anyway. Turbo boost only kicks in when you're using 1-2 cores to the max and the other cores are being used much less.

 

Running WoW with turbo boost on without DX11 will still bring your CPU temps into the 90s as opposed to running DX11 with turbo boost off which will put the CPU in the 80s.

 

I've used i5 and it's Turbo feature never onced caused heating concerns.
Now that we're limited to 2Ghz for safety I can only assume I was better off on the i5 in my Xps.

And it was cheaper.

 

I personally think low-mid 90's are fine for the CPU as it is still quite a way within the cpu maximum.

In fact macbook pro 2.3GHZ Quad here in front of me gaming usually hit's the 85-95c range in a long session.

However if you are losing FPS due to overheating or shutdown then that is a different story.