I feel like crying

Im trying to play farcry 3 on an i7 R2, with 4GB ram. In a matter of minutes, my CPU temps jumps to mid 90s. My fraps crawl at 4-8 fps. I have to use an external fan to keep it from shutting down. My computer has acted this way since i got it 2 years ago and when i get on here and see other people posting that they get 40fps, it makes me want to cry.

 

Have you tried to open it, repaste the cpu and gpu, and clean the fan? Might as well give it a try since you can probably no longer return it.

 

Been through exact same issue: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/718063-m11x-r3-very-high-temperatures.html

 

I have not. Thank you for the reply. Would you know of a tutorial or informational website that would help me accomplish this?

 

First, flip your M11x onto its lid and blow compressed air through the rear exhaust vent, a lot of dust should expel from the bottom fan grate. If this doesn't work, you'll have to do a repaste.

 

And here's how you do that

Alienware M11x R1, R2 & R3 Full System Disassembly

Thermal paste application guide

 

I'd actually recommend opening up the bottom, taking the battery out, and taking the keyboard and power-button cover off. That way you could blow compressed air through the top, out both the bottom intake and back outtake. Also, it would allow you to use the tip to stop the fan so you wouldn't be moving the fan too fast (sometimes does harm, having the fan blown too fast while the system is off and not doing it itself). Finally, doing this allows you to see the dust from under the keyboard itself, which is pretty noticeable if you can't tell yourself that the system is dusty.

If you don't do so already, I'd recommend also setting the back of your laptop on pegs or stools/even the power cord just to leviate the back a little, that way the intake will get a litte bit of extra fresh air. (I used a toilet-paper roll cut into four pieces to raise the laptop on the 'pegs,' which actually helped cooling it off A LOT) Some other general tips are vacuuming the keyboard (make sure it's the very end of a vacuum tube or an anti-static vacuum) and cleaning the keyboard with a damp soapy rag, and making sure to dry it off right after, too. If you're really worried about it, and assuming you have a HDD, you could upgrade to an SSD which will produce significantly less heat itself and use less energy.

 

If you're gonna repaste, be careful! I did the line method, apparently I had excess paste even though I tried to use as little as possible. I used Arctic Silver 5, and their website recommends spreading on laptop cpu/gpu (with a plastic card). I've repasted twice last month. The first time (line method), my temps were a lot colder than before but crept up (too much thermal paste is bad thing). This second time (spread), my temps have been stable and laptop only gets lukewarm till I start a gaming session. Still good luck!

 

I agree with the replies here, I have seen it many times, the heat sink clogged with dust, sometimes like a small piece of 'cloth' what I mean is; I bet the heat sink is covered with dust from the inside, you have to open the system and lift the fan to get to those parts. just clean out the heat sink and assemble the system. 10 to 1 you will have good temps like it should have.

 

There is that, but if it has been doing it since you got it, it sounds like a repaste should work.