New Processor in Alienware 18 overheats

Hey all,

I changed the processor in my Alienware 18 to an i7-4940MX

It was fine for 6 months, but has suddenly started over heating, mostly when playing The Division.

I've given it a good dust, installed SpeedFan, but to no avail.

Does anyone know if there are any additional cooling parts I can install to fix.

Thanks

Steve

 

You may be able to repaste it with something better if there's no other fix.

Try undervolting if possible?

http://forum.hwbot.org/showthread.php?t=153092
last post on page1 is about power consumption

 

Thanks - do you have any paste recommendations?

 

Thermal grizzly Kryonaut or GC-Extreme for non liquid metal pastes

Thermal pads fujipoly XR-M 17.0 w/m-k

Thermal grizzly conductonaut or coollaboratory liquid ultra for liquid metal pastes ( do these at your own risk )

 

Amazing. Thanks you. I'll give them a go

 

don't run it past 4Ghz , re paste it, try and keep it under volted, check for dust in the vents - and typically many people report thier PC's are hotter in the summer for some reason.

 

Elevate it off the table or desk about an inch to help increase airflow. Mine seems to stay between 80-84c when gaming. Fans kick in pretty good when it gets hot but that's where is stays. I have not repasted and I run stock. No undervolt or anything. Having said that, room temp does make a difference. The warmer the air is that's being pulled into it, the less it will be able to cool.

 

Maybe a cooling pad underneath the laptop? That can easily be 5-10C difference.

It could be due to higher ambient temps

 

In the summer ambient temps will be higher unless you're running ac in the house.

You should't need to do anything besides repaste if you're running stock everything.

I recommend Liquid Ultra or IC Diamond.

I repasted my brother's AW17's 4900MQ & 780m with Liquid Ultra because they were running hot and they haven't ever since.

 

4930/40Mx = Liquid metal!! Collaboratory Liquid Ultra is the preferred brand. CLU is a bit thicker than Grizzly Conductonaut/Phobya liquid metal. Which is an advantage. Forget other thermal paste... Wasted money!!

 

Liquid ultra is dangerous. It's only recommended for experts. Watch out while applying.

 

CLU is annoying to take off, it messes with the copper and never truly dries

My experience with CLU for temps has been amazing though. Just wish they gave more in the syringe.

GC Extreme kind of sucks for bare dies. Wouldn't recommend it. Go Grizzly Kryonaut.

 

IC diamond is still a good option too. It lasts longer than other thermal pastes.

 

Agree... with a Haswell blast furnace CPU it is a complete waste of time and money to try to use anything except for Liquid Ultra. Any degree of relief you get with IC Diamond (the next best thing to Liquid Ultra that is available) will be short lived and less effective. Personally, I won't use anything except Liquid Ultra on a CPU if I can get away with it. IC Diamond is the best non-conductive paste available, but still not good enough for any air cooled laptop with an overclocked CPU... especially not if it is a Haswell CPU.

Everything worth doing in life involves a risk, and if you want things to turn out correctly you have to do things correctly. Liquid Ultra is not dangerous. Guns are not dangerous. Careless people are dangerous. You can stub your toe getting out of bed in the morning, fall and bust your head open on the bedroom dresser if you're not careful. But, we all still get out of bed every morning... or, at least most of us do.

 

You shouldnt need to use ICD on an Alienware 17/18 (ICD is preferred only if heatsink is warped / uneven). Heatsink used in AW socket machines are of great quality, so Liquid metal is number 1

 

You're absolutely correct. If a person doesn't at least make the effort to use the best product available they will be settling for something inferior.

 

liquid ultra and a decent undervolt + overclock keeps my 4940MX running cool and quiet at 4.0GHz 4 cores (60s-low 70s full load)